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diff --git a/old/64128-0.txt b/old/64128-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index bec3be9..0000000 --- a/old/64128-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3668 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook, Her Serene Highness, by David Graham Phillips - - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - - -Title: Her Serene Highness - A Novel - - -Author: David Graham Phillips - - - -Release Date: December 25, 2020 [eBook #64128] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HER SERENE HIGHNESS*** - - -E-text prepared by D A Alexander, David E. Brown, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images -generously made available by Internet Archive (https://archive.org) - - - -Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this - file which includes the original illustration. - See 64128-h.htm or 64128-h.zip: - (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/64128/64128-h/64128-h.htm) - or - (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/64128/64128-h.zip) - - - Images of the original pages are available through - Internet Archive. See - https://archive.org/details/herserenehighnes00philrich - - -Transcriber’s note: - - Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_. - - - - - -[Illustration: _HER SERENE HIGHNESS_] - - -HER SERENE HIGHNESS - - -[Illustration] - - -A Novel - -by - -DAVID GRAHAM PHILLIPS - - -[Illustration] - - - - - - -New York and London -Harper & Brothers Publishers -1902 - -Copyright, 1902, by Harper & Brothers. - -All rights reserved. - -Published May, 1902. - - - - -Contents - - - CHAP. PAGE - - I. THE GRAND DUKE’S SPANIARD 1 - - II. AN AMERICAN INVADES 25 - - III. A SKIRMISH 45 - - IV. TWO IN THE TREES 58 - - V. A PRINCE IN A PASSION 80 - - VI. HER SERENE HIGHNESS SURRENDERS 108 - - VII. THE GRAND DUKE GIVES BATTLE 126 - - VIII. THE AMERICAN IS REINFORCED 134 - - IX. THE CROWN PRINCE IS DECORATED 145 - - X. THE GRAND DUKE PREPARES TO CELEBRATE 159 - - XI. AN OVERWHELMING DEFEAT 171 - - XII. THE SPANIARD IS CAPTURED 193 - - - - -Her Serene Highness - - - - -Her Serene Highness - - - - -I - -The Grand Duke’s Spaniard - - -On the top floor of Grafton’s house, in Michigan Avenue, there was a -room filled with what he called “the sins of the fathers”--the bad -pictures and statuary come down from two generations of more or less -misdirected enthusiasm for art. In old age his father had begun this -collection; forty years of dogged pursuit of good taste taught him -much. Grafton completed it as soon as he came into possession. - -In him a Grafton at last combined right instinct and right judgment. -Although he was not yet thirty, every picture dealer of note in America -and Europe knew him, and he knew not only them but also a multitude of -small dealers with whom he carefully kept himself unknown. He was no -mere picture buyer. The pretentious plutocrats of that class excited in -him contempt--and resentment. How often had one of them destroyed, with -a coarse fling of a moneybag, his subtle plans to capture a remarkable -old picture at a small price. For he was a true collector--he knew -pictures, he knew where they were to be found, he knew how to lie in -wait patiently, how to search secretly. And no small part of his pride -in his acquisitions came from what they represented as exhibits of his -skill as a collector. - -A few months before his father died they were in New York and went -together to see the collection of that famous plutocratic wholesale -picture buyer, Henry Acton. - -“Do you see the young Spaniard over there?” said the father, pointing -to one of the best-placed pictures in the room. - -The son looked at it and was at once struck by the boldness, the -imagination with which it was painted. “Acton has it credited to -Velasquez,” he said. “It does look something like Velasquez, but it -isn’t, I’m certain.” - -“That picture was one of my costly mistakes,” continued the elder -Grafton. “I bought it as a Velasquez. I was completely taken in--paid -eleven thousand dollars for it in Paris about twenty-five years ago. -But I soon found out what I’d done. How the critics did laugh at me! -When the noise quieted down I sold it. It was shipped back to Paris and -they palmed it off on Acton.” - -Just then Acton joined them. “We were talking of your Velasquez there,” -said the elder Grafton. - -Acton grew red--the mention of that picture always put him angrily on -the defensive. “Yes; it _is_ a Velasquez. These ignorant critics say -it isn’t, but I know a Velasquez when I see one. And I know Velasquez -painted that face, or it wasn’t painted. It’ll hang there as a -Velasquez while I live, and when I die it’ll hang in the Metropolitan -Museum as a Velasquez. If they try to catalogue it any other way they -lose my whole collection.” - -While Acton was talking the younger Grafton was absorbed in the -picture. The longer he looked the more he admired. He cared for -pictures as well as for names, and he saw that this portrait was from -a master-hand--the unknown painter had expressed through the features -of that one face the whole of the Spaniard in the Middle Ages. He felt -it was a reflection upon the name of Grafton that such a work of genius -had been cast out obviously because a Grafton could appreciate only -names. He said nothing to his father, but then and there made up his -mind that he would have that picture back. - -Apparently there was no hope. But he was not discouraged; patience and -tenacity were the main factors in his temperament. - -While he was sick with typhoid fever at a New York hotel Acton got into -financial difficulties and was forced to “realize” on all his personal -property. His pictures were hurriedly sent to the auctioneer. Grafton, -a few days past the crisis in his illness, heard the news at nine -o’clock in the evening of the third and last day of the sale. He leaped -from bed and ordered the nurse to help him dress. He brushed aside -protests and pleadings and warnings. They went together to Mendelssohn -Hall. Grafton made the driver gallop the horses. He rushed in; his -Spaniard was on the easel. - -“How much is bid?” he called out. - -Everybody looked round, and the auctioneer replied, “It’s just been -sold.” - -There was a laugh, Grafton looked so wild and strange. Leaning on the -arm of the nurse he went to the settlement desk. “To whom was that -picture sold?” he said to the clerk. - -“On a cable from Paris, Mr. Grafton,” interrupted one of the members of -the auction firm. “We’ve had a standing order from Candace Brothers for -five years to let them know if the picture came or was likely to come -into the market. And they’ve cabled every six months to remind us. When -Mr. Acton decided to sell, we sent word. They ordered us to buy, with -fifteen thousand dollars as the limit.” - -Grafton was furious; he would gladly have paid twenty. “And what did it -go for?” he asked. - -“Seventeen hundred,” replied the dealer. “Everybody was suspicious of -it. We would have got it for five hundred, if it hadn’t been for an -artist; he bid it up to his limit.” - -“I must sit,” said Grafton to his nurse. “This is too much--too much.” - -He was little the worse for his imprudence, and was able to sail on -the steamer that carried the picture. He beat it to Paris, and went at -once to Candace Brothers, strolling in as if he had no purpose beyond -killing time by looking about. He slowly led the conversation round to -a point where Louis Candace, to whom he was talking, would naturally -begin to think of the Acton sale. - -“We’re getting in several pictures from New York,” said Candace--“from -the Acton sale.” - -“I was ill while it was on,” said Grafton, carelessly. “What did you -take?” - -“A Rousseau, a Corot, a Wyant, and a--Velasquez.” He hesitated before -speaking the last name, and looked confused as Grafton slightly -elevated his eyebrows. “Of course,” he hurried on, “we strongly suspect -the Velasquez; in fact, we know it’s not genuine. But we’re delighted -to get it.” - -“I don’t understand,” said Grafton. “I know you too well to suspect -that it will be sold as a Velasquez.” - -“But certainly not. Even if we did that sort of thing, we couldn’t -deceive any of your rich countrymen or any of the English with it. The -story is too well known. No; we bought it for His Royal Highness the -Grand Duke of Zweitenbourg. It is--or he thinks it is--a portrait of -one of his Spanish ancestors. His agent tells me that it is the only -known work of a remarkable young Spaniard who was soon afterwards -killed at the siege of Barcelona, early in the eighteenth century. They -are not even sure of his name. The Grand Duke was most anxious to get -it. For years we have been sending him semiannual bulletins on Monsieur -Acton’s health and financial condition.” - -Grafton’s heart sank. Here was a true collector--a past-master of the -art. “If I hadn’t been a mere novice,” thought Grafton, “I, too, would -have had bulletins on Acton, and a standing order. As it is, my trouble -has only begun,” for, being himself a true collector, with all the -fatalism of the collector’s temperament, he was not despairing, was -only the more resolute in face of these new difficulties. - -“His Royal Highness,” continued Candace, “wants the picture because it -fills one of the gaps in his gallery of ancestral portraits.” Under -skilful questioning, Candace yielded the further information that the -keeper of the Grand Duke’s privy purse, Baron Zeppstein, would arrive -the following Thursday personally to escort the picture to Zweitenbourg. - -It reached Paris on Tuesday, and Grafton took Jack Campbell, whom he -found at the Ritz, round to Candace’s on Wednesday morning. Campbell, -having been thoroughly coached, made offers for several pictures, all -too low, then pretended to fall in love with the Spaniard. He insisted -that it was a Velasquez--Grafton seemed to be disgusted with him, -somewhat ashamed of him. When Candace told him that the picture was -sold, he had them send a telegram to the Grand Duke offering eight -thousand dollars for it. A curt refusal to sell at any price came a -few hours later. - -Campbell and Grafton were there the next morning when Baron Zeppstein -came. As he was voluble, and appreciative of the rare pleasure of an -attentive listener, Grafton rapidly ingratiated himself, and soon had -him flowing on the subject of “my royal master.” - -“His Royal Highness has two passions,” said the Baron, “Americans -and his pictures. You Americans are making astonishing--I may say -appalling--inroads in Germany; your ideas are getting even into the -heads of our women, our girls. I don’t like it; I don’t like it. It’s -breeding a race of thinking women. I can’t endure a thinking woman. -You can’t imagine what I’m suffering just now through Her Serene -Highness; but no matter. Your terrible democratic ideas of disrespect -for tradition, for institutions, for restraints, are slipping about -even in the palaces of our kings. His Royal Highness--the story -goes that he was in love with one of your beautiful countrywomen -and that she refused to marry him; she did marry his brother, Duke -Wolfgang--morganatically, of course. It would be impossible for one of -the house of Traubenheim to marry a commoner in the regular way. Your -American invasion hasn’t extended that far--” - -“And the pictures?” interrupted Grafton, impatient of the digression. - -“Ah--yes--_there_ His Royal Highness has a high enthusiasm, a noble -passion. He is positively mad about Rembrandts. He has a notable -collection of them, and is always trying to add to it.” - -Grafton’s eyes dropped; he feared that this simple old Zweitenbourgian -might read his thoughts. “Rembrandts?” he said. “That interests me. -I have the same craze in a small way.” And he drew the Baron on. He -learned that a Rembrandt filled the Grand Duke with the same burning -longing for possession with which his craze, the spurious Velasquez, -was now filling him. He began to see victory. He cabled his Chicago -agent to send him forthwith, in care of Candace Brothers, his two -examples of Rembrandt’s early work. When he was a boy, travelling about -with his father, he had found them in an obscure shop in Leyden. They -now interested him little except as reminders of an early triumph. But -to a collector of Rembrandts they would be treasures. - -A few days after sending the cable he went in the morning with Mrs. -Campbell to Paquin’s--Mrs. Campbell was at Paris for her annual -shopping. She was to be fitted for six dresses, she explained, and that -meant an hour--perhaps two or three hours. But Grafton was so attracted -by the scene that he said he would wait, at least until he was tired. -He seated himself on the sofa against the wall, near the door. It was -in line with the passage-way into which the fitting-salons open. - -The general room was crowded with women--women in the fashions of -the day preparing for the fashions of the morrow; girls--the pretty, -graceful, polite dressmakers’ assistants famed in Parisian song and -story--persuading, soothing, cajoling, flattering. There were a few -men, all of them fitters except two. The exceptions were Grafton, -trying to efface himself, and Paquin, trying to escape. He had come -forth at the request of a customer important enough to be worthy of -personal attention, but not important enough to be admitted to the -honor of his private consultation-room. The women had seized him and, -regardless of his bored and absent expression and speech, were swarming -about him, impeding his retreat. - -Grafton soon forgot himself, so interested was he in his -surroundings--the clamor in French, German, English, American, Italian, -Spanish; the exhibits of manners grand and manners sordid; the play -of feminine emotions--the passion for dress, the thoughtful pauses -before plunging into tempting extravagances, the reckless yieldings to -temptation, the woe-begone putting aside of temptation; the mingling -of women of all degrees, from royalty and American to actress and -demi-mondaine. And they so far ignored the male intruder that they -were presently tossing aside dresses into his lap or spreading them -against his knees for better display. He retreated along the sofa -before up-piling silks and satins and laces and linens. At last he -had to choose between being submerged and abandoning the sofa. He -still lingered, meekly standing, his hat and stick buried. As he was -examining an evening dress that pleased him mightily--a new kind of -silk in new shades, a cream white over which a haze of the palest -blue-green seemed to be drifting--he chanced to glance along the -passage-way. - -One of the fitting-salons was open, and half in the doorway, half -in the hall, stood a young woman. Her waist was off; her handsome -shoulders and arms were bare, yet no more than if she had been in -evening dress. She had fine brown hair with much red in it. Her -features were strong and rather haughty, but delicate and pleasing. Her -skin was dead-white, colorless even on her cheeks. She was frowning and -biting her lip and tapping her foot on the floor. As he glanced she -caught his eye. She beckoned imperiously. - -He put down the dress and went slowly towards her. - -“Quick,” she said, in French. “My patience is exhausted. I’ve been -waiting half an hour and no fitter has come. Are you a fitter?” - -“No,” he replied, also in French. “I’m not exactly a fitter; I’m a--an -American. But I’ll get you one.” - -“Heavens!” exclaimed the young woman, in English, and she darted into -her salon and slammed the door. - -Two attendants--a man and a woman--came at him from opposite -directions. “But, monsieur! But, monsieur! What does monsieur do here? -It is forbidden!” Their politeness was thin, indeed, over their alarm -and indignation. - -“The lady called me,” explained Grafton, calmly. “It was impossible for -me to disobey her. She thought I was a fitter.” - -As he spoke she opened her door and showed her head. The attendants, -with serious faces, began to pour out apologies. “Pardon, Your Serene -Highness! We hope that your--” - -“It was my fault,” she interrupted, in French, and he noted that she -had a German accent. Her look of condescending good-nature was not -flattering to him. It said that in the mind of Her Serene Highness he -and the two attendants formed a trio of inferior persons before whom -she could conduct herself with almost as much freedom as before so many -blocks of wood. - -“No apology is necessary,” he said, with abrupt courtesy. “You wish a -fitter. I’ll see that you get one at once.” - -Her Serene Highness flushed and withdrew her head. “Take him away,” she -called through the door, in a haughty tone, “and send a fitter.” - -Grafton faced the attendants. He drew from his pocket two ten-franc -pieces and gave one to each. “Have the goodness to get mademoiselle her -fitter instantly,” he said. - -They bowed and thanked him and he slowly returned to his sofa. Half -an hour and she issued from her salon in street costume. Close behind -her came an old-maidish German woman. As they reached the door, Grafton -held it open. Her Serene Highness drew herself up coldly. He bowed with -politeness and without impertinence, and closed the door behind them. - -“Who was that lady?” he said to her fitter, hurrying past with her -dresses on his arm. - -“Her Serene Highness the Duchess Erica of Zweitenbourg, monsieur. She -is the niece of His Royal Highness the Grand Duke Casimir.” - -Grafton met her twice the next day. In the morning he was at the tomb -of Napoleon. A woman--one of two walking together a short distance in -front of him--dropped her handkerchief. He picked it up and overtook -her. - -“Pardon, mademoiselle,” he said. “Your handkerchief.” She paused. He -saw that it was Her Serene Highness. At the same time she recognized -him and the smile she had begun died away. She took the handkerchief -with an icy “Thanks.” He dropped back, but their way happened to be -his. Her companion glanced round presently; he was near enough to hear -her say, “The person is following Your Serene Highness.” He came on, -passed them as if unconscious of their existence, and they changed -their route. - -In the afternoon he was at the Louvre. He saw two women coming towards -him--Her Serene Highness and her companion. As they saw him they turned -abruptly into a side corridor. He came to where they had turned; there -lay a handkerchief. He picked it up and noted that it was a fine one, -deeply bordered with real lace. In the corner, under a ducal crown, was -the initial “E.” He walked rapidly after the two women and, although -they quickened their pace, he was soon beside them. - -“Pardon, mademoiselle,” he began. - -Her Serene Highness flushed with anger and her gray eyes blazed. “This -is insufferable!” she exclaimed. “If you do not leave--” - -“Your handkerchief,” he said, extending it, his eyes smiling but his -face grave. - -She looked at it in horror. “Monsieur is mistaken,” she said, fighting -against embarrassment and a feeling that she had made herself -ridiculous. - -“Mademoiselle is mistaken--doubly mistaken,” he replied, tranquilly. -“The handkerchief bears her monogram, and”--here he smiled -satirically--“if mademoiselle is vain enough to mistake common courtesy -for impudence, I am not vain enough to mistake accident--even _twice -repeated_ accident--for design.” - -She looked at him with generous, impulsive repentance and took the -handkerchief from his outstretched hand. “It is mine,” she said, in -English, “and I regret my foolish mistake.” Her tone had no suggestion -of condescension. It was the tone of the universal woman in presence of -the universal man. - -He bowed his appreciation without speaking and went rapidly away. - - - - -II - -An American Invades - - -When his Rembrandts came, Grafton took the package to his hotel, opened -it, assured himself that they were in good condition, sealed it, and -left it with Candace Brothers. “I may telegraph you to forward it,” he -said. But he did not tell them what was in it nor where he was going; -they might betray him or forestall him, and so deprive him of the -pleasure of a successful campaign in person and unaided. - -He reached the town of Zweitenbourg at noon on a Monday, five days -after his Spaniard. At half-past two he was in a walking suit and on -his way to the Grand Ducal Palace, “The Castle,” to reconnoitre. It was -July, and the air of that elevated valley was both warm and bracing. -From the beautiful road hills and mountains could be seen on every -side--the frontiers of the Grand Duchy. - -It had once been almost a kingdom. It was now shrunk, through the bad -political and matrimonial management of the reigning house, to less -than two hundred and fifty square miles. But the Zweitenbourgians -were proudly patriotic--they disdained mere size; they were all for -quality, not quantity. Besides, they were as vague in general geography -as the average human being; they thoroughly knew only the internal -geography of Zweitenbourg. In their text-books the Grand Duchy posed -as the central state of civilization. In their school histories its -grand dukes cut a great figure. For example, it was their Grand Duke -Godfrey who, slightly assisted by a Prussian general, Blücher, won -the battle of Waterloo. Wellington comes in for a mere mention, as a -sort of “among those present”--“a small force of English under a Lord -Wellington,” so runs the account, “was defeated in the first day’s -engagement and almost caused the rout of the Grand Duke Godfrey and his -allies; but on the second day, after the English had been beaten, and -when they were about to run, the Grand Duke and Blücher came up with -the main army and Napoleon was overthrown.” In the Zweitenbourg atlases -the map of each country was printed on a separate plate, and all were -apparently of about the same size. And, finally, all Zweitenbourgians -knew that their men were the bravest and their women the most beautiful -in the world, and that all foreign nations were inhabited by peoples -who were ignorant, foolish, and perfidious. - -After two miles between garden-like farms, Grafton found himself at -the entrance to what seemed a wilderness. There were two huge stone -pillars, each capped with a grand-ducal crown. There were two great -bronze gates with a large C under a crown in the centre of each. The -gates were open, and between the pillars went the military road, clean, -smooth, perfect, to plunge into the wilderness. Beside the entrance was -an ivy-covered lodge, in front of it a soldier in the blue and white -uniform of the Grand Duke’s Household Guards. He was marching up and -down, his rifle at shoulder arms. As Grafton advanced he halted and -shifted his rifle to a challenge. - -“Show your passport,” he commanded, in a queer dialect of German. - -“I have no passport,” replied Grafton. - -The soldier looked at him stupidly. “But every foreigner has a -passport,” he said. - -“I have none.” - -“Ah; very well.” The soldier shrugged his shoulders and resumed his -march. - -Grafton stood where he had halted. “May I go on?” he asked. - -“Yes; why not?” said the soldier. - -“But why did you ask for my passport?” - -“It’s in the rules. Pass on or you may get into trouble. You know -perfectly well that all are admitted to the park at this season.” - -“Then there is a closed season?” - -“I don’t know,” said the soldier, crossly. “I never heard of one. It’s -in the rules to admit every one from April until December. No one comes -the rest of the year. But I don’t suppose he could be shut out if he -did. There’s no rule which says so.” - -“Then why these rules?” - -The soldier gave the profoundly thoughtful frown of those incapable of -thought. “I don’t know,” he said. “Soldiers must have rules. Everything -must be done by rules, so that it will be done just as it used to -be. We’ve had the same rules--oh, hundreds of years. Nothing must be -changed. What’s new is bad, what’s old is good.” - -Grafton trudged on into the wilderness. The road gradually swept into -another road. He saw that it was a circle, a girdle, about a lake -which was perhaps four miles long and two miles wide, blue as the sky -and mirroring it to its smallest flake of snowy cloud. Opposite him, -across the width of the lake, towered and spread The Castle, with -turrets and battlements, a vast, irregular mantle of ivy draping part -of its old gray front. He could see terraces and lawns of brilliant -green, the gaudiness of flower-beds and flowering bushes, red and blue -and purple and yellow. “Where Her Serene Highness lives,” he thought. - -He decided to walk as far as The Castle; next day he would drive and -perhaps pay his respects to Baron Zeppstein. He was impressed by the -loneliness of the park, apparently an untouched wilderness except the -road. The birds were singing. Now and then there would be a crash and -he would see a deer making off, or a whir and a scurrying flapping, and -he would get a glimpse of some wild bird in panic-stricken flight. As -he came nearer to The Castle the signs of habitation were numerous, but -still not a human being. At last he was close to the walls, looking up -at them. - -He could see nothing but the perfect order of the shrubbery to indicate -that any one had been there recently. The huge gates--solid doors -rather than gates--were closed. The sun was shining, the waters of the -lake glistened, the foliage was fresh and vivid, the soft, strong air -blew in a gentle breeze. But there was a profound hush, as if the grim -old fortress-palace, and all within and around it, had long been locked -in a magic sleep. - -A sense of uncanniness was creeping over him in spite of his -incredulous American mind. He was startled by a trumpet blast which -seemed to come from the depth of the woods to the left. Standing in the -middle of the road, he turned. He had just time to jump aside. - -Out of the woods, by a cross-road he had not noted, swept a gorgeous -cavalcade. As he looked he felt more strongly than ever like a -time-wanderer who had been, in a twinkling, borne backward several -centuries. First to pass him at a mad gallop were six soldiers on -tall black chargers. They and their horses were trapped in the blue -and white of the Household Guards. Corselets and plumed helmets and -chains clashed and rattled and flashed as they flew past. A few yards -behind them, at the same furious pace, came a graceful, long-bodied -carriage of strange coloring and design, drawn by eight black horses -with postilions. On a curious foot-board at the back of the carriage -stood two footmen in a mediæval livery. They were hanging on by straps. -Behind the carriage came six more black-horsed cavalrymen of the -Household Guards. - -As Grafton gaped through the dust in the wake of this ancient spectacle -it halted before The Castle’s gates so abruptly that every horse reared -to its haunches. But immediately all was quiet, motionless. One of -the cavalrymen put a trumpet to his lips and sent a blast echoing and -re-echoing like a peal of fairy laughter to and fro over the lake. As -if there were enchantment in that blast, the great weather and battle -scarred doors of The Castle swung noiselessly back. Out came eight men -in mediæval costumes, each bearing a long, slender, brazen trumpet. -Four went to either side of the entrance. They put the trumpets to -their lips and sounded a fanfare. - -Grafton’s expectation was at excitement pitch. What did this gorgeous -revival of mediævalism presage? what dazzling apparition was about to -greet his ravished eyes? - -Now appeared a man in mediæval court costume, resplendent in velvet -and lace and silver braid. He was walking backward, bowing low -at each step, his velvet, beplumed hat in his hand. And then the -central figure--His Royal Highness Casimir of Traubenheim, Grand -Duke of Zweitenbourg, Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, Margrave of -Plaut, Prince of Wiesser, of Dinn, of Feltenheim, Count in Brausch -and in Ranau. He was a sallow, cross-looking little man, with thin -shoulders, legs, and arms, and a great paunch of a stomach, dilated and -sagged from overfeeding. He was dressed in a baggy tweed suit and a -straight-brimmed top-hat. He seated himself in the carriage. - -“What an anticlimax!” thought Grafton. But there was a second and -briefer flourish of the trumpets, and then appeared the Duchess Erica, -in a white cloth dress and a big white hat and carrying a white -parasol. Grafton felt like applauding. “The spectacle is looking -up,” he said. He was near enough to note that her sweet face was -discontented, impatient, almost sad. She seated herself beside the -Grand Duke. The mounted trumpeter blew, the cavalrymen in front wheeled -and struck spurs into their horses, the whole procession was instant -whirling away--it was gone. Grafton glanced at The Castle doors; they -were closed again and the trumpeters and the courtier had disappeared. -The dust settled, the magic sleep descended. - -Grafton might have thought himself the victim of an illusion had he -not seen, far away across the lake, a cloud of dust, and in front of -it the gaudy cavalcade and the grand-ducal carriage, the shine of blue -and silver and polished steel rushing along as if fleeing from a fiend. -And after a few minutes it came towards The Castle again from the other -direction. The horses were dripping, their coats streaked with foam. At -the entrance there were the same startling halt, the same mysterious -opening of doors, the same stage-like assembling of trumpeters, the -same flourishes. The Grand Duke and his niece and the attendants -disappeared, the procession fled into the woods; there was silence and -ancient repose once more. - -Grafton set out on the return walk, trying to force himself to stop -thinking of Her Serene Highness and to resume thinking of her uncle -and his Spaniard. He had not gone far when a court-officer issued from -a by-path. He paused to get a good look at this romantic figure, and -presently recognized beneath the enfoldings of finery his commonplace, -voluble acquaintance of the Paris picture-shop, Baron Zeppstein. - -“Why, how d’ye do, Baron Zeppstein!” he called out. - -The Baron looked at him superciliously, then collapsed into cordiality. -“Meester Grafton!” he exclaimed. “It is a pleasure--a joyful surprise. -I did not know you at first.” - -“Nor I you,” said Grafton. “I seem to be the only modern thing -here--except the old gentleman who took that quiet jog around the lake -a few minutes ago.” - -“His Royal Highness,” corrected the Baron, pompously. “He takes a drive -every afternoon.” - -“A good show,” said Grafton. “But I think I’d tire of it. I’d rather -look at it than be in it. I should say that he earned his salary.” - -The Baron laughed vaguely. “You Americans do not understand our ways,” -he said. “You are so practical--so busy. You have no time for tradition -and beauty and ceremony.” - -“No; we’re a common lot,” said Grafton. “We’d think this sort of thing -was a joke if it happened outside of a circus. But it’s a very serious -business, isn’t it?” His face was grave. - -“It is; it is, indeed,” said Zeppstein, his shallow old face taking -on a look of melancholy importance. “But we must do our public duty; -we must accept the cares of high station. And His Royal Highness--ah, -how he suffers! We others have our relaxations--we get away to our -families. But His Royal Highness--this is his vacation. And, mein Gott, -he yawns and curses all day long. Yes, it is trying to be near the -great of earth, but not so trying as to be great.” - -“He looks ill-tempered,” said Grafton, sympathetically. - -“But think what he suffers. Imagine! Usually he must wear a heavy, -tight uniform and a steel helmet; he says it has given him the -headache almost every day for twenty-seven years. But the dignity of -the nation must be maintained.” - -“Yes, indeed,” said Grafton. “And when is the best time to see him? I’m -going to call on him.” - -Zeppstein looked at the American as if he thought him insane. “But, -my dear sir,” he said, deprecatingly, “you don’t understand. You will -have to wait until His Royal Highness’s vacation is over. Then you -must go to your minister and he will lay your wish before the Grand -Chamberlain. And if possible your name will be placed on the list for -one of the levees--there are five each winter.” - -“Oh, I don’t want to see the Grand Duke in his official capacity; it’s -a little private matter--about a picture.” - -“But the Grand Duke has no other capacity. He is head of the state; he -is the state every hour of every day, except when he’s abroad. Then he -often graciously condescends to be a mere gentleman.” - -“But I can’t wait. You ought to be able to arrange it. You’ve got -influence.” - -“Yes.” Baron Zeppstein was flattered. “But, unfortunately, none is -permitted to speak to His Royal Highness unless he has commanded -it--that is, no one but his son, the Inheriting Grand Duke, and his -niece, the Duchess Erica, and the Grand Chamberlain. And--I am, -just at present, at outs with them. Her Serene Highness is most -intractable--one of the new school of wild young princesses who are -cutting loose from everything in these degenerate days.” - -“She certainly doesn’t look tame.” - -“I had the honor of escorting her to Paris when I went for His Royal -Highness’s picture,” Zeppstein continued. “It was a painful experience. -And instead of sustaining me, His Royal Highness--but it was most -humiliating.” - -“Excellent,” said Grafton. “I can be of service to you. I own a -Rembrandt which I wish to let the Grand Duke have at a bargain. I’m -certain he’ll be most anxious to get it once he hears of it. Now, if -you should be of assistance to him in getting it, he would be grateful, -wouldn’t he?” - -Zeppstein became thoughtful. “Not grateful,” he said. “It isn’t in His -Royal Highness to be grateful. But it might make him think me useful. -What do you propose?” - -“I don’t know; I can’t tell yet. Keep quiet until I’ve looked over the -ground and made my plans.” - -“I am at your service,” said Zeppstein. “You would weep to hear how the -Grand Chamberlain and his faction have humiliated me. They make me the -butt of their jokes at dinner to amuse His Royal Highness. They--” - -“You shall be revenged,” said Grafton, shaking hands with him and -hurrying away. - -From the moment he recognized old Zeppstein until he left him he had -been fighting to restrain himself from leading the talk to Erica. He -now caught himself regretting it. He stopped short. “Ridiculous!” he -exclaimed. “What an idiot I am to let such ideas into my head. It must -be in the air here. I’m getting as romantic as--as--as she looks.” And -he walked on, her face and her voice haunting him. - - - - -III - -A Skirmish - - -Grafton learned that the next was one of the three weekly public days -at the Grand Duke’s galleries. About eleven the next morning he went -to look at his Spaniard and develop his plans for its capture. As he -neared The Castle he saw a gardener at work upon his knees, trimming a -bush of big pink and white flowers. - -“Where is the entrance to the galleries?” he asked, when he was within -a yard of the gardener. - -“Sh!” whispered the gardener, looking nervously up at the windows. - -“What is it?” said Grafton, following his glance and seeing nothing. - -“His Royal Highness permits no noise,” replied the gardener in an -undertone. “He hears every sound--especially every little sound. Only -Sunday it was that he sent out to have the noise stopped. And there was -no noise that anybody could hear. And when the First Gentleman of the -Bedchamber reported it to His Royal Highness, what do you think His -Royal Highness said? It was marvellous!” - -“And what did he say?” inquired Grafton. - -“His Royal Highness said, ‘It is the sound of the grass and bushes -growing. Tear them up!’ Isn’t it wonderful?” - -“Wonderful!” said Grafton. “Why aren’t they torn up?” - -“All the gentlemen of the court entreated and at last dissuaded His -Royal Highness. It was a terrible crisis. Some of the gentlemen were -weak from agitation and sweating. Yes, His Royal Highness is a true -prince. Only a true prince could hear grass and bushes grow.” - -“It’s fortunate he’s a prince, isn’t it?” said Grafton. “Now, if he -were an ordinary mortal they’d lock him up in a lunatic asylum.” - -The gardener gave a frightened look at the windows, then almost -whispered: “Yes, that is so. But princes are different from us; they’re -so sensitive, so high-bred. I often think of the things they do here, -and I say, ‘If I were to do that, they’d think I was light in the -head.’ But, of course, princes can’t be judged like ordinary people.” - -“No, indeed,” assented Grafton, “that would never do. Where is the -entrance to the galleries?” - -“Take the path to the left until you come to the modern wing. The -entrance is under the balcony; you will see it.” - -Grafton followed the gardener’s directions and, climbing the steps, was -about to open the door. At each side, in the same frame, were long, -narrow glass windows. At one of these peeping-windows he saw the Grand -Duke, his mouth distended in a tremendous yawn. Grafton hesitated. The -Grand Duke, in an old, black frock-suit, opened the door. - -“Good-morning,” said Grafton. “Are you the keeper of the galleries. -These are the Grand Duke’s galleries, are they not?” - -“Yes.” The Grand Duke beamed. “Won’t you come in?” - -“I’m an American,” continued Grafton, “and I’m much interested in -pictures. I particularly wished to see the Grand Duke’s Rembrandts.” - -“Ah; it will be a pleasure to show you through. We like Americans -here.” He spoke in excellent English. “We once had an American at our -little court. But when her husband died she fled. It was too dull for -her. But we have to stay here.” - -“You surprise me,” said Grafton. “I had always heard that the Grand -Duke was a most interesting, a most unusual man.” - -Casimir shrugged his shoulders. “He is the most bored of all. He does -nothing but regret his youth. He is old, worn-out, a poor creature--no -strength, no stomach, no nothing but memories, and a bad temper. And he -doesn’t get much pleasure out of his temper. Of what use is a temper -when no one dares answer back?” - -They had come to Grafton’s Spaniard, indifferently hung among the -fierce-looking Teutonic war-lords in armor. “Evidently he doesn’t care -especially for it,” said Grafton to himself. Aloud he said: “What a -collection of fighters!” - -“No wonder they fought,” replied the Grand Duke. “They were so bored -that they had to fight to save themselves from suicide or lunacy. Any -one would make war in their position--if he dared.” - -“But it isn’t allowed so much nowadays.” - -“No; worse luck,” growled the Grand Duke. - -“Why!” exclaimed Grafton. “There’s the spurious Velasquez from Acton’s -collection. Surely the Grand Duke wasn’t caught on that.” Grafton went -to the proper distance and angle and examined his beloved Spaniard with -a tranquil face and a covetous heart. “It seems strange to meet an old -acquaintance so far from home. If I hadn’t been ill when Acton sold, -I’d have bid on this. It’s pleasing, very pleasing, though clearly not -a Velasquez.” - -“We got it because it is a portrait of one of our house--the Duke of -Hispania Media, who captured Barcelona early in the eighteenth century.” - -“Was that before or after the Archduke Charles took it?” - -“It was the capture sometimes erroneously credited to the Archduke -Charles. He was present, I believe.” - -Grafton laughed good-naturedly. “And in England I suppose they’d say -Peterborough took it--he was present, I believe.” - -“The English are great liars,” said Casimir, sourly. - -“That’s what every nation says about every other,” said Grafton. - -The Grand Duke chuckled. “And all are right. Now we come to the -Rembrandts.” - -It was a fine collection, and Grafton and the Grand Duke went slowly -from picture to picture, from drawing to drawing, comparing opinions, -telling stories of experiences in collecting. When they reached the -examples of Rembrandt’s early work, Grafton was enthusiastic. “But,” -said he, “it is too small; there should be more examples.” - -“True,” Casimir sighed. “It is not so satisfactory as we wish.” - -“Possibly I attach more importance to this weak spot,” continued -Grafton, “than another would, because I have an example of his early -work and so am interested in it.” - -“What is your example, may I ask?” Casimir spoke in a too casual tone. - -“A peasant woman with an astonishingly handsome-ugly face; it’s usually -described as ‘The Woman with the Earrings,’ because they are very -queerly shaped.” - -As Grafton thus described the smaller and less interesting of his two -early Rembrandts, he watched Casimir’s face mirrored in the glass over -a picture. He saw a swift glance, so piercing that he would not have -believed those burned-out eyes capable of it. But when Casimir spoke -it was to say, carelessly, “I think I’ve heard of it--a small affair, -isn’t it?” - -“I couldn’t get more than fifteen or twenty thousand marks for it, if -I were selling it,” said Grafton. If he had not seen the swoop of that -covetous collector glance he would have been discouraged and would have -begun to talk of his larger Rembrandt. But he decided to wait. Perhaps -the smaller Rembrandt would alone get him his Spaniard, and possibly -another picture to boot. - -They went on with their examination. Apparently the Grafton Rembrandt -had passed from the Grand Duke’s mind. After three-quarters of an hour -he said: “Now this, I think, antedates your ‘Armorer.’” - -The only outward sign of confusion Grafton gave was to pause abruptly -in his walk. “Your ‘Armorer’!”--that was his other and finer -Rembrandt. How did the Grand Duke know he had it when he had not spoken -of it? “Fool that I am!” he said to himself. “The Grand Duke knows his -subject, knows where the Rembrandts are. Why, he now knows my name, -I’ll wager.” He was much depressed; he felt that he would not get his -Spaniard either easily or cheaply. “The only advantage I have left is -that he doesn’t know just what I want, though, no doubt, he has made up -his mind that I’m not here for mere sight-seeing.” - -As he was thinking he was examining the picture to which Casimir had -called attention. He now said: “No, I think not; I’m sure my ‘Woman -with the Earrings’ antedates it.” Again the glass covering of a picture -betrayed Casimir; Grafton saw a look of relief in his face. “He knew -he’d made a break,” thought Grafton, “and now he hopes I didn’t notice -it.” - -After a few minutes Grafton said he must be going. Casimir’s face was -as unreadable as his own; no one could have suspected from looking at -either that both were determined to meet again. Grafton thanked Casimir -heartily and turned away. - -“Do you stay long here?” asked Casimir. - -“A day or two, perhaps,” replied Grafton. “My plans are unsettled.” - -“To-morrow is a closed day. But if you return, I shall be glad to show -you the rest of the collection.” - -Grafton knew he had scored. “You are very kind,” he said. - -“It is possible that I may be able to show you through His Royal -Highness’s apartments. There are several remarkable pictures--a -Leonardo, a few Van Dycks, and some interesting moderns.” - -“That would be delightful.” - -“Then it is agreed?” - -“If I can arrange it. At what hour?” - -“At ten. I shall expect you.” - -“I think I can come. You are most courteous.” - -“It is a pleasure. Until to-morrow!” - - - - -IV - -Two in the Trees - - -Clear of The Castle, Grafton looked at his watch; it was half-past -three. “That’s why the servant poked his head in at the door so often,” -he thought. “We were at it more than three hours.” He strode along in a -jubilant frame of mind. He felt that the Spaniard was practically his; -it was a question of detail. And Casimir was a worthy antagonist; the -struggle would be full of interest for both. - -He was still a quarter of a mile from the park gates when he heard -a scream. He listened; nearly half a minute of silence, and then a -lusty-lunged feminine call for help. He dashed into the wilderness, -breaking a path with difficulty through the heavy undergrowth. He had -gone three or four hundred yards, guided by the repeated calls, when he -heard in the same voice, in German: “Come no nearer until I explain.” -He pressed on; there was a ferocious, growling grunt and a big wild -boar, with open jaws and long yellow tusks, came at him. He made for a -tree and scrambled up into its branches. He heard a suppressed laugh; -his panic-stricken climb could not have been other than ludicrous to -an on-looker; he glanced all round but could see no one through the -curtain of leaves. - -“Where the devil is she?” he said, in English, his voice louder than he -thought. - -“Here,” came the reply, also in English; “the third tree to your -right--the lowest limb.” - -He now saw a pair of laced boots with high tops and the edge of a -brown cloth walking-skirt. “Those feet look promising,” he thought, -as he watched them swinging cheerfully. He crawled farther out on the -big limb. When he paused again he could see her waist; a brown silk -sash with tasselled ends was wrapped several times round it. He could -also see one of her hands; she had her glove off and the hand was as -promising as the feet. He crawled a little farther. Pausing again, -he peered out; he was looking into the charming, amused face of Her -Serene Highness! She recognized him instantly. She tried to sober -her features, but the spectacle of this dignified young man on all -fours craning his neck at her through the leaves was too much for her -gravity. She began to laugh, and, as he instinctively released one -hand, took off his hat and bowed, she became almost hysterical. - -He swung himself round and found a secure sitting from which he could -view her. She said: “I beg your pardon; I’m so--” - -“Don’t mind me,” he said, good-humoredly. “It’s most becoming to you to -laugh.” - -She straightened her face and elaborately brought forward a look -designed to “put him in his place.” - -“I prefer the laughter,” he said. “Posing isn’t a bit becoming -to you--not a bit. You seem to have the habit of drawing me into -disagreeable situations and then putting on airs. Who invited me down -that passage-way at Paquin’s? Who dropped her handkerchief twice in my -path and suspected me of flirtation? Who summoned me to come and amuse -her by being chased by a wild boar?” - -“But I told you to stop,” she protested, feebly. - -“Rather late, wasn’t it? I’m not complaining. It’s delightful to have -the chances fate has given me. But I strongly object to your blaming me -for fate’s fault.” - -“You are rude,” she said, hotly. “You are taking an unfair advantage of -my helpless position.” - -“Pray calm yourself,” he answered. “All I ask of you is ordinary -civility or silence. I certainly have no desire to thrust myself upon -you.” - -Both were silent and sat watching the boar as it ranged frantically -from one tree to the other, pausing at each to look up with an insane -gleam in its wicked, little, blood-shot eyes. After fifteen minutes -Grafton moved slowly back towards the fork of the tree. As he reached -it and seemed about to descend, she said, in a humble tone that made -him smile inwardly, “Where are you going, please?” - -“I’m going to make a dash for a rifle I see on the ground,” he answered. - -“You mustn’t--you mustn’t. I forbid it!” she exclaimed. - -“Have you any suggestion to offer as to how we are to escape?” - -“No,” she replied, reluctantly, “except to call out.” - -“And bring somebody else to make an amusing spectacle of himself--if -he doesn’t happen to get killed. I can’t congratulate you on your -scheme.” And he continued his descent. - -“Stop; for God’s sake, stop!” she called out. “I am ashamed of myself. -I am sufficiently punished.” - -“My dear young lady, I’m not punishing you; I’m trying to get myself, -and incidentally you, out of this mess.” - -“Please--_please_--come back where I can see you; I wish to say -something to you.” It was certainly Erica and not Her Serene Highness -who was speaking now. - -He obeyed her. When he could see her again he said, “Well?” - -“I--I want you to say that you forgive me,” she said, earnestly. “I -want to see that you forgive me.” - -He looked at her in a friendly way. “I understand how it is with you. I -don’t in the least blame you. Only, in my country, we never permit any -one to take that tone towards us. And now, please, Your Majesty of the -Oak Tree, may I go for the rifle?” - -“May I say that you mustn’t?” she asked, a smile in her eyes. - -“I’d like to have a reason.” - -“Well, in the first place”--she hesitated--“it isn’t loaded.” - -He looked at her searchingly. She blushed. - -“Is it your rifle?” he asked. - -“Yes; I always carry it when I walk in the woods; there’s a chance that -something disagreeable might escape from the forest into the park, -though the fences are strong and high. And to-day when the boar came at -me”--she looked as though she felt very foolish--“my foot caught and--I -dropped the rifle.” - -“And you don’t load it?” - -She looked still more confused. “No, I’m not so silly as that. It is -loaded,” she said. “You’re always making me apologize to you.” - -“Or is it that I make you feel like apologizing to yourself?” - -“Perhaps that is it,” she admitted. “But--_please_ don’t go down for -the rifle.” She looked at the boar--its thin, powerful body, its -vicious green eyes, its greedy, raw mouth--how those tusks and those -pointed hoofs could tear and rip and mangle! Then she looked at the -handsome, calmly courageous young American. “_Please_,” she begged. “If -anything should go wrong with you, think how it would make me suffer, -for I got you into this danger.” - -“I’ve a better plan,” he said. “I might climb through on the branches -until I was directly over the gun. Then you could distract the brute’s -attention by swinging your sash just over his nose. I could jump and -grab the gun; I’d have plenty of time to aim and kill him.” - -“That sounds very--unsafe,” she objected. - -“At any rate, it will do no harm for me to get as near the gun as -possible,” he said. And he began to crawl along a branch in the general -direction of the rifle. The boar noted the movement and followed him -underneath, snapping its fangs at him, the froth flowing from its -ragged lips. Erica watched, her eyes wide, her face gray with dread. -Crash! a branch gave way under him. He fell, and so low was he before -he could stop himself that one of his feet, clad in a heavy shoe, -kicked the boar in the nose. She, seeing him begin to fall, screamed -and turned about to descend. - -“Stop! Stop!” he exclaimed, as he drew himself up into the tree. “I’m -all right!” - -She clambered back just as the boar, dashing for her, flung itself high -up the trunk. He looked at her, saw that her eyes were closed and that -she was trembling. “Are you going to faint?” he exclaimed. “Quick, -unwind your sash and fasten yourself in the tree with it.” - -“No,” she said. “I sha’n’t faint. Oh, what a weak, cowardly creature I -am!” - -“You?” His look and his tone brought the color to her cheeks and a -pleased look to her eyes. “You, who were coming down when you thought -the boar had me? You are the bravest girl I ever saw. You can be -counted on.” - -He remembered the boar and again set out along the branches. “I’ll be -more careful,” he called, over his shoulder. Soon he was within six -feet of the rifle and directly above it. - -“Now what will you do?” she said. “I don’t see that we’re any better -off.” - -“Patience,” he replied. He broke off a branch and lowered it towards -the ground; it reached. He slowly pushed the rifle towards the base of -the tree. The boar backed away and eyed the moving branch suspiciously. -Grafton had got the rifle against the trunk before the boar rushed. He -flung the branch far out from the tree, and the boar leaped into it and -trampled and tore it, paying no attention to the rifle. - -“Will you please unwind your sash,” said Grafton, “and tease him with -it?--keep the end just out of reach of his nose. While you do that -I’ll jump down the other side of the tree and shoot him.” - -She unwound the long brown sash and let down one of its tasselled -ends. The boar rushed it several times, then came to a halt under it, -prancing round and round, jumping into the air, frothing and snapping -its tusks. Grafton watched until he could see that it was dizzy from -rage and rapid whirling. - -“Shout!” he called to her. “Shout at him and shake the scarf.” - -She obeyed. He dropped to the ground, snatched the rifle, took quick -aim, and fired. The boar was leaping into the air. When it fell, it -fell to its side, dead--there was not even a quiver. - -“Don’t come till I make sure,” he called, running towards the carcass. -Down upon it fluttered the brown sash, and then came a heavier -body--Erica herself. - -Grafton put his arms about her and stood up, holding her as if she were -a child. Her long lashes lifted and she looked into his eyes with a -faint, apologetic smile. “Put me down, please,” she murmured. - -“Not just yet,” he said. “Don’t make an effort, and you’ll come round -more quickly.” - -She closed her eyes and relaxed into his arms. “How strong he is!” she -thought. “And how brave! How glad I am to see him again, to find that -he’s just as I’ve been suspecting he’d be!” At this a little color came -into her cheeks. - -He, not dreaming what was going on in her romantic young mind, was -looking down at her, trying to keep a very tender smile out of his -face--she looked so like a sleeping, spoiled child, with her child’s -complexion, her short upper lip, her round, aggressive little chin. -Her skin was so fine that he could see the blood pulsing through the -delicate tracery of the veins in her cheek. - -“Now I’ll try,” she said, after a few seconds. He let her feet down, -but still held her about the shoulders. He led her to a fallen tree, -and they sat, she leaning against him, he holding her firmly in his -arm. Soon she could sit alone, her elbows on her knees, her chin -between her hands. - -“You are an American; so you said at--at Paquin’s?” - -“Yes; and so are you--almost. You look and speak and act like an -American woman.” - -“I had an American governess. And my father’s--second wife was an -American.” - -“But,” he went on, “I don’t feel like an American just now. I feel as -if we both belonged here--in this wilderness--as if I had known you all -the always I could remember.” - -She sat up and smiled, dreamily, sympathetically, without looking at -him. “I was just thinking,” she said, “I don’t even know your name, -yet I feel as if I knew you as well as I have ever known any one.” She -sighed. “I must go.” - -She caught him looking longingly at her, and they both blushed and were -embarrassed. “My name is Grafton--Frederick Grafton,” he said. - -“And mine is Erica.” - -“Yes, I know that much--Erica what?” - -“That’s all, except several other Christian names.” - -“But how are you distinguished from other Ericas?” - -“Well, they might call me Erica of Zweitenbourg.” - -“Then your name is the same as your uncle’s?” - -“But that isn’t his name, nor mine. He’s Grand Duke of Zweitenbourg, -and we’re of the younger line--the ducal branch. Our family is -Traubenheim. We came here about four hundred years ago.” - -“Then your name is Erica Traubenheim.” - -“No; Erica _of_ Traubenheim.” - -“Erica Traubenheimer?” - -“Dear me, no! That’s a dreadful name.” - -“I don’t understand,” said Grafton. “It’s as though I should call -myself Frederick of Grafton.” - -“That is it; only in your country you write your names differently. I -was talking to the American minister about it; he explained that you -have your noble families as we do, only they don’t reign, but hold -aloof from politics, except to accept the high appointments of state.” - -Grafton laughed. “Did he tell you that?” - -“Oh! I knew at once that you were of a noble family.” - -“A noble family of--dress-fitters?” - -Erica blushed. - -“My father was a pork-packer,” continued Grafton. “And his father -was a pork-packer, and before that a farmer, and--I had an aunt who -was crazy on genealogy; she found out that we were descended from a -blacksmith. And my mother’s grandfather was a carpenter--when he could -get carpentering to do. We’re all like that in America.” - -“It must be very--very queer.” She seemed disappointed, depressed. - -“Every country seems queer to every other. This country seems queer to -me. Do you really like it--that life at The Castle?” - -“Why do you ask?” - -“Well, it seemed to me that if I were caught in such a routine--having -to live my life on a plan fixed hundreds of years ago--never allowed to -be my natural human self--it seems to me I’d die of weariness, unless I -were imbecile or became so.” - -“You wouldn’t mind it if you’d been educated for it.” She thought for a -few minutes, then said: “Unfortunately, I wasn’t. My father’s--second -wife persuaded him to educate me in the modern way. That makes this -life almost impossible for me; it seems narrow and unreal, and -useless. And it’s so dull, so deadly dull!” - -“Why don’t you get out of it--break away?” - -“A woman is helpless. Besides, I’m not sure--” - -She rose and put on her Tyrol hat and wrapped her brown sash about her -waist. - -“I’ll walk with you as far as the road,” he said. “I don’t think I -could find it alone.” - -As they went, both silent and she constrained, he noted that she -watched him curiously, as it seemed to him, critically, whenever she -thought he was not seeing. They came to the cross-road and he asked, -“When am I to see you again?” - -She flushed painfully. “I--I’m afraid it’s impossible.” - -He put out his hand. She hesitated, then gave him hers. “Good-bye,” -she said. - -“No; that wasn’t what I meant,” he explained, clasping her hand. -She made a faint effort to draw it away, then let it lie in his. -“Impossible, you say? Then you don’t wish to let me see you again?” - -She hung her head. “No; not that. I do wish it. But it’s impossible--I -think.” - -He dropped her hand. “Very well,” he said. - -They walked slowly on. She felt him going--going out of her life. She -could not endure it. She said: “But”--she colored and kept her eyes -down--“I--I walk here nearly every afternoon at three o’clock.” - -“Isn’t that fortunate!” he said. “So do I.” - -Their faces showed how happy they were. They came out of the woods -into the main road and lingered over the parting. They parted like -friends at the beginning of a promising friendship--a promising -man-and-woman friendship. He stood looking after her, and as he was -turning away found her handkerchief where she had stood. He picked it -up, kissed it with a gentle smile of self-mockery, and put it carefully -in the breast-pocket of his coat. “And I thought I came here for the -Grand Duke’s Spaniard!” he said. - - - - -V - -A Prince in a Passion - - -At luncheon the next day the Grand Duke was in one of his tantrums. -He sneered at Erica and the ladies of the court, he insulted the -gentlemen-in-waiting and the heads of the royal household, he cursed -the servants. As usual, he ate enormously; as usual, his face -grew redder and redder; as usual, his temper rose as the luncheon -progressed. At first the others made some attempts to start and carry -a conversation. But finding that to speak was to make one’s self a -target for sneer and jeer, all became silent. Erica endured with -unprecedented meekness. Her thoughts were far away, and she had a -feeling about her immediate surroundings which she did not attempt to -explain to herself--a feeling that they were slowly fading from her -real life. - -When he could eat no more, Casimir pushed back his chair from the table -and lighted a cigar. “Was ever man damned to such a life as this!” -he snarled. “Surrounded by chuckleheads and numskulls, we go through -life cracking our jaws with yawning. And here you sit or stand, mute, -smirking, and bowing us on towards insanity!” He looked savagely round. -“Well!” he exclaimed, “has nobody anything to say?” - -All except Erica were trembling. They were accustomed to these -outbursts; they knew that their lives and limbs were safe. But their -sovereign was thundering, and it was their duty to fear and tremble. -Besides, they might lose their places at court, might be banished -from its glory, might be deprived of the honor and the happiness of -receiving these humiliations and insults from exalted rank. - -Choking with rage, Casimir rose and stamped from the room. In his -cabinet he flung himself on a sofa and cursed and ground his cigar -between his teeth. As he had never in his life been curbed, and as -there was no public opinion to control him, no standard of private -conduct to constrain him, he acted precisely as he felt, when he was -not posing before the people. He despised the people, of course; but -they paid the taxes, and they paid because they believed him a superior -being, a shepherd without whom they, the lowly flock, would be in a -miserable plight. He was most careful to keep up appearances before -them, to do nothing that would discourage their loyalty to the throne, -their tolerance of its tax-gatherers. - -The cause of Casimir’s present outburst was Grafton’s failure to -keep his appointment. “Has he gone away?” thought Casimir. “Or is he -playing on my notorious craze for Rembrandts?” He sent his personal -servant to the Hôtel de l’Europe privately to inquire. When he learned -that Grafton was still there he began to fear that he was mistaken in -thinking he had come to Zweitenbourg with a definite purpose. How to -reopen the negotiation--that was the question. - -He sent for Erica. “Read!” he said. “No; talk! Are you glad Aloyse is -coming to-night?” This with a sneer. - -“I had forgotten it,” replied Erica, calmly. - -“Forgotten it? Forgotten your sweetheart? Forgotten! Haven’t you seen -this morning’s _Gazette_? It’s a love-match, the _Gazette_ says, ‘The -handsome and brilliant heir to the throne and his beautiful cousin have -been lovers since childhood.’” Casimir laughed harshly. “Love! And you -could forget my high-spirited, handsome, intellectual heir? Wonderful!” - -“I had an adventure in the park yesterday that I’ve been thinking about -ever since,” said Erica. And she went on to tell the story of the boar, -saying as little as possible of Grafton, and being careful to put that -little prudently. - -The Grand Duke was so interested that he sat up, forgot his indigestion -and his boredom and his departed youth. “And who was this man?” he -asked. “He must be rewarded.” - -“An American,” replied Erica. “A--a--I think he said his name was Graf -something--yes, Grafton.” She concealed her delight at the success of -her plan. - -“Grafton!” The Grand Duke leaped to his feet and paced the floor -excitedly. He rang a bell and told the servant to send Baron Zeppstein -to him, then continued his impatient walk and his muttering until -Zeppstein stood before him, bent double in a bow. “Baron,” he said, “go -at once to the Hôtel de l’Europe and present our compliments to a Mr. -Grafton who is there, and tell him that we have commanded his presence -at once. We wish to thank him for having saved the life of Her Serene -Highness.” - -Erica was radiant. She took her uncle’s shrivelled hand, courtesied, -and kissed it. “You are so good,” she said, gratefully. - -“Good? Nonsense! He’s one of those Americans who pay enormous prices -for pictures and take them away from us to that barbarous republic and -they’re never seen by civilized eyes again. He’s got two pictures that -I want. Your adventure gives me the chance to get hold of him.” - -Erica went to the door. “Stay here, child,” said he. “I wish to talk at -somebody. I must give the fellow something--the Order of the Green Hawk -will do.” - -“But you give that to hotel-keepers when you stay at their hotels and -to tradesmen who make you presents of goods you like.” - -“It’s enough; he won’t know the difference, and he’ll be beside himself -with delight; it takes little to tickle a democrat. But how shall I -bring up the subject of the pictures?--that’s what I’m considering.” - -“I don’t think it would be tactful to speak of them at the first -meeting,” said Erica. “You might invite him to dinner, or--to luncheon -to-morrow.” - -“That is an idea. He’s a well-appearing person and interesting.” - -“Have you seen him?” Erica looked the amazement she felt. - -“Talked with him for three hours yesterday,” replied her uncle. Then -he laughed. “He’ll be surprised when he sees that the keeper of the -galleries is the Grand Duke. I let him think I was the keeper.” - -Meanwhile Zeppstein had found Grafton at the Hôtel de l’Europe, -dejectedly preparing to leave. When he explained his mission, Grafton -at first flatly refused. “I’ve changed my mind,” he said. “I wish to -get away from here on the next train.” - -“But, my dear Mr. Grafton, think of the honor--His Royal Highness -proposes in person to thank you! And--I don’t wish to raise false -hopes, but I’m confident he will decorate you!” - -“I’m overwhelmed!” said Grafton. “I should die of joy; I must not go.” - -Zeppstein looked suspicious of mockery, then decided that he was -mistaken, and went on with his pleadings. “His Royal Highness can be -most gracious. He will not make you feel the difference in station.” - -While he talked Grafton was not listening but reflecting. On impulse -he decided to go. “Why not see her again?” he thought. “I can feel -no worse.” His mind made up, he pretended reluctantly to yield. “I’ll -waive the etiquette of the occasion, I think,” he said. - -“The etiquette? Pardon me; I do not follow you.” - -“Why, the Grand Duke should have called first.” - -“My dear Mr. Grafton--” - -“Isn’t he only a grand duke?” - -“But, may I ask, what are you?” - -Grafton looked cautiously about. “A king,” he said. “But I don’t want -it known.” - -Zeppstein grew nervous. “You Americans are great jesters,” he murmured. - -“And we’re all kings, but we don’t use the title; it’s too common at -home and too troublesome abroad. However, I’ll overlook the difference -in our rank. Lead on!” - -On the way Zeppstein gave him detailed instructions in how to behave -himself. “I shall probably be permitted to conduct you only to the door -of the cabinet,” he said. “You must knock quietly and enter at once -without waiting for an answer. As soon as you are inside the door, -draw it shut behind you, but don’t turn round in doing so. You must be -facing His Royal Highness and making a bow, head on a level with the -loins, until he speaks. You might have your right hand ungloved. His -Royal Highness may in the circumstances be graciously pleased to give -you his hand to shake. If he should decorate you, you must sink to your -knees, and when he has put the decoration over your bowed head you must -kiss his hand--place the back of your right hand under his palm and -kiss respectfully but not lingeringly. Be sure your lips are dry. His -Royal Highness has a horror of being touched by damp lips. Be careful -what you say; it is wisest to answer as briefly as possible such -questions as His Royal Highness may be graciously pleased to ask. And -don’t say ‘you’ to him, always ‘Your Royal Highness.’” - -“And when I leave--do I walk, wriggle, or crawl?” asked Grafton. - -“Walk backwards,” said Zeppstein. “Only members of the cabinet wriggle -in and out on their knees, and they only when they’re sworn.” - -“No; I think that’s too self-respecting,” replied Grafton. “I think -I’ll crawl.” - -“But, my dear Mr. Grafton, it is against all precedent. We haven’t -crawled for several centuries.” - -“I’ll revive the fashion. This is a bumptious generation; it should be -taught humility.” - -“My dear sir, I beg that you will not crawl; you would bring disgrace -upon me. I should be suspected of having so instructed you.” - -“To oblige you, I’ll try to forego the pleasure of treating a sovereign -as a sovereign should be treated. But it will be a sacrifice.” - -When their names were sent up, the command came for both together. -“Now,” whispered Zeppstein, as they stood at the door of the cabinet, -“don’t forget my instructions.” He knocked and got his hips and -shoulders ready for his presence-bow. “You must enter first,” he -whispered. - -Grafton walked in. The Grand Duke was standing facing the door with -Erica a few feet away to his left. Grafton advanced towards Erica. -“His Royal Highness first,” whispered Zeppstein, plucking at his sleeve. - -Grafton went on to Erica and put out his hand. “How d’ye do?” he -said. “I’m glad to see you again.” But his face was sad and his voice -lifeless. He turned to the Grand Duke. They shook hands, and the Grand -Duke laughed familiarly. Baron Zeppstein stood aghast. - -“Her Serene Highness has been telling me--” began the Grand Duke. - -“Yes; Baron Zeppstein here explained to me,” interrupted Grafton. “But -it was nothing; your niece was in no danger--” - -Zeppstein had sidled behind him and now whispered, “Not ‘you,’ but -‘Your Royal Highness,’ not ‘your niece,’ but ‘Her Serene Highness,’ and -_don’t_ interrupt!” - -“What’s Zeppstein whispering?” asked the Grand Duke, sharply. - -“He’s very kindly instructing me in etiquette, but”--here Grafton -hesitated, with a twinkle in his eyes--“I’ve been so differently bred -in America that I fear I’m not reflecting credit upon him.” - -The Grand Duke waved his hand at Zeppstein. “Take yourself off,” he -said. - -“I hope you won’t send him away,” interposed Grafton. “He’s to blame -for me being here. It was his talk in Paris about your Rembrandts that -made me come.” - -“I’m beginning to suspect that you knew me yesterday,” said Casimir. - -“I did; but I thought I’d humor your desire to be unknown. We could -talk more freely.” - -The Grand Duke took from the table the ribbon and medal of the Order -of the Green Hawk, and held it as if he expected Grafton to kneel to -receive it. Grafton stretched out his hand for it. The Grand Duke -smiled as he gave it to him, and chuckled when Grafton, saying, “Thank -you; it is very nice; a great honor; more than I deserve, I’m sure,” -put it in his pocket. Erica turned away to the window, her shoulders -shaking violently. - -After a few minutes’ talk, Grafton rose to take his leave. Zeppstein -frowned at him to wait until the Grand Duke rose to indicate that the -audience was at an end. The Grand Duke said, “Won’t you lunch with us -very informally to-morrow, at two?” - -“Thank you,” replied Grafton; “but I have arranged to go on the night -train to Ostend.” - -“There is a matter--some pictures--I’d much like to talk with you about -it.” - -Grafton hesitated. His wandering glance noted Erica’s face and its -expression. “Thank you,” he said to Casimir, “I can easily change -my plans.” And to himself he said: “Why not? I may at least, get my -Spaniard.” - -After leaving “the presence,” Grafton extricated himself from Zeppstein -as quickly as possible, which was not so quickly as he would have -liked. He set out alone for the walk to town. A quarter of a mile along -that quiet, beautiful road and he saw Erica coming towards him by a -side-path. - -“I am late in my walk to-day,” she began, with shy friendliness. “You -are going--perhaps to-morrow? I may not see you.” In spite of herself -her voice trembled. “I wish to thank you again, to wish you--all -happiness.” - -They went down the side-path together. “I can think of nothing to say,” -he said at last, in a dreary tone. “I have had bad news.” - -She instinctively came nearer and looked up at him with quick sympathy. -“Is it a death--some one you loved?” - -“Some one I loved--yes,” he replied. “But not death--worse, I -think--worse for me.” - -“Forgive me; I did not mean to intrude--to hurt you.” - -“I am the one to apologize; I ought not to have intruded my sorrow. Let -me speak of your happiness. I read in the _Gazette_ this morning that -your engagement is about to be announced--that you are marrying some -one you have loved since childhood. I wish you happiness. I’m glad -that you are getting your heart’s desire.” - -She sighed; it sounded very like a sigh of relief. She seated herself -on a rustic bench and he sat beside her. “You don’t understand how it -is with us,” she said, after a long pause. “I am marrying my cousin. It -is not a love-match; we care nothing each for the other. That is the -way everything is with us--never for ourselves, always for the house, -for the state.” - -“Trash!” he ejaculated, bitterly. “Of course I don’t understand; -there’s nothing to understand. It’s all pretence and lies, vain show, -theatrical nonsense. We belong to the present, not to the childish, -ignorant past. Now, I suppose I’ve offended you; I regret it, but--” - -“No; I’m not offended. I almost agree with you. Then--my surroundings, -my inheritance are too strong for me.” - -“Suppose you had only a day to live,” he burst out. “Suppose you knew -that you would die at sunset to-morrow--wink out, vanish, be gone -forever, pass away utterly. Would you spend your one day of life in -such fooleries as these?” - -“No,” she replied. “No, indeed!” - -“Well; you have in reality only one day--your little span of life in -the stretch of eternity. You must do the best you can with it; you -won’t get another. You must enjoy it; you will never have a chance -to enjoy another. You must be happy and contented and useful in it; -to-morrow you vanish. And you tell me you’re going to spend it with a -man you don’t love, spend it in this cold, empty, silly life of kissing -hands and bowing and strutting, of vanity and gilt. What a life--what -a miserable, degrading death-in-life!” - -“You don’t understand,” she repeated, with a suggestion of haughtiness -or attempt at haughtiness. - -“Well, do you? There you sit--young, beautiful, a woman with love and -passion in her eyes, a woman to be loved, to be happy, and to make -others happy. And you think yourself superior--you who propose to spend -your life in a way that--I’d hate to characterize it. Why did God give -you beauty and brains and a common-sense education? Why did He bring -you into the world a queen--not a toy queen, not a figurehead of a -‘house,’ but a real, royal queen--queen by the true, divine right? In -order that you should act like a slave? That you should be dazzled by -spangles like a vulgar peasant--play all your life with puppets like a -child--be a puppet?” - -“Why do you say these things to me?” She looked at him sadly, all the -haughtiness gone from her face and voice. - -“Because I love you; that is why. Because I know--it is useless for you -to deny it--that you would like to love me--if you dared.” - -Her bosom rose and fell rapidly. “Is it true?” she said, looking at him -with a thirsty longing in her eyes. “Do you?” - -“What does it matter?” He shrugged his shoulders. “I not only love you -but I would win you, if you had--” - -“Had what? Say it!” - -“Courage!” - -Both were silent a long time. He laughed bitterly, and said: “When I -was a boy there used to be in one of our school-books the story of a -man who went down in a shipwreck because he would not give up the bag -of gold that was strapped to him. There was a silly moral; I forget -it. But how human what he did was! How many human beings there are who -drown their real selves because they won’t cut away some dead weight -of false pride or false glory or gold or conventionality--” He rose -abruptly. “Let us go.” - -“And I am dragging you down into my unhappiness because I won’t throw -away my dead weight.” - -“That is not for you to consider. Your own case is quite enough.” - -“Yes; I lack courage, or I am too foolish.” - -“I don’t blame you; don’t think that I do. You’d probably be unhappy -after you’d given up. I’ve thought of that. If I hadn’t, I’d--” - -“What?” - -“Carry you off.” - -“Why don’t you?” She stood before him, looking eagerly up into his -face. “I wish to have my mind made up for me.” - -“Not I! You must decide for yourself.” He stood very close to her. -“But--how I love you! Not because you are a Traubenheim instead of only -a Traubenheimer; not for the reasons that seem to count most with you; -but just for the sake of your wonderful self that has dazzled me into -this folly of loving you, dear--” - -“Yes; go on,” she murmured. - -There was the clatter of many hoofs on the main road; they were only -a few yards from it. A brilliant cavalcade swept by; a young man in a -gaudy field-marshal’s uniform, followed by a dozen officers in blue -and white, with glittering helmets and cuirasses; after them several -companies of the Household Guards. - -“My cousin,” she murmured. - -From the direction of The Castle came the booming of cannon and then -the strains of a military band. Frederick and Erica stood, neither -looking at the other. He began to walk towards the main road and she -reluctantly followed him. - -“Good-bye,” he said, holding out his hand. - -“Good-bye,” she said. “That is--until to-morrow. You will come here at -four--” - -There was the sound of a horse at a gallop and soon round the bend of -the road swept the young man in the field-marshal’s uniform. He looked -a giant, in his tall helmet surmounted by three huge white plumes. -He reined his horse near Grafton and Erica, and flung himself from -the saddle. Grafton saw that