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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Diva's Ruby, by F. Marion Crawford
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
-almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
-re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
-with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
-
-
-Title: The Diva's Ruby
-
-Author: F. Marion Crawford
-
-Illustrator: J. Montgomery Flagg
-
-Release Date: September 23, 2012 [EBook #40844]
-[Last updated: November 24, 2015]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: ASCII
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DIVA'S RUBY ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Melissa McDaniel and the Online Distributed
-Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
-produced from images generously made available by The
-Internet Archive)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-THE DIVA'S RUBY
-
-
-
-
-     THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
-     NEW YORK . BOSTON . CHICAGO
-     ATLANTA . SAN FRANCISCO
-
-     MACMILLAN & CO., LIMITED
-     LONDON . BOMBAY . CALCUTTA
-     MELBOURNE
-
-     THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD.
-     TORONTO
-
-
-
-
-Transcriber's Note:
-
-  Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document have
-  been preserved. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
-
-  Italic text is denoted by _underscores_ and bold text by =equal
-  signs=.
-
-
-
-
-  [Illustration: "Apparently looking down at his loosely hanging
-   hands."--Page 92.]
-
-
-
-
-     THE
-     DIVA'S RUBY
-
-     A SEQUEL TO
-     "PRIMADONNA" AND "FAIR MARGARET"
-
-     BY
-     F. MARION CRAWFORD
-     AUTHOR OF "SARACINESCA," "ARETHUSA,"
-     ETC., ETC.
-
-     WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
-     BY J. MONTGOMERY FLAGG
-
-     New York
-     THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
-     1908
-
-     _All rights reserved_
-
-
-
-
-     COPYRIGHT, 1907,
-     BY F. MARION CRAWFORD.
-
-     Set up and electrotyped. Published September, 1908.
-
-
-     Norwood Press
-     J. S. Cushing Co.--Berwick & Smith Co.
-     Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.
-
-
-
-
-LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
-
-
-"Apparently looking down at his loosely hanging hands"    _Frontispiece_
-
-                                                             FACING PAGE
-
-"'Funny idea of honour,' observed the American"                       62
-
-"'You want my blessing, do you, Miss Barrack?'"                      116
-
-"Margaret gazed at him in surprise while she might have
-counted ten"                                                         154
-
-"She was aware of his slight change of position without
-turning her eyes"                                                    170
-
-"She grasped Lady Maud's arm"                                        198
-
-"She watched him intently while he read the printed report"          226
-
-"The two dined on deck"                                              284
-
-"'What has happened?' she cried. 'Are you ill, dear?'"               294
-
-"She buried her handsome face in the splendid flowers"               340
-
-"Their eyes met"                                                     348
-
-"The man was not Boris Leven"                                        422
-
-
-
-
-THE DIVA'S RUBY
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I
-
-
-There is a ruby mine hidden in the heart of the mountains near a
-remote little city of Central Asia, unknown to European travellers;
-and the secret of the treasure belongs to the two chief families of
-the place, and has been carefully guarded for many generations, handed
-down through the men from father to son; and often the children of
-these two families have married, yet none of the women ever learned
-the way to the mine from their fathers, or their brothers, or their
-husbands, none excepting one only, and her name was Baraka, which may
-perhaps mean 'Blessed'; but no blessing came to her when she was born.
-She was much whiter and much more beautiful than the other girls of
-the little Tartar city; her face was oval like an ostrich egg, her
-skin was as the cream that rises on sheep's milk at evening, and her
-eyes were like the Pools of Peace in the Valley of Dark Moons; her
-waist also was a slender pillar of ivory, and round her ankle she
-could make her thumb meet her second finger; as for her feet, they
-were small and quick and silent as young mice. But she was not
-blessed.
-
-When she was in her seventeenth year a traveller came to the little
-city, who was not like her own people; he was goodly to see, and her
-eyes were troubled by the sight of him, as the Pools of Peace are
-darkened when the clouds lie on the mountain-tops and sleep all day;
-for the stranger was tall and very fair, and his beard was like spun
-gold, and he feared neither man nor evil spirit, going about alone by
-day and night. Furthermore, he was a great physician, and possessed a
-small book, about the size of a man's hand, in which was contained all
-the knowledge of the world. By means of this book, and three small
-buttons that tasted of mingled salt and sugar, he cured Baraka's
-father of a mighty pain in the midriff which had tormented him a whole
-week. He brought with him also a written letter from a holy man to the
-chiefs of the town; therefore they did not kill him, though he had a
-good Mauser revolver with ammunition, worth much money, and other
-things useful to believers.
-
-Satan entered the heart of Baraka, and she loved the traveller who
-dwelt in her father's house, for she was not blessed; and she stood
-before him in the way when he went out, and when he returned she was
-sitting at the door watching, and she took care to show her
-cream-white arm, and her slender ankle, and even her beautiful face
-when neither her father nor her mother was near. But he saw little and
-cared less, and was as grave as her father and the other greybeards of
-the town.
-
-When she perceived that he was not moved by the sight of her, she
-watched him more closely; for she said in her girl's heart that the
-eyes that are blind to a beautiful woman see one of three things:
-gold, or power, or heaven; but her sight was fixed only on him. Then
-her throat was dry, her heart fluttered in her maiden breast like a
-frightened bird, and sometimes, when she would have tried to speak,
-she felt as if her tongue were broken and useless; the fire ran
-lightly along her delicate body, her eyes saw nothing clearly, and a
-strange rushing sound filled her ears; and then, all at once, a fine
-dew wet her forehead and cooled it, and she trembled all over and was
-as pale as death--like Sappho, when a certain god-like man was near.
-Yet the stranger saw nothing, and his look was bright and cold as a
-winter's morning in the mountains.
-
-Almost every day he went out and climbed the foot-hills alone, and
-when the sun was lowering he came back bringing herbs and flowers,
-which he dried carefully and spread between leaves of grey paper in a
-large book; and he wrote spells beside them in an unknown tongue, so
-that no one dared to touch the book when he went out, lest the genii
-should wake and come out from between the pages, to blind the curious
-and strike the gossips dumb, and cast a leprosy on the thief.
-
-At night he lay on the roof of the fore-house beside the gate of the
-court, because it was cool there. Baraka came to him, before midnight,
-when her mother was in a deep sleep; she knelt at his side while he
-slept in the starlight, and she laid her head beside his, on the sack
-that was his pillow, and for a little while she was happy, being near
-him, though he did not know she was there. But presently she
-remembered that her mother might wake and call her, and she spoke
-very softly, close to his ear, fearing greatly lest he should start
-from his sleep and cry out.
-
-'The ruby mine is not far off,' she said. 'I know the secret place.
-Rubies! Rubies! Rubies! You shall have as many as you can carry of the
-blood-red rubies!'
-
-He opened his eyes, and even in the starlight they were bright and
-cold. She stroked his hand softly and then pressed it a little.
-
-'Come with me and you shall know the great secret,' she whispered.
-'You shall fill this sack that is under your head, and then you shall
-take me with you to Egypt, and we will live in a marble palace and
-have many slaves, and be always together. For you will always remember
-that it was Baraka who showed you where the rubies were, and even when
-you are tired of her you will treat her kindly and feed her with fig
-paste and fat quails, such as I hear they have in the south all
-winter, and Frank rice, and coffee that has been picked over, bean by
-bean, for the great men.'
-
-She said all this in a whisper, stroking his hand; and while she
-whispered he smiled in his great golden beard that seemed as silvery
-in the starlight as her father's.
-
-'That is women's talk,' he answered. 'Who has seen mines of rubies?
-and if you know where they are, why should you show them to me? You
-are betrothed. If you had knowledge of hidden treasures you would keep
-it for your husband. This is some trick to destroy me.'
-
-'May these hands wither to the wrists if a hair of your head be harmed
-through me,' she answered; and as she knelt beside him, the two little
-hands held his face towards her very tenderly, and then one of them
-smoothed the thick hair back from his forehead.
-
-'You are betrothed,' he repeated, 'and I am your father's guest. Shall
-I betray him?'
-
-'I care nothing, neither for father, nor mother, nor brothers, nor
-betrothed,' Baraka answered. 'I will give you the riches of Solomon if
-you will take me, for I will have no other man.'
-
-'There are no rubies,' said the stranger. 'Show them to me and I will
-believe.'
-
-The girl laughed very low.
-
-'Did I not know you for a man of little faith?' she asked. 'I have
-shown you my arm from the wrist to the shoulder. Is it not like the
-tusk of a young elephant? Yet you have not believed. I have shown you
-my ankles, and you have seen me span them with my fingers as I sat at
-the door, yet you believed not. I have unveiled my face, which it is a
-shame to do, but you could not believe. I have come to you in the
-starlight when you were asleep, and still you have no faith that I
-love you, though I shall be cast out to perish if I am found here. But
-I will give you a little handful of rubies, and you will believe, and
-take me, when I have shown you where you may get thousands like them.'
-
-She took from her neck a bag of antelope skin, no larger than her
-closed hand, and gave it to him with the thin thong by which it had
-hung.
-
-'When you have seen them in the sun you will want others,' she said.
-'I will take you to the place, and when you have filled your sack with
-them you will love me enough to take me away. It is not far to the
-place. In two hours we can go and come. To-morrow night, about this
-time, I will wake you again. It will not be safe to unbar the door, so
-you must let me down from this roof by a camel rope, and then follow
-me.'
-
-When Baraka was gone the stranger sat up on his carpet and opened the
-small bag to feel the stones, for he knew that he could hardly see
-them in the starlight; but even the touch and the weight told him
-something, and he guessed that the girl had not tried to deceive him
-childishly with bits of glass. Though the bag had been in her bosom,
-and the weather was hot, the stones were as cold as jade; and moreover
-he felt their shape and knew at once that they might really be rough
-rubies, for he was well versed in the knowledge of precious stones.
-
-When the day began to dawn he went down from the roof to the common
-room of the fore-house, where guests were quartered, yet although
-there was no other stranger there he would not take the bag from his
-neck to examine the stones, lest some one should be watching him from
-a place of hiding; but afterwards, when he was alone in the foot-hills
-and out of sight of the town, searching as usual for new plants and
-herbs, he crept into a low cave at noon, and sat down just inside the
-entrance, so that he could see any one coming while still a long way
-off, and there he emptied the contents of the little leathern wallet
-into his hand, and saw that Baraka had not deceived him; and as he
-looked closely at the stones in the strong light at the entrance of
-the cave, the red of the rubies was reflected in the blue of his
-bright eyes, and made a little purple glare in them that would have
-frightened Baraka; and he smiled behind his great yellow beard.
-
-He took from an inner pocket a folded sheet on which a map was traced
-in black and green ink, much corrected and extended in pencil; and he
-studied the map thoughtfully in the cave while the great heat of the
-day lasted; but the lines that his eye followed did not lead towards
-Persia, Palestine, and Egypt, where Baraka wished to live with him in
-a marble palace and eat fat quails and fig paste.
-
-She came to him again that night on the roof, bringing with her a
-small bundle, tightly rolled and well tied up. He wrapped his blanket
-round her body, and brought it up under her arms so that the rope
-should not hurt her when her weight came upon it, and so he let her
-down over the edge of the roof to the ground, and threw the rope after
-her; and he let himself over, holding by his hands, so that when he
-was hanging at the full length of his long arms he had only a few feet
-to drop, for he was very tall and the fore-house was not high, and he
-wished to take the rope with him.
-
-Baraka's house was at the head of the town, towards the foot-hills;
-every one was sleeping, and there was no moon. She followed the stony
-sheep-track that struck into the hills only a few hundred paces from
-the last houses, and the stranger followed her closely. He had his
-sack on his shoulder, his book of plants and herbs was slung behind
-him by a strap, and in his pockets he had all the money he carried for
-his travels and his letters to the chiefs, and a weapon; but he had
-left all his other belongings, judging them to be of no value compared
-with a camel-bag full of rubies, and only a hindrance, since he would
-have to travel far on foot before daylight, by dangerous paths.
-
-The girl trod lightly and walked fast, and as the man followed in her
-footsteps he marked the way, turn by turn, and often looked up at the
-stars overhead as men do who are accustomed to journeying alone in
-desert places. For some time Baraka led him through little valleys he
-had often traversed, and along hillsides familiar to him, and at last
-she entered a narrow ravine which he had once followed to its head,
-where he had found that it ended abruptly in a high wall of rock, at
-the foot of which there was a clear pool that did not overflow. It was
-darker in the gorge, but the rocks were almost white, so that it was
-quite possible to see the way by the faint light.
-
-The man and the girl stood before the pool; the still water reflected
-the stars.
-
-'This is the place,' Baraka said. 'Do you see anything?'
-
-'I see water and a wall of rock,' the man answered. 'I have been here
-alone by day. I know this place. There is nothing here, and there is
-no way up the wall.'
-
-Baraka laughed softly.
-
-'The secret could not have been kept by my fathers for fourteen
-generations if it were so easy to find out,' she said. 'The way is not
-easy, but I know it.'
-
-'Lead,' replied the traveller. 'I will follow.'
-
-'No,' returned the girl. 'I will go a little way down the gorge and
-watch, while you go in.'
-
-The man did not trust her. How could he tell but that she had brought
-him to an ambush where he was to be murdered for the sake of his money
-and his good weapon? The rubies were real, so far as he could tell,
-but they might be only a bait. He shook his head.
-
-'Listen,' said Baraka. 'At the other side of the pool there is a place
-where the water from this spring flows away under the rock. That is
-the passage.'
-
-'I have seen the entrance,' answered the traveller. 'It is so small
-that a dog could not swim through it.'
-
-'It looks so. But it is so deep that one can walk through it easily,
-with one's head above water. It is not more than fifty steps long.
-That is how I found it, for one day I wandered here alone in the
-morning for shade, when the air was like fire; and being alone I
-bathed in the clear pool to cool myself, and I found the way and
-brought back the stones, which I have hidden ever since. For if my
-father and brothers know that I have seen the treasure they will
-surely kill me, because the women must never learn the secret. You
-see,' she laughed a little, 'I am the first of us who has known it,
-since many generations, and I have already betrayed it to you! They
-are quite right to kill us when we find it out!'
-
-'This is an idle tale,' said the traveller. 'Go into the pool before
-me and I will believe and follow you under the rock. I will not go and
-leave you here.'
-
-'You are not very brave, though you are so handsome! If they come and
-find me here, they will kill me first.'
-
-'You say it, but I do not believe it. I think there is a deep hole in
-the passage and that I shall slip into it and be drowned, for no man
-could swim in such a place. I have but one life, and I do not care to
-lose it in a water-rat's trap. You must go in and lead the way if you
-wish me to trust you.'
-
-Baraka hesitated and looked at him.
-
-'How can I do this before you?' she asked.
-
-'I will not go alone,' the man answered, for he suspected foul play.
-'Do as you will.'
-
-The girl took from her head the large cotton cloth with which she
-veiled herself, and folded it and laid it down on the rock by the
-pool; then she let her outer tunic of thin white woollen fall to the
-ground round her feet and stepped out of it, and folded it also, and
-laid it beside her veil, and she stood up tall and straight as a young
-Egyptian goddess in the starlight, clothed only in the plain shirt
-without sleeves which the women of her country wear night and day; and
-the traveller saw her cream-white arms near him in the soft gloom, and
-heard her slip off her light shoes.
-
-'I will go before you,' she said; and she stepped into the pool and
-walked slowly through the water.
-
-The traveller followed her as he was, for he was unwilling to leave
-behind him anything he valued, and what he had was mostly in the
-pockets of his coat, and could not be much hurt by water. Even his
-pressed herbs and flowers would dry again, his cartridges were quite
-waterproof, his letters were in an impervious case, and his money was
-in coin. When he entered the pool he took his revolver from its place
-and he held it above the water in front of him as he went on. With his
-other hand he carried the sack he had brought, which was one of those
-that are made of Bokhara carpet and are meant to sling on a camel.
-
-Baraka was almost up to her neck in the water when she reached the
-other side of the pool; a moment later she disappeared under the rock,
-and the traveller bent his knees to shorten himself, for there was
-only room for his head above the surface, and he held up his revolver
-before his face to keep the weapon dry, and also to feel his way, lest
-he should strike against any jutting projection of the stone and hurt
-himself. He counted the steps he took, and made them as nearly as
-possible of equal length. He felt that he was walking on perfectly
-smooth sand, into which his heavily shod feet sank a very little.
-There was plenty of air, for the gentle draught followed him from the
-entrance and chilled the back of his neck, which had got wet; yet it
-seemed hard to breathe, and as he made his way forward his imagination
-pictured the death he must die if the rock should fall in behind him.
-He was glad that the faint odour of Baraka's wet hair came to his
-nostrils in the thick darkness, and it was very pleasant to hear her
-voice when she spoke at last.
-
-'It is not far,' she said quietly. 'I begin to see the starlight on
-the water.'
-
-The passage did not widen or grow higher as it went on. If it had been
-dry, it would have been a commodious cave, open at each end, wide at
-the bottom and narrowing to a sharp angle above. But the pool was fed
-by a spring that never failed nor even ebbed, though it must sometimes
-have overflowed down the ravine through which the two had reached the
-pool.
-
-They came out from under the rock at last, and were in the refreshing
-outer air. The still water widened almost to a circle, a tiny lake at
-the bottom of a sort of crater of white stone that collected and
-concentrated the dim light. On two sides there were little crescent
-beaches of snow-white sand, that gleamed like silver. The traveller
-looked about him and upward to see if there were any way of climbing
-up; but as far as he could make out in the half-darkness the steep
-rock was as smooth as if it had been cut with tools, and it sloped
-away at a sharp angle like the sides of a funnel.
-
-Baraka went up towards the right, and the bottom shelved, so that
-presently the water was down to her waist, and then she stood still
-and pointed to a dark hollow just above the little beach. Her wet
-garment clung to her, and with her left hand she began to wring the
-water from her hair behind her head.
-
-'The rubies are there,' she said, 'thousands upon thousands of them.
-Fill the sack quickly, but do not take more than you can carry, for
-they are very heavy.'
-
-The traveller waded out upon the beach, and the water from his clothes
-ran down in small rivulets and made little round holes in the white
-sand. He put down his revolver in a dry place, and both his hands felt
-for the precious stones in the shadowy hollow, loosening small
-fragments of a sort of brittle crust in which they seemed to be
-clustered.
-
-'You cannot choose,' Baraka said, 'for you cannot see, but I have been
-here by daylight and have seen. The largest are on the left side of
-the hollow, near the top.'
-
-By the stars the traveller could see the pieces a little, as he
-brought them out, for the white rocks collected the light; he could
-see many dark crystals, but as to what they were he had to trust the
-girl.
-
-'Do not take more than you can carry,' she repeated, 'for you must not
-throw them away to lighten the burden.'
-
-'You can carry some of them,' answered the traveller.
-
-He broke up the crust of crystals with a small geologist's hammer and
-tore them out like a madman, and his hands were bleeding, for though
-he was a philosopher the thirst for wealth had come upon him when he
-felt the riches of empires in his grasp, and the time was short; and
-although he knew that he might some day come back with armed men to
-protect him, and workmen to help him, he knew also that to do this he
-must share the secret with the over-lord of that wild country, and
-that his portion might be the loss of his head. So he tore at the ruby
-crust with all his might, and as he was very strong, he broke out
-great pieces at once.
-
-'We cannot carry more than that, both of us together,' said Baraka,
-though she judged more by the sound of his work than by what she could
-see.
-
-He lifted the sack with both his hands, and he knew by its weight that
-she was right. Under the water it would be easy enough to carry, but
-it would be a heavy load for a man to shoulder.
-
-'Come,' Baraka said, 'I will go back first.'
-
-She moved down into the deeper water again, till it was up to her
-neck; and feeling the way with her hands she went in once more under
-the rock. The traveller followed her cautiously, carrying the heavy
-sack under water with one hand and holding up his revolver with the
-other, to keep it dry.
-
-'I begin to see the starlight on the water,' Baraka said, just as
-before, when they had been going in.
-
-When she had spoken, she heard a heavy splash not far off, and the
-water in the subterranean channel rose suddenly and ran past her in
-short waves, three of which covered her mouth in quick succession and
-reached to her eyes, and almost to the top of her head, but sank again
-instantly; and they passed her companion in the same way, wetting his
-weapon.
-
-'Go back,' Baraka said, when she could speak; 'the rock is falling.'
-
-The traveller turned as quickly as he could, and she came after him,
-gaining on him because he carried the heavy sack and could not move
-as fast as she. He felt his damp hair rising with fear, for he
-believed that, after all, she had brought him into a trap. They
-reached the opening and came out into the pool again.
-
-'You have brought me here to die,' he said. 'Your father and your
-brothers have shut up the entrance with great stones, and they will go
-up the mountain and let themselves down from above with ropes and
-shoot me like a wolf in a pit-fall. But you shall die first, because
-you have betrayed me.'
-
-So he cocked his revolver and set the muzzle against her head, to kill
-her, holding her by her slender throat with his other hand; for they
-were in shallow water and he had dropped the sack in the pool.
-
-Baraka did not struggle or cry out.
-
-'I would rather die by your hand than be alive in another man's arms,'
-she said, quite quietly.
-
-He let her go, merely because she was so very brave; for he did not
-love her at all. She knew it, but that made no difference to her,
-since no other woman was near; if they could get out alive with the
-rubies she was sure that he would love her for the sake of the great
-wealth she had brought him. If they were to starve to death at the
-bottom of the great rock wall in the mountains, she would probably die
-first, because he was so strong; and then nothing would matter. It was
-all very simple.
-
-The traveller fished up the sack and waded out upon the tiny beach,
-and again the water ran down from his clothes in rivulets and made
-round holes in the white sand. He looked up rather anxiously, though
-he could not have seen a head looking down from above if there had
-been any one there. There was not light enough. He understood also
-that if the men were going to shoot at him from the height they would
-wait till it was daylight. Baraka stood still in the water, which
-was up to her waist, and he paid no attention to her, but sat down to
-think what he should do. The night was warm, and his clothes would dry
-on him by degrees. He would have taken them off and spread them out,
-for he thought no more of Baraka's presence than if she had been a
-harmless young animal, standing there in the pool, but he could not
-tell what might happen at any moment, and so long as he was dressed
-and had all his few belongings about him, he felt ready to meet fate.
-
-Baraka saw that he did not heed her, and was thinking. She came up out
-of the water very slowly, and she modestly loosened her wet garment
-from her, so that it hung straight when she stood at the end of the
-beach, as far from the traveller as possible. She, also, sat down to
-dry herself: and there was silence for a long time.
-
-After half-an-hour the traveller rose and began to examine the rock,
-feeling it with his hands wherever there was the least shadow, as high
-as he could reach, to find if there was any foothold, though he was
-already sure that there was not.
-
-'There is no way out,' Baraka said at last. 'I have been here by day.
-I have seen.'
-
-'They will let themselves down from above with ropes, till they are
-near enough to shoot,' the traveller answered.
-
-'No,' replied Baraka. 'They know that you have a good weapon, and they
-will not risk their lives. They will leave us here to starve. That is
-what they will do. It is our portion, and we shall die. It will be
-easy, for there is water, and when we are hungry we can drink our
-fill.'
-
-The traveller knew the people amongst whom he had wandered, and he did
-not marvel at the girl's quiet tone; but it chilled his blood, for he
-understood that she was in earnest; and, moreover, she knew the place,
-and that there was no way out.
-
-'You said well that I had brought you here to die,' she said
-presently, 'but I did not know it, therefore I must lose my life also.
-It is my portion. God be praised.'
-
-He was shamed by her courage, for he loved life well, and he held his
-head down and said nothing as he thought of what was to come. He knew
-that with plenty of good water a man may live for two or three weeks
-without food. He looked at the black pool in which he could not even
-see the reflections of the stars as he sat, because the opening above
-was not very wide, and he was low down, a good way from the water's
-edge. It seemed a good way, but perhaps it was not more than three
-yards.
-
-'You will die first,' Baraka said dreamily. 'You are not as we are,
-you cannot live so long without food.'
-
-The traveller wondered if she were right, but he said nothing.
-
-'If we had got out with the treasure,' continued Baraka, 'you would
-have loved me for it, because you would have been the greatest man in
-the world through me. But now, because we must die, you hate me. I
-understand. If you do not kill me you will die first; and when you are
-dead I shall kiss you many times, till I die also. It will be very
-easy. I am not afraid.'
-
-The man sat quite still and looked at the dark streak by the edge of
-the pool where the water had wet it when the falling boulder outside
-had sent in little waves. He could see it distinctly. Again there was
-silence for a long time. Now and then Baraka loosened her only garment
-about her as she sat, so that it might dry more quickly; and she
-quietly wrung out her thick black hair and shook it over her shoulders
-to dry it too, and stuck her two silver pins into the sand beside her.
-
-Still the traveller sat with bent head, gazing at the edge of the
-pool. His hands were quite dry now, and he slowly rubbed the clinging
-moisture from his revolver. Some men would have been thinking, in such
-a plight, that if starving were too hard to bear, a bullet would
-shorten their sufferings in the end; but this man was very full of
-life, and the love of life, and while he lived he would hope.
-
-He still watched the same dark streak where the sand was wet; he had
-not realised that he had been so far from it till then, but by looking
-at it a long time in the starlight his sight had probably grown tired,
-so that he no longer saw it distinctly. He raised himself a little on
-his hands and pushed himself down till it was quite clearly visible
-again, and he looked at the rock opposite and up to the stars again,
-to rest his eyes. He was not more than a yard from the water now.
-
-The place was very quiet. From far above a slight draught of air
-descended, warm from the rocks that had been heated all day in the
-sun. But there was no sound except when Baraka moved a little.
-
-Presently she did not move any more, and when the traveller looked he
-saw that she was curled up on the sand, as Eastern women lie when they
-sleep, and her head rested on her hand; for her garment was dry now,
-and she was drowsy after the walk and the effort she had made.
-Besides, since there was no escape from death, and as the man did not
-love her, she might as well sleep if she could. He knew those people
-and understood; and he did not care, or perhaps he also was glad. He
-was a man who could only have one thought at a time. When he had left
-the house of Baraka's father he had been thinking only of the rubies,
-but now that he was in danger of his life he could think only of
-saving it, if there were any way. A woman could never be anything but
-a toy to him, and he could not play with toys while death was looking
-over his shoulder. He was either too big for that, or too little;
-every man will decide which it was according to his own measure. But
-Baraka, who had not been taught to think of her soul nor to fear
-death, went quietly to sleep now that she was quite sure that the
-traveller would not love her.
-
-He had been certain of the distance between his feet and the water's
-edge as he sat; it had been a yard at the most. But now it was more;
-he was sure that it was a yard and a half at the least. He rubbed his
-eyes and looked hard at the dark belt of wet sand, and it was twice as
-wide as it had been. The water was still running out somewhere, but it
-was no longer running in, and in an hour or two the pool would be dry.
-The traveller was something of an engineer, and understood sooner than
-an ordinary man could have done, that his enemies had intentionally
-stopped up the narrow entrance through which he had to come, both to
-make his escape impossible, and to hasten his end by depriving him of
-water. The fallen boulder alone could not have kept out the overflow
-of the spring effectually. They must have shovelled down masses of
-earth, with the plants that grew in it abundantly and filled it with
-twining threadlike roots, and they must have skilfully forced
-quantities of the stuff into the openings all round the big stone,
-making a regular dam against the spring, which would soon run down in
-the opposite direction. They knew, of course, that Baraka had led him
-to the place and had gone in with him, for she had left all her outer
-garments outside, and they meant that she should die also, with her
-secret. In a week, or a fortnight, or a month, they would come and dig
-away the dam and pry the boulder aside, and would get in and find the
-white bones of the two on the sand, after the vultures had picked them
-clean; and they would take the traveller's good revolver, and his
-money.
-
-He thought of all these things as he sat there in the dim light, and
-watched the slow receding of the water-line, and listened to the
-girl's soft and regular breathing. There was no death in her dream, as
-she slept away the last hours of the night, though there might not be
-many more nights for her. He heard her breath, but he did not heed
-her, for the water was sinking before him, sinking away into the sand,
-now that it was no longer fed from the opening.
-
-He sat motionless, and his thoughts ran madly from hope to despair and
-back again to hope. The water was going down, beyond question; if it
-was merely draining itself through the sand to some subterranean
-channel, he was lost, but if it was flowing away through any passage
-like the one by which he had entered, there was still a chance of
-escape,--a very small chance. When death is at the gate the tiniest
-loophole looks wide enough to crawl through.
-
-The surface of the pool subsided, but there was no loophole; and as
-the traveller watched, hope sank in his heart, like the water in the
-hollow of the sand; but Baraka slept on peacefully, curled up on her
-side like a little wild animal. When the pool was almost dry the
-traveller crept down to the edge and drank his fill, that he might not
-begin to thirst sooner than need be; and just then day dawned suddenly
-and the warm darkness gave way to a cold light in a few moments.
-
-Immediately, because it was day, Baraka stretched herself on the sand
-and then sat up; and when she saw what the traveller was doing she
-also went and drank as much as she could swallow, for she had
-understood why he was drinking as soon as she saw that the pool was
-nearly dry. When she could drink no more she looked up at the rocks
-high overhead, and they were already white and red and yellow in the
-light of the risen sun; for in that country there is no very long time
-between dark night and broad day.
-
-Baraka sat down again, on the spot where she had slept, but she said
-nothing. The man was trying to dig a little hole in the wet sand with
-his hands, beyond the water that was still left, for perhaps he
-thought that if he could make a pit on one side, some water would stay
-in it; but the sand ran together as soon as he moved it; and
-presently, as he bent over, he felt that he was sinking into it
-himself, and understood that it was a sort of quicksand that would
-suck him down. He therefore threw himself flat on his back, stretching
-out his arms and legs, and, making movements as if he were swimming,
-he worked his way from the dangerous place till he was safe on the
-firm white beach again. He sat up then, and bent his head till his
-forehead pressed on his hands, and he shut his eyes to keep out the
-light of day. He had not slept, as Baraka had, but he was not sleepy;
-perhaps he would not be able to sleep again before the end came.
-Baraka watched him quietly, for she understood that he despaired of
-life, and she wondered what he would do; and, besides, he seemed to
-her the most beautiful man in the world, and she loved him, and she
-was going to die with him.
-
-It comforted her to think that no other woman could get him now. It
-was almost worth while to die for that alone; for she could not have
-borne that another woman should have him since he despised her, and if
-it had come to pass she would have tried to kill that other. But there
-was no danger of such a thing now; and he would die first, and she
-would kiss him many times when he was dead, and then she would die
-also.
-
-The pool was all gone by this time, leaving a funnel-shaped hollow in
-the sand where it had been. If any water still leaked through from
-without it lost itself under the sand, and the man and the girl were
-at the bottom of a great natural well that was quite dry. Baraka
-looked up, and she saw a vulture sitting in the sun on a pinnacle,
-three hundred feet above her head. He would sit there till she was
-dead, for he knew what was coming; then he would spread his wings a
-little and let himself down awkwardly, half-flying and
-half-scrambling. When he had finished, he would sit and look at her
-bones and doze, till he was able to fly away.
-
-Baraka thought of all this, but her face did not change, and when she
-had once seen the vulture she did not look at him again, but kept her
-eyes fixed, without blinking, on her companion's bent head. To her he
-seemed the most handsome man that had ever lived. There, beside him,
-lay his camel bag, and in it there were rubies worth a kingdom; and
-Baraka was very young and was considered beautiful too, among the wild
-people to whom she belonged. But her father had chosen her name in an
-evil hour, for she was indeed not blessed, since she was to die so
-young; and the man with the beard of spun gold and the very white skin
-did not love her, and would not even make pretence of loving, though
-for what was left of life she would have been almost satisfied with
-that.
-
-The hours passed, and the sun rose higher in the sky and struck deeper
-into the shady well, till he was almost overhead, and there was
-scarcely any shadow left. It became very hot and stifling, because the
-passage through which the air had entered with the water was shut up.
-Then the traveller took off his loose jacket, and opened his flannel
-shirt at the neck, and turned up his sleeves for coolness, and he
-crept backwards into the hollow where the ruby mine was, to shelter
-himself from the sun. But Baraka edged away to the very foot of the
-cliff, where there remained a belt of shade, even at noon; and as she
-sat there she took the hem of her one garment in her hands and slowly
-fanned her little feet. Neither he nor she had spoken for many hours,
-and she could see that in the recess of the rock he was sitting as
-before, with his forehead against his hands that were clasped on his
-knees, in the attitude and bearing of despair.
-
-He began to be athirst now, in the heat. If he had not known that
-there was no water he could easily have done without it through a long
-day, but the knowledge that there was none, and that he was never to
-drink again, parched his life and his throat and his tongue till it
-felt like a dried fig in his mouth. He did not feel hunger, and indeed
-he had a little food in a wallet he carried; but he could not have
-eaten without water, and it did not occur to him that Baraka might be
-hungry. Perhaps, even if he had known that she was, he would not have
-given her of what he had; he would have kept it for himself. What was
-the life of a wild hill-girl compared with his? But the vulture was
-watching him, as well as Baraka, and would not move from its pinnacle
-till the end, though days might pass.
-
-The fever began to burn the traveller, the fever of thirst which
-surely ends in raving madness, as he knew, for he had wandered much in
-deserts, and had seen men go mad for lack of water. His hands felt red
-hot, the pulses were hammering at his temples, and his tongue became
-as hot as baked clay; he would have borne great pain for a time if it
-could have brought sleep, for this was much worse than pain, and it
-made sleep impossible. He tried to take account of what he felt, for
-he was strong, and he was conscious that the heat of the fever, and
-the throbbing in his arteries, and the choking dryness in his mouth
-and throat, were not really his main sensations, but only accessories
-to it or consequences of it. The real suffering was the craving for
-the sight, the touch, and the taste of water; to see it alone would be
-a relief, even if he were not allowed to drink, and to dip his hands
-into a stream would be heaven though he were not permitted to taste a
-drop. He understood, in a strangely clear way, that what suffered now
-was not, in the ordinary sense, his own self, that is, his nerves, but
-the physical composition of his body, which was being by degrees
-deprived of the one prime ingredient more necessary than all others.
-He knew that his body was eight-tenths water, or thereabouts, but that
-this proportion was fast decreasing by the process of thirst, and that
-what tormented him was the unsettling of the hydrostatic balance which
-nature requires and maintains where there is any sort of life in
-animals, plants, or stones; for stones live and are not even
-temporarily dead till they are calcined to the state of quicklime, or
-hydraulic cement, or plaster of Paris; and they come to life again
-with furious violence and boiling heat if they are brought into
-contact with water suddenly; or they regain the living state by slow
-degrees if they are merely exposed to dampness. The man knew that what
-hurt him was the battle between forces of nature which was being
-fought in his flesh, and it was as much more terrible than the mere
-pain his fleshly nerves actually suffered from it, as real death is
-more awful than the most tremendous representation of it that ever was
-shown in a play. Yet a stage tragedy may draw real burning tears of
-sorrow and sympathy from them that look on.
-
-The traveller was a modern man of science, and understood these
-things, but the knowledge of them did not make it easier to bear
-thirst or to die of hunger.
-
-Baraka was not thirsty yet, because she had drunk her fill in the
-morning, and was not used to drink often; it was enough that she could
-look at the man she loved, for the end would come soon enough without
-thinking about it. All day long the traveller crouched in the hollow
-of the ruby cave, and Baraka watched him from her place; when it grew
-dark the vulture on the pinnacle of rock thrust its ugly head under
-its wing. As soon as Baraka could not see any more she curled herself
-up on the white sand like a little wild animal and went to sleep,
-though she was thirsty.
-
-It was dawn when she awoke, and her linen garment was damp with the
-dew, so that the touch of it refreshed her. The traveller had come out
-and was lying prone on the sand, his face buried against his arm, as
-soldiers sleep in a bivouac. She could not tell whether he was asleep
-or not, but she knew that he could not see her, and she cautiously
-sucked the dew from her garment, drawing it up to her mouth and
-squeezing it between her lips.
-
-It was little enough refreshment, but it was something, and she was
-not afraid, which made a difference. Just as she had drawn the edge of
-her shift down and round her ankles again, the man turned on his side
-suddenly, and then rose to his feet. For an instant he glared at her,
-and she saw that his blue eyes were bloodshot and burning; then he
-picked up the heavy camel bag, and began to make his way round what
-had been the beach of the pool, towards the passage through which they
-had entered, and which was now a dry cave, wide below, narrow at the
-top, and between six or seven feet high. He trod carefully and tried
-his way, for he feared the quicksand, but he knew that there was none
-in the passage, since he had walked through the water and had felt the
-way hard under his feet. In a few moments he disappeared under the
-rock.
-
-Baraka knew what he meant to do; he was going to try to dig through
-the dam at the entrance to let the water in, even if he could not get
-out. But she was sure that this would be impossible, for by this time
-her father and brothers had, no doubt, completely filled the spring
-with earth and stones, and had turned the water in the other
-direction. The traveller must have been almost sure of this too, else
-he would have made the attempt much sooner. It was the despotism of
-thirst that was driving him to it now, and he had no tool with which
-to dig--it would be hopeless work with his hands.
-
-The girl did not move, for in that narrow place and in the dark she
-could not have helped him. She sat and waited. By and by he would come
-out, drenched with sweat and yet parching with thirst, and he would
-glare at her horribly again; perhaps he would be mad when he came out
-and would kill her because she had brought him there.
-
-After some time she heard a very faint sound overhead, and when she
-looked up the vulture was gone from his pinnacle. She wondered at
-this, and her eyes searched every point and crevice of the rock as far
-as she could see, for she knew that the evil bird could only have been
-frightened away; and though it fears neither bird nor beast, but only
-man, she could not believe that any human being could find a foothold
-near to where it had perched.
-
-But now she started, and held her breath and steadied herself with one
-hand on the sand beside her as she leaned back to look up. Something
-white had flashed in the high sun, far up the precipice, and the
-sensation the sight left was that of having seen sunshine on a moving
-white garment.
-
-For some seconds, perhaps for a whole minute, she saw nothing more,
-though she gazed up steadily, then there was another flash and a small
-patch of snowy white was moving slowly on the face of the cliff, at
-some distance above the place where the vulture had been. She bent her
-brows in the effort to see more by straining her sight, and meanwhile
-the patch descended faster than it seemed possible that a man could
-climb down that perilous steep. Yet it was a man, she knew from the
-first, and soon she saw him plainly, in his loose shirt and white
-turban. Baraka thought of a big white moth crawling on a flat wall.
-She was light of foot and sure of hold herself, and could step
-securely where few living things could move at all without instant
-danger, but she held her breath as she watched the climber's descent
-towards her. She saw him plainly now, a brown-legged, brown-armed man
-in a white shirt and a fur cap, and he had a long gun slung across his
-back. Nearer still, and he was down to the jutting pinnacle where the
-vulture had sat, and she saw his black beard; still nearer by a few
-feet and she knew him, and then her glance darted to the mouth of the
-cave, at the other end of which the man she loved was toiling
-desperately alone in the dark to pierce the dam of earth and stones.
-It was only a glance, in a second of time, but when she looked up the
-black-bearded man had already made another step downwards. Baraka
-measured the distance. If he spoke loud now she could understand him,
-and he could hear her answer. He paused and looked down, and he saw
-her as plainly as she saw him. She knew him well, and she knew why he
-had come, with his long gun. He was her father's brother's son, to
-whom she was betrothed; he was Saaed, and he was risking his life to
-come down and kill her and the man whom she had led to the ruby mines
-for love's sake.
-
-He would come down till he was within easy range, and then he would
-wait till he had a fair chance at them, when they were standing still,
-and she knew that he was a dead shot. The traveller's revolver could
-never carry as far as the long gun, Baraka was sure, and Saaed could
-come quite near with safety, since he seemed able to climb down the
-face of a flat rock where there was not foothold for a cat. He was
-still descending, he was getting very near; if the traveller were not
-warned he might come out of the cave unsuspiciously and Saaed would
-shoot him. Saaed would wish to shoot him first, because of his
-revolver, and then he would kill Baraka at his leisure. If he fired at
-her first the traveller would have a chance at him while he was
-reloading his old gun. She understood why he had not killed her yet,
-if indeed he wanted to, for it was barely possible that he loved her
-enough to take her alive.
-
-After hesitating for a few moments, not from fear but in doubt, she
-gathered herself to spring, and made a dash like an antelope along the
-sand for the mouth of the cave, for she knew that Saaed would not risk
-wasting his shot on her while she was running. She stopped just under
-the shelter of the rock and called inward.
-
-'Saaed is coming down the rock with his gun!' she cried. 'Load your
-weapon!'
-
-When she had given this warning she went out again and stood before
-the mouth of the cave with her back to it. Saaed was on the rock, not
-fifty feet above the ground, at the other side of the natural wall,
-but looked as if even he could get no farther down. He was standing
-with both his heels on a ledge so narrow that more than half the
-length of his brown feet stood over it; he was leaning back, flat
-against the sloping cliff, and he had his gun before him, for he was
-just able to use both his hands without falling. He pointed the gun at
-her and spoke.
-
-'Where is the man?'
-
-'He is dead,' Baraka answered without hesitation.
-
-'Dead? Already?'
-
-'I killed him in his sleep,' she said, 'and I dragged his body into
-the cave for fear of the vulture, and buried it in the sand. Be not
-angry, Saaed, though he was my father's guest. Come down hither and I
-will tell all. Then you shall shoot me or take me home to be your
-wife, as you will, for I am quite innocent.'
-
-She meant to entice him within range of the stranger's weapon.
-
-'There is no foothold whereby to get lower,' he answered, but he
-rested the stock of his gun on the narrow ledge behind him.
-
-'Drag out the man's body, that I may see it.'
-
-'I tell you I buried it. I killed him the night before last; I cannot
-dig him up now.'
-
-'Why did you run to the mouth of the cave when you saw me, if the man
-is dead?'
-
-'Because at first I was afraid you would shoot me from above,
-therefore I took shelter.'
-
-'Why did you come out again, if you were in fear?'
-
-'After I had run in I was ashamed, for I felt sure that you would not
-kill me without hearing the truth. So I came out to speak with you.
-Get down, and I will show you the man's grave.'
-
-'Have I wings? I cannot come down. It is impossible.'
-
-Baraka felt a puff of hot air pass her, just above her right ankle,
-and at the same instant she heard a sharp report, not very loud, and
-more like the snapping of a strong but very dry stick than the
-explosion of firearms. She instinctively sprang to the left, keeping
-her eyes on Saaed.
-
-For a moment he did not move. But he was already dead as he slowly
-bent forward from the rock, making a deep obeisance with both arms
-hanging down before him, so that his body shot down perpendicularly to
-the sand, where it struck head first, rolled over and lay motionless
-in a heap. The traveller's was a Mauser pistol that would have killed
-as surely at five hundred yards as fifty; and the bullet had gone
-through the Tartar's brain.
-
-Baraka sprang up the sandy slope and ran along the narrow beach to the
-body. In an instant she had detached the large brown water-gourd from
-the thong by which it had hung over Saaed's shoulder, and she felt that
-it was full. Without a thought for herself she hastened back to the
-mouth of the cave where the traveller was now standing. His face was
-dripping with perspiration that ran down into his matted golden beard,
-his eyes were wild, his hands were bleeding.
-
-'Drink!' cried Baraka joyfully, and she gave him the gourd.
-
-He gripped it as a greedy dog snaps at a bit of meat, and pulling out
-the wooden plug he set the gourd to his lips, with an expression of
-beatitude. But he was an old traveller and only drank a little,
-knowing that his life might depend on making the small supply last. A
-gourd of water was worth more than many rubies just then.
-
-'Are you very thirsty yet?' he asked in a harsh voice.
-
-'No,' answered Baraka bravely; 'keep it for yourself.'
-
-His hand closed round the neck of the gourd and he looked up towards
-the rocks above. The vulture had come back and was circling slowly
-down.
-
-'You had better bury the body, while I go on working,' said the
-traveller, turning back into the cave and taking the gourd with him.
-
-Baraka had marked the place where he had tried to dig for water and
-had almost disappeared in the quicksand. She took from the body the
-wallet, in which were dates and some half-dry bread, and then dragged
-and pushed, and rolled the dead man from the place where he had
-fallen. The vulture sat on the lowest ledge where his claws could find
-a hold, and though he watched her with horrible red eyes while she
-robbed him of his prey, he did not dare go nearer.
-
-The body sank into the moving sand, and Baraka had to roll herself
-back to firmer ground in haste to escape being swallowed up with the
-dead man. The last she saw of him was one brown foot sticking up. It
-sank slowly out of sight, and then she went to the hollow where the
-ruby mine was and took up a piece of the broken crust, full of
-precious stones, and threw it at the vulture as hard as she could. It
-did not hit him, but he at once tumbled off the ledge into the air,
-opened his queer, bedraggled wings and struck upwards.
-
-Then Baraka sat down in the shade and slowly brushed away the dry sand
-that had got into the folds of her linen garment, and looked steadily
-at the mouth of the cave and tried not to realise that her throat was
-parched and her lips almost cracking with thirst, and that the
-traveller had a gourd almost full of water with him. For she loved
-him, and was willing to die that he might live a little longer;
-besides, if he succeeded in digging his way out, there would be plenty
-to drink, and when he was free she was sure that he would love her
-because she had made him so rich.
-
-The sun rose higher and at last shone down to the bottom of the chasm,
-and she sat in the narrow strip of shade, where she had passed most of
-the previous day. She was very thirsty and feverish, and felt tired,
-and wished she could sleep, but could not. Still the traveller toiled
-in the darkness, and from time to time she heard sounds from far away
-as of stones and loose earth falling. He was still working hard, for
-he was very strong and he was desperate.
-
-Baraka thought that if he was able to dig through the dam the water
-would run in again, and she watched the sand for hours, but it was
-drier than ever. The shadow broadened again, and crept up the rock
-quickly as the afternoon passed.
-
-It was a long time since she had heard any sound from the cave; she
-went to the entrance and listened, but all was quite still. Perhaps
-the traveller had fallen asleep from exhaustion, too tired even to
-drag himself out into the air when he could work no longer. She sat
-down in the entrance and waited.
-
-An hour passed. Perhaps he was dead. At the mere inward suggestion
-Baraka sprang to her feet, and her heart beat frantically, and stood
-still an instant, and then beat again as if it would burst, and she
-could hardly breathe. She steadied herself against the rock, and then
-went in to know the truth, feeling her way, and instinctively shading
-her eyes as many people do in the dark.
-
-A breath of cool air made her open them, and to her amazement there
-was light before her. She thought she must have turned quite round
-while she was walking, and that she was going back to the entrance, so
-she turned again. But in a few seconds there was light before her once
-more, and soon she saw the dry sand, full of her footprints and the
-traveller's, and then the hollow where the mine was came in sight.
-
-She retraced her steps a second time, saw the light as before, ran
-forward on the smooth sand and stumbled upon a heap of earth and
-stones, just as she saw the sky through an irregular opening on the
-level of her face. Scarcely believing her senses she thrust out her
-hand towards the hole. It was real, and she was not dreaming; the
-traveller had got out and was gone, recking little of what might
-happen to her, since he was free with his treasure.
-
-Baraka crept up the slope of earth as quickly as she could and got
-out; if she had hoped to find him waiting for her she was
-disappointed, for he was nowhere to be seen. He had got clear away,
-with his camel-bag full of rubies. A moment later she was lying on the
-ground, with her face in the little stream, drinking her fill, and
-forgetful even of the man she loved. In order to deprive them of water
-the men had dug a channel by which it ran down directly from the
-spring to the ravine on that side; then they had blocked up the
-entrance with stones and earth, believing that one man's strength
-could never suffice to break through, and they had gone away. They had
-probably buried or burnt Baraka's clothes, for she did not see them
-anywhere.
-
-She ate some of the dates from the dead man's wallet, and a bit of
-the dry black bread, and felt revived, since her greatest need had
-been for water, and that was satisfied. But when she had eaten and
-drunk, and had washed herself in the stream and twisted up her hair,
-she sat down upon a rock; and she felt so tired that she would have
-fallen asleep if the pain in her heart had not kept her awake. She
-clasped her hands together on her knees and bent over them, rocking
-herself.
-
-When nearly an hour had passed she looked up and saw that the sun was
-sinking, for the shadows were turning purple in the deep gorge, and
-there was a golden light on the peaks above. She listened then,
-holding her breath; but there was no sound except the tinkling of the
-tiny stream as it fell over a ledge at some distance below her,
-following its new way down into the valley.
-
-She rose at last, looked upward, and seemed about to go away when a
-thought occurred to her, which afterwards led to very singular
-consequences. Instead of going down the valley or climbing up out of
-it, she went back to the entrance of the cave, taking the wallet with
-her, dragged herself in once more over the loose stones and earth,
-reached the secret hollow where the pool had been, and made straight
-for the little mine of precious stones. The traveller had broken out
-many more than he had been able to carry, but she did not try to
-collect them all. She was not altogether ignorant of the trade carried
-on by the men of her family for generations, and though she had not
-the least idea of the real value of the finest of the rubies, she knew
-very well that it would be wise to take many small ones which she
-could exchange for clothing and necessaries with the first women she
-met in the hills, while hiding the rest of the supply she would be
-able to carry in the wallet.
-
-When she had made her wise selection, she looked once more towards the
-quicksand, and left the place for ever. Once outside she began to
-climb the rocks as fast as she could, for very soon it would be night
-and she would have to lie down and wait many hours for the day, since
-there was no moon, and the way was very dangerous, even for a Tartar
-girl who could almost tread on air.
-
-High up on the mountain, over the dry well where Baraka and the
-stranger had been imprisoned, the vulture perched alone with empty
-craw and drooping wings. But it was of no use for him to wait; the
-living, who might have died of hunger and thirst, were gone, and the
-body of dead Saaed lay fathoms deep in the quicksand, in the very maw
-of the mountain.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II
-
-
-There was good copy for the newspapers on both sides of the Atlantic
-in the news that the famous lyric soprano, Margarita da Cordova, whose
-real name was Miss Margaret Donne, was engaged to Monsieur Konstantin
-Logotheti, a Greek financier of large fortune established in Paris,
-and almost as well known to art-collectors as to needy governments,
-would-be promoters, and mothers of marriageable daughters. The mothers
-experienced a momentary depression such as Logotheti himself felt when
-an historical Van Dyck which he wanted was secretly sold out of a
-palace in Genoa to a rival collector and millionaire for a price which
-he would willingly have given; the people he knew shrugged their
-shoulders at the news that he was to marry a singer, or shook their
-heads wisely, or smiled politely, according to the scale of the
-manners they had inherited or acquired; the shopkeepers sent him
-thousands of insinuating invitations to inspect and buy all the things
-which a rich man is supposed to give to his bride, from diamonds and
-lace and eighty horse-power motor-cars to dressing-cases, stationery
-and silver saucepans; and the newspapers were generously jubilant, and
-rioted for a few days in a perfect carnival of adjectives.
-
-The people who made the least fuss about the marriage were Cordova
-and Logotheti themselves. They were both so well used to perpetual
-publicity that they did not resent being written and talked about for
-a time as if they were a treaty, a revolution, a divorce, or a
-fraudulent trust. But they did not encourage the noise, nor go about
-side by side in an offensively happy way, nor accept all the two
-hundred and eighty-seven invitations to dine out together which they
-received from their friends during three weeks. It was as much as
-their overworked secretaries could do to answer all these within a
-reasonable and decent time.
-
-The engagement was made known during the height of the London season,
-not long after they had both been at a week-end party at Craythew,
-Lord Creedmore's place in Derbyshire, where they had apparently come
-to a final understanding after knowing each other more than two years.
-Margaret was engaged to sing at Covent Garden that summer, and the
-first mention of the match was coupled with the information that she
-intended to cancel all her engagements and never appear in public
-again. The result was that the next time she came down the stage to
-sing the Waltz Song in _Romeo and Juliet_ she received a tremendous
-ovation before she opened her handsome lips, and another when she had
-finished the air; and she spent one of the happiest evenings she
-remembered.
-
-Though she was at heart a nice English girl, not much over twenty-four
-years of age, the orphan daughter of an Oxford don who had married an
-American, she had developed, or fallen, to the point at which very
-popular and successful artists cannot live at all without applause,
-and are not happy unless they receive a certain amount of adulation.
-Even the envy they excite in their rivals is delicious, if not almost
-necessary to them.
-
-Margaret's real nature had not been changed by a success that had been
-altogether phenomenal and had probably not been approached by any
-soprano since Madame Bonanni; but a second nature had grown upon it
-and threatened to hide it from all but those who knew her very well
-indeed. The inward Margaret was honest and brave, rather sensitive,
-and still generous; the outward woman, the primadonna whom most people
-saw, was self-possessed to a fault, imperious when contradicted, and
-coolly ruthless when her artistic fame was at stake. The two natures
-did not agree well together, and made her wretched when they
-quarrelled, but Logotheti, who was going to take her for better, for
-worse, professed to like them both, and was the only man she had ever
-known who did. That was one reason why she was going to marry him,
-after having refused him about a dozen times.
-
-She had loved another man as much as she was capable of loving, and at
-one time he had loved her, but a misunderstanding and her devotion to
-her art had temporarily separated them; and later, when she had almost
-told him that she would have him if he asked her, he had answered her
-quite frankly that she was no longer the girl he had cared for, and he
-had suddenly disappeared from her life altogether. So Logotheti,
-brilliant, very rich, gifted, gay, and rather exotic in appearance
-and manner, but tenacious as a bloodhound, had won the prize after a
-struggle that had lasted two years. She had accepted him without much
-enthusiasm at the last, and without any great show of feeling.
-
-'Let's try it,' she had said, and he had been more than satisfied.
-
-After a time, therefore, they told their friends that they were going
-to 'try it.'
-
-The only woman with whom the great singer was at all intimate was the
-Countess Leven, Lord Creedmore's daughter, generally called 'Lady
-Maud,' whose husband had been in the diplomacy, and, after vainly
-trying to divorce her, had been killed in St. Petersburg by a bomb
-meant for a Minister. The explosion had been so terrific that the dead
-man's identity had only been established by means of his pocket-book,
-which somehow escaped destruction. So Lady Maud was a childless widow
-of eight-and-twenty. Her father, when he had no prospect of ever
-succeeding to the title, had been a successful barrister, and then a
-hard-working Member of Parliament, and he had been from boyhood the
-close friend of Margaret's father. Hence the intimacy that grew up
-quickly between the two women when they at last met, though they had
-not known each other as children, because the lawyer had lived in town
-and his friend in Oxford.
-
-'So you're going to try it, my dear!' said Lady Maud, when she heard
-the news.
-
-She had a sweet low voice, and when she spoke now it was a little sad;
-for she had 'tried it,' and it had failed miserably. But she knew
-that the trial had not been a fair one; the only man she had ever
-cared for had been killed in South Africa, and as she had not even the
-excuse of having been engaged to him, she had married with
-indifference the first handsome man with a good name and a fair
-fortune who offered himself. He chanced to be a Russian diplomatist,
-and he turned out a spendthrift and an unfaithful husband. She was too
-kind-hearted to be glad that he had been blown to atoms by dynamite,
-but she was much too natural not to enjoy the liberty restored to her
-by his destruction; and she had not the least intention of ever
-'trying it' again.
-
-'You don't sound very enthusiastic,' laughed Margaret, who had no
-misgivings to speak of, and was generally a cheerful person. 'If you
-don't encourage me I may not go on.'
-
-'There are two kinds of ruined gamblers,' answered Lady Maud; 'there
-are those that still like to watch other people play, and those who
-cannot bear the sight of a roulette table. I'm one of the second kind,
-but I'll come to the wedding all the same, and cheer like mad, if you
-ask me.'
-
-'That's nice of you. I really think I mean to marry him, and I wish
-you would help me with my wedding-gown, dear. It would be dreadful if
-I looked like Juliet, or Elsa, or Lucia! Everybody would laugh,
-especially as Konstantin is rather of the Romeo type, with his
-almond-shaped eyes and his little black moustache! I suppose he really
-is, isn't he?'
-
-'Perhaps--just a little. But he is a very handsome fellow.'
-
-Lady Maud's lips quivered, but Margaret did not see.
-
-'Oh, I know!' she cried, laughing and shaking her head. 'You once
-called him "exotic," and he is--but I'm awfully fond of him all the
-same. Isn't that enough to marry on when there's everything else? You
-really will help me with my gown, won't you? You're such an angel!'
-
-'Oh, yes, I'll do anything you like. Are you going to have a regular
-knock-down-and-drag-out smash at St. George's? The usual thing?'
-
-Lady Maud did not despise slang, but she made it sound like music.
-
-'No,' answered Margaret, rather regretfully. 'We cannot possibly be
-married till the season's quite over, or perhaps in the autumn, and
-then there will be nobody here. I'm not sure when I shall feel like
-it! Besides, Konstantin hates that sort of thing.'
-
-'Do you mean to say that you would like a show wedding in Hanover
-Square?' inquired Lady Maud.
-
-'I've never done anything in a church,' said the Primadonna, rather
-enigmatically, but as if she would like to.
-
-'"Anything in a church,"' repeated her friend, vaguely thoughtful, and
-with the slightest possible interrogation. 'That's a funny way of
-looking at it!'
-
-Margaret was a little ashamed of what she had said so naturally.
-
-'I think Konstantin would like to have it in a chapel-of-ease in the
-Old Kent Road!' she said, laughing. 'He sometimes talks of being
-married in tweeds and driving off in a hansom! Then he suggests going
-to Constantinople and getting it done by the Patriarch, who is his
-uncle. Really, that would be rather smart, wouldn't it?'
-
-'Distinctly,' assented Lady Maud. 'But if you do that, I'm afraid I
-cannot help you with the wedding-gown. I don't know anything about the
-dress of a Fanariote bride.'
-
-'Konstantin says they dress very well,' Margaret said. 'But of course
-it is out of the question to do anything so ridiculous. It will end in
-the chapel-of-ease, I'm sure. He always has his own way. That's
-probably why I'm going to marry him, just because he insists on it. I
-don't see any other very convincing reason.'
-
-Lady Maud could not think of anything to say in answer to this; but as
-she really liked the singer she thought it was a pity.
-
-Paul Griggs, the veteran man of letters, smiled rather sadly when she
-met him shopping in New Bond Street, and told him of Margaret's
-engagement. He said that most great singers married because the only
-way to the divorce court led up the steps of the altar. Though he knew
-the world he was not a cynic, and Lady Maud herself wondered how long
-it would be before Logotheti and his wife separated.
-
-'But they are not married yet,' Griggs added, looking at her with the
-quietly ready expression of a man who is willing that his indifferent
-words should be taken to have a special meaning if the person to whom
-he has spoken chooses, or is able, to understand them as they may be
-understood, but who is quite safe from being suspected of suggesting
-anything if there is no answering word or glance.
-
-Lady Maud returned his look, but her handsome face grew rather cold.
-
-'Do you know of any reason why the marriage should not take place?'
-she inquired after a moment.
-
-'If I don't give any reason, am I ever afterwards to hold my peace?'
-asked Griggs, with a faint smile on his weather-beaten face. 'Are you
-publishing the bans? or are we thinking of the same thing?'
-
-'I suppose we are. Good-morning.'
-
-She nodded gravely and passed on, gathering up her black skirt a
-little, for there had been a shower. He stood still a moment before
-the shop window and looked after her, gravely admiring her figure and
-her walk, as he might have admired a very valuable thoroughbred. She
-was wearing mourning for her husband, not because any one would have
-blamed her if she had not done so, considering how he had treated her,
-but out of natural self-respect.
-
-Griggs also looked after her as she went away because he felt that she
-was not quite pleased with him for having suggested that he and she
-had both been thinking of the same thing.
-
-The thought concerned a third person, and one who rarely allowed
-himself to be overlooked; no less a man, in fact, than Mr. Rufus Van
-Torp, the American potentate of the great Nickel Trust, who was Lady
-Maud's most intimate friend, and who had long desired to make the
-Primadonna his wife. He had bought a place adjoining Lord Creedmore's,
-and there had lately been a good deal of quite groundless gossip about
-him and Lady Maud, which had very nearly become a scandal. The truth
-was that they were the best friends in the world, and nothing more;
-the millionaire had for some time been interested in an unusual sort
-of charity which almost filled the lonely woman's life, and he had
-given considerable sums of money to help it. During the months
-preceding the beginning of this tale, he had also been the object of
-one of those dastardly attacks to which very rich and important
-financiers are more exposed than other men, and he had actually been
-accused of having done away with his partner's daughter, who had come
-to her end mysteriously during a panic in a New York theatre. But, as
-I have told elsewhere, his innocence had been proved in the clearest
-possible manner, and he had returned to the United States to look
-after the interests of the Trust.
-
-When Griggs heard the news of Margaret's engagement to Logotheti, he
-immediately began to wonder how Mr. Van Torp would receive the
-intelligence; and if it had not already occurred to Lady Maud that the
-millionaire might make a final effort to rout his rival and marry the
-Primadonna himself, the old author's observation suggested such a
-possibility. Van Torp was a man who had fought up to success and
-fortune with little regard for the obstacles he found in his way; he
-had worked as a cowboy in his early youth, and was apt to look on his
-adversaries and rivals in life either as refractory cattle or as
-dangerous wild beasts; and though he had some of the old-fashioned
-ranchero's sense of fair-play in a fight, he had much of the reckless
-daring and ruthless savagery that characterise the fast-disappearing
-Western desperado.
-
-Logotheti, on the other hand, was in many respects a true Oriental,
-supremely astute and superlatively calm, but imbued, at heart, with a
-truly Eastern contempt for any law that chanced to oppose his wish.
-
-Both men had practically inexhaustible resources at their command, and
-both were determined to marry the Primadonna. It occurred to Paul
-Griggs that a real struggle between such a pair of adversaries would
-be worth watching. There was unlimited money on both sides, and equal
-courage and determination. The Greek was the more cunning of the two,
-by great odds, and had now the considerable advantage of having been
-accepted by the lady; but the American was far more regardless of
-consequences to himself or to others in the pursuit of what he wanted,
-and, short of committing a crime, would put at least as broad an
-interpretation on the law. Logotheti had always lived in a highly
-civilised society, even in Constantinople, for it is the greatest
-mistake to imagine that the upper classes of Greeks, in Greece or
-Turkey, are at all deficient in cultivation. Van Torp, on the
-contrary, had run away from civilisation when a half-educated boy, he
-had grown to manhood in a community of men who had little respect for
-anything and feared nothing at all, and he had won success in a field
-where those who compete for it buy it at any price, from a lie to a
-life.
-
-Lady Maud was thinking of these things as she disappeared from
-Griggs's sight, and not at all of him. It might have surprised her to
-know that his eyes had followed her with sincere admiration, and
-perhaps she would have been pleased. There is a sort of admiration
-which acknowledged beauties take for granted, and to which they attach
-no value unless it is refused them; but there is another kind that
-brings them rare delight when they receive it, for it is always given
-spontaneously, whether it be the wondering exclamation of a street boy
-who has never seen anything so beautiful in his life, or a quiet look
-and a short phrase from an elderly man who has seen what is worth
-seeing for thirty or forty years, and who has given up making
-compliments.
-
-The young widow was quite unconscious of Griggs's look and was very
-busy with her thoughts, for she was a little afraid that she had made
-trouble. Ten days had passed since she had last written to Rufus Van
-Torp, and she had told him, amongst other things, that Madame da
-Cordova and Logotheti were engaged to be married, adding that it
-seemed to her one of the most ill-assorted matches of the season, and
-that her friend the singer was sure to be miserable herself and to
-make her husband perfectly wretched, though he was a very good sort
-in his way and she liked him. There had been no reason why she should
-not write the news to Mr. Van Torp, even though it was not public
-property yet, for he was her intimate friend, and she knew him to be
-as reticent as all doctors ought to be and as some solicitors' clerks
-are. She had asked him not to tell any one till he heard of the
-engagement from some one else.
-
-He had not spoken of it, but something else had happened. He had
-cabled to Lady Maud that he was coming back to England by the next
-steamer. He often came out and went back suddenly two or three times
-at short intervals, and then stayed away for many months, but Lady
-Maud thought there could not be much doubt as to his reason for coming
-now. She knew well enough that he had tried to persuade the Primadonna
-to marry him during the previous winter, and that if his passion for
-her had not shown itself much of late, this was due to other causes,
-chiefly to the persecution of which he had rid himself just before he
-went to America, but to some extent also to the fact that Margaret had
-not seemed inclined to accept any one else.
-
-Lady Maud, who knew the man better than he knew himself, inwardly
-compared him to a volcano, quiescent just now, so far as Margaret was
-concerned, but ready to break out at any moment with unexpected and
-destructive energy.
-
-Margaret herself, who had known Logotheti for years, and had seen him
-in his most dangerous moods as well as in his very best moments, would
-have thought a similar comparison with an elemental force quite as
-truly descriptive of him, if it had occurred to her. The enterprising
-Greek had really attempted to carry her off by force on the night of
-the final rehearsal before her first appearance on the stage, and had
-only been thwarted because a royal rival had caused him to be locked
-up, as if by mistake, in order to carry her off himself; in which he
-also had failed most ridiculously, thanks to the young singer's
-friend, the celebrated Madame Bonanni. That was a very amusing story.
-But on another occasion Margaret had found herself shut up with her
-Oriental adorer in a room from which she could not escape, and he had
-quite lost his head; and if she had not been the woman she was, she
-would have fared ill. After that he had behaved more like an ordinary
-human being, and she had allowed the natural attraction he had for her
-to draw her gradually to a promise of marriage; and now she talked to
-Lady Maud about her gown, but she still put off naming a day for the
-wedding, in spite of Logotheti's growing impatience.
-
-This was the situation when the London season broke up and Mr. Van
-Torp landed at Southampton from an ocean greyhound that had covered
-the distance from New York in five days twelve hours and thirty-seven
-minutes, which will doubtless seem very slow travelling if any one
-takes the trouble to read this tale twenty years hence, though the
-passengers were pleased because it was not much under the record time
-for steamers coming east.
-
-Five hours after he landed Van Torp entered Lady Maud's drawing-room
-in the little house in Charles Street, Berkeley Square, where she had
-lived with the departed Leven from the time when he had been attached
-to the Russian Embassy till he had last gone away. She was giving it
-up now, and it was already half dismantled. It was to see Van Torp
-that she was in town in the middle of August, instead of with her
-father at Craythew or with friends in Scotland.
-
-London was as hot as it could be, which means that a New Yorker would
-have found it chilly and an Italian delightfully cool; but the
-Londoners were sweltering when Van Torp arrived, and were talking of
-the oppressive atmosphere and the smell of the pavement, not at all
-realising how blessed they were.
-
-The American entered and stood still a moment to have a good look at
-Lady Maud. He was a middle-sized, rather thick-set man, with rude
-hands, sandy hair, an over-developed jaw, and sharp blue eyes, that
-sometimes fixed themselves in a disagreeable way when he was
-speaking--eyes that had looked into the barrel of another man's
-revolver once or twice without wavering, hands that had caught and
-saddled and bridled many an unridden colt in the plains, a mouth like
-a carpet-bag when it opened, like a closed vice when it was shut. He
-was not a handsome man, Mr. Rufus Van Torp, nor one with whom any one
-short of a prize-fighter would meddle, nor one to haunt the dreams of
-sweet sixteen. It was not for his face that Lady Maud, good and
-beautiful, liked him better than any one in the world, except her own
-father, and believed in him and trusted him, and it was assuredly not
-for his money. The beggar did not live who would dare to ask him for a
-penny after one look at his face, and there were not many men on
-either side of the Atlantic who would have looked forward to any sort
-of contest with him without grave misgivings.
-
-'Well,' he said, advancing the last step after that momentary pause,
-and taking the white hand in both his own, 'how have you been? Fair to
-middling? About that? Well--I'm glad to see you, gladder than a
-sitting hen at sunrise!'
-
-Lady Maud laid her left hand affectionately on the man's right, which
-was uppermost on hers, and her voice rippled with happiness.
-
-'If you had only said a lark instead of a hen, Rufus!' she laughed.
-
-'We could get along a great sight better without larks than without
-hens,' answered her friend philosophically. 'But I'll make it a
-nightingale next time, if I can remember, or a bald eagle, or any bird
-that strikes you as cheerful.'
-
-The terrible mouth had relaxed almost to gentleness, and the fierce
-blue eyes were suddenly kind as they looked into the woman's face. She
-led him to an old-fashioned sofa, their hands parted, and they sat
-down side by side.
-
-'Cheerful,' he said, in a tone of reflection. 'Yes, I'm feeling pretty
-cheerful, and it's all over and settled.'
-
-'Do you mean the trouble you were in last spring?'
-
-'N--no--not that, though it wasn't as funny as a Sunday School treat
-while it lasted, and I was thankful when it was through. It's another
-matter altogether that I'm cheerful about--besides seeing you, my
-dear. I've done it, Maud. I've done it at last.'
-
-'What?'
-
-'I've sold my interest in the Trust. It won't be made known for some
-time, so don't talk about it, please. But it's settled and done, and
-I've got the money.'
-
-'You have sold the Nickel Trust?'
-
-Lady Maud's lips remained parted in surprise.
-
-'And I've bought you a little present with the proceeds,' he answered,
-putting his large thumb and finger into the pocket of his white
-waistcoat. 'It's only a funny little bit of glass I picked up,' he
-continued, producing a small twist of stiff writing-paper. 'You
-needn't think it's so very fine! But it's a pretty colour, and when
-you're out of mourning I daresay you'll make a hat-pin of it. I like
-handsome hat-pins myself, you know.'
-
-He had untwisted the paper while speaking, it lay open in the palm of
-his hand, and Lady Maud saw a stone of the size of an ordinary
-hazel-nut, very perfectly cut, and of that wonderful transparent red
-colour which is known as 'pigeon's blood,' and which it is almost
-impossible to describe. Sunlight shining through Persian rose-leaf
-sherbet upon white silk makes a little patch of colour that is perhaps
-more like it than any other shade of red, but not many Europeans have
-ever seen that, and it is a good deal easier to go and look at a
-pigeon's blood ruby in a jeweller's window.
-
-'What a beautiful colour!' exclaimed Lady Maud innocently, after a
-moment. 'I didn't know they imitated rubies so well, though, of
-course, I know nothing about it. If it were not an impossibility, I
-should take it for a real one.'
-
-'So should I,' assented Mr. Van Torp quietly. 'It'll make a pretty
-hat-pin anyway. Shall I have it mounted for you?'
-
-'Thanks, awfully, but I think I should like to keep it as it is for a
-little while. It's such a lovely colour, just as it is. Thank you so
-much! Do tell me where you got it.'
