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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..327af72 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #69460 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69460) diff --git a/old/69460-0.txt b/old/69460-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 5a63669..0000000 --- a/old/69460-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,13334 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Rulers of kings, by Gertrude Atherton - -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 -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Rulers of kings - A novel - -Author: Gertrude Atherton - -Release Date: December 2, 2022 [eBook #69460] - -Language: English - -Produced by: D A Alexander, David E. Brown, and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was - created from images of public domain material made - available by the University of Toronto Libraries.) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RULERS OF KINGS *** - - - - - - Rulers of Kings - - A Novel - - By - Gertrude Atherton - - [Illustration] - - Harper & Brothers Publishers - New York and London - 1904 - - - - - Copyright, 1904, by HARPER & BROTHERS. - - _All rights reserved._ - - Published April, 1904. - - - - - To - - Poultney Bigelow - - one of the - small band of American writers - who dares at all times to tell the truth - whose patriotism is genuine and useful - and who has revealed to us so - much of modern Europe - - - - -May it not be that in every family there are unborn children--souls -that have come too late perhaps to find a medium, yet, in consequence -of their hereditary particles, unable to seek it elsewhere? We know not -what mysterious dissolutions and recombinations of spirit take place -in the realm where the released forces go, with what deliberation the -essences of families are remixed; oftenest, no doubt, with commonplace -results; sometimes with intent to bring humiliation and disaster upon -a house which has transgressed too many laws; yet again, combining -the great characteristics of mind and soul and temperament of those -who have distinguished themselves in history, with such weaknesses as -must inevitably destroy all three--as in the notable instance of the -last Rudolf von Hapsburg. Again, the best may have been remixed with -only enough of human weakness and passion that love may be inspired -instead of awe, that happiness without disaster may be possible. And -yet the most fortunate of these fusions may be finished too late for -its generation, and be forced to bide its time invisible; or perhaps, -by some spiritual statute of limitations, is deprived of its earthly -rights forever. Nevertheless, it may linger in spirit where it should -walk in its servant of flesh, and unknown, unsuspected, take its part -in the daily life of its kin, having its own influence perhaps on -their destinies and on history. And the romanticist, so much of whose -time is spent in the unreal world, may fancy, once in a way, that one -of these belated souls has swum into his ken, and that his privilege -is to rescue it, to fit it to the part for which Nature so tirelessly -equipped it. - - - - -NOTE.--The dinner described in Chapter IV., Part II. occurred in -1897, but it being necessary that the action of the story should take -place several years later, I have brought it forward. This of course -could not have been done had certain circumstances arisen which might -have given immediate historic results to the speech of the Emperor -of Germany. Those circumstances not having arisen, it makes little -difference whether the speech was delivered yesterday or six years -ago. Otherwise, the dinner, the speech, its effect upon the Hungarian -magnates present, its reception next day by the Hungarian press and -people, were as described. - - - - -PART I - - - - -RULERS OF KINGS - - - - -I - - -When Fessenden Abbott heard that he was to inherit four hundred -millions of dollars he experienced the profoundest discouragement he -was ever to know, except on that midnight ten years later when he stood -on a moonlit balcony in Hungary, alone with the daughter of an Emperor, -and opened his contemptuous American mind to the deeper problems of -Europe. - -His ambition had been immeasurable, yet almost defined. His hopes had -been the confident imperious extravagances of a youth in whom narrow -circumstances and a high indomitable spirit had developed that ardent -personal force which equips man to conquer life. His ideals had soared -in stellar spaces--ideals created by passionate brooding on the careers -of Washington, Hamilton, Napoleon, Nelson, Cromwell, Kossuth, the great -Hunyadis, Alexander, Cæsar, Rudolph the First of Austria. How he had -pored over the lives of this catholic assortment of heroes while his -fingers froze and the winds roared through the Adirondack wilderness; -on hot summer afternoons as he trudged behind his plough, the reins -wound about one arm, his book in the bend of the other, vaguely -wondering sometimes why his manifest delinquencies were never noticed. - -As he looked back he marvelled at the bluntness of his observation. -His difference from the other young men of that high gallery of the -continent must have been obvious, and whenever he thought of his -dead mother it was to associate her with a magnificence of personal -environment which in time he grew to believe he had borrowed from -the _Arabian Nights_ for the more loyal framing of a created memory; -certainly in real life, even in those huge cities where men made money, -even in the vast cold palaces of Europe, of which he had read, there -could be nothing to-day like those splendors which haunted his young -mind. - -He had just investigated the interiors of the toys of his third -Christmas when he was made to keep so quiet for four days that he -became a miserable and obstreperous baby; on the fifth he forgot the -troubles of his past in a twelve-hours’ journey with his doting father. -His indulgent nurse had been dismissed, and a woman with a white cap -and a firm admonishing eye formed the rear of his body-guard, and -held him to the window when his restless legs sent his father to the -smoking compartment. He could remember still his bewildered sensation -as the train climbed slowly through dark forests, as hard black peaks -travelled across his blinking vision. Of the night ride through -the woods in a springless wagon he recalled little but the sharp -accentuations of the “bull’s-eye” and the deep sighs of his nurse. -After that, life for several years was too monotonous for memories. -He lived in a farm-house without toys and sweets--which he quickly -forgot--and after the departure of his nurse at the end of three months -his was the life of any mountain-boy; out of doors in the wildest -weather, out of bed at six o’clock, cuffed, spanked, roughly petted by -the farmer’s mother, beside whose bed he slept during the remaining -years of his childhood. Twice a year his father came and spent a day -on the Nettlebeck farm. In summer Fessenden led him through the -woods, and exhibited his many treasures, expounded the forest lore to -which he had instinctively applied himself as soon as he could run -alone--unanticipative of the lore to which it would be the golden key -in more difficult years. In winter they sat in the best parlor, close -to a red stove, which made the boy, little used to the luxury of fires, -sleepy and almost ill. Neither woods nor fire inspired Mr. Abbott to -many words. He examined the boy in his studies, and took his physical -measurements, comparing them with previous entries in a little red -book. Then, after an interval of sound fatherly advice, and another of -tender interest, he usually went to sleep; or remained motionless for -hours, his weary eyes fixed and rapt, his lips and nostrils quivering -occasionally, but stern, immobile, relentless, the lower lip raised, -the upper drawn down and under. His little son fidgeted, coughed -respectfully, yawned shamelessly, and finally stole away. Mr. Abbott, -upon his arrival, always presented Fessenden with a box of books, -several red sweaters, and, as soon as he was old enough, a new pair of -trousers--for his Sunday use; the boy wore overalls on other days. Mr. -Abbott forbade him to clothe his more conspicuous part in anything but -red, that he might be found in briefer time if lost, and avoided with -less effort in the hunting season. - -The books were selected with a careful regard for his succeeding -years, and under their insidious gardening his imagination developed -and his horizon receded. He received his elementary schooling from a -young woman on a neighboring farm. At the same time his body grew tall -and strong and his temper fierce. He took as easily to fighting as to -books; he was sometimes ignominiously whipped by hulking mountain-boys, -sometimes he won against heavy odds, for he had an instinct for -the scientific rules of the game, a long wind, hard muscles, and -the primitive delight of the small boy in war. The fights were not -uncommonly for the favor of some baby minx, but oftener for the pure -lust of battle. He was frequently mangled and battered when his father -arrived, but Mr. Abbott merely laughed, and, on the whole, seemed to -approve his appearance. So passed the uneventful years until his tenth -birthday, when life began to ring its changes. - - - - -II - - -Mr. Abbott sat in the rocking-chair by the hot stove regarding his son -with his dreamy far-seeing eyes. For the first time Fessenden wondered -who and what his father was. This man was like no one in the books -he had read, like no one in the Adirondacks. He was a boy of direct -methods, and was about to ask for information when his father spoke. - -“I am more gratified at your physical development than you will ever -know, my son,” said Mr. Abbott, tenderly. “When I brought you here -you were fragile and undersized; it was thought that your chance of -becoming a strong man, or of reaching manhood at all, was perhaps two -in ten. But I knew the magic of the mountains; I made my experiment, -and I have succeeded. There are other things I wish to say to you, -however, so sit down and listen attentively.” - -Fessenden, in a glow of expectation, fell upon a corner of the sofa, -and Mr. Abbott continued. - -“Originally I planned to speak to you decisively when you were thirteen -or fourteen, but it seems to me that you are brighter than most boys -of your age; I think I cannot begin too soon to prepare you for the -future. Some boys are taught to say their prayers. I presume you have -been taught to say yours by our good Mrs. Nettlebeck, and I am sure -I hope you say them; but I want you to repeat, every Saturday night -before you lie down, these words I am going to teach to you; if you -forget them, to rise in the coldest and darkest night, stand in the -middle of the room, and repeat them twice. The words are these--write -them down: ‘Life is a fight. Millions fail. Only the strong win. -Failure is worse than death. Man’s internal strength is created by -watching Circumstance like a hawk, meeting her every spring stiff and -straight, laughing at her pitfalls--which in the beginning of life are -excess, excess, and always excess, and all manner of dishonor. Strength -is created by adversity, by trying to win first the small battles of -life, then the great, by casting out fear, by training the mind to -rule in all things--the heart, the passions, the impulses, which if -indulged make the brain the slave instead of the master. Success, for -which alone a man lives, if he be honest with himself, comes to those -who are strong, strong, strong.’ When you have finished that I want you -to repeat ‘No’ aloud for ten minutes. The time will come when you will -rejoice that ‘No’ flies, instead of moving reluctantly, to your tongue. -As for that prayer I have given you, you may not understand it all now, -but you will as you grow older, better and better; you will analyze and -ponder upon it. Life is choked and gasping with young men trying to -get a decent living, with thousands besides struggling for a career, -reputation. I shall do my best to educate you, but I want you to grow -up with the distinct understanding that you must support yourself when -that preparatory period is over. I may be able to help you to some sort -of a position, but I may be dead--and I must do what I can for your -sister--” - -“My what?” shouted Fessenden. “You never told me I had a sister!” - -“Did I not? I should have thought I must have mentioned it. She was -born when your mother died, and her name is Alexandra. Do not interrupt -me again, and listen attentively. I wish you, as I have just said, to -grow up with the clearly defined idea that you must make your own way -in the world, make every dollar you spend, owe your position, and the -respect you may be able to inspire, to your personality--to the dignity -of your character and the brilliancy of your mind. I shall keep you -here until you are ready for college, where I hope to be able to send -you; for, unlike many Americans, I believe in educating a man like a -gentleman. I have just met with a piece of extraordinary good fortune: -the other day an old friend called on me for the first time in many -years; he told me that his son, a Harvard man, and a profound student, -was so delicate that he might be obliged to spend the remainder of his -life in the high altitudes. I called on the young man immediately--his -name is Stanley Morris--and persuaded him to come here, for I realized -what such companionship would mean to my bright little son. He was very -glad of the suggestion, and agreed, for the sake of a small annual -sum, to become your teacher--in time to prepare you for college. -It was a great relief to my mind, for I want you to remain in this -healthy mountain region until you are grown, and, of course, expensive -tutors and schools are out of the question. He will be able to teach -you German and French among other things, and he has a large library. -Therefore, I shall not send you any more books. Fortunately you need -only these rough clothes up here. I feel quite confident that I shall -be able to afford the small yearly sum Mr. Morris demands. But you are -never to forget that you are studying for equipment, not as the mere -routine of youth. Do you understand?” - -“Yes, sir.” Fessenden was deeply impressed, but longing, nevertheless, -to get away from the stove and steer the conversation to lighter -topics. His young brain felt as if it had been hammered. “Couldn’t you -send my sister up here?” he asked. - -“No; you will have little in common till you are grown. You would act -detrimentally upon each other. Girls have such a different part to play -in life,” he concluded, somewhat vaguely. - -“I’d like her picture.” - -“I will send it to you, but you are to promise me first that you will -not write to her. I want no sentimental nonsense.” - -“I hate to write letters, so I don’t mind promising.” - -There was a long silence during which Mr. Abbott dreamed and Fessenden -squirmed. - -“Are you a success, father, or a failure?” - -Mr. Abbott jumped. “I?--well--I will let you judge of that for yourself -when you are grown.” - -“Do you keep a grocery store?--or teach school?--or write books?” - -“No,” Mr. Abbott laughed. “But I get my humble living honestly. I am a -lawyer by profession.” - -“What is a lawyer?” - -“Dear, happy child! All in good time, my boy. Now run out in the air if -you like. Your cheeks are very red. Perhaps you will find an apple in -my bag.” - - - - -III - - -During the following week Fessenden read little and was too amiably -excited for battle. He had seen few strangers in that primeval -wilderness--no gentleman but his father; and Mr. Abbott had taken pains -to admonish him that he was never to forget he was a gentleman--to -criticise his table manners, gait, and carriage. In the course of his -last visit, after he had twice swept his son’s elbows off the table -and arrested his knife on its flight to the butter-dish, he had said, -severely: “I am not raising you to be a congressman from a backwoods -district. Without manners your morals might just as well be bad as -good. I am no democrat. I believe in hard work, and above all things -I despise the idle fools that rich fathers foist upon the world; but -I equally despise the man who ever forgets he was born a gentleman. -You were. One reason why I have persuaded Stanley Morris to come here -is that you may be reminded constantly that you are not to grow up a -country lout, and disgrace--your sister, when the time comes for you -to meet. Do you think that small head can remember all this tiresome -advice?” - -“Youbetcherlife! But can’t I fight any more?” Fessenden had asked -anxiously. “I feel my _goodest_ when I’ve wiped the face off’n a chap.” - -“Oh, fight all you like. Never take an insult. Never see a woman -insulted. Never take a back seat. If you did I’d disown you. But put on -no airs, even when you are being properly educated by Morris. I despise -a snob as much as I abhor a weakling.” - -“What is a snob?” - -“The snob is a man who furnishes comedy for others and tragedy for -himself.” - -Fessenden’s eyes were a hard blue stare, but experience had taught him -that when his father was cryptic he did not intend to be questioned -further. - -Two rooms on the second floor facing the south were put in such -order as young Abbott had heretofore associated with the unlicensed -imagination of the story-teller. Not only were the walls covered with -heavy red paper, but a special car was switched off at a distant -station, and its contents, when hauled the intervening miles and -unpacked, proved to be worn but red and luxurious furniture, four -bookcases, several heavy rugs, two stoves, and some nine hundred books. -Fessenden unwrapped and shelved every book, his fingers tingling, -unfaithful for the moment to his chipmunks and rabbits, his hidden -places in the forest where he was the mighty leader of an invisible -robber band. - -When all was in order, Mr. Stanley Morris arrived. He was very tall -and attenuated, with a bulging brow and long pale fingers. Nature had -designed him for the ascetic and scholar, and doubtless had taken back -a mere sufficiency of his lung cells to complete her purpose. On this -shelf of the world he could live into old age, pack his avid brain with -the master thoughts of other men, and one day, possibly, give to the -world a thought system of his own. - -“He kinder gives me the dumps,” remarked Fritz Nettlebeck, as he filled -his pipe in the kitchen that evening. “I don’t take to people who looks -as if their brains was distributed all over them. His head-piece is -twice the size of an ordinary man’s, but he looks as if he kept that -for Sundays, and any other part of him would do as well for other days.” - -“You’re gitten imagination,” said Christina, with contempt. She was a -sour and elderly virgin, hard-worked, now that her mother was growing -old, and disapproving of her brothers in all their phases. Beaux were -few in that vast and lonely wilderness, and these few had passed her -by. Even the hired man had failed to succumb to the potencies of -propinquity and the only woman. She was an uncommonly good cook for an -American of her class--her parents were Hamburgers--and had won favor -with the campers who ventured into this part of the Adirondacks, -Mr. Abbott among the number; but if her cake was delicate, her -griddle-cakes light, her venison a culinary achievement, her temper -had been bitter from childhood, her sarcasm a thing to make a strong -man falter and slink away. Christina was very proud of this substitute -for scholarship, and persuaded herself that it compensated her for all -that lay buried in ligneous spinsterhood. “The young un’ll have to turn -to now, I guess,” she continued. “Much chores you’ll git out of him if -he’s got to learn all them books. And he’s real handy about the house, -too. He’s mended a power of things for me.” - -“You’re sweet on that kid,” said Nettlebeck, with borrowed sarcasm. -“It’s about the only soft spot you’ve got. But if you make him sick -again on cocoanut-cake, and his father finds it out, he’ll be packed -off, I give you that.” - -“Who is that father of his, anyhow?” Christina never argued when she -was sure of defeat; and having sat up all night with Fessenden--who had -stolen the greater part of the cake--she was not prepared to face the -enemy. “I don’t believe he’s as poor as he makes out. The mortgage is -paid off this farm, I happen to know--” - -“And you’re insinuatin’ that your two brothers ain’t hard-workin’ -enough to pay it off theirselves!” cried Nettlebeck, bringing his fist -down on the table with such violence that Christina’s pile of clean -plates rattled, and she gave a wholly feminine shriek. “If you ever -insult me like that again I’ll git a wife, and how’ll you like that?” - -This threat never failed to subdue Christina, for although she shrewdly -guessed that no girl within a radius of a hundred miles had the courage -to become her sister-in-law, she knew that a desperate man might make -a pilgrimage to some distant town which her fame had not penetrated. -She sniffed, muttered something about not being minded to insult her -own family, whatever she might think of folks in general, and carried -off her dishes to their shelves. - -“Mr. Abbott,” resumed Nettlebeck, having given his wrath such time to -cool as a female could expect, “is a generous and self-sacrificin’ -father, and he just worships that kid; he’d wear one suit of clothes a -year to give him what he needed, and of course keep don’t cost much up -here. As for this here Morris, he’s spent all his money on books and -furniture, thinkin’ he was goin’ to be a college professor. Mr. Abbott -must have got him cheap. And the little we git from the old man’s -regular. Just you remember that.” - -“I ain’t forgettin’. Nobody asked you to make excuses for Mr. Abbott -bein’ alive. I s’pose he ain’t payin’ fur that canoe, either.” - -“That there canoe is a second-handed one, and I got it dirt cheap. Mr. -Abbott consulted me about it when he was here last, and asked me to do -the best I could, as he’d like the kid to have a canoe if one could -be got inside his means. But Fess ain’t to know it’s here till his -birthday comes round; so mind your own business till the ice goes out, -if you can.” And Mr. Nettlebeck slouched off to join his brother in the -barn and avoid further questions. - -“I ain’t no fool,” confided Christina to herself, as she “covered” her -fire. “But I know which side my bread’s buttered on, and the young -un’ll git no hint from me. Then when our share in raisin’ him is -over, there’ll be a big present all-round, or my name ain’t Christina -Nettlebeck. There’s been too many campers in these woods in my time, -and I know a rich man and a gentleman when I see one. Mr. Abbott was -the worst-lookin’ tramp in the woods I ever saw, and that’s a sure -sign. It’s lucky, though, the kid’s what he is, for I couldn’t stand a -hateful brat, nohow.” - - - - -IV - - -Like all invalids, Morris had little affection for any one but himself, -but what he lacked in human sympathy he atoned for in courtesy of -manner and nicety of conscience. He instructed Fessenden until that -restless youngster besought Nettlebeck to find him many “chores.” -But Fessenden was still too small to chop down trees, to plough ice, -or to saw wood, and there is little other work in the mountains in -winter. There was no alternative but to accommodate himself to his new -condition, and brace his endurance by repeating his father’s advice -and attempting to understand it. At the end of the long winter he -was studying hard and fighting less. Now that he did not recite on -the neighboring farm, there was no one to fight with, except on such -rare occasions as when a boy came to borrow of Christina after some -culinary disaster at home or some unexpected shortage at the mountain -“store.” Fessenden, no matter how deep in study, seemed to scent the -messenger from afar, and was standing in the middle of the slippery -road, his muscles bunched, his eye glaring like a tiger’s, when his -expectant foe, uttering a hideous war-whoop, flung his bag into a -snowdrift and hurled himself upon the champion. Upon these occasions, -Dolf, the younger of the Nettlebeck brothers, always dropped his -work and encouraged the sport. When it was over, no matter what the -issue, Christina invariably cuffed Fessenden, then made him a cake; -and gentle old Mrs. Nettlebeck wept profusely as she sponged him off, -convinced that it would yet be her mournful duty to lay him out. Her -own sons had the peaceful blood of the German peasant in them, and -this enterprising American lad was a dear and perpetual mystery. Upon -one occasion, when he looked like a blind puppy, and study was out of -the question for two days, Morris improved the occasion in the interest -of reform. - -“You are a great fighter, Fess,” he began, tactfully; “and it does my -poor blood good to watch so much energy explode. Only it seems to me a -waste. Why don’t you concentrate your energy in your brain and become a -leader by the force of superior will and intelligence?” - -“When I fight with my head I fight with its outside,” replied Fessenden -dryly. “I’ve got to make myself understood, and I do, you bet. And I’m -not complaining of the headache next day, neither.” - -“Think of what I’ve said, however. You have established your reputation -as a fighter; you occupy the proud position of champion among boys of -your own age and older. The raging hate which must saturate you when -fighting like a savage would make me feel mean and terrified for days -after. It is all very well to know how to use your fists, and no doubt -they are of service to you here, and at your age; but they will play -a small part in after-life, and your character will play a very great -one. You are so constituted that if you would learn to control yourself -you could command your fellows with little effort; and at least when -you fight try not to hate so hard.” - -“How would you like Christina’s puddings with all the raisins left out? -Would you mind reading to me?” - -“As long as you like.” And Morris made him comfortable on the sofa, and -read from the lives of ancient warriors until the heir of the ages fell -asleep. - -Fessenden’s mind at this time was a virgin field into which seeds fell -to rise again and be tended by a curious young tiller. Those flung -into a fertile crevice by Morris, who took the responsibility very -seriously, put out their green heads in time. Fessenden nodded his -recognition, and, although they were by no means his favorite products, -between their insistency and a decreasing lack of opportunity, he -arrived, in the course of another year, at the conclusion that it -might be interesting to make boys follow his lead without resorting -to primitive methods. “I suppose one might as well wait till one has -a real call to fight,” he remarked to himself with philosophy. “The -animals don’t fight till they have to--none, that is, but dogs, and -perhaps that’s living so much with us--we sickin’ them on and all that. -It’s good to fight, though,” he added, with a long sigh, “even if the -headache does last longer than the fun--that’s a point. Perhaps Mr. -Morris is right, although I’d like to know what he knows about it. -Maybe I’ll try the other tack and see what there’s in it, but there are -some things will make my fists fly till I’m eighty. I guess I wasn’t -cut out for a Sunday-school teacher.” Nevertheless, he worked himself -into such a terrific rage the next time he was challenged--after -an unusual period of virtuous abstinence--that he was thoroughly -frightened at the result: for several days he felt flat and peevish, -and more worn out in mind than in body. Morris came upon him in the -forest where he was seated on a stump dismally chewing a cud, and -embraced an obvious opportunity. - -“After all,” he said sympathetically, “what you fight for is supremacy, -is it not? Why not get it some other way? Although you poison yourself -with the hate you feel while actually fighting, hate is never the -motive of battle with you. You like all these boys well enough, but -you must find out who is the best man or burst. Find it out some other -way--or rather, having decided that point, try others. Besides, the -great man uses the brute force of others, he rarely indulges in it -himself. Did not Napoleon sit aloft on a hill while his hundreds of -thousands of nameless minions did the fighting? So long as they could -see that being whom they looked upon as an emanation from the divine -intellect, they were willing to fight like fanatics, but if he had -rushed forward with a musket and fallen, the ranks would have scattered -in irretrievable panic. Are you cultivating your prowess to fight years -hence when a great man orders you out?” - -“Not much,” growled Fessenden. - -“Well, take me out in your canoe now. We’ll talk it over further this -evening.” - -Fessenden’s twelfth birthday occurred a week later, and he persuaded -Christina to give him a party and invite his enemies. They came, -howling through the mountain passes, brandishing big sticks as a -manifest of their readiness for the fray. But although, having been -invited to dinner and birthday cake, they expected a respite of perhaps -two hours, they were disconcerted, and privately alarmed at being -received by young Abbott quite in the style of the grand seigneur. He -wore a new white sweater and a new pair of trousers, and he had been -scrubbed and brushed by Mrs. Nettlebeck until, to mountain taste, he -was offensively godly. He greeted his weather-beaten guests with a -hearty grip of the hand, insinuated his appreciation of the forgiving -spirit so touchingly displayed, and when he had them all seated about -the table in the large kitchen he entertained them brilliantly with -anecdotes from his most exciting books, while they devoured Christina’s -substantial dainties. When he had gorged them into a state of sleepy -good-nature, he led them out into the woods, and, mounting a stump, -invited them to spin yarns of personal prowess. Each youth in turn told -a tale of terrible adventure and glorious triumph, which Fessenden -applauded as a host should. When they were alert once more and ready -for action, he organized them into a band of pirates, and they scuttled -several ships with such demoniacal vigor that they worked off all -the steam that was left in them; and departed at nightfall vowing -that Fessenden--who was now dirty enough to satisfy the most exacting -standard--was the finest fellow in the woods, and that they’d never had -such a Time since they were born. - -After supper Fessenden untied his canoe, _Pocahontas_--whom he loved -better than any mortal except his father--and pulled out into the -evening shadows. The Nettlebeck farm was on a clearing of some fifty -acres on the north and east shores of a large lake. Surrounding it on -three sides was the virgin unkempt forest, as yet undesecrated by the -lumberman or the logger. Just beyond the clearing the forest grew to -the shores of the lake--a body of water so clear that in the early -morning and evening, until the ice came, or except when the winds -raged, the great spruces and pines, the beeches and maples, looked as -if petrified in one of the old glaciers which had ground this vast -region into form. Beyond the lake, beyond the surrounding forest, rose -the encircling chain of gentle peaks, some barren rocks of eccentric -shape, others black with woods. This evening their upper slopes were -white with a late fall of snow. The Nettlebecks, like all American -farmers, had done what they could to make Nature hideous, and their -big house with its haphazard additions, the barns and boat-house, the -ragged orchard and vegetable garden, were like a patchwork apron on the -robes of a goddess. But Fessenden had turned his back on the Nettlebeck -outrage, and not a shingle could he see--not a column of smoke. The -blue shadows on the mountains were melting as the stars came out. The -silence was so intense that Nature seemed to laugh noiselessly at -man’s puny attempt to impress himself upon her higher solitudes. - -Fessenden shot his canoe round a bend, and entered a long water-pass, -irregular, half-choked with reeds and swamp, dark from the forest on -the slopes of the gorge. It led to another lake, the second in a long -chain of lakes great and small, on many of which some farmer had made -his clearing and erected his monstrosities. But the gorge was long, -and the next lake too wild and rocky to invite the attentions of man. -Fessenden could paddle far, and fancy himself as alone in the great -Adirondack wilderness as the first Red Indian. From the day when Mrs. -Nettlebeck had allowed him to run unattended, much of his time had been -spent apart. The nearest neighbor lived three miles away, on the farm -where with several other boys he had attended school of a sort for four -months in the year. The boys were kept busy at other times, and only -sought him out when, like himself, they ached for a fight. Solitude had -become as necessary in his life as his bed and his bread; and except -when storms raged and the thermometer stood too far below zero, he left -the house the moment his studies with his tutor were over, and took his -reading into the woods or his canoe. On Saturdays and Sundays he was -not permitted to open a book, and during the short summer there were -no mental tasks. He spent these holidays in the woods or on the water, -only returning to the house for his evening meal and his hard bed. -Occasionally Morris accompanied him, and taught him much of practical -forestry; but although the man and the boy were good friends, each -preferred his solitudes--his long silences. - -To-night Fessenden was in a strangely exultant mood which he was -anxious to understand. He was tired, for he had played hard; but it was -a pleasant languor beside the exhaustion which followed his pitched -battles, to say nothing of their accompaniment of gaping wounds and -nervous depression. He had passed successfully through his first -attempt at diplomacy and self-command; his fists had ached more than -once, for Jeff Hunter was in fine fighting trim and invariably lashed -his crimson tide; and he tasted all the sweets of power, of dominating -in a new rôle, of discovering unsuspected talents, and of using them -easily in the control of his fellows. He looked back upon his career of -fists and blood, this youngster of twelve, with much the same disgust -and contempt as might animate a debauchee crossing the threshold of -reform. He did not return home until midnight, and in those lonely -hours under the stars, in the profoundest stillness that America can -give us, his ambition was born. He felt able to go out and conquer -the world then and there; but he was modest by an earlier endowment, -and the value of a sound education had been impressed upon his -responsive mind. But his soul took a long flight, and met on high vague -and beautiful shapes, which, when he was older, he knew men called -ideals--looked down upon a wonderful world far beyond these mountains, -wherein was stored the records of an eternity of great deeds, where -greater still were doing; where, in the nebulous galleries of time, -things beyond human imaginings awaited the quickening touch of men -still in the making. - -Fessenden returned and raided the pantry for a glass of milk, but it -was some time before he sought his bed. In the depths of his soul the -sleeping man still muttered, and he felt like Mercury poised for a -flight and not knowing which way to turn, but half drunk with wondrous -possibilities. The full moon hung low on the reflecting lake. The -mountain-tops were white, their lower forests black. The deer came -noiselessly out of the woods and drank. The sublime and lonely scene -murmured voicelessly of its greater kin in the highest valleys of the -alpine world. Fessenden, standing on the upper veranda of the house, -again saw only Nature, unchanged since a thousand years. Her silences -might never have been broken. - -“You--kid!” cried a shrill voice as a window flew open. “What on earth -are you doin’ up this time of night? Lands sakes! Git into bed this -minute or I’ll come out and cuff you good.” And Fessenden, who had a -wholesome respect for Christina, fled to his room and was asleep in ten -minutes. - - - - -V - - -But although solitude moulded unceasingly in the structure of Fessenden -Abbott’s character, and with coincident intellectual development opened -Gothic spaces in his soul which made him lastingly different from the -city-bred man, yet was his life on the whole much like that of any -healthy youngster of his age who lived his boyhood in an American -wilderness. He played pioneer to his complete satisfaction, and -blazed trails in all directions through the forest. In company with -the redoubtable Jeff Hunter, he built a hut on an island in a lake of -wild and uninhabitable surroundings, and impersonated Crusoe to his -old enemy’s Friday. This social triumph was not won without another -struggle, partly fistic, partly diplomatic; and Fessenden regarded the -issue as his greatest achievement. After the first supper, cooked by -Friday and eaten with the graciousness of royalty by his master, Jeff -succumbed amiably and followed Fessenden on such adventurous tramps as -his hard-working father would permit. They spent many days and nights, -during the summer months, on the island, from which they sallied -forth into the forest or to the high peaks of the range in search of -Nature’s dearest terrors. They were once treed by a bear, whose cubs -they stumbled over; but managed to escape, by climbing from tree-top -to tree-top, when the bear was obliged to return to maternal duties; -they had, with what discrimination was possible, selected trees too -slender for the bear to mount. During one of Mr. Abbott’s visits he -was entertained on the island; and by the light of a camp-fire and -to the accompaniment of ominous sounds in the surrounding forest was -regaled by an account of this adventure, to say nothing of one with -a panther, and yet another with a catamount, told by Fessenden in a -direct unvarnished style which made his father tingle with pride and -an echo of youth. Shortly after, Fritz Nettlebeck remarked to the boys -that he had two shotguns which “he guessed they were old enough to use, -and he’d teach ’em and give ’em the loan of the guns provided they -learned how to shoot straight and would promise to be careful.” The -immediate result was an indiscriminate slaughter and loud protests from -Christina, who viewed an overstocked and gory larder with disfavor. -When, however, they had riddled and dragged home a bear, they were -thereafter too proud to kill small game for other than purposes of -replenishment. In the hunting season they spent their Saturdays on the -runs, and killed more deer than the law allowed. One fine buck was -shipped to Mr. Abbott by Nettlebeck. Fessenden had brought it down, and -it was the prize of the season. Having achieved this fresh distinction, -Fessenden, who, if he now fought rarely, still burned with youthful -ambitions, which had no relation to the swirling yet luminous desires -in his soul, organized a canoe race in which boys from seven lakes -competed. As his practice had been constant for three years, and as he -applied a very superior brain to the sport, he not unnaturally came -off best man; but this he did not realize, and he embraced his canoe -that night in a glow of complete happiness. He had named her after -his favorite girl in history, and he loved her with his first boyish -passion. - - - - -VI - - -Fessenden shivered and sat up in bed. It was the first time he had -ever heard sounds in the house at this hour, and even the birds and -the cocks were still asleep. He felt more oppressed than curious, and, -dressing hastily, opened his window and slipped out upon the veranda. -The moon shone on vast fields of ice and snow, on white peaks sharply -defined against the dark starry sky, on great stretches of woods whose -heavy spruce and naked maples were laden and glittering. The lake was a -sheet of ice several feet in depth. Fessenden had driven a team across -it yesterday to the opposite woods, where the men were chopping trees -blown down in a recent storm. The thermometer was very low, but the air -so still that the cold had no sting in it. Without the house the world -might have been dead; but not so within. Several people seemed to be -moving about in a curious and stealthy manner. Suddenly some one ran -down the hall and back again. Immediately after there was a scream from -Christina, followed by a silence so sudden and complete that it seemed -profounder than that without. - -How he realized at once that Mrs. Nettlebeck was dead he never knew. -She had not been a strong woman for years, and had spent more and -more of her time in the big rocking-chair, looking out on the lake -or reading her Bible; but when he had kissed her as usual the night -before, she had prodded him playfully in search of damaged bones, and -told him in her broken English that she forgot she was too old to work -while she watched him skate and turn somersaults on the ice. Fessenden -knew that she loved him more than she did her own children, for he -interested her and they did not, and he showed her much demonstrative -affection, which they thought beneath their religiously acquired -Americanism--if indeed there were any impulses left in those dry -economical natures. And now Fessenden looked about vaguely as if in -search of the fleeing spirit. For the moment it seemed to him that he -vibrated in unison with the great forces beyond the Universe. It was -several days before he was conscious of grief and his loss, but he -tingled with cosmic curiosity. - -Morris’s window was open, and himself buried under so many blankets -that he did not hear Fessenden enter the room. He sprang up when -gripped by the shoulder, however, and after a brief visit to the -death-chamber returned and endeavored until morning to answer his -pupil’s eager almost incoherent questions. He expounded every belief he -had investigated. After Fessenden had concluded that he would prefer to -think of his poor old friend in that Nirvana where there was no more -work, he went out and spent the day in the woods by himself. This new -idea of Death and its impenetrability to mortal light seemed to him -magnificent; and Christina, hastily patching together a shroud out of -sheets--old sheets at that--and Fritz and Dolf, not even assisted by -the hired man--who was sent to chop wood as usual--hammering together a -rude coffin, while a few neighbors stamped through the defiles to “help -lay the old lady out,” filled his ardent young mind with revolt. - -The burial-ground was ten miles distant, close by a church, a mountain -store, a post-office, and three or four houses--a hamlet in a clearing -through which a stage passed twice a week. Once a month the church was -visited by an itinerant preacher. Mrs. Nettlebeck, to the satisfaction -of her family, had accommodated her setting forth to the Methodist’s -returning flight, and, as there was no time to lose, her remains, on -the night following her death, were placed on the “jumper”--a low -sledge--and driven through the snowdrifts of the forest by torchlight. -Fritz drove; Christina stood beside him, arrayed in fragments of -hastily contributed black; Fessenden and his faithful chum tramped -in the rear; and Dolf and the hired man lighted the way with great -pine torches. The jumper was on runners; the men and the boys wore -snow-shoes, for the snow was often five or six feet deep; now and then -the rude vehicle plunged into a drift and had to be dug out, while the -coffin was deposited beyond the reach of the plunging horses. Once the -coffin disappeared, and as no one could remember exactly where it had -been placed, and the pitch-pine was smoking heavily, it was some time -before the treacherous catafalque was discovered. After the box had -been dug out and safely hearsed, Fessenden let fly his wrath. - -“Why on earth can’t you bury the poor old lady in the forest?” he -demanded. “You’re treating her horribly, in my opinion; and I’d like to -know what better church-yard any one wants than the woods.” - -“I guess this family’ll git Christian burial every time,” replied -Fritz. “But I must say it’s mighty inconvenient dyin’ in the winter. -Still, we can spare the time better than if we was sowin’ or -harvestin’; there’s something in that. You can’t for to git everything -right in this world.” - -And the tramp went on through the forest, where the late moon rarely -penetrated, and the wild torches peopled the caverns of the dark with -the evil spirits which had haunted the forests of the old peasant’s -childhood, and cast sinister shadows over the stark outline bumping -close to the ground. Mrs. Nettlebeck had been a bit of a cynic in -her way, for she had never been persuaded that the transit from her -quaint comfortable village in the toy state of Hamburg to this souring -struggle for existence in an aboriginal wilderness had exalted her -second condition over her first; and Fessenden wondered if she were -smiling grimly in her coffin at the hardships of her final journey. - -They arrived at the settlement in the late sunrise, but although -several neighbors had assembled to help them, neither pick nor spade -made any impression on the frozen snow, many feet in depth, which -covered the church-yard and its graves. The preacher managed to -flounder through the drifts to his duty, and preached a long and dismal -sermon on the platitudes of life and death, which further outraged -Fessenden; and then Mrs. Nettlebeck was stowed away in a little room -behind the pulpit to wait till the spring came and the “ice went out.” - - - - -VII - - -It was several days before Fessenden realized that he felt something -more than natural grief at the death of Mrs. Nettlebeck. He knew -that his father loved him, but Mr. Abbott’s visits were brief and -far between, and his infrequent letters rarely covered a sheet of -notepaper. Fessenden now had his ardent following among the boys of his -region, but boys manifest their liking by loyalty, not by sentiment. -Fritz and Dolf treated him with good-natured indifference; he would -as soon have thought of kissing one of the scraggy winter maples as -Christina, in spite of her cross indulgence, and Morris might have -been a disembodied spirit. Mrs. Nettlebeck had been his one steady well -of affection. She had petted and crooned over him since he had come to -her, a baby in a chronic state of disapproval with his nurse; and the -large measure of rejected love that was still in her she had lavished -upon him daily. He had taken it as a matter of course, for he was -lordly and masculine, and there was no sharp contrast of neglect and -ill-treatment to fuse it into light. But now that the magic had gone -abruptly from him, and there was nothing to take its place, he felt -himself up against the barren rocks of life; for the first time the -future seemed to hold vague and unknown terrors, the present to be less -than the supremely satisfactory thing he had esteemed it. He went first -for consolation to his canoe, whom perhaps he loved the more ardently -as her responses held an exciting element of doubt. But _Pocahontas_, -like the bears, seemed to “deaden” in winter, at all events to be -coldly impersonal until she was skimming above the sunken ice before -the first breeze of spring. So he left her to the chill repose of -the boat-house, and poured out his lonely and frightened soul to his -father. Mr. Abbott answered that he would go up to see him at once, -and did manage to pay his son a flying visit in the course of a month. -But by this time Fessenden was ashamed of his reckless exhibition of -sentiment, and, like a true American, had jealously concealed his -gushing fountains under a cool, alert, and practical exterior. When his -father arrived his head was high, and his blue eyes keen and bright, -his very muscles expressive of masculine impatience with the soft side -of life. Mr. Abbott had brought him a fishing-rod, which appeared -to afford immediate consolement; and then, somewhat to his father’s -relief, he began to talk about American history. - -“Mr. Morris wanted me to wait until I had read more of English and -foreign history,” he said. “But I couldn’t, and I’ve been reading out -of hours. We’ve a great country, haven’t we?” - -“Great.” - -“Up here they all think it’s the greatest in the world. Is it?” - -“That is largely a matter of experience. Personally, I see more in the -future than in the present. We have never been whipped. That is fatal -to steady and rounded development. A nation, like man, is full of -vanity until life has trounced him more than once.” - -“I should hate it if we had ever been licked. And we have had such -grand men to guide us--I have read the lives of Washington and -Hamilton and Franklin; and we have such grand ideals--after I read the -Declaration of Independence I went out into the woods and whooped and -whooped. With that to live by we can’t be in need of a trouncing; and -of course all other men try to follow in the footsteps of our great -ones--there are a lot of others whose lives I haven’t had time to read -yet.” - -Mr. Abbott turned his eyes to his son’s flushed face, and opened his -straight lips as if about to smile and speak. But he closed them -quickly, and brought down his lids over his cold dreaming eyes. - -He answered in a moment: “Our ideals, like our theories, are the best -in the world. When you are launched out into the hustle, it will be -time enough to know how they work. Meanwhile, don’t worry about your -country--it has an amazing power of taking care of itself; but develop -your intellect and your strength of character. Do you repeat that -lesson of mine once a week?” - -Mr. Abbott invariably asked this question, and Fessenden was usually -able to nod satisfactorily. He continued: “A man who came up here once -said that this was the rich man’s country, that the poor man was -getting less and less of a show, and often couldn’t get justice. They -all argued after that--it was down at the store; but it didn’t seem to -lead anywhere, and I’d like to know what he meant. Was he only talking? -Is that the reason you are poor? You seem to me the cleverest man in -the world--and even Mr. Morris thinks an awful lot of you--he’s not -much on admiring. Are you ground down by the rich? I should think you -could sail into ’em, and send ’em all higher’n a kite.” - -Mr. Abbott opened the door of the stove and poked the fire. Its red -glow was reflected in his face, usually the hue of leather. - -“I cannot say that the rich have interfered with me,” he replied, -after a considerable pause. “I have chosen my own course, and have -felt justified in pursuing it. Don’t believe all this twaddle about -the rich, my son. It is their enterprise that has made this country -great, not the growling of the failures. It is they who encourage -and promote industries, whether their employees like their manner -of doing it or not. It is they who make the money circulate, find -employment for millions, keep the fires crackling under the great -boiling caldron. Moreover, most of them have risen from the ranks of -these grumblers--who, one and all, dream of reaching their altitude and -having their chance to dictate to those still below. Never forget that -point. Every working-man on strike is a potential millionaire--in fact -as well as in fancy--for this country offers equal chances to all. It -is the brains of the men that are not equal; and every millionaire has -only himself--in rare instances his immediate forebears--to thank that -he is not still grovelling with the herd, close to the wall.” - -“Then of course the millionaires have the really great minds nowadays. -Having done such wonderful things, I should think they would feel as -if all the rest of the world were their children.” - -“H’m! My son, I think it is time for you to go to bed.” - - - - -VIII - - -Fessenden, until his Great Love Affair, which occurred when he had -rounded his seventeenth year, lived in his books and the future, -finding less and less companionship in his now humble and devoted -band of followers. This interval of four years was pricked out by two -variations only: the gradually discontinuing visits of his father and -the slight change incident upon a letter received from Mr. Abbott on -his son’s fifteenth birthday: - - “MY DEAR BOY”--(this letter began, in the well-bred but curiously - unexercised handwriting which sometimes made Fessenden wonder if his - father never wrote to any one else)--“It may be some time, perhaps - years, before we meet again. I shall give you no reason now for this - additional separation, so painful to me. When the time comes I shall - explain, and you will find the explanation satisfactory. Meanwhile, - I shall write to you twice a year, remind you of all the advice and - admonition I have given you, and ask many questions. I am very much - gratified with Mr. Morris’s accounts of you. It is in your blood to - take naturally to books. I hope and pray that other things may come - as readily to you in due course. - - “I have now concluded that you are old and strong enough to support - yourself--barring your tuition, which I shall manage to meet. I am - writing to Nettlebeck to put you to work during the fine weather. As - you know, I prefer you should not study during those months, and you - will be paid what will more than meet your expenses the year round. - You are quite equal to the work of a farm-hand, and it is time you - knew how it feels to earn money. It will also be a very considerable - relief to me, besides accustoming you to the fit of the harness - before it is imperatively necessary to put it on. Your sister is - well, and sends you her love. I add mine, and I beg you to believe - that in spite of appearances I love you devotedly--more than I have - ever loved any one. You ask for my picture. I have never had one - taken. I have my reasons. One is that a man always seems to me most - of an ass when smirking on cardboard. - “Your very affectionate - “FATHER.” - -“He believes in disciplining,” remarked Fessenden to Morris, with some -acerbity. He was not enchanted at the prospect of being a farm-hand. -“If I must I must, but somehow I can’t believe my father is as poor as -he makes out. If he is poor, it must be because he wants to be, for it -always seems to me as if a sort of power came straight out of him, and -hit me hard. And up here, where all men are equal--quite unlike what -you say it is in cities--the Nettlebecks show him more respect than -they ever show any one else.” - -“That is the mere force of personality. You can have the same -experience when you are grown, if you make of yourself a strong and -isolated spirit, not a mere creditable member of a type. As for your -father, his opinions are worth their weight in gold. Obey him without -question--therein lies the success of your future. He is not only a man -of remarkable brain-power, but he is between three and four times your -age. He is helping you now out of his own experience. Be thankful that -he takes so