he was not tall, but short; not broad, -but narrow--that his imposing appearance had been due wholly to his -uniform. Also it was apparent that he was in a fury. Leaving the horse, -he stalked towards them, his sword clanking against his spurs. Erica -was pale and nervous. If Grafton had been looking at her he would have -seen that she watched her cousin with an expression of aversion. - -Aloyse stepped on a loose stone and it slipped. His sword swung round -and caught between his short legs. He tripped, toppled, plunged forward -and, as his helmet flew off, his face ploughed into the dust. He was -lying prostrate at Erica’s feet. - -Grafton sprang to him and lifted him up and set him on his legs. “I -hope you’re not hurt?” he said, with perfect self-control. - -Aloyse’s hair, mustache, eyes, and mouth were full of dust, his uniform -was coated with it. “Go to the devil!” he exclaimed, turning his back -on Grafton and wiping his face with a handkerchief he drew from his -sleeve. “Who is this person?” he demanded of Erica, in German. “And -what are you doing here? I saw you hiding in the woods as I came by.” -He spoke to her as if she were his property, and anger flamed in her -cheeks and sparkled in her eyes. - -“Try to seem a gentleman,” she whispered to him, in German. Then she -turned to Grafton. “Mr. Grafton,” she said, in English, “my cousin, the -Inheriting Grand Duke.” - -Grafton bowed coldly. Aloyse looked at him insolently from head to -foot. “Take yourself off,” he said. - -Grafton’s eyes blazed. He put out his hand to Erica. “I shall see you -at luncheon to-morrow.” As Erica was about to shake hands with him, -Aloyse struck his hand up. - -“None of your impertinence. Be off!” he said, his weak, blond face -ridiculous with rage and dust. - -Grafton brought his hand down on Aloyse’s shoulder and closed his -fingers. Aloyse shivered, winced, bit his lips till the blood came to -crush back a howl of pain. Grafton set him to one side and released -him. Then he shook hands with Erica, lifted his hat, and walked away. -Aloyse and Erica stood looking after him. - -“I _hate_ him,” thought Aloyse. - -“I _love_ him,” thought Erica. - - - - -VI - -Her Serene Highness Surrenders - - -At ten the next morning there was excitement in the hotel--the -Inheriting Grand Duke had come, had sent up his card to the American -gentleman, and the American gentleman, instead of descending, had told -the servant to “show him up.” The Inheriting Grand Duke was in top-hat -and long coat. He was looking insignificant, sheepish, and surly. - -When Grafton’s sitting-room door was closed behind him, he bowed -stiffly and said, “At the command of His Royal Highness, I have come to -apologize to you.” - -Grafton waved his hand. “Say no more about it. I thought your father -wouldn’t approve of such a performance. I regret, for your sake, that -you didn’t come on your own account. Is that all?” - -“At the command of His Royal Highness I say that we shall be pleased to -see you at luncheon.” - -“Tell your father I’ll be there.” Grafton looked significantly at the -door. - -“On my own account, I say that, after you have finished your affair -with His Royal Highness, I have a matter which one of my officers, -Prince von Moltzahn, will bring to your attention.” - -“That sounds interesting.” - -“And I may assure His Royal Highness that you will be at luncheon?” - -“Yes. Good-morning.” - -Aloyse bowed stiffly, and pompously left the room. - -When Grafton reached The Castle it was apparent to him that there had -been a storm, doubtless a quarrel between the Grand Duke and his son. - -Luncheon was served in a huge, clammily cool chamber of state. -Conversation was all but impossible, so elaborate were the ceremonies -of feeding the Grand Duke. Each dish for him was passed from servant -to servant in ascending order, and then from gentleman-in-waiting to -gentleman-in-waiting in ascending rank until at last it was set before -His Royal Highness. After he had been served, the others were served -with almost equal elaboration of ceremony--Aloyse before Erica, and -Grafton, by special courtesy, immediately after her, to the irritation -of the ladies and gentlemen of the court whose rank in the royal -household gave them seats at the royal luncheon-table. Grafton watched -the tedious ceremonies, marvelling that any one would tolerate them day -after day and year after year. Erica and Aloyse sat gazing into their -plates and did not speak. The Grand Duke fussed and blustered over his -food, and ate greedily, with much smacking of lips, between mouthfuls -asking questions about America. - -It was half-past three when he rose and said to Grafton, “We will -smoke in my apartment.” Grafton followed him through five or six -enormous rooms, all gaudily decorated, all clammy cool, all impossible -as human habitations. They ascended a stairway down which fifteen -men might have marched abreast. They came to a mezzanine floor, and, -dodging under a low beam, went along a dark passage-way. It ended in -a small, low-ceilinged room plainly furnished, every article showing -signs of long and hard usage. There was much dust and an odor of -stuffy staleness, and the heat was intense. “Here’s where I live,” -said the Grand Duke, dropping to a ragged old lounge with a sigh of -pleasure and lighting a pipe. “I have to have some place where I can be -comfortable.” The pipe was old and strong, the windows were tight shut. -“I always feel cold after eating,” said the Grand Duke. “You don’t mind -the windows being closed?” - -“Not at all,” said Grafton, in an unconvincing tone. It seemed to him -that if he stayed there many minutes he would faint. “I suppose it is -about my Rembrandts that you wished to talk to me,” he began, wishing -to hasten the end. - -“What you said about them interested me greatly,” replied the Grand -Duke. “I thought possibly we might come to some agreement about -them--if--” - -“Well, I was attracted by only one picture in your collection that you -could part with--the one you bought from Acton--the spurious Velasquez. -I’ve always wanted it--in fact, I came here to try to get it. But I’ve -almost lost interest in it.” - -“It is idle to discuss that. I could not think of giving up the -picture; it is one of my ancestors--” - -“That is by no means certain--as you know.” - -“I so regard it,” said Casimir. - -“I will exchange the ‘Woman with the Earrings’ for it,” continued -Grafton. - -“Come, now, Mr. Grafton. Is that reasonable?” - -“I can get for it double what you paid for the Spaniard.” - -“And I will pay you double,” said Casimir. - -“Money would not tempt me. The Spaniard or nothing. But--I’m not well -to-day--you must excuse me. I can meet you at the gallery to-morrow at -eleven, or you can let me know what you will do.” - -Grafton was overwhelmed by the foul air of the Grand Duke’s “cosey -corner” of the palace. His plea was the literal truth and the Grand -Duke could see it in his face. He assented to the appointment for the -following morning, and Grafton hurriedly made his escape. - -He felt that within the next few minutes he would be at his -life-crisis. - -Another bend of the road and the park gates would be in view. And still -no Erica. He was about to turn back when she called him from an obscure -side-path. As his eyes met hers his heart leaped--he knew that he had -won. - -“They have been following me,” she said, in a low tone. “Quick; come -with me.” She darted into the wilderness, he close behind her. They -wound in and out through a tangle of paths which only one thoroughly -familiar with the park would have known as paths. At last they came -to a fallen tree in a thicket so dense that it was barely lighted, -although sunset was four hours away. - -“We are safe,” she said, her eyes brilliant. - -He caught her in his arms. “It seems to me that I loved you the -instant I saw you. And I shall not give you up. We will go away to my -country--to our country.” - -“Yes--yes,” she said. “You have opened a gate I’ve often looked at, and -I see beyond it the paradise I’ve dreamed of. And I must follow you. -I care only for you. I”--she had a very wonderful expression in her -eyes--“I love you!” - -“I shall see the Grand Duke to-morrow morning. I shall tell him. He -will--” - -“You must try to understand, dear. He will never consent. Can’t you see -how he would look at it? And under the law he has absolute control of -me for five years yet--until I am twenty-five.” - -“But he will release you when he knows that you do not love his son, -that you are determined to marry me.” - -“No; there is but one way. We must go across the Swiss border; there I -shall be free.” - -“Then the sooner the better. Let us go to-night.” - -“Yes, to-night. What is that--listen! No--this way--come!” - -“It is useless,” called a man’s voice from the direction in which they -started, and immediately a young officer appeared. - -“Prince von Moltzahn!” exclaimed Erica. She drew herself up haughtily. -“You are insolent, sir!” - -“Your Serene Highness, I am obeying orders.” - -“So I’ve caught you,” came in Aloyse’s voice behind them. He was -advancing upon Grafton with his sword drawn. His eyes looked murder. - -Erica darted between them. “Aloyse! Would you attack an unarmed man?” - -“Stand aside!” foamed Aloyse. - -She advanced upon him and caught his sword. “Give it to me,” she -commanded. - -“Let go! Let go!” he said, wildly. “I wish to kill him--the scum--the -vermin!” - -“You wish to make yourself infamous,” she replied, still holding the -sword. “Prince von Moltzahn,” she called over her shoulder, “either -hand your sword to Mr. Grafton or help me disarm this fool.” - -Moltzahn stood uncertainly, murmuring something about “the son of my -sovereign.” - -“Release him, Erica,” said Grafton. “He dare not attack me. He’s had -time to think.” - -Erica tugged at the sword, and Aloyse yielded it with a great show of -reluctance. “Now what are you going to do?” she said, scornfully. “Why -are you here? Why are you always making yourself ridiculous?” - -“You’ll see what I’ll do. My father thought I was mistaken yesterday. -He’ll know better now. Both of you must come to The Castle.” - -“With the greatest pleasure,” said Grafton. - -“You go by separate ways,” continued Aloyse. “Erica, von Moltzahn will -escort you. I have a few soldiers at the end of this path; I’ve kept -them out of sight, as we want no scandal. After you are on the way, -we’ll escort this person,” with a contemptuous gesture towards Grafton. - -“No,” said Erica. “We go together. Send your soldiers away, Aloyse.” - -The Inheriting Grand Duke distended his chest and began to bluster, but -she cut him short. “Send them away or I’ll send them away myself.” - -They walked to The Castle together, Erica and Grafton in apparent high -spirits, Aloyse and Moltzahn silent and sullen. They appeared before -the Grand Duke in his cabinet. - -“What’s all this?” he demanded, glowering. - -“I’m sure I don’t know,” said Erica, gayly. “Mr. Grafton and I were -talking in the park, and Aloyse and the Prince suddenly appeared; I -think Aloyse had some soldiers hidden somewhere. And they insisted on -taking Mr. Grafton and me prisoners and bringing us here.” - -“You jackass!” shouted the Grand Duke at the Inheriting Grand Duke. - -“Now wait till you hear me, father,” whined the Inheriting Grand Duke. -“There’s something up between Erica and this fellow; I know it. He -calls her Erica, and they were hidden in a thicket, and I saw him kiss -her.” - -“You’re stark mad,” said the Grand Duke, looking at him disgustedly. -“What is the matter, Mr. Grafton?” - -“The Duchess Erica has explained all that either of us knows,” replied -Grafton, discreetly. - -Aloyse appealed to Moltzahn. “Am I not right? Didn’t he call her Erica -and kiss her? Weren’t they hid in a thicket?” - -Moltzahn bowed. “Your Royal Highness has given the facts as I can -testify.” - -Grafton, watching the Grand Duke’s face closely, saw a change in -it which was instantly corrected. “The old fox,” he thought. “He -suspects. What will he do?” - -Casimir looked at Moltzahn black as a thunder-cloud. “Liar!” he roared. -“How dare you utter such a scandal of Her Serene Highness?” Then he -turned to Grafton. “A thousand pardons, Mr. Grafton. We trust you -will forget this folly. We owe you an apology. We feel profoundly -humiliated.” - -“Pray think no more about it,” said Grafton. - -“You will pardon us for the brevity of our apologies to-day, we beg. -Baron Zeppstein will escort you to your hotel. And we look forward to -the pleasure of seeing you at the galleries at eleven to-morrow.” - -“At eleven,” said Grafton, bowing to Erica as the Grand Duke, taking -his arm, escorted him to the anteroom. They shook hands, the Grand Duke -placing his left hand cordially, even affectionately, on Grafton’s -shoulder. - -Zeppstein had an abstracted companion on the drive, and when Grafton -was alone he flung himself on the divan in his sitting-room and -abandoned himself to thoughts that gave his face an expression of deep -discouragement. - -When the Grand Duke returned to his cabinet, he withered Moltzahn with -a furious look. “What!” he snarled. “Still here? Be off! You are a -loathsome creature. Don’t show yourself at court for three months. And -if we ever hear that a word of this has passed your lips, we’ll strip -your epaulettes from you before the entire army and banish you. Out of -our sight!” - -Moltzahn backed from the room, bowing and cringing. When he was gone -the Grand Duke turned on his son. “And now for you, sir! Apologize -to Her Serene Highness! Say after me--put your heels together and -bend--now say: ‘Your Serene Highness, I humbly ask pardon for my -infamous conduct, for my lies, for my insults.’” - -The Inheriting Grand Duke repeated the words in a choked voice. - -“And,” continued the Grand Duke, “if you should meet Mr. Grafton again, -we command you to speak to him as one gentleman to another with whom he -is on friendly terms. Do you hear?” - -“Yes, Your Royal Highness,” murmured his heir. - -“You will withdraw.” - -Erica and the Grand Duke were now alone. “I’m sorry, indeed, my dear -child, that this has happened.” He took her hand affectionately. - -“You have done all that I expected--more.” Erica was blushing and -looked extremely guilty. She felt that Aloyse and Moltzahn had -outrageously insulted her, but she did not like this reparation on -false pretences. “I have much to say to you--” - -“Not to-day--not to-day,” interrupted the Grand Duke. “I am exhausted, -my dear. Go to your apartments and compose yourself.” - - - - -VII - -The Grand Duke Gives Battle - - -Erica went to her wing of The Castle and sat by a window, trying to -plan the next move. But her brain was so hot and her thoughts so -rambling that she could devise nothing. She rang for her maid. An old -woman appeared. “I rang for Ernestine,” said Erica. - -“Yes, Your Serene Highness. Ernestine has been taken suddenly ill and -sent me in her place. I’m Greta.” - -Something in the old woman’s face and manner roused an uneasiness in -her. She went to the outer door of her apartment. A stupid-looking -soldier was on guard there, marching stiffly to and fro. - -“What are you doing here?” she demanded. - -“I’m on guard,” he answered, in a mountain dialect of German which she -could hardly understand. - -She started down the corridor. - -“Come now, lady, don’t make trouble. I can’t let you pass.” He put his -hand on her arm. - -“Don’t touch me!” She looked at him haughtily. “I am the Duchess Erica.” - -“Yes; I know you think so, lady; that’s your trouble. Now go back -quietly--do!” - -She returned to her apartment. “Leave me,” she said to the old woman. - -Greta retired to the anteroom. “Out of the apartment!” exclaimed Erica. -“I do not wish you about.” - -“Pardon, Your Serene Highness, but His Royal Highness has commanded me -not to leave.” - -Erica closed the door of her boudoir. She paced the floor. “How -helpless I am!” she thought. “I cannot move in any direction!” - - * * * * * - -Early the next morning Grafton went to a lawyer--Fogel, who is -conspicuous in the Zweitenbourg Reichstag as a fierce anti-monarchist. -Grafton professed a student’s interest in the laws affecting the royal -prerogative. Fogel was most courteous and obliging. He explained in -detail, and, when he had ended, Grafton saw that legally his affair -was hopeless. The Grand Duke was absolute over the members of his -own family and court, except that he could not inflict the death -penalty, nor could he detain any one in prison for a longer period -than six months without showing cause before the supreme tribunal--on -application of a relative of the detained person. - -Grafton thanked Fogel and went mournfully back to his hotel. He was -expecting every moment a message from the Grand Duke postponing or -breaking his engagement, but at half-past ten no message had come. He -drove out to The Castle. As he passed the northwest wing he looked up; -there stood Erica. He saw her make a gesture as if she were flinging -something. It struck the road just ahead of his carriage. He told the -driver to stop, descended, picked up a little silver box and with it -several small stones. He sent the stones sailing one at a time out over -the lake. He put the box in his pocket. - -With the carriage following him, he walked round The Castle to the -galleries and entered. No one was there; he opened the box, drew out -a small paper: “I am a prisoner; my uncle knows. My maid, Ernestine -Wundsch, lives in Emperor Ferdinand Second Street, No. 643--over the -bake-shop. I love you; be careful for my sake. When I escape I shall go -to Schaffhausen.” - -He thrust the note into his pocket and came out of the alcove into -which he had withdrawn to make sure of not being spied upon. Ten -minutes passed before the Grand Duke came in. “Pardon my tardiness,” he -said, politely. Grafton noted a malicious twinkle in his eyes. “I was -arranging the marriage of my son and my niece. The days of romance are -not dead. After their little misunderstanding yesterday, they made it -up and--how hot young blood is!--they were all for marrying at once. I -hadn’t the heart to refuse them. But--to our little affair.” - -“I’ve decided not to part with my Rembrandts,” said Grafton. His head -was in a whirl. Beneath a fairly composed exterior mad impulses to -strangle, to kill, to fight his way to her and bear her off were raging. - -“Ah! I regret it. And when do you leave us? That devil, von Moltzahn, -is a dangerous fellow. I’m having my police guard you. No; don’t -thank me. It’s no trouble, I assure you. You had a pleasant little -talk on law with Fogel this morning; he was most enthusiastic over -your eagerness to learn; he was talking with one of my secret police -about it. I’m sorry you have decided to leave us so soon--to-night, I -think you were saying yesterday? And if you change your mind about the -Rembrandts, you know I’m always willing to listen to any reasonable -terms.” - -The Grand Duke bowed him out, but did not offer to shake hands. Grafton -entered his carriage and was driven rapidly away, an officer in a plain -uniform following him. As soon as Grafton saw it, he drew the silver -box from his pocket, took out the note, read it until he had it by -heart, then put it in his mouth and swallowed it. He waited until the -road wound close to the edge of the lake. He looked back; the officer -could not see him. He tossed the little box into the lake. - -At the park gates the carriage was halted. The officer came up, several -others appeared from the lodge, including one who seemed to be of high -rank. They were most polite, most apologetic, but they took him into -the lodge and searched him thoroughly. And when he went on to town it -was in another carriage. - -The proprietor was waiting for him. “I regret exceedingly, sir,” he -said, in a frightened, deprecating voice, “but your rooms are taken -from ten o’clock to-morrow.” - -“That will be satisfactory to me,” replied Grafton. “I shall leave -to-night or early in the morning.” - -“Thank you, Highness.” The proprietor bowed low and beamed gratitude -and relief. - - - - -VIII - -The American is Reinforced - - -Grafton went into the public square, opposite the hotel, and walked up -and down under the trees. Schemes plausible and schemes fantastical -crowded his brain; the wildest was as practicable as the most sensible. -He cursed his lack of ingenuity. He felt that the intensity of his -love for Erica was paralyzing thought. “In matters about which I care -nothing,” he said to himself, “I can always think of something to do.” -And now he could think of no plan which he did not almost instantly -dismiss. He could not even devise a scheme for seeing Ernestine. To go -to her would be fatal, as the secret police would go with him, were no -doubt watching her. - -He seated himself on a bench at the other end of which was an American -tourist. There was a certain sense of companionship, of strength, in -the nearness of a man from “home” at such a time. He noted that his -fellow-countryman was a youth of the unmistakable American type--tall, -thin, with a narrow, shrewd, frank face. The longer he looked at -him the better he liked him. After perhaps twenty minutes the young -American rose to go. - -“Please sit again without looking at me or seeming to notice me,” said -Grafton, not moving his lips. - -The young American involuntarily glanced at him, but looked away -instantly. He seated himself, yawned, took out his cigarette-case, -lighted a cigarette, and began smoking languidly. A newsboy passed; -Grafton stopped him and bought a paper. He rested his elbows on his -knees, and so held the paper that his face could not be seen, yet was -apparently not designedly hid. - -“My name is Frederick Grafton, and I’m from Chicago,” he said. “I’ve -fallen in love with a girl here, and--well, there’s the devil to pay. -I’m being watched; her family’s got a lot of influence. It is vital -that I see her maid. She lives at No. 643 Emperor Ferdinand Second -Street, over the bake-shop. Her name is Ernestine Wundsch. Describe -me to her and tell her to come and sit on the end of this bench, -or, better, send some one she can trust absolutely. Probably she’s -watched, so be careful not to go directly there from here. Will you -help me? On my honor there is nothing in this affair which, if you knew -it, would make you hesitate.” - -Grafton straightened up and could see from the corner of his eye that -his countryman was studying his face. “I’ll risk it,” said the youth, -rising and lounging away. - -Soon Grafton began to watch the faces of passing women. After nearly an -hour a working-man came and sat on the other end of the bench. Grafton -scowled at him, but he sat placidly smoking his pipe. At last he said: -“Ernestine, my sister, did not dare come. She sent me by the back way. -She says nothing can be done. I waited to be sure it was you.” - -At this moment Grafton saw Moltzahn coming towards him. “Wait,” he said -to Ernestine’s brother. “Don’t move until I’ve spoken to you again.” - -Moltzahn advanced towards him and bowed politely, much to Grafton’s -surprise. “I know that you are watched,” he said to Grafton. “As I -have something to communicate to you, we must seem to meet as friendly -acquaintances and to be talking on indifferent subjects. Will you walk -with me a few minutes, please?” - -There was a thinly veiled contempt in Moltzahn’s tone which made -Grafton feel like kicking him. But in the circumstances he would have -been civil to Aloyse himself in the hope of laying hold of something -that would bring him nearer Erica. He rose, and they began a slow -promenade. - -“His Royal Highness, the Inheriting Grand Duke, has made me the -reluctant bearer of a challenge to you. I have tried to dissuade him, -but he is determined to punish you for your insults. He waives the -difference in rank, the fact that he has no right to send a challenge -to such as you.” - -“It will be a great pleasure,” said Grafton, with grim joy. “I, too, -will waive the difference of rank--the fact that he is not a gentleman.” - -“It is impossible for me to answer you as you deserve--” - -“You couldn’t say anything that would disturb the friendly feeling I -have for you,” said Grafton. “You don’t know how grateful I am to you -for bringing me this--this opportunity. I could almost--yes, I think I -could--shake hands with you.” - -“What weapons?” said Moltzahn. “But have you a second?” - -“I shall have one--and I choose pistols.” - -“I suggest that the meeting be at a little town on the Swiss -border--Zoltenau. Do you know it?” - -“Yes; I shall be there.” - -“The circumstances make it impossible to follow the formalities and -arrange through your second. When can you be there?” - -“Whenever you say.” - -“Then at three to-morrow morning. We shall be on the main road about a -hundred yards from the last house--the inn--at the eastern end of the -village. But will you be able to evade the police?” - -“Easily; I shall be there.” - -They bowed, Moltzahn went his way, Grafton returned to the bench. With -his face concealed, he said to the working-man: “In case I should wish -to send a message to Ernestine for her mistress, is there an address -that would be safe?” - -“Johann Windmuller, 41 Duke Albrecht Street,” he answered. - -“Very well. And if there should be any news for me, send a letter or -telegram to Victor Brandt, care the American Consul, Schaffhausen. Can -you remember that?” - -“Yes,” said the man, and he repeated it twice. - -Grafton sent him away; he felt that the police could not have -suspected. He went to the hotel and in the smoking-room, near the -entrance, found the American youth. Grafton dropped into a seat beside -him. “Thank you,” he said. “May I ask who has done me this great -service?” - -“My name is Burroughs; I come from San Francisco.” - -They discovered that they had many acquaintances and a few friends in -common, and both belonged to the same club in New York. Burroughs, who -was seven or eight years younger than Grafton, and just out of college, -had often heard of him. - -“Is there anything else I can do for you?” he asked. - -“Yes,” replied Grafton. “Since I saw you I’ve engaged to fight a duel -at three to-morrow morning, and I need a second.” - -“I’d be pleased if you’d accept me, though I’ve had no experience.” - -“But I warn you that it may be an ugly business before it’s ended, -though I think I can arrange to get you out of it. I mean to kill my -man and his death’ll make a row in this part of the world.” - -“I’ll see you through,” said Burroughs. - -Grafton took him to his rooms, and, having tested him thoroughly, gave -him his entire confidence. When he had finished the story, Burroughs -said: “I feel that you’re going to win out.” His eyes were sparkling -with excitement. “But don’t kill him; remember, he’s her cousin. She -might balk at marrying you if you’d killed her cousin.” - -Grafton thought for a few minutes. “That gives me an idea--that remark -of yours. We’ll talk it over to-night.” - -As Zoltenau was about midway between the town of Zweitenbourg and -Bâle--a score of miles from each--they decided to evade the Grand -Duke’s spies by going to Bâle. Burroughs went on the seven-o’clock -train to arrange for a doctor and a carriage. Grafton, leaving on the -nine-o’clock express, bought places in the bed-car for Venice. At -Bâle he dropped from the car as the train was passing out at the end -of the station. His servant went on with the baggage, to return by a -roundabout route to Schaffhausen and there await the arrival of Victor -Brandt. - - - - -IX - -The Crown Prince is Decorated - - -As the road from Zweitenbourg to Zoltenau is almost level, except the -last four miles, Aloyse, Moltzahn, and Dr. Kirschner did not set out -until nearly one o’clock. Aloyse and Moltzahn had deceived the doctor; -he thought he was going to a friend of theirs who had been desperately -wounded in a duel. Aloyse was thus unable to boast of what he was about -to do to the “American pig-dog.” As he could think of nothing else, the -drive passed in silence, broken only by feeble attempts on the part of -the doctor to improve his good fortune of being in such distinguished -company. They reached the inn at a quarter before the hour. As they -walked up the road the doctor was undeceived by Moltzahn. - -He stopped and fell to weeping and wringing his hands with fright. “A -duel--my Crown Prince a principal--my God, Highness, I shall be ruined! -I refuse to go.” - -Moltzahn caught him by the arm. “Come on, imbecile!” he said, roughly. -“There is no turning back now. You will be protected. But if anything -should happen, think of my fate.” - -Aloyse was a few yards in advance. He was strutting along with his -chest out. He was confident that the “American upstart” would give -him little trouble. “A physical bully,” he said to himself. “Only a -gentleman can be brave in a duel.” He turned. “How does the doctor take -it?” he asked. - -“My Crown Prince!” exclaimed the doctor. “I beg you--I implore you--” -He fell on his knees before Aloyse. - -“Get up! Get up!” Aloyse spoke in a kindly, condescending tone. It -always delighted him to receive ocular proof of his superiority; some -of his father’s remarks were most disquieting. “No harm shall come to -you, my good man.” - -The doctor, still weeping and in such mental turmoil that he forgot to -dust the knees of his trousers and the tails of his long, black coat, -kept pace with Moltzahn. Aloyse was whistling and brandishing a small -cane. His round face, empty of all save appetites, was gay--it became -a prince thus to go to the duel. And, in fact, he was not a coward, -except before his father; and he longed to punish the low creature who -had dared to lift his eyes to a princess of the house of Traubenheim, -had dared to lay hands in anger upon a royal person. - -“I can hardly wait to get at the dog, Moltzahn,” he said. “I’m afraid -he won’t come.” - -Moltzahn replied, “Yes, Your Royal Highness,” absently. The nearer he -got to the field the gloomier he became. He had taken many risks, had -done many degrading things in furthering the ambition of his life, -to be the man next the throne in Zweitenbourg. But this risk was a -senseless fly straight into the face of fate. - -It was almost broad day when Grafton, Burroughs, and a doctor from Bâle -arrived. They lifted their hats to the first-comers. Dr. Kirschner -lifted his hat in return; Moltzahn gave a slight salute to Burroughs. -Aloyse stared insolently at Grafton and made no salutation whatever. - -Grafton turned to Burroughs. “You see, Burroughs, what kind of cattle -they are. I apologize again for bringing you.” - -Burroughs was white and nervous. “Which one do I deal with?” he asked, -in an undertone. - -Grafton pointed at Moltzahn. “And keep your eyes on him. He’s a -blackguard through and through, capable of anything.” - -Aloyse continued to stare at Grafton, a cruel smile on his lips, and -the vindictive hate of the brainless in his eyes. Grafton did not like -that smile. “I am taking long chances,” he muttered, “but--I must!” -He turned his face towards the north, towards Zweitenbourg, and forgot -Aloyse. - -Moltzahn and Burroughs found a level well back from the road and -private. To this the party went. The snow on the peaks was rosy red, -and the birds were awakening to full song, and from the earth rose the -fresh, living gladness of welcome to the new day. The lot decided that -Aloyse should face the south and Grafton the north--“a good omen,” -thought Grafton, and the look in his face showed how far murder was -from his heart. - -As they were about to take their places he said to Aloyse, “I wish a -few words with you in private.” - -“Absurd--impossible!” interrupted Moltzahn. “Such conduct is -intolerable!” - -Grafton looked at Aloyse as if Moltzahn had not spoken. - -Aloyse hesitated. “Don’t!” pleaded Moltzahn, in a whisper. “He may say -something that will unsettle your nerves.” - -Aloyse drew himself up haughtily. “Stand aside,” he ordered, “all of -you. The fellow may wish to apologize. If so, I may let him off with a -sound caning.” - -Grafton went close to him. “It may be,” he said, in an even voice, -“that you will kill me, so I take the precaution of speaking -beforehand. I could easily kill you, because I happen to be a dead shot -with the pistol. But I shall spare your life. I shall only shatter -your right hand. I do it that you may wear, as long as your body holds -together, the badge of my mercy to you--for her sake.” - -“How dare you speak of her!” fumed Aloyse. “Yes; I shall kill you for -your insolence to our house.” - -“It amuses me to see you rage,” said Grafton. “It makes me realize what -I rescued her from.” - -Aloyse was in a paroxysm of anger. “My cousin and I will marry the day -after to-morrow. It is all arranged--” - -“All--except her consent,” answered Grafton, with a mocking smile. “I -love her. I know her. I trust her. However this may fall out, she will -never marry you.” - -He returned to his place. “I think I’ve put a shake into his hand,” he -said to Burroughs, in an undertone. “I don’t mind admitting I tried to, -as this is a farce so far as I am concerned. I’m not anxious to die if -I can help it.” - -Moltzahn, holding the pistols, was standing midway between Aloyse and -Grafton, and a little to one side. He looked from Grafton to Aloyse. -“Walk towards me,” he said, “and when you are face to face turn your -backs each to the other. I will hand each of you a pistol. Walk towards -your places again, and when you reach them stand without turning -until Mr. Burroughs begins to count. At three turn and fire at your -convenience. Are you ready, gentlemen?” - -Aloyse and Grafton bowed. - -“Advance!” - -They walked slowly and steadily, each towards the other. Grafton seemed -dreamy and abstracted, Aloyse’s little brown eyes were angry and his -brows were drawn in an exaggerated frown. When they were about two feet -apart, Moltzahn, standing as near to one as to the other, said: “Turn!” - -They wheeled, and he handed each a cocked pistol. “To your places, -gentlemen,” he said. They began the slow return. Burroughs, his hands -trembling, was trying to moisten his lips for the giving of the signal. -The two doctors, all in black and with long brown beards, stood apart, -the Swiss doctor interested but calm, the Zweitenbourgian with his -knees knocking together and his hands sliding nervously one over the -other. The sun, clearing the crest of a ridge, sent an enormous billow -of light to burst through the mists and flood the dense, dew-showered -foliage of the western front of the valley. - -“Now, Mr. Burroughs,” said Moltzahn, in a low tone. - -“One!” said Burroughs, and his voice was thin and shrill; the sound of -it made him shiver. “Oh, God!” he thought, “I may be giving the signal -for a murder.” - -“Two!” His voice was hoarse. - -“Three!” wrenched itself from his tightening throat in a gasp. He hid -his face in his arms. “What have I done? What have I done?” he groaned. -It seemed an eternity; why did they not shoot and have it over with? He -dropped his arm and looked; they had had barely time to come round face -to face. - -Aloyse fired first by an instant; then Grafton. Grafton stood -motionless. Aloyse gave an exclamation of pain; his pistol dropped to -the ground and the blood spurted over his shattered hand until it was -red and raining red from every finger. - -Grafton, his feet together, began slowly to fall forward, his eyes -closing. Burroughs cried out and rushed to him and caught him. - -“Where is it?” he whispered. - -“A mere trifle--a scratch on the arm,” whispered Grafton. “Sh! Be -careful!” And he closed his eyes and lay motionless. - -“Quick, Dr. Berners!” exclaimed Burroughs, starting up wildly from -beside his friend. “I think he’s been killed.” - -Berners was already there, was tearing open Grafton’s coat, waistcoat, -shirt, and undershirt. Dr. Kirschner, his face beaming and his hands -rubbing, bustled up. “His Royal Highness has been graciously pleased -to send me to render what aid I can. His Royal Highness’s own wound is -slight--” - -“Back to your master!” exclaimed Burroughs, apparently beside himself -with rage and grief, and standing between Kirschner and Grafton. “My -friend is dead--shot down by that assassin!” - -Dr. Kirschner put on the death-bed look. “Let us hope not so bad as -that.” - -“Yes--dead,” said Berners, looking round at his colleague and shielding -Grafton so that Kirschner could not see his chest. “He is shot through -the heart.” - -Kirschner rushed to Aloyse and Moltzahn. Aloyse was ruefully regarding -the bandage Kirschner had hastily wrapped round his hand before going -on Aloyse’s magnanimous mission. “I regret to inform Your Royal -Highness that Mr. Grafton’s wound is most serious.” - -“Is that all?” Aloyse scowled. “I aimed for his heart.” - -Dr. Kirschner lowered his eyes; even his humble soul revolted. “Your -Royal Highness,” he said, in a low voice, “Mr. Grafton is dead.” - -“Dead!” Aloyse’s lips shrivelled and he staggered slightly. - -“Your Royal Highness shot him through the heart,” said Moltzahn, in a -congratulatory tone. - -“Dead!” Aloyse’s voice was hoarse. “Let us go,” he said. - -“But I must dress Your Royal Highness’s wound,” urged Kirschner. - -“In the carriage,” Aloyse answered, impatiently. He cast a hasty glance -towards the group on the grass--the prostrate man, the two kneeling -beside him. “Let us go,” he said, and led the way. - - - - -X - -The Grand Duke Prepares to Celebrate - - -On the drive back to Zweitenbourg Aloyse’s spirits gradually rose. He -ceased to see that group with such painful distinctness; Moltzahn and -presently Dr. Kirschner flattered him on his marksmanship. Pshaw! it -had been a mere coincidence that Grafton had shot him precisely as he -said he would. He forced himself to remember more and more vividly -Grafton’s impudence--and impudence to a Traubenheim! And impudence to a -Traubenheim in an affair of the heart!