-
-'Oh, well, there was a sort of a traveller came to New York the other
-day selling them what they call privately. I guess he must be a
-Russian or something, for he has a kind of an off-look of your
-husband, only he wears a beard and an eyeglass. It must be about the
-eyes. Maybe the forehead too. He'll most likely turn up in London one
-of these days to sell this invention, or whatever it is.'
-
-Lady Maud said nothing to this, but she took the stone from his hand,
-looked at it some time with evident admiration, and then set it down
-on its bit of paper, upon a little table by the end of the sofa.
-
-'If I were you, I wouldn't leave it around much,' observed Mr. Van
-Torp carelessly. 'Somebody might take a fancy to it. The colour's
-attractive, you see, and it looks like real.'
-
-'Oh, I'll be very careful of it, never fear! I can't tell you how much
-I like it!' She twisted it up tightly in its bit of paper, rose to her
-feet, and put it away in her writing-table.
-
-'It'll be a sort of souvenir of the old Nickel Trust,' said her
-friend, watching her with satisfaction.
-
-'Have you really sold out all your interest in it?' she asked, sitting
-down again; and now that she returned to the question her tone showed
-that she had not yet recovered from her astonishment.
-
-'That's what I've done. I always told you I would, when I was ready.
-Why do you look so surprised? Would you rather I hadn't?'
-
-Lady Maud shook her head and her voice rippled deliciously as she
-answered.
-
-'I can hardly imagine you without the Nickel Trust, that's all! What
-in the world shall you do with yourself?'
-
-'Oh, various kinds of things. I think I'll get married, for one. Then
-I'll take a rest and sort of look around. Maybe something will turn
-up. I've concluded to win the Derby next year--that's something
-anyway.'
-
-'Rather! Have you thought of anything else?'
-
-She laughed a little, but was grave the next moment, for she knew him
-much too well to believe that he had taken such a step out of caprice,
-or a mere fancy for change; his announcement that he meant to marry
-agreed too well with what she herself had suddenly foreseen when she
-had parted with Griggs in Bond Street a few days earlier. If Margaret
-had not at last made up her mind to accept Logotheti--supposing that
-her decision was really final--Rufus Van Torp would not suddenly have
-felt sure that he himself must marry her if she married at all. His
-English friend could not have put into words what she felt had taken
-place in his heart, but she understood him as no one else could, and
-was certain that he had reached one of the great cross-roads of his
-life.
-
-A woman who has been married for years to such a man as Leven, and who
-tries to do good to those fallen and cast-out ones who laugh and cry
-and suffer out their lives, and are found dead behind the
-Virtue-Curtain, is not ignorant of the human animal's instincts and
-ways, and Lady Maud was not at all inclined to believe her friend a
-Galahad. In the clean kingdom of her dreams men could be chaste, and
-grown women could be as sweetly ignorant of harm as little children;
-but when she opened her eyes and looked about her she saw, and she
-understood, and did not shiver with delicate disgust, nor turn away
-with prim disapproval, nor fancy that she would like to be a mediaeval
-nun and induce the beatific state by merciless mortification of the
-body. She knew very well what the Virtue-Curtain was trying to hide;
-she lifted it quietly, went behind it without fear, and did all she
-could to help the unhappy ones she found there. She did not believe in
-other people's theories at all, and had none herself; she did not even
-put much faith in all the modern scientific talk about vicious
-inheritance and degeneration; much more than half of the dwellers
-behind the scenes had been lured there in ignorance, a good many had
-been dragged there by force, a very considerable number had been
-deliberately sold into slavery, and nine out of ten of them stayed
-there because no one really tried to get them out. Perhaps no one who
-did try was rich enough; for it is not to be expected that every human
-sinner should learn in a day to prefer starving virtue to well-fed
-vice, or, as Van Torp facetiously expressed it, a large capital locked
-up in heavenly stocks to a handsome income accruing from the bonds of
-sin. If Lady Maud succeeded, as she sometimes did, the good done was
-partly due to the means he gave her for doing it.
-
-'Come and be bad and you shall have a good time while you are young,'
-the devil had said, assuming the appearance, dress, and manner of
-fashion, without any particular regard for age.
-
-'Give it up and I'll make you so comfortable that you'll really like
-not being bad,' said Lady Maud, and the invitation was sometimes
-accepted.
-
-Evidently, a woman who occupied herself with this form of charity
-could not help knowing and hearing a good deal about men which would
-have surprised and even shocked her social sisters, and she was not in
-danger of taking Rufus Van Torp for an ascetic in disguise.
-
-On the contrary, she was quite able to understand that the tremendous
-attraction the handsome singer had for him might be of the most
-earthly kind, such as she herself would not care to call love, and
-that, if she was right, it would not be partially dignified by any of
-that true artistic appreciation which brought Logotheti such rare
-delight, and disguised a passion not at all more ethereal than Van
-Torp's might be. In refinement of taste, no comparison was possible
-between the Western-bred millionaire and the cultivated Greek, who
-knew every unfamiliar by-way and little hidden treasure of his
-country's literature and art, besides very much of what other nations
-had done and written. Yet Lady Maud, influenced, no doubt, by the
-honest friendship of her American friend, believed that Van Torp would
-be a better and more faithful husband, even to a primadonna, than his
-Oriental rival.
-
-Notwithstanding her opinion of him, however, she was not prepared for
-his next move. He had noticed the grave look that had followed her
-laughter, and he turned away and was silent for a few moments.
-
-'The Derby's a side show,' he said at last. 'I've come over to get
-married, and I want you to help me. Will you?'
-
-'Can I?' asked Lady Maud, evasively.
-
-'Yes, you can, and I believe there'll be trouble unless you do.'
-
-'Who is she? Do I know her?' She was trying to put off the evil
-moment.
-
-'Oh, yes, you know her quite well. It's Madame Cordova.'
-
-'But she's engaged to Monsieur Logotheti----'
-
-'I don't care. I mean to marry her if she marries any one. He shan't
-have her anyway.'
-
-'But I cannot deliberately help you to break off her engagement! It's
-impossible!'
-
-'See here,' answered Mr. Van Torp. 'You know that Greek, and you know
-me. Which of us will make the best husband for an English girl? That's
-what Madame Cordova is, after all. I put it to you. If you were forced
-to choose one of us yourself, which would you take? That's the way to
-look at it.'
-
-'But Miss Donne is not "forced" to take one of you----'
-
-'She's going to be. It's the same. Besides, I said "if." Won't you
-answer me?'
-
-'She's in love with Monsieur Logotheti,' said Lady Maud, rather
-desperately.
-
-'Is she, now? I wonder. I don't much think so myself. He's clever and
-he's obstinate, and he's just made her think she's in love, that's
-all. Anyhow, that's not an answer to my question. Other things being
-alike, if she had to choose, which of us would be the best husband for
-her?--the better, I mean. You taught me to say "better," didn't you?'
-
-Lady Maud tried to smile.
-
-'Of two, yes,' she answered. 'You are forcing my hand, my dear
-friend,' she went on very gravely. 'You know very well that I trust
-you with all my heart. If it were possible to imagine a case in which
-the safety of the world could depend on my choosing one of you for my
-husband, you know very well that I should take you, though I never was
-the least little bit in love with you, any more than you ever were
-with me.'
-
-'Well, but if you would, she ought,' argued Mr. Van Torp. 'It's for
-her own good, and as you're a friend of hers, you ought to help her to
-do what's good for her. That's only fair. If she doesn't marry me,
-she's certain to marry that Greek, so it's a forced choice, it appears
-to me.'
-
-'But I can't----'
-
-'She's a nice girl, isn't she?'
-
-'Yes, very.'
-
-'And you like her, don't you?'
-
-'Very much. Her father was my father's best friend.'
-
-'I don't believe in atavism,' observed the American, 'but that's
-neither here nor there. You know what you wrote me. Do you believe
-she'll be miserable with Logotheti or not?'
-
-'I think she will,' Lady Maud answered truthfully. 'But I may be
-wrong.'
-
-'No; you're right. I know it. But marriage is a gamble anyway, as you
-know better than any one. Are you equally sure that she would be
-miserable with me? Dead sure, I mean.'
-
-'No, I'm not sure. But that's not a reason----'
-
-'It's a first-rate reason. I care for that lady, and I want her to be
-happy, and as you admit that she will have a better chance of
-happiness with me than with Logotheti, I'm going to marry her myself,
-not only because I want to, but because it will be a long sight better
-for her. See? No fault in that line of reasoning, is there?'
-
-'So far as reasoning goes----' Lady Maud's tone was half an admission.
-
-'That's all I wanted you to say,' interrupted the American. 'So that's
-settled, and you're going to help me.'
-
-'No,' answered Lady Maud quietly; 'I won't help you to break off that
-engagement. But if it should come to nothing, without your
-interfering--that is, by the girl's own free will and choice and
-change of mind, I'd help you to marry her if I could.'
-
-'But you admit that she's going to be miserable,' said Van Torp
-stubbornly.
-
-'I'm sorry for her, but it's none of my business. It's not honourable
-to try and make trouble between engaged people, no matter how
-ill-matched they may be.'
-
-'Funny idea of honour,' observed the American, 'that you're bound to
-let a friend of yours break her neck at the very gravel pit where you
-were nearly smashed yourself! In the hunting field you'd grab her
-bridle if she wouldn't listen to you, but in a matter of marriage--oh,
-no! "It's dishonourable to interfere," "She's made her choice and she
-must abide by it," and all that kind of stuff!'
-
-Lady Maud's clear eyes met his angry blue ones calmly.
-
-'I don't like you when you say such things,' she said, lowering her
-voice a little.
-
-'I didn't mean to be rude,' answered the millionaire, almost humbly.
-'You see I don't always know. I learnt things differently from what
-you did. I suppose you'd think it an insult if I said I'd give a large
-sum of money to your charity the day I married Madame Cordova, if
-you'd help me through.'
-
-  [Illustration: "'Funny idea of honour,' observed the American."]
-
-'Please stop.' Lady Maud's face darkened visibly. 'That's not like
-you.'
-
-'I'll give a million pounds sterling,' said Mr. Van Torp slowly.
-
-Lady Maud leaned back in her corner of the sofa, clasping her hands
-rather tightly together in her lap. Her white throat flushed as when
-the light of dawn kisses Parian marble, and the fresh tint in her
-cheeks deepened softly; her lips were tightly shut, her eyelids
-quivered a little, and she looked straight before her across the room.
-
-'You can do a pretty good deal with a million pounds,' said Mr. Van
-Torp, after the silence had lasted nearly half a minute.
-
-'Don't!' cried Lady Maud, in an odd voice.
-
-'Forty thousand pounds a year,' observed the millionaire thoughtfully.
-'You could do quite a great deal of good with that, couldn't you?'
-
-'Don't! Please don't!'
-
-She pressed her hands to her ears and rose at the same instant.
-Perhaps it was she, after all, and not her friend who had been brought
-suddenly to a great cross-road in life. She stood still one moment by
-the sofa without looking down at her companion; then she left the room
-abruptly, and shut the door behind her.
-
-Van Torp got up from his seat slowly when she was gone, and went to
-the window, softly blowing a queer tune between his closed teeth and
-his open lips, without quite whistling.
-
-'Well----' he said aloud, in a tone of doubt, after a minute or two.
-
-But he said no more, for he was much too reticent and sensible a
-person to talk to himself audibly even when he was alone, and much too
-cautious to be sure that a servant might not be within hearing, though
-the door was shut. He stood before the window nearly a quarter of an
-hour, thinking that Lady Maud might come back, but as no sound of any
-step broke the silence he understood that he was not to see her again
-that day, and he quietly let himself out of the house and went off,
-not altogether discontented with the extraordinary impression he had
-made.
-
-Lady Maud sat alone upstairs, so absorbed in her thoughts that she did
-not hear the click of the lock as he opened and shut the front door.
-
-She was much more amazed at herself than surprised by the offer he had
-made. Temptation, in any reasonable sense of the word, had passed by
-her in life, and she had never before understood what it could mean to
-her. Indeed, she had thought of herself very little of late, and had
-never had the least taste for self-examination or the analysis of her
-conscience. She had done much good, because she wanted to do it, and
-not at all as a duty, or with that idea of surprising the Deity by the
-amount of her good works, which actuates many excellent persons. As
-for doing anything seriously wrong, she had never wanted to, and it
-had not even occurred to her that the opportunity for a wicked deed
-could ever present itself to her together with the slightest desire to
-do it. Her labours had taken her to strange places, and she knew what
-real sin was, and even crime, and the most hideous vice, and its still
-more awful consequences; but one reason why she had wrought fearlessly
-was that she felt herself naturally invulnerable. She knew a good many
-people in her own set whom she thought quite as bad as the worst she
-had ever picked up on the dark side of the Virtue-Curtain; they were
-people who seemed to have no moral sense, men who betrayed their wives
-wantonly, young women who took money for themselves and old ones who
-cheated at bridge, men who would deliberately ruin a rival in
-politics, in finance, or in love, and ambitious women who had driven
-their competitors to despair and destruction by a scientific use of
-calumny. But she had never felt any inclination towards any of those
-things, which all seemed to her disgusting, or cowardly, or otherwise
-abominable. Her husband had gone astray after strange gods--and
-goddesses--but she had never wished to be revenged on them, or him,
-nor to say what was not true about any one, nor even what was true and
-could hurt, nor to win a few sovereigns at cards otherwise than
-fairly, nor to wish anybody dead who had a right to live.
-
-She was eight-and-twenty years of age and a widow, when temptation
-came to her suddenly in a shape of tremendous strength, through her
-trusted friend, who had helped her for years to help others. It was
-real temptation. The man who offered her a million pounds to save
-miserable wretches from a life of unspeakable horror, could offer her
-twice as much, four, five, or ten millions perhaps. No one knew the
-vast extent of his wealth, and in an age of colossal fortunes she had
-often heard his spoken of with the half-dozen greatest.
-
-The worst of it was that she felt able to do what he asked; for she
-was inwardly convinced that the great singer did not know her own mind
-and was not profoundly attached to the man she had accepted. Of the
-two women, Margaret was by far the weaker character; or, to be just,
-the whole strength of her nature had long been concentrated in the
-struggle for artistic supremacy, and could not easily be brought to
-exert itself in other directions. Lady Maud's influence over her was
-great, and Logotheti's had never been very strong. She was taken by
-his vitality, his daring, his constancy, or obstinacy, and a little by
-his good looks, as a mere girl might be, because the theatre had made
-looks seem so important to her. But apart from his handsome face,
-Logotheti was no match for Van Torp. Of that Lady Maud was sure.
-Besides, the Primadonna's antipathy for the American had greatly
-diminished of late, and had perhaps altogether given place to a
-friendly feeling. She had said openly that she had misjudged him,
-because he had pestered her with his attentions in New York, and that
-she even liked him since he had shown more tact. Uncouth as he was in
-some ways, Lady Maud knew that she herself might care for him more
-than as a friend, if her heart were not buried for ever in a soldier's
-grave on the Veldt.
-
-That was the worst of it. She felt that it was probably not beyond her
-power to bring about what Van Torp desired, at least so far as to
-induce Margaret to break off the engagement which now blocked his way.
-Under cover of roughness, too, he had argued with a subtlety that
-frightened her now that she was alone; and with a consummate knowledge
-of her nature he had offered her the only sort of bribe that could
-possibly tempt her, the means to make permanent the good work she had
-already carried so far.
-
-He had placed her in such a dilemma as she had never dreamed of. To
-accept such an offer as he made, would mean that she must do something
-which she felt was dishonourable, if she gave 'honour' the meaning an
-honest gentleman attaches to it, and that was the one she had learned
-from her father, and which a good many women seem unable to
-understand. To refuse, was to deprive hundreds of wretched and
-suffering creatures of the only means of obtaining a hold on a decent
-existence which Lady Maud had ever found to be at all efficacious. She
-knew that she had not done much, compared with what was undone; it
-looked almost nothing. But where law-making had failed altogether,
-where religion was struggling bravely but almost in vain, where
-enlightened philanthropy found itself paralysed and bankrupt, she had
-accomplished something by merely using a little money in the right
-way.
-
-'You can do quite a great deal of good with forty thousand pounds a
-year.'
-
-Van Torp's rough-hewn speech rang through her head, and somehow its
-reckless grammar gave it strength and made it stick in her memory,
-word for word. In the drawer of the writing-table before which she was
-sitting there was a little file of letters that meant more to her than
-anything else in the world, except one dear memory. They were all from
-women, they all told much the same little story, and it was good to
-read. She had made many failures, and some terrible ones, which she
-could never forget; but there were real successes, too, there were
-over a dozen of them now, and she had only been at work for three
-years. If she had more money, she could do more; if she had much, she
-could do much; and she knew of one or two women who could help her.
-What might she not accomplish in a lifetime with the vast sum her
-friend offered her!--the price of hindering a marriage that was almost
-sure to turn out badly, perhaps as badly as her own!--the money value
-of a compromise with her conscience on a point of honour which many
-women would have thought very vague indeed, if not quite absurd in
-such a case. She knew what temptation meant, now, and she was to know
-even better before long. The Primadonna had said that she was going to
-marry Logotheti chiefly because he insisted on it.
-
-The duel for Margaret's hand had begun; Van Torp had aimed a blow that
-might well give him the advantage if it went home; and Logotheti
-himself was quite unaware of the skilful attack that threatened his
-happiness.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III
-
-
-A few days after she had talked with Lady Maud, and before Mr. Van
-Torp's arrival, Margaret had gone abroad, without waiting for the
-promised advice in the matter of the wedding-gown. With admirable
-regard for the proprieties she had quite declined to let Logotheti
-cross the Channel with her, but had promised to see him at Versailles,
-where she was going to stop a few days with her mother's old American
-friend, the excellent Mrs. Rushmore, with whom she meant to go to
-Bayreuth to hear _Parsifal_ for the first time.
-
-Mrs. Rushmore had disapproved profoundly of Margaret's career, from
-the first. After Mrs. Donne's death, she had taken the forlorn girl
-under her protection, and had encouraged her to go on with what she
-vaguely called her 'music lessons.' The good lady was one of those
-dear, old-fashioned, kind, delicate-minded and golden-hearted American
-women we may never see again, now that 'progress' has got civilisation
-by the throat and is squeezing the life out of it. She called Margaret
-her 'chickabiddy' and spread a motherly wing over her, without the
-least idea that she was rearing a valuable lyric nightingale that
-would not long be content to trill and quaver unheard.
-
-Immense and deserved success had half reconciled the old lady to what
-had happened, and after all Margaret had not married an Italian tenor,
-a Russian prince, or a Parisian composer, the three shapes of man
-which seemed the most dreadfully immoral to Mrs. Rushmore. She would
-find it easier to put up with Logotheti than with one of those, though
-it was bad enough to think of her old friend's daughter marrying a
-Greek instead of a nice, clean Anglo-Saxon, like the learned Mr.
-Donne, the girl's father, or the good Mr. Rushmore, her lamented
-husband, who had been an upright pillar of the church in New York, and
-the president of a Trust Company that could be trusted.
-
-After all, though she thought all Greeks must be what she called
-'designing,' the name of Konstantin Logotheti was associated with
-everything that was most honourable in the financial world, and this
-impressed Mrs. Rushmore very much. Her harmless weakness had always
-been for lions, and none but the most genuine ones were allowed to
-roar at her garden-parties or at her dinner table. When the Greek
-financier had first got himself introduced to her more than two years
-earlier, she had made the most careful inquiries about him and had
-diligently searched the newspapers for every mention of him during a
-whole month. The very first paragraph she had found was about a new
-railway which he had taken under his protection, and the writer said
-that his name was a guarantee of good faith. This impressed her
-favourably, though the journalist might have had reasons for making
-precisely the same statement if he had known Logotheti to be a
-fraudulent promoter. One of the maxims she had learned in her youth,
-which had been passed in the Golden Age of old New York, was that
-'business was a test of character.' Mr. Rushmore used to say that, so
-it must be true, she thought; and indeed the excellent man might have
-said with equal wisdom that long-continued rain generally produces
-dampness. He would have turned in his well-kept grave if he could have
-heard a Wall Street cynic say that nowadays an honest man may get a
-bare living, and a drunkard has been known to get rich, but that
-integrity and whisky together will inevitably land anybody in the
-workhouse.
-
-Logotheti was undoubtedly considered honest, however, and Mrs.
-Rushmore made quite sure of it, as well as of the fact that he had an
-immense fortune. So far as the cynic's observation goes, it may not be
-equally applicable everywhere, any more than it is true that all
-Greeks are blacklegs, as the Parisians are fond of saying, or that all
-Parisians are much worse, as their own novelists try to make out. If
-anything is more worthless than most men's opinion of themselves, it
-is their opinion of others, and it is unfortunately certain that the
-people who understand human nature best, and lead it whither they
-will, are not those that labour to save souls or to cure sickness, but
-demagogues, quacks, fashionable dressmakers, and money-lenders. Mrs.
-Rushmore was a judge of lions, but she knew nothing about humanity.
-
-At Versailles, with its memories of her earlier youth, the Primadonna
-wished to be Margaret Donne again, and to forget for the time that she
-was the Cordova, whose name was always first on the opera posters in
-New York, London, and Vienna; who covered her face with grease-paint
-two or three times a week; who loved the indescribable mixed smell of
-boards, glue, scenery, Manila ropes and cotton-velvet-clad chorus,
-behind the scenes; who lived on applause, was made miserable now and
-then by a criticism which any other singer would have thought
-flattery, and who was, in fact, an extraordinary compound of genius
-and simplicity, generosity and tetchiness, tremendous energy in one
-direction and intellectual torpidity and total indifference in all
-others. If she could have gone directly from Covent Garden to another
-engagement, the other self would not have waked up just then; but she
-meant to take a long holiday, and in order not to miss the stage too
-much, it was indispensable to forget it for a while.
-
-She travelled incognito. That is to say, she had sent her first maid
-and theatrical dresser Alphonsine to see her relations in Nancy for a
-month, and only brought the other with her; she had, moreover, caused
-the stateroom on the Channel boat to be taken in the name of Miss
-Donne, and she brought no more luggage to Versailles than could be
-piled on an ordinary cart, whereas when she had last come from New
-York her servants had seen eighty-seven pieces put on board the
-steamer, and a hat-box had been missing after all.
-
-Mrs. Rushmore came out to meet her on the steps in the hot sunshine,
-portly and kind as ever, and she applied an embrace which was
-affectionate, yet imposing.
-
-'My dearest child!' she cried. 'I was sure I had not quite lost you
-yet!'
-
-'I hope you will never think you have,' Margaret answered, almost
-quite in her girlish voice of old.
-
-She was very glad to come back. As soon as they were alone in the cool
-drawing-room, Mrs. Rushmore asked her about her engagement in a tone
-of profound concern, as though it were a grave bodily ailment which
-might turn out to be fatal.
-
-'Don't take it so seriously,' Margaret answered with a little laugh;
-'I'm not married yet!'
-
-The elderly face brightened.
-
-'Do you mean to say that--that there is any hope?' she asked eagerly.
-
-Margaret laughed now, but in a gentle and affectionate sort of way.
-
-'Perhaps, just a little! But don't ask me, please. I've come
-home--this is always home for me, isn't it?--I've come home to forget
-everything for a few weeks.'
-
-'Thank heaven!' ejaculated Mrs. Rushmore in a tone of deep relief.
-'Then if--if he should call this afternoon, or even to-morrow--may I
-tell them to say that you are out?'
-
-She was losing no time; and Margaret laughed again, though she put her
-head a little on one side with an expression of doubt.
-
-'I can't refuse to see him,' she said, 'though really I would much
-rather be alone with you for a day or two.'
-
-'My darling child!' cried Mrs. Rushmore, applying another embrace,
-'you shall! Leave it to me!'
-
-Mrs. Rushmore's delight was touching, for she could almost feel that
-Margaret had come to see her quite for her own sake, whereas she had
-pictured the 'child,' as she still called the great artist, spending
-most of her time in carrying on inaudible conversations with Logotheti
-under the trees in the lawn, or in the most remote corners of the
-drawing-room; for that had been the accepted method of courtship in
-Mrs. Rushmore's young days, and she was quite ignorant of the changes
-that had taken place since then.
-
-Half-an-hour later, Margaret was in her old room upstairs writing a
-letter, and Mrs. Rushmore had given strict orders that until further
-notice Miss Donne was 'not at home' for any one at all, no matter who
-might call.
-
-When the letter already covered ten pages, Margaret laid down her pen
-and without the least pause or hesitation tore the sheets to tiny
-bits, inking her fingers in the process because the last one was not
-yet dry.
-
-'What a wicked woman I am!' she exclaimed aloud, to the very great
-surprise of Potts, her English maid, who was still unpacking in the
-next room, the door being open.
-
-'Beg pardon, ma'am?' the woman asked, putting in her head.
-
-'I said I was a wicked woman,' Margaret answered, rising; 'and what's
-more, I believe I am. But I quite forgot you were there, Potts, or I
-probably should not have said it aloud.'
-
-'Yes, ma'am,' answered Potts meekly, and she went back to her
-unpacking.
-
-Margaret had two maids, who were oddly suited to her two natures. She
-had inherited Alphonsine from her friend the famous retired soprano,
-Madame Bonanni, and the cadaverous, clever, ill-tempered, garrulous
-dresser was as necessary to Cordova's theatrical existence as paint,
-limelight, wigs, and an orchestra. The English Potts, the meek,
-silent, busy, and intensely respectable maid, continually made it
-clear that her mistress was Miss Donne, an English lady, and that
-Madame Cordova, the celebrated singer, was what Mr. Van Torp would
-have called 'only a side-show.'
-
-Potts was quite as much surprised when she heard Miss Donne calling
-herself a wicked woman as Alphonsine would have been if she had heard
-Madame Cordova say that she sang completely out of tune, a statement
-which would not have disturbed the English maid's equanimity in the
-very least. It might have pleased her, for she always secretly hoped
-that Margaret would give up the stage, marry an English gentleman with
-a nice name, and live in Hans Crescent or Cadogan Gardens, or some
-equally smart place, and send Alphonsine about her business for ever.
-
-For the English maid and the French maid hated each other as
-whole-heartedly as if Cressy or Agincourt had been fought yesterday.
-Potts alluded to Alphonsine as 'that Frenchwoman,' and Alphonsine
-spoke of Potts as 'l'Anglaise,' with a tone and look of withering
-scorn, as if all English were nothing better than animals. Also she
-disdained to understand a word of their 'abominable jargon'; and Potts
-quietly called the French language 'frog-talk,' but spoke it quite
-intelligibly, though without the least attempt at an accent.
-Nevertheless, each of the two was devoted to Margaret, and they were
-both such excellent servants that they never quarrelled or even
-exchanged a rude word--to Margaret's knowledge. They treated each
-other with almost exaggerated politeness, calling each other
-respectively 'Meess' and 'Mamzell'; and if Alphonsine's black eyes
-glared at Potts now and then, the English maid put on such an air of
-sweetly serene unconsciousness as a woman of the world might have
-envied.
-
-The letter that had been torn up before it was finished was to have
-gone to Lady Maud, but Margaret herself had been almost sure that she
-would not send it, even while she was writing. She had poured out her
-heart, now that she could do so with the consoling possibility of
-destroying the confession before any one read it. She had made an
-honest effort to get at the truth about herself by writing down all
-she knew to be quite true, as if it were to go to her best friend; but
-as soon as she realised that she had got to the end of her positive
-knowledge and was writing fiction--which is what might be true, but is
-not known to be--she had the weakness to tear up her letter, and to
-call herself names for not knowing her own mind, as if every woman
-did, or every man either.
-
-She had written that she had done very wrong in engaging herself to
-Logotheti; that was the 'wickedness' she accused herself of,
-repeating the self-accusation to her astonished maid, because it was a
-sort of relief to say the words to somebody. She had written that she
-did not really care for him in that way; that when he was near she
-could not resist a sort of natural attraction he had for her, but that
-as soon as he was gone she felt it no longer and she wished he would
-not come back; that his presence disturbed her and made her
-uncomfortable, and, moreover, interfered with her art; but that she
-had not the courage to tell him so, and wished that some one else
-would do it for her; that he was not really the sort of man she could
-ever be happy with; that her ideal of a husband was so and so, and
-this and that--and here fiction had begun, and she had put a stop to
-it by destroying the whole letter instead of crossing out a few
-lines,--which was a pity; for if Lady Maud had received it, she would
-have told Mr. Van Torp that he needed no help from her since Margaret
-herself asked no better than to be freed from the engagement.
-
-Logotheti did not come out to Versailles that afternoon, because he
-was plentifully endowed with tact where women were concerned, and he
-applied all the knowledge and skill he had to the single purpose of
-pleasing Margaret. But before dinner he telephoned and asked to speak
-with her, and this she could not possibly refuse. Besides, the day had
-seemed long, and though she did not wish for his presence she wanted
-something--that indescribable, mysterious something which disturbed
-her and made her feel uncomfortable when she felt it, but which she
-missed when she did not see him for a day or two.
-
-'How are you?' asked his voice, and he ran on without waiting for an
-answer. 'I hope you are not very tired after crossing yesterday. I
-came by Boulogne--decent of me, wasn't it? You must be sick of seeing
-me all the time, so I shall give you a rest for a day or two.
-Telephone whenever you think you can bear the sight of me again, and
-I'll be with you in thirty-five minutes. I shall not stir from home in
-this baking weather. If you think I'm in mischief you're quite
-mistaken, dear lady, for I'm up to my chin in work!'
-
-'I envy you,' Margaret said, when he paused at last. 'I've nothing on
-earth to do, and the piano here is out of tune. But you're quite
-right, I don't want to see you a little bit, and I'm not jealous, nor
-suspicious, nor anything disagreeable. So there!'
-
-'How nice of you!'
-
-'I'm very nice,' Margaret answered with laughing emphasis. 'I know it.
-What sort of work are you doing? It's only idle curiosity, so don't
-tell me if you would rather not! Have you got a new railway in Brazil,
-or an overland route to the other side of beyond?'
-
-'Nothing so easy! I'm brushing up my Tartar.'
-
-'Brushing up what? I didn't hear.'
-
-'Tartar--the Tartar language--T-a-r--'he began to spell the word.
-
-'Yes, I hear now,' interrupted Margaret. 'But what in the world is
-the use of knowing it? You must be awfully hard up for something to
-do!'
-
-'You can be understood from Constantinople to the Pacific Ocean if you
-can speak Tartar,' Logotheti answered in a matter-of-fact tone.
-
-'I daresay! But you're not going to travel from Constantinople to the
-Pacific Ocean----'
-
-'I might. One never can tell what one may like to do.'
-
-'Oh, if it's because Tartar is useful "against the bites of sharks,"'
-answered Margaret, quoting Alice, 'learn it by all means!'
-
-'Besides, there are all sorts of people in Paris. I'm sure there must
-be some Tartars. I might meet one, and it would be amusing to be able
-to talk to him.'
-
-'Nonsense! Why should you ever meet a Tartar? How absurd you are!'
-
-'There's one with me now--close beside me, at my elbow.'
-
-'Don't be silly, or I'll ring off.'
-
-'If you don't believe me, listen!'
-
-He said something in a language Margaret did not understand, and
-another voice answered him at once in the same tongue. Margaret
-started slightly and bent her brows with a puzzled and displeased
-look.
-
-'Is that your teacher?' she asked with more interest in her tone than
-she had yet betrayed.
-
-'Yes.'
-
-'I begin to understand. Do you mind telling me how old she is?'
-
-'It's not "she," it's a young man. I don't know how old he is. I'll
-ask him if you like.'
-
-Again she heard him speak a few incomprehensible words, which were
-answered very briefly in the same tongue.
-
-'He tells me he is twenty,' Logotheti said. 'He's a good-looking young
-fellow. How is Mrs. Rushmore? I forgot to ask.'
-
-'She's quite well, thank you. But I should like to know----'
-
-'Will you be so very kind as to remember me to her, and to say that I
-hope to find her at home the day after to-morrow?'
-
-'Certainly. Come to-morrow if you like. But please tell me how you
-happened to pick up that young Tartar. It sounds so interesting! He
-has such a sweet voice.'
-
-There was no reply to this question, and Margaret could not get
-another word from Logotheti. The communication was apparently cut off.
-She rang up the Central Office and asked for his number again, but the
-young woman soon said that she could get no answer to the call, and
-that something was probably wrong with the instrument of Number
-One-hundred-and-six-thirty-seven.
-
-Margaret was not pleased, and she was silent and absent-minded at
-dinner and in the evening.
-
-'It's the reaction after London,' she said with a smile, when Mrs.
-Rushmore asked if anything was the matter. 'I find I am more tired
-than I knew, now that it's all over.'
-
-Mrs. Rushmore was quite of the same opinion, and it was still early
-when she declared that she herself was sleepy and that Margaret had
-much better go to bed and get a good night's rest.
-
-But when the Primadonna was sitting before the glass and her maid was
-brushing out her soft brown hair, she was not at all drowsy, and
-though her eyes looked steadily at their own reflection in the mirror,
-she was not aware that she saw anything.
-
-'Potts,' she said suddenly, and stopped.
-
-'Yes, ma'am?' answered the maid with meek interrogation, and without
-checking the regular movement of the big brush.
-
-But Margaret said no more for several moments. She enjoyed the
-sensation of having her hair brushed; it made her understand exactly
-how a cat feels when some one strokes its back steadily, and she could
-almost have purred with pleasure as she held her handsome head back
-and moved it a little in real enjoyment under each soft stroke.
-
-'Potts,' she began again at last, 'you are not very imaginative, are
-you?'
-
-'No, ma'am,' the maid answered, because it seemed to be expected of
-her, though she had never thought of the matter.
-
-'Do you think you could possibly be mistaken about a voice, if you
-didn't see the person who was speaking?'
-
-'In what way, ma'am?'
-
-'I mean, do you think you could take a man's voice for a woman's at a
-distance?'
-
-'Oh, I see!' Potts exclaimed. 'As it might be, at the telephone?'
-
-'Well--at the telephone, if you like, or anywhere else. Do you think
-you might?'
-
-'It would depend on the voice, ma'am,' observed Potts, with caution.
-
-'Of course it would,' assented Margaret rather impatiently.
-
-'Well, ma'am, I'll say this, since you ask me. When I was last at home
-I was mistaken in that way about my own brother, for I heard him
-calling to me from downstairs, and I took him for my sister Milly.'
-
-'Oh! That's interesting!' Margaret smiled. 'What sort of voice has
-your brother? How old is he?'
-
-'He's eight-and-twenty, ma'am; and as for his voice, he has a sweet
-counter-tenor, and sings nicely. He's a song-man at the cathedral,
-ma'am.'
-
-'Really! How nice! Have you a voice too? Do you sing at all?'
-
-'Oh, no, ma'am!' answered Potts in a deprecating tone. 'One in the
-family is quite enough!'
-
-Margaret vaguely wondered why, but did not inquire.
-
-'You were quite sure that it was your brother who was speaking, I
-suppose,' she said.
-
-'Oh, yes, ma'am! I looked down over the banisters, and there he was!'
-
-Margaret had the solid health of a great singer, and it would have
-been a serious trouble indeed that could have interfered with her
-unbroken and dreamless sleep during at least eight hours; but when she
-closed her eyes that night she was quite sure that she could not have
-slept at all but for Potts's comforting little story about the brother
-with the 'counter-tenor' voice. Yet even so, at the moment before
-waking in the morning, she dreamt that she was at the telephone again,
-and that words in a strange language came to her along the wire in a
-soft and caressing tone that could only be a woman's, and that for the
-first time in all her life she knew what it was to be jealous. The
-sensation was not an agreeable one.
-
-The dream-voice was silent as soon as she opened her eyes, but she had
-not been awake long without realising that she wished very much to see
-Logotheti at once, and was profoundly thankful that she had torn up
-her letter to Lady Maud. She was not prepared to admit, even now, that
-Konstantin was the ideal she should have chosen for a husband, and
-whom she had been describing from imagination when she had suddenly
-stopped writing. But, on the other hand, the mere thought that he had
-perhaps been amusing himself in the society of another woman all
-yesterday afternoon made her so angry that she took refuge in trying
-to believe that he had spoken the truth and that she had really been
-mistaken about the voice.
-
-It was all very well to talk about learning Tartar! How could she be
-sure that it was not modern Greek, or Turkish? She could not have
-known the difference. Was it so very unlikely that some charming
-compatriot of his should have come from Constantinople to spend a few
-weeks in Paris? She remembered the mysterious house in the Boulevard
-Pereire where he lived, the beautiful upper hall where the statue of
-Aphrodite stood, the doors that would not open like other doors, the
-strangely-disturbing encaustic painting of Cleopatra in the
-drawing-room--many things which she distrusted.
-
-Besides, supposing that the language was really Tartar--were there not
-Russians who spoke it? She thought there must be, because she had a
-vague idea that all Russians were more or less Tartars. There was a
-proverb about it. Moreover, to the English as well as to the French,
-Russians represent romance and wickedness.
-
-She would not go to the telephone herself, but she sent a message to
-Logotheti, and he came out in the cool time of the afternoon. She
-thought he had never looked so handsome and so little exotic since she
-had known him. To please her he had altogether given up the terrific
-ties, the lightning-struck waistcoats, the sunrise socks, and the
-overpowering jewellery he had formerly affected, and had resigned
-himself to the dictation of a London tailor, who told him what he
-might, could, should, and must wear for each circumstance and hour of
-daily life, in fine gradations, from deer-stalking to a royal
-garden-party. The tailor, who dressed kings and made a specialty of
-emperors, was a man of taste, and when he had worked on the Greek
-financier for a few weeks the result was satisfactory; excepting for
-his almond-shaped eyes no one could have told Logotheti from an
-Englishman by his appearance, a fact which even Potts, who
-disapproved of Margaret's choice, was obliged to admit.
-
-Mrs. Rushmore was amazed and pleased.
-
-'My dear,' she said afterwards to Margaret, 'what a perfectly
-wonderful change! Think how he used to look! And now you might almost
-take him for an American gentleman!'
-
-He was received by Mrs. Rushmore and Margaret together, and he took
-noticeable pains to make himself agreeable to the mistress of the
-house. At first Margaret was pleased at this; but when she saw that he
-was doing his best to keep Mrs. Rushmore from leaving the room, as she
-probably would have done, Margaret did not like it. She was dying to
-ask him questions about his lessons in Tartar, and especially about
-his teacher, and she probably meant to cast her inquiries in such a
-form as would make it preferable to examine him alone rather than
-before Mrs. Rushmore; but he talked on and on, only pausing an instant
-for the good lady's expressions of interest or approval. With
-diabolical knowledge of her weakness he led the conversation to the
-subject of political and diplomatic lions, and of lions of other
-varieties, and made plans for bringing some noble specimens to tea
-with her. She was not a snob; she distrusted foreign princes,
-marquises, and counts, and could keep her head well in the presence of
-an English peer; but lions were irresistible, and Logotheti offered
-her a whole menagerie of them, and described their habits with
-minuteness, if not with veracity.
-
-He was telling her what a Prime Minister had told an Ambassador about
-the Pope, when Margaret rose rather abruptly.
-
-'I'm awfully sorry,' she said to Mrs. Rushmore, by way of apology,
-'but I really must have a little air. I've not been out of the house
-all day.'
-
-Mrs. Rushmore understood, and was not hurt, though she was sorry not
-to hear more. The 'dear child' should go out, by all means. Would
-Monsieur Logotheti stay to dinner? No? She was sorry. She had
-forgotten that she had a letter to write in time for the afternoon
-post. So she went off and left the two together.
-
-Margaret led the way out upon the lawn, and they sat down on garden
-chairs under a big elm-tree. She said nothing while she settled
-herself very deliberately, avoiding her companion's eyes till she was
-quite ready, and then she suddenly looked at him with a sort of blank
-stare that would have disconcerted any one less superlatively
-self-possessed than he was. It was most distinctly Madame de Cordova,
-the offended Primadonna, that spoke at last, and not Miss Margaret
-Donne, the 'nice English girl.'
-
-'What in the world has got into you?' she inquired in a chilly tone.
-
-He opened his almond-shaped eyes a little wider, with an excellent
-affectation of astonishment at her words and manner.
-
-'Have I done anything you don't like?' he asked in a tone of anxiety
-and concern. 'Was I rude to Mrs. Rushmore?'
-
-Margaret looked at him a moment longer, and then turned her head away
-in silence, as if scorning to answer such a silly question. The look
-of surprise disappeared from his face, and he became very gloomy and
-thoughtful but said nothing more. Possibly he had brought about
-exactly what he wished, and was satisfied to await the inevitable
-result. It came before long.
-
-'I don't understand you at all,' Margaret said less icily, but with
-the sad little air of a woman who believes herself misunderstood. 'It
-was very odd yesterday, at the telephone, you know--very odd indeed. I
-suppose you didn't realise it. And now, this afternoon, you have
-evidently been doing your best to keep Mrs. Rushmore from leaving us
-together. You would still be telling her stories about people if I
-hadn't obliged you to come out!'
-
-'Yes,' Logotheti asserted with exasperating calm and meekness, 'we
-should still be there.'
-
-'You did not want to be alone with me, I suppose. There's no other
-explanation, and it's not a very flattering one, is it?'
-
-'I never flatter you, dear lady,' said Logotheti gravely.
-
-'But you do! How can you deny it? You often tell me that I make you
-think of the Victory in the Louvre----'
-
-'It's quite true. If the statue had a head it would be a portrait of
-you.'
-
-'Nonsense! And in your moments of enthusiasm you say that I sing
-better than Madame Bonanni in her best days----'
-
-'Yes. You know quite as much as she ever did, you are a much better
-musician, and you began with a better voice. Therefore you sing
-better. I maintain it.'
-
-'You often maintain things you don't believe,' Margaret retorted,
-though her manner momentarily relaxed a little.
-
-'Only in matters of business,' answered the Greek with imperturbable
-calm.
-
-'Pray, is "learning Tartar" a matter of business?' Her eyes sparkled
-angrily as she asked the question.
-
-Logotheti smiled; she had reached the point to which he knew she must
-come before long.
-
-'Oh, yes!' he replied with alacrity. 'Of course it is.'
-
-'That accounts for everything, since you are admitting that I need not
-even try to believe it was a man whom I heard speaking.'
-
-'To tell the truth, I have some suspicions about that myself,'
-answered Logotheti.
-
-'I have a great many.' Margaret laughed rather harshly. 'And you
-behave as if you wanted me to have more. Who is this Eastern woman?
-Come, be frank. She is some one from Constantinople, isn't she? A
-Fanariote like yourself, I daresay--an old friend who is in Paris for
-a few days, and would not pass through without seeing you. Say so, for
-heaven's sake, and don't make such a mystery about it!'
-
-'How very ingenious women are!' observed the Greek. 'If I had thought
-of it I might have told you that story through the telephone
-yesterday. But I didn't.'
-
-Margaret was rapidly becoming exasperated, her eyes flashed, her firm
-young cheeks reddened handsomely, and her generous lips made scornful
-curves.
-
-'Are you trying to quarrel with me?'
-
-The words had a fierce ring; he glanced at her quickly and saw how
-well her look agreed with her tone. She was very angry.
-
-'If I were not afraid of boring you,' he said with quiet gravity, 'I
-would tell you the whole story, but----' he pretended to hesitate.
-
-He heard her harsh little laugh at once.
-
-'Your worst enemy could not accuse you of being a bore!' she retorted.
-'Oh, no! It's something quite different from boredom that I feel, I
-assure you!'
-
-'I wish I thought that you cared for me enough to be jealous,'
-Logotheti said earnestly.
-
-'Jealous!'
-
-No one can describe the tone of indignant contempt in which a
-thoroughly jealous woman disclaims the least thought of jealousy with
-a single word; a man must have heard it to remember what it is like,
-and most men have. Logotheti knew it well, and at the sound he put on
-an expression of meek innocence which would have done credit to a cat
-that had just eaten a canary.
-
-'I'm so sorry,' he cried in a voice like a child's. 'I didn't mean to
-make you angry, I was only wishing aloud. Please forgive me!'
-
-'If your idea of caring for a woman is to make her jealous----'
-
-This was such an obvious misinterpretation of his words that she
-stopped short and bit her lip. He sighed audibly, as if he were very
-sorry that he could do nothing to appease her, but this only made her
-feel more injured. She made an effort to speak coldly.
-
-'You seem to forget that so long as we are supposed to be engaged I
-have some little claim to know how you spend your time!'
-
-'I make no secret of what I do. That is why you were angry just now.
-Nothing could have been easier than for me to say that I was busy with
-one of the matters you suggested.'
-
-'Oh, of course! Nothing could be easier than to tell me an untruth!'
-
-This certainly looked like the feminine retort-triumphant, and
-Margaret delivered it in a cutting tone.
-
-'That is precisely what you seem to imply that I did,' Logotheti
-objected. 'But if what I told you was untrue your argument goes to
-pieces. There was no Tartar lesson, there was no Tartar teacher, and
-it was all a fabrication of my own!'
-
-'Just what I think!' returned Margaret. 'It was not Tartar you spoke,
-and there was no teacher!'
-
-'You have me there,' answered the Greek mildly, 'unless you would like
-me to produce my young friend and talk to him before you in the
-presence of witnesses who know his language.'
-
-'I wish you would! I should like to see "him"! I should like to see
-the colour of "his" eyes and hair!'
-
-'Black as ink,' said Logotheti.
-
-'And you'll tell me that "his" complexion is black too, no doubt!'
-
-'Not at all; a sort of creamy complexion, I think, though I did not
-pay much attention to his skin. He is a smallish chap, good-looking,
-with hands and feet like a woman's. I noticed that. As I told you, a
-doubt occurred to me at once, and I will not positively swear that it
-is not a girl after all. He, or she, is really a Tartar from Central
-Asia, and I know enough of the language to say what was necessary.'
-
-'Necessary!'
-
-'Yes. He--or she--came on a matter of business. What I said about a
-teacher was mere nonsense. Now you know the whole thing.'
-
-'Excepting what the business was,' Margaret said incredulously.
-
-'The business was an uncut stone,' answered Logotheti with
-indifference. 'He had one to sell, and I bought it. He was recommended
-to me by a man in Constantinople. He came to Marseilles on a French
-steamer with two Greek merchants who were coming to Paris, and they
-brought him to my door. That is the whole story. And here is the ruby.
-I bought it for you, because you like those things. Will you take it?'
-
-He held out what looked like a little ball of white tissue-paper, but
-Margaret turned her face from him.
-
-'You treat me like a child!' she said.
-
-To her own great surprise and indignation, her voice was unsteady and
-she felt something burning in her eyes. She was almost frightened at
-the thought that she might be going to cry, out of sheer
-mortification.
-
-Logotheti said nothing for a moment. He began to unroll the paper from
-the precious stone, but changed his mind, wrapped it up again, and put
-it back into his watch-pocket before he spoke.
-
-'I did not mean it as you think,' he said softly.
-
-She turned her eyes without moving her head, till she could just see
-that he was leaning forward, resting his wrists on his knees, bending
-his head, and apparently looking down at his loosely hanging hands.
-His attitude expressed dejection and disappointment. She was glad of
-it. He had no right to think that he could make her as angry as she
-still was, angry even to tears, and then bribe her to smile again when
-he was tired of teasing her. Her eyes turned away again, and she did
-not answer him.
-
-'I make mistakes sometimes,' he said, speaking still lower, 'I know I
-do. When I am with you I cannot be always thinking of what I say. It's
-too much to ask, when a man is as far gone as I am!'
-
-'I should like to believe that,' Margaret said, without looking at
-him.
-
-'Is it so hard to believe?' he asked so gently that she only just
-heard the words.
-
-'You don't make it easy, you know,' said she with a little defiance,
-for she felt that she was going to yield before long.
-
-'I don't quite know how to. You're not in the least capricious--and
-yet----'
-
-'You're mistaken,' Margaret answered, turning to him suddenly. 'I'm
-the most capricious woman in the world! Yesterday I wrote a long
-letter to a friend, and then I suddenly tore it up--there were ever so
-many pages! I daresay that if I had written just the same letter this
-morning, I should have sent it. If that is not caprice, what is it?'
-
-'It may have been wisdom to tear it up,' Logotheti suggested.
-
-'I'm not sure. I never ask myself questions about what I do. I hate
-people who are always measuring their wretched little souls and then
-tinkering their consciences to make them fit! I don't believe I wish
-to do anything really wrong, and so I do exactly what I like, always!'
-
-Possibly she had forgotten that she had called herself a wicked woman
-only yesterday; but that had been before the conversation at the
-telephone.
-
-'If you will only go on doing what you like,' Logotheti answered, 'it
-will give me the greatest pleasure in the world to help you. I only
-ask one kindness.'
-
-'You have no right to ask me anything to-day. You've been quite the
-most disagreeable person this afternoon that I ever met in my life.'
-
-'I know I have,' Logotheti answered with admirable contrition. 'I'll
-wait a day or two before I ask anything; perhaps you will have
-forgiven me by that time.'
-
-'I'm not sure. What was the thing you were going to ask?'
-
-He was silent now that she wished to know his thought.
-
-'Have you forgotten it already?' she inquired with a little laugh that
-was encouraging rather than contemptuous, for her curiosity was
-roused.
-
-They looked at each other at last, and all at once she felt the deeply
-disturbing sense of his near presence which she had missed for three
-days, though she was secretly a little afraid and ashamed of it; and
-to-day it had not come while her anger had lasted. But now it was
-stronger than ever before, perhaps because it came so unexpectedly,
-and it drew her to him, under the deep shadow of the elm-tree that
-made strange reflections in their eyes--moving reflections of fire
-when the lowering sun struck in between the leaves, and sudden, still
-depths when the foliage stirred in the breeze and screened the
-glancing ray.
-
-He had played upon her moods for an hour, as a musician touches a
-delicate and responsive instrument, and she had taken all for earnest
-and had been angry and hurt, and was reconciled again at his will. Yet
-he had not done it all to try his power over her, and surely not in
-any careless contempt of her weaknesses. He cared for her in his way,
-as he was able, and his love was great, if not of the most noble sort.
-He was strong, and she waked his strength with fire; he worshipped
-life, and her vital beauty thrilled the inner stronghold of his being;
-when she moved, his passionate intuition felt and followed the lines
-of her moving grace; if she rested, motionless and near him, his
-waking dream enfolded her in a deep caress. He felt no high and mystic
-emotion when he thought of her; he had never read of St. Clement's
-celestial kingdom, where man and woman are to be one for ever, and
-together neither woman nor man, for such a world could never seem
-heavenly to him, whose love was altogether earthly. Yet it was Greek
-love, not Roman; its deity was beauty, not lust; the tutelary goddess
-of its temple was not Venus the deadly, the heavy-limbed, with a mouth
-like a red wound and slumbrous, sombre eyes, but Cyprian Aphrodite,
-immortal and golden, the very life of the sparkling sky itself sown in
-the foam of the sea.
-
-Between the two lies all the distance that separates gross idolatry
-from the veneration of the symbol; the gulf that divides the animal
-materialism of a twentieth-century rake from the half-divine dreams of
-genius; the revolting coarseness of Catullus at his worst from himself
-at his best, or from an epigram of Meleager or Antipater of Sidon; a
-witty Greek comedy adapted by Plautus to the brutal humour of Rome
-from Swinburne's immortal _Atalanta in Calydon_. Twenty-five centuries
-of history, Hellenic, Byzantine and modern, have gone to make the
-small band of cultivated Greeks of to-day what they are, two thousand
-and five hundred years of astounding vicissitudes, of aristocracy,
-democracy and despotism, of domination and subjection, mastery,
-slavery and revolution, ending in freedom more than half regained. We
-need not wonder why they are not like us, whose forefathers of a few
-centuries ago were still fighting the elements for their existence,
-and living and thinking like barbarians.
-
-The eyes of the Greek and the great artist met, and they looked long
-at one another in the shade of the elm-tree on the lawn, as the sun
-was going down. Only a few minutes had passed since Margaret had been
-very angry, and had almost believed that she was going to quarrel
-finally, and break her engagement, and be free; and now she could not
-even turn her face away, and when her hand felt his upon it, she let
-him draw it slowly to him; and half unconsciously she followed her
-hand, bending towards him sideways from her seat, nearer and nearer,
-and very near.
-
-And as she put up her lips to his, he would that she might drink his
-soul from him at one deep draught--even as one of his people's poets
-wished, in the world's spring-time, long ago.
-
-It had been a strange love-making. They had been engaged during more
-than two months, they were young, vital, passionate; yet they had
-never kissed before that evening hour under the elm-tree at
-Versailles. Perhaps it was for this that Konstantin had played, or at
-least, for the certainty it meant to him, if he had doubted that she
-was sincere.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV
-
-
-Without offending Mr. Van Torp, Lady Maud managed not to see him again
-for some time, and when he understood, as he soon did, that this was
-her wish, he made no attempt to force himself upon her. She was
-probably thinking over what he had said, and in the end she would
-exert her influence as he had begged her to do. He was thoroughly
-persuaded that there was nothing unfair in his proposal and that, when
-she was convinced that he was right, she would help him. In a
-chequered career that had led to vast success, he had known people who
-called themselves honest and respectable but who had done unpardonable
-things for a hundredth part of what he offered. Like all real
-financiers, he knew money as a force, not as a want, very much as any
-strong working man knows approximately how much he can lift or carry,
-and reckons with approximate certainty on his average strength. To
-speak in his own language, Mr. Van Torp knew about how many
-horse-power could be got out of any sum of money, from ten cents to
-more millions than he chose to speak of in his own case.
-
-And once more, before I go on with this tale, let me say that his
-friendship for Lady Maud was so honest that he would never have asked
-her to do anything he thought 'low down.' To paraphrase a wise saying
-of Abraham Lincoln's, some millionaires mean to be bad all the time,
-but are not, and some are bad all the time but do not mean to be, but
-no millionaires mean to be bad all the time and really are. Rufus Van
-Torp certainly did not mean to be, according to his lights, though in
-his life he had done several things which he did not care to remember;
-and the righteous had judged him with the ferocious integrity of men
-who never take a penny unjustly nor give one away under any
-circumstances.
-
-But when he had taken the first step towards accomplishing his
-purpose, he was very much at a loss as to the next, and he saw that he
-had never undertaken anything so difficult since he had reorganised
-the Nickel Trust, trebled the stock, cleared a profit of thirty
-millions and ruined nobody but the small-fry, who of course deserved
-it on the principle that people who cannot keep money ought not to
-have any. Some unkind newspaper man had then nicknamed it the Brass
-Trust, and had called him Brassy Van Torp; but it is of no use to
-throw mud at the Golden Calf, for the dirt soon dries to dust and
-falls off, leaving the animal as beautifully shiny as ever.
-
-Mr. Van Torp did not quite see how he could immediately apply the
-force of money to further his plans with effect. He knew his
-adversary's financial position in Europe much too well to think of
-trying to attack him on that ground; and besides, in his rough code
-it would not be fair play to do that. It was 'all right' to ruin a
-hostile millionaire in order to get his money. That was 'business.'
-But to ruin him for the sake of a woman was 'low down.' It would be
-much more 'all right' to shoot him, after fair and due warning, and to
-carry off the lady. That was impossible in a civilised country, of
-course; but as it occurred to him, while he was thinking, that he
-might find it convenient to go somewhere in a hurry by sea, he bought
-a perfectly new yacht that was for sale because the owner had died of
-heart disease the week after she was quite ready to take him to the
-Mediterranean. The vessel was at least as big as one of the ocean
-liners of fifty years ago, and had done twenty-two and one-tenth knots
-on her trial. Mr. Van Torp took her over as she was, with her
-officers, crew, cook and stores, and rechristened her. She had been
-launched as the _Alwayn_; he called her the _Lancashire Lass_--a bit
-of sentiment on his part, for that was the name of a mare belonging to
-Lady Maud's father, which he had once ridden bareback when he was in
-an amazing hurry.
-
-He had one interview with the Captain.
-
-'See here, Captain,' he said, 'I may not want to take a trip this
-season. I'm that sort of a man. I may or I may not. But if I do want
-you, I'll want you quick. See?'
-
-With the last word, he looked up suddenly, and the Captain 'saw,' for
-he met a pair of eyes that astonished him.
-
-'Yes, I see,' he answered mechanically.
-
-'And if you're in one place with your boat, and I wire that I want you
-in another, I'd like you to get there right away,' said Mr. Van Torp.
-
-'Yes, sir.'
-
-'They say she'll do twenty-two and a tenth,' continued the owner, 'but
-when I wire I want you I'd like her to do as much more as she can
-without bursting a lung. If you don't think you've got the kind of
-engineer who'll keep her red-hot, tell me right off and we'll get
-another. And don't you fuss about burning coal, Captain. And see that
-the crew get all they can eat and not a drop of drink but tea and
-coffee, and if you let 'em go on shore once in a way, see that they
-come home right side up with care, Captain, and make each of 'em say
-"truly rural" and "British Constitution" before he goes to bed, and if
-he can't, you just unship him, or whatever you call it on a boat.
-Understand, Captain?'
-
-The Captain understood and kept his countenance.
-
-'Now, I want to know one thing,' continued the new owner. 'What's the
-nearest sea-port to Bayreuth, Bavaria?'
-
-'Venice,' answered the Captain without the least hesitation, and so
-quickly that Mr. Van Torp was immediately suspicious.
-
-'If that's so, you're pretty smart,' he observed.
-
-'You can telephone to Cook's office, sir, and ask them,' said the
-Captain quietly.
-
-The instrument was on the table at Mr. Van Torp's elbow. He looked
-sharply at the Captain, as he unhooked the receiver and set it to his
-ear. In a few seconds communication was given.
-
-'Cook's office? Yes. Yes. This is Mr. Van Torp, Rufus Van Torp of New
-York. Yes. I want to know what's the nearest sea-port to Bayreuth,
-Bavaria. Yes. Yes. That's just what I want to know. Yes. I'll hold the
-wire while you look it up.'
-
-He was not kept waiting long.
-
-'Venice, you say? You're sure you're right, I suppose? Yes. Yes. I was
-only asking. No thank you. If I want a ticket I'll look in myself.
-Much obliged. Good-bye.'
-
-He hung the receiver in its place again, and turned to his Captain
-with a different expression, in which admiration and satisfaction were
-quite apparent.
-
-'Well,' he said, 'you're right. It's Venice. I must say that, for an
-Englishman, you're quite smart.'
-
-The Captain smiled quietly, but did not think it worth while to
-explain that the last owner with whom he had sailed had been
-Wagner-mad and had gone to Bayreuth regularly. Moreover, he had judged
-his man already.
-
-'Am I to proceed to Venice at once, sir?' he asked.
-
-'As quick as you can, Captain.'
-
-The Englishman looked at his watch deliberately, and made a short
-mental calculation before he said anything. It was eleven in the
-morning.
-
-'I can get to sea by five o'clock this afternoon, sir. Will that do?'
-
-Mr. Van Torp was careful not to betray the least surprise.
-
-'Yes,' he said, as if he were not more than fairly satisfied, 'that'll
-do nicely.'
-
-'Very well, sir, then I'll be off. It's about three thousand miles,
-and she's supposed to do that at eighteen knots with her own coal. Say
-eight days. But as this is her maiden trip we must make allowance for
-having to stop the engines once or twice. Good-morning, sir.'
-
-'Good-day, Captain. Get in some coal and provisions as soon as you
-arrive in Venice. I may want to go to Timbuctoo, or to Andaman Islands
-or something. I'm that sort of a man. I'm not sure where I'll go.
-Good-bye.'
-
-The Captain stopped at the first telegraph office on his way to the
-Waterloo Station and telegraphed both to his chief engineer, Mr.
-M'Cosh, and his chief mate, Mr. Johnson, for he thought it barely
-possible that one or the other might be ashore.
-
-'Must have steam by 4 P.M. to-day to sail at once long voyage. Coming
-next train. Owner in hurry. Send ashore for my wash. Brown, Captain.'
-
-When the clocks struck five on shore that afternoon, and the man at
-the wheel struck two bells from the wheel-house, and the look-out
-forward repeated them on the ship's bell, all according to the most
-approved modern fashion on large steamers, the beautiful _Lancashire
-Lass_ was steaming out upon Southampton Water.
-
-Out of the merest curiosity Mr. Van Torp telegraphed to Cowes to be
-informed of the exact moment at which his yacht was under way, and
-before six o'clock he had a message.
-
-'Yacht sailed at four thirty-nine.'
-
-The new owner was so much pleased that he actually smiled, for Captain
-Brown had been twenty-one minutes better than his word.
-
-'I guess he'll do,' thought Mr. Van Torp. 'I only hope I may need
-him.'
-
-He was not at all sure that he should need the _Lancashire Lass_ and
-Captain Brown; but it has often been noticed that in the lives of born
-financiers even their caprices often turn out to their advantage, and
-that their least logical impulses in business matters are worth more
-than the sober judgment of ordinary men.
-
-As for Captain Brown, he was a quiet little person with a rather pink
-face and sparkling blue eyes, and he knew his business. In fact he had
-passed as Extra Master. He knew that he was in the service of one of
-the richest men in the world, and that he commanded a vessel likely to
-turn out one of the finest yachts afloat, and he did not mean to lose
-such a berth either by piling up his ship, or by being slow to do
-whatever his owner wished done, within the boundaries of the possible;
-but it had not occurred to him that his owner might order him to
-exceed the limits of anything but mere possibility, such, for
-instance, as those of the law, civil, criminal, national, or
-international.
-
-Mr. Van Torp had solid nerves, but when he had sent his yacht to the
-only place where he thought he might possibly make use of it, he
-realised that he was wasting valuable time while Logotheti was making
-all the running, and his uncommon natural energy, finding nothing to
-work upon as yet, made him furiously impatient. It seemed to hum and
-sing in his head, like the steam in an express engine when it is
-waiting to start.
-
-He had come over to England on an impulse, as soon as he had heard of
-Cordova's engagement. Until then he had not believed that she would
-ever accept the Greek, and when he learned from Lady Maud's letter
-that the fact was announced, he 'saw red,' and his resolution to
-prevent the marriage was made then and there. He had no idea how he
-should carry it out, but he knew that he must either succeed or come
-to grief in the attempt, for as long as he had any money left, or any
-strength, he would spend both lavishly for that one purpose.
-
-Yet he did not know how to begin, and his lack of imagination
-exasperated him beyond measure. He was sleepless and lost his
-appetite, which had never happened to him before; he stayed on in
-London instead of going down to his place in Derbyshire, because he
-was always sure that he meant to start for the Continent in a few
-hours, with an infallible plan for success; but he did not go.
-
-The most absurd schemes suggested themselves. He was disgusted with
-what he took for his own stupidity, and he tried to laugh at the
-sentimental vein that ran through all his thoughts as the thread
-through a string of beads. He grew hot and cold as he recalled the
-time when he had asked Margaret to marry him, and he had frightened
-her and she had fled and locked herself into her own room; his heart
-beat faster when he thought of certain kindly words she had said to
-him since then, and on which he built up a great hope now, though they
-had meant nothing more to her than a general forgiveness, where she
-really had very little to forgive. A genuine offer of marriage from a
-millionaire is not usually considered an insult, but since she had
-chosen to look at it in that light, he was humble enough to be
-grateful for her pardon. If he had not been so miserably in love he
-would have been even more amazed and alarmed at his own humility, for
-he had not shown signs of such weakness before. In a life which had
-been full of experience, though it was not yet long, he had convinced
-himself that the 'softening' which comes with years, and of which kind
-people often speak with so much feeling, generally begins in the
-brain; and the thought that he himself was growing less hard than he
-had been, already filled him with apprehension. He asked himself why
-he had withdrawn from the Nickel Trust, unless it was because his
-faculties were failing prematurely. At the mere thought, he craved the
-long-familiar excitement of making money, and risking it, and he
-wished he had a railway or a line of steamers to play with; since he
-could not hit upon the scheme for which he was racking his brains. For
-once in his life, too, he felt lonely, and to make it worse he had not
-received a line from his friend Lady Maud since she had abruptly left
-him in her own drawing-room. He wondered whether she had yet made up
-her mind to help him.
-
-He was living in a hotel in London, though he did not like it.
-Americans, as a rule, would a little rather live in hotels than in
-houses of their own, perhaps because it is less trouble and no dearer,
-at least not in American cities. Housekeeping in New York can be done
-with less risk by a company than by an individual, for companies do
-not succumb to nervous prostration, whatever may happen to their
-employees.
-
-But Mr. Van Torp was an exception to the rule, for he liked privacy,
-and even solitude, and though few men were better able to face a
-newspaper reporter in fair fight, he very much preferred not to be
-perpetually on the look-out lest he should be obliged to escape by
-back stairs and side doors, like a hunted thief. He felt safer from
-such visits in London than in New York or Paris, but only relatively
-so.
-
-He was meditating on the future one morning, over an almost untouched
-breakfast, between nine and ten o'clock, when his man Stemp brought a
-visiting card.
-
-'Reporter?' he inquired, without looking up, as he leaned far back in
-his chair, his gaze riveted on the cold buttered toast.
-
-'No, sir. It's some sort of a foreigner, and he talks a heathen
-language.'
-
-'Oh, he does, does he?' The question was asked in a tone of far-away
-indifference.
-
-'Yes, sir.'
-
-A long silence followed. Mr. Van Torp still stared at the buttered
-toast and appeared to have forgotten all about the card. Stemp
-endeavoured very tactfully to rouse him from his reverie.
-
-'Shall I get you some more hot toast, sir?' he inquired very gently.
-
-'Toast? No. No toast.'
-
-He did not move; his steady gaze did not waver. Stemp waited a long
-time, motionless, with his little salver in his hand. At last Van Torp
-changed his position, threw his head so far back that it rested on the
-top of the chair, thrust his hands deep into the pockets of his
-trousers and stared at the ceiling as intently as he had gazed at the
-plate. Then he spoke to his man again.
-
-'Stemp.'
-
-'Yes, sir.'
-
-'What do you suppose that fellow wants, now, Stemp? Do you suppose he
-thinks I speak his heathen language? What does he come bothering me
-for? What's the good?'
-
-'Well, sir,' answered Stemp, 'I can't quite say, but I believe there's
-something written on the card if you care to look at it, sir, and he
-has a person with him that speaks a little English. Shall I throw him
-out, sir?'
-
-Stemp asked the question with such perfect gravity that, being an
-Englishman, he might very well have been thought to mean the words
-literally. But he did not. He merely adopted Mr. Van Torp's usual way
-of expressing that the master was not at home.
-
-'I'll look at the card, anyway.'
-
-He stretched out one hand without turning his eyes towards it; the
-careful Stemp promptly brought the little salver into contact with the
-large fingers, which picked up the card and raised it deliberately to
-the line of vision. By this means Mr. Van Torp saved himself the
-trouble of turning his head.
-
-It was a rather large card, bearing in the middle two or three
-odd-looking signs which meant nothing to him, but underneath them he
-read in plain characters the single work 'Barak.'
-
-'Barrack!' grumbled the American. 'Rubbish! Why not "teapot," or
-"rocking-horse," or anything else that's appropriate?'
-
-As he paused for an answer, Stemp ventured to speak.
-
-'Can't say, sir. P'rhaps it's the only word he knows, sir, so he's had
-it printed.'
-
-Van Torp turned his head at last, and his eyes glared unpleasantly as
-he examined his valet's face. But the Englishman's features were
-utterly impassive; if they expressed anything it was contempt for the
-heathen person outside, who only knew one word of English.
-
-Mr. Van Torp seemed satisfied and glanced at the card again.
-
-'I guess you didn't mean to be funny,' he said, as if acknowledging
-that he had made a mistake.
-
-'Certainly not, sir,' answered Stemp, drawing himself up with an air
-of injured pride, for he felt that his professional manners were
-suspected, if not actually criticised.
-
-'That's all right,' observed Mr. Van Torp, turning the card over. 'Oh,
-the writing's on the back, I see. Yes. Now, that's very curious, I
-must say,' he said, after reading the words. 'That's very curious,' he
-repeated, laying strong and equal emphasis on the last two words. 'Ask
-him to walk in, Stemp.'
-
-'Yes, sir. With the man who speaks English for him, I suppose, sir?'
-
-'No. He can wait outside till I want him, and you can go away too.
-I'll see the man alone.'
-
-'Very good, sir.'
-
-As the valet went out Mr. Van Torp turned his chair half round without
-getting up, so that he sat facing the door. A moment later Stemp had
-ushered in the visitor, and was gone.
-
-A slim youth came forward without boldness, but without the least
-timidity, as if he were approaching an equal. He had an oval face, no
-moustache, a complexion like cream, short and thick black hair and
-very clear dark eyes that met the American's fearlessly. He was under
-the average height, and he wore rather thin, loose grey clothes that
-had been made by a good tailor. His hands and feet were smaller than a
-European's.
-
-'So you're Mr. Barrack,' Mr. Van Torp said, nodding pleasantly.
-
-The young face smiled, and the parted lips showed quite perfect
-teeth.
-
-'Barak,' answered the young man, giving the name the right sound.
-
-'Yes, I understand, but I can't pronounce it like you. Take a chair,
-Mr. Barrack, and draw up to the table.'
-
-The young man understood the gesture that explained the speech and sat
-down.
-
-'So you're a friend of Mr. Logotheti's, and he advised you to come to
-me? Understand? Logotheti of Paris.'
-
-Barak smiled again, and nodded quickly as he recognised the name. The
-American watched his face attentively.
-
-'All right,' he continued. 'You can trot out your things now, right on
-the table-cloth here.'
-
-He had seen enough of Indians and Mexicans in his youth to learn the
-simple art of using signs, and he easily made his meaning clear to his
-visitor. Barak produced a little leathern bag, not much bigger than an
-ordinary purse, and fastened with thin thongs, which he slowly untied.
-Mr. Van Torp watched the movements of the delicate fingers with great
-interest, for he was an observant man.
-
-'With those hands,' he silently reflected, 'it's either a lady or a
-thief, or both.'
-
-Barak took several little twists of tissue paper from the bag, laid
-them in a row on the table-cloth, and then began to open them one by
-one. Each tiny parcel contained a ruby, and when the young man counted
-them there were five in all, and they were fine stones if they were
-genuine; but Mr. Van Torp was neither credulous nor easily surprised.
-When Barak looked to see what impression he had produced on such a
-desirable buyer, he was disappointed.
-
-'Nice,' said the American carelessly; 'nice rubies, but I've seen
-better. I wonder if they're real, anyway. They've found out how to
-make them by chemistry now, you know.'
-
-But Barak understood nothing, of course, beyond the fact that Mr. Van
-Torp seemed indifferent, which was a common trick of wily customers;
-but there was something about this one's manner that was not assumed.
-Barak took the finest of the stones with the tips of his slender young
-fingers, laid it in the palm of his other hand, and held it under Mr.