great an interest in you, instead of spoiling you in the -usual criminal American fashion.” - -“His interest appears to be more excessive than his love.” - -“Cannot you take love on trust?” - -“Does anybody take anything on trust? Can I eat nails and believe them -bread? I know what I see, what I feel, what I am permitted to enjoy. I -might say to myself twenty times a day, ‘My father loves me,’ and it -wouldn’t make one-thousandth the impression that a weekly visit of ten -minutes would.” - -“A weekly visit from Mr. Abbott--” Morris checked his laugh abruptly. -“Your father is not too strong, and hates travelling. But you have -brain and imagination; it is odd you should need the regularly -administered pap of the ordinary youth.” - -“I am human,” responded Fessenden dryly; and as usual he went to -_Pocahontas_ for comfort and counsel. - -The world was green on this birthday of his, for the spring had come -early. The snow had gone from the mountains, the young maple-leaves -were fluttering in the forest, the fields were green, the golden -sunshine flooded the lake. There was a light breeze, and Fessenden -unfurled his sails and thought into the sympathetic soul of his canoe. - -“Perhaps, on the whole, I like the idea,” he admitted. - -“With one or two exceptions, our great men have risen from the -ranks--were hired men, grocery-store clerks, born in log-cabins, and -all that sort of thing. To be sure, my favorites happen to be the ones -who were not; still it seems to be the proper thing in this country, -and as I intend to be a great man, old girl, I am contented to start -at the proper place--no log-hut could be uglier than the Nettlebeck -farm-house, and I am going to be a hired man, all right. I can’t help -being thankful that it isn’t to be a grocery-store clerk. What am I to -be? What am I to be? Can’t you give me a hint?” He laid his ear to the -spot where he fancied the heart of _Pocahontas_ beat warmly, and for -him alone. “When I read the life of a great warrior, I want to be one. -Upon some other occasion I want to be a great statesman and orator, and -spout the seventh-of-March speech in the woods, as exalted as if the -world listened--and feel like a fool afterwards. Write? Morris says -there are too many writers now, and that my brain is that of the man -of action. He certainly seems to know more about it than I do, and as -for you, my beauty, you’re a selfish hussy. When your sails are up you -think of nothing but filling your belly with wind.” - - - - -IX - - -Fessenden was so preoccupied that even the voices and laughter of -girls did not attract his attention for some moments. He was inserting -the little nickel troughs called spiles into the trees of the maple -orchard, and hanging the red buckets beneath to catch the sap. Dolf -was in the sugar shanty nearby, scouring out the vats, for the boiling -would begin to-morrow, and maple-sugar was an industry from which the -Nettlebecks derived a yearly income of several hundred dollars. This -year Fessenden, who was now seventeen and tired of being a farm-hand, -had stipulated that he was to work on shares, arguing that if he did -two-thirds of the work he was entitled to at least one-third of the -profits. Nettlebeck, after some demur, and a long growl over his pipe -one evening, capitulated when young Abbott threatened to stake off a -claim on government land and in partnership with Jeff Hunter build his -own vats. Fessenden was feeling much elated over his rise in life, -and his imagination was running riot in a great future to which sugar -should be the stepping-stone--he had recently read several articles -on self-made men in magazines sent to Morris--when his house of cards -came tumbling down, and the future financier rose from the ruins, a -blushing, shivering, gibbering swain. - -“This here is Grace Morton, Fess,” remarked the dry young voice of -Mamie Hunter. “She’s come to stay with me a spell. Lives down to -Malone, and ain’t very well.” - -During this elaborate introduction Fessenden was gazing into the -soft black eyes of the prettiest girl he had ever seen. Her hair was -dark, her features fragile and regular; she wore a black frock and a -red-peaked cap, red about her throat and tiny waist. Her complexion -was sickly, her figure might have been that of the last woman, but -Fessenden saw no defects. Neither did he recognize the vacant, the -utterly commonplace mind that looked from that sweet unchanging -face. She was a little beauty in her way, and wholly unlike the -buxom rough-handed girls of his district; there pervaded her that -neutral refinement which nature has lavished with such a curious -lack of discrimination upon all classes in the United States; and to -Fessenden, who had never seen even a village, she seemed city-bred and -fashionable. She blushed under his devouring gaze, and then she looked -like a wild rose of the woods; one barrier fell. She raised her eyes -and glanced vaguely round. - -“I’ve never seen the sap running before,” she remarked. “It looks real -nice. Is it sweet like what we eat on cakes?” - -“You goose!” exclaimed Miss Hunter. “It’s got to be boiled down -first--the water boiled out of it; not that it’s so bad now.” - -Fessenden had produced a tin cup and filled it with the running liquid. -“Will you taste it?” he asked hoarsely. - -She took the cup from him, and their fingers met. He trembled. She did -not, and tasted the sap daintily. “Well, I like it,” she announced. -“It’s real refreshing, and we had a long walk over here. I never walked -so far before, and I’m all tuckered out. I guess I’ll sit down.” - -Fessenden hastily cleared off a log, and regretted that he had no coat -to fling upon it--for obvious reasons he could not remove his sweater. -She seated herself with the fastidious little manner which pervaded -her personality, and Miss Hunter, remarking that she guessed she was -not wanted, strolled off to call on Christina. Fessenden, humbly -craving permission, seated himself beside the beauty from Malone, -regardless of the sap that was flowing from the punctured trees which -still awaited spile and bucket. They talked disconnectedly of various -things, no one of which could Fessenden recall later. Her remarks were -pleasant and meaningless and she was utterly unmoved. She thought -this young mountaineer very handsome and clever-looking, and she had -a faint romantic preference for tall men; but her poor little body -was not destined for reproduction, and her brain was too small for -imagination and sentiment. She was vain and liked attention, but she -was without guile, and as she had no immediate reason for marrying, her -mother keeping a small store comfortably, she encouraged no one of her -admirers, while accepting the homage of several as a matter of course. -The wild tempest in Fessenden she could not have understood with the -aid of a miracle. - -“Is this your first visit to the woods?” asked Fessenden, who wondered -dully why he was so stupid; he could think of nothing to say to this -divine creature, and words, as a rule, came to him almost as rapidly as -thoughts. - -“No, I’ve never been before. I always wanted to.” Her voice was sweet -and thin; it was only when she raised it that it escaped through her -nose. To the infatuated Fessenden it sounded like the rilling of one of -the minor streams in the woods. - -“I hope you’ll stay a long while.” - -“I guess I will. Most of our folks’ve died of consumption, and I’ve had -a hackin’ kind of cough. But I guess I’ll get over it here. I’m better -already.” - -If there was a mutter of protest from the race in Fessenden’s depths he -let it pass unheeded. His suddenly conceived and violent passion needed -but the lash of pity to transform him from the individual into the -type, tumultuous with sentimental desire; the instinct of the strong to -protect the beloved weak, keen and quick; pouring into a flimsy shell -such an ideal as man knows only in his dreams--the determination to -possess this inestimable treasure though the world stood still and the -angels warned through brazen trumpets. - -“I hope this log isn’t damp,” he said anxiously. “I’d better fetch you -something from the house to sit on.” - -“Oh, I’d be afraid to stay here alone, and I can’t walk another step. -It’s bad enough to walk home. I guess this log’s all right. Have you -ever been to Malone?” - -“Never!” Fessenden for the first time realized his rude wild state. -“I’ve never been twenty miles from here.” - -“My! you are a country bumpkin. I’m sorry if I’ve hurt your feelings,” -she added contritely as Fessenden’s sunburnt face assumed a purple hue. -“I’m always saying silly things. You mustn’t mind me. The boys always -say I just rattle out anything that comes into my head, and they don’t -mind a bit.” - -“I’m sure I don’t either,” said Fessenden quickly; he was determined -to equal the Maloner in insensibility. “I should think”--he blundered -somehow through his first compliment--“that anything you said would be -about right.” - -“Well, that’s what they tell me,” she replied complacently. “You can -get me another cup of that sap if you like.” - -Fessenden held the cup to her mouth, which was thin and curved -and scarlet. Then, partly because his emotions were rendering him -speechless, partly because he was fired with the primitive desire -of the male to show off before the female, he swung his axe to his -shoulder and muttered that he guessed he’d better cut down a tree; he -was wasting too much time. - -His axe he always carried with him. It occupied a place in his -affections second to his canoe, and preceding a more lukewarm passion -for his gun. In a moment Miss Grace Morton, of Malone, was admiring a -lithe strong back, the supple free action of two brawny arms as the axe -swung as easily as a switch, cutting straight and deep at every stroke. -The old tree was quickly brought to earth, and Fessenden leaned on his -axe and dared once more to look into the soft eyes beneath the red cap. - -“It was time that old tree came down,” he remarked huskily, yet with -a fair assumption of indifference. “It hasn’t given any sap for two -years, and has been bothering the other trees.” - -“Bothering? You talk as if trees was people.” - -“Well, they are in a way--that is, they’ve often seemed alive to me.” - -“My! You ain’t crazy, are you?” - -Fessenden laughed, and a term of endearment ran close to the tip of his -tongue. “People who live much alone have odd fancies. But that doesn’t -mean they’re crazy.” - -“I guess they’re crazy enough if they’re too different. But you look -real sensible. I presume you’re all right.” - -She looked adorable in her feminine attempt to console him, and -Fessenden wheeled about and swung the axe victoriously into a fruitful -maple. This time the young lady was bored. She preferred conversation, -and this mountain stripling certainly was handsomer than the Malone -small-fry who worshipped at her shrine. - -She coughed pleasantly but imperiously, and as Fessenden turned quickly -the sun blazed full upon her, covering her bright hair with little -golden sparks. Her eyes looked babyish and wistful; she had one of -those mouths that quiver when pouting. The poor little creature was the -more dangerous for being quite natural and sincere. She had neither the -brains nor the energy for coquetry, and even to youths of some slight -experience she seemed as perfect as she was pretty. - -Fessenden threw aside his axe. “Let’s go down to the lake,” he said, -with brutal abruptness. “It’s not far, and I’ll row you and Mamie -home--here she comes.” - -He strode on ahead, and when the girls reached the shore he had one -of the boats drawn up to the landing. He rowed with such swift strong -strokes that the light craft fairly flew up the lake. - -“My, Fess!” remarked Mamie Hunter. “You appear to be in a hurry--must -have wasted time after I left you.” - -“Of course the trees have to be spiled, but Miss Morton was too tired -to walk home. You shouldn’t have brought her such a distance the first -time.” - -“She didn’t calculate on finding a nurse ready made; she’s real -fortunate. Perhaps you’ll come over and carry her next time.” - -“I should like to.” He smiled protectingly into the impassive expectant -eyes; even in the throes he was the lordly male. Moreover, pride had -shaken him into a temporary possession of his senses. “What do you -think of our scenery?” he asked Miss Morton. - -“It’s real pretty.” - -“Pretty? Beautiful, I should call it.” - -“Yes, I guess beautiful suits it better.” If he had applied to it -erudite and foreign adjectives she would have assented as amiably. - -“Fess is a crank,” advised Mamie. “You mustn’t mind anything he raves -over. You’ll be the next thing, I suppose--he’ll find it quite a -relief after so much brain work.” Mamie was an admirer and disciple of -Christina, besides possessing a quick and observing eye of her own. She -had a long, investigating nose, and no beauty whatever; but with the -boys, whom she treated villanously, she was the most popular girl in -the district. - -“Have you read much?” asked Fessenden of his divinity, ignoring Mamie. - -“Oh yes.” - -“What? Shakespeare? History? Biographies?” - -“I guess so. I always forget people’s names that write things.” - -And even then the rosy halo swirled unrent. Fessenden returned home -and viciously punctured his trees. At supper he was so incoherent that -Christina arose and felt his pulse. He passed the greater part of the -night wandering in the woods. During the ensuing fortnight he spent -every evening at the Hunters’. Several times the girls came to the -sugar shanty where he was boiling, and he rowed them home in the dusk. -He lived aloft with the gods and the goddesses, one of whom was Grace, -who gradually assumed heroic proportions. It mattered not that every -interview betrayed her paucity the more pitifully; it mattered not that -he never once struck fire in that meagre breast, that never once did -her brain respond to the confidences, the ambitions, the aspirations -he poured into her puzzled and ofttimes weary ear. He no longer loved -Grace, little as he realized that world-old fact; he loved the ideal -it was her limited destiny to quicken in his imagination. The great -forces rushing through his veins and thumping in his brain had nothing -in common with mere facts and girls. They were having their first -innings, and not even grateful to the cause. Nothing in the vagaries -of nature is more inexplicable than nine-tenths of what, for want of a -better name, is called love. It is a wanton waste of good energy and a -lamentable waste of spiritual forces; for the passion moves the victim -to all sorts of unselfish impulses, exalted emotion, and even religion, -all of which, in the reaction when delusion is over, are finely -scorned. That love which is composed of an instinct for companionship, -and a complete honesty of emotions, and is lacking in sentimentalism -and the tragic note, delays its arrival, to people of ardent -imagination, until so late that they must have much richness of nature -and large recuperative powers to dismiss into the past the memory of -all they have spent. The theory that the blind passion of youth springs -from the relentless instinct of reproduction is true only in part, for -some of the maddest passions are inspired by anæmic and useless women, -and the earth has its full measure of sickly children. If Nature has -any well-defined plan she has as yet hesitated to reveal it, and it -is probable that she is still amusing herself in her laboratory. Most -love would appear to be a momentary fever of the imagination to which -the body responds, and the soul, always struggling for utterance, tries -its wings, flies a little span, and flatters the brain: when a man is -in love then is he most pleased with himself; he never imagined that -for heights and depths, within an apparently trite exterior, he was -so remarkable a being; and until the wave recedes he bestows a like -approval on the chance object who, in the prettiness of her hour, or by -some trick of manner, bulged his ego into grander proportions. - -Considering the issues, it was fortunate in many respects that -Fessenden had the inevitable attack so early in life. - -He was subjected to an unmerciful chaffing, to the most sarcastic -achievements of Christina’s tongue, and to more than one crude remark -by Mr. Nettlebeck; in subject the eternal damnation tendency of -young fools to fall in love with a bigger fool than themselves--in -this case as useless a bit of furniture as ever littered the earth. -Morris for a time ignored the episode, but after Fessenden, who -scorned his tormentors, overflowed one day in the presence of the -polite philosopher, and announced that he intended to marry as soon -as he had a maple-grove of his own--college had no further charms for -him--the tutor and Nettlebeck had a long and meaning conference. At -its conclusion Morris spent an hour in composition, the farmer hitched -up his buckboard and, in spite of the pressing duties of the season, -drove thirty miles to the station and gave the letter to an obliging -conductor to post in New York. Nettlebeck, not many days later, took a -trip which lasted nearly a week. - - - - -X - - -Fessenden, who had long since proposed to Grace and been listlessly -accepted, started as usual for the Hunters’ one evening, striking -through the woods. The moon illuminated the recesses, in which the -snow still lingered, and Fessenden strode along, idealizing even that -beautiful forest; for would it not, in another hour, shelter two -divinely selected beings? He still trod the upper ether, but even in -that rarefied atmosphere he experienced a slight chill as he saw Jeff -Hunter hastening towards him through the romantic reaches. - -Jeff, who under Fessenden’s training had acquired a direct and -uncompromising method of speech, wasted no time in coming to the point. - -“I’ve got bad news for you,” he announced. “Grace’s gone, and she won’t -come back, neither.” - -Fessenden, who had a confused sense that he was tumbling through space, -merely stared at Jeff, who continued: - -“Her ma came this morning and yanked her off--said she’d have no -such nonsense with a girl who was not strong enough to darn her own -stockings, let alone getten’ married. Grace cried, of course--all girls -do whenever they get an excuse--but soon dried up when her ma said -she’d take her out West and show her something of the world. Grace -told me to tell you she guessed it was all right, she hadn’t felt much -like getten’ married, anyway; she’d only said yes because it wouldn’t -have been any use to say no; and the old lady told me to tell you -that it was no sort of use to follow her, for she was coverin’ up her -tracks--she’s a tartar, that one, and I guess you needn’t cry that -you ain’t goin’ to have her for a mother-in-law; and I guess she’s -got enough money to go ’s fur ’s she likes--she told me she’d be five -hundred miles away before night. As for Grace, Fess, she ain’t worth -one of the ribs in _Pocahontas_--that’s the reason I didn’t warn you -this morning.” - -“Good-night,” said Fessenden. - -The blood had rushed to his head. It remained there and confused him, -until, after a brief sleep, he awoke next morning; then he burst in -upon the astonished Morris and raged like a madman. He smashed a window -and two chairs, vowed that he would walk to the West, that he knew -Grace loved him, and that if she did not he had no use for life anyway. - -Morris brought him partly to his senses by the ironic method, to which -Fessenden was peculiarly susceptible, and then suggested that he put a -sandwich in his pocket and spend the day in the woods. - -“When you are a rational being once more I shall be glad to see you -again and talk it over. I sincerely hope I may be able to help you -in some way. But we all have to go through this, my boy. It is as -inevitable as the phenomenon of man and woman itself, and must be taken -as philosophically as the ills of the flesh, which under the proper -diffusion of scientific knowledge will be obviated in time. It is to be -hoped that puppy-love will prove an equally amenable microbe. Now take -to the woods and think like a man.” - -Fessenden took to the woods, but the time was not yet come when he -could think like a man. Calf-love has furnished the mills of the wits -since the first pen impaled the emotions; but it may be a hideous -experience to youths in whom are the makings of strong and passionate -men. The academic standard arbitrarily established by our literary -powers has given the world an entirely false idea of the American -temperament, which, in its masculine half, at least, is excitable and -sentimental. It is their capacity for intense and powerful emotion, -making them in mob capable of the maddest excesses of enthusiasm, which -is the deep indestructible bond of unity in the American race; that has -saved it from passing off long since in fireworks; that, when it has -found the courage and acquired the brain-power to struggle through its -artificial envelope, will permit it to become as great as it now thinks -it is. - -Poor Fessenden had not yet reached the analytical stage. He went out -into the forest and suffered horribly. He wept and raved, and believed -that so far as he was concerned the world had reached its finish. For -the time he was primeval man balked of the first woman; later, when -the acute stage had passed, and imagination had returned, every fine -impulse and need of his nature which had leaped to assertion under the -quickening process of idealized woman seemed to have withered out of -him under the sudden blight. He felt shorn, impoverished, hopeless; -worse than all, helpless. To pursue would be less than folly. Only -a fortune and a detective could have found the indifferent girl, -hidden in the skirts of a determined mother; and he had not a penny. -The little he made beyond what Nettlebeck charged him for his board -went, after the replenishment of his rough wardrobe, to New York for -books. His helplessness degraded his manhood, added to the sum of -his miseries. He stood two days of this mental hell, during which he -ate little and slept less, and then he shouldered his axe and put a -sandwich in his pocket. - -“I’m going over to the river to get a job driving logs,” he said to -Nettlebeck. “I’ve had fourteen years of this, and I’d like a change for -a week or two. When the logging is over I’ll come home.” - -The river was twelve miles distant. Ten minutes after he had started on -his tramp through the forest he heard a shout behind him. He answered -mechanically, and a moment later was joined by Dolf. - -“I thought I’d come along,” panted the younger Nettlebeck. “I ain’t -seen drivin’ for six years or so, and it’s good exercise; you have to -jump so lively.” - -Fessenden shrugged his shoulders ungraciously, and declined -conversation, but even here he did not recognize the ever-watchful -spirit of his father. Nevertheless the thought of that sympathetic -parent spontaneously occurred to him. He was the one person to whom he -could have spoken, but he remembered his fiercely reacting pride at -the age of thirteen; moreover, he was bound to respect his father’s -mandate of complete separation. He had puzzled deeply over the motive -which had prompted this decision in a proud and affectionate parent, -but had finally put the question aside, as so far beyond his limited -experience that he had better apply his inquiring mind elsewhere. He -had perfect faith in both the wisdom and the love of his father, in -spite of occasional outbursts of disappointment, and although the kind -firm hand that guided his destinies and smoothed his path without -weakening his spirit was too well covered to attract his attention, -some spiritual emanation from it kept his heart from closing and the -bitterness of neglect from entering his soul. - -They reached the river in three hours, hearing from the forest the -roar of the dam, the loud shouts of the men. On their side the woods -grew down to the stream, but on the heights opposite and far beyond -hundreds of virgin trees had been sacrificed that the people of New -York might have their daily news. The gates had just been opened, -the river was foaming and racing over the rocks, its surface already -crowded with long sections of tree-trunks, while others were rolling -down the hill. The boss was short of men, and Fessenden and Dolf were -employed at once, for the logs were already becoming jammed. Fessenden -had watched “driving” many times, and, jumping from log to log to avoid -crushing his feet, while at the same time he pried refractory logs into -position and relieved jams, he was soon so deeply occupied learning -his new trade, to say nothing of preserving his bones, that Grace lay -down among the memories. His passion for proving himself the best man -replaced the other, and applying all his intelligence to the task, he -was very soon the most expert driver on the river. This elated him and -sent consoling rays through the dark recesses of his soul. At night -he was so tired that, after the evening meal--a repetition of the two -preceding ones of pork, beans, bread, and coffee--he was asleep before -he had settled himself in his bunk; and although his spirit may have -wept over the hearse in the back alleys of his memory, for he awoke -depressed and rebellious, he sprang out of bed at once, ate his beans -with a relish, and went to work. - -As he tramped home at night two weeks later, he informed himself that -he was cured, and when he reached his own comfortable bed he slept -until late on the following day; moreover, he enjoyed Christina’s -savory dinner with a relish which, as a rule, associates only with -an untroubled mind. Then he went for a stroll through his favorite -haunts of the forest--a guilty sense of disloyalty had led him to -avoid _Pocahontas_ since the day he met Grace--and it all came back. -As it rushed upon him, as he realized that he was still in bondage, -he trembled in panic. The horror of returning into the torments of a -fortnight since was as strong as the overwhelming passion itself. He -ran back to the house, the blood pounding in his head, and searched the -shelf over Fritz Nettlebeck’s desk, where letters for the household and -neighbors awaited the leisurely claimant. - -There was nothing for him; and then he realized that, subconsciously, -he had expected Grace to defy her mother and write to him--had believed -the separation to be a matter of a few weeks; that the time would come -when her demand would be as imperative as his own. He leaped up the -stairs to his room and rummaged among the papers on his table; there -were fragments of exercises in five languages, dead and alive, brief -studies of public men, but there was no letter, even from his father. -He returned to the forest, his hands and knees trembling, his brain -whirling, his panic increasing, muttering vague phrases, filled with -terror of the future, confusion, a mad desire for annihilation. Then, -as his ego reached its depths and grovelled there, he straightened -himself suddenly and, flinging his fist against a tree, exclaimed: -“By God, what slavery!” What he had seen of religion as expressed by -itinerant and ignorant preachers had left him cold, but he had entire -faith in some great force pervading the Universe, although he did not -think it worth while to apply a name to it. He bethought himself of -this force, and by a violent effort put himself in relation with it, -demanding imperiously that some of its strength should pass into him -and relieve him from this intolerable state of slavery. His prayer -was answered so quickly that for a moment he stood as dazed as if he -had been transferred abruptly to another planet. Then he shrugged his -shoulders, laughed at his recent self, went down to the lake, and -took _Pocahontas_ out for a long, confidential, and somewhat cynical -conversation. - -He half expected that the obsession would return, but it did not, even -when, missing his agonies, he endeavored to evoke their ghosts. Finally -he sat down and wrote a long letter to his father. - -“It has taught me two things,” he concluded: “the advisability of -keeping a tight hold on the bulk of your energies until you are sure of -having found the right woman, and the danger of praying for strength -to annihilate unless you are quite sure you are not making a mistake. -In this case it was all right, but she might have been the one woman; -there might have been merely a misunderstanding, and the result would -have been the same. I dragged the strength from out there into myself -and blasted the thing to the roots. I am convinced that I can evoke -that strength whenever I will, but it rather frightens me to think that -I might have made this discovery at the wrong time.” - - - - -XI - - -The immediate results of Fessenden’s enslavement and deliverance were -a terror of women, which he called contempt, an augmented interest in -the great men of history, and a daily mounting ardor for his country. -He had the usual school-boy’s idea of the isolated grandeur of the -American Republic, and a corresponding resentment against the rest of -the world for having annoyed it occasionally. Mr. Abbott, who liked all -healthy manifestations in a youth, had asked Morris to let him keep -his illusions until he was old enough to accept their loss without -bitterness. Fessenden, who had been patriotic enough in all conscience -before he met Grace, now burned with a holy fire, built an altar in the -depths of the forest, and solemnly devoted his life and energies to the -service of the United States--thought of her, dreamed of her, poured -upon her all the rejected passion of his nature. But as yet no light -had been shed upon the manner in which he should best serve her, and -one day he abruptly broached the subject to Morris. The tutor came to -attention at once. He had been in correspondence with Mr. Abbott for -some time, and was awaiting his opportunity to speak: Fessenden was a -delicate subject. - -“I have been thinking it over,” he said. “Of course your father’s -wish--and mine--has been that you should go to Harvard, but in the few -years since I left college things have changed so in America--I am not -old as years go, and judging from the occasional newspaper and magazine -that comes my way, the world seems to have run by me.” He spoke -hesitatingly, as if the subject had been presented to him too abruptly, -after all; and Fessenden, who did not count patience among his virtues, -beat a roll-call on the window-pane. The woods were green and warm; -_Pocahontas_ was making imperious little motions on the lake. A hint, a -stimulus, was all he expected from Morris; the final solution would be -found in solitude. - -“Why not Harvard?” he asked, as Morris continued to look out upon the -world in mute reproach. “Of course I expect to go to Harvard. And my -father says the world’s all right.” - -“Whatever is is right. I am philosopher enough to believe that--but -this is the point: the great universities, like Harvard, are for -the sons of rich men, or at all events for those of that privileged -class who do not have to enter into the great struggle the moment -they graduate. If you had even a small income, and purposed to become -a man of letters, if you had in you the makings of a professor or a -clergyman, I should say Harvard without hesitation, even though you -would have to skimp through in a manner that is very humiliating to a -gentleman; but I have studied you closely now for seven years, and I -cannot associate you with any of the old-fashioned callings. You are -peculiarly energetic and practical. You have tremendous ideals, but you -would never have the patience to angle for them in an ink-pot, and you -have too much common-sense to stump the world as a propagandist. The -way for you to achieve great ends is through the medium of money--no -one in this country to-day respects anything as much--and through -that medium you could make yourself understood at once, and have -what following you chose. It seems to me that you could make money -in very large amounts--you were born with concentration, obstinacy, -and industry; you must excel in all you undertake or burn to ashes -in the attempt, and you have an uncommonly good brain. Of course I -have only been able to cultivate its intellectual part, and there are -a thousand things you must study in the next few years--men, your -country, other countries, the great industrial, financial, commercial, -and political problems which make up the machinery of the world. Now, -if you were merely to be a dilettante in these matters, I should again -say Harvard; but as it seems to me that you were born to take an -active part in the great world problems, and as you have your living -to make, I have thought it expedient to suggest the University of the -Northwest--” He paused again and turned away his head; the polite -scholar loathed the thought of the Western college. As Fessenden stared -at him in earnest attention, he proceeded, in a moment. - -“It is quite a remarkable institution in a way, and very cheap. As -it is in a small Western town, living costs next to nothing; and as -it is not patronized by rich men’s sons, the scale of living is very -low--there are no expensive clubs and other constant demands. Of -course it is your duty to consider this, as well as the more complete -freedom which it would give you. It is my private opinion that the -great colleges are no place for a man who cannot spend money like a -gentleman. If my father had lost his money earlier I should not have -gone to Harvard.” - -“Well, what should I get at this Western university that would send me -straight from the log-cabin to Aladdin’s cave--it used to be the White -House.” - -“That is what you would decide after you had been there a year or two. -The point is that you would find there special courses on electricity, -mechanics, banking, transportation, agriculture, international -relations, politics, all the industrial problems. Through some one -of these great modern avenues you will make your way to wealth, and -you will have the inestimable advantage of starting from the ground -up--of mastering, for instance, all the details of a machine-shop, of -an engine, of railway tracks, of the progressive development of that -most mysterious of all forces, electricity, while your mind is still -plastic. There is still another reason for making yourself familiar -with all these things while you are young and enthusiastic--even if -you happened to make your money in some field outside them all.” He -hesitated again, but proceeded almost immediately, and in the tone of -a man resolute to pursue any subject as far as analysis would take -him. “Suppose, for instance, you should make a very great fortune, -modern conditions would place you in the most complex relations -with all the subjects which this university specializes. You would -be elected upon the boards of companies without end, perhaps become -president, vice-president, of others; and, as a rule, directors know -next to nothing of the industries over which they preside; employers -know too little of what is _a b c_ to the men under them. Railroad -presidents cannot know too much about mechanics and electricity if they -want to pay heavier dividends than their rivals--in a word, it is the -millionaire who knows most of those subjects of which most millionaires -know nothing who rules all the other millionaires. You see, I have let -my imagination run away with me--I already saw you aloft on a gold -pedestal. Perhaps I am too sanguine for you--one dreams much when one -lives the solitary life--” - -“The millionaire proposition seems to me a good deal of a come-down -after all my fine dreams and ambitions, but if it’s the short cut-- I -haven’t much patience-- Is money really so easy to make?” - -“There is nothing less easy to make. My argument is that you are one of -the few who could make it if you would.” - -“Well, the harder the better. I wouldn’t give a red cent for anything -that could be had for the asking.” - -Again Morris turned his head and stared into the fire. He heartily -wished that Mr. Abbott had come up and done his own talking. - -“Your life is likely to be strenuous enough,” he said, after a pause. -“When you are rich--if you ever are--you will work as hard, if not -harder, than before. Will you think over what I have said about this -university, and write to your father? He told me once that he should -leave the matter to you; but, of course, he must know soon, as you -could enter any college this autumn.” - -“I do not need to think it over. How long do you suppose it takes me to -make up my mind? I shall go to the Western University.” - - - - -XII - - -He started early in September, accompanied by Morris, who now confessed -that he had long pined for the orange groves, the perpetual sunshine -of southern California; and as far as the station by the stoical but -cheerless Jeff. Christina embarrassed him by a farewell embrace and -a tear, while promising him a monthly box of good things. Morris -requested him to take no clothes but those he was obliged to wear, -but he stuffed his sweaters among his books; he could imagine himself -permanently in no less elastic envelope. In spite of remonstrance he -also packed his axe. He was quick and eager for the change, and, with -the ingratitude of man, left even _Pocahontas_ with little reluctance; -his imagination pictured the great gates of the world at the foot of -the Adirondacks; and at last he was to pass through them and into that -infinite beyond where all dreams were realities. - -Morris had chosen the night train for obvious reasons; and when they -reached the station in New York he hurried his young mountaineer into a -cab and drove to the best of the tailors, who met the immediate demand. -The necessary autumn and winter wardrobe he bought for his charge -called forth a vigorous remonstrance; Fessenden had never imagined -such reckless extravagance; but when his mentor had reassured him, -he further indulged himself in several sweaters. He was the proud -possessor of a hundred dollars, made in sugar, and his fingers tingled -with the new pleasure of spending. - -From the shop they drove directly back to the station to catch the -morning train for the West. Fessenden grumbled, for he wanted to see -New York; every nerve had sprung to greet the great city, and he hung -out of the cab in spite of remonstrances and to the amusement of -passers-by. - -“I know how you feel,” said Morris. “I should like it myself, but I -dare not linger in New York an hour--its air is fatal to me--so near -the Atlantic--you will see enough of New York in the future--I am sure -you will not mind.” And Fessenden submitted with what grace he could -muster. As they were standing in the station awaiting the announcement -of their train, Fessenden, to the alarm of Morris, suddenly darted from -his side and disappeared in the crowd. Morris suspected the cause and -turned pale with anxiety. The color the mountains had given him came -back as he saw his charge returning alone. Fessenden’s face, however, -was flushed, his eyes were as bright as tears. - -“I saw my father!” he exclaimed, with a complete disregard of the -bystanders that was quite superb. “I know I saw him! Why does he act -like this? I was sure he would come to meet me. Why should he look at -me and go away?” - -“It could not have been Mr. Abbott,” said Morris soothingly, and -taking his arm he hurried him through open gates. “It is doubtful if -he is in New York, and he is not the man to do anything so silly and -sentimental. He is very busy working out some idea which requires all -his energies--he dares venture upon no distraction--there, I have told -you that much--your unerring instinct has kept you from doubting that -he loves you.” - -“Is he an inventor?” asked Fessenden eagerly. “Is that the mystery? Is -that the reason he wants me to study all these new things--that I may -be of use to him?” - -“Well, he is something of an inventor, and you certainly can be of -great use to him--more than anybody on earth can be.” - -“Why didn’t you tell me that before? Now I have a double object. I’ll -work like a logger. What’s his line?” - -Morris groaned; but as he disposed his hand-baggage neatly about him -he had another inspiration. “All!” he announced. “That is to say, a -combination of all this very modern university can teach you. The -result may be extraordinary.” - -Fessenden fell back on his seat and stared out of the window, -seeing nothing. His imagination was fired with the vision of his -lonely potential devoted father experimenting in obscurity with a -revolutionizing idea, whose bare elementary threads--awaiting himself -in the Northwest--filled him with such excitement and exhilaration that -he wanted to get out and race the train. Fortunately his deep emotions -always rendered him speechless, and Morris was permitted to sleep -peacefully during the greater part of the journey. - - - - -XIII - - -Although Morris had never reached the heart-strings of his pupil, the -youth was his one human interest--his father was dead long since; and -as Fessenden fully realized his debt of gratitude to the capable and -conscientious tutor, as well as being a person in whom habit struck -long roots, the parting was unexpectedly affecting. As Fessenden -returned from the station of the little town of Turbine, where he was -to spend the greater part of the next four years, he suddenly conceived -a violent antipathy for his new surroundings, and a desire to flee back -to his mountains. This flat interminable prairie, this cheap town, -not an elevation in sight, much less the mountains which had gone far -into the modelling of his nature--there was nothing here resembling -the great world of which he had dreamed. He longed for real solitude, -feeling for the first time the miserable substitute the crowd offers; -and suddenly understood how much closer to the great realities of life -it brings a man than any actual juxtaposition. - -But in a few days he was too busy and interested for either -homesickness or dreams. Morris had drilled him so thoroughly -in English, the dead languages, German, French, in history and -mathematics, that he could have entered Yale or Harvard with sails -spread, and in the younger university he took a rank at once which gave -him the more time for the course known as “Training for Business.” -Almost immediately it seemed to him that sleeping things rose in his -brain, things whose existence he had never suspected, and strove to put -themselves in touch with inspiring forces without. Fessenden, who had -made up his mind to place himself in a neutral receptive state, to give -no more thought to the future and to ambition until he had learned all -that the university could teach him, was some time recognizing that -these new-comers were talents, and that they responded to all that was -inventive and practical in his initial course. - -He recognized them in time, however, as day by day he grew more -absorbed in the mysteries of the engine and electricity; and the -glimpses he had, in his first year, of finance and political economy -stirred him like old love-letters. His imagination idealized and -personified the engine he worked upon as it had his canoe; and on the -day when he finally mastered the difficult art of taking it to pieces -and putting it together again without help or hitch, he challenged the -strong man of the college to combat, and polished him off with such -enthusiasm that once more he occupied the proud position of champion. -This satisfied his masculine vanity, besides delivering him from the -chaffing and petty persecutions provoked by his mountain hues; he was -henceforth permitted to indulge his passion for sweaters and old hats, -even on Sundays, unchallenged, while his remarkable abilities were as -frankly acknowledged. - -The military drill did not give him enough exercise, and he had -promised his father he would waste no time on sport. “Your passion to -excel,” Mr. Abbott had written, “would make you neglect your studies; -so be wise and get your exercise some other way.” Fessenden was feeling -nervous and somewhat confused one Friday afternoon when he suddenly -bethought himself of his axe. He brought it forth, fingered it lovingly -in a rush of memories, then shouldered it and started for the open -country. He was not long finding a farmer who was willing to have his -wood cut for nothing, and thereafter Fessenden spent an hour every -evening and half of Saturday, either felling Mr. Lunt’s trees or sawing -his logs; and the exercise relieved his brain and kept his muscles hard. - -The military drill not only dismissed his mountain slouch and gave him -a free and upright carriage, but inspired him with dreams of war and -glory. The martial music quickened his blood, and secretly he fancied -himself very much in his uniform. It was not long before he became -restless in the ranks and announced to the West Point officer in -charge his desire to become captain. The officer stared, laughed, then -reminded him that military rank was--as a rule--or should be (he was -a victim of politics himself), the result of superior accomplishments -and talents, to say naught of hard work. Thereafter, three times a -week during two of the afternoon hours, Fessenden dismissed books and -machinery from his brain and concentrated that energetic instrument -upon military drill alone. - -But he spent the greater part of his time and thought in the shops -and yards. Aside from the ambition and the superabundant energy which -prompted him to excel in all he undertook, his imagination was absorbed -in the rapture of unravelling certain mysteries of science--was at work -on far-distant but great and picturesque results. He was in no hurry to -invent, but even while signalling and switching at night he saw trains -of unimaginable beauty and grace and lightness skim by in the dark, -and great fleets of ships, invincible and terrible in war, forcing the -Monroe Doctrine down the throat of Europe, perhaps annexing the rotten -old monarchies altogether. That the red hair of a daughter of the -Cæsars would one day entangle itself in his wondrous electrical stores, -and jerk them far afield, he did not forebode then, poor Fessenden; he -was happy in his dreams and ideals. - - - - -XIV - - -As the college year was drawing to its close he received the following -letter from his father: - - “MY DEAR BOY,--I am sorry to be obliged to inform you that you must - manage somehow to pay your own expenses during the remaining three - years at the university. Five hundred dollars a year are a good - deal, and you are younger than I am, remember. I can let you have a - hundred, but that is all, and I have every confidence that you will - be able to make the rest for yourself. Perhaps you may imagine what - it means to me to reflect that I have such a son to lean on in my - old age! I know of no man living that I envy. I am informed of your - progress, and I am proud of you beyond the power of any poor words of - mine to express. - Your affectionate FATHER.” - -For the moment Fessenden was shocked and bewildered; but not only -did the subtlety of Mr. Abbott’s letter begin its work at once, but -his mettle flew to its opportunity. He promptly turned to with that -absolute lack of doubt which, in a man well equipped, compels success. -There were a number of relatively wealthy men in the university whose -patriotism for the West and contempt for the effete East had led -them, or their fathers, to patronize the home institution. Fessenden -imperiously persuaded these men that they needed a course of practical -lessons in forestry and longed for a summer in camp in the Adirondacks -not far from the cooking of Christina. The summer was pleasant and -profitable for all, but particularly for Fessenden, who found many -hours to dream alone among his mountains and into the sympathetic ear -of _Pocahontas_. She was haughty and evasive for several days after -his enthusiastic arrival, turned him over twice, and took advantage of -every abstraction to make for submerged stumps and shore. But having -made him sufficiently miserable, she gradually restored him to favor, -and the old happy bond was re-established. But although he was glad of -the long hours of rest and of pondering over the world of science into -which he had been precipitated by the intuition and foresight of his -father, he was soon eager to get back to the practical application. -He returned to the university with half the money he needed, and he -could easily make up the remainder by coaching. The day after his -return he walked out to Mr. Lunt’s and announced his intention of -living with him and paying for his board with his axe, or in any other -reasonable manner. The farmer was taken aback, and somewhat displeased -at the idea of paying for what he had grown accustomed to accept as -his right; but finally admitted the justice of Fessenden’s argument, -especially as he had no such enthusiast for hard labor on his farm. -Shortly after, Fessenden, in a burst of adolescent pride, returned his -father’s contribution, having persuaded his forestry class that they -needed private lessons in German, which in truth they did, although -they enjoyed the study of Fessenden more. They never connected him with -the author of his being, but they thought him unique and perennially -interesting. Occasionally they marvelled at his sublime audacity, a -quality as a rule born of the easy assurance of wealth and social -position, particularly when well-bred and unconscious; but they -never got beyond the conclusion that it was the result of an unusual -brain and a gift for leadership. That he should become the captain -of his company before the end of his first year, and prove an ardent -disciplinarian, did not so much surprise them; but his talents were -less easy to account for, and those interested in heredity approached -him on the subject. Fessenden was determined to keep his father’s -secret, whatever it might be; and as he could be diplomatic when -diplomacy seemed more advisable than throwing an impertinent man out of -the window, he sent the curious away with the impression that he came -of plain mountain people. - - - - -XV - - -During this year he took up modern history, the development of railway -intercourse in Europe and America, and pursued his studies and -experiments of the previous year with unabated ardor. He likewise -became violently interested in politics, and let off a good deal of -steam in public speaking. He also took up the cudgels for the East, -partly because his father was a New-Yorker, partly because in this -attitude he stood practically alone. Privately he thought the West -had cause for grievance in the absurd and ignorant attitude of the -East; but it was impossible for him to run with the majority, and -there certainly was much to be said for the older civilization. The -question of strikes and all the manifestations of the antagonism -between capital and labor did not engage his attention until the -following year; and when it did his sympathies were entirely with the -poor man, as he informed his father in long and impassioned letters. -In answer, Mr. Abbott invariably reminded him that as yet he knew -nothing of the rich, and advised him to suspend judgment. But although -Fessenden by this time was an intolerant democrat, wore his oldest -sweaters, and even persuaded Miss Lunt to patch his trousers, there -was something curiously aristocratic in his attitude and personality, -which his associates felt rather than analyzed. There was not a man -in the college who would have dared to emulate his utter disregard of -appearance, his indifference to comment on the streets of Turbine, the -catholicity of his acquaintance, the manner in which he ignored the -very existence of those he did not like, the recklessness with which -he thought out loud, apparently unconscious that anything could affect -his standing, popularity, and reputation, and the indefinable touch -of patronage in his most extreme democracy. And although even at that -period, when he was full of vanity, he did not swagger, still it was -noticeable that he carried himself as if the world were his. He made -enemies, but he either fought them or accepted them with philosophy, -and he had an army of disciples, who followed his imaginative flights -and his most radical theories to the bitter end. - -But his fellow-men interested Fessenden less at this period than the -wonderful excursions he was making daily into the new realms of thought -and research. It was during the middle of the third year that he gave -himself up more particularly to the study of finance, the development -of banking, and political economy. He pursued these studies with a -curious sense of reviving old memories; he surprised himself at his -love of dry details--that even here his imagination saw picturesqueness -in the possibilities of concentrating vast sums of money and yet -filling the veins of a great country with a life-blood of liquid gold. -During his democratic madness he had seriously doubted whether his -conscience would permit him to be a rich man; but now, with a chastened -yet no less sincere democracy, he made up his mind that for a man of -the people to acquire millions and then use them for the amelioration -of his less-gifted fellows, to say nothing of glorifying his country, -was both wise and poetical. Having satisfied his mind on this point, he -astonished the university and Turbine by appearing at church in a suit -of clothes not only of harmoniously assorted pieces, but manifestly -made to order. He sustained the balance by looking worse than usual -during the week. - -In the vacation preceding Fessenden’s fourth year the university -received, from a source which was to remain unknown to all but the -president, a large bequest for the departments of banking and finance. -The bequest was accompanied by the condition that during the ensuing -year certain eminent authorities were to be asked to lecture. Somewhat -to the surprise but greatly to the satisfaction of the faculty, -invitations to lecture were promptly accepted by the Secretary of -the Treasury, the President of the Pennsylvania Railroad, the owner -of a great department store, and three leading bank presidents. These -gentlemen did not confine themselves to generalities; they described -the practical workings of their respective systems, enriched by a -wealth of comparison with corresponding systems in other countries; -they pointed out the defects and disadvantages of both sides, and -analyzed the causes of the remarkable progress of so young a country -as the United States; they emphasized the necessity of a sleepless -alertness, and the demand for new ideas which should be bold without -recklessness and safe without conservatism. Fessenden listened with -tingling nerves and legs moving restlessly. He wrote to his father -that he regarded this timely benefaction as a direct interposition of -Providence in his behalf, and that although he certainly had to work -harder than any one in the world, he believed that he had been born -under a star of remarkable magnitude. His ambitions had revived long -since. He had in his imagination a union of steel and electricity so -madly romantic that he dared not confide even in his father. He must -make a