--and that affair one in which -the lady was also a Traubenheim. He had but meted out just punishment -for an assault upon his own honor, the honor of his wife-to-be, the -honor of his house. - -In the last two or three miles he was hilarious, boasting -boisterously--he had had something to drink and nothing to eat--of his -prowess and of how all Traubenheims always thus served the impudent -enemies of their house. And Moltzahn, concealing his contempt and -disgust, and Dr. Kirschner, full of the loyalty of a devoted subject, -urged him on. He set the doctor down at his house and Moltzahn at his -club--Moltzahn did not dare show himself at The Castle. Then he drove -on with a growing appetite. He reached The Castle at seven o’clock, -just in time for his regular breakfast with his father. - -The Grand Duke was invariably in a vile humor in the morning; he ate -so much and exercised so little that he slept badly. He insisted on -his son always breakfasting alone with him, and, under the pretence of -training him for the throne, wreaked his ill-humor upon him. Aloyse -hurriedly changed from the plain clothes in which he had fought to -an undress uniform, and flew to the breakfast-room. He was in high -spirits; at last he had done something which his father would applaud. -As he entered, Casimir looked at him sourly. He brought his heels -together and saluted. Then he advanced, as usual, bent his knee, but -put his left hand, instead of his right, under his father’s right hand -extended for him to kiss. - -“What is the matter with your right hand?” screamed the Grand Duke. - -Aloyse jumped and shivered like a guilty child and his wits scattered. -He held out his right hand in its sling, stupidly staring at it. - -“Speak--and no lies!” - -“In a duel,” he stammered. - -The Grand Duke pushed back his chair from the table. His look was so -frightful that terror gave speed to Aloyse’s tongue. “I challenged -the American, father--and killed him,” he said, the last phrase -explosively. “I shot him through the heart.” - -Casimir brought his chair close to the table again, lifted his cup of -coffee, and drew in several draughts, each with a loud, sucking sound. -“Eat your breakfast!” he said, in a sharp but not unkindly tone. “You -must be hungry; have one of my peaches.” - -Casimir’s peaches were his especial dish. They were grown at great -expense under his own eye, and no one else was permitted to have them. -In all his life Aloyse could remember only one occasion on which his -father had offered to share his peaches; it was twenty years before, -when Aloyse, seated in a high-chair at that table, had seen the Prime -Minister take one at Casimir’s request; the reason, as Aloyse learned -long afterwards, was that the Prime Minister had saved the Traubenheims -their title of “Royal Highness,” which was gravely threatened. Though -he detested peaches, Aloyse ate the peach greedily, swelling with pride -and importance. - -Prudence bade him say no more of his achievement; but vanity and a -loose tongue impelled him to seek further flatteries from his father. -He looked at the old man’s sardonic, yellow face several times before -he ventured to speak. - -“I ask to be permitted to tell Erica myself,” he said. - -His father stopped eating and raised his head from his plate. He seemed -to have concentrated all the acidity of his nature in his face. The -color rose in Aloyse’s cheeks and mounted his brow until his features -were all ablaze and a sweat was standing on his forehead. - -“You propose to tell the woman you wish to marry, and whose consent you -must get--you propose to tell her that you have murdered her lover.” -Casimir said the words slowly, without accent, quietly. Then he put his -face down until it was again hovering within a few inches of his plate. - -There was a long pause, and Casimir spoke again. “Every day you -remind me more and more of your grand-uncle.” Aloyse remembered his -grand-uncle--the Grand Duke Wilhelm, a jibbering idiot, who sat all day -on the floor in a corner gnawing his nails and his great whiskers. - -Another long pause, and Casimir spoke again. “Go to your apartments, -and don’t leave them until I summon you. And never permit a syllable -about your duel to escape your lips. Deny it; if necessary, _swear_ you -know nothing about it. If possible, she must never know how he died or -that he’s dead. Be off!” - -Later in the morning Casimir read the report of the chief of his secret -police on Grafton’s last hours in Zweitenbourg. His secret agents -said that Grafton had communicated with no one except an American -tourist--an obviously casual acquaintance and talk; that Ernestine had -not moved from her home over the bake-shop in Emperor Ferdinand Second -Street. And when the chief came to him and in great confusion confessed -that his men had lost Grafton between Zweitenbourg and Venice, the -Grand Duke was sarcastic but not angry. “Drop the matter,” he said. - -He sent Baron Zeppstein to inquire how Her Serene Highness did, and -whether she would permit His Royal Highness to do himself the honor -of waiting upon her. As the answer was favorable, Casimir put on his -most paternal face and went to Erica’s apartments. She was all fire and -indignation. - -“First,” she said, “I demand that Your Royal Highness send away that -woman and that soldier.” - -“Certainly, my child.” And he went to the door and himself ordered -them away. As the woman was leaving he called her back. He returned to -Erica. “Shall I send for your own maid?” he said. “This woman can fetch -her. Yes?” And he told the woman to bring Ernestine forthwith. - -“The peril is past,” he said, standing beside Erica and laying his hand -on her shoulder. “I know what youth and hot blood are; I, too, have -dreamed of happiness. But our rank means duty; to you it means Aloyse -and the future of our ancient house. You think I’m harsh, child, but it -is the kindness of experience.” - -Erica looked scorn at him. “The grand-ducal house of Traubenheim,” she -said, “has the throne. The ducal house has the private wealth. Yes, -my dear uncle, you are, indeed, kind--to yourself and Aloyse. You -know--none better--that your son is an ignorant, brutish fool. You know -that this life here is dull and repellent--a hell on earth, a mockery -of a life, a torture-pen of yawning and meaningless routine. Don’t -flatter my intelligence, my dear uncle, by talking of your kindness and -my duty.” She started up. “And sooner or later I shall go where love -and life call me,” she exclaimed, passionately. - -A ghost of a sardonic smile flitted over the yellow old face at this -reference to Grafton. Then he said, sternly, but without harshness: -“We shall send the heralds into the town this afternoon to proclaim -the marriage for Monday. We shall announce in the _Gazette_ that the -Inheriting Grand Duke is ill, and that, because of your great love for -him and his for you, the marriage has been hastened. And on Monday you -will be married.” - -The old man spoke with much dignity--the dignity of one all his life -accustomed to being implicitly obeyed, of one descended from a long -line of arbitrary rulers. And although Erica denounced and denied his -command with all the strength of her soul, his words sounded to her -like clods upon a coffin. - -“As I said,” he went on, in a gentler voice, “the peril is past. That -young adventurer, that young picture dealer from across the water”--he -laughed--“his impudence was refreshing! I admire audacity; he almost -deserved to win; I’m not surprised that you were almost swept off your -feet. But he will not annoy you further. He’s gone, my child; he took -himself away last night. So, feeling that you were no longer in danger -of being annoyed and humiliated by his impertinences, I have removed -the guards.” - -“Then I am free?” - -“It would be well,” said Casimir, with faint emphasis, “for you to keep -within The Castle for the present; of course, you must have your walks -under proper protection.” - -He extended his hand for her to kiss it. For the first time in her life -the act seemed not a ceremony but a degradation. “I begin anew here,” -she said to herself. She pretended not to see his hand. He slipped away -with his soft, sliding shuffle. When he walked in that fashion those -who knew him feared him. - - - - -XI - -An Overwhelming Defeat - - -There was no time to be lost, as it was now noon, Saturday, and the -wedding was to be on Monday. As soon as Ernestine came Erica began to -act. - -“You must go back home at once,” she said to her. “You have forgotten -your clothes; that will do as a pretext. Send your brother to -Schaffhausen on the first train. He must see Mr. Brandt and tell him to -meet me to-night at the first cross-road beyond the park gates. I shall -try to be there at one. If I can come at all, it will not be later -than three. If he cannot come, he will find me at the Hotel Rhein -to-morrow, or next day, under the name of Madam von Briesen.” - -As Ernestine left The Castle a soldier joined her, saying: “My orders -are to go with you and let no one speak to you except in my presence.” - -Ernestine took this news with a seeming of great cheerfulness, and -jested with her guard all the way to town. Her family lived in three -rooms, and with a little diplomacy she easily delivered her message to -her brother in the rear room while the soldier sat in the front room -drinking beer with her youngest sister. But she did not venture to call -at Windmuller’s, in Duke Albrecht Street. - -When she returned to The Castle the preparations for the wedding were -going forward apace. The central part, where were the principal rooms -of state, was open at every window and door; tradespeople were coming -and going; there were sounds of hammering, clouds of dust from the -windows, a press of wagons about the doors. The Grand Duke had decided -to make the wedding a big, public affair, so that Erica would feel -that it was impossible to retreat. And he had left it open whether the -ceremony itself was to be public or private. - -At eleven that night Ernestine crept softly down the corridor and -reconnoitred both stairways leading from the apartments of Her Serene -Highness to the lower floors. At the foot of each was a soldier with a -huge white rosette on his left arm, in honor of the coming gayeties. -Erica had expected this; she simply wished to discover where the enemy -lay. She dressed in the uniform of a lieutenant of the Household -Guards. When she and Ernestine had made it, two years before, she had -been full of the idea of running away for several days to “see the -world” from a man’s point of view. But her audacity failed her--that -is, she permitted the obstacles to seem insurmountable, and she never -got beyond parading her rooms in it, with Ernestine as a critic of her -counterfeit of a man’s figure and walk. The feat she now proposed would -have been extremely difficult, if not impossible, in woman’s dress. - -She was putting the finishing touches to her masculine toilet when -Ernestine hurried into her dressing-room in a panic. Baron Zeppstein -was waiting to see her. Erica drew off her top-boots and thrust her -feet into a pair of slippers; she drew on a loose wrapper, tied a -white shawl about her shoulders, and, letting down her hair, appeared -before the Baron. - -Zeppstein’s old head was almost knocking his swollen knee-joints. -“By His Royal Highness’s command, Your Serene Highness,” he said, -humbly, “I come to inquire of you in person whether you are entirely -comfortable.” - -Erica was gracious, bade him sit, asked about the preparations for -the wedding in detail, made several adroit remarks which seemed to -indicate that she was secretly preparing to yield but did not wish to -gratify the Grand Duke and humiliate herself by relieving his suspense. -Zeppstein went away convinced, and was able to make a convincing -report which stood the test of Casimir’s exhaustive and searching -cross-examination. - -It was now midnight and Ernestine put out all lights. She was to go to -bed, and if any one came and insisted upon seeing her mistress, she -was to detain him as long as possible, and profess ignorance and alarm -should the flight be discovered. - -Erica advanced down the lofty stone passage-way. It was an alternation -of bands of darkness and bands of moonlight. She took the second -corridor to the left and stole along it until, in the darkness, her -foot touched the first step of the ascending stairway. She went up, -opened the door at the top, and entered. When she had bolted this door -she breathed more freely. - -She went up a second and narrower flight of stairs and slipped through -a window to a small balcony. It was in the full moonlight, but it -looked only upon the roofs and the deserted battlements of The Castle. -Holding to the ridge of stone above her head she stepped to the next -balcony. From this she was able to go out upon the ledge extending -along the huge tower fifteen or twenty feet above the battlements. The -ledge was narrow and there was no hold for her hands. She clung to the -wall and sidled slowly along, feeling her way with her feet and her -body. She did not dare open her eyes except when she paused. - -At last she came to the place where the ledge passed immediately above -and very close to the pointed roof of the throne-room. She stepped down -softly and cautiously; the roof was steep, and, should she slip, she -would slide to the edge, where, if she did not fall to the battlements, -she would cling until rescued and returned to captivity. She worked -herself along the ridge of the roof to the great circular skylight -which divided it into two parts. She glanced down through one of the -open sections. Scores of people were at work decorating the throne-room -for the wedding. - -“If I fail,” she thought, “I shall be forced there, perhaps, and it is -set for to-morrow!” - -The last qualm of nervousness left her. She walked the ledge round the -skylight and crawled out upon the pointed roof beyond. She drew herself -along it until she was above one of the windows projecting from the -slope of the roof. She let herself down; she touched the cap of the -window; she slid slowly along the outer edge of its frame until she was -able to reach round into it. - -It was fastened. Clinging to roof and window-frame she unbuckled her -sword, and with it broke a pane of glass. She listened; not a sound -after the echo of the crash had died away. Then she became conscious -that some one else was on that roof. - -With heart beating wildly and body trembling she peered round the -window-frame. Far away along the ridge of the roof she saw a shape -which was unmistakably a man’s. And as she watched, it moved; it was -some one coming from the eastern end towards her. Had he seen her, or -had he come after she had slid behind the window-frame? She feared he -was on his way to intercept her, but she did not lose heart. - -She reached through the broken pane and unfastened the window and -opened it. Then, with as little noise and as little exposure of -herself as the profound quiet and the brightness of the moon permitted, -she crawled round the projecting frame and into the window. She -ventured to glance out and upward again; the man was creeping along the -ridge; he had passed the point where he would have begun to descend -towards her if he had seen or heard her; he was moving in the direction -from which she had come. With a long sigh she closed the window. “Two -minutes later,” she said to herself, “and I should have been taken.” - -She was in an empty room, in the attic of the extreme eastern end of -the central part of The Castle. She brushed her uniform, straightened -her belt and sword, set her helmet well forward on her head, and -sallied forth. She went down the stairway, cobwebs clinging to her -face and sounds of the movements of disturbed creatures--bats or -birds--coming to her through the darkness. At the foot of a second and -long flight of stairs she found herself on the landing from which two -great corridors branched--the one to the right leading to liberty, the -one to the left leading to her cousin Aloyse’s apartments. - -Some one was coming towards her in the corridor to the right; she -was compelled to take Aloyse’s corridor. The footsteps--they were -cautious footsteps--followed her. She shrank into a niche and stood -like a statue. As the man passed a window the moonlight revealed him to -her--Prince von Moltzahn. He was disregarding her uncle’s prohibition -and was coming to see Aloyse. He opened a door so nearly opposite where -she stood that she could see into the room--could see Aloyse, in a -dressing-gown, seated at a table on which was a tray containing bottles -of whiskey and soda. - -“Ah! von Moltzahn; you were never so welcome. No; leave the door open. -It’s frightful in here. I can’t breathe. Help yourself to the whiskey.” - -“I expected to find you ill,” said Moltzahn. “His Royal Highness has -given out that you have a fever.” - -“Yes; and he’s shut me up here until the wedding. He treats me like a -dog. But wait until I’m married and get hold of some cash. He won’t be -able to keep his feet on my neck then.” - -“But why has he shut you in?” - -“I wanted to tell Her Serene Highness that I’d killed that American -pig.” - -Erica heard; but not until the words had repeated themselves again and -again in her brain did she understand them. Her cousin went on: “He was -pleased when I told him; he gave me one of his peaches. But he doesn’t -want her to know about it. He doesn’t understand women’s--” - -“What was that?” exclaimed Moltzahn, and both leaped to their feet. -Aloyse rushed to the doorway. - -Erica had sunk straight down to the floor, and, as her collapsed body -fell over, her sword and helmet clashed against the stone. Aloyse, -looking into the dimness, could see the form of a soldier--suggestions -of the uniform of the Household Guards. He muttered a curse. - -“What is it?” called Moltzahn. - -“The old brute has put a guard over me,” said Aloyse, turning back, -“and the fellow’s in a drunken sleep. You’d better go.” - -Moltzahn fled, with only a glance at Erica, and Aloyse closed his -door and went sullenly to bed. Gradually the coolness of the stone -revived her. She sat up--and remembered. She could not imagine, did -not try to imagine, how long she had lain there or why she had not -been discovered. A wave of desolation swept over her. She had thought -she loved this man who had come into her life so suddenly, who had -taken her heart by storm, who had opened for her a way of escape from -a wearisome life which marriage to her cousin would have made hideous, -unendurable. But she did not until now realize how much she loved -him--not as her liberator but as her lover. “No; he is not dead!” her -heart protested. “Aloyse is a liar, a braggart. There is some mistake.” - -She dragged herself to her feet. “I will go back,” she moaned. -“Dead--my love is dead!” She knew that it was the truth; she felt that -it was a lie. “But I shall go back--” - -To what? To be the wife of the man she had heard boasting of his -murder. She became suddenly strong. “Never! Never!” And aching with -grief, yet hoping beside the corpse of hope, she rushed on until she -was almost in the arms of a sentinel. She turned back and dropped upon -a bench round a corner a few feet from him. The big bell of the chapel -boomed half-past one. She rose and went a few steps in the direction of -Aloyse’s room. Hate, a passion for vengeance, was bounding through her -veins; she would wrench the truth from him, then kill him. - -But now there came the sound of several shots and confused shouts. -The sentinel ran, and she turned and followed him across one of the -huge entrance halls out into the open; the cool air from the mountains -poured upon her, and her heart began to revive. She saw a man dart -from the shadow of The Castle’s walls to the west, strike down a -soldier who barred his path, and run zig-zag towards the forest. All -were rushing in that direction, and she ran also, but as quickly as -she could plunged into the deep shadows. She made a détour and took a -course parallel to the road that led to the park gates, two miles and -a half away. She must get to the cross-roads where Ernestine’s brother -would be waiting--to tell her that her lover was dead! But instead of -enfeebling her the thought carried only enough conviction of its truth -to inflame her desire to get away--to fly where she would never again -see the wretch who had desolated her. - -There was some one in the shadow ahead; it must be the escaping robber. -But how would he--how would she--pass the sentinel at the park gates? -The alarm must have been signalled from The Castle. She was almost -exhausted. She could see the robber--he was between her and the one dim -gate-lamp over the small side gate. He heard her coming and whirled -about. - -“Come on!” she panted, hoarsely; were they not companions in flight? -“I’ll get you through!” - -He followed her as she ran straight for the sentry, who was standing -with his gun at a challenge. - -“Halt!” said the sentry, loudly. - -“Quick! Quick! Open!” she panted. The robber, who had been standing -aloof, suspicious of her now that he saw her uniform, came forward. The -sentry also noted the uniform and saluted. “There’s been a robbery or -something at The Castle--” he began. - -“Yes--yes,” she gasped. “That’s it--open--don’t delay us!” - -The sentry stupidly stood aside, and she and the robber dashed through -the side gate and down the dark road abreast. - -“Hi! Come back!” yelled the sentry, his slow wits at last collecting in -a doubt. He sent a shot after them. - -But they ran the faster, getting into the deepest shadow. At the second -bend from the gates she stopped and sank into the grass. The robber -stopped also. - -“Go on,” she gasped, in a whisper; her voice was all but gone. “Don’t -mind me.” - -“That wouldn’t be fair,” he said. At the sound of his voice she rose -up, flung her arms about his neck, and fainted. - -“Well!” ejaculated the man. “What’ll I do with him?” He held her in his -arms, looking helplessly about. He tried to lift her to his shoulders, -but he was too exhausted to bear the additional weight. He laid her in -the grass and ran on down the road. - -She came to in the dampness and cold of the long grass. As she sat -up a troop of cavalry rushed by on its way to the town. She began to -remember; she had got the robber through the gates, and then delirium -had seized her and she had fancied he was Grafton--no, it was not -delirium; he _was_ Grafton! She understood now; her message had not -reached him, but he had come on his own plan; it was he who passed her -on the roof of the throne-room; it was he who, seeking her, had been -discovered, and, making a dash for liberty, had given her the chance to -escape--no, it was not delirium. But where was he now? She could hear -only the murmur of the woods. Why had he left her after she had flung -her arms about his neck? - -From far down the road in the direction of the town came a rush and -roar as of a locomotive. She rose to her knees, to her feet. It was a -racing-automobile. As it drew near its pace slackened and its noise -grew louder. It came to a stop a few feet from her and stood shaking -and panting. - -“Somewhere along here,” she heard, in Grafton’s voice, and he leaped -from the seat and came into the shadow. “Oh, there you are! Why didn’t -you call out? Come, get in here!” And he caught her by the arm. “Don’t -you hear the cavalry coming back?” He half lifted, half flung her into -the seat and leaped in himself. “Turn about, Burroughs, and go straight -for ’em!” - -She tried to speak, but she was dumb, limp. The automobile sprang -forward and was soon going at a tremendous pace; it would have been -impossible for a voice to be heard. She looked ahead; the wind was -shrieking in her ears; the cavalrymen had halted in a moonlit stretch -of the road. - -She could see their pistols lifting. “They are about to fire!” she -thought. - -She flung off her helmet, released her hair, and stood up. The moon -was shining full upon her face and upon her long hair streaming and -gleaming behind her. She saw the pistols instantly fall before the -apparition of “Her Serene Highness,” and the horses reined back upon -their haunches. The automobile rushed past them at the speed of an -express train and fled, unpursued and unpursuable, along the military -road towards the Swiss border. - -She felt somebody’s arms close about her and then somebody’s kisses on -her face. - - - - -XII - -The Spaniard is Captured - - -At dinner at the Hôtel Krone, Schaffhausen, that same evening, Grafton -told his wife and Burroughs the story of the Spaniard--how it had led -him to her. She secretly resolved that the Spaniard must and should be -theirs. In the morning she wrote her uncle an offer to give up the part -of her estates that lay in the Grand Duchy in exchange for the picture. -The acceptance came, prompt and polite; Casimir is not the man to bite -his nails and chatter his teeth at fate. And so there was a surprise -for Grafton when they went to Paris. - -And this is the true story of how it happens that the spurious -Velasquez again hangs in the Grafton house in Michigan Avenue. But it -is not in its old place in the galleries. It is on the wall beyond the -foot of Mrs. Grafton’s bed. - - -THE END - - - - -BY ROBERT W. CHAMBERS - - - CARDIGAN. Illustrated. Cloth, $1 50. - -A rattling good Indian story of the days just before the Revolution. -The descriptions of frontier life and Indian fighting remind one of -Stephen Crane at his best. The love affair between Cardigan and “Silver -Heels” is one of the most original in recent fiction. - -The picture of Pittsburg fashionable society in 1774, the balls, races -taverns, diversions, the intrigue of Lord Dunmore, the elopement and -pursuit, the savagery of Indian warfare, the treachery of the Tories, -are of the most exciting and wonderful character.--_Pittsburg Post._ - - - THE CONSPIRATORS. Illustrated. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it -under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this -eBook or online at <a -href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you are not -located in the United States, you'll have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this ebook.</p> -<p>Title: Her Serene Highness</p> -<p> A Novel</p> -<p>Author: David Graham Phillips</p> -<p>Release Date: December 25, 2020 [eBook #64128]</p> -<p>Language: English</p> -<p>Character set encoding: US-ascii</p> -<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HER SERENE HIGHNESS***</p> -<p> </p> -<h4 class="pgx" title="">E-text prepared by D A Alexander, David E. Brown,<br /> - and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> - (https://www.pgdp.net)<br /> - from page images generously made available by<br /> - Internet Archive<br /> - (https://archive.org)</h4> -<p> </p> -<table border="0" style="background-color: #ccccff;margin: 0 auto;" cellpadding="10"> - <tr> - <td valign="top"> - Note: - </td> - <td> - Images of the original pages are available through - Internet Archive. See - https://archive.org/details/herserenehighnes00philrich - </td> - </tr> -</table> -<p> </p> -<hr class="pgx" /> -<p> </p> -<p> </p> -<p> </p> - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/cover.jpg" width="40%" alt="" /></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_frontispiece.jpg" alt="" /></div> -<p class="caption"><i>HER SERENE HIGHNESS</i></p> - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"> -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_title.jpg" alt="" /></div> -</div> -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="titlepage"> - -<h1><span class="red"><small>HER</small><br /> - -<span class="smcap">Serene Highness</span></span></h1> - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_crowns.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<p><span class="antiqua">A Novel</span><br /> - -by<br /> - -<span class="large">DAVID GRAHAM PHILLIPS</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_titlelogo.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<p>NEW YORK AND LONDON<br /> - -<span class="large">HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS</span><br /> - -1902</p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p class="center">Copyright, 1902, by <span class="smcap">Harper & Brothers</span>.<br /> - - -<i>All rights reserved.</i><br /> - -Published May, 1902.</p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak">Contents</h2> -</div> - -<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" summary="table"> - - - -<tr><td><small>CHAP.</small></td><td> </td><td class="tdr"><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> - -<tr><td>I.</td><td> <span class="smcap">The Grand Duke’s Spaniard</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_1"> 1</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>II.</td><td> <span class="smcap">An American Invades</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_25"> 25</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>III.</td><td> <span class="smcap">A Skirmish</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_45"> 45</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>IV.</td><td> <span class="smcap">Two in the Trees</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_58"> 58</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>V.</td><td> <span class="smcap">A Prince in a Passion</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_80"> 80</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>VI.</td><td> <span class="smcap">Her Serene Highness Surrenders</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_108"> 108</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>VII.</td><td> <span class="smcap">The Grand Duke Gives Battle</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_126"> 126</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>VIII.</td><td> <span class="smcap">The American is Reinforced</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_134"> 134</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>IX.</td><td> <span class="smcap">The Crown Prince is Decorated</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_145"> 145</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>X.</td><td> <span class="smcap">The Grand Duke Prepares to Celebrate</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_159"> 159</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>XI.</td><td> <span class="smcap">An Overwhelming Defeat</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_171"> 171</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>XII.</td><td> <span class="smcap">The Spaniard is Captured</span></td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_193"> 193</a></td></tr> -</table> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p class="ph1">Her Serene Highness</p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_1"></a>[1]</span> -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_chaptercrowns.jpg" alt="" /></div> -<p class="ph1">Her Serene Highness</p> - - - - - - -<h2 class="nobreak">I<br /> - - -<small>The Grand Duke’s Spaniard</small></h2> -</div> -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/i_dropcapO.jpg" width="100" alt=""/> -</div> - - -<p class="drop-cap">ON the top floor of Grafton’s -house, in Michigan Avenue, -there was a room filled with -what he called “the sins of the -fathers”—the bad pictures and statuary -come down from two generations of more -or less misdirected enthusiasm for art. -In old age his father had begun this collection; -forty years of dogged pursuit of -good taste taught him much. Grafton<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_2"></a>[2]</span> -completed it as soon as he came into -possession.</p> - -<p>In him a Grafton at last combined -right instinct and right judgment. Although -he was not yet thirty, every picture -dealer of note in America and Europe -knew him, and he knew not only them -but also a multitude of small dealers with -whom he carefully kept himself unknown. -He was no mere picture buyer. -The pretentious plutocrats of that class -excited in him contempt—and resentment. -How often had one of them destroyed, -with a coarse fling of a moneybag, -his subtle plans to capture a remarkable -old picture at a small price. For -he was a true collector—he knew pictures, -he knew where they were to be found, -he knew how to lie in wait patiently, how -to search secretly. And no small part<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_3"></a>[3]</span> -of his pride in his acquisitions came from -what they represented as exhibits of his -skill as a collector.</p> - -<p>A few months before his father died -they were in New York and went together -to see the collection of that famous -plutocratic wholesale picture buyer, Henry -Acton.</p> - -<p>“Do you see the young Spaniard over -there?” said the father, pointing to one -of the best-placed pictures in the room.</p> - -<p>The son looked at it and was at once -struck by the boldness, the imagination -with which it was painted. “Acton has -it credited to Velasquez,” he said. “It -does look something like Velasquez, but -it isn’t, I’m certain.”</p> - -<p>“That picture was one of my costly -mistakes,” continued the elder Grafton. -“I bought it as a Velasquez. I was completely<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_4"></a>[4]</span> -taken in—paid eleven thousand -dollars for it in Paris about twenty-five -years ago. But I soon found out what -I’d done. How the critics did laugh at -me! When the noise quieted down I -sold it. It was shipped back to Paris -and they palmed it off on Acton.”</p> - -<p>Just then Acton joined them. “We -were talking of your Velasquez there,” -said the elder Grafton.</p> - -<p>Acton grew red—the mention of that -picture always put him angrily on the -defensive. “Yes; it <i>is</i> a Velasquez. -These ignorant critics say it isn’t, but I -know a Velasquez when I see one. And -I know Velasquez painted that face, or -it wasn’t painted. It’ll hang there as -a Velasquez while I live, and when I die -it’ll hang in the Metropolitan Museum -as a Velasquez. If they try to catalogue<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_5"></a>[5]</span> -it any other way they lose my whole collection.”</p> - -<p>While Acton was talking the younger -Grafton was absorbed in the picture. The -longer he looked the more he admired. -He cared for pictures as well as for names, -and he saw that this portrait was from -a master-hand—the unknown painter had -expressed through the features of that -one face the whole of the Spaniard in the -Middle Ages. He felt it was a reflection -upon the name of Grafton that such a -work of genius had been cast out obviously -because a Grafton could appreciate -only names. He said nothing to -his father, but then and there made up -his mind that he would have that picture -back.</p> - -<p>Apparently there was no hope. But -he was not discouraged; patience and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_6"></a>[6]</span> -tenacity were the main factors in his temperament.</p> - -<p>While he was sick with typhoid fever at -a New York hotel Acton got into financial -difficulties and was forced to “realize” on -all his personal property. His pictures -were hurriedly sent to the auctioneer. -Grafton, a few days past the crisis in his -illness, heard the news at nine o’clock in -the evening of the third and last day of -the sale. He leaped from bed and ordered -the nurse to help him dress. He brushed -aside protests and pleadings and warnings. -They went together to Mendelssohn Hall. -Grafton made the driver gallop the horses. -He rushed in; his Spaniard was on the -easel.</p> - -<p>“How much is bid?” he called out.</p> - -<p>Everybody looked round, and the auctioneer -replied, “It’s just been sold.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_7"></a>[7]</span>There was a laugh, Grafton looked so -wild and strange. Leaning on the arm of -the nurse he went to the settlement desk. -“To whom was that picture sold?” he said -to the clerk.</p> - -<p>“On a cable from Paris, Mr. Grafton,” -interrupted one of the members of the auction -firm. “We’ve had a standing order -from Candace Brothers for five years to -let them know if the picture came or was -likely to come into the market. And -they’ve cabled every six months to remind -us. When Mr. Acton decided to sell, we -sent word. They ordered us to buy, with -fifteen thousand dollars as the limit.”</p> - -<p>Grafton was furious; he would gladly -have paid twenty. “And what did it go -for?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“Seventeen hundred,” replied the dealer. -“Everybody was suspicious of it. We<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_8"></a>[8]</span> -would have got it for five hundred, if it -hadn’t been for an artist; he bid it up to -his limit.”</p> - -<p>“I must sit,” said Grafton to his nurse. -“This is too much—too much.”</p> - -<p>He was little the worse for his imprudence, -and was able to sail on the steamer -that carried the picture. He beat it to -Paris, and went at once to Candace Brothers, -strolling in as if he had no purpose -beyond killing time by looking about. -He slowly led the conversation round to a -point where Louis Candace, to whom he -was talking, would naturally begin to -think of the Acton sale.</p> - -<p>“We’re getting in several pictures from -New York,” said Candace—“from the -Acton sale.”</p> - -<p>“I was ill while it was on,” said Grafton, -carelessly. “What did you take?”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_9"></a>[9]</span>“A Rousseau, a Corot, a Wyant, and a—Velasquez.” -He hesitated before speaking -the last name, and looked confused as -Grafton slightly elevated his eyebrows. -“Of course,” he hurried on, “we strongly -suspect the Velasquez; in fact, we know -it’s not genuine. But we’re delighted to -get it.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t understand,” said Grafton. -“I know you too well to suspect that it -will be sold as a Velasquez.”</p> - -<p>“But certainly not. Even if we did -that sort of thing, we couldn’t deceive any -of your rich countrymen or any of the -English with it. The story is too well -known. No; we bought it for His Royal -Highness the Grand Duke of Zweitenbourg. -It is—or he thinks it is—a portrait -of one of his Spanish ancestors. His -agent tells me that it is the only known<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_10"></a>[10]</span> -work of a remarkable young Spaniard who -was soon afterwards killed at the siege -of Barcelona, early in the eighteenth century. -They are not even sure of his name. -The Grand Duke was most anxious to get -it. For years we have been sending him -semiannual bulletins on Monsieur Acton’s -health and financial condition.”</p> - -<p>Grafton’s heart sank. Here was a true -collector—a past-master of the art. “If I -hadn’t been a mere novice,” thought Grafton, -“I, too, would have had bulletins on -Acton, and a standing order. As it is, my -trouble has only begun,” for, being himself -a true collector, with all the fatalism -of the collector’s temperament, he was not -despairing, was only the more resolute in -face of these new difficulties.