-Van Torp's eyes, looking at him with an inquiring expression. But the
-American shook his head.
-
-'No rubies to-day, thank you,' he said.
-
-Barak nodded quietly, and at once began to wrap up the stones, each in
-its own bit of paper, putting the twists back into the bag one by one.
-Then he drew the thongs together and tied them in a neat sort of knot
-which Mr. Van Torp had never seen. The young man then rose to go, but
-the millionaire stopped him.
-
-'Say, don't go just yet. I'll show you a ruby that'll make you sit
-up.'
-
-He rose as he spoke, and Barak understood his smile and question, and
-waited. Mr. Van Torp went into the next room, and came back almost
-immediately, bringing a small black morocco case, which he set on the
-table and unlocked with a little key that hung on his watch-chain. He
-was not fond of wearing jewellery, and the box held all his
-possessions of that sort, and was not full. There were three or four
-sets of plain studs and links; there were half a dozen very big gold
-collar-studs; there was a bit of an old gold chain, apparently cut off
-at each end, and having one cheap little diamond set in each link; and
-there was a thin old wedding-ring that must have been a woman's;
-besides a few other valueless trinkets, all lying loose and in
-confusion. Mr. Van Torp shook the box a little, poked the contents
-about with one large finger, and soon found an uncut red stone about
-the size of a hazel-nut, which he took out and placed on the white
-cloth before his visitor.
-
-'Now that's what I call a ruby,' he said, with a smile of
-satisfaction. 'Got any like that, young man? Because if you have I'll
-talk to you, maybe. Yes,' he continued, watching the Oriental's face,
-'I told you I'd make you sit up. But I didn't mean to scare you
-bald-headed. What's the matter with you, anyway? Your eyes are popping
-out of your head. Do you feel as if you were going to have a fit? I
-say! Stemp!'
-
-Barak was indeed violently affected by the sight of the uncut ruby,
-and his face had changed in a startling way; a great vein like a
-whipcord suddenly showed itself on his smooth forehead straight up and
-down; his lids had opened so wide that they uncovered the white of the
-eye almost all round the iris; he was biting his lower lip so that it
-was swollen and blood-red against the little white teeth; and a moment
-before Mr. Van Torp had called out to his servant, the young man had
-reeled visibly, and would perhaps have collapsed if the American had
-not caught the slender waist and supported the small head against his
-shoulder with his other hand.
-
-Stemp was not within hearing. He had been told to go away, and he had
-gone, and meant to be rung for when he was wanted, for he had suffered
-a distinct slight in being suspected of a joke. Therefore Mr. Van Torp
-called to him in vain, and meanwhile stood where he was with his arm
-round Barak, and Barak's head on his shoulder; but as no one came at
-his call, he lifted the slim figure gently and carried it towards the
-sofa, and while he was crossing the large room with his burden the
-palpable truth was forced upon him that his visitor's slimness was
-more apparent than real, and an affair of shape rather than of pounds.
-Before he had quite reached the lounge, however, Barak stirred,
-wriggled in his arms, and sprang to the floor and stood upright,
-blinking a little, like a person waking from a dream, but quite
-steady, and trying to smile in an apologetic sort of way, though
-evidently still deeply disturbed. Mr. Van Torp smiled, too, as if to
-offer his congratulations on the quick recovery.
-
-'Feel better now?' he inquired in a kindly tone, and nodded. 'I wonder
-what on earth you're up to, young lady?' he soliloquised, watching
-Barak's movements.
-
-He was much too cautious and wise to like being left alone for many
-minutes with a girl, and a good-looking one, who went about London
-dressed in men's clothes and passed herself for a ruby merchant. Mr.
-Van Torp was well aware that he was not a safe judge of precious
-stones, that the rubies he had seen might very well be imitation, and
-that the girl's emotion at the sight of the rough stone might be only
-a piece of clever acting, the whole scene having been planned by a
-gang of thieves for the purpose of robbing him of that very ruby,
-which was worth a large sum, even in his estimation; for it was nearly
-the counterpart of the one he had given Lady Maud, though still uncut.
-
-Therefore he returned to the table and slipped the gem into his pocket
-before going to the door to see whether Stemp was within hail.
-
-But Barak now understood what he was going to do, and ran before him,
-and stood before the door in an attitude which expressed entreaty so
-clearly that Mr. Van Torp was puzzled.
-
-'Well,' he said, standing still and looking into the beautiful
-imploring eyes, 'what on earth do you want now, Miss Barrack? Try and
-explain yourself.'
-
-A very singular conversation by signs now began.
-
-Barak pointed to the waistcoat-pocket into which he had put the stone.
-The matter concerned that, of course, and Van Torp nodded. Next,
-though after considerable difficulty, she made him understand that she
-was asking how he had got it, and when this was clear, he answered by
-pretending to count out coins with his right hand on the palm of his
-left to explain that he had bought it. There was no mistaking this,
-and Barak nodded quickly and went on to her next question. She wanted
-to know what kind of man had sold him the ruby. She improvised a
-pretty little dumb show in which she represented the seller and Mr.
-Van Torp the buyer of the ruby, and then by gestures she asked if the
-man who sold it was tall.
-
-Van Torp raised his hand several inches higher than his own head. He
-had bought the ruby from a very tall man. Putting both hands to her
-chin and then drawing them down as if stroking a long beard, she
-inquired if the man had one, and again the answer was affirmative. She
-nodded excitedly and pointed first to Van Torp's sandy hair and then
-to her own short black locks. The American pointed to his own, and
-then touched his watch-chain and smiled. The man's hair was fair, and
-even golden. By a similar process she ascertained that his eyes were
-blue and not black, and her excitement grew. Last of all she tried to
-ask where the man was, but it was some time before she could make Mr.
-Van Torp understand what she meant. As if to help her out of her
-difficulty, the sun shone through the clouds at that moment and
-streamed into the room; she pointed to it at once, turned her back to
-it, and then held out her right hand to indicate the east, and her
-left to the west.
-
-'Oh, yes,' said Van Torp, who had seen Indians do the same thing, 'it
-was west of here that I bought it of him, a good way west.'
-
-He pointed in that direction, and thrust out his arm as if he would
-make it reach much further if he could. At this Barak looked deeply
-disappointed. Several times, to show that she meant London, or at
-least England, she pointed to the floor at her feet and looked
-inquiringly at Van Torp, but he shook his head and pointed to the
-west again, and made a gesture that meant crossing something. He spoke
-to her as if she could understand.
-
-'I've got your meaning,' he said. 'You're after the big man with the
-yellow beard, who is selling rubies from the same place, and has very
-likely gone off with yours. He looked like a bad egg in spite of his
-handsome face.'
-
-He turned his eyes thoughtfully to the window. Barak plucked gently at
-his sleeve and pretended to write in the palm of her left hand, and
-then went through all the descriptive gestures again, and then once
-more pretended to write, and coaxingly pushed him towards a little
-table on which she saw writing materials.
-
-'You'd like to have his address, would you, Miss Barrack? I wonder why
-you don't call in your interpreter and tell me so. It would be much
-simpler than all this dumb crambo.'
-
-Once more he made a step towards the door, but she caught at his
-sleeve, and entreated him in her own language not to call any one; and
-her voice was so deliciously soft and beseeching that he yielded, and
-sat down at the small table and wrote out an address from memory. He
-handed her the half-sheet of paper when he had dried the writing and
-had looked over it carefully.
-
-'Poor little thing!' he said in a tone of pity. 'If you ever find him
-he'll eat you.'
-
-  [Illustration: "'You want my blessing, do you, Miss Barrack?'"]
-
-Barak again showed signs of great emotion when she put the address
-into an inside pocket of her man's coat, but it was not of the same
-kind as before. She took Van Torp's big hand in both her own, and,
-bending down, she laid it on her head, meaning that he might
-dispose of her life ever afterwards. But he did not understand.
-
-'You want my blessing, do you, Miss Barrack? Some people don't think
-Brassy Van Torp's blessing worth much, young lady, but you're welcome
-to it, such as it is.'
-
-He patted her thick hair and smiled as she looked up, and her eyes
-were dewy with tears.
-
-'That's all right, my dear,' he said. 'Don't cry!'
-
-She smiled too, because his tone was kind, and, standing up, she took
-out her little leathern bag again quickly, emptied the twists of paper
-into her hand, selected one by touch, and slipped the rest back. She
-unwrapped a large stone and held it up to the light, turning it a
-little as she did so. Van Torp watched her with curiosity, and with an
-amused suspicion that she had perhaps played the whole scene in order
-to mollify him and induce him to buy something. So many people had
-played much more elaborate tricks in the hope of getting money from
-him, and the stones might be imitations after all, in spite of
-Logotheti's pencilled line of recommendation.
-
-But Barak's next action took Van Torp by surprise. To his amazement,
-she pressed the ruby lightly to her heart, then to her lips, and last
-of all to her forehead, and before he knew what she was doing she had
-placed it in his right hand and closed his fingers upon it. It was a
-thank-offering.
-
-'Nonsense!' objected the millionaire, smiling, but holding out the
-stone to her. 'It's very sweet of you, but you don't mean it, and I
-don't take presents like that. Why, it's worth a thousand pounds in
-Bond Street any day!'
-
-But she put her hands behind her back and shook her head, to show that
-she would not take it back. Then with her empty hand she again touched
-her heart, her lips, and forehead, and turned towards the door.
-
-'Here, stop!' said Mr. Van Torp, going after her. 'I can't take this
-thing! See here, I say! Put it back into your pocket!'
-
-She turned and met him, and made a gesture of protest and entreaty, as
-if earnestly begging him to keep the gem. He looked at her keenly, and
-he was a judge of humanity, and saw that she was hurt by his refusal.
-As a last resource, he took out his pocket-book and showed her a
-quantity of folded bank-notes.
-
-'Well,' he said, 'since you insist, Miss Barrack, I'll buy the stone
-of you, but I'll be everlastingly jiggered if I'll take it for
-nothing.'
-
-Barak's eyes suddenly flashed in a most surprising way, her lower lip
-pouted, and her cheek faintly changed colour, as a drop of scarlet
-pomegranate juice will tinge a bowl of cream.
-
-She made one step forwards, plucked the stone from his fingers, rather
-than took it, and with a quick, but girlishly awkward movement, threw
-it towards the window as hard as she could, stamping angrily with her
-little foot at the same moment. Mr. Van Torp was extremely
-disconcerted, as he sometimes was by the sudden actions of the sex he
-did not understand. Fortunately the stone hit the wall instead of
-going out of the window.
-
-'I'm really very sorry, Miss Barrack,' he said in a tone of humble
-apology, and he went quickly and picked up the gem. 'I hadn't quite
-understood, you see.'
-
-She watched him, and drew back instinctively towards the door, as if
-expecting that he would again try to give it back to her. But he shook
-his head now, bowed with all the grace he could affect, which was
-little, and by way of making her feel that he accepted the gift, he
-pressed it to his heart, as she had done, and to his lips, but not to
-his forehead, because he was afraid that might cause some new mistake,
-as he did not know what the gesture meant.
-
-Barak's face changed instantly; she smiled, nodded, and waved her hand
-to him, to say that it was all right, and that she was quite
-satisfied. Then she made a sort of salute that he thought very
-graceful indeed, as if she were taking something from near the floor
-and laying it on her forehead, and she laughed softly and was out of
-the room and had shut the door before he could call her back again.
-
-He stood still in the middle of the room, looking at the gem in his
-hand with an expression of grave doubt.
-
-'Well,' he said to himself, and his lips formed the words, though no
-sound articulated them, 'that's a queer sort of a morning's work,
-anyway.'
-
-He reflected that the very last thing he had ever expected was a
-present of a fine ruby from a pretty heathen girl in man's clothes,
-recommended to him by Logotheti. Though he almost laughed at the
-thought when it occurred to him, he did not like the idea of keeping
-the stone; yet he did not know what to do with it, for it was more
-than probable that he was never to see Barak again, and if he ever
-did, it was at least likely that she would refuse to take back her
-gift, and as energetically as on the first occasion.
-
-At that moment it occurred to him that he might sell it to a dealer
-and give the proceeds to Lady Maud for her good work. His
-recollections of Sunday School were very misty, poor man, but a story
-came back to him about some one who had observed that something
-valuable might have been sold and the money given to the poor. If he
-had remembered the rest, and especially that the person who made the
-suggestion had been Judas Iscariot, he would certainly have hesitated,
-for he would have been sure that there was something wrong with any
-advice that came from that quarter. But, happily for the poor, the
-name of Judas had dropped out of his memory in connexion with the
-incident.
-
-'At least it will do some good to somebody, and I shall not be keeping
-what I've no right to.'
-
-A mere acquaintance, judging him by his hard face and his
-extraordinary financial past, would not have believed that such a
-simple and highly moral reflexion could occur to him. But Lady Maud,
-who knew him, would have given him credit for this and much more, even
-though she felt that he had lately tempted her to do something which
-her father would call dishonourable, and that the temptation had not
-yet quite taken itself off to the bottomless pit, where temptations
-are kept in pickle by the devil's housekeeper.
-
-Mr. Van Torp took his hat and gloves, but as he was really a good
-American, he had no stick to take; and he went out without even
-telling Stemp that he was going. In spite of what Londoners were
-calling the heat, he walked, and did not even feel warm; for in the
-first place he had lately come from Washington and New York, where a
-Hottentot would be very uncomfortable in July, and, moreover, he had
-never been at all sensitive to heat or cold, and lived as soberly as
-an Arab in the desert. Therefore London seemed as pleasantly cool to
-him with the thermometer at eighty as it seems to a newly landed
-Anglo-Indian who has lately seen the mercury at a hundred and
-thirty-five on the shady side of the verandah.
-
-He walked up at a leisurely pace from his hotel by the river to
-Piccadilly and Bond Street, and he entered a jeweller's shop of modest
-appearance but ancient reputation, which had been in the same place
-for nearly a century, and had previously been on the other side of the
-street.
-
-Outside, two well-dressed men were looking at the things in the
-window; within, a broad-shouldered, smart-looking man with black hair
-and dressed in perfectly new blue serge was sitting by the counter
-with his back to the door, talking with the old jeweller himself. He
-turned on the chair when he heard the newcomer's step, and Mr. Van
-Torp found himself face to face with Konstantin Logotheti, whom he had
-supposed to be in Paris.
-
-'Well,' he said, without betraying the surprise he felt, 'this is
-what I call a very pleasant accident, Mr. Logotheti.'
-
-The Greek rose and shook hands, and the American did not fail to
-observe on the counter a small piece of tissue paper on which lay an
-uncut stone, much larger than the one he had in his pocket.
-
-'If you are in any hurry,' said Logotheti politely, 'I don't mind
-waiting in the least. Mr. Pinney and I are in the midst of a
-discussion that may never end, and I believe neither of us has
-anything in the world to do.'
-
-Mr. Pinney smiled benignly and put in a word in the mercantile plural,
-which differs from that of royalty in being used every day.
-
-'The truth is, we are not very busy just at this time of the year,' he
-said.
-
-'That's very kind of you, Mr. Logotheti,' said Van Torp, answering the
-latter, 'but I'm not really in a hurry, thank you.'
-
-The stress he laid on the word 'really' might have led one to the
-conclusion that he was pretending to be, but was not. He sat down
-deliberately at a little distance, took off his hat, and looked at the
-gem on the counter.
-
-'I don't know anything about such things, of course,' he said in a
-tone of reflexion, 'but I should think that was quite a nice ruby.'
-
-Again Mr. Pinney smiled benignly, for Mr. Van Torp had dealt with him
-for years.
-
-'It's a very fine stone indeed, sir,' he said, and then turned to
-Logotheti again. 'I think we can undertake to cut it for you in
-London,' he said. 'I will weigh it and give you a careful estimate.'
-
-As a matter of fact, before Van Torp entered, Logotheti had got so far
-as the question of setting the gem for a lady's ring, but Mr. Pinney,
-like all the great jewellers, was as discreet and tactful as a
-professional diplomatist. How could he be sure that one customer might
-like another to know about a ring ordered for a lady? If Logotheti
-preferred secrecy, he would only have to assent and go away, as if
-leaving the ruby to be cut, and he could look in again when it was
-convenient; and this was what he at once decided to do.
-
-'I think you're right, Mr. Pinney,' he said. 'I shall leave it in your
-hands. That's really all,' he added, turning to Mr. Van Torp.
-
-'Really? My business won't take long either, and we'll go together, if
-you like, and have a little chat. I only came to get another of those
-extra large collar-studs you make for me, Mr. Pinney. Have you got
-another?'
-
-'We always keep them in stock for your convenience, sir,' answered the
-famous jeweller, opening a special little drawer behind the counter
-and producing a very small morocco case.
-
-Mr. Van Torp did not even open it, and had already laid down the
-money, for he knew precisely what it cost.
-
-'Thanks,' he said. 'You're always so obliging about little things, Mr.
-Pinney.'
-
-'Thank you, sir. We do our best. Good-morning, sir, good morning.'
-
-The two millionaires went out together. Two well-dressed men stood
-aside to let them pass and then entered the shop.
-
-'Which way?' asked Logotheti.
-
-'Your way,' answered the American. 'I've nothing to do.'
-
-'Nor have I,' laughed the Greek. 'Nothing in the world! What can
-anybody find to do in London at this time of year?'
-
-I'm sure I don't know,' echoed Van Torp, pleasantly. 'I supposed you
-were on the Continent somewhere.'
-
-'And I thought you were in America, and so, of course, we meet at old
-Pinney's in London!'
-
-'Really! Did you think I was in America? Your friend, the heathen girl
-in boy's clothes, brought me your card this morning. I supposed you
-knew I was here.'
-
-'No, but I thought you might be, within six months, and I gave her
-several cards for people I know. So she found you out! She's a born
-ferret--she would find anything. Did you buy anything of her?'
-
-'No. I'm not buying rubies to-day. Much obliged for sending her, all
-the same. You take an interest in her, I suppose, Mr. Logotheti? Is
-that so?'
-
-'I?' Logotheti laughed a little. 'No, indeed! Those days were over
-long ago. I'm engaged to be married.'
-
-'By the bye, yes. I'd heard that, and I meant to congratulate you. I
-do now, anyway. When is it to be? Settled that yet?'
-
-'Some time in October, I think. So you guessed that Barak is a girl.'
-
-'Yes, that's right. I guessed she was. Do you know anything about
-her?'
-
-'What she told me. But it may not be true.'
-
-'Told you? Do you mean to say you understand her language?'
-
-'Oh, yes. Tartar is spoken all over the East, you know. It's only a
-sort of simplified Turkish, and I picked it up in the Crimea and the
-Caucasus when I was travelling there some years ago. She comes from
-some place in Central Asia within a possible distance of Samarkand and
-the Transcaucasian railway, for that was the way she ultimately got to
-the Caspian and to Tiflis, and then to Constantinople and Paris. How a
-mere girl, brought up in a Tartar village, could have made such a
-journey safely, carrying a small fortune with her in precious stones,
-is something nobody can understand who has not lived in the East,
-where anything is possible. A woman is practically sacred in a
-Mohammedan country. Any man who molests her stands a good chance of
-being torn to ribands by the other men.'
-
-'It used to be something like that in the West, when I punched
-cattle,' observed Mr. Van Torp, quietly. 'A man who interfered with a
-lady there was liable to get into trouble. Progress works both ways,
-up and down, doesn't it? Bears at one end and rots at the other. Isn't
-that so?'
-
-'It's just as true of civilisation,' answered the Greek.
-
-'They're the same thing, I should say,' objected Mr. Van Torp.
-
-'Oh, not quite, I think!'
-
-Logotheti smiled at his own thoughts. To his thinking, civilisation
-meant an epigram of Meleager, or Simonides' epitaph on the Spartans
-who fell at Thermopylae, or a Tragedy of Sophocles, or the Aphrodite of
-Syracuse, or the Victory of the Louvre. Progress meant railways, the
-Paris Bourse, the Nickel Trust, and Mr. Van Torp.
-
-'Well,' said the latter, 'you were telling me about Miss Barrack.'
-
-'Is that what you call her?' Logotheti laughed lightly.
-
-He seemed to be in very good humour. Men often are, just before
-marriage; and sometimes, it is said, when they are on the eve of great
-misfortunes which they cannot possibly foresee. Fate loves unexpected
-contrasts. Logotheti told his companion the story of the ruby mine,
-substantially as it was narrated at the beginning of this tale, not
-dreaming that Van Torp had perhaps met and talked with the man who had
-played so large a part in it, and to find whom Baraka had traversed
-many dangers and overcome many difficulties.
-
-'It sounds like the _Arabian Nights_,' said Mr. Van Torp, as if he
-found it hard to believe.
-
-'Exactly,' assented Logotheti. 'And, oddly enough, the first of these
-stories is about Samarkand, which is not so very far from Baraka's
-native village. It seems to have taken the girl about a year to find
-her way to Constantinople, and when she got there she naturally
-supposed that it was the capital of the world, and that her man, being
-very great and very rich, thanks to her, must of course live there. So
-she searched Stamboul and Pera for him, during seven or eight months.
-She lived in the house of a good old Persian merchant, under the
-protection of his wife, and learned that there was a world called
-Europe where her man might be living, and cities called Paris and
-London, where people pay fabulous prices for precious stones. Persian
-merchants are generally well-educated men, you know. At last she made
-up her mind to dress like a man, she picked up an honest Turkish
-man-servant who had been all over Europe with a diplomatist and could
-speak some French and English as well as Tartar, she got a letter of
-recommendation to me from a Greek banker, through the Persian who did
-business with him, joined some Greeks who were coming to Marseilles by
-sea, and here she is. Now you know as much as I do. She is perfectly
-fearless, and as much more sure of herself than any man ever was, as
-some young women can be in this queer world. Of course, she'll never
-find the brute who thought he was leaving her to be murdered by her
-relations, but if she ever did, she would either marry him or cut his
-throat.'
-
-'Nice, amiable kind of girl,' remarked Mr. Van Torp, who remembered
-her behaviour when he had refused her proffered gift. 'That's very
-interesting, Mr. Logotheti. How long do you count on being in London
-this time? Three or four days, maybe?'
-
-'I daresay. No longer, I fancy.'
-
-'Why don't you come and take dinner with me some night?' asked the
-American. 'Day after to-morrow, perhaps. I'd be pleased to have you.'
-
-'Thank you very much,' Logotheti answered. 'Since you ask me, I see no
-reason why I should not dine with you, if you want me.'
-
-They agreed upon the place and hour, and each suddenly remembered an
-engagement.
-
-'By the way,' said Mr. Van Torp without apparent interest, 'I hope
-Madame Cordova is quite well? Where's she hiding from you?'
-
-'Just now the hiding-place is Bayreuth. She's gone there with Mrs.
-Rushmore to hear _Parsifal_. I believe I'm not musical enough for
-that, so I'm roving till it's over. That's my personal history at this
-moment! And Miss Donne is quite well, I believe, thank you.'
-
-'I notice you call her "Miss Donne" when you speak of her,' said Van
-Torp. 'Excuse me if I made a mistake just now. I've always called her
-Madame Cordova.'
-
-'It doesn't matter at all,' answered Logotheti carelessly, 'but I
-believe she prefers to be called by her own name amongst friends.
-Good-bye till day after to-morrow, then.'
-
-'At half after eight.'
-
-'All right--half-past--I shall remember.'
-
-But at two o'clock, on the next day but one, Logotheti received a
-note, brought by hand, in which Mr. Van Torp said that to his very
-great regret he had been called away suddenly, and hoped that
-Logotheti would forgive him, as the matter was of such urgent
-importance that he would have already left London when the note was
-received.
-
-This was more than true, if possible, for the writer had left town two
-days earlier, very soon after he had parted from Logotheti in Pall
-Mall, although the note had not been delivered till forty-eight hours
-later.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V
-
-
-Mr. Van Torp knew no more about Bayreuth than about Samarkand, beyond
-the fact that at certain stated times performances of Wagner's operas
-were given there with as much solemnity as great religious festivals,
-and that musical people spoke of the Bayreuth season in a curiously
-reverent manner. He would have been much surprised if any one had told
-him that he often whistled fragments of _Parsifal_ to himself and
-liked the sound of them; for he had a natural ear and a good memory,
-and had whistled remarkably well when he was a boy.
-
-The truth about this seemingly impossible circumstance was really very
-simple. In what he called his cow-punching days, he had been for six
-months in company with two young men who used to whistle softly
-together by the hour beside the camp fire, and none of the other
-'boys' had ever heard the strange tunes they seemed to like best, but
-Van Torp had caught and remembered many fragments, almost
-unconsciously, and he whistled them to himself because they gave him a
-sensation which no 'real music' ever did. Extraordinary natures, like
-his, are often endowed with unnoticed gifts and tastes quite unlike
-those of most people. No one knew anything about the young men who
-whistled Wagner; the 'Lost Legion' hides many secrets, and the two
-were not popular with the rest, though they knew their business and
-did their work fairly well. One of them was afterwards said to have
-been killed in a shooting affray and the other had disappeared about
-the same time, no one knew how, or cared, though Mr. Van Torp thought
-he had recognised him once many years later. They were neither
-Americans nor Englishmen, though they both spoke English well, and
-never were heard to use any other language. But that is common enough
-with emigrants to the United States and elsewhere. Every one who has
-been to sea in an American vessel knows how the Scandinavian sailors
-insist on speaking English amongst themselves, instead of their own
-language.
-
-Mr. Van Torp was fond of music, quite apart from his admiration for
-the greatest living lyric soprano, and since it was his fancy to go to
-Bayreuth in the hope of seeing her, he meant to hear Wagner's
-masterpiece, and supposed that there would not be any difficulty about
-such a simple matter, nor about obtaining the sort of rooms he was
-accustomed to, in the sort of hotel he expected to find where so many
-rich people went every other year. Any one who has been to the holy
-place of the Wagnerians can imagine his surprise when, after infinite
-difficulty, he found himself, his belongings and his man deposited in
-one small attic room of a Bavarian tanner's house, with one
-feather-bed, one basin and one towel for furniture.
-
-'Stemp,' said Mr. Van Torp, 'this is a heathen town.'
-
-'Yes, sir.'
-
-'I suppose I'm thought close about money,' continued the millionaire,
-thinking aloud, 'but I call five dollars a day dear, for this room,
-don't you?'
-
-'Yes, sir, I do indeed! I call it downright robbery. That's what I
-call it, sir.'
-
-'Well, I suppose they call it business here, and quite a good business
-too. But I'd like to buy the whole thing and show 'em how to run it.
-They'd make more in the end.'
-
-'Yes, sir. I hope you will, sir. Beg pardon, sir, but do you think it
-would cost a great deal?'
-
-'They'd ask a great deal, anyway,' answered the millionaire
-thoughtfully. 'Stemp, suppose you get me out some things and then take
-a look around, while I try to get a wash in that--that tea-service
-there.'
-
-Mr. Van Torp eyed the exiguous basin and jug with some curiosity and
-much contempt. Stemp, impassive and correct under all circumstances,
-unstrapped a valise, laid out on the bed what his master might need,
-and inquired if he wished anything else.
-
-'There isn't anything else,' answered Mr. Van Torp, gloomily.
-
-'When shall I come back, sir?'
-
-'In twenty-five minutes. There isn't half an hour's wash in that
-soup-plate, anyway.'
-
-He eyed the wretched basin with a glance that might almost have
-cracked it. When his man had gone, he proceeded to his toilet, such as
-it was, and solaced himself by softly whistling as much of the 'Good
-Friday' music as he remembered, little dreaming what it was, or that
-his performance was followed with nervous and almost feverish interest
-by the occupant of the next room in the attic, a poor musician who had
-saved and scraped for years to sit at the musical feast during three
-days.
-
-'E sharp!' cried an agonised voice on the other side of the closed
-door, in a strong German accent. 'I know it is E sharp! I know it!'
-
-Mr. Van Torp stopped whistling at once, lowered his razor, and turned
-a mask of soapsuds in the direction whence the sound came.
-
-'Do you mean me?' he inquired in a displeased tone.
-
-'I mean who whistles the "Good Friday" music,' answered the voice. 'I
-tell you, I know it is E sharp in that place. I have the score. I
-shall show you if you believe not.'
-
-'He's mad,' observed Mr. Van Torp, beginning to shave again. 'Are you
-a lunatic?' he asked, pausing after a moment. 'What's the matter with
-you anyhow?'
-
-'I am a musician, I tell you! I am a pianist!'
-
-'It's the same thing,' said Mr. Van Torp, working carefully on his
-upper lip, under his right nostril.
-
-'I shall tell you that you are a barbarian!' retorted the voice.
-
-'Well, that doesn't hurt,' answered Mr. Van Torp.
-
-He heard a sort of snort of scorn on the other side and there was
-silence again. But before long, as he got away from his upper lip with
-the razor, he unconsciously began to whistle again, and he must have
-made the same mistake as before, for he was interrupted by a deep
-groan of pain from the next room.
-
-'Not feeling very well?' he inquired in a tone of dry jocularity.
-'Stomach upset?'
-
-'E sharp!' screamed the wretched pianist.
-
-Van Torp could hear him dancing with rage, or pain.
-
-'See here, whoever you are, don't call names! I don't like it. See?
-I've paid for this room and I'm going on whistling if I like, and just
-as long as I like.'
-
-'You say you make noises you like?' cried the infuriated musician.
-'Oh, no! You shall not! There are rules! We are not in London, sir, we
-are in Bayreuth! If you make noises, you shall be thrown out of the
-house.'
-
-'Shall I? Well, now, that's a funny sort of a rule for a hotel, isn't
-it?'
-
-'I go complain of you,' retorted the other, and Mr. Van Torp heard a
-door opened and shut again.
-
-In a few minutes he had done all that the conditions would permit in
-the way of making himself presentable, and just as he left the room he
-was met by Stemp, the twenty-five minutes being just over.
-
-'Very good, sir. I'll do what I can, sir,' said the excellent man, as
-Mr. Van Torp pointed to the things that lay about.
-
-As he went out, he recognised the voice of his neighbour, who was
-talking excitedly in voluble German, somewhere at the back of the
-house.
-
-'He's complaining now,' thought Mr. Van Torp, with something like a
-smile.
-
-He had already been to the best hotel, in the hope of obtaining rooms,
-and he had no difficulty in finding it again. He asked for Madame da
-Cordova. She was at home, for it was an off-day; he sent in his card,
-and was presently led to her sitting-room. Times had changed. Six
-months earlier he would have been told that there had been a mistake
-and that she had gone out.
-
-She was alone; a letter she had been writing lay unfinished on the
-queer little desk near the shaded window, and her pen had fallen
-across the paper. On the round table in the middle of the small bare
-room there stood a plain white vase full of corn-flowers and poppies,
-and Margaret was standing there, rearranging them, or pretending to do
-so.
-
-She was looking her very best, and as she raised her eyes and greeted
-him with a friendly smile, Mr. Van Torp thought she had never been so
-handsome before. It had not yet occurred to him to compare her with
-Lady Maud, because for some mysterious natural cause the beautiful
-Englishwoman who was his best friend had never exerted even the
-slightest feminine influence on his being; he would have carried her
-in his arms, if need had been, as he had carried the Tartar girl, and
-not a thrill of his nerves nor one faster beat of his heart would have
-disturbed his placidity; she knew it, as women know such things, and
-the knowledge made her quite sure that he was not really the
-coarse-grained and rather animal son of nature that many people said
-he was, the sort of man to whom any one good-looking woman is much the
-same as another, a little more amusing than good food, a little less
-satisfactory than good wine.
-
-But the handsome singer stirred his blood, the touch of her hand
-electrified him, and the mere thought that any other man should ever
-make her his own was unbearable. After he had first met her he had
-pursued her with such pertinacity and such utter ignorance of women's
-ways that he had frightened her, and she had frankly detested him for
-a time; but he had learned a lesson and he profited by it with that
-astounding adaptability which makes American men and women just what
-they are.
-
-Margaret held out her hand and he took it; and though its touch and
-her friendly smile were like a taste of heaven just then, he pressed
-her fingers neither too much nor too little, and his face betrayed no
-emotion.
-
-'It's very kind of you to receive me, Miss Donne,' he said quietly.
-
-'I think it's very kind of you to come and see me,' Margaret answered.
-'Come and sit down and tell me how you got here--and why!'
-
-'Well,' he answered slowly, as they seated themselves side by side on
-the hard green sofa, 'I don't suppose I can explain, so that you'll
-understand, but I'll try. Different kinds of things brought me. I
-heard you were here from Lady Maud, and I thought perhaps I might have
-an opportunity for a little talk. And then--oh, I don't know. I've
-seen everything worth seeing except a battle and _Parsifal_, and as it
-seemed so easy, and you were here, I thought I'd have a look at the
-opera, since I can't see the fight.'
-
-Margaret laughed a little.
-
-'I hope you will like it,' she said. 'Have you a good seat?'
-
-'I haven't got a ticket yet,' answered Mr. Van Torp, in blissful
-ignorance.
-
-'No seat!' The Primadonna's surprise was almost dramatic. 'But how in
-the world do you expect to get one now? Don't you know that the seats
-for _Parsifal_ are all taken months beforehand?'
-
-'Are they really?' He was very calm about it. 'Then I suppose I shall
-have to get a ticket from a speculator. I don't see anything hard
-about that.'
-
-'My dear friend, there are no speculators here, and there are no
-tickets to be had. You might as well ask for the moon!'
-
-'I can stand, then. I'm not afraid of getting tired.'
-
-'There are no standing places at all! No one is allowed to go in who
-has not a seat. A week ago you might possibly have picked up one in
-Munich, given up by some one at the last moment, but such chances are
-jumped at! I wonder that you even got a place to sleep!'
-
-'Well, it's not much of a place,' said Mr. Van Torp, thoughtfully.
-'There's one room the size of a horsebox, one bed, one basin, one
-pitcher and one towel, and I've brought my valet with me. I've
-concluded to let him sleep while I'm at the opera, and he'll sit up
-when I want to go to bed. Box and Cox. I don't know what he'll sit on,
-for there's no chair, but he's got to sit.'
-
-Margaret laughed, for he amused her.
-
-'I suppose you're exaggerating a little bit,' she said. 'It's not
-really quite so bad as that, is it?'
-
-'It's worse. There's a lunatic in the next room who calls me E. Sharp
-through the door, and has lodged a complaint already because I
-whistled while I was shaving. It's not a very good hotel. Who is E.
-Sharp, anyway? Maybe that was the name of the last man who occupied
-that room. I don't know, but I don't like the idea of having a mad
-German pianist for a neighbour. He may get in while I'm asleep and
-think I'm the piano, and hammer the life out of me, the way they do.
-I've seen a perfectly new piano wrecked in a single concert by a
-fellow who didn't look as if he had the strength to kick a mosquito.
-They're so deceptive, pianists! Nervous men are often like that, and
-most pianists are nothing but nerves and hair.'
-
-He amused her, for she had never seen him in his present mood.
-
-'E sharp is a note,' she said. 'On the piano it's the same as F
-natural. You must have been whistling something your neighbour knew,
-and you made a mistake, and nervous musicians really suffer if one
-does that. But it must have been something rather complicated, to have
-an E sharp in it! It wasn't "Suwanee River," nor the "Washington Post"
-either! Indeed I should rather like to know what it was.'
-
-'Old tunes I picked up when I was cow-punching, years ago,' answered
-Mr. Van Torp. 'I don't know where they came from, for I never asked,
-but they're not like other tunes, that's certain, and I like them.
-They remind me of the old days out West, when I had no money and
-nothing to worry about.'
-
-'I'm very fond of whistling, too,' Margaret said. 'I study all my
-parts by whistling them, so as to save my voice.'
-
-'Really! I had no idea that was possible.'
-
-'Quite. Perhaps you whistle very well. Won't you let me hear the tune
-that irritated your neighbour the pianist? Perhaps I know it, too.'
-
-'Well,' said Mr. Van Torp, 'I suppose I could. I should be a little
-shy before you,' he added, quite naturally. 'If you'll excuse me, I'll
-just go and stand before the window so that I can't see you. Perhaps I
-can manage it that way.'
-
-Margaret, who was bored to the verge of collapse on the off-days,
-thought him much nicer than he had formerly been, and she liked his
-perfect simplicity.
-
-'Stand anywhere you like,' she said, 'but let me hear the tune.'
-
-Van Torp rose and went to the window and she looked quietly at his
-square figure and his massive, sandy head and his strong neck.
-Presently he began to whistle, very softly and perfectly in tune. Many
-a street-boy could do as well, no doubt, and Mrs. Rushmore would have
-called it a vulgar accomplishment, but the magnificent Primadonna was
-too true a musician, as well as a singer, not to take pleasure in a
-sweet sound, even if it were produced by a street-boy.
-
-But as Mr. Van Torp went on, she opened her eyes very wide and held
-her breath. There was no mistake about it; he was whistling long
-pieces from _Parsifal_, as far as it was possible to convey an idea of
-such music by such means. Margaret had studied it before coming to
-Bayreuth, in order to understand it better; she had now already heard
-it once, and had felt the greatest musical emotion of her life--one
-that had stirred other emotions, too, strange ones quite new to her.
-
-She held her breath and listened, and her eyes that had been wide open
-in astonishment, slowly closed again in pleasure, and presently, when
-he reached the 'Good Friday' music, her own matchless voice floated
-out with her unconscious breath, in such perfect octaves with his high
-whistling that at first he did not understand; but when he did, the
-rough hard man shivered suddenly and steadied himself against the
-window-sill, and Margaret's voice went on alone, with faintly breathed
-words and then without them, following the instrumentation to the end
-of the scene, beyond what he had ever heard.
-
-Then there was silence in the room, and neither of the two moved for
-some moments, but at last Van Torp turned, and came back.
-
-'Thank you,' he said, in a low voice.
-
-Margaret smiled and passed her hand over her eyes quickly, as if to
-dispel a vision she had seen. Then she spoke.
-
-'Do you really not know what that music is?' she asked. 'Really,
-really?'
-
-'Oh, quite honestly I don't!'
-
-'You're not joking? You're not laughing at me?'
-
-'I?' He could not understand. 'I shouldn't dare!' he said.
-
-'You've been whistling some of _Parsifal_, some of the most beautiful
-music that ever was written--and you whistle marvellously, for it's
-anything but easy! Where in the world did you learn it? Don't tell me
-that those are "old tunes" you picked up on a Californian ranch!'
-
-'It's true, all the same,' Van Torp answered.
-
-He told her of the two foreigners who used to whistle together in the
-evenings, and how one was supposed to have been shot and the other had
-disappeared, no one had known whither, nor had cared.
-
-'All sorts of young fellows used to drift out there,' he said, 'and
-one couldn't tell where they came from, though I can give a guess at
-where some of them must have been, since I've seen the world. There
-were younger sons of English gentlemen, fellows whose fathers were
-genuine lords, maybe, who had not brains enough to get into the army
-or the Church. There were cashiered Prussian officers, and Frenchmen
-who had most likely killed women out of jealousy, and Sicilian
-bandits, and broken Society men from New York. There were all sorts.
-And there was me. And we all spoke different kinds of English and had
-different kinds of tastes, good and bad--mostly bad. There was only
-one thing we could all do alike, and that was to ride.'
-
-'I never thought of you as riding,' Margaret said.
-
-'Well, why should you? But I can, because I was just a common cow-boy
-and had to, for a living.'
-
-'It's intensely interesting--what a strange life you have had! Tell me
-more about yourself, won't you?'
-
-'There's not much to tell, it seems to me,' said Van Torp. 'From being
-a cow-boy I turned into a miner, and struck a little silver, and I
-sold that and got into nickel, and I made the Nickel Trust what it is,
-more by financing it than anything else, and I got almost all of it.
-And now I've sold the whole thing.'
-
-'Sold the Nickel Trust?' Margaret was quite as much surprised as Lady
-Maud had been.
-
-'Yes. I wasn't made to do one thing long, I suppose. If I were, I
-should still be a cow-boy. Just now, I'm here to go to _Parsifal_, and
-since you say those tunes are out of that opera, I daresay I'm going
-to like it very much.'
-
-'It's all very uncanny,' Margaret said thoughtfully. 'I wonder who
-those two men were, and what became of the one who disappeared.'
-
-'I've a strong impression that I saw him in New York the other day,'
-Van Torp answered. 'If I'm right, he's made money--doing quite well, I
-should think. It wouldn't surprise me to hear he'd got together a
-million or so.'
-
-'Really? What is he doing? Your stories grow more and more
-interesting!'
-
-'If he's the fellow we used to call Levi Longlegs on the ranch, he's a
-Russian now. I'm not perfectly sure, for he had no hair on his face
-then, and now he has a beard like a French sapper. But the eyes and
-the nose and the voice and the accent are the same, and the age would
-about correspond. Handsome man, I suppose you'd call him. His name is
-Kralinsky just at present, and he's found a whole mine of rubies
-somewhere.'
-
-'Really? I love rubies. They are my favourite stones.'
-
-'Are they? That's funny. I've got an uncut one in my pocket now, if
-you'd like to see it. I believe it comes from Kralinsky's mine, too,
-though I got it through a friend of yours, two or three days ago.'
-
-'A friend of mine?'
-
-He was poking his large fingers into one of the pockets of his
-waistcoat in search of the stone.
-
-'Mr. Logotheti,' he said, just as he found it. 'He's discovered a
-handsome young woman from Tartary or somewhere, who has a few rubies
-to sell that look very much like Kralinsky's. This is one of them.'
-
-He had unwrapped the stone now and he offered it to her, holding it
-out in the palm of his hand. She took it delicately and laid it in her
-own, which was so white that the gem shed a delicate
-pomegranate-coloured light on the skin all round it. She admired it,
-turned it over with one finger, held it up towards the window, and
-laid it in her palm again.
-
-But Van Torp had set her thinking about Logotheti and the Tartar girl.
-She put out her hand to give back the ruby.
-
-'I should like you to keep it, if you will,' he said. 'I shan't forget
-the pleasure I've had in seeing you like this, but you'll forget all
-about our meeting here--the stone may just make you remember it
-sometimes.'
-
-He spoke so quietly, so gently, that she was taken off her guard, and
-was touched, and very much surprised to feel that she was. She looked
-into his eyes rather cautiously, remembering well how she had
-formerly seen something terrifying in them if she looked an instant
-too long; but now they made her think of the eyes of a large
-affectionate bulldog.
-
-'You're very kind to want to give it to me,' she answered after a
-moment's hesitation, 'but I don't like to accept anything so valuable,
-now that I'm engaged to be married. Konstantin might not like it. But
-you're so kind; give me any little thing of no value that you have in
-your pocket, for I mean to remember this day, indeed I do!'
-
-'I gave nothing for the ruby,' said Van Torp, still not taking it from
-her, 'so it has no value for me. I wouldn't offer you anything that
-cost me money, now, unless it was a theatre for your own. Perhaps the
-thing's glass, after all; I've not shown it to any jeweller. The girl
-made me take it, because I helped her in a sort of way. When I wanted
-to pay for it she tried to throw it out of the window. So I had to
-accept it to calm her down, and she went off and left no address, and
-I thought I'd like you to have it, if you would.'
-
-'Are you quite, quite sure you did not pay for it?' Margaret asked.
-'If we are going to be friends, you must please always be very
-accurate.'
-
-'I've told you exactly what happened,' said Van Torp. 'Won't you take
-it now?'
-
-'Yes, I will, and thank you very much indeed. I love rubies, and this
-is a beauty, and not preposterously big. I think I shall have it set
-as it is, uncut, and only polished, so that it will always be itself,
-just as you gave it to me. I shall think of the "Good Friday" music
-and the Chimes, and this hideous little room, and your clever
-whistling, whenever I look at it.'
-
-'You're kind to-day,' said Mr. Van Torp, after a moment's debate as to
-whether he should say anything at all.
-
-'Am I? You mean that I used to be very disagreeable, don't you?' She
-smiled as she glanced at him. 'I must have been, I'm sure, for you
-used to frighten me ever so much. But I'm not in the least afraid of
-you now!'
-
-'Why should any one be afraid of me?' asked Van Torp, whose mere smile
-had been known to terrify Wall Street when a 'drop' was expected.
-
-Margaret laughed a little, without looking at him.
-
-'Tell me all about the Tartar girl,' she said, instead of answering
-his question.
-
-She would not have been the thoroughly feminine woman she was--far
-more feminine, in the simple human sense, than Lady Maud--if she had
-not felt satisfaction in having tamed the formidable money-wolf so
-that he fawned at her feet; but perhaps she was even more pleased, or
-amused, than she thought she could be by any such success. The man was
-so very much stronger and rougher than any other man with whom she had
-ever been acquainted, and she had once believed him to be such a
-thorough brute, that this final conquest flattered her vanity. The
-more dangerous the character of the wild beast, the greater the merit
-of the lion-tamer who subdues him.
-
-'Tell me about this handsome Tartar girl,' she said again.
-
-Van Torp told her Baraka's history, as far as he knew it from
-Logotheti.
-
-'I never heard such an amusing set of stories as you are telling me
-to-day,' she said.
-
-'That particular one is Logotheti's,' he answered, 'and he can
-probably tell you much more about the girl.'
-
-'Is she really very pretty?' Margaret asked.
-
-'Well,' said Van Torp, quoting a saying of his favourite great man,
-'for people who like that kind of thing, I should think that would be
-the kind of thing they'd like.'
-
-The Primadonna smiled.
-
-'Can you describe her?' she asked.
-
-'Did you ever read a fairy story about a mouse that could turn into a
-tiger when it liked?' inquired the American in a tone of profound
-meditation, as if he were contemplating a vision which Margaret could
-not see.
-
-'No,' said she, 'I never did.'
-
-'I don't think I ever did, either. But there might be a fairy story
-about that, mightn't there?' Margaret nodded, with an expression of
-displeased interest, and he went on: 'Well, it describes Miss Barrack
-to a T. Yes, that's what I call her. She's put "Barak" on her business
-card, whatever that means in a Christian language; but when I found
-out it was a girl, I christened her Miss Barrack. People have to have
-names of some kind if you're going to talk about them. But that's a
-digression. Pardon me. You'd like a description of the young person.
-I'm just thinking.'
-
-'How did you find out she was a girl?' Margaret asked, and her tone
-was suddenly hard.
-
-Mr. Van Torp was not prepared for the question, and felt very
-uncomfortable for a moment. In his conversation with women he was
-almost morbidly prudish about everything which had the remotest
-connexion with sex. He wondered how he could convey to Margaret the
-information that when he had been obliged to carry the pretended boy
-across the room, he had been instantly and palpably convinced that he
-was carrying a girl.
-
-'It was a question of form, you see,' he said awkwardly.
-
-'Form? Formality? I don't understand.' Margaret was really puzzled.
-
-'No, no!' Mr. Van Torp was actually blushing. 'I mean his form--or her
-form----'
-
-'Oh, her figure? You merely guessed it was a girl in boy's clothes?'
-
-'Certainly. Yes. Only, you see, he had a kind of fit--the boy did--and
-I thought he was going to faint, so I picked him up and carried him to
-a sofa, and--well, you understand, Miss Donne. I knew I hadn't got a
-boy in my arms, that's all.'
-
-'I should think so!' assented the Englishwoman--'I'm sure I should!
-When you found out she was a girl, how did she strike you?'
-
-'Very attractive, I should say; very attractive,' he repeated with
-more emphasis. 'People who admire brunettes might think her quite
-fascinating. She has really extraordinary eyes, to begin with, those
-long fruity Eastern eyes, you know, that can look so far to the right
-and left through their eyelashes. Do you know what I mean?'
-
-'Perfectly. You make it very clear. Go on, please.'
-
-'Her eyes--yes.' Mr. Van Torp appeared to be thinking again. 'Well,
-there was her complexion, too. It's first-rate for a dark girl. Ever
-been in a first-class dairy? Do you know the colour of Alderney cream
-when it's ready to be skimmed? Her complexion's just like that, and
-when she's angry, it's as if you squeezed the juice of about one red
-currant into the whole pan of cream. Not more than one, I should
-think. See what I mean?'
-
-'Yes. She must be awfully pretty. Tell me more. Has she nice hair?
-Even teeth?'
-
-'I should think she had!' answered Mr. Van Torp, with even more
-enthusiasm than he had shown yet. 'They're as small and even and white
-as if somebody had gone to work and carved them all around half a new
-billiard ball, not separate, you understand, but all in one piece.
-Very pretty mouth they make, with those rather broiled-salmon-coloured
-lips she has, and a little chin that points up, as if she could hold
-her own. She can, too. Her hair? Well, you see, she's cut it short, to
-be a boy, but it's as thick as a beaver's fur, I should say, and
-pretty black. It's a silky kind of hair, that looks alive. You know
-what I mean, I daresay. Some brunettes' hair looks coarse and dusky,
-like horsehair, but hers isn't that kind, and it makes a sort of
-reflection in the sun, the way a young raven's wing-feathers do, if
-you understand.'
-
-'You're describing a raving beauty, it seems to me.'
-
-'Oh, no,' said the American innocently. 'Now if our friend Griggs, the
-novelist, were here, he'd find all the right words and things, but I
-can only tell you just what I saw.'
-
-'You tell it uncommonly well!' Margaret's face expressed anything but
-pleasure. 'Is she tall?'
-
-'It's hard to tell, in men's clothes. Three inches shorter than I am,
-maybe. I'm a middle-sized man, I suppose. I used to be five feet ten
-in my shoes. She may be five feet seven, not more.'
-
-'But that's tall for a woman!'
-
-'Is it?' Mr. Van Torp's tone expressed an innocent indifference.
-
-'Yes. Has she nice hands?'
-
-'I didn't notice her hands. Oh, yes, I remember!' he exclaimed,
-suddenly correcting himself. 'I did notice them. She held up that ruby
-to the light and I happened to look at her fingers. Small, well-shaped
-fingers, tapering nicely, but with a sort of firm look about them that
-you don't often see in a woman's hands. You've got it, too.'
-
-'Have I?' Margaret looked down at her right hand. 'But, of course,
-hers are smaller than mine,' she said.
-
-'Well, you see, Orientals almost all have very small hands and
-feet--too small, I call them--little tiny feet like mice.'
-
-Margaret's own were well-shaped, but by no means small.
-
-'The girl is in London, you say?' Her tone made a question of the
-statement.
-
-'She was there two days ago, when I left. At least, she had been to
-see me that very morning. Almost as soon as she was gone I went out,
-and in the first shop I looked into I met Logotheti. It was Pinney's,
-the jeweller's, I remember, for I bought a collar stud. We came away
-together and walked some time, and he told me the Tartar girl's story.
-I asked him to dine to-day, but I was obliged to leave town suddenly,
-and so I had to put him off with a note. I daresay he's still in
-London.'
-
-'I daresay he is,' Margaret repeated, and rising suddenly she went to
-the window.
-
-Mr. Van Torp rose too, and thought of what he should say in taking his
-leave of her, for he felt that he had stayed long enough. Strange to
-say, too, he was examining his not very sensitive conscience to
-ascertain whether he had said anything not strictly true, but he
-easily satisfied himself that he had not. If all was fair in love and
-war, as the proverb said, it was certainly permissible to make use of
-the plain truth.
-
-The Primadonna was still looking out of the window when the door
-opened and her English maid appeared on the threshold. Margaret turned
-at the sound.
-
-'What is it?' she asked quietly.
-
-'There's Mr. Van Torp's man, ma'am,' answered Potts. 'He wants to
-speak to his master at once.'
-
-'You had better tell him to come up,' Margaret answered. 'You may just
-as well see him here without going all the way downstairs,' she said,
-speaking to Van Torp.
-
-'You're very kind, I'm sure,' he replied; 'but I think I'd better be
-going anyway.'
-
-'No, don't go yet, please! There's something else I want to say. See
-your man here while I go and speak to Mrs. Rushmore. Send Mr. Van
-Torp's man up, Potts,' she added, and left the room.
-
-The American walked up and down alone for a few moments. Then the
-impassive Stemp was ushered in by the maid, and the door was shut
-again.
-
-'Well?' inquired Mr. Van Torp. 'Has anything happened?'
-
-'Yes, sir,' Stemp answered. 'They have turned us out of the house,
-sir, and your luggage is in the street. Where shall I have it taken,
-sir?'
-
-'Oh, they've turned us out, have they? Why?'
-
-'Well, sir, I'm afraid it's partly my fault, but there must be some
-misunderstanding, for I'm quite sure I didn't whistle in your room,
-sir.'
-
-'So am I, Stemp. Quite sure. Go on. What happened?'
-
-'Well, sir, you hadn't been gone more than ten minutes when somebody
-knocked, and there was the landlord, if that's what he calls himself,
-and a strange German gentleman with him, who spoke English. Rather
-shabby-looking, sir, I thought him. He spoke most uncivilly, and said
-I was driving him half crazy with my whistling. I said I hadn't
-whistled, and he said I had, and the landlord talked German at me, as
-it were, sir. I said again I hadn't whistled, and he said I had, the
-shabby gentleman, I mean, speaking most uncivilly, sir, I assure you.
-So when I saw that they doubted my word, I put them out and fastened
-the door, thinking this was what you would have ordered, sir, if you'd
-been there yourself, but I'm afraid I did wrong.'
-
-'No, Stemp. You didn't do wrong.'
-
-'Thank you, sir.'
-
-'I suppose, though, that when you put them out they didn't exactly
-want to go, did they?'
-
-'No, sir, but I had no trouble with them.'
-
-'Any heads broken?'
-
-'No, sir, I was careful of that. I sent the landlord downstairs first,
-as he was a fat man and not likely to hurt himself, and the shabby
-gentleman went down on top of him quite comfortably, so he did not
-hurt himself either. I was very careful, sir, being in a foreign
-country.'
-
-'What happened next? They didn't come upstairs again and throw you
-out, I suppose.'
-
-'No, sir. They went and got two of these German policemen with swords,
-and broke into the room, and told me we must move at once. I didn't
-like to resist the police, sir. It's sometimes serious. The German
-gentleman wanted them to arrest me, so I offered to pay any fine there
-was for having been hasty, and we settled for two sovereigns, which I
-thought dear, sir, and I'd have gone to the police station rather than
-pay it, only I knew you'd need my services in this heathen town, sir.
-I'm highly relieved to know that you approve of that, sir. But they
-said we must turn out directly, just the same, so I re-packed your
-things and got a porter, and he's standing over the luggage in the
-street, waiting for orders.'
-
-'Stemp,' said Mr. Van Torp, 'I'd been whistling myself, before you
-came in, and the lunatic in the next room had already been fussing
-about it. It's my fault.'
-
-'Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.'
-
-'And it will be my fault if we have to sleep in a cab to-night.'
-
-The door opened while he was speaking, and Margaret heard the last
-words as she entered the room.
-
-'I'm sorry,' she said, 'I thought you had finished. I could not help
-hearing what you said about sleeping in a cab. That's nonsense, you
-know.'
-
-'Well,' said Mr. Van Torp, 'they've just turned us out of the one room
-we had because I whistled _Parsifal_ out of tune.'
-
-'You didn't whistle it out of tune,' Margaret answered, to Stemp's
-great but well-concealed astonishment. 'I know better. Please have
-your things brought here at once.'
-
-'Here?' repeated Mr. Van Torp, surprised in his turn.
-
-'Yes,' she answered, in a tone that forestalled contradiction. 'If
-nothing else can be had you shall have this room. I can do without
-it.'
-
-'You're kindness itself, but I couldn't do that,' said Mr. Van Torp.
-'Bring our things to this hotel, anyway, Stemp, and we'll see what
-happens.'
-
-'Yes, sir.'
-
-Stemp disappeared at once, and his master turned to Margaret again.
-
-'Nothing will induce me to put you to such inconvenience,' he said,
-and his tone was quite as decided as hers had been.
-
-She smiled.
-
-'Nothing will induce me to let a friend of mine be driven from pillar
-to post for a lodging while I have plenty of room to spare!'
-
-'You're very, very kind, but----'
-
-'But the mouse may turn into a tiger if you contradict it,' she said
-with a light laugh that thrilled him with delight. 'I remember your
-description of the Tartar girl!'
-
-'Well, then, I suppose the hyaena will have to turn into a small woolly
-lamb if you tell him to,' answered Mr. Van Torp.
-
-'Yes,' laughed Margaret. 'Be a small, woolly lamb at once, please, a
-very small one!'
-
-'Knee-high to a kitten; certainly,' replied the millionaire
-submissively.
-
-'Very well. I'll take you with me to hear _Parsifal_ to-morrow, if you
-obey. I've just asked Mrs. Rushmore if it makes any difference to
-her, and she has confessed that she would rather not go again, for it
-tires her dreadfully and gives her a headache. You shall have her
-seat. What is it? Don't you want to go with me?'
-
-  [Illustration: "Margaret gazed at him in surprise while she might have
-   counted ten."]
-
-Mr. Van Torp's face had hardened till it looked like a mask, he stared
-firmly at the wall, and his lips were set tightly together. Margaret
-gazed at him in surprise while she might have counted ten. Then he
-spoke slowly, with evident effort, and in an odd voice.
-
-'Excuse me, Miss Donne,' he said, snapping his words out. 'I'm so
-grateful that I can't speak, that's all. It'll be all right in a
-second.'
-
-A huge emotion had got hold of him. She saw the red flush rise
-suddenly above his collar, and then sink back before it reached his
-cheeks, and all at once he was very pale. But not a muscle of his face
-moved, not a line was drawn; only his sandy eyelashes quivered a
-little. His hands were thrust deep into the pockets of his jacket, but
-the fingers were motionless.
-
-Margaret remembered how he had told her more than once that she was
-the only woman the world held for him, and she had thought it was
-nonsense, rather vulgarly and clumsily expressed by a man who was not
-much better than an animal where women were concerned.
-
-It flashed upon her at last that what he had said was literally true,
-that she had misjudged an extraordinary man altogether, as many people
-did, and that she was indeed the only woman in the whole world who
-could master and dominate one whom many feared and hated, and whom
-she had herself once detested beyond words.
-
-He was unchanging, too, whatever else he might be, and, as she
-admitted the fact, she saw clearly how fickle she had been in her own
-likes and dislikes, except where her art was concerned. But even as to
-that, she had passed through phases in which she had been foolish
-enough to think of giving up the stage in the first flush of her vast
-success.
-
-While these thoughts were disturbing her a little, Mr. Van Torp
-recovered himself; his features relaxed, his hands came out of his
-pockets, and he slowly turned towards her.
-
-'I hope you don't think me rude,' he said awkwardly. 'I feel things a
-good deal sometimes, though people mightn't believe it.'
-
-They were still standing near together, and not far from the door
-through which Margaret had entered.
-
-'It's never rude to be grateful, even for small things,' she answered
-gently.
-
-She left his side, and went again to the window, where she stood and
-turned from him, looking out. He waited where he was, glad of the
-moments of silence. As for her, she was struggling against a generous
-impulse, because she was afraid that he might misunderstand her if she
-gave way to it. But, to do her justice, she had never had much
-strength to resist her own instinctive generosity when it moved her.
-
-'Lady Maud told me long ago that I was mistaken about you,' she said
-at last, without looking at him. 'She was right and I was quite
-wrong. I'm sorry. Don't bear me any grudge. You won't, will you?'
-
-She turned now, rather suddenly, and found him looking at her with a
-sort of hunger in his eyes that disappeared almost as soon as hers met
-them.
-
-'No,' he answered, 'I don't bear you any grudge, I never did, and I
-don't see how I ever could. I could tell you why, but I won't, because
-you probably know, and it's no use to repeat what once displeased
-you.'
-
-'Thank you,' said Margaret, she scarcely knew why.
-
-Her handsome head was a little bent, and her eyes were turned to the
-floor as she passed him going to the door.
-
-'I'm going to see the manager of the hotel,' she said. I'll be back
-directly.'
-
-'No, no! Please let me----'
-
-But she was gone, the door was shut again, and Mr. Van Torp was left
-to his own very happy reflections for a while.
-
-Not for long, however. He was still standing before the table staring
-at the corn-flowers and poppies without consciously seeing them when
-he was aware of the imposing presence of Mrs. Rushmore, who had
-entered softly during his reverie and was almost at his elbow.
-
-'This is Mr. Van Torp, I presume,' she said gravely, inclining her
-head. 'I am Mrs. Rushmore. You have perhaps heard Miss Donne speak of
-me.'
-
-'I'm very pleased to meet you, Mrs. Rushmore,' said the American,
-bowing low. 'I've often heard Miss Donne speak of you with the
-greatest gratitude and affection.'
-
-'Certainly,' Mrs. Rushmore answered with gravity, and as she
-established herself on the sofa she indicated a chair not far from
-her.
-
-It was only proper that Margaret should always speak of her with
-affection and gratitude. Mr. Van Torp sat down on the chair to which
-she had directed rather than invited him; and he prepared to be bored
-to the full extent of the bearable. He had known the late Mr. Rushmore
-in business; Mr. Rushmore had been a 'pillar' of various things,
-including honesty, society, and the church he went to, and he had
-always bored Mr. Van Torp extremely. The least that could be expected
-was that the widow of such an estimable man should carry on the
-traditions of her deeply lamented husband. In order to help her
-politely to what seemed the inevitable, Mr. Van Torp mentioned him.
-
-'I had the pleasure of knowing Mr. Rushmore,' he said in the proper
-tone of mournfully retrospective admiration. 'He was sincerely
-lamented by all our business men.'
-
-'He was,' assented the widow, as she would have said Amen in church,
-in the right place, and with much the same solemn intonation.
-
-There was a moment's pause, during which the millionaire was trying to
-think of something else she might like to hear, for she was Margaret's
-friend, and he wished to make a good impression. He was therefore not
-prepared to hear her speak again before he did, much less for the
-subject of conversation she introduced at once.
-
-'You know our friend Monsieur Logotheti, I believe?' she inquired
-suddenly.
-
-'Why, certainly,' answered Van Torp, brightening at once at the
-mention of his rival, and at once also putting on his moral armour of
-caution. 'I know him quite well.'
-
-'Indeed? Have you known many Greeks, may I ask?'
-
-'I've met one or two in business, Mrs. Rushmore, but I can't say I've
-known any as well as Mr. Logotheti.'
-
-'You may think it strange that I should ask you about him at our first
-meeting,' said the good lady, 'but I'm an American, and I cannot help
-feeling that a fellow-countryman's opinion of a foreigner is very
-valuable. You are, I understand, an old friend of Miss Donne's, though
-I have not had the pleasure of meeting you before, and you have
-probably heard that she has made up her mind to marry Monsieur
-Logotheti. I am bound to confess, as her dear mother's oldest friend,
-that I am very apprehensive of the consequences. I have the gravest
-apprehensions, Mr. Van Torp.'
-
-'Have you really?' asked the millionaire with caution, but
-sympathetically. 'I wonder why!'
-
-'A Greek!' said Mrs. Rushmore sadly. 'Think of a Greek!'
-
-Mr. Van Torp, who was not without a sense of humour, was inclined to
-answer that, in fact, he was thinking of a Greek at that very moment.
-But he abstained.
-
-'There are Greeks and Greeks, Mrs. Rushmore,' he answered wisely.
-
-'That is true,' answered the lady, 'but I should like your opinion, as
-one of our most prominent men of business--as one who, if I may say
-so, has of late triumphantly established his claim to respect.' Mr.
-Van Torp bowed and waved his hand in acknowledgment of this high
-praise. 'I should like your opinion about this--er--this Greek
-gentleman whom my young friend insists upon marrying.'
-
-'Really, Mrs. Rushmore----'
-
-'Because if I thought there was unhappiness in store for her I would
-save her, if I had to marry the man myself!'
-
-Mr. Van Torp wondered how she would accomplish such a feat.
-
-'Indeed?' he said very gravely.
-
-'I mean it,' answered Mrs. Rushmore.
-
-There was a moment's silence, during which Mr. Van Torp revolved
-something in his always active brain, while Mrs. Rushmore looked at
-him as if she expected that he would doubt her determination to drag
-Logotheti to the matrimonial altar and marry him by sheer strength,
-rather than let Margaret be his unhappy bride. But Mr. Van Torp said
-something quite different.
-
-'May I speak quite frankly, though we hardly know each other?' he
-asked.
-
-'We are both Americans,' answered the good lady, with a grand national
-air. 'I should not expect anything but perfect frankness of you.'
-
-'The truth is, Mrs. Rushmore, that ever since I had the pleasure of
-knowing Miss Donne, I have wanted to marry her myself.'
-
-'You!' cried the lady, surprised beyond measure, but greatly pleased.
-
-'Yes,' said Mr. Van Torp quietly, 'and therefore, in my position, I
-can't give you an unbiassed opinion about Mr. Logotheti. I really
-can't.'
-
-'Well,' said Mrs. Rushmore, 'I am surprised!'
-
-While she was still surprised Mr. Van Torp tried to make some running,
-and asked an important question.
-
-'May I ask whether, as Miss Donne's oldest friend, you would look
-favourably on my proposal, supposing she were free?'
-
-Before Mrs. Rushmore could answer, the door opened suddenly, and she
-could only answer by an energetic nod and a look which meant that she
-wished Mr. Van Torp success with all her excellent heart.
-
-'It's quite settled!' Margaret cried as she entered. 'I've brought the
-director to his senses, and you are to have the rooms they were
-keeping for a Russian prince who has not turned up!'
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI
-
-
-In the sanctuary of Wagnerians the famous lyric Diva was a somewhat
-less important personage than in any of those other places which are
-called 'musical centres.' Before the glories of the great Brunhilde,
-or the supreme Kundry of the day, the fame of the 'nightingale
-soprano' paled a little, at least in the eyes of more than half the
-people who filled the Bayreuth theatre. But she did not pass unnoticed
-by any means. There were distinguished conductors of Wagner's music
-who led the orchestra for other operas too; there were Kundrys and
-Brunhildes who condescended to be Toscas sometimes, as a pure matter
-of business and livelihood, and there were numberless people in the
-audience who preferred _Cavalleria Rusticana_ to the _Meistersinger_
-or the _Goetterdaemmerung_, but would not dare to say so till they were
-at a safe distance; and all these admired the celebrated Cordova,
-except the few that were envious of her, and who were not many.
-Indeed, for once it was the other way. When Margaret had come back to
-her own room after hearing _Parsifal_ the first time, she had sat down
-and hidden her face in her hands for a few moments, asking herself
-what all her parts were worth in the end compared with Kundry, and
-what comparison was possible between the most beautiful of Italian or
-French operas and that one immortal masterpiece; for she thought, and
-rightly perhaps, that all the rest of Wagner's work had been but a
-preparation for that, and that _Parsifal_, and _Parsifal_ alone, had
-set the genius of music beside the genius of poetry, an equal, at
-last, upon a throne as high. On that night the sound of her own voice
-would have given her no pleasure, for she longed for another tone in
-it; if by some impossible circumstance she had been engaged to sing as
-Juliet that night, she would have broken down and burst into tears.
-She knew it, and the knowledge made her angry with herself, yet for
-nothing she could think of would she have foregone the second hearing
-of _Parsifal_, and the third after that; for she was a musician first,
-and then a great singer, and, like all true musicians, she was swayed
-by music that touched her, and never merely pleased by it. For her no
-intermediate condition of the musical sense was possible between
-criticism and delight; but beyond that she had found rapture now, and
-ever afterwards she would long to feel it again. Whether, if her voice
-had made it possible to sing the part of Kundry, she could have lifted
-herself to that seventh heaven by her own singing, only the great
-Kundrys and Parsifals can tell. In lyric opera she knew the keen joy
-of being both the instrument and the enthralled listener; perhaps a
-still higher state beyond that was out of any one's reach, but she
-could at least dream of it.
-
-She took Van Torp with her to the performance the next day, after
-impressing upon him that he was not to speak, not to whisper, not to
-applaud, not to make any sound, from the moment he entered the theatre
-till he left it for the dinner interval. He was far too happy with her
-to question anything she said, and he obeyed her most scrupulously.
-Twenty-four hours earlier she would have laughed at the idea that his
-presence beside her at such a time could be not only bearable, but
-sympathetic, yet that seemed natural now. The Diva and the ex-cowboy,
-the accomplished musician and the Californian miner, the sensitive,
-gifted, capricious woman and the iron-jawed money-wolf had found that
-they had something in common. Wagner's last music affected them in the
-same way.
-
-Such things are not to be explained, and could not be believed if they
-did not happen again and again before the eyes of those who know how
-to see, which is quite a different thing from merely seeing.
-Margaret's sudden liking for the man she had once so thoroughly
-disliked had begun when he had whistled to her. It grew while he sat
-beside her in the darkened theatre. She was absorbed by the music, the
-action, and the scene, and at this second hearing she could follow the
-noble poem itself; but she was subconscious of what her neighbour
-felt. He was not so motionless merely because she had told him that he
-must sit very still; he was not so intent on what he heard and saw,
-merely to please her; it was not mere interest that held him, still
-less was it curiosity. The spell was upon him; he was entranced, and
-Margaret knew it.
-
-Even when they left the theatre and drove back to the hotel, he was
-silent, and she was the first to speak. Margaret hated the noise and
-confusion of the restaurant near the Festival Theatre.
-
-'You have enjoyed it,' she said. 'I'm glad I brought you.'
-
-'I've felt something I don't understand,' Van Torp answered gravely.
-
-She liked the reply for its simplicity. She had perhaps expected that
-he would summon up his most picturesque language to tell her how much
-pleasure the music had given him, or that he would perhaps laugh at
-himself for having been moved; but instead, he only told her that he
-did not understand what he had felt; and they walked on without
-another word.
-
-'Go and get something to eat,' she said when they reached the hotel,
-'and I'll meet you here in half an hour. I don't care to talk either.'
-
-He only nodded, and lifted his hat as she went up the steps; but
-instead of going to eat, he sat down on a bench outside, and waited
-for her there, reflecting on the nature of his new experience.
-
-Like most successful men, he looked on all theories as trash, good
-enough to amuse clever idlers, but never to be taken into
-consideration in real life. He never asked about the principle on
-which any invention was founded; his first and only question was,
-'Will it work?'
-
-Considering himself as the raw material, and the theatre he had just
-left as the mill, he was forced to admit that _Parsifal_ 'worked.'
-
-'It works all right,' he inwardly soliloquised. 'If that's what it
-claims to do, it does it.'
-
-When he had reached this business-like conclusion, his large lips
-parted a little, and as his breath passed between his closed teeth, it
-made soft little hissing sounds that had a suggestion of music in
-them, though they were not really whistled notes; his sandy lashes
-half veiled his eyes and he saw again what he had lately seen: the
-King borne down to the bath that would never heal his wound, and the
-dead swan, and the wondering Maiden-Man brought to answer for his
-bow-shot, the wild Witch-Girl crouching by the giant trees, and the
-long way that led upward through the forest, and upward ever, to the
-Hall of the Knights, and last of all, the mysterious Sangreal itself,
-glowing divinely in the midst.