large sum of money first, for he would trust no one with his -secret. He believed that he could make his country invincible, the -ruler, if she chose, of two hemispheres, and he looked back somewhat -patronizingly upon his old heroes. Other times, other gods! The -pendulum in him was still swinging wildly, the balance was not yet; -but the depth and tenacity of purpose, the clear creative intellect, -quick and versatile in grasp, and of an extraordinary energy; the high -enthusiasm and real capacity for the passion of patriotism were all -modelling and biding their time within the exterior made up of their -defects. - -So passed the four years, with their intervals of mountain-life, when, -in spite of his ever-increasing classes, he drew renewed strength and -courage from solitude and the invigorating air of high altitudes. Hard -work told little on him, for his body was full of red mountain-blood -and clamped with magnificent muscles. - -He hoped that his father would come and witness his triumphs of -Commencement Day, but he received this letter instead: - - “MY DEAR BOY,--It is a matter of very great regret to me that I - cannot be with you at this time, but I will explain my absence to - your entire satisfaction when we meet. Thank God that will be almost - immediately. At a very bitter price to myself I have relentlessly - pursued a plan conceived the day after your mother’s death; and my - compensation so far has been its entire success. Will you come to - New York on Monday? It had been my intention to meet you in the - Adirondacks and tell my story there, for I dislike anything savoring - of drama, but business imperatively commands me to stay here, and I - must ask you to come to me. I have sent for _Pocahontas_. I enclose - a postal order for a hundred dollars. May I ask you not to arrive - in a sweater? New York is not Turbine. Moreover, a natural weakness - makes me wish to see you, after so many years, at the best possible - advantage. - “Your very affectionate - “FATHER.” - -Fessenden pondered over this letter. It was enigmatic, and Mr. Abbott’s -brief communications were usually remarkable for their clarity. He had -made up his mind four years ago that his father was an inventor, and -denuded him of all mystery. It also occurred to him with startling -abruptness that he had never seen his father’s signature. As he stood -staring at the paper, shadowy images, impressions, chance words, -blurred pictures rose from some forgotten well in his mind, endeavored -to sharpen, to cohere; but they faded away impotently; the vital -interests of the morrow rushed in and claimed place; he shrugged his -shoulders and sent his father a telegram. - - - - -XVI - - -“Fess,” said Jeremiah Keene, on the night of Commencement Day, “what -are you going to do with yourself? You are the most expansive--nay, -sentimental and emotional creature on one side of you, and on the other -the most secretive! I’ve turned myself inside out to you over and -over again. You know all my hopes, aspirations, plans--who doesn’t? -What have I been digging away at this school of mines for? But you’ve -gone in for everything, distinguished yourself in pretty nearly -everything--and we are none the wiser. In these days you’ve got to be -one thing--one thing--there’s no chance for any but the specialist, and -you are as well aware of that as any one else. So I know, we all know, -that you must have made up your mind--that you know what you are about. -It isn’t only curiosity that prompts me to ask for your secret--there -is no necessity for maunderings on my part. I’d like to know; we may -not meet again for years--you go East, I go West--I’ve never taken a -liberty with you before; forgive me this.” - -Fessenden made no reply for a moment. He was spending his last night -in Turbine in the rooms of his chum. The day had been crowded with -triumphs. He was dazzled, elated, a trifle bewildered. Compliments -and flattering predictions had fallen thick upon him. The president -had congratulated him publicly, invited him to dinner to meet the -distinguished guests, and he had been the only student so honored. -Among the guests were several of the eminent men who had condescended -to illuminate the university during the past year, and they had -singled out Fessenden and paid him such marked attentions, besides -interrogating him so closely as to his interest in his more important -studies, that both faculty and students, highly as they thought of -their star, were astonished: the successful self-made American takes -very little interest in unmade futures. It was a great and notable -tribute to personality, and Fessenden’s chest had risen and his -head bulged more than once. He was feeling his strength at every -nerve-point, he knew himself to be ready to go out and conquer the -world at once; his mind had flashed back during the exciting day to the -long course of training, from his babyhood until this last week of his -twenty-first year, which had modelled his inherited forces in brain -and character, slowly and safely, given him the physical endurance to -keep pace with the restless energies of his mind. He was filled with -gratitude for his father, but he also thought very well of himself. The -self-made American was his type, the ideal he had set on high; whether -born in a log-cabin, on a Virginia plantation, or a romantic British -isle, was immaterial. All the great men of his country had started with -a reasonable amount of poverty, and certainly the youthful record of -none was more brilliant than his. He had had his disappointments, his -disillusionments, even in Turbine; he had been deceived and tricked and -tripped and hurt like all men; but he lived too much in imagination, -in the future, and his application to study had been too severe for -brooding on the shortcomings of the world. He still thought well of -it, and his consistent admiration for his friend Keene had gone far -to nurse his optimism. Life never did a kinder thing for him than in -bestowing so abundant a measure of contentment in these last hours of -his boyhood. - -He stood up in a moment, turning over his chair. Keene was lying on a -divan, smoking. The lamp was low. The windows were open, but to silence -only. It was very late. - -“Well--well--well--” said Fessenden. “I don’t know. I should have to -tell you so much--and my ambitions are defined and at the same time -rather nebulous. You see, I have to find out just what my father wants -of me first--what he is--” - -“What he is? There is a mystery, then? You’ve bluffed us pretty well.” - -“I’m no maker of mysteries. I don’t know, myself--but--and you’re the -only person living I’d say this to, and I’d break even your head if you -gave a hint before he was ready--I think he is a great inventor and -wanted me to have this training that I might help him.” - -It was on the tip of Keene’s tongue to remark upon the uselessness of -Mr. Abbott’s secrecy so far as his son was concerned, but congratulated -himself a few moments later that Fessenden had given him no time for -comment. - -“I have not seen him for years, but not through lack of affection--he -asked me to trust him and I have done so. I had a curious letter from -him on Tuesday--I have thought a good deal about it since--and now that -I am to see him and know all so soon, I may permit myself to indulge in -curiosity. I’ll read it to you if you like.” - -He held Mr. Abbott’s last letter to the lamp and read it aloud; then -plunged his hands into his pockets, planted himself squarely on his -feet, and told Keene of his peculiar relations with his father since -his mother’s death. He made it all very vivid; the brief visits of Mr. -Abbott, the concise pregnant conversations, the firm careful finger -always modelling at the foundations of his character, the cleverness -and foresight with which his father had secured the services of -Stanley Morris, who through seven monotonous years had pined for -California. Much of this was revealed unconsciously in the narrative of -his mountain-life. While he was in the midst of his story Keene sat up -suddenly; a moment later interrupted him to ask for a description of -Mr. Abbott. Fessenden had answered: “Small, thin, but with an immense -lot of presence--even up there where one man is exactly the same as -another, where there is real equality and no bluff about it--they all -bowed down to him instinctively--even Morris, who is a deep scholar -and thinker and belongs to one of the best families in the country--if -you care for that sort of American rot. Even when I was a little chap -and he used to pet and fondle me, I could feel the power come out of -him, and I told Morris once that if he wasn’t a rich man it must be his -own fault--he made you feel he could be anything he chose. His face is -beautiful to me, perhaps because I love him, for Morris remarked rather -nastily once that he was not generally considered a beauty; but he has -eyes that can light up, and his face always changed for me anyhow, if -it did look rather cold--perhaps hard--at other times. Nettlebeck swore -once that it was hard, but I never could see it. His features are well -cut, too, his nose looks as if it could go through a stone wall, and -there is not an indefinite curve in his mouth--there you have him, as -well as I can describe anybody.” - -But Keene, long since, had rolled over and buried his face in the sofa -cushions. - -The next day, as the two men parted at Chicago, Keene, who was far -more mature than Fessenden, having less of the eternal boy in him, -put his arm about his friend’s shoulder and said hesitatingly: -“Remember--there are terrible disappointments awaiting you out here in -the great world--as for all of us. Take everything that comes along -as philosophically as you can--everything is for the best, I suppose. -Above all, don’t let any shock embitter you. I am sure, I am sure that -your father is all that you imagine him to be--that whatever he does -in regard to you--has done--is right.... I wish he were not so poor, -however; I wish he were _the_ Abbott.” - -“Who is _the_ Abbott?” - -“Of course you never read the newspapers, and it is odd how he manages -to keep out of the illustrated magazines--I should think he must pay -them. The Abbott, my dear boy, is richer than the whole Rothschild -outfit condensed into the singular.” - -“Well, I’m glad he’s not that sort of Abbott,” said Fessenden -indifferently. “Thank God I can show my mettle and start from the -ground up.” - -The words left no trail in Fessenden’s mind; the parting which followed -affected him deeply, and he was too excited at the prospect of seeing -his father again to recall what had impressed him as a mere chance -remark. - - - - -XVII - - -As Fessenden left the train on Monday morning and walked down the -long crowded platform to the gates, he was nervous and happy and -sentimental, but full of vanity. Not as the prodigal son was he -returning to his father after these long years of disunion. Had not a -telegram from the president of his university acquainted Mr. Abbott -with his son’s brilliant climax? Was he not about to relieve his parent -of all further worries and responsibilities, to say naught of shedding -lustre upon the family name? He was sure that his father, if he had -chosen obscurity for his own portion, must still be in a position to -give him advice and immediate suggestion, of more value than gold. - -He had arrayed himself in a new suit of summer gray, and with -considerable satisfaction, for he had spasms of personal vanity, -although only death could separate him permanently from the reprobates -of his wardrobe. His long body was still very slight, but it was -muscular and lithe. When his eyes were not hard or dreamy with -concentrated thought they were ready to laugh their response into any -friendly eyes they chanced to meet. Although as a rule he would have -scorned to admit that he knew whether he was good-looking or not, he -was in so gay a mood this fine summer morning that he frankly accepted -admiring glances for what they were worth, and was glad to add such -attractions as his ancestors had given him to the sum he was about -to present to one doting parent. Not that Fessenden was a handsome -boy; his present attractiveness lay for the most part in his youthful -armory of glancing and glinting expressions; but his hair was brown and -bright, his eyes were blue and dark, and his features cut by race, not -by chance. In his most disreputable alliances with old clothes he never -lacked distinction, and to-day, in spite of the eager restlessness of -his muscles--he was seldom in repose--he was very naturally mistaken by -the calculating feminine mind for a fledgling of the privileged class. - -His progress in the dense crowd was slow, and his stride was naturally -long. It was not in him to submit to impeded progress, and he jumped -back into the train and made his way rapidly to the front car. As he -sprang to the ground near the gates he saw his father’s pale eager -face, and he stiffened suddenly lest he utter a mountain whoop or -imperil his dignity in the feminine manner. When he had forced his way -beyond the barriers, he nearly crushed Mr. Abbott’s firm bony hand, -then pulled it through his arm and--started for Forty-second Street. - -“Come on! Come on!” he said through his teeth, “we can’t say anything -here.” - -His father managed to steer him to the cab-stand, and, as they drove -down Madison Avenue, talked rapidly and somewhat at random. It was -evident that he was as nervous as his son, but equally manifest that he -was full of paternal pride and delight. Fessenden gripped his hand two -or three times, incoherent, but happy in the light of approval and the -warmth of an affection so long withheld. - -The hansom stopped before an immense brown-stone house on a corner, -and Mr. Abbott descended, dismissing the cab. Fessenden wondered, but -assumed that his father lived in a private hotel. It was his last -moment of density. As the door was opened by an elderly butler, behind -whom stood four footmen in livery, a band of ghosts seemed to race past -his inner vision; as he entered the wide hall hung with tapestries, -doors on the right and the left showing the splendor of delicate -brocade and historic furnishing, his brain experienced a sharp and -clarifying shock. He had a dizzying vision of a little boy, in the -pride of his first trousers, flying down those massive banisters and -followed by a soft protesting shriek. For a moment every part of the -house seemed to be pervaded by that small child and the minor almost -querulous chords of a long-forgotten voice. His hand shook as he gave -his hat to a footman of preternatural dignity, as he met the stolid but -recognizing eye of the butler. He had not the courage to think, and he -was white and almost weak as he followed his father to the library at -the back of the house. It was a great room, lifted bodily from a ducal -castle--books, pictures, busts, weapons--in the devouring American -fashion. Fessenden, after one glance, fell into a chair and covered his -face with his hands. He had torn up the papers on that table more than -once, tobogganed his father in the deep chair opposite. - -Mr. Abbott seated himself in the chair and grasped the arms firmly. His -face was more sallow than usual, but his glance was unwavering. “I see -that you are already beginning to suspect--to know,” he said. “I will -not insult you by circumlocution, but make my confession at once--” - -Fessenden emerged suddenly from his lethargy, sprang to his feet, -and glared down upon his father. His eyes were almost black, his -nostrils were jerking, and the pallor under his tan made him look quite -ferocious. “What is there to say?” he almost shouted. “I can see the -cursed truth plainly enough. You are a rich man.” - -His father met his glare steadily. “I am the richest man in the world,” -he said. - -Again Fessenden was inarticulate, and under this merciless assault even -his anger fell. He stared at his father with paling eyes and coloring -face. - -“Sit down, will you not? I have a great deal to say.” - -Fessenden, bewildered with the knowledge that he stood on the threshold -of an unknown world which even now mocked his years of strenuous -endeavor, resumed his chair mechanically and fixed his eyes on his -father’s face that he might make sure he was hearing facts at least. -The flattering attentions of the university guests suddenly arose in -his memory, and he writhed in self-abasement. He felt the floor with -the heel of his boot to ascertain if it were secure beneath his feet. - -“I suppose I had better begin at the beginning,” said Mr. Abbott. “I -saw little of your mother after the first year of our marriage. She -was born in the world of fashion, was a natural and determined leader; -and shortly after your birth she entered upon a career of extravagance -which has seldom been equalled even in this town. It was a matter -of indifference to me how much money she spent so long as she was -contented--she was badly spoiled--and as she was a beautiful and clever -creature I was very proud of her; moreover, too busy to regret that she -had so little time for me. Perhaps I should go back a step further here -and tell you that my father was also a man of large wealth--for his -day--and of great importance in the banking world. I was trained as his -successor from my earliest years, and fortunately took to it naturally. -In those days the sons of rich men were more serious than they are now; -but I sowed a few wild oats before I settled down, and, being of a -delicate constitution, they permanently impaired my health. This fact -will enable you more readily to understand my course in regard to you. - -“But to return to your mother. Naturally she spoiled you--badly! You -were never permitted to draw a breath of fresh air except in fine -weather; you had whatever you cried for. There was every prospect that -you would grow up--if you survived childhood--the average nervous -dyspeptic American--worse still, the average worthless rich man’s -son. The day after her death, as I sat alone here in this room, with -you playing on the hearth-rug, I had an inspiration, and determined -at once to act upon it. I had known the Nettlebecks for many years; I -was in the habit of going into camp with several of my friends not far -from their farm. Only Fritz, who acted as our guide, knew that I was a -rich man, and I knew his capacity for silence. I had a sudden vision -of all you might become in that magnificent air, raised by frugal but -well-living Germans, who would obey my orders to the letter--removed -from all the debilitating influences and the temptations of -wealth--well! I did not wait to communicate with Nettlebeck. I whisked -you off the day after the funeral, and without warning to grandmothers -and aunts. I made Nettlebeck an offer which he accepted promptly, swore -him to secrecy, and left you in that wilderness as elated as if I had -scooped up Wall Street, hard as it was to leave you. Later came the -fortunate episode of my conversation with Stanley Morris’s father--” - -Fessenden interrupted him with a sharp exclamation. “He, too, was in -the plot! You chose your tools well. I never received a hint.” - -“Morris knew all. It is quite true, however, that he was the son of an -old college friend, suddenly impoverished, and that it was necessary -for him to live in a peculiar atmosphere. He was bent upon California, -but I offered him five thousand a year to live at the Nettlebecks’ and -prepare you for college; also twenty-five thousand dollars the day you -entered. He did not hesitate; moreover, I gave him carte blanche at the -best bookshops of New York and Boston, and offered to send to Europe -for anything which was not imported through the regular channels--” - -“In other words, you bought him body and soul! Well, he was not much of -a man, anyhow. And no wonder he was so well fitted to impress me with -the value of money!” - -“I have bought bigger men than Morris,” said Mr. Abbott dryly. “I -own twenty-eight members of Congress, seven of the most imposing -figure-heads of the British aristocracy, one sovereign, and several -minor presidents. But to proceed. So far, I have given you only my -paternal reasons for your bringing-up. I will say little now of what -the separation meant to me. I had never been too busy to play with -you, had haunted the nursery or had you brought down here during -every hour I could snatch for home. As I saw you improve up there in -the mountains, from a charming but sickly baby into such a sturdy, -bright, manly little chap, it took all the will I possessed to leave -you behind me when I returned. At last the effort cost too much, and -I dreaded failure. I took the drastic course and saw you no more. The -day you left New York for the West I stole a glimpse of you at the -station. Since then I have not seen you until to-day. During this last -year others have shared my secret besides Morris and Nettlebeck--the -president of your university and the close personal friends whom you -know only as prominent men who agreed to lecture on the subjects -which happened to absorb you. They were tremendously interested in my -experiment, and, as they are men who owe their success in life as much -to their talent for keeping their mouths shut as to anything else, I -had no fear that they would betray me. As for the president, of course -I knew I could trust him fully. But enough of this personal side. I had -another object in preserving you from the pitfalls, the physically and -mentally debilitating influences of wealth, which I should have pursued -had I been twenty times less a father. You were my only son, you must -carry on the traditions of our house, become the custodian of millions, -of the vast power they entailed--” - -“And suppose your method has done its work too well,” cried Fessenden, -setting his jaw exactly as his father did while he listened to his -angry son. “You know something of the results of your--your intrigue, -but not all. You know that I have developed strength, power, but -not how much. You see only the obstacles I have conquered; you know -nothing of the ambition that discipline of yours has developed in -me--the inspirations of lives of men of not dissimilar--so far as I -knew--beginnings. And now! Good God, I feel like a mountebank!” - -“Answer this question, and not too hastily: Have I done you an -injustice? Nothing could alter the fact that I was a rich man. Do you -regret that I did not run the risk first of your becoming a sickly -spoiled brat, then a dissipated fool? A few, a very few sons of rich -men in this country have turned out passably well--never what their -fathers were: circumstances did not compel them to or go to the wall; -and I dared not tell you--the risk was too great. I could see no other -way; and, looking back, I see none now.” - -Fessenden rose and mechanically started for the log in the grate, but -it was June, and he kicked a stool instead. He was still seething; but -even so, his sense of justice dominated his desire to indulge to the -full his bitter indignation and disappointment. “No,” he said, after -a moment, “you were right enough. Doubtless in time I shall be duly -grateful to you. But that premonition does not mitigate in the faintest -degree what I feel now.” His eyes met his father’s, which were full -of affection and pride, and he suddenly descended a peg or two. “I -don’t mind telling you, sir--I believe you will not laugh at me--but I -felt--conceited ass that I was--that I was destined to become a great -man. I felt it was in me to accomplish anything, be anything I set my -brains upon. Of course it was all red blood--the result of precocious -development in solitude, of the little successes which your watchful -care enabled me to win; but the result was the same as if it had been -the real thing. I feel like a peacock with its tail pulled out. And -now please tell me what it has all been for. You say you need a strong -man--is that necessary for the custody of millions? An ordinary sober -honest hard-working agent could do as well, I should think; you must -have some estimable relatives.” - -Mr. Abbott laughed. “Not suitable for my purpose,” he said. “Sit -down. I have still much to say. I never blinded myself to the fact -that I was running a great risk, my dear boy; that you might get far -beyond me, refuse to conform to my ultimate plans--especially after -you realized that I not only had been obliged to act a lie but to -utter more than one. One source of my great power is that my word has -never been questioned, and I can manipulate Wall Street by a simple -statement. I may add that my word is as unchallenged in Europe. I have -bitter enemies, and they have called me every opprobrious epithet -except liar. But for once I determined to play the Jesuit; and as you -have as truthful and honest a nature as one meets here below, I will -add that the man who cannot lie when some great issue is at stake is -too big an ass for this world. Well, to proceed. It does not so much -matter about the destiny of the average millionaire’s wealth; it is -usually cut up among relatives and benefactions--bids for immortality -in the third degree. At the worst it can be left in trust. But when -I follow my father, only ten millions will go to--to--relatives. You -must be the custodian of the bulk; and when I give you its present -figure--reminding you that such wealth rolls up wealth unceasingly, by -the mere force of momentum--it may dawn upon you that you still have -it in your power to become as great and as mighty as ever your boyish -imaginings dictated, and that you will need all the character you have -put in storage. What is your idea of a great fortune--an American -fortune?” - -“I have thought very little about it. A million seems to me a huge -sum. I have heard of fortunes of fifty or sixty millions--I have -scarcely believed in them, although I perfectly comprehend the wealth -of nations. I am now prepared to hear you say you are worth anything.” - -“I am worth four hundred millions.” - -Fessenden gasped. The distant rumble of the streets came to his -sensitive ears like the sound of crashing worlds. In a moment he -laughed. “Go on,” he said. “I anxiously await the dawn, the arrival of -hope. I am utterly incapable of grasping such a sum. Have you got it in -gold coin in the bank? If you could show it to me in that concrete form -I might realize it--not otherwise.” - -“You will realize it when you have spent several months examining my -papers; and when this natural bewilderment has passed you will recall -all you have recently mastered of banking and finance. You can lay your -hands on several millions in gold coin if you desire--and transfer them -to your own account, for that matter; no wish of yours will ever again -be ungratified by me. But the greater part represents the controlling -interests in the leading corporations, industries, and railroads in -this country, to say nothing of real estate, government bonds--of which -I have the largest share of any man or combination of men--and the bank -of which I am the president and principal shareholder. That is the -skeleton; the details require weeks of explanation on my part and close -application on yours. I have told you enough to demonstrate to you -that the day approaches when you may be the most powerful man in the -world if you choose. You will have heard that the Rothschilds dictate -to Europe--that a nation may be unable to go to war if they refuse to -advance the money. What the Rothschilds are as a family I am as an -individual--and doubly so, for I can act on the moment; I am obliged -to consult no one. When the coffers of the United States Treasury are -low I can fill them; if I refused, and lifted my warning finger to -others, they would remain empty. I can reduce the President of this -great country to a mere figure-head. When the right moment comes I -can push the United States into the front of nations, or force it to -continue to play a third-rate part. In time I can--and shall--make her -the most powerful, the most feared, the most hated of all the countries -on the globe--through such a concentration of capital as no one at the -present moment has had more than a tantalizing dream of. Fifteen years -from now this country will not only be the clearinghouse of the world, -but the autocrat of commerce. Do you begin to see light?” - -“Yes, the dawn breaks; but by your leave I will go to my own room for a -while. My brain must have a brief respite. Where am I to hang out?” - -“The corner suite on the third floor. I have had a swimming-tank put -in, a Russian bath, and a gymnasium. What you don’t like you will -change, of course.” - -“Thanks. I shall probably put a cot in the gymnasium.” - -“Don’t fear that I am stifling you with luxury. I have my idea of what -a man’s rooms should be, and I doubt if you find that it differs from -your own.” - -As Fessenden opened the door he turned with a sudden flash in his eyes. -“Where is my sister?” he asked. - -“She is visiting the Archduchess Ranata Theresia, daughter of the -Emperor--” - -But Fessenden had closed the door with force and was bounding up the -stair. “Good God!” he thought, “is the world I am to live in made up -of superlatives? I feel like Gulliver fallen upon Brobdingnag.” - - - - -XVIII - - -He found no fault with his rooms. They were not those of a poor -student with a great future, but they were severe, masculine, and -entirely adequate. When he had taken a cold swim in his marble tank, -and exercised for half an hour in his gymnasium, the blood which his -father’s millions had shocked to his brain receded and left it clear -and logical again. But he was by no means reconciled to his lot; -he feared the stifling influences of wealth, of which he had read -in so many books. To make a great fortune in constant warfare with -all the difficulties, acquiring a painful knowledge of the value of -every dollar, was an achievement which might easily lead to greater -accomplishment still, but to fling a man on his back without warning -and pour gold over him by the ton-- - -He left his room abruptly and walked slowly downstairs. “What’s the -use of thinking about it? or about what was to have been?--my absurd -impossible past, which I shall put away in lavender and cherish like a -dead love. There is nothing to be done but to make the best of a bad -business, re-adapt myself--mortals are always doing that, anyhow. I -shall ask for a respite before settling down to it, however.” - -When he reached the main floor he turned into the reception-room and -strolled through the several large and lofty rooms which ended in a -music-room of immense proportions. He inferred that it was the largest -in New York; and, still feeling sore and satirical, returned to a more -appreciative inspection of the other rooms. That their harmonies were -exquisite he needed no telling, and he thought the pale soft tints, as -faded and elusive as charming old memories, a pleasant contrast to his -beloved Nature. That the few pictures were as great in art as they must -be in price he also knew instinctively, and found consolation in the -reflection that his father did not belong to the class of millionaires -who furnished with a single check and leaned upon the agent and the -decorator. The rich worn oddly built furniture looked as if brooding -in cold aloofness upon an historic past, yet not wholly dissatisfied -with its present. Where there were no pictures, bits of brocade, which -looked as if a breath might waft them in search of their makers, had -been inserted with such skill that they were a part of the background -of tarnished gold. Not a chair, not a table, not a cabinet, was formed -like anything Fessenden had ever seen, and there were numberless -objects for which he had no name; but he approved of everything; -indeed, they gave him a distinct pleasure--caressed the raw edges of -his resentment, and inclined his mind more philosophically to his new -condition. - -When his eye had mastered the general effect, it took note of the -exceeding repetition of one object, the photograph of a girl. There -were perhaps twenty of these large photographs in the different rooms, -framed in silver, in gold, in brilliants, in semi-precious stones, on -tables, on easels, on shelves. One massive gold frame, incrusted with -jewels, bore aloft the double eagle of the House of Hapsburg. Across -all these pictures was dashed, rather than written, the name RANATA, -followed by an inscription in German, French, English, or in another -language for which Fessenden had no name. The girl herself was taken -in full, in profile, on horseback, sitting in throne-like chairs, -leaning on balustrades, at any age from ten to eighteen, and in as many -different costumes as there were photographs. Fessenden sniffed at -the vanity of woman, but concluded that he had never seen such a seat -in the saddle, and that she certainly looked as if she knew her own -mind. Whether he admired her or not he was unable to determine. She had -an antique profile, and her eyes were as American as his own--shrewd, -alert, eager, powerful. One of the photographs was colored, and the -hair blazed, but the eyes were gray. Fessenden thought it romantic -to have a princess in the family, and examined the pictures with -much interest. The greater number had been given to her much-loved -Alexandra, but one was apparently the property of his father, and -another of a Mrs. Abbott, of whom he knew nothing. He was not the youth -to fall in love with a photograph, however, and as he walked towards -the library the Archduchess Ranata Theresia made way in his mind for -other matters which at that stage concerned him far more deeply. - - - - -XIX - - -His father was standing on the hearth-rug, awaiting his return with -some uneasiness. Fessenden gave his hand a mighty grip. “It’s all -right,” he said. “I was born into this family, and that is the end of -it. I’d never go back on you, anyhow. But if you don’t mind, I’d like -to go up to the mountains for a while. I’d like it awfully if you would -come, too, of course--it’s only that I can think better there than -anywhere else--and it occurs to me for the first time that I am rather -tired--the examinations were very stiff, and I went in for an unusual -amount.” - -“The Adirondacks, by all means, if you prefer them; and I am badly -in need of a holiday; but how would you like a yachting cruise for -a change? I have a new steam-yacht of 7000 tons that I think would -interest--” - -“A steam-yacht of 7000 tons!” cried Fessenden, his terrible -responsibilities forgotten. “I can think of nothing on earth--what sort -of machinery has she got? How fast can she go? Can I run her?” - -While Mr. Abbott was answering questions, luncheon was announced, and -he passed his hand through his son’s arm. “We are lunching earlier than -usual on your account, and the time has run away,” he said haltingly. -“I don’t wish to give you too many shocks in one day, but I must make -another confession. You have--I married again some years ago.” - -“My dear father,” replied his son dryly, “if you told me that you had -married Queen Victoria and annexed the British realm--in fact I expect -it. Are there--have I any more brothers and sisters scattered about -among the palaces of Europe?” - -Mr. Abbott laughed. “No, I did not marry another young wife. Your -step-mother is ornamental in her way; but I selected her partly for -companionship--I had known her always--partly because I wanted some -one to bring up your sister with common-sense and care. I am perfectly -satisfied with her; and, as she is a woman of infinite tact, I am -sure you will get on with her whether you like her or not. She will -probably be a little late for luncheon--she has so many morning -engagements--charities--” - -But this was not the occasion for Mrs. Abbott’s tact to fail her. She -had given the father and son their uninterrupted morning; but to hasten -home and preside at luncheon at the unseemly hour of half-past twelve, -to make such a performance appear both natural and a compliment, was an -occasion for subtlety too rare to be missed. She was standing in the -dining-room as they entered, one hand resting on the table, her eyes -fixed in pleasant anticipation on the Gobelin which hung before the -door. She still wore her hat, she was slightly flushed, her wrap was -half removed--her whole appearance was stamped with delicate haste. As -she shook hands warmly with Fessenden, smiling and talking rapidly in a -very cultivated voice, her step-son wondered at her extreme unlikeness -to any woman of her probable age that he had ever seen. She was tall, -slender, as willowy as youth; her hair was as black as her eyes, her -skin, although sallow, was without wrinkle or line, and her features -were mobile. She wore a gown of light summer silk and a large hat, yet -both were made and worn with such tact that the painful affectation of -lost youth was not suggested: she looked what she was, a woman of the -ever-receding middle age, fashionably dressed. Whatever use she might -make of modern science to avert age, she employed no art to simulate -youth, and as her year was various and crowded, both mind and face -were plastic. Whatever her temperament may have been originally, she -had made it equable long since; and while she escaped the stigma of -amiability, her self-control carried her evenly through the smooth -waters of her life. No one ever knew whether she were a really -intellectual woman or a brilliantly superficial one, for she had a -delicately masterful habit of changing the conversation, as if the end -of living were to avert the monotonies. Even in the soft vagueness of -chiffon and lace she looked well groomed, and on the promenade and in -her carriage no one outshone her in distinction. Distinction, indeed, -was the keynote of her personality; and it is doubtful if she would -not have sacrificed all other possible gifts to this. An efficient -housekeeper managed her twenty servants, her pin-money would have kept -an ambitious family of the middle class in affluence, her life was far -more luxurious than royalty’s; she was the leader of the most exclusive -old set in New York, presided over the most important charities, and -yet found time to read the foreign news and play with intellect. With -it all she had the rare good sense to be content with her lot and to -keep her health. - -But in spite of this charming personage who diffused ease as with -unseen wings, discontent had assailed Fessenden again. The immense dim -baronial room, the automatic butler, the catlike footmen, absurdly tall -in their livery, the gold and crystal and floral splendor of the table, -made him long gloomily for _Pocahontas_ and a “hunk” of Christina’s -bread. He was grateful, however, that Mrs. Abbott talked constantly, -in her sprightly abrupt manner. She had been educated as thoroughly as -an Englishwoman, trained in a deportment which was a nice mixture of -reserve and graciousness--Fessenden inferred that she would treat a -servant with the utmost consideration, and never permit a liberty from -a friend--and she had cultivated the art of conversation, of appearing -spontaneous--rarely finishing a long sentence--and of adapting herself -to all men, from a reforming drunkard in the slums straight up to -royalty. She presently divined her step-son’s mental state, and -diverted him by talking of his sister. - -“Alexandra spends her winters with the Archduchess, with whom she was -brought up, you know. She hates New York, but is fond of our home on -the Hudson, and will go with me this summer to Newport--makes her -début, you know--she is just eighteen, but went to court functions -during the year preceding Rudolf’s death. The Archduchess--they are -the same age--came out at sixteen--the Empress being so much away made -a difference. Alexandra has rather Americanized her, although in her -way she is as much of an individual as the German Emperor--if she -only becomes American enough, I believe Europe will hear of her--do -you observe your father smile? It’s too bad, really--if you rush -off yachting like this, you won’t see Alexandra for months; she has -remained later than usual this year, for the Archduchess is still in -terrible distress over the death of her brother--a greater tragedy for -Europe than for her, however! I wonder how you and Alexandra will like -each other? How odd for you to meet for the first time at your age! -She is most brilliantly educated, very clever, and a really remarkable -linguist; speaks even Hungarian with fluency, and already has quite -a knowledge of the world--foreign men are such an education; but I -don’t think she will marry early. She is a handsome girl--looks like -your mother, but less beautiful; not in the least susceptible--has a -remarkably level head; is singularly like your father in many respects. -We hardly fancy she will marry a foreigner. If she does, her choice is -sure to be a wise one; her head is very cool, and she is in a position -to take any step with her eyes open.” - -Fessenden had all the young, or the untravelled, American’s contempt -for the foreigner. As his step-mother paused for breath, he elevated -the nose that England had given him. “I should hope she wouldn’t,” he -said emphatically. “Aren’t there enough men in America? Why don’t you -make her live over here? I think hobnobbing with royalty is ridiculous -for an American.” - -Mrs. Abbott laughed pleasantly. “If you could only be an American woman -for five minutes! But don’t worry; your sister is as good an American -as you are--we have seen to that--and, as I have said, remarkably -level-headed; Europe has merely improved, not changed her. I am -positive you will be delighted with her, and what she can’t tell you -of _la haute politique_!-- She is tremendously interested in you--but -I must run! I have an engagement with the housekeeper, and she has the -vice of promptness. She is moving us to The Abbey, and we are late this -year--I love New York; and as your father was going abroad, and Alex is -so far behind time--you will excuse me, I know; and mind you come to -tea with me in my own little room at half-past five. You are included -in that invitation, my lord.” And, nodding brightly, she left the room -with an elastic step that in no way detracted from the light dignity of -her carriage. - -Fessenden drew a long breath. - -“It is not always so,” said Mr. Abbott, with a smile. “As I remarked -before, she has great tact. She saw that you were bored, and was -determined to entertain you; but when another wants the floor, I do -not know any one who can yield it more gracefully. But of course she -lives in an atmosphere of flattery--you must expect to find her rather -spoiled; but if you really are a good American, you won’t mind that. -Alexandra is far less so; she has been educated in a severer school, -and she has a far juster sense of proportion--knows exactly what -the flattery of the courtier amounts to. That is one reason I have -permitted her to be over there so much--one of many reasons.” - -He lapsed into the dreamy condition his son remembered so well; but he -emerged in a few moments, and waved his hand. The servants disappeared. -Mr. Abbott concentrated his gaze on his son. “Fessenden,” he said -slowly, “I will tell you my programme for the next year; and please -remember, as you listen, that if you do not like it you are at liberty -to follow one of your own. I shall never do more than suggest again; -for I admit that I have had my day, and that it is your turn now. To -prove my entire sincerity in this respect, I shall deposit a million -dollars to your credit to-morrow. That will make you your own master--” - -Fessenden had flung himself half-way across the table. “I know what I -will do with it,” he cried eagerly. “I never dreamed I could get to -work so soon--but pardon me; go ahead, sir. Mine will keep.” - -“I have no doubt that plans will come to you very thickly, but I want -you to learn something of Europe before settling down. I shall take -three secretaries on the yacht with me--I should break down if I -relaxed altogether--and in the course of the journey you will learn -a great deal about my affairs. After that preliminary course I want -you to stay over there for a time, and apply yourself to the study -of Europe. If churches and picture-galleries happen to interest you, -polish them off as quickly as possible, and then get down beneath the -surface. Study politics, governments, the financial and commercial -conditions of the first-rate powers--make yourself master at first -hand of national traits and idiosyncrasies; you will have letters -that will carry you everywhere. There are going to be two controlling -forces in the world in the next thirty years, yourself and William -of Germany--if he lives!--if he lives! Keep a hawk-eye on him, and -don’t make the common shallow mistake of underrating him. He alone can -block the progress of the United States; all the other nations put -together are not worth considering. He only needs certain conditions -to scoop in Europe like another Charlemagne. It may be that he will -create these conditions. It may be that you will help him to them, if -you both happen to pull in the same direction. That of course is for -the future. I will see that you meet him informally this summer. But -if he fascinates you--as he probably will--make always this reserve: -your future friendship for him depends upon his course towards the -United States. It is not too soon to begin checkmating him, and it can -always be done by this country; but it must be done by the individual. -Washington is blind by too much occupation with other things. Would -you like to walk down-town and see our offices? Historical landmarks, -too--Washington--Hamilton-- Let me hear your plans.” - - - - -XX - - -Fessenden walked slowly towards the rift in the great wall of rock -which marked the land entrance to the fjord. _Pocahontas_ was dancing -just beyond that narrow gate, but although his fingers tingled for -her sail, his step still halted; he knew that she would bring him -swiftly within range of the keen thumping of a typewriter, possibly -of more than one. He was dutifully and even deeply interested in his -father’s vast affairs, and there were nights when he went to bed with -the sensation that the Earth was his pillow; there were days when he -dared to hope the time would come when he could with pleasure embroider -the scenery with figures and puncture the silences of Nature with a -typewriter. But the time was not yet. Four days since he had awakened -his father at three in the morning, informed him that he was off for -a solitary tramp into Norway, and promised to return at the end of a -week. Conscience was driving him home sooner than he had intended, -for he had revelled in the stillness and solitude of his wild and -lonely tramp. He missed at first the friendliness of the Adirondacks, -the only other mountains he knew; but the harsh and terrible grandeur -about him companioned his mood--finally inspired him with a passionate -sense of gratitude. For he was in a desperate state of rebellion. The -philosophy he had invoked on the heels of Mr. Abbott’s revelation had -but deferred the inevitable moment. He did not doubt that the future -presented to him by his father would bring him power, but that future -was--he sincerely hoped--far distant, and at present he was little more -than a glorified clerk in training. His inheritance and his education -permitted him to grasp the stupendous details with a sufficient -facility, and there were moments when he was staggered and overwhelmed -with the thought of such world-manipulating power, at others -intoxicated with dreams of a future when himself should be a ruler of -many times the strength of any monarch in Europe. In such moments he -felt arrogant, and contemptuous of sovereigns who were but the tools -of a people or a cabinet, no matter what the euphemisms, longed for -the time to come when he could demonstrate to them the absolutism of -concentrated capital in the hands of an uncrowned ruler of a great -republic. But reaction under the lonely stars invariably chastened -him. What did he amount to now? Who would recognize in him more than -his famous father’s second? He was bursting with energy, with ambition -for himself and the United States, and, in spite of his father’s love -and sincere indulgence, he felt like a prisoner on parole. It is true -that when he had confided his cherished ideal, the great and beneficent -conception which was to have worked his fingers to the bone and made -him old in his youth, Mr. Abbott had waved his golden wand. A Western -desert hummed and echoed, and even now a huge building was rising on -its foundations, and the first of the world’s electricians, for a -yearly salary which made Fessenden’s head swim, had agreed to occupy -this building with a corps of assistants and work upon the idea which a -youth had conceived. The author of the idea felt no temptation to take -charge himself. The mere fact that more experienced genius could be -bought delivered him from the thrall of his ideal, although he still -took a scientific and patriotic interest in its accomplishment. - -Robbed of this dream of immortality, he had dropped the curtain upon -his inner life and endeavored to fulfil his immediate destiny. As his -powers of concentration were very great, he had succeeded for a time. -During the fortnight before sailing, novelty and wonder had sustained -him, and for a time at sea the long conversations with his father -were agreeably varied by instructions in the science of yachting. But -Fessenden was Fessenden--a personality, a young man bursting with -precocious energy, ambition, independence. His reassertion was slow -but persistent, and during one sleepless night alone on deck the naked -truth confronted him that he was at the end of his endurance, that -however he might conform to his father’s wishes in the future, for the -present he must not only have an interval of personal liberty, but -arrange his nebulous ambitions and satisfy them. He restrained his -impatience until three o’clock, then awakened Mr. Abbott--who smiled -and slept again--and plunged without a guide into Norway. - -He bathed in streams, he slept under the stars, he saw no one but -peasants, he hardly uttered a word for three days; and he was -completely happy. When he was not in mountain gorges he was in pine -forests; everywhere he had Nature in her magnificence, and he was -alone. For two days he refused to think--it was enough to forget, -to feel the freedom of the years when he believed himself innocent -of fortune, with a glorious and self-made future stretching through -infinite horizons. But on the evening of the third day he turned his -back on the scenery, sat down on the grass, and thought. - -That the prospect before him was hateful and hideous he admitted -aloud, lest he should seem to blink any modicum of the truth. The -abstract fact that he was a rich man instead of a poor one dwindled -to comparative insignificance beside the million details which made -up the sum of that fact. Had he been the author of those details, his -inherited and financial instincts, so quick at college, would no doubt -possess him and obliterate the dreams of his youth. But that mountain -of particulars, massive and petty, had fallen upon him without a -moment’s warning, and he was not its illustrious author, but its future -custodian. The youth in him was rampant, and his strong vein of romance -unsatisfied. He admitted--again aloud--that he was as romantic as he -was practical. He would train to succeed his father, but meanwhile -would distinguish himself in his own manner. He would use the wealth at -his disposal, but the manner should be picturesque. - -Without admitting that he intended to demand a period of liberty, his -imagination in the past weeks had toyed with many plans. At first, when -he learned of the more than thousands in his father’s employ, he had -been fired with the desire to ameliorate the lot of the working-man; -and in his enthusiasm had awakened his father from his afternoon nap -on deck and talked to him for an hour. Mr. Abbott, who revelled in the -very sound of Fessenden’s voice, and would have attempted to give him -the North Pole had he wanted it, listened indulgently; but when his -turn came to speak he was smiling grimly. - -“My dear boy,” he had said, “what reason have I given you to think me -a fool? There are those who will tell you that the day must come when -the streets of our great cities will run red with blood, when not one -stone on Fifth Avenue will remain upon another; that, in short, the -great civil war between capital and labor can be delayed only until -a strong leader of organized labor arises who cannot be bought. I do -not go so far as to say that I--or you--can avert that calamity, for -our rotten municipal governments have destroyed the respect of the -thinking laboring man for authority, and these tremendous aggregations -of capital I have in hand, which will make the United States strong and -feared among nations, may be carried to an excess which will lessen -the chances of individual achievement and curtail personal liberty. If -rich men--that is to say, the manipulators--make fools of themselves, -and in their greed for wealth and power reduce wages and sow further -seeds of discontent, there is no telling what may happen. But although -I make no denial of my own greed for wealth and power, and although -these concentrations of many small industries into one huge enterprise -will double my fortune, I make no such mistake as that. I have always -maintained that a man may get rich and still share a certain portion -of his gains with his assistants; and my working-men all receive good -salaries, perquisites, heavy Christmas presents, and pensions in their -old age. I make no pretence at philanthropy. There is no man who needs -friends as the rich man does; there are no friends so valuable as an -army of employés. I know many of mine personally; at some time or other -I have managed to come into contact with most of them. They like me. -They are content. They never go on strike. They are the one formidable -bulwark against united labor in the country. When you return, I wish -you to go about among those men, show them your personal interest in -them as human beings, make them love you as much as they like me; -then, if an industrial war ever comes, you will make yourself their -leader and take whichever side you think wisest. But the thing to do -is to avert war and use that great following for another purpose. -Either with or without civil war the time must come for the reform -of municipalities, the reduction of state power, and, possibly, an -interval of benevolent despotism. There is the rôle I have cut out -for you; but meanwhile work with me to avert the worst calamity which -could visit this country--set it back a hundred years. My men are not -overpaid; they receive strict justice, that is all. I have harangued -for hours with almost every great employer in the country, appealing -to his common-sense, even his cupidity, but in most cases in vain. The -average rich man in the United States is lowly born. He has worked -himself up from the ranks. There never was a real democrat who was not -born an aristocrat. The risen plebeian is a tyrant, is insatiable in -his greed, glories in the thought of grinding the life out of thousands -of his own class, delights in the hatred and envy which are but another -signal of his success; in short, he is a damned fool, and deserves to -wake up and find his throat cut. I suppose all revolutions are the -result of stupidity. Ours, if it comes, will arise from no other cause -whatever. If you have the genius in you that I believe, you will avert -this war or control it. Now I will sleep again if you will permit me.” - -The words had kept Fessenden awake all night, but after several days -his enthusiasm cooled. Again he was willing to take the helm whenever -the time came, and with all his energies; but the idea was his -father’s, not his. His young ego, uniquely developed, demanded creation. - -During the last day of his tramp he had looked down twenty avenues -of possible greatness, and turned his back upon all. He was not -discouraged, for he knew that inspiration comes suddenly, even if it be -the final result of industrious raking. He was now returning to demand -a vacation of some months, during which he would tramp and study Europe -in his own way. But inspiration was closer than he knew, and although -he was to tramp Europe again and again with various and, in one case, -extraordinary results, there were to be intervening years. - -As he jumped into his canoe and set his sail, he saw that the -_Alexandra_ was no longer the solitary inhabitant of the fjord. Not -half a mile from his father’s yacht was what looked to be a miniature -man-of-war. It was painted white, and had a heavily gilded figure-head. -In a few moments he was close enough to see the colors and design on -the standard. He whistled and experienced a glow of anticipation. - -“The German Emperor! I hardly know whether I am more anxious to see -him or his yacht. Ours is the biggest in the world--of course!