</p> - -<p>“His Royal Highness,” continued Candace, -“wants the picture because it fills<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_11"></a>[11]</span> -one of the gaps in his gallery of ancestral -portraits.” Under skilful questioning, -Candace yielded the further information -that the keeper of the Grand Duke’s privy -purse, Baron Zeppstein, would arrive the -following Thursday personally to escort -the picture to Zweitenbourg.</p> - -<p>It reached Paris on Tuesday, and Grafton -took Jack Campbell, whom he found at -the Ritz, round to Candace’s on Wednesday -morning. Campbell, having been thoroughly -coached, made offers for several -pictures, all too low, then pretended to -fall in love with the Spaniard. He insisted -that it was a Velasquez—Grafton -seemed to be disgusted with him, somewhat -ashamed of him. When Candace -told him that the picture was sold, he had -them send a telegram to the Grand Duke -offering eight thousand dollars for it. A<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_12"></a>[12]</span> -curt refusal to sell at any price came a few -hours later.</p> - -<p>Campbell and Grafton were there the -next morning when Baron Zeppstein came. -As he was voluble, and appreciative of -the rare pleasure of an attentive listener, -Grafton rapidly ingratiated himself, and -soon had him flowing on the subject of -“my royal master.”</p> - -<p>“His Royal Highness has two passions,” -said the Baron, “Americans and his pictures. -You Americans are making astonishing—I -may say appalling—inroads in -Germany; your ideas are getting even into -the heads of our women, our girls. I don’t -like it; I don’t like it. It’s breeding a -race of thinking women. I can’t endure -a thinking woman. You can’t imagine -what I’m suffering just now through Her -Serene Highness; but no matter. Your<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_13"></a>[13]</span> -terrible democratic ideas of disrespect for -tradition, for institutions, for restraints, -are slipping about even in the palaces of -our kings. His Royal Highness—the story -goes that he was in love with one of your -beautiful countrywomen and that she refused -to marry him; she did marry his -brother, Duke Wolfgang—morganatically, -of course. It would be impossible for one -of the house of Traubenheim to marry -a commoner in the regular way. Your -American invasion hasn’t extended that -far—”</p> - -<p>“And the pictures?” interrupted Grafton, -impatient of the digression.</p> - -<p>“Ah—yes—<i>there</i> His Royal Highness -has a high enthusiasm, a noble passion. -He is positively mad about Rembrandts. -He has a notable collection of them, and -is always trying to add to it.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_14"></a>[14]</span>Grafton’s eyes dropped; he feared that -this simple old Zweitenbourgian might -read his thoughts. “Rembrandts?” he -said. “That interests me. I have the -same craze in a small way.” And he -drew the Baron on. He learned that a -Rembrandt filled the Grand Duke with -the same burning longing for possession -with which his craze, the spurious Velasquez, -was now filling him. He began -to see victory. He cabled his Chicago -agent to send him forthwith, in care of -Candace Brothers, his two examples of -Rembrandt’s early work. When he was -a boy, travelling about with his father, -he had found them in an obscure shop in -Leyden. They now interested him little -except as reminders of an early triumph. -But to a collector of Rembrandts they -would be treasures.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_15"></a>[15]</span>A few days after sending the cable he -went in the morning with Mrs. Campbell -to Paquin’s—Mrs. Campbell was at -Paris for her annual shopping. She was -to be fitted for six dresses, she explained, -and that meant an hour—perhaps two -or three hours. But Grafton was so attracted -by the scene that he said he would -wait, at least until he was tired. He -seated himself on the sofa against the -wall, near the door. It was in line with -the passage-way into which the fitting-salons -open.</p> - -<p>The general room was crowded with -women—women in the fashions of the day -preparing for the fashions of the morrow; -girls—the pretty, graceful, polite dressmakers’ -assistants famed in Parisian song -and story—persuading, soothing, cajoling, -flattering. There were a few men,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_16"></a>[16]</span> -all of them fitters except two. The exceptions -were Grafton, trying to efface -himself, and Paquin, trying to escape. -He had come forth at the request of a -customer important enough to be worthy -of personal attention, but not important -enough to be admitted to the honor of his -private consultation-room. The women -had seized him and, regardless of his bored -and absent expression and speech, were -swarming about him, impeding his retreat.</p> - -<p>Grafton soon forgot himself, so interested -was he in his surroundings—the clamor -in French, German, English, American, -Italian, Spanish; the exhibits of manners -grand and manners sordid; the play of -feminine emotions—the passion for dress, -the thoughtful pauses before plunging -into tempting extravagances, the reckless -yieldings to temptation, the woe-begone<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_17"></a>[17]</span> -putting aside of temptation; the mingling -of women of all degrees, from royalty and -American to actress and demi-mondaine. -And they so far ignored the male intruder -that they were presently tossing aside -dresses into his lap or spreading them -against his knees for better display. He -retreated along the sofa before up-piling -silks and satins and laces and linens. At -last he had to choose between being submerged -and abandoning the sofa. He -still lingered, meekly standing, his hat -and stick buried. As he was examining -an evening dress that pleased him mightily—a -new kind of silk in new shades, a cream -white over which a haze of the palest blue-green -seemed to be drifting—he chanced -to glance along the passage-way.</p> - -<p>One of the fitting-salons was open, and -half in the doorway, half in the hall, stood<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_18"></a>[18]</span> -a young woman. Her waist was off; -her handsome shoulders and arms were -bare, yet no more than if she had been in -evening dress. She had fine brown hair -with much red in it. Her features were -strong and rather haughty, but delicate -and pleasing. Her skin was dead-white, -colorless even on her cheeks. She was -frowning and biting her lip and tapping -her foot on the floor. As he glanced she -caught his eye. She beckoned imperiously.</p> - -<p>He put down the dress and went slowly -towards her.</p> - -<p>“Quick,” she said, in French. “My -patience is exhausted. I’ve been waiting -half an hour and no fitter has come. Are -you a fitter?”</p> - -<p>“No,” he replied, also in French. “I’m -not exactly a fitter; I’m a—an American. -But I’ll get you one.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_19"></a>[19]</span>“Heavens!” exclaimed the young woman, -in English, and she darted into her -salon and slammed the door.</p> - -<p>Two attendants—a man and a woman—came -at him from opposite directions. -“But, monsieur! But, monsieur! What -does monsieur do here? It is forbidden!” -Their politeness was thin, indeed, over their -alarm and indignation.</p> - -<p>“The lady called me,” explained Grafton, -calmly. “It was impossible for me to -disobey her. She thought I was a fitter.”</p> - -<p>As he spoke she opened her door and -showed her head. The attendants, with -serious faces, began to pour out apologies. -“Pardon, Your Serene Highness! We -hope that your—”</p> - -<p>“It was my fault,” she interrupted, in -French, and he noted that she had a German -accent. Her look of condescending<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_20"></a>[20]</span> -good-nature was not flattering to him. -It said that in the mind of Her Serene -Highness he and the two attendants -formed a trio of inferior persons before -whom she could conduct herself with -almost as much freedom as before so many -blocks of wood.</p> - -<p>“No apology is necessary,” he said, -with abrupt courtesy. “You wish a fitter. -I’ll see that you get one at once.”</p> - -<p>Her Serene Highness flushed and withdrew -her head. “Take him away,” she -called through the door, in a haughty tone, -“and send a fitter.”</p> - -<p>Grafton faced the attendants. He drew -from his pocket two ten-franc pieces and -gave one to each. “Have the goodness -to get mademoiselle her fitter instantly,” -he said.</p> - -<p>They bowed and thanked him and he<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_21"></a>[21]</span> -slowly returned to his sofa. Half an -hour and she issued from her salon in -street costume. Close behind her came -an old-maidish German woman. As they -reached the door, Grafton held it open. -Her Serene Highness drew herself up -coldly. He bowed with politeness and -without impertinence, and closed the door -behind them.</p> - -<p>“Who was that lady?” he said to her -fitter, hurrying past with her dresses on -his arm.</p> - -<p>“Her Serene Highness the Duchess -Erica of Zweitenbourg, monsieur. She is -the niece of His Royal Highness the Grand -Duke Casimir.”</p> - -<p>Grafton met her twice the next day. -In the morning he was at the tomb of -Napoleon. A woman—one of two walking -together a short distance in front of him<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_22"></a>[22]</span>—dropped -her handkerchief. He picked -it up and overtook her.</p> - -<p>“Pardon, mademoiselle,” he said. “Your -handkerchief.” She paused. He saw that -it was Her Serene Highness. At the same -time she recognized him and the smile -she had begun died away. She took the -handkerchief with an icy “Thanks.” He -dropped back, but their way happened to -be his. Her companion glanced round presently; -he was near enough to hear her say, -“The person is following Your Serene -Highness.” He came on, passed them as -if unconscious of their existence, and they -changed their route.</p> - -<p>In the afternoon he was at the Louvre. -He saw two women coming towards him—Her -Serene Highness and her companion. -As they saw him they turned -abruptly into a side corridor. He came<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_23"></a>[23]</span> -to where they had turned; there lay a -handkerchief. He picked it up and noted -that it was a fine one, deeply bordered -with real lace. In the corner, under a -ducal crown, was the initial “E.” He -walked rapidly after the two women and, -although they quickened their pace, he -was soon beside them.</p> - -<p>“Pardon, mademoiselle,” he began.</p> - -<p>Her Serene Highness flushed with anger -and her gray eyes blazed. “This is -insufferable!” she exclaimed. “If you do -not leave—”</p> - -<p>“Your handkerchief,” he said, extending -it, his eyes smiling but his face grave.</p> - -<p>She looked at it in horror. “Monsieur -is mistaken,” she said, fighting against -embarrassment and a feeling that she -had made herself ridiculous.</p> - -<p>“Mademoiselle is mistaken—doubly mistaken,”<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_24"></a>[24]</span> -he replied, tranquilly. “The handkerchief -bears her monogram, and”—here -he smiled satirically—“if mademoiselle -is vain enough to mistake common courtesy -for impudence, I am not vain enough -to mistake accident—even <i>twice repeated</i> -accident—for design.”</p> - -<p>She looked at him with generous, impulsive -repentance and took the handkerchief -from his outstretched hand. “It -is mine,” she said, in English, “and I regret -my foolish mistake.” Her tone had -no suggestion of condescension. It was -the tone of the universal woman in presence -of the universal man.</p> - -<p>He bowed his appreciation without speaking -and went rapidly away.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_25"></a>[25]</span> -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_chaptercrowns.jpg" alt="" /></div> -<h2 class="nobreak">II<br /> - - -<small>An American Invades</small></h2> -</div> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/i_dropcapW.jpg" width="100" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap">WHEN his Rembrandts came, -Grafton took the package to -his hotel, opened it, assured -himself that they were in good -condition, sealed it, and left it with Candace -Brothers. “I may telegraph you to -forward it,” he said. But he did not tell -them what was in it nor where he was -going; they might betray him or forestall -him, and so deprive him of the pleasure -of a successful campaign in person -and unaided.</p> - -<p>He reached the town of Zweitenbourg -at noon on a Monday, five days after his<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_26"></a>[26]</span> -Spaniard. At half-past two he was in a -walking suit and on his way to the Grand -Ducal Palace, “The Castle,” to reconnoitre. -It was July, and the air of that elevated -valley was both warm and bracing. From -the beautiful road hills and mountains -could be seen on every side—the frontiers -of the Grand Duchy.</p> - -<p>It had once been almost a kingdom. -It was now shrunk, through the bad political -and matrimonial management of the -reigning house, to less than two hundred -and fifty square miles. But the Zweitenbourgians -were proudly patriotic—they -disdained mere size; they were all for -quality, not quantity. Besides, they were -as vague in general geography as the -average human being; they thoroughly -knew only the internal geography of Zweitenbourg. -In their text-books the Grand<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_27"></a>[27]</span> -Duchy posed as the central state of civilization. -In their school histories its grand -dukes cut a great figure. For example, -it was their Grand Duke Godfrey who, -slightly assisted by a Prussian general, -Blücher, won the battle of Waterloo. Wellington -comes in for a mere mention, as a -sort of “among those present”—“a small -force of English under a Lord Wellington,” -so runs the account, “was defeated -in the first day’s engagement and almost -caused the rout of the Grand Duke Godfrey -and his allies; but on the second day, -after the English had been beaten, and -when they were about to run, the Grand -Duke and Blücher came up with the main -army and Napoleon was overthrown.” In -the Zweitenbourg atlases the map of each -country was printed on a separate plate, -and all were apparently of about the same<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_28"></a>[28]</span> -size. And, finally, all Zweitenbourgians -knew that their men were the bravest and -their women the most beautiful in the world, -and that all foreign nations were inhabited -by peoples who were ignorant, foolish, -and perfidious.</p> - -<p>After two miles between garden-like -farms, Grafton found himself at the entrance -to what seemed a wilderness. There were -two huge stone pillars, each capped with -a grand-ducal crown. There were two -great bronze gates with a large C under a -crown in the centre of each. The gates -were open, and between the pillars went -the military road, clean, smooth, perfect, -to plunge into the wilderness. Beside the -entrance was an ivy-covered lodge, in front -of it a soldier in the blue and white uniform -of the Grand Duke’s Household -Guards. He was marching up and down,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_29"></a>[29]</span> -his rifle at shoulder arms. As Grafton -advanced he halted and shifted his rifle to -a challenge.</p> - -<p>“Show your passport,” he commanded, -in a queer dialect of German.</p> - -<p>“I have no passport,” replied Grafton.</p> - -<p>The soldier looked at him stupidly. -“But every foreigner has a passport,” he -said.</p> - -<p>“I have none.”</p> - -<p>“Ah; very well.” The soldier shrugged -his shoulders and resumed his march.</p> - -<p>Grafton stood where he had halted. -“May I go on?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“Yes; why not?” said the soldier.</p> - -<p>“But why did you ask for my passport?”</p> - -<p>“It’s in the rules. Pass on or you may -get into trouble. You know perfectly well -that all are admitted to the park at this -season.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_30"></a>[30]</span>“Then there is a closed season?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know,” said the soldier, crossly. -“I never heard of one. It’s in the rules to -admit every one from April until December. -No one comes the rest of the year. But I -don’t suppose he could be shut out if he -did. There’s no rule which says so.”</p> - -<p>“Then why these rules?”</p> - -<p>The soldier gave the profoundly thoughtful -frown of those incapable of thought. -“I don’t know,” he said. “Soldiers must -have rules. Everything must be done by -rules, so that it will be done just as it -used to be. We’ve had the same rules—oh, -hundreds of years. Nothing must be -changed. What’s new is bad, what’s old -is good.”</p> - -<p>Grafton trudged on into the wilderness. -The road gradually swept into another -road. He saw that it was a circle, a girdle,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_31"></a>[31]</span> -about a lake which was perhaps four miles -long and two miles wide, blue as the sky -and mirroring it to its smallest flake of -snowy cloud. Opposite him, across the -width of the lake, towered and spread -The Castle, with turrets and battlements, -a vast, irregular mantle of ivy draping -part of its old gray front. He could see -terraces and lawns of brilliant green, the -gaudiness of flower-beds and flowering -bushes, red and blue and purple and yellow. -“Where Her Serene Highness lives,” -he thought.</p> - -<p>He decided to walk as far as The Castle; -next day he would drive and perhaps pay -his respects to Baron Zeppstein. He was -impressed by the loneliness of the park, -apparently an untouched wilderness except -the road. The birds were singing. -Now and then there would be a crash and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_32"></a>[32]</span> -he would see a deer making off, or a whir -and a scurrying flapping, and he would -get a glimpse of some wild bird in panic-stricken -flight. As he came nearer to The -Castle the signs of habitation were numerous, -but still not a human being. At -last he was close to the walls, looking up -at them.</p> - -<p>He could see nothing but the perfect -order of the shrubbery to indicate that -any one had been there recently. The -huge gates—solid doors rather than gates—were -closed. The sun was shining, -the waters of the lake glistened, the foliage -was fresh and vivid, the soft, strong -air blew in a gentle breeze. But there -was a profound hush, as if the grim old -fortress-palace, and all within and around -it, had long been locked in a magic sleep.</p> - -<p>A sense of uncanniness was creeping<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_33"></a>[33]</span> -over him in spite of his incredulous American -mind. He was startled by a trumpet -blast which seemed to come from the depth -of the woods to the left. Standing in the -middle of the road, he turned. He had -just time to jump aside.</p> - -<p>Out of the woods, by a cross-road he had -not noted, swept a gorgeous cavalcade. -As he looked he felt more strongly than -ever like a time-wanderer who had been, -in a twinkling, borne backward several -centuries. First to pass him at a mad -gallop were six soldiers on tall black chargers. -They and their horses were trapped -in the blue and white of the Household -Guards. Corselets and plumed helmets -and chains clashed and rattled and flashed -as they flew past. A few yards behind -them, at the same furious pace, came a -graceful, long-bodied carriage of strange<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_34"></a>[34]</span> -coloring and design, drawn by eight black -horses with postilions. On a curious foot-board -at the back of the carriage stood two -footmen in a mediæval livery. They were -hanging on by straps. Behind the carriage -came six more black-horsed cavalrymen -of the Household Guards.</p> - -<p>As Grafton gaped through the dust -in the wake of this ancient spectacle it -halted before The Castle’s gates so abruptly -that every horse reared to its -haunches. But immediately all was quiet, -motionless. One of the cavalrymen put -a trumpet to his lips and sent a blast echoing -and re-echoing like a peal of fairy -laughter to and fro over the lake. As -if there were enchantment in that blast, -the great weather and battle scarred doors -of The Castle swung noiselessly back. -Out came eight men in mediæval costumes,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_35"></a>[35]</span> -each bearing a long, slender, brazen trumpet. -Four went to either side of the entrance. -They put the trumpets to their -lips and sounded a fanfare.</p> - -<p>Grafton’s expectation was at excitement -pitch. What did this gorgeous revival -of mediævalism presage? what dazzling -apparition was about to greet his -ravished eyes?</p> - -<p>Now appeared a man in mediæval court -costume, resplendent in velvet and lace -and silver braid. He was walking backward, -bowing low at each step, his velvet, -beplumed hat in his hand. And then -the central figure—His Royal Highness -Casimir of Traubenheim, Grand Duke -of Zweitenbourg, Prince of the Holy Roman -Empire, Margrave of Plaut, Prince -of Wiesser, of Dinn, of Feltenheim, Count -in Brausch and in Ranau. He was a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_36"></a>[36]</span> -sallow, cross-looking little man, with thin -shoulders, legs, and arms, and a great -paunch of a stomach, dilated and sagged -from overfeeding. He was dressed in a -baggy tweed suit and a straight-brimmed -top-hat. He seated himself in the carriage.</p> - -<p>“What an anticlimax!” thought Grafton. -But there was a second and briefer -flourish of the trumpets, and then appeared -the Duchess Erica, in a white cloth dress -and a big white hat and carrying a white -parasol. Grafton felt like applauding. -“The spectacle is looking up,” he said. -He was near enough to note that her sweet -face was discontented, impatient, almost -sad. She seated herself beside the Grand -Duke. The mounted trumpeter blew, the -cavalrymen in front wheeled and struck -spurs into their horses, the whole procession<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_37"></a>[37]</span> -was instant whirling away—it was -gone. Grafton glanced at The Castle doors; -they were closed again and the trumpeters -and the courtier had disappeared. -The dust settled, the magic sleep descended.</p> - -<p>Grafton might have thought himself -the victim of an illusion had he not seen, -far away across the lake, a cloud of dust, -and in front of it the gaudy cavalcade -and the grand-ducal carriage, the shine -of blue and silver and polished steel rushing -along as if fleeing from a fiend. -And after a few minutes it came towards -The Castle again from the other direction. -The horses were dripping, their coats -streaked with foam. At the entrance -there were the same startling halt, the same -mysterious opening of doors, the same -stage-like assembling of trumpeters, the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_38"></a>[38]</span> -same flourishes. The Grand Duke and -his niece and the attendants disappeared, -the procession fled into the woods; there -was silence and ancient repose once more.</p> - -<p>Grafton set out on the return walk, -trying to force himself to stop thinking -of Her Serene Highness and to resume -thinking of her uncle and his Spaniard. -He had not gone far when a court-officer -issued from a by-path. He paused to get -a good look at this romantic figure, and -presently recognized beneath the enfoldings -of finery his commonplace, voluble -acquaintance of the Paris picture-shop, -Baron Zeppstein.</p> - -<p>“Why, how d’ye do, Baron Zeppstein!” -he called out.</p> - -<p>The Baron looked at him superciliously, -then collapsed into cordiality. “Meester -Grafton!” he exclaimed. “It is a pleasure—a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_39"></a>[39]</span> -joyful surprise. I did not know -you at first.”</p> - -<p>“Nor I you,” said Grafton. “I seem to -be the only modern thing here—except the -old gentleman who took that quiet jog -around the lake a few minutes ago.”</p> - -<p>“His Royal Highness,” corrected the -Baron, pompously. “He takes a drive -every afternoon.”</p> - -<p>“A good show,” said Grafton. “But -I think I’d tire of it. I’d rather look at -it than be in it. I should say that he -earned his salary.”</p> - -<p>The Baron laughed vaguely. “You -Americans do not understand our ways,” -he said. “You are so practical—so busy. -You have no time for tradition and beauty -and ceremony.”</p> - -<p>“No; we’re a common lot,” said Grafton. -“We’d think this sort of thing was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_40"></a>[40]</span> -a joke if it happened outside of a circus. -But it’s a very serious business, isn’t it?” -His face was grave.</p> - -<p>“It is; it is, indeed,” said Zeppstein, -his shallow old face taking on a look of -melancholy importance. “But we must -do our public duty; we must accept the -cares of high station. And His Royal -Highness—ah, how he suffers! We others -have our relaxations—we get away to -our families. But His Royal Highness—this -is his vacation. And, mein Gott, -he yawns and curses all day long. Yes, -it is trying to be near the great of earth, -but not so trying as to be great.”</p> - -<p>“He looks ill-tempered,” said Grafton, -sympathetically.</p> - -<p>“But think what he suffers. Imagine! -Usually he must wear a heavy, tight uniform -and a steel helmet; he says it has<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_41"></a>[41]</span> -given him the headache almost every day -for twenty-seven years. But the dignity -of the nation must be maintained.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, indeed,” said Grafton. “And -when is the best time to see him? I’m -going to call on him.”</p> - -<p>Zeppstein looked at the American as if -he thought him insane. “But, my dear -sir,” he said, deprecatingly, “you don’t -understand. You will have to wait until -His Royal Highness’s vacation is over. -Then you must go to your minister and -he will lay your wish before the Grand -Chamberlain. And if possible your name -will be placed on the list for one of the -levees—there are five each winter.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I don’t want to see the Grand Duke -in his official capacity; it’s a little private -matter—about a picture.”</p> - -<p>“But the Grand Duke has no other<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_42"></a>[42]</span> -capacity. He is head of the state; he is -the state every hour of every day, except -when he’s abroad. Then he often graciously -condescends to be a mere gentleman.”</p> - -<p>“But I can’t wait. You ought to be -able to arrange it. You’ve got influence.”</p> - -<p>“Yes.” Baron Zeppstein was flattered. -“But, unfortunately, none is permitted to -speak to His Royal Highness unless he -has commanded it—that is, no one but -his son, the Inheriting Grand Duke, and -his niece, the Duchess Erica, and the Grand -Chamberlain. And—I am, just at present, -at outs with them. Her Serene Highness -is most intractable—one of the new -school of wild young princesses who are -cutting loose from everything in these -degenerate days.”</p> - -<p>“She certainly doesn’t look tame.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_43"></a>[43]</span>“I had the honor of escorting her to -Paris when I went for His Royal Highness’s -picture,” Zeppstein continued. “It -was a painful experience. And instead of -sustaining me, His Royal Highness—but -it was most humiliating.”</p> - -<p>“Excellent,” said Grafton. “I can be -of service to you. I own a Rembrandt -which I wish to let the Grand Duke have -at a bargain. I’m certain he’ll be most -anxious to get it once he hears of it. Now, -if you should be of assistance to him in -getting it, he would be grateful, wouldn’t -he?”</p> - -<p>Zeppstein became thoughtful. “Not -grateful,” he said. “It isn’t in His Royal -Highness to be grateful. But it might -make him think me useful. What do you -propose?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know; I can’t tell yet. Keep<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_44"></a>[44]</span> -quiet until I’ve looked over the ground -and made my plans.”</p> - -<p>“I am at your service,” said Zeppstein. -“You would weep to hear how the Grand -Chamberlain and his faction have humiliated -me. They make me the butt of -their jokes at dinner to amuse His Royal -Highness. They—”</p> - -<p>“You shall be revenged,” said Grafton, -shaking hands with him and hurrying away.</p> - -<p>From the moment he recognized old -Zeppstein until he left him he had been -fighting to restrain himself from leading -the talk to Erica. He now caught himself -regretting it. He stopped short. “Ridiculous!” -he exclaimed. “What an idiot I -am to let such ideas into my head. It must -be in the air here. I’m getting as romantic -as—as—as she looks.” And he walked -on, her face and her voice haunting him.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_45"></a>[45]</span> -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_chaptercrowns.jpg" alt="" /></div> -<h2 class="nobreak">III<br /> - - -<small>A Skirmish</small></h2> -</div> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/i_dropcapG.jpg" width="100" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap">GRAFTON learned that the next -was one of the three weekly -public days at the Grand -Duke’s galleries. About eleven -the next morning he went to look at his -Spaniard and develop his plans for its -capture. As he neared The Castle he saw -a gardener at work upon his knees, trimming -a bush of big pink and white flowers.</p> - -<p>“Where is the entrance to the galleries?” -he asked, when he was within a yard of -the gardener.</p> - -<p>“Sh!” whispered the gardener, looking -nervously up at the windows.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_46"></a>[46]</span>“What is it?” said Grafton, following -his glance and seeing nothing.</p> - -<p>“His Royal Highness permits no noise,” -replied the gardener in an undertone. -“He hears every sound—especially every -little sound. Only Sunday it was that he -sent out to have the noise stopped. And -there was no noise that anybody could -hear. And when the First Gentleman of -the Bedchamber reported it to His Royal -Highness, what do you think His Royal -Highness said? It was marvellous!”</p> - -<p>“And what did he say?” inquired Grafton.</p> - -<p>“His Royal Highness said, ‘It is the -sound of the grass and bushes growing. -Tear them up!’ Isn’t it wonderful?”</p> - -<p>“Wonderful!” said Grafton. “Why -aren’t they torn up?”</p> - -<p>“All the gentlemen of the court entreated<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_47"></a>[47]</span> -and at last dissuaded His Royal Highness. -It was a terrible crisis. Some of the gentlemen -were weak from agitation and -sweating. Yes, His Royal Highness is -a true prince. Only a true prince could -hear grass and bushes grow.”</p> - -<p>“It’s fortunate he’s a prince, isn’t it?” -said Grafton. “Now, if he were an ordinary -mortal they’d lock him up in a lunatic -asylum.”</p> - -<p>The gardener gave a frightened look at -the windows, then almost whispered: “Yes, -that is so. But princes are different from -us; they’re so sensitive, so high-bred. I -often think of the things they do here, -and I say, ‘If I were to do that, they’d -think I was light in the head.’ But, of -course, princes can’t be judged like ordinary -people.”</p> - -<p>“No, indeed,” assented Grafton, “that<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_48"></a>[48]</span> -would never do. Where is the entrance to -the galleries?”</p> - -<p>“Take the path to the left until you -come to the modern wing. The entrance -is under the balcony; you will see it.”</p> - -<p>Grafton followed the gardener’s directions -and, climbing the steps, was about -to open the door. At each side, in the -same frame, were long, narrow glass windows. -At one of these peeping-windows -he saw the Grand Duke, his mouth distended -in a tremendous yawn. Grafton -hesitated. The Grand Duke, in an old, -black frock-suit, opened the door.</p> - -<p>“Good-morning,” said Grafton. “Are -you the keeper of the galleries. These are -the Grand Duke’s galleries, are they not?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.” The Grand Duke beamed. -“Won’t you come in?”</p> - -<p>“I’m an American,” continued Grafton,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_49"></a>[49]</span> -“and I’m much interested in pictures. -I particularly wished to see the Grand -Duke’s Rembrandts.”</p> - -<p>“Ah; it will be a pleasure to show you -through. We like Americans here.” He -spoke in excellent English. “We once -had an American at our little court. But -when her husband died she fled. It was -too dull for her. But we have to stay -here.”</p> - -<p>“You surprise me,” said Grafton. “I -had always heard that the Grand Duke -was a most interesting, a most unusual -man.”</p> - -<p>Casimir shrugged his shoulders. “He -is the most bored of all. He does nothing -but regret his youth. He is old, worn-out, -a poor creature—no strength, no -stomach, no nothing but memories, and -a bad temper. And he doesn’t get much<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_50"></a>[50]</span> -pleasure out of his temper. Of what use -is a temper when no one dares answer -back?”</p> - -<p>They had come to Grafton’s Spaniard, -indifferently hung among the fierce-looking -Teutonic war-lords in armor. “Evidently -he doesn’t care especially for it,” -said Grafton to himself. Aloud he said: -“What a collection of fighters!”</p> - -<p>“No wonder they fought,” replied the -Grand Duke. “They were so bored that -they had to fight to save themselves from -suicide or lunacy. Any one would make -war in their position—if he dared.”</p> - -<p>“But it isn’t allowed so much nowadays.”</p> - -<p>“No; worse luck,” growled the Grand -Duke.</p> - -<p>“Why!” exclaimed Grafton. “There’s -the spurious Velasquez from Acton’s collection.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_51"></a>[51]</span> -Surely the Grand Duke wasn’t -caught on that.” Grafton went to the -proper distance and angle and examined -his beloved Spaniard with a tranquil -face and a covetous heart. “It seems -strange to meet an old acquaintance so -far from home. If I hadn’t been ill when -Acton sold, I’d have bid on this. It’s -pleasing, very pleasing, though clearly -not a Velasquez.”</p> - -<p>“We got it because it is a portrait of -one of our house—the Duke of Hispania -Media, who captured Barcelona early in -the eighteenth century.”</p> - -<p>“Was that before or after the Archduke -Charles took it?”</p> - -<p>“It was the capture sometimes erroneously -credited to the Archduke Charles. -He was present, I believe.”</p> - -<p>Grafton laughed good-naturedly. “And<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_52"></a>[52]</span> -in England I suppose they’d say Peterborough -took it—he was present, I believe.”</p> - -<p>“The English are great liars,” said -Casimir, sourly.</p> - -<p>“That’s what every nation says about -every other,” said Grafton.</p> - -<p>The Grand Duke chuckled. “And all -are right. Now we come to the Rembrandts.”</p> - -<p>It was a fine collection, and Grafton -and the Grand Duke went slowly from -picture to picture, from drawing to drawing, -comparing opinions, telling stories -of experiences in collecting. When they -reached the examples of Rembrandt’s early -work, Grafton was enthusiastic. “But,” -said he, “it is too small; there should -be more examples.”</p> - -<p>“True,” Casimir sighed. “It is not so -satisfactory as we wish.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_53"></a>[53]</span>“Possibly I attach more importance -to this weak spot,” continued Grafton, -“than another would, because I have an -example of his early work and so am interested -in it.”</p> - -<p>“What is your example, may I ask?” -Casimir spoke in a too casual tone.</p> - -<p>“A peasant woman with an astonishingly -handsome-ugly face; it’s usually -described as ‘The Woman with the Earrings,’ -because they are very queerly -shaped.”</p> - -<p>As Grafton thus described the smaller -and less interesting of his two early Rembrandts, -he watched Casimir’s face mirrored -in the glass over a picture. He -saw a swift glance, so piercing that -he would not have believed those burned-out -eyes capable of it. But when Casimir -spoke it was to say, carelessly, “I<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_54"></a>[54]</span> -think I’ve heard of it—a small affair, -isn’t it?”</p> - -<p>“I couldn’t get more than fifteen or -twenty thousand marks for it, if I were -selling it,” said Grafton. If he had not -seen the swoop of that covetous collector -glance he would have been discouraged -and would have begun to talk of his larger -Rembrandt. But he decided to wait. -Perhaps the smaller Rembrandt would -alone get him his Spaniard, and possibly -another picture to boot.</p> - -<p>They went on with their examination. -Apparently the Grafton Rembrandt had -passed from the Grand Duke’s mind. -After three-quarters of an hour he said: -“Now this, I think, antedates your -‘Armorer.’”</p> - -<p>The only outward sign of confusion -Grafton gave was to pause abruptly in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_55"></a>[55]</span> -his walk. “Your ‘Armorer’!”—that was -his other and finer Rembrandt. How -did the Grand Duke know he had it when -he had not spoken of it? “Fool that -I am!” he said to himself. “The Grand -Duke knows his subject, knows where -the Rembrandts are. Why, he now knows -my name, I’ll wager.” He was much -depressed; he felt that he would not get -his Spaniard either easily or cheaply. -“The only advantage I have left is that -he doesn’t know just what I want, though, -no doubt, he has made up his mind that -I’m not here for mere sight-seeing.”</p> - -<p>As he was thinking he was examining -the picture to which Casimir had called -attention. He now said: “No, I think -not; I’m sure my ‘Woman with the Earrings’ -antedates it.” Again the glass -covering of a picture betrayed Casimir;<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_56"></a>[56]</span> -Grafton saw a look of relief in his face. -“He knew he’d made a break,” thought -Grafton, “and now he hopes I didn’t notice -it.”</p> - -<p>After a few minutes Grafton said he -must be going. Casimir’s face was as -unreadable as his own; no one could -have suspected from looking at either -that both were determined to meet again. -Grafton thanked Casimir heartily and -turned away.