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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: Prince or Chauffeur? + A Story of Newport + +Author: Lawrence Perry + +Illustrator: J. V. McFall + +Release Date: August 25, 2007 [EBook #22390] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PRINCE OR CHAUFFEUR? *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + +</pre> + + +<A NAME="img-front"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-front.jpg" ALT=""We are what conditions make us, Miss Wellington," he said." BORDER="2" WIDTH="471" HEIGHT="703"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 471px"> +"We are what conditions make us, Miss Wellington," he said. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +PRINCE OR CHAUFFEUR? +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +A STORY OF NEWPORT +</H2> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BY +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +LAWRENCE PERRY +</H2> + +<BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +AUTHOR OF "DAN MERRITHEW," "FROM THE DEPTHS OF THINGS," "TWO TRAMPS," +ETC. +</H4> + +<BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +WITH FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS BY +<BR> +J. V. McFALL +</H4> + +<BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +CHICAGO +<BR> +A. C. McCLURG & CO. +<BR> +1911 +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +COPYRIGHT +<BR> +BY A. C. McCLURG & CO. +<BR> +1911 +<BR><BR> +Entered at Stationers' Hall, London, England +<BR><BR> +Published, March, 1911 +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +TO +<BR> +MY MOTHER +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H2> + +<BR> + +<CENTER> + +<TABLE WIDTH="100%"> +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">CHAPTER</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">THE MIDNIGHT EXPRESS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">MISS WELLINGTON ENLARGES HER EXPERIENCE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">PRINCE VASSILI KOLTSOFF</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">THE TAME TORPEDO</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">AT TRINITY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">AN ENCOUNTER WITH A SPY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07">MISS WELLINGTON CROSSES SWORDS WITH A DIPLOMAT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap08">WHEN A PRINCE WOOS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap09">ARMITAGE CHANGES HIS VOCATION</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">X </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap10">JACK McCALL, AT YOUR SERVICE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap11">THE DYING GLADIATOR</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap12">MISS HATCH SHOWS SHE LOVES A LOVER</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap13">ANNE EXHIBITS THE PRINCE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap14">UNDERGROUND WIRES</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap15">ANNE AND SARA SEEK ADVENTURE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap16">THE ADVENTURE MATERIALIZES</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap17">THE NIGHT ATTACK</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap18">ANNE WELLINGTON HAS HER FIRST TEST</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap19">AN ENCOUNTER IN THE DARK</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap20">WITH REFERENCE TO THE DOT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap21">PLAIN SAILOR TALK</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap22">THE BALL BEGINS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap23">THE BALL CONTINUES</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXIV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap24">THE BALL ENDS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap25">THE EXPATRIATE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XXVI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap26">CONCLUSION</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +ILLUSTRATIONS +</H2> + +<BR> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-front"> +"We are what conditions make us, Miss Wellington,"<BR> +he said . . . . . . <I>Frontispiece</I> +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-026"> +"If you 'll allow me the honor of playing waiter, I 'll be <BR> +delighted to serve you in the cabin" +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-250"> +"Is n't it beautiful," murmured Anne. "So different from being <BR> +on the <I>Mayfair</I>, is n't it?" +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-332"> +To-night she was a professional beauty, "rigged and trigged" <BR> +for competition +</A> +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +PRINCE OR CHAUFFEUR? +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE MIDNIGHT EXPRESS +</H3> + +<P> +John Armitage, Lieutenant U. S. N., followed the porter into the rear +car of the midnight express for Boston, and after seeing his bag +deposited under a lower berth, stood for a minute in frowning +indecision. A half-hour must elapse before the train started. He was +not a bit sleepy; he had, in fact, dozed most of the way from +Washington, and the idea of threshing about in the hot berth was not +agreeable. Finally, he took a short thick pipe from his pocket, and +picking his way gingerly between the funereal swaying curtains and +protruding shoes, he went outside to talk to the porter. +</P> + +<P> +The features of this functionary relaxed, from the ineffable dignity +and self-containment of a dozing saurian, into an expression of open +interest as Armitage ranged alongside, with the remark that it was +cooler than earlier in the evening. +</P> + +<P> +"Ya'as, suh," agreed the porter, "it sut'nly am mighty cooler, jes' +now, suh." He cocked his head at the young officer. "You 's in de +navy, suh, ain't you, suh? I knowed," he added, as Armitage nodded a +bored affirmative, "dat you was 'cause I seen de 'U. S. N.' on yo' +grip. So when dat man a minute ago asked me was dere a navy gen'lman +on my cyar, why I said—" +</P> + +<P> +"Eh!" Armitage turned upon him so quickly that the negro recoiled. +"Asked for me! Who? What did he say? When did he ask?" +</P> + +<P> +"I came outen the cyar after cahying in yo' bag, Majah," replied the +porter, unctuously, "and dey was a man jes' come up an' ask me what I +tole you. 'Ya'as, suh,' says I, 'I jes' took in de Kunnel's bag.' So +he goes in an' den out he comes again, givin' me fifty cents, an' +hoofed it out through de gates, like he was in a hurry." +</P> + +<P> +Armitage regarded the negro strangely. +</P> + +<P> +"What did he look like?" he asked. "Quick!" +</P> + +<P> +"He was a lean, lanky man wid a mustache and eye-glasses. He looked +like a foreigner. He—" +</P> + +<P> +But Armitage had started on a run for the iron gates. In the big +waiting-room there were, perhaps, a score of persons, dozing or +reading, no one of whom resembled the man described by the porter. He +passed across to the telephone booths and as he did so the one for whom +he was searching emerged from the telegraph office, walked rapidly to +the Forty-second Street doors, and jumped into a taxi-cab waiting at +the curb. +</P> + +<P> +And so Armitage missed him. He walked back to the train with a +peculiar smile, emotions of pleasurable excitement and a sense of +something mysterious conflicting. +</P> + +<P> +"Missed him," he said in answer to the porter's look of inquiry. +</P> + +<P> +"Friend of yo's, suh?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well," said the officer, smiling grimly, "I should have liked to shake +hands with him." +</P> + +<P> +His desire would have been keener could he in any way have known the +nature of the message which the curious stranger had sent to a squalid +little house on William Street in Newport: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +A. leaves here for torpedo station on midnight train. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Though he did not know it, despatches of a similar nature had been +following or preceding him these past three months, a fact certainly +not uncomplimentary to an officer who had been out of the academy a +scant ten years, whatever the additional aspects. +</P> + +<P> +As it was, Armitage, not given to worrying, dismissed the incident for +the time being and yielded full attention to the voluble porter. The +young officer was from Kentucky, had been raised with negroes, and +understood and liked them thoroughly. +</P> + +<P> +With five minutes remaining before midnight he was about to knock the +fire from his pipe when a bustle at the gate attracted his attention. +A party, two women, their maids, and a footman bearing some luggage, +was approaching the train. The older woman was of distinguished +bearing and evidently in no amiable mood; the younger was smiling, +trying to pacify her. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, mother," she said, as the party stopped at Armitage's car, "the +worst of the ordeal is over. It has all been so funny and quite +exciting, really." +</P> + +<P> +That she was an interesting girl, Armitage could see even in the +ghastly effulgence of the arc lamps. Slightly above the medium height, +with a straight, slim figure, she was, he judged, about twenty-two or +three years old. Her light hair flowed and rippled from under a smart +hat; her face, an expressive oval; her mouth not small, the lips full +and red. Armitage could not tell about the eyes, but considering her +hair and vivid complexion they were, he decided, probably hazel. From +his purely scientific or rather artistic investigation of the girl's +face, he started suddenly to find that those eyes were viewing him with +an unmistakably humorous disdain. But only for a second. Then as +though some mental picture had been vaguely limned in her mind, she +looked at him again, quickly, this time with a curious expression, as +of a person trying to remember, not quite certain whether she should +bow. She did n't. Instead, she turned to her mother, who was +advancing toward the porter, voicing her disapproval of her daughter's +characterization of the situation. +</P> + +<P> +"Funny! exciting!" she exclaimed. "You are quite impossible, Anne. +Porter, is this our car?" +</P> + +<P> +The negro examined the tickets and waved his hand toward the steps. +</P> + +<P> +"Ya'as'm, cyar five; state room A, an' upper 'n lower ten, for dem +ladies," indicating the maids. "Ya'as'm, jes' step dis way." +</P> + +<P> +With a few directions to the footman, who thereupon retraced his steps +to the station, the woman followed her daughter and the maids into the +car. A minute or so later the train was rolling out into the yard with +its blazing electric lights, and Armitage, now hopelessly wakeful, was +in the smoking compartment, regarding an unlighted cigar. Here the +porter found him. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, Gen'ral," he said, "dem folks is of de vehy fust quality. Dey +had got abo'd dey yacht dis ebenin', so dey was sayin', an' somethin' +was broke in de mashinery. So dey come asho' from whar dey went on de +ship at de yacht club station. Dey simply hab got ter get to Newport +to-morrow, kase dey gwine receive some foreign king or other an'—" +</P> + +<P> +"Sam," interrupted Armitage, "did you find out who they are?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ya'as, suh. Ah sut'nly did," was the pompous reply. "Dey is de +Wellingtons." +</P> + +<P> +"Wellington," Armitage regarded the porter gravely. "Sam, I have been +in Newport off and on for some time, but have been too busy to study +the social side. Still, I happen to know you have the honor of having +under your excellent care, the very elect of society." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, dey only gib me fifty cents," grimaced the porter, "an' dat don' +elect 'em to nothin' wid me." +</P> + +<P> +Armitage laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"You were lucky," he said. "You should have paid them for the honor." +</P> + +<P> +The porter shook his head gloomily. "Two bits," he growled. "I don' +see no sassiety partiality in dat." +</P> + +<P> +"No," Armitage reached into his pocket; "Here, Sam, is fifty cents for +hefting that young woman's bag." He paused and smiled. "It is the +nearest I have ever come to paying the bills for such a beautiful +creature. I like the experience. Now don't forget to call me at +Wickford Junction, or the other people either; for when I get them +aboard the <I>General</I> I am going to start a mutiny, throw the mater +overboard, and go to sea. For, Sam, I rather imagine Miss Wellington +glanced at me as she boarded the train." +</P> + +<P> +The porter laughed, pocketing the silver piece, and left Armitage to +his own devices. He sat for a long time, still holding the unlighted +cigar, smiling quizzically. Some underlying, romantic emotion, which +had prompted his vicarious tip to the porter, still thrilled him; and +it was not until the train had flashed by Larchmont, that he went to +his berth. +</P> + +<P> +The full moon was swimming in the east, bathing the countryside in a +light which caused trees and hills, fences and bowlders to stand out in +soft distinctness. Armitage raised the window curtain and lying with +face pressed almost against the pane, watched the ever-changing scenes +of a veritable fairyland. He was anything but a snob. He was not +lying awake because a few select representatives of the Few Hundred +happened to be in his car. Not by a long shot. But that girl, he +admitted, irrespective of caste, was a cause for insomnia, good and +sufficient. +</P> + +<P> +"Anne!" He muttered the name to himself. By George, it fitted her! +He did not know they bred her sort in the Newport cottage colony. +Armitage was sufficiently conceited to believe that he knew a great +deal about girls. He had this one placed precisely. She was a good +fellow, that he would wager, and unaffected and unspoiled, which, if he +were correct in his conjectures, was a wonderful thing, he told +himself, considering the environment in which she had been reared. +</P> + +<P> +"I may be wrong, Anne Wellington," he said to himself, "but I 've an +idea we 're going to know each other better. At any rate, we, speaking +in an editorial sense, shall strive to that end." +</P> + +<P> +He chose to ignore the obvious difficulties which presented themselves +in this regard. Who were the Wellingtons? His great, great +grandfather was signing the Declaration of Independence when the +Wellingtons were shoeing horses or carrying sedan chairs in London. +His father was a United States Senator, and while Ronald Wellington +might own one or two such, he could not own Senator Armitage, nor could +any one else. +</P> + +<P> +The train flashed around the curve into Greenwich and the Sound +appeared in the distance, a vast pool of shimmering silver. Armitage +started. +</P> + +<P> +"That torpedo of mine could start in that creek back there and flit +clean into the Sound and chase a steel hull from here to Gehenna. In +two weeks I 'll prove it." +</P> + +<P> +How had Anne Wellington suggested his torpedo? Or was it the +moonlight? Well, if he set his mind on his torpedo he would surely get +no sleep. It had cost him too many wakeful hours already. He lowered +the curtain and closed his eyes. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +MISS WELLINGTON ENLARGES HER EXPERIENCE +</H3> + +<P> +Few places in the well-ordered centres of civilization are so +altogether dreary as Wickford Junction, shortly before five o'clock in +the morning, when the usual handful of passengers alight from the +Boston express. The sun has not yet climbed to the top of the seaward +hills of Rhode Island, the station and environment rest in a damp +semi-gloom, everything shut in, silent—as though Nature herself had +paused for a brief time before bursting into glad, effulgent day. +</P> + +<P> +The station is locked; one grocery store in the distance presents a +grim, boarded front to the sleeping street. No one is awake save the +arriving passengers; they are but half so, hungry and in the nature of +things cross. Mrs. Wellington was undisguisedly in that mood. +</P> + +<P> +Armitage found some degree of sardonic pleasure in watching her as she +viewed with cold disapproval the drowsy maids and her daughter, who +although as immaculate and fresh and cool and altogether delightful as +the morning promised to be, persisted in yawning from time to time with +the utmost abandon. Armitage had never seen a woman quite like the +mother. Somewhat above medium height, there was nothing in the least +way matronly about her figure; it had still the beautiful supple lines +of her youth, and her dark brown hair was untinged by the slightest +suggestion of gray. It was the face that portrayed the inexorable +progress of the years and the habits and all that in them had lain. +Cold, calculating, unyielding, the metallic eyes dominated a gray +lineament, seamed and creased with fine hair-like lines. +</P> + +<P> +No flippant, light-headed, pleasure-seeking creature of society was +Belle Wellington. Few of her sort are, public belief to the contrary +notwithstanding. Her famous fight for social primacy, now lying far +behind in the vague past, had been a struggle worthy of an epic, +however meticulous the object of her ambition may have appeared in the +eyes of many good people. At all events she had striven for a goal not +easy of attainment. +</P> + +<P> +Many years before, on the deck of her husband's yacht—whither, by +methods she sternly had forgotten, had been lured a select few of a +select circle—the fight had begun. Even now she awoke sometimes at +night with a shudder, having lived again in vivid dream that August +afternoon in Newport Harbor, when she sat at her tea table facing the +first ordeal. She had come through it. With what rare felicity had +she scattered her conversational charms; with what skill had she played +upon the pet failings and foibles of her guests; what unerring judgment +had been hers, and memory of details, unfailing tact, and exquisite +taste! A triumph, yes. And the first knowledge of it had come in a +lingering hand clasp from the great man of them all and a soft "dear" +in the farewell words of his wife. But she had fainted in her cabin +after they left. +</P> + +<P> +Since that day she had gone far. She was on familiar terms with an +English earl and two dukes; she had entertained an emperor aboard her +yacht; in New York and Newport there were but two women to dispute her +claims as social dictator, and one of these, through a railroad coup of +her husband's, would soon be forced to her knees. +</P> + +<P> +It was all in her face. Armitage could read it there in the hard +shrewd lines, the cold, heartless, vindictive lines, or the softer +lines which the smiles could form when smiles were necessary, which was +not so often now as in former years. And in place of the beauty now +gone, she ruled by sheer power and wit, which time had turned to biting +acidity,—and by the bitter diplomacy of the Medicis. +</P> + +<P> +"Ugh!" Armitage drew his pipe from his pocket with humorous muttering. +"A dreadnaught, all right. An out-and-out sundowner. And I beg leave +to advise myself that the best thing about fair Anne is that she favors +her father, or some relative considerably more saintly than My Lady of +the Marble Face." +</P> + +<P> +As Armitage passed the group in pacing the platform, the woman whom he +had been studying raised her eyes and gazed at him with just a touch of +imperiousness. +</P> + +<P> +"I beg your pardon," she said, and a trace of the little formal smile +appeared; "but can you tell me when we are to have a train?" +</P> + +<P> +Armitage glanced at his watch. +</P> + +<P> +"It is due now," he said, "I think—here it comes," he added, inclining +his head towards a curve in the track around which a little locomotive +was pushing two dingy cars. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Wellington nodded her thanks and turned to her daughter, as though +dismissing Armitage, who, indeed, had evinced no desire to remain, +walking toward the upper end of the platform where his bag reposed upon +a pile of trunks. +</P> + +<P> +He did not see them again until they boarded the <I>General</I> at Wickford +Landing for the trip down Narragansett Bay. They were all in the upper +cabin, where Mrs. Wellington was evidently preparing to doze. Armitage +walked forward and stood on the deck under the pilot house, watching +the awakening of the picturesque village across the narrow harbor, +until the steamboat began to back out into the bay. The sunlight was +glorious, the skies blue, and the air fresh and sparkling. Armitage +faced the breeze with bared head and was drawing in deep draughts of +air when footsteps sounded behind him, and Anne Wellington and her maid +came to the rail. +</P> + +<P> +"How perfectly delightful, Emilia," she exclaimed. "Now if I could +have a rusk and some coffee I should enjoy myself thoroughly. Why +don't they conduct this boat like an English liner!" +</P> + +<P> +Her eyes, filled with humorous light, swept past Armitage; yes, they +were hazel. +</P> + +<P> +"I am so hungry, Emilia!" She smiled and sniffed the air with mock +ardor. "Emilia, did n't you smell that tantalizing odor of hot +biscuits in the cabin? I wonder where it came from." +</P> + +<P> +Armitage suddenly remembered a previous journey in this boat and he was +on the point of addressing the girl when he checked himself, but only +for a minute. Her mother had addressed him in her presence, had she +not? Certainly that constituted, well, if not an acquaintance, at +least something which involved warrant to assist her in time of stress, +which he decided to be here and now. +</P> + +<P> +So he turned to the girl with that boyish grin and that twinkling of +his clear, gray eyes which people found so contagious in him, and +addressed her in the most natural way. +</P> + +<P> +"If I don't intrude egregiously—" He rounded out this beautiful word, +a favorite of his father's, with a drawling, tentative inflection, +which caused Anne to smile in spite of herself. Seeing which Armitage +continued: "I happen to know that the steward in the galley below makes +biscuits and brews coffee at this hour each morning such as are given +to few mortals. If you 'll allow me the honor of playing waiter, I 'll +be delighted to serve you in the cabin." +</P> + +<A NAME="img-026"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-026.jpg" ALT=""If you'll allow me the honor of playing waiter, I'll be delighted to serve you in the cabin."" BORDER="2" WIDTH="467" HEIGHT="664"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 467px"> +"If you'll allow me the honor of playing waiter, <BR> +I'll be delighted to serve you in the cabin." +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +Anne Wellington heard him in wide-eyed astonishment. Then she laughed, +not at all affectedly, and glanced swiftly through the cabin windows, +to where her mother sat apparently in slumber. +</P> + +<P> +"I thank you. It's awfully polite of you. But you needn't play +waiter. Instead—would it be too much trouble for you to show us where +the—the—" +</P> + +<P> +"Galley," suggested Armitage. +</P> + +<P> +"Where the galley is?" +</P> + +<P> +Armitage hesitated. +</P> + +<P> +"No," he said, "it would be a pleasure. Only, the galley, or, rather, +the mess room, is rather a stuffy place. I—" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I should n't mind that in the least. I am not unused to roughing +it." She turned to her maid. "Emilia, go and tell Morgan to say to +mother, if she wakes, that we are in the galley, breakfasting on plum +duff." +</P> + +<P> +Armitage said nothing while they waited for her return. Anne +Wellington was silent, too. She simply stood waiting, tapping the toe +of one of her small russet pumps on the deck and gazing out over the +bay with a curious little smile rippling up from the corner of her +mouth. +</P> + +<P> +Armitage did not quite understand her. While she had been cordial +enough, yet there was an underlying suggestion of reserve, not at all +apparent and yet unmistakably felt. It was, he felt, as though in her +life and training and experience, she had acquired a poise, a knowledge +of at least certain parts of the world and its affairs, which gave her +confidence, made her at home, and taught her how to deal with +situations which other girls less broadly endowed would have found +over-powering, or, at best, distinctly embarrassing. +</P> + +<P> +Not that Armitage had in any way sought to embarrass Miss Wellington. +He had spoken simply upon impulse, being of that nature, and he could +not but admire the way in which she had diagnosed his motive, or rather +lack of motive save a chivalrous desire to serve. Evidently she had +long been accustomed to the homage of men, and more, she was apparently +a girl who knew how to appraise it at its true value in any given case. +If Armitage had but known it, this was a qualification, not without its +value to the girls and elder women who occupied Anne Wellington's plane +of social existence. The society calendar of scandal is mainly a list +of those who have not possessed this essential. +</P> + +<P> +When the maid returned, Miss Wellington smiled and nodded to Armitage, +who led the way into the cabin and to the main stairway and thence down +into the hold. +</P> + +<P> +The steward was a bustling, voluble little man with well-rounded +proportions and a walrus-like mustache. As Armitage and his two +companions entered, he was engaged in removing a coffee-stained table +cover—the crew had finished breakfasting—which he replaced with a +spotless red-and-white checkered cloth. +</P> + +<P> +"Steward," said Armitage, falling unconsciously into the crisp voice of +command, "get some coffee and biscuits for this lady and her maid, +please." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir," the steward smiled affably, "certainly, sir. They 're fine +this morning—the biscuits, I mean. Fine!" +</P> + +<P> +"Very good," said Armitage. He pulled two chairs to the table and was +leaving the room when the girl looked over her shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +"Are n't you going to join us?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," said Armitage smiling, "I was going to breakfast in the galley. +It is so warm by the range, you know." +</P> + +<P> +"Nonsense! Don't mind us. It's rather novel breakfasting with one's +maid—and a stranger." +</P> + +<P> +She said this in rather an absent manner, as though the fact to which +she called attention were almost too obvious for remark. Certainly it +was not said in any way to impel Armitage to introduce himself, and he +had no wish to take advantage of a lame opportunity. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," he said, seating himself at one end of the table; "it impresses +me that way, too." +</P> + +<P> +To say that the biscuits were delicious and the coffee uplifting, +inspiring, would, in the mind of all who have shared the matutinal +hospitality of the steward of the <I>General</I>, be an inadequate +expression of gastronomic gratitude. Let it be sufficient to note that +Anne Wellington beamed gratefully upon the steward, who, expanding +under the genial influence, discussed his art with rare unction. +</P> + +<P> +"The secret," he said, leaning confidentially over the back of Miss +Wellington's chair, "is to be sparin' of the yeast; and then there is +somethin' in raisin' 'em proper. Now, the last time Mrs. Jack +Vanderlip was down here, she made me give her the receipt for them +identical biscuits; gave me a dollar for it." +</P> + +<P> +"Mrs. Jack Vanderlip!" cried Miss Wellington, "did she ever grace your +table?" +</P> + +<P> +"Did she ever grace this table! Well, I should say so, and the Tyler +girls and Hammie Van Rensselaer and Billy Anstruther,—he comes down +here often." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Wellington laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"I often have marvelled at Billy's peach-blow complexion," she said; +"now I have the secret." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't tell him I said so, Miss Wellington," said the steward. +</P> + +<P> +The girl, with a biscuit poised daintily in her fingers, did not seem +surprised to hear her name. +</P> + +<P> +"Your acquaintance is rather exten—rather large," she said. +</P> + +<P> +The steward actually blushed. +</P> + +<P> +"I live in Newport, miss," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!" That was all, and the curious little smile did not leave her +face. But Armitage noticed that in some way the steward found no +further opportunity for exercising his garrulity. +</P> + +<P> +Evidently she assumed that Armitage now knew whom she was, if he had +not known before the steward uttered her name, for he noticed a slight +modifying of her previous attitude of thorough enjoyment. For his +part, Armitage of course had no reason for altering his bearing, and +that he did not was observed and appreciated by his companion. This +eventually had the effect of restoring both to their former footing. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," she said finally, "it has been rather a novel experience. I am +indebted to you." +</P> + +<P> +"Not to me," said Armitage. Then, by way of conversation, "novel +experiences, as a rule, are not so easily had." +</P> + +<P> +"No, I grasp them whenever," she jerked her head toward the cabin above +and smiled, "whenever I can, conveniently. My old tutor in Munich was +always impressing it upon me never to neglect such opportunities." +</P> + +<P> +"Opportunities? Oh, I see—slumming." Armitage glanced about the +apartment and laughed. +</P> + +<P> +She frowned. +</P> + +<P> +"I was speaking categorically, not specifically; at least I meant to. +I did not mean slumming; I detest it. '<I>Seine erfahrungen +erweitern</I>'—enlarging one's experience—is the way my teacher put it. +Life is so well-ordered with us. There are many well-defined things to +do—any number of them. The trouble is, they are all so well defined. +We glide along and take our switches, as father would say, like so many +trains." She smiled. "And so I love to run off the track once in a +while." +</P> + +<P> +"May I have the credit of having misplaced the switch?" Armitage's +eyes were twinkling as the girl arose with a nod. +</P> + +<P> +In the upper cabin, Mrs. Wellington, apparently, still slept, to +Armitage's great joy. Her daughter, with hardly a glance into the +cabin, stepped to the rail and looked down the bay with radiant face. +The promise of the early hours had been established; it was a beautiful +day. It was one of these mornings typical of the hour; it looked like +morning, smelt like morning, there was the distinct, clean, pure, +inspiring feel of morning. The skies were an even turquoise with +little filmy, fleecy shreds of clouds drifting across; the air was +elixir; and the blue waters, capped here and there with white, ran +joyously to meet the green sloping shores, where the haze still +lingered. Ahead, an island glowed like an opal. +</P> + +<P> +"Perfect, perfectly stunning!" cried the girl. Somehow Armitage felt +the absence of that vague barrier which, heretofore, she had seemed +almost unconsciously to interpose, as her eyes, filled with sheer +vivacity, met his. +</P> + +<P> +"What are those little things bobbing up and down in the water over +there?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +"I believe that is the torpedo testing ground," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"Torpedoes! Ugh!" She shrugged her shoulders. "Mother knew +Vereshchagin, who was in the <I>Petrapavlovsk</I> when she struck the +Japanese torpedo and turned upside down. Do you know anything about +torpedoes?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not much; a little." Armitage thrilled at the first sign she had +given him that she considered or was in any way curious regarding his +personality. +</P> + +<P> +She looked at him. +</P> + +<P> +"I am certain I have seen you before," she said. "You don't live in +Newport?" +</P> + +<P> +"That is not my home," said Armitage. "I come from Kentucky. I am +something of a wanderer, being a sort of fighter by profession." +</P> + +<P> +The girl started. +</P> + +<P> +"Not a prize fighter?" She glanced quickly at the handsome, square, +fighting face, the broad chest and shoulders, and flushed. "Are you +really that?" +</P> + +<P> +Armitage had intended to tell her he was a naval officer, but obsessed +of the imp of mischief, he nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"I can imagine situations wherein I might fight for a prize." +</P> + +<P> +She overlooked what she regarded as the apparent modesty of his answer. +</P> + +<P> +"Really!" she exclaimed. "How interesting! Now I am glad I met you. +I had no idea you were that, of all things. You seemed—" She checked +herself. "But tell me, how did you begin? Tommy Dallas is keen on +your sort. Did he ever—ever back you, I believe he calls it—in a +fight?" +</P> + +<P> +The new trend speedily had become distasteful to Armitage, who inwardly +was floundering for a method of escape from the predicament into which +his folly had led him. He had no wish to pose as a freak in her eyes. +Still, no solution offered itself. +</P> + +<P> +"No," he said at length, "he never backed me. As a matter of fact, I +am more of a physical instructor, now." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh," she said, disappointedly, "I was going to gloat over Tommy. +Physical instructor! Do you know father is looking for one for my two +kid brothers? Why don't you apply?" +</P> + +<P> +"Thanks," said Armitage, a bit ungraciously, "perhaps I shall." +</P> + +<P> +Plainly the girl's interest in him was fast waning. Extremely +chapfallen and deeply disgusted with himself, Armitage bowed, and, +muttering something about looking after his luggage, withdrew. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PRINCE VASSILI KOLTSOFF +</H3> + +<P> +When Miss Wellington entered the cabin she found her mother in the same +position in which she had left her, but her eyes were open, looking +straight at the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"Mother, I never knew you to do anything quite so <I>bourgeois</I> before." +There was a gleam of mischief in her eyes. "Sleeping in a public +place! You weren't sleeping, were you?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, I was not," said her mother. "I have been thinking, planning." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Prince Koltsoff!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." Mrs. Wellington raised her hand languidly to her face. "He +wrote he was coming to us this afternoon, direct from the Russian +ambassador's at Bar Harbor. Did he not?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, unless Miss Hatch was mistaken in what she said the other day." +</P> + +<P> +"Miss Hatch," said the elder woman, "is one of the few secretaries I +ever had who does not make mistakes. However, that is neither here nor +there. Prince Koltsoff has been in Newport for a week." +</P> + +<P> +"A week! The idea! Where? Not with the Van Antwerps?" Miss +Wellington's eyes blazed with interest. +</P> + +<P> +"No, not with any one that I was able to discover. But Clarie +Pembroke, of the British legation, was driving from the Reading Room to +the yacht club with your father the other day. He told me he was +certain he saw Koltsoff standing on a side street near the Aquidneck." +</P> + +<P> +"Why on earth did n't you tell me before?" cried the daughter. "What a +delightful mystery!" She smiled with mischief. "Do you suppose after +all he is some no-account? You know Russian princes are as numerous as +Russian bears; they can be as great bounders and as indigent as Italian +counts—" +</P> + +<P> +"All of which you have heard me say quite frequently," interrupted Mrs. +Wellington placidly. "Koltsoff is not pinchbeck. The Koltsoffs are an +illustrious Russian family, and have been for years. I think I know my +Almanach de Gotha. Why, Koltsoff is <I>aide-de-camp</I> to the Czar and +has, I believe, estates in southern Russia. His father fought +brilliantly in the Russo-Turkish War and gained the Cross of St. Anne; +his great, or great-great-grandfather, I don't recall which, was a +general of note of Catherine the Great's, and if certain intimate +histories of that time are not wholly false, her rewards for his +services were scandalously bestowed." +</P> + +<P> +"No doubt," said the girl carelessly. "And Koltsoff?" +</P> + +<P> +"A genuinely distinguished fellow. He was educated, of course, at the +cadet school in St. Petersburg and during the Japanese War was with the +Czar. I met him in London, last May, at Lord McEncroe's, as I have +already told you, I think, and when he spoke of coming to America this +summer I engaged him for August." +</P> + +<P> +"It was rather farsighted of you," said the girl admiringly. "Newport +needs some excitement this season. If he 's anything like that last +Russian who came here on a warship two years ago, you will shine as a +benefactor, especially in the eyes of reporters." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Wellington smiled grimly. +</P> + +<P> +"The Grand Duke Ivan?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes; what a great bearded beast he was! I remember father bemoaning, +when Ivan the Terrible departed, that there was no more of his favorite +Planet brandy left in the Reading Room cellars." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Wellington did not smile. She was eying her daughter curiously. +"I want you and the Prince to become good friends," she said. +</P> + +<P> +"That will depend upon whether he can gracefully explain his mysterious +presence in Newport the past week," replied the girl laughingly. +Suddenly her face grew grave. "What do you mean, mother?" +</P> + +<P> +"Merely that I expect—that Prince Koltsoff hopes"—and under her +daughter's steady gaze, she did something she had done but once or +twice in her life—floundered and then paused. +</P> + +<P> +The girl's lip curled, not mirthfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, I begin to understand," she said. "Prince Koltsoff's visit was +conceived hardly in the nature of ordinary social emprise." +</P> + +<P> +"Now, please don't go on, Anne," said the mother. "I have expressed +nothing but a wish, have I? Wait until you know him." +</P> + +<P> +"But you said Koltsoff had expressed a—a—" +</P> + +<P> +"A hope, naturally. He saw Sargent's portrait of you in London." +</P> + +<P> +"How romantic! I do not wonder you couldn't sleep, mother." +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps there were other reasons. Who was the man you ensnared +outside?" +</P> + +<P> +Miss Wellington laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"Trust you, mother. He was very decent. He took me below and fed me +hot biscuits and coffee. He said he was a prize fighter." +</P> + +<P> +"A prize fighter!" +</P> + +<P> +"He said so. But he was not telling the truth. He was awfully good +looking and had a manner that one does not acquire. I am rather +curious concerning him. You don't imagine he was Koltsoff, incog?" +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Wellington glanced witheringly at her. +</P> + +<P> +"I imagine he may have been a reporter, Anne. Why are n't you more +careful! There may come a time when your efforts to uphold your +reputation for eccentricity and for doing the cleverly unexpected will +react disagreeably." +</P> + +<P> +It was the first time her mother had given her reason to believe that +she shared in any way in the views concerning her which were prevalent +among the younger set at least. The girl was not flattered. +</P> + +<P> +"Mother, don't be so absurd," she said. "The only efforts I have ever +made have been to lead a normal, human life and not a snobbish, +affected one. Eccentric! The conditions under which we live are +eccentric. My only desire is to be normal." +</P> + +<P> +"Life is relative, you know," said Mrs. Wellington. "If you—" she +glanced out the window and saw the Torpedo Station slipping past. +"Why, we are almost in," she said. "Morgan, go out, please, and see if +they have sent a motor for us." +</P> + +<P> +The handful of passengers were filing down to the main deck and Mrs. +Wellington, her daughter, and Emilia followed, where Morgan presently +joined them with the announcement that she had not seen a Wellington +car. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Peste!</I>" murmured Mrs. Wellington. "This is the last of Dawson if he +has n't sent a car. I telegraphed last night." +</P> + +<P> +"Telegrams have been known to go astray," suggested her daughter. +</P> + +<P> +"Rot! So has Dawson," observed Mrs. Wellington. +</P> + +<P> +It was only too plain when they crossed the gang plank that something +or somebody had gone wrong. No automobile or horse-drawn vehicle +bearing the Wellington insignia was at the landing. Having adjusted +herself to the situation upon receiving her maid's report, Mrs. +Wellington immediately signalled two of the less dingy hacks, entered +one with her daughter, leaving the other for the maids. +</P> + +<P> +"The Crags," she said, designating her villa to the hackman, who, +touching his hat with the first sign of respect shown, picked up the +reins. The driver, half turned in his seat to catch any conversation +of an interesting nature, guided his horse to Thames Street and thence +along that quaint, narrow thoroughfare toward Harbor Road. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Wellington glanced at the driver and then looked at her mother +solemnly. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you suppose they will be up yet, mamma?" she said, with a sort of +twanging nasal cadence. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Wellington turned her head composedly toward the show windows of a +store. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't see why you won't say what you think, mamma," resumed the +girl. "You know some of these Newporters, so the papers say, do not +breakfast before eight o'clock." +</P> + +<P> +"Eight o'clock!" There was an explosion of derisive mirth on the seat +above them. "Ladies," the driver looked down with red cheeks and +watery eyes, "if you expect to see 'Rome' Wellington's people, you 'd +better drive round 'till eleven o'clock. And at that they won't have +the sleep out of their eyes." +</P> + +<P> +"Do these society people really sleep as late as that?" asked the girl. +</P> + +<P> +The driver glanced at her a second. +</P> + +<P> +"Aw, stop yer kiddin'," he said. "All I can say now is that if you try +to wake 'em up now they 'll set the dogs on you." +</P> + +<P> +"Very well, let them," interposed Mrs. Wellington. "Now drive on as +quickly as possible—and no more talking, please." +</P> + +<P> +The driver had a good look at her as she spoke. His round face became +red and pale in turn and he clucked asthmatically to his horse. +</P> + +<P> +"Good Lord," he muttered, "it's herself!" +</P> + +<P> +But he had not much farther to go. Just as they turned into the Harbor +Road, a Wellington car came up. The <I>mécanicien</I> had been losing no +time, but when he caught sight of the Wellingtons he stopped within a +distance which he prided himself was five feet less than any other +living driver could have made it in, without breaking the car. +</P> + +<P> +The footman was at the side of the hack in an instant and assisted the +mother and daughter into the tonneau, which they entered in silence. +Mrs. Wellington, in fact, did not speak until the car was tearing past +the golf grounds. Here she turned to her daughter with a grim face. +</P> + +<P> +"Anne," she said, "I 've about made up my mind that you escaped being +really funny with that impossible hackman." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, mother," said the girl, absently viewing the steadily rising roof +of her home. "Our ideas of humor were ever alien. I wonder if Prince +Koltsoff has arrived." +</P> + +<P> +The Crags was one of the few Newport villas bordering on the sea, whose +owners and architects had been sufficiently temperamental to take +advantage of the natural beauties of its site. Upon huge black rocks, +rising twenty-five or thirty feet, the house had been built. Windows +on either side looked down upon the waters, ever shattering into white +foam on half-hidden reefs, or rushing relentlessly into rocky, +weed-hung fissures or black caverns. Sometimes in the autumn storms +when the inrushing waves would bury deep the grim reefs off Bateman's +Point and pile themselves on the very bulwarks of the island, the spray +rattled against the windows of The Crags and made the place seem a part +of the elemental fury. +</P> + +<P> +In front of the house was an immense stretch of sward, bordered with +box and relieved by a wonderful <I>parterre</I> and by walks and drives +lined with blue hydrangeas. The stable, garage, and gardener's cottage +were far to one side, all but their roofs concealed from the house and +the roadway by a small grove of poplars. +</P> + +<P> +Supplementing the processes of Nature by artificial means, Ronald +Wellington had had a sort of fjord blasted out of the solid rock on the +seaward side, as a passage for his big steam yacht, with steps leading +from the house to the little wharf. Here lay the <I>Mayfair</I> when not in +service; from the road you could see her mast tops, as though +protruding from the ground. But now the <I>Mayfair</I> was down in a South +Brooklyn shipyard; this thought, recurring to Mrs. Wellington, framed +in her mind a mental picture of all that she had undergone as a result +of that stupid blowing out of steam valves, which, by the way, had +seriously scalded several of the engine-room staff and placed the +keenest of edges upon her home-coming mood. No subject of nervous +irritability, she. Incidents, affairs, persons, or things qualified to +set the fibres of the average woman of her age tingling, were, with +her, as the heat to steel; they tempered her, made her hard, keen, +cold, resilient. +</P> + +<P> +The butler, flanked by two or three men servants, met them at the door. +Breakfast was served, he said. Prince Koltsoff, indeed, had already +arrived, and had breakfasted. +</P> + +<P> +"The Prince—" Mrs. Wellington checked herself and hurried into the +breakfast room with inscrutable face. Her daughter followed, smiling +broadly. +</P> + +<P> +"The Prince seems to have anticipated us," she said. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Wellington glanced at the alert-faced second man, who had just +brought in the coffee, and compressed her lips into a straight line. +</P> + +<P> +There was no conversation in the course of the short light breakfast. +Anne went to her apartments, while Mrs. Wellington, after arising from +the table, stood for a minute gazing from the window toward the polo +grounds. Then slowly she mounted the stairs and, entering her boudoir, +rang for her maid. +</P> + +<P> +An hour and a half later, massaged, bathed, and robed in a dainty +morning gown, Mrs. Wellington stepped into her "office," than which no +one of her husband's many offices was more business-like, and seated +herself at a large mahogany desk. Miss Hatch, her secretary, arose +from a smaller desk with typewriter attachment and laid before her a +number of checks for signing, bills rendered, invitations, and two bank +books. Then she resumed her seat in silence. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Wellington did not glance at the mass of matter. With a muttered +"Thank you," she gazed thoughtfully at the row of white push buttons +inlaid at her elbow. There were more than a dozen of them and they +ranged from the pantry to the kitchen, from the garage to the stable. +By means of them the mistress of The Crags kept in touch with nearly +fifty servants. Here at her desk she could plan her campaigns, lay +counter mine against mine, plan stratagems, and devise ideas. Her +superiority over those who sought, or had sought in the past, to rival +her lay in the fact that she could devise, outline, and execute her +projects without assistance. A former secretary with some degree of +literary talent had, upon dismissal, written up that office and its +genius for a Sunday newspaper, and several hundred thousand good +people, upon reading it, had marvelled at the tremendous means employed +to such trivial ends. +</P> + +<P> +But after all, who shall say what is trivial in this world and what is +not? Let it rest with the assertion that in any other sphere, +business, sociology, charity, Belle Wellington's genius would have +carried her as far as in that domain wherein she had set her endeavors. +As to charity, for that matter, she had given a mountain recluse, a +physician, five hundred thousand dollars with which to found a +tuberculosis sanitarium, and—but those were things which not even her +friends knew and concerning which, therefore, we should remain silent. +</P> + +<P> +Slowly she leaned forward and pressed a button. Mrs. Stetson, the +housekeeper, soon appeared. +</P> + +<P> +"Good-morning, Mrs. Stetson," she said. "Prince Koltsoff seems to have +anticipated us." She suddenly remembered she had utilized her +daughter's expression, and bit her lips. "When did he arrive?" +</P> + +<P> +"He came last night in the French ambassador's carriage." +</P> + +<P> +"Last night!" Mrs. Wellington glanced at her secretary. "Will you +bring my engagement book, please." This in hand, she turned the pages +hastily, then put it down. +</P> + +<P> +"There has been some mistake. He was not to come to us until luncheon +to-day. Was M. Renaud with him?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Mrs. Wellington, but he did not stay. The Prince seemed to know +he was not expected. He apologized profusely, but said that events had +brought him here a day early and trusted there was no inconvenience. +He did not dine, but spent the evening in the smoking-room, writing. +He sent two cable despatches by Parker." +</P> + +<P> +"Um-m, <I>dégagé</I>, even for a Russian," said Mrs. Wellington. "And he +arose early?" +</P> + +<P> +"Very early. He asked Mr. Dawson for a car to go to the village at +half after six." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Wellington almost revealed her intense interest. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, to the village," she said. "Did he say—did he explain the +reasons for his early trip?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, but Parker told Mr. Dawson he stopped at the telegraph office." +</P> + +<P> +"Where is the Prince now?" +</P> + +<P> +"He is in the morning-room, writing." +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you, Mrs. Stetson." +</P> + +<P> +As the housekeeper left, Mrs. Wellington pressed another button, +summoning the superintendent. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Dawson," she said, "you received my wire last night that the +<I>Mayfair</I> had broken down and that we were taking the midnight train +from New York?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Mrs. Wellington." +</P> + +<P> +"And you thought the Prince was going to meet us with that car? That +was the reason for your failure to follow my instructions?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, madame, thank you. I supposed Prince Koltsoff knew you were +coming and that he had ordered the car to meet you. When this proved +wrong I sent Rimini. I am glad he was not late." +</P> + +<P> +"He was late. He met us, packed in a miserable hack. Hereafter I must +insist upon strict compliance with my wishes. Do not assume things, +please. Am I quite clear? Thank you." Mrs. Wellington turned from +him and pressed still another button. In a moment the tutor of her two +sons, Ronald, sixteen years old, and Royal, twelve, stood before her. +He was a Frenchman, whose facial expression did not indicate that his +duties had fallen in the pleasantest of places. +</P> + +<P> +"Good-morning, M. Dumois. Where are my sons?" She spoke in French. +</P> + +<P> +"They attended a party at Bailey's Beach and remained the night with +Master Van Antwerp." +</P> + +<P> +"How have they been?" +</P> + +<P> +"Very well, thank you, except—" +</P> + +<P> +"Except?" +</P> + +<P> +"I found Master Ronald smoking a cigarette in the smoking-room +yesterday." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Wellington dashed a note on her pad. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you," she said in her soft tone of dismissal. +</P> + +<P> +"Lest Miss Wellington forget, you might, on your way, remind her, in my +name, not to meet Prince Koltsoff until I receive him at luncheon." +</P> + +<P> +She turned to the mass of correspondence on her desk and selected for +first reading a long telegram from her husband, who, when he sent it, +was speeding eastward through the Middle West in his special car. She +laid it down with a faraway smile in her eyes. She loved and admired +her big husband, who did things, knocked men's heads together, juggled +railroads and steamships in either hand. And this love and admiration, +in whatever she had done or wherever placed, had always been as twin +flaming angels guarding her with naked swords. +</P> + +<P> +Presently she turned to her secretary and dictated a statement +concerning the arrival of Prince Koltsoff, who he was, and a list of +several of the entertainments given in his honor. +</P> + +<P> +"You might call Mr. Craft at the Newport <I>Herald</I> office and give him +this," she said. +</P> + +<P> +Half an hour was spent in going over accounts, signing checks, auditing +bills, and the like, and then with a sigh she arose and passed into her +dressing-room. Ordinarily she would have dressed for the beach or the +Casino. But to-day she threw herself on a couch in her boudoir and +closed her eyes. But she did not sleep. +</P> + +<P> +M. Dumois, hastening to comply with his mistress' command, failed to +find the girl in her apartments. At the moment, indeed, that Emilia +was informing the tutor that the girl had left for the stables, Miss +Wellington from a corner of the hall was gazing interestedly at the +Prince, who sat with his profile toward her. He was bending over a +table upon which was spread a parchment drawing. The sunlight fell +full upon him. He was not at all unprepossessing. Tall and slim, with +waist in and well-padded shoulders, his blonde hair and Van Dyck bead, +long white eyelashes, darker brows, and glittering blue eyes, he was +the very type of the aristocratic Muscovite. +</P> + +<P> +As the girl looked she saw his lips part and his teeth glisten. He +half arose, leaned forward, and smote the chart. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Wellington hurried down the hall and out of the house. +</P> + +<P> +"Prince Koltsoff," she murmured, as she swung down the path to the +stable, "I would give worlds to know what you 're up to. I definitely +place you as a rascal. But oh, such a romantically picturesque one!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE TAME TORPEDO +</H3> + +<P> +That night Lieutenant Armitage, in a marine's drab shirt and overalls, +stood among a silent group of mechanics on a pier near the Goat Island +lighthouse. A few hundred feet out lay a small practice torpedo boat, +with the rays of a searchlight from the bridge of the parent ship of +the First Flotilla resting full upon her. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly Armitage leaned forward. When he straightened there came a +dull report, a lurid flash of light, and with a sharp whirring sound a +model torpedo about half the regulation size, leaped through the +darkness and with a clear parting of the waters disappeared. A green +Very star cleaved the night. Intense silence followed. One second, +two seconds, elapsed and then from the practice boat out in the harbor +a red star reared. Armitage turned to the master mechanic at his side. +</P> + +<P> +"Bully!" he said. "I aimed at least twenty feet wide of the <I>Dumont</I>. +The magnetos fetched her. But wait—" +</P> + +<P> +In the glare of the searchlight he could see they had lowered a boat +and were recovering the torpedo. He saw a group of young officers +gather about it as it was hauled aboard, and then in a minute or so the +red and green Ardois lights began to wink. As Armitage watched with +straining eyes he spelled the message as it came, letter by letter. +</P> + +<P> +"A fair hit. But the wrong end struck." +</P> + +<P> +The <I>Dumont</I> was sufficiently near the pier for the message to have +been shouted. But tests of new torpedoes are not to be shouted about. +Armitage discharged a white star from his pistol, the signal to come in +for the night, and walked toward the shops. +</P> + +<P> +"You may turn in," he said to the men. "I have a good night's work, +alone, ahead of me." +</P> + +<P> +"She should not have struck with her stern, sir," said a short, squat +man, hurrying to Armitage's side. He spoke with a strong accent and +passed as a Lithuanian. His expert knowledge of electricity as well as +his skill in making and mending apparatus had caused Armitage to +intrust him with much of the delicate work on the model, as well as on +the torpedo of regular size, based on the model, now in course of +construction. +</P> + +<P> +His was a position of peculiar importance. As the blue-prints of the +invention, from which detailed plans were worked, passed into the +shops, they came into the hands of this man, who, thus, many times in +the course of the day had the working prints of the controlling +mechanism in his exclusive possession. +</P> + +<P> +For some reason that he could not explain, all this shot through +Armitage's mind as the man spoke. +</P> + +<P> +"No, Yeasky, it should not. But I 'll fix that. By the way, how +long—No matter, I shan't need you any more to-night, Yeasky." +</P> + +<P> +As he entered the shop the storekeeper was leaving. He nodded to the +officer. +</P> + +<P> +"What luck, Lieutenant Armitage?" +</P> + +<P> +"Fair, the wrong end hit first. I think the regulation size would have +worked all right. At all events, I 'll study it out to-night." +</P> + +<P> +He paused. Then as the storekeeper stepped past him he called him back. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Jackson, I may be silly, but I 've been a bit worried of late. +You keep a close eye on the record of parts, don't you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, indeed, sir, I go over it every night." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you ever actually go over the parts to see that they tally with the +records? What I mean is, important parts might be missing, although +the daily record might be so juggled as to make it appear they were +not." +</P> + +<P> +"By George!" exclaimed the storekeeper, "I never have done that. I 'll +begin to-morrow." +</P> + +<P> +"Thanks, I should if I were you. Good-night." +</P> + +<P> +Armitage passed into the shop and switched on an electric light over a +long pine table in the centre of the apartment. Then he went to the +safe, opened it, and returned to the table with an armful of rolled +parchment and specifications. These he spread out and thereafter, +while the night waned, he was lost to the world and its affairs. +</P> + +<P> +Briefly, Armitage had invented a torpedo, whose steering was so +controlled by delicate magnetos, that while ordinarily proceeding in +the line of aim, if such aim, through the movement of the vessel aimed +at, or through some other cause, should result in a miss, the effect of +the steel hull of the objective ship on the delicate magnetos of the +Armitage torpedo would be such as to cause a change in the course of +the deadly missile, and have her go directly toward the vessel and even +follow her. +</P> + +<P> +Armitage, whose mechanical genius had marked him while at the Academy +as a man of brilliant possibilities, had developed his idea in the +course of several years, and when it was perfected in his mind he had +gone to the Chief of Ordnance at Washington and laid the matter before +him in all its details. The chief at once gave the lie to the theory +long current that the Department was averse to progress along whatever +line, by expressing unqualified delight. He had Armitage ordered to +the Torpedo Station at Newport to carry on experiments forthwith, and +instructed the superintendent of the station to give the inventor every +facility for carrying on his work. Two months had already elapsed and +the work was at the stage when a destroyer and a practice torpedo boat +had been detached from regular duty and placed at his exclusive service. +</P> + +<P> +The Government was deeply interested in the progress of the work, and +had shown it in many ways. The significance of such a torpedo in any +war in which the country might become involved was patent. Rumors more +or less vague had leaked, as such things do, to foreign war offices, +and there was not a naval <I>attaché</I> at Washington but had received +imperative orders to leave nothing undone by which the exact nature of +the torpedo and its qualifications might be ascertained. But neither +Armitage nor the Department had any idea of permitting the slightest +information regarding the invention to escape. +</P> + +<P> +All matters connected with the invention had been carried forward with +the utmost secrecy, while the pedigree of every man employed in the +work had been investigated carefully. All but Yeasky were native-born +mechanics, and he had come from a great electrical plant in New Jersey +with highest recommendations as to character and ability. +</P> + +<P> +The sound of bells ringing for early mass was floating across the water +from the city, when Armitage, with a deep breath of relief, walked from +the table and threw himself with legs outstretched into a chair. +</P> + +<P> +"No," he said with a triumphant grimace, "there will be no mistake next +time. There was not a single fault in the model except—" He suddenly +started bolt upright and looked about him. Then he settled back +laughing. "A fine state of nerves," he added, "when I am afraid to +talk to myself." +</P> + +<P> +He arose with the pleasing design of enjoying a cold tub and a shave on +board the destroyer, the <I>D'Estang</I>, but the idea of pumping his water +did not accord with his mood. +</P> + +<P> +He walked over to Billy Harrison's house. Billy commanded the First +Flotilla and, being married, had quarters on the reservation. A drowsy +servant answered the bell. She said that the Harrisons were still +asleep. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, never mind," said Armitage, chuckling, "I'll be back later." +</P> + +<P> +Instead of going away he went around to the side, seized a handful of +gravel, and threw it into an open second story window. He could hear +it rattle against the wall and floor. A short silence followed and +Armitage was about to pick up more gravel when a girl in a green and +white dressing-gown appeared. +</P> + +<P> +"Jack Armitage!" she cried, falling to her knees, so that only her head +rose above the sill. "What on earth do you want now?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, hello, Letty," laughed Armitage. "Where 's Billy?" +</P> + +<P> +"He 's here, sleeping. What do you mean by throwing stones into my +window?" +</P> + +<P> +"I want to talk to Billy," said Armitage. +</P> + +<P> +"He's asleep, I tell you. What do you want?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I want to borrow your tub and Billy's razors." +</P> + +<P> +"Why didn't you say so? Ring the bell and come right up. I 'll have +some towels put in. And say, Jack, really—" +</P> + +<P> +"What?" +</P> + +<P> +"I hope you drown, waking me this way. And, Jack, stay to breakfast, +won't you, like a good chap?" +</P> + +<P> +Which Jack did. An hour or so later, fresh and cool and with that +comfortable feeling which follows a well-cooked Navy breakfast,—bacon +and eggs,—his pipe sending blue clouds into the sparkling air, +Armitage walked over to the torpedo boat slips. Across the harbor lay +the city, bathed in golden sunshine, the tree-clad streets rising tier +by tier to the crown, Bellevue Avenue. His gaze wandered seaward and +for the first time since sunset he thought of Anne Wellington. Would +he ever see her again? What was she doing now, he wondered. No doubt +she would attend service at Trinity; many of the cottagers did. He, +too, would go to church there. He had not been lately; it would do him +good, he told himself. +</P> + +<P> +Thus thinking, he stepped aboard the black, ominous, oily <I>D'Estang</I>, +made his way aft and clambered down the companion ladder. There was +the usual Sunday morning gathering of young officers from the boats of +the flotilla. The smoke, mainly from pipes—three weeks having elapsed +since pay day—was thick, and an excited argument, not over speeding +records, or coal consumption, but over the merits of an English +vaudeville actor who had appeared the week before at Freebody Park, was +in progress. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello, Jack," said a tall dark officer in spotless white uniform, "how +'s the tame torpedo this morning?" +</P> + +<P> +"Fine, fine, Blackie," grinned Armitage. "How's that tin cup, misnamed +the <I>Jefferson</I>, to-day?" +</P> + +<P> +"Did n't eat out of your hand last night, did she?" observed Tommy +Winston of the <I>Adams</I>, attired in blue trousers and a flannel shirt. +</P> + +<P> +"No, but she will," said Armitage. +</P> + +<P> +"No doubt," replied Winston with his quaint Southern drawl. "Look +here, Jackie, where you going this morning, all dressed up in gorgeous +cits clothes?" +</P> + +<P> +"To church," replied Armitage, "to Trinity; any one want to go with +me?" he asked, ignoring the derisive chorus. +</P> + +<P> +There was a moment's silence and then Bob Black looked at him +quizzically. +</P> + +<P> +"Does any one want to go with you?" he jeered. "Who 's the girl?" +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder—But seriously, I have never been to the service there and +since the Wellingtons asked me to drop into their pew any Sunday, I—" +</P> + +<P> +"The Wellingtons!" exclaimed Thornton of the submarine <I>Polyp</I>. "You +don't mean the Ronald Wellingtons?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, I don't mean any Wellingtons at all. I was joking. Why?" +</P> + +<P> +"Then you did n't hear of Thornton's run in with them last week?" said +Winston. "That's so, you were in Washington." +</P> + +<P> +"What was it, Joe?" asked Armitage, turning to Thornton. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, nothing much. Two of my men were arrested last Thursday for +assaulting the Wellington kids. It seems they were walking past +Bailey's Beach and the youngsters bombarded them with clam shells and +gravel. It would have been all right, but one of the shells caught +Kelly on the cheek and cut him. The men didn't do a thing but jump +over that hedge into the holy of holies, gather in the young scions, +and knock their heads together." +</P> + +<P> +"You don't say! What happened then?" +</P> + +<P> +"They were arrested and the chief sent over here. I got the men's +story and then called the Wellingtons' house on the telephone. Mrs. +Wellington's secretary answered. I told her who I was and that I +wanted to talk about the case with some one in authority. She asked me +to hold the wire and in a few seconds the queen herself was holding +pleasant converse with yours truly. +</P> + +<P> +"'You say the men are under your command?' she said. +</P> + +<P> +"I replied, 'Even so.' Then she gave me the name of her lawyer and +said Kelly and Burke would be prosecuted on every charge that could be +brought to bear." +</P> + +<P> +Armitage laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"Trust her! What did you say?" +</P> + +<P> +"I got hot under the collar right away, then. 'Mrs. Wellington,' I +said, 'my men were not to blame. If they were I should not have called +you on the 'phone. But your sons threw shells and cut one of them. +They were punished, and justly. And I now advise you I am going to +have counter warrants issued against your boys if the charge is pressed +in court to-day!' Just like that. +</P> + +<P> +"Her voice came crisp. 'You say my sons were at fault? Have you any +proof of that?' +</P> + +<P> +"I came back in a second. 'I have sufficient proof to convince even +your lawyer.' +</P> + +<P> +"'Very well,' she said. 'Then do it. I shall direct him to see you at +once. If what you say is true we will of course take no further +action.' +</P> + +<P> +"The case was dropped all right." +</P> + +<P> +"Bully for you," said Armitage. "My Lady evidently has a sense of +justice." +</P> + +<P> +"Here 's a paragraph," said Winston, holding up a local paper, "which +says that a physical instructor is wanted at The Crags. They are going +to prepare for future engagements with our men, evidently." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, let me tell you that Anne Wellington is a corker," observed +Black suddenly. +</P> + +<P> +"Anne Wellington?" said Armitage ingenuously. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," continued Black, "the daughter. I saw her at the Casino the +other day. She was joshing some little old rooster who was trying to +play tennis and she had him a mile up in the air. She 's beautiful, +too. That's more than you can say of most of these alleged society +beauties." +</P> + +<P> +"Which reminds me," said Armitage, glancing at his watch, "that I am +due for church. Come on, Joe," he added, "be a good chap." +</P> + +<P> +Thornton in the goodness of his nature arose. +</P> + +<P> +"All right," he said. "I'm game." Thornton had been a star full-back +at Annapolis when Armitage was an All America end, and he would have +gone to worse places than church for his old messmate. +</P> + +<P> +Nowadays he spent his time in sinking the <I>Polyp</I> among the silt on the +harbor bottom, for which work his crew received several dollars apiece, +extra pay, for each descent. Thornton received not even glory, unless +having gone to the floor of Long Island Sound with a President of the +United States be held as constituting glory. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +AT TRINITY +</H3> + +<P> +Old Trinity rests on the hillside, serene in the afterglow of its one +hundred and eighty-four years. The spotless white walls, the green +blinds, the graceful Colonial spire, are meetly set in an environment +which strikes no note of dissonance. On either side are quaint, narrow +streets, lined with decent door-yards and houses almost as old as the +church. Within the cool interior the cottagers, and representatives of +a native aristocracy—direct descendants of the English of the +sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, who are so conservative, so +proudly, scornfully aloof, that one would doubt they existed at all, +were it not for their stately homes in the older sections of the city, +where giant elms keep watch and ward over eave and column and dormer +window, where hydrangeas sweep the doorstep, and faun and satyr, rough +hewn, peer through the shrubbery—sit primly in the box-like pews with +the preacher towering above them under the white sounding board. +</P> + +<P> +The church was not half filled when Armitage and Thornton arrived, but +a double line of visitors were standing in the rear aisle. Armitage +caught the eye of one of the ushers and beckoned to him. But that +frock-coated, austere personage coldly turned his glance elsewhere and +Armitage had started forward to enlist his attention in a manner that +would admit of no evasion when his companion caught him by the sleeve, +chuckling. +</P> + +<P> +"Look here, old chap," he whispered, "you have to wait until they know +how many pew-holders are going to be absent. This is n't a theatre." +</P> + +<P> +Armitage turned his head to reply, when a rustling of skirts sounded +behind him and Thornton punched him in the ribs. +</P> + +<P> +"The Wellington bunch," he whispered, "and the Russian they have +captured." +</P> + +<P> +It was a fine entry, as circus folks say. First came Mrs. Wellington +in a simple but wonderfully effective embroidered linen gown, then her +two sons, likely enough boys, and then Anne Wellington with Prince +Koltsoff. She almost touched Armitage as she passed; the skirt of her +lingerie frock swished against his ankles and behind she left, not +perfume, but an intangible essence suggestive, somehow, of the very +personality of the cool, beautiful, lithe young woman. As Armitage +turned in response to Thornton's prod in the ribs, he met her eyes in +full. But she gave no sign of recognition, and of course Armitage did +not. +</P> + +<P> +The Wellingtons had two pews, according to the diagram on the rear +seats, and as Armitage followed the party with his eyes, he saw the +mother, her daughter, and the Prince enter one, the boys seating +themselves in the stall ahead. +</P> + +<P> +In the meantime the congregation had assembled in large numbers and the +body of the church as well as the side aisles were comfortably filled. +From time to time the ushers, with machine-like precision, took one or +two persons from the patiently waiting line of non-pew-holders and +escorted them to seats, a proceeding which began to irritate Armitage, +seeing which Thornton grinned and observed, <I>sotto voce</I>, that one +might worship here only at the price of patience. +</P> + +<P> +"It's the sheep and the goats, Jack," he whispered. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know about the sheep, but we 're the goats, all right," +replied Armitage, "and I for one am going to beat it right now." +</P> + +<P> +He had started for the door and Thornton was following when an usher +hurrying up touched him on the shoulder, bowing unctuously. +</P> + +<P> +"Miss Wellington," he said, "asked to have you gentlemen shown into the +Wellington pew." +</P> + +<P> +His voice clearly indicated that he felt he had been neglecting angels +unawares, to say nothing of a desire to atone for his indiscretion. +</P> + +<P> +The young men nodded as indifferently as the situation seemed to +require and followed the man to the stall in which the boys were +seated, who pushed in hospitably enough and then returned to their +prayer books. +</P> + +<P> +It must be said that two handsomer men, or men better constructed +physically, never sat together in old Trinity; Thornton a perfect, +brawny, rangy blonde; Armitage, shorter, better knit, perhaps, with +shoulders just as broad, and short crinkling brown hair surmounting his +squarely defined, sun-browned features. +</P> + +<P> +The sermon was somewhat revolutionary, but Anne Wellington paid but +slight attention. While the good clergyman warned his hearers of the +terrible reckoning which must eventually come from neglect by the upper +classes of the thousands born month after month in squalor and reared +amid sordid, vicious surroundings, the girl's eyes rarely wandered from +the two men in front of her. It was uplifting, conducive to healthful, +normal emotions to look at them, and such emotions were exactly what +she needed. +</P> + +<P> +Radiating, as it were, from Prince Koltsoff was an influence she did +not like. On the contrary, feeling its power, she had begun to fear +it. He attracted her peculiarly. She could not quite explain the +sensation; it was indefinable, vague, but palpable nevertheless. Then +he was high in the Russian nobility, upon terms of friendship with the +Czar, a prominent figure in the highest society of European capitals. +His wife would at once take a position which any girl might covet. +True, she would probably be unhappy with him after the first bloom of +his devotion, but then she might not. She might be able to hold him. +Miss Wellington flattered herself that she could. And if not—well, +she would not be the first American girl to pocket that loss +philosophically and be content with the contractual profits that +remained. A Russian princess of the highest patent of nobility—there +was a thrill in that thought, which, while it did not dominate her, +might eventually have that effect. +</P> + +<P> +At all events, she found it not at all objectionable that Prince +Koltsoff was apparently enamoured of her. Of this she was quite +certain. He had a way of looking his devotion. His luminous blue eyes +were wonderful in their expressiveness. They could convey almost any +impression in the gamut of human emotions, save perhaps kindliness, and +among other things they had told her he loved her. +</P> + +<P> +That was flattering, but the trouble was that so often his eyes made +her blush confusedly without any reason more tangible than that he was +looking at her. +</P> + +<P> +Anne Wellington was as thoroughly feminine as any girl that ever lived, +and had always gloried in her sex. She had never wished she were a +man. Still there is a happy mean for every normal American girl, and +already she had begun to wonder if the Prince was ever going to forget +that she was a woman and treat her as an ordinary human being, with the +question of sex in the abstract at least. +</P> + +<P> +Yet on the other hand there was that thrill which she could not deny. +She felt as though she were living through an experience and was +curious as to the outcome. With her, curiosity was a challenge. +Withal, for the first time in her life, she was afraid of herself. And +so she found her study of the two young men in front of her wholesome +and antiseptic, as Kipling says. +</P> + +<P> +As the preacher suddenly paused and then demanded in ringing tones what +those of the upper classes intended to do about the situation which he +had been eloquently portraying, a portly old gentleman whose breath +would have proclaimed that he had had a cocktail at the Reading Room +before service, heaved a loud, hopeless sigh. She saw Thornton nudge +Armitage with his shoulder and the replying grin wrinkle Jack's face. +Swiftly her eyes turned sideways to the Prince. He was sitting half +turned in the seat regarding her with worshipping gaze. She thrilled +under the contrast; compared to the men in front of her, Koltsoff was a +mere—yes, a mere monkey. What did he take her for, a school girl? +</P> + +<P> +Filled with her emotions, she impulsively opened a little gold pencil +with which she had been toying and wrote rapidly upon one of the blank +pages of her hymnal, which later she surreptitiously tore out. When +the service was ended and Armitage and Thornton with slight bows of +acknowledgment passed into the aisle, the girl leaned toward the +younger of her two brothers. +</P> + +<P> +"Muck," she said, "be a good chap and give this note to the dark-haired +man who sat next to you. Do it nicely, now, Muck, so no one will see +you. I'll pay you back for it. Hurry." +</P> + +<P> +Muck, who adored his sister, nodded and worked his way through the +departing worshippers until he came up with Armitage. He pushed the +note into the young officer's hand and as Armitage started in surprise +the boy nodded his head knowingly. +</P> + +<P> +"Say nothing," he warned. +</P> + +<P> +So well had the boy carried it through that not even Thornton observed +the incident. Armitage said nothing to enlighten him, but spread the +page open in his hand as though he had taken a memorandum from his +pocket. +</P> + +<P> +It was as follows: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="salutation"> +MY DEAR MR. PRIZE FIGHTER— +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +I was really serious the other day about your applying for the position +of physical instructor. My small brothers were mauled by sailors the +other day and mother is keen for some one who will teach them how to +obtain their revenge some day. You might see mother or her secretary +any morning after eleven. I have spoken to both about you. +<BR><BR> +A. V. D. W. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Twice Armitage read it and then he folded it carefully and placed it in +his breast pocket, a curious smile playing over his face. +</P> + +<P> +"We think," he said, addressing himself under his breath, as was his +wont upon occasion, "we think we shall keep this for future reference. +For we never know how soon we may need a job." +</P> + +<P> +It has been observed ere this how many truths are sometimes spoken in +jest. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +AN ENCOUNTER WITH A SPY +</H3> + +<P> +At the door of the church, Thornton met a retired rear admiral and his +wife, whose daughter he knew. So he paused and was affably solicitous +whether they found the glorious August weather conducive to their +general well-being. Armitage bowed and drew to one side, just as the +Wellington party passed out into the churchyard and walked down the +path to their motor panting at the curb. +</P> + +<P> +The Prince helped Mrs. Wellington and her daughter into the tonneau +with easy grace and then motioned the two boys to precede him. He was +not at all bad looking, Armitage decided. Tall and rather wasp-waisted +he was, nevertheless well set up, and his tailor easily might have left +a pound or so of padding out of the blue jacket and still have avoided +the impression that the Prince was narrow-backed. His manner certainly +bore every impress of courtly breeding and the insolence of rank was by +no means lacking, as Armitage learned the next instant, when a man +whose back was strangely familiar, suddenly appeared at Koltsoff's side +and, with hat in hand, essayed to address him. +</P> + +<P> +Armitage, watching eagerly, saw the Russian's form stiffen, saw his +eyes, as cold and steady as steel discs, fix themselves unseeingly over +the man's head, who bowed awkwardly and turning hurriedly with a +flushed face, stumbled against a horse post. +</P> + +<P> +A low exclamation leaped from Armitage's lips. He hesitated just an +instant and then fairly ran out of the doorway and down the path to the +street. He caught up with the fellow before he had gone a hundred +feet. Looking back to see that the Wellington car had gone, he touched +him on the arm. +</P> + +<P> +"Look here, Yeasky," he said, as the man wheeled in nervous haste, "who +was that chap you spoke to at that motor car?" +</P> + +<P> +Yeasky hesitated a moment and then looked the officer full in the eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"I do not know," he said; "I thought it was Commander Harris. I was +going to ask him about those coils which have not come yet. When I +found I mistook, I was ashamed." +</P> + +<P> +Armitage returned the electrician's gaze for a second. He was at a +loss. There was a slight resemblance between Harris and the Prince, to +be sure. Then, suddenly, as he recalled the incident at the Grand +Central Station and his fears of the previous evening, a wave of anger +swept over him and he thrust his face belligerently toward the workman, +the muscles of his right shoulder calling nervously for action. +</P> + +<P> +"Yeasky," he said, "you are lying. Who do you think you are up +against,—a child?" He shook his finger in the man's face. "Now +quick; tell me what business you had with that man." Yeasky drew +himself up with an air of offended dignity not altogether compatible +with his putative station in life. Armitage noticed it and pressed on. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you hear?" he said in a low tense voice. He was already past +saving; he had never been a diplomat. "Hurry up, speak, or I 'll knock +your Polack head off." +</P> + +<P> +Before the man could reply, Thornton, who had hurried up, interposed. +</P> + +<P> +"What's the matter, Jack? Did this gentleman have the misfortune to +demand all of the sidewalk?" +</P> + +<P> +Armitage replied over his shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +"You go along, Joe, and leave this to me. I saw this man trying to +talk to that Russian Prince—and he's employed on confidential work in +the shops." +</P> + +<P> +"I know, Jack," said Thornton soothingly, placing his hand on +Armitage's shoulder. "But it is n't policy to get into a street fight +about it, you know, old chap." +</P> + +<P> +"It wouldn't be a fight," began Armitage sneeringly. He turned +suddenly toward Yeasky. "I have been pestered and worried for a week +now. I know I was shadowed in New York. Now that I 've a clue I am +not going to let go of it." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course not," said Thornton, "but you don't want to go off half +cocked. Remember you were up all last night. Just heave to a second. +Has anything happened at the shops?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," said Armitage, cooling a bit, "not that I know of. But this +fellow's doing inside work here on the torpedo and I saw him talking to +that Russian." +</P> + +<P> +"Talking?" +</P> + +<P> +"I mean he tried to. He says he thought the man was Harris, and he +wanted to ask him about some coils. That was too fishy for me." +</P> + +<P> +"Did the Prince talk to him?" +</P> + +<P> +"No; snubbed, ignored him." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh," smiled Thornton. "Well, I say, Jack, honestly I think you might +be wrong. Harris does suggest that Prince chap; I thought so in +church. Of course you can decide about this fellow's future in the +shops, as you think best. But you really can't do anything here." +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose you are right," said Armitage reluctantly. He nodded toward +the man. +</P> + +<P> +"Yeasky, if you are straight, meet me at the storekeeper's office at +three o'clock this afternoon. I hope by that hour to be in a position +to apologize to you. In the meantime," his good nature, as with all +persons of warm temperament, speedily returning, "if I have wronged +you, I am sorry." +</P> + +<P> +"You have wronged me," replied Yeasky. "But I understand your +feelings. I shall certainly meet you at three o'clock." +</P> + +<P> +"Three, sharp." And Armitage, with Thornton's arm drawn through his, +walked down the street. +</P> + +<P> +Yeasky stood watching them for a second and then clapping his hand to +his pocket a smile spread slowly over his face. He followed the two +stalwart officers for a few steps and paused irresolutely. Then, +without further hesitancy, he walked rapidly to Spring Street and +thence to the Hotel Aquidneck, where he entered the telephone booth. +When he emerged he paid toll on five charges. +</P> + +<P> +This done he went into the writing-room and called for a small piece of +wrapping paper and twine. When it came he took from his pocket a +bulky, heavy object, done up in a newspaper. Without removing this, +he wrapped it neatly in the manila paper, bound it securely, and +addressed it in printed letters. He sat for a moment looking +thoughtfully at the package. Then he drew a sheet of note paper toward +him, cut off the hotel heading and dipped his pen in the ink. +</P> + +<P> +He began: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +Vassili Andreyvitch, I am sending you by messenger as you instructed +over the telephone, the vital part. There is nothing more to do and I +leave Newport this hour, for excellent reasons. I was seen trying to +address you this morning, so watch out. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Yeasky read this last sentence again and then the thought that he would +be confirmed as a bungler in his superior's mind occurred to him. He +inked out the sentence, muttering that Koltsoff must take care of +himself, as he had had to do, and then resumed his writing. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +When you get this I shall be in parts unknown. I begin to fear I am +suspect. You can reach me care of Garlock, Boston, to-night, and +Blavatsky, Halifax, on Wednesday. On that day I go via the Dominion +Line to England and thence to the secret police office in St. +Petersburg. Forgive, I pray, this haste, but I have done all there is +to be done. I accept your congratulations—and now having no desire to +pose as the centre of a diplomatic situation, I go—Au Revoir. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +He called a messenger, despatched the package and the letter, and +within half an hour was in a trolley car bound for Fall River. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +MISS WELLINGTON CROSSES SWORDS WITH A DIPLOMAT +</H3> + +<P> +As Koltsoff, who had been summoned to the telephone, returned to the +morning-room of the Wellington house, he looked about him with a +triumphant gleam in his eye. He loved the part he was playing in +Newport, a part, by the way, which he had played not always ineptly in +other quarters of the world. He loved mystery; and like many Russians, +the fact that he was a part, the centre, of any project of +international emprise, questionable or otherwise, was to him the very +breath of life. Innuendo, political intrigue, diplomatic +tergiversation—in all these he was a master. Nor did he neglect the +color, the atmosphere. Here was his weakness. Vague hints, a +significant smile here, a shrug there, a lifting of the brows—all +temptations too great for him to resist, had at times the effect of +setting his effectiveness in certain ventures partially if not +completely at naught. Temperamental proclivities are better for their +absence among the component elements of a diplomat's mental equipment. +</P> + +<P> +He had now in contemplation a genuine <I>affaire du coeur</I>. Thus far, +everything had gone well. He sighed the sigh of perfect +self-adjustment, sign of a mind agreeably filled, and stretching out +his legs picked up a volume of Bourget. He fingered the pages idly for +a few minutes and then laid it aside and half closed his eyes, nodding +and smiling placidly. He sat thus when Anne Wellington entered. +</P> + +<P> +Rays of sunlight, flooding through the windows glorified the girl, made +her radiant as a spirit. And the Prince, who, if genuine in few +things, was at least a true worshipper of beauty, was exalted. He +arose, bowed slightly, and then advanced with wonderful charm of manner. +</P> + +<P> +"My dear Miss Wellington," he murmured, "you come as the morning came, +so fresh and so beautiful." +</P> + +<P> +"How polite of you," smiled the girl. "If our men were so facile—" +she opened one of the French windows and stepped out on the veranda, +looking over the restless waters to the yellow-green Narragansett hills. +</P> + +<P> +"So facile?" asked Koltsoff, following. +</P> + +<P> +"—So facile in their compliments, I am afraid we should grow to be +unbearable." She paused and smiled brightly at the Prince. "And yet +women of your country are not so; at least those whom I have met." +</P> + +<P> +"That," replied the Russian, turning his eyes full upon hers, "is +because we are discriminating, if, as you say, facile." +</P> + +<P> +Anne flushed and laughed and then dropped lightly into a big wicker +chair, conscious that Koltsoff had not withdrawn his gaze. She leaned +forward and flicked her skirts over her ankles, nervously pulled a +stray wisp of hair from her neck. Then she slowly met the eyes of the +man standing at her side and propounded an inquiry having to do with +nothing less banal than his views of America thus far. Prince Koltsoff +tossed his head and thus threw off the question. This amused the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"Really," she said, "don't you find a remarkable resemblance between +Newport and the Isle of Wight? At least—pray sit down, won't you—I +have found them very like." +</P> + +<P> +Prince Koltsoff seated himself daintily in a chair at her side and his +face lit under the influence of a triumphant thought. +</P> + +<P> +"You speak of the Isle of Wight, Miss Wellington, neglecting one great +point of difference. Newport possesses you. They are, therefore, to +me, totally different." He waved one hand slightly and drew his +cigarette case from his pocket with the other, glancing at the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, certainly," she said, "please smoke." +</P> + +<P> +"But the difference," pursued Koltsoff, "don't you think it remarkable +that it should be so apparent to me?" +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know," she said, glancing down at the toes of her slippers, "I +am not sufficiently inter—" She stopped abruptly and shrugged her +shoulders. "Oh, let us be impersonal, Prince Koltsoff, it is so much +nicer." +</P> + +<P> +The Prince frowned. +</P> + +<P> +"But, please," he said, "I wish to be personal. Am I at fault if I +find you interesting? Character is one of my most absorbing studies. +I am rather scientific. I see sometimes in persons, more than others +see who are not so observing, or scientific, as you please." He lit +his cigarette. "In you, for instance." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Wellington, caught off her guard, started. The flash of a smile +crossed Koltsoff's face. His inclination to show off, to reveal his +cleverness, triumphed over his small supply of tact. +</P> + +<P> +"I! 'For instance'! What do you mean, Prince Koltsoff?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, this morning at your church. As hidden depths of character +reveal themselves—" the Prince raised his eyes. "That billet—shall +we say <I>billet doux</I>?" He raised his shoulders and let them fall +slowly. "Women! Ah! most interesting!" +</P> + +<P> +For a moment Anne maintained her expression of mild inquiry, but within +she was mentally perturbed. Irritation succeeded and she resolved to +punish him for his insolence, even at the risk of indiscretion. +</P> + +<P> +"You see many things, do you not?" she said, mockingly. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," he agreed, following her lead, "I see very, very many things. +It is a faculty. It has been most useful." +</P> + +<P> +"I should not flatter myself that I alone possessed that faculty, +Prince Koltsoff, if I were you." She leaned forward, her chin upon her +hand and gazed thoughtfully seaward. "I also am not sightless." +</P> + +<P> +She leaned back in her chair languidly and watched the Prince's change +of expression with open amusement. +</P> + +<P> +"So, you have found it worth while to observe me? I am quite +flattered." His impression that she had discharged a random shot grew +with his words and soon became conviction. "I thank you." +</P> + +<P> +Anne laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"You are quite welcome to all you received—in the way of my interest +in you. It is only fair, however, to suggest that we do not always +obtain information concerning our friends—'you, for instance,'" she +mimicked him perfectly, "through general observation. Some things may +obtrude themselves, don't you know, in the most—what was your word? +Oh, yes, 'scientific'—the most unscientific manner." +</P> + +<P> +The Prince looked at her intently. +</P> + +<P> +"You are speaking in innuendo, Miss Wellington," he replied. His tone +was low and rapid. +</P> + +<P> +"I am speaking quite truthfully, Prince Koltsoff," she said, with an +inflection of emphasis. +</P> + +<P> +"How could I doubt that!" He bowed. "That is why I am certain that you +will be more explicit." +</P> + +<P> +"There, you really don't insist, do you?" He saw a malicious light in +her eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"My dear Miss Wellington, most assuredly I do insist. I—I beg your +pardon—I do more: I demand. Certainly it is my right." +</P> + +<P> +Anne was all mischief now. +</P> + +<P> +"Very well, then, I am able to inform you that you were in Newport +incog, several days before you came to us. Do you conceive my right to +call this to your attention, in view of the fact that you told us you +had just arrived from Washington?" +</P> + +<P> +Prince Koltsoff, as though absorbing her meaning, sat motionless, +gazing at her steadily. Then he leaned forward and placed his hand on +hers for a moment. +</P> + +<P> +"Miss Wellington, you have done well. I pride myself on some +diplomatic experience. You have negotiated your <I>coup</I> in a manner +worthy of a De Staël. You would adorn the service. I wonder if you +realize the possibilities of your future in an international sphere. +To you I have no fear of talking. Listen, then." +</P> + +<P> +Unconsciously the girl bent toward him. +</P> + +<P> +"I am a diplomat," he continued. "There are things which—" he lifted +his brows. "Newport—the French ambassador is here; the German +ambassador is at Narragansett Pier, and I—who knows where I am—and +why? But some day—" +</P> + +<P> +He drew a long breath. "Rest content now, Miss Wellington, that I am +progressing toward the gratitude of my Government; you shall hear more. +Of course," he waved his hand, "I have spoken for your ear." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course," said Miss Wellington, calmly, but inwardly curious +nevertheless. "Should you care to walk to the stables?" +</P> + +<P> +He nodded and then walking beside her he continued impulsively: +</P> + +<P> +"I am not a soldier, Miss Wellington. But all victories are not won on +the battlefields. The art—one of the arts—of diplomacy is to bring +on war, if war must be, when you are ready and your adversaries are +not. There are other functions. Let it be so. I but observe that one +may wield things other than the sword and better than the sword, to +serve one's country." +</P> + +<P> +"I quite believe you." There was enthusiasm in her voice. "You may +never expect the glory of the soldier, and yet how glorious the work +must be! The matching of wits instead of guns, and then—you have the +opportunity of winning the victories of peace—" +</P> + +<P> +"Of which the world seldom hears," interpolated the Prince. +</P> + +<P> +"But that makes it finer," she said. "Have we any real diplomats, +who—oh, I don't know—make themselves felt in the inner circle of +things: men that we—that the country—does not know of, who are doing +the—the things you are?" +</P> + +<P> +The Prince smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know really. You have the 'new diplomacy' which is shouting +what other people whisper—or keep to themselves—and <I>le gros +gourdin</I>—the laughable big stick; it amuses us more than it impresses, +I assure you." He regarded the girl closely and she smiled +questioningly. +</P> + +<P> +"You do not flush! You are not irritated?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Why should I be? What do you mean?" +</P> + +<P> +"I was speaking lightly of your country." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, were you? I did not notice. I fear I am used to that, having +spent much time in Europe." +</P> + +<P> +The Prince looked at her curiously. She colored. +</P> + +<P> +"No," she said, "I do not go in strongly for the <I>furore Americanus</I>, +if that is what you mean." +</P> + +<P> +"So. Your country must look to its <I>bourgeoise</I> for its Joans of Arc. +But then your men are ungallantly self-sufficient. In Russia," the +Prince shrugged his shoulders, "we send women to Siberia—or decorate +them with the Order of St. Katherine." +</P> + +<P> +"You actually shame me, Prince Koltsoff. We are different here; even +our suffragettes would by no means allow devotion to their cause to +carry them to jail; and as for influencing statesmen, or setting their +plans at naught—" she shook her head—"why, I do not even know who +they are. They are not in our set," laughing. "Really, we are pretty +much butterflies from your—from any—viewpoint, are n't we? But after +all, why?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, why?" He turned to her suddenly. "Do you love your country, Miss +Wellington?" +</P> + +<P> +"What an absurd question! Of course I do." +</P> + +<P> +"Easily answered," replied the Prince, "but think a moment. I said +<I>love</I>. That love which inspired your women to send their sons and +husbands to die for their country in your Civil War; the love that +exalted Charlotte Corday. Have you breathed the quicker when you saw +your flag in foreign lands?" He looked at her strangely. "Would you +loathe the man you loved if you learnt he had injured your country? +Think, Miss Wellington." +</P> + +<P> +"Your fervor renders it quite impossible for me to think; if it will +satisfy you I will say I don't believe I begin to know what patriotism +is. Yet I would not have you think I am altogether shallow. Sir +Clarence Pembroke has praised my grasp of British affairs. I have +always regarded that as quite a compliment." +</P> + +<P> +"You have reason. You know, we know, that the American woman who would +move in the tense affairs of the world must find her opportunity in +Europe. It does not exist here." +</P> + +<P> +"And never can exist, in a republic, I imagine," said the girl, "at +least in a republic constituted as ours is." +</P> + +<P> +"No, surely not. By-the-bye, who is your Secretary of the Navy? Your +Attorney-General?" +</P> + +<P> +"Help!" cried the girl in mock despair. "Really, Prince Koltsoff, I +must ask you to consider your demonstration of my unfitness to even +consider myself an American complete. Further humiliation is +unnecessary. At least I suppose I should feel humiliated. But +somehow, I 'm not. That's the pitiable part of it." +</P> + +<P> +"And yet, Miss Wellington, have you ever considered what would lie +before you with your,—pardon me,—your beauty and your wit, in Europe?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, I never have," said Anne not quite truthfully. "Please, Prince +Koltsoff, let us change the subject." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +WHEN A PRINCE WOOS +</H3> + +<P> +But Prince Koltsoff evidently deemed it expedient to obey the letter, +not the spirit, of the wish. An ardent lover of horses, he gave +himself wholly to them when they arrived at the stables, conversing +freely with the grooms and going over the various equines with the +hands and eyes of an expert. +</P> + +<P> +When at length they strolled from the stables to a little wooded knoll +near the boundary of the estate, commanding a view of the main road, +which ran straight for a quarter of a mile and then dived into the +purple hills with their gray out-jutting rocks, the girl, who had been +left pretty much to her own thoughts, felt in ever-growing degree the +disadvantage at which she had been placed in the course of their +conversation. She had sat, it seemed, as a child at the feet of a +tutor. At least in the mood she had developed, she would have it so. +The thought did not please her. And then she began to burn with the +memory that on the veranda the Prince had placed his hand upon hers and +that for some reason beyond her knowledge, she had permitted it to +remain so until he had withdrawn it. +</P> + +<P> +This sufferance, she felt, had somehow affected, at the very outset, a +degree of tacit intimacy between them which would not otherwise have +occurred in a fortnight, perhaps never. But he had done it with an +assurance almost, if not quite, hypnotic, and he had removed his +hand—a move, she recognized, which offered more opportunities for +bungling than the initial venture—with the exact degree of +insouciance, of abstraction, but at the same time not without a slight +lighting of the eyes expressive alike of humility and gratitude. +Lurking in her mind was an irritation over the position in which she +had been placed, and her only solace was the thought that her revenge +might be taken when Koltsoff tried it again, as she had no doubt he +would. +</P> + +<P> +If she had analyzed her emotions she would have been obliged to face +the disagreeable truth that she, Anne Wellington, was jealous. Jealous +of a stable of horses! After all, introspection, however deep, might +not have opened her eyes as to the basic element of her mood, for +jealousy had never been among the components of her mental equipment. +At all events she was, as she would have expressed it, "peeved." Why? +Because he had held her hand—and talked to her like a school girl. +</P> + +<P> +But silence, smilingly indifferent, was the only manifestation of her +state of mind. If he noticed this he said nothing to indicate that he +did, but resumed his conversation as though no interruption had +occurred. And curiously enough even her simulation of indifference +disappeared as he turned to her, bringing words and all the subtle +charm of his personality to bear. Strange elation possessed him and +she yielded again as freely as before to that indescribable air of the +world which characterized his every action and word. He spoke English +with but the faintest accent. Once he lapsed into French, speaking as +rapidly as a native. Anne caught him perfectly and answered him at +some length in the same tongue. Koltsoff stopped short and gazed at +her glowingly. +</P> + +<P> +"There, you have demonstrated what I have been trying to say so poorly. +Permit me to carry on my point more intimately. Yes, it is so; you are +typically an American girl. But wherein do such young women, such as +you, my dear Miss Wellington, find their <I>métier</I>? In America? In New +York? In Newport? No. They are abroad; the wives of diplomats, +cabinet ministers, or royal councillors of France, Germany, Austria, +Italy, and," the Prince bowed slightly, "of my native land. Here, what +lies before you? Ah," he stooped and snatched a bit of clover, "I have +seen, I have studied, have I not? Washington, what is it to you? A +distant place. And its affairs? Bah, merely items to be skipped in +the newspapers. As you have admitted, you know nothing of them. You +do not know your cabinet officers; and so you marry and—and what do +you Americans say?—settle down." +</P> + +<P> +"How knowingly you picture us," smiled the girl. +</P> + +<P> +The Prince waved his hands. +</P> + +<P> +"You travel, yes, but at best, most significantly, your lives are +narrow. You are wives and mothers, living in ruts as well-defined as +those of your most prosaic middle-class women. What do you know of the +inner world, its moving affairs? Who of you can read the significance, +open though it may be, of the cabled statement or speech of a prime +minister, in relation to America?" +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps our opportunities or incentives do not exist," replied the +girl gravely. "I have heard father say ours is a government of +politicians and not statesmen." +</P> + +<P> +"Precisely, that is it. But in Europe, where conditions are different, +what do we find? Lady Campbell in Egypt—an American girl; the +Princess Stein in St. Petersburg; the Marquise de Villiers in France; +Lady Clanclaren in London—oh, scores, all American girls, some of whom +have made their influence felt constructively, as I can personally +assure you. American history is so uninteresting because there is not +a woman in it." +</P> + +<P> +"You know the Marquise de Villiers!" exclaimed the girl. "Won't you +tell me, sometime, all about her? How interesting her story must be! +I have heard garbled versions of the Berlin incident." +</P> + +<P> +"I do know her," the Prince smiled, as he thought how intimate his +knowledge was, "and I shall delight in telling you all about her +sometime. But now," he continued, "allow me to carry on my thought. +You travel—yes. You even live abroad as the, ah, butterfly—your own +word—lives. I know. Have not I heard of you! Have I not followed +you in the newspapers since I saw your face on canvas! I read from a +<I>dossier</I> that I formulated concerning you." He drew a notebook from +his pocket and glanced at the girl. "May I?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is yours," was the reply. +</P> + +<P> +"January," he read, "Miss W. is tobogganing in Switzerland. February, +she is viewing the Battle of Flowers at Nice. March, she is at Monaco, +at Monte Carlo—ah! April, Miss W. has arrived in Paris. May and +June, she is in London. July, she is attending English race meetings +with young Clanclaren—" the Prince paused with a sibilant expulsion of +breath. "I must not read my comment." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, you must, please. I never heard of such a romantic Russian!" +</P> + +<P> +The Prince raised his eyebrows and glanced at the book—"with young +Clanclaren, damn him! August," continued Koltsoff hurriedly, drowning +her subdued exclamation, "at Clanclaren's Scotch shooting box. +September, she is again in England, deer stalking—most favored deer! +October, November, she is riding to hounds in England. December, she +is doing the grand tour of English country houses." The Prince paused. +"So, our acquaintance—my acquaintance with you—is of more than a few +days. I have known you for more than a year. Do you find it not +agreeable?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not agreeable! I don't know. I am—I—I—oh, I don't know, it seems +almost uncanny to me." +</P> + +<P> +"Not at all, my dear Miss Wellington. Surely not uncanny. Let us +ascribe it to the genius of Sargent; to the inspiration of a face on +canvas." +</P> + +<P> +"But you really haven't known me at all. You—" +</P> + +<P> +He interrupted. +</P> + +<P> +"Know you! Ah, don't I! I know you above these trivial things. The +world of affairs will feel the impress of your personality, of your +wit, your intellect—of your beauty. Then vale the idle, flashing days +of pleasure. Iron will enter into your life. But you will rejoice. +For who is there that finds power not joyous? Ambassadors will confide +in you. Prime ministers will forget the interests of their offices." +He paused. "Who knows when or how soon? But it shall be, surely, +inevitably.… I wonder," he was speaking very slowly now, "if you +will recognize your opportunity." +</P> + +<P> +"Who knows," she said softly. The Prince remained silent, looking at +her. She seemed to feel the necessity of further words but was wholly +without inspiration. She glanced down the road and saw a boy in blue +toiling along on a bicycle. Her exclamation was out of all proportion +to the event. +</P> + +<P> +"A messenger boy! He brings word from father—we expect him to-morrow, +you know." +</P> + +<P> +"He brings no word from your father," replied the Prince mysteriously. +"His errand concerns me. You shall see." They moved to the gate and +the boy alighting, glanced at the two with his alert Irish eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, does a fellow named Koltsoff live here?" +</P> + +<P> +"I am he; give me the package, boy. It is prepaid—very well; here is +something for you," tossing the urchin a quarter. +</P> + +<P> +"Thanks," said the boy, who suddenly paused in the act of remounting +his wheel and clapped his hand to his pocket. "Here's a letter, too." +</P> + +<P> +As he rode away the two slowly retraced their steps. +</P> + +<P> +"You will pardon me if I read this note?" +</P> + +<P> +Anne, strangely abstracted, nodded, and Koltsoff tore open the +envelope. As he read the letter his brow darkened. +</P> + +<P> +"Gone!" he muttered. Then he read the letter again. +</P> + +<P> +Yeasky would not have departed without the best of reasons. He held +the inked-out line to the light but could make nothing of it. He +walked along beside the girl in deep thought. His hands trembled. He +knew that in his possession was that which represented the triumph of +his career. There were few honors which a grateful Government would +withhold from him. Besides, it meant the probable rehabilitation of +the prestige of the Russian arms; that thought thrilled him no less, +for he was a patriot. +</P> + +<P> +And yet amid all his exaltation indecision filled him. Duty pointed a +direct and immediate course to St. Petersburg. Other emotions dictated +his remaining at The Crags. The package could not be intrusted to the +express companies. It must be carried personally to Russia. And +yet—and yet he could not leave Newport now. Just a little while! He +must wait. To his Czar, to his country, he owed haste; to himself he +owed delay. Which debt should he cancel? Suddenly with a sharp upward +turn of the head he dismissed all conflicting thoughts from his mind, +refused utterly to allow them to remain, and turned to the girl. They +were entering a small grove of trees. +</P> + +<P> +An inspiration had flashed over him, dominant, compelling. He spoke +impulsively, almost wildly; so much so that Anne stopped, startled. In +his outstretched hand the package was within a few inches of her face. +</P> + +<P> +"Miss Wellington," he cried, "we were speaking of opportunities, but a +while ago. May I call upon you now? I have said I am not in Newport +for pleasure alone. A great matter has been consummated. I hold it in +my hand. Who can trust servants? My valet? No! Who? Can I trust +you. Miss Wellington? Can I place my honor, my life, in your hands, +for a week, not more?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, I—" began Anne. +</P> + +<P> +"Is it then too much to ask?" +</P> + +<P> +"I hope not, Prince Koltsoff. Tell me and then I can judge." +</P> + +<P> +"So!" and Koltsoff held out the package to her. "Keep this for me. +Let no one know where it is except myself. Keep it until I ask for it. +If matters arise of such nature to prevent my asking, keep it still. +Keep it!" Koltsoff was now acting as he loved to act. "Keep it until +I ask for it; or until I am dead. If the latter, throw it over the +cliffs. My country is on the verge of a war with—with you may guess +whom. Japan, no less. That, that which you hold in your hand is the +heart of our hopes." He paused. +</P> + +<P> +He was really sincere. His desire was to forestall any defeat of his +plans by having the package out of his hands until such time as he +would leave Newport. One of his valets had once been successfully +bribed. But equally did he desire that the girl should have a bond of +interest akin to his; through this, he knew, must lie the success of +that understanding which alone kept him from following Yeasky out of +Newport forthwith. +</P> + +<P> +But the girl could not know this. Her pride in sharing in so intimate +a way a matter which she believed to—and for that matter, really +did—affect the policy of a great empire, held her spellbound. There +was the feminine delight, too, in being on the inner side of a mystery. +</P> + +<P> +She nodded mechanically. "I shall do as you ask," she said. +</P> + +<P> +The Prince sprang forward, caught her hands and pressed upon them hot, +lingering kisses. +</P> + +<P> +"Into these hands," he said, "I commit my destiny and my honor." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +ARMITAGE CHANGES HIS VOCATION +</H3> + +<P> +Half an hour after the incident at Trinity, Armitage hurried from the +little ferry boat which had just landed him at the Torpedo Station and +made his way to the house of the storekeeper, who was out, of course. +He had gone to Providence, his wife said, and would return about four +o'clock. +</P> + +<P> +Armitage took the key to the shops, only to find when he entered that +the storekeeper's books were in the safe, the combination to which he +did not know. This by no means improved his temper and he began to +blunder about the office in a dragnet search. Finally, when he found +himself kicking over chairs which were in his way in his aimless +course, the humor of the situation came to him. He sat down upon a +tool chest and laughed aloud. +</P> + +<P> +Clearly, there was nothing for him to do in the absence of +Jackson—except go to his dinner; which he did. A few minutes before +three o'clock, he went to the office again and sat down to wait for +Yeasky. He gave the man half an hour overtime and then nodded grimly +and dismissed any lingering notion he might have entertained concerning +his honesty. +</P> + +<P> +When the storekeeper appeared some time later, Armitage was still at +his desk idly drawing diagrams on a pad. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Jackson," he said, "I hate to bother you to-day, but things have +happened which seem to make it necessary to check those parts now—" +Armitage arose briskly. +</P> + +<P> +The storekeeper waved his hands. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I checked them up this morning," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"Everything straight?" snapped Armitage. +</P> + +<P> +"Why—yes," Jackson fumbled in his desk. "Here is the sheet." +</P> + +<P> +Armitage seized it and glanced up and down the various items. +</P> + +<P> +"Bully work, Mr. Jackson!" He looked up with a sigh of relief. +"Everything seems correct. George! That takes a load off my mind. +Let's see." He went down the list with his finger. "I understand you, +don't I?" he said, handing the sheet to the storekeeper. +</P> + +<P> +"Understand?" +</P> + +<P> +"I mean, this is a list taken from the tally sheet of parts, all of +which you have found to be in the office? In other words," he added +rapidly, "everything that appears on this sheet is now, at the present +time, inside this office?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes—everything, except—" the storekeeper paused an instant, looking +at Armitage with sudden doubt. +</P> + +<P> +"Except what?" cried the officer impatiently. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, that special core of the magnetic control. You have that, +haven't you? It is n't in the shop." +</P> + +<P> +"Is n't in the shop! Well, where the devil is it then?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why," exclaimed the storekeeper, "no one ever handled that but you. +Not even Yeasky. You never let any one even see it. I remember how +careful you have been about that." +</P> + +<P> +"I know," Armitage rose from his chair. "But it was never out of the +shop. It was always in the big safe. Have you looked there?" He +turned to Jackson hopefully. +</P> + +<P> +But the storekeeper shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you sure you have looked everywhere?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is not in the shop—I thought sure you must have it. Does it—was +it vitally important?" +</P> + +<P> +"Important!" Armitage threw himself into a chair and put his feet on +the desk. "Well, Jackson, I fancy you might call it so. Damn!" +</P> + +<P> +The storekeeper whistled. +</P> + +<P> +"I shall have the rooms of the workmen searched." +</P> + +<P> +"Just one room, please; and quickly, will you?" rejoined Armitage, +"Yeasky's. He is the only man who would have known its value. Give my +compliments to the superintendent and ask him for some one to help you." +</P> + +<P> +As the storekeeper departed, Joe Thornton entered the office. +</P> + +<P> +"Any luck, Jack?" +</P> + +<P> +"Rotten! The magnetic control of the model is gone. I was right this +morning and you were wrong, Joe. Yeasky got it. Why did n't I keep my +hands on him, when I had him! Something told me to." +</P> + +<P> +"The deuce!" Thornton regarded his friend with a grave face. "Is it +very serious? Does it give the whole snap away?" +</P> + +<P> +"It gives about ninety per cent more away than pleases me. It would +take some genius long nights of labor to supply the other ten per cent +even with the aid of the plans which no doubt Yeasky has copied. That +is, there are one or two things that I kept off the paper—kept in my +head." He paced up and down the floor. "But other men have heads, +too. That thing has got to be returned, the quicker the better." +</P> + +<P> +"Well," Thornton smiled encouragingly. "Yeasky can't get out of the +country—and he 'll be caught before he dopes the thing out. Even if +he has mailed or expressed it, it can be held up before it leaves this +country. You had the control in the model torpedo last night. Have +you wired?" +</P> + +<P> +"I 've sent a general call to the secret service for him, to Boston, +New York, and Washington. They are holding the telegrams, as long as +letters, at the telegraph office for release. I 've also a wire to the +Department on file, telling what has happened. I wrote before I knew +what was gone, so I would n't have to lie in case he took what he did +take." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," agreed Thornton, "there is no use in letting on how bad it +really is." +</P> + +<P> +Thornton was growing quite optimistic. +</P> + +<P> +"Yeasky can't get away; you 'll have the thing back here within three +days." +</P> + +<P> +Armitage smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"Not through capturing Yeasky. He hasn't it now. You don't suppose he +is enough of a fool to risk being caught with the goods, do you? He +got that thing off his hands, quick." +</P> + +<P> +"Transferred it! Who to?" +</P> + +<P> +Armitage shrugged his shoulders. +</P> + +<P> +"To Prince Koltsoff." +</P> + +<P> +"Koltsoff! How do you know?" +</P> + +<P> +"How do I know anything that isn't as plain as a pikestaff? Common +sense! Prince Koltsoff has that thing right now." Armitage grinned. +"The noble guest of the house of Ronald Wellington playing the spy—and +rather successfully. Quite an interesting society item, eh?" +</P> + +<P> +Thornton did not smile. +</P> + +<P> +"Look here, old man, what is your drift? Prince Koltsoff! Old boy, +this is serious! It is nothing to smile about. Say, do you know what +this means?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, no!" said Armitage sarcastically. "Oh, I don't mean the loss to +yourself and the Government, I mean the politics of it. Jack, every +nation knows about that torpedo. You know the <I>attachés</I> that have +been snooping round here on one pretence or another since you have been +working. Japan knows about it; you know her situation with Russia. +Russia gets your torpedo—what's Japan going to do? What will England +say? How can the Government prove it was stolen? Oh, we can say so +but we 'd say so anyway, would n't we? How will you look?" Thornton +threw up his hands and confronted Armitage. "I tell you, Jack, it's a +nasty mess. Your status in the matter will size up about like a pin +point at Washington. You 've got to catch Yeasky, somehow." +</P> + +<P> +"Fine, bright boy!" Armitage twisted a newspaper in his hands, broke +it, and tossed the two ends away. "I don't want Yeasky, I tell you. +You 're off the track. I want Koltsoff. The secret service fellows +can go after Yeasky. It's perfectly certain he turned that control +over to Koltsoff, after, if not before, I held him up. He knew he was +suspected. Anyway, the Russian was undoubtedly here to receive it. +Why else would he be here?" +</P> + +<P> +"Anne Wellington, so the <I>Saunterer</I> says." +</P> + +<P> +Armitage turned quickly upon his friend and brother officer. +</P> + +<P> +"Anne, nothing!" he fairly snarled. "I remember about Koltsoff now. +Worcester was once <I>attaché</I> at St. Petersburg and told me all about +him last summer. He 's just a plain, ordinary, piking crook. But he +'s up against the wrong kind of diplomacy this time. I 'll get him +before he leaves Newport and choke that magnetic control out of him. +Come over to the <I>D'Estang</I> a minute, Joe; I want to show you +something.… Well, Mr. Jackson, cleaned out? I thought so. Thank +you, I am going to be away for a few days. Don't let anything be +touched, please. Let the work stop until I return. Come on, Joe." +</P> + +<P> +In his cabin on the <I>D'Estang</I>, Armitage pointed to several more or +less disreputable garments lying on his berth. +</P> + +<P> +"Say," he said, "would a candidate for physical instructor for the +Wellington boys wear such clothes?" +</P> + +<P> +Thornton looked hard at his friend for a minute and then his face +broadened into a huge smile of understanding. "Not if he wanted the +job," he said. "You 'll make more of a hit as you are." +</P> + +<P> +"All right, and now, Joe, go into the yeoman's office like a good chap, +pick out a time-stained sheet of paper and typewrite a letter, signing +your name as captain of the 19— football eleven at Annapolis, saying +that the bearer, Jack—Jack—who?" +</P> + +<P> +"McCall," suggested Thornton. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, McCall—saying that Jack McCall had given great satisfaction as +trainer for the eleven and was honest and God-fearing; you know how to +do it." +</P> + +<P> +"All right," said Thornton, starting for the door. He paused in the +corridor. "Say, Jack, do you know you're taking all this mighty +light?" He frowned. "This is serious." +</P> + +<P> +Armitage frowned too. +</P> + +<P> +"I know, but I 'll be serious enough before it's over, I reckon." +</P> + +<P> +"You will," said Thornton dryly. "How do you expect to get the job +anyway?" +</P> + +<P> +Armitage shrugged his shoulders. +</P> + +<P> +"Leave that to me," he said. "Oh, Joe, are you going to be on the +island for supper?" +</P> + +<P> +"No—not for supper," he said. "I 'll be over from Newport about +eleven o'clock though." +</P> + +<P> +"All right, drop aboard then, will you? I want to see you." +</P> + +<P> +"Right-o," said Thornton. +</P> + +<P> +For some time after his departure Armitage sat writing a document, +covering the case to date, outlining his plans, his suspicions and the +like. It turned out to be lengthy. He sealed it in an envelope, +labelled it, "Armitage vs. Koltsoff," and locked it in a small safe in +the yeoman's room. +</P> + +<P> +One of the engineer's force came in to say that they had made progress +in repairing the boiler baffle plates, designed to keep the funnels +from torching when under high speed, but that they were at the point +where advice was needed. +</P> + +<P> +Armitage arose, put on a suit of greasy overalls, and went into the +grimy vitals of the destroyer, a wrench in one hand, a chisel in the +other. In about ten minutes he had solved the problem, explained it to +the mechanics gathered about him, and then demonstrated just how simple +the remedial measures were. All torpedo boat officers do this more +often than not. It explains the blind fidelity with which the crews of +craft of this sort accompany their officers without a murmur under the +bows of swiftly moving battleships or through crowded ocean lanes at +night without lights, with life boats aboard having aggregate capacity +for about half the crew. +</P> + +<P> +Armitage was alone at supper, his junior taking tea aboard a German +cruiser in the harbor. With the coffee he lighted a cigar and half +closed his eyes. He marvelled at the strange thrill which had +possessed him since Thornton had gone. The loss of that control was +something which justified the gravest fears and deepest gloom. And +yet—and yet—whenever he thought about it he saw, not Yeasky, nor +Koltsoff, nor the torpedo—just a tall, flexible girl, with wonderful +hair and eyes and lips. He puffed impatiently at his cigar. Hang it +all, he had gone to church that morning because he felt he had to see +her, and the morrow had been a blank because he knew he should not be +able to see her again. But now, well, it looked as though he should +see her; swift blood tingled in his cheeks. +</P> + +<P> +Precisely at eleven Thornton looked in. Armitage gave him the +combination of the safe, told him about the letter, and explained how +he expected to obtain employment. They parted at midnight. +</P> + +<P> +"Good-night, Jack," said Thornton, placing his hand affectionately on +his brother officer's shoulder. "Now don't forget to dodge the +interference and tackle low. And if you want me, 'phone. Consider me +a minute man until you return." +</P> + +<P> +"Thanks," replied Armitage. "Oh, Joe, will you mail this letter to the +Department?" His voice lowered as he added half humorously, "It seems +almost a shame to set the dogs on a man who may prove to be a +benefactor." +</P> + +<P> +"What?" asked Thornton. +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing; good-night, Joe." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER X +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +JACK MCCALL, AT YOUR SERVICE +</H3> + +<P> +Armitage landed in Newport by the eight o'clock boat and calling a hack +drove out to the house of the chief of police. The chief was at +breakfast and came to the door with his napkin in his hand. He greeted +his visitor with a broad smile of welcome. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello, Lieutenant," he said. "What's doing? Another of your boys you +want turned loose?" +</P> + +<P> +"Good-morning, Chief. No, not exactly. May I talk to you a minute?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sure." The chief glanced about the dining room and closed the door +with his foot. "Talk as much as you like." +</P> + +<P> +Armitage glanced at the chief with an admiring smile. He had never +ceased to wonder at the multifarious qualities which enabled the man to +remain indispensable to native and cottager alike. Courteous, +handsome, urbane, diplomatic, debonair, when a matron of the very +highest caste sent for him to enlist his efforts in the regaining of +some jewel, tiara, or piece of <I>vertu</I>, missing after a weekend, he +never for a moment forgot that it was all a bit of carelessness, which +the gentlest sort of reminder would correct. This is to say that he +usually brought about the return of the missing article and neither of +the parties between which he served as intermediary ever felt the +slightest embarrassment or annoyance. No wedding was ever given +without consulting him as to the proper means to be employed in +guarding the presents. He was at once a social register, containing +the most minute and extensive data, and an <I>index criminis</I>, unabridged. +</P> + +<P> +As Armitage talked, the chief's eyes lighted and he nodded his head +approvingly from time to time. +</P> + +<P> +"I see," he said. "It's rather clever of you. I 'll hold myself for +any word. I can do more: I know Mrs. Wellington quite well. You can +ask her to call me for reference if you wish. I 'll make you out a +fine thug." +</P> + +<P> +"That 'll be fine, although I may not need you. In the meantime have +your men keep an eye out for Yeasky. And," Armitage paused, "if +Koltsoff—never mind; we 've first to prove our case." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, that would be about the wisest thing you could do," observed the +chief. "Good luck." +</P> + +<P> +An hour later Armitage stood in the servants' sitting-room confronting +Miss Hatch, Mrs. Wellington's secretary, who was viewing him, not +without interest. +</P> + +<P> +"Mrs. Wellington will see you, I think," she said. "She usually +breakfasts early and should be in her office now." +</P> + +<P> +Armitage had an engaging grin which invariably brought answering smiles +even from the veriest strangers. So now the crisp, bespectacled young +woman was smiling broadly when Armitage shrugged his shoulders. +</P> + +<P> +"Mrs. Wellington?" he said. "I had an idea I should have to see Mr. +Wellington." +</P> + +<P> +"By no means," asserted the secretary. "Wait a moment, please." +</P> + +<P> +In a few minutes the young woman returned and nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"Will you come with me, please?" +</P> + +<P> +She led the way up a winding pair of stairs and down a long hall with +heavy crimson carpet, turning into a room near the rear of the house. +Mrs. Wellington was at her desk looking over a menu which the +housekeeper had just submitted. She glanced up as the two entered, her +face unchanging in expression. +</P> + +<P> +"This is Mr. McCall," said the secretary, who without further words +went to her desk and unlimbered the typewriter. +</P> + +<P> +As Mrs. Wellington brought Armitage under her scrutiny, which was long, +silent, and searching, he felt as he did upon his first interview with +the Secretary of the Navy. However, no one had ever accused him of +lack of nerve. +</P> + +<P> +"You apply for the position of physical instructor to my sons," she +said at length. "How did you know we wanted one?" +</P> + +<P> +Armitage, caught for the instant off his guard, stammered. +</P> + +<P> +"I—at least Miss—I mean I read it in one of the papers." +</P> + +<P> +"Hum," replied Mrs. Wellington, "a rather misleading medium. Correct +in this instance, though." +</P> + +<P> +"I believe it was an advertisement," said Armitage. +</P> + +<P> +"What qualifications have you?" +</P> + +<P> +Armitage smiled easily. +</P> + +<P> +"I have taught boxing, wrestling, and jiu-jitsu in Southern athletic +clubs," he said, "and I trained the 19— navy team at Annapolis." +</P> + +<P> +He submitted Thornton's eloquent testimonial. Mrs. Wellington laid it +aside after a glance. +</P> + +<P> +"Where is your home?" +</P> + +<P> +"Louisville, Kentucky, ma'm." +</P> + +<P> +"What have you been doing in Newport? I remember having seen you at +church yesterday morning." +</P> + +<P> +"I came up to see Winthrop of the Harvard Graduate Advisory Committee +on Athletics about getting the job as trainer for the football team +next month. He is away." +</P> + +<P> +"Were you ever in college?" asked Mrs. Wellington. +</P> + +<P> +Armitage assumed a look of embarrassment. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," he said, "but unless you insist I had rather not say where or +why I left." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Wellington sniffed. +</P> + +<P> +"I thought so," she observed drily. "What would you do for my sons?" +</P> + +<P> +Armitage was on his favorite topic now. +</P> + +<P> +"I 'd try to convince them that it pays to be strong and clean in mind +and body—" he began earnestly, when a rustle of skirts and the click +of footsteps at the threshold caused him to turn. Anne Wellington, in +an embroidered white linen frock, stood framed in the doorway, smiling +at them. +</P> + +<P> +"Pardon me, mother," she said, "but I am in a dreadful fix." She +glanced toward Armitage. "This is our new physical instructor, is it +not?" +</P> + +<P> +"He has applied for the position," said Mrs. Wellington, not altogether +blithely. +</P> + +<P> +"How fortunate—" began the girl and then stopped abruptly. "That is," +she added, "if he can drive a car." +</P> + +<P> +"I helped make automobiles in Chicago," Armitage ventured. +</P> + +<P> +"Good!" exclaimed Anne. "You know, mother, Rimini has gone to New York +to receive that Tancredi, and Benoir, the second chauffeur, is in the +hospital. I must have a driver for a day or so. He may for a while, +may he not, mother?" She nodded to Armitage. "If you will go out to +the garage, please, I shall have Mr. Dawson give you some clothing. I +think he can fit you. I—" +</P> + +<P> +"One moment, Anne," interrupted her mother. "You do run on so. Just +wait one moment. You seem to forget I am, or at least was, about to +engage McCall as a physical instructor, not a <I>mécanicien</I>." Mrs. +Wellington was fundamentally opposed to being manoeuvred, and her +daughter's apparent attempt at <I>finesse</I> in this matter irritated her. +She was fully bent now upon declining to employ Armitage in any +capacity and was on the point of saying so, when Anne, who had +diagnosed her trend of mind, broke in. +</P> + +<P> +"Really, mother, I am perfectly sincere. But this situation, you must +admit, was totally unexpected—and I must have a driver, don't you +know. Why, I 've planned to take Prince Koltsoff, oh, everywhere." +</P> + +<P> +This won for her. Mrs. Wellington even when irritated was altogether +capable of viewing all sides of a matter. +</P> + +<P> +"Very well," she said. "I shall consider the other matter. When you +are through with McCall, let me know." +</P> + +<P> +Anne's eyes sparkled with relief. +</P> + +<P> +"Mother, you are a dear." She walked over and touched her +affectionately on her arm. "McCall, if you will go out to the garage, +Mr. Dawson will show you your room and give you some clothes. I may +want you any time, so please don't go far from the garage." +</P> + +<P> +As Armitage passed out, guided by Miss Hatch, Mrs. Wellington turned to +her daughter. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Anne," she said, "he lied and lied and lied. But I do believe +some of the things he said and some he did n't. I believe him to be +honest and I believe he will be good for the boys. He himself is a +magnificent specimen, certainly. But I don't reconcile one thing." +</P> + +<P> +"What is that, mother?" +</P> + +<P> +"He is a gentleman and has been bred as one; that is perfectly evident." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, no doubt," replied her daughter with apparent indifference. "One +of the younger son variety you meet in and out of England, I fancy." +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose so," said Mrs. Wellington. "Is that why you invited him to +sit with us in church? Why you spoke to him on the <I>General</I>? Why you +wanted me to employ him?