--his is -the most original; but that may only mean resource: he couldn’t get -the money voted any other way. The more I hear of Europe the rottener -it appears, with the exception of Germany. This man seems to be making -an American city out of Berlin, and to have plenty of sand all-round. -Some one has said of him that he is an autocrat with a Yankee head on -his shoulders; and, if that is the case, he may be worth studying for -future points.” - -Nevertheless, when a half-hour later his father told him that the -Emperor had invited him to visit the _Hohenzollern_ the day of his -return, he sniffed with youthful Americanism. - -“I don’t fancy waiting till I’m spoken to,” he announced--“for his -high-mightiness to introduce every subject. He may be interesting in -himself, but he is a monarch, and I have no use for any of them. They -are a burlesque in the end of the nineteenth century.” - -“Tell that to William, if you like, and introduce what subjects -interest you--if you get a chance. He observes little formality up -here, and less with Americans. Now please go and exchange that sweater -and those pants--they are not trousers--for a suit of flannels.” - - - - -XXI - - -Fessenden drew a long and audible breath. It had not occurred to him -soon enough to keep tally, but he felt justified in assuming that -he had answered eight hundred questions. The power and magnetism -of the Emperor still impressed him, but the fascination had waned. -When he had boarded the yacht early in the afternoon, excited with -a sensation that was half eager curiosity, half aggressive fear of -being patronized, and had received a hearty greeting from a man as -informal as he was charming, Fessenden had promptly conceived his first -enthusiasm for a contemporary. He had as promptly reminded himself that -he too intended to inspire enthusiasms--that his was not the rôle of -the follower; nevertheless he had beamed back upon his imperial host; -and, in spite of a flinty reserve in the background of both pairs of -eyes, a mutual friendship was conceived at once. The Emperor had taken -care to cement his personal fascination by exhibiting the machinery -of his new yacht to his curious young guest, and a twenty-minutes’ -argument on a subject of which one had much practical knowledge and -the other almost as much by theory and observation, established a -respect as strong as the sentiment. But when they were seated alone on -deck, the Emperor’s inquiring mind was no longer to be restrained. A -conversation with Mr. Abbott the day before had excited his curiosity; -his interrogations began upon Fessenden’s babyhood; and then, with -the rapid strokes of a minute impressionist, never losing sight of -causes and effects, he built up a complete picture of a self-made boy -with a beneficent providence in the background. In three-quarters of -an hour he not only knew the boy in the wilderness as well as the boy -had known himself, but the history of the Nettlebecks, the size and -condition of their farm, their attitude--or, as he discovered, their -lack of attitude--towards Germany, the area of the Adirondack tract, -the attention--or lack of attention--given it by the government, the -inferior condition, as compared with Germany, of its forests, its -roads, its bridges. His questions and comments showed such grasp and -activity of intelligence that for a time Fessenden was as interested as -the Man of Questions, and there were intervals when he was permitted -to give a bit of thrilling description, notably of logging-camps and -“driving,” which, as the Emperor’s eyes kindled and his horned upper -lip twitched, flattered him for five or six consecutive minutes. - -But from the Adirondacks, William passed swiftly to the Western -University, and here his curiosity threatened to be insatiable. His -questions indicated that Harvard and Yale could tell him no secrets, -but of this more modern institution he had never heard until the day -before; and an enterprise so novel, practical, and cheap appealed -irresistibly to a ruler bent upon modernizing his country and making it -the strongest industrially in Europe. He made no secret of the cause -of his interest, and Fessenden sympathized heartily with the ambitious -and energetic young monarch, and glowed at the thought of flinging a -handful of American seeds broadcast upon the German Empire. But at -the end of an hour and a quarter, when he had not only presented a -picture of the university in all its complex details, from its methods -of military drill to the last drop of grease in the machine-shops, -but had sketched the personalities of all the professors and the most -notable of the students, the strident tones of the august interlocutor -seemed to be banging about in his brain, the abrupt rapid firing to -have torn his nerves to tatters. The impatient action of his lungs -receiving no attention from his host, whose eyes were concentrated and -glittering, he sprang suddenly to his feet. - -“Look here!” he exclaimed. “I really can’t stand it any longer. I’ll -come back to-morrow, if you like. I think you are a great man, and I’m -only too delighted to help you in any way I can, but if you ask me -another question to-day I’ll jump off the yacht.” - -For a second the Emperor’s eyes had flashed with a haughty surprise -which gave Fessenden a passing glimpse of outraged majesty, but he -recovered himself swiftly, and before the plaint finished he had sprung -to his feet and grasped Fessenden’s hand, looking like a contrite -school-boy. - -“I beg your pardon,” he stammered. “How inhospitable!--I never was so -tactless in my life. But you have interested me so deeply. You are the -most extraordinary young man--will you forgive me? and will you do me -the honor to return for dinner? Mr. Abbott comes too.” - -A warm responsiveness rushed through Fessenden’s veins and flashed -from his frank impatient eyes; and he returned the hearty grasp of -the other’s hand. But although the two men were mutually and strongly -attracted, almost to the point of effusiveness, they nevertheless, -and almost unconsciously, stared hard and long at each other. For -the moment, despite aggressive differences, they looked alike. Their -personalities pushed aside the mask of their features and snatched the -knowledge that for them it was love or hate, friendship or enmity, -mutual assistance or a bitter lifelong struggle, which might waste -their energies and thwart their most passionate hopes. - -William was the older and subtler. He laid his hand affectionately on -his new friend’s shoulder. “I have suspected something of your father’s -ultimate plans for you,” he said. “Now I am sure. I can help you as -much as you can help me. The next time we are alone, turn the tables -and ask me as many questions as you like. There is no reason why you -should ever remind yourself that I am an Emperor--why our friendship -should not be as informal and sincere as that of your charming sister -and the daughter of the Emperor of Austria.” - -“Do you know my sister?” - -“Of course, and since she was twelve years old. But her chosen friend -is my sworn enemy.” - - * * * * * - -That night, in the retirement of his state-room, Fessenden brushed -his hair backward and his mustache upright. The Emperor at dinner had -drawn his coils more closely. He had been brilliant, demonstrative, -instructive, humorous, almost unegotistical. He had made Fessenden -shine without asking a question, and he had toasted Mr. Abbott in the -effusive rhetoric with which one ripened sovereign disguises his fear -of another. Fessenden forgot his long array of self-made heroes--even -those who had been cradled in purple and yet ridden victoriously -through the pages of history. He took up an autographed picture of -William, presented at parting, and studied it attentively, then -regarded his own smooth young face with dissatisfaction. - -“However,” he thought, “in his earlier photographs he had even less -character than I have. It’s since he got his own way that he’s put it -on with a brush. I suppose I can have that eagle roll of the eye in -time, too, if I choose, and square my iron jaw, and look as if I were -hewn out of finely tempered steel. He has a sensitive mouth, all the -same.” - -In a moment he parted his short hair rapidly and brushed his mustache -into a dejected curve. “I’d like to see myself!” he thought, with some -irritation. “He _would_ have the laugh on me to-morrow!” - -He sat for an hour and pondered deeply on all that had passed between -himself and the Emperor of Germany that day. Then he started up -suddenly, opened the door of the adjoining state-room, and awakened his -father. - -“What does William want?” he demanded. - -“Europe and South America,” murmured Mr. Abbott sleepily. - - - - -XXII - - -The tremendous walls of the fjord were black, but the moon poured -in a flood of light. There had been a sharp breeze earlier in the -evening, and Fessenden had invited the Emperor out in _Pocahontas_; -then, perceiving the difficulty of keeping him quiet, had given him -the sheet. The Emperor had accepted the invitation with alacrity--he -was not only happy and at home in a canoe, but although he had now -had several long conversations with the young American, something -in this new personality evaded him, and he was determined to find -it. Fessenden, on the other hand, was studying him attentively, his -interest in the most remarkable specimen of living royalty quite -distinct from his liking for the man. William had not refrained from -questions during this past week, and Fessenden had been permitted to -learn Germany from the Throne. When he had mentioned that he intended, -a year or two hence, to tramp the Empire and study it from another -point of view, the Kaiser had promptly extracted a promise to bring the -burden of his information to Berlin. - -William expressed a lively sympathy for his young friend’s desire for -immediate distinction, and confided some of the difficulties of majesty -in getting its own way. Nevertheless he felt that Fessenden, despite -his romantic enthusiasm for himself, was frank only to a certain point. -He thought of all in his own depths that he could give to no man, -and forbore to press him too closely; but his abnormally acute brain -suspected something in that deliberate reserve which concerned himself, -and he had accepted the proposal of the lonely sail in the hope of an -impulsive confidence. He had no suspicion that the younger man had -brought him out for the purpose of making this confidence. - -The wind fell, and they left the canoe to stretch their legs. - -“Do you really believe in the divine right of kings?” asked Fessenden -abruptly. “I mean _you_.” - -The Emperor stared, then laughed outright. “Certainly!” he announced in -that harsh abrupt voice which conveyed the impression that he had not -the patience to lie. Then, having his own reasons for expanding under -the influence of the lonely moon, he added: “Is not a peasant a peasant -by divine law? How much more a hereditary ruler with his terrible -responsibilities! With our vast fund of inherited knowledge and -traditions, our instinct for rule, our gift of commanding respect and -obedience, we are far more successful as rulers than your presidents, -chosen every four or eight years from all sorts and conditions of -life, and more often for some unworthy political reason than for any -merit in the man.” He added deliberately: “The monarchs of the earth -are the chosen deputies of God in Heaven; they rule their people by -right divine. The time will come when you will feel this as deeply as I -do now. Of course my understanding is illumined with the torch of the -centuries; but there must be a beginning,” he added graciously. - -“And you disassociate yourself absolutely from the race?” - -“Certainly. So will you one day.” - -“I am a good democrat, and I believe in the principles of the American -Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.” - -“Quite so--as long as they are permitted to hold; but when your -revolution comes they will go down with the rest, and then you will no -longer be a democrat.” The pronounced roll of William’s r-r-r-r’s made -him utter the last word as if he hated it. - -“And I suppose you think the Monroe Doctrine would go too?” - -“It would be as well to begin a new government on a sensible -international basis,” said the Emperor dryly. “That doctrine only -maintains its fictitious life by the courtesy, or perhaps I should say -the indifference--the present indifference--of Europe. It means nothing -until you have established it by force of arms. It would be better to -abandon it gracefully while there is yet time.” - -The two men were picking their way through an uneven pass. Fessenden -halted and leaned against the wall of rock. He fixed his eyes, which -in the brilliant night light shone like steel, on the imperious and -searching orbs that swung round him abruptly. - -“It is by converting the Monroe Doctrine from a theory into a principle -of international law without a war with Europe that I propose to make -my fame,” he said. - -William’s pale face twitched, then settled into its hardest lines. -He returned Fessenden’s stare, and there was neither friendship nor -good-fellowship in his eyes; he was a monarch on the alert in the -presence of the enemy. It was a moment before he spoke; then he said -coldly: - -“It is a large and, no doubt, patriotic idea. I shall be interested to -watch the method develop. When shall you get to work? When shall Europe -have its first astonished glimpse of your purpose?” - -“Europe will know nothing until it is too late to interfere; but I -shall tell you the whole scheme now.” - -“Tell me!” cried the German Emperor in his astonishment. - -“I owe the idea to you, and, crazy as it may appear, I shall confide -it to you. I should be rather base if I did not; and I rely, if not on -your generosity, then on your foresight, to let me alone. You can have -Europe, and welcome, and when the time comes that you need my help you -will get it; but you can’t have South America--not an inch of it; and -now I’ll tell you why--” - -“Suppose I decline to listen?”--and none but himself could know what it -cost him to admit that possibility. But the excitable color had flashed -into his face, and his eyes were glittering. “If I do listen,” he added -in a moment, “I decline to commit myself beforehand.” - -“It won’t matter. Even if you betrayed me you could not obstruct my -purpose. Of course I wish my secret kept. Only the fool takes the world -into his confidence. I only tell you--well, not so much for the reason -I just gave, as because you have given me your friendship, and I like -you better than any one on earth except my father. You would have -suggested the idea in any case; and if we had been cut out for enemies -I’d have left the next day, and it would have been a year before you -would have known what I was up to.” - -The Emperor’s face did not soften. He felt anything but sentimental. -“Why are you so sure that Europe--that I--could not balk you?” he asked. - -“Because I have a hundred million dollars at my disposal at the present -moment, and the work will be done before you can cook up a war with the -United States.” - -The Emperor turned gray, and let his temper fly. “Damn your American -billions!” he cried. “If I could lay my hands on that amount--” - -“Well,” said Fessenden. “When the time comes you can have it.” - - - - -PART II - - - - -I - - -“I wish I had been born in Oshkosh or Massachusetts,” said the -Archduchess, with innocent humor. - -“What have you been doing with yourself?” asked Alexandra. “Your -letters were long enough, but they seemed to say less than usual.” - -The Archduchess Ranata Theresia took her friend by the arm and led her -to the window. The fine lace which covered it, woven with the double -eagle of the House of Hapsburg, concealed every detail of the room from -the curious below, but was a mere veil to those behind it. - -“Oh, I know this prospect!” exclaimed the American girl. - -The private apartments of the Hofburg look down upon the Franzensplatz, -an oblong court-yard of inconsiderable size, surrounded by flat and -dingy walls, its bare surface relieved only by a bronze Hapsburg -leaning upon all the virtues he knew not in life. Opposite is the -guard-room. In the court-yard to-day were a few tourists staring at -the bronze or the remains of the moat and the gilded armorial bearings -on the eastern side. All sorts and conditions of people, from peasants -with their market-baskets to the hurrying bourgeois and the member of -Parliament, took the short cut through the Palace court-yards, while -private carriages, with servants in mediæval liveries, and rickety -cabs, driven by reckless shouting _kutschers_, awoke the hollow echoes -of the deep portals, and clattered across the platz. From two of the -upper windows housemaids were shaking rugs, and the only ornaments of -the dreary scene were the tall well-built house-guards, who, lackeys -as they were, carried their all-round horse-hair plumes and glittering -uniforms with the elegance and distinction so indiscriminately lavished -by Nature upon the Austrian race. - -“I know this scene!” repeated Alexandra. “And I usually turn my back -upon it. Why--why--doesn’t the Emperor have the private apartments on -the Heldenplatz, where at least you might see trees and the tops of the -buildings on the Ringstrasse? This would drive some people melancholy -mad. You have not been standing at this window ever since I left you, -I hope? Trotting solemnly round the riding-school is better than that. -But you seem to have been in Vienna more than usual this year. I -congratulated myself that this was the year I was detained in New York.” - -“That is brutal! I have only left this prison for two months at Ischl. -Between the fire at Schönbrunn and various political reasons, we have -been here since you left--now eight months ago! And as you are my only -real companion--! I do sometimes wish I had been born an American.” - -“There is an asylum in America whenever you make up your mind to run. -I have a handsome determined and adventurous brother--he has heard -of you! You have only to say the word and his yacht will be in the -Adriatic.” - -“Don’t talk romantic nonsense. I’m not up to it.” - -The Archduchess turned her back on the window and sat down before a -table in an upright chair. Alexandra took a rocking-chair--one of three -she had long since presented to the Hofburg, that she might always be -sure of a comfortable seat. Ranata had no idea whatever of comfort. -Her morning bath was supplied by a procession of servants bringing -the necessary amount of water in ewers--she had never seen water gush -from pipes except into a fountain, and she privately believed that -rocking-chairs were a relic of the North American Indian. But if her -apartments were as high and angular and unhomelike as those of most -royal palaces, she had a decided love of splendor, and originality -enough to avoid crimson and white-and-gold. The morbid virginal face -of young Ludvig von Bayern looked down from the wall opposite the -windows of her salon, and although she made sport of his vanity, she -gave the portrait a place for the sake of its beauty, and approved of -one form his madness had taken. The walls and windows of her salon were -panelled with blue velvet lightly embroidered with gold. The tables, -most of the ornaments, several chairs, and even the window-seats were -made from blocks of _lapis lazuli_. On one side of the lofty room were -her books--English, German, French, and Hungarian--bound in flexible -blue-and-white morocco, an unconscious tribute perhaps to her humbler -Bavarian blood. Scattered among the embroideries on the walls were many -miniatures. In the small writing-room adjoining was a large desk of -gilt and _lapis lazuli_, with furnishings of gold and blue vellum. In -this little room was one picture only, a small painting of Rudolf in -the costume of the Transylvanian sportsman. The frame of this picture -was eternally hidden under a wreath of green or flowers. - -The walls of her bedroom and breakfast-room were panelled with the -Gobelins of which the Hapsburgs have the monopoly in abundance and -splendor. Her ancient narrow bed, surmounted by the insignia of her -house clutching at a mass of yellow brocade and lace, was high on a -dais. Alexandra declared that it looked like a catafalque, and was -haunted with the _ennuis_ and miseries of a hundred princesses long -since forgotten. When Ranata, sleepless and in want of sympathy, -demanded companionship, she was forced to transfer her imperial -person into the enamelled and inlaid but wide and modern bed of her -American friend, who did what she could to banish ghosts. Alexandra had -diplomatically refurnished her apartments by degrees, until now they -were those of a young American who, while extravagant and luxurious, -was studious of music and books and a devotee of light and air. Ranata -never felt at home in them, but they exercised over her a certain -fascination, for they breathed the freedom of their owner’s personality. - -“I am told,” continued the Archduchess, still with an inflection of -bitterness, “that there are people who envy royalty!” - -“That is your safeguard--the glamour. It is that blinding halo more -than any other cause that has made this country rise serenely after -six crushing defeats in one century. The Lord’s anointed--genial yet -remote--afflicted beyond all men, yet carefully preserved to his state -and people--alive yet dead--kind and just yet--” - -She paused abruptly, for although Ranata was at times extravagantly -informal and confidential with the one friend to whom her rank meant -nothing, Alexandra, with all her audacity, never ventured beyond a -certain point. There were moments when Ranata’s ancestors rose in -her soul and peremptorily ordered up the drawbridge which the lonely -princess loved to fling recklessly at the feet of her American friend; -to taste the sweets of girlish intercourse, unrestrained by the fear -of imperilling her royal dignity or untainted by the suspicion of -self-interest. There was no honor that the House of Hapsburg could -bestow upon the American, and Ranata knew that court life was too -old a story to offer any further attractions to Alexandra. If the -Archduchess had not been fully aware that the Austrian Court was the -dullest in Europe, Alexandra would have enlightened her: her lively -friend could rehearse every word that would be uttered at a function, -the tidbits of scandal that would be murmured at royal dinners after -the terrible interval of no conversation whatever. But for Ranata -she cherished a deep and almost romantic affection, and believed her -existence to be the most tragic in the world. Had it been possible--and -it was a possibility of which she never despaired--she would have -carried her off to New York; but for the present she spent six months -of every year in Austria, and sowed seeds of which the Emperor and his -court knew nothing; for outside the privacy of these rooms she was -more European than American. Although she was now accepted as a matter -of course, for several years the haughtiest and most exclusive people -on earth had tolerated her with ill-concealed resentment, by no means -unexaggerated by jealousy; and Alexandra, feeling that the pride of her -country was involved, to say nothing of her own comfort, had succeeded -in obliterating all trace of the alien. Only an American can imagine -the force of the reaction. And this morning, returning after a long -absence to find her friend more than ever in need of the diversion she -knew so well how to provide, she was forced to pause suddenly and bite -her lip. But Ranata’s ancestors were slumbering, and the atmosphere of -freedom came subtly to her nostrils. - -“If possible, my father is more of a machine than ever,” she remarked -dryly. “I sometimes think that his very remarks to me at dinner--I see -less and less of him anywhere else--are dictated by his ministers. I -don’t blame him, poor man, for being afraid to love anybody again. -If he wants to be a machine, I should be the last to deny him, and -I really believe that he now feels nothing, and is a mere automaton -from four in the morning until he goes to sleep peacefully at nine -in the evening. I wish I were a machine myself. It must be the only -refuge this side the grave. But the stupid physical fact is that my -nerve-cells are still stronger than my fibrous tissue, and I must wait -thirty years or so for Nature to do her work.” - -“Your afflictions have been shocking, poor dear--” - -“I am not thinking of my afflictions. No one experienced in sorrow -will ever whine. It is the future I am thinking of--to say nothing of -the present. I am twenty-eight. Except when you are here I am utterly -without companionship, unless, to be sure, when I am in the country on -a horse. Here in Vienna, as you know, I rarely leave the Hofburg--leave -these rooms only for the riding-school or some other part of the -palace; for my father--or his ministers--seems to dislike more and more -the attention I attract whenever I show myself abroad--” - -She paused abruptly and gave a curious sidelong glance at her friend. - -“You have been thinking of matrimony!” exclaimed Alexandra. - -“Yes--twice during the past year. I have been almost tempted to -consider it--almost, but not quite. The change would be too temporary. -If there is one thing that must surpass the eternal boredom of -unmarried royal women, it is putting up with a wired automaton and -bearing his sickly children. And liberty! Now, at least, I can lock -these doors, and even my father would not force them, and my ladies are -only too glad to be relieved of my society. But perhaps I have spoken -too strongly. In solitude I have found much happiness. I can dream and -dream, and forget that not the least of my dreams can ever come true.” - -She had spoken flippantly, quite brutally, but she finished with an -accent of profound sadness. - -“You will become morbid if you are not careful,” said Miss Abbott -seriously. “Only the deliberately cultivated reasonableness with which -you have accepted this deadly--and ridiculous--life of yours, and the -superhuman control you have acquired over your natural impatience and -impulsiveness, have saved you so far. But thirty is a dangerous age. I -am beginning to feel it myself--wasted emotions, opportunities, passing -youth--all that sort of thing. You, my dear, grow more beautiful every -day, and your beauty has done you so little good! Gasps and murmurs as -you trail down between the tapestries of the Great Hall of Ceremonies -in the most gorgeous white gowns ever seen, or ride once a year or so -in the Prater!” She paused a moment, and then added deliberately: “Why -not cut it? It is incongruous and monstrous to see the most intelligent -women in Europe cramped in a three-by-six cage like one of Louis XI.’s -victims. What keeps you? Nothing but the silliest superstition in the -world to-day, drivelling out its precarious existence. You have your -own money. My father can double and treble it. My step-mother would -preserve you from all scandal. You could exercise your gifts and have a -career, or marry and be happy. Come along--don’t be an idiot.” - -“There is just one thing you never can understand. I know you think we -are fatuous, if not mad, to believe ourselves heaven-born, divinely -appointed; but here we are, we have our inherited duties, and here we -must remain. Ourselves are the last we are permitted to consider from -our coming to our going. We come into this world with a birthright of -obligations to millions of people whose ancestors permitted us first -to mount the throne--in our case eight centuries ago! We Hapsburgs have -been threatened with annihilation, we have lost much that was precious, -the German Empire overshadows and threatens us, and God knows what will -happen when my father dies. But although our star has often turned -black, it has never gone out. It has a way of flashing up from its -embers and disconcerting Europe that suggests eternal fires--if they -are carefully watched. And it is the hearth fires that need watching. -William’s ambitions will come to nothing if our people stand firm. I -have no illusion regarding the real danger. So long as my father lives -we are safe against the worst that revolutionists can do. But Rudolf -is dead! Both Austria and Hungary detest the Heir, that cold bigot, -who has never a smile for the people. And court life will cease when -he comes to the throne, for it is not likely he will divorce that -woman and marry a princess. Only the most watchful care can save us. -The Hungarians are straining at the bit all the time, and the moment -disintegration begins William will find some pretext to march in. He -will lose no more time than Frederick lost when he saw a woman ascend a -tottering throne. Although I am permitted to take no part in politics, -I still have a rôle to play which is of almost as much importance to -my country as my father’s. One of my obligations is to make the world -believe that a princess is above ordinary temptations and weaknesses--a -tradition which the Hapsburgs have done more than any royal house to -obliterate--and that makes my personal duty the more obvious. Another -thing, as you know--to the world I am not even the individual. During -these last ten years my study has been to persuade my father’s people -that I am the conventional, safely stupid, and normal princess, to -make them forget my mother’s supposed gift to this House. If I -should do what you propose, Austria would either assume that I was as -mad as Ludvig and Otto, or, were they convinced that I had a better -brain than my sort, they would accept my act as a deliberate insult -to the monarchical idea. In either case I should loosen one more -stone in these rotting foundations of ours. Marriage out of class, -elopement, a whispered intrigue--they are accustomed to all! But a -deliberate renunciation, based on non-sentimental grounds, a flight to -America--that would be the new thing with a vengeance, and it is only -the innovation that tells. Oh, if Rudolf had lived. If Rudolf--Rudolf--” - -She pushed back her chair violently, banished the seriousness from her -face. - -“Enough of this infliction. I have opened the safety-valves and feel -better. Come, show me your new frocks. Are they finer than mine? What -have you brought me from New York? And the bonbons! the bonbons! Do -you know where we go two weeks from to-day? To Hungary, for the autumn -manœuvres. I am so glad! I have not been to Budapest since I was a -child. I long to go. I love Hungary. It dares to rebel, and sometimes -it gets what it wants. And our dear cousin Willy is to be our guest. -He’s bound to come with a sensation up his sleeve. Sometimes I regret -that I was not old enough to marry him, for although I fear and -sometimes hate him, life with him might have been interesting, for he -at least is a man.” - - - - -II - - -When Alexandra was twelve years old Mrs. Abbott had taken her to -Vienna to consult a famous surgeon for a threatened deformity. He -had commanded that the child be left under his care for at least five -years, and Mrs. Abbott, whose devotion to her husband amounted to a -mannerism, left her with an old friend, a Hungarian, whose infinite -quarterings made her one of that small band so closely allied with -the court that they have never learned to snub, since nobody has -ever dared to take a liberty with them. This lady, who had married -one of the Princes Windischgrätz had formed a friendship with Mrs. -Abbott in her impulsive youth when the American’s father had been -minister to Austria, renewing it when she returned as the wife of a -secretary of Legation. The young husband had died in Vienna, and the -Princess had shown a sincere and spontaneous sympathy which cemented -their friendship into an intimacy where each might dare to accept a -favor from the other. She also extravagantly admired the American’s -toilettes, having a natural and exquisite taste, and rebelling at the -frequent necessity to wear an old gown, soiled and frayed, perhaps, -under her load of family jewels. After her friend married the chieftain -of millions, she visited her in New York and Newport, and was deeply -impressed with a style of living far more comfortable and luxurious -than anything in Europe, and quite as magnificent. Immobile to a world -whose existence she barely admitted, with her own class she was simple -and natural; and Mrs. Abbott having acquired the same tactics in an -early experience of European courts, there was no marked external -difference between these two exalted dames, and much in common. The -friendship never waned, for Mrs. Abbott was frequently in Europe, and -was the first American to dress in Vienna; when, therefore, she was -for once in a way confronted with a serious problem, the Princess came -gallantly to the rescue, and Alexandra for three years lived in a -palace immense and chilly, but as full of old furniture and pictures -as a museum, and often of gay Hungarian relatives who played high and -slept late. - -The “Princess Sarolta,” as she was known to the elect, was a woman of -much heart and cynicism, of strong loves and stronger hates. Without -children of her own, one of the deepest affections of her life had been -for the Archduke Rudolf. Her pet aversion had been the Empress, whom -she denounced as a mixture of the country girl and the mystic, wholly -unfit to wear a crown. She never forgave her for being, not von Bayern, -but in Bayern; and when, in addition to the comparative insignificance -of her birth, the sweet and gentle but shy and unhappy Empress treated -a throne with contumely and sought the consolations of the inner life, -the Princess became her most contemptuous enemy. - -To Ranata the Princess transferred the affection she had given to -Rudolf, although it was unmixed with the enthusiasm inspired by the -brilliant if reckless hope of a house to which she was loyally devoted. -When Alexandra was left on her hands Rudolf was still alive, but she -was much interested in the rebellious little Archduchess, who in looks -and temperament was unlike her mother or any of the recent Hapsburg -women; and partly out of sympathy, partly because it pleased her to do -one original thing in her life, she brought the two children together -on all their holidays. - -They promptly gave to each other their hoarded stores of affection. -Alexandra, lively, fearless, without awe of rank, yet with too much -inherited and inculcated taste to take the wrong sort of liberty with -the humblest of her friends, seemed in the nature of a divine gift to a -princess who was never permitted to forget her rank by the children of -the court circle. These little girls came, when invited, with phrases -and sentiments carefully drilled, their small minds already agitated -by the possibility of future favors. They bored and exasperated their -intelligent, if imperious and highly strung, hostess; the more so -that her courtesy must be unwavering, lest she remind them of their -inferiority in rank. But Alexandra slapped her when she was angry, -and hugged her when the tide of her young and ardent affections rose, -indulged in ribald merriment at the rigid Spanish etiquette of the -court, the chill magnificence of the ceremonial rooms, of the army -of splendid guards and chamberlains and lackeys, and the many other -inconsistencies with the daily democracy of the court-yards and the -general external dinginess and internal discomfort of the wealthiest -house in Europe. But to the Emperor she accorded an unwavering -respect, and she always amused him. When, after the terrible loss of -his only son--a tragedy which practically banished his wife from his -homes--Ranata was first ill, then melancholy, clinging to her chosen -friend day and night, he had given his indifferent consent to the -American remaining in the Hofburg until his daughter could live without -her. That time had not yet arrived, and although the incongruity of an -American inmate of the Hofburg sometimes entered the carefully occupied -brain of a monarch whose traditions would not permit him to receive -the bourgeoise wife of the greatest of his subjects, and bade him -ignore the distinguished in art and letters, yet was he so grateful for -any cause that might lessen the problem of his youngest born that he -deferred indefinitely a half-cherished protest. He believed Alexandra’s -influence to be wholesome, and he dreaded the scene which he knew must -follow any attempt to reduce the friendship to a more formal footing; -Ranata had pounded shrieking on his door more than once. - -So the years had passed, the children had played and studied together, -and been satisfied with their lot, and no specific excuse had ever -arrived to interfere with an arrangement to which even the Emperor -became too accustomed in time to question. - -After Alexandra’s physical trouble was over, Mr. Abbott had insisted -that she spend her summers on his Hudson River estate, where he could -see her daily, make sure she passed the greater part of her time out of -doors, and preserved her Americanism. He had no objection to her close -friendship with the Hapsburg, for he had a far-seeing eye, moreover -fully appreciated the education she would have under the royal tutors, -the simple food and habits, and, not of the least importance to this -erratic American father, the strict discipline to which the heiress -of many millions would be subjected. But he invariably informed her, -every year when he escorted her to the steamer, that the first time she -returned with any “airs,” any reduction in the sum of her Americanism, -that would be the last she would see of her beloved Ranata. Doubtless -the advice was salutary, as all advice is; but Alexandra from the -first had perceived the advantage her Americanism gave her over the -born subjects of royalty. Not only did her national exemption from -the courtier’s deference and her unconscious indifference to future -favors exercise a wild and picturesque charm, but her exciting yarns of -Western adventure, spun for the most part out of a fertile imagination, -her astonishing games, labelled “American,” won her the unswerving -admiration of Ranata and almost conquered the jealousies of the other -little girls. As she grew older she became fully aware that her -influence over the Archduchess, aside from the deep mutual affection, -lay in her fine careless independence and her utter unlikeness to -anything in Europe. - -The influence of the girls on each other was of mutual benefit. The -deep serious nature of the Archduchess, with her centuries of storied -impressions, her lofty sense of duty, even in her most rebellious -moments, did much to remodel the lighter nature, the slenderer mental -and ethical equipment of the American girl. On the other hand, the -absolutely fearless outlook of Alexandra, her unswerving American -point of view and republican ideal, combined, as she grew older, with -a close knowledge of European politics, her habit of thinking for -herself, her mere tolerance of Old World standards and traditions, her -eager interest in new thoughts and movements, early awakened emulation -in the brilliant Austrian, made her eager to lengthen her vision, to -comprehend the thought of the more sensible of the liberated women out -in the world; finally taught her to project herself beyond the royal -horizon, to feel and to know how it was with humanity in its multitudes. - -Alexandra watched the two personalities in her friend grow and flourish -coincidently; the one uncompromising, traditional, bigotedly loyal to -her house and condition; the other tragically human, womanly, broad, -generous, passionate, sympathizing with the masses in their struggle -for happiness. - -As Ranata grew older, the two women in her held many an excited -controversy; there were hours of profound depression, discouragement, -rebellion, abhorrence of the royal tread-mill, and a wild pagan love of -mere existence. Encouraged by Alexandra, she had taken an early stand -against matrimony. Twice, however, she had submitted to her father’s -wishes, and permitted herself to be affianced; but one of her princes -dying before the wedding-day and the other disgracing himself, she -announced that she had now done all that could be expected of her, -and should be permitted to remain single. The Emperor acknowledged -the justice of her argument and bided his time. Of his daughter’s -intense inner life he knew nothing, but he recognized that he had -an individual, not a mere princess, on his hands, and he humored -her as far as was in his power and consistent with her conspicuous -position. Liberty beyond palace walls or royal enclosures was not to -be considered; tradition was tradition, even to the toothpicks on the -imperial table; moreover, although she bore no resemblance to her -mother, fate had spared her the growling visage of the Hapsburgs, -and, unlike most royal women, she looked born to crown and purple. -To the world she was the princess, the goddess, a valuable asset for -any reigning house; and, tradition aside, the glorified ideal of a -vast and restless people must not be vulgarized, nor even dimmed. But -although she had her separate household and a large income to spend -on her wardrobe and private fancies, the Emperor and his ministers -had no intention that a young, healthy, and beautiful princess should -carry out her romantic programme of being an old maid. Happy in -their ignorance of her resources, they occasionally frowned over the -shrinking list of eligible princes. Early plans to place her on two -of the highest thrones in Europe had been frustrated by a method so -simple that neither the Emperor nor his advisers had ever penetrated -the mystery. Ranata had treated each of the visiting young princes to -a furious exhibition of temper, which, taken in connection with her -red hair and American influences, appeared to them to be of alarming -domestic significance. The impression was ineradicably fixed by the -ingenious and terrible tales poured into their ears by the fertile -Alexandra. - -Men had loved her, but as men love a picture or a character in history; -they hardly knew her better, for she was too proud for intrigue, -and conversation in the presence of a watchful court is neither -sympathetic nor enlightening. Moreover, her Obersthofmeisterin, the -Archduchess Maria Leopoldina, was the most anxious duenna that ever -had princess in charge, and the boldest officer dared not brave that -protecting wing. - -Ranata had her dreams, her ideals, but she found her heroes in history; -a few ballroom flirtations completed the sum of her interest in mere -mortals. Knowing that earthly love and passion were not for her, she -did what she could to forget their existence, occupied her mind and -wearied her body. The cruel afflictions of her family chastened her -somewhat, but she still had her hours of intense rebellion, caught her -imagination on the wing in a future which never before had risen on the -horizon of what is technically known as “the Great.” - - - - -III - - -“This is certainly an improvement on the Hofburg,” said Alexandra. “It -is the only palace I have ever seen that looks like a palace, not a -museum, barrack, or hospital; and Budapest is as picturesque a setting -for the kings and queens one reads about in books. The Danube is not -blue, but it moves--it moves--and its islands are certainly green. -The illuminations last night looked as if the stars had come down to -kow-tow to the _Hohenzollern_. He has indulged in much affectionate -rhetoric, but has not yet broken loose. I wonder if he will to-night?” - -“He is sure to, I should think. And I understand that he fell on Count -Andrassy’s neck this morning with a rhapsody of Count Julius--to whom -we certainly owe the strongest tie that now binds Hungary to us. What -children the Hungarians are to be so flattered by this visit! They -could have shown no greater enthusiasm for a Charlemagne.” - -“He is the one picturesque figure in Europe, my dear.” - -“And the one man who could have outshone him is dead! The Hungarians -worshipped Rudolf; the peasants will not believe that he is dead; but -this romantic hot-blooded people must be enthusiastic about somebody, -and my father is too old. William is young; he looks the Emperor; he is -as ambitious as Napoleon; there is an idea abroad that he dangles the -scales of Europe in his fingers. Oh, if I had been born a man!” - -The two girls were standing on the balcony of the private suite of -apartments formerly occupied by the Empress Elizabeth when playing the -part of Queen of Hungary. Down on their left, beyond the Danube with -its mighty bridges, was the beautiful and busy city of Pest. Opposite -them, on the most precipitous height of Buda, were the ruins of the -citadel. The palace, a vast and symmetrical pile of nearly a thousand -rooms, crowns the lowest ridge of a mountain-range which slopes in -irregular masses to the river. Behind rises the long shoulder of the -Schwabenberg, its arm curved downward in the north to grasp the Danube. - -The great hills were brilliant with autumnal color; many boats were on -the river; the world was promenading on the corsos; the flags streaming -from every window were gayer than the woods. Far below, at the foot of -the Palace Hill, in one of the cafés on the quay, the girls could hear -the music of the Chardash, and held their breath as its wild note of -longing changed to furious appeal. - -“This is living!” said Alexandra. “I feel romantic for the first time -in my life. Can’t we stay here?” - -“It is perfect. I should be happy--almost; content if _he_ were not -here. But he must have taught the very Hungarians the hollowness of -their fictitious love for my father. They have too much to forgive! -They never will forgive it. He is old. He has suffered greatly. They -pity him. That is all. And William knows that. He has chosen this -moment of uneasiness in Europe to come here, looking the invincible -young monarch, bursting with arrogance and daring and the success of -his reign. No wonder the susceptible Hungarians think him the chosen of -God, and assured of infinite conquest. Did you see the _Pester Lloyd_ -this morning? ‘_Till now it is the minds of the Hungarians which, with -its own mind, Emperor William knew how to conquer, but he evidently -knows as well how to conquer the hearts. This he proved to-day once -more, and we can only give him the assurance that of all the languages -in the world, it is the language of the heart which in Hungary is best -understood._’ Oh, if I were a man!” - -“I wouldn’t let a little thing like that stop me. Your brain is as good -as his, and you have all the courage of all your ancestors. In more -ways than one you are like him who prompted the old bishop to cry, ‘Sit -fast, Lord God, or Rudolf will occupy thy throne!’ Times are times, but -I don’t believe that all your talents were given to you for no purpose.” - -“I believe in the blind law of cause and effect. It is only in my -wildest moments that I have dreamed that the first Rudolf and Maria -Theresia circled low when I was born and shook a bit of their golden -dust into my brain-cells--I hate to talk nonsense! Here come two -carriages across the bridge, the first of the guests, no doubt. We had -better go in, it is a quarter to five. Mind you are careful not to -allude to my father here as ‘The Emperor.’ That is a great point in -Hungary.” - -“If fate ever should whirl you to the throne, Ranata, for Heaven’s -sake have dinner at a Christian hour. I have indigestion for a month -every time I come back from America.” - -The girls, who had stepped out on the balcony in the broad light of -afternoon, ignoring the protests of Maria Leopoldina, who, rather -than carry the mausoleum of her charms into the sunshine, had retired -in dudgeon, were dressed for a great banquet to be given at five -o’clock to the guest of the King of Hungary, the German Emperor. The -Archduchess, who, with some reason, had come to the conclusion that -life with her was to be a sequence of weeds, interrupted by intervals -of uncertain duration, varied her black with white only. Nevertheless, -she was one of the best-dressed women in Europe, and only her patient -tire-women knew the infinite range of her wardrobe. “I often sigh -for color,” she confided once to her American friend, “but I am too -superstitious to venture. And perhaps it is as well. My rôle is the -princess of the antique, the traditional pattern. In white I look -ready for a memorial window or a bas-relief in the Augustin.” To which -Alexandra had replied practically, “To say nothing of the fact that -it makes your own coloring twice as strong as it would be above a -brilliant plumage.” - -Certainly the gown of white velvet embroidered with pearls and silver -which she wore to-day in honor of her enemy enhanced her statuesque -appearance, and gave her sharp black brows, the scarlet of her lips, -and the brilliant masses of her hair an insolent effect of being able -to supply all the color that a dazzled beholder could endure. The -almost fierce incongruousness of her coloring might have defeated her -attempt to convince the world that a mere princess dwelt within that -virile shell, had it not been for the cold regularity of an Egyptian -profile carried loftily above a form of antique height and mould, and -a skin so white that despairing man had vowed there was sacrilege in -the thought of its being put to mortal use. Her gray eyes were alert -and so expressive that she had formed the habit of holding them half -closed, and her black lashes were very thick. She had inherited her -hands and feet from her Spanish ancestors; while not out of proportion -to her great height, they were so finely fashioned that they looked -too small for serious work. Her trick of eyebrow and shoulder, when -animated, may have indicated the persistence of the French blood -brought in by Francis of Lorraine. Nature, unspiteful for once to -royal women, had given her the infrequent best of her ancestors, and -even modified the not unpleasing nose that Elizabeth of Brunswick had -presented to the Hapsburgs. Ranata had immense strength, had been -ill but once in her life, hardly ever had experienced the sensation -of utter fatigue. Her horsemanship was as remarkable as her mother’s -had been; and when she appeared in the Prater beside the equally -accomplished Emperor, it was a sight that no man ever forgot. She broke -in her own horses; when in the country, frequently groomed and saddled -them. After Alexandra, they were her only intimates, and she had known -her keenest happiness when riding eight hours of the day through the -forests of Upper Austria. - -Alexandra never accompanied the Archduchess on her longer walks and -rides. She was an accomplished horse-woman and a resigned pedestrian, -but she had the frail physique of her race, and had been born of a -hard-working fashionable mother with none of that profound sense of -parental responsibility so ingrained in the European from queen to -peasant. She was handsome rather than beautiful; her eyes were too -analytical, her mouth betrayed too pronounced a scorn of the shams -of life, her whole expression was too keen and humorous to compare -victoriously either with the lofty exalted style of the Archduchess -Ranata Theresia or the impassive harmonies of fashionable standards. -But her eyes and hair were the brown that took lights from the sun, her -features were delicate, high-bred, full of character and energy. Her -figure was light, round, active; when compared with any but Ranata’s it -was sufficiently tall. In her way she was as complex as her friend of -the tremendous and conflicting elements drawn from every civilization -in Europe, but her salient and unquestioned characteristics were -loyalty and sincerity. She dressed exquisitely, and the thousands she -spent yearly in Vienna had long since established her popularity. - - - - -IV - - -Alexandra pressed her hand on the table in a flutter of nerves, to -which she was little accustomed. But they had vibrated painfully -more than once during the dinner, although, with all her experience -of courts, she had rarely been present at so magnificent a scene. -The immense Throne Room, or Great Hall of Ceremonies, of perfectly -simulated yellow marble, relieved only by white wood heavily incrusted -with yellow bronze, seemed to quiver in its flood of amber light. The -three chandeliers were huge inverted stacks of golden leaves, with no -false note of crystal. The few women present were superbly dressed, -and covered from crown to waist with the jewels of centuries, but -they made an indifferent showing beside the barbarous magnificence -of the Hungarian magnates. Every other man at the table, except the -cardinals, was in uniform: the King, the Archdukes, and the Emperor’s -suite, in the Prussian; the few members of his household whom Franz -Joseph had ventured to bring to the jealous capital of his most -uncertain possession, and the Grand Stewards of the Archdukes, wore an -Austrian uniform; and the Ambassadors were in fullest dress. But it -was evident that the fiery independent spirit of the great nobles of -Hungary recognized no uniform except that of a glorious extravagance. -Their fancy ran riot in color, in textile, in form. But whether in -thick brocade, delicate or gorgeous of hue, in cloth of gold or silver, -in white satin fitting like a cuirass and studded with jewels, or in -silk so heavily embroidered with gold that it creaked like an armor; -whether the long velvet cloak, trimmed and lined with priceless fur, -its embroideries representing years of labor, its buttons and chains -of big uncut jewels, was worn, or used carelessly as a background, -there was nothing in Europe, not even in Russia, to compare with them. -The headpieces of fur, the plume fastened with a jewelled rosette, -were under their chairs, their high boots and silken small-clothes -were likewise eclipsed for the hour, but there was more than enough of -them to make the great golden room look like a page of old Hungarian -history. So their ancestors had sat at Árpád’s table a thousand years -ago. The hair of these men might be shorter, but it is doubtful if they -varied in another external detail. Their faces were mobile, excitable, -sometimes very clever. A few looked like men of the great world, -although in that costume it was difficult to look like anything but the -feudal lord ready on an instant’s notice to blow the trumpet in his -villages and lead his bondsmen to battle. - -As their fiery glances wandered from the Archduchess Ranata Theresia -to the German Emperor, from the beautiful woman who reminded them of -their lost Rudolf to the dashing young monarch they so passionately -admired, a man after their own indomitable Hungarian hearts, they -seemed to create an atmosphere of uneasiness, of premonition. Alexandra -could imagine their swift transition from extravagant courtesy towards -their aged King into the wildest excitement of which the modern man -is capable; and endeavored to hope that William would behave himself. -The young magnate on her right, Count Zrinyi, was evidently a very -excitable person. He had from various causes approached the verge of -explosion several times. Never having met anything like this cool -American girl, he had fallen madly in love with her; the blood flew -to and from his face, his jewelled armor creaked, and twice he dashed -the tears from his eyes. Alexandra would have imagined herself in one -of the Nights of Arabia had it not been for the intervals of rational -conversation, when, seeing himself mirrored in the clear eyes beside -him, and fancying, as many a wiser man has done, that it was a kindred -soul he saw, he had talked of the grievances of the Hungarians and -their determination to have their own way in their own country. At -present they were engaged in the extermination of the hated German -language and the universal substitution of the Magyar. It mattered -nothing that less than half the population of their country spoke -Hungarian, that the spirit of Roumania still hovered over the land -beyond the Theiss, that there were whole villages where the language -was never heard, and that Croatia and Slavonia hated them; the intense -national pride and spirit which had endured for a thousand years, -weathering every conquest, every humiliation, as ardent under the two -centuries of Turkish rule as during the climax of their glory under -Matthias Corvinus, had gathered fuller strength since the Revolution of -’48; and the determination was growing daily to give emphasis in every -possible way to the individuality of this most individual of European -states. Let those pitch their tents in Hungary who would, but they must -learn and use the Hungarian language or feel themselves the aliens they -were--Austrian officers not excepted. - -Alexandra yielded to an impulse, not so much of coquetry as of -curiosity; she expressed approval of his patriotism in the beautiful -Magyar tongue. She had avoided German instinctively, and they had -talked in English--like most of his class he was accomplished in many -languages. For the moment she regretted her experiment. He trembled -violently and turned white. It was then that he shed his first tear. - -“You are _not_ cruel!” he murmured. “You have enraptured me! How -kind--how wonderful. It is said to be the most difficult of tongues. -Did you learn a few words, perhaps, before coming to Hungary, knowing -our greatest weakness--” - -“Dear me, no. I studied Hungarian, as one of many languages, with the -Archduchess. She studied it as a matter of course.” - -“That is a very practical explanation,” he said sulkily. “If I had had -time to think I should have known. Queen Elizabeth,” he looked as if -he would have raised his plumed and jewelled _kalpag_ had it not been -under his chair, “bewitched Hungary upon her first visit by speaking -perfectly the Magyar language. She took a great fancy to a young -Hungarian girl and invited her to become a maid of honor, but when she -discovered that she had been educated in Paris and had almost forgotten -her native language she sent her home to learn it, and would not -receive her into her household again until she was proficient. We have -never forgotten that. And Rudolf! it _was_ his language--we refused to -believe that he knew how to speak German.” - -“Do you regret Rudolf?” asked Alexandra, in the tone she might have -used to demand his opinion of the soft music in the gallery. Again she -had touched powder with her wicked torch. - -“Regret Rudolf?