-
-He did not really understand what he had seen and saw again as he half
-closed his eyes. That was the reason why he accepted it passively, as
-he accepted elemental things. If he could by any means have told
-himself what illusion it was all intended to produce upon his sight
-and hearing, he would have pulled the trick to pieces, mentally, in a
-moment, and what remained would have been the merely pleasant
-recollection of something very well done, but not in itself different
-from other operas or plays he had heard and seen elsewhere, nothing
-more than an 'improvement on _Lohengrin_,' as he would probably have
-called it.
-
-But this was something not 'more,' but quite of another kind, and it
-affected him as the play of nature's forces sometimes did; it was
-like the brooding of the sea, the rising gale, the fury of the storm,
-like the leaden stillness before the earthquake, the awful heave of
-the earth, the stupendous crash of the doomed city, the long rolling
-rumble of falling walls and tumbling houses, big with sudden death; or
-again, it was like sad gleams of autumn sunshine, and the cold
-cathedral light of primeval forests in winter, and then it was the
-spring stirring in all things, the rising pulse of mating nature, the
-burst of May-bloom, the huge glow of the earth basking in the full
-summer sun.
-
-He did not know, and no one knew, what nature meant by those things.
-How could nature's meaning be put into words? And so he did not
-understand what he had felt, nor could he see that it might have
-significance. What was the 'interpretation' of a storm, of an
-earthquake, or of winter and summer? God, perhaps; perhaps just
-'nature.' He did not know. Margaret had told him the story of the
-opera in the evening; he had followed it easily enough and could not
-forget it. It was a sort of religious fairy-tale, he thought, and he
-was ready to believe that Wagner had made a good poem of it, even a
-great poem. But it was not the story that could be told, which had
-moved him; it was nothing so easily defined as a poem, or a drama, or
-a piece of music. A far more cultivated man than he could ever become
-might sit through the performance and feel little or nothing, of that
-he was sure; just as he could have carried beautiful Lady Maud in his
-arms without feeling that she was a woman for him, whereas the
-slightest touch of Margaret Donne, the mere fact of being near her,
-made the blood beat in his throat.
-
-That was only a way of putting it, for there was no sex in the music
-he had just heard. He had sat so close to Margaret that their arms
-constantly touched, yet he had forgotten that she was there. If the
-music had been _Tristan and Isolde_ he could not have been unaware of
-her, for a moment, for that is the supreme sex-music of Wagner's art.
-But this was different, altogether different, though it was even
-stronger than that.
-
-He forgot to look at his watch. Margaret came out of the hotel,
-expecting to find him waiting for her within the hall, and prepared to
-be annoyed with him for taking so long over a meal. She stood on the
-step and looked about, and saw him sitting on the bench at a little
-distance. He raised his eyes as she came towards him and then rose
-quickly.
-
-'Is it time?' he asked.
-
-'Yes,' she said. 'Did you get anything decent to eat?'
-
-'Yes,' he answered vaguely. 'That is, now I think of it, I forgot
-about dinner. It doesn't matter.'
-
-She looked at his hard face curiously and saw a dead blank, the blank
-that had sometimes frightened her by its possibilities, when the eyes
-alone came suddenly to life.
-
-'Won't you go in and get a biscuit, or a sandwich?' she asked after a
-moment.
-
-'Oh, no, thanks. I'm used to skipping meals when I'm interested in
-things. Let's go, if you're ready.'
-
-'I believe you are one of nature's Wagnerites,' Margaret said, as
-they drove up the hill again, and she smiled at the idea.
-
-'Well,' he answered slowly, 'there's one thing, if you don't mind my
-telling you. It's rather personal. Perhaps I'd better not.'
-
-The Primadonna was silent for a few moments, and did not look at him.
-
-'Tell me,' she said suddenly.
-
-'It's this. I don't know how long the performance lasted, but while it
-was going on I forgot you were close beside me. You might just as well
-not have been there. It's the first time since I ever knew you that
-I've been near you without thinking about you all the time, and I
-hadn't realised it till I was sitting here by myself. I hope you don't
-mind my telling you?'
-
-'It only makes me more glad that I brought you,' Margaret said
-quietly.
-
-'Thank you,' he answered; but he was quite sure that the same thing
-could not happen again during the Second Part.
-
-Nevertheless, it happened. For a little while, they were man and
-woman, sitting side by side and very near, two in a silent multitude
-of other men and women; but before long he was quite motionless, his
-eyes were fixed again and he had forgotten her. She saw it and
-wondered, for she knew how her presence moved him, and as his hands
-lay folded on his knee, a mischievous girlish impulse almost made her,
-the great artist, forget that she was listening to the greatest music
-in the world and nearly made her lay her hand on his, just to see
-what he would do. She was ashamed of it, and a little disgusted with
-herself. The part of her that was Margaret Donne felt the disgust; the
-part that was Cordova felt the shame, and each side of her nature was
-restrained at a critical moment. Yet when the 'Good Friday' music
-began, she was thinking of Van Torp and he was unconscious of her
-presence.
-
-It could not last, and soon she, too, was taken up into the artificial
-paradise of the master-musician and borne along in the gale of golden
-wings, and there was no passing of time till the very end; and the
-people rose in silence and went out under the summer stars; and all
-those whom nature had gifted to hear rightly, took with them memories
-that years would scarcely dim.
-
-The two walked slowly back to the town as the crowd scattered on foot
-and in carriages. It was warm, and there was no moon, and one could
-smell the dust, for many people were moving in the same direction,
-though some stopped at almost every house and went in, and most of
-them were beginning to talk in quiet tones.
-
-Margaret stepped aside from the road and entered a narrow lane, and
-Van Torp followed her in silence.
-
-'This leads out to the fields,' she said. 'I must breathe the fresh
-air. Do you mind?'
-
-'On the contrary.'
-
-  [Illustration: "She was aware of his slight change of position without
-   turning her eyes."]
-
-He said nothing more, and she did not speak, but walked on without
-haste, dilating her nostrils to the sweet smell of grass that reached
-her already. In a little while they had left the houses behind them,
-and they came to a gate that led into a field.
-
-Van Torp was going to undo the fastening, for there was no lock.
-
-'No,' she said, 'we won't go through. I love to lean on a gate.'
-
-She rested her crossed arms on the upper rail and Van Torp did the
-same, careful that his elbow should not touch hers, and they both
-stared into the dim, sweet-scented meadow. He felt her presence now
-and it almost hurt him; he could hear his slow pulse in his ears, hard
-and regular. She did not speak, but the night was so still that he
-could hear her breathing, and at last he could not bear the warm
-silence any longer.
-
-'What are you thinking about?' he asked, trying to speak lightly.
-
-She waited, or hesitated, before she answered him.
-
-'You,' she said, after a time.
-
-He moved involuntarily, and then drew a little further away from her,
-as he might have withdrawn a foot from the edge of a precipice, out of
-common caution. She was aware of his slight change of position without
-turning her eyes.
-
-'What made you say what you did to Mrs. Rushmore yesterday afternoon?'
-she asked.
-
-'About you?'
-
-'Yes.'
-
-'She asked me, point-blank, what I thought of Logotheti,' Van Torp
-answered. 'I told her that I couldn't give her an unbiassed opinion of
-the man you meant to marry, because I had always hoped to marry you
-myself.'
-
-'Oh--was that the way it happened?'
-
-'Mrs. Rushmore could hardly have misunderstood me,' said Van Torp,
-gathering the reins of himself, so to say, for anything that might
-happen.
-
-'No. But it sounds differently when you say it yourself.'
-
-'That was just what I said, anyhow,' answered Van Torp. 'I didn't
-think she'd go and tell you right away, but since she has, I don't
-regret having said that much.'
-
-'It was straightforward, at all events--if it was all true!' There was
-the faintest laugh in her tone as she spoke the last words.
-
-'It's true, right enough, though I didn't expect that I should be
-talking to you about this sort of thing to-night.'
-
-'The effect on Mrs. Rushmore was extraordinary, positively
-fulminating,' Margaret said more lightly. 'She says I ought to break
-off my engagement at once, and marry you! Fancy!'
-
-'That's very kind of her, I'm sure,' observed Mr. Van Torp.
-
-'I don't think so. I like it less and less, the more I think of it.'
-
-'Well, I'm sorry, but I suppose it's natural, since you've concluded
-to marry him, and it can't be helped. I wasn't going to say anything
-against him, and I wouldn't say anything for him, so there was nothing
-to do but to explain, which I did. I'm sorry you think I did wrong,
-but I should give the same answer again.'
-
-'Mrs. Rushmore thinks that Konstantin is a designing foreigner because
-he's a Greek man of business, and that you are perfection because you
-are an American business man.'
-
-'If I'm perfection, that's not the real reason,' said Van Torp,
-snatching at his first chance to steer out of the serious current; but
-Margaret did not laugh.
-
-'You are not perfection, nor I either,' she answered gravely. 'You are
-famous in your way, and people call me celebrated in mine; but so far
-as the rest is concerned we are just two ordinary human beings, and if
-we are going to be friends we must understand each other from the
-first, as far as we can.'
-
-'I'll try to do my share,' said Van Torp, taking her tone.
-
-'Very well. I'll do mine. I began by thinking you were amusing, when I
-first met you. Then you frightened me last winter, and I hated you.
-Not only that, I loathed you--there's no word strong enough for what I
-felt. When I saw you in the audience, you almost paralysed my voice.'
-
-'I didn't know it had been as bad as that,' said Mr. Van Torp quietly.
-
-'Yes. It was worse than I can make you understand. And last spring,
-when you were in so much trouble, I believed every word that was said
-against you, even that you had murdered your partner's daughter in
-cold blood to get rid of her, though that looked as incredible to
-sensible people as it really was. It was only when I saw how Lady Maud
-believed in you that I began to waver, and then I understood.'
-
-'I'm glad you did.'
-
-'So am I. But she is such a good woman herself that nobody can be
-really bad in whom she believes. And now I'm changed still more. I
-like you, and I'm sure that we shall be friends, if you will make me
-one promise and keep it.'
-
-'What is it?'
-
-'That you will give up all idea of ever marrying me, no matter what
-happens, even if I broke----'
-
-'It's no use to go on,' interrupted Van Torp, 'for I can't promise
-anything like that. Maybe you don't realise what you're asking, but
-it's the impossible. That's all.'
-
-'Oh, nonsense!' Margaret tried to laugh lightly, but it was a failure.
-
-'No, it's very far from nonsense,' he replied, almost sternly. 'Since
-you've spoken first, I'm going to tell you several things. One is,
-that I accepted the syndicate's offer for the Nickel Trust so as to be
-free to take any chance that might turn up. It had been open some
-time, but I accepted it on the day I heard of your engagement. That's
-a big thing. Another is, that I played a regular trick on Logotheti so
-as to come and see you here. I deliberately asked him to dine with me
-last night in London. I went right home, wrote a note to him,
-antedated for yesterday afternoon, to put him off, and I left it to be
-sent at the right hour. Then I drove to the station, and here I am.
-You may call that pretty sharp practice, but I believe all's fair in
-love and war, and I want you to understand that I think so. There's
-one thing more. I won't give up the hope of making you marry me while
-you're alive and I am, not if you're an old woman, and I'll put up all
-I have in the game, including my own life and other people's, if it
-comes to that. Amen.'
-
-Margaret bent her head a little and was silent.
-
-'Now you know why I won't promise what you asked,' said Van Torp in
-conclusion.
-
-He had not raised his voice; he had not laid a heavy stress on half
-his words, as he often did in common conversation; there had been
-nothing dramatic in his tone; but Margaret had understood well enough
-that it was the plain statement of a man who meant to succeed, and
-whose strength and resources were far beyond those of ordinary
-suitors. She was not exactly frightened; indeed, since her dislike for
-him had melted away, it was impossible not to feel a womanly
-satisfaction in the magnitude of her conquest; but she also felt
-instinctively that serious trouble and danger were not far off.
-
-'You have no right to speak like that,' she said rather weakly, after
-a moment.
-
-'Perhaps not. I don't know. But I consider that you have a right to
-know the truth, and that's enough for me. It's not as if I'd made up
-my mind to steal your ewe-lamb from you and put myself in its place.
-Logotheti is not any sort of a ewe-lamb. He's a man, he's got plenty
-of strength and determination, he's got plenty of money--even what I
-choose to call plenty. He says he cares for you. All right. So do I.
-He says he'll marry you. I say that I will. All right again. You're
-the prize put up for the best of two fighting men. You're not the
-first woman in history who's been fought for, but, by all that's holy,
-there never was one better worth it, not Helen of Troy herself!'
-
-The last few words came with a sort of stormy rush, and he turned
-round suddenly, and stood with his back against the gate, thrusting
-his hands deep into his coat-pockets, perhaps with the idea of keeping
-them quiet; but he did not come any nearer to her, and she felt she
-was perfectly safe, and that a much deeper and more lasting power had
-hold of him than any mere passionate longing to take her in his arms
-and press his iron lips on hers against her will. She began to
-understand why he was what he was, at an age when many successful men
-are still fighting for final success. He was a crown-grasper, like
-John the Smith. Beside him Logotheti was but a gifted favourite of
-fortune. He spoke of Helen, but if he was comparing his rival with
-Paris he himself was more like an Ajax than like good King Menelaus.
-
-Margaret was not angry; she was hardly displeased, but she was really
-at a loss what to say, and she said the first sensible thing that
-suggested itself and that was approximately true.
-
-'I'm sorry you have told me all this. We might have spent these next
-two days very pleasantly together. Oh, I'm not pretending what I don't
-feel! It's impossible for a woman like me, who can still be free, not
-to be flattered when such a man as you cares for her in earnest, and
-says the things you have. But, on the other hand, I'm engaged to be
-married to another man, and it would not be loyal of me to let you
-make love to me.'
-
-'I don't mean to,' said Van Torp stoutly. 'It won't be necessary. If I
-never spoke again you wouldn't forget what I've told you--ever! Why
-should I say it again? I don't want to, until you can say as much to
-me. If it's time to go, hitch the lead to my collar and take me home!
-I'll follow you as quietly as a spaniel, anywhere!'
-
-'And what would happen if I told you not to follow me, but to go home
-and lie down in your kennel?' She laughed low as she moved away from
-the gate.
-
-'I'm not sure,' answered Van Torp. 'Don't.'
-
-The last word was not spoken at all with an accent of warning, but it
-was not said in a begging tone either. Margaret's short laugh followed
-it instantly. He took the cue she offered, and went on speaking in his
-ordinary manner.
-
-'I'm not a bad dog if you don't bully me, and if you feed me at
-regular hours and take me for a walk now and then. I don't pretend I'm
-cut out for a French pet, because I'm not. I'm too big for a lap-dog,
-and too fond of sport for the drawing-room, I suppose. A good useful
-dog generally is, isn't he? Maybe I'm a little quarrelsome with other
-dogs, but then, they needn't come bothering around!'
-
-Margaret was amused, or pretended to be, but she was also thinking
-very seriously of the future, and asking herself whether she ought to
-send for Logotheti at once, or not. Van Torp would certainly not
-leave Bayreuth at a moment's notice, at her bidding, and if he stayed
-she could not now refuse to see him, with any show of justice. She
-thought of a compromise, and suddenly stood still in the lane.
-
-'You said just now that you would not say over again any of those
-things you have told me to-night. Do you mean that?'
-
-'Yes, I mean it.'
-
-'Then please promise that you won't. That's all I ask if you are going
-to spend the next two days here, and if I am to let you see me.'
-
-'I promise,' Van Torp answered, without hesitation.
-
-She allowed herself the illusion that she had both done the right
-thing and also taken the position of command; and he, standing beside
-her, allowed himself to smile at the futility of what she was
-requiring of him with so much earnestness, for little as he knew of
-women's ways he was more than sure that the words he had spoken that
-night would come back to her again and again; and more than that he
-could not hope at present. But she could not see his face clearly.
-
-'Thank you,' she said. 'That shall be our compact.'
-
-To his surprise, she held out her hand. He took it with wonderful
-calmness, considering what the touch meant to him, and he returned
-discreetly what was meant for a friendly pressure. She was so well
-satisfied now that she did not think it necessary to telegraph to
-Logotheti that he might start at once, though even if she had done so
-immediately he could hardly have reached Bayreuth till the afternoon
-of the next day but one, when the last performance of _Parsifal_ would
-be already going on; and she herself intended to leave on the morning
-after that.
-
-She walked forward in silence for a few moments, and the lights of the
-town grew quickly brighter.
-
-'You will come in and have some supper with us, of course,' she said
-presently.
-
-'Why, certainly, since you're so kind,' answered Van Torp.
-
-'I feel responsible for your having forgotten to dine,' she laughed.
-'I must make it up to you. By this time Mrs. Rushmore is probably
-wondering where I am.'
-
-'Well,' said the American, 'if she thinks I'm perfection, she knows
-that you're safe with me, I suppose, even if you do come home a little
-late.'
-
-'I shall say that we walked home very slowly, in order to breathe the
-air.'
-
-'Yes. We've walked home very slowly.'
-
-'I mean,' said Margaret quickly, 'that I shall not say we have been
-out towards the fields, as far as the gate.'
-
-'I don't see any harm if we have,' observed Mr Van Torp indifferently.
-
-'Harm? No! Don't you understand? Mrs. Rushmore is quite capable of
-thinking that I have already--how shall I say?----' she stopped.
-
-'Taken note of her good advice,' he said, completing the sentence for
-her.
-
-'Exactly! Whereas nothing could be further from my intention, as you
-know. I'm very fond of Mrs. Rushmore,' Margaret continued quickly, in
-order to get away from the dangerous subject she had felt obliged to
-approach; 'she has been a mother to me, and heaven knows I needed one,
-and she has the best and kindest heart in the world. But she is so
-anxious for my happiness that, whenever she thinks it is at stake, she
-rushes at conclusions without the slightest reason, and then it's very
-hard to get them out of her dear old head!'
-
-'I see. If that's why she thinks me perfection, I'll try not to
-disappoint her.'
-
-They reached the hotel, went upstairs, and separated on the landing to
-get ready for supper. Margaret went to her own room, and before
-joining Mrs. Rushmore she wrote a message to Alphonsine, her theatre
-maid, who was visiting her family in Alsatia. Margaret generally
-telegraphed her instructions, because it was much less trouble than to
-write. She inquired whether Alphonsine would be ready to join her in
-Paris on a certain day, and she asked for the address of a wig-maker
-which she had forgotten.
-
-On his side of the landing, Mr. Van Torp found Stemp waiting to dress
-him, and the valet handed him a telegram. It was from Captain Brown,
-and had been re-telegraphed from London.
-
-'Anchored off Saint Mark's Square to-day, 3.30 P.M. Quick passage. No
-stop. Coaling to-morrow. Ready for sea next morning.'
-
-Mr. Van Torp laid the message open on the table in order to save
-Stemp the trouble of looking for it afterwards.
-
-'Stemp,' he asked, as he threw off his coat and kicked off his dusty
-shoes, 'were you ever sea-sick?'
-
-'Yes, sir,' answered the admirable valet, but he offered no more
-information on the subject.
-
-During the silence that followed, neither wasted a second. It is no
-joke to wash and get into evening dress in six minutes, even with the
-help of a body-servant trained to do his work at high speed.
-
-'I mean,' said Van Torp, when he was already fastening his collar,
-'are you sea-sick nowadays?'
-
-'No, sir,' replied Stemp, in precisely the same tone as before.
-
-'I don't mean on a twenty-thousand-ton liner. Black cravat. Yes. I
-mean on a yacht. Fix it behind. Right. Would you be sea-sick on a
-steam yacht?'
-
-'No, sir.'
-
-'Sure?'
-
-'Yes, sir.'
-
-'Then I'll take you. Tuxedo.'
-
-'Thank you, sir.'
-
-Stemp held up the dinner-jacket; Mr. Van Torp's solid arms slipped
-into the sleeves, he shook his sturdy shoulders, and pulled the jacket
-down in front while the valet 'settled' the back. Then he faced round
-suddenly, like a soldier at drill.
-
-'All right?' he inquired.
-
-Stemp looked him over carefully from head to foot in the glare of the
-electric light.
-
-'Yes, sir.'
-
-Van Torp left the room at once. He found Mrs. Rushmore slowly moving
-about the supper-table, more imposing than ever in a perfectly new
-black tea-gown and an extremely smart widow's cap. Mr. Van Torp
-thought she was a very fine old lady indeed. Margaret had not entered
-yet; a waiter with smooth yellow hair stood by a portable sideboard on
-which there were covered dishes. There were poppies and corn-flowers
-in a plain white jar on the table. Mrs. Rushmore smiled at the
-financier; it would hardly be an exaggeration to say that she beamed
-upon him. They had not met alone since his first visit on the previous
-afternoon.
-
-'Miss Donne is a little late,' she said, as if the fact were very
-pleasing. 'You brought her back, of course.'
-
-'Why, certainly,' said Mr. Van Torp with an amiable smile.
-
-'You can hardly have come straight from the theatre,' continued the
-lady, 'for I heard the other people in the hotel coming in fully
-twenty minutes before you did.'
-
-'We walked home very slowly,' said Mr. Van Torp, still smiling
-amiably.
-
-'Ah, I see! You went for a little walk to get some air!' She seemed
-delighted.
-
-'We walked home very slowly in order to breathe the air,' said Mr. Van
-Torp--'to breathe the air, as you say. I have to thank you very much
-for giving me your seat, Mrs. Rushmore.'
-
-'To tell the truth,' replied the good lady, 'I was very glad to let
-you take my place. I cannot say I enjoy that sort of music myself. It
-gives me a headache.'
-
-Margaret entered at this point in a marvellous 'creation' of Chinese
-crape, of the most delicate shade of heliotrope. Her dressmaker called
-it also a tea-gown, but Mr. Van Torp would have thought it 'quite
-appropriate' for a 'dinner-dance' at Bar Harbor.
-
-'My dear child,' said Mrs. Rushmore, 'how long you were in getting
-back from the theatre! I began to fear that something had happened!'
-
-'We walked home very slowly,' said Margaret, with a pleasant smile.
-
-'Ah? You went for a little walk to get some air?'
-
-'We just walked home very slowly, in order to breathe the air,'
-Margaret answered innocently.
-
-It dawned on Mr. Van Torp that the dignified Mrs. Rushmore was not
-quite devoid of a sense of humour. It also occurred to him that her
-repetition of the question to Margaret, and the latter's answer, must
-have revealed to her the fact that the two had agreed upon what they
-should say, since they used identically the same words, and that they
-therefore had an understanding about something they preferred to
-conceal from her. Nothing could have given Mrs. Rushmore such profound
-satisfaction as this, and it revealed itself in her bright smiles and
-her anxiety that both Margaret and Van Torp should, if possible,
-over-eat themselves with the excellent things she had been at pains to
-provide for them and for herself. For she was something of an epicure
-and her dinners in Versailles were of good fame, even in Paris.
-
-Great appetites are generally silent, like the sincerest affections.
-Margaret was very hungry, and Mr. Van Torp was both hungry and very
-much in love. Mrs. Rushmore was neither, and she talked pleasantly
-while tasting each delicacy with critical satisfaction.
-
-'By the bye,' she said at last, when she saw that the millionaire was
-backing his foretopsail to come to anchor, as Captain Brown might have
-expressed it, 'I hope you have not had any further trouble about your
-rooms, Mr. Van Torp.'
-
-'None at all, that I know of,' answered the latter. 'My man told me
-nothing.'
-
-'The Russian prince arrived this evening while you were at the
-theatre, and threatened the director with all sorts of legal
-consequences because the rooms he had ordered were occupied. He turns
-out to be only a count after all.'
-
-'You don't say so,' observed Mr. Van Torp, in an encouraging tone.
-
-'What became of him?' Margaret asked, without much interest.
-
-'Did Potts not tell you, my dear? Why, Justine assisted at the whole
-interview and came and told me at once.'
-
-Justine was Mrs. Rushmore's Parisian maid, who always knew everything.
-
-'What happened?' inquired Margaret, still not much interested.
-
-'He arrived in an automobile,' answered Mrs. Rushmore, and she paused.
-
-'What old Griggs calls a sudden-death-cart,' Mr. Van Torp put in.
-
-'What a shocking name for it!' cried Mrs. Rushmore. 'And you are
-always in them, my dear child!' She looked at Margaret. 'A
-sudden-death-cart! It quite makes me shiver.'
-
-'Griggs says that all his friends either kill or get killed in them,'
-explained the American.
-
-'My throat-doctor says motoring is very bad for the voice, so I've
-given it up,' Margaret said.
-
-'Really? Thank goodness your profession has been of some use to you at
-last, my dear!'
-
-Margaret laughed.
-
-'Tell us about the Russian count,' she said. 'Has he found lodgings,
-or is he going to sleep in his motor?'
-
-'My dear, he's the most original man you ever heard of! First he
-wanted to buy the hotel and turn us all out, and offered any price for
-it, but the director said it was owned by a company in Munich. Then he
-sent his secretary about trying to buy a house, while he dined, but
-that didn't succeed either. He must be very wealthy, or else quite
-mad.'
-
-'Mad, I should say,' observed Mr. Van Torp, slowly peeling a peach.
-'Did you happen to catch his name, Mrs. Rushmore?'
-
-'Oh, yes! We heard nothing else all the afternoon. His name is
-Kralinsky--Count Kralinsky.'
-
-Mr. Van Torp continued to peel his peach scientifically and
-economically, though he was aware that Margaret was looking at him
-with sudden curiosity.
-
-'Kralinsky,' he said slowly, keeping his eyes on the silver blade of
-the knife as he finished what he was doing. 'It's not an uncommon
-name, I believe. I've heard it before. Sounds Polish, doesn't it?'
-
-He looked up suddenly and showed Margaret the peeled peach on his
-fork. He smiled as he met her eyes, and she nodded so slightly that
-Mrs. Rushmore did not notice the movement.
-
-'Did you ever see that done better?' he asked with an air of triumph.
-
-'Ripping!' Margaret answered. 'You're a dandy dab at it!'
-
-'My dear child, what terrible slang!'
-
-'I'm sorry,' said Margaret. 'I'm catching all sorts of American
-expressions from Mr. Van Torp, and when they get mixed up with my
-English ones the result is Babel, I suppose!'
-
-'I've not heard Mr. Van Torp use any slang expressions yet, my dear,'
-said Mrs. Rushmore, almost severely.
-
-'You will,' Margaret retorted with a laugh. 'What became of Count
-Kralinsky? I didn't mean to spoil your story.'
-
-'My dear, he's got the Pastor to give up his house, by offering him a
-hundred pounds for the poor here.'
-
-'It's cheap,' observed Mr. Van Torp. 'The poor always are.'
-
-'You two are saying the most dreadful things to-night!' cried Mrs.
-Rushmore.
-
-'Nothing dreadful in that, Mrs. Rushmore,' objected the millionaire.
-'There's no investment on earth like charity.'
-
-'We are taught that by charity we lay up treasures in heaven,' said
-the good lady.
-
-'Provided it's not mentioned in the newspapers,' retorted Mr. Van
-Torp. 'When it is, we lay up treasures on earth. I don't like to
-mention other men in that connexion, especially as I've done the same
-thing myself now and then, just to quiet things down; but I suppose
-some names will occur to you right away, don't they? Where is the
-Pastor going to sleep, now that the philanthropist has bought him
-out?'
-
-'I really don't know,' answered Mrs. Rushmore.
-
-'Then he's the real philanthropist,' said Van Torp. 'If he understood
-the power of advertisement, and wanted it, he'd let it be known that
-he was going to sleep on the church steps without enough blankets, for
-the good of the poor who are to have the money, and he'd get everybody
-to come and look at him in his sleep, and notice how good he was.
-Instead of that, he's probably turned in under the back stairs, in the
-coal-hole, without saying anything about it. I don't know how it
-strikes you, Mrs. Rushmore, but it does seem to me that the
-clergyman's the real philanthropist after all!'
-
-'Indeed he is, poor man,' said Margaret, a good deal surprised at Van
-Torp's sermon on charity, and wondering vaguely whether he was talking
-for effect or merely saying what he really thought.
-
-An effect certainly followed.
-
-'You put it very sensibly, I'm sure,' said Mrs. Rushmore, 'though of
-course I should not have looked for anything else from a
-fellow-countryman I respect. You startled me a little at first, when
-you said that the poor are always cheap! Only that, I assure you.'
-
-'Well,' answered the American, 'I never was very good at expressing
-myself, but I'm glad we think alike, for I must say I value your
-opinion very highly, Mrs. Rushmore, as I had learned to value the
-opinion of your late husband.'
-
-'You're very kind,' she said, in a grateful tone.
-
-Margaret was not sure that she was pleased as she realised how easily
-Van Torp played upon her old friend's feelings and convictions, and
-she wondered whether he had not already played on her own that night,
-in much the same way. But with the mere thought his words and his
-voice came back to her, with his talk about the uselessness of ever
-repeating what he had said that once, because he knew she could never
-forget it. And her young instinct told her that he dealt with the
-elderly woman precisely as if she were a man, with all the ease that
-proceeded from his great knowledge of men and their weaknesses; but
-that with herself, in his ignorance of feminine ways, he could only be
-quite natural.
-
-He left them soon after supper, and gave himself up to Stemp,
-pondering over what he had accomplished in two days, and also about
-another question which had lately presented itself. When he was ready
-to send his valet to bed he sat down at his table and wrote a
-telegram:
-
-'If you can find Barak, please explain that I was mistaken. Kralinsky
-is not in New York, but here in Bayreuth for some days, lodging at the
-Pastor's house.'
-
-This message was addressed to Logotheti at his lodgings in London, and
-Van Torp signed it and gave it to Stemp to be sent at once. Logotheti
-never went to bed before two o'clock, as he knew, and might very
-possibly get the telegram the same night.
-
-When his man was gone, Van Torp drew his chair to the open window and
-sat up a long time thinking about what he had just done; for though he
-held that all was fair in such a contest, he did not mean to do
-anything which he himself thought 'low-down.' One proof of this odd
-sort of integrity was that the telegram itself was a fair warning of
-his presence in Bayreuth, where Logotheti knew that Margaret was still
-stopping.
-
-As for the rest, he was quite convinced that it was Kralinsky himself,
-the ruby merchant, who had suddenly appeared at Bayreuth, and that
-this man was no other than the youth he had met long ago as a cow-boy
-in the West, who used to whistle _Parsifal_ with his companion in
-exile, and who, having grown rich, had lost no time in coming to
-Europe for the very purpose of hearing the music he had always loved
-so well. And that this man had robbed the poor Tartar girl, Mr. Van
-Torp had no manner of doubt; and he believed that he had probably
-promised her marriage and abandoned her; and if this were true, to
-help her to find Kralinsky was in itself a good action.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VII
-
-
-When Van Torp and Logotheti left Mr. Pinney's shop, the old jeweller
-meant to have a good look at the ruby the Greek had brought him, and
-was going to weigh it, not merely as a matter of business, for he
-weighed every stone that passed through his hands from crown diamonds
-to sparks, but with genuine curiosity, because in a long experience he
-had not seen very many rubies of such a size, which were also of such
-fine quality, and he wondered where this one had been found.
-
-Just then, however, two well-dressed young men entered the shop and
-came up to him. He had never seen either of them before, but their
-looks inspired him with confidence; and when they spoke, their tone
-was that of English gentlemen, which all other Englishmen find it
-practically impossible to imitate, and which had been extremely
-familiar to Mr. Pinney from his youth. Though he was the great
-jeweller himself, the wealthy descendant of five of his name in
-succession, and much better off than half his customers, he was alone
-in his shop that morning. The truth was that his only son, the sixth
-Pinney and the apple of his eye, had just been married and was gone
-abroad for a honeymoon trip, and the head shopman, who was Scotch, was
-having his month's holiday in Ayrshire, and the second man had been
-sent for, to clean and restring the Duchess of Barchester's pearls at
-her Grace's house in Cadogan Gardens, as was always done after the
-season, and a couple of skilled workmen for whom Mr. Pinney found
-occupation all the year round were in the workshop at their tables;
-wherefore, out of four responsible and worthy men who usually were
-about, only the great Mr. Pinney himself was at his post.
-
-One of the two well-dressed customers asked to see some pins, and the
-other gave his advice. The first bought a pin with a small sapphire
-set in sparks for ten guineas, and gave only ten pounds for it because
-he paid cash. Mr. Pinney put the pin into its little morocco case,
-wrapped it up neatly and handed it to the purchaser. The latter and
-his friend said good-morning in a civil and leisurely manner,
-sauntered out, took a hansom a few steps farther down the street, and
-drove away.
-
-The little paper twist containing Logotheti's ruby was still exactly
-where Mr. Pinney had placed it on the counter, and he was going to
-examine the stone and weigh it at last, when two more customers
-entered the shop, evidently foreigners, and moreover of a sort
-unfamiliar to the good jeweller, and especially suspicious.
-
-The two were Baraka and her interpreter and servant, whom Logotheti
-had called a Turk, and who was really a Turkish subject and a
-Mohammedan, though as to race, he was a half-bred Greek and Dalmatian.
-Now Dalmatians are generally honest, truthful, and trustworthy, and
-the low-class Greek of Constantinople is usually extremely sharp, if
-he is nothing more definitely reprehensible; and Baraka's man was a
-cross between the two, as I have said, and had been brought up as a
-Musulman in a rich Turkish family, and recommended to Baraka by the
-Persian merchant in whose house she had lived. He had been originally
-baptized a Christian under the name of Spiro, and had been
-subsequently renamed Selim when he was made a real Moslem at twelve
-years old; so he used whichever name suited the circumstances in which
-he was placed. At present he was Spiro. He was neatly dressed in grey
-clothes made by a French tailor, and he wore a French hat, which
-always made a bad impression on Mr. Pinney. He had brown hair, brown
-eyes, a brown moustache, and a brown face; he looked as active as a
-cat, and Mr. Pinney at once put him down in his mind as a 'Froggy.'
-But the jeweller was less sure about Baraka, who was dressed like any
-young Englishman, but looked like no European he had ever seen. On the
-whole, he took the newcomer for the son of an Indian rajah sent to
-England to be educated.
-
-The interpreter spoke broken but intelligible English. He called
-Baraka his master, and explained that the latter wished to see some
-rubies, if Mr. Pinney had any, cut or uncut. The young gentleman, he
-said, did not speak English, but was a good judge of stones.
-
-For one moment the jeweller forgot the little paper twist as he turned
-towards his safe, pulling out his keys at the same time. To reach the
-safe he had to walk the whole length of the shop, behind the counter,
-and before he had gone half way he remembered the stone, turned, came
-back, and slipped it into his waistcoat pocket. Then he went and got
-the little japanned strong-box with a patent lock, in which he kept
-loose stones, some wrapped up in little pieces of paper, and some in
-pill-boxes. He brought it to his customers, and opened it before them.
-
-They stayed a long time, and Spiro asked many questions for Baraka,
-chiefly relating to the sliding-scale of prices which is regulated by
-the weight of the stones where their quality is equally good, and
-Baraka made notes of some sort in a little English memorandum-book, as
-if she had done it all her life; but Mr. Pinney could not see what she
-wrote. He was very careful, and watched the stones, when she took them
-in her fingers and held them up against the light, or laid them on a
-sheet of white paper to look at them critically.
-
-She bought nothing; and when she had seen all he had to show her, she
-thanked him very much through Spiro, said she would come back another
-day, and went out with a leisurely, Oriental gait, as if nothing in
-the world could hurry her. Mr. Pinney counted the stones again, and
-was going to lock the box, when his second man came in, having
-finished stringing the Duchess's pearls. At the same moment, it
-occurred to Mr. Pinney that he might as well go to luncheon, and that
-he had better put Logotheti's ruby into the little strong-box and lock
-it up in the safe until he at last had a chance to weigh it. He
-accordingly took the screw of paper from his waistcoat pocket, and as
-a matter of formality he undid it once more.
-
-'Merciful Providence!' cried Mr. Pinney, for he was a religious man.
-
-The screw of paper contained a bit of broken green glass. He threw his
-keys to his shopman without another word, and rushed out into the
-street without his hat, his keen old face deadly pale, and his
-beautiful frock-coat flying in his wake.
-
-He almost hurled himself upon a quiet policeman.
-
-'Thief!' he cried. 'Two foreigners in grey clothes--ruby worth ten
-thousand pounds just gone--I'm Pinney the jeweller!'
-
-You cannot astonish a London policeman. The one Pinney had caught
-looked quietly up and down the street, and then glanced at his
-interlocutor to be sure that it was he, for he knew him by sight.
-
-'All right,' he said quickly, but very quietly. 'I'll have them in a
-minute, sir, for they're in sight still. Better go in while I take
-them, sir.'
-
-He caught them in less than a minute without the slightest difficulty,
-and by some odd coincidence two other policemen suddenly appeared
-quite close to him. There was a little stir in the street, but Baraka
-and Spiro were too sensible and too sure of themselves to offer any
-useless resistance, and supposing there was some misunderstanding they
-walked back quietly to Mr. Pinney's shop between two of the policemen,
-while the third went for a four-wheeler at the nearest stand, which
-happened to be the corner of Brook Street and New Bond Street.
-
-Mr. Pinney recognised his late customers without hesitation, and went
-with them to the police station, where he told his story and showed
-the piece of green glass. Spiro tried to speak, but was ordered to
-hold his tongue, and as no rubies were found in their pockets he and
-Baraka were led away to be more thoroughly searched.
-
-But now, at last, Baraka resisted, and with such tremendous energy
-that there would have been serious trouble if Spiro had not called out
-something which at once changed the aspect of matters.
-
-'Master is lady!' he yelled. 'Lady, man clothes!'
-
-'That makes a pretty bad case,' observed the sergeant who was
-superintending. 'Send for Mrs. Mowle.'
-
-Baraka did not resist when she saw the matron, and went quietly with
-her to a cell at the back of the station. In less than ten minutes
-Mrs. Mowle came out and locked the door after her. She was a cheery
-little person, very neatly dressed, and she had restless bright eyes
-like a ferret. She brought a little bag of soft deerskin in her hand,
-and a steel bodkin with a wrought silver handle, such as southern
-Italian women used to wear in their hair before such weapons were
-prohibited. Mrs. Mowle gave both objects to the officer without
-comment.
-
-'Any scars or tattoo-marks, Mrs. Mowle?' he inquired in his
-business-like way.
-
-'Not a one,' answered Mrs. Mowle, who had formerly taken in washing
-at home and was the widow of a brave policeman, killed in doing his
-duty.
-
-In the bag there were several screws of paper, which were found to
-contain uncut rubies of different sizes to a large value. But there
-was one, much larger than the others, which Mr. Van Torp had not seen
-that morning. Mr. Pinney looked at it very carefully, held it to the
-light, laid it on a sheet of paper, and examined it long in every
-aspect. He was a conscientious man.
-
-'To the best of my belief,' he deposed, 'this is the stone that was on
-my counter half an hour ago, and for which this piece of green glass
-was substituted. It is the property of a customer of mine, Monsieur
-Konstantin Logotheti of Paris, who brought it to me this morning to be
-cut. I think it may be worth between nine and ten thousand pounds. I
-can say nothing as to the identity of the paper, for tissue paper is
-very much alike everywhere.'
-
-'The woman,' observed the officer in charge of the station, 'appears
-to steal nothing but rubies. It looks like a queer case. We'll lock up
-the two, Mr. Pinney, and if you will be kind enough to look in
-to-morrow morning, I'm sure the Magistrate won't keep you waiting for
-the case.'
-
-Vastly relieved and comforted, Mr. Pinney returned to his shop.
-Formality required that the ruby itself, with the others in the bag,
-should remain in the keeping of the police till the Magistrate ordered
-it to be returned to its rightful owner, the next morning; but Mr.
-Pinney felt quite as sure of its safety as if it were in the japanned
-strong-box in his own safe, and possibly even a little more sure, for
-nobody could steal it from the police station.
-
-But after he was gone, Spiro was heard calling loudly, though not
-rudely or violently, from his place of confinement.
-
-'Mr. Policeman! Mr. Policeman! Please come speak!'
-
-The man on duty went to the door and asked what he wanted. In his
-broken English he explained very clearly that Baraka had a friend in
-London who was one of the great of the earth, and who would certainly
-prove her innocence, vouch for her character, and cause her to be set
-at large without delay, if he knew of her trouble.
-
-'What is the gentleman's name?' inquired the policeman.
-
-The name of Baraka's friend was Konstantin Logotheti, and Spiro knew
-the address of the lodgings he always kept in St. James's Place.
-
-'Very well,' said the policeman. 'I'll speak to the officer at once.'
-
-'I thank very much, sir,' Spiro answered, and he made no more noise.
-
-The sergeant looked surprised when the message was given to him.
-
-'Queer case this,' he observed. 'Here's the thief appealing to the
-owner of the stolen property for help; and the owner is one of those
-millionaire financiers; and the thief is a lovely girl in man's
-clothes. By the bye, Sampson, tell Mrs. Mowle to get out some women's
-slops and dress her decently, while I see if I can find Mr. Logotheti
-by telephone. They'll be likely to know something about him at the
-Bank if he's not at home, and he may come to find out what's the
-matter. If Mrs. Foxwell should look in and want to see the girl, let
-her in, of course, without asking me. If she's in town, she'll be here
-before long, for I've telephoned to her house, as usual when there's a
-girl in trouble.'
-
-There was a sort of standing, unofficial order that in any case of a
-girl or a young woman being locked up, Mrs. Foxwell was to know of it,
-and she had a way of remembering a great many sergeants' names, and
-doing kind things for their wives at Christmas-time, which further
-disposed them to help her in her work. But the London police are by
-nature the kindliest set of men who keep order anywhere in the world,
-and they will readily help a man or woman who tries to do good in a
-sensible, practical way; and if they are sometimes a little prejudiced
-in favour of their own perspicuity in getting up a case, let that
-policeman, of any other country, who is quite without fault, throw the
-first stone at their brave, good natured heads.
-
-Logotheti was not at his lodgings in St. James's Place, and from each
-of two clubs to which the officer telephoned rather at random, the
-only answer was that he was a member but not in the house. The officer
-wrote a line to his rooms and sent it by a messenger, to be given to
-him as soon as he came in.
-
-  [Illustration: "She grasped Lady Maud's hand."]
-
-It was late in the hot afternoon when Mrs. Foxwell answered the
-message by coming to the police station herself. She was at once
-admitted to Baraka's cell and the door was closed after her.
-
-The girl was lying on the pallet bed, dressed in a poor calico skirt
-and a loose white cotton jacket, which Mrs. Mowle had brought and had
-insisted that she must put on; and her man's clothes had been taken
-from her with all her other belongings. She sat up, forlorn, pale and
-lovely, as the kind visitor entered and stood beside her.
-
-'Poor child!' exclaimed the lady, touched by her sad eyes. 'What can I
-do to help you?'
-
-Baraka shook her head, for she did not understand. Then she looked up
-into eyes almost as beautiful as her own, and pronounced a name,
-slowly and so distinctly that it was impossible not to hear each
-syllable.
-
-'Konstantin Logotheti.'
-
-The lady started, as well she might; for she was no other than Lady
-Maud, who called herself by her own family name, 'Mrs. Foxwell,' in
-her work amongst the poor women of London.
-
-Baraka saw the quick movement and understood that Logotheti was well
-known to her visitor. She grasped Lady Maud's arm with both her small
-hands, and looked up to her face with a beseeching look that could not
-be misunderstood. She wished Logotheti to be informed of her
-captivity, and was absolutely confident that he would help her out of
-her trouble. Lady Maud was less sure of that, however, and said so,
-but it was soon clear that Baraka did not speak a word of any language
-known to Lady Maud, who was no great linguist at best. Under these
-circumstances it looked as if there were nothing to be done for the
-poor girl, who made all sorts of signs of distress, when she saw that
-the English woman was about to leave her, in sheer despair of being of
-any use. Just then, however, the sergeant came to the door, and
-informed the visitor that the girl had an accomplice who spoke her
-language and knew some English, and that by stretching a point he
-would bring the man, if Mrs. Foxwell wished to talk with him.
-
-The result was that in less than half an hour, Lady Maud heard from
-Spiro a most extraordinary tale, of which she did not believe a single
-word. To her plain English mind, it all seemed perfectly mad at first,
-and on reflection she thought it an outrageous attempt to play upon
-her credulity; whereas she was thoroughly convinced that the girl had
-come to grief in some way through Logotheti and had followed him from
-Constantinople, probably supporting herself and her companion by
-stealing on the way. Lady Maud's husband had been a brute, but he knew
-the East tolerably well, having done some military duty in the
-Caucasus before he entered the diplomatic service; his stories had
-chiefly illustrated the profound duplicity of all Asiatics, and she
-had not seen any reason to disbelieve them.
-
-When Spiro had nothing more to say, therefore, she rose from the only
-seat there was and shook her head with an air of utter incredulity,
-mingled with the sort of pitying contempt she felt for all lying in
-general. She could easily follow the case, by the help of the sergeant
-and the Police Court reports, and she might be able to help Baraka
-hereafter when the girl had served the sentence she would certainly
-get for such an important and cleverly managed theft. The poor girl
-implored and wept in vain; Lady Maud could do nothing, and would not
-stay to be told any more inane stories about ruby mines in Tartary.
-She called the sergeant, freed herself from Baraka's despairing hold
-on her hand and went out. Spiro was then marched back to his cell on
-the men's side.
-
-Though it was hot, Lady Maud walked home, as Mr. Van Torp had done
-that same morning when he had left Mr. Pinney's shop. She always
-walked when she was in any distress or difficulty, for the motion
-helped her to think, since she was strong and healthy, and only in her
-twenty-ninth year. Just now, too, she was a good deal disturbed by
-what had happened, besides being annoyed by the attempt that had been
-made to play on her credulity in such a gross way.
-
-She was really fond of Margaret Donne, quite apart from any admiration
-she felt for the Primadonna's genius, by which she might have been
-influenced. In her opinion, the Tartar girl's appeal for help to reach
-Logotheti could only mean one thing, and that was very far from being
-to his credit. If the girl had not been positively proved to be a
-thief and if she had not attempted to impose upon her by what seemed
-the most absurd falsehoods, Lady Maud would very probably have taken
-her under her own protection, as far as the law would allow. But her
-especial charity was not for criminals or cheats, though she had
-sometimes helped and comforted women accused of far worse crimes than
-stealing. In this instance she could do nothing, and she did not even
-wish to do anything. It was a flagrant case, and the law would deal
-with it in the right way. The girl had come to grief, no doubt, by
-trusting Logotheti blindly, and he had thrown her off; if she had sunk
-into the dismal depths of woe behind the Virtue-Curtain, as most of
-her kind did, Lady Maud would have gone in and tried to drag her out,
-as she had saved others. But Logotheti's victim had taken a different
-turn, had turned thief and had got into the hands of justice. Her sin
-would be on his head, no doubt, but no power could avert from her the
-just consequences of a misdeed that had no necessary connexion with
-her fall.
-
-Thus argued Lady Maud, while Baraka lay on her pallet bed in her
-calico skirt and white cotton jacket, neither weeping, nor despairing
-by any means, nor otherwise yielding to girlish weakness, but already
-devising means for carrying on her pursuit of the man she would still
-seek, even throughout the whole world, though she was just now a
-penniless girl locked up as a thief in a London police station. It was
-not one of the down-hearted, crying sort that could have got so far
-already, against such portentous odds.
-
-She guessed well enough that she would be tried the next morning in
-the Police Court; for Spiro, who knew much about Europe, and England
-in particular, had told her a great deal during their travels. She
-had learned that England was a land of justice, and she would probably
-get it in the end; for the rest, she was a good Musulman girl and
-looked on whatsoever befell her as being her portion, for good or
-evil, to be accepted without murmuring.
-
-Lady Maud could not know anything of this and took Baraka for a common
-delinquent, so far as her present situation was concerned. But when
-the Englishwoman thought of what must have gone before, and of the
-part Logotheti had almost certainly played in the girl's life, her
-anger was roused, and she sat down and wrote to Margaret on the
-impulse of the moment. She gave a detailed account of her experience
-at the police station, including especially a description of the way
-Baraka had behaved in trying to send a message to Logotheti.
-
-'I tell you quite frankly,' Lady Maud wrote in conclusion, 'that my
-friend Mr. Van Torp has begged me very urgently to use any friendly
-influence I may possess, to induce you to reconsider your engagement,
-because he hopes that you will accept him instead. You will not think
-any less well of him for that. A man may ask his best friend to help
-him to marry the girl he is in love with, I am sure! I told him that I
-would not do anything to make trouble between you and Logo. If I am
-making trouble now, by writing all this, it is therefore not to help
-Mr. Van Torp, but because the impression I have had about Logo has
-really frightened me, for you. I made such a wretched failure of my
-own married life that I have some right to warn a friend who seems to
-be on the point of doing just the same thing. I don't forget that in
-spite of all your celebrity--and its glories--you are nothing but a
-young girl still, under twenty-five; but you are not a schoolgirl, my
-dear, and you do not expect to find that a man like Logo, who is well
-on towards forty now, is a perfect Galahad. Even I didn't flatter
-myself that Leven had never cared for any one else, when I married
-him, and I had not half your knowledge of the world, I fancy. But you
-have a right to be sure that the man you marry is quite free, and that
-you won't suddenly meet a lovely Eastern girl of twenty who claims him
-after you think he is yours; and your friend has a right to warn you,
-if she feels sure that he is mixed up in some affair that isn't over
-yet. I'm not sure that I should be a good friend to you if I held my
-tongue. Our fathers were very close friends before us, Margaret, and
-there is really a sort of inheritance in their friendship, between you
-and me, isn't there? Besides, if you think I'm doing wrong, or that
-I'm making trouble out of nothing, just to help Mr. Van Torp, you can
-tell me so and we shall part I suppose, and that will be the end of
-it! Except that I shall be very, very sorry to lose you.
-
-'I don't know where Logo is, but if he were near enough I should go to
-him and tell him what I think. Of course he is not in town now--nobody
-is, and I've only stayed on to clear everything out of my house, now
-that I'm giving it up. I suppose he is with you, though you said you
-did not want him at Bayreuth! Show him this letter if you like, for
-I'm quite ready to face him if he's angry at my interference. I would
-even join you in Paris, if you wanted me, for I have nothing to do and
-strange to say I have a little money! I've sold almost all my
-furniture, you know, so I'm not such a total pauper as usual. But in
-any case answer this, please, and tell me that I have done right, or
-wrong, just as you feel about it--and then we will go on being
-friends, or say good-bye, whichever you decide.'
-
-Lady Maud signed this long letter and addressed it to Miss Margaret
-Donne, at Bayreuth, feeling sure that it would be delivered, even
-without the name of the hotel, which she did not know. But the
-Bayreuth post-office was overworked during the limited time of the
-performances, and it happened that the extra assistant through whose
-hands the letter passed for distribution either did not know that Miss
-Donne was the famous Cordova, or did not happen to remember the hotel
-at which she was stopping, or both, and it got pigeonholed under D, to
-be called for. The consequence was that Margaret did not receive it
-until the morning after the performance of _Parsifal_ to which she had
-taken Van Torp, though it had left London only six hours after him;
-for such things will happen even in extremely well-managed countries
-when people send letters insufficiently addressed.
-
-Furthermore, it also happened that Logotheti was cooling himself on
-the deck of his yacht in the neighbourhood of Penzance, while poor
-Baraka was half-stifled in the Police Station. For the yacht, which
-was a very comfortable one, though no longer new, and not very fast
-according to modern ideas, was at Cowes, waiting to be wanted, and
-when her owner parted from Van Torp after promising to dine on the
-next day but one, it occurred to him that the smell of the wood
-pavements was particularly nasty, that it would make no real
-difference whether he returned to Pinney's at once or in two days, or
-two weeks, since the ruby he had left must be cut before it was
-mounted, and that he might just as well take the fast train to
-Southampton and get out to sea for thirty-six hours. This he did,
-after telegraphing to his sailing-master to have steam as soon as
-possible; and as he had only just time to reach the Waterloo Station
-he did not even take the trouble to stop at his lodgings. He needed no
-luggage, for he had everything he wanted on board, and his man was far
-too well used to his ways to be surprised at his absence.
-
-The consequence of this was that when Baraka's case came up the next
-morning there was no one to say a word for her and Spiro. Mr. Pinney
-identified the ruby 'to the best of his belief' as the one stolen from
-his counter, the fact that Baraka had been disguised in man's clothes
-was treated as additional evidence, and she and Spiro were sent to
-Brixton Gaol accordingly, Spiro protesting their innocence all the
-while in eloquent but disjointed English, until he was told to hold
-his tongue.
-
-Further, Lady Maud read the Police Court report in an evening paper,
-cut it out and sent it to Margaret as a document confirming the
-letter she had posted on the previous evening; and owing to the same
-insufficiency in the address, the two missives were delivered
-together.
-
-Lastly, Mr. Pinney took the big ruby back to his shop and locked it up
-in his safe with a satisfaction and a sense of profound relief such as
-he had rarely felt in a long and honourable life; and he would have
-been horrified and distressed beyond words if he could have even
-guessed that he had been the means of sending an innocent and helpless
-girl to prison. The mere possibility of such a mistake would have sent
-him at the greatest attainable speed to Scotland Yard, and if
-necessary in pursuit of the Home Secretary himself. The latter was in
-the north of Scotland, on a friend's moor, particularly preoccupied
-about his bag and deeply interested in the education of a young
-retriever that behaved like an idiot during each drive instead of
-lying quiet behind the butts, though it promised to turn out a
-treasure in respect of having the nose and eye of a vulture and the
-mouth of a sucking-dove. The comparisons are those of the dog's owner,
-including the 'nose' of the bird of prey, and no novelist can be held
-responsible for a Cabinet Minister's English.
-
-One thing more which concerns this tale happened on that same day. Two
-well-dressed young men drove up to the door of a quiet and very
-respectable hotel in the West End; and they asked for their bill, and
-packed their belongings, which were sufficient though not numerous;
-and when they had paid what they owed and given the usual tips, they
-told the porter to call two hansoms, and each had his things put on
-one of them; and they nodded to each other and parted; and one hansom
-drove to Euston and the other to Charing Cross; and whether they ever
-met again, I do not know, and it does not matter; but in order to
-clear Baraka's character at once and to avoid a useless and perfectly
-transparent mystery, it is as well to say directly that it was the
-young man who drove to Euston, on his way to Liverpool and New York,
-who had Logotheti's ruby sewn up in his waistcoat pocket; and that the
-ruby really belonged to Margaret, since Logotheti had already given it
-to her, before he had brought it to Mr. Pinney to be cut and set. But
-the knowledge of what is here imparted to the reader, who has already
-guessed this much of the truth, would not help Baraka out of Brixton
-Gaol, where the poor girl found herself in very bad company indeed;
-even worse, perhaps, than that in which Spiro was obliged to spend his
-time.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VIII
-
-
-Margaret received her friend's letter and the account of Baraka's
-trial by the same post on the morning after she and Mr. Van Torp had
-been to hear _Parsifal_ together, and she opened the two envelopes
-before reading her other letters, though after assuring herself that
-there was nothing from Logotheti. He did not write every day, by any
-means, for he was a man of the world and he knew that although most
-women demand worship at fixed hours, few can receive it so regularly
-without being bored to the verge of exasperation. It was far better,
-Logotheti knew, to let Margaret find fault with him for writing too
-little than to spoil her into indifference by writing too much. Women
-are often like doctors, who order their patients to do ten things and
-are uncommonly glad if the patient does one.
-
-So Margaret had no letter from Logotheti that morning, and she read
-Lady Maud's and the enclosure before going on to the unpaid bills,
-religious tracts, appeals for alms, advertisements of patent
-medicines, 'confidential' communications from manufacturers of motor
-cars, requests to sing for nothing at charity concerts, anonymous
-letters of abuse, real business letters from real business men, and
-occasional attempts at blackmail, which are the usual contents of a
-celebrity's post-bag, and are generally but thinly salted with
-anything like news from friends.
-
-The Primadonna, in her professional travels, had grown cautious of
-reading her letters in a room where there were other people; she had
-once surprised a colleague who was toying with an opera-glass quite
-absently, ten paces away, as if trying its range and focus, but who
-frequently directed it towards a letter she was perusing; and
-short-sighted people had dropped a glove or a handkerchief at her very
-feet in order to stoop down and bring their noses almost against a
-note she held in her hand. The world is full of curious people;
-curiosity is said, indeed, to be the prime cause of study and
-therefore of knowledge itself. Margaret assuredly did not distrust
-Mrs. Rushmore, and she did not fear Potts, but her experience had
-given her the habit of reading her important letters alone in her own
-room, and sometimes with the door locked. Similarly, if any one came
-near her when she was writing, even about the most indifferent
-matters, she instinctively covered the page with her hand, or with a
-piece of blotting-paper, sometimes so hastily as to lead a person to
-believe that she was ashamed of what she had written. Natural habits
-of behaviour remind us how we were brought up; acquired ones recall to
-us the people with whom we have lived.
-
-Margaret read the newspaper cutting first, supposing that it contained
-something flattering about herself, for she had been a little short of
-public admiration for nearly a fortnight. Baraka's case was reported
-with the rather brutal simplicity which characterises such accounts
-in the English papers, and Logotheti's name appeared in Mr. Pinney's
-evidence. There had been the usual 'laughter,' duly noted by the
-stenographer, when the poor girl's smart man's clothes were produced
-before the magistrate by the policeman who had arrested her. The
-magistrate had made a few stern remarks when ordering the delinquents
-to prison, and had called Baraka 'hardened' because she did not burst
-into tears. That was all, and there were barely five-and-twenty lines
-of small print.
-
-But the Primadonna bit her handsome lip and her eyes sparkled with
-anger, as she put the cutting back into the first envelope, and took
-the folded letter out of the other. The girl had not only stolen a
-ruby, but it was Margaret's ruby, her very own, the one Logotheti had
-given her for her engagement, and which she had insisted upon having
-set as a ring though it would cover more than half the space between
-her knuckle and the joint of her third finger. Further, it had been
-stolen by the very girl from whom Logotheti had pretended that he had
-bought it, a fact which cast the high light of absurdity on his
-unlikely story! It was natural enough that she should have seen it,
-and should have known that he was taking it to Pinney's, and that she
-should have been able to prepare a little screw of paper with a bit of
-glass inside, to substitute for it. The improbabilities of such an
-explanation did not occur to Lady Maud, who saw only the glaring fact
-that the handsome Tartar girl had accompanied Logotheti, between
-London and Paris, disguised as a man, and had ultimately robbed him,
-as he richly deserved. She had imposed upon Van Torp too, and had
-probably tried to sell him the very stone she had stolen from
-Logotheti, and the one she had made him take as a gift was nothing but
-a bit of glass, as he said it might be, for all he knew.
-
-She devoured Lady Maud's letter in a few moments, and then read it
-twice again, which took so long that Mrs. Rushmore sent Justine to
-tell Potts to ask if Miss Donne did not mean to go out that morning,
-though the weather was so fine.
-
-Great singers generally develop a capacity for flying into rages, even
-if they have not been born with hot tempers. It is very bad for the
-voice, but it seems to be a part of the life. Margaret was very angry,
-and Potts became as meek and mild as a little lamb when she saw the
-storm signals in her mistress's face. She delivered her message in a
-pathetic and oppressed tone, like a child reciting the collect for the
-day at a Sunday school.
-
-The Primadonna, imposing as a young lioness, walked slowly backwards
-and forwards between her window and the foot of the iron bedstead.
-There was an angry light in her eyes and instead of flushing, as her
-cheeks did for any ordinary fit of temper, they were as white as wax.
-Potts, who was a small woman, seemed to shrink and become visibly
-smaller as she stood waiting for an answer. Suddenly the lioness stood
-still and surveyed the poor little jackal that served her.
-
-'Ask Mrs. Rushmore if she can wait half an hour,' she said. 'I'm very
-angry, Potts, and it's not your fault, so keep out of the way.'
-
-She was generous at all events, but she looked dangerous, and Potts
-seemed positively to shrivel through the crack of the door as she
-disappeared. She was so extremely glad to keep out of the way! There
-were legends already about the great singer's temper, as there are
-about all her fellow-artists. It was said, without the slightest
-foundation, that she had once tossed a maid out of the window like a
-feather, that on another occasion she had severely beaten a coachman,
-and that she had thrown two wretched lap-dogs into a raging fire in a
-stove and fastened the door, because they had barked while she was
-studying a new part. As a matter of fact, she loved animals to
-weakness, and was kindness itself to her servants, and she was
-generally justified in her anger, though it sometimes made her say
-things she regretted. Oedipus found the right answer to the Sphinx's
-riddle in a moment, but the ingenious one about truth propounded by
-Pontius Pilate has puzzled more than sixty generations of Christians.
-If the Sphinx had thought of it, Oedipus would never have got to
-Thebes and some disgustingly unpleasant family complications would
-have been prevented by his premature demise.
-
-Margaret's wrath did not subside quickly, and as it could not spend
-itself on any immediate object, it made her feel as if she were in a
-raging fever. She had never been ill in her life, it was true, and
-therefore did not know what the sensation was. Her only experience of
-medical treatment had been at the hands of a very famous specialist
-for the throat, in New York, to whom she went because all her
-fellow-artists did, and whose mere existence is said by grateful
-singers to effectually counteract the effects of the bad climate
-during the opera season. He photographed her vocal chords, and the
-diagrams produced by her best notes, made her breathe
-pleasant-smelling sprays and told her to keep her feet dry in rainy
-weather. That was the sum of her experience with doctors, and it was
-not at all disagreeable.
-
-Now, her temples throbbed, her hands trembled and were as hot as fire,
-her lips were drawn and parched, and when she caught sight of herself
-in the looking-glass she saw that she was quite white and that her
-eyes were bloodshot.
-
-But she was really a sensible English girl, although she was so very
-angry.
-
-'This is ridiculous!' she said aloud, with emphasis. 'I won't be so
-silly!' And she sat down to try and think quietly.
-
-It was not so easy. A Tartar girl indeed! More probably a handsome
-Greek. How could they know the difference in a London Police Court?
-She was not aware that in London and other great cities the police
-disposes of interpreters for every known language, from the Malay
-dialects to Icelandic. Besides, it did not matter! She would have been
-angry if Logotheti had made love to the Duchess of Barchester, or to
-Lady Dick Savory, the smartest woman in London, or to Mrs.
-Smythe-Hockaday, the handsomest woman in England; she would have been
-angry of course, but not so furious as she was now, not in a white
-rage that made her teeth chatter, and her eyes burn as if they were
-red-hot in her head. An ignorant Eastern girl! A creature that
-followed him about in man's clothes! A thief! Pah! Disgusting!
-
-Each detail that occurred to her made it more unbearable. She
-remembered her conversation with him through the telephone when she
-was at Versailles, his explanation the next day, which she had so
-foolishly accepted, his kiss! Her blood raged in her eyes, and her
-hands shook together. On that evening he had refused to stay to
-dinner; no doubt he had gone back to his house in Paris, and had dined
-with the girl--in the hall of the Aphrodite! It was not to be
-believed, and after that memorable moment under the elm-tree, too,
-when the sun was going down--after an honest girl's first kiss, the
-first she had given any man since she had been a child and her lips
-had timidly touched her dead father's forehead! People would not
-believe it, perhaps, because she was an artist and an opera-singer;
-but it was true.
-
-It was no wonder that they had succeeded in deceiving her for a while,
-the two Orientals together! They had actually made Rufus Van Torp
-believe their story, which must have been a very different matter from
-lying to a credulous young woman who had let herself fall in love! But
-for her friend Lady Maud she would still be their victim. Her heart
-went out to the woman who had saved her from her fate, and with the
-thought came the impulse to send a message of gratitude; and the
-first fury of her anger subsided with the impulse to do so. By and by
-it would cool and harden to a lasting resentment that would not soften
-again.
-
-Her hand still shook so that she could hardly hold the pen steady
-while she wrote the telegram.
-
-'Unspeakably grateful. If can join me here will gladly wait for you.
-Must see you at once. Do come.'
-
-She felt better as she rose from the table, and when she looked at
-herself in the mirror she saw that her face had changed again and that
-her natural colour was returning. She rang for Potts, remembering that
-the half-hour must be almost up.
-
-The maid appeared at once, still looking very small and mild; but one
-glance told her that the worst was past. She raised her head, threw
-back her shoulders and stood up straight, apparently growing visibly
-till she regained her ordinary size.
-
-'Potts,' Margaret said, facing round upon her, 'I've been in a rage,
-but I'm only angry now. Do I look like a human being again?'
-
-'Yes, ma'am,' answered the maid, inspecting her gravely. 'You are
-still a bit pale, ma'am, and your eye is a trifle wild, I may say. A
-motor veil, perhaps, if you are thinking of going out, ma'am.'
-
-'I haven't got such a thing, have I? I never motor now.'
-
-Potts smiled the smile of the very superior maid, and moved towards a
-perfectly new leather hat-box that stood in the corner.
-
-'I always put in two for sea, ma'am,' she said. 'You wore one when we
-crossed the Channel the last time, if you remember.'
-
-'Potts, you're a treasure!'
-
-'Yes, ma'am,' Potts answered vaguely in her meek voice, as she dived
-into one of the curious secret pockets of the hat-box. 'That is,
-ma'am,' she said, correcting herself, 'I mean, it's very kind of you
-to say so.'
-
-Without further consulting Margaret, who had seated herself before the
-dressing-table, Potts proceeded to fasten a broad-brimmed black straw
-hat on the thick brown hair; she then spread an immense white veil
-over it, drew it under her mistress's chin and knotted in a way that
-would have amazed a seaman.
-
-When Margaret was putting on her gloves, Mrs. Rushmore herself came to
-the door, knocked and opened discreetly before there was any answer.
-
-'My dear child,' she asked, 'what in the world is the matter? Nothing
-serious, I trust?'
-
-'Oh, nothing,' Margaret answered, going forward to meet her, and
-finding her natural voice. 'I'm sorry if I've kept you waiting.'
-
-'It's so unlike you, my dear,' Mrs. Rushmore said, with emphasis; 'and
-Potts looked quite grave when she brought me your message half an hour
-ago.'
-
-'You would have been more surprised if she had burst out laughing,'
-Margaret said viciously.
-
-'My dear,' Mrs. Rushmore answered, 'I'm astonished at you! I know
-something has happened. I know it. You are not yourself this
-morning.'
-
-This was a statement so evidently absurd that it could not be answered
-except by a flat contradiction; so Margaret said nothing, and went on
-working her hand into a perfectly new glove.
-
-'I see that you have not even opened your letters,' Mrs. Rushmore
-continued severely. 'Except that,' she added, noticing the loose
-sheets of Lady Maud's letter on the toilet-table.
-
-Margaret gathered them up hastily, folded them into a crumpled package
-and thrust them into the empty envelope. For once, she had forgotten
-her caution, but she retrieved herself by pushing the thick letter
-into her long glove, much to Potts' distress, for it made an ugly
-lump. She made it worse by forcing in the second envelope, which
-contained the newspaper cutting.
-
-'I'm ready now,' she said.
-
-Mrs. Rushmore turned and led the way with stately steps; she was
-always imposing, but when she was offended she was monumental. The two
-went out in silence, opened their parasols, the one black, the other
-scarlet, and walked slowly down the straight, dull street side by
-side. Mrs. Rushmore spoke first, after they had gone some distance.
-
-'I know,' she said, 'that something has happened. It was in that
-letter. You cannot deny it, Margaret. It was in the letter you folded
-in that hurried manner.'
-
-'The news was,' answered the Primadonna, still vicious.
-
-'I told you so. My dear child, it's not of the slightest use to try to
-deceive me. I've known you since you were a child.'
-
-'I'm not trying to deceive you.'
-
-'When I asked what had happened, you answered, "Nothing." I do not
-call that very frank, do you?'
-
-'Potts was there, to begin with,' explained Margaret rather crossly.
-
-But Mrs. Rushmore no longer heard. Her head was up, her parasol lay
-back upon her shoulder, her faded eyes were brighter than before, and
-the beginning of a social smile wreathed her hitherto grave lips.
-There was game about, and she was pointing; there were lions to
-windward.
-
-'There's Mr. Van Torp, my dear,' she said in quite another tone, and
-very low, 'and unless I'm much mistaken--yes, I knew it! He's with
-Count Kralinsky. I saw the Count from the window yesterday when he
-arrived. I hope our friend will present him.'
-
-'I daresay,' Margaret answered indifferently, but surveying the two
-men through the white mist of her thick veil.
-
-'Yes,' said Mrs. Rushmore with delight, and almost whispering in her
-excitement. 'He has seen us, and now he's telling the Count who we
-are.'
-
-Margaret was used to her excellent old friend's ways on such
-occasions, and gave no more heed to them than she would have given to
-a kitten scampering after a ball of string. The kitten would certainly
-catch the ball in the end, and Mrs. Rushmore would as surely capture
-the lion.
-
-Mr. Van Torp raised his hat when he was within four or five paces of
-the ladies, and his companion, who was a head and shoulders taller
-than he, slackened his pace and stopped a little way behind him as
-Mrs. Rushmore shook hands and Margaret nodded pleasantly.
-
-'May I present Count Kralinsky?' asked the American. 'I've met him
-before, and we've just renewed our acquaintance.'
-
-Mr. Van Torp looked from Mrs. Rushmore to Margaret, and tried to see
-her expression through her veil. She answered his look by a very
-slight inclination of the head.
-
-'We shall be delighted,' said the elder lady, speaking for both.
-
-Mr. Van Torp introduced the Count to Mrs. Rushmore and then to
-Margaret, calling her 'Miss Donne,' and she saw that the man was
-handsome as well as tall and strong. He had a magnificent golden
-beard, a clear complexion, and rather uncertain blue eyes, in one of
-which he wore a single eyeglass without a string. He was quietly
-dressed and wore no jewellery, excepting one ring, in which blazed a
-large 'tallow-topped' ruby. He had the unmistakable air of a man of
-the world, and was perfectly at his ease. When he raised his straw hat
-he disclosed a very white forehead, and short, thick fair hair. There
-was no sign of approaching middle age in his face or figure, but
-Margaret felt, or guessed, that he was older than he looked.
-
-In her stiffly correct French, Mrs. Rushmore said that she was
-enchanted to make his acquaintance, and Margaret murmured sweetly but
-unintelligibly.
-
-'The Count speaks English perfectly,' observed Mr. Van Torp.
-
-He ranged himself beside Margaret, leaving the foreigner to Mrs.
-Rushmore, much to her gratification.
-
-'We were going to walk,' she said. 'Will you join us?' And she moved
-on.