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know," replied Anne frankly. "He interested me. He does yet. +He is a mystery and I want to solve him." +</P> + +<P> +"May an old woman give you a bit of advice, Anne? Thank you," as her +daughter bowed. "Remember he is an employee of this house. He sought +the position; he must be down to it. Keep that in your mind—and don't +let him drive fast. In the meantime, how about his license?" +</P> + +<P> +Anne stamped her foot. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, dear!" she exclaimed. "I forgot all about that beastly license. +What can we do?" She faced her mother. "Mother, can't you think of +something? I know you can arrange it if you will." +</P> + +<P> +"Well," said her mother thoughtfully. Suddenly she looked at her +secretary who entered at the moment. "Miss Hatch, you might get Chief +Roberts on the 'phone—right away, please. Now, Anne, I am getting +nervous; you had better go." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, mother." Anne dropped a playful curtsey and left the room, +smiling. +</P> + +<P> +Half an hour later, Armitage, squeezed into a beautifully made suit of +tan whipcord, his calves swathed in putees, and a little cap with vizor +pressing flat against his brows, was loitering about the garage with +Ryan, a footman, and absorbing the gossip of the family. Prince +Koltsoff was still there and intended, evidently, to remain for some +time. This information, gained from what Anne Wellington had said to +her mother, had relieved his mind of fears that his quarry had already +gone, and he would have been quite at his ease had not the thought that +the fact of Koltsoff's presence here rather argued against his having +the control in his possession, occurred to him. Still, if the Russian +had any of the instincts of a gentleman he could hardly break away from +the Wellingtons at such short notice, and certainly not if he was, as +Thornton surmised, interested in the daughter. Talk about the garage +left him in no doubt of this. +</P> + +<P> +If the Prince had the missing part he would do one of three things: +hold onto it until he left; mail it; or express it to St. Petersburg. +Benoir, he had learned, carried the Wellington mail as well as express +matter to the city, mornings and afternoons. In his absence, Armitage +was, he felt, the logical man for this duty. So he did not worry about +these contingencies. He had knowledge that up to eight o'clock that +morning no package for foreign countries had been either mailed or +expressed; this eliminated the fear, which might otherwise have been +warrantable, that the package had already been sent on its way to +Europe. Besides, no man of Koltsoff's experience would be likely to +trust the delivery of so important an object to any but his own hands. +Thus the probabilities were that the thing was at this minute in the +Prince's room. If all these suppositions were wrong, then Yeasky had +it. Armitage knew enough of the workings of the Secret Service Bureau +to know that if the man got out of the country he would be an elusive +person indeed, especially as he had a long, livid scar across his left +cheek which could not be concealed with any natural effect. +</P> + +<P> +But, somehow, the conviction persisted in Armitage's mind that the +Prince had the control. In the short time he had spent at The Crags +this impression had not diminished; it had increased, without definite +reason, to be sure; and yet, the fact remained. He would find out one +way or another shortly. His room, not in the servants' wing, was on +the third floor, right over the apartments of the Wellington boys, +which in turn were not far from Koltsoff's suite. It would not be long +before a burglary would be committed in the Wellington house. At this +thought, Armitage thrilled with delightful emotions. +</P> + +<P> +In the meantime he addressed himself to the task of gleaning further +information concerning the family into whose employ he had entered. He +learned that while Mr. Wellington and his daughter were devoted to +motoring, Mrs. Wellington would have none of it, and that the boys were +inclined to horses also. Ronald Wellington left things pretty much to +his wife and she was a "Hellian," as Ryan put it, to those about her +who were not efficient and faithful. But otherwise, she was a pretty +decent sort and willing to pay well. +</P> + +<P> +"What sort are the boys?" asked Armitage, recalling that his duties +with them might begin at any time. +</P> + +<P> +"Master Ronald, the oldest, is stuck on himself," replied Ryan. "He +ain't easy to get along with. Master Royal, the youngster, is as fine +a little chap as ever lived. Ronald is learning himself the cigarette +habit; which is all right—the quicker he smokes himself to death the +better, if he was n't after learnin' young Muck, as every one calls +him, to smoke, too. They do it on the quiet here in the garage, +although it's against the rules." +</P> + +<P> +"Why don't you stop them then?" asked Armitage. +</P> + +<P> +Ryan shrugged and laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"If we stopped them we 'd be fired for committin' insult and if they +'re caught here we 'll be fired for lettin' 'em smoke. That's the way +with those who work for people like the Wellingtons—always between the +devil and the deep sea." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I don't know," said Armitage, whose combative instincts were now +somewhat aroused, "I don't think people get into great trouble for +doing their duty, whoever they work for." +</P> + +<P> +The footman grinned. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," he said, "you 'll know more about that the longer you 're here." +</P> + +<P> +As he spoke, the boys under discussion entered the doorway and seating +themselves upon the running board of a touring car, helped themselves +to cigarettes from a silver case which the elder took from his pocket. +They lighted them without a glance at the two men and had soon filled +the atmosphere with pungent smoke. +</P> + +<P> +"Do they do this often?" asked Armitage at length, turning to Ryan and +speaking in a voice not intended to be hidden. +</P> + +<P> +The footman grinned and nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"Against the rules, isn't it?" persisted Armitage, much to Ryan's +evident embarrassment, who, however, nodded again. +</P> + +<P> +The older boy took his cigarette from his mouth and rising, walked a +few steps toward the new chauffeur. He was a slender stripling with +high forehead, long, straight nose, and a face chiefly marked by an +imperious expression. In his flannels and flapping Panama hat he was a +reduced copy of such Englishmen as Armitage had seen lounging in the +boxes at Ascot or about the paddock at Auteuil. +</P> + +<P> +"Were you speaking of us, my man?" he said. +</P> + +<P> +A gleam of amusement crossed Armitage's face. +</P> + +<P> +"I—I believe I was, my boy. Why?" +</P> + +<P> +A corner of the youth's upper lip curled and snapping the half-burnt +cigarette into a corner he took another from the case and lighted it. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh," he said nodding, "you are the new man. Impertinence is not a +good beginning. I 'm afraid you won't last." +</P> + +<P> +Armitage crossed quickly to the discarded cigarette which was +smouldering near a little pool of gasoline under a large can of that +dangerous fluid, and rubbed the fire out with his foot. Returning, he +confronted the boy, standing very close to him. +</P> + +<P> +"Look here, son," he said quietly, "that won't do a bit, you know. +It's against the rules, and besides," jerking his head in the direction +of the gasoline can, "you have n't any sense." +</P> + +<P> +Ronald's emotions were beyond the power of words to relieve. As he +stood glaring at Armitage, his face devoid of color, his eyes green +with anger, the chauffeur placed his hand gently upon his arm. +</P> + +<P> +"You can't smoke here, I tell you. There 's a notice over there to +that effect signed by your father. Now throw that cigarette away; or +go out of here with it, as you like." +</P> + +<P> +By way of reply, Ronald jerked his arm from Armitage's grasp and swung +at his face with open hand. It was a venomous slap, but it did not +come within a foot of the mark for the reason that Jack deftly caught +the flailing arm by the wrist and with a powerful twist brought young +Wellington almost to his knees through sheer pain of the straining +tendons. As this happened, the younger brother with a shrill cry of +rage launched himself at Armitage, who caught him by the waist and +swung him easily up into the tonneau of the touring car. +</P> + +<P> +Ronald had risen to his feet and in cold passion was casting his eye +about the garage. A heavy wrench lay on the floor; he stepped towards +it, but not too quickly for Armitage to interpose. Slowly the latter +raised his finger until it was on a level with the boy's face. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, stop just a minute and think," he said. "I like your spirit, and +yours, too, kid," he added, gazing up at the tonneau from which the +younger Wellington was glaring down like a bellicose young tiger, "but +this won't go at all. Now wait," as Ronald tried to brush past. "In +the first place, if your mother hears you have been smoking in the +garage—or anywhere else—you 'll get into trouble with her, so Ryan +has told me. And I don't believe that's any fun.… Now—listen, +will you? I am employed here as physical instructor for you chaps, not +as a chauffeur—although your sister has been good enough to press me +into service for a day or two—and I imagine I 'm going to draw pay for +making you into something else than thin-chested cigarette fiends. I +can do it, if you 'll help. How about it?" he said, smiling at Ronald. +"Will you be friends?" +</P> + +<P> +Ronald, who had worked out of his passion, sniffed. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you, I had rather not, if you don't mind. I think you will find +that you don't like your place." +</P> + +<P> +"Well," said Armitage affably, "then I can leave, you know." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, you can, all right; it 'll be sooner than you think. Come on, +Muck," and the older brother turned and left the garage. +</P> + +<P> +Muck, who for the past few seconds had been gazing at Armitage with +wide eyes, slipped down from the car and stood in front of him. +</P> + +<P> +"Say," he exclaimed, "you 're the fellow I gave that note to in +church—the one from my sister—are n't you?" +</P> + +<P> +He grinned as Armitage looked at him dumbly. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't be afraid," he said. "I shan't tell. Sister gave me a +five-dollar gold piece. I thought you did n't act like a chauffeur. +Say, show me that grip you got on Ronie, will you? He has been too +fresh lately,—I want to spring it on him. Can I learn it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not that one." Armitage took the boy's hand, his thumb pressing back +of the second knuckle, his fingers on the palm. He twisted backward +and upward gently. "There 's one that's better, though, and easier. +See? Not that way," as the boy seized his hand. "Press here. That's +right. Now you 've got it. You can make your brother eat out of your +hand." +</P> + +<P> +"Thanks!" Muck left beaming, searching for his disgruntled +brother—and Armitage had made a friend. +</P> + +<P> +A minute later Royal, or Muck, as his nickname seemed to be, thrust his +head into the garage. "You 're not going to say anything to mother +about the cigarettes, are you?" +</P> + +<P> +"That's the best guess you ever made," smiled Armitage. "You and I 'll +settle that, won't we?" +</P> + +<P> +"Rather," replied the boy, who departed with a nod. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you 've done it," said Ryan, gazing at Armitage admiringly. +"Master Ronald will raise hell!" +</P> + +<P> +Armitage shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't care, I just had to devil that rooster. He was insufferable. +I—" +</P> + +<P> +The telephone bell rang, and Ryan, with a significant I-told-you-so +grimace took up the receiver. A second later a smile of relief lighted +his face. +</P> + +<P> +"Very well. Thank you, sir," he said, and turned to Armitage. +</P> + +<P> +"The butler, Mr. Buchan, says that Miss Wellington would have you bring +out her car at once. She don't want any footman." +</P> + +<P> +Armitage arose with a thrill which set his ears tingling, cranked the +motor, and within a minute was rolling out of the garage. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE DYING GLADIATOR +</H3> + +<P> +She was waiting, when Armitage, who was leaning back in his seat in the +most professional manner, shut off power under the <I>porte cochère</I> and +glanced at her for directions. +</P> + +<P> +"To Mrs. Van Valkenberg's," she said. "Do you know where she lives?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, I don't, Miss Wellington." +</P> + +<P> +"No matter, I 'll direct you." +</P> + +<P> +As they entered the Ocean Drive through an archway of privet, Miss +Wellington indicated a road which dived among the hills and disappeared. +</P> + +<P> +"Drive quite slowly," she said. +</P> + +<P> +It was a beautiful road, dipping and rising, but hidden at all times by +hills, resplendent with black and yellow and purple gorse, or great +gray bowlders, so that impressions of Scotch moorlands alternated with +those of an Arizona desert. The tang of September was in the breeze; +from the moorlands which overlooked the jagged Brenton reefs came the +faint aroma of burning sedge; from the wet distant cliff a saline +exhalation was wafted. It was such a morning as one can see and feel +only on the island of Newport. +</P> + +<P> +As an additional charm to Anne Wellington, there was the tone of time +about it all. From childhood she had absorbed all these impressions of +late Summer in Newport; they had grown, so to speak, into her life, had +become a part of her nature. She drew a deep breath and leaned forward. +</P> + +<P> +"Stop here a moment, will you please." +</P> + +<P> +They were at the bottom of a hollow with no sign of habitation about, +save the roof of a villa which perched upon a rocky eminence, half a +mile to one side. +</P> + +<P> +"Will you get out and lift the radiator cover and pretend to be fixing +something, McCall? I want to talk to you." +</P> + +<P> +Without a word, Jack left his seat, went to the tool box and was soon +viewing the internal economy of the car, simulating search for an +electrical hiatus with some fair degree of accuracy. +</P> + +<P> +The girl bent forward, her cheek suffused but a humorous smile playing +about her face. +</P> + +<P> +"McCall," she said, "I feel I should assure you at the outset that I am +quite aware of certain things." +</P> + +<P> +Armitage glanced at her and then quickly lowered his eyes. She gazed +admiringly at his strong, clean face and the figure sharply defined by +the close-fitting livery. +</P> + +<P> +"Your name is not McCall and I have not the slightest idea that you are +by profession a physical instructor, or a driver either." +</P> + +<P> +Armitage unscrewed a wrench and then screwed the jaws back into their +place. +</P> + +<P> +"We are what conditions make us, Miss Wellington," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, that is true," she replied, "but tell me truthfully. Did you +seek employment here only because of my—of my interest in—I mean, +because of the note I wrote, or did you come because my note put you in +the way of obtaining a needed position?" +</P> + +<P> +Armitage started to speak and then stopped short. "Oh," he said +finally, "I really needed the position." +</P> + +<P> +The girl gazed at him a moment. Armitage, bending low, could see a +patent leather pump protruding from the scalloped edge of her skirt, +tapping the half-opened door of the tonneau. +</P> + +<P> +"You will then pardon me," she said, "if I call to your mind the fact +that you are now employed as driver of my car: I feel I have the right +to ask you who you really are." +</P> + +<P> +"Your mother—Mrs. Wellington, catechised me quite fully and I don't +think I could add anything to what I told her." +</P> + +<P> +"And what was that? I was not present during the inquisition," said +the girl. +</P> + +<P> +Armitage laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, I told her I was Jack McCall, that I came from Louisville, that I +had trained the Navy eleven of 19—." +</P> + +<P> +An exclamation from the girl interrupted him and he looked up. She was +staring at him vacantly, as though ransacking the depths of memory. +</P> + +<P> +"The Navy eleven of 19—," she said thoughtfully. Then she smiled. +"McCall, you are so clever, really." +</P> + +<P> +Armitage's eyes fell and he fumbled with the wrench. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you," he said, dubiously. +</P> + +<P> +"Not at all, McCall," she said sweetly. "Listen," speaking rapidly, "I +have always been crazy over football. Father was at Yale, '79, you +know." She studied his face again, and then nodded. "When I was a +girl, still in short dresses, father took a party of girls in Miss +Ellis's school to Annapolis in his private car to see a Harvard-Navy +game. A cousin of mine, Phil Disosway, was on the Harvard team. They +were much heavier than Annapolis; but the score was very close, +particularly because of the fine work of one of the Navy players who +seemed to be in all parts of the field at once. I have forgotten his +name,"—Miss Wellington gazed dreamily over the hills,—"but I can see +him now, diving time after time into the interference and bringing down +his man; catching punts and running—it was all such a hopeless fight, +but such a brave, determined one." She shrugged her shoulders. +"Really, I was quite carried away. As girls will, I—we, all of +us—wove all sort of romantic theories concerning him. Toward the end +of the game we could see him giving in under the strain and at last +some coaches took him out. He walked tottering down the side lines +past our stand, his face drawn and streaked with blood and dirt. I +snapshotted that player. It was a good picture. I had it enlarged and +have always kept it in my room. 'The Dying Gladiator,' I have called +it. I wonder if you have any idea who that girlhood hero of mine was?" +</P> + +<P> +"Was he a hero?" Armitage was bending over the carburetor. He waited +a moment and then as Miss Wellington did not reply he added; "Now that +you have placed me, I trust I shan't lose my position." +</P> + +<P> +"I always knew I should see you again," said the girl as though she had +not heard Armitage's banality. "I know now why I spoke to you on the +<I>General</I> and why I wrote you that note in church." Her slipper beat +an impatient tattoo on the door. "But why," she began, "why are you +willing to enter service as a physical instructor, or motor car driver? +I don't un—" +</P> + +<P> +Armitage interrupted. +</P> + +<P> +"Your mother asked me if I had been in college. I told her I had, but +that I preferred not to say where, or why I left." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!" she said, and her eyes suffused with pity. "I am so sorry. But +you <I>must</I> tell me one thing now. Was your leaving because of—of +anything—that would make me sorry I had found—" she smiled, but +looked at him eagerly—"the subject of the Dying Gladiator?" +</P> + +<P> +"I hope not." +</P> + +<P> +"You are not certain?" +</P> + +<P> +"Miss Wellington, there are certain reasons why the position you helped +me to obtain was vitally necessary. I am a dependant in your house. I +can assure you that you will never find anything half so grievous +against me as that which you have already found—your 'Dying Gladiator' +a servant. You must think of that." +</P> + +<P> +"But I am not so deluded as to think you cannot explain that" cried the +girl. "How foolish! You are not a servant, never were, and I am sure +never will be one. And I know you have n't sneaked in as a yellow +newspaper reporter, or magazine writer," tentatively. "You are not a +sneak." +</P> + +<P> +"No, I have not the intention, nor the ability, to make copy of my +experiences," said Armitage. +</P> + +<P> +"Intention!" echoed the girl. "Well, since you suggest the word, just +what was, or is, your intention then?—if I may ask." +</P> + +<P> +Armitage straightened and looked full at the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"Suppose I should say that ever since that morning on the <I>General</I> I +had—" Armitage hesitated. "I reckon I 'd rather not say that," he +added. +</P> + +<P> +"No, I reckon you had better not," she said placidly. "In the +meantime, how long do you intend staying with us before giving notice?" +</P> + +<P> +Armitage did not reply immediately. He stood for a moment in deep +thought. When he looked up his face was serious. +</P> + +<P> +"Miss Wellington, I have neither done nor said anything that would lead +you to believe that, whatever I may have been, I am now in any way +above what I appear to be, with the Wellington livery on my back. I +say this in justice to you. I say it because I am grateful to you. +You may regard it as a warning, if you will." +</P> + +<P> +For a moment she did not reply, sitting rigidly thoughtful, while +Armitage, abandoning all pretence at work, stood watching her. +</P> + +<P> +"Very well," she said at length, and her voice was coldly conventional. +"If you have finished your repairs, will you drive me to Mrs. Van +Valkenberg's? Follow this road through; turn to your left, and I 'll +tell you when to stop." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Sara Van Valkenberg was one of the most popular of the younger matrons +of Newport and New York. As Sara Malalieu, daughter of a prime old +family, Billy Van Valkenberg had discovered her, and their wedding had +been an event from which many good people in her native city dated +things. Van Valkenberg was immensely wealthy and immensely wicked. +Sara had not sounded the black depths of his character when he was +killed in a drunken automobile ride two years before, but she had +learned enough to appreciate the kindness of an intervening fate. +</P> + +<P> +Now she lived in an Elizabethan cottage sequestered among the rocks a +short distance inland from the Ocean Drive. She was very good to look +at, very worldly wise, and very, very popular. She was thirty years +old, an age not to be despised in a woman. +</P> + +<P> +When Miss Wellington's car arrived at the cottage, Tommy Osgood's motor +was in front of the door, which was but a few feet from the road. With +an expression of annoyance, Anne ran up the steps and rang the bell. +The footman was about to take her card when Mrs. Van Valkenberg's voice +sounded from the library. +</P> + +<P> +"Come in, Anne, we saw you coming." +</P> + +<P> +Anne entered the apartment and found her friend reclining in all her +supple ease, watching flushed-face Tommy, who had been attempting to +summon his nerve to tell her how little he cared to continue his course +through the world without her, which was just what she did not wish to +have him do, because Tommy was a manly, likable, unassuming chap and +had much yet to learn, being several years her junior. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Tommy," said Anne, "I wanted to speak to Sara alone for a moment." +</P> + +<P> +"Tommy was on his way to the polo field," said Mrs. Van Valkenberg, +suggestively. "Now he need have no further excuse for being civil to +an old lady." +</P> + +<P> +"By George," said Tommy, "that's so, I must be on my way." And he +went, not without some confusion. +</P> + +<P> +Sara watched him through the window as he walked to his car. +</P> + +<P> +"Poor, dear boy," she said. She turned to Anne with a bright smile. +"What is it, dear?" +</P> + +<P> +"Prince Koltsoff is with us, as you know. I think mother would be +pleased if I married him. I don't know that I am not inclined to +gratify her. I have n't talked to father yet." +</P> + +<P> +"Then he has not told you about the Russian railroad thingamajigs he is +gunning for?" asked Mrs. Van Valkenberg. +</P> + +<P> +"Really!" Anne's eyes were very wide. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I don't know anything about it," said Sara hastily. "Only—the +men were speaking of it at the Van Antwerps', the other night. And how +about Koltsoff?" +</P> + +<P> +"His intentions are distressingly clear," said Anne. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Van Valkenberg whistled. +</P> + +<P> +"Congratulations," she said with an upward inflection. "You 've no +idea—" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, sh's'sh!" exclaimed Anne. "Don't try to be enthusiastic if you +find it so difficult. Anyway, there will be nothing to justify +enthusiasm if I can help it." +</P> + +<P> +"Really!" Sara regarded the girl narrowly. "If you can help it! What +do you mean?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know exactly what I do mean," Anne laughed nervously. "He is +so thrillingly dominant. He had not been in the house much more than +thirty hours before he had lectured me on the narrowness of my life, +indicated a more alluring future, kissed my hand, and reposed in me a +trust upon which he said his future depended. And through all I have +been as a school girl. He 's fascinating, Sara." She leaned forward +and placed her hand upon her friend's knee. "Sara—now don't laugh, I +'m serious—" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not going to laugh, dear; go on." +</P> + +<P> +"Sara, you know the world.… I thought I did, don't you know. But +I 'm a child, a perfect simpleton. I said Prince Koltsoff was +fascinating; I meant he fascinates me. He does really. Some time when +he gets under full headway he is going to take me in his arms—that's +the feeling; also that I shall let him, although the idea now fills me +with dread." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, Anne!" +</P> + +<P> +"I know," continued the girl, "isn't it too absurd for words! But I am +baring my soul. Do you marry a man because his eyes seem to draw you +into them?—whose hand pressure seems to melt your will? Is that love?" +</P> + +<P> +Sara regarded the girl for a few minutes without speaking. Then she +lifted her brows. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Is</I> it love?" she said. "Ask yourself." +</P> + +<P> +Anne shrugged her shoulders and grimaced helplessly. +</P> + +<P> +"It might be, after all," she said. "I am sure I don't know." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, it might be," smiled Sara; "it's a question in which you must +consider the personal equation. I am rather finicky about men who +exude what seems to pass for love. They don't make good husbands. The +best husband is the one who wins you, not takes you. For heaven's +sake, Anne, when you marry, let your romance be clean, wholesome, +natural; not a demonstration in psychic phenomena, to use a polite +term." +</P> + +<P> +Anne smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, it is n't as bad as that. I—I—oh, I don't know what to say, +Sara. His family, don't you know, are really high in Russia, and +Koltsoff himself is close to the reigning family, as his father and +grandfather were before him. It is rather exciting to think of the +opportunity—" Anne paused and gazed at the older woman with feverish +eyes. "And yet," she added, "I never before thought of things in this +way. I have always been quite content that coronets and jewelled court +gowns and kings and emperors and dukes and," she smiled, "princes, +should fall to the lot of other women. I am afraid I have been too +much of an American—in spite of mother—" +</P> + +<P> +"Who really underneath is a better American than any of us," said Mrs. +Van Valkenberg. She had arisen and was standing looking out of the +window, toying with the silken fringe of the curtain. "There's hope +for you, Anne.… Of course I shan't advise you. I could n't, +don't you know, not knowing Prince Koltsoff." She paused and gazed +eagerly in the direction of Anne's car. Her lips framed an +exclamation, but she checked it. "By-the-bye, Anne," she said, "I see +you have a new driver." +</P> + +<P> +Anne nodded absently. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes. Mother employed him this morning as physical instructor to the +boys and I commandeered him—I believe that's the word—because Rimini +is in New York and Benoir tried to knock down a telegraph pole and is +in the hospital." +</P> + +<P> +"What a find!" observed Mrs. Van Valkenberg. "And yet how curious!" +Suddenly she turned to the girl. +</P> + +<P> +"Anne, I am going to be dreadful and you must be honest with me. You +know you asked me to go to you the middle of the week to stay over the +<I>fête</I>. May I come now—today? I cannot tell you why I ask now, but +when I do you will be interested. May I? I know I am preposterous." +</P> + +<P> +"Preposterous! How absurd! Certainly, you may. You will do nicely as +a chaperon. Mother, I am afraid, is going to insist upon all the +conventions. You must know how delighted I am." She kissed her +enthusiastically. "We will expect you at dinner?" she said +tentatively. "Or will you come with me now?" She thought a second. +"I don't know whether I told you I was to take Prince Koltsoff motoring +this afternoon—unchaperoned." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, Anne, if you are going to bother about me that way, I 'll +withdraw my request. Please don't let me interfere in any way. I +couldn't possibly go before late in the afternoon, in any event." +</P> + +<P> +"That will be fine then," said Anne, holding out her hand. "<I>Au +revoir</I>. I 'll send the car for you after we return." +</P> + +<P> +After she had gone, Mrs. Van Valkenberg stood watching the car until it +disappeared, and then snatching her bright-eyed Pomeranian, she ran her +fingers absently through his soft hair. +</P> + +<P> +"How ridiculous," she said, "how absolutely ridiculous!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +MISS HATCH SHOWS SHE LOVES A LOVER +</H3> + +<P> +When Armitage entered the servants' dining-room he found the head +footman, who presided, in something of a quandary as to where he should +place him. Emilia, Miss Wellington's maid, had of course lost no time +in imparting to all with whom she was on terms of confidence, that the +new chauffeur was the same with whom her mistress had flirted on the +<I>General</I>. Consequently, Armitage was at once the object of interest, +suspicion, respect, and jealousy. But the head footman greeted him +cordially enough and after shifting and rearranging seats, indicated a +chair near the lower end of the table, which Armitage accepted with a +nod. He was immensely interested. +</P> + +<P> +The talk was of cricket. Some of the cottagers whose main object in +life was aping the ways of the English, had organized a cricket team, +and as there were not enough of them for an opposing eight, they had +been compelled to resort to the grooms. There were weekly matches in +which the hirelings invariably triumphed. One of the Wellington +grooms, an alert young cockney, was the bowler, and his success, as +well as the distinguished social station of his opponents, appeared to +Armitage to have quite turned his pert little head. +</P> + +<P> +There was a pretty Irish chambermaid at Jack's elbow whose eyes were as +gray as the stones in the Giants' Causeway, but glittering now with +scorn. For heretofore, Henry Phipps had been an humble worshipper. +She permitted several of his condescending remarks to pass without +notice, but finally when he answered a question put by another groom +with a bored monosyllable, the girl flew to the latter's defence. +</P> + +<P> +"'Yes' and 'no,' is it?" she blazed. "Henry Phipps, ye 're like the +ass in the colored skin—not half as proud as ye 're painted. A +bowler, ye are! But ye take yer hat off after the game, just the same, +and bowl out yer masters with a 'thank ye, sur; my misthake!' Ye +grovellin' thing, ya!" +</P> + +<P> +"Really," yawned Henry in his rich dialect. +</P> + +<P> +"Really!" mocked the girl. "I could give ye talk about a real +Prince—none of yer Rensselaers or Van Antwerps and the like—had I—" +</P> + +<P> +Armitage leaned forward, but anything more the maid might have been +tempted to say was interrupted by a footman from the superintendent's +table. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Dawson says you 're to come to his table," he said nodding to +Armitage, who arose with real reluctance, not because of any desire for +intimate knowledge of the servants' hall, but because he had decided he +could use the Irish maid to the ends he had in view. Now that lead was +closed for the time at least and he took his place at the side of the +decorous butler, uncheered by Mr. Dawson's announcement that Miss +Wellington had ordered his promotion. +</P> + +<P> +"It was very good of Miss Wellington," he said in a perfunctory manner. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, not at all," replied the butler. "Frequently the chauffeur sits +at our table." He shrugged his shoulders. "It depends upon the manner +of men. They are of all sorts and constantly changing." +</P> + +<P> +Armitage glanced at Buchan and grinned. +</P> + +<P> +"Thanks," he said. +</P> + +<P> +The butler nodded and then <I>apropos</I> of some thought passing through +his mind he glanced tentatively at the housekeeper. +</P> + +<P> +"We 'll wake up, I suppose, with the Prince here. I hope so. I have +never seen everybody in Newport so quiet." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I imagine so," replied Mrs. Stetson. "Several are coming the +middle of the week and of course you know of the Flower Ball for Friday +night." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course," said the butler, who a second later belied his assumption +of knowledge by muttering, "Flower Ball, eh! Gracious, I wonder what +won't Mrs. Wellington be up to next!" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't think I like Prince Koltsoff," said Miss Hatch. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," agreed the superintendent, "he's a Russian." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I don't care about <I>that</I>," replied the young woman. "He is going +to marry Miss Wellington—and he 's not the man for her. He 's not the +man for any girl as nice as Anne Wellington. Think of it. Ugh!" +</P> + +<P> +"So!" interjected the tutor, Dumois, who had turned many a dollar +supplying the newspapers with information, for which they had been +willing to pay liberally. "International alliance! How interesting. +The latest, eh?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, it's not the latest," replied the secretary. "If it were, I +should have said nothing. It's only a baseless fear; but a potent one." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh," Dumois turned ruefully to his plate. +</P> + +<P> +"He attracts her," resumed the secretary. +</P> + +<P> +"That is to be seen plainly—and she attracts him. That is as far as +it has gone." +</P> + +<P> +"That is quite far," observed the tutor, glancing up hopefully. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, no," said Armitage warmly. He paused, and then finding every one +looking at him he applied himself to his luncheon not without confusion. +</P> + +<P> +"I wish I could agree with you," sighed Miss Hatch. "She is a dear +girl. But you don't understand girls of her class. They have the +queerest ideas." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I don't think they differ from other girls," said Mrs. Stetson. +"It is merely that they have the actual opportunity for realizing what +to other girls are mere dreams. I can imagine what my daughter would +have done if a foreign nobleman had paid court to her. I will say this +for Miss Wellington though; she would marry her chauffeur if she took +the whim." +</P> + +<P> +Armitage, caught off his guard, looked up quickly. +</P> + +<P> +"You don't say!" he exclaimed, whereat every one laughed and Dawson +shook his head in mock seriousness at him. +</P> + +<P> +"See here, young man, if you make an attempt to demonstrate Mrs. +Stetson's theory, Ronald Wellington will drive you out of the country." +</P> + +<P> +Armitage laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," he said, "I 'll pick Vienna." +</P> + +<P> +As they were leaving the table, Miss Hatch caught Armitage's eye. She +had lingered behind the rest, bending over some ferns which showed +signs of languishing. Her eyeglasses glittered humorously at Armitage +as he sauntered carelessly to her side. +</P> + +<P> +"It is all right, Mr. McCall," she said. +</P> + +<P> +"All right?" +</P> + +<P> +"I mean the incident in the garage. Master Ronald applied vigorously +for your discharge." +</P> + +<P> +Armitage smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"I imagined he would. The application was not sustained?" +</P> + +<P> +"Hardly. At first, of course, Mrs. Wellington was quite indignant. +Then Miss Wellington came in and really she was a perfect fury in your +behalf. She made Master Ronald confess he had been smoking and showed +quite clearly that you were right." +</P> + +<P> +"Bully for her! As a matter of fact, I don't think it was any of my +business. But that chap got on my nerves." +</P> + +<P> +"He gets on all our nerves. But I 'm quite sure he 's all right at +heart. It's a disagreeable age in a boy." She paused and gazed +steadily at Armitage for a second. "I cannot imagine why you are here, +Mr. McCall. And yet—and yet, I wonder." She shrugged her shoulders. +"Pray don't think me rude," she said and smiled, "but I really +am—hoping. I can read Anne Wellington at times, and you—oh, I <I>am</I> +rude—but I seem to read you like an open book." +</P> + +<P> +Armitage was looking at her curiously, but obviously he was not +offended. She stepped towards him impulsively. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Mr. Arm—McCall—-" she stopped, blushing confusedly. +</P> + +<P> +The break was too much even for Armitage's presence of mind. He jerked +his head upward, then collecting himself resumed his expression of +amused interest. The secretary made no attempt to dissemble her +agitation. +</P> + +<P> +"I am so sorry," she said, "but you must know now that I know whom you +are." +</P> + +<P> +Never in his life had Jack felt quite so ill at ease, or so utterly +foolish. +</P> + +<P> +"Who else knows?" he asked lamely. +</P> + +<P> +"Only one, beside myself—Mrs. Wellington." +</P> + +<P> +"Mrs. Wellington!" +</P> + +<P> +"Naturally," said Miss Hatch placidly. "Did you suppose for a moment +you could successfully hide anything from her? Chief Roberts was in +the house an hour after you were employed." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!" A great white light illumined Jack's mind. He turned to the +woman eagerly. "Do you know what Roberts told her?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, everything, I imagine," said Miss Hatch, laughing. +</P> + +<P> +"Everything! But what?" Armitage gestured impatiently. "Please don't +think me inquisitive, but I must know—it will depend upon what our +loquacious chief said, whether I stay here one more minute." +</P> + +<P> +"The chief was not loquacious," smiled Miss Hatch. "He was quite the +reverse. You would have enjoyed the grilling Mrs. Wellington gave him. +He was no willing witness, but finally admitted you were a naval +officer, a son of Senator Armitage, and that you were here to observe +the actions of one of the grooms, formerly in the Navy, whom the +Government thought needed watching." +</P> + +<P> +Inwardly relieved, Armitage grinned broadly. +</P> + +<P> +"I like that chief," he said. "He is so secretive. But Mrs. +Wellington can't be pleased at having a Navy man masquerading about. +Why hasn't she discharged me?" +</P> + +<P> +"I can't imagine," said Miss Hatch frankly, "unless—yes, I think she +has taken a liking to you. Then, for a woman of her mental processes, +discharging you off-hand, come to think of it, would be the one thing +she would not do. I think she is interested in awaiting developments. +I am sure of it, for she commanded me to speak to no one concerning +your identity." +</P> + +<P> +"Miss Wellington?" Armitage looked at the woman quickly. +</P> + +<P> +"Her daughter was very particularly included in the orders Mrs. +Wellington gave." +</P> + +<P> +Armitage made no attempt to conceal the pleasure this statement gave +him. Then a thought occurred to him. +</P> + +<P> +"By the way," he said, looking at Miss Hatch keenly, "if I recall, you +said you could not imagine why I am here. In view of all you have told +me, why could n't you?" +</P> + +<P> +Miss Hatch turned and walked toward the door. At the sill she glanced +back over her shoulder and smiled significantly. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, that was an introductory figure of speech," she said. "I think, I +think I can—imagine." +</P> + +<P> +Then she turned and walking along the hall, with Armitage following, +she sang as though to herself: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"In days of old when knights were bold<BR> +And barons held their sway,<BR> +A warrior bold with spurs of gold<BR> +Sang merrily his lay.<BR> +'Oh, what care I though death be nigh,<BR> +For love—'"<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +But Armitage had disappeared. +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"Oh, the little more and how much it is,<BR> +And the little less and what worlds away."<BR> +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +ANNE EXHIBITS THE PRINCE +</H3> + +<P> +Prince Koltsoff had enjoyed his luncheon, as only an exacting gourmet +whose every canon of taste has been satisfied, can. His appetite was a +many-stringed instrument upon which only the most gifted culinary +artist could play. Now as he sat dallying daintily with his <I>compote</I> +of pears it was patent that Rambon, the Wellington chef, had achieved a +dietary symphony. +</P> + +<P> +"Mrs. Wellington," he said at length, "you have a <I>saucier par +excellence</I>. That <I>sauce de cavitar</I>! If I may say so, it lingers. +Who is he? It seems almost—yet it cannot be true—that I recognize +the genius of Jules Rambon." +</P> + +<P> +"Very well done, Prince Koltsoff," replied Mrs. Wellington, employing +phraseology more noncommittal than Koltsoff realized. +</P> + +<P> +Anne, who had been gazing languidly out a window giving on Brenton's +Reef lightship, where several black torpedo boats and destroyers were +manoeuvring, smiled and glanced at the Prince. +</P> + +<P> +"You have the instincts of a virtuoso. That was really clever of you. +The Duchess d'Izes sent him to mother two years ago. You must speak to +him. I 'm afraid he feels he is not altogether appreciated here." +</P> + +<P> +The Prince raised his hands. +</P> + +<P> +"What a fate!" he exclaimed. "When Rambon was <I>chef</I> for President +Carnot, kings and emperors bestowed upon him decorations. I recall +that when he created the <I>Parfait Rambon</I>—ah!—the governor of his +Province set aside a day of celebration. Rambon unappreciated—it is +to say that genius is unappreciated!" He turned apologetically to Mrs. +Wellington. "America—what would you?" +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Wellington sniffed ever so slightly. She had become a bit weary +of the Russian's assumption of European superiority. She recognized +that in Prince Koltsoff she had a guest, her possession of whom had +excited among the cottage colony the envy of all those whose envy she +desired. So far as she was concerned, that was all she wanted. Now +that Anne and the Prince appeared to be hitting it off, she was content +to let that matter take its course as might be, with, however, a pretty +well defined conviction that her daughter was thoroughly alive to the +desirability, not to say convenience, of such an alliance. In her +secret heart, however, she rather marvelled at Anne's open interest in +the Koltsoff. To be frank, the Prince was boring her and she had come +to admit that she, personally, had far rather contemplate the noble +guest as a far-distant son-in-law, than as a husband, assuming that her +age and position were eligible. +</P> + +<P> +So—she sniffed. +</P> + +<P> +"My dear Prince," she said, "I will take you to a hundred tables in +Newport and—I was going to say ten thousand—a thousand in New York, +where the food is better cooked than in any private house in Europe." +</P> + +<P> +Touched upon a spot peculiarly tender, Koltsoff all but exploded. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Pouf</I>!" he cried. Then he laughed heartily. "You jest, surely, my +dear madame." +</P> + +<P> +"No, I fancy not," replied Mrs. Wellington placidly. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, but how can you know! Where is it that the writings of Careme are +studied and known? Where is it that the memory of Beauvilliers and the +reputations of Ranhofer and Casimir and Mollard are preserved? In +Europe—" +</P> + +<P> +"In Paris," corrected Mrs. Wellington. +</P> + +<P> +"Well. And from Paris disseminated glowingly throughout Europe—'" +</P> + +<P> +"And the United States." +</P> + +<P> +Koltsoff struggled with himself for a moment. +</P> + +<P> +"Pardon," he said, "but, bah! It cannot be." +</P> + +<P> +"Naturally, you are at the disadvantage of not having had the +experience at American tables that I have had abroad," observed Mrs. +Wellington rising. "But we shall hope to correct that while you are +here.