--_Rudolf?_” He took himself in hand and proceeded more -calmly in a moment. “Mademoiselle, I regret the Crown Prince, like many -others, for personal reasons, and, like the whole of my country, like -all Europe, in fact, for grave political reasons. He was so warm, so -genial, so fascinating--the best of good fellows, the most simple and -unostentatious of princes, and, what all princes are not--we have one -at this table, mademoiselle--a gentleman to the core. He loved Hungary -as much as Hungary loved him. Had he lived there would be no straining -at the bit now; we should be content to wait. Had he lived, there would -be in Europe to-day no uneasy anticipation of our poor old King’s -death. And not only could Rudolf make himself beloved by everybody, -but there have been few better brains born to thrones--or in spheres -where brains are more abundant. He would have sown his wild oats, poor -chap!--and have made a great ruler. Then our guest would have had a -rival worthy of his mettle. Now he has none.” With one of his abrupt -transitions he continued: “And such tact! In all the years that he came -to us and held his little court here in Buda, or was a mere sportsman -in his hunting-castle, he never made a mistake. Do you know that the -King actually has his drinking-water brought from Vienna? And the very -food we are eating--and the cooks! Bah!--I’ll eat no more. It is your -fault, mademoiselle, that I did not think of it sooner. I never go to -Vienna. When he is here--our King--I honor him, for he is old and good -and kind--now!--but you will acknowledge, mademoiselle, that he insults -us unnecessarily when he brings with him water and meat, vegetables, -fruits, to this land flowing with milk and honey.” - -“Well, perhaps he does not like milk and honey. I detest both myself. -And while I am willing to admit that your language is the most -beautiful in the world--a union of velvet and steel, of music and -running water and of the sonorousness of distant thunder--yet, my -dear Count, still will I give the palm to Vienna for water. It always -tastes and sparkles as if it were gushing still from its springs in the -mountains, and I am delighted that the Emp--King brings it along.” - -The Hungarian looked at her speculatively. He was not a fool, and -recognized her difference from the women to whom he was accustomed, -although he did not pretend to understand her. The mystery, and her -curious treatment of his love-making, made him more thoughtful than -usual. He was about to feel his way towards a new channel of attack -when his eyes encountered the heavy black-framed visage of the King’s -heir, and his ardent brain leaped in a new direction. - -“Do you know what that man has done to-night?” he murmured furiously. -“He has left his wife at the station in a railway carriage, while he -dines here as the guest of the King! I only pretend to touch his hand! -Do you call that a man--to make a woman his wife, the mother of his -children, and treat her like his mistress? If he had not the courage to -renounce his pretensions to the throne and live like a gentleman, why -did he marry her? Would such a thing be done in your great country?” - -“Oh, well, we do not have morganatic marriages,” said Alexandra -soothingly. “It certainly was inconsistent of him to marry her.” - -“It is very awkward for us. We acknowledge no difference between -husband and wife in Hungary. If that man ever does come to the throne, -his wife will be our Queen--” - -“Rise!” said Alexandra, “the King is on his feet.” - -And now the King had made his pleasant toast to the illustrious guest, -the room had rung with enthusiastic “_Élyens_,” and the German Emperor -was facing his audience in a stillness so profound that others besides -Alexandra longed to have him begin a speech which all knew, from the -defiant almost impish light in his eyes, was to be something more than -the voluble rhetoric commonly heard at royal tables. He had been in -the highest spirits all the evening, joking with the King, at whose -right he sat in the middle of the long table, and with every one else -in his neighborhood, temporarily charming even his avowed enemy, the -Archduchess Ranata Theresia, who sat on his right. In the light-blue -and white uniform of a general of the Austro-Hungarian army, his -breast covered with orders, he had never looked handsomer; and in the -atmosphere of approval that he loved he was ready--everybody felt -who knew him--to do and dare anything. But the most expectant were -unprepared for his actual performance. - -He began at last, turning with deep respect to the King, and a slight -excitement was perceptible in his strident tones. - -“It is with a feeling of the deepest gratitude that I receive the -hearty welcome of your Majesty. Thanks to the invitation of your -Majesty, I have been able to visit this splendid town, whose grand -reception nearly overwhelmed me.” He paused as if again overcome by -the memory, then launched his first thunderbolt at the tempestuous -hearts of a people who but half a century before had almost succeeded -in wresting their great kingdom from the monarch whose guests they -were to-night--a people whose fathers had died cursing the name of -Hapsburg, and petitioning Heaven for the success of the Hungarian arms. - -“We are following at home,” announced the German Emperor, “with -_sympathetic interest_ the story of the knightly Hungarians, _whose -patriotism has become proverbial_, and who in a glorious past did not -hesitate to sacrifice their blood--for the holy cross,” he added with -pious haste. “Names like Zrinyi inspire the hearts of German youths -to the present day. We witnessed with _sympathetic admiration_ the -festival of the thousandth birthday, which the Hungarians, surrounding -their beloved King, celebrated with such astounding pomp. The proud -architectural works of your great city give evidence of her artistic -spirit, and the bursting of the bonds of the Iron Gates has opened a -new way for commerce, and _has ranged Hungary as an equal among the -great and the most highly civilized nations of the Earth_.” - -By this time the Hungarians were heaving like the sea. They had left -their seats and were pressing towards the Emperor, silently, that -they might not lose a word of his utterance; and it was evident that -only etiquette restrained their emotions. Never before, not in modern -times at least, had a monarch so flattered them. Not for centuries had -they been saluted as a practically independent state, unhyphenated, -for once permitted to stand alone under the crown of St. Stephen, -the hated double-headed bird brushed lightly aside. The air seemed -shaking with deep political import; more than one man was trembling -violently within his barbaric splendors. The Emperor pulled himself -up abruptly, and turned once more to his host, whose face, indignant -and aghast, composed itself suddenly to courteous attention. William’s -tones had been rich with sympathy for a race passionately admired. They -now softened with filial affection. “But what has made the deepest -impression upon me, particularly during my reception in Budapest, is -the enthusiastic devotion of Hungary to your Majesty. And not only -here, but in all Europe, above all among my own people, does the same -enthusiasm for your Majesty glow--an enthusiasm which I venture myself -to cherish, in looking up, after the manner of a son, to your Majesty -as my Fatherly Friend. - -“Thanks to your Majesty’s wisdom, our union stands firm and -unquenchable, a blessing to our people; for it has meant the peace of -Europe for many years, and it will continue to do so for many more. - -“Enthusiastic devotion to your Majesty--of this I am sure--dwells as -firmly now in the hearts of the sons of Árpád as when they cried to -your Majesty’s great ancestor, ‘_Moriamur pro rege nostro!_’” - -He paused a moment before crying the hurrah for the King, which all -present expected as a matter of course would be given in German. But -William, under that apparently tactless exterior, capable of the -profoundest diplomacy, had a still surer bolt in store. Raising his -goblet on high, his eagle glance flashing from end to end of the pale -company, his passionate tones thrilling the most antagonistic heart -present, he cried: - -“Giving expression now to these sentiments, we will put all we are -capable of feeling, thinking, and praying for your Majesty into those -words which every Hungarian utters with his latest breath--_Élyen a -Király!_” - -As the words rang out in the Magyar language, so jealously beloved and -preserved, from the lips of a monarch whom duty had never commanded to -cope with its difficulties, the tongue the King, his host, ignored, -there was an instant of almost stupefied silence. Then some one gave an -_Élyen!_ as wild and abrupt as a battle-cry, the spell broke, the hot -blood of the Hungarians leaped to their heads, they forgot etiquette -and crowded about the Emperor, shouting until the marble walls rumbled -the echo. Their wild glances never wandered to the convulsed face of -their King, nor from the triumphant eyes of the German. Several of -the younger men and equally excited women stood upon chairs that they -might see him better. Then for the first time in that old palace there -rang out the word most hated in Hungary, “_Élyen a császar! Élyen a -császar!_” (Hurrah for the Emperor!) Then again that most musical and -thrilling of vocatives, “_Élyen! Élyen! Élyen!_” - -Alexandra took her Count firmly by the arm and pushed him into a chair. -“You don’t look very strong,” she said, “and you will faint if you are -not careful.” Her own knees were trembling as she took the chair beside -him, but she proceeded coolly, “What an infant you are to be taken in -by the cleverest man in Europe--” - -“He is the greatest man living,” stammered Zrinyi. “This is a great -moment in the history of Hungary, mademoiselle. It should be painted -and hung beside Munkacsy’s _Árpád_, or the _Sally of Zrinyi from -Szigetvár_. He is the man for us!--the man for us!” - -“I don’t doubt every mustache in Budapest will stand on end to-morrow. -What a pity you have none.” - -“Mademoiselle!” he cried, outraged at her flippancy; but she was moving -away. - -She had looked once at Ranata during William’s speech. The Archduchess, -as the Hungarians pushed forward, had withdrawn from the Emperor’s side -and stood leaning against the wall, her head bent, her arms rigid. Her -face was expressionless, but, Alexandra commented, her hair had never -looked so red. - -William, as the King, experiencing satiety, led the way to the -reception-rooms, turned his head rapidly in all directions, taking a -final survey of the scene of his latest triumph. His glance roved over -faces angry, approving, terrified, adoring; encountered the amused -stare of the American with haughty indifference, then rested suddenly -on the face of his young hostess. The Archduchess had dropped her -mask. Her head was thrust forward, deliberately waiting for the moment -when William’s eyes must meet hers. When they did they lingered. The -Hapsburg’s eyes blazed with a hatred so implacable, with a defiance so -reckless and contemptuous, that the Almighty’s best-beloved experienced -a shock. It seemed to him, for the first time in his triumphant career, -that he heard the steel of another will clash menacingly with his -own. Sustained in his dizziest flights by his honest belief in his -earthly mission, insolently aware that he had the best brain in the -royal hierarchy, the most splendid energy, a capacity for work never -surpassed, he was fully convinced that he had but to develop his -gifts, use all his vigilance and what patience he could find in him, -to realize his vast ambitions. But for the moment, in the presence of -another human will, and that the will of a woman, he experienced a -chill rising of the imperial flesh. He forgot his majesty, flung his -head high like an irritated stallion, glared back his defiance, and -jerked his eyes away. In a moment he was reminded of his manners. - -“Your arm, your Majesty,” said the cold voice of his hostess; and in -silence, but with an impressive exhibition of royal self-control, -they walked side by side through the first circle-room into the blue -drawing-room. He was mightily uncomfortable, however, for in some -subtle feminine way she made him feel as if she were towering above -him by nearly a foot. It seemed to him that she grew an inch with -every step, that her little crown of black pearls was rising higher -and higher; and when he finally shot an apprehensive glance upward, -almost laughing aloud at his folly, he was relieved to find that her -nose was still on a level with his brow. But she was making the most of -her height, which, with the diadem on her lofty head and the immense -train dragging behind her, would have made a man of her own inches look -insignificant. It is doubtful if William ever breathed deeper relief -than when, a few moments after arriving in the drawing-room, he was -informed that the carriages were waiting to take himself and his suite -to the train, and that he must make his adieux. - -The guests had scattered through the long line of rooms. Many went -out upon the balcony to watch the royal carriages and mounted escort -cross the illuminated bridge, and the roar of cheering thousands seemed -storming the hill. The royal party retired almost immediately, and -Alexandra followed the Archduchess to the sitting-room of her private -apartments. Ranata’s ladies had been dismissed, and she had closed the -dressing-room door on her tire-women. She was standing alone at the -window sobbing convulsively. The room was ringing with _Vivats_ and -_Élyens_, for it was too hot to close the windows. - -Alexandra pushed her into a chair, removed the pins and pearls from the -heavy mane of hair, and sprayed her head and wrists with cologne. In a -few moments the Archduchess had commanded her tears. She threw back her -head and looked down upon shouting Pest with a sullen glare. - -“What wouldn’t I have given to be able to wring his neck!” she said -in a moment. “How dared he! At my father’s table! What insolent -cruelty--he, who need fear no one living--to come here and fling his -dynamite into the weak foundations of this poor old Empire! I wish -to God I were on the thrones of Austria and Hungary. I’d pit myself -against him without a qualm. It would be two of our ancestors over -again and joy in the fight--I believe that in one of his exalted -moments he enrolled Frederick the Great among his ancestors.” - -“Well,” began Alexandra, but Ranata did not hear her. She had risen and -was standing in the middle of the room, her long hair flaming about -her. To the American girl, her quivering slender figure looked ready -for a coat-of-mail, her head for the helmet. “I can’t help admiring -the brute for flinging his designs in our faces,” she exclaimed -furiously. “Did my father understand? The Hungarians?--The Emperor -dies. Franz Ferdinand--_Franz Ferdinand!_--succeeds him. The Empire, -bound together by rotten threads, begins its disintegration with my -father’s corpse. Do you remember the rapacity of Europe, that greedy -horde of vultures, after the death of Charles VI.?--Frederick’s swoop -upon Silesia? William, ‘in the manner of a son,’ only awaits the death -of his ‘Fatherly Friend’ to devour Austria to the gates of Vienna. -And Hungary? Could you not see his bait? Hungary quiescent--Hungary -once more an independent kingdom, or with himself as its nominal and -indulgent ruler!--Oh, for another Pragmatic Sanction!” - -“I have a plan--if you will sit down quietly for a few moments and -listen to me. It is a practical plan, and I know it will appeal to you.” - -The Archduchess resumed her seat. “Well? Tell it to me quickly. I am -panting for a practical idea. But the blood is blazing in my head.” - -“William has made a deep impression on the Hungarians, and no -doubt they understood him plainly enough. But impressions can be -counteracted. He leaves here to-night, and your father will be in no -hurry to invite him again. Do you remain here this winter, instead of -returning to Vienna with the Emperor--announce that you have found no -city so fascinating, that you cannot tear yourself away; entertain -constantly and brilliantly; let loose all your bottled personal -charm--show them that you are the sister of Rudolf; be seen in public; -make a royal pilgrimage through the villages. The Hungarians resent -unceasingly that the Emperor spends but a few weeks of the year in -Budapest--and they look upon Austria as a mere annex of the great -kingdom of Hungary. They will be flattered--your slaves; with your -personality, if you will come down off your high horse, they will end -by adoring you--especially if you give them a royal good time. So much -for the present. When the time comes! When the time comes! When the -Empire shakes and William threatens, all you will have to do will be to -have a King’s Mount ready, fasten the crown of St. Stephen securely on -your head, ride up the mount, and wave your sword to the four corners -of the earth. All Hungary would break into deficient Latin and shout, -‘Long live our Lady and King!’ The dust of Maria Theresia would quiver -at that old war-cry--and she is no more forgotten here than in Austria. -You will be a fool if you throw away the greatest opportunity ever -offered to a woman cursed with royal blood.” - -“It would almost be like meditating an act of usurpation,” muttered -the Archduchess; but her head was thrust forward, her eyes were -glittering. “But the alternative!--who knows? It might be for the -best. It may be my destiny. These Hungarians! There are no people in -the world so easy to arouse by appealing, not to their nerves and -passions, but to their chivalry and highest ideals.” She stood up again -in her excitement. “Do you remember when Maria Theresia, desperate -and almost helpless, with Europe sucking at every vein of the Empire, -the Austrian army an army of corpses--do you remember when she came -here, young, beautiful, pregnant, eloquent, and appealed to Hungary -to save her, how the magnates not only went off their heads and cried -that they would die for her, but inspired more than their own retainers -with their enthusiasm?--until from every mountain, from regions so -remote that William had never heard of them, there poured down tribes -so wild and terrible that Europe fled in dismay. If Austria exists -to-day, she owes it to Hungary--and no Hapsburg since Maria Theresia -has ever acknowledged the debt. And again--when Napoleon bribed and my -great-grandfather appealed, how they spurned the one and poured out -their blood for the other--who was neither picturesque nor grateful. -Throughout their history the Hungarian character has been astonishingly -consistent, their nationalism has been as unwavering, in spite of -conquests and immigrations, as that of your own countrymen. They are -as independent as republicans and as loyal as the British. But it -makes them the easier for tact and diplomacy to manage. If I convinced -them that I really loved them, that I was capable of the right sort of -rule--oh, go now. I will think all night. Come down early, will you?” - - - - -V - - -When Alexandra presented herself at the door leading to the apartments -of the Archduchess at ten o’clock on the following morning, she was -informed by the groom of the chambers that her Imperial Highness -awaited her in the “Hungarian House.” Her arms were full of newspapers -and her eyes sparkled with excitement. She ran down the little -staircase just beyond the door and out upon the first terrace, blinking -in the brilliant sunshine, but pausing to look at the cool gray Danube, -the splendid bridges, the gay city opposite; then wandered about -aimlessly for a few moments, her enjoyment still keen in the freedom of -the Hungarian atmosphere, the unapproachable beauty of Buda, ancient -city of kings. The hill which the palace crowns is so abrupt that its -many terraces have the effect of the hanging gardens of old; and its -pillared galleries of white stone, its wide and narrow flights of -steps leading down the steep hill-side, through parterres of flowers -or thickets of green to the great gates on the Danube, its upright -unshaded lawns and winding ways lost in romantic gloom seduce the -imagination away from the crimes that have been committed within the -fair walls above, the prisoners that have languished in the dungeons -beneath. When the most dazzling of suns floods the tremendous white -front of the palace, with its carved and pillared rotunda, its straight -and stately wings, the one bit of color in the crown of St. Stephen -above; when the statues of kings seem quivering with life and the water -of the fountain flies upward in an eager bursting of its bonds to -leap outward on all sides and rush back as eagerly, in a confused and -glittering mass of foam and spray, then must the most casual sojourner -in the city of Pest, smoking his cigar in the shades of its corso, -comprehend the proud spirit of Hungary. The royal palace of Buda is the -embodiment of that pride, personal and national, the glorified symbol -of a thousand years of steady and upward persistence, while battling -with every misfortune that can assail a devoted nation. - -“No wonder Kossuth lost his head when he was lord here for a few -minutes,” thought Alexandra. “If he hadn’t--if he had sent Görgei on to -Vienna--well, may I be in at the next death!” - -She descended a wide flight of marble steps on the left of the palace, -then another, and approached the little “Hungarian House,” built into -a portion of the ancient wall, almost hidden by trees as old. It was -a gay little tea-house of primitive Hungarian architecture, its inner -walls decorated with panels of native embroidery, the whole effect -light, Oriental, frivolous. - -Two of Ranata’s ladies were reading under a tree nearby. The -Archduchess was alone in the one room of the house. Her eyes were -heavy. It was evident that she had slept little. They flashed, however, -and she suddenly sat erect as she saw the newspapers. - -“Ah!” she exclaimed sharply. “What do they say? I did not care to send -for them, myself.” - -Alexandra threw herself into a chair and rattled the journals -viciously. “I have come to read you a few select extracts. Oh, he hit -the mark--hit it in the bull’s-eye! I am told they are in such a state -of enthusiasm and excitement over there that if he hadn’t left last -night he wouldn’t have been able to get out of Hungary at all. Here’s -the first gun: ‘The majestic words will find an echo in all parts of -Hungary, which will ever remain in the debt of the great Hohenzollern, -who has forever conquered the soul of every Hungarian; ... the love and -gratitude of the Hungarian nation will follow the guest of our King -wherever he goes.’ But that is mere rhetoric. Listen to this: ‘In every -line there is so much heart and so much sympathy with the Hungarian -nation, its glorious past as well as its promising future, that it -seems not the language of politics only, but of a loving friend, on -whose well-meaning we may ever rely! Perhaps it will give cause for -reflection in those parts of the German Empire which have been prone, -without cause, to cast blame upon Hungary, now that they see with how -great a sympathy the German Emperor expresses himself in our behalf.’ -Here is another: ‘As a political assurance it is the grandest which -ever came from the lips of the Emperor William himself.... Many wounds -are healed by those words, which put an end to such calumny.’ There -are two more. Of course there are columns, but I have marked the -significant extracts. ‘The toasts of yesterday will be written in the -annals of the nation with letters of gold, and sustain and rejoice -the soul of future generations. No Hungarian will read the warm and -inspired words of the German Emperor without a joyful and a burning -heart. No strange monarch has ever spoken to our nation with so much -feeling.’ This is the last: ‘Where did the German Emperor find those -colors for his palette? Why, they are our own colors! Where did he find -that tune? It is the pulse of our own hearts! God bless this great -monarch, who knows so well how to appreciate our striving country! We -utter these words of parting to him with a never-dying gratitude!’ -There you are!” - -“I tasted gall with every word, but I am glad they have been printed, -for they will help me to accomplish my object. I need strong -arguments--my request to remain here alone will be a tremendous -innovation. I shall send these to my father at once, that he may have -read them before our interview. They may or may not have been shown to -him. If I personally request it, he is sure to read them, no matter who -is at his elbow. - -“The sole consolation,” she continued after a moment, “is that William -is not a Catholic. I doubt if the Hungarians would ever accept a -Protestant king. Perhaps if Kossuth had been a Catholic he would have -been stronger in his exile.” - -“William may have to turn Catholic yet, or Socialist, to keep his -throne and get all the other things he wants. Surely religion--the -incidental husk of it--cannot mean much to a brain like that.” - -“He would never let the Jesuits rule him,” said the Archduchess -bitterly. “They have been the curse of the Hapsburgs, and their -restoration constitutes Metternich’s chief claim to infamy. But their -power over rulers in this enlightened age is incredible--perhaps, -however, royalty is not so much enslaved by the Church as by its -ancestors. Even I, to whom the Catholic Church is but one of many -inherited forms, long since rejected by pride and reason--even I am -sometimes the victim of that ancient sea of superstition that murmurs -in the soul. I can see my father wash the feet of the poor and feel -nothing but amusement. I can see him march bareheaded in the Corpus -Christi procession, and only fear that he will get a sunstroke--his -face was purple last June. But there are times in the cathedral, on -great occasions of ceremony, when the mysterious colored dimness, the -long sonorousness of priests, the glorified pageant, the divine music, -and the intoxicating incense seem to liberate all the ghosts in my soul -and send them to my head. Then I have a confused sensation of being in -a past century--old doors are opened, old ecstasies, terrors, desires, -creep forth. I long to prostrate myself and grovel, to scourge myself -into a spiritual delirium, to feel the foot of the Church on my neck. -Then creep out the old lusts of cruelty, of tyranny, of torture--what -a mere ghost of power a civilized monarch has to-day! Can you imagine -that there have been moments in my life when I regretted that?--when, -under the spell of Holy Church, I have, for a moment, been a composite -of the worst of my ancestors?” - -“You are always picturesque, and you always make me rejoice that I am -an American and not descended in the royal line. But I am astonished -that you ever permit your reason, your personality, to be submerged in -such a fashion! I should think if there was one woman who could seal -up her ancestors and leave them to moulder where they belong, it was -yourself. You are not morbid, except in erratic, incidental, ancestral -streaks.” - -“I don’t think I am morbid in the usual sense, for I have too good an -appetite and take too much exercise. But I am bound to have deeps and -fissures in my soul, for the centuries have cut them there; and what -_must_ be in them sometimes affects my imagination. And my ancestors -have a curious fascination for me--the idea that they may or may not -have the power to shape the destinies of the living. There have been -moments when I have been disposed to prostrate myself amid the remains -of their mortal part in the crypt and demand their intercession. Did -you know that Maria Theresia used to make her daughters, on the eve -of marriage, go down into the crypt alone at night and pray among the -coffins of their ancestors? There have been times--very rarely--when -that idea has appealed to me with an almost irresistible force.” - -“For Heaven’s sake stay here in Budapest, where you can live in the -sun. You have grown mouldy in the Hofburg this last year, and your -ancestors have had it all their own way. I thought you had got over -that sort of nonsense long ago. This is the result of William and a -sleepless night.” - -The Archduchess laughed. “Perhaps. I am willing to suppose that my -predecessors have troubled me less all these years than they might have -done without the fatal antidote of your American humor. Nevertheless, -I have no right to be faithless to them, and I would not forget them -if I could. And I find them much more satisfactory to contemplate than -most of my living relatives, who, as a rule, have neither morals nor -brains.” - -“I agree with you there. When Death lays his iron hand upon a mortal’s -power to bore, his virtues rise and sit upon the corpse. That is the -secret of the superstition which makes us think kindly of the dead. Do -you mind if I read a letter from Fess? I have been too excited even to -open it.” - -“Pray do.” Ranata smiled with both sympathy and interest. Then she -sighed. “I believe your brother is the only person I envy--I mean -the only person I’d be if some fairy would bid me choose. He has -his destiny in his own hands. He has done such wonderful things! -He is famous and powerful; his future holds the most astounding -possibilities--and he is only thirty-one! Oh, your America! Where will -you stop? And what will you do to poor old Europe?” - -“Now you’re talking! Come down out of your niche, with the worm-eaten -past behind it, and identify yourself with us. Therein lies your only -salvation. William and my brother have some great scheme on foot; I -don’t know what, but I know that much from a few words I happened to -overhear between Fess and my father. William and Fessenden! They could -turn the world upside down if they chose! Well?” - -The Archduchess was leaning forward, her eyes blazing. “An alliance -between William and your brother?” she exclaimed. She composed herself -with a manifest effort, and added: “It is really remarkable--I know -your father and Mrs. Abbott so well, and yet your brother--I have never -seen him--not even his picture. You say those cuts in the newspapers -during your war with Spain--” - -“Were probably a composite of Roosevelt, John Jacob Astor, and Cervera. -Fess, like my father, has never had his picture taken. He hasn’t the -patience, and says he has no desire to display his weak side to the -world--that the weak side of a man is more likely to come out in his -photographs than not. It is hardly remarkable that you have not met -him. First those years in South America, putting blood and iron in -place of wind inside the Monroe Doctrine; since then he has had too -much to do at home to come to Europe, except for two months in summer, -when he brings a canoe and a knapsack. About his only other recreation -has been the Spanish War. But this letter has the Berlin postmark. I -thought he had gone back. Let me see what he has to say.” - -She glanced through the short letter. “He is not going back at present. -He has one of his periodical attacks of disgust for business and -details, and will tramp over here for a month or two longer.” - -“Ask him to come here--to Budapest,” said the Archduchess sweetly. -“It is high time we met. And as he is the most distinguished of young -Americans, I should like him to be one of my court. I intend to have -the illustrious of all sorts about me here, in art, in letters, in -music, and irrespective of noble birth. I intend to show Europe what a -court should be.” - -“You _have_ thought it out! And the Emperor? Are you sure? It is my -turn to have misgivings. He will see many objections. There is no one -so rigid in his traditions.” - -“I shall stay,” said Ranata shortly. “He would never go so far as to -follow some illustrious examples and shut me up. If the worst comes to -the worst, I’ll threaten to go to America and live there.” - -“Good! At last my seeds are showing their little green heads. Now I -know you will succeed in whatever you put your brain to. You may count -on me. I’ll even engage to help you alienate Fessenden’s affections -from William, and he is devoted to him.” - - - - -VI - - -The private apartments of the King, at the southwestern extremity of -the palace, correspond with the suite on the southeastern corner, which -had been furnished for his wife, and was now occupied by Ranata. He -had sent his daughter word that he would receive her alone at four -o’clock, and when she was announced he was standing on the balcony, -looking down into the distant street behind the palace. There were -excited groups of people in the street, and he guessed of what they -talked. From the many old houses, fine and simple, on the still loftier -hill which faced him, and from neighboring slopes above and about, -from the villas on the precipitous heights of the Schwabenberg, the -flags still floated, and it seemed to him that the German outnumbered -the Austrian in the ratio of three to one. As he turned to greet his -daughter, she saw that his face was more harassed than usual, but he -advanced with the grace and courtesy which, even in his old age, were -unsurpassed in Europe. The years which had robbed his heavy Hapsburg -features of what beauty youth may have lent them had spared his light -erect figure, his exquisite hands and feet. His genial eyes kindled at -sight of Ranata, but he kissed her lightly and handed her to a chair. -Had she been born twenty years earlier she might have been his idol, -and as it was he admired no woman more and was proud of her. But not -only had misfortunes, humiliations, reverses of every sort, and the -cruellest personal afflictions that in number and degree have ever -assailed a monarch atrophied his heart, but he feared to find even the -eidola of happiness in this gifted creature, lest the knife be driven -into the responsive breast and his own earthly expiation of the sins of -all his ancestors be the more complete. His ancient habit of temperate -affection for his older and married daughters excited no misgivings. -But if Ranata had never been permitted to know him intimately enough to -love him, she sympathized with and admired him. If enthusiasm, hope, -passion, were dead within him, he was equally without bitterness, -without resentment, without jealousy, and in theory, at least, without -indifference to the least of his subjects. Even the cruel insult of -the day before had not stirred him to anger. He had lost and lost -and lost from the day he had ascended the throne, and the driving of -Austria from the Germanic Confederation, and substitution in supremacy -of Prussia, must forever be associated with his name. In William’s -brief career Germany had been reorganized, strengthened, incredibly -promoted in industrial importance. William received an occasional snub -and reminder that he was two-thirds mortal, but to associate the idea -of failure with him was as unthinkable as to imagine him in the robes -of a monk praying for humility. Personally the Emperor and King could -afford to pass his pyrotechnics by with a smile, but there was more -to consider than his own sensations, and he was meditating an early -retreat that he might consult with his Austrian ministers. - -The room, with its olive walls and its lowered awnings, was cool and -dim, but Ranata deliberately rose and placed her chair where the light -would fall fullest upon her. Then she turned her powerful gray eyes -on the Emperor, and he moved slightly; like the rest of the world, he -usually saw his daughter’s eyes through their lashes, and it was now -at rare intervals that he was reminded of the problem of his youngest -born. He suddenly remembered that when he was, the laurels fell from -his brow, and involuntarily he braced himself. - -“I need not ask you, sir,” began Ranata, “if you recognized the -calculation under William’s impetuosity last night. There is no doubt -that he made the deepest possible impression on the Hungarians, that, -if present conditions continue, no other subject will be discussed -for months to come in this dissatisfied country, even to its remotest -villages. At first I was merely humiliated, enraged, terrified. But I -have thought all night, sir, and I have reached the conclusion that I -have it in my power not only to obliterate the impression he has made, -but to create one deeper and more persistent. His, he may not have -the opportunity of renewing--you certainly are under no obligation to -ask him here again. This is my plan: let me live here and keep the -Hungarians, from magnates to peasants, constantly reminded of the -great love they bear you. If I can make them love me, so much stronger -will the bond be between this restive country and Austria.” She leaned -forward and spoke as solemnly as if taking an oath of allegiance. “I -know that if I am given my way I can preserve this state to the Empire, -avert the calamity which all Europe expects to follow your death. I -am willing to pledge every hour of my life to this great mission. I -believe that every human being is put on earth to be of use in some -form or other. Assuredly usefulness--to the uttermost moment--is -demanded of us. So far I have accomplished no destiny whatever, and I -do not for a moment believe that I had so many of the characteristics -of my house concentrated in me for no purpose--although in endeavoring -to find reconciliation to my lot I have sometimes argued myself -into a belief of the blind law of cause and effect. But I do not -believe in it. I am here for a purpose, and the time has come for the -accomplishment of that purpose. _I will not marry._ I am quite well -aware that it is your intention to arrange an alliance for me before my -thirtieth birthday; but there is no mortal power, sir, that can force -me to the altar. I make no threats. I have no intention of resorting to -any desperate measures. I am strong enough in myself. I simply will not -marry. But I now represent a sinful waste of high usefulness. Moreover, -the emptiness and monotony of my life have become quite unbearable. I -ask that I may be permitted to exert, for the good of my country, the -best of those qualities which have come to me from yourself and my -ancestors.” - -The Emperor stared at her for a moment without speaking. He was as -astonished as it was in his power to be at anything. Then he gave her -the answer she expected. - -“It is a subject for deep thought on my part, my dear child. A week -from to-day I will give you my decision. Meanwhile there is no reason -why you should not remain here if you desire it.” Then, as Ranata -merely continued to transfix him with her determined eyes, he continued -hastily: “It is a great and generous idea, and I am much gratified to -learn that you take so deep an interest in your house. I had thought -you absorbed in books and horses. But are you sure you would not pine -in this strange country? Remember, you would be obliged to send all -your Austrian ladies home, and surround yourself with Hungarians. -I, as you know, hardly dare to bring an aide among these people, so -fierce in their national pride. The women are as proud as the men, and -very independent, quite unused now to leadership of any sort. Every -Hungarian woman in the higher aristocratic circles is a sort of queen, -is a social law unto herself. You are accustomed to the courtier, to -the flexible--” - -“I am sick of it! And as tact is one of the prerogatives of royalty, -I hope you will give me credit for my share. As for being lonesome, -nothing on this earth can ever approach the suicidal ennui I have -experienced in the Hofburg. As for Schönbrunn, I loathe the sight of -it. This change is necessary, sir. Moreover, Alexandra will be with me. -And if there were drawbacks--do you think your daughter is the person -to consider trifles when a great object is to be gained?” - -The Emperor’s eyes happened to rest on her hair. It flamed against -his green walls. “Red-haired women are dangerous,” he thought. “It is -well to keep them occupied. Why on earth doesn’t she marry?” Aloud he -repeated, “A week from to-day, Ranata, you shall have my answer.” - -Ranata, having spent her first round, was content to retire. She knew -that a definite answer was not to be thought of until the Emperor had -asked the advice of his ministers. “But the idea made an impression on -him, no doubt of that,” she informed Alexandra, whom she met in the -garden. “And so did I. If I didn’t tell him I would stay here whether -or no, I don’t think he has any doubt of my intention. If he won’t give -his consent, I’ll spend all my money and all yours; and his refusal -of the necessary allowance is the worst he would do, for he wants no -more scandals. To remove me by force--and I’d leave Hungary in no other -fashion--would be to make the world believe I was mad, and he has had -enough of that. Besides, poor man, I made him think I should go mad if -I didn’t have my head for a while.” - -“We are a wicked unprincipled sex when we want our own way,” commented -Miss Abbott. “But to get it--that is the main thing; especially when -there is a good and great end in view.” - - - - -VII - - -On the following Thursday Ranata was not surprised to receive a note -from her father asking her to grant an audience to his minister Count -von Königsegg, who went to Budapest for the purpose. - -“Now for it!” exclaimed Alexandra. “Of course he’s brought a corkscrew. -Are your brain-cells hermetically sealed?” - -“His corkscrew will do him no good. Nevertheless, I feel a certain -apprehension--feminine, I suppose. He is the one person who has done -me the honor to believe that I might play with politics in a manner -to disconcert his clever manipulation of my father, and I have shown -my dislike of him by ignoring his existence, as far as possible. He -detests me; nevertheless, if I am able to convince him that I have -no purpose behind the one I have advanced, I believe he will make no -opposition to my plan: he has no desire to see William in the Hofburg -and himself in obscurity. He will not have the least objection to using -me--he is the sort to feel quite sure that a woman can be disposed of -the moment a man sees fit. But if he thought that I had any ulterior -design--” - -“Try American diplomacy on him if you get in too deep--speak out -bluntly and agitate his guile. Let him squirm himself into a corner, -and then tell him to speak out or get out.” - -“I sometimes feel half an American,” said the Archduchess Ranata -Theresia. - -Down the long front of the southeast wing of the palace is a suite of -some ten or twelve rooms, large and small, beginning with the private -dining-room and finishing with the red reception-room. The yellow -Throne Room, or Great Hall of Ceremonies, runs parallel, occupying -the width of the circle-room and audience-chamber, which flank it at -one end, and of the circle-room and blue drawing-room of its southern -termination. From this last circle-room opens another, which in turn -leads to the private apartments occupied by the Queen of Hungary -when there is one. The windows of these apartments, closed during -the clouded last years of Elizabeth’s life and since her death, were -now open to the sun; the hangings were losing their musty odor, and -the numerous belongings of Ranata had already obliterated the little -individualities of the Empress. Ranata, whose strong soul had little in -common with the unhappy woman who had permitted life to crush her, had -tender pity for her mother’s memory, but no great amount of sentiment. -Not only were the rooms dingy and oppressive, but her own individuality -was too strong to exist comfortably in surroundings stamped throughout -many years by that of another; she had made up her mind that the day -after her father’s decision, whatever it might be, she should refurnish -the four rooms of her suite; and when the Emperor’s letter arrived they -were full of stuffs, sent up from Pest for the approval of her Imperial -Highness. Some pieces of curious brocade were pinned into the panels, -and the dusty old rugs had vanished. The girls, ordered to remain in -strict seclusion during this week of deliberation, had entertained -themselves in their own fashion. - -“I cannot receive him here,” said the Archduchess, when she received -the humble petition of the great minister for an audience. “Besides, -I don’t want to. If I could help it no one should set foot in my -personal surroundings--atmosphere--who was even uncongenial to me.” - -“It is a family failing,” said Alexandra dryly. “But I always admired -Ludvig for putting his head out of the window when he had to have -his tooth pulled rather than have the royal atmosphere polluted -by a dentist. It may have been uncomfortable for both, but it was -magnificently consistent.” - -“I am not Ludvig, and I have no intention of making a fool of myself,” -replied the Archduchess, also with some dryness. “I’ll receive him in -the tea-room; I like the blue walls. Shall I wear black or white? I -look more imposing in black.” - -“Oh, look your guileless best--white, by all means.” - -Therefore, Ranata caused herself to be arrayed in a bewildering gown of -a pellicular Eastern stuff, much embroidered, and billowing about her -feet in the fashion of the moment. She wore her heavy hair in a gold -net, and a string of pearls about her throat, exposed to the base. She -looked girlish, if not ingenuous, and very lovely. - -The Archduchess Maria Leopoldina, Obersthofmeisterin, or Grand -Stewardess, of Ranata’s Household, together with one of the -ladies-in-waiting, the Lectrice, and Alexandra, disposed themselves -just beyond the door of the tea-room as the carriage which had been -sent for the minister appeared on the bridge below the palace. - -“It is fearfully hot, and he’s probably cross,” said Alexandra from -the balcony. “Better begin with iced coffee and predispose him to -amiability of a sort.” - -And thus it came about that the subtle and wary minister tarried for a -few moments beneath the youthful presentment of his sovereign in the -brave uniform of the Hungarian Hussars, while four women smiled upon -him and flattered him with many little attentions. Then he went in to -his fate. - -Ranata had carefully arranged her features before the mirror, and had -succeeded in banishing the expression of haughty dislike evoked by the -mere mention of her enemy. When he entered her presence her eyes were -half closed as usual, but their visible surface was soft. She dared -not receive him with cordiality, but a frank admission of an enemy’s -stewardship of the plums she desired involved a certain amount of -graciousness. - -“This is very kind, your Excellency,” she said gently, giving him her -hand to kiss. “Had you permitted any one else to bring me the Emperor’s -decision, I should still have been tortured by many doubts; but now I -shall know my fate at once.” She leaned forward slightly and deepened -her emphasis, her lashes lifting a little. “Of course I shall abide by -what you and my father think best; but remember it is little less than -life or death to me. No one knows better than you the dreary monotony -of the lives of royal women. You know how my mother stood it! You who -know men, and must know women so well, must have suspected that had it -not been for the constant scandals which seem to be the peculiar curse -of my house, I might have taken my life in my own hands before this; -but the very years of suppression I have endured, ordered by a sense of -duty to the dynasty, has strengthened and deepened that feeling until -it rules my life. Now, for the first time, I have had an inspiration, -which, if permitted me to act upon, will fill my days with no dishonor -to my house. Of the good I may accomplish by remaining here I will not -insult your understanding by dwelling upon. But, although we never seem -to have been friends, I am so well aware that I am now in your power -that I have given you this glimpse of my inner self--so be merciful,” -she added, as if with an attempt at playfulness, while a smile rippled -through her eyelashes. - -For a moment the minister did not reply. He was not a man easy to -nonplus, but he had come to test his strength with the haughtiest -woman in the Empire, and he found himself staring at the loveliness -of a softly impassioned girl. He had come to flatter, and his very -spine thrilled at subtle compliments delivered in a voice whose cold -music had become as sweet as a harp some one was playing in a distant -chamber. He had come to sound with the elastic skill of time-honored -methods, and his scornful Archduchess had thrown wide a window of her -soul and left him blinking. He had entered with the smile and the -supple backbone of the courtier, but quite aware that he might retire -with his tail between his legs, and a fully matured enmity in his -fertile brain. He was by no means sure of her even now, and he studied -her face--she had lowered her eyes that he might; but there is no -influence so potent, no wine so heady, as the flattery of royalty to -courtier. And the--perhaps unconscious?