-
-'It is a great pleasure to meet you,' Kralinsky said by way of opening
-the conversation. 'I have often heard of you from friends in Paris.
-Your little dinners at Versailles are famous all over Europe. I am
-sure we have many mutual friends, though you may never have heard my
-name.'
-
-Mrs. Rushmore was visibly pleased, and as the way was not very wide,
-Margaret and Van Torp dropped behind. They soon heard the other two
-enumerating their acquaintances. Kralinsky was surprised at the number
-of Mrs. Rushmore's friends, but the Count seemed to know everybody,
-from all the Grand Dukes and Archdukes in Russia, Germany, and
-Austria, to the author of the latest successful play in Paris, and the
-man of science who had discovered how to cure gout by radium.
-Kralinsky had done the cure, seen the play, and dined with the
-royalties within the last few weeks. Mrs. Rushmore thought him one of
-the most charming men she had ever met.
-
-In the rear Mr. Van Torp and the Primadonna were not talking; but he
-looked at her, she looked at him, they both looked at Kralinsky's
-back, and then they once more looked at each other and nodded; which
-meant that Van Torp had recognised the man he had met selling rubies
-in New York, and that Margaret understood this.
-
-'I'll tell you something else that's quite funny, if you don't mind
-dropping a little further behind,' he said.
-
-Margaret walked still more slowly till a dozen paces separated them
-from the other two.
-
-'What is it?' she asked in a low tone.
-
-'I believe he's my old friend from whom I learned to whistle
-_Parsifal_,' answered the American. 'I'm pretty sure of it, in spite
-of a good many years and a beard--two things that change a man. See
-his walk? See how he turns his toes in? Most cow-boys walk like that.'
-
-'How very odd that you should meet again!' Margaret was surprised, but
-not deeply interested by this new development.
-
-'Well,' said Van Torp thoughtfully, 'if I'd known I was going to meet
-him somewhere, I'd have said this was as likely a place as any to find
-him in, now that I know what it was he whistled. But I admit that the
-other matter has more in it. I wonder what would happen if I asked him
-about Miss Barrack?'
-
-'Nothing,' Margaret answered confidently. 'Nothing would happen. He
-has never heard of her.'
-
-Van Torp's sharp eyes tried in vain to penetrate the veil.
-
-'That's not quite clear,' he observed. 'Or else this isn't my good
-day.'
-
-'The girl fooled you,' said Margaret in a low voice. 'Did she mention
-his name to you?'
-
-'Well, no----'
-
-'She never saw him in her life, or if she ever did, it was she who
-robbed him of rubies; and it was not the other way, as you supposed.
-Men are generally inclined to believe what a nice-looking girl tells
-them!'
-
-'That's true,' Van Torp admitted. 'But all the same, I don't quite
-understand you. There's a meaning in your voice that's not in the
-words. Excuse me if I'm not quick enough this morning, please. I'm
-doing my best.'
-
-'Your friend Baraka has been arrested and sent to prison in London for
-stealing a very valuable ruby from the counter in Pinney's,' Margaret
-explained. 'The stone had just been taken there by Monsieur Logotheti
-to be cut. The girl must have followed him without his knowing it, and
-watched her chance, though how old Pinney can have left such a thing
-lying on the counter where any one could take it is simply
-incomprehensible. That's what you heard in my voice when I said that
-men are credulous.'
-
-Mr. Van Torp thought he had heard even more in her accent when she had
-pronounced Logotheti's name. Besides, she generally called him 'Logo,'
-as all his friends did. The American said nothing for a moment, but he
-glanced repeatedly at the white veil, through which he saw her
-handsome features without their expression.
-
-'Well,' he said at last, almost to himself, for he hardly expected her
-to understand the language of his surprise, 'that beats the band!'
-
-'It really is rather odd, you know,' responded Margaret, who
-understood perfectly. 'If you think I've adorned the truth I'll give
-you the Police Court report. I have it in my glove. Lady Maud sent it
-to me with a letter.' She added, after an instant's hesitation, 'I'm
-not sure that I shall not give you that to read too, for there's
-something about you in it, and she is your best friend, isn't she?'
-
-'Out and out. I daresay you'd smile if I told you that I asked her to
-help me to get you to change your mind.'
-
-'No,' Margaret answered, turning slowly to look at him. 'She tells me
-so in this letter.'
-
-'Does she really?' Van Torp had guessed as much, and had wished to
-undermine the surprise he supposed that Margaret had in store for him.
-'That's just like her straightforward way of doing things. She told me
-frankly that she wouldn't lift a finger to influence you. However, it
-can't be helped, I suppose.'
-
-The conclusion of the speech seemed to be out of the logical sequence.
-
-'She has done more than lift a finger now,' Margaret said.
-
-'Has she offended you?' Van Torp ventured to ask, for he did not
-understand the constant subtone of anger he heard in her voice. 'I
-know she would not mean to do that.'
-
-'No. You don't understand. I've telegraphed to ask her to join us
-here.'
-
-Van Torp was really surprised now, and his face showed it.
-
-'I wish we were somewhere alone,' Margaret continued. 'I mean, out of
-the way of Mrs. Rushmore. She knows nothing about all this, but she
-saw me cramming the letters into my glove, and I cannot possibly let
-her see me giving them to you.'
-
-'Oh, well, let me think,' said the millionaire. 'I guess I want to buy
-some photographs of Bayreuth and the _Parsifal_ characters in that
-shop, there on the right. Suppose you wait outside the door, so that
-Mrs. Rushmore can see you if she turns around. She'll understand that
-I'm inside. If you drop your parasol towards her you can get the
-letters out, can't you? Then as I come out you can just pass them to
-me behind the parasol, and we'll go on. How's that? It won't take one
-second, anyhow. You can make-believe your glove's uncomfortable, and
-you're fixing it, if anybody you know comes out of the shop. Will that
-do? Here we are. Shall I go in?'
-
-'Yes. Don't be long! I'll cough when I'm ready.'
-
-The operation succeeded, and the more easily as Mrs. Rushmore went
-quietly on without turning her head, being absorbed and charmed by
-Kralinsky's conversation.
-
-'You may as well read the newspaper cutting now,' Margaret said when
-they had begun to walk again. 'That cannot attract attention, even if
-she does look round, and it explains a good many things. It's in the
-thinner envelope, of course.'
-
-Van Torp fumbled in the pocket of his jacket, and brought out the slip
-of newspaper without the envelope, a precaution which Margaret noticed
-and approved. If she had been able to forget for a moment her anger
-against Logotheti she would have been amazed at the strides her
-intimacy with Van Torp was making. He himself was astounded, and did
-not yet understand, but he had played the great game for fortune
-against adversaries of vast strength and skill, and had won by his
-qualities rather than his luck, and they did not desert him at the
-most important crisis of his life. The main difference between his
-present state of mind and his mental view, when he had been fighting
-men for money, was that he now felt scruples wholly new to him. Things
-that had looked square enough when millions were at stake appeared to
-him 'low down' where Margaret was the prize.
-
-She watched him intently while he read the printed report, but his
-face did not change in the least. At that short distance she could see
-every shade of his expression through the white veiling, though he
-could not see hers at all. He finished reading, folded the slip
-carefully, and put it into his pocket-book instead of returning it to
-the envelope.
-
-  [Illustration: "She watched him intently while he read the printed
-   report."]
-
-'It does look queer,' he said slowly. 'Now let me ask you one thing,
-but don't answer me unless you like. It's not mere inquisitiveness on
-my part.' As Margaret said nothing, though he waited a moment for her
-answer, he went on. 'That ruby, now--I suppose it's to be cut for you,
-isn't it?'
-
-'Yes. He gave it to me in Versailles, and I kept it some days. Then he
-asked me to let him have it to take to London when I came here.'
-
-'Just so. Thank you. One more question, if I may. That stone I gave
-you, I swear I don't know that it's not glass--anyhow, that stone,
-does it look at all like the one that was stolen?'
-
-'Oh, no! It's quite another shape and size. Why do you ask? I don't
-quite see.'
-
-'What I mean is, if these people are around selling rubies, there may
-be two very much alike, that's all.'
-
-'Well, if there were? What of it?'
-
-'Suppose--I'm only supposing, mind, that the girl really had another
-stone about her a good deal like the one that was stolen, and that
-somebody else was the thief. Queer things like that have happened
-before.'
-
-'Yes. But old Pinney is one of the first experts in the world, and he
-swore to the ruby.'
-
-'That's so,' said Van Torp thoughtfully. 'I forgot that.'
-
-'And if she had the other stone, she had stolen it from Monsieur
-Logotheti, I have not the least doubt.'
-
-'I daresay,' replied the millionaire. 'I'm not her attorney. I'm not
-trying to defend her. I was only thinking.'
-
-'She was at his house in Paris,' Margaret said, quite unable to keep
-her own counsel now. 'It was when I was at Versailles.'
-
-'You don't say so! Are you sure of that?'
-
-'He admitted it when I was talking to him through the telephone, and I
-heard her speaking to him in a language I did not understand.'
-
-'Did you really? Well, well!' Mr. Van Torp was beginning to be
-puzzled again. 'Nice voice, hasn't she?'
-
-'Yes. He tried to make me think he wasn't sure whether the creature
-was a boy or a girl.'
-
-'Maybe he wasn't sure himself,' suggested the American, but the tone
-in which she had spoken the word 'creature' had not escaped him.
-
-He was really trying to put the case in a fair light, and was not at
-all manoeuvring to ascertain her state of mind. That was clear
-enough now. How far she might go he could not tell, but what she had
-just said, coupled with the way in which she spoke of the man to whom
-she was engaged as 'Monsieur Logotheti,' made it quite evident that
-she was profoundly incensed against him, and Van Torp became more than
-ever anxious not to do anything underhand.
-
-'Look here,' he said, 'I'm going to tell you something. I took a sort
-of interest in that Tartar girl the only time I saw her. I don't know
-why. I daresay I was taken in by her--just ordinary "taken in," like a
-tenderfoot. I gave her that fellow's address in New York.' He nodded
-towards Kralinsky. 'When I found he was here, I wired Logotheti to
-tell her, since she's after him. I suppose I thought Logotheti would
-go right away and find her, and get more mixed up with her than ever.
-It was mean of me, wasn't it? That's why I've told you. You see, I
-didn't know anything about all this, and that makes it meaner still,
-doesn't it?'
-
-Possibly if he had told her these facts forty-eight hours earlier she
-might have been annoyed, but at present they seemed to be rather in
-his favour. At all events he was frank, she thought. He declared war
-on his rival, and meant fight according to the law of nations. Lady
-Maud would not be his friend if he were playing any double game, but
-she had stuck to him throughout his trouble in the spring, he had
-emerged victorious and reinstated in public opinion, and she had been
-right. Lady Maud knew him better than any one else, and she was a good
-woman, if there ever was one.
-
-Yet he had accused himself of having acted 'meanly.' Margaret did not
-like the word, and threw up her head as a horse does when a beginner
-holds on by the curb.
-
-'You need not make yourself out worse than you are,' she answered.
-
-'I want to start fair,' said the millionaire, 'and I'd rather your
-impression should improve than get worse. The only real trouble with
-Lucifer was he started too high up.'
-
-This singular statement was made with perfect gravity, and without the
-slightest humorous intention, but Margaret laughed for the first time
-that day, in spite of the storm that was still raging in the near
-distance of her thoughts.
-
-'Why do you laugh?' asked Van Torp. 'It's quite true. I don't want to
-start too high up in your estimation and then be turned down as unfit
-for the position at the end of the first week. Put me where I belong
-and I won't disappoint you. Say I was doing something that wasn't
-exactly low-down, considering the object, but that mightn't pass
-muster at an honour-parade, anyhow. And then say that I've admitted
-the fact, if you like, and that the better I know you the less I want
-to do anything mean. It won't be hard for you to look at it in that
-light, will it? And it'll give me the position of starting from the
-line. Is that right?'
-
-'Yes,' Margaret answered, smiling. 'Slang "right" and English "right"!
-You ask for a fair field and no favour, and you shall have it.'
-
-'I'll go straight,' Van Torp answered.
-
-He was conscious that he was hourly improving his knowledge of women's
-little ways, and that what he had said, and had purposely expressed in
-his most colloquial manner, had touched a chord which would not have
-responded to a fine speech. For though he often spoke a sort of
-picturesque dialect, and though he was very far from being highly
-educated, he could speak English well enough when he chose. It
-probably seemed to him that good grammar and well-selected words
-belonged to formal occasions and not to everyday life, and that it was
-priggish to be particular in avoiding slang and cowardly to sacrifice
-an hereditary freedom from the bonds of the subjunctive mood.
-
-'I suppose Lady Maud will come, won't she?' he asked suddenly, after a
-short silence.
-
-'I hope so,' Margaret said. 'If not, she will meet me in Paris, for
-she offers to do that in her letter.'
-
-'I'm staying on in this place because you said you didn't mind,'
-observed Van Torp. 'Do you want me to go away if she arrives?'
-
-'Why should I? Why shouldn't you stay?'
-
-'Oh, I don't know. I was only thinking. Much obliged anyway, and I'll
-certainly stay if you don't object. We shall be quite a party, shan't
-we? What with us three, and Lady Maud and Kralinsky there----'
-
-'Surely you don't call him one of our "party"!' objected Margaret.
-'He's only just been introduced to us. I daresay Mrs. Rushmore will
-ask him to dinner or luncheon, but that will be all.'
-
-'Oh, yes! I suppose that will be all.'
-
-But his tone roused her curiosity by its vagueness.
-
-'You knew him long ago,' she said. 'If he's not a decent sort of
-person to have about, you ought to tell us--indeed you should not have
-introduced him at all if he's a bad lot.'
-
-Mr. Van Torp did not answer at once, and seemed to be consulting his
-recollections.
-
-'I don't know anything against him,' he said at last. 'All foreigners
-who drift over to the States and go West haven't left their country
-for the same reasons. I suppose most of them come because they've got
-no money at home and want some. I haven't any right to take it for
-granted that a foreign gentleman who turns cow-boy for a year or two
-has cheated at cards, or anything of that sort, have I? There were all
-kinds of men on that ranch, as there are on every other and in every
-mining camp in the West, and most of 'em have no particular names.
-They get called something when they turn up, and they're known as that
-while they stay, and if they die with their boots on, they get buried
-as that, and if not, they clear out when they've had enough of it;
-and some of 'em strike something and get rich, as I did, and some of
-'em settle down to occupations, as I've known many do. But they all
-turn into themselves again, or turn themselves into somebody else
-after they go back. While they're punching cattle they're generally
-just "Dandy Jim" or "Levi Longlegs," as that fellow was, or something
-of that sort.'
-
-'What were you called?' asked Margaret.
-
-'I?' Van Torp smiled faintly at the recollection of his nickname. 'I
-was always Fanny Cook.'
-
-Margaret laughed.
-
-'Of all the inappropriate names!'
-
-'Well,' said the millionaire, still smiling, 'I guess it must have
-been because I was always sort of gentle and confiding and sweet, you
-know. So they concluded to give me a girl's name as soon as they saw
-me, and I turned out a better cook than the others, so they tacked
-that on, too. I didn't mind.'
-
-Margaret smiled too, as she glanced at his jaw and his flat, hard
-cheeks, and thought of his having been called 'Fanny.'
-
-'Did you ever kill anybody, Miss Fanny?' she asked, with a little
-laugh.
-
-A great change came over his face at once.
-
-'Yes,' he answered very gravely. 'Twice, in fair self-defence. If I
-had hesitated, I should not be here.'
-
-'I beg your pardon,' Margaret said quietly. 'I should not have asked
-you. I ought to have known.'
-
-'Why?' he asked. 'One gets that kind of question asked one now and
-then by people one doesn't care to answer. But I'd rather have you
-know something about my life than not. Not that it's much to be proud
-of,' he added, rather sadly.
-
-'Some day you shall tell me all you will,' Margaret answered. 'I
-daresay you did much better than you think, when you look back.'
-
-'Lady Maud knows all about me now,' he said, 'and no one else alive
-does. Perhaps you'll be the second that will, and that'll be all for
-the present. They want us to come up with them, do you see?'
-
-Mrs. Rushmore and Kralinsky had stopped in their walk and were waiting
-for them. They quickened their pace.
-
-'I thought perhaps this was far enough,' said Mrs. Rushmore. 'Of
-course I could go on further, and it's not your usual walk, my dear,
-but unless you mind--'
-
-Margaret did not mind, and said so readily; whereupon Mrs. Rushmore
-deliberately took Van Torp for her companion on the way back.
-
-'I'm sure you won't object to walking slowly,' she said to him, 'and
-Miss Donne and the Count can go as fast as they like, for they are
-both good walkers. I am sure you must be a great walker,' she added,
-turning to the Russian.
-
-He smiled blandly and bent his head a little, as if he were
-acknowledging a compliment. Van Torp looked at him quietly.
-
-'I should have thought you were more used to riding,' said the
-American.
-
-'Ah, yes!' The indifferent answer came in a peculiarly oily tone,
-though the pronunciation was perfect. 'I was in the cavalry before I
-began to travel. But I walked over two thousand miles in Central Asia,
-and was none the worst for it.'
-
-Margaret was sure that she was not going to like him, as she moved on
-with him by her side; and Van Torp, walking with Mrs. Rushmore, was
-quite certain that he was Levi Longlegs, who had herded cattle with
-him for six months very long ago.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IX
-
-
-Logotheti reached his lodgings in St. James's Place at six o'clock in
-the evening of the day on which he had promised to dine with Van Torp,
-and the latter's note of excuse was given to him at once. He read it,
-looked out of the window, glanced at it again, and threw it into the
-waste-paper basket without another thought. He did not care in the
-least about dining with the American millionaire. In fact, he had
-looked forward to it rather as a bore than a pleasure. He saw on his
-table, with his letters, a flat and almost square parcel, which the
-addressed label told him contained the Archaeological Report of the
-Egyptian Exploration Fund, and he had heard that the new number would
-contain an account of a papyrus recently discovered at Oxyrrhynchus,
-on which some new fragments of Pindar had been found. No dinner that
-could be devised, and no company that could be asked to meet him at
-it, could be half as delightful as that to the man who so deeply loved
-the ancient literature of his country, and he made up his mind at once
-that he would not even take the trouble to go to a club, but would
-have a bird and a salad in his rooms.
-
-Unhappily for his peace and his anticipated feast of poetry, he looked
-through his letters to see if there were one from Margaret, and there
-was only a coloured postcard from Bayreuth, with the word 'greetings'
-scrawled beside the address in her large hand. Next to the card,
-however, there was a thick letter addressed in a commercial writing he
-remembered but could not at once identify; and though it was
-apparently a business communication, and could therefore have waited
-till the next morning, when his secretary would come as usual, he
-opened it out of mere curiosity to know whence it came.
-
-It was from Mr. Pinney the jeweller, and it contained a full and
-conscientious account of the whole affair of the theft, from the
-moment when Logotheti and Van Torp had gone out together until Mr.
-Pinney had locked up the stone in his safe again, and Baraka and Spiro
-had been lodged in Brixton Gaol. The envelope contained also a cutting
-from the newspaper similar to the one Margaret had received from Lady
-Maud.
-
-Logotheti laid the letter on the table and looked at his watch. It was
-now a quarter-past six, and old-fashioned shops like Pinney's close
-rather early in the dull season, when few customers are to be expected
-and the days are not so long as they have been. In the latter part of
-August, in London, the sun sets soon after seven o'clock, and
-Logotheti realised that he had no time to lose.
-
-As he drove quickly up towards Bond Street, he ran over the
-circumstances in his mind, and came to the conclusion that Baraka had
-probably been the victim of a trick, though he did not exclude the
-bare possibility that she might be guilty. With all her cleverness and
-native sense, she might be little more than a savage who had picked up
-European manners in Constantinople, where you can pick up any manners
-you like, Eastern or Western. The merchant who had given her a letter
-for Logotheti only knew what she had chosen to tell him, and connived
-in her deception by speaking of her as a man; and she might have told
-him anything to account for having some valuable precious stones to
-dispose of. But, on the other hand, she might not be a Tartar at all.
-Any one, from the Bosphorus to the Amur, may speak Tartar, and pretend
-not to understand anything else. She might be nothing but a clever
-half-bred Levantine from Smyrna, who had fooled them all, and really
-knew French and even English. The merchant had not vouched for the
-bearer's character beyond saying that 'he' had some good rubies to
-sell, called himself a Tartar, and was apparently an honest young
-fellow. All the rest was Baraka's own story, and Logotheti really knew
-of nothing in her favour beyond his intimate conviction that she was
-innocent. Against that stood the fact that the stolen ruby had been
-found secreted on her person within little more than half an hour of
-her having had a chance to take it from Pinney's shop.
-
-From quite another point of view, Logotheti himself argued as Margaret
-had done. Baraka knew that he possessed the ruby, since she had sold
-it to him. She knew that he meant to have it cut in London. She might
-easily have been watching him and following him for several days in
-the hope of getting it back, carrying the bit of bottle glass of the
-same size about with her, carefully prepared and wrapped in
-tissue-paper, ready to be substituted for the gem at any moment. She
-had watched him go into Pinney's, knowing very well what he was going
-for; she had waited till he came out, and had then entered and asked
-to see any rubies Mr. Pinney had, trusting to the chance that he might
-choose to show her Logotheti's, as a curiosity. Chance had favoured
-her, that was all. She had doubtless recognised the twist on the
-counter, and the rest had been easy enough. Was not the affair of the
-Ascot Cup, a much more difficult and dangerous theft, still fresh in
-every one's memory?
-
-Logotheti found Mr. Pinney himself in the act of turning the discs of
-the safe before going home and leaving his shopman to shut up the
-place. He smiled with grave satisfaction when Logotheti entered.
-
-'I was hoping to see you, sir,' he said. 'I presume that you had my
-letter? I wrote out the account with great care, as you may imagine,
-but I shall be happy to go over the story with you if there is any
-point that is not clear.'
-
-Logotheti did not care to hear it; he wished to see the ruby. Mr.
-Pinney turned the discs again to their places, stuck the little key
-into the secret keyhole which then revealed itself, turned it three
-times to the left and five times to the right, and opened the heavy
-iron door. The safe was an old-fashioned one that had belonged to his
-father before him. He got out the japanned tin box, opened that, and
-produced the stone, still in its paper, for it was too thick to be put
-into one of Mr. Pinney's favourite pill-boxes.
-
-Logotheti undid the paper, took out the big uncut ruby, laid it in the
-palm of his hand, and looked at it critically, turning it over with
-one finger from time to time. He took it to the door of the shop,
-where the evening light was stronger, and examined it with the
-greatest care. Still he did not seem satisfied.
-
-'Let me have your lens, Mr. Pinney,' he said, 'and some electric light
-and a sheet of white paper.'
-
-Mr. Pinney turned up a strong drop light that stood on the counter,
-and produced the paper and a magnifier.
-
-'It's a grand ruby,' he said.
-
-'I see it is,' Logotheti answered rather curtly.
-
-'Do you mean to say,' asked the surprised jeweller, 'that you had
-bought it without thoroughly examining it, sir--you who are an
-expert?'
-
-'No, that's not what I mean,' answered the Greek, bending over the
-ruby and scrutinising it through the strong magnifier.
-
-Mr. Pinney felt himself snubbed, which had not happened to him for a
-long time, and he drew himself up with dignity. A minute passed, and
-Logotheti did not look up; another, and Mr. Pinney grew nervous; a few
-seconds more, and he received a shock that took away his breath.
-
-'This is not my ruby,' said Logotheti, looking up, and speaking with
-perfect confidence.
-
-'Not--your--ruby!' Mr. Pinney's jaw dropped. 'But----' He could get no
-further.
-
-'I'm sorry,' Logotheti said calmly. 'I'm very sorry, for several
-reasons. But it's not the stone I brought you, though it's just as
-large, and most extraordinarily like it.'
-
-'But how do you know, sir?' gasped the jeweller.
-
-'Because I'm an expert, as you were good enough to say just now.'
-
-'Yes, sir. But I am an expert too, and to the best of my expert belief
-this is the stone you left with me to be cut, the day before
-yesterday. I've examined it most thoroughly.'
-
-'No doubt,' answered the Greek. 'But you hadn't examined mine
-thoroughly before it was stolen, had you? You had only looked at it
-with me, on the counter here.'
-
-'That is correct, sir,' said Mr. Pinney nervously. 'That is quite
-true.'
-
-'Very well. But I did more than merely look at it through a lens or
-weigh it. I did not care so much about the weight, but I cared very
-much for the water, and I tried the ruby point on it in the usual way,
-but it was too hard, and then I scratched it in two places with the
-diamond, more out of curiosity than for any other reason.'
-
-'You marked it, sir? There's not a single scratch on this one!
-Merciful Providence! Merciful Providence!'
-
-'Yes,' Logotheti said gravely. 'The girl spoke the truth. She had two
-stones much larger than the rest when she first came to me in Paris,
-this one and another. They were almost exactly alike, and she wanted
-me to buy both, but I did not want them, and I took the one I thought
-a little better in colour. This is the other, for she still had it;
-and, so far as I know, it is her legal property, and mine is gone. The
-thief was one of those two young fellows who came in just when Mr. Van
-Torp and I went out. I remember thinking what nice-looking boys they
-were!'
-
-He laughed rather harshly, for he was more annoyed than his
-consideration for Mr. Pinney made him care to show. He had looked
-forward to giving Margaret the ruby, mounted just as she wished it;
-and the ruby was gone, and he did not know where he was to find
-another, except the one that was now in Pinney's hands, but really
-belonged to poor Baraka, who could certainly not sell it at present. A
-much larger sum of money was gone, too, than any financier could lose
-with equanimity by such a peculiarly disagreeable mishap as being
-robbed. There were several reasons why Logotheti was not pleased.
-
-So far as the money went, he was not sure about the law in such a
-case, and he did not know whether he could claim it of Pinney, who had
-really been guilty of gross carelessness after a lifetime of
-scrupulous caution. Pinney was certainly very well off, and would not
-suffer nearly as much by the loss of a few thousand pounds as from the
-shame of having been robbed in such an impudent fashion of a gem that
-was not even his, but had been entrusted to his keeping.
-
-'I am deeply humiliated,' said the worthy old jeweller. 'I have not
-only been tricked and plundered, but I have been the means of sending
-innocent people to prison.'
-
-'You had better be the means of getting them out again as soon as
-possible,' said Logotheti. 'You know what to do here in England far
-better than I. In my country a stroke of the pen would free Baraka,
-and perhaps another would exile you to Bagdad, Mr. Pinney!'
-
-He spoke lightly, to cheer the old man, but Mr. Pinney shook his head.
-
-'This is no jesting matter, sir,' he said. 'I feel deeply humiliated.'
-
-He really did, and it was evidently a sort of relief to him to repeat
-the words.
-
-'I suppose,' said Logotheti, 'that we shall have to make some kind of
-sworn deposition, or whatever you call it, together, and we will go
-and do it at once, if you please. Lock up the ruby in the safe again,
-Mr. Pinney, and we will start directly. I shall not go back to my
-lodgings till we have done everything we can possibly do to-night.'
-
-'But you will dine, sir?' Mr. Pinney put that point as only a
-well-regulated Englishman of his class can.
-
-'I shall not dine, and you will not dine,' answered Logotheti calmly,
-'if our dinner is at all likely to keep those people in prison an hour
-longer than is inevitable.'
-
-Mr. Pinney looked graver than ever. He was in the habit of dining
-early, and it is said that an Englishman does not fight on an empty
-stomach, and will eat an excellent breakfast before being hanged.
-
-'You can eat sandwiches in the hansom,' said the Greek coldly.
-
-'I was thinking of you, sir,' Mr. Pinney answered gloomily, as he
-finished the operation of shutting the safe; he did not like
-sandwiches, for his teeth were not strong.
-
-'You must also make an effort to trace those two young men who stole
-the ruby,' said Logotheti.
-
-'I most certainly shall,' replied the jeweller, 'and if it is not
-found we will make it good to you, sir, whatever price you set upon
-it. I am deeply humiliated, but nobody shall say that Pinney and Son
-do not make good any loss their customers sustain through them.'
-
-'Don't worry about that, Mr. Pinney,' said Logotheti, who saw how much
-distressed the old jeweller really was.
-
-So they went out and hailed a hansom, and drove away.
-
-It would be tiresome to give a detailed account of what they did. Mr.
-Pinney had not been one of the principal jewellers in London for forty
-years without having been sometimes in need of the law; and
-occasionally, also, the law had been in need of him as an expert in
-very grave cases, some of which required the utmost secrecy as well as
-the greatest possible tact. He knew his way about in places where
-Logotheti had never been; and having once abandoned the idea of
-dinner, he lost no time; for the vision of dinner after all was over
-rose softly, as the full moon rises on a belated traveller, very
-pleasant and companionable by the way.
-
-Moreover, as the fact that Baraka and Spiro were really innocent has
-been kept in view, the manner in which they were proved so is of
-little importance, nor the circumstances of their being let out of
-Brixton Gaol, with a vague expression of regret on the part of the law
-for having placed faith in what Mr. Pinney had testified 'to the best
-of his belief,' instead of accepting a fairy story which a Tartar
-girl, caught going about in man's clothes, told through the broken
-English of a Stamboul interpreter. The law, being good English law,
-did not make a fuss about owning that it had been mistaken; though it
-reprimanded Mr. Pinney openly for his haste, and he continued to feel
-deeply humiliated. It was also quite ready to help him to find the
-real thieves, though that looked rather difficult.
-
-For law and order, in their private study, with no one looking on, had
-felt that there was something very odd about the case. It was strange,
-for instance, that the committed person should have a large bank
-account in Paris in his, or her, own name, and should have made no
-attempt to conceal the latter when arrested. It was queer that 'Barak'
-should be known to a number of honourable Paris jewellers as having
-sold them rubies of excellent quality, but that there should never
-have been the least suspicion that he, or she, took any that belonged
-to other people. It was still more extraordinary that 'Barak' should
-have offered an enormous ruby, of which the description corresponded
-remarkably well with the one that had appeared in evidence at the
-Police Court, to two French dealers in precious stones, who had not
-bought it, but were bearing it in mind for possible customers, and
-were informed of Barak's London address, in case they could find a
-buyer. In the short time since Baraka had been in prison, yards of
-ciphered telegrams had been exchanged between the London and Paris
-police; for the Frenchmen maintained that if the Englishmen had not
-made a mistake, there must have been a big robbery of precious stones
-somewhere, to account for those that Baraka was selling; but that, as
-no such robbery, or robberies, had been heard of anywhere in Europe,
-America, India, or Australia, the Englishmen were probably wrong and
-had locked up the wrong person. For the French jewellers who had
-bought the stones all went to the Paris Chief of Police and laid the
-matter before him, being much afraid that they had purchased stolen
-goods which had certainly not been offered for sale in 'market overt.'
-The result was that the English police had begun to feel rather
-nervous about it all, and were extremely glad to have matters cleared
-up, and to say so, and to see about the requisite order to set the
-prisoners at large.
-
-Also, Mr. Pinney restored the ruby to her, and all her other
-belongings were given back to her, even including the smart grey suit
-of men's clothes in which she had been arrested; and her luggage and
-other things which the manager of the hotel where she had been
-stopping had handed over to the police were all returned; and when
-Spiro appeared at the hotel to pay the small bill that had been left
-owing, he held his head as high as an Oriental can when he has got
-the better of any one, and that is pretty high indeed. Furthermore,
-Mr. Pinney insisted on giving Logotheti a formal document by which
-Messrs. Pinney and Son bound themselves to make good to him, his
-heirs, or assigns, the loss of a ruby, approximately of a certain
-weight and quality, which he had lost through their carelessness.
-
-All these things were arranged with as little fuss and noise as might
-be; but it was not possible to keep the singular circumstances out of
-the newspapers; nor was it desirable, except from Mr. Pinney's point
-of view, for Baraka had a right to be cleared from all suspicion in
-the most public manner, and Logotheti insisted that this should be
-done. It was done, and generously too; and the girl's story was so
-wonderfully romantic that the reporters went into paroxysms of
-adjectivitis in every edition of their papers, and scurried about town
-like mad between the attacks to find out where she was and to
-interview her. But in this they failed; and the only person they could
-lay hands on was Logotheti's private secretary, who was a middle-aged
-Swiss with a vast face that was as perfectly expressionless as a
-portrait of George the Fourth on the signboard of an English country
-inn, or a wooden Indian before the door of an American tobacconist's
-shop. He had been everywhere and spoke most known languages, for he
-had once set up a little business in Constantinople that had failed;
-and his power of knowing nothing, when he had a secret to keep for his
-employer, was as the combined stupidity of ten born idiots.
-
-He knew nothing. No, he did not know where Baraka was; he did not know
-what had become of her servant Spiro; he did not know where Logotheti
-was; he did not know anything; if the reporters had asked him his own
-name, he would very likely have answered that he did not know that
-either. The number of things he did not know was perfectly
-overwhelming. The reporters came to the conclusion that Logotheti had
-spirited away the beautiful Tartar; and they made some deductions, but
-abstained from printing them yet, though they worked them out on
-paper, because they were well aware that Logotheti was engaged to
-marry the celebrated Cordova, and was too important a personage to be
-trifled with, unless he had a fall, which sometimes happens to
-financiers.
-
-On the day following Baraka's liberation, Lady Maud received
-Margaret's pressing telegram begging her to go to Bayreuth. The
-message reached her before noon, about the time when Margaret and her
-companions had come back from their morning walk, and after hesitating
-for half-an-hour, she telegraphed that she would come with pleasure,
-and would start at once, which meant that evening.
-
-She had just read the official account of the ruby case in its new
-aspect, and she did not believe a word of the story. To her mind it
-was quite clear that Logotheti was still infatuated with the girl,
-that he had come to London as fast as he could, and that he had
-deliberately sworn that the ruby was not his, but another one, in
-order to get her out of trouble. If it was not his it had not been
-stolen from Pinney's, and the whole case fell through at once. If she
-was declared innocent the stone must be given back to her; he would
-take it from her as soon as they were alone and return it to his own
-pocket; and being an Oriental, he would probably beat her for robbing
-him, but would not let her out of his sight again till he was tired of
-her. Lady Maud had heard from her late husband how all Turks believed
-that women had no souls and should be kept under lock and key, and
-well fed, and soundly beaten now and then for the good of their
-tempers. This view was exaggerated, but Lady Maud was in a humour to
-recall it and accept it without criticism, and she made up her mind
-that before leaving town to join Margaret she would make sure of the
-facts. No friend of hers should marry a man capable of such outrageous
-deeds.
-
-If she had not been an impulsive woman she could never have done so
-much good in the world; and she had really done so much that she
-believed in her impulses, and acted on them without taking into
-consideration the possibility that she might be doing harm. But the
-damage which very actively good people sometimes do quite
-unintentionally is often greater and more lasting than that done by
-bad people, because the good ones carry with them the whole resistless
-weight of real goodness and of real good works already accomplished.
-
-Perhaps that is why honestly convinced reformers sometimes bring about
-more ruin in a few months than ten years of bribery and corruption
-have wrought before them.
-
-Lady Maud was a reformer, in a sense, and she was afraid of nothing
-when she thought she was doing right. She went to Logotheti's lodgings
-and asked to see him, as regardless of what any one should think of
-her, if she were recognised, as she had been in the old days when she
-used to go to Van Torp's chambers in the Temple in the evening.
-
-She was told that Logotheti was out of town. Where? The servant did
-not know that. The lady could see the secretary, who might, perhaps,
-tell her. He received every one who had business with Monsieur
-Logotheti.
-
-She went up one flight and was admitted to a very airy sitting-room,
-simply furnished. There were several large easy-chairs of different
-shapes, all covered with dark wine-coloured leather, and each
-furnished with a different appliance for holding a book or writing
-materials. There was a long bookcase full of books behind glass. There
-was a writing-table, on which were half-a-dozen monstrously big
-implements of an expensive kind, but handsome in their way: a
-paper-cutter hewn from at least a third of an elephant's tusk, and
-heavy enough to fell a man at a blow; an enormous inkstand, apparently
-made of a solid brick of silver, without ornament, brightly polished,
-and having a plain round hole in the middle for ink; a blotting-case
-of the larger folio size, with a Greek inscription on it in raised
-letters of gold; a trough of imperial jade, two feet long, in which
-lay a couple of gold penholders fitted with new pens, and the thickest
-piece of scarlet sealing-wax Lady Maud had ever seen. They were
-objects of the sort that many rich men receive as presents, or order
-without looking at them when they are furnishing a place that is to be
-a mere convenience for a few days in the year. There was nothing
-personal in what Lady Maud saw, except the books, and she could not
-have examined them if she had wished to.
-
-The one thing that struck her was a delicate suggestion of sweetness
-in the fresh air of the room, something that was certainly not a
-scent, and yet was not that of the perfumes or gums which some
-Orientals like to burn where they live. She liked it, and wondered
-what it was, as she glanced about for some one of the unmistakable
-signs of a woman's presence.
-
-The Swiss secretary had risen ponderously to receive her, and as she
-did not sit down he remained standing. His vast face was fringed with
-a beard of no particular colour, and his eyes were fixed and blue in
-his head, like turquoises set in pale sole leather.
-
-'I am Countess Leven,' she said, 'and I have known Monsieur Logotheti
-some time. Will you kindly tell me where he is?'
-
-'I do not know, madam,' was the answer.
-
-'He is not in London?'
-
-'At present I do not know, madam.'
-
-'Has he left no address? Do you not forward his letters to him?'
-
-'No, madam. I do not forward his letters to him.'
-
-'Then I suppose he is on his yacht,' suggested Lady Maud.
-
-'Madam, I do not know whether he is on his yacht.'
-
-'You don't seem to know anything!'
-
-'Pardon me, madam, I think I know my business. That is all I know.'
-
-Lady Maud held her beautiful head a little higher and her lids drooped
-slightly as she looked down at him, for he was shorter than she. But
-the huge leathern face was perfectly impassive, and the still,
-turquoise eyes surveyed her without winking. She had never seen such
-stolidity in a human being. It reminded her of those big Chinese
-pottery dogs with vacant blue eyes that some people keep beside a
-fireplace or a hall door, for no explicable reason.
-
-There was clearly nothing to be done, and she thought the secretary
-distinctly rude; but as that was no reason why she should be, she bade
-him good-morning civilly and turned to go. Somewhat to her surprise,
-he followed her quickly across the room, opened the door for her and
-went on into the little hall to let her out. There was a small table
-there, on which lay some of Logotheti's hats, and several pairs of
-gloves were laid out neatly before them. There was one pair, of a
-light grey, very much smaller than all the rest, so small indeed that
-they might have fitted a boy of seven, except that they looked too
-narrow for any boy. They were men's gloves as to length and buttons,
-but only a child could have worn them.
-
-Lady Maud saw them instantly, and remembered Baraka's disguise; and as
-she passed the big umbrella jar to go out, she saw that with two of
-Logotheti's sticks there was a third, fully four inches shorter; just
-a plain crook-handled stick with a silver ring. That was enough.
-Baraka had certainly been in the lodgings and had probably left in
-them everything that belonged to her disguise. The fact that the
-gloves and the stick were in the hall, looked very much as if she had
-come in dressed as a man and had left them there when she had gone
-away in woman's attire. That she was with Logotheti, most probably on
-his yacht, Lady Maud had not the least doubt, as she went down the
-stairs.
-
-The Swiss secretary stood at the open door on the landing till she was
-out of sight below, and then went in again, and returned to work over
-a heap of business papers and letters. When he had worked half an
-hour, he leaned back in his leathern chair to rest, and stared fixedly
-at the bookcase. Presently he spoke aloud in English, as if Lady Maud
-were still in the room, in the same dull, matter-of-fact tone, but
-more forcibly as to expression.
-
-'It is perfectly true, though you do not believe me, madam. I do not
-know anything. How the dickens should I know where they are, madam?
-But I know my business. That is all.'
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER X
-
-
-The _Erinna_ was steaming quietly down the Channel in a flat calm, at
-the lazy rate of twelve knots an hour, presumably in order to save her
-coal, for she could run sixteen when her owner liked, and he was not
-usually fond of going slow. Though September was at hand, and Guernsey
-was already on the port quarter, the sea was motionless and not so
-much as a cat's-paw stirred the still blue water; but the steamer's
-own way made a pleasant draught that fanned the faces of Logotheti and
-Baraka as they lay in their long chairs under the double awning
-outside the deck-house.
-
-The Tartar girl wore a skirt and jacket of dark blue yachting serge,
-which did not fit badly considering that they had been bought
-ready-made by Logotheti's man. She had little white tennis shoes on
-her feet, which were crossed one over the other on the deck-chair, but
-instead of wearing a hat she had bound a dove-coloured motor-veil on
-her head by a single thick gold cord, in the Asiatic way, and the thin
-folds hung down on each side, and lay on her shoulders, shading her
-face, and the breeze stirred them. Logotheti's valet had been sent out
-in a taximeter, provided with a few measurements and plenty of cash,
-and commissioned to buy everything that a girl who had nothing at all
-to wear, visible or invisible, could possibly need. He was also
-instructed to find a maid who could speak Tartar, or at least a
-little Turkish.
-
-After five hours he had come back with a heavy load of boxes of all
-shapes and sizes and the required maid. You can find anything in a
-great city, if you know how to look for it, and he had discovered
-through an agency a girl from Trebizonde who had been caught at twelve
-years old by missionaries, brought to England and educated to go into
-service; she spoke English very prettily, and had not altogether
-forgotten the _lingua franca_ of Asia. It was her first place, outside
-of the retired missionary's house, where she had been brought up and
-taught by a good old lady who had much to say about the heathen, and
-gave her to understand that all her deceased forefathers and relatives
-were frying. As she could not quite believe this, and had not a
-grateful disposition, and was of an exceedingly inquiring turn of
-mind, she was very glad to get away, and when she learned from the
-valet that her mistress was a Tartar lady and a Musulman, and could
-not speak English, her delight was quite boundless; she even said a
-few unintelligible words, in a thoughtful tone, which did not sound at
-all like any Christian prayer or thanksgiving she had learned from the
-missionaries.
-
-Moreover, while Logotheti and Baraka were lying in their chairs by the
-deck-house, she was telling the story of her life and explaining
-things generally to the good-looking young second mate on the other
-side of the ship.
-
-The consequence of her presence, however, was that Baraka was dressed
-with great neatness and care, and looked very presentable, though her
-clothes were only ready-made things, bought by a man-servant, who had
-only her height and the size of her waist to guide him. Logotheti
-watched her delicate, energetic profile, admiring the curves of her
-closed lips, and the wilful turning up of her little chin. She was
-more than very pretty now, he thought, and he was quietly amused at
-his own audacity in taking her to sea alone with him, almost on the
-eve of his marriage. It was especially diverting to think of what the
-proper people would say if they knew it, and to contrast the
-intentions they would certainly attribute to him with the perfectly
-honourable ones he entertained.
-
-As for Baraka, it never occurred to her that she was not as safe with
-him as she had been in her father's house in the little white town far
-away, nearly three years ago; and besides, her steel bodkin with the
-silver handle had been given back to her, and she could feel it in its
-place when she pressed her left hand to her side. But the little maid
-who had been brought up by the missionaries took quite another point
-of view, though this was not among the things she was explaining so
-fluently in her pretty English to the second mate.
-
-Logotheti had been first of all preoccupied about getting Baraka out
-of England without attracting attention, and then for her comfort and
-recovery from the strain and suffering of the last few days. As for
-that, she was like a healthy young animal, and as soon as she had a
-chance she had fallen so sound asleep that she had not waked for
-twelve hours. Logotheti's intention was to take her to Paris by a
-roundabout way, and establish her under some proper sort of
-protection. Margaret was still in Germany, but would soon return to
-France, and he had almost made up his mind to ask her advice, not
-dreaming that in such a case she could really deem anything he did an
-unpardonable offence. He had always laughed at the conventionalities
-of European life, and had paid very little heed to them when they
-stood in his way.
-
-He had been on deck a long time that day, but Baraka had only been
-established in her chair a few minutes. As yet he had hardly talked
-with her of anything but the necessary preparations for the journey,
-and she had trusted him entirely, being so worn out with fatigue and
-bodily discomfort, that she was already half asleep when he had at
-last brought her on board, late on the previous night. Before the
-yacht had sailed he had received Van Torp's telegram informing him
-that Kralinsky was at Bayreuth; for his secretary had sat up till two
-in the morning to telegraph him the latest news and forward any
-message that came, and Van Torp's had been amongst the number.
-
-Baraka turned her head a little towards him and smiled.
-
-'Kafar the Persian said well that you are a great man,' she said in
-her own language. 'Perhaps you are one of the greatest in the world. I
-think so. He told me you were very rich, and so did the Greek
-merchants who came with me to France. When you would not buy the other
-ruby I thought they were mistaken, but now I see they were right.
-Where you are, there is gold, and men bow before you. You say: "Set
-Baraka free," and I am free. Also, you say: "Give her the ruby that is
-hers," and they give it, and her belongings, too, all clean and in
-good order and nothing stolen. You are a king. Like a king, you have a
-new fire-ship of your own and an army of young men to do your bidding.
-They are cleaner and better dressed than the sailors on the Sultan's
-fire-ships that lie in the Golden Horn, for I have seen them. They are
-as clean as the young effendis in London, in Paris! It is wonderful!
-You have not many on your ship, but you could have ten ships, all with
-sailors like these, and they would be all well washed. I like clean
-people. Yes, you are a great man.'
-
-She turned her eyes away from him and gazed lazily at the still blue
-sea, having apparently said all she had to say. Logotheti was well
-used to Asiatics and understood that her speech was partly
-conventional and intended to convey that sort of flattery which is
-dear to the Oriental soul. Baraka knew perfectly well what a real king
-was, and the difference between a yacht and a man-of-war, and many
-other things which she had learned in Constantinople. Primitive
-people, when they come from Asia, are not at all simple people, though
-they are often very direct in pursuing what they want.
-
-'I have something of importance to tell you,' Logotheti said after a
-pause.
-
-Baraka prepared herself against betraying surprise by letting her lids
-droop a little, but that was all.
-
-'Speak,' she answered. 'I desire knowledge more than gold.'
-
-'You are wise,' said the Greek gravely. 'No doubt you remember the
-rich man Van Torp, for whom I gave you a letter, and whom you had seen
-on the day you were arrested.'
-
-'Van Torp.' Baraka pronounced the name distinctly, and nodded. 'Yes, I
-remember him well. He knows where the man is whom I seek, and he wrote
-the address for me. I have it. You will take me there in your ship,
-and I shall find him.'
-
-'If you find him, what shall you say to him?' Logotheti asked.
-
-'Few words. These perhaps: "You left me to die, but I am not dead, I
-am here. Through me you are a rich, great man. The rubies are my
-marriage portion, which you have taken. Now you must be my husband."
-That is all. Few words.'
-
-'It is your right,' Logotheti answered. 'But he will not marry you.'
-
-'Then he shall die,' replied Baraka, as quietly as if she were saying
-that he should go for a walk.
-
-'If you kill him, the laws of that country may take your life,'
-objected the Greek.
-
-'That will be my portion,' the girl answered, with profound
-indifference.
-
-'You only have one life,' Logotheti observed. 'It is yours to throw
-away. But the man you seek is not in that country. Van Torp has
-telegraphed me that he is much nearer. Nevertheless, if you mean to
-kill him, I will not take you to him, as I intended to do.'
-
-Baraka's face had changed, though she had been determined not to
-betray surprise at anything he said; she turned to him, and fixed her
-eyes on his, and he saw her lashes quiver.
-
-'You will tell me where he is,' she said anxiously. 'If you will not
-take me I will go alone with Spiro. I have been in many countries with
-no other help. I can go there also, where he is. You will tell me.'
-
-'Not if you mean to murder him,' said Logotheti, and she saw that he
-was in earnest.
-
-'But if he will not be my husband, what can I do, if I do not kill
-him?' She asked the question in evident good faith.
-
-'If I were you, I should make him share the rubies and the money with
-you, and then I would leave him to himself.'
-
-'But you do not understand,' Baraka protested. 'He is young, he is
-beautiful, he is rich. He will take some other woman for his wife, if
-I leave him. You see, he must die, there is no other way. If he will
-not marry me, it is his portion. Why do you talk? Have I not come
-across the world from the Altai, by Samarkand and Tiflis, as far as
-England, to find him and marry him? Is it nothing that I have done, a
-Tartar girl alone, with no friend but a bag of precious stones that
-any strong thief might have taken from me? Is the danger nothing? The
-travel nothing? Is it nothing that I have gone about like a shameless
-one, with my face uncovered, dressed in a man's clothes? That I have
-cut my hair, my beautiful black hair, is that as nothing too? That I
-have been in an English prison? That I have been called a thief? I
-have suffered all these things to find him, and if I come to him at
-last, and he will not be my husband, shall he live and take another
-woman? You are a great man, it is true. But you do not understand. You
-are only a Frank, after all! That little maid you have brought for me
-would understand me better, though she has been taught for six years
-by Christians. She is a good girl. She says that in all that time she
-has never once forgotten to say the Fatiheh three times a day, and to
-say "el hamdu illah" to herself after she has eaten! She would
-understand. I know she would. But you, never!'
-
-The exquisite little aquiline features wore a look of unutterable
-contempt.
-
-'If I were you,' said Logotheti, smiling, 'I would not tell her what
-you are going to do.'
-
-'You see!' cried Baraka, almost angrily. 'You do not understand. A
-servant! Shall I tell my heart to my handmaid, and my secret thoughts
-to a hired man? I tell you, because you are a friend, though you have
-no understanding of us. My father feeds many flocks, and has many
-bondmen and bondwomen, whom he beats when it pleases him, and can put
-to death if he likes. He also knows the mine of rubies, as his father
-did before him, and when he desires gold he takes one to Tashkent, or
-even to Samarkand, a long journey, and sells it to the Russians. He is
-a great man. If he would bring a camel bag full of precious stones to
-Europe he could be one of the greatest men in the world. And you think
-that my father's daughter would open her heart's treasure to one of
-her servants? I said well that you do not understand!'
-
-Logotheti looked quietly at the slim young thing in a ready-made blue
-serge frock, who said such things as a Lady Clara Vere de Vere would
-scarcely dare to say above her breath in these democratic days; and he
-watched the noble little features, and the small white hands, that had
-come down to her through generations of chieftains, since the days
-when the primeval shepherds of the world counted the stars in the
-plains of Kaf.
-
-He himself, with his long Greek descent, was an aristocrat to the
-marrow, and smiled at the claims of men who traced their families back
-to Crusaders. With the help of a legend or two and half a myth, he
-could almost make himself a far descendant of the Tyndaridae. But what
-was that compared with the pedigree of the little thing in a blue
-serge frock? Her race went back to a time before Hesiod, before Homer,
-to a date that might be found in the annals of Egypt, but nowhere else
-in all the dim traditions of human history.
-
-'No,' he said, after a long pause. 'I begin to understand. You had not
-told me that your father was a great man, and that his sires before
-him had joined hand to hand, from the hand of Adam himself.'
-
-This polite speech, delivered in his best Tartar, though with sundry
-Turkish terminations and accents, somewhat mollified Baraka, and she
-pushed her little head backwards and upwards against the top of the
-deck chair, as if she were drawing herself up with pride. Also, not
-being used to European skirts, she stuck out one tiny foot a little
-further across the other, as she stretched herself, and she
-indiscreetly showed a pale-yellow silk ankle, round which she could
-have easily made her thumb meet her second finger. Logotheti glanced
-at it.
-
-'You will never understand,' she said, but her tone had relented, and
-she made a concession. 'If you will take me to him, and if he will not
-be my husband, I will let Spiro kill him.'
-
-'That might be better,' Logotheti answered with extreme gravity, for
-he was quite sure that Spiro would never kill anybody. 'If you will
-take an oath which I shall dictate, and swear to let Spiro do it, I
-will take you to the man you seek.'
-
-'What must be, must be,' Baraka said in a tone of resignation. 'When
-he is dead, Spiro can also kill me and take the rubies and the money.'
-
-'That would be a pity,' observed the Greek, thoughtfully.
-
-'Why a pity? It will be my portion. I will not kill myself because
-then I should go to hell-fire, but Spiro can do it very well. Why
-should I still live, then?'
-
-'Because you are young and beautiful and rich enough to be very happy.
-Do you never look at your face in the mirror? The eyes of Baraka are
-like the pools of paradise, when the moon rose upon them the first
-time, her waist is as slender as a young willow sapling that bends to
-the breath of a spring breeze, her mouth is a dark rose from
-Gulistan----'
-
-But Baraka interrupted him with a faint smile.
-
-'You speak emptiness,' she said quietly. 'What is the oath, that I may
-swear it? Shall I take Allah, and the Prophet, and the Angel Israfil
-to witness that I will keep my word? Shall I prick my hand and let the
-drops fall into your two hands that you may drink them? What shall I
-do and say? I am ready.'
-
-'You must swear an oath that my fathers swore before there were
-Christians or Musulmans in the world, when the old gods were still
-great.'
-
-'Speak. I will repeat any words you like. Is it a very solemn oath?'
-
-'It is the most solemn that ever was sworn, for it is the oath of the
-gods themselves. I shall give it to you slowly, and you must try to
-pronounce it right, word by word, holding out your hands, like this,
-with the palms downwards.'
-
-'I am ready,' said Baraka, doing as he bade her.
-
-He quoted in Greek the oath that Hypnos dictates to Hera in the
-_Iliad_, and Baraka repeated each word, pronouncing as well as she
-could.
-
-'I swear by the inviolable water of the Styx, and I lay one hand upon
-the all-nourishing earth, the other on the sparkling sea, that all the
-gods below may be our witnesses, even they that stand round about
-Kronos. Thus I swear!'
-
-As he had anticipated, Baraka was much more impressed by the
-importance of the words she did not understand than if she had bound
-herself by any oath familiar to her.
-
-'I am sorry,' she said, 'but what is done is done, and you would have
-it so.'
-
-She pressed her hand gently to her left side and felt the long steel
-bodkin, and sighed regretfully.
-
-'You have sworn an oath that no man would dare to break,' said
-Logotheti solemnly. 'A man would rather kill pigs on the graves of his
-father and his mother than break it.'
-
-'I shall keep my word. Only take me quickly where I would be.'
-
-Logotheti produced a whistle from his pocket and blew on it, and a
-quartermaster answered the call, and was sent for the captain, who
-came in a few moments.
-
-'Head her about for Jersey and Carterets, Captain,' said the owner.
-'The sea is as flat as a board, and we will land there. You can go on
-to the Mediterranean without coaling, can you not?'
-
-The captain said he could coal at Gibraltar, if necessary.
-
-'Then take her to Naples, please, and wait for instructions.'
-
-Baraka understood nothing, but within two minutes she saw that the
-yacht was changing her course, for the afternoon sun was all at once
-pouring in on the deck, just beyond the end of her chair. She was
-satisfied, and nodded her approval.
-
-But she did not speak for a long time, paying no more attention to
-Logotheti's gaze than if he had not existed. No people in the world
-can remain perfectly motionless so long as Asiatics, perfectly
-absorbed in their own thoughts.
-
-To the Greek's art-loving nature it was pure delight to watch her.
-Never, since he had first met Margaret Donne, had he seen any woman or
-young girl who appealed to his sense of beauty as Baraka did, though
-the impression she made on him was wholly different from that he
-received when Margaret was near.
-
-The Primadonna was on a large scale, robust, magnificently vital, a
-Nike, even a young Hera; and sometimes, especially on the stage, she
-was almost insolently handsome, rather than beautiful like Lady Maud.
-Baraka was an Artemis, virginal, high-bred; delicately modelled for
-grace and speed rather than for reposeful beauty, for motion rather
-than for rest. It was true that the singer's walk was something to
-dream of and write verses about, but Baraka's swift-gliding step was
-that of the Maiden Huntress in the chase, her attitude in rest was the
-pose of a watchful Diana, ready to spring up at a sound or a breath, a
-figure almost boyish in its elastic vigour, and yet deeply feminine in
-meaning.
-
-Baraka once more turned her head without lifting it from the back of
-the deck-chair.
-
-'I am hungry and thirsty again,' she said gravely. 'I do not
-understand.'
-
-'What will you eat, and what will you drink?' Logotheti asked.
-
-She smiled and shook her head.
-
-'Anything that is good,' she said; 'but what I desire you have not in
-your ship. I long for fat quails with Italian rice, and for fig-paste,
-and I desire a sherbet made with rose leaves, such as the merchant's
-wife and I used to drink at the Kaffedji's by the Galata Bridge, and
-sometimes when we went up the Sweet Waters in a caique on Friday. But
-you have not such things on your ship.'
-
-Logotheti smiled.
-
-'You forget that I am myself from Constantinople,' he said. 'It is now
-the season for fat quails in Italy, and they are sent alive to London
-and Paris, and there are many in my ship, waiting to be eaten. There
-is also fig-paste from the Stamboul confectioner near the end of the
-Galata Bridge, and preserved rose leaves with which to make a sherbet,
-and much ice; and you shall eat and drink the things you like best.
-Moreover, if there is anything else you long for, speak.'
-
-'You are scoffing at Baraka!' answered the slim thing in blue serge,
-with the air of a displeased fairy princess.
-
-'Not I. You shall see. We will have a table set here between us, with
-all the things you desire.'
-
-'Truly? And coffee too? Real coffee? Not the thin mud-broth of the
-Franks?'
-
-'Real coffee, in a real fildjan.'
-
-Baraka clapped her small white hands for pleasure.
-
-'You are indeed a very great man!' she cried. 'You are one of the
-kings!'
-
-At the sound of the clapping she had made, Logotheti's Greek steward
-appeared in a silver-laced blue jacket and a fez.
-
-'He comes because you clapped your hands,' Logotheti said, with a
-smile.
-
-Baraka laughed softly.
-
-'We are not in your ship,' she said. 'We are in Constantinople! I am
-happy.' The smile faded quickly and her dark lashes drooped. 'It is a
-pity,' she added, very low, and her left hand felt the long steel
-bodkin through her dress.
-
-The steward knew Turkish, but did not understand all she said in her
-own tongue; and besides, his master was already ordering an unusual
-luncheon, in Greek, which disturbed even his Eastern faculty of
-hearing separately with each ear things said in different languages.
-
-Baraka was busy with her own thoughts again, and paid no more
-attention to her companion, until the steward came back after a few
-minutes bringing a low round table which he placed between the two
-chairs. He disappeared again and returned immediately with a salver on
-which there were two small cups of steaming Turkish coffee, each in
-its silver filigree stand, and two tall glasses of sherbet, of a
-beautiful pale rose colour.
-
-Baraka turned on her chair with a look of pleasure, tasted the light
-hot foam of the coffee, and then began to drink slowly with enjoyment
-that increased visibly with every sip.
-
-'It is real coffee,' she said, looking up at Logotheti. 'It is made
-with the beans of Arabia that are picked out one by one for the
-Sheikhs themselves before the coffee is sold to the Indian princes.
-The unripe and broken beans that are left are sold to the great Pashas
-in Constantinople! And that is all there is of it, for the Persian
-merchant explained all to me, and I know. But how you have got the
-coffee of the Sheikhs, I know not. You are a very great man.'
-
-'The gates of the pleasant places of this world are all locked, and
-the keys are of gold,' observed Logotheti, who could quote Asiatic
-proverbs by the dozen, when he liked. 'But the doors of Hades stand
-always open,' he added, suddenly following a Greek thought, 'and from
-wheresoever men are, the way that leads to them is but one.'
-
-Baraka had tasted the sherbet, which interested her more than his
-philosophical reflexions.
-
-'This also is delicious,' she said, 'but in Stamboul even a poor man
-may have it for a few paras.'
-
-'And good water from the fountain for nothing,' returned Logotheti.
-
-There was silence again as she leaned back, sufficiently satisfied to
-wait another hour for the fat quails, the Italian rice, and the
-fig-paste, to which she was looking forward. And the yacht moved on at
-her leisurely twelve-knot speed, through the flat calm of the late
-summer sea, while an atmosphere of bodily peace and comfort gathered
-round Baraka like a delicate mist that hid the future and softened the
-past.
-
-By and by, when she had eaten the fat quail and the Italian rice, and
-then the fig-paste, and had drunk more sherbet of rose leaves, and
-more coffee, but none of these things in any excess, that perfect
-peace came upon her which none but Asiatics can feel, and which we
-cannot understand; and they call it Kef, and desire it more than any
-other condition of their inner and outer selves; but there is no
-translating of that word.
-
-It is the inexplicable state of the cat when it folds its fore-paw in,
-and is so quiet and happy that it can hardly purr, but only blinks
-mildly once in two or three minutes. Logotheti knew the signs of it,
-though he had never really felt it himself, and he knew very well that
-its presence has the power to deaden all purpose and active will in
-those who enjoy it. The sole object of taking opium is to produce it
-artificially, which is never quite possible, for with most
-opium-smokers or opium-eaters the state of peace turns into stupor at
-the very moment when it is about to become consciously beatific.
-
-He understood that this wonderful barbarian girl, who had shown such
-courage, such irresistible energy, such unchanging determination in
-the search that had lasted more than two years, was temporarily
-paralysed for any purpose of action by the atmosphere with which he
-was surrounding her. She would come to herself again, and be as much
-awake, as determined, and as brave as ever, but she was quiescent now,
-and the mere thought of effort would be really painful. Perhaps no one
-who has not lived in Asia can quite understand that.
-
-Logotheti took out his notebook, which had a small calendar with a few
-lines for each day in the year, and he began to count days and
-calculate dates; for when he had expected to go to Bayreuth with the
-Primadonna he had found out all about the performances, and he knew
-how long she meant to stay.
-
-His calendar told him that this was the off-day, between the second
-and third representations of _Parsifal_, and that Margaret had her
-rooms at the hotel for another week. He would allow two days more for
-her to reach Versailles and rest from the journey before she would
-wish to see him; and as he thought she had treated him rather badly in
-not letting him go with her, because he was not enough of a Wagnerian,
-he intended to keep her waiting even a day or two longer, on the
-sometimes mistaken theory that it is better to make a woman impatient
-than to forestall her wishes before she has had time to change her
-mind.
-
-Besides, Van Torp's telegram showed that he was in Bayreuth, and
-Logotheti flattered himself that the more Margaret saw of the
-American, the more anxious she would be to see her accepted adorer. It
-was her own fault, since Logotheti might have been with her instead.
-
-The result of his calculations was that he had at least ten days
-before him, and that as he was not at all bored by the little Tartar
-lady in blue serge, it was quite useless to put her ashore at
-Carterets and take her to Paris by that way. The idea of spending
-eight or nine hours alone in a hot and dirty railway carriage, while
-she and her maid passed the night in another compartment, was
-extremely dreary; and besides, he had not at all made up his mind what
-to do with her, and it would probably end in his taking her to his own
-house. Margaret would have some right to resent that; but as for the
-trip in the yacht, she need never know anything about it. The girl was
-really as safe with him as any girl could be with her own brother, and
-so long as no one knew that she was with him, nothing else mattered.
-Furthermore, he was good enough to be convinced that if she were let
-loose in Europe by herself, with plenty of money, boundless courage,
-and such a clever courier as Spiro seemed to be, she would certainly
-find Kralinsky at last and murder him, regardless of having sworn by
-the inviolable water of the Styx. Lastly, he saw that she was at
-present in that state of Asiatic peace in which it was perfectly
-indifferent to her what happened, provided that she were not
-disturbed.
-
-He rose quietly and went aft. Though she was awake she scarcely
-noticed that he had left her, and merely opened and shut her eyes
-twice, like the happy cat already spoken of. She was not aware that
-the yacht changed her course again, though it was pleasant not to have
-the reflexion from the sea in her eyes any longer; if Logotheti had
-told her that he was heading to seaward of Ushant instead of for
-Jersey and Carterets, she would not have understood, nor cared if she
-had, and would have been annoyed at being disturbed by the sound of
-his voice.
-
-It was pure bliss to lie there without a want, a thought, or a memory.
-An imaginative European might fancy that she had waking dreams and
-visions in the summer air; that she saw again the small white town,
-the foot-hills, the broad pastures below, the vastness of Altai
-above, the uncounted flocks, the distant moving herds, the evening
-sunlight on the walls of her father's house; or that she lived over
-again those mortal hours of imprisonment in the rocky hollow, and
-looked into the steel-bright eyes of the man who would not love her
-and saw the tall figure of Saaed already dead, bending forward from the
-ledge and pitching headlong to the sand.
-
-Not at all. She saw none of these things. She was quiescently
-blissful; the mysterious Kef was on her, and the world stood still in
-the lazy enchantment--the yacht was not moving, the sun was not
-sinking westwards, her pulse was not beating, she was scarcely
-breathing, in her own self she was the very self of peace, motionless
-in an immeasurable stillness.
-
-When the sky reddened at evening Logotheti was again in his chair,
-reading. She heard six bells struck softly, the first sound she had
-noticed in four hours, and she did not know what they meant; perhaps
-it was six o'clock _alla Franca_, as she would have called it; no one
-could understand European time, which was one in Constantinople,
-another in Paris, and another in England. Besides, it made no
-difference what time it was; but Kef was departing from her--was gone
-already, and the world was moving again--not at all in an unpleasant
-or disturbing way, but moving nevertheless.
-
-'When shall we reach that place?' she asked lazily, and she turned her
-face to Logotheti.
-
-'Allah knows,' he answered gravely, and he laid his book on his knees.
-
-She had been so well used to hearing that answer to all sorts of
-questions since she had been a child that she thought nothing of it,
-and waited awhile before speaking again. Her eyes studied the man's
-face almost unconsciously. He now wore a fez instead of a yachting
-cap, and it changed his expression. He no longer looked in the least
-like a European. The handsome red felt glowed like blood in the
-evening light, and the long black silk tassel hung backwards with a
-dashing air. There was something about him that reminded Baraka of
-Saaed, and Saaed had been a handsome man, even in her eyes, until the
-traveller had come to her father's house with his blue eyes and golden
-beard. But Saaed had only seen her unveiled face once, and that was the
-last thing he saw when the ball from the Mauser went through his
-forehead.
-
-'I mean,' she asked after some time, 'shall we be there to-morrow? or
-the next day? I see no land on this side; is there any on the other?'
-
-'No,' Logotheti answered, 'there is no land near. Perhaps, far off, we
-might see a small island.'
-
-'Is that the place?' Baraka began to be interested at last.
-
-'The place is far away. You must have patience. All hurry comes from
-Satan.'
-
-'I am not impatient,' the girl answered mildly. 'I am glad to rest in
-your ship, for I was very tired, more tired than I ever was when I was
-a child, and used to climb up the foot-hills to see Altai better. It
-is good to be in your ship for a while, and after that, what shall be,
-will be. It is Allah that knows.'
-
-'That is the truth,' responded the Greek. 'Allah knows. I said so just
-now. But I will tell you what I have decided, if you will listen.'
-
-'I listen.'
-
-'It is better that you should rest several days after all your
-weariness, and the man you seek will not run away, for he does not
-know you are so near.'
-
-'But he may take another woman,' Baraka objected, growing earnest at
-once. 'Perhaps he has already! Then there will be two instead of one.'
-
-'Spiro,' said Logotheti, with perfect truth, 'would as soon kill two
-as one, I am sure, for he is a good servant. It will be the same to
-him. You call me a great man and a king; I am not a king, for I have
-no kingdom, though some kingdoms would like to have as much
-ready-money as I. But here, on the ship, I am the master, not only
-because it is mine, and because I choose to command, but because the
-men are bound by English law to obey me; and if they should refuse and
-overpower me, and take my ship where I did not wish to go, the laws of
-all nations would give me the right to put them all into prison at
-once, for a long time. Therefore when I say, "Go to a certain place,"
-they take the ship there, according to their knowledge, for they are
-trained to that business and can guide the vessel towards any place in
-the world, though they cannot see land till they reach it. Do you
-understand all these things?'
-
-'I understand,' Baraka answered, smiling. 'But I am not bound to obey
-you, and at least I can beg you to do what I ask, and I think you will
-do it.'
-
-Her voice grew suddenly soft, and almost tender, for though she was
-only a Tartar girl, and very young and slim, she was a woman. Eve had
-not had long experience of talking when she explained to Adam the
-properties of apples.
-
-Logotheti answered her smile and her tone.
-
-'I shall do what you ask of me, but I shall do it slowly rather than
-quickly, because that will be better for you in the end. If we had
-gone on as we were going, we should have got to land to-night, but to
-a wretched little town from which we should have had to take a night
-train, hot and dirty and dusty, all the way to Paris. That would not
-help you to rest, would it?'
-
-'Oh, no! I wish to sleep again in your ship, once, twice, till I
-cannot sleep any more. Then you will take me to the place.'
-
-'That is what you shall do. To that end I gave orders this afternoon.'
-
-'You are wise, as well as great,' Baraka said.
-
-She let her feet slip down to the deck, and she sat on the side of the
-chair towards Logotheti, looking at her small white tennis-shoes,
-which had turned a golden pink in the evening reflexions, and she
-thoughtfully settled her serge skirt over her slim yellow silk ankles,
-almost as a good many European girls would always do if they did not
-so often forget it.
-
-She rose at last, and went and looked over the rail at the violet sea.
-It is not often that the Atlantic Ocean is in such a heavenly temper
-so near the Bay of Biscay. Logotheti got out of his chair and came and
-stood beside her.
-
-'Is this sea always so still?' she asked.
-
-She was gazing at the melting colours, from the dark blue, spattered
-with white foam, under the yacht's side, to the deep violet beyond,
-and further to the wine-purple and the heliotrope and the horizon
-melting up to the eastern sky.
-
-Logotheti told her that such days came very rarely, even in summer,
-and that Allah had doubtless sent this one for her especial benefit.
-But she only laughed.
-
-'Allah is great, but he does nothing where there are English people,'
-she observed, and Logotheti laughed in his turn.
-
-They left the rail and walked slowly forward, side by side, without
-speaking; and Logotheti told himself how utterly happy he should be if
-Baraka could turn into Margaret and be walking with him there; yet
-something answered him that since she was not by his side he was not
-to be pitied for the company of a lovely Tartar girl whose language he
-could understand and even speak tolerably; and when the first voice
-observed rather drily that Margaret would surely think that he ought
-to feel very miserable, the second voice told him to take the goods
-the gods sent him and be grateful; and this little antiphone of Ormuzd
-and Ahriman went on for some time, till it occurred to him to stop the
-duo by explaining to Baraka how a European girl would probably slip
-her arm, or at least her hand, through the arm of the man with whom
-she was walking on the deck of a yacht, because there was generally a
-little motion at sea, and she would like to steady herself; and when
-there was none, there ought to be, and she would do the same thing by
-force of habit. But Baraka looked at such behaviour quite differently.