… As for the sauce you praised, it was not by Rambon—who is +out to-day—but by Takakika, his assistant, a Japanese whom Mr. +Wellington brought on from the Bohemian Club, I think, in San +Francisco." +</P> + +<P> +If Koltsoff did not catch Mrs. Wellington's intimation that he must +have learned of the presence of Rambon in her kitchen,—which might +have been more accurately described as a laboratory,—Anne Wellington +did, and she hastened to intervene. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Prince Koltsoff," she said, "I have been so interested in those +torpedo boats out there. They 've been dashing about the lightship all +through lunch. What is the idea, do you know?" +</P> + +<P> +The Prince glanced out of the window. +</P> + +<P> +"I cannot imagine." He gazed over the ocean in silence for several +minutes. "Have you a telescope?" he said at length. +</P> + +<P> +Anne nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"The large glass is on that veranda. And you 'll excuse me until half +after three, won't you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Until half after three," said the Prince, still rather ruffled as the +result of his duel with the mother. +</P> + +<P> +Then he went out on the porch and for an hour had the torpedo boats +under his almost continuous gaze. +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing but hide and seek," he muttered as he finally snapped the +shutter of the glass and went to his room to dress. +</P> + +<P> +He had quite recovered his spirits when he handed Anne Wellington into +the motor car. Armitage had half turned and she caught his eyes. Just +the faintest suspicion of a smile appeared on her face as she leaned +forward. +</P> + +<P> +"Along the Ocean Drive, McCall, down Bellevue Avenue, past Easton's +Beach, and out through Paradise. Drive slowly, please." +</P> + +<P> +Armitage touched his cap and the car was soon rolling along the Ocean +Drive. They had not turned Bateman's Point when Anne had proof of the +interest which the advent of the Prince had excited among her set. The +Wadsworth girls with young Pembroke, Delaney Drew on horseback, and +several others were gathered on the grass of the Point, watching the +finish of the race for the Astor cups off Brenton's Reef. As the +Wellington car rolled slowly by, every one withdrew attention from the +exciting finish which three of the yachts were making, and gazed so +hard at the Prince that some of them forgot to return Anne's nod. But +the girl understood and smiled inwardly, not altogether without pride. +</P> + +<P> +On Bellevue Avenue old Mrs. Cunningham-Jones all but fell out of her +carriage, while Minnie Rensselaer, who had been cool lately, was all +smiles. And the entrance to the Casino, as Miss Wellington afterward +described it, might have been pictured as one great staring eye. +</P> + +<P> +She did not attempt to deny to herself that she was enjoying all this. +She was a normal girl with a normal girl's love of distinction and of +things that thrill pleasurably. She left nothing undone to heighten +the effect she and the Prince, or the Prince and she, were creating. +Mrs. Rensselaer saw her gazing into the face of her guest with kindling +eyes. "Old Lady" Cunningham-Jones saw her touch his arm to emphasize a +remark. +</P> + +<P> +Whatever may have been the exact degree of Koltsoff's attractions for +Anne, it was certain that in the course of the drive, thus far, the +situation and not the Russian's personality constituted the strong +appeal. The girl was far from a snob and yet this—yes, public +parading—of a man whose prospective sojourn in Newport had excited so +many tea tables for the past fortnight, had furnished so much pabulum +for the digestion of society journalists, involved many elements that +appealed to her. Chiefly, it must be confessed, she saw the humor of +it; otherwise pride might have obtained mastery—there was pride, of +course. There was a whirl of things, in fact, and all enjoyable; also, +perhaps, a trifle upsetting, inasmuch as her assumption of more than +friendly interest in her guest was not altogether the part of wisdom. +</P> + +<P> +The Prince was elated, exalted. It would not have taken a close +observer to decide that in his devotion there was no element of the +spurious and in his happiness, no flaw. As for Armitage, unseeing, but +sensing clearly the drift of things, his eyes were grimly fixed ahead, +the muscles of his jaws bulging in knots on either side. This +chauffeur business, he felt, was fast becoming a bore. +</P> + +<P> +As he started to turn the corner of the Casino block, Anne, seized by a +sudden inspiration, ordered him to back around to the entrance. +</P> + +<P> +"Would n't you like to stop in the Casino for a few minutes and meet a +few people?" she asked, smiling at Koltsoff. +</P> + +<P> +The Prince would be only too happy to do anything that Miss Wellington +suggested, and so with a warning <I>honk! honk!</I> Armitage ran his car up +to the curb. At their side the tide of motor cars, broughams, +victorias, coaches, jaunting cars and what not swept unceasingly by. +Three sight-seeing barges had paused in their "twelve miles for fifty +cents" journey around the island. As the Prince and Anne alighted, a +small body of curious loiterers moved forward, among them several +photographers, seeing which, Anne lowered an opaque veil over her face, +a precaution which the beautiful or famous or notorious of the Newport +colony invariably find necessary when abroad. +</P> + +<P> +The sight-seeing drivers, with whips poised eagerly, viewed the +alighting couple and then turning to their convoy, announced in voices +not too subdued: +</P> + +<P> +"Miss Anne Wellington, daughter of Ronald Wellington, the great +railroad magnate, and the Prince of Rooshia are just gettin' out," +indicating the car with their whips. "They say they 're engaged to be +married—so far only a rumor. Miss Wellington is the one who put +little pinchin' crabs in Mrs. Minnie Rensselaer's finger bowls last +year and made a coolness between these two great families." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Wellington, whose cheeks felt as though they would burn her veil, +saw Armitage's shoulders quivering with some emotion, as she hurried +from the sidewalk into the doorway of the low, dark-shingled building +and out into the circle of trim lawn and garden. +</P> + +<P> +There were groups around a few of the tables in the two tiers of the +encircling promenade, but Anne did not know any of them. They strolled +on to a passageway under the structure leading to several acres of +impeccable lawn, with seats under spreading trees and tennis courts on +all sides. An orchestra was playing Handel's "Largo." The low hanging +branches sheltered many groups, dotting the green with vivid color +notes. A woman with gray veil thrown back and with a wonderful white +gown held court under a spreading maple, half a dozen gallants in white +flannels paying homage. All about were gowns of white, of pink, of +blue, of light green, Dresden colors, tones of rare delicacy mingling +with the emerald turf and the deeper green of the foliage. The spell +of mid-summer was everywhere present. To Anne it seemed as if the +Summer would last for always and that the Casino would never be +deserted again, the grass sere and brown or piled with drifts of snow. +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't it beautiful!" she exclaimed, as the Prince shook his head +negatively at a red-coated page with an armful of camp chairs. +</P> + +<P> +"The women," smiled the Prince, "they are superb! I concede freely the +supremacy of the American girl." He paused, "It <I>is</I> beautiful. Yet +certainly, what place would not be beautiful where you are, Miss +Wellington! Do I say too much? Ah, how can I say less!" His eyes +were suffused with his emotions. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't, please, Prince Koltsoff," she said, lowering her eyes to the +turf. "Not here—oh, I mean not—" +</P> + +<P> +"Here! I would willingly kneel here and kiss the hem of your skirt. I +should be proud that all should see, Anne.… Ah, let us not +dissemble—" +</P> + +<P> +Anne, thoroughly agitated, suddenly faced the Prince. +</P> + +<P> +"Stop! I want you to," she interrupted. "You must. You must not say +such things—" she paused, conscious that the eyes of many to whom she +had purposed presenting the Prince were turned curiously upon them, +although fortunately, from distances comparatively remote. She forced +a vivacious smile for the benefit of observers and continued, "You must +not say these things until I tell you you may.… Now, please!" as +the Prince showed indications of disobeying her wishes. +</P> + +<P> +He kept silence and as some manifestations of sulkiness, not inclined +to encourage Anne in her intentions of introducing him generally, +revealed themselves, she turned and led the way back to the car, where +Armitage sat hunched, in no blithe mood himself. +</P> + +<P> +In plying him with questions as to himself and his deeds, which +developed a mood ardently vainglorious, Anne skilfully led Koltsoff's +trend of thought from amatory channels. They stopped at Paradise and +Anne and the Prince walked from the roadside across a stretch of gorse +to a great crevice in the cliffs, known as the "Lover's Leap." +</P> + +<P> +"Here," said the girl, imitating the manner of a guide, "legend says an +Indian maiden, very beautiful, was walking with one of her suitors, +when a rival accosted them. They drew their knives and were about to +fight, when the girl interposed. Pointing to the chasm she declared +she would marry the man who first jumped across it." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, the time-worn lover's leap! They have them in England, Russia, +Germany—everywhere. America not to be behind—" the Prince wrinkled +his brows. "Let me see how closely the Indians followed their European +originals. Did they leap?" +</P> + +<P> +"They did," smiled the girl. "Both, I believe, were killed." She +peered into the dark fissure where the waters wound among the crags +fifty feet below. "Ugh! What a fall! Their love must have been +wonderfully compelling." +</P> + +<P> +"So," replied the Prince, gallantly, "and yet I should do it for a +smile from you or at most for a—" he bowed low, seized her hand, and +deftly bore it to his lips. +</P> + +<P> +She drew it away hastily, a wave of irritation flushing her face, and a +powerful revulsion from her former mood of exaltation took possession +of her whole being. +</P> + +<P> +"You have improved upon knights errant of old," she said slowly. "You +seize your guerdon before paying your devoir." She pointed to the +chasm, which was about eight feet across at the spot where they were +standing. "Your lady waits, Sir Knight." +</P> + +<P> +The Prince pushed his hand through his hair and laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"Miss Wellington—indeed, indeed, I appreciate your humor. It is well +caught. That is to say—ha, ha! Your father will enjoy your wit." +</P> + +<P> +"I am waiting," said the girl, as though she had not heard. +"Knights—and gentlemen do not take from women that which they are not +willing to pay for." +</P> + +<P> +"But—" the Prince glanced at the yawning hole. "You surely jest. +Why, my dear lady!" The Prince involuntarily stepped backward. +</P> + +<P> +Anne smiled maliciously. Her meaning was clear and the Prince flushed. +</P> + +<P> +"What man would attempt it!" he exclaimed. "What man indeed," he +added, "save one who would throw away his life to no purpose. Come, +Miss Wellington, I am sure you do not seek my life." +</P> + +<P> +"By no means," said the girl beginning to relent, but still enjoying +the success of her <I>coup</I>. "But really that is a small leap for a man. +My driver, I believe—" Her face suddenly lighted with a new +inspiration. Hastily she walked to the top of the bluff. "McCall," +she cried. "Will you come here a minute?" +</P> + +<P> +As the two arrived at the chasm, she nodded to the opposite side. +</P> + +<P> +"If you cleared that would it be a remarkable leap?" +</P> + +<P> +Armitage surveyed the gap with his eye, looked behind him and studied +the ground. +</P> + +<P> +"Not especially, Miss Wellington, so far as distance is concerned." He +had done his nineteen feet in the running broad jump. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, just so," broke in the Prince. "It is the condition which would +follow a slip or mistake in judgment." +</P> + +<P> +Anne shook her head impatiently at Koltsoff's obvious eagerness. +</P> + +<P> +"I do not believe McCall thought of that; nervous systems vary in their +intensity." +</P> + +<P> +Some part of the situation Armitage grasped. It was clear that for +some reason she had dared the Prince to make the jump and that he had +declined. The ground upon which they were standing was a few feet +above the rocks on the other side of the chasm and the three stood +about a dozen feet from the mouth. +</P> + +<P> +She turned to Armitage. +</P> + +<P> +"Am I right, or do you share Prince Koltsoff's psychological views?" +</P> + +<P> +Koltsoff, who from the beginning had chafed at the position in which +she had placed him, pitting him against a servant, walked to one side +with a low sibilant exclamation. +</P> + +<P> +"Not at all," said Armitage, and without further words he drew back a +few feet and started swiftly for the fissure. Anne, who had not +intended that the incident should thus get away from her, acted upon +flashing instinct, before the situation could formulate itself in her +mind. She sprang at Armitage as he passed her, her hands tightly +clasping about his neck, and pulled him backward with all her strength. +Armitage half stumbling, stopped, and the girl, releasing her hands, +stepped back with a sob of nervous anger. +</P> + +<P> +"You—you—oh, you idiot!" she exclaimed. "How dare you frighten me +so! Now—go back to the car!" +</P> + +<P> +"I did not mean to frighten you, Miss Wellington," he replied, not +altogether in the mild, impersonal tone of a servant. "It was a +perfectly easy jump. I thought you—" +</P> + +<P> +"Go to your car, please," interrupted the girl sternly. +</P> + +<P> +As for Koltsoff, rankling with the knowledge that if he had taken her +at her word and essayed to make the leap, she would have prevented him +as she had her chauffeur, his mood was no enviable one. Lost +opportunities of any sort are not conducive to mental equanimity. He +maintained extreme taciturnity throughout the remainder of the drive +and Miss Wellington, whose thoughts seemed also absorbing, made no +attempt to restore his ardent spirits. When they entered the +Wellington driveway, she glanced at Armitage's well-set back and +shoulders and smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"McCall," she said, as she stood on the veranda, "I want you to go to +Mrs. Van Valkenberg's—where you were this morning—and bring her here. +You may have to wait." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +UNDERGROUND WIRES +</H3> + +<P> +Armitage was not obliged to wait, however. A tall, well-built young +woman, heavily veiled, came down the winding path as he shut off power. +When he leaned around to open the door of the tonneau, she threw back her +veil and he caught sight of a full, dark, handsome face and eyes filled +with a curious light. He slammed the door and turned quickly to the +wheel. +</P> + +<P> +"What is your name, my man?" The deep alto voice contained a note of +mirth. +</P> + +<P> +"McCall," replied Armitage gruffly, jerking his head a bit side-wise and +then jerking it quickly back again. +</P> + +<P> +"You are—not a very good driver," came the voice. "But I should like to +employ you.… Would you consider leaving Miss Wellington?" +</P> + +<P> +Armitage shook his head grouchily. +</P> + +<P> +"For a consideration? Come, I won't use you as a chauffeur. I want you +for a statue in my Japanese garden. I—" +</P> + +<P> +Armitage suddenly pointed the car toward the ocean and stopped. Then he +turned in his seat. +</P> + +<P> +"Look here, Sara," he said, "if you don't let up, I 'll run you into the +ocean." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Van Valkenberg was rocking with laughter. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Jack! Jack!" she cried. "This is too rich. What on earth are you +up to?" +</P> + +<P> +Armitage, who had not seen her since they had attended school together in +Louisville, paid no attention to her question. +</P> + +<P> +"I had no idea you were in Newport." +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose I should expect more of one of my very oldest and best +friends," she said. +</P> + +<P> +"I was in the Philippines when you married; faint rumors of the event +penetrated even there. I was too prostrated to write; besides, I didn't +receive any cards." He paused a moment. "Van Valkenberg—that's so; I +remember now. He—" +</P> + +<P> +"I am a widow," said Sara soberly. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh," he was silent, not knowing what to say. +</P> + +<P> +She hastened to relieve his embarrassment, smiling brightly. +</P> + +<P> +"I was to go to see Anne later in the week, but when I saw you, I simply +could n't wait another minute. I wanted a front seat at this little +comedy. You see," she raised her eyes knowingly, "I have n't asked you +why you are here in the Wellington livery and driving the Wellington car +because—because I rather imagine I can guess the reason." +</P> + +<P> +She glanced at Armitage, who did not reply. +</P> + +<P> +"Fancy my missing this romance," she went on, laughing musically. "Jack, +it's perfectly delightful. It's more than delightful, it's sublimely +rich. You, <I>you</I> of all men! Come, won't you confide in me? Ah, go +on." Her eyes were brimming with laughter. +</P> + +<P> +Armitage frowned. +</P> + +<P> +"Look here, Sara, you're on the wrong tack." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, is it possible! All right, you need n't confide in me if you don't +wish to. All I ask is permission to view events—and you can't withhold +that, you know. But seriously, Jack, can I be of any assistance? I +approve, don't you know, awfully. And—she's worth every bit of it. But +how are you going to win her in the guise of a chauffeur? I always knew +you possessed a large amount of self-confidence, but allow me to inform +you, sir, there are some things your natural qualifications can't +overshadow. Come, Jack, do strip off your motley and court her as a +naval officer—you see I, at least, have kept track of <I>you</I>—and a +gentleman should; I don't like this way." +</P> + +<P> +"I tell you, you are wrong. I can't say anything now. But wait—then +you 'll know. And, Sara, please; not a word as to whom I am; promise me +you 'll keep still until I give you the word." +</P> + +<P> +She smiled enigmatically. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you admire Anne Wellington?" +</P> + +<P> +"Come, Sara, promise; this is a serious matter with me." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you?" she persisted. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course I do," he snapped. "She's a corker. Now promise." +</P> + +<P> +"I promise nothing. I shall act as I think best for you." +</P> + +<P> +Armitage gazed at her thoughtfully for a moment. +</P> + +<P> +"You may trust me, Jack. I may be able to help you. I feel sure I +shall. I want to help you—and Anne." +</P> + +<P> +Armitage raised his hand warningly. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't, Sara, please!" +</P> + +<P> +"Very well." She smiled sweetly. "You may proceed to The Crags, McCall." +</P> + +<P> +Anne met her at the doorway and Armitage took the car to the garage. +</P> + +<P> +"Say," said Ryan, "there 's some one been calling you up for the past +hour." +</P> + +<P> +Armitage looked at the man excitedly. +</P> + +<P> +"Who was it? Did he give his name?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, would n't give it. He said he 'd call up again, though. He—there +goes the bell now." +</P> + +<P> +Armitage took up the receiver. +</P> + +<P> +"Is this you, Jack?" came the voice. "This is Thornton. Say, they 've +got Yeasky." +</P> + +<P> +"Where?" Jack's voice was husky. +</P> + +<P> +"In Boston." +</P> + +<P> +"Did they find anything?" +</P> + +<P> +"No; they went through everything. He had n't a thing except a note +signed 'Vassili' something, and some Austrian army data." +</P> + +<P> +"The family name of the man we 're gunning for," said Armitage. "Has he +said anything?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing. They have not told him what he was captured for either, +although I guess he knows. They want your orders." +</P> + +<P> +"All right," said Armitage. "Tell them to let him go, provided he leaves +Boston by the first boat." +</P> + +<P> +"What!" +</P> + +<P> +"Turn him loose. Get shed of him. It 'll simplify matters. I 'm +getting this thing in hand now. Push the thing through for me, will you, +Joe? I'm busy as a pup here. Get Bill Rawlins on the long distance at +the Boston Navy Yard, explain things to him, and get him to help. There +'s nothing to do. Just have him seen on board the boat. That note was +all I wanted. Have that sent to me. Now do it all nicely for me, won't +you, old chap,—and a day or two will see the finish of the whole thing. +Oh, say,—have them hold those papers." +</P> + +<P> +"All right," said Thornton. "By the way, we are going to torpedo the +Atlantic fleet tonight. The battleships are on their way down from +Provincetown at last." +</P> + +<P> +"Pshaw! The one thing I wanted to be in on!" +</P> + +<P> +"Can't you get off and come along on the <I>D'Estang</I>? We shan't leave +until eight o'clock. We 're going to try and do up the fleet off Point +Jude. Come on, like a good chap." +</P> + +<P> +"I 'd like to. I will if I can, you bet. I think I can work it. Now +s'long and don't forget to have that Pole shunted out of the country on +the jump." +</P> + +<P> +"I won't. Don't worry; see you later then." +</P> + +<P> +"Right-o, good-bye." +</P> + +<P> +As Armitage hung up the receiver the bell of the house 'phone jingled and +Armitage was summoned to bring out the car in a hurry. When he arrived +under the <I>porte cochère</I>, Prince Koltsoff was still talking to Anne in a +corner of the library. +</P> + +<P> +"It is very necessary," he was saying. "The summons is important. It is +even possible I shall not return all night." His agitation seemed +momentarily increasing. +</P> + +<P> +"But, Prince Koltsoff," said Anne, "is it so very important? I hardly +know what to do. I have arranged a box party for the vaudeville at +Freebody to-night—it's distressing." +</P> + +<P> +Koltsoff bowed. +</P> + +<P> +"And I! You cannot suppose I view lightly being away from you to-night!" +He shrugged his shoulders. "The rose-strewn paths are not always for +diplomats. You will know that better in good time, perhaps. But they +are for that all the sweeter while we tread them." He moved very close +to her and she, taking fire from his mood, did not step backward, looking +him in the eyes, pulling slightly at the front of her skirt. In the very +web of a mood which she felt bordered on surrender to the masculine +personality of the man before her, she admitted a thrill, which she never +before had recognized. The blood mounted swiftly to her temples and she +straightened and threw her head back with lips parted and hot. His face +came so close to hers that she felt his hot breath. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you sorry for this afternoon?" he asked caressingly. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," her voice was a half whisper. +</P> + +<P> +His arms were raising to take her, when the voice of Sara Van Valkenberg +came to their ears, with an effect very much like a cold stream upon a +bar of white hot steel. +</P> + +<P> +"Anne, oh, Anne dearie, did you know the car was waiting for Prince +Koltsoff?" She appeared in the doorway to find Anne turning over a +magazine and the Prince adjusting his coat. "I beg pardon, but you said +Prince Koltsoff was in a hurry. I thought you did n't know the car had +arrived." +</P> + +<P> +"We—I didn't," Anne smiled thinly. "Thank you." +</P> + +<P> +They moved to the veranda, where Anne and Sara stood with arms +intertwined. +</P> + +<P> +"I am sorry, <I>so</I> sorry," cried Koltsoff, as he climbed into the car. +"As I say, I shall possibly not return all night. At all events, <I>au +revoir</I>." He turned to Anne and half raised his arm. "The trust," he +said. She nodded and smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"Have no fear, Prince Koltsoff," she said. +</P> + +<P> +"Good!" He glared toward Armitage. "To town—and fast," he said. +</P> + +<P> +As Armitage nodded, Anne, whose mood was past praying for, called +mischievously: +</P> + +<P> +"McCall, always touch your hat when you receive an order. And come right +back, please; I shall want to go to town." +</P> + +<P> +This time Armitage made a faultless salute. +</P> + +<P> +When they had gone, Anne walked to a settee, drawing Mrs. Van Valkenberg +by the arm, and flung herself down, laughing hysterically. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, what <I>is</I> the matter, Anne?" Sara gazed at her in amazement. "Has +anything—" she paused significantly—"happened?" +</P> + +<P> +Anne drew her handkerchief across her eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"No," she said, "not yet. But oh, Sara, if you had n't—" She stopped +and gazed at her friend wide-eyed. "Sara," she said, "is it possible I +love Prince Koltsoff?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, it is not," replied Sara, decidedly. "Anne, don't be a goose. What +is it, tell me?" +</P> + +<P> +"I cannot; but yes, I think it is—it must be. Oh, I wonder!" +</P> + +<P> +"Anne!" +</P> + +<P> +"Sara, for goodness' sake, let me alone a moment. Come," she added, +throwing her arm about the young matron's waist, "let's talk about other +things now. Come with me while I telephone and call off that stupid +theatre party. Then we 'll go to town, exchange the tickets, and +then—Sara, let's have a regular bat—alone. You know—one of our old +ones. I dare you." +</P> + +<P> +"Done," said Mrs. Van Valkenberg, thankful to change the girl's mood. +</P> + +<P> +While Anne was telephoning and offering various explanations to various +persons, Sara sat thinking. It had not taken her ten minutes to decide +that she detested Koltsoff and that Anne was under a spell not easily to +be broken. If Armitage had tried to break it, if he were there for that +purpose, he had failed a long way of success. He had chosen, in any +event, a poor method of campaigning. If he did not know what was good +for him, so much the worse. She did and accordingly when Anne had +finished with the last of her list of prospective guests, she said: +</P> + +<P> +"Anne, I have fallen quite in love with your new chauffeur." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't blame you one bit," said Anne carelessly. "He's a stunner. But +I don't believe he 's a chauffeur by profession." +</P> + +<P> +"I happen to know he is n't." +</P> + +<P> +"You—know—he is n't! How do you know? Tell me what he is then. I +don't believe I 'll ever have any more curiosity about anything; I 've +used it all on him." +</P> + +<P> +"He 's a naval officer and a very promising one, I believe. He is John +Armitage and his father is United States Senator Armitage from +Kentucky—they 're really a very fine family—one of the best in the +State." +</P> + +<P> +"How did—? oh, of course, you were a Kentuckian. You don't mean to say +you know him!" +</P> + +<P> +"I know all his family very well. Why, I 've known Jack Armitage all my +life," she raised her eyebrows. "But, Anne, promise you won't let on." +</P> + +<P> +The full significance of the information imparted by her friend gradually +rose to supremacy in Anne's mind. Her eyes turned slowly to Sara's face. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, of all idiots I am the worst! Why, I even placed him at Annapolis +and then let him turn me off! And mother, too! That's a good one on +her. Well! What's his play? I confess I am stumped." +</P> + +<P> +"His play?" Sara regarded her with a significant smile. "I wonder!" +</P> + +<P> +Anne gazed at her a moment and then buried her face in her hands with a +mock groan. +</P> + +<P> +"Saints and ministers of grace, defend us!" she exclaimed. +</P> + +<P> +Then girl-like, they clung to each other and laughed and laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"Aren't you flattered?" asked Sara at length. +</P> + +<P> +"Flattered? Oh, you mean about—" she grimaced. "Sara! It's perfectly +ridiculous! And it is n't true. The very idea! The audacity! Don't +tell me, Sara; there 's something else." But Sara caught the tentative +note. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, naturally," she interposed, "you are far from being sufficiently +attractive to draw an ardent young man into a romantic situation, +especially—as you told me—after you had written him a note virtually +inviting him to try his luck." +</P> + +<P> +"Sara, you are beastly!" +</P> + +<P> +"Forgive me, dear, but why not face facts?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well!" Anne smiled resignedly. "Mother must n't know." +</P> + +<P> +"Not until the play is over," said Sara. +</P> + +<P> +Anne gazed moodily at her friend. +</P> + +<P> +"It soon will be, I fear," she said. +</P> + +<P> +As for the unsuspecting Armitage, he burned the road, smiling to think +that underground wires were working for him, as well as the Prince. He +had no fear that if Koltsoff had the control with him—which Armitage did +not for a moment believe—the vigilance of the express companies and of +the postal authorities would be found wanting. Koltsoff spent half an +hour in the telegraph office and then alighting from the car in Touro +Park, bade Armitage return to The Crags. +</P> + +<P> +"Shall I call anywhere for you?" asked Armitage pleasantly. +</P> + +<P> +"No," replied Koltsoff, who stood on the sidewalk, watching until the car +disappeared. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap15"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +ANNE AND SARA SEEK ADVENTURE +</H3> + +<P> +"Anne," said Mrs. Wellington, as she came in from her drive a few +minutes later, "your chauffeur drives too fast. The car passed me, +cutting through Brenton Road a while ago, at a perfectly insane pace. +Some one—how do you do, Sara, I 'm delighted to have you with us—was +in the tonneau, whom I took to be Koltsoff, although there was such a +blur I was n't certain. Was it he?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, mother," Anne glanced at Sara. "Isn't it maddening! Some urgent +summons, he said, made it necessary for him to go; and he may be away +all night. Of course that punctured the party at Freebody." +</P> + +<P> +"It is maddening," Sara hastened to observe. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Wellington compressed her lips. +</P> + +<P> +"I had told him your father would arrive this evening. But of course +he must have failed to remember that. Fortunately, he will not come on +from New York until to-morrow—I 've had a wire. Have you any idea the +Prince will be with us to-morrow? Sir Arthur Baddeley will be down +from Bar Harbor for the week; Bob Marie is coming with your father, and +two or three of the Tuxedo crowd, Sallie and Blanche Turnure and Willie +Whipple will be here by Wednesday for the ball, certainly." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know, really," said Anne, "but I imagine so, of course." +</P> + +<P> +Sara gazed at Mrs. Wellington curiously. It was true the woman was +outwardly unperturbed, characteristically so, but Sara had never before +been able to read in that mask-like face so many indications of inward +irritation. Anne's sly glance told her that she, too, had been able to +enjoy a rare opportunity of penetrating beneath the surface. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Wellington toyed with her lorgnette for a moment. +</P> + +<P> +"Anne, if Koltsoff returns and I don't see him, let me know the very +first minute, will you, please?" She glanced at the girl with an +expression best described as detached. "If it interests you any, my +daughter, you succeeded in making a sensation this afternoon—you and +Koltsoff. I gather that everything was done but placarding him; and I +have heard of at least eight persons you cut in the Casino." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh—mother, by the way, if I am not too inquisitive," said Anne, +hastening to change the trend of thought, "I read, or heard, somewhere +that father was interested in getting hold of a Russian issue of +railroad bonds, or something of the sort. Is Prince Koltsoff +concerned?" +</P> + +<P> +"Your father has no business dealings with him. Dismiss that thought. +Railroad bonds—I believe he was looking into them. I don't know the +details, or rather do not recall them. I do remember, though, his +saying that he had relinquished the opportunity to the French with +great pleasure." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh," said Anne, "I imagined his visit here was a mingling of business +with pleasure." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know what it is a mingling of, I 'm quite sure," said Mrs. +Wellington. She turned to go. "I 'm dining out to-night, at the +Cunningham-Jones'. I shouldn't have accepted, but you were to be at +Berger's with your theatre party. You won't mind, Sara?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not at all, Mrs. Wellington, don't bother about me. I hope I 'm not +company." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Wellington smiled. She was very partial to the young widow. +</P> + +<P> +"The boys are at Ochre Point for the night. You might call up people +if you want company for dinner, Anne." +</P> + +<P> +"To think," cried Anne, as her mother left the room, "how events have +shaped themselves for us! Of course we shan't dine at home; I 'll have +Emilia tell Mrs. Stetson after we have gone. Now, Sara, what can we do +exciting?" Her eyes flashed with animation as she gazed at her friend. +"Shall it be shop girl disguises with dinner on Thames Street, or what?" +</P> + +<P> +"I know," cried Sara. "We 'll put on shirt-waist suits and plain hats, +muss our hair a bit, and take a trip on a sight-seeing barge." +</P> + +<P> +"Lovely. Mc—Mr. Armitage can take us to the starting place at +Easton's Beach and then pick us up there when we get back. After +that—" +</P> + +<P> +"Hoop-la," laughed Sara, and the two young women—nothing but school +girls now—fell into each other's arms, hugging joyously. +</P> + +<P> +When Armitage appeared again at the <I>porte cochère</I> a few minutes +before five o'clock, two very changed, but merry young women awaited +him. Anne flashed her eyes at Armitage. +</P> + +<P> +"To Easton's Beach, McCall," she said sweetly. +</P> + +<P> +Easton's Beach was at the height of the day's exodus of excursionists +to Providence, Fall River, Taunton and elsewhere, as Armitage drew +alongside the sun-baked board walk in front of the main bathing +pavilion. Trolley cars, which had rolled empty down the long hill by +the ocean side, were now ascending laden to the guards, and the ocean, +relieved of its bathers, whose suits of multifarious cuts and colors +had grievously marred the blue waters, had recovered its beautiful +serenity. +</P> + +<P> +"We are going to take a barge ride, McCall," said Anne, as they +alighted from the car. "You might follow us at a respectful distance, +though, so you can pick us up when we decide to get out." +</P> + +<P> +Armitage touched his cap and sat watching amusedly, while Anne and Sara +with exaggerated swinging strides walked toward a barge comfortably +filled with a heterogeneous assemblage of sightseers. They paused +uncertainly at the side of the clumsy vehicle and were thus espied by +the driver, who was on the point of starting his horses. +</P> + +<P> +"Whoa!" he cried, pulling at the reins. "Here you are, ladies. Two +seats in the front for the sunset drive. Last chance of the day. All +the way round for fifty cents. All points pointed out, with inside +information." +</P> + +<P> +Sara glanced doubtfully at Anne, but the girl already had her foot on +the step. +</P> + +<P> +"We ain't going all the way," she said. "Can we get out where we +please?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sure, the sooner the better," cried the driver cheerfully. +</P> + +<P> +"All right," said Anne, clambering in; "come on, Jane." +</P> + +<P> +Sara followed obediently, kneeing her way along the seat to Anne's side. +</P> + +<P> +"The Cliff Walk," said the driver, swinging his whip to the left as +they drove up the hill. +</P> + +<P> +"Is that where society people walk?" asked Anne. +</P> + +<P> +"Naw, only the common people," replied the oracle. "Any society person +found there would be ostracized." +</P> + +<P> +"They would!" exclaimed an elderly Irishman, smoking a pipe at Anne's +side. "Is th' ground too poor fur their phroud feet?" +</P> + +<P> +"Only think," said a stout woman behind them, leaning forward, "the +cottage owners have been tryin' to close up the walk to the public. My +brother 's a grocer clerk here and he says the city would be better off +without the cottagers. They 're awful! Don't pay their bills and such +carryin's on—you 've no idea." +</P> + +<P> +"Use n't you to live here?" asked Sara. "I thought I seen you in the +city." +</P> + +<P> +"Not me. I live over to Jamestown," said the stout woman. +</P> + +<P> +In the meantime, Anne had noted to her disgust that two men in white +duck trousers and straw yachting caps were trying to catch their +attention. It was not to be wondered at, for despite the broad-brimmed +hats tilted well over their foreheads and hair in studied disarray, by +way of disguise, no more dashing pair had ever patronized Newport's +sightseeing system. Of course this aspect of their adventure had not +occurred to Anne and she was about to pull Sara's skirt and suggest +that they abandon the trip forthwith, when that young woman glancing +about for fresh material, suddenly turned pale. +</P> + +<P> +"Anne!" she whispered. "For heaven's sake! There 's my cook at the +other end of that back seat—the fat, red-headed man. What shall I do?" +</P> + +<P> +Anne, without replying, touched the driver and handed him a two-dollar +bill. +</P> + +<P> +"Keep that," she said, "and please let us out at once." +</P> + +<P> +And so, just a bit panic-stricken, but with ardor undimmed, the two +awaited the motor car. +</P> + +<P> +"We might have known!" observed Sara. "Do you suppose he recognized +me?" +</P> + +<P> +Anne was laughing. +</P> + +<P> +"How in the world could he help it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Of course," said Sara, her face lighting with the humor of the +incident. "I shan't care at all, provided he does n't give me notice." +</P> + +<P> +They were quite ready for Armitage when he came up in the car. +</P> + +<P> +"Where to now, Sara?" Anne stamped her foot. "Isn't that the way! +When you have the opportunity and the desire for a good time you can't +imagine what to do." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, let us get into the car, anyway," said Sara, "those detestable +creatures who were in the barge have actually followed us." +</P> + +<P> +So they entered the motor. Armitage turned inquiringly, but Anne shook +her head. +</P> + +<P> +"One moment, if you please." +</P> + +<P> +"I wanted to ask you, Miss Wellington, if you thought I could get away +to-night about seven o'clock?" He glared defiantly at Sara, who was +ostentatiously concealing her face in her hand. "I have rather an +important engagement." +</P> + +<P> +"Why—" Anne glanced at Sara, who seeing an opening for a new avenue +of fun, was now laughing unreservedly. +</P> + +<P> +"You really can't think of it, you know, dear," she said. "Why, at +seven o'clock he will just begin to be useful." +</P> + +<P> +Anne saw the chauffeur's shoulders shrug angrily, and it amused her. +</P> + +<P> +"Cut through here and drive toward the Training Station," she +commanded, "and we 'll think about seven o'clock, McCall." +</P> + +<P> +Sara, who had been vigorously nodding and screwing up her eyes at +Armitage's back, laughed musically. +</P> + +<P> +"Anne," she said, "your chauffeur is badly trained as to manners. +Really, he suggests a man graduated from the Fifth Avenue buses, don't +you know." +</P> + +<P> +"You must make allowances, Sara; he's only an improvised chauffeur." +</P> + +<P> +"I know; but he 's hardly of the chauffeur type. Now as a +detective—can't you imagine him in a pair of false whiskers?" +</P> + +<P> +"I 've always suspected him of a wig," Anne giggled, "or reinforced +putees." +</P> + +<P> +With a quick jerking of levers, Armitage stopped the car. He turned +around, looked at Sara quietly for a moment and then at Anne. +Something in her face told him what he wanted to know. +</P> + +<P> +"Sara," he said, "for a first-class, large gauge sieve, I commend you +to any one." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap16"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE ADVENTURE MATERIALIZES +</H3> + +<P> +Sara bowed with mock humility and then raising her head, looked Anne +straight in the eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Miss Wellington, I present Mr. Armitage, an officer—a lieutenant, I +think—of the United States Navy." +</P> + +<P> +Anne sat silent for a second and then stretched her hand out over the +seat, laughing. +</P> + +<P> +"What a situation!" she exclaimed. "I am pleased to know that my +'Dying Gladiator'—" she paused, and looked inquiringly at Armitage, +who had taken and released her hand in silence. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't wish to be impertinent," she continued at length, flushing +vividly, "but I feel it is my right to know why you posed as a physical +instructor and entered service in our house. Surely I—you—you must +have had some good reason." +</P> + +<P> +"Anne," Sara hastened to relieve Armitage of apparent confusion, or +irritation, she could not tell which, "naturally his reasons for the +deceit were excellent." She looked at her friend with a significant +raising of the brows. "I—those reasons still exist, do they not, +Jack?" She scowled admonishingly at him. +</P> + +<P> +Armitage, who plainly diagnosed Sara's drift, was smiling broadly, as +Anne looked at him with a curious, wondering expression. +</P> + +<P> +"They still exist—decidedly, Sara," he said. He paused for a second, +and then continued in the lamest sort of way, "Will you let me be a +driver just a little while longer, Miss Wellington? It is really +important. When I explain everything you 'll understand. Of course, I +'ve been governed by the best motives." +</P> + +<P> +Anne was somewhat more dignified. +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly, I have not the slightest objection to having a naval +officer for a driver—if you have none. I must say, though, I shall be +eager to learn the reasons for your rather—rather unconventional +behavior." +</P> + +<P> +"You shall be the first one to know," replied Jack, with quite a +different meaning in mind than that which Sara Van Valkenberg read, +whose eyes, by the way, were dancing with excitement. +</P> + +<P> +There was an awkward silence for a moment and Jack was turning to the +wheel when Anne leaned forward. +</P> + +<P> +"You must tell me about the Navy, sometime," she said. "I have begun +to feel I am rather a poor American. Where are you attached?" +</P> + +<P> +"I 'm with the torpedo flotilla at present," said Armitage. "By the +way, Miss Wellington, that reminds me of my request for liberty +to-night. The boats are going out and—and—it's rather important I go +with them. I shall be back before midnight." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!" Sara's exclamation was so sharp and eager that both Jack and +Anne started. +</P> + +<P> +"I have it!" She leaned forward eagerly as both turned to her. "I +know. We 'll make him take us out with the boats to-night. Can you +imagine anything more thrilling? I have never been on a naval vessel +in my life—and they 'll shoot torpedoes. Night attack, Port Arthur, +and all that sort of thing, don't you know." +</P> + +<P> +Anne was quite carried away. +</P> + +<P> +"Good! Oh, that would be—" She stopped short as a sudden thought +came to her. "Do you suppose—" she said slowly, "that you could, Mr. +Armitage? I should love the experience. But perhaps—" +</P> + +<P> +"Nonsense," interrupted Sara. "Of course he can take us. Did n't we +see that crowd of women on one of the torpedo boats at the King's Cup +race?" +</P> + +<P> +"That boat was not in commission," said Jack. "You might be +court-martialled if the commanding officer of the flotilla saw you." +He spoke lightly, but running clearly through his mind was the +uncompromising phraseology of Article 250 of the Navy Regulations: +"Officers commanding fleets, divisions, or ships shall not permit women +to reside on board of, or take passage in, any ship of the Navy in +commission for sea service." Violation of this meant court-martial and +perhaps dismissal from the service. And yet Sara's proposition +thrilled him potently. He could not deny his eagerness to do as the +young women wished. To have Anne at his side for long hours on a +footing of equality! As he looked at her now with her lips parted, her +eyes blazing with interest, her cheeks flushed, the penalty of +disobeying that odious Article 250 seemed, at worst, slight. Besides, +the <I>D'Estang</I> was assigned to him for special service to do with her +as he saw fit. There might be a loophole there. +</P> + +<P> +Anne, who had been pondering his words, looked up. +</P> + +<P> +"If you are thinking only of us, I should n't mind one bit. I should +love dearly to go. I have often seen the torpedo boats from my windows +and wished to be on one of them. They look so black and venomous!" +</P> + +<P> +"All right. I'll take you." Armitage looked at them with serious +face. "There may be some danger. It is n't yachting, you know." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course it isn't," said Sara. +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly not," echoed Anne. "And besides, Mr. Armitage, I 've never +faced real danger in my life—except once when my polo pony ran away. +Oh, I want to go!" +</P> + +<P> +"I should like to change my clothes." Armitage glanced humorously at +his livery. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course," said Anne. "I tell you; you leave us at Berger's, drive +home and change your clothes, then you can pick us up there and we 'll +leave the car at O'Neill's until we return. How is that? We will have +a lobster ordered for you." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't bother about that, please. I shall have to run over to the +island when I come back from The Crags, to prepare the way. Take a +taxicab and be at the Navy Landing—no, that would n't be wise; some +one might see you. Go to the New York Yacht Club station and I, or +Johnson, my second, will be there in the <I>D'Estang</I>'s launch. We are +the outer boat in the slips and you can come aboard over the stern +without any one seeing you. Don't be a minute later than seven-thirty +o'clock—that is," he added, "if you are serious about making the trip." +</P> + +<P> +"Serious!" exclaimed Sara. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, we are serious," said Anne, "and Mr. Armitage—you 're awfully +good!" +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +A tall, grave, young ensign met the two excited girls at the hour +designated and shot them across the bay to the torpedo boat slips in +silence. +</P> + +<P> +"He 's a nice-looking boy," whispered Sara. "But I wonder,—he does +n't seem altogether to approve." +</P> + +<P> +Anne, who had been studying the officer, smiled easily. +</P> + +<P> +"That isn't it; he's embarrassed. For heaven's sake, Sara, don't try +to make me feel <I>de trop</I> at this stage." +</P> + +<P> +The young man <I>was</I> embarrassed; Anne had diagnosed correctly. And it +was with great relief that he turned them over to Armitage, who led +them to a hatch and thence down a straight iron ladder to the wardroom. +Anne watched the precise steward adjusting a centrepiece of flowers +upon the mess table and then glanced around the apartment, which was +lined with rifles, cutlasses, and revolvers in holsters. +</P> + +<P> +"How interesting, Mr. Armitage," she said. "Do you recall the last +time we were in a cabin together?" smiling. "How absurd it was!" +</P> + +<P> +"Wasn't it," laughed Armitage. He left the wardroom and returned in a +few minutes with two officers' long, blue overcoats and caps. +</P> + +<P> +"These are your disguises. I 'll send an orderly down to take you up +to the bridge when we get well under way—" +</P> + +<P> +"Do we really have to wear these?" Sara viewed the overcoats with mock +concern. +</P> + +<P> +"Must," laughed Armitage. "It is going to be cold and it looks like +rain. I 'd tuck my hair up under the caps as much as possible if I +were you. Damp salt air is bad for hair." +</P> + +<P> +"You mean you wish us to look like men," asserted Sara. +</P> + +<P> +"I merely want you to be appropriate to the picture." +</P> + +<P> +Sara looked at him mischievously. +</P> + +<P> +"Why not the entire uniform, then?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sara!" cried Anne, as Jack ducked out of the door. +</P> + +<P> +"Anne," Sara placed her hand on Anne's arm, "are you interested in Jack +Armitage?" +</P> + +<P> +The girl looked at the dark burning cheeks of the handsome +full-blooming young woman in front of her. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't be silly, Sara." +</P> + +<P> +"I 'm not silly," said Mrs. Van Valkenberg, half humorously. "I really +want to know." +</P> + +<P> +"Why?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, because if you 're not, I want you to keep in the background. +For I think I 'd—rather like to—enlist in the Navy." +</P> + +<P> +Anne could not tell why, but Sara had succeeded in irritating her. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap17"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE NIGHT ATTACK +</H3> + +<P> +As a smart young seaman escorted the two young women to the bridge and +placed them beside the six-pounder gun, the two destroyers, <I>Jefferson</I> +and <I>D'Estang</I> and the torpedo boats <I>Barclay, Rogers, Bagley, Philip,</I> +and <I>Dyer</I> were sweeping between Fort Adams and Rose Island in echelon +formation. Long columns of gray-black smoke pouring from the funnels, +mingled with the heavy haze of the August evening. There was a bobble +of a sea on and as the <I>Jefferson</I> signalled for the vessels to come up +into line, the scene presented by the grim, but lithe torpedo boats, +each hurrying across the waves to its appointed position, rolling in +the sea hollows and pitching clouds of spray over grimy bows, appealed +suggestively to Miss Wellington, who stood with her hand tightly +clenched in Sara's. Huge blue-black clouds, with slivery shafts +showing through the rents the wind had made, banked the western +horizon, and out to seaward the yellow Brenton Reef light vessel rolled +desolate on the surge. +</P> + +<P> +"Is n't it beautiful," murmured Anne, half to herself. "It is so +different from being on the <I>Mayfair</I>, is n't it?" +</P> + +<A NAME="img-250"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-250.jpg" ALT=""Is n't it beautiful," murmured Anne. "So different from being on the _Mayfair_, is n't it?"" BORDER="2" WIDTH="480" HEIGHT="680"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 480px"> +"Is n't it beautiful," murmured Anne. "So different <BR> +from being on the <I>Mayfair</I>, is n't it?" +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +Sara nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"So much more fun," she replied. "Much more thrilling." +</P> + +<P> +As a matter of fact, the atmosphere of expectancy filled the vessel. +Armitage, concerned with the navigation of the ship, his cap reversed +to keep the wind from getting under the peak and lifting it into the +sea, had neglected them utterly, and the junior had not withdrawn his +head from the chart booth for half an hour. +</P> + +<P> +Time and again Jack's face swept past, unseeing them, toward the +quartermaster with hands on the wheel, at the rear of the bridge, +crying crisply: +</P> + +<P> +"Helm to port." +</P> + +<P> +And the quartermaster replied as he twisted the wheel: +</P> + +<P> +"Helm to port, sir." +</P> + +<P> +Then— +</P> + +<P> +"Ease your helm!" +</P> + +<P> +"Ease your helm, sir." +</P> + +<P> +The dark had fallen now. Ahead the Point Judith acetylene buoy sent +its rays toward them. When they came abreast of it, it was pitch black +and the white light on Watch Hill was made out to the southeastward. +Suddenly from the <I>Jefferson's</I> deck a series of red and white lights +began to wink and blink. Answering signals twinkled over a mile of +water and the boats stopped their engines, rolling like logs on the +waters. +</P> + +<P> +Armitage walked over to Anne and Sara, who, in their coats and caps, +looked not unlike officers themselves. +</P> + +<P> +"How do you like it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, it is terribly interesting!" said Anne. "What are you going to do +now?" +</P> + +<P> +"Wait for the battleships, I imagine," said Armitage. "We don't really +torpedo them," he added. "The object is to get as close as possible +without being observed. They try to locate us with searchlights. As +soon as they see us they put the light on us and fire a red star. +After that star is fired the discovered boat must steam full speed for +the quarry for one minute and then fire a green star and turn on her +lights. The distance from the battleship to the boat is measured and +if we are within torpedo range, two thousand yards, the torpedo boat +wins. If the distance is greater, we are technically out of +action—the battleship wins." +</P> + +<P> +"How interesting!" Anne gazed at Armitage admiringly. "And that is +what you would do in real warfare then—rush into the very face of the +battleship's firing in the effort to blow her up?" +</P> + +<P> +"About that," smiled Armitage. +</P> + +<P> +"But what a risk! You must steam through a perfect hail of bullets, +with chances of striking with your torpedo largely against you. And +even if you do strike you are liable to pay the price with your lives. +Am I not right?" +</P> + +<P> +"These pirates of the flotilla," laughed Jack, "do not think of the +price. They 're in the Navy to think of other things." +</P> + +<P> +"And is that the spirit of the American Navy?" +</P> + +<P> +"Of course," Armitage looked at her curiously. "Why not?" +</P> + +<P> +Anne laughed and shrugged her shoulders. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I don't know. I know something of the British and French Navies, +but patriotism—the sort of spirit you speak of—has always appeared to +me such an abstract thing as regards America. It's because, I suppose, +I have never known anything about it, because I have been more or less +of an expatriate all my life." +</P> + +<P> +Jack had been watching a display of Ardois lights from the +<I>Jefferson's</I> mast. He turned away, but spoke over his shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't be that, Miss Wellington, for you have proved to me that a girl +or a child, reared as you have been, can be American in every instinct +and action. I had never believed that." +</P> + +<P> +He hurried away to the bridge rail and Anne's arm turned red under the +impress of Sara's fingers. +</P> + +<P> +In compliance with the <I>Jefferson's</I> signals, the engines of the +flotilla began to throb and the boats turned to the eastward. +</P> + +<P> +A cry came from the <I>D'Estang's</I> lookout. Anne and Sara leaned forward +and saw that a blundering sailing vessel—her dark sails a blotch +against the sky, her hull invisible—was careening just ahead. She had +no lights, and curses on the heads of coastwise skippers who take risks +and place other vessels in jeopardy merely to save oil, swept through +the flotilla like ether waves. +</P> + +<P> +Armitage let a good Anglo-Saxon objurgation slip from his tongue as he +turned toward the yeoman. +</P> + +<P> +"Half speed!" +</P> + +<P> +"Half speed, sir," answered the yeoman as he tugged at the engine room +telegraph. +</P> + +<P> +All eyes were now on the schooner. How was she heading? A group of +seamen stood beside Armitage and Johnson on the bridge, trying to +ascertain that important point. A flash of lightning gave a momentary +glance of greasy sails bulged to port. +</P> + +<P> +"She 's on the starboard tack, crossing the flotilla!" +</P> + +<P> +"All right." There was relief in Jack's voice as he called for full +speed ahead. +</P> + +<P> +"It's no fun to ram a merchantman, with all the law you get into," said +the signal quartermaster, standing near the young women. "And if they +hit you, good-bye." +</P> + +<P> +But the schooner had a knowing captain. He had no intention of trying +to cross all those sharp bows. He quickly tacked between the +<I>D'Estang</I> and <I>Barclay</I> and passed the rest of the boats astern. +</P> + +<P> +Slowly the boats were loafing along now. +</P> + +<P> +At ten-thirty the Jefferson winked her signals at the rest of the +flotilla. +</P> + +<P> +"Put out all lights." +</P> + +<P> +As the young women glanced over the sea the truck lights died +responsively. Then the green and red starboard and port lamps and +lights in wardroom and galley went out and men hurried along the deck +placing tarpaulins over the engine room gratings. Only the binnacle +lights remained and these were muffled with just a crack for the +helmsman to peer through. +</P> + +<P> +A great blackness settled over the waters. To Anne, always an +impressionable girl, it was as though all life had suddenly been +obliterated from the face of them. Her hand tightened its grasp on +Sara's fingers, for as the vessel plunged along there was a palpable +impression that the flotilla, now hurrying forward in viewless haste, +was pitched for the supreme test. Off to the seaward signal lights +from the parent ship <I>Racine</I>, having on board the officer in charge of +the Navy's mobile defences—which is to say, torpedo boats—had flared +and died. The battleships were approaching. +</P> + +<P> +Anne, quivering with excitement, peered out through the night; nothing +but darkness. Below, lined along the rails, she caught dull outlines +of the white caps of the seamen, all as eager to defeat the battleships +as their officers. She saw the phosphorescent gleam from a shattered +wave. But she heard nothing, not even the swish of water. +</P> + +<P> +Johnson approached diffidently, and leaned over the rail at their side, +straining his eyes into the night. +</P> + +<P> +"The chances of making a successful attack," he said, "are best if we +approach from almost ahead, a little on the bow. Then we are lessening +the distance between us at the sum of the speeds of the flotilla and +the battleships. We 'll hit up about twenty-five knots when we see +them. Of—" +</P> + +<P> +A low incisive voice sounded forward, a blotch of a hand and arm +pointing. There was a movement on the bridge as a dark object came +close. It was the <I>Jefferson</I>. A dull figure leaned over her bridge +with a megaphone. +</P> + +<P> +"We 've blown out some boiler tubes and scalded a couple of men, +<I>D'Estang</I>. Go in ahead." +</P> + +<P> +"All right," Jack's voice was muffled. +</P> + +<P> +Again came the voice of the lookout and the arm pointed ahead. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!" Anne pinched Sara's arm. "I see them. See those great black +shadows over there?" She stepped forward. "Shall I tell them?" +</P> + +<P> +But Armitage had seen. He turned to the yeoman. +</P> + +<P> +"Full speed, ahead!" +</P> + +<P> +"Full speed, ahead, sir." +</P> + +<P> +The slender hull throbbed with the giant pulsings of the two sets of +engines. There was not another sound. It was as though the vessel +were plunging through an endless void. In the darkness astern arose a +spear-like puff of crimson flame. Again it appeared and again, +quivering, sinister. +</P> + +<P> +"Damn the <I>Barclay</I>; she's torching!" There came a shout from out of +the dark and in an instant two great beams of lambent light cut wide +swaths through the pall. They were too high; they missed the +<I>D'Estang</I> altogether and rested on the <I>Barclay's</I> smoke, which rose +and tumbled and billowed and writhed like a heavy shroud in the ghastly +shafts. +</P> + +<P> +"They 've missed us and are trying to get the <I>Barclay</I>. Come on!" +Jack's voice was vibrant with the joy of the test. He was kneeling on +the bridge, a megaphone in his hand. He turned it toward the women. +"Crouch down beside that gun and stay down, please, until this is over." +</P> + +<P> +As he spoke, the leading battleship, the dreadnaught <I>Arizona</I>, was +getting her searchlight beams down, and all unseen, the <I>D'Estang</I> and +she were approaching each other at a total speed of thirty-seven knots. +</P> + +<P> +Nearer they came and the destroyer was almost to the great dark blur, +with the shining arms radiating from her like living tails from a dead +comet, when, with terrible suddenness and intensity almost burning, the +<I>Arizona</I> flashed a sixty-inch searchlight directly down on the +destroyer's bridge. Sara stifled a scream and Anne bowed her head to +the deck to shut out the fearful blaze. Armitage, standing upright now +and rubbing open his eyes, saw that the time had come to turn, and +quickly. The <I>D'Estang</I> was approaching the battleship, pointing +toward her port bow. The idea of the manoeuvre was to turn in a +semicircle, passing the <I>Arizona</I> at a distance of about two hundred +yards. He shouted the order. +</P> + +<P> +"Hard—a—port." +</P> + +<P> +There was an instant's silence and the face of the quartermaster was +seen to turn pale in the glare of the relentless searchlight. +</P> + +<P> +"Wheel rope carried away, sir." +</P> + +<P> +Armitage fairly threw himself across the bridge, but Johnson was there +first. Quiet, unemotional Johnson, his hat off now, his hair +dishevelled, and his eyes blazing. +</P> + +<P> +"The helm is jambed hard a-starboard!" he cried. +</P> + +<P> +In an instant the situation crystallized itself into a flashing picture +upon Anne's mind. She had held the wheel on her father's yacht; but it +was not that which made her see. It was divination, which fear or +danger sometimes brings to highly sensitized minds—just as it brought +the same picture to Sara's mind. With helm thus jambed, it meant that +the <I>D'Estang</I> would have to turn in the same direction in which the +<I>Arizona</I> was ploughing along at a twelve-knot speed. In making this +turn she could not possibly clear, but must strike the battleship. On +the other hand she was too near to be stopped in time to avoid going +across the bows of that great plunging mass of drab steel, and being +cut in two. +</P> + +<P> +Anne, crouching immovable, her eyes fixed on Armitage, saw his head +half turn in her direction, then with the automatic movement of a +machine, he reached for the port engine room telegraph and with a jerk +threw the port engine full speed astern. The bridge quivered as though +it were being torn from its place; throughout the hull sounded a great +metallic clanking. There came a new motion. The destroyer was +spinning like a top, the bow almost at a standstill, the stem swinging +in a great arc. +</P> + +<P> +It was like the working out of a problem in dynamics. Nearer they +came. Anne could now make out the great shape of the battleship; the +dull funnels belching black clouds of smoke, which, merging with the +night, were immediately absorbed; the shadowy, basket-like masts, from +which the search-light rays went forth; the long, vaguely protruding +twelve-inch guns. A whistle, tremulous and piercing, shrilled along +the battleship's deck; dull white figures were clambering into the port +life boats. Still closer now! Anne could hear the heavy swish of +waters under the <I>Arizona's</I> bows. Her nerves were tight strung, +prepared for the crash of steel against steel and the shock of the +submersion. There was no sound from the <I>Arizona</I> now. Her bridge had +echoed with shouts of warning. The time for that had passed. Armitage +had not uttered a sound. Straight he stood by the telegraph, tense and +rigid, his hand clutching the lever. +</P> + +<P> +Around came the stern with fearful momentum, so close—but clear of the +giant hull—that the gunner's mate at the stern torpedo tube took his +chew of tobacco and, as he afterwards put it, "torpedoed the battleship +with his eyes shut." Now the stern was pointed directly toward the +<I>Arizona</I>, hardly five yards away. Armitage, bending over the +telegraph, jerked sharply upon the lever, throwing the port engine full +speed ahead again. He stood up and glanced quickly astern. Like a +live thing, the <I>D'Estang</I> jumped clear. Sara leaned heavily on Anne's +shoulder with little tearless sobs. But Anne, crouching in the +position she had maintained since the search-light had blinded the +bridge, still watched Jack with eyes that seemed to transfix him. +</P> + +<P> +A figure leaped to the end of the battleship's bridge. +</P> + +<P> +"The Admiral's compliments, <I>D'Estang</I>!" +</P> + +<P> +The engines were stopped now and Armitage and Johnson and a group of +men were working at the helm. Sara raised her head. +</P> + +<P> +"Anne," she said solemnly. "I never wanted to kiss a man until this +minute." Mischievously she made a move as though to arise. The girl's +hand clenched upon her arm. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't be an idiot," she said. "Can't you see how busy they are? +Besides, Sara, no man likes to be kissed by two girls—at the same +time." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +As Jack, once more a chauffeur, drove under the <I>porte cochère</I> at The +Crags, shortly before one o'clock, Anne sat for a moment in her seat +after her friend had alighted. Sara looked back with a little smile +and then walked toward the door, which a footman had opened. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Armitage," said Anne in a low voice, "I want to thank you for many +things to-night—for one thing above all. I cannot tell you what it +is, for I hardly know myself." She paused, and Jack, who was toying +with the switch lever, looked at her curiously. "It's a new viewpoint, +I fancy. Somehow—I have a feeling that there is more to this country, +my country, than Fifth Avenue, Central Park, Tuxedo, Long Island, and +Newport—something bigger and finer than railroads. I am glad to feel +that, and I thank you." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap18"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +ANNE WELLINGTON HAS HER FIRST TEST +</H3> + +<P> +Sara was waiting for Anne in the hall. She had taken off her hat and +stood idly swinging it. A single globe was lighted in the chandelier +overhead and the extremities of the great apartment were lost in gloom. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, dear," Sara yawned broadly, "I fancy we shall sleep to-night." +</P> + +<P> +Anne had thrown her arm over Sara's shoulders and they were walking +toward the stairs when Koltsoff appeared from the shadow, confronting +them. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh! Prince Koltsoff! How you frightened me," said Anne in a low +voice, drawing back. +</P> + +<P> +"A thousand pardons. It would have grieved me had I thought of doing +that." +</P> + +<P> +Sara observed him with irritation. There was, however, so much of the +exotic about the man, as to render him attractive, even to her. Tall, +well—if slimly—built; in manner graceful—"silken" was the +designation that occurred to her—there could be no question as to the +potency of his personality: a potency, by the way, from whose spell, +she had learned in various ways throughout the evening, Anne was not +entirely aloof. It was perfectly clear to Sara, that with Armitage, +strong and clever in a wholesome masculine way, Anne was the +light-hearted, mischievous, pure-minded girl—his ideal of American +young womanhood. But now she caught the other note of her +character—an untrue note, but none the less positive—and the other +look in her eyes. Her voice was deeper, more womanly, more surcharged +with underlying things, as she spoke to the Russian, and Sara could see +she was breathing more rapidly. +</P> + +<P> +"I have been waiting to see you, Miss Wellington," he was saying. "I +have waited so long." There was a note of pathos in his voice. +</P> + +<P> +"Is it important—now?" asked Anne, and her friend tugged at her +sleeve. "I am very tired and sleepy." +</P> + +<P> +"For a few moments, that is all," persisted the Prince gently. "Is it +too much?" +</P> + +<P> +Sara, inwardly raging, detected the subtle appeal which this man, so +versed apparently in the emotions of womanhood, was making to the +inherent maternal, protective, sympathetic instincts of the girl, who, +now they were aroused, was smiling patiently. +</P> + +<P> +"Very well, Prince Koltsoff. Don't bother to wait, Sara. Good-night." +</P> + +<P> +"Such a day of weariness, Miss Wellington,", said the Prince, as he +followed Anne to a bench running along the foot of the staircase. "One +of my men,—calf-head,—was arrested in Boston." +</P> + +<P> +"Arrested! Really! What had he been doing?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing, I assure you, save trying to leave this bestial country. He +had been of service to me in Newport and elsewhere. I was worried. I +am worried. He was allowed to go. But they took valuable papers +concerning Austria from him. How can I get them? Am I undone?" +Koltsoff raised his eyes. "How can I say? Steinberg at Boston is in +Maine. And so—" Koltsoff tossed his hand in the air—"I have spent," +he at last continued, "more than twenty thousand roubles on the matter. +I have spent five thousand roubles on the dumbhead, Yeasky, who has not +the brains or courage of a mouse. I am discouraged." He caught her +hand, pressed it to his forehead, and released it. "But I oppress you +with my diplomatic cares," he murmured. "It has been the first time I +ever burdened a woman with them. You—you are different, because you +are of the few gifted to bear, to solve them." +</P> + +<P> +Anne made no reply. +</P> + +<P> +"You hold safely that which I placed in your keeping?" he asked after a +pause. +</P> + +<P> +His hand felt its way to hers, lying inert on the cushion, his fingers +closing softly upon it. She did not withdraw it, but lowered her head. +</P> + +<P> +"Was it in connection with that your man was arrested in Boston?" +</P> + +<P> +Koltsoff laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"They thought to connect him with it. But—" he pressed Anne's +fingers, "the connecting link happened to be in your—jewelry safe." +</P> + +<P> +Anne, thrilled at the part she was playing in the mysterious diplomatic +episode, laughed softly. Somehow it all appeared bigger even than +dodging under battleships' bows,—certainly more subtle. Koltsoff +gazed at her admiringly. +</P> + +<P> +"My dear Miss Wellington," he said, "do you realize more and more, that +of which I spoke to-day—your fitness for the international sphere? +Your beauty—your coolness—the temper of your spirit—your ability to +sway strong men, as you have swayed me—do you appreciate all? Are you +proud that you have swayed me?" +</P> + +<P> +"Prince Koltsoff!" Anne's voice rang with doubt and anguish and +yet—pride. +</P> + +<P> +She was tired and spent with the day and as his arm stole, almost +snake-like, about her waist, she raised a nerveless hand, plucked +feebly to remove the fingers pressing into her side, and then let her +hand fall to the cushion. +</P> + +<P> +His head was bending over her, his face was very close. Some vivid +instinct told her that he must not kiss her. She tried to struggle but +she could not. The next instant she was living that epoch which +innocence may only know ere it perishes—a man's lips making free with +eyes and mouth and cheeks. She lay now, half in his arms, looking at +him with wide, startled eyes, her lips parched. +</P> + +<P> +"Anne," he bent forward to kiss her again, but she turned her head away +and then, again, her unchanging eyes sought his face. "What I have +done—what I have meant, I shall make clear to your parents to-morrow. +To you I can say nothing now. You—ah, of course know the European +custom." +</P> + +<P> +"Please let me go." There was a tired sob in Anne's voice. +</P> + +<P> +"But I have not yet told you that which I wish to say." Anne tore from +his arm and started up. +</P> + +<P> +"You haven't! Oh, very well. I am listening." +</P> + +<P> +"You were out with the torpedo boats tonight. You were upon the boat +with Lieutenant Armitage." +</P> + +<P> +"I—" Anne paused. Armitage, without attempting to obtain promises of +secrecy as to the mission of the flotilla, had pointed out that all +information of the sort was absolutely confidential and that above all +the ability of a torpedo boat destroyer to get within two hundred yards +of a battleship was not news that the Government would care to have +disseminated, even though it were the exception rather than the rule. +This thought shot through Anne's mind. +</P> + +<P> +"You quite surprise me," she said finally. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I really do not," smiled Koltsoff. "As I have informed you, we +diplomats are omnipresent. Therefore I do not surprise you when I say +that you and your friend were on the <I>D'Estang</I>; that the <I>Jefferson</I> +had an accident and sent two scalded men to the hospital. All +that—pouf!" Koltsoff snapped his fingers. "That is immaterial—who +cares about such manoeuvres as the Navy of the United States indulge +in! But," and Koltsoff bent toward her with unwinking eyes, "this is +important: the <I>D'Estang</I> became separated from the rest of the fleet +and there are reports that she discharged a new sort of torpedo at the +battleship. That is interesting—important to me. I feared I could +not ascertain until I learned that my skilled coadjutor, my fellow +diplomat," he nodded at her, "was present on the <I>D'Estang</I>." +</P> + +<P> +"Why do you ask me? Why don't you apply to Mr. Armitage?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, he would tell me, of course!" laughed Koltsoff sarcastically. "In +any event, I have yet to know him. He was at Washington when I arrived +in Newport, and since his return has been at the Torpedo Station but +one night. My men have not been able to find him." +</P> + +<P> +Anne had forgotten her weariness now. +</P> + +<P> +"There seems to be something, at least, in the American Navy that you +find worthy of close interest," she said. +</P> + +<P> +An expression of indifference settled upon the Prince's face. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, if you know of the Navy, you know the nations are always +interested in the new devices and plans of other nations. I once paid +fifteen thousand roubles for the plans of an English fort." +</P> + +<P> +"And so diplomacy is stealing or buying information, then?" +</P> + +<P> +"Diplomacy is anything, Anne." +</P> + +<P> +"You interest me, Prince Koltsoff." +</P> + +<P> +"But the <I>D'Estang</I>—I imagine she was not successful with her +torpedoing." Inwardly he was cursing Yeasky, as he had been all the +evening; Yeasky had never missed a trip of the <I>D'Estang</I>. +</P> + +<P> +Anne, beginning to see, had worked into her cool, malicious mood. +</P> + +<P> +"You must not be so imaginative," she gaped [Transcriber's note: +gasped?]. "And now if you 'll excuse me—it's two o'clock." +</P> + +<P> +"But Anne—Miss Wellington!" The Prince was at her side. "You do not +really intend to deny me!" He shook his head, as though dazed. "It +cannot be possible that our understanding is so incomplete. I had +dared to hope, to believe that our interests were so swiftly merging. +And what is it that I ask! Merely a slight question about the +<I>D'Estang</I>. Anne—is it upon so little a thing that you fail me? +Would that you might try <I>me</I> with a bigger, greater test. You should +see!" +</P> + +<P> +"Do you mean that, really?" +</P> + +<P> +"As God is my judge!" cried the Prince fervently. +</P> + +<P> +"Then," said Anne seriously, "say good-night to me. Pardon me, but I +am tired." +</P> + +<P> +"But the <I>D'Estang</I>," cried Koltsoff insistently. "My plans—my life—" +</P> + +<P> +"What!" interrupted Anne, as a thought was born of his words. "I +understood that this was merely a matter of routine naval intelligence." +</P> + +<P> +Koltsoff mopped his forehead. +</P> + +<P> +"That is true," he hastened to say, "but matters of routine are the +greater part of the lives of such as we. Our success depends upon it, +alone. Pardon me, but I must insist that you tell me what I have +asked." He had almost backed her against the wainscoting. +</P> + +<P> +"And I won't tell you, Prince Koltsoff." +</P> + +<P> +"Why not, pray?" +</P> + +<P> +"I will tell you why," her voice quivered with emotion. "This morning +you convinced me pretty thoroughly that I had no right to call myself +an American. I still feel that way, don't you know. But to-night I +'ve seen brave and devoted men risking their lives and perfecting +themselves in their calling not only through professional interest but +through love of their country and their flag, and dare-devil enthusiasm +in serving under a flag that means so much to them. The father of the +junior officer on the <I>D'Estang</I> is a farmer and the captain of the +<I>Barclay</I> is the son of an insurance clerk. But they're all of one cut +and out of one mould—American fighting men who would shoot or knock +down any one who dared utter in their presence such words as I have +listened to from you—more shame to me—without a single emotion, save +amusement." She ran on breathlessly, "Whatever happened on the +<I>D'Estang</I> to-night, important or unimportant, is the concern of the +Navy of my country alone. Hereafter, in anything you say or do, Prince +Koltsoff, remember I am learning to be an American—" she stopped and +smiled at her own ardor, "so please don't say anything to discourage +me." +</P> + +<P> +Koltsoff, who had been listening in silence, without making a movement, +suddenly bowed his head. +</P> + +<P> +"I am sorry, Miss Wellington!" His voice was broken and sincerely so. +"I misunderstood!" He sank to one knee and seized the bottom of her +skirt. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't, Prince Koltsoff, please!" Anne was swiftly relenting. She +drew her skirt away and the Prince arising took her hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, please!" she said. +</P> + +<P> +"Not until I hear you are not angry." +</P> + +<P> +"I am not angry." +</P> + +<P> +He had drawn her close to him and they were looking into each other's +eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" she asked weakly. Her very personality seemed ebbing +from her. +</P> + +<P> +"You love me?" His voice was almost a whisper. +</P> + +<P> +She smiled wanly. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Is</I> this love?" +</P> + +<P> +"Is it! What is love? Love is giving—yielding. Love knows neither +country nor patriotism nor religion!" His glittering eyes were still +holding hers. "And so," his voice was low but masterful, "I ask +you—not that I care vitally for the answer of itself; you must know, +must understand my motives—I ask you, did the <I>D'Estang</I> discharge a +torpedo to-night?" +</P> + +<P> +Long they looked at each other and then slowly the girl shook her head. +</P> + +<P> +"You mean no? She did not?" Koltsoff's voice was eager, his arms +tightened about her. +</P> + +<P> +"I do not mean anything." +</P> + +<P> +Then suddenly she twisted out of his arms and stood with white face and +parted lips, pointing to the stairway. +</P> + +<P> +"Now," she cried, "go! Go, I tell you," she stamped her foot as +Koltsoff hesitated. "Go, or I shall hate you!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap19"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +AN ENCOUNTER IN THE DARK +</H3> + +<P> +While Anne was detained below by Koltsoff, Sara had gone to her room. +She lay awake for a long time and when her maid informed her that +Emilia was still waiting for her mistress, she gave up the idea of +seeing her and went to sleep. +</P> + +<P> +Armitage in the meantime had placed the car in the garage, entered the +house by the servants' door, and was now sitting in his stocking feet, +smoking a pipe, waiting for quiet to fall upon the house. His nerves +were still taut with the events of the evening; his mind very much +awake and alert. He thrilled with the thought that in all probability +he would have a commendatory letter from the Admiral to send to his +father and that a duplicate would be published to the fleet. As for +his position in the house, that was hourly growing more precarious. So +far as he could gather, almost every one but the Prince and the +Wellington boys knew his identity, and it certainly could not be long +before this ignorant minority would be wiped out. There must be +action, and quick action. With the Prince away for the night the +opportunity could never be better. He was bent now on taking advantage +of it. +</P> + +<P> +It was nearly three o'clock when he left his room, walked along the +heavily carpeted hall, and descended the stairs in the front of the +house to the second floor. The dim light was flowing from the hall +below but no lamps were lighted above. He turned, crouching, and made +his way along toward Koltsoff's rooms. Footsteps sounded on the stairs +and as he flattened himself against the wall the skirts of a woman +fluttered past him. A second later the door of Miss Wellington's rooms +opened and in the light rushing forth, he saw Anne enter. She was +weeping. He heard the exclamation of the maid and Anne saying +something in reply. Then the door closed. +</P> + +<P> +For five minutes Armitage remained immovable. Then taking from his +pocket a skeleton key and a long thin roll of wire he crept to +Koltsoff's door, which he had marked in the afternoon. As he placed +his hand on the knob it turned in his grasp and opened. There was a +single electric bulb, burning in a crimson globe, and although Armitage +had time to jump back, the light flowing from the open door fell full +upon him. He stood breathing quickly, watching the newcomer, his +forearm poised along his waist, the fist doubled. Without a word, the +man slowly closed the door. As Armitage waited an electric dark-light +flashed in his face with blinding suddenness. Then it went out. +</P> + +<P> +"Not now," came a whispered voice, "Prince Koltsoff has returned. He +has but gone into his room." +</P> + +<P> +Jack did not reply. His hand shot into his pocket and came out with a +dark-light similar to that which had been used against him. As he +aimed the instrument and pressed the spring a brown seamed face with a +head of heavy dark hair appeared in the centre of the illumination. +</P> + +<P> +"Let us have done with lights; they are not necessary," said the man. +The voice was cultivated, the manner gentle. "And besides, they are +not safe." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you want?" Armitage's voice rose with an impatient inflection. +</P> + +<P> +"I might ask that of you," was the soft reply. "But come, a fair +exchange, you know, since our quarry seems to be the same. Although +passing as Prince Koltsoff's secretary, in reality I am Turnecki, of +the Austrian State Department. You are of the secret service of this +country." +</P> + +<P> +Jack was cautious. +</P> + +<P> +"I am a burglar, if you must know," he said. "And if you make any +outcry, I 'll kill you." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, no you are not," smiled the man, shaking his head. +</P> + +<P> +Without a word Armitage leaned forward and seized the man by the arm. +</P> + +<P> +"Come to my room with me," he said. +</P> + +<P> +There was great dignity in the man's voice as he placed his hand +admonishingly upon Jack's arm. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't do that. I am quite ready to go with you." +</P> + +<P> +But Jack's fingers closed more tightly. +</P> + +<P> +"I am glad you feel that way," he said grimly, "because I want to talk +to you. However, I think I 'll make sure. Come on." +</P> + +<P> +At the stairs he gently pushed the man ahead of him and followed him to +his door. He switched on the light and then, mindful of the watchman +on the grounds below, threw a heavy towel over the globe. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, Herr Turnecki, or Koltsoff's secretary, or anything you please to +call yourself," he said indicating a chair,—he himself stood at the +bureau filling his pipe,—"tell me what I can do for you." +</P> + +<P> +The man bowed, and for a moment they gazed at each other. Armitage +could not dismiss an impression of suspicion concerning him, but aside +from something familiar in face and figure and in some of the tones of +his voice, he was unable to place him. The putative Austrian seemed to +read Jack's thoughts. +</P> + +<P> +"Let me first prove," he said at length, "that I am friendly to +you—and perhaps to your interests. I recognized you this morning as +an American naval officer I had met two years ago in Vienna. It is my +business not to forget faces. You must be aware that I have not +informed my—" he grimaced—"master of your identity." +</P> + +<P> +"That is true," said Armitage ruefully. "As a detective I appear to be +about as much of a success as a farmer at the helm of a battleship." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, well," observed the other, "it is a business." He looked at +Armitage closely. "I admire the United States. Can I be of service?" +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps," said Armitage, "but you spoke of similar interests. What +can I do for you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing, I fear," said the Austrian. "You must know that recently +this man Koltsoff purchased, in some way, the mobilization plans of our +army on our northeastern, that is, the Russian frontier. Possession of +these by Russia will seriously affect the attitude of our chief, Baron +Aehrenthal, toward the State Department at St. Petersburg. So close +was the espionage, in which I have played no small part, that he was +unable to get them out of his hands before his vessel sailed for New +York from Fiume. I fear now, however, that such is not the case." +</P> + +<P> +"You mean he has mailed or expressed them?" asked Jack. +</P> + +<P> +The man shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +"Such things are never transmitted in that way." +</P> + +<P> +Jack's heart bounded with relief. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, would n't that be a reason for attempting it?" +</P> + +<P> +"I should be happy to know that the plans were on their way to the post +office in St. Petersburg," shrugging his shoulders. "They would soon +be on their return journey—and not by mail." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh," cried Armitage, suddenly remembering his conversation with +Thornton. "I think I can put you in the way of recovering your stolen +plans." Thereupon he told of the capture of Yeasky and of the papers +taken from him, already in the keeping of the secret service men in +Boston. +</P> + +<P> +As he spoke Turnecki leaned forward, his eyes blazing, uttering subdued +German exclamations. When Armitage had concluded he sprang forward and +seized Jack by the hand and then after the manner of his country, +kissed him on the cheek. +</P> + +<P> +"A thousand thanks!" he cried. "My servitude ends now; for when +Koltsoff awakens I shall be <I>en route</I> for Boston. You said that you +would send on an order for their delivery." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I 'll write that now—and then I 'll tell you what you can do for +me. Of course, you understand that the secret service chaps will +require the Austrian Consul to vouch for you." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I understand that, of course," said the man. +</P> + +<P> +"All right." Armitage took his fountain pen from his coat lying on the +bed and leaned across the bureau, about to write, when he abruptly laid +the pen down and half closed his eyes. Some new thought seemed filling +his mind and moving him deeply. +</P> + +<P> +"Just a second," he said at length. He walked across the room, jerked +the towel from the lamp, gazed closely at the man for an instant, and +then with an exclamation continued to the door, which he locked, +placing the key in his pocket. Returning he stood directly in front of +the man, who had arisen. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," he said, "of all fools, commend me! How do you feel, Yeasky, +with your beard off and wig on; your German dialect and your painted +scar?" +</P> + +<P> +The man looked at Armitage with face utterly expressionless. +</P> + +<P> +"You are mistaken," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"Am I?" sneered Jack. "I have been mistaken so far as you are +concerned several times in the past." He laughed grimly. "But not +this time, old boy. Come, pass out that control." +</P> + +<P> +"I have n't it." +</P> + +<P> +"You lie. Take off your coat." +</P> + +<P> +Yeasky deliberately divested himself of his coat and threw it at Jack's +feet. Then he slapped all his pockets. +</P> + +<P> +"You see," he said, "I have not got it." +</P> + +<P> +"Who has?" +</P> + +<P> +"Koltsoff, I suppose. He did not speak of it to me." +</P> + +<P> +"What did he speak of? What are you here for? You were released upon +condition that you leave this country. I suppose you know I can put +you in the way of spending several years in an American jail." +</P> + +<P> +"I had intended going, but I received his orders and had to come to +him. So I escaped from the steamship, and returned to Newport." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you want to come?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, I am sick of the service. It is all work and danger and no +credit. He receives it all." +</P> + +<P> +"Then why did you obey his orders?" +</P> + +<P> +Yeasky raised his shoulders and smiled significantly. +</P> + +<P> +"Siberia," he said. "The arms of such as Koltsoff are very long in +cases of those who fail them." +</P> + +<P> +"What did Koltsoff want you here for?" +</P> + +<P> +"To confer with me. He thought we would be safe from spies here. When +I saw you I hoped to get an order for the return of the Austrian plans." +</P> + +<P> +"Ump! You nearly succeeded. Did you tell Koltsoff I suspected him?