--flattery of this woman of all -women, of whose coldness those nearest to her complained, seemed to -rise like a rosy mist to his brain. He swept it back, however; there -was too much at stake. Although he did not hate her as much as she -imagined, for he was philosophical where women were concerned, he had -recognized in her a powerful individuality, a violent will, which, if -given its head, might deprive himself of the sweets of existence. - -“I am deeply flattered and grateful, your Imperial Highness,” he said -finally. “Truly, like his Majesty, I had believed you to be absorbed in -the purely intellectual life--” - -“Oh, I was! I was!” exclaimed the Archduchess, with sad ardor. “But -pardon me.” - -“His Majesty is deeply moved by an idea as great in conception as it -is indicative of an ardent loyalty to the dynasty. He was overwhelmed -when you advanced it, and could give you no answer at the time. But -he has thought of little else since, and has deigned to consult his -ministers on the subject. As it was manifestly impossible for his -Majesty to return to Hungary within so short a space of time, he did -me the honor to appoint me his messenger. Even my visit will probably -attract more attention than is desirable, but fortunately Count Zichy -had invited me for the shooting, and I have taken pains to speak freely -of the ostensible object of my visit to Hungary. Of course, it is my -duty to kiss your hand in passing.” He paused and looked at her with -a frankness which rivalled her own. “Your Imperial Highness,” he said -impressively, “personally, I am deeply in favor of your remaining -here. I believe you can accomplish all you so nobly and intelligently -have conceived; and the time will come when we shall have need of the -strength and loyalty of Hungary! More than three hundred thousand of -the army are drawn from this state, and there are no better fighters -in Europe. It is quite true that the seat of government should be in -this division of the Empire, which is little less in area than all the -other divisions put together. The Hungarians are a more progressive, -enterprising, more _modern_ race than the Austrian in certain respects; -on the other hand, they still have much savagery in their blood; -they have been so shut out from personal competition with the higher -civilizations of Europe that they have too rich a soil for the seeds of -degeneration. Their very lack of morality has always been robust, and -to-day the Hungarians believe the city of Budapest to be as superior -to Vienna in morals as it is in industrial activity. While Austria -is retrogressing, disintegrating, Hungary is progressing, has all -her old virility, ambition, unconquerable patriotism. Moreover, when -Ferdinand was elected King of Hungary, he promised to live here, and -the Hungarians have never forgotten that promise, never ceased to -resent the neglect of their capital. His Majesty’s brief compulsory -annual sojourn that he may keep the letter of the Constitution which -commands that the King shall spend a portion of every year in Hungary, -merely exasperates them--trade as well as society. Therefore your -suggestion to remain here, promptly upon the extravagant hopes raised -in their imaginations by the juggling of the German Emperor, and to -use your great gifts constantly to remind them of their loyalty to the -dynasty, has struck me as one of the shrewdest instances of statecraft -which has ever come within my experience. Perhaps”--as the Archduchess -blushed and gave a delighted little exclamation--“perhaps I should say -that _was_ the manner in which his Majesty’s communication impressed -me. It was such an idea as might have come to Maria Theresia, wise in -statecraft from her youth--but--it is true--you have never condescended -to politics--apparently had not given them a thought--” - -“I have certain inherited instincts. And is not the capacity to rise -to an emergency also a part of my inheritance? It is true that I have -taken little interest in politics. My books, my music, my out-door -life, my brilliant American friend sufficed me. Being uninvited, -I could not meddle in affairs of state without bringing one more -calamity upon this unfortunate house; and this dynasty, I do assure -you solemnly, has all the loyalty and the fealty of my soul. With this -sudden idea of mine politics have nothing whatever to do. I know the -current history of Europe and I know William, God forbid that I should -be expected to talk politics with these Hungarians. It would be to -turn the palace into bedlam, and I am accustomed to the repose of -stellar voids. My only idea is to make them love me, to win to myself -what they gave to Rudolf, to _increase_--I am more frank with you than -with my father, and choose the word advisedly--the popularity of the -dynasty. I shall entertain magnificently and constantly, give them -such a winter as they have always claimed to be their right and never -have had. I shall travel and make the peasantry merry. I shall give up -my studies and throw myself into this programme heart and soul. But -it is a purely feminine programme. If there is anything else I can -accomplish, I know that your Excellency will instruct me.” - -And here she proved the possession of really great talents. Pleading a -necessary word with her Obersthofmeisterin, she left him alone for a -few moments. - -He drew a sharp but silent breath. He had never seen a woman look more -like an angel, and he knew no woman in whom he was so convinced the -devil made extended sojourns. He understood for the first time why -she had disciplined her spirit to rise triumphant above that breadth -of jaw, the grand sweeping lines of her body, above her diabolical -hair; for he was too astute to question her integrity on this point. -In a flash he understood why she would not marry. But ambition?--and -a permanent and ever-widening outlet for that tumultuous spirit, that -repressed and violent nature? Was she sincere for the moment? Had -he been sure of even that he would not have hesitated to give his -cordial endorsement to her plan. But he had persuaded the Emperor that -unless they could be positive she meditated no act of usurpation upon -the succession of her unpopular cousin, she must not be permitted a -liberty with which she might even before that event plunge all Europe -into war. The Emperor, who asked no more of life but peace, had told -him to go to Budapest, investigate the mind of his problematical -daughter, and then act in accordance with what his Majesty believed -to be an unfailing judgment. What a tool she might be, his Excellency -had thought. She looked like anything but a tool. It suddenly rushed -upon his brain that he had never seen a woman who looked so surely -born to sit upon a throne. _Why not? Why not?_ And if he were her good -friend now, if he, whom she knew to be the arbiter of her destiny, if -he were the one to place the sceptre within her reach--who so fitted -to serve her hereafter? to rise higher and higher in power?--for this -woman would take no puppet consort. Might not Europe welcome such a -solution of an agitating problem? Not William, perhaps, nor Russia; -but by that time William and Russia might be too occupied with each -other to scramble for plums in the Austrian pie. And a young and -beautiful empress, with an intelligence capable of assimilating all -the statecraft her ministers chose to impart, always of imposing -dignity, irreproachable, her heart and soul given to her state and -people, her beauty the constant inspiration of the artist, would she -not be worshipped by her subjects, and appeal to the interest and -chivalry of Europe? If she had the tact to appear nobly indifferent to -any such result during the lifetime of her father; if the Hungarians, -immediately upon the death of their king, arose as one man and -proclaimed her queen, she would tower above reproach or criticism, the -most picturesque personality in the world, far more certain of holding -the Dual Monarchy together than Maria Theresia with the aid of the -Pragmatic Sanction; for to-day the majority of nations wanted peace -and the preservation of the Austrian Empire. Franz Ferdinand might -attempt a struggle for his rights, but it was more likely that the army -of Austria would march to this woman than against her. It well might -be that she alone could rouse England as well as Europe to defeat the -designs of William. With Franz Ferdinand on the throne, war, internal -and external, Königsegg believed to be as inevitable as the messenger -of death in the palace of kings. - -He had experienced a shock from crown to heel. The Archduchess -re-entered the room and graciously asked him again to take the chair -opposite hers. He commanded his eyes, but permitted his voice to -tremble as he made his first cautious move. - -“Your Imperial Highness--it is my bitter regret that I have never been -permitted to know you before--would to God that you were a man--what a -solution of all our difficulties!” - -“But I am not a man,” replied the Archduchess indifferently. - -“It has flashed upon me--humiliating thought to my sex!--that the -greatest of the Hapsburgs was a woman.” - -Ranata knew as well as he did that the greatest of the Hapsburgs was -Rudolf the First, but this was not the moment to establish the claims -of the dead, and she demanded, “Has it taken you all these years to -make that discovery, or have you been too busy making history?” Her -first words were delivered in the tones of one moved to cold analysis; -her last were accompanied by an enchanting smile. She had drawn her -eyelashes together, lest a flash escape; she was quite aware of what -was passing in his agitated brain, and her own heart beat high. - -The minister drew another long breath. He dared not express himself -more plainly. He was absolutely in the dark as to whether she -understood him or not. A false move and he might be the laughing-stock -of the Empire. Failure to comprehend this imperial sphinx and his -future might be passed in heaven or upon his estates for all the world -would know or care. Muttering an obsequious request, he rose abruptly -and walked down the long suite of rooms. As his back turned Ranata’s -statuesque face twitched with an almost ribald mirth and her eyebrows -peaked in a manner which made her look truly diabolical; but when the -minister returned she looked pleading and girlish, a trifle nervous. - -He stood in front of her. “Your Imperial Highness,” he said, solemnly, -“I came here in much doubt, for you have never permitted me the honor -of knowing you. But this brief interview--the most enlightening of my -life--has convinced me of the wisdom of your plan, and of your ability -to carry it out in every detail. I believe that you alone can hold -Hungary to the throne when the hour comes which we dread so deeply, for -there is no question that you can reduce this gallant passionate race -to a state of willing slavery. Your brain will become more and more -fertile with expedients; but I should be deeply honored if you would -maintain a regular correspondence with me, for this is an experiment -with unimaginable consequences, and I shall give it my unflagging -attention. There is much I may be able to suggest to you if you will -deign to permit me.” - -Ranata had too much tact to rise impulsively, for she towered above -the minister by not a few inches, but she held out her hand and shook -his warmly, and her face was radiant. “I am so glad! I am so glad!” -she cried softly. “And you do not hate me! I have been so desperately -bored and hopeless that it has given me a certain pleasure to make -enemies--if only for the sake of sensation; and as you were the -most powerful man in the Empire, it amused me to defy you. In your -magnanimity you have forgiven me! If you knew how grateful I am, how I -thank you!” - -His Excellency trembled, but he kept his head; how, he never knew. -“Your Imperial Highness,” he said, “I, too, am a patriot. I am acting -in this instance, as in all others, in the service of the Empire. If, -in addition, I am to be permitted to act in the service of a woman--of -such a woman--madam, will you permit me to retire?” - - - - -VIII - - -“We parted with mutual distrust, a mutual increase of respect, even -of tolerance, and a common determination to make use of each other,” -said the Archduchess to Alexandra, as she finished the account of her -interview with the minister. They were alone in her salon. “I reserved -my Americanism for a future occasion, and played the old European game -of the cat and the mouse. He is not in the least sure which is the cat -and which the mouse. Neither am I, for that matter; but I have the -advantage of knowing him better than he knows me. However, here I am -for the present.” - -Alexandra drew a long and almost voluptuous sigh of content. “No -more awful evenings in the Hofburg!--whist with his Majesty, or, -worse still, with M. L.; a little music; tittle-tattle about the same -threadbare old royalties, the last novel--French and wicked--the play, -the last baby--there are always several; yawns, decorum _ad nauseam_; -mad desire to lie down on the floor and kick up your heels. Oh, just -and beneficent Heaven that sent William to Hungary with a wasp at his -heel!” - -“Let us forget William--and Austria. Where are the cigarettes?” - -The girls smoked in silence for a time, the Archduchess staring hard -before her, after her habit, as if she were poring over the cryptogram -of the future. When the short Russian cigarette had burned to its -mouth-piece she returned to the present. - -“I suppose it will be wise to pay my new friend the compliment -of asking his advice about my Hungarian household--about the -Obersthofmeisterin, at all events. I will write him an autograph -letter to-night. What tact I shall develop with a few weeks’ practice! -I wonder who the new duenna will be? But no one even he approved of -could be worse than Maria Leopoldina, and, after twelve years in the -arena with her, I flatter myself I am more than a match for the most -masterful he could select.” - -The Archduchess Maria Leopoldina, a member of a younger branch of the -House of Hapsburg, who had succeeded the scrupulous but too obsequious -English governess, had been selected, after much anxious thought on the -part of the Emperor, consultation with his ministers, and with his old -friend the Princess Sarolta of Windischgrätz, as especially fit for her -delicate post. The Empress’s prolonged absences from court, as well -as the inevitable suspicions engendered by her increasing repugnance -for contact with common mortals, made it doubly imperative to give -the headstrong young Archduchess a duenna who would, by precept and -example, educate her conspicuous charge in the great responsibilities -of her position and curb any bent to eccentricity. Maria Leopoldina, -a conscientious woman of masterful temperament but considerable tact, -had done her work well, and took to herself the credit of much that had -been evolved by the thoughtful mind of Ranata herself. Nevertheless, -there is no doubt that her early lectures, delivered to an impatient -but imaginative young princess, had sown seeds which might have floated -longer with a more pliable guardian. For several years she insisted -upon the observation of the very letter of her great authority; no -friend could Ranata make without her approval, no acquaintance talk -with for five minutes alone. The Archduchess had never appeared in -the streets of Vienna without her, but in the country, particularly -on Ranata’s personal estate on the wildest part of the Danube in -Upper Austria, where they were as secluded as soldiers in a border -fortress, she wisely allowed her charge a good deal of liberty; and as -the years went on she relaxed by imperceptible degrees the rigor of -her sovereignty; she left the girl more and more to herself, merely -asserting her authority at discreet intervals, that the rebellious -nature confided to her should not experience the temptations of freedom. - -She knew that if she had failed to win her august kinswoman’s heart she -had her respect and gratitude; for not only had she early suggested -to Ranata the benefit she could confer upon her house by playing the -rôle of the lofty and immaculate princess, devoid of common weakness, -inaccessible to common temptations, but she had inculcated the great -art of self-command, and in the depths of this profoundly accepted -lesson Ranata had discovered the strength to endure her life, accept -her colorless future, and dominate her nature by her intellect. - -Between Maria Leopoldina and Alexandra there was no love lost, -but there was a golden and bejewelled truce. Alexandra, even at -sixteen--at which age both girls attended court functions, although -tutors and governesses were in attendance for two years longer, under -the general supervision of the Obersthofmeisterin--was too wise in -the ways of royalty openly to defy this valuable woman, who rejoiced -in the absolute approval of the Emperor and his ministers; and the -Obersthofmeisterin, who often longed to shake her and pack her off to -America, dared not, in this one particular, brave the wrath of her -princess. During the first two years of her reign, however, they were -more than once perilously close to open war, and a fatal rupture might -have been precipitated by the more impulsive Alexandra had not Mrs. -Abbott arrived in Vienna for her step-daughter’s eighteenth birthday, -and during a moment of extreme tension. Grasping the situation and -its dangers, Mrs. Abbott admonished Alexandra severely, and made her -present the duenna with a magnificent set of diamond stars--given out -of the fulness of her heart on this the most sentimental of birthdays. -The present was peculiarly welcome to Maria Leopoldina, who, herself -the youngest of her family, having married in her uncalculating youth -a junior member of an impoverished house, was sadly deficient in that -jewelled panoply which diverts the eye from the shabby gowns of so -many of Austria’s noble dames. Moreover, this concrete illustration of -the vast wealth of the American girl inspired respect, if not awe, and -these sentiments were nourished at decent intervals by other offerings -of increasing magnificence. As time went on, Alexandra, too, imbibed -the great lesson of self-restraint, and developed a high impersonal -way of looking out upon life; she ceased to irritate the Hapsburg, and -admitted her own debt as well as that of her friend. Nevertheless, she -had no love for Maria Leopoldina, and was alive to all her foibles. To -Ranata’s remark she replied, assuming a severe and elderly demeanor, -elevating her head until the roundness left her throat, from which her -voice issued with a scraping sound: - -“Will your Imperial Highness kindly remember to-night that the Princess -Cockolorum is only entitled to one minute of your august notice, as it -is necessary to remind her that her manner in public with Lieutenant -von Poodle is unbecoming in a member of the Austrian court, which has -dignity if not morals? And will your Imperial Highness exert yourself -to remember that the wife of the American ambassador, although no doubt -charming, is still an American? It is not necessary to inquire after -her entire family. And--my dear child, your hair looks like a rat’s -nest! I shall dismiss that coiffeur to-morrow!” - -Ranata laughed. “She should be glad of a holiday, poor soul. I had -rather be a poor prisoner of a princess than a slave of a duenna -like an Obersthofmeisterin--I have an idea! Why not Sarolta? She is -Hungarian. She is in every way suitable. She would be _persona grata_ -here, is loved and trusted by my father, and while standing to the -world as an impregnable outpost, would really give me a free hand, and -with all her cynical soul enjoy the experiment. I shall write to her -at once to manage it--as only she can. That would be the last thing -necessary to make me feel as if I had been born again. Now, Alexis, -let us give our attention to these rooms. I think I shall have cloth -of gold in these panels, and curtains of these Turkish embroideries. -My writing-room must be blue. Shall I have my bedroom in cloth of -silver and white?--and my dressing-room in these old-rose brocades? -And all the furniture must be new--nothing ancestral here! There is an -intoxicating freedom in the air of Hungary--ah! I really do feel as if -I had been born again.” - - - - -IX - - -The Princess Sarolta was obscuring the moon with the smoke-clouds of -her big black cigar. It was nine o’clock--dinner in the Királyi Palota -was now served at half-past seven--and the court could smoke behind -the pillars and the vines of the long stone terrace beneath the west -windows of the private apartments of the King without consideration -of possible field-glasses on the heights above. The Princess, who -normally resembled a mummy, looked more like a witch in her encircling -fumes, and her eyes glittered and blinked behind the red disk of her -cigar. They were black eyes, and their fires in youth, and indeed long -after Nature had given her more than one admonishing nip and claw, had -recklessly leaped to so many other combustible hearts that even now the -court gossips disentangled the pulsing tales of her past from others -more commonplace. But with wrinkles and man’s manifest preference -for her conversation had come not only reform but the evolution of a -severe and uncompromising code of morals. She astonished Vienna for a -number of years by the vehemence of her criticisms and her treatment of -certain noble dames whose fires were still unquenched, or who found in -intrigue that taste of liberty which knocks alluringly upon even the -doors of Austria. With the mellowness of approaching age the enthusiasm -of the Princess had tempered somewhat, and it was observed that she -grinned behind her big cigar when an after-dinner scandal exhaled a -faint perfume of novelty; but by this time her fame as a she-dragon was -securely established. Her tactics, combined with a fortune inherited -coincidently with her reform, from a relative who had married a wealthy -and, as it proved, childless Jewess of Budapest, gave her a unique -and impregnable position which made her the most natural guardian in -Austria for a young princess who had left her father’s roof to hold -court in his most conspicuous possession. The Emperor, who was a -little afraid of Sarolta, but who asked her advice on all momentous -domestic questions, bundled her off to Budapest with a deep sigh of -relief. Her reputation as a dragoness relieved him of much of the -anxiety with which he had entered upon this radical experiment, and he -had not chanced to take note of her mellowing. But Ranata had, and, -believing herself exempt from the weakness to which the Princess still -showed her teeth, knew that she would have the real authority, while -the Obersthofmeisterin sat scowling in the foreground, her wrinkles -impassive above the chuckling within. As for Count von Königsegg, -Sarolta had begun his education while unwrinkled, and not only had -done him many good turns since, but had taught him to believe that -there was one greater diplomatist in Austria than the Princess Sarolta -Windischgrätz, and that was himself. Therefore when, after a hasty -and pleading note from Ranata, and a long and humorous petition from -Alexandra, she gave the minister to understand that it was his wish she -assume charge of his interests in Hungary, it was but a matter of hours -before her women were packing her boxes. She had come to Buda in full -possession of his confidence. - -The situation amused her intensely, but while she was too wise ever -to betray a confidence or to share her amusement of a man with his -enemy, yet she did not scruple to use any secret she might possess -when engaged in the manipulation of human destinies. She cared as -little for Königsegg as for the Emperor, sentimental memories being no -longer insistent. But Nature had denied her children, and she had a -considerable hoard of affection in her erratic but wholly human depths. -Now that Rudolf was dead, she cared more for Ranata and Alexandra than -for any one in the world, and was determined, to use the phrase of her -American protégée, that they should have the “time of their lives.” - -To-night she grinned amiably at them from the depths of a -rocking-chair, long since presented to her by Alexandra, which -accompanied her wherever she went. The party was a small one: -the Obersthofmeisterin and her charges, two young Hungarian -ladies-in-waiting of her selection, the Countess Vilma Festetics -and the Countess Piroska Zápolya, and two invited guests, Prince -Béla Illehazy, a magnate, who, in simple evening dress, looked a -middle-aged and somewhat humorous man of the world, and Count Zrinyi, -whose national fire and still youthful ardors--he was thirty-five -in years--had given him over to love of an American on the night of -a great and memorable dinner. It had been decided that the Grand -Chamberlain and other court officials were only to serve at great -functions, and that those who were in waiting upon the Emperor during -his annual sojourn were to give their services to the Archduchess when -she demanded them. - -Zrinyi was leaning against one of the pillars, his black eyes flaming -down upon Alexandra, who smiled upon him indulgently; she thought him -a nice boy who might be useful in the cotillion and in general advice -of a lighter nature. They were all discussing the momentous question of -the first entertainment to be given by the new court. - -The dictum of the Princess Sarolta, that it must be a great ball, to -which men and women should come in the ancient dress of Hungary, had -been received with approval by all but Prince Illehazy, who scowled at -his girth. - -“I thought I should burst the other night,” he admitted. “And I must -say that my native costume always makes me feel more or less a fool. I -suppose I have lived too much elsewhere.” - -“You are no patriot,” said his old friend, whose eye, as it followed -his, twinkled with some malice. “I insist that you give up Vienna and -Paris this winter and remain here as my private cabinet.” - -“You may need help,” he murmured, and he looked at Ranata. - -“And we? Are we to wear Hungarian costumes, too?” asked Alexandra. - -“By all means,” answered Ranata for the Princess. “I have already -designed mine; the skirts and apron will be of white lace, and the -bodice of black velvet.” - -“That will be your second stroke of diplomacy,” murmured Alexandra. -“But it seems to me that I should be a screaming absurdity in an -ancient Hungarian costume.” - -“Not if--not if--” muttered Zrinyi. - -“Why not make it a fancy-dress ball, everybody to be a personage of -the court of Matthias Corvinus, during whose reign Hungary reached the -height of its splendor and power and prosperity?” asked the Countess -Piroska Zápolya. She looked full at the Archduchess with innocent blue -eyes which were too widely opened for frankness. She was excessively -pretty, and her mouth pouted like a spoiled child’s. She was a -descendant of that Stephen Zápolya, vayvode of Transylvania, who, in -1526, after the terrible battle of Mohács, when Hungary was threatened -with annihilation by the Turks, and her king lost his life, was elected -to rule over the distracted country by the faction which believed in a -native dynasty and peaceful relations with the enemy. Another powerful -faction elected Ferdinand of Austria, and in spite of the occupations -of the Turks, which gave the Hapsburg as little authority as his rival, -his dynasty kept its grasp upon the shadow until it became substance; -while the son of the trooper who had been raised to a position of -such power and magnificence by Matthias that his ambition knew no -bounds, was unable to extend his rule beyond Transylvania, and his -dynasty ended in his son. His descendants, powerful magnates as they -were, had two enduring grievances: their inferior descent as compared -with that of the magnates whose line ran back unbroken to Árpád and -haunted the mists beyond, and the ancient victory of the Hapsburgs. -The first grievance was little discussed, but no Zápolya permitted -himself or others to forget that his right to the throne was as great -as the Austrian’s. Impoverished, and knowing little of the world beyond -Budapest, the present generation was even fiercer in pride than the -majority of their order, and bitterer in their hatred of the Hapsburgs. -They were wise enough, however, to know that Hungary had not the -strength for a native dynasty, even could one be established without -devastating civil wars, and the father and brother of the clever -little maid of honor had been the first to fling open the gates and -drive out the wild waters of unrest towards William of Germany. Count -von Königsegg had advised the selection of Piroska, for he believed -she would be hostile and a willing spy, and Sarolta had acquiesced -because she believed that herself and Ranata would be more than a -match for any disaffected young woman. Outwardly the Countess was -irreproachable. Her manners were high-bred and charming; five centuries -of intermarriage with the best blood of Roumania and Hungary had -obliterated all characteristics of John Zápolya except his ambition. -She was lively and cultivated, and there was nothing in her manner to -betray her hostility. She was the only enemy in camp. The other maid -of honor, Countess Vilma Festetics, although proud and reserved, had -loved the dead Elizabeth and had transferred her large measure of -passionate loyalty, since unclaimed, to the princess who, in her great -beauty and greater isolation, seemed to her the most romantic figure -on earth. Without humor or more logic than the larger division of her -sex, she was capable of martyrdom for her ideals, however narrow. But -she was bright and shrewd, and never having trusted Piroska Zápolya, -suspected that she might be too high in the favor of Ranata’s enemies. -In appearance the young Countess was of a type more often seen in -Hungary than described; she had neither the sparkling blond nor the -voluptuous brunette beauty which, with their womanly figures and happy -animation, have made the women of that romantic country so famous. She -was small and slender, and her coloring was drab; under the hauteur -of her delicately cut pale face were the tense lines of tragedy. Her -breeding helped her to control a high and intolerant temper. Of the -most ancient blood in Hungary, poor, high-spirited, and proud, she had -seen nothing of the world, but her high accomplishments and qualities, -and the affection which she had inspired in the Queen while a child, -had induced Sarolta to select her for what the cynical elder believed -to be a temporary post. She was also glad to give the girl a few months -of light-hearted luxury, and would have included many like her had it -been possible. - -“She is the sort that in a less enlightened day would have used the -poisoned bowl and then killed herself at the foot of the altar,” she -had said to Ranata; “but she will be loyal to you, and when she has -nothing on her mind she can be very lively and young.” - -“We have many costumes of the time in our chests, Highness,” the -Zápolya was saying. “I am sure that Miss Abbott would look charming in -one of rose-colored velvet--to which she would be more than welcome; -and if you conclude to ask the Deputies, some tailor here could use -the others as models. We have also two or three of the purple velvet -costumes with the long gold chains, and the head braidwork of gold and -pearls, worn by two of the three hundred youths sent by Matthias in the -embassy to Charles VIII., King of France. If you were escorted into the -throne room by a great number of pages in this costume, Highness, the -effect would be one of perfect loveliness.” - -The Archduchess understood her perfectly, but she felt her own -strength, and was amused at the flash in the American’s eyes. - -Moreover, her mind grasped the peculiar advantages which a fancy-dress -ball would afford herself. She said sweetly: - -“The national costume during the reign of Matthias differed little from -that of any other reign, I suppose?” - -“It merely reached its height of extravagance. The national -characteristics have always remained the same.” - -“Then, if you will allow me, I will look at your costumes, and, no -doubt, find one that I shall be delighted to copy.” - -In spite of her hostility the little Countess was flattered. She -assured her princess, with something like spontaneous enthusiasm, that -she should order the costumes brought to the palace on the morrow. - -“I have a painting of Matthias in his robes of state,” said Prince -Illehazy. “I wonder will any one have the courage to impersonate him? -He was a mighty figure, that son of John Hunyadi, and I have not the -slightest doubt that the blood of kings was in his veins. There is no -man in Hungary, alas! fit to wear his mantle, not even at a fancy-dress -ball.” - -“He was a plebeian,” said the Countess Piroska, lifting her little -nose. “And even could it be proved that John Hunyadi was the son of -King Sigismund, all his fame, even the medicinal water named after him, -could not obliterate the bar sinister.” - -“The little cat!” said Prince Illehazy under his breath. He replied, -“When a man makes a success of his life the bar sinister lends him -the added distinction of picturesqueness, and not only did the Knight -of the Black Raven have the blood of real kings in his veins, but -Sigismund united on his head the crowns of Imperial Germany, Hungary, -and Bohemia. Sigismund had his faults, but he was the head of the Holy -Roman Empire, and neither he, nor his great son, and greater grandson, -need descendants to keep the family name alive.” - -“I suppose the ball must open with the Chardash,” said Ranata hastily, -and forbearing to glance at the crushed Zápolya. “And I do not know how -to dance it!” - -Zrinyi found his opportunity. “May I be permitted a suggestion, -Highness?” he asked. “The Chardash has been ruined by society--is a -miserable degenerate thing. They sway and glide and languish. Have you -ever seen the peasants dance it? They have preserved it in all its -original simplicity, energy, and variety. If you could see them--and -then dance it here in the palace as it should be danced--it is never -vulgar, never boisterous, merely virile, full of the abandon of a happy -and healthy people--” - -“But how can I see it? I learn any dance quickly, but I must see it.” - -“To-morrow is a _festa_,” said Zrinyi eagerly. “The peasants will be -dancing all day. If you would go far enough you would see them in their -native costumes--impossible near Budapest; but if you would deign to go -five hours on the train--to a village on one of my estates--” - -“Deign!” whispered Alexandra. - -The Archduchess turned to her Obersthofmeisterin with a very pretty -show of deference. “I should like it,” she said. “And I believe it is -the right thing to do. I could go very simply dressed; they have not -yet seen me; I should be under no restraint--what do you think, _ma -princesse_?” - -“I shall have to go too,” grumbled Sarolta. “And there must be no -publicity about it. We must not get the reputation here in Budapest for -eccentricities; neither must we ever explain ourselves--how early can -we leave here in the morning?” - -“At five?” said Zrinyi. - -“And we can return late--the palace can be lighted up at seven as -usual. I like the idea of seeing the Chardash properly danced once -more--so be it, then. Mind you are at the station before us, Géra, and -that you exert all your talents in carrying out the programme. We shall -dine with you, of course.” - -“Hurrah!” said Alexandra. - -“_Élyen!_” murmured Zrinyi. - -Ranata for a moment said nothing. Then with a sudden impulse for which -she could give no reason then or later, she turned to Alexandra and -said, “Where is your brother? Have you heard from him?” - -“Not a word since I asked him to come here. He had probably started -on his wanderings before my letter reached Berlin. He may be on the -Russian steppes or over in Pest. The one is as likely as the other.” - - - - -X - - -Fessenden drew his leg over his horse’s neck and looked idly about -him. The sun was directly overhead; he had forgotten his compass, -and, apparently, he was lost in the very middle of the great plain of -Hungary. But he had been lost many times before, and in far worse -places than this green and smiling expanse; so flat and lying in an -atmosphere of such clarity he could well believe the gentle Magyar -boast that with the naked eye a man could be distinguished from a beast -at a distance of fifteen miles. There appeared to be nothing whatever -on the horizon; but an occasional small farm dotted the prairie, and -here and there he saw a goose girl with her little flock, a shepherd -in his native costume: a long white coat of spun wool, with panels of -black embroidered at the edges; a garment as immaculate as if just -from the loom, and swung carelessly about the shoulders, the sleeves -evidently designed for ornament alone. The little goose girls might -have stood for a study in lonely childhood; as Fessenden turned his -head one was the solitary figure in the vast expanse behind him; but -when he passed her she had nodded brightly and seemed quite content -with her lot. It was not his first visit to Hungary; he had voyaged -on the Danube and the Theiss in his canoe, and had climbed Retyezat -to the lake of Zenoga, making his way thence into Roumania. He knew -something of the language and much of the hospitality of the amiable -peasant people, and could recall no other country in whose wilderness -he would rather be lost. Moreover, the great plains of Hungary reminded -him of the wild reaches of his own country. They were green and -smiling, indescribably friendly and gentle of aspect, in spite of the -barbarous hordes, the fierce battles that had ravaged them, the blood -that had soaked their soil; and the American deserts, without history -of consequence, scowled eternally at the sun that devoured them, and -gave no hospitality to man. But both represented Nature in one of her -abrupt desires to emulate the plains of Space; both gave man a sense -of personal freedom, of disseverance from the complications of life. -And the great Alfold had long since suggested to the practical mind of -Fessenden what could be done with the Western deserts; in the last five -years he had reclaimed the largest of them by means of a complicated -system of irrigation, and encouragement of immigration from the Eastern -States. One of his dreams was to make the United States fertile and -productive from end to end, if only to relieve the congestion in the -great centres and give the plain people of his country the happiness -they constantly, with reason or without, demanded as their birthright. -But he had sighed humorously more than once as he reflected that to -compass all his plans would require at least two more lifetimes than -Nature had placed at the disposal of any man. - -But he had accomplished a great deal, and he was only thirty-one. -Thirty years more, and did his energies survive devastating tropical -fevers, the rarely relaxing strain of organizing and guarding -industries, investments, transit systems, the ever-trembling -aggregations of capital called Trusts, sound a money basis as his own -were built upon, all the manifold ramifications of a fortune, which, -through the increased resources of the country during the past ten -years, through his own and his father’s genius, and by the mere force -of momentum, was now close upon a billion dollars; still far in the -lead of all the other colossal fortunes which in the past decade had -raised the United States to a position no less menacing to herself than -to the rest of the world; did not only his health, his life, survive -the strain, but his ambition, his hope, his faith in the worth while, -then might he expect something like immortal fame. - -Most men would have said that he had fame and power enough to satisfy -any man of his years. His accomplishment in South America alone had -made his name a byword on two hemispheres. In company with his college -friend, Jeremiah Keene, who promptly renounced the Northwest, he -had gone to South America, intent upon fencing it off from European -invasion and saving his country from what he believed must otherwise -be an inevitable and humiliating war. Privately, he thought the Monroe -Doctrine an obsolete absurdity, and heartily wished it never had been -conceived. Like all of his countrymen who thought, he would infinitely -have preferred the civilizing forces of Europe in South America to -the tumultuous opera-bouffe republics of vicious hybrids, where no -American could invest his money with a reasonable certainty of seeing -the tail of it a year hence; but the Monroe Doctrine was as sacred to -the American people as the Lord’s Prayer, therefore the only thing -to do was to make it theirs in fact as well as in fancy, and such an -accomplishment must be the work of one man, of a citizen of the United -States, who possessed that hitherto unheard-of combination of boundless -wealth and burning patriotism. The government would never give a -serious thought to the matter until the fleets of Europe were in the -Caribbean Sea. - -The three years in South America Fessenden looked back upon as the most -picturesque and satisfying of his life. He had twice nearly died of -fever, and he had been stabbed and shot, but life had been adventurous, -exciting, never worth a moment’s purchase; above all, one long test -of his gifts and resources, with victory in the end. Where immediate -bribery had availed not with the suspicious villain in temporary power, -he had tracked the biding rival to his lair, furnished him with the -necessary outfit and promises, while Keene and other agents persuaded -the ever-disaffected people that another revolution was due. With -the impromptu gunboats and inexhaustible ammunition sent down by Mr. -Abbott, the revolution was an invariable success, and the enthroned -dictator, with all the vices of his kind, was still shrewd enough to -comprehend that did he wish his reign to be permanent he must be true -to his benefactor and give him a free hand. - -As a state passed into Fessenden’s control he built a railroad close -to the coast, and as he employed native labor as much as possible, and -there was a rapid influx of American merchants, he was reverenced as -the White God who had brought security and prosperity to a tormented -country. - -With the more advanced states it was a mere question of capital, -particularly as the enterprise was a private one, and sure to bring an -increase of civilization and wealth. The last tie had been laid seven -years ago, and South America girdled by a complete system of railways, -with at least one train on each section running daily. To-day the -trains had increased ten per cent., many thousands of discontented -North Americans had emigrated, there were American school-houses, -churches, villages, and towns in every state, and a new and enormously -profitable investment had been found for American capital. Four hundred -thousand negroes had emigrated, and, reverting easily to a state of -amiable and naked barbarism--sinking to the bottom as naturally as the -black mud of the Mississippi--worked in the fields for the white man -and forgot the Constitution of the United States. Fessenden’s praises -had been sung until he might have become conceited and obnoxious had -it not been for the hostile press, which called him a robber baron, -an unscrupulous blood-letter, and a future Czar; and so preserved the -balance. - -Then had come the long years at home, varied only by the yearly -tramp in Europe and an occasional visit to South America, where Keene -was his general representative, and his boyhood chum, Jeff Hunter, -his scout and secret agent. Two-thirds of the control of affairs had -gradually passed into his hands, but he had found time to carry out his -father’s more personal programme as well as his own: the great army of -working-men in his employ believed in him blindly, and withstood the -pressure of trades-unions. He had, indeed, raised the standard of wages -throughout the United States, and had made so many bitter enemies that -much of his best talent was consumed in circumventing the attempts of -other great capitalists to ruin him. With the decent laboring man he -was more popular than any President of the United States could hope to -be; and this class was not only grateful for his actual benefits, and -appreciated his sincerity, but believed that he had been as especially -created to pilot the United States through her difficulties as the -great men of the early days of the republic. His methods and his genius -were different, but so were the times. With the professional politician -of the laboring class, with that breed who made their bread and beer by -agitating, he was deservedly unpopular, but he now had most of them in -his pocket, and they gave him little trouble. He hoped to bring about -a condition of living in the United States which would avert a death -struggle between capital and labor; if this task were beyond him, then -would he at least be in a position in some measure to control it. - -When the war broke out with Spain it was a matter of deep mortification -and disappointment to him that the great electrical and mechanical -ideal he had conceived in his youth was so far from completion. It had, -indeed, given him more trouble than all his other enterprises together. -Three accomplished electricians had met with violent deaths in the -building on the prairie, and he had their discontented families on his -hands. Two reporters had been maimed for life while attempting to solve -a mystery which annoyed the public, accustomed to the easy elucidations -of the press, and others had “lost their jobs” for failure as signal, -if less painful. All these men were among Fessenden’s bitterest and -most enterprising foes. - -Again and again, when his keenest attention was demanded in New York, -he had received an excited telegram bidding him hasten to the spot and -witness the final combination which was to affect the great result; -and as invariably he had added to the sum of his disappointments. Five -years ago the buildings, in the course of a wind-storm, had burned -to the ground, and not only the difficult and expensive machinery -had gone with them, but the personal effects of several hundred men. -More than once Fessenden’s faith had been shaken, and even with the -vast resources at his disposal he had hesitated before the increasing -costliness of his coy ideal; but he dreaded the possibly demoralizing -effect of his first failure; the position in which he could place -the United States lured him on; and his father believed in the idea -and encouraged him to persist. When the war threatened, Fessenden -went out to his Western settlement and worked in the laboratory and -machine-shops himself. At the last possible moment he hastened home -and raised one of the most satisfactory regiments that went to Cuba. -By this time he was a rigid disciplinarian, and his original genius -for detail was fully developed. He also found his opportunity to -distinguish himself, and returned to New York better pleased with life -than since he had left South America. - -And the old Fessenden? There was much of him left, for strong -individualities with the eternal boy in them change less than -psychologists would have us believe, however much they may develop. -He was less enthusiastic about some of his old ideals; his patience -was at the same time greater and less; he was even more practical -than Nature had made him, matter-of-fact and intolerant of shams, and -somewhat hardened and cynical by his constant manipulation of fabulous -wealth and the buying of men. Although money would never be his god, -his life and times had taught him to respect, almost to reverence it -as the mightiest force in the world of his day. He had in his brief -span watched the crumbling of ancient aristocracies, the progressive -ascendency of the middle classes all over Europe, their reconstruction -of power in their various states, their contributions to solidity and -permanence, their slow absorption of the helpless classes above, and -their increasing contempt for royal figure-heads; in his own country -he had witnessed an outburst of wealth that in volume and results -had never occurred before in the history of the world. He saw the -financial centre of gravity swinging steadily from London to New York, -the enormous aggregations of capital, combined with the unlimited -production of the United States, controlling the markets of the world. -Money had raised the United States from a negligible quantity, often -mentioned with disrespect, into a menace which was winning for her the -precarious tributes of hatred and abuse, more especially since she had -let it be seen that she estimated affectionate overtures at their just -value. - -Therefore was her most characteristic product filled with a quiet -and gentle arrogance, sadly, if contemptuously, confident of the -illimitable powers of wealth, and owning to a sincere respect for -but one man in Europe. With that man, in spite of a deep and mutual -friendship, he played many a game of chess, and once in a while he was -beaten. - -He no longer regarded the severe and ofttimes thunderous visage of -William of Germany with envy; for time and work, fever and bitter -anxieties had robbed his own face of all its freshness and most of -its youth. His long body had lost its lankness, and was closely knit, -properly covered, and very erect and imposing; but his face was thin, -sallow, lined, and his finely cut features had acquired the sharpness -peculiar to the American of intellect who gives his life to practical -affairs--the sort that has the mere million-making kink is always as -fat of face as of wit. But his smile was still quick and delightful, -and his eyes, if sharper, were as bright and dark, sometimes as happy -and eager as ever. He had acquired the trick of throwing back his head, -lowering his upper lid, and darting a look over a cheek-bone, which -was merely impish, or peculiarly disconcerting, according to his mood. -As regards the rest of his personal appearance on this October morning -in Hungary, he wore a sweater, the oldest pair of trousers in his -wardrobe, and a straw hat with the brim turned down--by which it will -be seen there was a good deal of the old Fessenden left. - -Indeed there was a great deal; and as he rode straight towards the -gala village on Count Zrinyi’s estate, he was in a very susceptible -not to say sentimental frame of mind--which was usually the case when -he was alone in Europe. The fountain of romance in the depths of him -still bubbled. He had worked it deeply in the way of adventure and the -realizing of patriotic ideals, superficially when he met an attractive -woman. But life had pressed him too hard for love; moreover, he was -easily disillusioned, and this particular ideal increased in stature -and seemed ever more impossible of attainment. He stood on a lonely -height himself, and he wanted a woman who stood on one as lonely. - - - - -XI - - -Fessenden stood for a few moments at the window before entering, -although he had danced the Chardash many times and was arrayed as one -of the elect. The deserted street of the village, and the muffled -strains of a gypsy band, had informed him as he approached that it was -a day of dancing and feasting, and he had despatched a casual boy to -summon the tallest young man of the village. From the genial peasant -he had borrowed a native costume, and without the aid of gold--for he -carried a love potion in his indifferent command of the Magyar tongue. -Another New-Yorker might have been daunted by the white divided skirt, -which looked like anything but trousers, and the white blouse hanging -free above it, but not Fessenden. He would indeed have preferred the -Sunday best which the man had offered him to his own undoing, but had -generously refused it. The men all looked very fine in their gay cloth -or leathern jackets, embroidered, inlaid, their bright sashes, loose -shirts and flapping trousers, embroidered with worsted or silk; but -the women, after decorating their lords and brothers, would appear to -have had no time left to enhance their own charms, for they wore common -cotton frocks and had made no attempt at adornment beyond a ribbon or a -string of glass beads. - -The room in which they danced evidently belonged to the rich man of the -village. It was of fair size for a peasant’s house, and its prints of -saints and Mary were draped with embroidered towels. The older folk sat -against the wall, and some sixty young people danced in what at first -sight looked to be a solid mass. The Chardash was near its finish, -and the couples were executing the vigorous and intricate figures, -even separating for a second and flying together again, without the -collision of an elbow or the twitch of a facial muscle. - -Suddenly Fessenden swore in three languages and clutched the arm of his -host. - -“Who is that girl?” he demanded. - -“I do not know her name. The Count came two hours ago with -two--Austrian peasants,” he said, “but we doubt--who wished to learn -the Chardash. We know nothing further, except that they speak Hungarian -well and are virgins, for they wear their braids hanging; but we are -curious, for that one you admire is very pretty and lively, and the -other is as beautiful and queenlike as a Roumanian peasant--observe -her, my friend.” - -The music had ceased and the crowd was melting towards the open. The -girl worthy to be compared to a Roumanian stood almost in the middle -of the room talking with pleasing humility to a young man who, even in -his peasant’s costume, was plainly the lord of the village. She wore -a common blue cotton gown a size too small for her, and a kerchief -pinned so tightly about her head that only half an inch of hair brushed -flatly backward was visible. But the figure was magnificent; the hands -were small, pointed, white; the skin of face and throat had never -been exposed to a peasant sun, and the visible hair was red. The girl -suddenly raised her eyes, and Fessenden screwed up his own and left the -window. - -So he had seen the Archduchess!