-
-'That would be a sort of dance,' she said. 'I am not a dancing girl! I
-have seen men and women dancing together, both Russians in Samarkand
-and other people in France. It is disgusting. I would rather go
-unveiled among my own people!'
-
-'Which may Allah forbid!' answered Logotheti devoutly. 'But, as you
-say, where there are Englishmen, Allah does nothing; the women go
-without veils, and the boys and girls dance together.'
-
-'I have done worse,' said Baraka, 'for I have dressed as a man, and if
-a woman did that among my people she would be stoned to death and not
-buried. My people will never know what I have done since I got away
-from them alive. But he thought he was leaving me there to die!'
-
-'Surely. I cannot see why you wish to marry a man who robbed you and
-tried to compass your death! I can understand that you should dream of
-killing him, and he deserves to be burnt alive, but why you should
-wish to marry him is known to the wisdom of the blessed ones!'
-
-'You never saw him,' Baraka answered with perfect simplicity. 'He is a
-beautiful man; his beard is like the rays of the morning sun on a ripe
-cornfield. His eyes are bright as an eagle's, but blue as sapphires.
-He is much taller and bigger and stronger than you are. Do you not see
-why I want him for a husband? Why did he not desire me for his wife?
-Am I crooked, am I blinded by the smallpox, or have I six fingers on
-both hands and a hump on my shoulder like the Witch of Altai? Was my
-portion a cotton shift, one brass bangle and a horn comb for my hair?
-I gave him the riches of the world to take me, and he would not! I do
-not understand. Am I an evil sight in a man's eyes? Tell me the truth,
-for you are a friend!'
-
-'You are good to see,' Logotheti answered, stopping and pretending to
-examine her face critically as she stood still and faced him. 'I was
-telling you what I thought of you before luncheon, I think, but you
-said I spoke "emptiness," so I stopped.'
-
-'I do not desire you to speak for yourself,' returned Baraka. 'I wish
-you to speak for any man, since I go about unveiled and any man may
-see me. What would they say in the street if they saw me now, as a
-woman? That is what I must know, for he is a Frank, and he will judge
-me as the Franks judge when he sees me! What will he say?'
-
-'Shall I speak as a Frank? Or as they speak in Constantinople?'
-
-'Speak as he would speak, I pray. But speak the truth.'
-
-'I take Allah to witness that I speak the truth,' Logotheti answered.
-'If I had never seen you, and if I were walking in the Great Garden in
-London and I met you by the bank of the river, I should say that you
-were the prettiest dark girl in England, but that I should like to see
-you in a beautiful Feringhi hat and the best frock that could be made
-in Paris.'
-
-Baraka's face was troubled, and she looked into his eyes anxiously.
-
-'I understand,' she said. 'Before I meet him I must have more clothes,
-many beautiful new dresses. It was shameless, but it was easy to dress
-as a man, after I had learned, for it was always the same--the
-difference was three buttons--or four buttons, or a high hat or a
-little hat; not much. Also the Feringhi men button their garments as
-the Musulmans do, the left over the right, but I often see their
-women's coats buttoned like a Hindu's. Why is this? Have the women
-another religion than the men? It is very strange!'
-
-Logotheti laughed, for he had really never noticed the rather singular
-fact which had struck the born Asiatic at once.
-
-'But this woman's dressing is very difficult to learn,' Baraka went
-on, leaning back upon the rail with both elbows, and sticking out her
-little white shoes close together. 'Without the girl Maggy whom you
-have found for me--but her real name is Gula, and she is a good
-Musulman--without her, Allah knows what I should do! I could not put
-on these things for myself; alone, I cannot take them off. When I was
-like a man, buttons! Two, three, four, twenty--what did it matter? All
-the same way and soon done! But now, I cannot tell what I am made of.
-Allah knows and sees what I am made of. Hooks, eyes, strings, little
-bits one way, little bits the other way, like the rigging of
-ships--those Turkish ships with many small sails that go up the
-Bosphorus, you remember? And it is all behind, as if one had no
-front! Gula knows how it is done. But if I were alone, without her
-help, Allah is my witness, I would tie the things all round me
-decently and sit very still for fear they should come off! That is
-what I should do!
-
-The Greek thought her extremely amusing. She punctuated her
-explanations with small gestures indicative of her ignorance and
-helplessness.
-
-'You will soon grow used to it,' he said. 'But you must get some
-pretty things in Paris before you go to meet the man. It would also be
-better to let your hair grow long before meeting him, for it is hard
-to wear the hats of the Feringhi ladies without hair.'
-
-'I cannot wait so long as that. Only to get pretty dresses, only so
-long! I will spend a thousand pounds or two--is that enough? I have
-much money in Paris; I can give more.'
-
-'You can get a good many things for a thousand pounds, even in Paris,'
-Logotheti answered.
-
-Baraka laughed.
-
-'It will not be what I paid for the first clothes after I ran away,'
-she said. 'I did not know then what the stones were worth! A little
-ruby to one woman for a shift and an over-tunic, a little ruby to
-another for a pair of shoes, a little ruby for a veil and a
-head-blanket, all little rubies! For each thing one! I did not know;
-the women did not know. But at Samarkand I sold one for money to a
-good Persian merchant, and what he gave me was enough for the journey,
-for me and the old woman servant I hired there, till we got to
-Tiflis; for the Persian merchants everywhere gave me letters from one
-to another, and their wives took me in, or I should have been robbed.
-That is how I reached Stamboul after many, many months, more than a
-year. The Persian merchants are good men. All fear them, because they
-are wise in their dealings, but they are honest men. They do not lie,
-but they are silent and shake their heads, and you must guess what
-they mean; and if you do not guess right, that is your fault, not
-theirs. Why should they speak when they can hold their peace? But this
-is all emptiness! We must talk of the fine dresses I must buy in
-Paris, and of what I must put on my head. The barbers in Paris sell
-wigs. I have seen them in the windows, very well made, of all colours,
-even of the Khenna colour. I shall wear a wig, so that the beautiful
-Feringhi hat will stay on. I shall perhaps wear a Khenna-coloured
-wig.'
-
-'I should not advise a wig,' said Logotheti gravely, 'certainly not
-one of that dye.'
-
-'You know, and you are a friend. When I feel rested we will go to
-Paris, and you shall take me to all the richest shops and tell them in
-French what I want. Will you?'
-
-'I shall do all I can to help you,' answered the Greek, wondering what
-would happen if his friends met him piloting a lovely barbarian about
-between the smartest linendraper's and the most fashionable
-dressmaker's establishment in the Rue de la Paix.
-
-They had watched the sun set, and the clear twilight glow was in the
-cloudless sky and on the violet sea. Not a sound disturbed the
-stillness, except the smooth wash of the water along the yacht's side.
-At her leisurely three-quarters speed the engines ran noiselessly and
-the twin screws turned well below the water-line in the flat calm. The
-watch below was at supper, and the captain was just then working a
-sunset amplitude in the chart-room to make quite sure of his deviation
-on the new course; for he was a careful navigator, and had a proper
-contempt for any master who trusted another man's adjustment of his
-compasses.
-
-Baraka drew one end of her veil round her throat and across her mouth
-and over to the other side of her face, so that her features were
-covered almost as by a real yashmak. The action was well-nigh
-unconscious, for until she had left Constantinople she had never gone
-with her face uncovered, except for a short time, of necessity, after
-she had begun her long journey, almost without clothes to cover her,
-not to speak of a veil. But the sensation of being screened from men's
-sight came back pleasantly as she stood there; for the Greek was much
-more like her own people than the French or English, and he spoke her
-language, and to be with him was not like being with Mr. Van Torp, or
-walking in the streets of London and Paris.
-
-The veil brought back suddenly the sense of real power that the
-Eastern woman has, and of real security in her perpetual disguise,
-which every man must respect on pain of being torn to pieces by his
-fellows. Reams of trash have been written about the inferior position
-of women in the East; but there, more than anywhere else in the world,
-they rule and have their will. Their domination there never had a
-parallel in Europe but once, and that was in the heyday of the Second
-French Empire, when a great nation was almost destroyed to please a
-score of smart women.
-
-Veiled as she was, Baraka turned to Logotheti, who started slightly
-and then laughed; for he had not been watching her, and the effect of
-the improvised yashmak was sudden and striking. He made the Oriental
-salutation in three movements, touching his heart, his lips, and his
-forehead with his right hand.
-
-'Peace be with you, Hanum Effendim!' he said, as if he were greeting a
-Turkish lady who had just appeared beside him.
-
-'Peace, Effendim,' answered Baraka, with a light little laugh; but
-after a moment she went on, and her voice had changed. 'It is like
-Constantinople,' she said, 'and I am happy here--and it is a pity.'
-
-Logotheti thought he heard her sigh softly behind her veil, and she
-drew it still more closely to her face with her little ungloved hand,
-and rested one elbow on the rail, gazing out at the twilight glow. In
-all his recollections of many seas, Logotheti did not remember such a
-clear and peaceful evening; there was a spell on the ocean, and it was
-not the sullen, disquieting calm that often comes before a West Indian
-cyclone or an ocean storm, but rather that fair sleep that sometimes
-falls upon the sea and lasts many days, making men wonder idly whether
-the weather will ever break again.
-
-The two dined on deck, with shaded lights, but screened from the
-draught of the ship's way. The evening was cool, and the little maid
-had dressed Baraka in a way that much disturbed her, for her taper
-arms were bare to the elbows, and the pretty little ready-made French
-dress was open at her ivory neck, and the skirt fitted so closely that
-she almost fancied herself in man's clothes again. But on her head she
-would only wear the large veil, confined by a bit of gold cord, and
-she drew one fold under her chin, and threw it over the opposite
-shoulder, to be quite covered; and she was glad when she felt cold,
-and could wrap herself in the wide travelling cloak they had bought
-for her, and yet not seem to do anything contrary to the customs of a
-real Feringhi lady.
-
-  [Illustration: "The two dined on deck."]
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XI
-
-
-Lady Maud found Mr. Van Torp waiting for her at the Bayreuth station.
-
-'You don't mean to say you've come right through?' he inquired,
-looking at her with admiration as he grasped her hand. 'You're as
-fresh as paint!'
-
-'That's rather a dangerous thing to say to a woman nowadays,' she
-answered in her rippling voice. 'But mine won't come off. How is
-Margaret?'
-
-Her tone changed as she asked the question.
-
-'She showed me your letter about Logo,' answered her friend without
-heeding the question, and watching her face to see if she were
-surprised.
-
-She got into the carriage he had brought, and he stood by the door
-waiting for the porter, who was getting her luggage. She had no maid
-with her.
-
-'I'm glad you have told me,' she answered, 'though I wish she had not.
-You probably think that when I wrote that letter I remembered what you
-said to me in London about giving me money for my poor women.'
-
-'No,' said Van Torp thoughtfully, 'I don't believe I do think so. It
-was like me to make the offer, Maud. It was like the sort of man I've
-been, and you've known me. But it wouldn't have been like you to
-accept it. It wasn't exactly low-down of me to say what I did, but
-it's so precious like low-down that I wouldn't say it again, and I
-suppose I'm sorry. That's all.'
-
-His rough hand was on the side of the little open carriage. She
-touched it lightly with her gloved fingers and withdrew them
-instantly, for the porter was coming with her not very voluminous
-luggage.
-
-'Thank you,' she said quickly. 'I understood, and I understand now.'
-
-They drove slowly up the Bahnhofstrasse, through the dull little town,
-that looks so thoroughly conscious of its ancient respectability as
-having once been the 'Residenz' of a Duke of Wuertemburg, and of its
-vast importance as the headquarters of Richard Wagner's
-representatives on earth.
-
-'See here,' said Mr. Van Torp. 'I've almost persuaded them all to run
-down to Venice, and I want to know why you won't come too?'
-
-'Venice?' Lady Maud was surprised. 'It's as hot as Tophet now, and
-full of mosquitoes. Why in the world do you want to take them there?'
-
-'Well,' answered the American, taking plenty of time over the
-monosyllable, 'I didn't exactly mean to stay there more than a few
-minutes. I've bought a pretty nice yacht since I saw you, and she's
-there, eating her head off, and I thought you might all come along
-with me on her and go home that way, or somewhere.'
-
-'I had no idea you had a yacht!' Lady Maud smiled. 'What it is to have
-the Bank of England in your pocket! Where did you get her, and what
-is her name? I love yachts!'
-
-Van Torp explained.
-
-'I forget what she was called,' he said in conclusion, 'but I changed
-her name. It's _Lancashire Lass_ now.'
-
-'The dear old mare you rode that night! How nice of you! It's a
-horse's name, of course, but that doesn't matter. I'm so glad you
-chose it. I shall never forget how you looked when you galloped off
-bareback in your evening clothes with no hat!'
-
-'I don't know how I looked,' said Van Torp gravely. 'But I know quite
-well how I felt. I felt in a hurry. Now, what I want you to decide
-right away is whether you'll come, provided they will--for I don't
-suppose you and I could go mooning around in the yacht by ourselves.'
-
-'And I don't suppose,' returned Lady Maud, mimicking him ever so
-little, 'that if "they" decide not to come, you will have time for a
-long cruise.'
-
-'Now that's not fair,' objected the American. 'I didn't intend to put
-it in that way. Anyhow, will you come if they do? That's the point.'
-
-'Really, it depends a little on who "they" are. Do you mean only
-Margaret and that nice old friend of hers--Mrs. Patmore, isn't she? I
-never met her.'
-
-'Rushmore,' said Van Torp, correcting her.
-
-'It's the same thing,' said Lady Maud vaguely, for she was trying to
-make up her mind quickly.
-
-'You don't know her,' replied her friend. 'That's the reason why you
-say it's the same thing. Nothing's the same as Mrs. Rushmore.'
-
-'Is she very dreadful?' asked Lady Maud, in some apprehension.
-
-'Dreadful? No! She's very sweet, I think. One of those real,
-old-fashioned, well-educated New York ladies, and refined right down
-to the ground. There's only one thing----'
-
-He stopped, trying to find words to express the one thing.
-
-'What is it? All you say about her sounds very nice----'
-
-'She's got the celebrity habit.'
-
-'Lions?' suggested Lady Maud, who understood him.
-
-'Yes,' he assented, 'she's a dandy after lions. She likes them for
-breakfast, dinner, and tea, with a sandwich thrown in between times.
-She likes them to talk to, and to look at, and to tell about. That's
-just a habit, I suppose, like chewing gum, but she'll never get over
-it at her age. She's got to have a party of some kind every other
-minute, even here, or she's uneasy at night. But I'm bound to say,
-with all truth, she does it well. She's a perfect lady, and she always
-says the right thing and does the right thing. Besides, we're great
-friends, she and I. We get on beautifully.'
-
-'You're a celebrity,' observed Lady Maud.
-
-'So's Miss Donne, and a much bigger one. So's Logo, for that matter,
-but she doesn't think a great deal of Greeks. You're a sort of
-celebrity, too, and she's perfectly delighted you're coming, because
-you're "Lady" Maud, and a Russian countess into the bargain. Then
-there's that other Russian--not that you're one, but you
-understand--Kralinsky is his name, Count Kralinsky. Ever hear that
-name?'
-
-'Never. It sounds Polish.'
-
-'He might be anything. Sometimes I'm absolutely sure he's a man I used
-to know out West when I was on the ranch, and then again there's
-something quite different about him. Something about his legs or his
-eyes, I can't tell which. I don't quite make him out. There's one
-thing, though. He's the Kralinsky I bought your ruby from in New York
-a month ago, and he doesn't deny it, though I don't remember that he
-was a Count then. He seemed glad to see me again, but he doesn't seem
-to talk much about selling rubies now. Perhaps he's got through that,
-as the camel said to the eye of the needle.'
-
-'Eh? What?' Lady Maud laughed.
-
-'Oh, nothing. I guess it's out of the Bible, or something. I'll tell
-you all about him by and by. He's going away this afternoon, but he's
-promised to join us in Venice for a trip, because Mrs. Rushmore finds
-him so attractive. He seems to know everybody intimately, all over the
-world. I'd like you to see him. Here we are, and there's Miss Donne
-waiting for you on the steps. I wish we'd had a longer ride together.'
-
-They reached the hotel, and Van Torp went off promptly, leaving
-Margaret to take Lady Maud upstairs and introduce her to Mrs.
-Rushmore.
-
-An hour later the two young women were together in Margaret's room,
-while Potts was unpacking for Lady Maud in the one that had been
-secured for her in spite of all sorts of difficulties.
-
-The Primadonna was sitting at her toilet-table, turned away from the
-glass, and Lady Maud occupied the only possible chair there was, a
-small, low easy-chair, apparently much too small for such a tall
-woman, but less uncomfortable than it looked.
-
-They exchanged the usual banalities. It was awfully good of Margaret
-to ask Maud, it was awfully good of Maud to come. The journey had been
-tolerable, thank you, by taking the Orient Express as far as
-Stuttgart. Margaret did not compare Maud's complexion to fresh paint,
-as Van Torp had done, but to milk and roses; and Maud said with truth
-that she had never seen Margaret looking better. It was the rest,
-Margaret said, for she had worked hard.
-
-'Are you going on Mr. Van Torp's yacht?' asked Lady Maud suddenly. 'He
-spoke to me about it on the way from the station, and asked me to
-come, in case you accept.'
-
-'I don't know. Will you go if I do? That might make a difference.'
-
-Lady Maud did not answer at once. She wished that she knew how matters
-had gone between Margaret and Van Torp during the last few days, for
-she sincerely wished to help him, now that she had made up her mind as
-to Logotheti's real character. Nevertheless, her love of fair-play
-made her feel that the Greek ought to be allowed a chance of
-retrieving himself.
-
-'Yes,' she said at last, 'I'll go, on one condition. At least, it's
-not a condition, my dear, it's only a suggestion, though I hate to
-make one. Don't think me too awfully cheeky, will you?'
-
-Margaret shook her head, but looked very grave.
-
-'I feel as if I were getting into a bad scrape,' she said, 'and I
-shall be only too glad of any good advice. Tell me what I had better
-do.'
-
-'I must tell you something else first as a continuation of my letter,
-for all sorts of things happened after I wrote it.'
-
-She told Margaret all that has been already narrated, concerning the
-news that Baraka had been set at large on Logotheti's sworn statement
-that the ruby was not his, and that he had seen it in her possession
-in Paris; and she told how she had tried to find him at his lodgings,
-and had failed, and how strangely the leather-faced secretary's
-answers had struck her, and how she had seen Baraka's gloves and stick
-in Logotheti's hall; and finally she said she had taken it into her
-head that Logotheti had spirited away the Tartar girl on his yacht,
-which, as every one in town had known through the papers, was at Cowes
-and in commission. For Logotheti, in his evidence, had explained his
-absence from the Police Court by the fact that he had been off in the
-_Erinna_ for two days, out of reach of news.
-
-Margaret's face grew darker as she listened, for she knew Lady Maud
-too well to doubt but that every word was more than scrupulously true;
-and the deduction was at least a probable one. She bit her lip as she
-felt her anger rising again.
-
-'What do you advise me to do?' she asked, in a sullen tone.
-
-'Telegraph to Logo and prepay an answer of twenty words. Telegraph to
-his rooms in St. James's Place and at the same time to his house in
-Paris. Telegraph anything you like that really needs an immediate
-reply. That's the important thing. If he does not answer within
-twenty-four hours--say thirty-six at the most--he is either on his
-yacht or hiding. Excuse the ugly word, dear--I don't think of any
-other. If you are afraid of the servants, I'll take the message to the
-telegraph office and send it for you. I suppose you have some way of
-signing which the clerks don't recognise--if you sign at all.'
-
-Margaret leaned back in her chair in silence. After a few seconds she
-turned towards the glass, rested her chin on her folded knuckles, and
-seemed to be consulting her own reflexion. It is a way some women
-have. Lady Maud glanced at her from time to time, but said nothing. At
-last the Primadonna rose with a sweep that upset the light chair
-behind her, one of those magnificent sweeps that look so well on the
-stage and are a little too large for a room. She got her blotter and
-pen from a shelf, brought it back to the toilet-table, picked up the
-chair in a very quiet and sensible way, as if she had never been on
-the stage in her life, and sat down to write.
-
-'I shall take your advice, dear,' she said, opening the blotter and
-placing a large sheet of paper in the right position.
-
-Lady Maud rose and went to the window, where she stood looking out
-while Margaret wrote her message.
-
-'You needn't write it out twice,' she said, without turning round.
-'Just put "duplicate message" and both addresses.'
-
-'Yes. Thank you.'
-
-Margaret was already writing. Her message said it was absolutely
-necessary that she should see Logotheti directly, and bade him answer
-at once, if he could come to Bayreuth; if important financial affairs
-hindered him, she herself would return immediately to Paris to see
-him.
-
-She was careful to write 'financial' affairs, for she would not admit
-that any other consideration could delay his obedience. While she was
-busy she heard, but scarcely noticed, an unearthly hoot from a big
-motor car that was passing before the hotel. There must have been
-something in the way, for the thing hooted again almost at once, and
-then several times in quick succession, as if a gigantic brazen ass
-were beginning to bray just under the window. The noises ended in a
-sort of wild, triumphant howl, with a furious puffing, and the motor
-took itself off, just as Margaret finished.
-
-She looked up and saw Lady Maud half bent, as if she had been struck;
-she was clinging with one hand to the flimsy chintz curtain, and her
-face was as white as a sheet. Margaret started in surprise, and rose
-to her feet so suddenly that she upset the chair again.
-
-'What has happened?' she cried. 'Are you ill, dear?'
-
-The delicate colour came slowly back to the smooth cheeks, the
-thoroughbred figure in black drew itself up with elastic dignity, and
-the hand let go of the curtain.
-
-'I felt a little faint,' Lady Maud answered. 'Did I frighten you? It
-was nothing, and it's quite gone, I assure you.'
-
-'You looked dreadfully ill for a moment,' Margaret said in a tone of
-concern. 'Won't you let me send for something? Tea? Or something iced?
-I'm sure you have had nothing to eat or drink for hours! How
-disgracefully thoughtless of me!'
-
-She was just going to ring, but her friend stopped her.
-
-'No--please!' she cried. 'I'm all right, indeed I am. The room is a
-little warm, I think, and I've been shut up in that stuffy train for
-thirty hours. Have you written your telegram? I'll put on my hat at
-once, and take it for you. The little walk will do me good. Where is
-the telegraph? But they can tell me downstairs. Don't bother! Walking
-always brings me round, no matter what has happened!'
-
-  [Illustration: "'What has happened?' she cried. 'Are you ill, dear?'"]
-
-She spoke nervously, in disjointed phrases, in a way not like herself,
-for there was generally an air of easy calm in all she did, as if
-nothing really mattered in the least, save when she was deeply
-interested; and hardly anything interested her now except what she had
-made her work. In all that belonged to that, she was energetic,
-direct, and quick.
-
-Margaret was sure that something was wrong, but let her go, since she
-insisted, and Lady Maud folded the written message and went to the
-door. Just as she was going to turn the handle Margaret spoke to her.
-
-'If I have no answer to that by to-morrow afternoon I shall accept Mr.
-Van Torp's invitation.'
-
-'I hope you will go,' Lady Maud said with sudden decision, 'for if you
-do, I can go with you, and I'm dying to see the new yacht!'
-
-Margaret looked at her in surprise, for it was only a little while
-since she had seemed much less ready to join the party, and only
-willing to do so, if at all, in order to please her friend. She saw
-Margaret's expression.
-
-'Yes,' she said, as if in explanation, 'I've been thinking it over in
-the last few minutes, and I want very much to go with you all. I shall
-be back in less than an hour.'
-
-'An hour?'
-
-'Say half an hour. I want a good walk.'
-
-She opened the door quickly and passed out, shutting it almost
-noiselessly after her; she was a very graceful woman and moved easily,
-whether in small spaces or large. In all her life she had probably
-never overturned a chair with her skirt, as Margaret had done twice
-within ten minutes. She had not Baraka's gliding movement, the
-virginal step of the girl of primeval race; hers was rather the
-careless, swaying walk of a thoroughbred in good training, long-limbed
-and deep-breathed, and swift at need, but indolently easy when no
-call was made upon her strength. She and Baraka and the young
-Primadonna represented well three of the possible types of beauty,
-very different from each other; so widely different that perhaps no
-two of them would be likely to appeal to one man, as mere feminine
-beauty, at the same period of his life.
-
-Straight and tall in her mourning, Lady Maud went down the stairs of
-the hotel. As she was going out the hall porter raised his cap, and
-she stopped a moment and asked him which was the nearest way to the
-telegraph office. He stood on the doorstep and pointed in the
-direction she was to follow as he answered her question.
-
-'Can you tell me,' she asked, 'whose motor car it was that passed
-about ten minutes ago, and made so much noise?'
-
-'Count Kralinsky's, my lady,' the porter answered; for he spoke good
-English, and had the true hotel porter's respect for the British
-aristocracy abroad.
-
-'He was the gentleman with the big fair beard, I suppose? Yes, thank
-you.'
-
-She went out into the dull street, with its monotonous houses, all two
-stories high, and she soon found the telegraph office and sent
-Margaret's duplicate message. She had not glanced at it, but the clerk
-asked her questions about words that were not quite clearly written,
-and she was obliged to read it through. It occurred to her that it was
-couched in extremely peremptory terms, even for an offended
-bride-elect; but that was none of her business.
-
-When the clerk had understood, she walked up the hill to the Festival
-Theatre. It all looked very dull and heavy, being an off-day, and as
-she was not a Wagnerian it meant absolutely nothing to her. She was
-disappointed in the whole town, so far as she had expected anything of
-it, for she had pictured it as being either grand in its way, or
-picturesque, or at least charming; and it was not. Her British soul
-stuck up its nose in the general atmosphere of beer and sausage, which
-she instantly perceived rather than saw; and the Teutonism of
-everything, from the appearance of the Festival Theatre itself to the
-wooden faces of the policemen, and the round pink cheeks of the few
-children she met, roused antagonism in her from the first. She went on
-a little farther, and then turned back and descended the hill, always
-at the same even, easy pace, for she was rarely aware of any change of
-grade when she walked alone.
-
-But by degrees her expression had altered since she had left the
-telegraph office, and she looked profoundly preoccupied, as if she
-were revolving a very complicated question in her mind, which disliked
-complications; and there was now and then a flash of displeased wonder
-in her face, when she opened her eyes quite wide and shut them, and
-opened them again, as if to make sure that she was quite awake.
-
-She went on, not knowing whither and not caring, always at the same
-even pace, and hardly noticing the people who passed her, of whom a
-good many were in two-horse cabs, some in queer little German motors,
-and a few on foot; and still she thought, and wondered, and tried to
-understand, but could not. At all events, she was glad to be alone;
-she was glad not to have even Van Torp with her, who was by far the
-most congenial person she knew; for he had the rare good gift of
-silence, and used it very often, and when he talked she liked his odd
-speech, his unusual expressions, even his Western accent; she liked
-him for his simple, unswerving friendship, and for his kind
-heart--though the world would have screamed with laughter at the idea;
-and more than all, she liked him for himself, and because she knew
-certainly that neither he nor she could possibly, under any
-circumstances, grow to like each other in any other way.
-
-But she did not wish that he were walking beside her now, and she was
-quite indifferent to the fact that time was passing, and that Margaret
-was beginning to wonder where in the world she was.
-
-'My dear child,' Mrs. Rushmore said, when the Primadonna expressed her
-surprise, 'those English people are all alike, when they are once out
-on a road by themselves. They must take a long walk. I am quite sure
-that at this moment Countess Leven is miles from here--miles,
-Margaret. Do you understand me? I tell you she is walking mile upon
-mile. All English people do. You are only half English after all, my
-dear, but I have known you to walk a long distance alone, for no good
-reason that I could see.'
-
-'It's good for the voice if you don't overdo it,' Margaret observed.
-
-'Yes. But Countess Leven does not sing, my dear. You forget that. Why
-should she walk mile upon mile like that? And I know Mr. Van Torp is
-not with her, for Justine told me a quarter of an hour ago that she
-heard him tell his man to bring him some hot water. So he is at home,
-you see. Margaret, what do you suppose Mr. Van Torp wants hot water
-for at this extraordinary hour?'
-
-'I really don't know,' Margaret answered, sipping her tea rather
-gloomily, for she was thinking of the telegram she had given Lady Maud
-to send.
-
-'You don't think Mr. Van Torp drinks, do you, my dear?' inquired Mrs.
-Rushmore.
-
-'Hot water? Some people do. It's good for the digestion.'
-
-'No, you purposely misunderstand me. I mean that he makes use of it
-for--for the purpose of mixing alcoholic beverages alone in his room.'
-
-Margaret laughed.
-
-'Never! If there's a perfectly sober man living, it is he!'
-
-'I am glad to hear you say so, my dear. Because, if I thought he had
-habits, nothing would induce me to go on board his yacht. Nothing,
-Margaret! Not all his millions! Do you understand me? Margaret, dear,
-if you do not mind very much, I think we had better not accept his
-invitation after all, though I am sure it is well meant.'
-
-'You're very much mistaken if you think he drinks,' Margaret said,
-still inclined to laugh.
-
-'Well, my dear,' returned Mrs. Rushmore, 'I don't know. Justine
-certainly heard him tell his man to bring him some hot water a quarter
-of an hour ago. Perhaps it may have been twenty minutes. It is a very
-extraordinary hour to ask for such a thing, I am sure.'
-
-Margaret suggested that Mr. Van Torp might possibly have a fancy to
-wash his hands in hot water at that unusual time of day, and Mrs.
-Rushmore seemed temporarily satisfied, for apparently she had not
-thought of this explanation.
-
-'Margaret,' she said solemnly, 'if you feel that you can put your hand
-into the fire for Mr. Van Torp's habits, I will go with you on his
-yacht. Not otherwise, my dear.'
-
-The Primadonna laughed, and at last Mrs. Rushmore herself smiled, for
-she was not without a sense of humour.
-
-'I cannot help it, my dear,' she said. 'You must not laugh at me if I
-am nervous about such things; nervous, you understand, not
-unreasonable. But since you are prepared to take all the
-responsibility I will go with you, my child. I cannot even say it is a
-sacrifice on my part, for I am an excellent sailor, as you know, and
-very fond of the sea. In my young days my dear husband used to have a
-nice cat-boat at Newport, and he always took me with him. He used to
-say that I steered quite nicely.'
-
-The vision of Mrs. Rushmore steering a Newport cat-boat was quite new
-to Margaret, and her lips parted in surprise.
-
-'Oh, yes, my child, we were very fond of sailing in those days,'
-continued the elderly lady, pleased with her recollections. 'I often
-got quite wet, I assure you, but I remember catching cold only once. I
-think it rained that day. My dear husband, I recollect, asked me to
-name the boat when he bought it, and so I called it the _Sea-Mew_.'
-
-'The _Sea-Mew_?' Margaret was mystified.
-
-'Yes. It was a cat-boat, my dear. Cats often mew. You understand, of
-course. It was not very funny, perhaps, but I remember that my dear
-husband laughed, and liked the name.'
-
-Margaret was laughing softly too.
-
-'I think it's awfully good, you know,' she said. 'You needn't say it's
-not funny, for it's a very creditable little joke. Do you think you
-could steer a boat now? I'm sure I could never learn! Everything about
-sailing and ships is an utter mystery to me.'
-
-'I daresay I could steer a cat-boat,' said Mrs. Rushmore calmly. 'I am
-sure I could keep a row-boat straight. Let me see--there's a thing you
-move----'
-
-'The rudder?' suggested Margaret.
-
-'No, my dear. It's not the rudder, nor the boom, nor the
-centre-board--how all the names come back to me! Yes, it is the
-tiller. That is the name. When you know which way to move the tiller,
-it is quite easy to steer.'
-
-'I fancy so,' said Margaret gravely.
-
-'Most people move it the wrong way when they begin,' continued the
-good lady. 'You see "port" means "left" and "starboard" means
-"right." But when you turn the tiller to the left the boat goes to the
-right. Do you understand?'
-
-'It seems all wrong,' observed Margaret, 'but I suppose you know.'
-
-'Yes. In the same way, when you turn the tiller to the right the boat
-goes to the left. The great thing is to remember that. It is the same
-way with "weather" and "lee." I could show you if we were in a boat.
-
-'I haven't a doubt of it,' Margaret said. 'You're perfectly amazing! I
-believe you are a regular sailor.'
-
-'Oh, no,' protested Mrs. Rushmore modestly; 'but indeed I often took
-the cat-boat out alone, now that I think of it. I used to raise the
-sail alone--I mean, I hoisted it. "Hoist"--that is the proper word, I
-remember. I was quite strong in those days.'
-
-'Really, you are most extraordinary!' Margaret was genuinely
-surprised. 'You'll astonish Mr. Van Torp when he hears your nautical
-language on the yacht! Fancy your knowing all about sailing! I knew
-you could swim, for we've often been in together at Biarritz--but
-sailing! Why did you never tell me?'
-
-'Shall we keep some tea for Countess Leven?' asked Mrs. Rushmore,
-changing the subject. 'I fear it will get quite cold. Those English
-people never know when to stop walking. I cannot understand what they
-can see in it. Perhaps you will kindly touch the bell, my dear, and I
-will send the tea away. It can be brought fresh for her when she
-comes. Thank you, Margaret. But she will not come in till it is just
-time to dress for dinner. Mark my words, my child, the Countess will
-be late for dinner. All English people are. Have you heard from
-Monsieur Logotheti to-day?'
-
-'Not to-day,' Margaret answered, repressing a little start, for she
-was as near to being nervous as she ever was, and she was thinking of
-him just then, and the question had come suddenly.
-
-'I think it is time you heard from him,' said Mrs. Rushmore, her
-natural severity asserting itself. 'I should think that after those
-very strange stories in the papers he would write to you and explain,
-or come himself. By the bye, perhaps you will kindly pass me the
-_Herald_, my dear. What did you once tell me was the name of his
-yacht?'
-
-'The _Erinna_,' Margaret answered, handing Mrs. Rushmore the sheet.
-
-'Exactly! I think that means the "Fury."'
-
-'He told me it was the name of a Greek poetess,' Margaret observed.
-
-'On account of her temper, I suppose,' answered the good lady
-absently, for she was looking up and down the columns in search of
-something she had already seen. 'Here it is!' she said. 'It is under
-the yachting news. "Cape Finisterre. Passed at 4 P.M., going south,
-steam yacht _Erinna_, with owner and party on board. All well." My
-dear child, it is quite clear that if this is Monsieur Logotheti's
-yacht, he is going to Gibraltar.'
-
-'I don't know anything about geography,' Margaret said, and her wrath,
-which had been smouldering sullenly for days, began to glow again.
-
-'Margaret,' said Mrs. Rushmore, 'you surprise me! You were very well
-taught----'
-
-But the Primadonna did not hear the long tirade of mild reproof that
-followed. She knew well enough where Gibraltar was, and that Logotheti
-was going all the way round to the Mediterranean on his yacht with
-some one for company, and that the voyage was a long one. After what
-Lady Maud had said, there was not the least doubt in her mind as to
-his companion, who could be no one but Baraka. He had been told that
-he was not wanted at Bayreuth, and he was celebrating the sunset of
-his bachelor life in his own way. That was clear. If he received the
-telegram that had just been sent to him, he would get it at Gibraltar,
-should he stop there, and as for answering it before Margaret left
-Bayreuth, she was inclined to make such a thing impossible by going
-away the next morning, if not that very night.
-
-Her angry reflexions and Mrs. Rushmore's lecture on the importance of
-geography in education were interrupted by the discreet entrance of
-Mr. Van Torp, who was announced and ushered to the door by Justine in
-a grand French manner. On the threshold, however, he stood still and
-asked if he might come in; being pressed to do so, he yielded,
-advanced, and sat down between the two ladies.
-
-'Mr. Van Torp,' said Mrs. Rushmore, 'I insist upon knowing what has
-become of Countess Leven.'
-
-'I don't know, Mrs. Rushmore,' answered the millionaire, slowly
-rubbing his hands. 'I haven't spoken to her since I brought her from
-the station. I daresay she's all right. She's most probably gone to
-take a walk. She often does in the country, I know--her father's
-country seat is next to mine, Mrs. Rushmore. I hope you'll pay me a
-visit some day. Why, yes, Lady Maud sometimes goes off alone and walks
-miles and miles.'
-
-'There, Margaret,' said Mrs. Rushmore triumphantly, 'what did I tell
-you? Mr. Van Torp says the Countess often walks for miles and miles.'
-
-'Why, certainly,' said Mr. Van Torp, 'though I'm bound to say she's
-just as fond of horseback. Her friends generally call her Lady Maud,
-Mrs. Rushmore. Perhaps you won't mind my telling you, as she prefers
-it a good deal herself. You see, I've had the pleasure of knowing her
-several years, so I daresay you'll forgive me for mentioning it.'
-
-'I think it is quite kind of you, on the contrary,' answered Mrs.
-Rushmore. 'Margaret, why did you never tell me of this? Had you any
-reason for not telling me?'
-
-'I don't think I noticed what you called her,' Margaret answered
-patiently.
-
-'Because if you had any reason,' said Mrs. Rushmore, following her own
-thoughts, 'I insist upon knowing what it was.'
-
-'Well, now, I'll tell you,' rejoined Mr. Van Torp, to save Margaret
-the trouble of answering the futile little speech, 'her husband didn't
-treat her very well. There's not a purer woman in the six continents,
-Mrs. Rushmore, but he tried to divorce her, because he'd lost his
-money, if he ever had any, and she has none, and he wanted to marry an
-heiress. However, they automobilised him, or something, in St.
-Petersburg last June.'
-
-'Auto--what did you say?' inquired Mrs. Rushmore.
-
-'Killed by an automobile,' explained Mr. Van Torp gravely. 'But now I
-come to think, it wasn't that. He got blown up by a bomb meant for a
-better man. It was quite instantaneous, I recollect. His head
-disappeared suddenly, and the greater part of him was scattered
-around, but they found his pocket-book with his cards and things, so
-they knew who it was. It was driven through somebody else's hat on the
-other side of the street, wasn't it, Miss Donne? Things must have been
-quite lively just then, where it happened. I supposed you knew.'
-
-Mrs. Rushmore explained that she had never heard any details.
-
-'Besides,' said Mr. Van Torp, in answer, though not quite relevantly,
-'everybody always calls her "Lady Maud" instead of "Countess Leven,"
-which she has on her cards.'
-
-'She would naturally use the higher title,' observed Mrs. Rushmore
-reverently.
-
-'Well, now, about that,' objected Mr. Van Torp, 'I'm bound to say I
-think the daughter of an English earl as good as a Russian count,
-anywhere west of Siberia. I don't know how they figure those things
-out at courts when they have to balance 'em up for seats at a
-dinner-party, of course. It's just my impression, that's all, as a
-business man. He's dead anyway, and one needn't make personal remarks
-about dead men. All the same, it was a happy release for Lady Maud,
-and I doubt if she sits up all night mourning for him. Have you been
-out this afternoon, Miss Donne?'
-
-He changed the subject with extreme directness, and Mrs. Rushmore, who
-was used to the dictatorial ways of lions, took the hint submissively
-enough, though she would have been glad to discuss the relative and
-intrinsic values of the designations 'Lady Maud' and 'Countess Leven.'
-But it was much more important that the lion should be left alone with
-Margaret as much as possible, and the excellent lady therefore
-remembered that she had something to do and left them.
-
-'I had a little talk with Kralinsky before he left,' said Van Torp,
-when she was gone. 'He says he'll meet us in Venice any time in the
-next few days. He's just going to run over to Vienna in his
-sudden-death-cart for twenty-four hours; then he'll go south, he says.
-He ran me up to the hotel and dropped me. I daresay you heard the
-toots. I thought I saw Lady Maud looking out of the window of your
-room as I got out.'
-
-'Yes,' Margaret said. 'But how do you know that is my window?'
-
-'In the first place, I've counted the windows. I felt a sort of
-interest in knowing which was yours. And then, I often see your maid
-opening the shutters in the morning.'
-
-'Oh!' Margaret smiled. 'Did you notice anything unusual about Lady
-Maud when you saw her?' she asked, for she knew that he had good eyes.
-
-'Since you mention it, I thought she looked as if she didn't feel
-quite up to the mark--pale, I thought she was.'
-
-'Yes,' Margaret said. 'She felt ill for a moment, and I thought she
-was going to faint. But it passed almost directly, and she insisted on
-going for a walk.'
-
-'Oh,' mused Mr. Van Torp, 'is that so? Well, I daresay it was the best
-thing she could do. I was telling you about Kralinsky. He's not Levi
-Longlegs after all, and I'm not sure he was ever in the West.'
-
-'I thought it sounded unlikely,' Margaret said.
-
-'I asked him, just like that, in a friendly way, and he thought a
-moment and made an effort to recollect, and then he seemed quite
-pleased to remember that I'd been "Fanny" and he'd been Levi Longlegs,
-and that he used to whistle things out of _Parsifal_ by the fire of an
-evening.'
-
-'Well--but in that case---' Margaret stopped with an inquiring look.
-
-'Just so,' continued Van Torp, nodding. 'Did you ever attend a trial
-and hear a witness being cross-examined by a lawyer who wants him to
-remember something, and he wants to remember it himself, but can't,
-because he never heard of it before in his life? It's quite funny. The
-lawyer makes steps for him and puts his feet into them so that he gets
-along nicely, unless the judge happens to wake up and kick, and then
-the little game stops right there, and somebody laughs. Well, my talk
-with Kralinsky was like that, only there was no judge, so he went
-away happy; and we're old friends now, and punched cows on the same
-ranch, and he's coming on my yacht. I only wonder why he was so
-anxious to remember all that, and why he thought it would be kind of
-friendly if I called him Levi Longlegs again, and he called me Fanny
-Cook. I wonder! He says he's still very fond of _Parsifal_, and came
-on purpose to hear it, but that he's completely forgotten how to
-whistle. That's funny too. I just thought I'd tell you, because if you
-come on my yacht and he comes too, you're liable to see quite a good
-deal of one another.'
-
-'Did you tell him that Mrs. Rushmore and I would come?' Margaret
-asked. 'And Lady Maud?'
-
-'Why, no. You've not promised yet, any more than you did last night
-when he was there and we talked about it, so how could I? I forgot to
-mention Lady Maud to him, or else I thought I wouldn't--I forget
-which. It doesn't matter.'
-
-'No.' Margaret smiled. 'Not a little bit!'
-
-'You seem amused,' observed Mr. Van Torp.
-
-'By your way of putting it, and your pretending to forget such a
-thing.'
-
-'It wasn't quite true that I forgot, but I wanted to, so I didn't say
-anything about her. That's why I put it in that way. I don't choose to
-leave you any doubt about what I say, or mean, even in the smallest
-things. The moment you feel the least doubt about the perfect accuracy
-of anything I tell you, even if it's not at all a downright lie or
-anything resembling one, you won't trust me at all, in anything.
-Because, if you trust me, you'll end by liking me, and if you don't
-trust me you'll go back to thinking that I'm the Beast out of
-Revelations, or something, as you used to. I've forgotten the Beast's
-number.'
-
-Margaret smiled again, though she was continually conscious of her own
-sullenly smouldering anger against Logotheti. Van Torp was gaining
-influence over her in his own uncouth way. Logotheti had been able to
-play upon her moods, as on that day under the elm-tree at Versailles,
-and she blushed when she remembered that single kiss he had won from
-her. But the American had no idea of such tactics in love, for he had
-never learned them. He was making war on the modern scientific system
-of never losing a hair's-breadth of ground once gained, keeping his
-communications constantly open with the base from which he had
-started, bringing up fresh forces to the front without intermission,
-and playing his heavy artillery with judgment and tenacity.
-
-'The number doesn't matter,' Margaret said, 'for I've forgotten all
-about the Beast.'
-
-'Thank you,' answered Mr. Van Torp. 'To change the subject--I've got a
-little scheme to propose. Maybe you'll think well of it. Anyhow, as
-it's a mere matter of business connected with your career, you won't
-mind my explaining it to you, will you?'
-
-'No, indeed!' Margaret was interested at once. 'Do tell me!' she said,
-leaning forward a little.
-
-'Well,' he began, 'I've looked around this place a good deal since
-I've been here, and I've come to the conclusion that it's not very
-well done, anyhow, except _Parsifal_. That's what most of the people
-really come for. I'm informed that they give all the other operas
-better in Munich, with the advantage of being in what you may call a
-Christian town, compared with this. Is that correct, do you think?'
-
-'Yes, I believe so.'
-
-'It is, you can depend upon it. Now, what I want to know is, why you
-and I shouldn't go into a little business partnership, and do this
-kind of thing brown, as it ought to be done.' Margaret opened her
-handsome eyes wide. 'Because,' continued Mr. Van Torp, as coolly as if
-he were explaining a new plan to a board of directors, 'we've got the
-capital and the ability between us, and there's a demand in New York
-for what I propose to do. It'll fill a want, I know, and that means
-success and money. Why don't we build a theatre together? When I say a
-theatre, I mean a first-class opera-house and not a barn. We'll employ
-the best architects to build it, and, of course, I'd leave everything
-about it to you. I've got a block in New York just about in the right
-place, and it won't take long to build. I'll give the land and put up
-the money for the building, if you'll undertake the management. You'll
-put in any money you like, of course, and we'll share the profits.
-Maybe they'll be quite handsome, for we'll lease the theatre to other
-people outside of the season. We'll have the best talent in Europe,
-and pay for it, and the public will pay us back. We'll call it the
-Cordova Opera, if you like, and you'll run it according to your own
-ideas, and sing or not, whenever you please.'
-
-'Are you in earnest?'
-
-Margaret had some difficulty in pronouncing the words clearly. He had
-brought up some very heavy artillery indeed, and at the right moment.
-Was there ever a great soprano who did not dream of having the most
-perfect theatre of her very own, and who could receive unmoved the
-offer to build one from a man who could build twenty if he chose? Very
-rarely in her life had she been aware of her bodily heart, but she
-could feel it now, beating like a hammer on the anvil.
-
-'I'm in earnest,' Van Torp answered with perfect calm. 'I've thought
-the whole thing over in all its aspects, just as I would a railroad,
-or a canal, or a mine, and I've concluded to try it, if you'll help
-me, because it's going to be a safe investment. You see, Miss Donne,'
-he went on slowly, 'there's no artist on the Grand Opera stage now
-who's so well equipped for the business as you are. I'm not flattering
-you, either. In your own kind of parts you've simply got no rival.
-Everybody says so, and I suppose you won't play kitty and deny it.
-Let's start fair, now.'
-
-'It would be silly to deny that I'm one of the first,' Margaret
-admitted.
-
-'That'll do, thank you. One of the first, and the first is one of
-them, and you're it. Besides, you've got before you what's behind most
-of them. You're young. I'm not talking about your personal appearance,
-but that's just one more item in the assets. Another big one is that
-you're a first-class musician, whereas half these singers can only
-bang the box like great, thundering, overgrown schoolgirls. Allow
-that?'
-
-'I suppose I must "allow" anything!' laughed the Primadonna.
-
-'Well, now, I've told you. You've got the name I need, and you've got
-the voice, and the talent, and you've got the science and culture. I
-suppose you'll let me say that I've got the business ability, won't
-you?'
-
-The iron mouth smiled a little grimly.
-
-'Rather! I fancy some people have wished you had less!'
-
-'And the money's here, for I always have a blank cheque in my pocket.
-If you like, I'll fill it in, and we'll deposit it wherever you say,
-in the name of the "Cordova Opera Company," or "Madame da Cordova,
-Rufus Van Torp and Co." We can make out our little agreement in
-duplicate right here, on the corner of the table, and sign it; and
-before we leave here you might go around and speak to the best singers
-about an engagement in New York for a Wagner festival, a year from
-next Christmas. That's business, and this is a purely business
-proposition. If you'd like to think it over, I'll go and take a little
-walk before dinner.'
-
-'It sounds like a dream!' Margaret answered, in a wondering tone.
-
-'Money's an awful reality,' Van Torp remarked. 'I'm talking business,
-and as I'm the one who's going to put up most of the capital, you'll
-do me the credit to believe that I'm quite wide awake.'
-
-'Do you really, really, really mean it?' She spoke almost like a
-child.
-
-It was not the first time in his life that the financier had seen the
-stunning effect of a big sum, projected with precision, like a shell,
-at exactly the right moment. He was playing the great game again, but
-for a prize he thought worth more than any he had yet won, and the
-very magnitude of the risk steadied his naturally steady brain.
-
-'Yes,' he said quietly, 'I do. Perhaps I've startled you a little, and
-I shouldn't like you to make a decision till you feel quite ready to.
-I'll just say again that I've thought the whole thing out as a genuine
-venture, and that I believe in it, or I wouldn't propose it. Maybe
-you've got some sensible lawyer you have confidence in, and would like
-to consult him first. If you feel that way, I'd rather you should. A
-business partnership's not a thing to go into with your eyes shut, and
-if we had any reason for distrusting one another, it would be better
-to make inquiries. But so far as that goes, it appears to me that
-we've got facts to go on, which would make any partnership succeed.
-You've certainly got the musical brains, besides a little money of
-your own, and I've certainly got the rest of the funds. I'd like you
-to put some money in, though, if you can spare it, because that's a
-guarantee that you're going to be in earnest, too, and do your share
-in the musical side. You see I'm talking to you just as I would to a
-man in the same position. Not because I doubt that if you put your
-name to a piece of paper you really will do your share as a partner,
-but because I'm used to working in that sort of way in business. How
-does that strike you? I hope you're not offended?'
-
-'Offended!'
-
-There was no mistaking the suppressed excitement and delight in her
-voice. If he had possessed the intelligence of Mephistopheles and the
-charm of Faust he could not have said anything more subtly pleasing to
-her dignity and her vanity.
-
-'Of course,' he said, 'it needn't be a very large sum. Still it ought
-to be something that would make a difference to you.'
-
-She hesitated a moment, and then spoke rather timidly.
-
-'I think perhaps--if we did it--I could manage a hundred thousand
-pounds,' she said. 'Would that be too little, do you think?'
-
-The large mouth twitched and then smiled pleasantly.
-
-'That's too much,' he said, shaking his head. 'You mustn't put all
-your eggs in one basket. A hundred thousand dollars would be quite
-enough as your share of the capital, with option to buy stock of me at
-par, up to a million, or so, if it's a success.'
-
-'Really? Would that be enough? And, please, what is "stock" in such a
-case?'
-
-'Stock,' said the financier, 'is a little plant which, when well
-watered, will grow like the mustard seed, till all the birds of Wall
-Street make their nests in its branches. And if you don't water it too
-much, it'll be all right. In our case, the stock is going to be that
-share of the business which most people sell to raise money, and
-which we mean to keep for ourselves. I always do it that way, when
-circumstances allow. I once bought all the stock of a railroad for
-nothing, for instance, and sold all the bonds, and let it go bankrupt.
-Then I bought the road one day, and found all the stock was in my own
-pocket. That's only a little illustration. But I guess you can leave
-the financial side in my hands. You won't lose by it, I'm pretty
-sure.'
-
-'I fancy not!' Margaret's eyes were wide open, her hands were clasped
-tightly on her knee, and she was leaning forward a little. 'Besides,'
-she went on, 'it would not be the money that I should care about! I
-can earn more money than I want, and I have a little fortune of my
-own--the hundred thousand I offered you. Oh, no! It would be the
-splendid power to have the most beautiful music in the world given as
-it could be given nowhere else! The joy of singing myself--the parts I
-can sing--in the most perfect surroundings! An orchestra picked from
-the whole world of orchestras, the greatest living leaders, the most
-faultless chorus! And the scenery, and the costumes--everything as
-everything could be, if it were really, really the best that can be
-had! Do you believe it is possible to have all that?'
-
-'Oh, yes, and with your name to it, too. We'll have everything on
-earth that money can buy to make a perfect opera, and I'll guarantee
-it'll pay after the first two seasons. That is, if you'll work at it
-as hard as I will. But you've got to work, Miss Donne, you've got to
-work, or it's no use thinking of it. That's my opinion.'
-
-'I'll work like a Trojan!' cried Margaret enthusiastically.
-
-'Trojans,' mused Van Torp, who wanted to bring her back to her
-ordinary self before Mrs. Rushmore or Lady Maud came in. 'Let me see.
-They say that because the Trojans had to work so hard to get over the
-Alps coming down into Italy, don't they?'
-
-Whether Mr. Van Torp made this monstrous assertion in ignorance, or
-for effect, no one will ever know. An effect certainly followed at
-once, for Margaret broke into an echoing laugh.
-
-'I believe it was the Carthaginians,' she said presently. 'It's the
-same thing, as Lady Maud is so fond of saying!'
-
-'All in the family, as Cain said when he killed Abel,' observed Van
-Torp without a smile.
-
-Margaret looked at him and laughed again. She would have laughed at
-anything in the remotest degree amusing just then, for she found it
-hard to realise exactly what she was doing or saying. The possibility
-he had suddenly placed within her reach appealed to almost everything
-in her nature at once, to her talent, her vanity, her real knowledge
-of her art, her love of power, even to her good sense, which was
-unusually practical in certain ways. She had enough experience in
-herself, and enough knowledge of the conditions to believe that her
-own hard work, combined with Van Torp's unlimited capital, could and
-certainly would produce such an opera-house, and bring to it such
-artists as had never been seen and heard, except perhaps in Bayreuth,
-during its first great days, now long past.
-
-Then, too, he had put the matter before her so skilfully that she
-could look upon it honestly as a business partnership, in which her
-voice, her judgment, and her experience would bear no contemptible
-proportion to his money, and in which she herself was to invest money
-of her own, thereby sharing the risk according to her fortune as well
-as giving the greater part of the labour. She felt for some weak place
-in the scheme, groping as if she were dazzled, but she could find
-none.
-
-'I don't think I shall need time to think this over,' she said,
-controlling her voice better, now that she had made up her mind. 'As I
-understand it, I am to put in what I can in the way of ready-money,
-and I am to give my time in all ways, as you need it, and my voice,
-when it is wanted. Is that it?'
-
-'Except that, when you choose to sing, the Company will allow you your
-usual price for each appearance,' answered Van Torp in a business-like
-manner. 'You will pay yourself, or we both shall pay you, just as much
-as we should pay any other first-class soprano, or as much more as you
-would get in London or New York if you signed an engagement.'
-
-'Is that fair?' Margaret asked.
-
-'Why, certainly. But the Company, which is you and I, will probably
-rule that you mustn't sing in Grand Opera anywhere in the States east
-of the Rockies. They've got to come to New York to hear you.
-Naturally, you'll be free to do anything you like in Europe outside
-of our season, when you can spare the time.'
-
-'Of course.'
-
-'Well, now, I suppose we might as well note that down right away, as a
-preliminary agreement. What do you say?'
-
-'I say that I simply cannot refuse such an offer!' Margaret answered.
-
-'Your consent is all that's necessary,' he said, in a matter-of-fact
-tone.
-
-He produced from an inner pocket a folded sheet of foolscap, which he
-spread on the corner of the table beside him. He took out a fountain
-pen and began to write quickly. The terms and forms were as familiar
-to him as the alphabet and he lost no time; besides, as he had told
-the Primadonna, he had thought out the whole matter beforehand.
-
-'What if Mrs. Rushmore comes in just as we are signing it?' asked
-Margaret.
-
-'We'll tell her, and ask her to witness our signatures,' replied Van
-Torp without looking up. 'I judge Mrs. Rushmore to have quite a
-knowledge of business.'
-
-'You seem able to write and talk at the same time,' Margaret said,
-smiling.
-
-'Business talk, yes.' The pen ran on swiftly. 'There. That's about
-all, I should say. Do you think you can read my writing? I don't
-suppose you've ever seen it.'
-
-He turned the page round, and handed it to her. The writing was large
-and perfectly legible, but very different from the 'commercial' hand
-of most American business men. Any one word, taken at random, might
-have seemed unformed, at first sight, but the appearance of the whole
-was oddly strong and symmetrical. Margaret read the clauses carefully.
-She herself had already signed a good many legal papers in connexion
-with her engagements and her own small fortune, and the language was
-not so unfamiliar to her as it would have been to most women.
-
-'Shall I sign first?' she asked, when she had finished. 'My own name?
-Or my stage name?'
-
-'Your own name, please,' said Van Torp without hesitation. 'The others
-only binding in your profession, because you appear under it, and it's
-your "business style."'
-
-She wrote 'Margaret Donne' at the foot of the page in her large and
-rather irregular hand, and passed the paper back to Van Torp, who
-signed it. He waved the sheet slowly to and fro, to dry the ink.
-
-'It's only a preliminary agreement,' he said, 'but it's binding as far
-as it goes and I'll attend to the rest. You'll have to give me a power
-of attorney for my lawyer in New York. By the bye, if you decide to
-come, you can do that in Venice, where there's a real live consul.
-That's necessary. But for all matters of business herein set forth, we
-are now already "The Madame da Cordova and Rufus Van Torp Company,
-organised for the purpose of building an Opera-house in the City of
-New York and for giving public performances of musical works in the
-same, with a nominal capital hereafter to be agreed upon." That's
-what we are now.'
-
-He folded the sheet, returned it to his inner pocket and held out his
-hand in a cheerful, business-like manner.
-
-'Shall we shake hands on it?' he asked.
-
-'By all means,' Margaret answered readily, and their eyes met; but she
-drew back her hand again before taking his. 'This is purely a matter
-of business between us,' she said, 'you understand that? It means
-nothing else?'
-
-'Purely a matter of business,' answered Rufus Van Torp, slowly and
-gravely.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XII
-
-
-'Stemp,' said Mr. Van Torp, 'we must have something to eat on that
-yacht.'
-
-'Yes, sir. Quite so, sir.'
-
-Stemp, who could do anything, was clipping the millionaire's thatch of
-sandy hair, on the morning after the transaction last described. Mr.
-Van Torp abhorred barbers and shaved himself, and in his less
-'prominent' days he had been in the habit of cutting his own hair by
-using two looking-glasses. The result had rarely been artistic, and
-even Stemp was not what is described on some American signs as a
-tonsorial artist, but he managed to clip his master's rough mane with
-neatness and precision, if not in the 'Bond Street style.'
-
-'I mean,' said Mr. Van Torp, explaining himself, 'we must have
-something good to eat.'
-
-'Oh, I see, sir,' answered Stemp, as if this were quite a new idea.
-
-'Well, now, do you suppose you can get anything to eat in Italy?'
-
-'Salmon-trout is very good there, sir, and quails are in season at the
-end of August. They are just going back to Egypt at this time of the
-year, sir, and are very fat. There's Gorgonzola cheese, too, and figs
-and muscatel grapes are coming on. I think that's all, sir.'
-
-'It's not bad. How about chickens?'
-
-'Well, sir, the poultry in those parts is not much to boast of. An
-Italian fowl is mostly either a hawk or a butterfly. That's my
-experience, sir, when I travelled there with the late Duke of
-Barchester, a few years ago. His Grace was most particular, sir,
-having a poor stomach, and nothing to occupy his mind after the
-Duchess died in a fit of rage, having thrown her wig at him, sir, they
-do say, and then fallen down in a fit which was quite awful to see,
-and ended as we all know.'
-
-'As far as I can see, you'd better go on to Venice, Stemp,' said Mr.
-Van Torp, not interested in his man's reminiscences. 'You'd better go
-off to-night and tell Captain Brown to hurry up and get ready, because
-I'm bringing a party of friends down the day after to-morrow. And then
-you just scratch round and find something to eat.'
-
-'Yes, sir. I'll telegraph to the caterers, and I think you'll be
-satisfied, sir.'
-
-'There's an American lady coming, who knows what's good to eat, and
-likes it, and wants it, and means to get it, and you've got to find it
-for her somehow. I can live on hog and hominy myself. And I shan't
-want you in the least. You'd better take most of my baggage with you
-anyway. Just leave my Tuxedo and a couple of suits, and some new
-flannel pants and a shirt-case, and take the rest. But don't waste
-time over that either if you've got to catch the train, for the main
-thing's to get there right away. You can go first-class, Stemp--you
-won't be so done up.'
-
-'Thank you, sir.'
-
-A silence followed, during which the valet's scissors made a
-succession of little chinking noises; from time to time he turned Mr.
-Van Torp's head very gingerly to a slightly different position.
-
-'Stemp.'
-
-'Yes, sir.'
-
-'You take a good look around that yacht, and decide about the
-state-rooms, before I come. This way. You give the best room to Miss
-Donne, and have a large bouquet of carnations on the table. See?'
-
-'Beg pardon, sir, but carnations are out of season.'
-
-'You get them just the same.'
-
-'Yes, sir.'
-
-'And give the second-best room to her ladyship, Stemp, if there are
-not two alike, but be extra careful to see that everything's
-comfortable. Lady Maud likes wood violets, Stemp. You get a handsome
-bouquet of them, and don't tell me they're out of season too, because
-you've got to get them, anyway, so it's no use to talk.'
-
-'Yes, sir. I see, sir.'
-
-'And then you get the third-best room ready for Mrs. Rushmore, and you
-get some flowers for her too, out of your own head. Maybe she likes
-those roses with stems three feet long. Use your own judgment,
-anyway.'
-
-'Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.'
-
-Another silence followed, and the hair-cutting was finished. Mr. Van
-Torp glanced at himself in the glass and then turned to his valet.
-
-'Say, Stemp, I was thinking. Maybe that third bedroom's not quite so
-good as the others, and the lady might feel herself sort of
-overlooked.'
-
-'Yes, sir.'
-
-'Well, I was thinking. If that's the case, and it looks sort of
-second-class, you go out and get a man and have him gild it all around
-nicely so as to brighten it up. I guess she'll think it's all right if
-it's gilt and the others aren't. Some people are like that.'
-
-'I see, sir. Yes, sir. I'll attend to it, sir. Will there be any more
-ladies and gentlemen, sir?'
-
-'There's that Russian gentleman, Count Kralinsky. Put him at the other
-end of the ship, somewhere out of the way of the ladies. I suppose
-he'll bring his valet, and there'll be two or three maids. That's all.
-Now don't mind me any more, but just fly around, and don't forget
-anything. Understand? We aren't going to be in England or the States,
-where you can sit still and telephone for anything you've forgotten,
-from peanuts to a funeral. You'll have to go full speed ahead in all
-directions if you're going to wake things up.'
-
-Thereupon Mr. Van Torp sat down by the window to read the paper.
-
-His attention was arrested by a sensational 'scare-head' about a thief
-and a ruby worth fifty thousand dollars. Some disaffected colleague in
-London had known, or cleverly guessed, where the stone was that had
-been stolen from Mr. Pinney's, and had informed the police; the
-nice-looking young fellow who spoke like an English gentleman had
-walked directly into the arms of the plain-clothes man waiting for
-him on the pier in New York, the stone had been found sewn up in his
-waistcoat, and his pleasant career of liberty had ended abruptly in a
-cell.
-
-Mr. Van Torp whistled softly as he read the account a second time.
-Then he neatly cut the column out of the paper, folded it with great
-precision, smoothed it with care and placed it in his pocket-book next
-to a cheap little photograph of Madame da Cordova as 'Juliet,' which
-he had bought in a music-shop in New York the day after he had heard
-her for the first time, and had carried in his pocket ever since. He
-looked up to see what Stemp was doing, and as the man was kneeling
-before a box on the floor, with his back turned, he took out the
-rather shabby photograph and gazed at it quietly for fully thirty
-seconds before he put it back again.
-
-He took up the mutilated newspaper and looked up and down the columns,
-and among other information which he gathered in a few moments was the
-fact that Logotheti's yacht had 'passed Cape Saint Vincent, going
-east, owner and party on board.' The previous telegram had not escaped
-him, and if he had entertained any doubts as to the destination of the
-_Erinna_, they vanished now. She was certainly bound for the
-Mediterranean. He remembered having heard that many steam yachts
-coming from England put into Gibraltar for coal and fresh provisions,
-coal being cheaper there than in French and Italian ports, and he
-thought it very probable that the _Erinna_ would do the same; he also
-made some deductions which need not be explained yet. The only one
-worth mentioning here was that Logotheti would be likely to hear in
-Gibraltar that the ruby had been found and was on its way back to
-England, and that as he would know that Margaret would be anxious
-about it, since he had already given it to her, he would hardly let
-the occasion of communicating with her go by. As for writing from
-Gibraltar to any place whatsoever in the hope that a letter will
-arrive in less than a week, it is sheer folly. Mr. Van Torp had never
-tried it, and supposed it possible, as it looks, but he was tolerably
-sure that Logotheti would telegraph first, and had perhaps done so
-already, for the news of his passing Cape Saint Vincent was already
-twenty-four hours old.
-
-This was precisely what had happened. When Mr. Van Torp opened his
-door, he came upon Margaret and Mrs. Rushmore on the landing, on the
-point of going out for a walk, and a servant had just brought the
-Primadonna a telegram which she was reading aloud, so that the
-American could not help hearing her.
-
-'"Cruising till wanted,"' she read quickly. '"Ruby found. Address,
-yacht _Erinna_, Naples."'
-
-She heard Van Torp close his door, though she had not heard him open
-it, and turning round she found herself face to face with him. Her
-eyes were sparkling with anger.
-
-'Very sorry,' he said. 'I couldn't help hearing.'
-
-'It's of no consequence, for I should have told you,' Margaret
-answered briefly.
-
-He argued well for himself from her tone and manner, but he chose to
-show that he would not force his company upon her just then, when she
-was in a visible rage, and instead of stopping to exchange more words
-he passed the two ladies hat in hand, and bowing rather low, after his
-manner, he went quietly downstairs.
-
-Margaret watched him till he disappeared.
-
-'I like that man,' she said, as if to herself, but audibly. 'I cannot
-help it.'
-
-Mrs. Rushmore was more than delighted, but had tact enough not to make
-any answer to a speech which had probably not been meant for her ears.
-
-'Perhaps,' she said, 'you would rather not go out just yet, my dear?'
-
-Margaret was grateful for the suggestion, and they turned back into
-their rooms.
-
-Meanwhile Van Torp had reached the door of the hotel, and found Lady
-Maud standing there with her parasol up, for the sun was streaming in.
-
-'I was waiting for you,' she said simply, as soon as he reached her
-side, and she stepped out into the street. 'I thought you would come
-down, and I wanted to speak to you, for I did not get a chance last
-night. They were both watching me, probably because they thought I was
-ill, and I had to chatter like a magpie to keep up appearances.'
-
-'You did it very well,' Van Torp said. 'If I had not seen your face at
-the window when I got out of the automobile yesterday, I shouldn't
-have guessed there was anything wrong.'
-
-'But there is--something very wrong--something I can hardly bear to
-think of, though I must, until I know the truth.'
-
-They turned into the first deserted street they came to.
-
-'I daresay I can give a guess at what it is,' Van Torp answered
-gravely. 'I went to see him alone yesterday on purpose, before he
-started, and I must say, if it wasn't for the beard I'd feel pretty
-sure.'
-
-'He had a beard when I married him, and it was like that--just like
-that!'
-
-Lady Maud's voice shook audibly, for she felt cold, even in the
-sunshine.
-
-'I didn't know,' Van Torp answered. 'That alters the case. If we're
-not mistaken, what can I do to help you? Let's see. You only had that
-one look at him, through the window, is that so?'
-
-'Yes. But the window was open, and it's not high above the ground, and
-my eyes are good. He took off his hat when he said good-bye to you,
-and I saw his face as distinctly as I see yours. When you've been
-married to a man'--she laughed harshly--'you cannot be easily mistaken
-about him, when you're as near as that! That is the man I married. I'm
-intimately convinced of it, but I must be quite sure. Do you
-understand?'
-
-'Of course. If he's really Leven, he's even a better actor than I used
-to think he was. If he's not, the resemblance is just about the most
-extraordinary thing! It's true I only saw Leven three or four times in
-my life, but I saw him to look at him then, and the last time I did,
-when he made the row in Hare Court, he was doing most of the talking,
-so I remember his voice.'
-
-'There's only one difficulty,' Lady Maud said. 'Some one else may have
-been killed last June. It may even have been the pickpocket who had
-stolen his pocket-book. Such things have happened, or do in books! But
-this is certainly the man you met in New York and who sold you the
-stone you gave me, is he not?'
-
-'Oh, certainly. And that was at the end of July, and Leven was killed
-late in June.'
-
-'Yes. That only leaves a month for him to have been to Asia--that's
-absurd.'
-
-'Utterly, totally, and entirely impossible,' asseverated Mr. Van Torp.
-'One of two things. Either this man is your husband, and if he is,
-he's not the man who found the rubies in Asia. Or else, if he is that
-man, he's not Leven. I wish that heathen girl had been here yesterday!
-She could have told in a minute. She'd better have been here anyway
-than cutting around the Mediterranean with that fellow Logotheti!'
-
-'Yes,' Lady Maud answered gravely. 'But about myself--if Leven is
-alive, what is my position--I mean--I don't really quite know where I
-am, do I?'
-
-'Anybody but you would have thought of marrying again already,'
-observed Mr. Van Torp, looking up sideways to her eyes, for she was
-taller than he. 'Then you'd really be in a bad fix, wouldn't you? The
-Enoch Arden thing, I suppose it would be. But as it is, I don't see
-that it makes much difference. The man's going under a false name, so
-he doesn't mean to claim you as his wife, nor to try and get a divorce
-again, as he did before. He's just going to be somebody else for his
-own good, and he'll get married that way, maybe. That's his business,
-not yours. I don't suppose you're going to get up in church and forbid
-the banns, are you?'
-
-'I would, like a shot!' said Lady Maud. 'So would you, I'm sure! Think
-of the other woman!'
-
-'That's so,' answered Van Torp without enthusiasm. 'However, we've got
-to think about you and the present, and decide what we'll do. I
-suppose the best thing is for me to put him off with some excuse, so
-that you can come on the yacht.'
-
-'Please do nothing of the sort!' cried Lady Maud.
-
-'But I want you to come,' objected her friend.
-
-'I mean to come. Do you think I am afraid to meet him?'
-
-Van Torp looked at her in some surprise, and not without admiration.
-
-'There isn't anybody like you, anyway,' he said quietly. 'But there's
-going to be a circus on that ship if he's Leven,' he added. 'If he
-makes a fuss, I'll read the Riot Act and lock him up.'
-
-'Oh, no,' answered Lady Maud, who was used to Mr. Van Torp's familiar
-vocabulary, 'why need there be any trouble? You've not told him I am
-coming, you say. Very well. If he sees me suddenly after he has been
-on board a little while, he'll certainly betray himself, and then I
-shall be sure. Leven is a man of the world --"was" or "is"--God knows
-which! But if it is he, and he doesn't want to be recognised, he'll
-behave as if nothing had happened, after the first moment of surprise.