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, that would have made my work appear even more bungling. Listen," +added the man earnestly, "I told him I thought my capture had been due +to the Austrians, whose system of espionage is really wonderful. That +is God's truth," raising his hand solemnly. "I should have believed it +myself had I not known you knew." +</P> + +<P> +"If that is true you have done me rather a good turn," said Armitage +watching his face closely. +</P> + +<P> +Yeasky drew from his breast a silver ichon. +</P> + +<P> +"It is true." He knelt. "I swear it by this." +</P> + +<P> +"A man's oath is no better than his deeds," replied Armitage musingly. +"Look here, Yeasky," he added presently. "I tell you what I am going +to do. I am going to turn you over to Chief Roberts of the Newport +police and he will hold you for two or three days under an assumed name +on the charge of burglary. No one but the watchman and the police and +myself will know of your arrest. When I recover the control you will +be released, free to stay in this country or go where you please. The +only condition is that you attempt in no way to communicate with +Koltsoff." +</P> + +<P> +The man bowed his head thoughtfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Besides," resumed Armitage, "I don't know how the secret service +people feel about the Austrian plans. I imagine Koltsoff has been +making representations to the State Department, and since this +Government has no business with them, they may hand them over. If I +can help you there, I shall do so. Now," he concluded, "there is the +proposition; take it or leave it." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll take it!" replied Yeasky. "As for the Austrian plans, you need +not bother about them. You have promised me freedom after two or three +days if I keep silent. That is all I ask. Ever since I have been in +this country I have been on the point of making up my mind to become a +citizen. The Russian Government cannot touch me here, can it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not unless you have committed a crime." +</P> + +<P> +"I have committed many crimes; none, however, against the Russian +Government. I am weary of Koltsoff, weary of this service, weary of +this life. There is much money for me here in the practice of my +profession." +</P> + +<P> +"You 've already worked in this country, have n't you. Your letter of +recommendation from the Eastern Electric—" +</P> + +<P> +"Was forged," said Yeasky quietly. "No, I have never been employed +here. I came from Fiume with Prince Koltsoff. I had some thought at +the time of deserting; but I was afraid. Now my mind is made up. I +want to remain here; I shall remain. I have a brother in Chicago." +</P> + +<P> +"Good," said Armitage. "Come on, now, quickly." +</P> + +<P> +Softly they went down the stairs, and after switching off the burglar +alarm, Jack escorted the man out of the servants' door, where he +whistled softly. The watchman came up on the run. +</P> + +<P> +"Here's a burglar I caught," said Jack cheerfully. "He was lurking in +the second floor hallway." +</P> + +<P> +The watchman, a former New York policeman, was not excited. +</P> + +<P> +"All right," he said. "We 'll take him to the gate house and telephone +for the patrol." +</P> + +<P> +This was done and within half an hour the sidelights of the heavy +vehicle plunged out of the darkness to the gate. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, don't worry," whispered Armitage, as the man was bundled into the +wagon. "I 'll have the chief on the 'phone within five minutes. +Remember your part." +</P> + +<P> +Yeasky nodded, and the wagon rumbled away. +</P> + +<P> +It was a very angry chief that Jack, sitting in the butler's hallway, +got on the 'phone. But within a few minutes he was laughing and +promising to obey Armitage's wishes in every respect. +</P> + +<P> +The clock was striking four when Armitage arose from the telephone. He +stood, stretching himself and yawning for a moment, and then stole to +the stairs. +</P> + +<P> +"I have spent eventful days before this," he smiled, "but this one +breaks all records." As he slipped past the door of Anne's suite, he +stopped just an instant. +</P> + +<P> +"Good-night, Anne," he said. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap20"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +WITH REFERENCE TO THE DOT +</H3> + +<P> +Armitage gained next morning a very perfect idea of the regard which +the Wellington household held for the head of it. Mr. Wellington had +waited in New York for the <I>Mayfair</I>, and not only Anne, but Mrs. +Wellington and the boys took their post on the southeastern veranda +soon after nine o'clock, while Ronald glued his eyes to the big +telescope. After he had alternately picked up a white Lackawanna tug +and a Maine-bound steamship as the <I>Mayfair</I>, Anne lost patience. +</P> + +<P> +"Mother," she said, "why not send for McCall? He used to be a sailor, +I believe, and will, no doubt, be able to pick up the yacht miles +farther away than we can." +</P> + +<P> +Something resembling a smile crossed the mother's face. +</P> + +<P> +"Very well, Anne; send for him." +</P> + +<P> +A footman was summoned and within a few minutes Armitage was the centre +of an interested group. He swept the Narragansett shore for a few +minutes and then turned to Mrs. Wellington. +</P> + +<P> +"There 's a large white yacht with a yellow funnel, which has a silver +band on top, this side of Point Judith," he said. "I can see the red +glint of her house flag." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, that's the <I>Mayfair</I>!" cried Anne. "Come on, mother, Sara." +</P> + +<P> +"She won't be up for three-quarters of an hour, Anne," said her mother. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't care. Come, Sara, we 'll raise the flags on the landing +ourselves." +</P> + +<P> +As Sara and Anne and the two boys trouped down the path to the cleft in +the cliffs, Mrs. Wellington nodded at Jack. +</P> + +<P> +"Quinn reports that you captured a burglar last night, McCall." +</P> + +<P> +Jack smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Mrs. Wellington. I caught him in the hall on the second floor. +I had him before he could lift a hand and turned him over to the +watchman." +</P> + +<P> +"I am indebted to you. What were you doing on the second floor at that +hour?" +</P> + +<P> +"I could n't sleep and was smoking in my room when I heard some one +pass my door. I went out and saw him flashing a dark lantern below. +My shoes were off and I had him before he heard me." +</P> + +<P> +"That was really clever of you. Chief Roberts has informed me that he +is a professional, wanted on several other charges. When he sends word +I want you to press the charge for me. Of course this will not appear +in the newspapers, so please say nothing to any one about it." +</P> + +<P> +As Armitage nodded, she looked at him closely. +</P> + +<P> +"How long do you intend to stay with us, McCall?" +</P> + +<P> +Armitage started. +</P> + +<P> +"Why—I—I—" he paused. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, no matter. I thought, perhaps, you might be ambitious to join the +police force. I think I could help you." +</P> + +<P> +Jack, inwardly raging, flushed and glanced at her uncertainly. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you," he said, "I 'll consider—I—I 'll let you know." +</P> + +<P> +"Hang her," he said to himself as he walked toward the garage. +"Deliver me from an old woman who thinks she has a sense of humor." +</P> + +<P> +Ronald Wellington was a man past fifty, a man whose stature was as +large as his mind. He had a shock of gray hair; brilliant hazel eyes +like Anne's, but overshadowed by shaggy brows; high cheek bones, and +straight lips hidden by a heavy gray mustache. It was said of him that +his clothing was only pressed when new and that he purchased a new hat +only under the combined pressure of his wife and daughter. He had an +immense voice which could be gruff or pleasing, as he willed; in all, a +big, strong, wholesome personality, unconventional, but in no sense +unrefined. He was in striking contrast to his dapper crony, Robert +Marie, who accompanied him from the yacht, a man whose distinction lay +in his family, his courtly manners of the old school, and his +connoisseurship of wines. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Wellington waited on the veranda, but Anne, her brothers, and Sara +were at the landing as the gangway of the yacht was lowered. Ronald +Wellington seized Anne by the elbows, an old trick of his, and as she +stiffened them he lifted her to his face and kissed her. Ronald he +slapped on the back, and as for the more sturdy little Royal, he lifted +him high in the air and placed him on his shoulder, smiling and nodding +pleasantly to Sara. Sara waited for Robert Marie, and thus the party +walked to the house. Mrs. Wellington advanced to the rail, smiling, +and her husband, setting Royal on the ground, reached up, seized her +hands, and drew her face down to his. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, girl," he said, "glad to see me?" +</P> + +<P> +She withdrew her lips and as Sara looked at her, with perhaps a little +pathos in her eyes, she saw, spreading over her face that expression, +the beauty and charm and inspiration of which are ever the same, in +youth and in age, in the countenances of those in whom love still +abides unchanging. +</P> + +<P> +They sat on the porch for a few minutes and then, having breakfasted on +the <I>Mayfair</I>, Mr. Wellington went to his study off the library, where +Mrs. Wellington joined him. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Ronald," she said, "Prince Koltsoff is here." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," he said, "so you—and the newspapers have told me. What is +he—another Ivan?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not in any way. He and Anne seem to be getting on finely." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Wellington looked at her. +</P> + +<P> +"My mind was so filled with that Northern Atlantic matter last month +when you talked of your prince," he said, "that I don't think I did the +question justice. It was too far off—and the railroad mess was so +confoundedly near. Now then, let's have it." +</P> + +<P> +"How—what do you mean?" asked Mrs. Wellington, a bit uneasily. +</P> + +<P> +"What have you been trying to do, Belle?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, I have n't been trying to do anything. The situation has shaped +itself without any effort on my part." +</P> + +<P> +"You mean Anne loves the Russian! Bosh! How long has he been +here—this is the third day!" The room rang with his laughter. +</P> + +<P> +"I did not say that she loved him. I said they seemed to be getting +on." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Wellington clasped his big hands over his knees and gazed at the +floor. "Belle," he said, after a few minutes, "the idea of Anne living +away off in a foreign country does n't swallow easily. Life is too +short—and, Belle, I don't think you have ever loved Anne quite as I +have." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Wellington thought for a moment of the adoration which this big +man had always held for their daughter—an emotion in no way +conflicting with his conjugal devotion and yet equally tremendous, and +smiled without a trace of jealousy. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I think that is true," she said. "Yet of course you cannot +question my love for her. I certainly would be the last to thwart her +ambitions." +</P> + +<P> +"Nor I," returned Wellington with a sigh. "And yet, Belle, so far as +you are concerned, you don't need such a match. Your position +certainly needs no assurance, either here or abroad. We are not in the +business of buying foreign titles, you know. We don't have to. +Besides, we thrashed all that out when Anne was a child. The girl must +marry, of course; for years that has hung over me like a bad dream. +But it's natural and right and for the best. But, Belle, since she has +grown up and her marriage has become a question of narrowing +time—especially since that French nobleman, De Joinville, was buzzing +around last year—I have had an ambition for grandchildren that can say +'grandpa' in a language I understand. That is the way I feel about it." +</P> + +<P> +His wife laughed at this characteristic speech and reaching out, patted +his hand. He, in turn, seized and held her hand, quite covering it. +</P> + +<P> +"Naturally, Ronald, I feel just as you do about having to purchase +foreign titles. But it has pleased me to have the Prince here, in view +of the fact that several others wanted him. It's akin to the +satisfaction you feel, I imagine, when you suddenly appear before the +public as owner of the controlling interest in a competitor's railroad." +</P> + +<P> +"I understand," he replied, and gazed at his wife admiringly. "If I +had been as good a railroad man as you are a social diplomat, I should +be the only railroad man in the country." He laughed his hearty laugh +and then glanced at her seriously. "Well, what about Anne?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Wellington was about to reply when her secretary entered. +</P> + +<P> +"Prince Koltsoff is in the library waiting to pay his respects," said +the young woman. "He seemed a little impatient and I told him I would +tell you." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh," said Mr. Wellington, as an expression of annoyance crossed his +wife's face, "let him come right in." +</P> + +<P> +As he towered over the Prince, seizing his hand with a grip that made +the latter wince, Mrs. Wellington could not help noticing a veiled +expression of contempt in the nobleman's face. She was aware that to +him, her husband represented, of course, the highest plane of existence +that Americans attain to, and she could see that the things in him, the +things he stood for and had done, which would impress the average +American or perhaps the Englishman, carried no appeal to this Russian. +To him, she read, Ronald Wellington, in his great, bagging, ill-fitting +clothes, was merely an embodiment of the American pig, whose only title +to consideration was the daughter he had to give, and his only warrant +of respect, his wealth. +</P> + +<P> +"Sit down, Koltsoff," said her husband heartily, but studying him +keenly from under his shaggy brows. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you," replied the Prince, seating himself luxuriously in a great +leather chair. "As you must know, Mr. Wellington," he said, at the +same time inclining his head toward Mrs. Wellington, "time presses for +men in my sphere of life—the diplomatic; that is why I felt I must +speak to you at once." +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly," said Mr. Wellington, glancing at his wife, "fire away." +</P> + +<P> +"Your daughter," began the Prince, "I am deeply interested in her. +I—" he stopped and smiled. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Wellington nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"Go on," he said gruffly, now. +</P> + +<P> +"I—I believe I love her." +</P> + +<P> +"You believe?" +</P> + +<P> +"In fact, I do love her. It is about that I wish to speak to you—as +to the dower. Naturally the sum you would propose—" +</P> + +<P> +"Wait just a second. Not so fast," said Mr. Wellington. "Does my +daughter love—wish to marry you?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have reason to believe she loves me,"—Koltsoff shrugged his +shoulders,—"excellent reasons. As to marriage—of course I have no +doubt as to her wishes. But first, I must, of course, reach an +understanding with you." +</P> + +<P> +"How do you mean?" asked Mr. Wellington, bending forward and impaling +the Prince with his eyes. "Did Anne tell you how much she would be +willing to have me pay for you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly not," snapped Koltsoff. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, then, listen, Prince Koltsoff. You are here now as our guest +and we hope to make your sojourn quite pleasant. But," he took a cigar +from a box, lighted it, and thrust the box across the table to +Koltsoff. "But we might as well have a clear understanding. It will +be better in every way. I have felt that Americans have been +altogether too willing to subscribe to European customs in marrying off +their daughters. I am going to establish a new precedent, if I can. +Am I clear?" +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean?" Koltsoff's voice quivered with rising indignation. +Mrs. Wellington could not have analyzed her emotions had she tried. +All she could do was to sit and watch the tottering of the structure +she had reared, under the blows of one who had never before interfered +in her plans, but whose word was her law. +</P> + +<P> +"I mean that I am unwilling to pay a single red penny for you, or any +one else to marry my daughter. If she 's worth anything, she's worth +everything. I 'll inform you, however, that she has some money in her +own right—not enough to rehabilitate a run-down European estate, but +enough to keep the wolf from the door, and, of course, when I get +through with it, she 'll share in my estate, which is not +inconsiderable." +</P> + +<P> +"But Prince Koltsoff is a man of wealth," said Mrs. Wellington quietly. +"He is not of the broken-down sort." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I know all about that," said her husband. "All the more reason +why this precedent I am trying to establish should find favor in his +eyes." +</P> + +<P> +The Prince rose. +</P> + +<P> +"I understand you to say that you refuse the dower rights which any +European must, of course, expect?" +</P> + +<P> +"You do, absolutely. If Anne loves you and wants to marry you, that is +her right. She is of age. But no dower. Not a cent." +</P> + +<P> +"And you <I>love</I> your daughter!" Koltsoff's voice was withering. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Wellington arose quickly. +</P> + +<P> +"That," he said, "we won't discuss." +</P> + +<P> +"Very well," Koltsoff's voice arose almost to a shriek. "But listen, I +do love Anne Wellington and I think she loves me. And with dower or +without it, I 'll marry her. And—and—" he clutched at his throat, +"you have heard me. I have spoken. I say no more." And he slammed +out of the room. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap21"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PLAIN SAILOR TALK +</H3> + +<P> +Miss Hatch had some inkling of the Prince's intention when she ushered +him into the Wellington study, and as she met Sara in the hall on the +way out of the library, she held a gloomy countenance. +</P> + +<P> +"Mrs. Van Valkenberg," she said in response to Sara's bright smile of +greeting, "please don't think me impertinent, but—will you, if +possible, see that the Prince is not alone with Miss Wellington to-day? +And—cannot you prod that terribly sluggish McCall?" +</P> + +<P> +Sara looked at the young woman wonderingly for a minute and then held +out her hand, laughing. +</P> + +<P> +"Miss Hatch, you 're a jewel." +</P> + +<P> +Sara found Jack near the garage. But she did not have much success +with him. He was grumpy and, replying to Sara's assertion that the +situation was rapidly becoming rife with disagreeable possibilities, he +replied that he did not care a very little bit, and that Anne could +marry all the princes in Christendom for all he cared. So Sara, +flushing with impatience, told him he was an idiot and that she would +like to shake him. The only satisfaction she derived from the incident +was that Anne, who came upon them as they were parting, was grumpy, +too. Synchronous moods in the two persons whose interests she held so +closely to heart was a symptom, she told herself, that gave warrant for +hope. +</P> + +<P> +Rimini had turned up with the new car and in it Anne, Sara, Koltsoff, +and Robert Marie went to the Casino. Mrs. Wellington drove to market +in her carriage. Mr. Wellington remained in his study and among other +things had Buffalo on the telephone for half an hour. Armitage spent +the morning with the boys and showed them several shifty boxing and +wrestling tricks which won Ronald to him quite as effectually as the +jiu-jitsu grip had won his younger brother the preceding day. +</P> + +<P> +At luncheon, Anne's peevish mood had not diminished, which, to Sara, +would have been a source of joy had she not feared that it was due to +the fact that Koltsoff had not been good company all the morning. He +was, in truth, quite at his wits' end to account for the behavior of +Yeasky, who had been instructed to get into communication with him by +ten o'clock, and had failed to do so. Thus Koltsoff, even when with +Anne, had been preoccupied and in need of a great deal of entertaining. +</P> + +<P> +Armitage took him to the city after lunch and as usual was instructed +to return to The Crags. This gave Jack opportunity to see Chief +Roberts and to learn that Yeasky was resting easily and cheerfully, +apparently eager to live up to the very letter of his contract. +</P> + +<P> +Anne was in her room when he returned and Sara was with her. Koltsoff +came back in a taxicab in a frightful state of mind, bordering on +mental disintegration, about four o'clock—just in time to keep an +appointment with his host and Marie to drive to the Reading Room. As +he crossed the veranda, a French bull pup ran playfully between his +feet and nearly tripped him. He kicked at the animal, which fled +squealing down the steps. +</P> + +<P> +"Hey, you," cried the peppery Ronald, "that's my dog." +</P> + +<P> +The Prince turned with a half snarl and flung himself into the house. +</P> + +<P> +"The great big Turk!" said Ronald, turning to Armitage. "What does he +want here, anyway?" +</P> + +<P> +It was nearly five o'clock when the telephone of the garage rang and +Armitage was ordered to bring Anne's car to the house. Her manner was +quiet, her voice very low, as she gave him his orders. +</P> + +<P> +"To town by the back road," she said. She stopped at one or two stores +along Thames Street and finally settling herself back in her seat, +said, "Now you can drive home." +</P> + +<P> +Armitage looked at her for a second. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you mind if I take a roundabout way? I should like to talk to you." +</P> + +<P> +Anne returned his gaze without speaking. +</P> + +<P> +Then she nodded slowly. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, if you like," she said. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you." +</P> + +<P> +He drove the car up the steep side streets, across Bellevue Avenue, and +then headed into a little lane. Here he stopped. Overhead ash and +beech and maple trees formed a continuous arch. Gray stone walls +hedged either side. Beyond each line of wall, pleasant orchards +stretched away. The sidewalks were velvet grass. Birds of brilliant +plumage flashed among the foliage and their twittering cries were the +only sounds. Patches of gold sunlight lay under the orchard trees, +level rays flowed heavily through the branches and rested on the +moss-grown stones. +</P> + +<P> +The pastoral beauty, the great serenity, the utter peace seemed to +preclude words. And the spell was immediately upon the two. The +down-turned brim of her hat shaded her eyes, but permitted sunlight to +lie upon her mouth and chin and to rest where her hair rippled and +flowed about her bare neck. +</P> + +<P> +She raised her face—and her eyes, even, level, wondering, sought his. +His eyes were the first to fall, but in them she knew what she had +read. Now the sunlight had fallen so low that it lay on her like a +garment of light—she seemed some daughter of Hesperus, glorified. The +waning afternoon had grown cooler and several blue-white clouds went +careening overhead. She looked at them. +</P> + +<P> +"How beautiful!" she said. Then she looked at him again with her +steady eyes. "You wished to talk, you said." +</P> + +<P> +Jack nodded. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I wish to, but I—I don't know exactly how to say it." +</P> + +<P> +She was smiling now. "How may I help you?" +</P> + +<P> +He shook his head doggedly. +</P> + +<P> +"I am a sailor, Miss Wellington." +</P> + +<P> +"You mean I am to hear plain sailor talk?" she quoted. "Good. I am +ready." +</P> + +<P> +He began with the expression of a man taking a plunge. +</P> + +<P> +"Miss Wellington, I could say a great deal so far—so far as I am +concerned, that I have no right to say, now.… But—are you going +to marry Prince Koltsoff?" +</P> + +<P> +She started forward and then sank back. +</P> + +<P> +"You must not ask that," she said. +</P> + +<P> +"I know—I understand," he said rapidly, "but—but—you mustn't marry +him, you know." +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Must n't!</I>" +</P> + +<P> +"Miss Wellington, I know, it is none of my business. And yet—Don't +you know," he added fiercely, "what a girl you are? I know. I have +seen! You are radiant, Miss Wellington, in spirit as in face. Any man +knowing what Koltsoff is, who could sit back and let you waste yourself +on him would be a pup. Thornton, of the <I>Jefferson</I>, has his record. +Write to Walker, <I>attaché</I> at St. Petersburg, or Cook at Paris, or +Miller at London—they will tell you. Why, even in Newport—" +</P> + +<P> +Jack paused in his headlong outburst and then continued more +deliberately. +</P> + +<P> +"It is not for me to indict the man. I could not help speaking because +you are you. I cannot do any more than warn you. If I transgress, if +I am merely a blundering fool—if you are not what I take you +for—forget what I have said. Send me away when we return." +</P> + +<P> +She had been listening to him, as in a daze. Now she shook her head. +</P> + +<P> +"I shall not do that," she said. "Did you take employment with us to +say what you have said to me?" +</P> + +<P> +"No." +</P> + +<P> +She hesitated a moment. +</P> + +<P> +"I suppose all men of Koltsoff's sort are the same," she said musingly. +"I am not quite so innocent as that. We are wont to accept our +European noblemen as husbands with no question as to the wild oats, +immediately behind them—or without considering too closely the wild +oats that are to be strewn—afterwards. Ah, don't start; that is the +way we expatriates are educated—no, not that; but these are the +lessons we absorb. And so—" she was looking at Armitage with a hard +face, "so the things that impressed you so terribly—I appreciate and +thank you for your motives in speaking of them—do not appear so awful +to me." +</P> + +<P> +Jack, his clean mind in a whirl, was looking at her aghast. +</P> + +<P> +"You—you—Anne Wellington! You don't mean that!" +</P> + +<P> +She flung her hands from her. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you," she said. "Don't I? Oh, I hate it all!" she cried +wildly, "the cross purposings of life; the constant groping—being +unable to see clearly—the triumph of lower over higher things—I hate +them all. Ah," she turned to Jack pitifully, "promise me for life, in +this place of peace, the rest and purity and beauty and love of all +this—promise, and I shall stay here now with you, from this minute and +never leave it, though Pyramus or King Midas, as you please, beckon +from beyond this mossy wall." +</P> + +<P> +"Are you speaking metaphorically?" Jack's voice quivered. "For if you +are, I—" +</P> + +<P> +She interrupted, laughing mirthlessly. +</P> + +<P> +"I do not know how I was speaking. Don't bother. I am not worth it. +I might have been had I met you sooner—Jack Armitage. For I have +learned of you—some things. Don't," she raised her hand as Jack bent +forward to speak. "You must n't bother, really. Last night I lived +with you a big, clean, thrilling experience and saw strong men doing +men's work in the raw, cold, salt air—and I saw a new life. And +then—" she was looking straight ahead—"then I was led into a morass +where the air was heavy like the tropics, and things all strange, +unreal. And why—why now the doubt which of the two I had rather +believe to-night. You were too late. I bade you come to us. I am +glad, I am proud that I did—for now I know the reason. But—" she +smiled wanly at him, "it should have been sooner." +</P> + +<P> +"Is—it—too late?" Jack's mouth was shut tight, the muscles bulging +on either side of his jaw. +</P> + +<P> +"Is it? You—I must wait and see. I—I dreamed last night and it was +of the sea, men rushing aboard a black battleship, rising and falling +on great inky waves. It was good—so good—to dream that; not the +other. Wait.… It is to be lived out. I am weak.… But +there is a tide in the affairs of men—and women. Perhaps you—" +</P> + +<P> +She stopped abruptly. +</P> + +<P> +"Let us drive out of here, Mr. Armitage. Here, in this pure, wonderful +place I feel almost like Sheynstone's Jessie." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean?" he asked sharply. +</P> + +<P> +She smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"Not what you thought I meant," she said gently. "Now, drive away, +please." +</P> + +<P> +As they returned to the house, Mr. Wellington and his friend were +alighting from the touring car; Koltsoff was not with them. As soon as +he saw his daughter, Mr. Wellington, whose face was flushed, called +Anne to him. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, Anne," he said, "is that Prince of yours a lunatic? Or what is +he? +</P> + +<P> +"Why, no, father. Of course not. Why do you ask?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, then, if he is n't crazy he is a plain, ordinary, damned fool. +He was like a chicken with his head off all the afternoon, calling up +on the telephone, sending telegrams, and then, between pauses, telling +me he would have to leave right after the ball for Europe and wanting +us all to sail with him. Then, at the last minute, some whiskered +tramp came to the porch where we were sitting and the first thing I +knew he had excused himself for the evening and was going off up the +street with that hobo, both of them flapping their arms and exclaiming +in each other's faces like a couple of candidates for a padded cell. +Duke Ivan was a pill beside this man. And that is saying a whole lot, +let me tell you." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, father!" exclaimed the girl. "I could cry! We are having that +dinner for him to-night, and—and oh—" +</P> + +<P> +She rushed into the house and found her mother in her room. +</P> + +<P> +"Mother," she said, "Prince Koltsoff has gone off again! He was with +father at the Reading Room and hurried away with a man, whom father +describes as a tramp, saying he must be excused for the evening." +</P> + +<P> +"Very well," said Mrs. Wellington placidly; "we will have to have the +play—without Hamlet, nevertheless." +</P> + +<P> +"But what shall I do?" +</P> + +<P> +"You might ask McCall." +</P> + +<P> +"Mother! Please! What can we do?" +</P> + +<P> +"Frankly, I don't know, Anne," said Mrs. Wellington. "I confess that +this situation in all its ramifications has gone quite beyond me. It +is altogether annoying. But let me prophesy: Koltsoff will not miss +your dinner. He impresses me as a young man not altogether without +brains—although they are of a sort." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Wellington was right. Koltsoff put in an appearance in time to +meet Anne's guests, but the Russian bear at the height of his moulting +season—or whatever disagreeable period he undergoes—is not more +impossible than was Prince Koltsoff that night. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap22"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE BALL BEGINS +</H3> + +<P> +Mrs. Wellington's genius for organization was never better exemplified +than next day, when preparations for the ball set for the night, began. +At the outset it was perfectly apparent that she was not bent on +breaking records—which feat, as a matter of fact, would merely have +been overshadowing her best previous demonstrations of supremacy in +things of this sort. There was to be no splurge. With a high European +nobleman to introduce, she had no intention of having the protagonist +in the evening's function overshadowed by his background. She was a +student of social nuances—say rather, a master in this subtle art, and +she proceeded with her plans with all the calm assurance of a field +marshal with a dozen successful campaigns behind him. +</P> + +<P> +Early in the day, Dawson and Buchan and Mrs. Stetson were in conference +with her in her office and a bit later the servants, some thirty or +forty of them, were assembled in their dining-room and assigned various +duties, all of which were performed under the supervising eye of Mrs. +Wellington, her daughter, or Sara Van Valkenberg. No decorative +specialist, or other alien appendage to social functions on a large +scale, was in attendance, and, save for the caterer's men, who arranged +a hundred odd small tables on the verandas, and the electricians, who +hung chandeliers at intervals above them, the arrangements were carried +out by the household force. +</P> + +<P> +Under the direction of Anne Wellington—whose mind seemed fully +occupied with the manifold details of the duties which her mother had +assigned to her—Armitage and a small group hung tapestries against the +side of the house where the tables were, and then assisted the gardener +and his staff in placing gladiolas about the globes of the chandeliers. +Small incandescent globes of divers colors were hidden among the +flowers in the gardens and an elaborate scheme of interior floral +decoration was carried out. Before the afternoon was well along, all +preparations had been completed and the women had gone to their rooms, +where later they were served by their maids with light suppers. +Armitage went to town in the car to meet the Prince, whom he had taken +from The Crags at the unusually early hour of nine o'clock, and +incidentally to pick up his evening clothes, which Thornton, in +accordance with telephoned instructions, had left with the marine guard +at the Government ferry house. +</P> + +<P> +For Mrs. Wellington, whose sardonic sense of humor had not been lost in +the rush of affairs, had assigned him to detective duty for the +evening's function. +</P> + +<P> +"McCall," she had said, "I want you to disguise yourself as a gentleman +to-night and assist Chief Roberts's man in protecting the house from +gentry who at times manage to gain access to the upper floors in the +course of affairs of this sort. Evening dress will do—at least it is +usually regarded as a good disguise, I believe." +</P> + +<P> +He had received his orders, despite the sarcastic verbiage in which +they were couched, with glowing emotions not easily concealed; they +fitted perfectly with his preconceived determination to bring to a +conclusion that night, once and for all, the situation which had +brought him to The Crags. +</P> + +<P> +He had, in short, resolved, come what might, to ransack Koltsoff's +rooms before dawn—to dump the contents of all drawers in the middle of +the floors, to cut with his knife any bags that might be locked, and in +general to turn the suite inside out. For he had come to the +conclusion that every one, save possibly Prince Koltsoff and the horses +and dogs, knew whom he really was, and that being the case, further +masquerading was nothing short of intolerable. +</P> + +<P> +Then, too, yesterday's talk with Anne Wellington in Lover's Lane was +running through his mind like a thread of gold, and clearly the time +had come, either to meet her with identity unclouded in the minds of +all, or go away and never see her again. As to the last—that depended +on several things: upon second thought, upon one thing, upon Anne +Wellington herself. Throughout the day in her various meetings with +him, she had been markedly impersonal, tacit intimation that from now +on so long as he cared to pose as an employee of the house, he must +accept all the accruing conditions. He understood her position, of +course, and as for his—well, he would attend to it that very night. +</P> + +<P> +He found his bag waiting for him at the ferry and Prince Koltsoff at +the designated place, the Reading Room. The Russian had not worked out +of his irritation, not to say alarm, at the unaccountable disappearance +of his chief lieutenant, but found some comfort in the fact that agents +of the St. Petersburg State Department were already buzzing about +Washington and Boston in regard to the matter of the Austrian +mobilization plans. Armitage found him in a dogged, determined mood. +He, too, was facing a situation which he meant to end that night, and +his plans were all matured. +</P> + +<P> +He went to his room, spent an hour or so dictating to his secretary, +instructed him to call up the White Star Line in New York and book him +for Friday, and then went down to the billiard room, where the men were +engrossed in a close game between Marie and Willie Whipple. From here +he wandered to the smoking apartment, which had begun to resemble the +sample room of a wholesale liquor house. He had a servant pour him +some Scotch whiskey, over which he sat for some time with thoughtful +eyes, half closed. A growing uneasiness, which he could neither define +nor overcome, crept over him and at length he arose and passed through +the library, the morning-room, the drawing-room, even peering into the +ballroom in his search for Miss Wellington. Miss Hatch was just +emerging and the Prince eyed her in a peremptory way. +</P> + +<P> +"Miss Wellington is not about?" he said, raising his eyebrows. +</P> + +<P> +"Is not about," said Miss Hatch, who hurried away with her short, +nervous steps before Koltsoff had opportunity for questioning her +further. +</P> + +<P> +He glared at her retreating form and was about to follow her, when Mr. +Wellington interposed. +</P> + +<P> +"Hello, Koltsoff," he said, "come and have a bite with us before you go +upstairs. We missed you in the billiard room." +</P> + +<P> +Koltsoff bowed ceremoniously. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you, but no," he replied. "I have eaten a sandwich or so in the +smoking-room. If you will permit, I shall retire until the,—ah, ball." +</P> + +<P> +"All right. By the way, Koltsoff, you have seemed off your feed for +the past twenty-four hours. I am sorry if I upset you. You, of +course, were sensible to see my position." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, perfectly," responded the Russian with an ill-concealed sneer—in +fact, it was not concealed at all—as he turned toward the stairway. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +When Armitage took up his position near the head of the stairs about +nine-thirty o'clock, the house was ablaze with lights, but the lower +floors were deserted, save for the servants loitering about the hall. +These men, all in the Wellington livery—short jackets and trousers of +navy blue, with old gold cord—impressed Jack, inasmuch as they +suggested in some way a sense of belonging to the household, which they +did naturally, and not as servants merely engaged—or loaned—for the +function. Mrs. Wellington and her husband came down at ten o'clock and +took a position near the ballroom door, just as a group of early +arrivals trouped up the stairs. Armitage didn't approve of Mrs. +Wellington. In her creamy ball gown and tiara and jewels, she was +majestic and imperious to a stunning degree, but to the young naval +officer—or shall we say detective—she suggested for the first time +the distinction of caste. The immeasurable distance created by the +millions of dollars and the social prestige of Belle Wellington and +those like her, served to set them aloof from their countrymen and +countrywomen. As she walked along at the side of her hulking husband +she seemed the very embodiment of the aloofness of her caste. +Heretofore, Jack had regarded her as a distinctly interesting, +remarkably well-preserved, middle-aged gentlewoman of striking +mentality, a woman whom he could like and enjoy. To-night, he +admitted, she inspired in him nothing but emotions of fear. +</P> + +<P> +Mentally, he fortified himself against the appearance of Anne +Wellington, who, in truth, merited this precaution as she stepped past +him with a slight nod and went down the stairs. She was not a bit +overdone—Jack admitted that at once—and yet, how different she was +from the girl in the shirtwaist suit and black hat, whom he had seen +entering the sight-seeing barge the previous day, or who swathed in his +navy coat, his hat pushed down over her eyes, had stood with him on the +bridge of the <I>D'Estang</I>! She was all in white, slim, supple, without +jewelry, save for a string of pearls about her neck. A light, filmy +veil was thrown across her bare shoulders and the living curls and +waves of her flawless coiffure gleamed as they caught the lights of the +chandeliers. And yet—! The girlishness which Jack had found so +attractive in her, was missing, and so was the characteristic animation +of her features. Instead, her face was set in a formal, politely +interested expression, which to Armitage seemed to change her entire +personality. Yesterday she was radiant, light-hearted, impulsive, and +thoroughly lovable. To-night, she was, so to say, a professional +beauty, "rigged and trigged" for competition; one of a set whose +ambitions, apparently, coveted no triumphs more exalted than those to +be gained here, who rated artificiality as a fine art and appraised +life upon the basis of standards which even the casual observer would +hardly pronounce either moral or exalted. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-332"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-332.jpg" ALT="To-night she was a professional beauty, "rigged and trigged" for competition." BORDER="2" WIDTH="454" HEIGHT="676"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 454px"> +To-night she was a professional beauty, <BR> +"rigged and trigged" for competition. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +As Armitage followed her graceful course to the side of her parents, he +groaned, half humorously, and then went wandering about the upper +hallway, a prey to conflicting emotions, engendered by the new point of +view which the girl had unconsciously presented. A couplet of +Browning's was running through his mind and more than once he found +himself muttering the words: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"Oh, the little more and how much it is,<BR> +And the little less and what worlds away."<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +True! What worlds away she was to-night! Not that he had any sense of +social inferiority,—he was too proud of his family for that,—but +utterly alien to him and his thoughts and ideals and aspirations, she +seemed. He wondered at the foolhardiness which hitherto had +characterized his attitude toward her, and at the same time called +himself hard names for it. Why, she was unapproachable with all her +beauty and millions and methods of life! What had he been thinking +of—dreaming of? His face hardened. It was not too late to cease +playing the part of a fool and an ass. He would accomplish what he had +come there to do and then clear out, which sensible act, he trusted, +might at least serve to mitigate to some extent the opinion she must +have formulated concerning him. She had had her fun, had studied and +analyzed him as far as he intended she should. She might have her +laugh and enjoy it to the full, but she was not to have the opportunity +of laughing in his face. He went to his room, packed his bag, and then +going down the rear stairway, took it out the servants' door and laid +it under the hydrangeas near the main gate. When he returned, the +guests were beginning to come down stairs. All his inward ease had +departed. He was tense, cleared for action. All of which shows how +far the emotions of an ardent nature are apt to lead a young man +astray—as he was to learn before this ball was at an end. +</P> + +<P> +In the meantime he followed the sights and sounds with no great +interest. He was vaguely amused at the remark of a woman beyond the +first bloom of youth, who, turning to her companion and nodding toward +a socially famous young matron, who preceded them down the stairs +fairly jingling with jewelry, remarked: +</P> + +<P> +"I say, Jerry, Mrs. Billy has put on everything but the kitchen stove." +</P> + +<P> +It confirmed in Jack's mind an impression which had begun to form, that +the smart set, so-called, is not altogether lacking in, +well,—smartness. +</P> + +<P> +When the Prince entered with a ribbon and orders across his breast, the +orchestra played the Russian national anthem, whereat every one arose +and stood at attention. Jack noticed, however, that attention ceased +and almost every one sat down during the rendering of "The Star +Spangled Banner," which followed. This, he decided, might have been +because no one heard it in the confusion of voices which attended the +closing strains of the Russian hymn and Koltsoff's course about the +room. Armitage particularly looked for Anne and located her at the +Prince's side, the centre of a vivacious group. Evidently the +orchestra might as well have been playing a selection from "Madame +Butterfly," so far as she was concerned. This did n't help his mood +and after waiting for the first dance, a quadrille in which even the +elderly participated—it was given so they might—he sauntered out on +the veranda and stood there gazing vacantly at the glowing <I>parterre</I> +and smoking a cigarette. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap23"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE BALL CONTINUES +</H3> + +<P> +Groups were strolling in and out among the gardens. Armitage caught +the pale flashes of fans and gowns; the cigarette lights of the men +glowed among the shrubbery like fireflies. The moon was full, shining +through rifted clouds, and the ocean, murmuring at the foot of the +cliffs, stretched away to the starry horizon. The lamps of the +Brenton's Reef light vessel seemed close enough to touch, and farther +out the lights of a deep sea tug with a string of coal barges astern +moved slowly down the coast. +</P> + +<P> +As Jack threw away his cigarette preparatory to going into the house, +Anne Wellington stepped through the door, laughing back at Koltsoff, +who was following her. Jack averted his head and as he did so the girl +turned to her companion. +</P> + +<P> +"Pardon me for one second," she said. +</P> + +<P> +"Are n't you going to ask me to dance?" she said in a low voice as she +confronted Armitage. +</P> + +<P> +He smiled. "Oh, certainly!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, there is precedent," laughed Anne. "Was n't it Dick Turpin who +danced with the Duchess of—of something, once?" +</P> + +<P> +"But he was hanged later." +</P> + +<P> +"Not for that." She stood for a moment regarding him and decided that +no man at the ball was better to look at in any way. "I am a good +American to-night," she said slowly. "I—I thought you might be +interested to know." +</P> + +<P> +"I am interested," said Jack. Then his eyes lighted. "Are you serious +about that dance?" +</P> + +<P> +She returned his gaze, humorously defiant. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't care, if you don't," he added; "I dare you." +</P> + +<P> +"They say naval officers are divine dancers," she replied as though to +herself. "You may have the next dance if—if you can find me out +here—and—and take me away from His Highness." +</P> + +<P> +Before he could reply she had smiled and nodded and rejoined Koltsoff, +who was waiting, not without impatience, at the foot of the steps. He +took her arm and led the way toward a small promontory overlooking the +ocean. His demeanor was silent, romantic. But somehow Anne was +neither interested nor thrilled. As they stopped at the edge of the +cliff, she released her arm which his fingers had tightly pressed. He +took a cigarette from his case and then impatiently tossed it away. +</P> + +<P> +"I spoke to your father this afternoon," he said, "as to our +understanding." +</P> + +<P> +"Our understanding!" +</P> + +<P> +"About the dowry. He declined to yield to the European custom." +</P> + +<P> +"How like father! Of course that changes your attitude toward me." +Her voice was cool and unwavering. +</P> + +<P> +He raised his hands as though despairing. +</P> + +<P> +"It does not." He confronted her so that they almost touched. "Is it +possible that you can think of that? I replied to your father that I +was going to take you anyway." +</P> + +<P> +"You—are going—to—take me anyway! What do you mean, Prince +Koltsoff?" +</P> + +<P> +"Mean! What do I mean! Why, no less than that dowry or no dowry, you +are mine." +</P> + +<P> +"But you have n't asked me. I have said nothing to make you believe +that." +</P> + +<P> +"Eh?" Koltsoff tossed his head dazedly. +</P> + +<P> +"You said nothing!" he exclaimed as she remained silent. "You +said—Bah! Are mere words only to serve? You lay in my arms not a day +since. What words could have been so eloquent? And your eyes—the +look in them! Words! Ah, Anne, could I not see? Could I not read?" +His hand was on her arm but she pulled sharply back. +</P> + +<P> +"Please, Prince Koltsoff! Listen! You—since you have been willing to +recall it to me—did take me in your arms." Indignation was rapidly +mastering her. "I did not lead you to do it. I did not want you to. +I am—not that kind. I was tired, weak in mind and body and, +yes,—under your control, somehow. You took advantage of it. I didn't +know then—I fancied it might be love, don't you know. I even asked +you if it was—" +</P> + +<P> +"You asked me. I replied. You did not deny." +</P> + +<P> +"No, but I deny now: It was not love." +</P> + +<P> +"Not love!" Koltsoff moved close to her. "Then may I ask what it was? +Surely you have not questioned <I>my</I> motives?" +</P> + +<P> +"No. If I had, you should have known it before this. My own motives, +or rather, the lack of them—but we won't talk about it any more." +</P> + +<P> +She made as though to step past him but he did not move. +</P> + +<P> +"But you must talk about it," he said. "Are our relations thus to be +brushed away—by misunderstanding? Anne, have I been utterly misled? +What is it, Anne? I command you to speak." +</P> + +<P> +"Will you please let me pass?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, not until you have answered me." There was crisp savagery in his +voice. +</P> + +<P> +Anne, now trembling with anger, turned quickly upon him. +</P> + +<P> +"Very well, I shall answer you. I don't love you and I can't love you +and I won't love you. I resent your actions. You have been making +this house headquarters for your diplomatic schemes and when they have +gone astray, you have made us all the creatures of your irritable +whims. You made me a laughing stock when you backed out of the theatre +party, and have done nothing but consider your own convenience +irrespective of any plans I may have formed for your entertainment. +You were so disagreeable last night at dinner that I wept for very +shame after it. And—and—now you have your answer." +</P> + +<P> +For a moment Koltsoff stood erect, as though frozen by her words. Then +he bent his head forward menacingly. +</P> + +<P> +Anne laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"We are not in Monaco—or Russia, Prince Koltsoff, but in the United +States." +</P> + +<P> +"The United States!" sneered Koltsoff. +</P> + +<P> +The next instant he was on his knees, his lips on the lace of her skirt. +</P> + +<P> +"Please, Prince Koltsoff! Don't, please." +</P> + +<P> +She glanced aside and saw the expansive white chest of Armitage bearing +up the slight incline. "And now you must excuse me," she said, "my +partner for the next dance claims me." She snatched away her skirt and +walked rapidly to meet Jack, while Koltsoff gathered himself to his +feet and cursed volubly in three languages. +</P> + +<P> +Anne was silent as they walked to the house, but cheerfully so. While +Jack could not exactly catch her expression in the moonlight, he had a +feeling she was glad to be with him. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you want to back out?" he asked. "It is n't too late, you know. +Have you thought of the scandal?" +</P> + +<P> +"Do you wish me to back out?" she smiled. "Have you thought you may +lose your position?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't care—for you can consider that I have given notice to take +effect to-morrow." +</P> + +<P> +"But that does not mean—" she began, then checked herself. +</P> + +<P> +He waited for her to continue, but she was silent. As they ascended +the steps the orchestra was beginning the waltz, with its dreamy +rhythm, which everybody had been humming for a month or two. She led +the way through a door at the lower end of the room, where were the +palms and shrubbery which concealed the musicians, gathered her gown in +her right hand, and stood smilingly expectant. Her cheeks were deeply +flushed, her eyes sparkled, her perfectly cut lips slightly parted. +For an instant his eyes rested upon her face and they glowed with open +admiration. Then his arm had encircled her firm, lithe waist and they +whirled leisurely out upon the crowded floor. +</P> + +<P> +She felt his strength, but it was the strength that exalts a woman, a +strength that a woman could glory in and not feel embarrassed or +self-conscious; a sense of being protected, not overwhelmed, filled +her. And through the rhythm of the dance and the complete sympathy +which it brought, one for the other, she caught perfectly his +poise—the mental suggested through the physical—strong, determined, +and so utterly masculine in a big, clean way. +</P> + +<P> +The poetry of the waltz was well defined. The reputation of the Navy +was losing nothing at his hands, or rather feet, as they glided in and +out among the various couples, gracefully and easily. Both were +exalted; it could not have been otherwise. Her supple body yielded +instinctively to the guidance of his arm, seemed, indeed, almost a part +of it—bodies and minds one in the interpretation of the science of +rhythmic motion. Neither spoke until the floor had been circled. Then +she turned her head and looked into his face. +</P> + +<P> +"To-morrow?" +</P> + +<P> +"Don't," said Jack, half laughing. "I don't want to think of +to-morrow." +</P> + +<P> +"Neither do I," she grimaced, "but I can't help it. I am going to lose +my driver." +</P> + +<P> +He smiled grimly, but did not reply. +</P> + +<P> +"And so," she said unconsciously allowing herself to relax in his arm, +"what am I going to do?" Her glance was humorously pathetic. "It has +been so much fun. But it could n't last, as Trilby said." +</P> + +<P> +"Some day, soon, when I have put on my uniform, may I come here and +help you decide?" +</P> + +<P> +"Decide what, pray?" +</P> + +<P> +"You asked me what you were going to do." +</P> + +<P> +She stopped dancing and looked at him with sober face. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you 'd better believe you may come here, then. You are not +going to escape quite so easily. As to advice—cannot you give me that +now?" +</P> + +<P> +"I could," replied Jack. "But I won't—not now." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, do!" Her voice was teasing. "You can't imagine what straits I +shall be in. Not that I would promise to pronounce it wise—" +</P> + +<P> +They were dancing again. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, then, I certainly shall hold my peace." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, you 're positively bearish!" +</P> + +<P> +"Am I?" +</P> + +<P> +"But then, you know, I might consider your words—well, worth +following." +</P> + +<P> +"I 'll wait until I can find courage to take the risk." +</P> + +<P> +"Is it so awfully important as all that?" +</P> + +<P> +"You may judge when I tell you." +</P> + +<P> +The dance had ended and as he released her she reached out and tapped +him on the arm. +</P> + +<P> +"You do dance divinely. And now you had better play detective. Mother +has seen us." +</P> + +<P> +That was quite true. Armitage, of course, had not been recognized as +Miss Wellington's chauffeur by the people in the room, but Mrs. +Wellington had early detected them. She said nothing until the dance +ended. Then she looked at her husband. +</P> + +<P> +"Ronald," she said, "is Anne too old to be spanked, do you think?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, rather, I should say. Why?" laughed Wellington. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, no matter. Only I fancy I would relinquish my hopes for eternity +if I could!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap24"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXIV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE BALL ENDS +</H3> + +<P> +Jack's mood would have defied analysis as he made his way through the +crowded hall to the rear veranda. He peered into the smoking-room in +passing and found several self-constituted Lords of Misrule holding +full sway. Two young scions of great New York families were fencing +with billiard cues, punctuating each other's coats with blue chalk dots +and dashes, while a swaying ring cheered them on. One youth emerged +from the room with steps obviously unsteady and claimed one of a pair +of girls on their way to the ballroom, as his partner for the dance. +She rapped him playfully with her fan. +</P> + +<P> +"You don't really want a partner, Teddy," she said. "You want a +hitching post. You're spifflicated." +</P> + +<P> +The two moved laughingly away, leaving the young man marvelling heavily +at the discernment of the girl who had cleverly discovered that which +he fancied he had carefully concealed. As Armitage watched him with +amused interest, he sighed deeply and made his way back to the +smoking-room. +</P> + +<P> +Jack went up the rear stairs to the second floor and out on a little +balcony. He had viewed Miss Wellington's attitude toward him from +every angle and every time the result had been the same—the conviction +that her interest in him was something more than friendly. He +attempted no diagnosis of his own feelings. That was not necessary; +they were too patent. A great wave of tenderness thrilled him. There +was wonder, too. That wonder which fills a man when he begins to +realize that a girl whom he has regarded as unapproachably radiant and, +in sheer beauty and purity and grace, a being aloof from most of the +things of this world, finds him not unworthy of her trust, her +confidence, and her love. +</P> + +<P> +Armitage felt himself ennobled, set apart from the rest of mankind, the +guardian of a sacred trust. If she did love him, if she were willing +to give herself to him, she would find that the giving was not to be +all hers. He, too, would build his life henceforth upon the +inspiration she gave him and he would hold himself worthy to receive +it. Anne! His arm ached to hold her as he had held her but a little +while ago. Anne! The strength seemed to be going out of him. Ah, he +wanted that girl now, right here—and nothing else in this world! Anne! +</P> + +<P> +Then his teeth clicked shut. He had work ahead of him. There were +other things to think about. In his present mood, surely, he was not +up to the task he had set himself. He lighted a cigarette and puffed +vigorously. If he were going to succeed—and he intended to +succeed—he must train his mind rigidly into channels far remote from +Anne. He must forget her; forget himself for the time being. Long he +fought with himself and won, as strong men always will, and when he +left the balcony there was but one thought in his mind, the magnetic +control which Koltsoff had stolen from him. +</P> + +<P> +He had already decided to make his search when the guests were at the +tables on the veranda, and the blood pulsed quickly as he peered down +the front stairs and found that all, even then, were making their way +out of doors. Now—to find the Prince safely seated and engrossed, and +then action. He descended the stairs and merged with the throng on the +verandas. There was a great deal of confusion. Some were already +seated and calling for their companions. Others were blundering about +searching for friends. The complement of a few tables was already +filled and there was much laughter and loud talking. +</P> + +<P> +Jack soon found the Prince at a table for six, near the railing. Anne +was at his side and Sara Van Valkenberg, with young Osborne, was also +there. Anne was conversing brightly with a man across from her, but +Koltsoff was sombre and silent. Armitage smiled and made his way into +the house. He walked slowly up the stairs, went to his room, on the +third floor, for a knife, skeleton keys, and a small jimmy, and then +returning to the second floor he stopped at Koltsoff's door, which was +well back from the apartments utilized as dressing-rooms for the men +and women. The light was burning brightly in a chandelier overhead and +Jack, stepping to a button in the wall, pressed it, shrouding that part +of the hall in gloom. +</P> + +<P> +Then he tested the knob and pushed slightly on the door. To his +surprise it yielded. A thin piece of wire brushed his fingers and +following it he found it led from the keyhole and outside the jamb of +the door, which had been cut slightly. Evidently some one was ahead of +him! But he did not hesitate. Softly opening the door he stepped into +the room and closed the door behind him. Then for a moment he stood +still. He felt in his pocket for his match box and had just struck a +light when suddenly an arm flew around his neck from behind, the crook +of the elbow pressing deeply into his throat. +</P> + +<P> +Without a sound, Jack bent forward, pulling his assailant with him, +despite his efforts to get Jack's head back between his shoulders. For +a full minute they were poised thus. Armitage knew better than to +crack his neck in frantic efforts to break the strong arm grip. There +were other ways. He was very cool and he had confidence in that neck +of his, which set on his shoulders like the base of a marble column. +The hand of the stranger was pawing for a grip on his right wrist, but +Jack, who knew the move and had no desire to have his elbow shattered, +kept it out of the way. And all the time he kept up a slight strain +upon the arm around his neck, into which, by the way, his chin was +slightly buried, breaking in some degree the choking power of the hold. +</P> + +<P> +For two minutes they stood thus, slightly swaying, and then +instinctively Jack, gagging a little now, felt the minutest relaxation +of the arm. Quick as thought he changed the position of his right leg, +bringing into play the leverage of his hip. He twisted suddenly +sideways, his neck slipping around in the encircling arm. His hand +closed upon the back of a thick, perspiring neck. The next instant a +figure catapulted over his back, bringing up with a bone-racking crash +against a piece of furniture. +</P> + +<P> +Armitage, whose eyes were now accustomed to the dark room, ran to an +electric globe at the side of a writing desk and turned on the light. +By this time his assailant was rising, tottering but full of fight, a +desire which Jack, now all for carnage, was quite ready to satisfy. As +he started for the man something in the fellow's face made him pause. +He uttered a low exclamation. He was Takakika, the Japanese cook. But +there was no time for words; the Jap launched himself at him with +fingers quivering in anticipation of the grip he sought. He never +arrived. Armitage whipped his right fist with all the power of his +body behind it to a point about two inches below Takakika's left ear. +There was a sharp crack and the Jap fell to the floor in a huddle, +motionless. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, I reckon you 'll lie still," said Jack unpityingly. "You and +Koltsoff, too, will find that the spy game in the United States is full +of travail." +</P> + +<P> +He glanced at the man, who was groaning now and showing signs of +recovery. "I guess I 'll lash you up to be on the safe side," which he +did with several of Koltsoff's neckties. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, then." +</P> + +<P> +He arose and looked about the room. On a table near the door were +several rolls of parchment. He went over to them and lifted them. +They were the plans of the torpedo. With a sigh of relief he +straightened them and folding the sheets into two small but bulky +packages, put them into his pockets. Evidently the apartment had been +thoroughly ransacked by Takakika. Drawers were opened, bags turned +inside out, the bed torn apart, and the mattress ripped. But where was +the control? Armitage felt about the Jap's clothing and then +feverishly began going over the line of search pursued by the spy. So +engrossed had he been in the struggle with Takakika that he had +forgotten his intention of locking the door leading from the hall. Now +his unsuccessful search filled his mind. At last in a dark corner of a +closet he unearthed a small square bag. He had just taken it into the +room and cut it when the door opened and Koltsoff entered. +</P> + +<P> +For an instant he stood blinking and then his eyes travelled swiftly +about the room, taking in Armitage, the bound and half conscious +Japanese, and the general litter. Jack watched him closely, ready for +any move he might make. The Russian's sudden appearance had startled +him, but the first substantial thought that shot through his mind was +that no one could possibly have been more welcome. He had failed to +find the control: he had to have it. So he might as well have it out +with the Prince now as any other time. If Koltsoff but knew it, he was +facing a desperate man; for until he had entered and searched the +rooms, Jack had harbored no doubt that possession of the control was +merely a matter of overhauling the Prince's effects. Now he knew +better, and for the first time he was really alarmed as to its +whereabouts. He returned Koltsoff's gaze with smouldering eyes. But +the Russian was very much at ease. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" he asked at length. Without waiting for Armitage to +reply he walked swiftly to the desk, jerked open a panel, and placed +his hand in the opening. When he withdrew it, it was empty. Jack +laughed, drew from his pocket a short heavy revolver with a pearl, +gold-crested handle, twirled it about by the guard, and then put it +back in his pocket. +</P> + +<P> +"I got there first, Koltsoff," he said. +</P> + +<P> +Prince Koltsoff straightened and regarded Armitage warily. +</P> + +<P> +"What does this mean?" He nodded his head toward Takakika and started +forward as for the first time he noticed that the man was a Japanese. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah," he said, "I see. You have foiled a spy. Ha! ha! I thank you. +And now the pistol—and your manner! Ha! ha! ha! Your joke!" +</P> + +<P> +Armitage saw clearly that for some reason—which he believed he +recognized—Koltsoff was willing that the incident, so far as Jack was +concerned, should end right there. The Prince had given him his lead. +He had but to follow it and clear out, with no questions asked. But +that was farthest from his mind. +</P> + +<P> +"My joke is not clear to you, I see." +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed! Will you do me the honor to make it clear?" +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly. Last Sunday night a tool of yours named Yeasky stole a +magnetic contrivance from the shops of the Torpedo Station. He gave it +to you. I want it. I am going to get it before either you or I leave +this room." +</P> + +<P> +Koltsoff clasped his hands together. +</P> + +<P> +"I recognize you as a servant in the employ of this house. What right +have you to address me? Now, go to your quarters at once or I shall +report you. You are intoxicated!" +</P> + +<P> +"Am I!" He backed before the door as Koltsoff's eyes moved toward it, +covering at the same time the call buttons in the wall at the side of +the jamb. +</P> + +<P> +The Prince laughed and leaned carelessly back against a table. +</P> + +<P> +"Very well, since you appear to deny your identity, as well as your +condition—which is quite obvious, I beg you to know—I can admit only +that you have the advantage of me." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, shut up!" said Jack angrily. "Are you going to give me that +control? My name is Armitage. I invented that device and you and your +dirty band of square-heads stole it. I want it back now, quick! And +if—" +</P> + +<P> +The Prince still smiling, interrupted. +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, Armitage, I might have known. Allow me to say that you wore the +Wellington livery with better grace than the gentleman's clothing that +now adorns you—with better grace, I might even venture, than the +uniform you occasionally wear." +</P> + +<P> +Armitage, who quickly saw the advantage of Koltsoff's poise, curbed his +anger, at least so far as speech was concerned. +</P> + +<P> +"Look here, Koltsoff," he said, "let us understand each other. I am +going to get that control or one or the other of us is going to be +carried out of this room." +</P> + +<P> +"You have the revolver—it will probably be I," said Koltsoff. +</P> + +<P> +With an exclamation Jack reached into his pocket, drew out the +revolver, and hurled it through the open window. They could hear it +clatter on the cliffs below and then splash into the ocean. +Instinctively, Koltsoff's eyes had followed the flight of the weapon. +When he turned his head Jack was close at his side. The Russian +stepped back. Jack moved forward. +</P> + +<P> +"Now," he said in a low tense voice, "that magnetic control—quick!" +There was no mistaking the quiet ferocity of his manner. +</P> + +<P> +Koltsoff had ceased to smile. +</P> + +<P> +"I have n't it." +</P> + +<P> +"Are—you—going—to—give—me—that—control?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have n't it. I swear. Look—look anywhere, everywhere. See if I +do not speak the truth." +</P> + +<P> +"Then get it." +</P> + +<P> +Koltsoff moved to a bureau and Jack followed him. +</P> + +<P> +"Wait," said the Russian. Then like lightning his hand shot out to a +heavy brass candlestick and the next instant had aimed a murderous blow +at Jack's head. Armitage caught the flash of the descending weapon in +time to duck his head, taking the force upon the lower muscles of his +neck. The wave of pain was as the lash to a mettlesome horse. Before +the Prince could swing the candlestick again Armitage had him by the +throat and bore him to the floor, half stifling his shriek for help. +</P> + +<P> +As Armitage seized the candlestick and tossed it to one side, the knob +of the door turned and the door itself partly opened. He sprang to his +feet, pulled Koltsoff to his knees, and as he stood thus the door was +pushed wide and Anne Wellington stepped across the threshold. +</P> + +<P> +Her face was pale, her eyes were blazing. +</P> + +<P> +One hand, holding a heavy package, she held behind her back. With the +other she pointed to Prince Koltsoff with the imperiousness of a queen. +</P> + +<P> +"What does this mean?" she asked sternly. +</P> + +<P> +Behind her in the doorway the tragic face of Sara Van Valkenberg was +framed. +</P> + +<P> +"This—this scoundrel was trying to murder me." +</P> + +<P> +Armitage was looking at her over his shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +"Please don't stay here, Miss Wellington. This man stole a very +important part of a torpedo that I invented. I am going to make him +return it before he leaves this room." +</P> + +<P> +"He says what is untrue," said Koltsoff. "It is not his property. And +at all events, as I have told him, I do not possess it." +</P> + +<P> +The color had returned to Anne's face. She swayed slightly as a great +wave of light, of knowledge, passed over her mind. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!" Her lips moved as mechanically as those of an automaton and her +face was as expressionless. "Oh!" Her eyes seemed burning through +Armitage. "And you made me believe—I mean I thought—I—I—" +</P> + +<P> +She bowed her head, trying to stifle tears of shame and indignation. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't, Miss Wellington. Don't misunderstand! Wait until I can +explain—then you will know. In the meantime I must have that torpedo, +that part of it which this Russian spy stole." +</P> + +<P> +"It is not yours. It is mine. And I again inform you, I have n't it." +</P> + +<P> +Prince Koltsoff's sneering smile had returned. +</P> + +<P> +"Wait!" cried Anne, breaking in upon Jack's angry exclamation. She +stepped into the middle of the room. "Prince Koltsoff is right. He +has n't it. I have it." Slowly she drew her hand from behind her back. +</P> + +<P> +"Here it is." +</P> + +<P> +Koltsoff stepped forward. +</P> + +<P> +"It is mine!" he said. "I gave it in trust to you. I command you to +keep it until I ask for it." +</P> + +<P> +"He is lying, Miss Wellington. It is mine. I can prove it." +</P> + +<P> +"Lying!" exclaimed Anne tragically. "Lying! Every one has lied. +Where is there truth in either of you? Where is there chivalry in you +and you—" nodding at Armitage and Koltsoff—"who have ruthlessly used +a household and a woman to your own ends? Ugh, I detest, I hate you +both! As for this," she struck the package with her hand, "I brought +it here to give you, Prince Koltsoff. I could n't keep it longer. But +now I think I can end your dispute for all time." Quickly she stepped +to the open window and raising the bundle high, hurled it out of the +window and over the cliffs. +</P> + +<P> +With a dry howl of rage, Koltsoff flung himself into a chair, tearing +wildly at his hair and beard, while Armitage, his hands thrust deep +into his trousers pockets, stared at Anne. So far as the control was +concerned, while its loss would set his work back several weeks, it at +least was out of Koltsoff's hands and that naturally was the main +thing. It would, in fact, have been a source of deepest joy to him had +not the shock of Anne's wholly unlooked-for attitude and subsequent +wild act almost unnerved him. +</P> + +<P> +"A traitor! Anne Wellington a traitor!" he said in a quivering voice. +</P> + +<P> +"Traitor!" Anne's voice rose almost to a wail. She turned suddenly to +Koltsoff. "Of course you understand that you must leave us as soon as +possible." Koltsoff, who had arisen, eyed her sullenly. She turned to +Jack, who met her eyes straight. "And—and you—" +</P> + +<P> +She paused and studied his face. "You—" She swayed and pressed her +hand to her forehead. There was a flash of white and Sara Van +Valkenberg's arms were about her. And there with her head on Sara's +shoulders, she wept bitterly. The older woman caught Armitage with her +eyes as she passed out of the room. +</P> + +<P> +"You fool!" she said, then she bent toward him, whispering, "but don't +you dare go away!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap25"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE EXPATRIATE +</H3> + +<P> +In the doorway Armitage paused and as Sara and Anne brushed silently +past him, he turned back into the room. Without looking at Koltsoff, +who was fumbling at push buttons and roaring for his valet, he walked +over to Takakika, took a knife from his pocket, reached down and cut +his silken fetters. +</P> + +<P> +"There," he said with a grim smile, "I did n't leave you bound to the +mercies of His Highness over there. Put that to my credit when you +pray to the ancient Samurai." +</P> + +<P> +The Jap scrambled to his feet, rolled his eyes angrily at Armitage, and +then shot out of the room like a bolt from a gun. Jack followed him, +making his way to the rear stairway and thus out into the night. +Doggedly he strode to the clump of bushes where he had hidden the bag +and his fingers were on the handle, when, with a quick exclamation, he +released his hold and sat down on the turf, his head in his hands. +</P> + +<P> +So this was to be the end! How quickly his house of cards had fallen! +How completely had the fabric of a wonderful dream vanished to nothing! +It was all coming over him strongly now for the first time as he +reacted from the absorbing incidents of the past hour! Fool! Sara Van +Valkenberg had characterized him unerringly. He was all of that and +worse. And yet—she had done her part to make him one. He could +understand exactly how Anne Wellington must have felt in view of Sara's +representations to her, concerning his presence in the house, and +certainly his own asinine attitude could have led the girl to believe +nothing save that he had made his acceptance of employment at The Crags +the excuse for a romantic desire to be near her. Yet he had not +designedly deceived her. He had, of course, desired to be near her; as +to that he would have been willing to attempt expedients tenfold more +daring than serving as her chauffeur. That the main object of his +sojourn there did not concern her was not his fault. And he had not +concealed that object from her with any idea of enlisting her interest +under false pretences. Ah, how he should like to tell her that +now—and make her believe it! +</P> + +<P> +But that opportunity had vanished, if indeed it had ever existed, +during those trying moments in Koltsoff's room. In any event there was +no opportunity now. Well? Once more his hand sought his bag. He +might as well clear out forthwith and have an end of it all. But no; +he could not, somehow. Sara's warning flashed through his mind. +"Don't you dare go away!" What had she meant? Was there really some +hope, which she had divined where he saw nothing but blankness? It was +but a faint spark of hope but it kindled an irresistible desire to see +Anne Wellington again—not to speak to her, but to fix his eyes upon +her face and burn every detail of her features into his mind. He +fought against it. He picked up his bag and walked toward the gate. +But it was like trying to dam a flood. +</P> + +<P> +As in a daze he tossed the bag back among the hydrangeas and a few +minutes later found himself in the house once more, moving slowly +through the crowded halls. A few of the guests were departing. At one +end his questing eyes found Anne. She was shaking hands with an +elderly couple and talking over her shoulder to a group of men. She +was smiling but her face was feverish. For several minutes Armitage +stood watching her and then resolutely facing about, he went out of +doors intent upon quitting the place for good and all. As he passed +around the side of the house he looked up instinctively and found +himself under Koltsoff's window. Once he saw the Russian's shadow pass +the illuminated square. A thought occurred to him and then somehow +flashed out of his mind. It left him looking blankly up at that +window, vaguely trying to traverse the mental processes which had led +to the missing thought. +</P> + +<P> +Then it came to him. Quickly he stepped from the path to the edge of +the cliffs, perhaps twenty feet from the side of the house and guarded +by a low iron railing. The moon, now, was well down in the western sky +and a level path flowed across the waters to the base of the crags. He +looked over the railing and a glittering object caught his eye. The +revolver, in all probability. Undoubtedly the ebbing tide had left it +dry. And if the weapon, thrown from Koltsoff's window, was within +reach, why not the control? Armitage's face burned. It must be +somewhere down there. If he could find it, much loss of time would be +prevented. But more—if it <I>could</I> be found, he and not Koltsoff must +be the one to recover it. +</P> + +<P> +At his feet the cliffs were precipitous. He searched for the steps +which he remembered were cut in the rock somewhere in the vicinity. +But it was too dark; he could not find them. He must wait until the +first light of dawn showed him his ground. It would save him, perhaps, +a broken neck and of course simplify his search. He sat down on the +grass to wait, lighting a cigar which he had taken from the +smoking-room. Dancing had resumed. The measured cadence of the music +flowed from the windows, and lulled by it, fatigued with all the +excitement of the evening, his cigar waned and died, his head fell on +the turf. He slept. He dreamed that he was dancing with Anne and that +Koltsoff, with Sara Van Valkenberg as a partner, persisted in stepping +upon his toes. Even in that ballroom with Mrs. Wellington's Gorgon +eyes upon him the situation was getting unbearable. He hated making a +scene, nevertheless—He woke with a start. The sound of wheels +grinding through the gravel of the driveway brought him to his feet. +It was a strange sound, eerie, uncanny. The darkness had gone, and the +moon. The world was all gray; objects showed dim and ghostly; the +ocean was shrouded in mist, and the wind from the face of it was +clammy, heavy with salt. Moisture was dripping from the leaves, the +trees, and shrubbery. The sound of laughter came from somewhere. For +a moment Armitage stood irresolute, knowing that his heart was heavy +and that the new day would bring no light for him. +</P> + +<P> +Spiritlessly he walked to the brink of the cliffs and saw the steps +upon the far side of the curve. Thither he slowly made his way. +Spirals of mist were arising from below as from a caldron—old +Newporters, in truth, had always known of it as the Devil's +Caldron—hiding the wet, slippery fangs over or among which the swish +of waters was unceasing. +</P> + +<P> +As he reached the bottom he paused for an instant and then as his eyes +became accustomed to the pallid gloom, he looked across an intervening +stretch of about three feet of water and saw a glow of something +lighter than the murk. The package! Quick as thought he stepped over +to the rock and then almost stumbled over a figure in a white ball gown +lying, as seemed at first impression, prone. A sickening horror passed +through Jack as he bent down. It was Anne Wellington. +</P> + +<P> +She lay half on her side, resting on her elbow, her skirts twining +bedraggled about her ankles. With one hand she was mechanically +lifting water to an ugly bruise upon her forehead. As Jack appeared at +her side she smiled at him dazedly. +</P> + +<P> +"There," she said, lifting her hand feebly and pointing toward a +water-soaked package at her side. "I—I wanted to show you I was not +a—traitor." She closed her eyes wearily. "I'm not, really, you +know." As she opened her eyes, smiling wanly, Jack with a hurt cry +threw himself at her side, took her in his arms, her head resting +against his shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +"Anne!" +</P> + +<P> +"I could n't let you think—that," she said. "It would have been all +right. I bungled horribly with my feet and slipped and fell." Tears +were starting from Jack's eyes and she saw them. "No! No! I'm all +right," she said, "just a bit dizzy. I am sorry. I was +going—to—bring—it back to you—so nicely and prove I was not an +expatriate." She shivered slightly and Jack drew her close. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't!" he said. +</P> + +<P> +For a while she lay silent while the dawn whitened and gleams of steel +flashed over the waters. She was smiling now, contentedly. +</P> + +<P> +"I looked all about for you after that—that dreadful scene. I +couldn't find you anywhere. I was afraid—" she paused. +</P> + +<P> +As Jack did not reply she looked suddenly up into his face. +</P> + +<P> +"Then you can't forgive me?" +</P> + +<P> +"Forgive you!" +</P> + +<P> +"Sara told me all," she said. "She showed me how utterly outrageous I +had been." +</P> + +<P> +"Sara!" Jack inwardly breathed a prayer of gratitude to that young +woman. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, she told me. But it was all so exciting, so sudden. How could I +have known?" She raised her head and looked at him, her eyes all +smiles and all love. "Of course it was so clear after Sara explained." +</P> + +<P> +And even, in his ecstasy Jack found himself formulating a stern +determination to demand at the first moment from Sara just what her +explanation had been. Yet at the same time he would willingly have +fallen at her feet and worshipped her. +</P> + +<P> +Anne was still looking at him. Then slowly she released herself from +his arms and arose to her feet. She was blushing. +</P> + +<P> +"Haven't you anything to say to me—Jack?" +</P> + +<P> +And now Jack blushed. +</P> + +<P> +"Anything to say?" But he smiled guiltily. +</P> + +<P> +"Really!" she exclaimed, frowning. +</P> + +<P> +Jack came very close to her, his hands at his side, but looking +straight into her eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I have something to say. I have n't any right to, but I 'm going +to, just the same. Anne Wellington, I love you! I honor you! Since +that night at the Grand Central Station—hang it, Anne, I can't make a +speech, much as I should like to. I love you, that's all, +and—and—and—" He stopped short. +</P> + +<P> +She laughed that quick, fluttering laugh of happiness, much more +eloquent than words. "Jack," she said, "that night I stood with you on +the bridge of the <I>D'Estang</I>—then I knew I loved you." +</P> + +<P> +The next instant she was crushed in his arms. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh—Jack!" +</P> + +<P> +There were no more words. But why words? As the tide ebbed and +murmured and the birds sang in the trees above, they stood silent, +immured from all the world, these two, but neither doubting nor fearing. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap26"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXVI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CONCLUSION +</H3> + +<P> +In the library of The Crags, the light of dawn stole in through the +windows and turned the brilliant light of the lamps into a pale glow. +The odor of stale flowers was all about. Mrs. Wellington, with a +headache, stood in the doorway. Her husband sat in an armchair with +legs outstretched, smoking about his fortieth cigar. Sara Van +Valkenberg stood in the middle of the floor. She had been speaking at +great length and with many gestures and not once had she been +interrupted. When at last she concluded, there was a long silence. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Belle?" said Ronald Wellington at last, turning his head toward +his wife. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I am not surprised," said Mrs. Wellington grimly. "I always +suspected Koltsoff of some deviltry. I hoped only that it would remain +beneath the surface until after the ball. It did. I have not the +slightest complaint." +</P> + +<P> +"So; he used this house as a rendezvous for spies!" Mr. Wellington bit +at his cigar savagely. "Where is he now?" +</P> + +<P> +"He motored to town an hour or two ago," replied Sara. "His secretary +told Miss Hatch that they had booked for the <I>Metric</I> to-morrow." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Wellington could not repress a smile. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," he said, "and where is this Armitage fellow now? Where is +Anne?" +</P> + +<P> +Sara laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"When I last saw her she was searching for Lieutenant Armitage." +</P> + +<P> +"H'mm." Mr. Wellington looked at his wife gravely. "What is it now, +Belle? Have they eloped, or what?" +</P> + +<P> +"I am sure I haven't the slightest idea," replied that lady yawning. +</P> + +<P> +"Not interested, eh?" There was sort of a chirrup in the man's voice. +</P> + +<P> +"Not the slightest," was the reply with rising emphasis. "Anne might +as well marry—or elope with—Lieutenant Armitage as some one equally +or more objectionable to me." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Mrs. Wellington!" cried Sara. "Jack Armitage is eminently +eligible, really. As I told you, I know all about him." +</P> + +<P> +As Mrs. Wellington smiled her wintry smile and was about to reply, +there was a flash of white in the doorway. +</P> + +<P> +An instant later Anne had darted into the room and launched herself +into her father's lap. +</P> + +<P> +"Father!" +</P> + +<P> +Ronald Wellington studied his daughter's flushed face for a moment, the +sparkling eyes, the parted lips, the disarranged hair, the wet, +bedraggled gown, and the bruised forehead. +</P> + +<P> +"Where is he? Did you find him?" he asked. "You look as though you +had conducted a strenuous search, Anne." +</P> + +<P> +With a laugh, Anne, radiant as a spirit, ran out into the hall and when +she returned she had Jack by the hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Father, mother, here is Jack Armitage—Lieutenant Armitage of—of our +Navy." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Wellington slowly arose. +</P> + +<P> +"Say, Armitage," he said, "I know your father. He has been a mighty +capable enemy of mine, or, rather, to my interests. What have you to +say to that?" +</P> + +<P> +Jack met his eyes with a brave smile. +</P> + +<P> +"I 'm sorry to hear that, sir. But he won't be any longer. I 'll fix +that." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course we will," cried Anne. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!" And then Mr. Wellington's hearty laugh shook the room. +</P> + +<P> +"Mother!" Anne turned to Mrs. Wellington. "Aren't you going to laugh, +too?" +</P> + +<P> +Something like a look of tenderness crossed the mother's face. +</P> + +<P> +"I am sorry, Anne, not now." She turned to leave the room. "But I am +not going to cry—be assured." +</P> + +<P> +Several hours later Jack caught Sara alone. +</P> + +<P> +"Sara," he said sternly, "what did you tell Anne about my being here?" +</P> + +<P> +Sara smiled enigmatically. +</P> + +<P> +"Really, Jack, I 've forgotten. Something to the effect that you could +have sent Government detectives, had you not wanted to come here +yourself." +</P> + +<P> +Jack thought a moment. +</P> + +<P> +"By George!" he said, "you were not far wrong!" +</P> + +<P> +"Wrong!" exclaimed Sara ingenuously. +</P> + +<P> +Jack stepped toward her and as he did so Anne entered the room. +</P> + +<P> +"Come right in, Anne," cried Armitage, "I was just going to kiss Sara +Van Valkenberg." +</P> + +<P> +"Well," smiled Anne, "you may—just once." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="finis"> +THE END +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Prince or Chauffeur?, by Lawrence Perry + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PRINCE OR CHAUFFEUR? *** + +***** This file should be named 22390-h.htm or 22390-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/2/3/9/22390/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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