--was about to meet her at last! The -fountain burst its bonds and flew to his head. His deep, almost -passionate love of adventure shook him slightly from head to foot. The -color came into his face, and his nostrils quivered. If he could only -corner his sister and warn her before she betrayed him by a feminine -scream. She was standing just within the door arranging the ribbon at -the end of her long plait of hair, which, like many another, had been -disordered by the energy of the dance; and the hanging tresses brought -forward for reconstruction by herself and several other maidens may -possibly have fetched a sigh from lips too soon surrendered. Fessenden -entered and placed his back between her face and Ranata. - -“Now don’t even raise your eyes,” he said rapidly. “I want to be -unknown here. I want you to introduce me to her and not tell her who I -am.” - -Fessenden had underestimated his sister’s accomplishments. “I won’t -do anything of the sort,” she replied, smoothing her kerchief with -steady fingers. “It is just one thing I should never dare to do. The -responsibility shall be entirely your own.” - -“Very well. I can manage it if you do not betray me. What on earth does -this mean, anyhow? Are you and she here alone? I don’t see the ghost of -a chaperon.” - -“Our first idea was merely to look on, but we had no sooner arrived at -Count Zrinyi’s castle this morning than Sarolta was attacked by the -gout--or pretended she was; she is an angel--and ordered us to our -rooms. We made Zrinyi borrow clothes from two of his servants--and here -we are. I’ve never had so much fun in my life--neither has Ranata.” She -looked him over. “You are not a bad imitation,” she admitted. “So many -of them are fair, and luckily they all wear their hats. Pull your brim -a little lower; your eyes are hopelessly American. Of course you’ll -fall in love with her--I’ve seen it coming for years; but don’t propose -on the spot and spoil all our fun.” - -“What do you take me for?” and Fessenden left her to an admiring -peasant and sought his host. - -“That girl is very pretty,” he said discontentedly, “but I can’t dance -with a girl so much shorter than myself; I am always swinging her off -her feet. Will you introduce me to the other Austrian--or Roumanian, -did you say?” - -“What is your name, my friend?” - -“Árpád Hunyadi will do as well as any other.” - -The peasant embraced him on both cheeks. “A great name,” he said -solemnly. “All I have is yours.” - -A moment later Fessenden was standing before the Archduchess, while -Zrinyi’s willing eyes were diverted by Alexandra. - -“You will dance this with me?” he asked in Magyar, his eyes bashfully -lowered. - -“You are not a Hungarian!” she exclaimed. - -“Alas, that your first word should be so cruel! It is true that I speak -the German tongue better--I have been much away--but my children shall -speak only Hungarian.” - -“It is to be hoped so.” - -“You will dance with me?” - -“I do not know. I am tired.” - -“One is never too tired for the Chardash. It would raise a Hungarian -from the grave.” This was uttered with simple fervor. He felt her -powerful gaze and dared not raise his eyes. But the majestic beauty of -her figure was in the direct line of his vision, and involuntarily he -lifted his hands to tuck in his shirt, but bethought himself in time. - -“I don’t know,” repeated the Archduchess coldly, “I am tired, and I do -not happen to be a Hungarian.” - -“A Roumanian? We have all said it; you are so beautiful.” - -“No.” - -The leader of the gypsy band struck his cymbal. His brothers drew the -first long wail from their fiddles. The crowd thronged in. - -Fessenden raised his hands and placed them firmly about the slender -waist of the Archduchess. “Put your hands on my shoulders,” he said. “I -shall not let you go.” - -She drew herself up rigidly for a moment, then obeyed him. - -“I know who you are,” she said. - -“So much the better,” replied Fessenden. - - * * * * * - -“This is a great moment in the history of Hungary!” said Zrinyi -solemnly. - -“It is!” said Alexandra. - -“A daughter of the Emperor of Austria and a Hungarian peasant! What a -symbol! It is full of portent!” - -“If you only knew how much!” - -“Ah, you dream of a universal democracy, I suppose. I fear I dream -only of the independence of Hungary--with William as enlightened -overlord--and the humiliation of Austria.” - -“I can’t talk politics and dance the Chardash.” - -Fessenden summoned to his eyes a far and impassive stare. Ranata -pointed her lashes to her cheeks. They were the tallest couple in the -room, and those who sat had much to say in comment. There was little -to criticise, for their natural grace and beauty of form diverted -the eye from their few mistakes; and in truth those whose blood is -quick must learn the Chardash easily. For a time the music is a wail -of almost hopeless longing, and the feet and body move hesitatingly, -monotonously, the man and woman at arm’s-length; gradually it grows -sweeter, more inspiring, and the feet move faster--life seems to -awaken. The music swells and the man takes the girl’s left hand and -raises it high; then, as it becomes triumphant and peremptory, he -swings her faster and faster, executes wild and rapid figures, stamps -his feet, snaps his fingers in the air, increases his speed to that of -the whirlwind, flings his partner from him and catches her again, to -whirl and whirl and whirl in a circle scarcely larger than his feet; -and all without a moment of forgetfulness, a rude embrace, a change -of expression. “It is the story of elementary passion before man was -created to express it,” Ranata had said to Alexandra before they had -ventured to take part; and certainly the Hungarian peasant, intelligent -and gay, but polite and dignified to his marrow, is worthy of a place -beside the impersonal artists of any civilization. - -Nevertheless, the Chardash is so intoxicating that no one can dance -it perfunctorily, no matter how self-conscious at starting; and there -was nothing here to distract the attention of the most fastidious: the -air was pure, for the windows were open, and the Hungarian peasant -is clean. No matter what the pressure of the speed, not a foot was -trodden, not a temper shaken. Fessenden had danced half the native -dances of the world, sometimes in hours of greater abandon than this, -and Ranata had a natural love of the dance and indulged it whenever -possible. As she had recognized and intuitively obeyed her friend’s -brother, she realized in a flash that for sixteen years he had occupied -a silent but permanent place in a shadowy realm that was hers alone. -He had been Alexandra’s favorite theme from childhood, and Ranata’s -interest had never flagged. His sister was as truthful as most women, -but in her extreme youth she had possessed a violent imagination, and -her unknown brother, dwelling in the wilderness, had inspired it to -deeds which had caused the little Archduchess to sit open-mouthed for -hours as she drank in his blood-curdling and heroic adventures with -Indian tribes, robber bands, pirates, and wild beasts of every variety -whose pictures were to be found in Alexandra’s natural history. He had -seemed to her the most splendid and picturesque of living creatures, -and although the reduction of Alexandra’s allowance for a year to -the wages of a footman by her perturbed father had cured her of the -habit of exaggeration, she still could tell a pretty tale, and there -had been much to recount during Fessenden’s sojourn in South America -and after his return. To a princess living the most conventional and -restricted of earthly lives he represented all that the world, beyond -palace walls, held of romance, of freedom, of the grand free play -of personality. As she grew older she forbade her fancy to lead him -into the backwaters of sentiment, that being a part of the necessary -discipline of self; but there had been times when the effort had -exhausted her. Two thoughts had flashed through her mind as she -realized that she stood face to face with him at last: the one came -from depths she did not pause to analyze--“If I had suddenly heard -that he was dead, instead of meeting him like this, I should have -been appalled by a sense of personal loss.” The other thought flew -straight from superstition and made her for the moment the sister of -the peasant-women about her--“This colored frock! I might have known it -would bring me bad luck!” - -In a moment she had angrily dismissed both suggestions, but she -endeavored to nurse a general resentment. She had been taken abominable -advantage of. He had known who she was and dared to treat her like -any ordinary girl masquerading. That royalty, or aristocracy for -that matter, moves on unselfconscious heights is one of the fictions -of fiction. The aristocracies of Europe may not, in the manner of -the American, carry their ancestors like a bunch of chips on their -shoulder, but like royalty, they are “simple and unaffected” only so -long as they are not expected to be humble and are not approached by -the wrong sort of people. The intense dramatic moments of William of -Germany might alone convince the unthinking of royalty’s sense of its -own value. - -Ranata was not dramatic, or at all events had wanted opportunity; -but had she inherited the simplicity of her mother, which assuredly -she had not, she would have found it a difficult task to forget that -she was the daughter of an emperor. But she had experienced no such -inclination. She might sigh for liberty, and in erratic moments wish -she had been born an American, but to her composition had gone the -haughtiest particles of Europe. She was not only the last born of -an ancient line of kings who had exercised despotic rule over vast -possessions, but who had built about themselves a triple golden wall -of ceremony. No court had ever been so uncomplaisant, no royal favor -so difficult to gain; to-day no house in Europe was so tenacious of -its ancient formalities. Every act of Ranata’s life to which the least -importance could be attached had been the combined result of her active -consciousness that she was the daughter of the Emperor of Austria, and -of instinctive ancestral tribute. - -Therefore did the Archduchess Ranata Theresia feel that her sacred self -had been trifled with, and was filled with wrath against her friend -and her friend’s brother. But it is both difficult and anomalous to -nurse the severer passions while moving one’s body and feet to the cry -of the Chardash for the fulfilment of human happiness. A mist rose to -and diffused itself through the historic tiers of Ranata’s brain, and -created an illusion. The music of the Chardash, older than the House -of Hapsburg, as old, perhaps, as that mysterious gypsy people who -brought it to Hungary, was the song of the wind among peaks about a -wild and lovely valley high in the Eastern Alps. She was primeval woman -dancing with primeval man. A silver hammer rang on the distant rocks, -the wind drew its bow on the young branches of the trees; all the new -world moved in measure about her, groping towards its birthright. -The vague melancholy promise of Nature grew ever more distinct in -its utterance, swelled in fuller volume from the heights and passes. -The man felt it and swung her with swifter assurance, clasped her -surrendered waist more firmly; then in the wild and breathless whirl, -where the male, inspired by the reckless adhortation of the music, -expresses the insolent triumph of his manhood, and the woman alone -hears the persistent note of sadness, the warning of the unfulfilment -of mortal desire, the heroine of this tale was the creature of another -will. In that dizzying circle she followed his every motion, the -peremptory guiding of his hand, with neither thought nor desire of -resistance; and when he flung her scornfully from him she leaped back -to his embrace as automatically as the meanest peasant in the room. At -the end she was conscious of nothing but that the mountain-tops were -flying about her in a furious attempt to meet and crash together; the -shouting of the men, the abrupt loud stamping of their feet, as the -musicians played like madmen, came to her confused senses as the forces -of the earth bursting their bonds; and when the illusion abruptly -finished and she found herself on the veranda she leaned heavily -against the wall and sought for nothing but her breath. - -Fessenden mopped his streaming face. “By Jove!” he remarked, “that -was warm work! But it’s a great dance--and you--you--were simply -magnificent! When I get my breath I’ll tell you how grateful I am.” - -Ranata lifted her head and assumed an expression of frigid severity, -which shone oddly from a face that was wet and red from hair to throat. - -“Would you like to walk up and down the road for a change?” asked -Fessenden. - -“No!” exclaimed Ranata, still short of breath. “I should not.” - -“You are not ready for another?” - -“No, I am not ready for another!” She spoke with an asperity quite -unnatural in a princess who never forgot to be gracious, lest she wound -the _amour propre_ of those at her mercy. The tumult within her had -soured and fermented into a sudden hatred of the colossal wealth, the -constant exercise of a power greater than her father’s, and the habit -of republican independence, which enabled this man to stand before her -as unconcernedly as if she were a girl of his own class. Her wrath -might be unreasonable, but she was in no mood to admit it, and she was -divided between a desire to relieve her tension with tears and for -power to humiliate the man. - -Fessenden, who was too hot and thirsty to be sentimental, much less -conscious of outraged royalty that he had been swinging in the -Chardash, glanced about longingly. “I think there must be wine in -that shed,” he said. “Where there is a crowd after the Chardash there -usually is wine; and doubtless the Count has set up a barrel of his -own. If you will wait here I’ll fetch you some.” - -As he walked away, his white blouse and skirts flapping in the breeze, -Ranata sank upon a bench. For the first time in her life she was -nonplussed, at a loss what to do. Her long experience with Alexandra -did not help her in the least. Not only had she always regarded the -American girl as _sui generis_, but it had been her royal pleasure -that she should be so. She suddenly became aware that her friend was -standing before her. - -“Of course you are angry,” said Miss Abbott contritely. “And I must -confess at once that I knew he was here, and might have warned you. But -Fessenden is Fessenden, and I knew that he would do what he wanted in -spite of me or any one else. Would you rather go at once?” - -The Archduchess rose with alacrity. “Yes,” she said, “let us go as -quickly as possible.” - - - - -XII - - -Fessenden sat over his coffee on the terrace of his hotel in Pest, and -stared up at Buda with little appreciation of its evening beauty. The -sunset glow still lingered, pushing forward the dark masses of the -Schwabenberg, where brilliant points of light were appearing among the -dim outlines of the villas. On the long ridge above the Danube, and the -abrupt irregular heights beyond, lights were darting forth rapidly, and -one wing of the palace was illuminated. The irregular groups and single -dots of fire gave the fissures and cliffs, the ruins of the citadel -on its isolated height far to the left, and the beautiful outline of -the palace a dark and savage grandeur. On the rough side of the cliff, -far below the citadel, was a mass of lights like a meteor fallen upon -a void, so dark were the woods and rocks about the little kiosk where -men and women drank their iced coffee to the music of the gypsies. -Along the ridge on the right of the palace were the melting outlines of -public buildings, of ancient churches, the arches of the chapel above -the dust of Shêkl Gül Baba, which alone commemorates the century and a -half of Turkish occupation, and the modern structures which cover the -baths the Romans built two thousand years ago. Down on the riverbank, -in the shadow of the precipitous gardens of the palace, the cafés were -brilliantly alight, and the music of cymbal and fiddle floated over to -Pest and mingled with the strains of the gypsy band in the hotel behind -Fessenden. - -On the long line of terrace before the hotels of Pest, hundreds sat -at little tables smoking and drinking their coffee. On the wide -promenade in front many more sauntered, the women gayly and fashionably -dressed, many of them beautiful, animated--bewitching, no doubt, to -the fine-looking men who accompanied them. Fessenden had a fervent -admiration for the women of Hungary, and he had sat at this same table -during former visits and observed them with pleasure. But to-night his -eyes rarely wandered from the balcony at the southeast extremity of -the palace, where several figures were discernible, and the regular -rising, lingering, disappearing of what might have been the travail of -a miniature volcano. The volcano, doubtless, was the Princess Sarolta -of Windischgrätz, for the figures had moved from time to time, and -there appeared to be no man among them. Once the tallest of the group -had entered the room at the corner and stood for a moment against the -light. Fessenden, his heart beating faster, had fancied he recognized -the Archduchess, and had half risen in angry determination to cross the -river and storm the hill, but had thrown himself back in his chair and -ordered another glass of iced coffee. - -Nevertheless, his anger did not cool nor his determination weaken. It -was now three days since he and Ranata had surrendered themselves to -the wild exhilaration of the Chardash, and he had not even received -permission to call on his sister in the palace. Alexandra had written -him that the Archduchess was doubtless very angry, as she had ignored -the day in the village as completely as if her memory had failed her, -and every one was in doubt as to the manner in which they were to dance -the Chardash at the ball. “But the ball will take place,” Miss Abbott -had added, “and if you will possess your soul in patience and remain -here, I shall make a very especial point of your coming. She can hardly -refuse. Indeed, she would know that if she did it would be the end of -our friendship. I refuse to look ahead in this matter. I have always -known that something would happen when you met. It is all on the knees -of the gods. The twentieth century is not the eighteenth nor yet the -nineteenth. For my part, I want to see history make itself, and the -past, I hold, is merely designed by the inexorable law of progress as a -background for the present. There will be an American queen in Europe -yet. I am glad I am young--and I love you both.” - -She had asked Zrinyi and Prince Illehazy to call upon him, and he had -pressed a tailor into hasty service and dined with them at the Park -Club on successive evenings. He knew that he must meet the Archduchess -before long, for both these nobles had designed entertainments in her -honor, nor was it likely that she would refuse his sister’s request. -But he was not possessing his soul in patience. He was used to personal -activity in the levelling of obstacles; moreover, the resentment of the -Archduchess seemed to him the most erratic manifestation of feminine -perversity to which man had ever been subjected. If she choose to dress -herself as a peasant and dance with peasants, what right had she to -vent her anger upon him for dancing with her as respectfully as the -most courteous among them? He had chosen to ignore her state, and no -course could have been more consistent. He would not apologize, for he -had done nothing culpable; he was as entitled to incognito as herself. -To vent her wrath on him for a situation of her own making was a -caprice so far unworthy of her character, as he understood it, that he -was inclined to believe there was a misapprehension of which he knew -nothing. By which it will be seen that there were many things Fessenden -knew better than woman. - -Whether he was in love with the Archduchess of Austria or not he -was at no pains to discover. But his instinct for adventure was now -on edge--the youth in him was rampant; New York was non-existent; -his weeks of rest in Europe, passed almost entirely in solitude -and sunshine, had made his pulses full and quick; he was ready for -anything, and his will had never set itself more squarely. Here were -all the high elements of romance at last; moreover, when he awakened -in the night and heard the distant wail or rush of the Chardash, he -trembled and experienced a sensation of being stabbed by something that -was both sharp and sweet. - -The attitude of the Archduchess, the insurmountable barrier she had -raised, but whetted his determination to know her. With all his -contempt for monarchy, he was still too wise in its ways to make the -mistake of republican approach. He was unconventional, but he was also -a man of the world; while he would not hesitate to insist upon talking -with any sovereign as man to man, with no more formality than he would -yield to the President of the United States, he knew that to walk up to -a palace door and demand admittance, even to his sister’s apartments, -would be merely to make an ass of himself. Moreover, he had long since -learned that one of the secrets of man’s victory over life is never to -court certain failure. - -The afternoon before, he had crossed over to Buda and walked all -round the palace. The great gates on the Danube looked impervious to -battering-rams. On the farther side of the court-yard the central -portion of the palace, which was of a symmetrical height in front, -was built straight down to the street behind in no less than eighteen -tiers of rooms. There were guards everywhere, and it looked as -impregnable as a fortress. The gardens surrounded the front and south -of the palace. At the north end were more guards, and just without -the great court-yard, easy of access at its northern extremity, its -southern gates closed upon the private gardens, was the guard-house. -Connecting the vast front of the palace with the mass at the rear of -the court-yard were galleries and many rooms. The private apartments of -the royal family did not look upon the court, but were in the extension -beyond it, above that sacred portion of the grounds to which the public -was never admitted. No princess had ever been more securely intrenched. -The wild idea of disguising himself as a working-man, and obtaining -entrance to the portion of the palace as yet unfinished within, had -invaded Fessenden’s brain and been dismissed. In that huge labyrinth a -man would be lost and found many times before he was escorted to the -guard-house. - -Fessenden, who liked a good story, had read the romances of the day -which dealt with the imaginary modern princess of the imaginary modern -kingdom, thrilling scenes of rescue, hair-breadth escapes, revolutions. -They had been in his mind as he whimsically examined the palace, but -they were no guide for him, even had he been of a less practical turn -of mind. Were there a revolution in Budapest, none would be safer than -the Archduchess. There would be no hair-breadth rescue from that -palace, unless, indeed, of himself. There was no moat, no drawbridge. -The walls were ever visible to more than guards. He would meet her at -balls, at dinners; a word alone with her in the garden or a corner of -a balcony would seem to be all that he might anticipate. Nevertheless, -the situation was romantic enough to keep him in Budapest; nor, he -suspected, was Ranata a woman who needed romantic accessories; she -would doubtless have interested him similarly in his father’s house -in New York. She was evidently a creature of many sides, an infinite -number of ingredients mixed into a not altogether harmonious whole. -As Fessenden caught himself sentimentally wondering if she were the -isolated being of whom he had dreamed, and who like himself lacked -completeness, he remembered that he had promised Zrinyi a game of -Csendes--the Hungarian poker--at ten o’clock; but as he strolled up to -the Nemzesi Casino he vowed anew that he would know the daughter of the -Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary if he had to run the gamut of -all the conventions. - - - - -XIII - - -It was on the following morning that the Archduchess remarked to Miss -Abbott--they were walking on the third terrace and paused under the -shade of a heavy tree--“I have decided that the bodice of my costume -shall be of blue velvet instead of black--and the train.” - -Alexandra being too dumfounded to reply, Ranata continued, “I have -concluded that superstitions are unworthy of any one who claims to -live by the light of his reason. Therefore I have made up my mind -deliberately to violate all that may still linger like weeds in my -mind.” - -“Blue is very becoming to you.” - -“I think more so than any other color except perhaps green. I have also -ordered several green gowns. I shall not interfere with your pinks and -yellows.” - -“That is kind, my dear, for you certainly would extinguish me. I see -your new rôle is to lack nothing in thoroughness. Have you made up your -mind how the Chardash is to be danced?” - -“As it should be danced. Why not? All the manifestations are on the -part of the men; the women do little but keep time.” - -The moment was favorable, the ice of Ranata’s three days’ reserve being -broken, but Alexandra hesitated to introduce the subject of Fessenden. -When Ranata chose to be unfathomable there was an aloofness about her -which suggested that her soul was surrounded by the watchful ghosts of -all her ancestors. She had never looked more aloof than to-day, despite -the apparent frivolity of her conversation. She was standing very -straight, apparently absorbed in contemplation of the roofs of Pest, -glittering in fragments through the leaves of Buda. In the deep shade -of the tree her face looked like marble, her hair like metal. There -had been no coolness between the girls since the day of the _festa_. -They had been much together and talked on any other subject; but it had -been evident to Alexandra that a part of the Archduchess’s mind had -been bent introspectively, and she had retired to her bedroom earlier -and left it later than was her habit. How Fessenden had impressed her, -what tortuous train of thought she had been following, Alexandra felt -it would be folly to guess, for she knew there were depths and ways in -that mind no friend would ever enter. But it was her policy never to -manifest surprise, except at some lighter erraticism, and she did not -lift an eyebrow when Ranata turned to her and said sweetly: - -“Do you think your brother would dine with us to-night? We were to have -been forty, but Sarolta tells me that Count Ábris Teleky is ill.” - -“I am sure Fessenden would be delighted.” - -“Will you write, or shall Sarolta send him a formal invitation?” - -“I will write. Perhaps I had better go at once.” - -“I will wait for you here.” - -“How did she know he is in Pest?” wondered Miss Abbott, as she ran up -the steps in the terrace wall. “And _what_ is she up to?” - -When she returned, Ranata was sitting on the rustic bench staring at -the ground. Alexandra sat down beside her. - -“What do you think of Count Zrinyi’s invitation to visit his castle in -the Transylvanian Alps?” she asked. - -“I should like to go. Retyezat was the scene of Rudolf’s first visit -to Transylvania--he was the guest of Count Samuel Teleky who took -him to Boldogfalva, the castle of Baron Kendeffy--it is not far from -Zrinyi’s castle--and they went into camp on Lake Zenoga. That was one -of the most delightful experiences of Rudolf’s life! He hunted the -bear all over those frozen peaks, high above any vegetation except -the Alpine roses. He used to thrill me with his descriptions of those -terrible rugged mountains, the breathless wait for the bear, sometimes -terrified, as often stolidly unsuspecting, and then the wild dance -of the Wallach and Roumanian beaters round the camp-fire at night to -the music of their flutes. Rudolf and all the others of the party sat -huddled under a rock, muffled in furs, smoking the long Hungarian -pipe; but the wild men of the mountains were warm enough, for they -danced like fiends, and the effect of the wild gyrations almost in -the very midst of the leaping flames, the great teeth of the rocks -cutting the sky on every side, the gathering storm shrieking into the -sweet wild music of the flutes, the infernal cries of the excited -creatures--I remember Rudolf swept all the things off my most precious -table in his animation the first time he told me the story! Those were -his happiest days--his hunting expeditions to Transylvania for bear -and other game, and he loved to talk to me about them, for no one else -cared to listen--at home, at least. Even when I was a child he often -came and spent an hour with me, partly out of pity for my loneliness, -partly because I was so much like himself in many ways, and in despair -that I could not join in all his sports. He promised me the last time -he returned from Transylvania that the next year I should go with him -to Görgény--the crown property where he always went after that first -visit. The occasion upon which he won his oak as a Transylvanian -bear-hunter was almost as exciting in another way. When he had killed -his first bear the beaters tied its legs together, and raising it on -crossed poles carried it through the forest to the stretchers, followed -by all the Roumanians in their strange costumes shouting _Setreasca! -Setreasca!_ The guests surrounding Rudolf responded with _Élyens_ -almost as wild, and Count Teleky dipped an oak twig in the bear’s blood -and presented it to Rudolf, who stuck it in his cap. When he returned -to the castle in the evening, all the delighted and shouting people -knew by that sign that their prince had taken his position among the -great bear-hunters of Transylvania.” - -Ranata had been speaking rapidly and excitedly. As she finished she -sprang to her feet. The blood was in her cheeks, and her eyes were -flashing with a curious angry animation. - -“Do you think any man could ever come between me and the memory of my -brother?” she demanded passionately--“between my duty to his memory, -to his unfinished work? Do you think that I could ever admire, love, -respect any man one-half so well? What of his weaknesses? He had the -greatest of natures. He knew that he had the fate of Europe in his -hands, and he would have made the soberest of rulers. Do you think that -any woman was ever so fortified as I against the common weakness of -woman? Rudolf!--Austria!--” She turned abruptly and walked down the dim -path under the wall. - -Alexandra caught her breath. She felt curiously uncomfortable, as a -sensitive American girl, unskilled in feeling, always does at the -sudden revelation of passion in another woman. Calmly to analyze the -passions of the world, and stare ironically at the complications of -life through a lorgnette, was all in the mental progress of a girl -brought up with the peculiar advantages of Alexandra and possessing her -uncommon acuteness; but direct contact vaguely offended the cool purity -of her lighter nature. - -She also experienced a sensation of terror which vibrated oddly among -her calm and calculating particles. Should she write and tell Fessenden -to go at once? Or--might it not be merely Ranata’s imagination that -had taken fire? Impossible that she could love a man with whom she -had not exchanged ten words; who to his sister’s critical eye had -looked like anything but a god with his shirt hanging over his skirts, -and sweating like any crimson peasant in the room--she had sent -Zrinyi out immediately to wash his face. No, she decided, after a few -moments of hard maidenly thinking, it was merely the romantic streak -in that abundant dreaming nature that had claimed dominion for the -moment--aggravated no doubt by much retrospection and idealizing since; -the occasion and Fessenden, to Alexandra’s mind, stood in need of at -least three days’ perspective and created glamour. But should she send -away Fessenden and leave Ranata at peace with her dead and her duties? -She hardly had realized what she expected to result upon the meeting of -these two. A vague and picturesque drama, mixed with much history, with -a final prophetic vision of the two in New York, had whirled through -her head. Passion, suffering, tragedy--she had given them no thought, -well as she knew Ranata’s capacity for all. Her friend had been the -heroine of many romances woven by her energetic brain; but the romances -had been creations of an exalted and poetic nature, like unto what she -assumed the gods and goddesses had compassed. - -And Fessenden? How would he fall in love? He usually teased her and -joked with her; but his serious side and his achievement had no more -fervent admirer. He had never told her an anecdote in which a woman -figured sentimentally; to what degree women had the power to move him -she found herself unable to imagine. He certainly was adventurous--born -to make and to change history; therefore had she coupled him with -Ranata in some great drama of the future; but in looks and deportment -he was as little romantic as any other American. She calculated rapidly -that he had upset most of her theories about him at least once a year -since she had known him, and recalled that she had frequently wondered -how well she ever should know him. She half rose. Should she send him -away? She sank back with a laugh. That was beyond the power of anything -short of law or violence. She recalled the angry and determined letter -she had received the day before. - -“He will come!” she thought. “They will meet and talk. Well--it is all -on the knees of the gods.” - -Ranata returned and sat beside her. “We were talking about visiting -your count,” she said. “I am sure you want to go, and it will give -me the opportunity to make the progress I intended through some of -the villages. But it will have to be a little later. I must start the -ball here first--make as deep an impression as possible before leaving -Budapest even for a week. Why do you not ask your brother to take tea -with you to-day? I shall be engaged this afternoon, but you will enjoy -having him to yourself. Forgive me that I did not think of it before, -but my mind has been so full of other things--the best plan of campaign -with the members of the Left, for one. And tell him of all our plans -and schemes. I should be glad of the advice of one so accustomed to the -management of men.” - - - - -XIV - - -The Princess Sarolta, apparently absorbed in the achievements of the -chef of Királyi Palota and the lively conversation about her, observed -her imperial charge and pondered. It was the first time that Ranata -had played the part of independent hostess beyond the limits of her -small court and the few privileged friends, and the Princess was not -surprised at her sudden blossoming into a graceful, almost informal, -hostess, with a word of personal meaning for each of her guests as -she greeted them, and an animation at table which a keen sense of -liberty and her desire for popularity had finally set free. But what -puzzled and faintly alarmed the valiant but suspicious soul of the -Obersthofmeisterin was her exceeding graciousness to the brother of -her American friend. The Archduchess had lifted her chin coquettishly -as he bowed formally before her, and then offered him her hand with a -spontaneous warmth as she made known her wholly feminine and unroyal -pleasure in meeting the brother of her dearest friend. To the handshake -and the remarks the Princess had no particular objection--there was -fitness in both; but why the blush and the coquetry? Why the curiously -puzzled expression of Mr. Abbott, followed by a flash of relief and -pleasure? Why the constant change of expression as she turned from -Prince Illehazy who sat on her right to the American who sat on her -left? The Princess was abnormally acute in the ways of her sex, and -with age she added to the sum of a knowledge born of much experience, -while forgetting nothing. It was towards the middle of the dinner that -her alarm faded, and she remarked to herself: “She is up to some game -or other. She is playing a part. But what an actress! Who would have -suspected--but no, has she not always been playing the parts demanded -of her rank? This is merely one of her own choosing. But what does it -mean? I must find out before I sleep to-night.” - -Ranata, to those who knew her well, had never looked so beautiful. -She wore white, for her colored wardrobe had not yet come, but the -low bodice of her gown had been trimmed with blue velvet flowers, and -there were sapphires on her neck instead of the usual pearls. Her -brilliant coppery hair was arranged with so many little sparkling -combs that it looked as if enmeshed in a diamond net; and almost -in front was a sapphire lily. She had adjusted her new manner to -perfection; while losing nothing of the dignity of the princess, -she was a girl delighting in the levity of the hour, a human being -conscious to the quick of unrestricted intercourse with lively and -intelligent minds. She joined in the general conversation as far as -was possible; pleasing and astonishing her guests with her intimate -knowledge of Hungarian affairs and the crisis of the moment--there is -always a crisis in Hungary--her subtly expressed sympathy, and her -constant intimate references to the mother and brother who had been so -beloved by this ardent and appreciative people. Her evident devotion -to the memory of her brother would have insured her popularity had -she reminded them less of him, been less attractive in herself. Those -within her range had no sense whatever of being entertained by royalty; -forgot the awful dinners they had sat through with their king; were -at exactly the same informal ease as when dining with each other. And -yet, so deathless is the reverence of the monarchical born for majesty -and all begotten of majesty; so insidious the flattery of those whose -souls are steeped in purple; that even these most independent of all -monarchists unconsciously swelled with a fuller enthusiasm for the -beautiful and gracious hostess, inasmuch as she commanded homage by -divine right. - -During the early part of the dinner Ranata was conscious only of the -buoyant atmosphere, the gay content of her guests, their versatility of -mind, their very evident admiration of herself, the smiling approval -of the beautiful women in the pink flood of the palm-and-flower-filled -gallery where the table was spread. It was her first taste of power, -and it was not only sweet but inspiring. Her own enthusiasm waxed high. -She felt expansive, democratic. Her ardent nature struggled with its -bonds. She felt a momentary impulse to tell them that she was happy for -the first time in her life, and felt as keenly as they the common bond -of human nature. - -She hardly knew when she began to feel the subtle difference between -the American’s homage and that of the great Hungarian magnates. For -some time her words with him were desultory, so much of her attention -was demanded elsewhere; but as the conversation at the long table -coupled, and the beautiful Roumanian, wife of Count Ábris Teleky, who -sat on the other side of Prince Illehazy, absorbed more and more of his -attention, she found her own consecutively claimed by Fessenden Abbott. -She had been content with the apparent impression her coquetry and -graciousness had made on the American, reflecting with arrogance that -there is nothing so dense as the vanity of man. It was not long before -she was made aware that Fessenden, if admiring, was not prostrate; that -sensible as he might be to her flattery, his head was still cool. But -it was not until they talked without interruption that she experienced -for the first time in her life the sensation of being a mere woman -talking to a mere man, and realized in a flash that she had spent the -early part of the evening in a fool’s paradise. Given to self-analysis, -she wondered at its fascination, for Fessenden’s attitude after the -Chardash had been intensely irritating. But every nerve in her had -been on edge during that extraordinary dance; however he had comported -himself at its finish would doubtless have served as a pretext for -opening a safety-valve among the sensations that were oppressing her. -To-night she was filled with good-will to all the world; she had -already sighed for democracy, and while she sighed again at the death -of an illusion, it was doubtless consistent to accept pleasurably a -momentary sensation of true equality. That this famous American, who -was beginning to appall the world with his resource, was dazzled by her -beauty and captivated by her charm, was apparent to whomsoever chose to -observe, but it was the surrender of man to his goddess; his eyes were -level, not upcast in the homage of courtier to princess. His masculine -vanity was flattered, no doubt, but by the woman, not by the daughter -of the Emperor of Austria. - -For a time the conversation was impersonal enough. “I hope you will -come to my ball,” the Archduchess had said, and then added with a -laugh--“That ball! How often its plans have been changed! The Princess -Sarolta thought that it should be given to the aristocracy alone, but -I have finally decided that all the members of Parliament shall be -invited, and all who have distinguished themselves in art and letters. -I am not very patient. I do not like doing things by degrees. You saw -Alexandra this afternoon? I told her to take you into our confidence.” - -“It is a very great scheme, and I am entirely at your disposal. But -what do you intend, in this instance, to do about the wives of your -untitled members? And the wives of your other distinguished guests who -do not come to court as a matter of course?” - -“Oh, the women cannot come. They do not expect it.” - -“They would be valuable allies.” - -“It is quite impossible. The women of the aristocracy would -rebel--would stay away from court, no doubt.” - -“I wonder. Court life in Hungary is very rare. Surely you are powerful -enough to set your own fashions.” - -But Ranata looked determined and unmoved. “I should lose much and gain -nothing. And, besides, I do not wish it. An empire is an empire, not a -republic. If I opened the gates, where would be the end? I should be -shaking hands with eight thousand people of an evening, like your poor -President.” - -“You would find that rather interesting. Your wild and picturesque -peasants--Hungarians, Roumanians, Wallachians, Servians, Croats, -Orthodox Jews, and what not--would come pouring in from their -fastnesses.” - -“I shall go to them in their villages. To hold a little court for them, -as it were, will be delightful. But here--it would be only to cheapen -myself.” - -“It would be a great victory gained if you could bring the members of -the Extreme Left to court. The Emperor cannot; but if you invited their -wives, no doubt you would conquer their prejudices--the wives would see -to that.” - -“Do you think I have given no thought to the Kossuths? I have my plan -of campaign. ‘Just you wait,’ as Alex would say.” She lifted her eyes -and looked directly at him; there was not even defiance in their rays. -“It has also been decided that although all the magnates and their -families will come in the national costume, only a hundred of the -younger will dance the Chardash. The older--the men at least--seem to -have lost nothing of their fire, but I fear apoplexy.” - -“It certainly requires the wind of youth. I suppose I shall not be -permitted to dance it,” he added discontentedly. “Whom shall you dance -it with?” - -She hesitated a perceptible half moment; then she answered, “I shall -not dance it at all.” - -He turned to her with a flash in his eyes, and her own dropped. “Allow -me to contribute an idea. Why not have it danced by peasants? Many of -the women have beautiful costumes, although they do not always wear -them; enough could be found, at all events. Bring them here--house them -in the servants’ quarters for two or three nights. Do not offer to pay -anything but their expenses. Ask them to come as a favor. Give them a -feast and dance of their own afterwards. All the peasantry of Hungary -will be delighted. Let your other guests dance the Chardash in their -own way afterwards. You would then please everybody. I suppose no one -has dared to tell you, but the women are by no means enthusiastic at -the prospect of having the breath whirled out of them; and many are -disappointed at not being able to wear their latest costumes from Paris -and Vienna.” - -“Ah! That _is_ the truth, I suppose.” She laughed. “The evolution of a -ball! One would think this was the first that ever had been heard of. -But I like your idea. Yes--it shall be. And only those who wish shall -dance the Chardash.” - -“Then,” said Fessenden quickly, “you can dance with me afterwards. I -have to wear some sort of a costume, anyhow.” - -She caught her breath, and again her anger rose. - -“It is customary,” she began haughtily, then paused, at a loss how to -word her rebuke. This was not only an American, but a sovereign in his -way, and her friend’s brother. She stole a glance at him. He had thrown -back his head, and was staring down at her with a glitter in his eyes -that made them seem peculiarly contracted. He looked more angry than -she felt. She lifted her head and said defiantly, “I shall not dance at -all.” - -“That is a great pity,” said Fessenden coldly, “for I never knew any -one to enjoy dancing more.” Then, as her face flushed and her own eyes -glittered, he added deliberately: “I have no intention of ignoring an -experience which I have lain awake more than one night to remember. -There is no reason why the subject should be taboo, and it makes an -absurd and annoying complication. Do you expect me to be eternally on -my guard lest I make a reference to it?” - -For a moment the Archduchess did not answer. Her next words must decide -the status of their future acquaintance, possibly would determine -whether they ever met again or not. There was no mistaking the gauntlet -he had thrown down: she was to take him on his own terms or not at -all. Should she? Should she? Her anger had ebbed in an unaccountable -manner. There was something very alluring in the prospect not only of -a new variety of homage, but of adventuring farther on the path of -liberty. Many changes had lifted their heads within her since her break -for comparative independence and her rapid victory. She was beginning -to perceive how fatally easy it is for women and nations to cross -the border between liberty and license. Four days ago she had made -an appalling addition to the limited sum of her experiences: she had -known for a few moments the intoxication of abandonment. The retrospect -had filled her with an alternate fury and delight. Woman-like she had -vented her wrath on the man; and he had commanded her waking thoughts -to the exclusion of the Austrian dynasty. Then, with the elaborate -subtlety of the feminine mind, she had persuaded herself that her -duty to her country demanded that she win the American from the man -who menaced the future integrity of the Austrian Empire; and, buoyed -up by the virtue of her cause, she had drawn him into the circle of -her influence, having first analyzed him into the abstract condition -of a curiosity. During the last half-hour she had quite forgotten -that virtue alone had summoned Fessenden Abbott to court; but as she -hesitated, fascinated, but doubting the policy of letting him eat the -fruits of victory, the devil, which sits on his tail in a corner of -every woman’s brain, plucked this virtue from its hook and flung it -into the light. - -She raised her brilliant powerful eyes to his and said sweetly: “You -have placed me in a position from which there are only two outlets. I -acknowledge myself defeated. What is it you would like to say about our -Chardash? I am quite ready to discuss it threadbare.” - -He laughed, but without annoyance, for she had uttered the words “our -Chardash” in a tone that gave him a sharp sensation of delight. “The -laurels are to you,” he said with commendable sobriety. “It is my turn -to acknowledge defeat. I shall never mention the subject again except -at your command.” - -She had accomplished her purpose, and should have been satisfied. -But she was filled with a sudden desire to hear all that he had left -unsaid. What had he wanted to tell her? How had he felt for her that -day? What did the memory mean to him? She cast about in her mind for -the words that would express a delicate and elusive query, to lead him -on, while not committing herself. But an interview with a Königsegg was -a simple matter beside playing with fire when the fire was actually -between one’s fingers; the hereditary game of coquetry was no guide. -Nonplussed, but unwilling to leave the subject, she bit her lip and -drew a long breath. - -“What are you sighing about?” asked Fessenden. - -“I am a woman and inconsistent.” - -“I know less about women than you do, so I can’t help you out--at all -events unless you tell me what is the matter with you.” - -“Alexandra is direct, but she has a great deal of subtlety!” - -“I haven’t a particle of subtlety. I’ll give a direct answer to a -direct question from anybody but a South American president or a -Chinaman. What is it?” - -“I don’t think I’ll tell you,” said Ranata hurriedly. “How I long to -hear all your adventures at first hand! Even listening to Alexandra, -I have held my breath. But we are going to have our coffee on the -terrace.” - -A few moments later, as the company was standing about the pillared -gallery behind the vines, the Princess Sarolta took Alexandra’s arm and -strolled with her beyond the others. - -“Why are you angry?” asked the watchful Obersthofmeisterin. - -“Ranata is trying to make a fool of my brother.” - -“You are making a fool of Zrinyi. Your brother has doubtless been -made a fool of before. I was afraid that Ranata was taking man--in -the person of your brother--as seriously as she has taken all life -heretofore.” - -Alexandra was on the alert at once. “You are quite mistaken,” she said -indifferently. “Ranata has a very particular reason for turning my -brother’s head. I promised, in a moment of enthusiasm, to help her. I -do not know that that would hold, but I am in a quandary. I want Ranata -to succeed in all that she has undertaken, but I do not want my brother -sacrificed.” - -“At your age tender consideration for a man is a characteristic! It -is one of the amusing reminiscences of age. When you have learned, my -child, how much they can stand--_enfin!_ I am relieved that it is this -way, for although I hope to have Ranata under my supervision when she -goes through the inevitable, yet I shrink from it--and there is little -I do shrink from! She would suffer quite horribly, because she must be -utterly without hope; even intrigue would be forbidden her--she has too -much at stake. But no! as well now as any time. As well your brother as -any man. He looks as if he would never _affiché_ a woman, he is not hot -of head, he knows the world--and lives on the other side of it!” - -“You are all wrong, Sarolta. Ranata is playing a game.” - -“The game is fire,” replied the Princess dryly. - - - - -XV - - -After that Fessenden took his tea--he detested tea--every day in -the Hungarian house. Sometimes the entire court was present, all -conforming to the English custom approved by their princess, except -the Obersthofmeisterin, who consumed glass after glass of iced -coffee, to the secret envy of the rest. Sometimes only the younger -ladies-in-waiting were present besides the Archduchess and Alexandra; -but even at dinner, to which he was frequently invited, Fessenden -rarely had a word alone with Ranata. Twice he had ridden with the court -to the summit of the Schwabenberg in the early morning, but he had been -obliged to content himself with observing the fine effect of flaming -hair among the sweeping branches of the acacia. - -If Fessenden had not long since come to the conclusion that it was a -waste of man’s valuable time to puzzle over the idiosyncrasies of any -woman, he would have wondered at the sudden change in the Archduchess’s -tactics. She had dropped coquetry as abruptly as she had assumed it, -and now treated him with a sisterly frankness which, in some respects, -was a curious imitation of Alexandra’s. The truth was that Ranata had -taken warning from an angry glint in her friend’s eye, although the -subject of Fessenden had been mutually avoided. Moreover, Ranata had -informed herself that the American’s friendship would doubtless be as -valuable to the House of Hapsburg as his love, and far easier for her -inexperienced self to manage. He had thrilled her unaccountably in -the Chardash, and startled and fascinated her later by his momentary -conquest of her will; but she had finally taken alarm, and when he -arose in her thought she wrote a letter to Count von Königsegg, or -demanded the company of her lively ladies-in-waiting. When she was -alone in bed she sternly reviewed the Hungarian programme, and forced -herself to plan for the subjugation of the Party of Independence. On -this question she had much correspondence with the minister; for she -had received more than one veiled command to let politics ostensibly -alone while exercising the purely feminine forces of attraction to bind -all parties in a common loyalty to the throne. This was not a difficult -task for a beautiful and intelligent princess within the circle of -her influence; but if a powerful band of enthusiastic Radicals chose -to keep themselves far beyond the outer edge of that circle, how was -she, hedged by every restriction, to cast her nets about them? She did -not regard Fessenden’s suggestion as feasible--not for the present -at least. If all else failed, however, she finally decided, with a -secret preference for following his advice, that she would summon the -most influential women of the aristocracy in secret conclave, and, -appealing to their patriotism, ask them to come forth temporarily from -their haughty exclusiveness and meet the women of the dangerous element -within the neutral shades of the palace. She had discussed this plan -with her mentor, and it had been agreed upon as a last resort. - -The enthusiasm and curiosity she excited among the masses were -sufficient to satisfy the most patriotic and feminine heart. Every day -from four to five she drove abroad, taking invariably the same route; -crossing the suspension-bridge and driving out the wide Andrássy _ut_ -into the Stefenia _ut_ of the park. All Pest seemed to tumble into the -streets and the footways of the bridge as she passed, and frequently -there was cheering. Beloved as her father was in Vienna, his people -showed him no further attention in public than a perfunctory salute; -and although in Hungary the masses cheered him during his brief visits, -it was much in the same manner as the American is enthusiastic over -any spectacle that varies the monotony of business. But that the -people of Budapest were not only genuinely delighted with this flower -of the Hapsburgs, but pleased and flattered that she chose to live -among them, was evident both by their spontaneous enthusiasm and its -reflection in the press. In all but the Radical newspapers there was a -daily chronicle of her doings, and gallant comment; the opposition had -nothing to say in her disfavor, and was evidently unsuspicious of her -motive in deserting Vienna for Budapest. - -One morning, persuaded by Alexandra, she entered a shop for the first -time in her life. It was a shop in the Vácri utcza, and she spent a -delighted half-hour to the greater delight of the sordid soul that -kept it. When she left it she was mobbed into her carriage by a throng -that impeded the traffic. She passed through the ordeal with such a -lack of condescension in her good-nature that even the women cheered -her, and there were murmurs of “Rudolf!” among their “_Élyens!