</p> - -<p>“Do you stay long here?” asked Casimir.</p> - -<p>“A day or two, perhaps,” replied Grafton. -“My plans are unsettled.”</p> - -<p>“To-morrow is a closed day. But if -you return, I shall be glad to show you -the rest of the collection.”</p> - -<p>Grafton knew he had scored. “You are -very kind,” he said.</p> - -<p>“It is possible that I may be able to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_57"></a>[57]</span> -show you through His Royal Highness’s -apartments. There are several remarkable -pictures—a Leonardo, a few Van Dycks, -and some interesting moderns.”</p> - -<p>“That would be delightful.”</p> - -<p>“Then it is agreed?”</p> - -<p>“If I can arrange it. At what hour?”</p> - -<p>“At ten. I shall expect you.”</p> - -<p>“I think I can come. You are most -courteous.”</p> - -<p>“It is a pleasure. Until to-morrow!”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_58"></a>[58]</span> -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_chaptercrowns.jpg" alt="" /></div> -<h2 class="nobreak">IV<br /> - - -<small>Two in the Trees</small></h2> -</div> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/i_dropcapC.jpg" width="100" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap">CLEAR of The Castle, Grafton -looked at his watch; it was -half-past three. “That’s why -the servant poked his head in -at the door so often,” he thought. “We -were at it more than three hours.” He -strode along in a jubilant frame of mind. -He felt that the Spaniard was practically -his; it was a question of detail. And -Casimir was a worthy antagonist; the -struggle would be full of interest for -both.</p> - -<p>He was still a quarter of a mile from -the park gates when he heard a scream.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_59"></a>[59]</span> -He listened; nearly half a minute of -silence, and then a lusty-lunged feminine -call for help. He dashed into the wilderness, -breaking a path with difficulty -through the heavy undergrowth. He had -gone three or four hundred yards, guided -by the repeated calls, when he heard in -the same voice, in German: “Come no -nearer until I explain.” He pressed on; -there was a ferocious, growling grunt -and a big wild boar, with open jaws and -long yellow tusks, came at him. He made -for a tree and scrambled up into its -branches. He heard a suppressed laugh; -his panic-stricken climb could not have -been other than ludicrous to an on-looker; -he glanced all round but could see no -one through the curtain of leaves.</p> - -<p>“Where the devil is she?” he said, in -English, his voice louder than he thought.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_60"></a>[60]</span>“Here,” came the reply, also in English; -“the third tree to your right—the lowest -limb.”</p> - -<p>He now saw a pair of laced boots with -high tops and the edge of a brown cloth -walking-skirt. “Those feet look promising,” -he thought, as he watched them -swinging cheerfully. He crawled farther -out on the big limb. When he paused again -he could see her waist; a brown silk sash -with tasselled ends was wrapped several -times round it. He could also see one -of her hands; she had her glove off and -the hand was as promising as the feet. -He crawled a little farther. Pausing again, -he peered out; he was looking into the -charming, amused face of Her Serene -Highness! She recognized him instantly. -She tried to sober her features, but the -spectacle of this dignified young man on<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_61"></a>[61]</span> -all fours craning his neck at her through -the leaves was too much for her gravity. -She began to laugh, and, as he instinctively -released one hand, took off his hat -and bowed, she became almost hysterical.</p> - -<p>He swung himself round and found a -secure sitting from which he could view -her. She said: “I beg your pardon; -I’m so—”</p> - -<p>“Don’t mind me,” he said, good-humoredly. -“It’s most becoming to you to -laugh.”</p> - -<p>She straightened her face and elaborately -brought forward a look designed to -“put him in his place.”</p> - -<p>“I prefer the laughter,” he said. “Posing -isn’t a bit becoming to you—not a bit. -You seem to have the habit of drawing -me into disagreeable situations and then -putting on airs. Who invited me down<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_62"></a>[62]</span> -that passage-way at Paquin’s? Who dropped -her handkerchief twice in my path -and suspected me of flirtation? Who summoned -me to come and amuse her by being -chased by a wild boar?”</p> - -<p>“But I told you to stop,” she protested, -feebly.</p> - -<p>“Rather late, wasn’t it? I’m not complaining. -It’s delightful to have the -chances fate has given me. But I strongly -object to your blaming me for fate’s -fault.”</p> - -<p>“You are rude,” she said, hotly. “You -are taking an unfair advantage of my -helpless position.”</p> - -<p>“Pray calm yourself,” he answered. -“All I ask of you is ordinary civility or -silence. I certainly have no desire to -thrust myself upon you.”</p> - -<p>Both were silent and sat watching the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_63"></a>[63]</span> -boar as it ranged frantically from one -tree to the other, pausing at each to look -up with an insane gleam in its wicked, -little, blood-shot eyes. After fifteen minutes -Grafton moved slowly back towards -the fork of the tree. As he reached -it and seemed about to descend, she said, -in a humble tone that made him smile inwardly, -“Where are you going, please?”</p> - -<p>“I’m going to make a dash for a rifle -I see on the ground,” he answered.</p> - -<p>“You mustn’t—you mustn’t. I forbid -it!” she exclaimed.</p> - -<p>“Have you any suggestion to offer -as to how we are to escape?”</p> - -<p>“No,” she replied, reluctantly, “except -to call out.”</p> - -<p>“And bring somebody else to make -an amusing spectacle of himself—if he -doesn’t happen to get killed. I can’t congratulate<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_64"></a>[64]</span> -you on your scheme.” And he -continued his descent.</p> - -<p>“Stop; for God’s sake, stop!” she called -out. “I am ashamed of myself. I am -sufficiently punished.”</p> - -<p>“My dear young lady, I’m not punishing -you; I’m trying to get myself, and -incidentally you, out of this mess.”</p> - -<p>“Please—<i>please</i>—come back where I can -see you; I wish to say something to you.” -It was certainly Erica and not Her Serene -Highness who was speaking now.</p> - -<p>He obeyed her. When he could see her -again he said, “Well?”</p> - -<p>“I—I want you to say that you forgive -me,” she said, earnestly. “I want to see -that you forgive me.”</p> - -<p>He looked at her in a friendly way. -“I understand how it is with you. I -don’t in the least blame you. Only,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_65"></a>[65]</span> -in my country, we never permit any one -to take that tone towards us. And now, -please, Your Majesty of the Oak Tree, -may I go for the rifle?”</p> - -<p>“May I say that you mustn’t?” she -asked, a smile in her eyes.</p> - -<p>“I’d like to have a reason.”</p> - -<p>“Well, in the first place”—she hesitated—“it -isn’t loaded.”</p> - -<p>He looked at her searchingly. She -blushed.</p> - -<p>“Is it your rifle?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“Yes; I always carry it when I walk -in the woods; there’s a chance that something -disagreeable might escape from the -forest into the park, though the fences are -strong and high. And to-day when the -boar came at me”—she looked as though -she felt very foolish—“my foot caught -and—I dropped the rifle.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_66"></a>[66]</span>“And you don’t load it?”</p> - -<p>She looked still more confused. “No, -I’m not so silly as that. It is loaded,” -she said. “You’re always making me -apologize to you.”</p> - -<p>“Or is it that I make you feel like apologizing -to yourself?”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps that is it,” she admitted. -“But—<i>please</i> don’t go down for the rifle.” -She looked at the boar—its thin, powerful -body, its vicious green eyes, its greedy, -raw mouth—how those tusks and those -pointed hoofs could tear and rip and -mangle! Then she looked at the handsome, -calmly courageous young American. -“<i>Please</i>,” she begged. “If anything -should go wrong with you, think -how it would make me suffer, for I got -you into this danger.”</p> - -<p>“I’ve a better plan,” he said. “I might<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_67"></a>[67]</span> -climb through on the branches until I was -directly over the gun. Then you could -distract the brute’s attention by swinging -your sash just over his nose. I could -jump and grab the gun; I’d have plenty -of time to aim and kill him.”</p> - -<p>“That sounds very—unsafe,” she objected.</p> - -<p>“At any rate, it will do no harm for me -to get as near the gun as possible,” he said. -And he began to crawl along a branch -in the general direction of the rifle. The -boar noted the movement and followed -him underneath, snapping its fangs at -him, the froth flowing from its ragged -lips. Erica watched, her eyes wide, her -face gray with dread. Crash! a branch -gave way under him. He fell, and so low -was he before he could stop himself that -one of his feet, clad in a heavy shoe, kicked<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_68"></a>[68]</span> -the boar in the nose. She, seeing him -begin to fall, screamed and turned about -to descend.</p> - -<p>“Stop! Stop!” he exclaimed, as he drew -himself up into the tree. “I’m all right!”</p> - -<p>She clambered back just as the boar, -dashing for her, flung itself high up the -trunk. He looked at her, saw that her -eyes were closed and that she was trembling. -“Are you going to faint?” he exclaimed. -“Quick, unwind your sash and -fasten yourself in the tree with it.”</p> - -<p>“No,” she said. “I sha’n’t faint. Oh, -what a weak, cowardly creature I am!”</p> - -<p>“You?” His look and his tone brought -the color to her cheeks and a pleased look -to her eyes. “You, who were coming down -when you thought the boar had me? You -are the bravest girl I ever saw. You can -be counted on.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_69"></a>[69]</span>He remembered the boar and again set -out along the branches. “I’ll be more -careful,” he called, over his shoulder. -Soon he was within six feet of the rifle -and directly above it.</p> - -<p>“Now what will you do?” she said. -“I don’t see that we’re any better off.”</p> - -<p>“Patience,” he replied. He broke off a -branch and lowered it towards the ground; -it reached. He slowly pushed the rifle towards -the base of the tree. The boar backed -away and eyed the moving branch suspiciously. -Grafton had got the rifle against -the trunk before the boar rushed. He -flung the branch far out from the tree, -and the boar leaped into it and trampled -and tore it, paying no attention to the -rifle.</p> - -<p>“Will you please unwind your sash,” -said Grafton, “and tease him with it?—keep<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_70"></a>[70]</span> -the end just out of reach of his nose. -While you do that I’ll jump down the other -side of the tree and shoot him.”</p> - -<p>She unwound the long brown sash and -let down one of its tasselled ends. The -boar rushed it several times, then came to -a halt under it, prancing round and round, -jumping into the air, frothing and snapping -its tusks. Grafton watched until -he could see that it was dizzy from rage -and rapid whirling.</p> - -<p>“Shout!” he called to her. “Shout at -him and shake the scarf.”</p> - -<p>She obeyed. He dropped to the ground, -snatched the rifle, took quick aim, and -fired. The boar was leaping into the air. -When it fell, it fell to its side, dead—there -was not even a quiver.</p> - -<p>“Don’t come till I make sure,” he called, -running towards the carcass. Down upon<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_71"></a>[71]</span> -it fluttered the brown sash, and then came -a heavier body—Erica herself.</p> - -<p>Grafton put his arms about her and stood -up, holding her as if she were a child. -Her long lashes lifted and she looked into -his eyes with a faint, apologetic smile. -“Put me down, please,” she murmured.</p> - -<p>“Not just yet,” he said. “Don’t make an -effort, and you’ll come round more quickly.”</p> - -<p>She closed her eyes and relaxed into his -arms. “How strong he is!” she thought. -“And how brave! How glad I am to see -him again, to find that he’s just as I’ve -been suspecting he’d be!” At this a little -color came into her cheeks.</p> - -<p>He, not dreaming what was going on in -her romantic young mind, was looking -down at her, trying to keep a very tender -smile out of his face—she looked so like -a sleeping, spoiled child, with her child’s<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_72"></a>[72]</span> -complexion, her short upper lip, her round, -aggressive little chin. Her skin was so -fine that he could see the blood pulsing -through the delicate tracery of the veins -in her cheek.</p> - -<p>“Now I’ll try,” she said, after a few -seconds. He let her feet down, but still -held her about the shoulders. He led her -to a fallen tree, and they sat, she leaning -against him, he holding her firmly in his -arm. Soon she could sit alone, her elbows -on her knees, her chin between her hands.</p> - -<p>“You are an American; so you said at—at -Paquin’s?”</p> - -<p>“Yes; and so are you—almost. You -look and speak and act like an American -woman.”</p> - -<p>“I had an American governess. And my -father’s—second wife was an American.”</p> - -<p>“But,” he went on, “I don’t feel like<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_73"></a>[73]</span> -an American just now. I feel as if we -both belonged here—in this wilderness—as -if I had known you all the always -I could remember.”</p> - -<p>She sat up and smiled, dreamily, sympathetically, -without looking at him. “I -was just thinking,” she said, “I don’t -even know your name, yet I feel as if -I knew you as well as I have ever known -any one.” She sighed. “I must go.”</p> - -<p>She caught him looking longingly at -her, and they both blushed and were embarrassed. -“My name is Grafton—Frederick -Grafton,” he said.</p> - -<p>“And mine is Erica.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I know that much—Erica what?”</p> - -<p>“That’s all, except several other Christian -names.”</p> - -<p>“But how are you distinguished from -other Ericas?”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_74"></a>[74]</span>“Well, they might call me Erica of -Zweitenbourg.”</p> - -<p>“Then your name is the same as your -uncle’s?”</p> - -<p>“But that isn’t his name, nor mine. -He’s Grand Duke of Zweitenbourg, and -we’re of the younger line—the ducal branch. -Our family is Traubenheim. We came -here about four hundred years ago.”</p> - -<p>“Then your name is Erica Traubenheim.”</p> - -<p>“No; Erica <i>of</i> Traubenheim.”</p> - -<p>“Erica Traubenheimer?”</p> - -<p>“Dear me, no! That’s a dreadful -name.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t understand,” said Grafton. -“It’s as though I should call myself Frederick -of Grafton.”</p> - -<p>“That is it; only in your country you -write your names differently. I was talking<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_75"></a>[75]</span> -to the American minister about it; -he explained that you have your noble -families as we do, only they don’t reign, -but hold aloof from politics, except to -accept the high appointments of state.”</p> - -<p>Grafton laughed. “Did he tell you -that?”</p> - -<p>“Oh! I knew at once that you were -of a noble family.”</p> - -<p>“A noble family of—dress-fitters?”</p> - -<p>Erica blushed.</p> - -<p>“My father was a pork-packer,” continued -Grafton. “And his father was a -pork-packer, and before that a farmer, -and—I had an aunt who was crazy on -genealogy; she found out that we were -descended from a blacksmith. And my -mother’s grandfather was a carpenter—when -he could get carpentering to do. -We’re all like that in America.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_76"></a>[76]</span>“It must be very—very queer.” She -seemed disappointed, depressed.</p> - -<p>“Every country seems queer to every -other. This country seems queer to me. -Do you really like it—that life at The -Castle?”</p> - -<p>“Why do you ask?”</p> - -<p>“Well, it seemed to me that if I were -caught in such a routine—having to live -my life on a plan fixed hundreds of years -ago—never allowed to be my natural human -self—it seems to me I’d die of weariness, -unless I were imbecile or became so.”</p> - -<p>“You wouldn’t mind it if you’d been -educated for it.” She thought for a few -minutes, then said: “Unfortunately, I -wasn’t. My father’s—second wife persuaded -him to educate me in the modern -way. That makes this life almost impossible -for me; it seems narrow and unreal,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_77"></a>[77]</span> -and useless. And it’s so dull, so deadly -dull!”</p> - -<p>“Why don’t you get out of it—break -away?”</p> - -<p>“A woman is helpless. Besides, I’m not -sure—”</p> - -<p>She rose and put on her Tyrol hat and -wrapped her brown sash about her waist.</p> - -<p>“I’ll walk with you as far as the road,” -he said. “I don’t think I could find it -alone.”</p> - -<p>As they went, both silent and she constrained, -he noted that she watched him -curiously, as it seemed to him, critically, -whenever she thought he was not seeing. -They came to the cross-road and he asked, -“When am I to see you again?”</p> - -<p>She flushed painfully. “I—I’m afraid -it’s impossible.”</p> - -<p>He put out his hand. She hesitated,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_78"></a>[78]</span> -then gave him hers. “Good-bye,” she -said.</p> - -<p>“No; that wasn’t what I meant,” he -explained, clasping her hand. She made -a faint effort to draw it away, then let it -lie in his. “Impossible, you say? Then -you don’t wish to let me see you again?”</p> - -<p>She hung her head. “No; not that. I -do wish it. But it’s impossible—I think.”</p> - -<p>He dropped her hand. “Very well,” he -said.</p> - -<p>They walked slowly on. She felt him -going—going out of her life. She could -not endure it. She said: “But”—she -colored and kept her eyes down—“I—I -walk here nearly every afternoon at -three o’clock.”</p> - -<p>“Isn’t that fortunate!” he said. “So -do I.”</p> - -<p>Their faces showed how happy they<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_79"></a>[79]</span> -were. They came out of the woods into -the main road and lingered over the parting. -They parted like friends at the beginning -of a promising friendship—a -promising man-and-woman friendship. -He stood looking after her, and as he -was turning away found her handkerchief -where she had stood. He picked it up, -kissed it with a gentle smile of self-mockery, -and put it carefully in the breast-pocket -of his coat. “And I thought I -came here for the Grand Duke’s Spaniard!” -he said.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_80"></a>[80]</span> -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_chaptercrowns.jpg" alt="" /></div> -<h2 class="nobreak">V<br /> - - -<small>A Prince in a Passion</small></h2> -</div> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/i_dropcapA.jpg" width="100" alt=""/> -</div> - - -<p class="drop-cap">AT luncheon the next day the -Grand Duke was in one of -his tantrums. He sneered at -Erica and the ladies of the -court, he insulted the gentlemen-in-waiting -and the heads of the royal household, -he cursed the servants. As usual, -he ate enormously; as usual, his face grew -redder and redder; as usual, his temper -rose as the luncheon progressed. At first -the others made some attempts to start -and carry a conversation. But finding -that to speak was to make one’s self a target -for sneer and jeer, all became silent.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_81"></a>[81]</span> -Erica endured with unprecedented meekness. -Her thoughts were far away, and -she had a feeling about her immediate -surroundings which she did not attempt -to explain to herself—a feeling that they -were slowly fading from her real life.</p> - -<p>When he could eat no more, Casimir -pushed back his chair from the table and -lighted a cigar. “Was ever man damned -to such a life as this!” he snarled. “Surrounded -by chuckleheads and numskulls, -we go through life cracking our jaws with -yawning. And here you sit or stand, -mute, smirking, and bowing us on towards -insanity!” He looked savagely round. -“Well!” he exclaimed, “has nobody anything -to say?”</p> - -<p>All except Erica were trembling. They -were accustomed to these outbursts; they -knew that their lives and limbs were safe.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_82"></a>[82]</span> -But their sovereign was thundering, and -it was their duty to fear and tremble. -Besides, they might lose their places at -court, might be banished from its glory, -might be deprived of the honor and the -happiness of receiving these humiliations -and insults from exalted rank.</p> - -<p>Choking with rage, Casimir rose and -stamped from the room. In his cabinet -he flung himself on a sofa and cursed and -ground his cigar between his teeth. As -he had never in his life been curbed, and -as there was no public opinion to control -him, no standard of private conduct to -constrain him, he acted precisely as he -felt, when he was not posing before the -people. He despised the people, of course; -but they paid the taxes, and they paid -because they believed him a superior being, -a shepherd without whom they, the lowly<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_83"></a>[83]</span> -flock, would be in a miserable plight. He -was most careful to keep up appearances -before them, to do nothing that would discourage -their loyalty to the throne, their -tolerance of its tax-gatherers.</p> - -<p>The cause of Casimir’s present outburst -was Grafton’s failure to keep his -appointment. “Has he gone away?” -thought Casimir. “Or is he playing on -my notorious craze for Rembrandts?” He -sent his personal servant to the Hôtel de -l’Europe privately to inquire. When he -learned that Grafton was still there he -began to fear that he was mistaken in -thinking he had come to Zweitenbourg -with a definite purpose. How to reopen -the negotiation—that was the question.</p> - -<p>He sent for Erica. “Read!” he said. -“No; talk! Are you glad Aloyse is coming -to-night?” This with a sneer.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_84"></a>[84]</span>“I had forgotten it,” replied Erica, -calmly.</p> - -<p>“Forgotten it? Forgotten your sweetheart? -Forgotten! Haven’t you seen this -morning’s <i>Gazette</i>? It’s a love-match, the -<i>Gazette</i> says, ‘The handsome and brilliant -heir to the throne and his beautiful cousin -have been lovers since childhood.’” Casimir -laughed harshly. “Love! And you -could forget my high-spirited, handsome, -intellectual heir? Wonderful!”</p> - -<p>“I had an adventure in the park yesterday -that I’ve been thinking about ever -since,” said Erica. And she went on to -tell the story of the boar, saying as little -as possible of Grafton, and being careful -to put that little prudently.</p> - -<p>The Grand Duke was so interested that -he sat up, forgot his indigestion and his -boredom and his departed youth. “And<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_85"></a>[85]</span> -who was this man?” he asked. “He -must be rewarded.”</p> - -<p>“An American,” replied Erica. “A—a—I -think he said his name was Graf -something—yes, Grafton.” She concealed -her delight at the success of her plan.</p> - -<p>“Grafton!” The Grand Duke leaped to -his feet and paced the floor excitedly. He -rang a bell and told the servant to send -Baron Zeppstein to him, then continued -his impatient walk and his muttering -until Zeppstein stood before him, bent -double in a bow. “Baron,” he said, “go -at once to the Hôtel de l’Europe and present -our compliments to a Mr. Grafton -who is there, and tell him that we have -commanded his presence at once. We -wish to thank him for having saved the -life of Her Serene Highness.”</p> - -<p>Erica was radiant. She took her uncle’s<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_86"></a>[86]</span> -shrivelled hand, courtesied, and kissed it. -“You are so good,” she said, gratefully.</p> - -<p>“Good? Nonsense! He’s one of those -Americans who pay enormous prices for -pictures and take them away from us to -that barbarous republic and they’re never -seen by civilized eyes again. He’s got -two pictures that I want. Your adventure -gives me the chance to get hold of -him.”</p> - -<p>Erica went to the door. “Stay here, -child,” said he. “I wish to talk at somebody. -I must give the fellow something—the -Order of the Green Hawk will do.”</p> - -<p>“But you give that to hotel-keepers -when you stay at their hotels and to tradesmen -who make you presents of goods -you like.”</p> - -<p>“It’s enough; he won’t know the difference, -and he’ll be beside himself with<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_87"></a>[87]</span> -delight; it takes little to tickle a democrat. -But how shall I bring up the subject -of the pictures?—that’s what I’m considering.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t think it would be tactful to -speak of them at the first meeting,” said -Erica. “You might invite him to dinner, -or—to luncheon to-morrow.”</p> - -<p>“That is an idea. He’s a well-appearing -person and interesting.”</p> - -<p>“Have you seen him?” Erica looked -the amazement she felt.</p> - -<p>“Talked with him for three hours yesterday,” -replied her uncle. Then he -laughed. “He’ll be surprised when he -sees that the keeper of the galleries is -the Grand Duke. I let him think I was -the keeper.”</p> - -<p>Meanwhile Zeppstein had found Grafton -at the Hôtel de l’Europe, dejectedly<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_88"></a>[88]</span> -preparing to leave. When he explained -his mission, Grafton at first flatly refused. -“I’ve changed my mind,” he said. “I -wish to get away from here on the next -train.”</p> - -<p>“But, my dear Mr. Grafton, think of -the honor—His Royal Highness proposes -in person to thank you! And—I don’t -wish to raise false hopes, but I’m confident -he will decorate you!”</p> - -<p>“I’m overwhelmed!” said Grafton. “I -should die of joy; I must not go.”</p> - -<p>Zeppstein looked suspicious of mockery, -then decided that he was mistaken, and -went on with his pleadings. “His Royal -Highness can be most gracious. He will -not make you feel the difference in station.”</p> - -<p>While he talked Grafton was not listening -but reflecting. On impulse he decided -to go. “Why not see her again?”<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_89"></a>[89]</span> -he thought. “I can feel no worse.” His -mind made up, he pretended reluctantly -to yield. “I’ll waive the etiquette of the -occasion, I think,” he said.</p> - -<p>“The etiquette? Pardon me; I do not -follow you.”</p> - -<p>“Why, the Grand Duke should have -called first.”</p> - -<p>“My dear Mr. Grafton—”</p> - -<p>“Isn’t he only a grand duke?”</p> - -<p>“But, may I ask, what are you?”</p> - -<p>Grafton looked cautiously about. “A -king,” he said. “But I don’t want it -known.”</p> - -<p>Zeppstein grew nervous. “You Americans -are great jesters,” he murmured.</p> - -<p>“And we’re all kings, but we don’t use -the title; it’s too common at home and too -troublesome abroad. However, I’ll overlook -the difference in our rank. Lead on!”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_90"></a>[90]</span>On the way Zeppstein gave him detailed -instructions in how to behave himself. -“I shall probably be permitted to conduct -you only to the door of the cabinet,” -he said. “You must knock quietly and -enter at once without waiting for an answer. -As soon as you are inside the door, -draw it shut behind you, but don’t turn -round in doing so. You must be facing -His Royal Highness and making a bow, -head on a level with the loins, until he -speaks. You might have your right hand -ungloved. His Royal Highness may in -the circumstances be graciously pleased -to give you his hand to shake. If he -should decorate you, you must sink to -your knees, and when he has put the decoration -over your bowed head you must -kiss his hand—place the back of your -right hand under his palm and kiss respectfully<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_91"></a>[91]</span> -but not lingeringly. Be sure -your lips are dry. His Royal Highness -has a horror of being touched by damp -lips. Be careful what you say; it is -wisest to answer as briefly as possible -such questions as His Royal Highness -may be graciously pleased to ask. And -don’t say ‘you’ to him, always ‘Your -Royal Highness.’”</p> - -<p>“And when I leave—do I walk, wriggle, -or crawl?” asked Grafton.</p> - -<p>“Walk backwards,” said Zeppstein. -“Only members of the cabinet wriggle -in and out on their knees, and they only -when they’re sworn.”</p> - -<p>“No; I think that’s too self-respecting,” -replied Grafton. “I think I’ll crawl.”</p> - -<p>“But, my dear Mr. Grafton, it is against -all precedent. We haven’t crawled for -several centuries.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_92"></a>[92]</span>“I’ll revive the fashion. This is a bumptious -generation; it should be taught humility.”</p> - -<p>“My dear sir, I beg that you will not -crawl; you would bring disgrace upon me. -I should be suspected of having so instructed -you.”</p> - -<p>“To oblige you, I’ll try to forego the -pleasure of treating a sovereign as a sovereign -should be treated. But it will be a -sacrifice.”</p> - -<p>When their names were sent up, the -command came for both together. “Now,” -whispered Zeppstein, as they stood at the -door of the cabinet, “don’t forget my instructions.” -He knocked and got his hips -and shoulders ready for his presence-bow. -“You must enter first,” he whispered.</p> - -<p>Grafton walked in. The Grand Duke -was standing facing the door with Erica<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_93"></a>[93]</span> -a few feet away to his left. Grafton advanced -towards Erica. “His Royal Highness -first,” whispered Zeppstein, plucking -at his sleeve.</p> - -<p>Grafton went on to Erica and put out -his hand. “How d’ye do?” he said. “I’m -glad to see you again.” But his face was -sad and his voice lifeless. He turned to -the Grand Duke. They shook hands, and -the Grand Duke laughed familiarly. Baron Zeppstein -stood aghast.</p> - -<p>“Her Serene Highness has been telling -me—” began the Grand Duke.</p> - -<p>“Yes; Baron Zeppstein here explained -to me,” interrupted Grafton. “But it was -nothing; your niece was in no danger—”</p> - -<p>Zeppstein had sidled behind him and -now whispered, “Not ‘you,’ but ‘Your -Royal Highness,’ not ‘your niece,’ but ‘Her -Serene Highness,’ and <i>don’t</i> interrupt!”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_94"></a>[94]</span>“What’s Zeppstein whispering?” asked -the Grand Duke, sharply.</p> - -<p>“He’s very kindly instructing me in etiquette, -but”—here Grafton hesitated, with -a twinkle in his eyes—“I’ve been so differently -bred in America that I fear I’m not -reflecting credit upon him.”</p> - -<p>The Grand Duke waved his hand at -Zeppstein. “Take yourself off,” he said.</p> - -<p>“I hope you won’t send him away,” -interposed Grafton. “He’s to blame for -me being here. It was his talk in Paris -about your Rembrandts that made me -come.”</p> - -<p>“I’m beginning to suspect that you -knew me yesterday,” said Casimir.</p> - -<p>“I did; but I thought I’d humor your -desire to be unknown. We could talk -more freely.”</p> - -<p>The Grand Duke took from the table<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_95"></a>[95]</span> -the ribbon and medal of the Order of the -Green Hawk, and held it as if he expected -Grafton to kneel to receive it. Grafton -stretched out his hand for it. The Grand -Duke smiled as he gave it to him, and -chuckled when Grafton, saying, “Thank -you; it is very nice; a great honor; more -than I deserve, I’m sure,” put it in his -pocket. Erica turned away to the window, -her shoulders shaking violently.</p> - -<p>After a few minutes’ talk, Grafton rose -to take his leave. Zeppstein frowned at -him to wait until the Grand Duke rose to -indicate that the audience was at an end. -The Grand Duke said, “Won’t you lunch -with us very informally to-morrow, at -two?”</p> - -<p>“Thank you,” replied Grafton; “but I -have arranged to go on the night train to -Ostend.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_96"></a>[96]</span>“There is a matter—some pictures—I’d -much like to talk with you about it.”</p> - -<p>Grafton hesitated. His wandering -glance noted Erica’s face and its expression. -“Thank you,” he said to Casimir, -“I can easily change my plans.” And to -himself he said: “Why not? I may at -least, get my Spaniard.”</p> - -<p>After leaving “the presence,” Grafton -extricated himself from Zeppstein as quickly -as possible, which was not so quickly as -he would have liked. He set out alone for -the walk to town. A quarter of a mile -along that quiet, beautiful road and he -saw Erica coming towards him by a side-path.</p> - -<p>“I am late in my walk to-day,” she -began, with shy friendliness. “You are -going—perhaps to-morrow? I may not -see you.” In spite of herself her voice<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_97"></a>[97]</span> -trembled. “I wish to thank you again, -to wish you—all happiness.”</p> - -<p>They went down the side-path together. -“I can think of nothing to say,” he said -at last, in a dreary tone. “I have had -bad news.”</p> - -<p>She instinctively came nearer and looked -up at him with quick sympathy. “Is it -a death—some one you loved?”</p> - -<p>“Some one I loved—yes,” he replied. -“But not death—worse, I think—worse -for me.”</p> - -<p>“Forgive me; I did not mean to intrude—to -hurt you.”</p> - -<p>“I am the one to apologize; I ought -not to have intruded my sorrow. Let me -speak of your happiness. I read in the -<i>Gazette</i> this morning that your engagement -is about to be announced—that you -are marrying some one you have loved<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_98"></a>[98]</span> -since childhood. I wish you happiness. -I’m glad that you are getting your heart’s -desire.”</p> - -<p>She sighed; it sounded very like a sigh -of relief. She seated herself on a rustic -bench and he sat beside her. “You don’t -understand how it is with us,” she said, -after a long pause. “I am marrying my -cousin. It is not a love-match; we care -nothing each for the other. That is the -way everything is with us—never for ourselves, -always for the house, for the state.”</p> - -<p>“Trash!” he ejaculated, bitterly. “Of -course I don’t understand; there’s nothing -to understand. It’s all pretence and lies, -vain show, theatrical nonsense. We belong -to the present, not to the childish, -ignorant past. Now, I suppose I’ve offended -you; I regret it, but—”</p> - -<p>“No; I’m not offended. I almost agree<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_99"></a>[99]</span> -with you. Then—my surroundings, my -inheritance are too strong for me.”</p> - -<p>“Suppose you had only a day to live,” -he burst out. “Suppose you knew that -you would die at sunset to-morrow—wink -out, vanish, be gone forever, pass away -utterly. Would you spend your one day -of life in such fooleries as these?”</p> - -<p>“No,” she replied. “No, indeed!”</p> - -<p>“Well; you have in reality only one -day—your little span of life in the stretch -of eternity. You must do the best you -can with it; you won’t get another. You -must enjoy it; you will never have a chance -to enjoy another. You must be happy -and contented and useful in it; to-morrow -you vanish. And you tell me you’re going -to spend it with a man you don’t love, -spend it in this cold, empty, silly life of -kissing hands and bowing and strutting,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_100"></a>[100]</span> -of vanity and gilt. What a life—what a -miserable, degrading death-in-life!”</p> - -<p>“You don’t understand,” she repeated, -with a suggestion of haughtiness or attempt -at haughtiness.</p> - -<p>“Well, do you? There you sit—young, -beautiful, a woman with love and passion -in her eyes, a woman to be loved, to -be happy, and to make others happy. And -you think yourself superior—you who propose -to spend your life in a way that—I’d -hate to characterize it. Why did God -give you beauty and brains and a common-sense -education? Why did He bring -you into the world a queen—not a toy -queen, not a figurehead of a ‘house,’ but -a real, royal queen—queen by the true, -divine right? In order that you should -act like a slave? That you should be dazzled -by spangles like a vulgar peasant—play<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_101"></a>[101]</span> -all your life with puppets like a -child—be a puppet?”</p> - -<p>“Why do you say these things to me?” -She looked at him sadly, all the haughtiness -gone from her face and voice.</p> - -<p>“Because I love you; that is why. -Because I know—it is useless for you to -deny it—that you would like to love me—if -you dared.”</p> - -<p>Her bosom rose and fell rapidly. “Is -it true?” she said, looking at him with a -thirsty longing in her eyes. “Do you?”</p> - -<p>“What does it matter?” He shrugged -his shoulders. “I not only love you but -I would win you, if you had—”</p> - -<p>“Had what? Say it!”</p> - -<p>“Courage!”</p> - -<p>Both were silent a long time. He laughed -bitterly, and said: “When I was a -boy there used to be in one of our school-books<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_102"></a>[102]</span> -the story of a man who went down -in a shipwreck because he would not give -up the bag of gold that was strapped to -him. There was a silly moral; I forget -it. But how human what he did was! -How many human beings there are who -drown their real selves because they won’t -cut away some dead weight of false pride -or false glory or gold or conventionality—” -He rose abruptly. “Let us go.”</p> - -<p>“And I am dragging you down into my -unhappiness because I won’t throw away -my dead weight.”</p> - -<p>“That is not for you to consider. Your -own case is quite enough.”</p> - -<p>“Yes; I lack courage, or I am too foolish.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t blame you; don’t think that -I do. You’d probably be unhappy after -you’d given up. I’ve thought of that. If -I hadn’t, I’d—”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_103"></a>[103]</span>“What?”