-At least I shall be certain! You may wonder--I don't know myself,
-Rufus--I wish you could help me!'
-
-'I will, as far as I can.'
-
-'No, you don't know what I mean! There's something in my life that I
-never quite told you, I can't tell why not. There must be people who
-know it besides my mother--I don't think my father ever did. Margaret
-has an idea of it--I let fall a few words one day. In one way, you and
-I have been so intimate for years --and yet----'
-
-She stopped short, and the soft colour rose in her cheeks like a dawn.
-Van Torp looked down at the pavement as he walked.
-
-'See here,' he said in a low voice, 'you'd better not tell me. Maybe
-you'll be sorry some day if you do.'
-
-'It would be the first time,' she answered softly, 'and I've often
-wished you knew everything. I mean to tell you now--just wait a
-moment.'
-
-They walked on; they were already in the outskirts of the dull little
-town. Van Torp did not again raise his eyes to her face, for he knew
-she would speak when she was ready. When she did, her voice was a
-little muffled, and she looked straight before her as he was doing.
-They were quite alone in the road now.
-
-'When I was very young--nearly eleven years ago, in my first season--I
-met a man I liked very much, and he liked me. We grew very, very fond
-of each other. He was not much older than I, and had just joined the
-army. We couldn't marry, because we had no money--my father had not
-come into the title then, you know--but we promised each other that we
-would wait. We waited, and no one knew, except, perhaps, my mother,
-and she kept us from seeing each other as much as she could. Then came
-the Boer war, and he was killed--killed in a wretched skirmish--not
-even in a battle--buried somewhere on the Veldt--if I only knew where!
-I read it in a despatch--just "killed"--nothing more. One doesn't die
-of things, I suppose, and years passed, and I went out just the same,
-and they wanted me to marry. You know how it is with a girl! I married
-to get rid of myself--I married Leven because he was good-looking and
-had money, and--I don't quite know why, but it seemed easier to marry
-a foreigner than an Englishman. I suppose you cannot understand that!
-It made all comparison impossible--perhaps that was it. When mine was
-dead, I could never have taken another who could possibly have known
-him, or who could be in the remotest degree like him.'
-
-'I understand that quite well,' said Van Torp, as she paused.
-
-'I'm glad, then, for it makes it easier to explain the rest. I don't
-think I always did my best to be nice to Leven. You see, he soon grew
-tired of me, and went astray after strange goddesses. Still, I might
-have tried harder to keep him if I had cared what he did, but I was
-faithful to him, in my own way, and it was much harder than you can
-guess, or any one. Oh, it was not any living man that made it
-hard--not that! It was the other. He came back--dead men do
-sometimes--and he told me I was his, and not Leven's wife; and I
-fought against that, just as if a man had made love to me in society.
-It didn't seem honest and true to my real husband, in my thoughts, you
-know, and in some things thoughts are everything. I fought with all my
-might against that one, that dear one. I think that was the beginning
-of my work--being sorry for other women who perhaps had tried to fight
-too, and wondering whether I should do much better if my dead man came
-back alive. Do you see? I'm telling you things I've hardly ever told
-myself, let alone any one else.'
-
-'Yes, I see. I didn't know any one could be as good as that.'
-
-'You can guess the rest,' Lady Maud went on, not heeding what he said.
-'When I believed that Leven was dead the fight was over, and I took my
-dead man back, because I was really free. But now, if Leven is alive
-after all, it must begin again. I ought to be brave and fight against
-it; I must--but I can't, I can't! It's too hard, now! These two months
-have been the happiest in my life since the day he was killed! How can
-I go back again! And yet, if I cannot be an honest woman in my
-thoughts I'm not an honest woman at all--I'm no better than if I
-deserved to be divorced. I never believed in technical virtue.'
-
-Van Torp had seen many sides of human nature, good and bad, but he had
-never dreamed of anything like this, even in the clear depths of this
-good woman's heart, and what he heard moved him. Men born with great
-natures often have a tender side which the world does not dream of;
-call it nervousness, call it degeneracy, call it hysterical who will;
-it is there. While Lady Maud was finishing her poor little story in
-broken phrases, with her heart quivering in her voice, Mr. Rufus Van
-Torp's eyes became suddenly so very moist that he had to pass his hand
-over them hastily lest a drop or two should run down upon his flat
-cheeks. He hoped she would not notice it.
-
-But she did, for at that moment she turned and looked at his face, and
-her own eyes were dry, though they burned. She saw that his glistened,
-and she looked at him in surprise.
-
-'I'm sorry,' he said, apologising as if he had done something rude. 'I
-can't help it.'
-
-Their hands were hanging near together as they walked, and hers
-touched his affectionately and gratefully, but she said nothing, and
-they went on in silence for some time before she spoke again.
-
-'You know everything now. I must be positively sure whether Leven is
-alive or dead, for what I have got back in these last two months is my
-whole life. A mere recognition at first sight and at ten yards is not
-enough. It may be only a marvellous resemblance, for they say every
-one has a "double" somewhere in the world.'
-
-'They used to say, too, that if you met your "double" one of you would
-die,' observed Van Torp. 'Those things are all stuff and nonsense, of
-course. I was just thinking. Well,' he continued, dwelling on his
-favourite monosyllable, 'if you decide to come on the yacht, and if
-the man doesn't blow away, we shall know the truth in three or four
-days from now, and that's a comfort. And even if he turns out to be
-Leven, maybe we can manage something.'
-
-Lady Maud chose not to ask what her friend thought he could 'manage';
-for she had glanced at his face when he had spoken, and though it was
-half turned away from her, she saw his expression, and it would have
-scared a nervous person. She did not like him to be in that mood, and
-was sorry that she had brought him to it.
-
-But Mr. Van Torp, who was a strong man, and had seen more than one
-affray in his ranching days, could not help thinking how uncommonly
-easy it would be to pick up Count Kralinsky and drop him overboard on
-a dark night next week, when the _Lancashire Lass_ would be doing
-twenty-two knots, and there might be a little weather about to drown
-the splash.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIII
-
-
-The millionaire did things handsomely. He offered to motor his party
-to Venice, and as Margaret declined, because motoring was bad for her
-voice, he telegraphed for a comfortable special carriage, and took his
-friends down by railway, managing everything alone, in some
-unaccountable way, since the invaluable Stemp was already gone in
-search of something for Mrs. Rushmore to eat; and they were all very
-luxuriously comfortable.
-
-Kralinsky was not on board the yacht when they came alongside at
-sunset in two gondolas, following the steam-launch, which carried a
-load of luggage and the two maids. The Primadonna's trunks and
-hat-boxes towered above Mrs. Rushmore's, and Mrs. Rushmore's above
-Lady Maud's modest belongings, as the Alps lift their heads above the
-lower mountains, and the mountains look down upon the Italian
-foot-hills; and Potts sat in one corner of the stern-sheets with
-Margaret's jewel-case on her knee, and Justine, with Mrs. Rushmore's,
-glared at her viciously from the other corner. For the fierce Justine
-knew that she was going to be sea-sick on the yacht, and the meek
-Potts never was, though she had crossed the ocean with the Diva in
-rough weather.
-
-Stemp led the way, and Mr. Van Torp took the three ladies to their
-cabins: first, Mrs. Rushmore, who was surprised and delighted by the
-rich and gay appearance of hers, for it was entirely decorated in pink
-and gold, that combination being Stemp's favourite one. The brass
-bedstead had pink silk curtains held back by broad gold ribbands;
-there was a pink silk coverlet with a gold fringe; everything that
-could be gold was gilt, and everything that could be pink was rosy,
-including the carpet.
-
-Mr. Van Torp looked at Stemp with approval, and Stemp acknowledged
-unspoken praise with silent modesty.
-
-'Beg pardon, madam,' he said, addressing Mrs. Rushmore, 'this is not
-exactly the largest cabin on the yacht, but it is the one in which you
-will find the least motion.'
-
-'It's very sweet,' said the American lady. 'Very dainty, I'm sure.'
-
-On the writing-table stood a tall gilt vase full of immense pink
-roses, with stems nearer four feet long than three. Mrs. Rushmore
-admired them very much.
-
-'How did you know that I love roses above all other flowers?' she
-asked. 'My dear Mr. Van Torp, you are a wizard, I'm sure!'
-
-Lady Maud and Margaret had entered, and kept up a polite little chorus
-of admiration; but they both felt uneasy as to what they might find in
-their respective cabins, for Margaret hated pink, and Lady Maud
-detested gilding, and neither of them was especially fond of roses.
-They left Mrs. Rushmore very happy in her quarters and went on. Lady
-Maud's turn came next, and she began to understand, when she saw a
-quantity of sweet wood violets on her table, just loosened, in an old
-Murano glass beaker.
-
-'Thank you,' she said, bending to smell them. 'How kind of you!'
-
-There was not a trace of gilding or pink silk. The cabin was panelled
-and fitted in a rare natural wood of a creamy-white tint.
-
-'Beg pardon, my lady,' said Stemp. 'This and Miss Donne's cabin
-communicate by this door, and the door aft goes to the dressing-room.
-Each cabin has one quite independent, and this bell rings the pantry,
-my lady, and this one rings Miss Donne's maid's cabin, as I understand
-that your ladyship has not brought her own maid with her.'
-
-'Very nice,' said Lady Maud, smelling the violets again.
-
-Mr. Van Torp looked at Stemp as he would have looked at a horse that
-had turned out even better than he had expected. Stemp threw open the
-door of communication to the cabin he had prepared for the Primadonna.
-The two cabins occupied the whole beam of the vessel, excepting the
-six-foot gangway on each side, and as she was one of the largest
-yachts afloat at the time, there was no lack of room.
-
-'Carnations, at this time of year!' cried Margaret, seeing half an
-armful of her favourite dark red ones, in a silver wine-cooler before
-the mirror. 'You really seem to know everything! Thank you so much!'
-
-She buried her handsome face in the splendid flowers and drew in a
-deep, warm breath, full of their sensuous perfume, the spicy scent of
-a laden clove-tree under a tropical sun.
-
-'Thank you again!' she said enthusiastically. 'Thank you for
-everything, the delightful journey, and this lovely room, and the
-carnations!'
-
-She stood up suddenly to her height, in sheer pleasure, and held out
-her hand to him. He pressed it quietly, and smiled.
-
-'Do as you would be done by,' he said. 'That's the Company's rule.'
-
-She laughed at the allusion to their agreement, of which Lady Maud
-knew nothing, for they had determined to keep it secret for the
-present.
-
-Mr. Van Torp had not found an opportunity of speaking to Lady Maud
-alone, but he wished her to know when Kralinsky might be expected.
-
-'Stemp,' he said, before leaving the cabin, 'have you heard from the
-Count?'
-
-'Yes, sir. He got here this morning from Vienna in his motor, sir, and
-sent his things with his man, and his compliments to you and the
-ladies, and he will come on board in time for dinner. That was all, I
-think, sir.'
-
-  [Illustration: "She buried her handsome face in the splendid
-   flowers."]
-
-Lady Maud heard, and made a scarcely perceptible movement of the head
-by way of thanks to her friend, while listening to Margaret's
-enthusiastic praise of everything she saw. Mr. Van Torp and his man
-departed, just as Potts appeared, accompanied by a very neat-looking
-English stewardess in a smart white cap. Lady Maud was unusually
-silent, but she smiled pleasantly at what Margaret said, and the
-latter made up her mind to drown her anger against Logotheti, and at
-the same time to be avenged on him, in an orgy of luxurious comfort,
-sea-air, and sunshine. The capacity of a perfectly healthy and
-successful singer for enjoying everything, from a halfpenny bun and a
-drive in a hansom to a millionaire's yacht and the most expensive fat
-of the land, or sea, has never been measured. And if they do have
-terrible fits of temper now and then, who shall blame them? They are
-always sorry for it, because it is bad for the voice.
-
-Mr. Van Torp reached his quarters, and prepared to scrub and dress
-comfortably after a week at Bayreuth and a railway journey.
-
-'Stemp.'
-
-'Yes, sir.'
-
-'That was quite nicely done. You must have had a lively time.'
-
-'Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. Hope everything is tolerably satisfactory
-to you, sir.'
-
-'Yes. Find anything good to eat? Chickens don't take gilding well, you
-know--doesn't taste together. But I suppose you found something. Seen
-the cook?'
-
-'Yes, sir. I think things will be tolerable, sir, though this is not
-London, I must say.'
-
-Mr. Van Torp showed no surprise at the statement, and disappeared into
-his bath-room, well pleased with himself and his man. But a moment
-later he opened the door again and thrust out his square sandy head.
-
-'Stemp, where have you put the Count? Far from here? I don't want him
-near me.'
-
-'Last cabin forward on the port side, sir, next to the smoking-room.
-Very good cabin, sir.'
-
-'Whereabouts is port, right or left?'
-
-'Left-hand side of the vessel, sir,' answered Stemp, who had been on
-many yachts. 'There are ten more cabins empty, sir, between large and
-small, if you should think of asking any ladies and gentlemen to join
-at another point, sir.'
-
-'May pick up a couple somewhere. Can't tell yet.' And Mr. Van Torp
-disappeared definitely.
-
-Lady Maud did not begin to dress at once, as there was plenty of time
-before dinner; she left the stewardess to unpack her things, and came
-out upon the six-foot gangway outside her cabin door to breathe the
-air, for it was warm. The city lay half a mile away in the after-glow
-of the sunset. The water was very green that evening, as it sometimes
-is in the Lagoons, though not always, and it was shaded off through
-many opalescent tints to heliotrope; then it was suddenly black below
-the steps of the Piazzetta and the Ducal Palace. Within the mysterious
-canal to the right she could make out the Bridge of Sighs, and there
-was the Ponte della Paglia, and the long line of irregular buildings
-to the eastward of the Prisons, as far as the Public Gardens. To the
-left there was the wide mouth of the Grand Canal, the Salute and the
-Custom-House, and the broad opening of the Giudecca. It was familiar
-to her, for she had seen it several times. She missed the Campanile,
-which she had been made to climb by an energetic governess when she
-was twelve years old, but all the rest was there and unchanged, a
-dream of evening colour, an Eastern city rising out of an enchanted
-water, under an Italian sky.
-
-At any other time she would have enjoyed the sight almost without a
-thought, as she enjoyed everything that seemed to her beautiful or
-even pretty, though she had no pretensions to cultivated artistic
-taste or knowledge. But now she felt none of that healthy pleasure
-which a lovely sight naturally gave her. She was at a crisis of her
-life, and the exquisite evening scene was the battlefield of a coming
-struggle, with herself, or with another, she hardly knew. In half an
-hour, or in an hour, at most, she was to sit at table with a man she
-fully believed to be the husband for whom she had been wearing
-mourning, out of mere decency, but with the profound inward
-satisfaction of being free.
-
-She was brave, and could try to think of what was before her if it
-turned out that she was not mistaken, and she could attempt to
-understand what had happened. She had already come to the conclusion
-that if Kralinsky was really Leven, the latter had seized the
-opportunity offered him by his own supposed death to disappear from
-St. Petersburg, and had taken another name. Leven had been a ruined
-man when he had tried to divorce her; when he died, or disappeared, he
-left nothing but debts, which were extinguished with him, for no one
-attempted to make his widow responsible for them, since there was no
-estate and she had no fortune beyond the allowance her father made
-her. Lord Creedmore was far from being a rich peer, too, and what he
-gave her was not much, although it would more than suffice for her
-simple wants, now that she intended to live with him again.
-
-But if Leven had not been killed and had turned into Kralinsky, he now
-had plenty of ready money, though it was not easy to guess how he had
-obtained possession of a quantity of valuable Asiatic rubies within
-the few weeks that had elapsed between his supposed destruction by the
-bomb and the date of Van Torp's transaction with him in New York. That
-was a mystery. So was his possible acquaintance, or connexion, with
-the Eastern girl who was looking for him, if there was a shadow of
-truth in Logotheti's story. Lady Maud did not believe there was, and
-she felt morally sure that the tale had evolved itself out of the
-Greek's fertile brain, as a fantastic explanation of his atrocious
-conduct.
-
-While she was thinking over these matters and rehearsing in her
-thoughts the scene that was before her, she saw a gondola making
-straight for the yacht across the fast fading green of the lagoon that
-lay between the vessel and the Piazzetta. It came nearer, and she drew
-back from the rail against her cabin door, under the shadow of the
-promenade deck, which extended over the gangway and was supported by
-stanchions, as on an ocean liner. The _Lancashire Lass_, with her
-single huge yellow funnel, her one short signal mast, her
-turret-shaped wheel-house, and her generally business-like appearance,
-looked more like a cross between a fast modern cruiser and an ocean
-'greyhound' than like a private yacht. She even had a couple of
-quick-firing guns mounted just above her rail.
-
-Lady Maud looked at the gondola, and as it came still nearer, she saw
-that it brought only one passenger, and that he had a fair beard. She
-quietly opened her cabin door, and went in to dress for dinner.
-
-Meanwhile Mr. Van Torp had completed his toilet, and was rather
-surprised to find himself magnificently arrayed in a dark-blue
-dinner-jacket, with perfectly new gilt buttons, and an unfamiliar
-feeling about the pockets. He had belonged to a yacht club for years,
-because it seemed to be expected of him, and Stemp and the tailor had
-thought fit that he should possess the proper things for a yachtsman.
-
-'Stemp,' he said, 'is this the correct thing? I suppose you know.'
-
-'Yes, sir. Very smart indeed, sir. White caps are usually worn by
-yachting gentlemen in the Mediterranean, sir.' Stemp offered him the
-cap in question, resplendent with a new enamelled badge. 'Beg pardon,
-sir, but as to caps, most gentlemen lift them to ladies, just like
-hats, sir, but the captain and the officers touch theirs. His Grace
-always lifted his cap, sir.'
-
-'I guess that'll be all right,' answered Mr. Van Torp, trying on the
-cap. 'Send the captain to my study, Stemp, and find out about when the
-ladies will be ready for dinner.'
-
-Stemp disappeared, and in a few moments pink-faced Captain Brown
-appeared, quiet, round, and smart.
-
-'I suppose you're ready at any moment, Captain?' inquired the
-millionaire.
-
-'Yes, sir. The pilot is on board, and the gentleman you expected is
-just coming alongside.'
-
-'Oh, he is, is he?'
-
-Mr. Van Torp evidently expected no answer to his favourite form of
-question when he was thinking over what had just been said; and the
-captain was silent.
-
-'Then you can start now,' said the owner, after a moment's thought.
-
-'Where are we bound, sir?'
-
-'Oh, well, I don't know. I wanted to say a few words about that,
-Captain. Do you happen to know anything about a yacht called the
-_Erinna_, belonging to a Mr. Logotheti, a Greek gentleman who lives in
-Paris?'
-
-'Yes, sir,' answered Captain Brown, for it was a part of his business
-to read the yachting news. 'She was at Cowes when we sailed. She was
-reported the other day from Gibraltar as having entered the
-Mediterranean after taking fresh provisions, owner and party on board.
-There is no further word of her.'
-
-'Well,' said Mr. Van Torp, 'I have an idea she's gone to Naples, but I
-want you to find her right away wherever she is, owner and party on
-board. That's all, Captain. If you happen to see her anywhere, you
-just come and tell me if I'm alone, and if I'm not, why send one of
-your young men to say you want to know something,--anything you happen
-to think of, and I'll come to your room and tell you what to do. See?
-That's all, and now let's start, please.'
-
-'All right, sir.'
-
-So Captain Brown went off with his instructions, and in a few moments
-his owner heard the distant sound of the chain coming in over the most
-noiseless of modern patent steam capstans; and the side-lights and
-masthead and stern lights shone out as the anchor light went down, and
-the twin screws began to turn over slowly, well below the water; and
-the _Lancashire Lass_ was under weigh, with the captain, the pilot,
-and the two junior officers all in a row on the bridge, while the
-chief mate was seeing the anchor got inboard and stowed. But while the
-captain was silently looking ahead into the warm dusk and listening to
-the orders the pilot gave for the wheel in good English, but with a
-marvellous Venetian accent, he was also considering how he might most
-quickly find the _Erinna_, and he reflected that it would be an easier
-task if he knew a little more definitely where she was. He was not at
-all disturbed by the orders he had received, however, and was only
-anxious to get all the speed he could out of his vessel as far as the
-Straits of Messina, through which the yacht he was to find would
-almost certainly pass, in preference to the Malta Channel, if she were
-going to Greece and the East. If she kept to the waters west of Italy,
-it would not be so very hard to hear of her, as the coast is dotted
-with excellent marine signal stations, and official information as to
-the movements of yachts is easily obtained.
-
-When the party assembled in the deck saloon for dinner, Lady Maud was
-missing. Stemp, who did not intend that his master should dine
-without his personal attention, no matter how much the chief steward
-might object to his presence, approached Mr. Van Torp and whispered
-something. Lady Maud begged that the party would sit down without her,
-and she would join them in a moment.
-
-So they took their places, and the vacant one was on the owner's
-right, between him and the Primadonna.
-
-'You see,' said Mr. Van Torp, explaining to Mrs. Rushmore, which was
-wholly unnecessary, 'we are Americans, and this ship is America, so
-the English guest goes first.'
-
-But Mrs. Rushmore knew these things, for she was used to handling
-lions in numbers; and the little lions and the middle-sized ones are
-very particular about their places at table, but the great big ones do
-not care 'one dingle Sam,' as Mr. Van Torp would have elegantly
-expressed their indifference. For he was a great big lion himself.
-
-'Did you ever meet Lady Maud?' he inquired, speaking to Kralinsky.
-
-'Which Lady Maud?' asked the foreigner in his rather oily voice.
-'There are several.'
-
-'Countess Leven, who was Lady Maud Foxwell,' explained Mrs. Rushmore.
-
-Kralinsky turned quietly to her, his single eyeglass fixed and
-glittering.
-
-'No,' he answered. 'I knew poor Leven well, but I was never introduced
-to his wife. I have heard that she is very beautiful.'
-
-'You say you knew the late Count Leven?' observed Mrs. Rushmore, with
-an encouraging and interrogatory smile.
-
-'Intimately,' answered Kralinsky with perfect self-possession. 'We
-were in the same regiment in the Caucasus. I daresay you remember that
-he began life as a cavalry officer and then entered the diplomacy.
-Gifted man, very,' the Russian added in a thoughtful tone, 'but no
-balance! It seems to me that I have heard he did not treat his wife
-very well.'
-
-  [Illustration: "Their eyes met."]
-
-Mr. Van Torp had met several very cool characters in his interesting
-and profitable career, but he thought that if the man before him was
-Leven himself, as he seemed to be, he beat them all for calm
-effrontery.
-
-'Were you ever told that you looked like him?' asked Mr. Van Torp
-carelessly.
-
-Even at this question Kralinsky showed no embarrassment.
-
-'To tell the truth,' he replied, 'I remember that one or two in the
-regiment saw a slight resemblance, and we were of nearly the same
-height, I should say. But when I last saw Leven he did not wear a
-beard.'
-
-At this point Lady Maud came in quietly and made directly for the
-vacant place. The two men rose as soon as she appeared, and she found
-herself face to face with Kralinsky, with the table between them.
-Their eyes met, but Lady Maud could not detect the slightest look of
-recognition in his. Van Torp introduced him, and also watched his face
-narrowly, but there was not the least change of expression, nor any
-quick glance of surprise.
-
-Yet Kralinsky possibly did not know that Lady Maud was on the yacht,
-for he had not been told previously that she was to be of the party,
-and in the short conversation which had preceded her appearance, no
-one had actually mentioned the fact. She herself had come to dinner
-late with the express purpose of presenting herself before him
-suddenly, but she had to admit that the intended surprise did not take
-place.
-
-She was not astonished, however, for she had more than once seen her
-husband placed in very difficult situations, from which he had
-generally extricated himself by his amazing power of concealing the
-truth. Being seated nearly opposite to him, it was not easy to study
-his features without seeming either to stare at him rudely or to be
-bestowing more attention on him than on any of the others. Her eyes
-were very good, and her memory for details was fair, and if she did
-not look often at his face, she watched his hands and listened to the
-intonations of his voice, and her conviction that he was Leven grew
-during dinner. Yet there was still a shadow of doubt, though she could
-not have told exactly where it lay.
-
-She longed to lead him into a trap by asking some question to which,
-if he were Leven, he would know the answer, though not if he were any
-one else, a question to which he would not hesitate to reply
-unsuspectingly if the answer were known to him. But Lady Maud was not
-ingenious in such conversational tricks, and could not think of
-anything that would do.
-
-The outward difference of appearance between him and the man she had
-married was so small that she could assuredly not have sworn in
-evidence that Kralinsky was not her husband. There was the beard, and
-she had not seen Leven with a beard since the first months of her
-marriage four years ago, when he had cut it off for some reason known
-only to himself. Of course a recollection, already four years old,
-could not be trusted like one that dated only as far back as three
-months; for he had left her not long before his supposed death.
-
-There were the hands, and there was the left hand especially. That
-might be the seat of the doubt. Possibly she had never noticed that
-Leven had a way of keeping his left little finger almost constantly
-crooked and turned inward as if it were lame. But she was not sure
-even of that, for she was not one of those people who study the hands
-of every one they know, and can recognise them at a glance. She had
-certainly never watched her husband's as closely as she was watching
-Kralinsky's now.
-
-Margaret was in the best of spirits, and talked more than usual, not
-stopping to think how Van Torp's mere presence would have chilled and
-silenced her three or four months earlier. If Lady Maud had time to
-spare from her own affairs, it probably occurred to her that the
-Primadonna's head was slightly turned by the devotion of a financier
-considerably bigger and more serious than Logotheti; but if she had
-known of the 'business agreement' between the two, she would have
-smiled at Van Torp's wisdom in offering a woman who seemed to have
-everything just the one thing in the world which she desired and had
-not. Yet for all that, he might be far from his goal. It was possible
-that Margaret might look upon him as Lady Maud herself did, and wish
-to make him her best friend. Lady Maud would not be jealous if she
-succeeded.
-
-On the whole it was a gay dinner, and Mrs. Rushmore and Kralinsky knew
-that it was a very good one, and told each other so afterwards as they
-walked slowly up and down the great promenade deck in the starlight.
-For people who are very fond of good eating can chatter pleasantly
-about their food for hours, recalling the recent delights of a perfect
-chaud-froid or a faultless sauce; and it was soon evident that there
-was nothing connected with such subjects which Kralinsky did not
-understand and appreciate, from a Chinese bird's-nest soup to the
-rules of the great Marie-Antoine Careme and Brillat-Savarin's
-Physiology of Taste. Kralinsky also knew everybody. Between gastronomy
-and society, he appeared to Mrs. Rushmore to know everything there was
-to be known.
-
-Lady Maud caught snatches of the conversation as the two came near
-her, and then turned back; and she remembered that Leven used to talk
-on the same subjects with elderly women on whom he wished to make a
-pleasant impression. The voice was his to the very least intonation,
-and the walk was his, too, and yet she knew she had a doubt somewhere,
-a very small doubt, which it was a sort of slow torture to feel was
-still unsatisfied.
-
-Mr. Van Torp sat between her and Lady Margaret, while the two others
-walked. The deep-cushioned straw chairs stood round a low fixed table
-on which there had been coffee, and at Margaret's request the light
-had been put out, though it was only a small opalescent one, placed
-under the awning abaft the wheel-house and bridge.
-
-'We must be going very fast,' said Lady Maud, 'for the sea is flat as
-a millpond, and yet there's a gale as soon as one gets out of the lee
-of things.'
-
-'She's doing twenty-two, I believe,' replied Van Torp, 'and she can do
-twenty-three if pressed. She will, by and by, when she gets warmed
-up.'
-
-'Where are we going?' Margaret asked. 'At this rate we are sure to get
-somewhere!'
-
-'I don't know where we're going, I'm sure.' The millionaire smiled in
-the gloom. 'But as you say, it doesn't take more than five minutes to
-get somewhere in a ship like this.'
-
-'You must have told the captain what you wanted him to do! You must
-have given some orders!'
-
-'Why, certainly. I told him to look around and see if he could find
-another yacht anything like this, anywhere in the Mediterranean. So
-he's just looking around, like that, I suppose. And if he finds
-another yacht anything like this, we'll see which of us can go
-fastest. You see I don't know anything about ships, or where to go, so
-I just thought of that way of passing the time, and when you're tired
-of rushing about and want to go anywhere in particular, why, I'll take
-you there. If the weather cuts up we'll go in somewhere and wait, and
-see things on shore. Will that do?'
-
-Margaret laughed at the vagueness of such a roving commission, but
-Lady Maud looked towards her friend in the starlight and tried to see
-his expression, for she was sure that he had a settled plan in his
-mind, which he would probably put into execution.
-
-'I've figured it out,' he continued presently. 'This thing will go
-over five hundred and twenty miles a day for eight days without
-stopping for coal, and that makes more than four thousand miles, and I
-call that a pretty nice trip, don't you? Time to cool off before going
-to Paris. Of course if I chose to take you to New York you couldn't
-get out and walk. You'd have to go.'
-
-'I've no idea of offering any resistance, I assure you!' said
-Margaret. 'I'm too perfectly, completely, and unutterably comfortable
-on your yacht; and I don't suppose it will be any rougher than it was
-last March when we crossed in the _Leofric_ together.'
-
-'Seems a long time, doesn't it?' Van Torp's tone was thoughtful, but
-expressed anything rather than regret. 'I prefer this trip, myself.'
-
-'Oh, so do I, infinitely! You're so much nicer than you used to be, or
-than I thought you were. Isn't he, Maud?'
-
-'Far!' answered Lady Maud. 'I always told you so. Do you mind very
-much if I go to bed? I'm rather sleepy after the journey.' She rose.
-'Oh, I mustn't forget to tell you,' she added, speaking to Margaret,
-'I always lock my door at night, so don't be surprised! If you want
-to come in and talk when you come down just call, or knock, and I'll
-let you in directly.'
-
-'All right,' Margaret answered.
-
-Lady Maud disappeared below, leaving the two together, for Mrs.
-Rushmore and Kralinsky had found a pleasant sheltered place to sit,
-further aft, and the Count was explaining to the good American lady
-the delicious Russian mysteries of 'Borshtsh,' 'Shtshi,' 'Kasha,' and
-'Smyetany,' after extolling the unapproachable flavour of fresh
-sturgeon's roe, and explaining that 'caviare' is not at all the
-Russian name for it and is not even a Russian word; and Mrs. Rushmore
-listened with intense interest and stood up for her country, on a
-basis of Blue Point oysters, planked shad, canvas-backs, and terrapin
-done in the Philadelphian manner, which she maintained to be vastly
-superior to the Baltimorian; and each listened to the other with real
-interest.
-
-Van Torp and Margaret had not been alone together for five minutes
-since they had left Bayreuth on the previous day, but instead of
-talking, after Lady Maud was gone, the Primadonna began to sing very
-softly and beautifully, and not quite for herself only, for she well
-knew what pleasure her voice gave her companion, and she was the more
-ready to sing because he had never asked her to do so. Moreover, it
-cost her nothing, in the warm evening air under the awning, and like
-all great singers she loved the sound of her own voice. To be able to
-do almost anything supremely well, one must do it with real delight,
-and without the smallest effort which it is not a real pleasure to
-make.
-
-So Margaret leaned back comfortably in her cushioned chair, with her
-head inclined a little forward, and the magic notes floated from her
-lips through the soft moving night; for as the yacht ran on through
-the calm sea at her great speed, it was as if she lay still and the
-night itself were flying over her with muffled wings.
-
-Margaret sang nothing grand nor very difficult; not the waltz-song
-that had made her famous, nor the 'Good Friday' music which she could
-never sing to the world, but sweet old melodious songs she had learned
-when a girl; Schubert's 'Serenade' and 'Ave Maria,' and Tosti's
-'Malia,' and then Beethoven's 'Adelaide'; and Van Torp was silent and
-perfectly happy, as well he might be. Moreover, Margaret was happy
-too, which was really more surprising, considering how very angry she
-had been with Logotheti for a whole week, and that she was quite aware
-of the manner in which he was passing his time in spite of her urgent
-message. But before the magnificent possibilities which the 'business
-agreement' had suddenly opened to her, the probability of her again
-sending him any word, within a reasonable time, had diminished
-greatly, and the prospect of flying into a rage and telling him her
-mind when she saw him was not attractive. She had always felt his
-influence over her more strongly when they had been together; and it
-had always lost its power when he was away, till she asked herself why
-she should even think of marrying him. She would not be the first
-woman who had thought better of an engagement and had broken it for
-the greater good of herself and her betrothed. In all probability she
-had never been really and truly in love, though she had been very
-sincerely fond of Edmund Lushington the English writer, who had
-discovered rather late that the magnificent and successful Margarita
-da Cordova was not at all the same person as the 'nice English girl,'
-Margaret Donne, whom he had worshipped before she had gone upon the
-stage. So far as he was concerned, she had received his change of mind
-as a slight; as for Logotheti, she would never forgive him for not
-having remained faithful even during the few weeks since they had
-called themselves engaged; but Van Torp's position as a suitor was
-different. At all events, she said to herself, he was a man; and he
-did not offer her romantic affection, but power, and a future which
-should soon give her the first position in the musical world, if she
-knew how to use it. She was accustomed to the idea of great wealth and
-of the ordinary things it could give; mere money impressed her no more
-than it does most very successful artists, unless they are miserly and
-fond of it for its own sake, which is comparatively unusual. She
-wasted most of what she earned, in a sort of half-secret luxury and
-extravagance which made little show but cost a great deal and gave her
-infinite satisfaction. Even Lady Maud did not dream of the waste that
-was a pleasure to the Primadonna, and the meek Potts was as reticent
-as the fierce Justine was garrulous. It was a secret joy to Potts,
-besides being a large source of revenue, to live with a mistress who
-flatly refused ever to wear a pair of silk stockings more than once,
-much less a pair of gloves. Mrs. Rushmore would have held up her
-elderly hands at such reckless doings. Margaret herself, trusting to
-her private fortune for her old age in case she never married, did as
-she pleased with her money, and never thought of investing it; but now
-and then, in moments of depression, it had occurred to her that when
-she left the stage, as she must some day, she would not be able to
-live as she did now, and the thought vaguely disturbed her for a few
-minutes, but that was all, and she had always within reach the easy
-remedy of marrying a millionaire, to whom such a sum as five hundred
-pounds a year for silk stockings would be an insignificant trifle; and
-while her voice lasted she could make more than that by giving one
-concert in Chicago, for instance, or by singing two nights in opera.
-
-This is not a digression. The Diva cared nothing for money in itself,
-but she could use a vast amount of it with great satisfaction and
-quite without show or noise. Mr. Van Torp's income was probably twenty
-or thirty times as large as the most she could possibly use, and that
-was a considerable asset in his favour.
-
-He was not a cultivated man, like Logotheti; he had never known a word
-of Latin or Greek in his life, his acquaintance with history was
-lacunous--to borrow a convenient Latin word--and he knew very little
-about the lives of interesting people long dead. He had once read part
-of a translation of the _Iliad_ and had declared it to be nonsense.
-There never were such people, he had said, and if there had been,
-there was no reason for writing about them, which was a practical
-view of the case, if not an aesthetic one. On the other hand, he was
-oddly gifted in many ways and without realising it in the least. For
-instance, he possessed a remarkable musical ear and musical memory,
-which surprised and pleased even the Diva, whenever they showed
-themselves. He could whistle her parts almost without a fault, and
-much more difficult music, too.
-
-For everyday life he spoke like a Western farmer, and at first this
-had been intensely disagreeable to the daughter of the scholarly
-Oxford classic; but she had grown used to it quickly since she had
-begun to like him, till his way of putting things even amused her; and
-moreover, on that night by the gate of the field outside Bayreuth, she
-had found out that he could speak well enough, when he chose, in
-grave, strong words that few women could hear quite indifferently.
-Never, in all her acquaintance with Logotheti, had she heard from the
-Greek one phrase that carried such conviction of his purpose with it,
-as Van Torp's few simple words had done then.
-
-Big natures are usually most drawn to those that are even bigger than
-themselves, either to love them, or to strive with them. It is the
-Second-Rates who take kindly to the little people, and are happy in
-the adulation of the small-fry.
-
-So Margaret was drawn away from Logotheti, the clever spoilt child of
-fortune, the loving, unproductive worshipper of his own Greek Muses,
-by the Crown-Grasper, the ruthless, uncultured hard-hitter, who had
-cared first for power, and had got it unhelped, but who now desired
-one woman, to the exclusion of all others, for his mate.
-
-Vaguely, the Diva remembered how, when Van Torp had asked her to walk
-with him on the deck of the _Leofric_ and she had at first refused and
-then consented, Paul Griggs, looking on with a smile, had quoted an
-old French proverb: 'A fortress that parleys, and a woman who listens,
-will soon surrender.'
-
-When she was silent after singing 'Adelaide,' association brought back
-the saying of the veteran man of letters, for Van Torp asked her if
-she cared to walk a little on the quiet deck, where there was a lee;
-and the sea air and even the chairs recalled the rest, with a little
-wonder, but no displeasure, nor self-contempt. Was she not her own
-mistress? What had any one to say, if she chose to change her mind and
-take the stronger man, supposing that she took either? Had Logotheti
-established any claim on her but that of constancy? Since that was
-gone, here was a man who seemed to be as much more enduring than his
-rival, as he was stronger in every other way. What were small
-refinements of speech and culture, compared with wide-reaching power?
-What availed it to possess in memory the passionate love-roses of
-Sappho's heart, if you would not follow her to the Leucadian cliff? Or
-to quote torrents of Pindar's deep-mouthed song, if you had not the
-constancy to run one little race to the end without swerving aside?
-Logotheti's own words and epithets came back to Margaret, from many a
-pleasant talk in the past, and she cared for them no longer. Full of
-life himself, he lived half among the dead, and his waking was only a
-dream of pleasure; but this rough-hewn American was more alive than
-he, and his dreams were of the living and came true.
-
-When Margaret bid Van Torp good-night she pressed his hand, frankly,
-as she had never done before, but he took no sudden advantage of what
-he felt in her touch, and he returned the pressure so discreetly that
-she was almost disappointed, though not quite, for there was just a
-little something more than usual there.
-
-She did not disturb Lady Maud, either, when she went to her cabin,
-though if she had known that her beautiful neighbour was wide awake
-and restless, she would at least have said good-night, and asked her
-if she was still so very tired.
-
-But Lady Maud slept, too, at last, though not very long, and was the
-only one who appeared at breakfast to keep Van Torp company, for
-Margaret slept the sleep of a singer, which is deep and long as that
-of the healthy dormouse, and Mrs. Rushmore had her first tea and toast
-happily in her cheerful surroundings of pink and gilding. As for
-Kralinsky, his man informed Stemp and the chief steward that the Count
-never thought of getting up till between nine and ten o'clock, when he
-took a cup of chocolate and a slice or two of sponge cake in his own
-room before dressing. So Lady Maud and Van Torp had the yacht to
-themselves for some time that morning.
-
-'I fancy from what you said last night that your plan is to catch
-Logotheti and the Tartar girl at sea,' said Lady Maud, when they were
-alone.
-
-'I supposed you'd understand,' answered Van Torp. 'Do you see any harm
-in that? It occurred to me that it might be quite a drastic form of
-demonstration. How does it strike you? At all low-down?'
-
-'No, frankly not!' Lady Maud was still incensed at Logotheti's
-conduct. 'A man who does such things deserves anything that his rival
-can do to him. I hope you may overhaul the yacht, run alongside of her
-and show Margaret the two, making love to each other in Tartar on
-deck! That's the least that ought to happen to him!'
-
-'Thank you. I like to hear you talk like that. Captain Brown will do
-his level best, I think. And now, tell me,' he lowered his voice a
-little more, 'is that man Leven, or not?'
-
-'I am sure he is,' Lady Maud answered, 'and yet I feel as if there
-ought to be a little doubt still. I don't know how to express it, for
-it's rather an odd sensation.'
-
-'I should think it might be! Is there anything I can say or do? I'll
-ask the man any question you suggest. I'm certain he's not old Levi
-Longlegs, and if he's not Leven, who on earth is he? That's what I
-should like to know.'
-
-'I shall find out, never fear! I know I shall, because I must, if I am
-ever to have any peace again. I'm not a very nervous person, you know,
-am I? But it's more than I can bear long, to sit opposite a man at
-table, again and again, as I shall have to, and not be sure whether
-he's my husband, come back from the dead, or some one else!' She
-paused, and her nostrils dilated a little, but Van Torp only nodded
-slowly and sympathetically. 'I mean to know before I go to bed
-to-night,' she said, with a little desperation in her voice. 'I shall
-talk to him till I am sure of one thing or the other. At table, I
-cannot tell, but if we are alone together I know I can settle the
-question. If you see that we are talking at the other end of the deck,
-try to keep Mrs. Rushmore and Margaret from coming near us. Will you?'
-
-To Mrs. Rushmore's amazement and Margaret's surprise, Lady Maud made a
-dead set at Kralinsky all that day, an attention which he seemed to
-appreciate as it deserved. Before breakfast was over, Van Torp had
-repeated to her what Kralinsky had said about having formerly been
-intimate with Leven, and Lady Maud took this statement as a basis of
-operations for finding out just how much he knew of her own life; she
-judged that if he were not Leven himself, he must soon betray the fact
-by his ignorance.
-
-That was the strangest day she had ever passed. She found it very easy
-to talk with Kralinsky, as it always is when there has been long
-familiarity, even if it has been only the familiar intercourse of
-domestic discord. He knew many details of her life in London. That was
-clear after half an hour's conversation. She alluded to the idle talk
-there had been about her and Van Torp; Kralinsky knew all about that
-and had heard, as he said, some silly story about Leven having found
-her with the American in certain rooms in the Temple, and about an
-envelope which was said to have contained over four thousand and one
-hundred pounds in bank-notes. He politely scouted the story as
-nonsense, but he had heard it, and Lady Maud knew that every word of
-it was true. He knew of Leven's unsuccessful attempt to divorce her on
-that ground, too, and he knew the number of her house in Charles
-Street, Berkeley Square.
-
-On the other hand, there were many things of which he knew nothing, or
-pretended to be ignorant, such as the names of her brothers and
-sisters, her father's favourite pursuits and the like. But she
-understood very well that if he thought she suspected his identity
-under the disguise of his beard, and if he wished to avoid
-recognition, he was just the man to pretend blank ignorance of some
-vital matters, after admitting his acquaintance with many others. He
-had been very intimate with Leven, to the last, he said; Leven had
-always written to him very fully about his life, very wittily
-sometimes, but always without balance! That was it; he had no
-'balance.' Yes, he himself had been in Petersburg when Leven was
-killed and had seen him on the previous day. Within a week he had made
-a rapid trip to New York, whence he had now just returned. He had
-crossed on five-day boats both going and coming, and he named them.
-
-'I am naturally interested in meeting any one who knew my husband so
-well,' Lady Maud said, making a bold dash at a possibility. 'We had
-many differences, as you seem to know, but I daresay that if he could
-come back to life and know the real truth, we should forgive each
-other.'
-
-She looked up to him with a gentle smile as she said this, for she had
-often felt it; and in that instant a flash of light came into his
-usually rather uncertain eyes. Her heart stood still; she looked at
-the sea again directly, for she was leaning against the rail; then she
-drew breath, as if from an effort. She had seen a look that could only
-mean recognition. Leven was alive and was standing beside her. But she
-had the courage to go on talking, after a moment, and she tried to
-change the subject, though not very adroitly.
-
-During the afternoon Mr. Van Torp had a revelation, sudden and clear,
-for he had watched Lady Maud and Kralinsky all day and had thought
-about them a good deal, considering how his mind was occupied with
-other matters even nearer to his heart than his best friend's welfare.
-As soon as the revelation came upon him he rang for his own man.
-
-Stemp, see here!' he began. 'You've valeted around with all sorts of
-different-looking men. How long does it take to grow a beard like
-Count Kralinsky's?'
-
-'A year, sir. Not a day less, and longer with most gentlemen. If you
-were thinking of it, sir----'
-
-'You don't believe it could be managed in three months, by taking an
-expert around with you to work on your face?'
-
-'That's out of the question, sir. Gentlemen's beards that have shaved
-all their lives, as I suppose you have, sir, do grow faster, but I
-should consider a year a short time for such a fine one as the
-Count's. Indeed I should, sir.'
-
-'Do you suppose you could stick it on fresh every day, the way they do
-for the stage?'
-
-'Not so that it wouldn't show in broad daylight, sir.'
-
-'Well, that's all. I wasn't exactly thinking of trying a beard. I was
-only thinking--just like that. What I rang for was a cap. Got any more
-like this? You see I've managed to get a spot of ink on this one. Had
-it on the table when I was writing, I suppose. That's the worst of
-white caps, they spot so.'
-
-A little later, Mr. Van Torp was looking out for a chance to speak
-alone with Lady Maud, and as soon as he found his opportunity, he told
-her what Stemp had said. Strangely enough, it had never occurred to
-him that such a remarkable beard as Kralinsky's must have taken a long
-time to grow, and that Leven, who had none, had not left London more
-than three months ago. He watched the effect of this statement on his
-friend's face, but to his surprise she remained grave and sad.
-
-'I cannot help it,' she said in a tone of conviction. 'He must be
-Leven, whatever Stemp tells you about his beard.'
-
-'Well, then it's a false beard, and will come off,' observed Mr. Van
-Torp, with at least equal gravity. 'Stemp says that's impossible, but
-he must be wrong, unless you are.'
-
-'It's real,' Lady Maud said, 'and he is my husband. I've talked to him
-all day, and he knows things about my life that no one else could,
-and if there are others about which he is vague, that must be because
-he is pretending, and does not want to show that he knows everything.'
-
-Van Torp shook his head, but remained unconvinced; Lady Maud did not
-change her mind either, and was already debating with herself as to
-whether it would not be really wiser to speak out and tell Kralinsky
-that she had recognised him under his transparent disguise. She felt
-that she must know the worst, if she was ever to rest again.
-
-Neither Margaret nor Mrs. Rushmore had ever seen Leven, and they had
-not the least idea of what was really going on under their eyes. They
-only saw that Lady Maud was making a dead set at the Count, and if
-Margaret wondered whether she had misjudged her friend's character,
-the elder lady had no doubt as to what was happening.
-
-'My dear child,' she said to Margaret, 'your friend is going to
-console herself. Widows of that age generally do, my dear. I myself
-could never understand how one could marry again. I should always feel
-that dear Mr. Rushmore was in the room. It quite makes me blush to
-think of it! Yet it is an undeniable fact that many young widows marry
-again. Mark my words, Margaret, your friend is going to console
-herself before long. If it is not this one, it will be another. My
-dear, I am quite positive about it.'
-
-When the sun went down that evening the yacht had passed Otranto and
-the Cape, and her course had been changed, to head her for Cape
-Spartivento and the Straits of Messina, having done in twenty-four
-hours as much as the little Italian mail-steamers do in forty-eight,
-and nearly half as much again as the _Erinna_ could have done at her
-highest speed. As Mr. Van Torp had predicted, his engines had 'warmed
-up,' and were beating their own record. The gale made by the vessel's
-way was stronger than a woman could stand in with any regard to her
-appearance, but as the weather continued to be calm it was from
-dead-ahead, and there was plenty of shelter on the promenade deck
-abaft the wheel-house, on condition of not going too near the rail.
-
-After dinner Kralinsky and Mrs. Rushmore walked a little, as on the
-previous evening, and Lady Maud sat with Margaret and Van Torp. But
-before the two walkers went off to sit down in the quiet corner they
-had found yesterday, Lady Maud rose, went half-way aft, and
-deliberately placed herself where they were obliged to pass close to
-her at each turn, standing and leaning against the bright white side
-of the engine skylight, which was as high as the wheel-house itself,
-and broke in aft, where the big ventilating fans were situated, making
-a square corner inward.
-
-She stood there, and as it was not very dark in the clear starlight,
-Kralinsky saw in passing that she followed his face with her eyes,
-turning her head to look at him when he was coming towards her, and
-turning it very slowly back again as he came near and went by. It was
-impossible to convey more clearly an invitation to get rid of his
-companion and join her, and he was the last man in the world to
-misunderstand it.
-
-But Mrs. Rushmore saw it too, and as she considered him a lion, and
-therefore entitled to have his own way, she made it easy for him.
-
-'My dear Count,' she said blandly, after passing Lady Maud twice, 'I
-have really had enough now, and if you will promise to finish your
-walk alone, I think I will go and sit with the others.'
-
-He left her with Margaret and Van Torp and went back to Lady Maud, who
-moved as he came up to her, made two steps beside him, and then
-suddenly slipped into the recess where the fan-house joined the engine
-skylight. She stood still, and he instantly ranged himself beside her.
-They were quite out of sight of the others, and of the bridge, and
-even if it had been daylight they could not have been seen except by
-some one coming from aft.
-
-'I want to speak to you,' she said, in a low, steady voice. 'Please
-listen quite quietly, for some of them may begin to walk again.'
-
-Kralinsky bent his head twice, and then inclined it towards her, to
-hear better what she was going to say.
-
-'It has pleased you to keep up this comedy for twenty-four hours,' she
-began.
-
-He made a slight movement, which was natural under the circumstances.
-
-'I do not understand,' he said, in his oily voice. 'What comedy? I
-really have no----'
-
-'Don't go on,' she answered, interrupting him sharply. 'Listen to
-what I am going to tell you, and then decide what you will do. I don't
-think your decision will make very much difference to me, but it will
-make a difference to the world and to yourself. I saw you from a
-window when you brought Mr. Van Torp to the hotel in Bayreuth, and I
-recognised you at once. Since this afternoon I have no doubt left.'
-
-'I never saw you till last night,' said Kralinsky, with some little
-surprise in his tone, and with perfect assurance.
-
-'Do you really think you can deceive me any longer?' she asked. 'I
-told you this afternoon that if you could come back from the dead, and
-know the whole truth, we should probably forgive each other, though we
-had many differences. Shall we?' She paused a moment, and by his quick
-change of position she saw that he was much moved. 'I don't mean that
-we should ever go back to the old life, for we were not suited to each
-other from the first, you and I. You wanted to marry me because I was
-pretty and smart, and I married you because I wanted to be married,
-and you were better-looking than most men, and seemed to have what I
-thought was necessary--fortune and a decent position. No, don't
-interrupt me. We soon found out that we did not care for each other.
-You went your way, and I went mine. I don't mean to reproach you, for
-when I saw you were beginning to be tired of me I did nothing to keep
-you. I myself was tired of it already. But whatever you may have
-thought, I was a faithful wife. Mr. Van Torp had given me a great deal
-of money for my charity, and does still. I can account for it. I
-never used a penny of it for myself, and never shall; and he never
-was, and never will be, any more than a trusted friend. I don't know
-why you chose to disappear when the man who had your pocket-book was
-killed and you were said to be dead. It's not my business, and if you
-choose to go on living under another name, now that you are rich
-again, I shall not betray you, and few people will recognise you, at
-least in England, so long as you wear that beard. But you had it when
-we were married, and I knew you at once, and when I heard you were to
-be of the party here, I made up my mind at once that I would accept
-the invitation and come too, and speak to you as I'm speaking now.
-When I believed you were dead I forgave you everything, though I was
-glad you were gone; frankly, I did not wish you alive again, but since
-you are, God forbid that I should wish you dead. You owe me two things
-in exchange for my forgiveness: first, yours, if I treated you
-ungenerously or unkindly; and, secondly, you ought to take back every
-word you ever said to me about Mr. Van Torp, for there was not a
-shadow of truth in what you thought. Will you do that? I ask nothing
-else.'
-
-'Indeed I will, my dear Maud,' said Count Kralinsky, in a voice full
-of emotion.
-
-Lady Maud drew a long breath, that trembled a little as it left her
-heated lips again. She had done what she believed most firmly to be
-right, and it had not been easy. She had not been surprised by his
-patient silence while she had been talking; for she had felt that it
-was hers to speak and his to listen.
-
-'Thank you,' she said now. 'I shall never go back to what I have said,
-and neither of us need ever allude to old times again during this
-trip. It will not last long, for I shall probably go home by land from
-the first port we touch, and it is not likely that we shall ever meet
-again. If we do, I shall behave as if you were Count Kralinsky whom I
-have met abroad, neither more nor less. I suppose you will have
-conscience enough not to marry. Perhaps, if I thought another woman's
-happiness depended on it, I would consent to divorce you, but you
-shall never divorce me.'
-
-'No power could make me wish to,' Kralinsky answered, still deeply
-moved. 'I was mad in those days, Maud; I was beside myself, between my
-debts and my entanglements with women not fit to touch your shoes.
-I've seen it all since. That is the chief reason why I chose to
-disappear from society when I had the chance, and become some one
-else! I swear to you, on my mother's soul in heaven, that I thought of
-nothing but that--to set you free and begin life over again as another
-man. No thought of marrying has ever crossed my mind! Do you think I
-could be as bad as that? But I'm not defending myself--how could I?
-All the right is on your side, and all the wrong on mine. And now--I
-would give heaven and earth to undo it all and to come back to you!'
-
-Lady Maud drew as far as she could into the corner where the fan-house
-joined the engine skylight. She had not expected this; it was too
-much repentance; it was too like a real attempt to win her again. He
-had not seen her for more than three months; she knew she was very
-beautiful; his fleeting passion had come to life again, as he had. But
-her old repulsion for him was ten times stronger than when they had
-parted, and she shrank back as far as she could, without speaking.
-From far below the noiseless engines sent a quick vibration up to the
-ironwork of the skylight. She felt it, but could hardly tell it from
-the beatings of her own heart. He saw her shrinking from him and was
-wise.
-
-'Don't be afraid of me!' he cried, in a low and pleading tone. 'Not
-that! Oh, please not that! I will not come nearer; I will not put out
-my hand to touch yours, I swear it to you! But I love you as I never
-loved you before; I never knew how beautiful you were till I had lost
-you, and now that I have found you again you are a thousand times more
-beautiful than in my dreams! No, I ask nothing! I have no right to ask
-for what I have thrown away! You do not even pity me, I think! Why
-should you? You were free when you thought me dead, and I have come
-back to be a burden and a weight on your life. Forgive me, forgive me,
-my lost darling, for the sake of all that might have been, but don't
-fear me! Pity me, if you can, but don't be afraid of me! Say that you
-pity me a little, and I shall be satisfied, and grateful too!'
-
-Lady Maud was silent for a few seconds, while he stood turned towards
-her, his hands clasped in a dramatic gesture, as if still imploring
-her commiseration.
-
-'I do pity you,' she said at last, quite steadily, for just then she
-did not fear that he would try to touch even her hand. 'I pity you, if
-you are really in love with me again. I pity you still more if this is
-a passing thing that has taken hold of you merely because you still
-think me handsome. But I will never take you back to be my husband
-again. Never. That is finished, for good and all.'
-
-'Ah, Maud, listen to me----'
-
-But she had already slipped out of the corner and was walking slowly
-away from him, not towards the others, but aft, so that he might join
-her quietly before going back to them. He was a man of the world and
-understood her, and did what was expected of him. Almost as soon as he
-was beside her, she turned to go forward with her leisurely, careless
-grace.
-
-'We've been standing a long time,' said she, as if the conversation
-had been about the weather. 'I want to sit down.'
-
-'I am in earnest,' he said, very low.
-
-'So am I,' answered Lady Maud.
-
-They went on towards the wheel-house side by side, without haste, and
-not very near together, like two ordinary acquaintances.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIV
-
-
-While the _Lancashire Lass_ was racing down to the Straits of Messina
-the _Erinna_ was heading for the same point from the opposite
-direction, no longer dawdling along at half-speed, but going her full
-sixteen knots, after coaling in Naples, and any navigator who knew the
-positions and respective speeds of the two yachts could have
-calculated with approximate precision the point at which they would
-probably sight each other.
-
-Logotheti had given up the idea of taking Baraka to Paris, if he had
-ever really entertained it at all. He assured her that Naples was a
-great city, too, and that there was a first-rate French dressmaking
-establishment there, and that the Ville de Lyon would turn her out
-almost as smartly as the Rue de la Paix itself. He took Baraka ashore
-and placed her for half a day in the hands of Madame Anna, who
-undertook to do all that money could do in about a fortnight. He had
-the effrontery to say that Baraka was a niece of his from
-Constantinople, whose mother was on board the yacht, but had
-unfortunately sprained her ankle in falling down the companion during
-a gale, and could therefore not accompany her daughter on shore. The
-young lady, he said, spoke only Turkish. Madame Anna, grave and
-magnificently calm under all circumstances, had a vague recollection
-of having seen the handsome Oriental gentleman already with another
-niece, who spoke only French; but that was none of her business. When
-would the young lady try on the things? On any day Madame Anna chose
-to name; but in the meantime her uncle would take her down to Sicily,
-as the weather was so wonderfully fine and it was still so hot. Madame
-Anna therefore named a day, and promised, moreover, to see the best
-linen-drapers and sempstresses herself, and to provide the young lady
-with as complete an outfit as if she were going to be married. She
-should have all things visible and invisible in the shortest possible
-time. Logotheti, who considered himself a stranger, insisted on
-putting down a thousand-franc note merely as a guarantee of good
-faith. The dressmaker protested almost furiously and took the money,
-still protesting. So that was settled, and Baraka was to be outwardly
-changed into a beautiful Feringhi lady without delay. To tell the
-truth, the establishment is really a smart one, and she was favourably
-impressed by the many pretty frocks and gowns that were tried on
-several pretty young women in order that she might make her choice.
-
-Baraka would have liked a blue satin skirt with a yellow train and a
-bright-green silk body, but in her travels she had noticed that the
-taste of Feringhi ladies was for very sober or gentle colours,
-compared with the fashionable standards of Samarkand, Tiflis, and
-Constantinople, and she meekly acquiesced to everything that Logotheti
-and Madame Anna proposed, after putting their heads together.
-Logotheti seemed to know a great deal about it.
-
-He took Baraka for a long drive in the afternoon, out by Pozzuoli to
-Baia and back. The girl loved the sea; it was the only thing in the
-western world that looked big to her, and she laughed at wretched
-little mountains only four or five thousand feet high, for she had
-dwelt at the feet of the lofty Altai and had sojourned in Tiflis under
-the mighty peak of Kasbek. But the sea was always the sea, and to her
-mountain sight it was always a new wonder beyond measure, vast,
-moving, alive. She gazed out with wide eyes at the purpled bay,
-streaked by winding currents of silver, and crisped here and there by
-the failing summer breeze. Logotheti saw her delight, and musical
-lines came back to him out of his reading, how the ocean is ever the
-ocean, and the things of the sea are the sea's; but he knew that he
-could not turn Greek verse into Turkish, try as he might, much less
-into that primeval, rough-hewn form of it which was Baraka's native
-tongue.
-
-It was nearly dark when the naphtha launch took them out to the yacht,
-which lay under the mole where the big English and German passenger
-steamers and the men-of-war are moored.
-
-Logotheti had at last received Margaret's telegram asking him to meet
-her at once. It had failed to reach him in Gibraltar, and had been
-telegraphed on thence to Naples, and when he read it he was
-considerably disturbed. He wrote a long message of explanations and
-excuses, and sent it to the Primadonna at Bayreuth, tripling the
-number of words she had prepaid for his answer. But no reply came, for
-Margaret was herself at sea and nothing could reach her. He sent one
-of his own men from the yacht to spend the day at the telegraph
-office, with instructions for finding him if any message came. The man
-found him three times, and brought three telegrams; and each time as
-he tore open the little folded brown paper he felt more uncomfortable,
-but he was relieved to find each time that the message was only a
-business one from London or Paris, giving him the latest confidential
-news about a Government loan in which he was largely interested. When
-he reached the yacht he sent another man to wait till midnight at the
-office.
-
-The Diva was angry, he thought; that was clear, and perhaps she had
-some right to be. The tone of her telegram had been peremptory in the
-extreme, and now that he had answered it after a delay of several
-days, she refused to take any notice of him. It was not possible that
-such a personage as she was should have left Bayreuth without leaving
-clear instructions for sending on any telegrams that might come after
-she left. At this time of year, as he knew, she was beset with offers
-of engagements to sing, and they had to be answered. From eight
-o'clock in the morning to midnight there were sixteen hours, ample
-time for a retransmitted message to reach her anywhere in Europe and
-to be answered. Logotheti felt a sensation of deep relief when the man
-came aboard at a quarter-past midnight and reported himself
-empty-handed; but he resolved to wait till the following evening
-before definitely leaving Naples for the ten days which must elapse
-before Baraka could try on her beautiful Feringhi clothes.
-
-He told her anything he liked, and she believed him, or was
-indifferent; for the idea that she must be as well dressed as any
-European woman when she met the man she was seeking had appealed
-strongly to her, and the sight of the pretty things at Madame Anna's
-had made her ashamed of her simple little ready-made serges and
-blouses. Logotheti assured her that Kralinsky was within easy reach,
-and showed no inclination to travel far. There was news of him in the
-telegrams received that day, the Greek said. Spies were about him and
-were watching him for her, and so far he had shown no inclination to
-admire any Feringhi beauty.
-
-Baraka accepted all these inventions without doubting their veracity.
-In her eyes Logotheti was a great man, something like a king, and
-vastly more than a Tartar chieftain. He could send men to the ends of
-the earth if he chose. Now that he was sure of where Kralinsky was, he
-could no doubt have him seized secretly and brought to her, if she
-desired it earnestly of him. But she did not wish to see the man, free
-or a prisoner, till she had her beautiful new clothes. Then he should
-look upon her, and judge whether he had done well to despise her love,
-and to leave her to be done to death by her own people and her body
-left to the vulture that had waited so long on a jutting point of rock
-over her head three years ago.
-
-Meanwhile, also, there were good things in life; there were very fat
-quails and marvellous muscatel grapes, and such fish as she had never
-eaten in Europe during her travels, and there was the real coffee of
-the Sheikhs, and an unlimited supply of rose-leaf preserve. Her friend
-was a king, and she was treated like a queen on the yacht. Every day,
-when Gula had rubbed her small feet quite dry after the luxurious
-bath, Gula kissed them and said they were like little tame white mice.
-Saving her one preoccupation, Baraka was in an Eastern paradise, where
-all things were perfect, and Kef descended upon her every day after
-luncheon. Even the thought of the future was brighter now, for though
-she never left her cabin without her long bodkin, she was quite sure
-that she should never need it. In imagination she saw herself even
-more beautifully arrayed in Feringhi clothes than the pretty ladies
-with champagne hair whom she had seen driving in the Bois de Boulogne
-not long ago when she walked there with Spiro. She wondered why
-Logotheti and Gula were both so much opposed to her dyeing her hair or
-wearing a wig. They told her that ladies with champagne hair were not
-always good ladies; but what did that matter? She thought them pretty.
-But she wondered gravely how Gula knew that they were not good. Gula
-knew a great many things.
-
-Besides, Baraka was 'good' herself, and was extremely well aware of
-the fact, and of its intrinsic value, if not of its moral importance.
-If she had crossed a quarter of the world in spite of dangers and
-obstacles which no European girl could pass unharmed, if alive at all,
-it was not to offer a stained flower to the man she sought when she
-found him at last.
-
-As for Logotheti, though he was not a Musulman, and not even an
-Asiatic, she felt herself safe with him, and trusted him as she would
-certainly not have trusted Van Torp, or any other European she had
-chanced to meet in the course of selling precious stones. He was more
-like one of her own people than the Greeks and Armenians of
-Constantinople or even the Georgians of the Caucasus.
-
-She was not wrong in that, either. Logotheti was beginning to wonder
-what he should do with her, and was vaguely surprised to find that he
-did not like the idea of parting with her at all; but beyond that he
-had no more thought of harming her than if she had been confided to
-his care and keeping by his own mother.
-
-Few Latins, whether Italians, French, or Spanish, could comprehend
-that, and most of them would think Logotheti a milksop and a
-sentimental fool. Many northern men, on the other hand, will think he
-did right, but would prefer not to be placed in such a trying
-position, for their own part, because beauty is beauty and human
-nature is weak, and the most exasperating difficulty in which an
-honest northern man can find himself where a woman is concerned is
-that dilemma of which honour and temptation are the two horns. But the
-best sort of Orientals look on these things differently, even when
-they are young, and their own women are safer with them than European
-women generally are among European men. I think that most men who
-have really known the East will agree with me in this opinion.
-
-And besides, this is fiction, even though it be founded on facts; and
-fiction is an art; and the end and aim of art is always to discover
-and present some relation between the true and the beautiful--as
-perhaps the aim of all religions has been to show men the possible
-connexion between earth and heaven. Nothing is so easily misunderstood
-and misapplied as bare truth without comment, most especially when it
-is an ugly truth about the worst side of humanity. We know that all
-men are not mere animals; for heaven's sake let us believe that very
-few, if any, must be! Even Demopithekos, the mob-monkey, may have a
-conscience, when he is not haranguing the people.
-
-Logotheti certainly had one, of its kind, though he seemed to Margaret
-Donne and Lady Maud to be behaving in such an outrageous manner as to
-have forfeited all claim to the Diva's hand; and Baraka, who was a
-natural young woman, though a remarkably gifted and courageous one,
-felt instinctively that she was safe with him, and that she would not
-need to draw out her sharp bodkin in order to make her position clear,
-as she had been obliged to do at least twice already during her
-travels.
-
-Yet it was a dreamy and sense-compelling life that she led on the
-yacht, surrounded with every luxury she had ever heard of, and
-constantly waited on by the only clever man she had ever really talked
-with, excepting the old Persian merchant in Stamboul. The vision of
-the golden-bearded giant who had left her to her fate after treating
-her with stony indifference was still before her, but the reality was
-nearer in the shape of a visible 'great man,' who could do anything he
-chose, who caused her to be treated like a queen, and who was
-undeniably handsome.
-
-She wondered whether he had a wife. Judging marriage from her point of
-view, there probably had been one put away in that beautiful house in
-Paris. He was an Oriental, she told herself, and he would not parade
-his wife as the Feringhis did. But she was one, too, and she
-considered that it would be an insult to ask him about such things.
-Spiro knew, no doubt, but she could not demean herself to inquire of a
-servant. Perhaps Gula had found out already, for the girl had a way of
-finding out whatever she wanted to know, apparently by explaining
-things to the second mate. Possibly Gula could be made to tell what
-she had learned, without being directly questioned. But after all,
-Baraka decided that it did not matter, since she meant to marry the
-fair-beard as soon as she had her pretty clothes. Yet she became
-conscious that if he had not existed, she would think it very
-satisfactory to marry the great man who could do anything he liked,
-though if he had a wife already, as he probably had, she would refuse
-to be the second in his house. The Koran allowed a man four, it was
-said, but the idea was hateful to her, and moreover the Persian
-merchant's wife had told her that it was old-fashioned to have more
-than one, mainly because living had grown so expensive.
-
-Logotheti sat beside her for hours under the awnings, talking or not,
-as she chose, and always reading when she was silent, though he often
-looked up to see if she wanted anything. He told her when they left
-Naples that he would show her beautiful islands and other sights, and
-the great fire-mountains of the South, AEtna and Stromboli, which she
-had heard of on her voyage to Marseilles but had not seen because the
-steamer had passed them at night. The fire-mountain at Naples had been
-quiet, only sending out thin wreaths of smoke, which Baraka insisted
-came from fires made by shepherds.
-
-'Moreover,' she said, as they watched Vesuvius receding when they left
-Naples, 'your mountains are not mountains, but ant-hills, and I do not
-care for them. But your sea has the colours of many sherbets,
-rose-leaf and violet, and lemon and orange, and sometimes even of pale
-yellow peach-sherbet, which is good. Let me always see the sea till
-the fine dresses are ready to be tried on.'
-
-'This sea,' answered Logotheti, 'is always most beautiful near land
-and amongst islands, and the big fire-mountain of Sicily looks as tall
-as Kasbek, because it rises from the water's edge to the sky.'
-
-'Then take me to it, and I will tell you, for my eyes have looked on
-the Altai, and I wish to see a real mountain again. After that we will
-go back and get the fine dresses. Will Gula know how to fasten the
-fine dresses at the back, do you think?'
-
-'You shall have a woman who does, and who can talk with Gula, and the
-two will fasten the fine dresses for you.' Logotheti spoke with
-becoming gravity.
-
-'Yes,' Baraka answered. 'Spend money for me, that I may be good to
-see. Also, I wish to have many servants. My father has a hundred,
-perhaps a thousand, but now I have only two, Gula and Spiro. The man I
-seek will think I am poor, and that will be a shame. While I was
-searching for him, it was different; and besides, you are teaching me
-how the rich Franks live in their world. It is not like ours. You
-know, for you are more like us, though you are a king here.'
-
-She spoke slowly and lazily, pausing between her phrases, and turning
-her eyes to him now and then without moving her head; and her talk
-amused him much more than that of European women, though it was so
-very simple, like that of a gifted child brought suddenly to a new
-country, or to see a fairy pantomime.
-
-'Tell me,' he said after a time, 'if it were the portion of Kralinsky
-to be gathered to his fathers before you saw him, what would you do?'
-
-Baraka now turned not only her eyes to him but her face.
-
-'Why do you ask me this? Is it because he is dead, and you are afraid
-to tell me?'
-
-'He was alive this morning,' Logotheti answered, 'and he is a strong
-man. But the strong die sometimes suddenly, by accident if not of a
-fever.'
-
-'It is emptiness,' said Baraka, still looking at him. 'He will not die
-before I see him.'
-
-'Allah forbid! But if such a thing happened, should you wish to go
-back to your own people? Or would you learn to speak the Frank and
-live in Europe?'
-
-'If he were dead, which may Allah avert,' Baraka answered calmly, 'I
-think I would ask you to find me a husband.'
-
-'Ah!' Logotheti could not repress the little exclamation of surprise.
-
-'Yes. It is a shame for a woman not to be married. Am I an evil sight,
-or poor, that I should go down to the grave childless? Or is there any
-reproach upon me? Therefore I would ask you for a husband, because I
-have no other friend but only you among the Feringhis. But if you
-would not, I would go to Constantinople again, and to the Persian
-merchant's house, and I would say to his wife: "Get me a husband, for
-I am not a cripple, nor a monster, nor is there any reproach upon me,
-and why should I go childless?" Moreover, I would say to the
-merchant's wife: "Behold, I have great wealth, and I will have a rich
-husband, and one who is young and pleasing to me, and who will not
-take another wife; and if you bring me such a man, for whatsoever his
-riches may be, I will pay you five per cent."'