</p> - -<p>“Carry you off.”</p> - -<p>“Why don’t you?” She stood before -him, looking eagerly up into his face. “I -wish to have my mind made up for me.”</p> - -<p>“Not I! You must decide for yourself.” -He stood very close to her. “But—how -I love you! Not because you are a Traubenheim -instead of only a Traubenheimer; -not for the reasons that seem to count -most with you; but just for the sake of -your wonderful self that has dazzled me -into this folly of loving you, dear—”</p> - -<p>“Yes; go on,” she murmured.</p> - -<p>There was the clatter of many hoofs -on the main road; they were only a few -yards from it. A brilliant cavalcade swept -by; a young man in a gaudy field-marshal’s -uniform, followed by a dozen officers -in blue and white, with glittering helmets<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_104"></a>[104]</span> -and cuirasses; after them several companies -of the Household Guards.</p> - -<p>“My cousin,” she murmured.</p> - -<p>From the direction of The Castle came -the booming of cannon and then the strains -of a military band. Frederick and Erica -stood, neither looking at the other. He -began to walk towards the main road and -she reluctantly followed him.</p> - -<p>“Good-bye,” he said, holding out his -hand.</p> - -<p>“Good-bye,” she said. “That is—until -to-morrow. You will come here at -four—”</p> - -<p>There was the sound of a horse at a -gallop and soon round the bend of the -road swept the young man in the field-marshal’s -uniform. He looked a giant, -in his tall helmet surmounted by three -huge white plumes. He reined his horse<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_105"></a>[105]</span> -near Grafton and Erica, and flung himself -from the saddle. Grafton saw that -he was not tall, but short; not broad, but -narrow—that his imposing appearance had -been due wholly to his uniform. Also -it was apparent that he was in a fury. -Leaving the horse, he stalked towards them, -his sword clanking against his spurs. -Erica was pale and nervous. If Grafton -had been looking at her he would have -seen that she watched her cousin with an -expression of aversion.</p> - -<p>Aloyse stepped on a loose stone and it -slipped. His sword swung round and -caught between his short legs. He tripped, -toppled, plunged forward and, as his helmet -flew off, his face ploughed into the -dust. He was lying prostrate at Erica’s -feet.</p> - -<p>Grafton sprang to him and lifted him<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_106"></a>[106]</span> -up and set him on his legs. “I hope you’re -not hurt?” he said, with perfect self-control.</p> - -<p>Aloyse’s hair, mustache, eyes, and -mouth were full of dust, his uniform was -coated with it. “Go to the devil!” he -exclaimed, turning his back on Grafton -and wiping his face with a handkerchief -he drew from his sleeve. “Who is this -person?” he demanded of Erica, in German. -“And what are you doing here? -I saw you hiding in the woods as I came -by.” He spoke to her as if she were his -property, and anger flamed in her cheeks -and sparkled in her eyes.</p> - -<p>“Try to seem a gentleman,” she whispered -to him, in German. Then she turned -to Grafton. “Mr. Grafton,” she said, in -English, “my cousin, the Inheriting Grand -Duke.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_107"></a>[107]</span>Grafton bowed coldly. Aloyse looked -at him insolently from head to foot. “Take -yourself off,” he said.</p> - -<p>Grafton’s eyes blazed. He put out his -hand to Erica. “I shall see you at luncheon -to-morrow.” As Erica was about to shake -hands with him, Aloyse struck his hand up.</p> - -<p>“None of your impertinence. Be off!” -he said, his weak, blond face ridiculous -with rage and dust.</p> - -<p>Grafton brought his hand down on -Aloyse’s shoulder and closed his fingers. -Aloyse shivered, winced, bit his lips till -the blood came to crush back a howl of -pain. Grafton set him to one side and released -him. Then he shook hands with -Erica, lifted his hat, and walked away. -Aloyse and Erica stood looking after him.</p> - -<p>“I <i>hate</i> him,” thought Aloyse.</p> - -<p>“I <i>love</i> him,” thought Erica.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_108"></a>[108]</span> -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_chaptercrowns.jpg" alt="" /></div> -<h2 class="nobreak">VI<br /> - - -<small>Her Serene Highness Surrenders</small></h2> -</div> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/i_dropcapA.jpg" width="100" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap">AT ten the next morning there -was excitement in the hotel—the -Inheriting Grand Duke had -come, had sent up his card to -the American gentleman, and the American -gentleman, instead of descending, had -told the servant to “show him up.” The -Inheriting Grand Duke was in top-hat and -long coat. He was looking insignificant, -sheepish, and surly.</p> - -<p>When Grafton’s sitting-room door was -closed behind him, he bowed stiffly and said, -“At the command of His Royal Highness, -I have come to apologize to you.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_109"></a>[109]</span>Grafton waved his hand. “Say no -more about it. I thought your father -wouldn’t approve of such a performance. -I regret, for your sake, that you didn’t -come on your own account. Is that -all?”</p> - -<p>“At the command of His Royal Highness -I say that we shall be pleased to see -you at luncheon.”</p> - -<p>“Tell your father I’ll be there.” Grafton -looked significantly at the door.</p> - -<p>“On my own account, I say that, after -you have finished your affair with His -Royal Highness, I have a matter which -one of my officers, Prince von Moltzahn, -will bring to your attention.”</p> - -<p>“That sounds interesting.”</p> - -<p>“And I may assure His Royal Highness -that you will be at luncheon?”</p> - -<p>“Yes. Good-morning.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_110"></a>[110]</span>Aloyse bowed stiffly, and pompously left -the room.</p> - -<p>When Grafton reached The Castle it was -apparent to him that there had been a -storm, doubtless a quarrel between the -Grand Duke and his son.</p> - -<p>Luncheon was served in a huge, clammily -cool chamber of state. Conversation -was all but impossible, so elaborate were -the ceremonies of feeding the Grand Duke. -Each dish for him was passed from servant -to servant in ascending order, and then -from gentleman-in-waiting to gentleman-in-waiting -in ascending rank until at last -it was set before His Royal Highness. -After he had been served, the others were -served with almost equal elaboration of -ceremony—Aloyse before Erica, and Grafton, -by special courtesy, immediately after -her, to the irritation of the ladies and gentlemen<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_111"></a>[111]</span> -of the court whose rank in the royal -household gave them seats at the royal -luncheon-table. Grafton watched the tedious -ceremonies, marvelling that any one -would tolerate them day after day and year -after year. Erica and Aloyse sat gazing -into their plates and did not speak. The -Grand Duke fussed and blustered over his -food, and ate greedily, with much smacking -of lips, between mouthfuls asking questions -about America.</p> - -<p>It was half-past three when he rose -and said to Grafton, “We will smoke in -my apartment.” Grafton followed him -through five or six enormous rooms, all -gaudily decorated, all clammy cool, all -impossible as human habitations. They -ascended a stairway down which fifteen -men might have marched abreast. They -came to a mezzanine floor, and, dodging<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_112"></a>[112]</span> -under a low beam, went along a dark passage-way. -It ended in a small, low-ceilinged -room plainly furnished, every article -showing signs of long and hard usage. -There was much dust and an odor of stuffy -staleness, and the heat was intense. -“Here’s where I live,” said the Grand -Duke, dropping to a ragged old lounge -with a sigh of pleasure and lighting a -pipe. “I have to have some place where I -can be comfortable.” The pipe was old -and strong, the windows were tight shut. -“I always feel cold after eating,” said the -Grand Duke. “You don’t mind the windows -being closed?”</p> - -<p>“Not at all,” said Grafton, in an unconvincing -tone. It seemed to him that if -he stayed there many minutes he would -faint. “I suppose it is about my Rembrandts -that you wished to talk to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_113"></a>[113]</span> -me,” he began, wishing to hasten the -end.</p> - -<p>“What you said about them interested -me greatly,” replied the Grand Duke. “I -thought possibly we might come to some -agreement about them—if—”</p> - -<p>“Well, I was attracted by only one picture -in your collection that you could part -with—the one you bought from Acton—the -spurious Velasquez. I’ve always -wanted it—in fact, I came here to try to -get it. But I’ve almost lost interest in it.”</p> - -<p>“It is idle to discuss that. I could not -think of giving up the picture; it is one of -my ancestors—”</p> - -<p>“That is by no means certain—as you -know.”</p> - -<p>“I so regard it,” said Casimir.</p> - -<p>“I will exchange the ‘Woman with the -Earrings’ for it,” continued Grafton.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_114"></a>[114]</span>“Come, now, Mr. Grafton. Is that reasonable?”</p> - -<p>“I can get for it double what you paid -for the Spaniard.”</p> - -<p>“And I will pay you double,” said Casimir.</p> - -<p>“Money would not tempt me. The -Spaniard or nothing. But—I’m not well -to-day—you must excuse me. I can meet -you at the gallery to-morrow at eleven, -or you can let me know what you will do.”</p> - -<p>Grafton was overwhelmed by the foul -air of the Grand Duke’s “cosey corner” of -the palace. His plea was the literal truth -and the Grand Duke could see it in his -face. He assented to the appointment for -the following morning, and Grafton hurriedly -made his escape.</p> - -<p>He felt that within the next few minutes -he would be at his life-crisis.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_115"></a>[115]</span>Another bend of the road and the park -gates would be in view. And still no -Erica. He was about to turn back when -she called him from an obscure side-path. -As his eyes met hers his heart leaped—he -knew that he had won.</p> - -<p>“They have been following me,” she -said, in a low tone. “Quick; come with -me.” She darted into the wilderness, he -close behind her. They wound in and -out through a tangle of paths which only -one thoroughly familiar with the park -would have known as paths. At last -they came to a fallen tree in a thicket so -dense that it was barely lighted, although -sunset was four hours away.</p> - -<p>“We are safe,” she said, her eyes brilliant.</p> - -<p>He caught her in his arms. “It seems -to me that I loved you the instant I saw<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_116"></a>[116]</span> -you. And I shall not give you up. We -will go away to my country—to our country.”</p> - -<p>“Yes—yes,” she said. “You have -opened a gate I’ve often looked at, and I -see beyond it the paradise I’ve dreamed of. -And I must follow you. I care only for -you. I”—she had a very wonderful expression -in her eyes—“I love you!”</p> - -<p>“I shall see the Grand Duke to-morrow -morning. I shall tell him. He will—”</p> - -<p>“You must try to understand, dear. -He will never consent. Can’t you see how -he would look at it? And under the law -he has absolute control of me for five years -yet—until I am twenty-five.”</p> - -<p>“But he will release you when he knows -that you do not love his son, that you are -determined to marry me.”</p> - -<p>“No; there is but one way. We must<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_117"></a>[117]</span> -go across the Swiss border; there I shall -be free.”</p> - -<p>“Then the sooner the better. Let us go -to-night.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, to-night. What is that—listen! -No—this way—come!”</p> - -<p>“It is useless,” called a man’s voice -from the direction in which they started, -and immediately a young officer appeared.</p> - -<p>“Prince von Moltzahn!” exclaimed -Erica. She drew herself up haughtily. -“You are insolent, sir!”</p> - -<p>“Your Serene Highness, I am obeying -orders.”</p> - -<p>“So I’ve caught you,” came in Aloyse’s -voice behind them. He was advancing -upon Grafton with his sword drawn. His -eyes looked murder.</p> - -<p>Erica darted between them. “Aloyse! -Would you attack an unarmed man?”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_118"></a>[118]</span>“Stand aside!” foamed Aloyse.</p> - -<p>She advanced upon him and caught -his sword. “Give it to me,” she commanded.</p> - -<p>“Let go! Let go!” he said, wildly. -“I wish to kill him—the scum—the vermin!”</p> - -<p>“You wish to make yourself infamous,” -she replied, still holding the sword. -“Prince von Moltzahn,” she called over -her shoulder, “either hand your sword -to Mr. Grafton or help me disarm this -fool.”</p> - -<p>Moltzahn stood uncertainly, murmuring -something about “the son of my -sovereign.”</p> - -<p>“Release him, Erica,” said Grafton. -“He dare not attack me. He’s had time -to think.”</p> - -<p>Erica tugged at the sword, and Aloyse<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_119"></a>[119]</span> -yielded it with a great show of reluctance. -“Now what are you going to do?” she said, -scornfully. “Why are you here? Why are -you always making yourself ridiculous?”</p> - -<p>“You’ll see what I’ll do. My father -thought I was mistaken yesterday. He’ll -know better now. Both of you must -come to The Castle.”</p> - -<p>“With the greatest pleasure,” said -Grafton.</p> - -<p>“You go by separate ways,” continued -Aloyse. “Erica, von Moltzahn will escort -you. I have a few soldiers at the -end of this path; I’ve kept them out of -sight, as we want no scandal. After you -are on the way, we’ll escort this person,” -with a contemptuous gesture towards -Grafton.</p> - -<p>“No,” said Erica. “We go together. -Send your soldiers away, Aloyse.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_120"></a>[120]</span>The Inheriting Grand Duke distended -his chest and began to bluster, but she -cut him short. “Send them away or -I’ll send them away myself.”</p> - -<p>They walked to The Castle together, -Erica and Grafton in apparent high spirits, -Aloyse and Moltzahn silent and sullen. -They appeared before the Grand Duke -in his cabinet.</p> - -<p>“What’s all this?” he demanded, glowering.</p> - -<p>“I’m sure I don’t know,” said Erica, -gayly. “Mr. Grafton and I were talking -in the park, and Aloyse and the Prince -suddenly appeared; I think Aloyse had -some soldiers hidden somewhere. And -they insisted on taking Mr. Grafton and -me prisoners and bringing us here.”</p> - -<p>“You jackass!” shouted the Grand Duke -at the Inheriting Grand Duke.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_121"></a>[121]</span>“Now wait till you hear me, father,” -whined the Inheriting Grand Duke. -“There’s something up between Erica -and this fellow; I know it. He calls her -Erica, and they were hidden in a thicket, -and I saw him kiss her.”</p> - -<p>“You’re stark mad,” said the Grand -Duke, looking at him disgustedly. “What -is the matter, Mr. Grafton?”</p> - -<p>“The Duchess Erica has explained all -that either of us knows,” replied Grafton, -discreetly.</p> - -<p>Aloyse appealed to Moltzahn. “Am -I not right? Didn’t he call her Erica -and kiss her? Weren’t they hid in a -thicket?”</p> - -<p>Moltzahn bowed. “Your Royal Highness -has given the facts as I can testify.”</p> - -<p>Grafton, watching the Grand Duke’s -face closely, saw a change in it which was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_122"></a>[122]</span> -instantly corrected. “The old fox,” he -thought. “He suspects. What will he -do?”</p> - -<p>Casimir looked at Moltzahn black as a -thunder-cloud. “Liar!” he roared. “How -dare you utter such a scandal of Her Serene -Highness?” Then he turned to Grafton. -“A thousand pardons, Mr. Grafton. We -trust you will forget this folly. We owe -you an apology. We feel profoundly humiliated.”</p> - -<p>“Pray think no more about it,” said -Grafton.</p> - -<p>“You will pardon us for the brevity -of our apologies to-day, we beg. Baron -Zeppstein will escort you to your hotel. -And we look forward to the pleasure of -seeing you at the galleries at eleven to-morrow.”</p> - -<p>“At eleven,” said Grafton, bowing to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_123"></a>[123]</span> -Erica as the Grand Duke, taking his arm, -escorted him to the anteroom. They -shook hands, the Grand Duke placing -his left hand cordially, even affectionately, -on Grafton’s shoulder.</p> - -<p>Zeppstein had an abstracted companion -on the drive, and when Grafton was alone -he flung himself on the divan in his sitting-room -and abandoned himself to thoughts -that gave his face an expression of deep -discouragement.</p> - -<p>When the Grand Duke returned to his -cabinet, he withered Moltzahn with a -furious look. “What!” he snarled. “Still -here? Be off! You are a loathsome creature. -Don’t show yourself at court for -three months. And if we ever hear that a -word of this has passed your lips, we’ll strip -your epaulettes from you before the entire -army and banish you. Out of our sight!”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_124"></a>[124]</span>Moltzahn backed from the room, bowing -and cringing. When he was gone the -Grand Duke turned on his son. “And -now for you, sir! Apologize to Her Serene -Highness! Say after me—put your heels -together and bend—now say: ‘Your Serene -Highness, I humbly ask pardon for my infamous -conduct, for my lies, for my insults.’”</p> - -<p>The Inheriting Grand Duke repeated -the words in a choked voice.</p> - -<p>“And,” continued the Grand Duke, “if -you should meet Mr. Grafton again, we -command you to speak to him as one gentleman -to another with whom he is on -friendly terms. Do you hear?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, Your Royal Highness,” murmured -his heir.</p> - -<p>“You will withdraw.”</p> - -<p>Erica and the Grand Duke were now<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_125"></a>[125]</span> -alone. “I’m sorry, indeed, my dear child, -that this has happened.” He took her -hand affectionately.</p> - -<p>“You have done all that I expected—more.” -Erica was blushing and looked -extremely guilty. She felt that Aloyse -and Moltzahn had outrageously insulted -her, but she did not like this reparation on -false pretences. “I have much to say to -you—”</p> - -<p>“Not to-day—not to-day,” interrupted -the Grand Duke. “I am exhausted, my -dear. Go to your apartments and compose -yourself.”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_126"></a>[126]</span> -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_chaptercrowns.jpg" alt="" /></div> -<h2 class="nobreak">VII<br /> - - -<small>The Grand Duke Gives Battle</small></h2> -</div> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/i_dropcapE.jpg" width="100" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap">ERICA went to her wing of The -Castle and sat by a window, -trying to plan the next move. -But her brain was so hot and -her thoughts so rambling that she could -devise nothing. She rang for her maid. -An old woman appeared. “I rang for -Ernestine,” said Erica.</p> - -<p>“Yes, Your Serene Highness. Ernestine -has been taken suddenly ill and sent me -in her place. I’m Greta.”</p> - -<p>Something in the old woman’s face and -manner roused an uneasiness in her. She -went to the outer door of her apartment.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_127"></a>[127]</span> -A stupid-looking soldier was on guard -there, marching stiffly to and fro.</p> - -<p>“What are you doing here?” she demanded.</p> - -<p>“I’m on guard,” he answered, in a mountain -dialect of German which she could -hardly understand.</p> - -<p>She started down the corridor.</p> - -<p>“Come now, lady, don’t make trouble. -I can’t let you pass.” He put his hand -on her arm.</p> - -<p>“Don’t touch me!” She looked at him -haughtily. “I am the Duchess Erica.”</p> - -<p>“Yes; I know you think so, lady; that’s -your trouble. Now go back quietly—do!”</p> - -<p>She returned to her apartment. “Leave -me,” she said to the old woman.</p> - -<p>Greta retired to the anteroom. “Out -of the apartment!” exclaimed Erica. “I -do not wish you about.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_128"></a>[128]</span>“Pardon, Your Serene Highness, but -His Royal Highness has commanded me -not to leave.”</p> - -<p>Erica closed the door of her boudoir. -She paced the floor. “How helpless I -am!” she thought. “I cannot move in -any direction!”</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Early the next morning Grafton went -to a lawyer—Fogel, who is conspicuous -in the Zweitenbourg Reichstag as a fierce -anti-monarchist. Grafton professed a student’s -interest in the laws affecting the -royal prerogative. Fogel was most courteous -and obliging. He explained in detail, -and, when he had ended, Grafton saw that -legally his affair was hopeless. The Grand -Duke was absolute over the members of -his own family and court, except that he -could not inflict the death penalty, nor<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_129"></a>[129]</span> -could he detain any one in prison for a -longer period than six months without -showing cause before the supreme tribunal—on -application of a relative of the detained -person.</p> - -<p>Grafton thanked Fogel and went mournfully -back to his hotel. He was expecting -every moment a message from the Grand -Duke postponing or breaking his engagement, -but at half-past ten no message had -come. He drove out to The Castle. As he -passed the northwest wing he looked up; -there stood Erica. He saw her make a -gesture as if she were flinging something. -It struck the road just ahead of his carriage. -He told the driver to stop, descended, picked -up a little silver box and with it several -small stones. He sent the stones sailing -one at a time out over the lake. He put -the box in his pocket.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_130"></a>[130]</span>With the carriage following him, he -walked round The Castle to the galleries -and entered. No one was there; he opened -the box, drew out a small paper: “I am -a prisoner; my uncle knows. My maid, -Ernestine Wundsch, lives in Emperor Ferdinand -Second Street, No. 643—over the -bake-shop. I love you; be careful for my -sake. When I escape I shall go to Schaffhausen.”</p> - -<p>He thrust the note into his pocket and -came out of the alcove into which he had -withdrawn to make sure of not being spied -upon. Ten minutes passed before the -Grand Duke came in. “Pardon my tardiness,” -he said, politely. Grafton noted a -malicious twinkle in his eyes. “I was -arranging the marriage of my son and my -niece. The days of romance are not dead. -After their little misunderstanding yesterday,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_131"></a>[131]</span> -they made it up and—how hot young -blood is!—they were all for marrying at -once. I hadn’t the heart to refuse them. -But—to our little affair.”</p> - -<p>“I’ve decided not to part with my Rembrandts,” -said Grafton. His head was in -a whirl. Beneath a fairly composed exterior -mad impulses to strangle, to kill, -to fight his way to her and bear her off -were raging.</p> - -<p>“Ah! I regret it. And when do you -leave us? That devil, von Moltzahn, is a -dangerous fellow. I’m having my police -guard you. No; don’t thank me. It’s -no trouble, I assure you. You had a -pleasant little talk on law with Fogel this -morning; he was most enthusiastic over -your eagerness to learn; he was talking -with one of my secret police about it. I’m -sorry you have decided to leave us so soon<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_132"></a>[132]</span>—to-night, -I think you were saying yesterday? -And if you change your mind -about the Rembrandts, you know I’m always -willing to listen to any reasonable -terms.”</p> - -<p>The Grand Duke bowed him out, but did -not offer to shake hands. Grafton entered -his carriage and was driven rapidly away, -an officer in a plain uniform following -him. As soon as Grafton saw it, he drew -the silver box from his pocket, took out -the note, read it until he had it by heart, -then put it in his mouth and swallowed -it. He waited until the road wound close -to the edge of the lake. He looked back; -the officer could not see him. He tossed -the little box into the lake.</p> - -<p>At the park gates the carriage was -halted. The officer came up, several others -appeared from the lodge, including one<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_133"></a>[133]</span> -who seemed to be of high rank. They -were most polite, most apologetic, but they -took him into the lodge and searched him -thoroughly. And when he went on to -town it was in another carriage.</p> - -<p>The proprietor was waiting for him. -“I regret exceedingly, sir,” he said, in a -frightened, deprecating voice, “but your -rooms are taken from ten o’clock to-morrow.”</p> - -<p>“That will be satisfactory to me,” replied -Grafton. “I shall leave to-night or -early in the morning.”</p> - -<p>“Thank you, Highness.” The proprietor -bowed low and beamed gratitude and -relief.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_134"></a>[134]</span> -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_chaptercrowns.jpg" alt="" /></div> -<h2 class="nobreak">VIII<br /> - - -<small>The American is Reinforced</small></h2> -</div> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/i_dropcapG.jpg" width="100" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap">GRAFTON went into the public -square, opposite the hotel, -and walked up and down under -the trees. Schemes plausible -and schemes fantastical crowded his -brain; the wildest was as practicable as -the most sensible. He cursed his lack of -ingenuity. He felt that the intensity of -his love for Erica was paralyzing thought. -“In matters about which I care nothing,” -he said to himself, “I can always think -of something to do.” And now he could -think of no plan which he did not almost -instantly dismiss. He could not even<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_135"></a>[135]</span> -devise a scheme for seeing Ernestine. To -go to her would be fatal, as the secret police -would go with him, were no doubt watching -her.</p> - -<p>He seated himself on a bench at the -other end of which was an American tourist. -There was a certain sense of companionship, -of strength, in the nearness of -a man from “home” at such a time. He -noted that his fellow-countryman was a -youth of the unmistakable American type—tall, -thin, with a narrow, shrewd, frank -face. The longer he looked at him the -better he liked him. After perhaps twenty -minutes the young American rose to go.</p> - -<p>“Please sit again without looking at me -or seeming to notice me,” said Grafton, -not moving his lips.</p> - -<p>The young American involuntarily -glanced at him, but looked away instantly.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_136"></a>[136]</span> -He seated himself, yawned, took out his -cigarette-case, lighted a cigarette, and began -smoking languidly. A newsboy passed; -Grafton stopped him and bought a -paper. He rested his elbows on his knees, -and so held the paper that his face could -not be seen, yet was apparently not designedly -hid.</p> - -<p>“My name is Frederick Grafton, and -I’m from Chicago,” he said. “I’ve fallen -in love with a girl here, and—well, there’s -the devil to pay. I’m being watched; -her family’s got a lot of influence. It is -vital that I see her maid. She lives at -No. 643 Emperor Ferdinand Second Street, -over the bake-shop. Her name is Ernestine -Wundsch. Describe me to her and -tell her to come and sit on the end of this -bench, or, better, send some one she can -trust absolutely. Probably she’s watched,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_137"></a>[137]</span> -so be careful not to go directly there from -here. Will you help me? On my honor -there is nothing in this affair which, if -you knew it, would make you hesitate.”</p> - -<p>Grafton straightened up and could see -from the corner of his eye that his -countryman was studying his face. “I’ll risk -it,” said the youth, rising and lounging -away.</p> - -<p>Soon Grafton began to watch the faces -of passing women. After nearly an hour -a working-man came and sat on the other -end of the bench. Grafton scowled at -him, but he sat placidly smoking his pipe. -At last he said: “Ernestine, my sister, -did not dare come. She sent me by -the back way. She says nothing can -be done. I waited to be sure it was you.”</p> - -<p>At this moment Grafton saw Moltzahn -coming towards him. “Wait,” he said to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_138"></a>[138]</span> -Ernestine’s brother. “Don’t move until -I’ve spoken to you again.”</p> - -<p>Moltzahn advanced towards him and -bowed politely, much to Grafton’s surprise. -“I know that you are watched,” he said -to Grafton. “As I have something to -communicate to you, we must seem to meet -as friendly acquaintances and to be -talking on indifferent subjects. Will you walk -with me a few minutes, please?”</p> - -<p>There was a thinly veiled contempt -in Moltzahn’s tone which made Grafton -feel like kicking him. But in the -circumstances he would have been civil to -Aloyse himself in the hope of laying hold -of something that would bring him nearer -Erica. He rose, and they began a slow -promenade.</p> - -<p>“His Royal Highness, the Inheriting -Grand Duke, has made me the reluctant<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_139"></a>[139]</span> -bearer of a challenge to you. I have tried -to dissuade him, but he is determined to -punish you for your insults. He waives the -difference in rank, the fact that he has no -right to send a challenge to such as you.”</p> - -<p>“It will be a great pleasure,” said Grafton, -with grim joy. “I, too, will waive the -difference of rank—the fact that he is -not a gentleman.”</p> - -<p>“It is impossible for me to answer you -as you deserve—”</p> - -<p>“You couldn’t say anything that would -disturb the friendly feeling I have for -you,” said Grafton. “You don’t know -how grateful I am to you for bringing -me this—this opportunity. I could almost—yes, -I think I could—shake hands -with you.”</p> - -<p>“What weapons?” said Moltzahn. “But -have you a second?”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_140"></a>[140]</span>“I shall have one—and I choose pistols.”</p> - -<p>“I suggest that the meeting be at a -little town on the Swiss border—Zoltenau. -Do you know it?”</p> - -<p>“Yes; I shall be there.”</p> - -<p>“The circumstances make it impossible -to follow the formalities and arrange -through your second. When can you -be there?”</p> - -<p>“Whenever you say.”</p> - -<p>“Then at three to-morrow morning. -We shall be on the main road about a -hundred yards from the last house—the -inn—at the eastern end of the village. -But will you be able to evade the police?”</p> - -<p>“Easily; I shall be there.”</p> - -<p>They bowed, Moltzahn went his way, -Grafton returned to the bench. With his -face concealed, he said to the working-man: -“In case I should wish to send<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_141"></a>[141]</span> -a message to Ernestine for her mistress, -is there an address that would be safe?”</p> - -<p>“Johann Windmuller, 41 Duke -Albrecht Street,” he answered.</p> - -<p>“Very well. And if there should be -any news for me, send a letter or telegram -to Victor Brandt, care the American Consul, -Schaffhausen. Can you remember that?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said the man, and he repeated -it twice.</p> - -<p>Grafton sent him away; he felt that -the police could not have suspected. He -went to the hotel and in the -smoking-room, near the entrance, found the -American youth. Grafton dropped into a seat -beside him. “Thank you,” he said. -“May I ask who has done me this great -service?”</p> - -<p>“My name is Burroughs; I come from -San Francisco.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_142"></a>[142]</span>They discovered that they had many -acquaintances and a few friends in -common, and both belonged to the same club -in New York. Burroughs, who was seven -or eight years younger than Grafton, and -just out of college, had often heard of him.</p> - -<p>“Is there anything else I can do for -you?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” replied Grafton. “Since I saw -you I’ve engaged to fight a duel at three -to-morrow morning, and I need a second.”</p> - -<p>“I’d be pleased if you’d accept me, though -I’ve had no experience.”</p> - -<p>“But I warn you that it may be an ugly -business before it’s ended, though I think -I can arrange to get you out of it. I mean -to kill my man and his death’ll make a -row in this part of the world.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll see you through,” said Burroughs.</p> - -<p>Grafton took him to his rooms, and, having<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_143"></a>[143]</span> -tested him thoroughly, gave him his -entire confidence. When he had finished -the story, Burroughs said: “I feel that -you’re going to win out.” His eyes were -sparkling with excitement. “But don’t -kill him; remember, he’s her cousin. She -might balk at marrying you if you’d killed -her cousin.”</p> - -<p>Grafton thought for a few minutes. -“That gives me an idea—that remark of -yours. We’ll talk it over to-night.”</p> - -<p>As Zoltenau was about midway between -the town of Zweitenbourg and Bâle—a -score of miles from each—they decided to -evade the Grand Duke’s spies by going to -Bâle. Burroughs went on the seven-o’clock -train to arrange for a doctor and a -carriage. Grafton, leaving on the nine-o’clock -express, bought places in the bed-car for -Venice. At Bâle he dropped from the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_144"></a>[144]</span> -car as the train was passing out at the end -of the station. His servant went on with -the baggage, to return by a roundabout -route to Schaffhausen and there await the -arrival of Victor Brandt.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_145"></a>[145]</span> -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_chaptercrowns.jpg" alt="" /></div> -<h2 class="nobreak">IX<br /> - - -<small>The Crown Prince is Decorated</small></h2> -</div> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/i_dropcapA.jpg" width="100" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap">AS the road from Zweitenbourg -to Zoltenau is almost level, -except the last four miles, -Aloyse, Moltzahn, and Dr. -Kirschner did not set out until nearly one -o’clock. Aloyse and Moltzahn had -deceived the doctor; he thought he was -going to a friend of theirs who had been -desperately wounded in a duel. Aloyse -was thus unable to boast of what he was -about to do to the “American pig-dog.” -As he could think of nothing else, the drive -passed in silence, broken only by feeble -attempts on the part of the doctor to improve<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_146"></a>[146]</span> -his good fortune of being in such -distinguished company. They reached the -inn at a quarter before the hour. As they -walked up the road the doctor was -undeceived by Moltzahn.</p> - -<p>He stopped and fell to weeping and -wringing his hands with fright. “A duel—my -Crown Prince a principal—my God, -Highness, I shall be ruined! I refuse to -go.”</p> - -<p>Moltzahn caught him by the arm. “Come -on, imbecile!” he said, roughly. “There -is no turning back now. You will be -protected. But if anything should happen, -think of my fate.”</p> - -<p>Aloyse was a few yards in advance. -He was strutting along with his chest -out. He was confident that the -“American upstart” would give him little trouble. -“A physical bully,” he said to himself.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_147"></a>[147]</span> -“Only a gentleman can be brave in a duel.” -He turned. “How does the doctor take -it?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“My Crown Prince!” exclaimed the -doctor. “I beg you—I implore you—” He -fell on his knees before Aloyse.</p> - -<p>“Get up! Get up!” Aloyse spoke in -a kindly, condescending tone. It always -delighted him to receive ocular proof of -his superiority; some of his father’s remarks -were most disquieting. “No harm -shall come to you, my good man.”</p> - -<p>The doctor, still weeping and in such -mental turmoil that he forgot to dust the -knees of his trousers and the tails of his -long, black coat, kept pace with Moltzahn. -Aloyse was whistling and brandishing -a small cane. His round face, empty of -all save appetites, was gay—it became a -prince thus to go to the duel. And, in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_148"></a>[148]</span> -fact, he was not a coward, except before -his father; and he longed to punish the -low creature who had dared to lift his eyes -to a princess of the house of Traubenheim, -had dared to lay hands in anger upon a -royal person.</p> - -<p>“I can hardly wait to get at the dog, -Moltzahn,” he said. “I’m afraid he won’t -come.”</p> - -<p>Moltzahn replied, “Yes, Your Royal -Highness,” absently. The nearer he got -to the field the gloomier he became. He -had taken many risks, had done many -degrading things in furthering the -ambition of his life, to be the man next the -throne in Zweitenbourg. But this risk -was a senseless fly straight into the face -of fate.</p> - -<p>It was almost broad day when Grafton, -Burroughs, and a doctor from Bâle arrived.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_149"></a>[149]</span> -They lifted their hats to the first-comers. -Dr. Kirschner lifted his hat in return; Moltzahn -gave a slight salute to Burroughs. -Aloyse stared insolently at Grafton and -made no salutation whatever.</p> - -<p>Grafton turned to Burroughs. “You -see, Burroughs, what kind of cattle they -are. I apologize again for bringing you.”</p> - -<p>Burroughs was white and nervous. -“Which one do I deal with?” he asked, in -an undertone.</p> - -<p>Grafton pointed at Moltzahn. “And -keep your eyes on him. He’s a -blackguard through and through, capable of -anything.”</p> - -<p>Aloyse continued to stare at Grafton, a -cruel smile on his lips, and the vindictive -hate of the brainless in his eyes. Grafton -did not like that smile. “I am taking -long chances,” he muttered, “but—I must!”