-
-Having made this remarkable statement of her intentions, Baraka was
-silent, expecting Logotheti to say something. What struck him was not
-the concluding sentence, for Asiatic match-makers and peace-makers are
-generally paid on some such basis, and the slim Tartar girl had proved
-long ago that she was a woman of business. What impressed Logotheti
-much more was what seemed the cool cynicism of her point of view. It
-was evidently not a romantic passion for Kralinsky that had brought
-her from beyond Turkestan to London and Paris; her view had been
-simpler and more practical; she had seen the man who suited her, she
-had told him so, and had given him the secret of great wealth, and in
-return she expected him to marry her, if she found him alive. But if
-not, she would immediately take steps to obtain another to fill his
-place and be her husband, and she was willing to pay a high price to
-any one who could find one for her.
-
-Logotheti had half expected some such thing, but was not prepared for
-her extreme directness; still less had he thought of becoming the
-matrimonial agent who was to find a match worthy of her hand and
-fortune. She was sitting beside him in a little ready-made French
-dress, open at the throat, and only a bit of veil twisted round her
-hair, as any European woman might wear it; possibly it was her dress
-that made what she said sound strangely in his ears, though it would
-have struck him as natural enough if she had been muffled in a yashmak
-and ferajeh, on the deck of a Bosphorus ferry-boat.
-
-He said nothing in answer, and sat thinking the matter over.
-
-'I could not offer to pay you five per cent,' she said after a time,
-'because you are a king, but I could give you one of the fine rubies I
-have left, and you would look at it sometimes and rejoice because you
-had found Baraka a good husband.'
-
-Logotheti laughed low. She amused him exceedingly, and there were
-moments when he felt a new charm he had never known before.
-
-'Why do you laugh?' Baraka asked, a little disturbed. 'I would give
-you a good ruby. A king may receive a good ruby as a gift, and not
-despise it. Why do you laugh at me? There came two German merchants to
-me in Paris to see my rubies, and when they had looked, they bought a
-good one, but not better than the one I would give you, and Spiro
-heard them say to each other in their own language that it was for
-their King, for Spiro understands all tongues. Then do you think that
-their King would not have been glad if I had given him the ruby as a
-gift? You cannot mock Baraka. Baraka knows what rubies are worth, and
-has some still.'
-
-'I do not mock you,' Logotheti answered with perfect gravity. 'I
-laughed at my own thoughts. I said in my heart, "If Baraka asks me for
-a husband, what will she say if I answer, Behold, I am the man, if you
-are satisfied!" This was my thought.'
-
-She was appeased at once, for she saw nothing extraordinary in his
-suggestion. She looked at him quietly and smiled, for she saw her
-chance.
-
-'It is emptiness,' she said. 'I will have a man who has no other
-wife.'
-
-'Precisely,' Logotheti answered, smiling. 'I never had one.'
-
-'Now you are indeed mocking me!' she said, bending her sharp-drawn
-eyebrows.
-
-'No. Every one knows it who knows me. In Europe, men do not always
-marry very young. It is not a fixed custom.'
-
-'I have heard so,' Baraka answered, her anger subsiding, 'but it is
-very strange. If it be so, and if all things should happen as we said,
-which Allah avert, and if you desired me for your wife, I would marry
-you without doubt. You are a great man, and rich, and you are good to
-look at, as Saaed was. Also you are kind, but Saaed would probably have
-beaten me, for he beat every one, every day, and I should have gone
-back to my father's house. Truly,' she added, in a thoughtful tone,
-'you would make a desirable husband for Baraka. But the man I seek
-must marry me if I find him alive, for I gave him the riches of the
-earth and he gave me nothing and departed, leaving me to die. I have
-told you, and you understand. Therefore let us not jest about these
-things any more. What will be, will be, and if he must die, it is his
-portion, and mine also, though it is a pity.'
-
-Thereupon the noble little features became very grave, and she leaned
-back in her chair and folded her hands in her lap, looking out at the
-violet light on the distant volcano. After that, at dinner and in the
-evening, they talked pleasantly. She told him tales of her own land,
-and of her childhood, with legends of the Altai, of genii and
-enchanted princesses; and he, in return, told her about the great
-world in which he lived; but of the two, she talked the more, no doubt
-because he was not speaking his own language. Yet there was a bond of
-sympathy between them more natural and instinctive than any that had
-ever drawn him and Margaret together.
-
-When the sun was up the next morning and Logotheti came on deck to
-drink his coffee alone, he saw the magic Straits not many miles ahead,
-in an opalescent haze that sent up a vapour of pure gold to the pale
-blue enamel of the sky. He had been just where he was now more than
-once before, and few sights of nature had ever given him keener
-delight. On the left, the beautiful outline of the Calabrian hills
-descended softly into the still sea, on the right the mountains of
-Sicily reared their lofty crests; and far above them all, twice as
-high as the highest, and nobler in form than the greatest, AEtna
-towered to the very sky, and a vast cloud of smoke rose from the
-summit, and unfolded itself like a standard, in flowing draperies that
-streamed westward as far as the eye could reach.
-
-'Let her go half-speed, Captain,' said Logotheti, as his
-sailing-master came up to bid him good-morning. 'I should like my
-guest to see the Straits.'
-
-'Very good, sir. We shall not go through very fast in any case, for
-the tide is just turning against us.'
-
-'Never mind,' Logotheti answered. 'The slower the better to-day, till
-we have AEtna well astern.'
-
-Now the tide in the Straits of Messina is as regular and easy to
-calculate as the tide in the Ocean, and at full and change of the moon
-the current runs six knots an hour, flowing or ebbing; it turns so
-suddenly that small freight steamers sometimes get into difficulties,
-and no sailing vessel I have ever seen has a chance of getting
-through against it unless the wind is both fresh and free.
-
-Furthermore, for the benefit of landsmen, it is well to explain here
-that when a steamer has the current ahead, her speed is the difference
-between her speed in slack water and that of the current or tide,
-whereas, if the latter is with her, its speed increases her own.
-
-Consequently, though the _Erinna_ could run sixteen knots, she would
-only be able to make ten against the tide; for it chanced that it was
-a spring tide, the moon being new on that very day. Similarly the
-_Lancashire Lass_, running her twenty-three knots like a torpedo boat,
-would only do seventeen under the same conditions.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XV
-
-
-At two o'clock in the morning Captain Brown was called by the officer
-of the watch, who told him that he was overhauling a good-sized steam
-yacht. The latter was heading up for the Straits from the southward,
-and the officer judged her to be not more than three or four miles on
-the port bow.
-
-Captain Brown, who meant business, was sleeping in his clothes in the
-chart-room, and was on the bridge in ten seconds, peering over the
-search-light with his big binocular. At two in the morning even the
-largest yachts do not show such a blaze of lights as passenger
-steamers generally do all night, and the one Captain Brown was
-watching had only two or three, besides the regulation ones. She might
-be white, too, though she might be a light grey, but he thought on the
-whole that she was painted white. She was rigged as a two-masted
-fore-and-aft schooner. So was the _Erinna_ now, though she had once
-carried square topsails at the fore. She was also of about the same
-size, as far as it was possible to judge under the search-light.
-Captain Brown did not feel sure that he recognised her, but
-considering what his orders were he knew it was his duty to settle the
-question of her identity, which would be an easy matter in a quarter
-of an hour or less, as the course of the two vessels converged.
-
-He had been told to find the _Erinna_, but for what purpose he knew
-not, and he naturally supposed it to be a friendly one. As a first
-step, he ordered the Coston signal of his owner's yacht club to be
-burned, turned off the search-light, and waited for an answer. None
-came, however. Foreign yachts do not always burn signals to please
-vessels of other nations.
-
-A couple of minutes later, however, the white beam of a search-light
-shot out and enveloped Captain Brown and his ship. The other man was
-evidently having a good look at him, for the light was kept full on
-for some time. But no signal was burned after it went out. Then
-Captain Brown turned on his own light again, and looked once more; and
-he had almost made up his mind that the other yacht was not quite as
-long as the _Erinna_, when she suddenly starboarded her helm, made a
-wide sweep away from him, and headed down the Sicilian coast in the
-direction of Catania.
-
-Captain Brown was so much surprised that he lowered his glasses and
-looked at his chief mate, whose watch it was, and who was standing
-beside him. It really looked very much as if the other vessel had
-recognised him and were running away. The chief mate also looked at
-him, but as they were more or less dazzled by the search-light that
-had been played on them, they could hardly see one another's faces at
-all. The captain wished his owner were on deck, instead of being sound
-asleep below. Owners who are not at all nautical characters do not
-like to be waked up at two o'clock in the morning by inquiries for
-instructions. Captain Brown considered the situation for two or three
-minutes before he made up his mind. He might be mistaken about the
-length and the bows of the _Erinna_, and if by any possibility it were
-she, he would not lose much by making sure of her. No other steamer
-could now pass out of the Straits without being seen by him.
-
-'Hard-a-starboard,' he said to the mate.
-
-'Hard-a-starboard,' said the mate to wheel.
-
-The big _Lancashire Lass_ described a vast curve at her racing speed,
-while the captain kept his eye on the steamer he was going to chase.
-Before she was dead ahead the mate ordered the wheel amidships, and
-the _Lancashire Lass_ did the rest herself.
-
-'That will do for a course,' the captain said, when he had the vessel
-one point on the starboard bow.
-
-'Keep her so,' said the mate to the wheel.
-
-'Keep her so, sir,' answered the quartermaster.
-
-It soon became clear to Captain Brown that he was chasing an
-uncommonly fast vessel, though he was willing to admit that he might
-have been a little out in judging the distance that separated him from
-her. Allowing that she might do sixteen knots, and even that is a high
-speed for yachts, he ought to have overtaken her in half an hour at
-the outside. But he did not, and he was much puzzled to find that he
-had gained very little on her when six bells were struck. Twice
-already he had given a little more starboard helm, and the pursued
-vessel was now right ahead, showing only her stern-light and the glare
-of her after-masthead light.
-
-'Didn't I hear four bells go just after you called me?' he asked of
-the mate. 'Or was it five?'
-
-'Four bells, sir. I logged it. At two-twenty we gave chase.'
-
-'Mr. Johnson,' said the captain solemnly, 'he's doing at least
-twenty.'
-
-'At least that.'
-
-The quartermaster who came to relieve the wheel at the hour, touched
-his cap, and reported eighty-five and eighty-six revolutions of the
-port and starboard engines respectively, which meant that the
-_Lancashire Lass_ was doing her best. Then he took the other
-quartermaster's place.
-
-'Chase,' said the man relieved. 'Keep her so.'
-
-'Keep her so,' answered the other, taking over the wheel.
-
-Captain Brown spoke to his officer.
-
-'Tell them to try and work the port engine up to eighty-six, Mr.
-Johnson.'
-
-The chief mate went to the engine telephone, delivered the message,
-and reported that the engineer of the watch in the port engine said he
-would do his best, but that the port engine had not given quite such a
-good diagram as the starboard one that morning.
-
-Then something happened which surprised and annoyed Captain Brown; and
-if he had not been a religious man, and, moreover, in charge of a
-vessel which was so very high-class that she ranked as third in the
-world amongst steam yachts, and perhaps second, a fact which gave him
-a position requiring great dignity of bearing with his officers, he
-would certainly have said things.
-
-The chased vessel had put out her lights and disappeared into complete
-darkness under the Sicilian coast. Again he and his officer looked at
-one another, but neither spoke. They were outside the wheel-house on
-the bridge on the starboard side, behind a heavy plate-glass screen.
-The captain made one step to the right, the mate made one to the left,
-and both put up their glasses in the teeth of the gale made by the
-yacht's tremendous way. In less than a minute they stepped back into
-their places, and glanced at each other again.
-
-Now it occurred to Captain Brown that such a financier as his owner
-might be looking out for such another financier as the owner of the
-_Erinna_ for some reason which would not please the latter, whose
-sailing-master had without doubts recognised the _Lancashire Lass_ at
-once, because she was very differently built from most yachts.
-
-'Search-light again, Mr. Johnson,' said the captain.
-
-The great beacon ran out instantly like a comet's tail, and he stood
-behind it with his glasses. Instead of a steamer, he saw a rocky islet
-sticking up sharp and clear, half a point on the starboard bow, about
-three miles off. It was the largest of the Isles of the Cyclops, as he
-very well knew, off Aci Reale, and it was perfectly evident that the
-chased vessel had first put out her lights and had then at once run
-behind the islands, close inshore. Captain Brown reflected that the
-captain he was after must know the waters well to do such a thing,
-and that the deep draught of his own ship made it the height of folly
-to think of imitating such a trick at night. Yet so long as the other
-stayed where she was, she could not come out without showing herself
-under his search-light.
-
-'Half-speed both engines,' he said quickly.
-
-The mate worked the engine telegraph almost as soon as the captain
-began to speak.
-
-'Starboard five degrees more,' said Captain Brown.
-
-The order was repeated to the wheel, and the quartermaster gave it
-back, and repeated it a second time when the vessel's head had gone
-off to port exactly to the required degree.
-
-'Slow,' said Captain Brown. 'Stop her,' he said a moment later.
-
-Twin-screw steamers cannot be stopped as quickly by reversing as those
-with a single screw can, and the _Lancashire Lass_ would keep way on
-for three miles or more, by which time she would be abreast of the
-islands, and at a safe distance from them. Besides, the spring tide
-was now running fresh down the Straits, making a current along the
-coast, as Captain Brown knew. The instant the engines stopped, the
-third mate came round from the chart-room, where he had been sent to
-work a sight for longitude by Aldebaran for the good of his young
-nautical soul.
-
-A moment later Mr. Van Torp himself appeared on the bridge in pyjamas.
-
-'Got her?' he asked eagerly.
-
-Captain Brown explained that he thought he had cornered the _Erinna_
-behind the islet, but was not quite sure of her. Mr. Van Torp waited
-and said nothing, and the chief mate kept the search-light steadily on
-the rocks. The yacht lost way rapidly, and lay quite still with the
-islet exactly abeam, half a mile off, as the captain had calculated.
-He then gave the order to go slow ahead.
-
-A minute had not passed when the vessel that had lain concealed behind
-the island ran out suddenly with all her regulation lights up,
-apparently making directly across the bows of the _Lancashire Lass_.
-Now the rule of the road at sea requires every steamer under weigh to
-keep out of the way of any steamer that appears on her starboard side
-forward of the beam. At such a short distance Captain Brown had hardly
-any choice but to stop his ship again and order 'half-speed astern'
-till she had no way, and he did so. She was barely moving when the
-order was given, and a few turns of the engines stopped her
-altogether.
-
-'Is that the _Erinna_, Captain?' asked Mr. Van Torp.
-
-Captain Brown had his glasses up and did not answer at once. After
-nearly a minute he laid them down on the lid of the small box fastened
-to the bridge-rail.
-
-'No, sir,' he answered in a tone of considerable disappointment. 'At
-four miles' distance she looked so much like her that I didn't dare to
-let her slip through my fingers, but we have not lost more than a
-couple of hours.'
-
-'What is this thing, anyway? She's coming towards us pretty quick.'
-
-'She's one of those new fast twin-screw revenue cutters the Italians
-have lately built, sir. They look very like yachts at night. There's a
-deal of smuggling on this coast, over from Malta. She's coming
-alongside to ask what we mean by giving chase to a government vessel.'
-
-Captain Brown was right, and when the big cutter had crossed his bows,
-she ran all round him while she slowed down, and she stopped within
-speaking distance on his starboard side. The usual questions were
-asked and answered.
-
-'English yacht _Lancashire Lass_, from Venice for Messina, expecting
-to meet a friend's yacht at sea. Thought the revenue cutter was she.
-Regretted mistake. Had the captain of the cutter seen or heard of
-English yacht _Erinna_?'
-
-He had not. There was no harm done. It was his duty to watch all
-vessels. He wished Captain Brown a pleasant trip and good-night.
-
-The Italian officer spoke English well, and there was no trouble.
-Revenue cutters are very civil to all respectable yachts.
-
-'Hard-a-starboard. Port engine slow astern, starboard engine
-half-speed ahead.'
-
-That was all Captain Brown said, but no one could guess what he was
-thinking as his big vessel turned quickly to port on her heel, and he
-headed her up for the Straits again. Mr. Van Torp said nothing at all,
-but his lips moved as he left the bridge and went off to his own
-quarters. It was now nearly four o'clock and the eastern sky was
-grey.
-
-The current was dead against the yacht through the Straits, which
-were, moreover, crowded with all sorts of large and small craft under
-sail, taking advantage of the tide to get through; many of them
-steered very badly under the circumstances, of course, and it was out
-of the question to run between them at full speed. The consequence was
-that it was eight o'clock when the _Lancashire Lass_ steamed slowly
-into Messina and dropped anchor out in the middle of the harbour, to
-wait while Captain Brown got information about the _Erinna_, if there
-were any to be had at the harbourmaster's office. It would have been
-folly to run out of the Straits without at least looking in to see if
-she were there, lying quietly moored behind the fortress of San
-Salvatore and the very high mole.
-
-She was not there, and had not been heard of, but a Paris _Herald_ was
-procured in which it was stated that the _Erinna_ had arrived in
-Naples, 'owner and party on board.'
-
-'Well,' said Mr. Van Torp, 'let's get to Naples, quick. How long will
-it take, Captain?'
-
-'About eight hours, sir, counting our getting under weigh and out of
-this crowded water, which won't take long, for the tide will soon
-turn.'
-
-'Go ahead,' said Mr. Van Torp.
-
-Captain Brown prepared to get under weigh again as quickly as
-possible. The entrance to Messina harbour is narrow, and it was
-natural that, as he was in a hurry, a huge Italian man-of-war should
-enter the harbour at that very moment, with the solemn and safe
-deliberation which the movements of line-of-battle ships require when
-going in and out of port. There was nothing to be done but to wait
-patiently till the fairway was clear. It was not more than a quarter
-of an hour, but Captain Brown was in a hurry, and as there was a fresh
-morning breeze blowing across the harbour he could not even get his
-anchor up with safety before he was ready to start.
-
-The result of all these delays was that at about nine o'clock he saw
-the _Erinna_ right ahead, bows on and only half a mile away, just
-between Scylla and Faro, where the whirlpool is still a danger to
-sailing vessels and slow steamers, and just as the tide was turning
-against her and in his own favour. He did not like to leave the
-bridge, even for a moment, and sent the second mate with an urgent
-message requesting Mr. Van Torp to come up as soon as he could.
-
-Five minutes earlier the owner had sat down to breakfast opposite Lady
-Maud, who was very pale and had dark shadows under her eyes for the
-first time since he had known her. As soon as the steward left them
-alone, she spoke.
-
-'It is Leven,' she said, 'and he wants me to take him back.'
-
-Mr. Van Torp set down his tea untasted and stared at her. He was not
-often completely taken by surprise, but for once he was almost
-speechless. His lips did not even move silently.
-
-'I was sure it was he,' Lady Maud said, 'but I did not expect that.'
-
-'Well,' said Mr. Van Torp, finding his voice, 'he shan't. That's all.'
-
-'No. I told him so. If I had been dressed I would have asked you to
-put me ashore at Messina. I thought you were going to stop there--the
-stewardess told me where we were, but she knew nothing else; and now
-we're off again.'
-
-'I can't help it, Maud,' said Van Torp, almost in a whisper, 'I don't
-believe it. I don't believe in impossibilities like that beard of his.
-It may sound ridiculous in the face of your recognising your own
-husband, but it's a solid fact, and you can't get over it. I wish I
-could catch the _Erinna_ and show him to that Tartar girl. She'd know
-in a minute. He can't be her man and Leven too. There's only one thing
-to be done that I can see.'
-
-'What?' asked Lady Maud sadly and incredulously.
-
-'Tell him you'll take him back on condition that he'll shave.'
-
-Mr. Van Torp, who was in dead earnest, had just given his best friend
-this piece of sound practical advice when the door opened, though he
-had not rung, and the steward announced that the second mate had a
-message for Mr. Van Torp. He was admitted, and he delivered it.
-
-The owner sprang to his feet.
-
-'By thunder, we've caught 'em!' he cried, as he rushed out of the deck
-saloon.
-
-Lady Maud leaned back and stared at his empty chair, wondering what
-was going to happen next.
-
-This was what happened. The _Lancashire Lass_ reversed her starboard
-engine with full speed astern, put her helm hard over to port, and
-turned back towards the Straits in the smallest space possible for
-her, passing less than a cable's length from the Scylla rock, and
-nearly running down half a dozen fishing-boats that pulled like mad to
-get out of her way; for they supposed that her steering-gear had
-broken down, unless her captain had gone raving mad.
-
-While this was going on, Captain Brown himself, with the International
-Signal Code in his hand, was calling out letters of the alphabet to a
-quartermaster, and before his ship had made half a circle the flags
-ran up the single stick the yacht carried.
-
-'My owner has urgent business with your owner,' was what the flags
-meant in plain English.
-
-The _Erinna_ was going slow, for Baraka was only just ready to come on
-deck, haste being, in her opinion, an invention of Shaitan's.
-Logotheti, who wished her to see the Straits, was just inside the door
-of the deck saloon, waiting for her to come out of her cabin. The
-officer of the watch read off the signals of the other yacht, ran up
-the answering pennant, and sent for the sailing-master, but could of
-course do nothing else without orders. So the _Erinna_ continued to go
-slow. All this took some minutes, for the officer had naturally been
-obliged to look up the signal in the Code before answering that he
-understood it; and in that time Van Torp's yacht had completed her
-turn and was nearly alongside. The _Lancashire Lass_ slowed down to
-the _Erinna's_ speed, and the two captains aimed their megaphones
-accurately at each other from their respective bridges for a little
-pleasant conversation. Captain Brown, instructed by Mr. Van Torp at
-his elbow, repeated what his signals had meant. The other
-sailing-master answered that he had already informed his owner, who
-was coming to the bridge directly.
-
-At that moment Logotheti appeared. There was not much more than a
-cable's length between the two yachts, which in land-talk means two
-hundred yards. Van Torp also saw a slim young lady in blue serge, with
-a veil tied over her hair, leaning on the rail of the promenade deck
-and looking towards him. With his glasses he recognised the features
-of Baraka.
-
-'Got 'em!' he ejaculated in a low but audible tone of intense
-satisfaction.
-
-Logotheti had also seen Van Torp, and waved his hand in a friendly
-manner.
-
-'Ask the gentleman if he'll come aboard, Captain,' said the American.
-'I can't talk through your cornopean anyway. I suppose we can send the
-naphtha launch for him if we stop, can't we?'
-
-'Can't stop here,' answered Captain Brown. 'The currents might jam us
-into each other, and we should most likely get aground in any case.
-This is not even a safe place for going slow, when the tide is
-running.'
-
-'Well, you know your business, and I don't. Tell him we don't want to
-interfere with any arrangements he's made, and that if he'll kindly
-set the pace he likes we'll trot along behind him till we get to a
-nice place, somewhere where we can stop. I suppose he can't run away
-from us now, can he?'
-
-Captain Brown smiled the smile of a man who commands a
-twenty-three-knot boat, and proceeded to deliver the message in a more
-concise form. Logotheti heard every word, and the answer was that he
-was in no hurry and was quite at Mr. Van Torp's disposal. He would be
-glad to know whom the latter had on board with him.
-
-'Lady Maud Leven, Miss Margaret Donne, Mrs. Rushmore, and Count
-Kralinsky,' answered Captain Brown, prompted by Van Torp.
-
-The latter was watching the Greek through a pair of deer-stalking
-glasses, and saw distinctly the expression of surprise that came into
-his face when he heard the last of the names.
-
-'Tell the gentleman,' said Van Torp, 'that if he'll bring his party
-with him when we stop, I'll be very glad to have them all take lunch
-with me.'
-
-Captain Brown delivered the message. At such a short distance he did
-not even have to raise his voice to be heard through the six-foot
-megaphone.
-
-To Van Torp's surprise, Logotheti nodded with alacrity, and the answer
-came that he would bring his party with pleasure, but thought that his
-visit would be over long before luncheon time.
-
-'All right, good-bye,' said Van Torp, as if he were at the telephone.
-'Ring off, Captain. That's all. Just let him give us a lead now and
-we'll follow him through this creek again, since you say you can't
-stop here.'
-
-As he went off the bridge to return to his breakfast he passed close
-to the chief mate, who had turned again, though it was his watch
-below.
-
-'I say, Mr. Johnson,' he asked, 'have we got a barber-shop on board
-this ship?'
-
-'No, sir,' answered the mate, who knew better than to be surprised at
-anything.
-
-'It's no matter,' said Mr. Van Torp. 'I was only asking.'
-
-He went back to his breakfast with an improved appetite. When he
-re-entered the saloon Lady Maud was still leaning back in her chair,
-staring at his empty place.
-
-'Well,' he said, 'they're both coming on board as soon as we get to a
-place where we can stop.'
-
-'Have you really seen the girl?' Lady Maud sat up, as if she were
-waking from sleep.
-
-'Oh, yes! There she was, looking over the rail, as neat as a pin, in a
-blue serge dress, with a white veil tied over her hair, watching me.
-We've got 'em right enough, and that's going to be the end of this
-mystery!'
-
-'Did you see any one else on the yacht?'
-
-'Logo. That's all. He and I talked. At least, our captains talked for
-us. They do know how to yell, those men! If the girl's the party, Logo
-beats the band for brass, that's all I can say!'
-
-'It is rather cool,' said Lady Maud thoughtfully. 'If he's alone with
-her, it will be all up with his engagement.'
-
-'Well, if that's the way he's going on, it's about time.' His tone was
-all at once serious. 'Now, see here, have I done anything you
-consider unfair to make this happen? I want your opinion right away,
-for if you think I have, I'll stand up for Logo to Miss Donne as hard
-as I can. Just think it over, please, and tell me your honest opinion.
-If I've done anything low-down, I want to go right back and begin over
-again.'
-
-He was thoroughly in earnest, and awaited her answer with evident
-anxiety. Knowing the man as she did, she would not give it hastily,
-though it was hard to concentrate her thoughts just then on anything
-but her own trouble; for she was quite convinced that Baraka would not
-recognise Kralinsky as the man she was looking for, and that this
-final proof would settle his identity as Leven, which she already did
-not doubt.
-
-She asked one or two questions.
-
-'Before I answer you,' she said, 'tell me something, as you tell me
-things, when you do. Have you any entanglement with another woman from
-which you feel that you're not perfectly free? I don't like to ask
-such a question, and I wouldn't if you had not put me on my honour for
-my opinion.'
-
-'No,' answered Van Torp very gravely, 'I have not. No living woman has
-any claim on me, and no dead woman could have, if she came to life
-again.'
-
-'Then I think you had a right to do what you've done, and what you are
-going to do. When a man behaves in that way he deserves no pity, and
-now that the crisis is coming I may as well tell you that I've done
-everything in my power to make Margaret give him up, ever since I have
-been sure that he had taken the girl with him on his yacht. So far as
-catching them under Margaret's very eyes is concerned, I'm glad you
-have succeeded--very glad!'
-
-On certain points Lady Maud was inflexible as to the conduct of men
-and women, but especially of men. 'Mrs. Foxwell' spent much time
-behind the Virtue-Curtain, seeking for poor souls who were willing to
-be helped, and her experiences had led her to believe a modified
-version of the story of Adam and Eve and the Apple-tree which was
-quite her own. In her opinion Adam had been in the habit of talking to
-his wife about the tree for some time, and when the serpent presented
-itself to explain things he discreetly withdrew till the interview was
-over. Therefore 'Mrs. Foxwell' was, on the whole, more charitably
-inclined to her own sex than the other, and when she was 'Lady Maud'
-she held very strong views indeed about the obligations of men who
-meant to marry, and she expressed them when the intended bride was a
-friend of hers.
-
-'Thank you,' said Mr. Van Torp, after she had finished her speech.
-'I'm glad you don't disapprove, for if you did I'd try to begin all
-over again, as I told you. Any other question? You said "one or two,"
-and I'd like to have them all now.'
-
-'Only one more, though perhaps I've no business to ask it. If Margaret
-marries you, shall you want her to leave the stage?'
-
-'Why, no!' answered Mr. Van Torp with alacrity. 'That wouldn't suit my
-plans at all. Besides, we're a Company, she and I.'
-
-'What do you mean?' Lady Maud thought he was joking.
-
-'Well, I wasn't going to tell you till we'd organised, but you're as
-good as a deaf and dumb asylum about business things. Yes. We're
-organising as "The Madame da Cordova and Rufus Van Torp Company." I'm
-going to build an opera-house in New York on some land I've got on
-Fifth Avenue, and Miss Donne is going to run it, and we mean to have
-Wagner festivals and things, besides regular grand opera, in which
-she's engaged to sing as often as she likes. There's never been an
-opera-house on Fifth Avenue, but there's going to be, and people will
-go to it. Miss Donne caught on to the scheme right away, so you see
-she's not going to leave the stage anyhow. As for her accepting me, I
-can't tell you, because I don't know. Maybe she will, maybe she won't.
-That isn't going to interfere with the Company either way. Good
-scheme, isn't it?'
-
-'You're a wonderful man,' said Lady Maud, with genuine admiration. 'Do
-you mean to say that you have settled all that between you already?'
-
-'She signed the preliminary agreement in Bayreuth, and the papers are
-being made out by my lawyer in New York. You don't think it was unfair
-to offer to build a theatre and call it after her, do you? That isn't
-"exercising undue influence," I suppose?'
-
-'No, and I think you're going to win. The other man hasn't had a
-chance since you got into your stride.'
-
-'When a man chucks his chances, I'm not going to pick them up for him.
-Charity begins at home.'
-
-'Even if "home" is a bachelor establishment?' Lady Maud smiled for the
-first time that day.
-
-They talked a few minutes longer, agreeing that she should tell
-Margaret what was going to happen; but that Mrs. Rushmore and
-Kralinsky should be kept in ignorance of the plan, the American lady
-because she might possibly yield to temptation and tell the Count, and
-the latter for obvious reasons. It was not likely that any of them
-would be on deck much before Logotheti came on board.
-
-There is good anchorage out of the tidal current at Scaletta, some few
-miles below Messina, on the Sicilian side, and towards this well-known
-water the _Erinna_ led the way, followed at a short distance by the
-_Lancashire Lass_.
-
-Logotheti and Baraka watched her, and the girl recognised Van Torp on
-the bridge of his yacht, without even using glasses, for she had eyes
-like an eagle's, and the American millionaire stood alone at one end
-of the bridge looking towards her.
-
-Logotheti had told her that Kralinsky was on board, and that she
-should see him as soon as both yachts could anchor. He explained that
-it was an unforeseen coincidence, and that Mr. Van Torp must have
-taken him on board somewhere on the previous day. To the Greek's
-surprise, Baraka showed no outward sign of emotion. He had promised to
-take her to the man, and had said that he was near at hand; that the
-meeting should take place sooner than had been intended hardly
-surprised her, because she had been so perfectly sure that it was
-near. Her only preoccupation now was about her appearance in her
-ready-made serge and blouse, when she had meant to show herself to
-Kralinsky in the glory of a beautiful and expensive Feringhi dress.
-
-But Logotheti explained that even the richest Feringhi ladies often
-wore little blue serge frocks on yachts, and told her to watch the
-_Lancashire Lass_ with her glasses, as there were three very great
-Feringhi ladies on board, and she might see one, and be reassured; and
-presently she saw Lady Maud walking alone on the promenade deck, in
-clothes very like her own, excepting that they were black instead of
-dark blue. So Baraka was satisfied, but she never took her eyes from
-the following yacht, for she hoped that Kralinsky would come out and
-show himself.
-
-All at once he was there, taking off his white cap to Lady Maud, and
-they stood still facing each other, and talking.
-
-'I see him,' Baraka said in a low voice, without lowering her glasses.
-'It is he.'
-
-Logotheti, who had been much absorbed in thinking about his coming
-interview with Margaret, raised his glasses too, for he was curious to
-see the man at last. He had known Leven for years, though never
-intimately, as he knew a vast number of people in London, and he was
-struck at once by the resemblance in size, build, and complexion.
-
-'He is fatter than he was, and paler,' Baraka said quietly, 'but it is
-he. He is speaking earnestly with the beautiful woman in black. I can
-see well. He likes her, but she does not like him. I think she is
-telling him so. I am glad. But she is more beautiful than Baraka, even
-in those poor clothes. When he sees me, he will deny me, because he
-likes the beautiful woman in black. I will tell Spiro to be ready. It
-is a pity, but I see there will be no other way. It is his portion and
-mine. It is a great pity, for I have been happy with you.'
-
-Instead of any look of anger, Logotheti now saw an expression of
-profound resignation in her lovely young features. If he had been less
-anxious about his own affairs, he would have smiled at her simplicity.
-
-'When we are on that ship you will let me talk with him a little apart
-from the rest, and Spiro shall go behind him and wait, looking at me.
-If he denies me, I will make a sign, and Spiro shall shoot him, and
-then kill me. It will be very easy and quick.'
-
-'And what will become of Spiro?' inquired Logotheti gravely.
-
-'I do not know,' Baraka said quietly. 'Perhaps he will lose his head.
-How can I tell? But he is a good servant, and will obey me. Afterwards
-it will not matter, for he is really a Musulman, and will go at once
-to paradise if he dies, because he has killed a Christian.'
-
-'But you are a Musulman, and he is to kill you also. What about that?'
-
-'I am only a woman,' answered Baraka with supreme indifference. 'Now I
-will call Spiro and tell him what he is to do. He has a good
-revolver.'
-
-Logotheti let her clap her hands and send the steward for her man,
-and she rose when he appeared and made him follow her a little way
-along the deck. The interview did not last long. She handed him her
-glasses and made him look carefully at the intended victim; then she
-apparently repeated her brief instructions again, pointing here and
-there to the deck at her feet, to show him how they were to stand;
-after which she turned quietly, came back to Logotheti's side, and sat
-down again.
-
-'He understands,' she said. 'It will be quite easy.'
-
-But Logotheti, looking past her as she came forward, had met Spiro's
-eyes; and he felt not even the slightest anxiety for Kralinsky's
-safety, nor for Baraka's. He was still wondering what he should say to
-Margaret, but while he tried to think it over, his eyes dwelt on the
-noble little profile of the slender Asiatic girl at his side; and it
-occurred to him that, although she had worn man's clothes and done
-things that few women would dare to do, for the one purpose of her
-life, she would much rather die than show herself on the stage in a
-very low dress before thousands of people and sing to them, and take
-money for doing it; and he remembered a time, not much more than two
-years past, when the mere thought had driven the idea of marrying the
-Primadonna quite out of his head for a while, and that, after all, it
-had been her physical attraction that had overcome the prejudice,
-making him say that he was as much in love with the Cordova as he had
-been with Margaret Donne, that 'very nice English girl.' For men are
-changeable creatures after they think they have changed themselves to
-suit their tastes or their ideals, and the original man in them, good
-or bad, fine or coarse, generally comes back in the great moments.
-
-At a distance, Logotheti had supposed that he could somehow account to
-the Diva for the position in which he had foolishly placed himself,
-because he had done nothing and said nothing that he would have been
-ashamed of before her, if she knew the whole truth; and he fancied
-that even if they quarrelled she would make up with him before long,
-and marry him in the end. He had a good opinion of himself as a
-desirable husband; and with reason, since he had been persecuted for
-years with offers of excellent marriages from mothers of high degree
-who had daughters to dispose of. And beneath that conviction there
-lurked, in spite of him, the less worthy thought, that singers and
-actresses were generally less squeamish than women of the world about
-the little entanglements of their intended husbands.
-
-But now, at the very moment of meeting Margaret, he knew that if he
-found her very angry with him, he would simply listen to what she had
-to say, make a humble apology, state the truth coldly, and return to
-his own yacht with Baraka, under her very eyes, and in full sight of
-Lady Maud and Mrs. Rushmore. Besides, he felt tolerably sure that when
-Spiro failed to carry out the young Tartar girl's murderous
-instructions, she would forget all about the oath she had sworn by the
-'inviolable water of the Styx' and try to kill him with her own hands,
-so that it would be necessary to take her away abruptly, and even
-forcibly.
-
-Matters did not turn out as he expected, however, after the two yachts
-stopped their engines in the quiet waters off Scaletta, under the
-Sicilian mountains.
-
-Before the _Erinna_ had quite lost her way, Logotheti had his naphtha
-launch puffing alongside, and he got into it with Baraka and Spiro,
-and the _Lancashire Lass_ had barely time to lower her ladder, while
-still moving slowly, before the visitors were there.
-
-Baraka bade Logotheti go up first, and trod daintily on the grated
-steps as she followed him. The chief mate and chief steward were
-waiting at the gangway. The mate saluted; the steward led the visitors
-to the main saloon, ushered them in, and shut the door. Spiro was left
-outside, of course.
-
-Lady Maud was there, sitting in an easy-chair in the farthest corner.
-She nodded to Logotheti, but did not rise, and paid no more attention
-to Baraka than if she had not existed.
-
-Mr. Van Torp shook hands coldly with Logotheti; Baraka walked directly
-to Kralinsky, and then stood stone-still before him, gazing up
-steadily into his eyes.
-
-Neither Margaret nor Mrs. Rushmore was to be seen. Van Torp and
-Logotheti both watched the other two, looking from one face to the
-other. Kralinsky, with his eye-glass in his eye, surveyed the lovely
-young barbarian unmoved, and the silence lasted half a minute. Then
-she spoke in her own language and Kralinsky answered her, and only
-Logotheti understood what they said to each other. Probably it did not
-occur to Kralinsky that the Greek knew Tartar.
-
-'You are not Ivan. You are fatter, and you have not his eyes.'
-
-Logotheti drew a long breath.
-
-'No,' answered Kralinsky. 'I am Yuryi, his brother. I never saw you,
-but he told me of you.'
-
-'Where is Ivan?'
-
-'Dead.'
-
-The proud little head was bowed down for a moment and Baraka did not
-speak till several seconds had passed. Then she looked up again
-suddenly. Her dark eyes were quite dry.
-
-'How long?'
-
-'More than four months.'
-
-'You know it?'
-
-'I was with him and buried him.'
-
-'It is enough.'
-
-She turned, her head high, and went to the door, and no one hindered
-her from going out.
-
-'Monsieur Logotheti!' Lady Maud called him, and the Greek crossed the
-saloon and stood by her. 'He is not the man, I see,' she said, with a
-vague doubt in her voice.
-
-'No.'
-
-Van Torp was speaking with Kralinsky in low tones. Lady Maud spoke to
-Logotheti again, after an instant, in which she drew a painful breath
-and grew paler.
-
-'Miss Donne knows that you are on board,' she said, 'but she wishes me
-to say that she will not see you, and that she considers her
-engagement at an end, after what you have done.'
-
-Logotheti did not hesitate.
-
-'Will you kindly give a message to Miss Donne from me?' he asked.
-
-'That quite depends on what it is,' Lady Maud answered coldly.
-
-She felt that she herself had got something near a death-wound, but
-she would not break down.
-
-'I beg you to tell Miss Donne that I yield to her decision,' said
-Logotheti with dignity. 'We are not suited to each other, and it is
-better that we should part. But I cannot accept as the cause of our
-parting the fact that I have given my protection to a young girl whom
-I have extricated from great trouble and have treated, and still
-treat, precisely as I should have treated Miss Donne if she had been
-my guest. Will you tell her that?'
-
-'I will tell her that.'
-
-'Thank you. Good-morning.'
-
-'Good-morning,' said Lady Maud icily.
-
-He turned and went towards the door, but stopped to speak to Van Torp.
-
-'This gentleman,' he said, 'is not the man my guest was anxious to
-find, though he is strikingly like him. I have to thank you for giving
-her an opportunity of satisfying herself. Good-morning.'
-
-Mr. Van Torp was extremely grateful to Logotheti for having ruined
-himself in Margaret's eyes, and would in any case have seen him to the
-gangway, but he was also very anxious to know what Kralinsky and
-Baraka had said to each other in Tartar. He therefore opened the door
-for the Greek, followed him out and shut it behind him. Baraka and
-Spiro had disappeared; they were already in the launch, waiting.
-
-'Now what did they say, if it isn't a rude question?' asked the
-American.
-
-Logotheti repeated the short conversation almost word for word.
-
-'He said that his name was Yuryi,' he concluded.
-
-'That is George in English.'
-
-'Oh, he's George, is he? And what's his dead brother's name again,
-please?'
-
-'Ivan. That is John. Before we part, Van Torp, I may as well tell you
-that my engagement with Miss Donne is at an end. She was good enough
-to inform me of her decision through Lady Maud. One thing more,
-please. I wish you to know, as between man and man, that I have
-treated Baraka as I would my own sister since I got her out of prison,
-and I beg that you won't encourage any disagreeable talk about her.'
-
-'Well, now,' said the American slowly, 'I'm glad to hear you say that,
-just in that way. I guess it'll be all right about any remarks on
-board my ship, now you've spoken.'
-
-'Thank you,' said Logotheti, moving towards the gangway.
-
-They shook hands with some cordiality, and Logotheti ran down the
-steps like a sailor, without laying his hand on the man-rope, stepped
-on board his launch, and was off in a moment.
-
-'Good-bye! good-bye, Miss Barrack, and good luck to you!' cried Van
-Torp, waving his cap.
-
-Logotheti translated his words to Baraka, who looked back with a
-grateful smile, as if she had not just heard that the man she had
-risked her life to find in two continents had been dead four months.
-
-'It was his portion,' she said gravely, when she was alone with
-Logotheti on the _Erinna_, and the chain was coming in fast.
-
-Van Torp went back to the main saloon and found Lady Maud and
-Kralinsky there. She was apparently about to leave the Count, for she
-was coming towards the door, and her eyes were dark and angry.
-
-'Rufus,' she said, 'this man is my husband, and insists that I should
-take him back. I will not. Will you kindly have me put ashore before
-you start again? My things are ready now.'
-
-'Excuse me,' answered Mr. Van Torp, digging his large thumbs into his
-waistcoat pockets, 'there's a mistake. He's not your husband.'
-
-'He is, indeed!' cried Lady Maud, in a tone her friend never forgot.
-
-'I am Boris Leven,' said Kralinsky in an authoritative tone, and
-coming forward almost defiantly. 'Then why did you tell the Tartar
-girl that your name was George?' asked Mr. Van Torp, unmoved.
-
-'I did not.'
-
-'You've evidently forgotten. That Greek gentleman speaks Tartar better
-than you. I wonder where you learned it! He's just told me you said
-your name was George.'
-
-'My name is George Boris,' answered Kralinsky, less confidently.
-
-He was not a coward, but he had never been face to face with Van Torp
-when he meant business, and the terrible American cowed him.
-
-'My husband's name is only Boris--nothing else,' said Lady Maud.
-
-'Well, this isn't your husband; this is George, whoever he is, and if
-you don't believe it, I'm going to give you an object-lesson.'
-
-Thereupon Mr. Van Torp pressed the button of a bell in the bulk-head
-near the door, which he opened, and he stood looking out. A steward
-came at once.
-
-'Send me Stemp,' said Van Torp in a low voice, as he stepped outside.
-
-'Yes, sir.'
-
-'And, see here, send six sailors with him.'
-
-'Six, sir?'
-
-'Yes. Big fellows who can handle a man.'
-
-'Very good, sir.'
-
-Mr. Van Torp went in again and shut the door. Kralinsky disdained
-flight, and was looking out of a window. Lady Maud had sat down again.
-For the first time in her life she felt weak.
-
-In less than one minute the door opened and Stemp appeared, impassive
-and respectful. Behind him was the boatswain, a huge Northumbrian, and
-five young seamen in perfectly new guernseys, with fair quiet faces.
-
-'Stemp.'
-
-'Yes, sir.'
-
-'Take that man somewhere and shave him. Leave his moustache on.' Van
-Torp pointed to Kralinsky.
-
-For once in his life Stemp gasped for breath. Kralinsky turned a
-greenish white, and seemed paralysed with rage.
-
-'Take his beard off, sir, you mean?'
-
-'Yes. Leave his moustache. Here, men,' added Van Torp, 'take that
-fellow outside and hold him down in a chair while Stemp shaves him.
-See?' The boatswain looked doubtful. 'He's pretending to be somebody
-he's not,' said Van Torp, 'on my ship, and I want to see his face.
-It's mutiny if you don't obey orders!'
-
-'Aye, aye, sir,' responded the boatswain cheerfully, for he rather
-liked the job since there was a good reason for it.
-
-But instead of going about his business gently, the Northumbrian giant
-suddenly dashed past Van Torp in a flash, and jumped and hurled
-himself head foremost at Kralinsky's legs, exactly as if he were
-diving. In the Count's violent fall the revolver he had drawn was
-thrown from his hand and went off in the air. The boatswain had seen
-it in time. The big man struggled a little, but the five seamen held
-him fast and carried him out kicking.
-
-'Stemp.'
-
-The valet was preparing to follow the prisoner, and was quite calm
-again.
-
-'Yes, sir.'
-
-'If he won't sit still to be shaved, cut his head off.'
-
-'Yes, sir.'
-
-Van Torp's eyes were awful to see. He had never been so angry in his
-life. He turned and saw Lady Maud pressing her handkerchief to her
-right temple. The ball had grazed it, though it had certainly not been
-meant for her.
-
-'Rufus!' she cried in great distress, 'what have you done?'
-
-'The question is what he's done to you,' answered Van Torp. 'I believe
-the blackguard has shot you!'
-
-'It's nothing. Thank God it hit me! It was meant for you.'
-
-Van Torp's rage instantly turned into tender care, and he insisted on
-examining the wound, which was slight but would leave a scar. By a
-miracle the ball had grazed the angle of the temple without going near
-the temporal artery, and scarcely singeing the thick brown hair.
-
-Van Torp rang and sent for water and absorbent cotton, and made a very
-neat dressing, over which Lady Maud tied her big veil. Just as this
-was done, Stemp appeared at the door.
-
-'It's ready, sir, if you would like to come and see. I've not
-scratched him once, sir.'
-
-'All right.' Van Torp turned to Lady Maud. 'Do you feel faint? Lean on
-my arm.'
-
-But she would not, and she walked bravely, holding herself so straight
-that she looked much taller than he, though she felt as if she were
-going to execution.
-
-A moment later she uttered a loud cry and clung to Van Torp's
-shoulder with both hands. But as for him, he said only two words.
-
-'You hellhound!'
-
-The man was not Boris Leven.
-
-  [Illustration: "The man was not Boris Leven."]
-
-The eyes, the upper part of the face, the hair, even the flowing
-moustaches were his, but not the small retreating chin crossed by the
-sharp, thin scar of a sword-cut long healed.
-
-'I know who you are,' said Van Torp, surveying him gravely. 'You're
-Long-legged Levi's brother, that disappeared before he did. I remember
-that scar.'
-
-The sham Kralinsky was securely tied down in a chair and the boatswain
-and the five seamen stood round him, an admiring public. Captain Brown
-had been informed of what had happened and was going on, and the
-discipline he maintained on board was so perfect that every man on the
-watch was at his post, and the steamer was already under weigh again.
-The boatswain and his contingent belonged to the watch below, which
-had not been called for the start.
-
-'Let me off easy,' said Long-legged Levi's brother. 'I've not done you
-any harm.'
-
-'Beyond wounding Lady Maud, after trying to pass yourself off as her
-dead husband. No. I won't let you off. Boatswain, I want this man
-arrested, and we'll take him and all his belongings before the British
-Consul in Messina in less than an hour. You just attend to that, will
-you? Somebody go and tell the Captain.'
-
-'Aye, aye, sir.'
-
-For the boatswain and the men had seen and heard, and they knew that
-Mr. Van Torp was right, and they respected him, and the foreign
-impostor had wounded an English woman; and having given his orders,
-the owner and Lady Maud turned and left Long-legged Levi's brother
-tied to the chair, in a very dejected state, and his uncertain eyes
-did not even follow them.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-The rest is soon told. A long inquiry followed, which led to the
-solution of the mystery and sent Count Yuryi Leven to Siberia; for he
-was Boris Leven's twin brother.
-
-The truth turned out to be that there had been three brothers, the
-youngest being Ivan, and they had all entered the same Cossack
-regiment, and had served in the Caucasus, where most officers learn
-the Tartar language, which is spoken by all the different tribes. It
-will be simpler to designate them by the English equivalents for their
-names.
-
-Boris behaved himself tolerably well in the army, but both his
-brothers, John and George, who was his twin, were broken for cheating
-at cards, and emigrated to America. So long as they all wore their
-beards, as officers of Cossack regiments usually do, they were very
-much alike. They were all educated men of refined tastes, and
-particularly fond of music.
-
-When his two brothers were cashiered, Boris resigned, entered the
-diplomatic service, married Lady Maud Foxwell, and was killed by a
-bomb in St. Petersburg.
-
-John and George separated in America when they were tired of punching
-cattle.
-
-John was something of a naturalist and was by far the most gifted of
-the three as well as the most daring. He gravitated to China and at
-last to Mongolia, wandering alone in search of plants and minerals,
-and it was to him that Baraka showed the ruby mine. He got back to
-civilisation with his treasure and took it to Petersburg unmolested.
-
-There he found George earning a poor living in an obscure position in
-the public service, his conduct in the army having been condoned or
-overlooked. John, who was the incarnation of selfishness, would do
-nothing for him. George, exasperated by him, and half starved,
-murdered him in such a way that he was supposed to have died by an
-accident, took possession of his hoard of unsold rubies, and wrote to
-his twin brother to come and share the fortune John had left them.
-
-George and Boris had been in constant correspondence, and had even
-helped each other with money from time to time. Some weeks elapsed
-after Boris's return to St. Petersburg before his death, and during
-that time, he told George, who knew London well and had moreover
-helped him in his attempt to get a divorce, a vast number of details
-about his married life and his wife's behaviour, her character and
-tastes. Then Boris was killed in the street, and George left the
-country and changed his name, with the vague idea that his own was not
-a very creditable one and that if he kept it he might be troubled by
-his brother Boris's numerous creditors. He began life over again as
-Kralinsky.
-
-He had not entertained the least intention of passing himself for
-Boris and claiming Lady Maud as his wife, till he met her, and her
-beauty made him lose his head completely when he saw that she took him
-for her husband. He would have been found out inevitably sooner or
-later, but Van Torp's vigorous action shortened Lady Maud's torments.
-
-George was tried, and Russian justice awoke, possibly under pressure
-from England. The family history of the Levens was exhumed and
-dissected before the courts. The creditors of Boris Leven appeared in
-legions and claimed that in proper course he should have inherited the
-rubies from his murdered brother, who would then have been able to pay
-his debts. The court thought so too, and ordered the confiscated
-treasure to be sold.
-
-But since it had been Boris's, the law was obliged to declare that the
-residue of the money, after paying the debts, was the property of
-Countess Leven, Boris's widow.
-
-Lady Maud thus found herself in possession of a considerable fortune,
-for she accepted the inheritance when she was assured that it would go
-to the Russian Crown if she refused it. But there was a fall in the
-price of rubies, and the Russian government at once sent an expensive
-expedition to find the mine, an attempt which altogether failed,
-because Ivan Leven had never told any one where it was, nor anything
-about it, and the court only knew from certain jewellers who had dealt
-both with Kralinsky and Baraka, that it was 'somewhere in Central
-Asia,' which is an insufficient direction, even for a ruby mine.
-
-The wealth Lady Maud thus commands enables her to carry much further
-than formerly the peculiar form of charity which she believes to be
-her own invention, if it may be properly called charity at all, and
-which consists in making it worth while and agreeable to certain
-unfortunate people to live decent lives in quiet corners without
-starving, instead of calling to them to come out from behind the
-Virtue-Curtain and be reformed in public. It is a very expensive
-charity, however, and very hard to exercise, and will never be
-popular; for the popular charities are those that cost least and are
-no trouble.
-
-Madame Konstantinos Logotheti is learning French and English, on the
-Bosphorus, with her husband, and will make a sensation when he brings
-her to London and Paris. On the day of his marriage, in
-Constantinople, Logotheti received a letter from Lady Maud, telling
-him how sorry she was that she had not believed him, that day on the
-yacht at Scaletta, and saying that she hoped to meet his wife soon. It
-was an honest apology from an honest woman.
-
-He received a letter a few days later from Margaret, and on the same
-day a magnificently printed and recklessly illustrated booklet reached
-him, forwarded from Paris. The letter was from Margaret to tell him
-that she also took back what she had thought about Baraka and hoped to
-see him and her before long. She said she was glad, on the whole, that
-he had acted like a lunatic, because it was likely that they would
-both be happier. She herself, she said, was going to be married to Mr.
-Van Torp, at St. George's, Hanover Square, before sailing for New
-York, where she was going to sing at the Opera after Christmas. If he
-should be in town then, she hoped he would come, and bring his wife.
-
-The booklet was an announcement, interleaved with fine etchings, to
-the effect that 'The Madame da Cordova and Rufus Van Torp Company'
-would open their new Opera House in Fifth Avenue less than two years
-hence, with a grand Wagner Festival, to last two months, and to
-include the performance of _Parsifal_ with entirely new scenery, and
-the greatest living artistes, whose names were given. There was a plan
-of the house at the end of the booklet for the benefit of those who
-wished to make arrangements for being at the festival, and such
-persons were admonished that they must apply early if they expected to
-get seats.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Mr. Van Torp had told the Diva that he would like her to choose a
-wedding present which she really wanted, adding that he had a few
-little things for her already. He produced some of them, but some were
-on paper. Among the latter was a house in New York, overlooking the
-Park and copied exactly from her own in London, the English architect
-having been sent to New York himself to build it. Two small items were
-two luxurious private cars of entirely different patterns, one for
-America and one for Europe, which she was always to use when she
-travelled, professionally or otherwise. He said he did not give her
-the _Lancashire Lass_ because 'it wasn't quite new'--having been about
-ten months in the water--but he had his own reasons, one of which was
-that the yacht represented a sentiment to him, and was what he would
-have called a 'souvenir.' But if she could think of anything else she
-fancied, 'now was the time.'
-
-She said that there was only one thing she should really like, but
-that she could not have it, because it was not in the market. He asked
-what it was, and it turned out to be the ruby which Logotheti had
-given her, and had taken to Pinney's to be cut, and which had been the
-cause of so many unexpected events, including her marriage. Logotheti
-had it in his possession, she supposed, but he had shown good taste in
-not trying to press it on her as a wedding present, for she could not
-have accepted it. Nevertheless, she wanted it very much, more as a
-remembrance than for its beauty.
-
-Mr. Van Torp said he 'thought he could fix that,' and he did. He went
-directly to Mr. Pinney and asked what had become of the stone. Mr.
-Pinney answered that it was now cut, and was in his safe, for sale.
-The good man had felt that it would not be tactful to offer it to Mr.
-Van Torp. Logotheti, who was a fine gentleman in his way, had ordered
-it to be sold, when a good opportunity offered, and directed that the
-money should be given to the poor Greeks in London, under the
-supervision of Lady Maud Leven, the Turkish Ambassador, and the Greek
-Minister, as a committee. Mr. Pinney, after consultation with the best
-experts, valued it at fourteen thousand pounds sterling. Mr. Van Torp
-wrote a cheque for the money, put the stone into an inner pocket, and
-took it to the Diva.
-
-'Well,' he said, smiling, 'here's your ruby, anyway. Anything else
-to-day?'
-
-Margaret looked at him wonderingly, and then opened the small morocco
-case.
-
-'Oh--oh--oh!' she cried, in rising intimations of delight. 'I never
-saw anything so beautiful in my life! It's ever so much more glorious
-than when I last saw it!'
-
-'It's been cut since then,' observed Mr. Van Torp.
-
-'It ought to have a name of its own! I'm sure it's more beautiful than
-many of the named crown jewels!' She felt half hypnotised as she gazed
-into the glorious depths of the great stone. 'Thank you,' she cried,
-'thank you so very much. I'm gladder to have it than all the other
-things.'
-
-And thereupon she threw her magnificent arms round Rufus Van Torp's
-solid neck, and kissed his cool flat cheek several times; and it
-seemed quite natural to her to do so; and she wished to forget how she
-had once kissed one other man, who had kissed her.
-
-'It wants a name, doesn't it?' assented Mr. Van Torp.
-
-'Yes. You must find one for it.'
-
-'Well,' he said, 'after what's happened, I suppose we'd better call it
-"The Diva's Ruby."'
-
-
-
-
-MR. CRAWFORD'S LATEST NOVELS
-
-_Each, cloth, 12mo, $1.50_
-
-
-=The Primadonna=
-
-     "Mr. Crawford is a born story-teller. His imagination and
-     inventiveness show as fresh and unwearied in his latest book
-     as they did in 'Mr. Isaacs.'"--_Evening Telegraph_,
-     Philadelphia.
-
-
-=Fair Margaret= A Portrait.
-
-     "An exhilarating romance, ... alluring in its naturalness
-     and grace."--_Boston Herald._
-
-
-=Arethusa=
-
-     Dr. Frederick Taber Cooper, in _The Bookman_, says of Mr.
-     Crawford: "In theory Mr. Crawford is a romanticist; in
-     practice he is in turn realist, psychologue, mystic,
-     whatever for the moment suits his needs or appeals to his
-     instinct of born story-teller." He calls him, in fact, as
-     others have done, "the prince of story-tellers."
-
-_By the author of "Saracinesca," etc._
-
-
-
-
-FRANK DANBY'S NEW NOVEL
-
-
-     =The Heart of a Child= _Cloth, $1.50_
-
-     "A book of such strength, such fineness, such sympathetic
-     insight ... stands out conspicuously above the general level
-     of contemporary fiction."--_The Bookman_.
-
-
-
-
-"BARBARA'S" NEW BOOK
-
-
-=The Open Window=
-
-     Tales of the Months told by "Barbara," author of "The Garden
-     of a Commuter's Wife," "People of the Whirlpool," etc.
-
-     _Frontispiece. Cloth, $1.50_
-
-
-
-
-Mr. F. MARION CRAWFORD'S NOVELS
-
-THE SARACINESCA SERIES
-
-_In the binding of the Uniform Edition, each, $1.50_
-
-
-=Saracinesca=
-
-     "The work has two distinct merits, either of which would
-     serve to make it great,--that of telling a perfect story in
-     a perfect way, and of giving a graphic picture of Roman
-     society in the last days of the Pope's temporal power....
-     The story is exquisitely told."--_Boston Traveler_
-
-
-=Sant' Ilario.= A Sequel to "Saracinesca"
-
-     "A singularly powerful and beautiful story.... It fulfils
-     every requirement of artistic fiction. It brings out what is
-     most impressive in human action, without owing any of its
-     effectiveness to sensationalism or artifice. It is natural,
-     fluent in evolution, accordant with experience, graphic in
-     description, penetrating in analysis, and absorbing in
-     interest."--_New York Tribune._
-
-
-=Don Orsino.= A Sequel to "Sant' Ilario"
-
-     "Perhaps the cleverest novel of the year.... There is not a
-     dull paragraph in the book, and the reader may be assured
-     that once begun, the story of _Don Orsino_ will fascinate
-     him until its close."--_The Critic._
-
-
-=Taquisara=
-
-     "To Mr. Crawford's Roman novels belongs the supreme quality
-     of uniting subtly drawn characters to a plot of uncommon
-     interest."--_Chicago Tribune._
-
-
-=Corleone=
-
-     "Mr. Crawford is the novelist born ... a natural
-     story-teller, with wit, imagination, and insight added to a
-     varied and profound knowledge of social life."--_The
-     Inter-Ocean_, Chicago.
-
-
-=Casa Braccio.= _In two volumes, $2.00_. Illustrated by A. Castaigne.
-
-     Like _Taquisara_ and _Corleone_, it is closely related in
-     plot to the fortunes of the Saracinesca family.
-
-     "Mr. Crawford's books have life, pathos, and insight; he
-     tells a dramatic story with many exquisite touches."--_New
-     York Sun._
-
-
-
-
-Mr. WINSTON CHURCHILL'S NOVELS
-
-_Each, cloth, gilt tops and titles, $1.50_
-
-
-=Mr. Crewe's Career=      Illustrated
-
-     "Another chapter in his broad, epical delineation of the
-     American spirit.... It is an honest and fair story.... It is
-     very interesting; and the heroine is a type of woman as
-     fresh, original, and captivating as any that has appeared in
-     American novels for a long time past."--_The Outlook_, New
-     York.
-
-     "Shows Mr. Churchill at his best. The flavor of his humor is
-     of that stimulating kind which asserts itself just the
-     moment, as it were, after it has passed the palate.... As
-     for Victoria, she has that quality of vivid freshness,
-     tenderness, and independence which makes so many modern
-     American heroines delightful."--_The Times_, London.
-
-
-=The Celebrity=      An Episode
-
-     "No such piece of inimitable comedy in a literary way has
-     appeared for years.... It is the purest, keenest
-     fun."--_Chicago Inter-Ocean._
-
-
-=Richard Carvel=      Illustrated
-
-     "... In breadth of canvas, massing of dramatic effect, depth
-     of feeling, and rare wholesomeness of spirit, it has seldom,
-     if ever, been surpassed by an American romance."--_Chicago
-     Tribune._
-
-
-=The Crossing=      Illustrated
-
-     "'The Crossing' is a thoroughly interesting book, packed
-     with exciting adventure and sentimental incident, yet
-     faithful to historical fact both in detail and in
-     spirit."--_The Dial._
-
-
-=The Crisis=      Illustrated
-
-     "It is a charming love story, and never loses its
-     interest.... The intense political bitterness, the intense
-     patriotism of both parties, are shown
-     understandingly."--_Evening Telegraph_, Philadelphia.
-
-
-=Coniston=      Illustrated
-
-     "'Coniston' has a lighter, gayer spirit and a deeper,
-     tenderer touch than Mr. Churchill has ever achieved
-     before.... It is one of the truest and finest transcripts of
-     modern American life thus far achieved in our
-     fiction."--_Chicago Record-Herald._
-
-
-
-
-Mr. ROBERT HERRICK'S NOVELS
-
-_Cloth, extra, gilt tops, each, $1.50_
-
-
-=The Gospel of Freedom=
-
-     "A novel that may truly be called the greatest study of
-     social life, in a broad and very much up-to-date sense, that
-     has ever been contributed to American fiction."--_Chicago
-     Inter-Ocean._
-
-
-=The Web of Life=
-
-     "It is strong in that it faithfully depicts many phases of
-     American life, and uses them to strengthen a web of fiction,
-     which is most artistically wrought out."--_Buffalo Express._
-
-
-=The Real World=
-
-     "The title of the book has a subtle intention. It indicates,
-     and is true to the verities in doing so, the strange
-     dreamlike quality of life to the man who has not yet fought
-     his own battles, or come into conscious possession of his
-     will--only such battles bite into the
-     consciousness."--_Chicago Tribune._
-
-
-=The Common Lot=
-
-     "It grips the reader tremendously.... It is the drama of a
-     human soul the reader watches ... the finest study of human
-     motive that has appeared for many a day."--_The World
-     To-day._
-
-
-=The Memoirs of an American Citizen.= Illustrated with about fifty
-drawings by F. B. Masters.
-
-     "Mr. Herrick's book is a book among many, and he comes
-     nearer to reflecting a certain kind of recognizable,
-     contemporaneous American spirit than anybody has yet
-     done."--_New York Times._
-
-     "Intensely absorbing as a story, it is also a crisp,
-     vigorous document of startling significance. More than any
-     other writer to-day he is giving us _the_ American
-     novel."--_New York Globe._
-
-
-=Together=
-
-     "Journeys end in lovers meeting," says the old saw; so all
-     novels used to end--in marriage. Yet Mr. Herrick's
-     interesting new novel only begins there; the best brief
-     description of it is, indeed,--a novel about married people
-     for all who are married.
-
-
-
-
-Mr. F. MARION CRAWFORD'S NOVELS
-
-     Mr. Crawford has no equal as a writer of brilliant
-     cosmopolitan fiction, in which the characters really belong
-     to the chosen scene and the story interest is strong. His
-     novels possess atmosphere in a high degree.
-
-
-Mr. Isaacs
-
-     (India)
-
-     Its scenes are laid in Simla, chiefly. This is the work
-     which first placed its author among the most brilliant
-     novelists of his day.
-
-
-Greifenstein
-
-     (The Black Forest)
-
-     "... Another notable contribution to the literature of the
-     day. It possesses originality in its conception and is a
-     work of unusual ability. Its interest is sustained to the
-     close, and it is an advance even on the previous work of
-     this talented author. Like all Mr. Crawford's work, this
-     novel is crisp, clear, and vigorous, and will be read with a
-     great deal of interest."--_New York Evening Telegram._
-
-
-Zoroaster
-
-     (Persia)
-
-     "It is a drama in the force of its situations and in the
-     poetry and dignity of its language; but its men and women
-     are not men and women of a play. By the naturalness of their
-     conversation and behavior they seem to live and lay hold of
-     our human sympathy more than the same characters on a stage
-     could possibly do."--_The New York Times._
-
-
-The Witch of Prague
-
-     (Bohemia)
-
-_"A fantastic tale," illustrated by W. J. Hennessy._
-
-     "The artistic skill with which this extraordinary story is
-     constructed and carried out is admirable and delightful....
-     Mr. Crawford has scored a decided triumph, for the interest
-     of the tale is sustained throughout.... A very remarkable,
-     powerful, and interesting story."--_New York Tribune._
-
-
-Paul Patoff
-
-     (Constantinople)
-
-     "Mr. Crawford has a marked talent for assimilating local
-     color, not to make mention of a broader historical sense.
-     Even though he may adopt, as it is the romancer's right to
-     do, the extreme romantic view of history, it is always a
-     living and moving picture that he evolves for us, varied and
-     stirring."--_New York Evening Post._
-
-
-Marietta
-
-     (Venice)
-
-     "No living writer can surpass Mr. Crawford in the
-     construction of a complicated plot and the skilful
-     unravelling of the tangled skein."--_Chicago Record-Herald._
-
-     "He has gone back to the field of his earlier triumphs, and
-     has, perhaps, scored the greatest triumph of them
-     all."--_New York Herald._
-
-
-
-
-Mr. F. MARION CRAWFORD'S NOVELS
-
-NOVELS OF ROMAN SOCIAL LIFE
-
-_In decorated cloth covers, each, $1.50_
-
-
-=A Roman Singer=
-
-     "One of the earliest and best works of this famous
-     novelist.... None but a genuine artist could have made so
-     true a picture of human life, crossed by human passions and
-     interwoven with human weakness. It is a perfect specimen of
-     literary art."--_The Newark Advertiser._
-
-
-=Marzio's Crucifix=
-
-     "We have repeatedly had occasion to say that Mr. Crawford
-     possesses in an extraordinary degree the art of constructing
-     a story. It is as if it could not have been written
-     otherwise, so naturally does the story unfold itself, and so
-     logical and consistent is the sequence of incident after
-     incident. As a story, _Marzio's Crucifix_ is perfectly
-     constructed."--_New York Commercial Advertiser._
-
-
-=Heart of Rome.= A Tale of the Lost Water
-
-     "Mr. Crawford has written a story of absorbing interest, a
-     story with a genuine thrill in it; he has drawn his
-     characters with a sure and brilliant touch, and he has said
-     many things surpassingly well."--_New York Times Saturday
-     Review._
-
-
-=Cecilia.= A Story of Modern Rome
-
-     "That F. Marion Crawford is a master of mystery needs no new
-     telling.... His latest novel, _Cecilia_, is as weird as
-     anything he has done since the memorable _Mr. Isaacs_.... A
-     strong, interesting, dramatic story, with the picturesque
-     Roman setting beautifully handled as only a master's touch
-     could do it."--_Philadelphia Evening Telegraph._
-
-
-=Whosoever Shall Offend=
-
-     "It is a story sustained from beginning to end by an ever
-     increasing dramatic quality."--_New York Evening Post._
-
-
-=Pietro Ghisleri=
-
-     "The imaginative richness, the marvellous ingenuity of plot,
-     the power and subtlety of the portrayal of character, the
-     charm of the romantic environment,--the entire atmosphere,
-     indeed,--rank this novel at once among the great
-     creations."--_The Boston Budget._
-
-
-=To Leeward=
-
-     "The four characters with whose fortunes this novel deals
-     are, perhaps, the most brilliantly executed portraits in the
-     whole of Mr. Crawford's long picture gallery, while for
-     subtle insight into the springs of human passion and for
-     swift dramatic action none of the novels surpasses this
-     one."--_The News and Courier._
-
-
-=A Lady of Rome=
-
-
-
-
-Mr. F. MARION CRAWFORD'S NOVELS
-
-WITH SCENES LAID IN ENGLAND AND AMERICA
-
-_In the binding of the Uniform Edition_
-
-
-=A Tale of a Lonely Parish=
-
-     "It is a pleasure to have anything so perfect of its kind as
-     this brief and vivid story.... It is doubly a success, being
-     full of human sympathy, as well as thoroughly artistic in
-     its nice balancing of the unusual with the commonplace, the
-     clever juxtaposition of innocence and guilt, comedy and
-     tragedy, simplicity and intrigue."--_Critic._
-
-
-=Dr. Claudius.= A True Story
-
-     The scene changes from Heidelberg to New York, and much of
-     the story develops during the ocean voyage.
-
-     "There is a satisfying quality in Mr. Crawford's strong,
-     vital, forceful stories."--_Boston Herald._
-
-
-=An American Politician.= The scenes are laid in Boston
-
-     "It need scarcely be said that the story is skilfully and
-     picturesquely written, portraying sharply individual
-     characters in well-defined surroundings."--_New York
-     Commercial Advertiser._
-
-
-=The Three Fates=
-
-     "Mr. Crawford has manifestly brought his best qualities as a
-     student of human nature and his finest resources as a master
-     of an original and picturesque style to bear upon this
-     story. Taken for all in all, it is one of the most pleasing
-     of all his productions in fiction, and it affords a view of
-     certain phases of American, or perhaps we should say of New
-     York, life that have not hitherto been treated with anything
-     like the same adequacy and felicity."--_Boston Beacon._
-
-
-=Marion Darche=
-
-     "Full enough of incident to have furnished material for
-     three or four stories.... A most interesting and engrossing
-     book. Every page unfolds new possibilities, and the
-     incidents multiply rapidly."--_Detroit Free Press._
-
-     "We are disposed to rank _Marion Darche_ as the best of Mr.
-     Crawford's American stories."--_The Literary World._
-
-
-=Katharine Lauderdale=
-
-
-=The Ralstons.= A Sequel to "Katharine Lauderdale"
-
-     "Mr. Crawford at his best is a great novelist, and in
-     _Katharine Lauderdale_ we have him at his best."--_Boston
-     Daily Advertiser._
-
-     "A most admirable novel, excellent in style, flashing with
-     humor, and full of the ripest and wisest reflections upon
-     men and women."--_The Westminster Gazette._
-
-     "It is the first time, we think, in American fiction that
-     any such breadth of view has shown itself in the study of
-     our social framework."--_Life._
-
-
-     THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
-     PUBLISHERS, 64-66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK
-
-
-
-
-
-End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Diva's Ruby, by F. Marion Crawford
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