<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_150"></a>[150]</span> -He turned his face towards the north, -towards Zweitenbourg, and forgot Aloyse.</p> - -<p>Moltzahn and Burroughs found a level -well back from the road and private. To -this the party went. The snow on the -peaks was rosy red, and the birds were -awakening to full song, and from the -earth rose the fresh, living gladness of welcome -to the new day. The lot decided that -Aloyse should face the south and Grafton -the north—“a good omen,” thought -Grafton, and the look in his face showed how -far murder was from his heart.</p> - -<p>As they were about to take their places -he said to Aloyse, “I wish a few words -with you in private.”</p> - -<p>“Absurd—impossible!” interrupted Moltzahn. -“Such conduct is intolerable!”</p> - -<p>Grafton looked at Aloyse as if Moltzahn -had not spoken.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_151"></a>[151]</span>Aloyse hesitated. “Don’t!” pleaded -Moltzahn, in a whisper. “He may say -something that will unsettle your nerves.”</p> - -<p>Aloyse drew himself up haughtily. -“Stand aside,” he ordered, “all of you. -The fellow may wish to apologize. If -so, I may let him off with a sound caning.”</p> - -<p>Grafton went close to him. “It may -be,” he said, in an even voice, “that you -will kill me, so I take the precaution of -speaking beforehand. I could easily kill -you, because I happen to be a dead shot -with the pistol. But I shall spare your -life. I shall only shatter your right hand. -I do it that you may wear, as long as -your body holds together, the badge of my -mercy to you—for her sake.”</p> - -<p>“How dare you speak of her!” fumed -Aloyse. “Yes; I shall kill you for your -insolence to our house.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_152"></a>[152]</span>“It amuses me to see you rage,” said -Grafton. “It makes me realize what I -rescued her from.”</p> - -<p>Aloyse was in a paroxysm of anger. -“My cousin and I will marry the day -after to-morrow. It is all arranged—”</p> - -<p>“All—except her consent,” answered -Grafton, with a mocking smile. “I love -her. I know her. I trust her. However -this may fall out, she will never marry -you.”</p> - -<p>He returned to his place. “I think I’ve -put a shake into his hand,” he said to -Burroughs, in an undertone. “I don’t -mind admitting I tried to, as this is a farce -so far as I am concerned. I’m not anxious -to die if I can help it.”</p> - -<p>Moltzahn, holding the pistols, was -standing midway between Aloyse and Grafton, -and a little to one side. He looked from<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_153"></a>[153]</span> -Grafton to Aloyse. “Walk towards me,” -he said, “and when you are face to face -turn your backs each to the other. I -will hand each of you a pistol. Walk -towards your places again, and when you -reach them stand without turning until -Mr. Burroughs begins to count. At three -turn and fire at your convenience. Are -you ready, gentlemen?”</p> - -<p>Aloyse and Grafton bowed.</p> - -<p>“Advance!”</p> - -<p>They walked slowly and steadily, each -towards the other. Grafton seemed dreamy -and abstracted, Aloyse’s little brown eyes -were angry and his brows were drawn in -an exaggerated frown. When they were -about two feet apart, Moltzahn, standing -as near to one as to the other, said: -“Turn!”</p> - -<p>They wheeled, and he handed each a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_154"></a>[154]</span> -cocked pistol. “To your places, gentlemen,” -he said. They began the slow return. -Burroughs, his hands trembling, was -trying to moisten his lips for the giving -of the signal. The two doctors, all in -black and with long brown beards, stood -apart, the Swiss doctor interested but -calm, the Zweitenbourgian with his knees -knocking together and his hands sliding -nervously one over the other. The sun, -clearing the crest of a ridge, sent an enormous -billow of light to burst through the -mists and flood the dense, dew-showered -foliage of the western front of the valley.</p> - -<p>“Now, Mr. Burroughs,” said Moltzahn, -in a low tone.</p> - -<p>“One!” said Burroughs, and his voice -was thin and shrill; the sound of it made -him shiver. “Oh, God!” he thought, “I -may be giving the signal for a murder.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_155"></a>[155]</span>“Two!” His voice was hoarse.</p> - -<p>“Three!” wrenched itself from his tightening -throat in a gasp. He hid his face -in his arms. “What have I done? What -have I done?” he groaned. It seemed an -eternity; why did they not shoot and -have it over with? He dropped his arm -and looked; they had had barely time -to come round face to face.</p> - -<p>Aloyse fired first by an instant; then -Grafton. Grafton stood motionless. Aloyse -gave an exclamation of pain; his pistol -dropped to the ground and the blood spurted -over his shattered hand until it was red -and raining red from every finger.</p> - -<p>Grafton, his feet together, began slowly -to fall forward, his eyes closing. Burroughs -cried out and rushed to him and -caught him.</p> - -<p>“Where is it?” he whispered.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_156"></a>[156]</span>“A mere trifle—a scratch on the arm,” -whispered Grafton. “Sh! Be careful!” -And he closed his eyes and lay motionless.</p> - -<p>“Quick, Dr. Berners!” exclaimed Burroughs, -starting up wildly from beside his -friend. “I think he’s been killed.”</p> - -<p>Berners was already there, was tearing -open Grafton’s coat, waistcoat, shirt, and -undershirt. Dr. Kirschner, his face beaming -and his hands rubbing, bustled up. -“His Royal Highness has been graciously -pleased to send me to render what aid -I can. His Royal Highness’s own wound -is slight—”</p> - -<p>“Back to your master!” exclaimed Burroughs, -apparently beside himself with rage -and grief, and standing between Kirschner -and Grafton. “My friend is dead—shot -down by that assassin!”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_157"></a>[157]</span>Dr. Kirschner put on the death-bed -look. “Let us hope not so bad as -that.”</p> - -<p>“Yes—dead,” said Berners, looking -round at his colleague and shielding Grafton -so that Kirschner could not see his -chest. “He is shot through the heart.”</p> - -<p>Kirschner rushed to Aloyse and Moltzahn. -Aloyse was ruefully regarding the -bandage Kirschner had hastily wrapped -round his hand before going on Aloyse’s -magnanimous mission. “I regret to inform -Your Royal Highness that Mr. Grafton’s -wound is most serious.”</p> - -<p>“Is that all?” Aloyse scowled. “I aimed -for his heart.”</p> - -<p>Dr. Kirschner lowered his eyes; even -his humble soul revolted. “Your Royal -Highness,” he said, in a low voice, “Mr. -Grafton is dead.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_158"></a>[158]</span>“Dead!” Aloyse’s lips shrivelled and -he staggered slightly.</p> - -<p>“Your Royal Highness shot him through -the heart,” said Moltzahn, in a congratulatory -tone.</p> - -<p>“Dead!” Aloyse’s voice was hoarse. -“Let us go,” he said.</p> - -<p>“But I must dress Your Royal Highness’s -wound,” urged Kirschner.</p> - -<p>“In the carriage,” Aloyse answered, -impatiently. He cast a hasty glance towards -the group on the grass—the prostrate -man, the two kneeling beside him. “Let -us go,” he said, and led the way.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_159"></a>[159]</span> -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_chaptercrowns.jpg" alt="" /></div> -<h2 class="nobreak">X<br /> - - -<small>The Grand Duke Prepares to -Celebrate</small></h2> -</div> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/i_dropcapO.jpg" width="100" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap">ON the drive back to Zweitenbourg -Aloyse’s spirits gradually -rose. He ceased to see -that group with such painful -distinctness; Moltzahn and presently -Dr. Kirschner flattered him on his marksmanship. -Pshaw! it had been a mere coincidence -that Grafton had shot him precisely -as he said he would. He forced himself to -remember more and more vividly Grafton’s -impudence—and impudence to a Traubenheim! -And impudence to a Traubenheim -in an affair of the heart!—and that affair<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_160"></a>[160]</span> -one in which the lady was also a Traubenheim. -He had but meted out just punishment -for an assault upon his own honor, -the honor of his wife-to-be, the honor of his -house.</p> - -<p>In the last two or three miles he was -hilarious, boasting boisterously—he had -had something to drink and nothing to -eat—of his prowess and of how all Traubenheims -always thus served the impudent -enemies of their house. And Moltzahn, -concealing his contempt and disgust, -and Dr. Kirschner, full of the loyalty of a -devoted subject, urged him on. He set the -doctor down at his house and Moltzahn at -his club—Moltzahn did not dare show himself -at The Castle. Then he drove on with -a growing appetite. He reached The Castle -at seven o’clock, just in time for his -regular breakfast with his father.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_161"></a>[161]</span>The Grand Duke was invariably in a -vile humor in the morning; he ate so much -and exercised so little that he slept badly. -He insisted on his son always breakfasting -alone with him, and, under the pretence of -training him for the throne, wreaked his -ill-humor upon him. Aloyse hurriedly -changed from the plain clothes in which -he had fought to an undress uniform, and -flew to the breakfast-room. He was in -high spirits; at last he had done -something which his father would applaud. As -he entered, Casimir looked at him sourly. -He brought his heels together and saluted. -Then he advanced, as usual, bent his -knee, but put his left hand, instead of his -right, under his father’s right hand extended -for him to kiss.</p> - -<p>“What is the matter with your right -hand?” screamed the Grand Duke.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_162"></a>[162]</span>Aloyse jumped and shivered like a guilty -child and his wits scattered. He held out -his right hand in its sling, stupidly staring -at it.</p> - -<p>“Speak—and no lies!”</p> - -<p>“In a duel,” he stammered.</p> - -<p>The Grand Duke pushed back his chair -from the table. His look was so frightful -that terror gave speed to Aloyse’s tongue. -“I challenged the American, father—and -killed him,” he said, the last phrase explosively. -“I shot him through the -heart.”</p> - -<p>Casimir brought his chair close to the -table again, lifted his cup of coffee, and -drew in several draughts, each with a -loud, sucking sound. “Eat your breakfast!” -he said, in a sharp but not unkindly -tone. “You must be hungry; have one -of my peaches.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_163"></a>[163]</span>Casimir’s peaches were his especial dish. -They were grown at great expense under -his own eye, and no one else was permitted -to have them. In all his life Aloyse could -remember only one occasion on which his -father had offered to share his peaches; -it was twenty years before, when Aloyse, -seated in a high-chair at that table, had -seen the Prime Minister take one at Casimir’s -request; the reason, as Aloyse learned -long afterwards, was that the Prime Minister -had saved the Traubenheims their title -of “Royal Highness,” which was gravely -threatened. Though he detested peaches, -Aloyse ate the peach greedily, swelling -with pride and importance.</p> - -<p>Prudence bade him say no more of his -achievement; but vanity and a loose tongue -impelled him to seek further flatteries from -his father. He looked at the old man’s sardonic,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_164"></a>[164]</span> -yellow face several times before he -ventured to speak.</p> - -<p>“I ask to be permitted to tell Erica -myself,” he said.</p> - -<p>His father stopped eating and raised -his head from his plate. He seemed to -have concentrated all the acidity of his -nature in his face. The color rose in -Aloyse’s cheeks and mounted his brow -until his features were all ablaze and a -sweat was standing on his forehead.</p> - -<p>“You propose to tell the woman you -wish to marry, and whose consent you -must get—you propose to tell her that you -have murdered her lover.” Casimir said -the words slowly, without accent, quietly. -Then he put his face down until it was -again hovering within a few inches of his -plate.</p> - -<p>There was a long pause, and Casimir<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_165"></a>[165]</span> -spoke again. “Every day you remind -me more and more of your grand-uncle.” -Aloyse remembered his grand-uncle—the -Grand Duke Wilhelm, a jibbering idiot, -who sat all day on the floor in a corner -gnawing his nails and his great whiskers.</p> - -<p>Another long pause, and Casimir spoke -again. “Go to your apartments, and don’t -leave them until I summon you. And -never permit a syllable about your duel -to escape your lips. Deny it; if necessary, -<i>swear</i> you know nothing about it. If -possible, she must never know how he -died or that he’s dead. Be off!”</p> - -<p>Later in the morning Casimir read the -report of the chief of his secret police on -Grafton’s last hours in Zweitenbourg. -His secret agents said that Grafton had -communicated with no one except an -American tourist—an obviously casual<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_166"></a>[166]</span> -acquaintance and talk; that Ernestine -had not moved from her home over the -bake-shop in Emperor Ferdinand Second -Street. And when the chief came to him -and in great confusion confessed that -his men had lost Grafton between Zweitenbourg -and Venice, the Grand Duke was -sarcastic but not angry. “Drop the matter,” -he said.</p> - -<p>He sent Baron Zeppstein to inquire how -Her Serene Highness did, and whether -she would permit His Royal Highness to -do himself the honor of waiting upon her. -As the answer was favorable, Casimir put -on his most paternal face and went to -Erica’s apartments. She was all fire and -indignation.</p> - -<p>“First,” she said, “I demand that Your -Royal Highness send away that woman -and that soldier.”</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_167"></a>[167]</span>“Certainly, my child.” And he went to -the door and himself ordered them away. -As the woman was leaving he called her -back. He returned to Erica. “Shall I -send for your own maid?” he said. “This -woman can fetch her. Yes?” And he -told the woman to bring Ernestine -forthwith.</p> - -<p>“The peril is past,” he said, standing -beside Erica and laying his hand on her -shoulder. “I know what youth and hot -blood are; I, too, have dreamed of happiness. -But our rank means duty; to you it means -Aloyse and the future of our ancient house. -You think I’m harsh, child, but it is the -kindness of experience.”</p> - -<p>Erica looked scorn at him. “The grand-ducal -house of Traubenheim,” she said, -“has the throne. The ducal house has -the private wealth. Yes, my dear uncle,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_168"></a>[168]</span> -you are, indeed, kind—to yourself and -Aloyse. You know—none better—that -your son is an ignorant, brutish fool. -You know that this life here is dull and -repellent—a hell on earth, a mockery of a -life, a torture-pen of yawning and meaningless -routine. Don’t flatter my intelligence, -my dear uncle, by talking of your -kindness and my duty.” She started up. -“And sooner or later I shall go where love -and life call me,” she exclaimed, -passionately.</p> - -<p>A ghost of a sardonic smile flitted over -the yellow old face at this reference to -Grafton. Then he said, sternly, but -without harshness: “We shall send the heralds -into the town this afternoon to -proclaim the marriage for Monday. We shall -announce in the <i>Gazette</i> that the Inheriting -Grand Duke is ill, and that, because<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_169"></a>[169]</span> -of your great love for him and his for you, -the marriage has been hastened. And on -Monday you will be married.”</p> - -<p>The old man spoke with much dignity—the -dignity of one all his life accustomed -to being implicitly obeyed, of one descended -from a long line of arbitrary rulers. And -although Erica denounced and denied his -command with all the strength of her -soul, his words sounded to her like clods -upon a coffin.</p> - -<p>“As I said,” he went on, in a gentler -voice, “the peril is past. That young adventurer, -that young picture dealer from -across the water”—he laughed—“his impudence -was refreshing! I admire audacity; -he almost deserved to win; I’m -not surprised that you were almost swept -off your feet. But he will not annoy you -further. He’s gone, my child; he took<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_170"></a>[170]</span> -himself away last night. So, feeling that -you were no longer in danger of being -annoyed and humiliated by his -impertinences, I have removed the guards.”</p> - -<p>“Then I am free?”</p> - -<p>“It would be well,” said Casimir, with -faint emphasis, “for you to keep within -The Castle for the present; of course, you -must have your walks under proper -protection.”</p> - -<p>He extended his hand for her to kiss -it. For the first time in her life the act -seemed not a ceremony but a -degradation. “I begin anew here,” she said to -herself. She pretended not to see his -hand. He slipped away with his soft, -sliding shuffle. When he walked in that -fashion those who knew him feared him.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_171"></a>[171]</span> -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_chaptercrowns.jpg" alt="" /></div> -<h2 class="nobreak">XI<br /> - - -<small>An Overwhelming Defeat</small></h2> -</div> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/i_dropcapT.jpg" width="100" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap">THERE was no time to be lost, -as it was now noon, Saturday, -and the wedding was to be on -Monday. As soon as Ernestine -came Erica began to act.</p> - -<p>“You must go back home at once,” -she said to her. “You have forgotten -your clothes; that will do as a pretext. -Send your brother to Schaffhausen on -the first train. He must see Mr. Brandt -and tell him to meet me to-night at the -first cross-road beyond the park gates. -I shall try to be there at one. If I can -come at all, it will not be later than three.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_172"></a>[172]</span> -If he cannot come, he will find me at the -Hotel Rhein to-morrow, or next day, under -the name of Madam von Briesen.”</p> - -<p>As Ernestine left The Castle a soldier -joined her, saying: “My orders are to go -with you and let no one speak to you -except in my presence.”</p> - -<p>Ernestine took this news with a seeming -of great cheerfulness, and jested with her -guard all the way to town. Her family -lived in three rooms, and with a little -diplomacy she easily delivered her message -to her brother in the rear room while -the soldier sat in the front room drinking -beer with her youngest sister. But she -did not venture to call at Windmuller’s, in -Duke Albrecht Street.</p> - -<p>When she returned to The Castle the -preparations for the wedding were going -forward apace. The central part, where<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_173"></a>[173]</span> -were the principal rooms of state, was open -at every window and door; tradespeople -were coming and going; there were sounds -of hammering, clouds of dust from the -windows, a press of wagons about the -doors. The Grand Duke had decided to -make the wedding a big, public affair, so -that Erica would feel that it was impossible -to retreat. And he had left it open -whether the ceremony itself was to be public -or private.</p> - -<p>At eleven that night Ernestine crept -softly down the corridor and reconnoitred -both stairways leading from the apartments -of Her Serene Highness to the lower -floors. At the foot of each was a soldier -with a huge white rosette on his left arm, -in honor of the coming gayeties. Erica -had expected this; she simply wished to -discover where the enemy lay. She dressed<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_174"></a>[174]</span> -in the uniform of a lieutenant of the Household -Guards. When she and Ernestine -had made it, two years before, she had been -full of the idea of running away for several -days to “see the world” from a man’s -point of view. But her audacity failed -her—that is, she permitted the obstacles to -seem insurmountable, and she never got -beyond parading her rooms in it, with -Ernestine as a critic of her counterfeit of -a man’s figure and walk. The feat she -now proposed would have been extremely -difficult, if not impossible, in woman’s -dress.</p> - -<p>She was putting the finishing touches -to her masculine toilet when Ernestine -hurried into her dressing-room in a panic. -Baron Zeppstein was waiting to see her. -Erica drew off her top-boots and thrust -her feet into a pair of slippers; she drew<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_175"></a>[175]</span> -on a loose wrapper, tied a white shawl -about her shoulders, and, letting down her -hair, appeared before the Baron.</p> - -<p>Zeppstein’s old head was almost knocking -his swollen knee-joints. “By His -Royal Highness’s command, Your Serene -Highness,” he said, humbly, “I come to -inquire of you in person whether you are -entirely comfortable.”</p> - -<p>Erica was gracious, bade him sit, asked -about the preparations for the wedding in -detail, made several adroit remarks which -seemed to indicate that she was secretly -preparing to yield but did not wish to -gratify the Grand Duke and humiliate -herself by relieving his suspense. Zeppstein -went away convinced, and was able -to make a convincing report which stood -the test of Casimir’s exhaustive and searching -cross-examination.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_176"></a>[176]</span>It was now midnight and Ernestine put -out all lights. She was to go to bed, -and if any one came and insisted upon -seeing her mistress, she was to detain him -as long as possible, and profess ignorance -and alarm should the flight be discovered.</p> - -<p>Erica advanced down the lofty stone -passage-way. It was an alternation of -bands of darkness and bands of moonlight. -She took the second corridor to the left -and stole along it until, in the darkness, -her foot touched the first step of the ascending -stairway. She went up, opened the -door at the top, and entered. When she -had bolted this door she breathed more -freely.</p> - -<p>She went up a second and narrower -flight of stairs and slipped through a window -to a small balcony. It was in the -full moonlight, but it looked only upon<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_177"></a>[177]</span> -the roofs and the deserted battlements of -The Castle. Holding to the ridge of stone -above her head she stepped to the next -balcony. From this she was able to go -out upon the ledge extending along the -huge tower fifteen or twenty feet above -the battlements. The ledge was narrow -and there was no hold for her hands. She -clung to the wall and sidled slowly along, -feeling her way with her feet and her body. -She did not dare open her eyes except -when she paused.</p> - -<p>At last she came to the place where the -ledge passed immediately above and very -close to the pointed roof of the throne-room. -She stepped down softly and cautiously; -the roof was steep, and, should she slip, she -would slide to the edge, where, if she did -not fall to the battlements, she would cling -until rescued and returned to captivity.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_178"></a>[178]</span> -She worked herself along the ridge of the -roof to the great circular skylight which -divided it into two parts. She glanced -down through one of the open sections. -Scores of people were at work decorating -the throne-room for the wedding.</p> - -<p>“If I fail,” she thought, “I shall be -forced there, perhaps, and it is set for -to-morrow!”</p> - -<p>The last qualm of nervousness left her. -She walked the ledge round the skylight -and crawled out upon the pointed roof -beyond. She drew herself along it until -she was above one of the windows projecting -from the slope of the roof. She -let herself down; she touched the cap of -the window; she slid slowly along the -outer edge of its frame until she was able -to reach round into it.</p> - -<p>It was fastened. Clinging to roof and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_179"></a>[179]</span> -window-frame she unbuckled her sword, -and with it broke a pane of glass. She -listened; not a sound after the echo of -the crash had died away. Then she -became conscious that some one else was -on that roof.</p> - -<p>With heart beating wildly and body -trembling she peered round the window-frame. -Far away along the ridge of the -roof she saw a shape which was unmistakably -a man’s. And as she watched, -it moved; it was some one coming from -the eastern end towards her. Had he seen -her, or had he come after she had slid behind -the window-frame? She feared he -was on his way to intercept her, but she -did not lose heart.</p> - -<p>She reached through the broken pane -and unfastened the window and opened -it. Then, with as little noise and as little<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_180"></a>[180]</span> -exposure of herself as the profound quiet -and the brightness of the moon permitted, -she crawled round the projecting frame -and into the window. She ventured to -glance out and upward again; the man -was creeping along the ridge; he had -passed the point where he would have -begun to descend towards her if he had -seen or heard her; he was moving in the -direction from which she had come. With -a long sigh she closed the window. “Two -minutes later,” she said to herself, “and -I should have been taken.”</p> - -<p>She was in an empty room, in the attic -of the extreme eastern end of the central -part of The Castle. She brushed her uniform, -straightened her belt and sword, -set her helmet well forward on her head, -and sallied forth. She went down the -stairway, cobwebs clinging to her face<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_181"></a>[181]</span> -and sounds of the movements of disturbed -creatures—bats or birds—coming to her -through the darkness. At the foot of a -second and long flight of stairs she found -herself on the landing from which two -great corridors branched—the one to the -right leading to liberty, the one to the left -leading to her cousin Aloyse’s apartments.</p> - -<p>Some one was coming towards her in -the corridor to the right; she was compelled -to take Aloyse’s corridor. The footsteps—they -were cautious footsteps—followed -her. She shrank into a niche and -stood like a statue. As the man passed -a window the moonlight revealed him to -her—Prince von Moltzahn. He was disregarding -her uncle’s prohibition and was -coming to see Aloyse. He opened a door -so nearly opposite where she stood that she<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_182"></a>[182]</span> -could see into the room—could see Aloyse, -in a dressing-gown, seated at a table on -which was a tray containing bottles of -whiskey and soda.</p> - -<p>“Ah! von Moltzahn; you were never -so welcome. No; leave the door open. -It’s frightful in here. I can’t breathe. -Help yourself to the whiskey.”</p> - -<p>“I expected to find you ill,” said Moltzahn. -“His Royal Highness has given -out that you have a fever.”</p> - -<p>“Yes; and he’s shut me up here until -the wedding. He treats me like a dog. -But wait until I’m married and get hold -of some cash. He won’t be able to keep -his feet on my neck then.”</p> - -<p>“But why has he shut you in?”</p> - -<p>“I wanted to tell Her Serene Highness -that I’d killed that American pig.”</p> - -<p>Erica heard; but not until the words<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_183"></a>[183]</span> -had repeated themselves again and again -in her brain did she understand them. -Her cousin went on: “He was pleased -when I told him; he gave me one of his -peaches. But he doesn’t want her to -know about it. He doesn’t understand -women’s—”</p> - -<p>“What was that?” exclaimed Moltzahn, -and both leaped to their feet. Aloyse -rushed to the doorway.</p> - -<p>Erica had sunk straight down to the -floor, and, as her collapsed body fell over, -her sword and helmet clashed against -the stone. Aloyse, looking into the dimness, -could see the form of a soldier—suggestions -of the uniform of the Household -Guards. He muttered a curse.</p> - -<p>“What is it?” called Moltzahn.</p> - -<p>“The old brute has put a guard over -me,” said Aloyse, turning back, “and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_184"></a>[184]</span> -the fellow’s in a drunken sleep. You’d -better go.”</p> - -<p>Moltzahn fled, with only a glance at -Erica, and Aloyse closed his door and -went sullenly to bed. Gradually the coolness -of the stone revived her. She sat -up—and remembered. She could not imagine, -did not try to imagine, how long -she had lain there or why she had not -been discovered. A wave of desolation -swept over her. She had thought she -loved this man who had come into her -life so suddenly, who had taken her heart -by storm, who had opened for her a way -of escape from a wearisome life which -marriage to her cousin would have made -hideous, unendurable. But she did not -until now realize how much she loved him—not -as her liberator but as her lover. -“No; he is not dead!” her heart protested.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_185"></a>[185]</span> -“Aloyse is a liar, a braggart. There -is some mistake.”</p> - -<p>She dragged herself to her feet. “I will -go back,” she moaned. “Dead—my love -is dead!” She knew that it was the -truth; she felt that it was a lie. “But I -shall go back—”</p> - -<p>To what? To be the wife of the man -she had heard boasting of his murder. -She became suddenly strong. “Never! -Never!” And aching with grief, yet hoping -beside the corpse of hope, she rushed on -until she was almost in the arms of a -sentinel. She turned back and dropped -upon a bench round a corner a few feet -from him. The big bell of the chapel -boomed half-past one. She rose and went -a few steps in the direction of Aloyse’s -room. Hate, a passion for vengeance, -was bounding through her veins; she<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_186"></a>[186]</span> -would wrench the truth from him, then -kill him.</p> - -<p>But now there came the sound of several -shots and confused shouts. The sentinel -ran, and she turned and followed -him across one of the huge entrance halls -out into the open; the cool air from the -mountains poured upon her, and her heart -began to revive. She saw a man dart -from the shadow of The Castle’s walls -to the west, strike down a soldier who -barred his path, and run zig-zag towards -the forest. All were rushing in that direction, -and she ran also, but as quickly as -she could plunged into the deep shadows. -She made a détour and took a course -parallel to the road that led to the park -gates, two miles and a half away. She -must get to the cross-roads where Ernestine’s -brother would be waiting—to tell<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_187"></a>[187]</span> -her that her lover was dead! But instead -of enfeebling her the thought carried only -enough conviction of its truth to inflame -her desire to get away—to fly where she -would never again see the wretch who had -desolated her.</p> - -<p>There was some one in the shadow ahead; -it must be the escaping robber. But how -would he—how would she—pass the sentinel -at the park gates? The alarm must -have been signalled from The Castle. She -was almost exhausted. She could see -the robber—he was between her and the -one dim gate-lamp over the small side -gate. He heard her coming and whirled -about.</p> - -<p>“Come on!” she panted, hoarsely; were -they not companions in flight? “I’ll get -you through!”</p> - -<p>He followed her as she ran straight for<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_188"></a>[188]</span> -the sentry, who was standing with his gun -at a challenge.</p> - -<p>“Halt!” said the sentry, loudly.</p> - -<p>“Quick! Quick! Open!” she panted. -The robber, who had been standing aloof, -suspicious of her now that he saw her -uniform, came forward. The sentry also -noted the uniform and saluted. “There’s -been a robbery or something at The Castle—” -he began.</p> - -<p>“Yes—yes,” she gasped. “That’s it—open—don’t -delay us!”</p> - -<p>The sentry stupidly stood aside, and she -and the robber dashed through the side -gate and down the dark road abreast.</p> - -<p>“Hi! Come back!” yelled the sentry, -his slow wits at last collecting in a doubt. -He sent a shot after them.</p> - -<p>But they ran the faster, getting into -the deepest shadow. At the second bend<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_189"></a>[189]</span> -from the gates she stopped and sank into -the grass. The robber stopped also.</p> - -<p>“Go on,” she gasped, in a whisper; her -voice was all but gone. “Don’t mind me.”</p> - -<p>“That wouldn’t be fair,” he said. At -the sound of his voice she rose up, flung -her arms about his neck, and fainted.</p> - -<p>“Well!” ejaculated the man. “What’ll -I do with him?” He held her in his arms, -looking helplessly about. He tried to lift -her to his shoulders, but he was too exhausted -to bear the additional weight. He -laid her in the grass and ran on down the -road.</p> - -<p>She came to in the dampness and cold -of the long grass. As she sat up a troop -of cavalry rushed by on its way to the -town. She began to remember; she had -got the robber through the gates, and -then delirium had seized her and she had<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_190"></a>[190]</span> -fancied he was Grafton—no, it was not -delirium; he <i>was</i> Grafton! She understood -now; her message had not reached -him, but he had come on his own plan; it -was he who passed her on the roof of the -throne-room; it was he who, seeking her, -had been discovered, and, making a dash -for liberty, had given her the chance -to escape—no, it was not delirium. But -where was he now? She could hear only -the murmur of the woods. Why had he -left her after she had flung her arms about -his neck?</p> - -<p>From far down the road in the direction -of the town came a rush and roar as of a -locomotive. She rose to her knees, to her -feet. It was a racing-automobile. As it -drew near its pace slackened and its noise -grew louder. It came to a stop a few feet -from her and stood shaking and panting.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_191"></a>[191]</span>“Somewhere along here,” she heard, -in Grafton’s voice, and he leaped from the -seat and came into the shadow. “Oh, -there you are! Why didn’t you call out? -Come, get in here!” And he caught her -by the arm. “Don’t you hear the cavalry -coming back?” He half lifted, half flung -her into the seat and leaped in himself. -“Turn about, Burroughs, and go straight -for ’em!”</p> - -<p>She tried to speak, but she was dumb, -limp. The automobile sprang forward and -was soon going at a tremendous pace; it -would have been impossible for a voice -to be heard. She looked ahead; the wind -was shrieking in her ears; the cavalrymen -had halted in a moonlit stretch of -the road.</p> - -<p>She could see their pistols lifting. “They -are about to fire!” she thought.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_192"></a>[192]</span>She flung off her helmet, released her -hair, and stood up. The moon was shining -full upon her face and upon her long -hair streaming and gleaming behind her. -She saw the pistols instantly fall before -the apparition of “Her Serene Highness,” -and the horses reined back upon their -haunches. The automobile rushed past -them at the speed of an express train and -fled, unpursued and unpursuable, along -the military road towards the Swiss border.</p> - -<p>She felt somebody’s arms close about -her and then somebody’s kisses on her -face.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_193"></a>[193]</span> -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_chaptercrowns.jpg" alt="" /></div> -<h2 class="nobreak">XII<br /> - - -<small>The Spaniard is Captured</small></h2> -</div> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/i_dropcapA.jpg" width="100" alt=""/> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap">AT dinner at the Hôtel Krone, -Schaffhausen, that same evening, -Grafton told his wife and -Burroughs the story of the -Spaniard—how it had led him to her. -She secretly resolved that the Spaniard -must and should be theirs. In the morning -she wrote her uncle an offer to give -up the part of her estates that lay -in the Grand Duchy in exchange for the -picture. The acceptance came, prompt -and polite; Casimir is not the man to -bite his nails and chatter his teeth at fate. -And so there was a surprise for Grafton -when they went to Paris.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_194"></a>[194]</span>And this is the true story of how it -happens that the spurious Velasquez again -hangs in the Grafton house in Michigan -Avenue. But it is not in its old place in -the galleries. It is on the wall beyond the -foot of Mrs. Grafton’s bed.</p> - - -<p class="caption">THE END</p> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p class="ph2"><span class="smcap">By</span> ROBERT W. CHAMBERS</p> -</div> - - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>CARDIGAN. Illustrated. Cloth, $1 50.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> -<p>A rattling good Indian story of the days just -before the Revolution. The descriptions of frontier -life and Indian fighting remind one of Stephen -Crane at his best. The love affair between Cardigan -and “Silver Heels” is one of the most original -in recent fiction.</p> - -<p>The picture of Pittsburg fashionable society in -1774, the balls, races taverns, diversions, the intrigue -of Lord Dunmore, the elopement and pursuit, the -savagery of Indian warfare, the treachery of the -Tories, are of the most exciting and wonderful -character.—<i>Pittsburg Post.</i></p></div> - - - - -<p>THE CONSPIRATORS. Illustrated. -Post 8vo, Cloth, $1 50.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> -<p>There is an unmistakable brilliancy about -“The Conspirators”; the rollicking spirits of the -hero, the man who tells the story, are infectious, -and his ardor in love is delightfully romantic.—<i>Chicago -Tribune.</i></p></div> - - - - -<p>LORRAINE. Illustrated. 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