_” When -driving past the waiting crowds in the street, instead of favoring her -admirers with the usual fixed smile and stately bow of bored royalty, -she inclined her head slowly, including many in one salutation, and -sometimes smiling in a manner that seemed both spontaneous and personal. - -And then, one other morning, accompanied only by the Princess Sarolta, -Fessenden, and Alexandra, she visited the Hall of the Deputies, the -Lower House of the Diet. The new Parliament building, that epitome of -Venice on the brink of the Danube, was unfinished, and both houses of -the Diet still met in the old buildings in the “Magnates’ Quarter.” -Ranata insisted upon sitting quietly in the diplomats’ gallery -for a time, and found much food for reflection. The magnates meet -irregularly; the Deputies daily while Parliament is in session, and -transact the business of the nation when not engaged in moving their -kings and pawns a square further towards independence. One finds no -type in Budapest, and these were men of many types. Few possessed -the famed Hungarian beauty, and the majority looked like energetic -business-men whose native fires were nicely balanced by determination. -They were curiously unmonarchical in appearance and atmosphere; and -the unenlightened stranger would have assumed without question that -they were the working body of an aggressive republic. The ministry, -striking-looking men, all of the Liberal party, sat in a semicircle -below the desk of the President of the House, and followed the -proceedings with evident cynicism. - -The President, one of the few nobles in the Lower House, was lecturing -the Party of Independence upon the inconvenient extreme to which it was -carrying its policy of obstruction. He sat aloft, and the beautiful -Magyar language rolled down, an impassioned yet monotonous torrent. The -constant interruptions from the Extreme Left in nowise disturbed it. -The “Young Kossuth party” acted much in the fashion of bad boys too big -for the ferrule. - -“They need Tom Reed,” muttered Fessenden. - -“They interest me very much,” whispered Ranata. “I have never seen -anything like them. Do they represent Hungary?” - -“That is what they are here for.” - -“Your House of Representatives--does it look more democratic?” - -“Only when it has its coat off and its feet on the desk.” - -“These men--why do they want William? Why do they want any king?” - -“The great body are not extremists. They know that Hungary is not ready -for independence--neither internally nor by her geographical position. -No country is surrounded by so many enemies--who hate her for that -obstinate individuality which has survived every reverse and threatens -to engulf themselves. The Hungarians would make their own terms with -William--and give him their help in smashing Russia.” - -“Is this matter the talk of Europe?” asked the Archduchess sharply. - -“Not of Europe, but of those who do the hard thinking.” - -“How could William smash Russia?” - -“He only needs the money.” - -“Ah! He promised his grandfather on the old Kaiser’s death-bed that -he would maintain friendly relations with Russia. It is a matter of -sentiment with him.” - -“Sentiment evaporates, and promises are nullified, when it comes to a -question of self-protection.” - -“Or ambition! Will he ever be able to get this money? The Reichstag -will not vote it, and the Socialists become stronger daily. How can he -get it?” - -“Well--he might raise the embargo on certain American industries, and -as a return favor they might advance him fifty million dollars or so.” - -“You know that is one of the few things he would not dare do. He cannot -afford to antagonise another party--he is as much of a politician as -your Roosevelt.” - -“Well, you see, success in a great war would bind all parties in a -common approval.” - -Ranata was a thorough European in the sinuousness of her methods; -but she recalled the picturesque advice of Alexandra to push a -fellow-diplomat into a corner and tell him “to speak out or get out.” -She fixed her disconcerting eyes on Fessenden and asked deliberately, -“Do you intend to give him this money?” - -Fessenden was not to be nonplussed by methods direct or indirect. -His sharp eyes met the strength of her gaze unmoved. “Can you keep a -secret? Yes? If the time ever comes when our interests seem one, I -shall let him have all the money he wants.” - -“That is the vagueness of diplomacy.” - -“I have no immediate intention of putting my hand in my pocket, if that -is what you mean. Nor is the time ripe for him to strike.” - -Ranata drew a long breath. To bridge an interval she asked, “Is it -true--I mean in your personal knowledge--that the Balkan states -would rally to him in case of a war with Russia--that they share the -infatuated notion that he is destined to be the savior of eastern -Europe--instead of ourselves!” - -“I am as sure of it as one can be of anything in Eastern politics.” - -“And this story I heard yesterday--that he is having his second son -taught Hungarian--is that true?” - -“I heard it in Berlin, but not from the Emperor.” - -For a moment Ranata hated him. Then she registered a vow anew, and -this time her chin seemed to absorb its firm pink flesh. She turned -to Fessenden pettishly. “I hate politics!” she said. “I shall play my -part here quietly, but there is no necessity to talk or even to think -about it, except when I am obliged to discuss some point with Count -von Königsegg. Of course, if you have advice to give me I shall be -grateful, but at other times please forget and let me forget that I -am an unhappy princess imagining I have the fate of an empire on my -shoulders.” - -“I am not in Hungary to talk politics.” - -Ranata lifted her eyes to his; they were both soft and dazzling. “Why -are you here?” she whispered audaciously. - -The fires in Fessenden flew to his head and flashed from his eyes, but -his voice if unsteady came to her ear distinctly. “If we are ever -alone for a moment I will tell you why.” - -Ranata received her first electric shock of passion. He had won again -and with her own weapons. Tumultuous delight, amazement, anger, rushed -through her brain. She clinched her hand in an attempt at self-control, -and it slipped from her knee and touched his. She recovered herself at -once. - -“One would think you were a Hungarian!” she said scornfully, oblivious -of the significance of her failure to comment upon the ancient ocean -that rolled between them. “They need only a spark, and are accustomed -to women who are always expectant of the language of love. From -Alexandra I have gathered that the American man has been too well -educated by his women to let himself go until he is sure he will not be -laughed at, and that he is greatly assisted by the national frigidity -of temperament.” - -“What you learn of the national temperament will be from me, not from -my sister.” - -Ranata was now fully alive to her rôle. That her being was still in -tumult, her brain alert with womanly curiosity, mattered nothing; she -would follow her programme to the end. If that end were unimaginable -for the woman, it was defined enough for the princess. - -“I should like to know one man in my life,” she murmured. “And you are -an American--the only one I ever could know, I suppose. I find the -prospect rather delightful. But you must not insist upon flirting with -me. It would be an unfair advantage--I am terribly unskilled.” - -“I have not the slightest intention of flirting with you. I have had no -time to learn the _a b c_ of flirtation. Nor do I waste my time.” - -“How long shall you stay in Hungary?” - -“I know less about that than you do.” - -“But you do not take long vacations. Surely, your enormous interests in -America--they must demand your attention before long.” - -“My enormous interests can--take care of themselves.” - -The blood ran up to Ranata’s hair. For a second she forgot her rôle. -She tasted the sweets of woman’s power for the first time, and wondered -at the barrenness of the regal. “Would you stay here if your great -fortune were in danger--if--” - -“I should stay here if the world went to smash.” - -Ranata became aware that Alexandra’s lips were at her other ear. -“Sarolta is going to sleep,” whispered the warning voice. “She will be -horribly cross. Hadn’t we better go?” - -The Archduchess rose. “Yes,” she said indifferently. “It is quite time. -And we have promised to go on the floor for a moment. The President has -left his seat. Doubtless he is coming to meet us.” - -A few moments later she was receiving the compliments of the ministers, -most of whom she had met while her father was in Budapest. She was -Archduchess of Austria and Princess of Hungary once more, touched with -the happy informality of her brother. The members of the press had -been requested to leave the room. The Deputies were standing at their -desks regarding her with deep attention, and she played to them quite -as much as to the ministers. She stood just beneath the elevated seat -of the President, and its sombre dignity made the proper background -for her noble height and brilliant hair. She wore a large black hat -and a gown of black velvet whose jacket opened over the white softness -of chiffons. The color was still in her cheeks, her eyes sparkled, -her short upper lip curved in a smile which was less gracious than -youthful, and revealed teeth whose like from time immemorial have -inspired man with longing and forgiveness. - -Her eyes wandered several times to the benches of the Extreme Left. -These men also stood at their posts. There was one who overtopped -his fellows by a head. This head was shaped like a cannon-ball and -surrounded by harsh black hair. His nose was short and thick, but the -face was strongly built and the small black eyes dashed beneath a -permanent frown. - -She turned to the President. “Who is that man?” she asked. - -“Molnár Lajos.” He gave the names in the Hungarian sequence. “He is one -of the most influential and violent of the Obstructionists, and gives -us far more trouble than the son of Kossuth.” - -“Present him to me.” - -The great Liberal magnate hesitated. He thought of his king and turned -pale. His eye sought that of the Obersthofmeisterin. She raised her -brows expressively and lifted one shoulder. The President, wondering, -for he had known Sarolta through many imperious years, turned and -walked over to the young Radical. For a moment it was apparent that the -disciple of Kossuth hesitated, but he had the courtesy of his race, and -he hardly could decline to meet even an archduchess whose smiling eyes -were not twenty feet from his. Moreover, she was young and beautiful. -He felt that an apologetic glance at his colleagues was unnecessary, -and a moment later he was bowing stiffly before the daughter of the -king he hated. - -Ranata began in the royal manner. “I found your remarks very -interesting. Do you speak often?” - -“My painful duty compels me to, your Royal Highness.” - -“Painful?” She looked at him with melting eyes. “Are you ill? Pardon -me--you look very strong.” - -“You misunderstand me.” (“I will not tag on your Royal Highness to -every sentence,” he registered.) “It is Hungary that is ill.” - -“Ah! Of course I know that you must refer to politics, Úr Molnár.” -The name of a man or woman, unexpectedly introduced, can be made the -vehicle of the subtlest flattery, of a half-timid hint of deepening -interest, may even foreshadow a caress. Ranata’s rich voice uttered -the commonplace name, with its long vowel, in a manner to mount to the -head of any man. Wholly unused to the effort to please, she would have -enjoyed this new exercise of power with all that was feminine in her -nature, had the dynasty been rooted in the fires of the earth. - -Molnár was young, he was barely thirty. He was ardent and susceptible, -and for the moment he was not in love. And although he hated the -House of Hapsburg as passionately as ever his great master had done, -still was he monarchical born; the soul that could hate kings and -love liberty was haunted by the ghosts of ancestors who had lived and -died in reverence of the Lord’s anointed. The poison was entering -his nostrils. If Ranata had looked like most princesses doubtless he -would have held sternly to his ideals. But she was the most beautiful -woman he had ever seen, and her ineffable air of breeding, her sweet -condescension, and the changing expression of her powerful eyes were -pumping the blood to his head. He made a final grasp for his politics -and his pride. - -“It is your happiness, madame, that you can afford to know nothing -about politics.” - -“Ah! I wonder if I can? I have been much enlightened to-day. Enough so -to understand your meaning. Should I not know more? Can any member -of my family afford to misunderstand this most important part of our -Empire? It is true that I am only a woman--but at least I have some -influence with my father. Will you not advise me?” - -“Your Royal Highness,” stammered Molnár. “Your Royal-- Yes, of course -you should understand our politics--would to Heaven that you did!” - -“Whom shall I ask? I am in a position to hear only one side. Ah!” Her -face was radiant. “You will come to the palace and give us a little -lecture. My ball is to-morrow night. We can arrange then for an hour -when you are not too busy to talk to us.” - -“I cannot go to your ball, your Royal Highness--none of the Left will -go.” - -“Not come to my ball? Why not?” - -“We never enter the palace.” - -“But my ball has nothing to do with politics. I am not your sovereign. -I have my father’s permission to live here this winter because my -American friend and I are so tired of Vienna, and I am so fascinated -by your city. I wish to enjoy Budapest, Úr Molnár. Is my winter to be -poisoned by party feeling?--of which I know too little. How illogical, -and how ungallant! You will come and bring your colleagues to-morrow -night? It is to be the great night of my life, and I am sure you will -not spoil it.” - -“I? Ah!” Once more he braced himself. “I am afraid there will not be -enough women to go round, your Royal Highness,” he said meaningly. - -“That was clever. But”--she spoke very softly--“wait. I cannot do -everything at once. I have an Obersthofmeisterin. Remember that you are -far more your own master than I am mistress of my acts.” - -As she finally dismissed the bewildered Obstructionist, she caught -Fessenden’s eye. It was twinkling with appreciation of a fellow-man’s -enslavement. Ranata saw in the twinkle approval of her manœuvres in -a great cause, and responded to the new chord of sympathy with all a -woman’s facile manufacture of subtle understandings with unconscious -man. - -“I feel somewhat of a Jesuit,” she said to him as they left the -building. “But it is success or failure, and I shall not fail.” - -“Your tactics are those of the man who wins. And I suppose you reason -that men will fall in love with you anyhow--that one more or less -doesn’t matter.” - -“That is an idea!” said Ranata. - - - - -XVI - - -After luncheon the two girls, by Alexandra’s manœuvring, were alone -in Ranata’s sitting-room. It was a very beautiful room now, with its -golden walls, its rich Oriental hangings and chairs. The windows -were open, and the Hungarian sunshine flooded it. Ranata sat in one -of the deep straight-back chairs so beloved of royalty, Alexandra in -a rocking-chair which had been upholstered to match the rest of the -furniture, yet was impertinent and incongruous. “There is only one -thing that will reconcile me to parting with you when you marry,” the -Archduchess had remarked when it arrived; “I can have a bonfire made -of all those ridiculous chairs.” And Alexandra had replied, “I will -convert you even to those before I die.” - -To-day neither was sensible of pleasantries. Alexandra’s face was -flushed, and the Archduchess, although her eyes were fixed absently on -Pest, and her profile might have been cut in stone, was bracing herself -for the coming conflict. Her subtle brain cleared and balanced its -parts. She was determined to lose neither her friend nor her friend’s -brother, and an ill-considered word might lose her both. She needed all -her resources, for no one understood her so well as Alexandra. - -“You know I never beat about the bush,” the disconcerting American -began. “You would think me a fool if I pretended any longer to be blind -to the fact that you are entangling my brother in order the better -to turn the tables on the German Emperor. If he were any one else’s -brother I should follow your course with pleasure--I was as delighted -as amused at your easy subjugation of poor Molnár this morning; for -I am, up to a certain point, heart and soul with you in this great -matter--but Fessenden is my brother.” - -“I wish he were not. Can you look at this matter dispassionately and -impersonally, Alexandra? Do you believe that I can succeed as well -without your brother?” - -“Possibly not. But I see no reason why any American, much less the -most useful young man in the United States, should be sacrificed to -the Austrian dynasty. If it were a matter concerning your happiness, -I might hesitate, for I love you as well as I do Fessenden; but when -patriotism goes into the balance with family affection, pride also -casts in a heavy weight.” - -“But why do you speak so surely of sacrifice? Men are always falling in -love with women, and always getting over it.” - -“I have thought a good deal in the last few days. If Fessenden fell in -love with you, he would have a hideous time getting over it--if he ever -did.” - -“If he fell in love with me? You do not think he has, then?” - -“He is in the first stage now. I suppose a man can get over that. But -quite aside from his feelings, I don’t wish to see him made a fool of.” - -“I have no desire to make a fool of him.” - -“I should like to know what you call it. Do not let us quibble. If you -cannot love my brother send him away.” - -“How would it help the matter if I did love your brother? I hope you do -not wish me any such unhappy fate as that.” - -“I wish only for your happiness. You know that from my point of view -the impossible is always possible. And it is not altogether the -American point of view. Heaven knows the Hapsburgs have adopted it more -than once. I hear that another of your illustrious cousins is about to -renounce his rights of possible succession, and his titles, in order to -marry an actress--or is it a girl in a chocolate shop?” - -“They are insignificant--they lose nothing but their titles and their -position at court, for which presumably they care nothing. And you know -my sorrow and disgust at all such poverty of self-respect and sense of -duty. We need not go over that old ground again. You know that with me -it would always be my house first. I should never consider myself for a -moment.” - -“Then send my brother away. He was an after-thought. You had made all -your plans to succeed without him.” - -“I am convinced that when William has made his Germany as strong and -prosperous--when he has fulfilled that first ideal of his reign--and -when my father is dead--he means to make war on Russia, and that your -brother means to furnish the enormous sum necessary. And if William -conquered Russia--” she waved her hands expressively. - -“It is by no means certain that William will conquer Russia. It is a -large order. The rest of Europe, to say nothing of England, would have -something to say about it.” - -“With the best part of Austria and all of Hungary at his back he could -snap his fingers at the rest of Europe. Without the interference of -Russia in 1849, Hungary would be a free state to-day, and she only -waits for her chance of revenge. Who knows what agencies are at work to -give reality to the Pan-Germanic movement the moment my father dies? -Bohemia might sympathize with Russia, but what could she do, hemmed -in as she is? Besides, the Slavs outside of Russia have little desire -to put themselves under the heel of the heaviest tyranny in Europe. -Most of them would prefer annexation with Germany, if only because the -German Emperor has learned the secret of prosperity. If he tempted them -with that inducement, you may be sure that only a Pole would hesitate -and stand out for complete independence. All this enthusiasm here for -William in Hungary is genuine enough, no doubt, but Budapest is as -active and ambitious as Berlin, and a ruler who could and would make -Hungary as rich and as successful, industrially and commercially, as -she should be with her resources and her enterprise, would be quite as -acceptable if he were less fascinating. And I will confess that I am -superstitious about William. I never raise my eyes to the heavens at -night that I do not fancy I see his star laughing at me. Indomitable -ambition has united Europe before. There is no sufficient reason why -it should not happen again. Before every great change of the world’s -map wiseacres have shrugged their shoulders at the impossible, and -the barriers have been solemnly pronounced impregnable. How easy it -all seems when one looks back upon it. And with your brother--perhaps -the United States--as his ally--great Heaven! If I were William I -should sleep serenely enough, in spite of all the antagonistic forces -in Germany itself. And he grows in tact. He has the brain to learn his -lessons.” - -“And it is your purpose to reduce Fessenden to such a state of idiocy -that he would give you his pledge to let William take care of himself? -Suppose he had already given his word to the Emperor of Germany? Have -you not seen enough of him to know that he is a man who under no -possible circumstances would break his word?” - -“I have seen enough to know that he is a man who would give the one -woman the world if she asked for it. It is not necessary to break -promises. There can be misunderstandings, quarrels, which leave men -mutually free of one another.” - -Alexandra drew her breath in and her brows together. She had hardly -expected such frankness, well as she knew the methods of diplomacy. -But she answered readily: “A man does not sacrifice his honor and his -friendship, and place the world at the feet of the adored object with -no hope of reward. Do you mean to say that you purpose to dazzle my -brother with the hope of ultimate success?” - -“No; it will not be long before we understand each other too completely -for that!” - -“What _do_ you mean?” - -A deep blush suffused Ranata’s face, and she stood up suddenly. “I -believe I shall love your brother,” she said distinctly. “I believe it -is my destiny as surely as it is that I was born to be useful to my -house. I have never seen another man who has touched--has interested -me at all. There has never been any hope in my heart that I should -not love sooner or later--perhaps no wish. Would you take this from -me--from him? Cannot you understand what a great love may mean to -natures like mine and your brother’s--that the earthly consummation -of love has nothing to do with its immortal part? Your brother did -not receive your letter asking him to come here. We met by the merest -accident--apparently!--and he interested me quite independently of my -ambitions, my purpose. If ambition and purpose had never been born I -should implore you as I do now to let him remain near me as long as -possible. I shall not relax in my determination to win him from the -Emperor of Germany, but there is so much in my soul to give! I shall -give it to him--and I believe he will be satisfied.” - -Alexandra, who had been repelled by the half revelation of purely human -passion, thrilled at the vision of poetic and spiritual love high on -the snowy peaks of Imagination. Ranata looked too exalted to kiss, but -the American girl was delighted to find the infrequent tears in her own -eyes. In a moment, however, her practical brain replied: - -“I don’t believe Fessenden is very sentimental. You will have to -educate him.” - -“He needs less education than you think.” - -“Of course you have already begun to idealize him. He is accustomed to -get what he wants. He loves obstacles--and he always surmounts them.” - -“I shall give him what he wants.” - -Alexandra considered. She had little regard for the ultimate wants of -men, had, indeed, given them slight consideration. But she knew that -man was extremely prosaic on the subject of matrimony, and she was -allured by the prospect of beholding her brother, purified of earthly -gross, standing alone on a lofty peak, wrapped in the chastity of -spiritual love. She shivered slightly, and Fessenden, somehow, seemed -to slip out of the picture; but it pleased her nevertheless, and it -was not unlike her own cool and romantic visions of Ranata’s future. -Besides, it was not necessarily final. There was always the possibility -that Fessenden, if induced to climb his peak, would stay on it only -long enough to create a scheme for the further and final subjugation of -Ranata. She answered after a moment’s thinking-- - -“You have put such an entirely different complexion on it! I should be -a fiend to betray you. William and Fessenden both know how to take care -of themselves. I’m frightfully interested, old girl, and I’ll never -turn a hair again.” - -When Ranata was alone she sat straight in her chair and stared hard at -the floor. “How much of that did I mean?” she said finally and aloud. -“How much! I wish to God I knew!” - - - - -XVII - - -Immediately after tea the Archduchess rose to leave the Hungarian -house, saying that she had letters to write, neglected in the morning. -She had included all in the slight explanation, but as she passed -Fessenden she raised her eyes irresistibly. He was looking as haughty -and distant as she was attempting to feel. Again their positions were -subtly reversed. - -“Would you like to see my new rooms?” she asked hurriedly. “I think -them very charming. Perhaps you will come up with Alexandra--in an -hour?” - -When she had gone Fessenden turned to his sister. “Wouldn’t you like -to walk about the garden?” he asked. “You do not take half as much -exercise as you should.” - -They did not walk far. As soon as they reached a rustic seat out of -sight of the others, and Fessenden had made sure there were no lurking -places for eavesdroppers, they sat down, and he began at once, as if -pursuing aloud the current of his thoughts-- - -“The great uncle, Frederick William IV., of the Emperor of Germany was -mad, and there has been no suggestion of insanity in the family since. -That disproves not only the alternate generation theory, but that -insanity is necessarily persistent.” - -“What on earth are you driving at?” - -“A good many things have kept me awake at night lately, and one of them -is the uncomfortable number of lunatics in the royal and ducal families -of Bavaria.” He added deliberately: “I mean that the late Empress, and -her cousins, Ludvig II. and the present Otto, seem to hover ever behind -the Archduchess Ranata, three black and stalking ghosts.” - -“I thought you knew your Europe.” - -“I have no time to waste in analyzing court gossip. But do you mean to -say that these three were not mad?” - -“Elizabeth was no more mad than I am, and the other two lost their -minds through specific causes. If I don’t know anything else, I know -the facts about every royalty in Europe; I have been brought up on -them.” - -“Well, explain,” said Fessenden impatiently. “And don’t let your -loyalty and your imagination run away with you.” - -“You must have learned that the commonplace world always revenges -itself on an unusual character by believing it mad. Doubtless you have -been called mad yourself. It is only recently that people have resigned -themselves to the sanity of the German Emperor. Elizabeth hated the -footlights as much as he loves them, and publicity has readjusted him -to the common estimate. The ever-increasing seclusion of her life -deepened the mystery and the gossip, and both confirmed those who were -not in a position to learn the truth, in the belief that an empress -who spurned a throne must necessarily have lost her wits. At the other -extreme are psychic enthusiasts--over here in Europe--who already have -begun The Legend of Elizabeth. A legend of some sort was inevitable, -for she was royal, beautiful, unhappy, mysterious, and died a violent -death. These enthusiasts knew as little of her personally as the world -in general, but their imaginations are of finer fibre, and there was -much in this lovely and romantic figure to appeal to them. No doubt, a -hundred years from now Elizabeth will be one of the most irresistible -figures of the past to the poet and the romancer, for the legend that -the members of this cult have set on foot will grow and strengthen -daily. Their belief is that she was one of those rare beings who are -too exalted for human contact, and that the development of her natural -superiority was one of the most remarkable in the psychic history of -mortals. Profoundly imbued, according to them, with the doctrine that a -man should develop his personality at the expense of every duty, every -affection, of kin or subject, she withdrew herself more and more, not -only from the world, but from her husband and children, that she might -devote her thoughts only to what was beautiful, live the inner life -alone, and develop her personality in a manner possible to most people -only after they have cast off the flesh; that her sensitiveness in time -became so great that contact with common mortals was unbearable. That -is the legend, and, mark my words, before a century has passed she will -be painted with a halo about her head. It will be only the glamour of -royalty, but the world will never suspect that. - -“This is the truth of the matter--like all truth, to be found midway -between two extremes of belief: Elizabeth was a simple creature, -bright, sweet, lovely, but, although highly accomplished, moderately -gifted in the matter of intellect and strength of character. Nature -never intended her to mount a throne. She should have married for love -a man who would have been faithful to her, and lived a life without -the ostentation and public duties she hated, a life that would have -been filled with all the refined pleasures. Instead of that the poor -child was suddenly shot from her simple country home, where hardly -a whisper of the world and its ways had reached her, up to the most -formal and exacting throne in Europe. Here she was not only tormented -by her mother-in-law, but by the rapidly waning love of her husband, -to whom at that time she was much attached. She was too young and -too undisciplined to accept her fate with philosophy; nor did she -ever develop the strength of intellect and character which enables a -disappointed woman to conquer life. Life conquered her, poor thing; -as a queen and a woman she was a failure. First, while she was very -young, she ran away and sulked for several years. She returned, but -only to absent herself more and more from a life which she detested -increasingly. It is quite true that she loved the beautiful things of -this world--art, music, literature--above all, nature. In many ways -she was an exquisite creature, and in these congenial resources she -found much compensation for the constant unhappiness and the terrible -tragedies of her life. Every person of refined tastes cares less and -less for the world as he grows older. When the most excruciating -disappointments crown this natural tendency, and there is not ambition -to dominate experience, then most men and women of Elizabeth’s age -live much the same sort of life that she did; and the world knows too -little about them to call them either mad or psychic phenomena. So -much for Elizabeth--and let no one grudge her success in legend as a -compensation for the failure of her life. - -“As to Ludvig--” - -“A moment,” interrupted Fessenden, “what of Rudolf?” - -“Rudolf had suffered frightfully from headaches for several months -before he died, brought on by the dissipations into which he plunged to -drown the miseries of his life. He was one of the most rarely gifted of -the Hapsburgs, from the first Rudolf down; he had no responsibilities -to occupy his brilliant and restless mind; he had a great weakness for -women, and they pursued him; his domestic life was wretched; he sought -oblivion in every possible way, and the autopsy proved that he had -unhinged his brain. He undoubtedly killed himself in a wild moment of -intolerable _ennui_ and disgust. That Marie Vetsera was present adds -little to the significance of his death. It might as well have been -any other woman, and Rudolf was incapable of the pathos of a romantic -suicide. As to his insanity, it was not congenital; and there was no -sign of it before he gave himself up to his last dissipations. - -“Ludvig was born with no other screw loose than an inordinate -admiration of himself and the actor’s disposition to startle the world -from the centre of the stage. All little kings--and some big ones--have -a disproportionate idea of their own importance; and to realize the -extreme point to which Ludvig, after his brain became clouded, carried -this not unnatural delusion, you have only to visit his castle of -Neu-Schwanstein and look at the throne room. It was not even built -before Bavaria became a mere state of the German Empire, and yet it has -the proportions and the splendor suitable for one of the three or four -great monarchs of the earth. And this, not in his capital, but in one -of his many castles! But Ludvig’s passion for beauty, his patronage of -Wagner, and the splendid monuments he has raised in Bavaria to his -own artistic genius, make him quite worthy of the inevitable legend. -If you will look at his photographs, even those taken after he became -gross and had suffered from many attacks of insanity, you will see -that his eyes were always the eyes of the idealist. It was to this -very idealism that he owed his insanity. Above all others was the -monastic ideal of chastity, but he did not have the self-denial to live -on monastic fare; and he was a king, and there was everything in his -life to give his brain and imagination a preternatural activity. The -consequence was periodical attacks of insanity, and the accentuation of -his original peculiarities; towards the end, no doubt, he was vicious -enough. The same thing might happen to any American, although, of -course, centuries of interbreeding render the brain more susceptible to -abnormal conditions. So much for Ludvig von Bayern, who in his youth -was beautiful enough to demand from the very canvas absolution for -all his vanities. As for poor Otto--recall all you know of the Duc de -Reichstadt--I mean the young man of history, not of fiction.” - -Fessenden rose and thrust his hands into his pockets, staring at the -ground. In a moment he raised his head and made the motion of flinging -a load from his shoulders. - -“Is that all that has worried you?” asked Alexandra curiously. - -“Yes,” he said, “that is all.” - - - - -XVIII - - -A few moments later a lackey informed them that her Royal Highness had -finished her letters, and they went up to the private apartments of the -Archduchess. She received them in the writing-room, the first of the -suite, whose windows looked down upon Pest only. It had been panelled -and hung with blue brocade, almost as bright as the cornflower, and -the furniture and woodwork were white and silver. It was handsome and -stately and stiff. - -Fessenden wandered about for a time looking at the miniatures; the -Archduchess, apparently in her most gracious mood, and somewhat amused -withal, moving beside him and giving him little biographical notes. -There was one of Maria Theresia before the flesh rolled out, and the -face and poise of head were full of young pride and indomitable will; -but this artist, like his fellows, had failed to demonstrate the -beauty with which the historian accredits her. Several of the men and -women had the terrible Hapsburg mouth, but their eyes were genial, and -they looked like kindly simple folk. Most of the Bavarians had some -degree of beauty, although the young women all wore that meekness of -expression which would seem to be the pertainment of the inconspicuous -females of reigning houses. The lovely face of Elizabeth, with its -strange and disconcerting shadow of perpetual girlhood, looked from -several of the bits of porcelain and ivory. There were two of Ranata -herself, one in haughty profile, the other with eyes cast down, but, -by cunning art, suggesting a swift uplifting of lash and a blaze -beneath. The bosom also looked about to heave, the throat to swell. The -artist evidently had caught her in some mood of self-repression and -penetrated the mask she wore so well. Fessenden studied it for a moment -in silence, then turned and looked at her sharply. Again the subtle -delight of being understood stirred in Ranata, who had yet to learn -that the truly masculine man never understands a woman, and has only -a fleeting desire to do so when anxious or uncomfortable. She colored -slightly and turned her head away. Its movement happened to be in the -direction of the door leading into the sitting-room. Fessenden’s eyes -followed here, and he gave an exclamation of rapture. - -“Do I see a rocking-chair?” he exclaimed--“a rocking-chair?” - -Ranata experienced the first pang of her new condition; but deep -among the complexities of her womanhood was that indulgence for man -which carries so many of her sex through the shoals of amazement, -disappointment, and weariness, into the calm waters of philosophy. To -this instinct, as much as to pride, might be attributed her ready words -and hospitable smile. - -“I suppose it is many weeks now since you have seen one--unless you -have happened to notice Sarolta’s? This is Alexandra’s most cherished -possession, but I am sure she will lend it to you for a few moments.” - -“Yes, indeed,” quoth Alexandra. “I will write a note here, if I may.” - -Fessenden started for the rocking-chair, but branched abruptly to -the window. “Ah!” he exclaimed, “it is finer from here than from the -garden--there are too many trees there. The Margarenthen-Insel looks as -frivolous and unhistoried as any pleasure island in America, and that -downward sweep of the mountain is very like the Adirondacks.” - -“Are Americans disappointed when they find the incomparable in Europe?” -demanded the Archduchess dryly. “I asked a lady of one of your -Embassies once how she liked Vienna, and she said she liked it very -much, but she did so miss her back-yard.” - -Fessenden laughed heartily. “Doubtless her husband’s post was a -Christmas present from an appreciative President. You know something of -our politics, so I need not explain.” - -It might be said of Ranata that she paraphrased a famous saying of -Mark Twain’s and had adopted the version as her safeguard: “When in -doubt talk politics.” She stood beside Fessenden and regarded him with -contemplative admiration. “You have done so much,” she said, as if -considering. “Why do not you give your country a new code of political -morals?” - -“The pigeon-holes of my country are stuffed with codes of regeneration. -The United States must dree its weird, and suffer the penalty -of springing full grown from the brain of the old civilization. -Several things may happen, however, before she is many years older: -a revolution, which will let out the bad blood and bring what -best elements are left to the surface; a collapse of our worst -institutions through sheer rottenness; or a sudden awakening of the -public conscience. That may happen at any moment, for all our history -has proved that you can try an American so far and no farther. The -sensationalism of the press has accustomed them to almost anything, -from daily lynchings to the unblushing politics of their Presidents; -but there is always the last straw, and I await the falling of that -straw with considerable hope. I no longer remonstrate; on the contrary, -I give a helpful shove whenever I can do so unobserved--and I have my -men in Congress and State legislatures. They may not be first-class -men, but they are intelligent, and they obey my orders.” - -“You are a bit of a Jesuit.” - -“It is a valuable lesson I have learned in your Europe. Besides, I want -the crisis to come in my best years. Even my father could not grapple -with it now; and as this crisis was what I was born for and raised for, -you will admit that it is my duty to use every faculty and whatever -methods the peculiarities of my country demand.” - -“We are not the only ones who think ourselves heaven-born,” murmured -Ranata. - -“True, but your inspiration and mine spring from sources as asunder -as the poles. A fool ascends a throne, with no more than enough wit -to sign his name, with not an impulse for progression, not an idea -with which to keep his state abreast of the other great nations of -the earth, with perhaps every folly that will scuttle her unless a -revolution or Heaven intervenes; and yet there he is, half his length -above other men, braver, infinitely more intelligent men, who accept -him without protest and never forget to flatter. His masses endure him -without question, unless he push them to extremity, and often then. Can -you wonder that he believes the Almighty placed him on that throne for -some inscrutable purpose, or that his people believe it, knowing that -they would have selected almost any one else? With us a man blunders -along through square holes and round holes until he finds the one that -fits him, and then he settles down and attends to business. I had the -superior advantage of being trained for a specific purpose by one of -the most remarkable men living, and I have inherited enough of him to -make the consummation possible. I ‘found myself’ earlier than most men -do, and I have been finishing my education ever since. I know where I -stand and what I can do. My final accomplishment, of course, depends -entirely upon circumstances. My best effort now is to make myself ready -to meet any contingency whatever, and to leap swiftly to its mastery.” - -Ranata turned her head and regarded him intently. “If I did not -know you so well through my intimacy with Alexandra,” she said, “I -should find it difficult to believe that patriotism with you was a -consuming passion. You have so much carelessness, boyishness, in your -manner--and--you are so practical!” - -“If I tore about like a raging bull I might accomplish notoriety, but I -certainly should accomplish nothing else. And the secret of the failure -of the ‘reformers’ of the United States is that they have the ideals -and the political bosses have the sense.” - -She asked irresistibly, “If it ever came to a choice between your -country and a woman, what would be the result?” - -“No such question will ever arise.” - -“No?” - -“Certainly not. Do you think so meanly of my resources as that?” - -“But circumstances are sometimes stronger than men.” - -“Some men.” - -Ranata had let her arm drop to her side; her hand was not an inch from -Fessenden’s. Both were acutely aware of the magnetic temptation of that -nearness; for a second all their being seemed to have surged into their -finger-tips. Fessenden’s curved rigidly inward. His brain was still in -control, and he was accustomed to play a careful and far-seeing game. -Her hand fluttered towards his; then she swung about abruptly. - -“Why don’t you sit in your rocking-chair?” she asked with a nervous -laugh. “I must turn you out directly; it is nearly time to dress.” - -Fessenden marched to the chair, and rocked himself for twenty minutes -with every appearance of content. Alexandra came in from the next -room, and they talked of the ball of the following night and of other -impersonal things. The peasants had come and were housed, and a -remarkable band of gypsies had been found in Transylvania. Fessenden, -who was dining in Pest, rose regretfully at seven. - -He smiled down upon Ranata and shook her hand slightly. “Can I come up -here again?” he asked. “I like it much better than any other part of -the palace.” - -“Perhaps,” said Ranata, smiling, but angry at the quick response within -her to the warm and personal attitude of the lordly male. “You have had -your own way too much. I think you need disciplining.” - -Alexandra was retiring through the outer room. Fessenden raised the -hand he held and pressed his lips to it twice quickly. “I am humblest -of your slaves,” he said unsteadily. - -“No you are not!” replied Ranata almost as unsteadily. “And I wish you -would go. I have never been late for dinner in my life.” - -When she was alone she turned her eyes to the rocking-chair; then, -after a manifest effort in another direction, she moved slowly towards -it, regarded it impatiently, tenderly, then sank slowly into its -embrace and dropped her head against the cushion. - - - - -XIX - - -The palace at Buda to-day (restored by Maria Theresia) is chiefly -remarkable for the imposing beauty of its exterior; within, the severe -elegance of its walls and furniture conveys not a hint of the ornate -luxury, the gorgeous magnificence of the palace of the fifteenth -century, during the reign of Matthias Corvinus, son of John Hunyadi, -the period in which Hungary commanded the admiration and homage of -Europe. - -Not content with the reputation of a soldier second only to that of his -great father, Matthias, ascending the throne at the age of fifteen, -and giving immediate evidence of intellectual and governing qualities -of a rare precocity and order, quickly ripened into a scholar and the -most liberal patron of the arts in the world of his day. This great -and singular man, who on the battle-field endured the hardships of -the meanest of his soldiers; who, disguised, entered the camp of his -enemies again and again, or calmly took his observations amid a rain -of bullets and spears, whose justice passed into a proverb, and who -was a rigorous administrator of finance, had a love of luxury, matched -by no contemporary, that would have sapped the energies of another -man, and a delight in purely intellectual pursuits and discussions -that rounded one of the most versatile and grandly equipped characters -known to history. He established and personally disciplined a body -of foot soldiers--the Black Troop--modelled upon and equal to the -famous Janissaries of Turkey, conquered the Czechs, and captured -Vienna, driving out Frederick, the German Emperor, forcing him to take -refuge in a wagon drawn by oxen, and to beg from convent to monastery -like any common mendicant. The court of this ardent soldier became -the rallying-ground of scholars and artists, who not only lived on -his bounty, but were raised to the highest positions in the royal -household. He spent his hours of leisure in day-long arguments with -the scientists and savants who had deserted all other courts for this -most enlightened and fascinating of monarchs, or lying at ease on a -couch covered with a golden tapestry embroidered with pearls, in one -of the most splendid libraries that any mortal has ever possessed. -This library, sacked with the rest of the palace by the Turks after -the battle of Mohács, was contained in two immense rooms, whose walls -were covered with carved shelves of precious woods and tapestries of -velvet embroidered with gold. The books, collected by Matthias, and in -many cases written for him, numbered ten thousand. They were inscribed -on white vellum, illuminated by the most accomplished masters of the -art, and bound in colored skins set with precious and semi-precious -stones. On the cover of each volume was a miniature of Matthias and his -coat-of-arms. The furnishings of the Palace of Buda, its objects of -art, many made from gold or silver and of a great size, the tapestries, -the pleasure-rooms, the hanging gardens of his several palaces, were -marvels of beauty and costliness; and the embassies which he constantly -sent to the various courts of Europe so surpassed the efforts of other -monarchs in extravagance that his resources of wealth alone struck -despair to the hearts of those who may have meditated an assault upon -his kingdom. When about to take a second wife, Beatrice, daughter of -the King of Naples, the splendors and luxuries of Buda were augmented -two-fold; and on the day of the wedding the great hall of the palace, -in addition to its silken hangings interwoven with gold and precious -stones, its tapestry of sheer gold, its thousand vessels of silver, -its golden service chased with the history of the world, silver casks -of wine were suspended from the ceiling, and a huge silver fountain -spouted the choicest and costliest of all wines, the Tokay of Hungary. - -The manuscripts in their jewelled cases, the thousand objects of -barbaric magnificence, were gone forever. There was no modern art that -could simulate them, even could craftsmen be found with patience for -the attempt; but Ranata had persuaded the Emperor to send to Buda some -twenty of the superfluous Gobelins which the Hapsburgs have retained -throughout their vicissitudes. Her argument had enlivened the mood of -her father, and raised still higher his hope in his youngest born. - -“The Hungarians,” Ranata had written, “no doubt resent the very obvious -fact that there are so few treasures in the Palace of Buda, and, -knowing that our tapestries are packed away in large numbers, and are -as priceless as they are beautiful, must infer that we fear to trust -them in this most precarious of our possessions. So it has seemed to -me that it would be another stroke of diplomacy to send several of the -best, with the understanding that they are to remain here. It is a -small yet impressive sum to stake as an expression of our confidence in -ourselves and our Hungarian subjects.” - -The tapestries had been promptly despatched, and now hung in the four -circle rooms opening into the Great Hall of Ceremonies, and in the blue -drawing-room and adjacent dining-room. These rooms, as well as the -long suite down the front of the palace, were recalled for the night -of the ball from their arctic splendors by a lavish adornment of palms -and flowers, and in several of the smaller rooms the lights were pink. -Modern as it was, the Great Hall itself, with its panels, like lakes of -liquid gold, its heavy incrustations of yellow bronze on the brilliant -white of the wood, and its immense chandeliers, with their thousand -points of light, was too perfect in its way to gain aught from the -past, nor did Ranata add so much as a flower. - -It had been decided that Prince Árpád Nadasdy, an aged magnate and -close friend of the Emperor, should wear the royal robes of Matthias, -as neither political nor sentimental significance could be attached to -his impersonation. The old Prince was far closer upon senility than -his king would ever be, and addicted to long nights of Csendes, at -the Nemzesi Casino, the club of the magnates, where he had left all -of a once large income not absorbed by the turf; but he had ordered -his costume of a long-suffering tailor, and vowed, over the hand of -his beloved princess, that he would give the final touch of reality -to the scene. As Matthias had died in his prime, and was possessed -of a classic beauty, Prince Nadasdy, who did not number vanity among -his vices, had announced his intention to wear a flowing fair wig and -a beard, although the fine outline of Matthias had been shaved on the -battle-field. The piercing glance of that monarch no art could coax -into the bleared orbs of the old magnate, but he still had a figure -of majestic height and carriage, and in spite of dissipations he had -preserved its slimness. He was to wait at the upper end of the Throne -Room until Ranata, who was to impersonate Beatrice of Naples, dressed -for the first time in the national costume of her lord, should have -made, in her own character, the perfunctory round of greeting among her -assembled guests. He would then stand at her side at the lower end of -the hall while the peasants danced the Chardash, and afterwards walk -with her through a _quadrille d’honneur_. - -At nine o’clock on the night of the ball the great company was -assembled in the Hall of Ceremonies awaiting the entrance of the -court, but the aged Matthias had not made his appearance. In that -splendid scene, however, he was not missed, and every eye turned -constantly towards the door beyond the second circle-room which led -to the private apartments of the Archduchess. Many had not yet seen -her, or but in glimpses, and by this time curiosity had risen to fever -pitch. The women as well as the men were in the eccentric splendor of -their national dress, and although it varied little in cut, fancy and -extravagance prevailed in the materials of the low bodice, the apron, -and the voluminous skirts; and bodice, neck, and arms were almost -obliterated by the big dull uncut jewels and heavy chains which, with -the ancient costumes of velvet and satin, embroidered and brocaded with -a lost art, neither time nor poverty has been able to drive from the -chest of the Hungarian. The magnates wore, although lightly, their -velvet cloaks, fur-lined, embroidered with jewels, and carried their -plumed kalpags in one hand. - -The men distinguished in art and letters, without jewels or hereditary -costume, still made a fine showing in the silk-and-velvet dress of -the retainers of the court of Matthias, but the greater number of the -deputies, in their fierce Hungarian pride, had chosen to wear the -military uniform of that period, which included a short braided jacket -and a velvet cloak of some brilliant color. - -The young girls, although in attire less imposing than that of their -mothers and married sisters, were quite as picturesque, and their -white gowns rested the eye in that blaze of color. Each house had -contributed a young son who wore the purple velvet, the golden chain, -and the golden network on their heads of the ambassadorial youths of -King Matthias. These pages stood in a double file along the two circle -rooms leading to the apartments of the Archduchess. In the high gallery -that traverses the hall a military band played softly. Beneath, in the -arcade, a double gypsy band awaited their turn and eagerly observed the -historic scene. Behind them, erect against the wall, as dignified and -impressive as the greatest of the nobles, were the peasants who were to -dance the Chardash. Their presence was a surprise to all, and they had -inspired almost as much conversation as the royal hostess herself. - -That conversation was very animated, at times quite shrill, for the -Hungarians, as lively by temperament as the American, were more excited -to-night than they had been during the visit of William of Germany. The -excitement during his entertainment had been, with slight exception, -confined to the men, but there was not a woman in the palace to-night -who did not feel a flutter at her heart and a shortening of her breath. -Not only was Ranata is appearance and manner their ideal of what a -princess should be, and the daughter of a queen and the sister of -a prince they had worshipped, but they stood in expectation of the -initial moment of a court life which promised to be more brilliant than -anything in Europe, might indeed revive the gay splendors of the days -when their fathers had been the greatest aristocracy in the world--when -the Hapsburgs were robber barons and the Hohenzollerns unknown. That -this should be given to them who had been starved of court life, that -those who were too impoverished to leave their entailed homes and go -to Vienna should now cherish the prospect of constant functions, and -many private entertainments in the palace, filled every feminine heart -with a sense of enchantment, and gratitude to this fairy princess -who had dared to have an idea. They were prepared to love as much as -they admired her, and jealousy had entered few souls, in spite of the -extravagant admiration of the men. Many of the women, indeed, were -beautiful enough to spare themselves envy, and those who were neither -handsome, nor yet pretty, had sufficient cleverness and animation to -keep their little courts together. - -Alexandra had decided not to enter in Ranata’s wake. Having none of -that unwisdom which permits a wound to self-love that a grievance may -be nursed afterwards, nor yet affinity for the rôle of the humble -follower, she was always careful not to be placed in any position by -her exalted friend that might rankle too late in her brain. She had, -therefore, entered the room early, under the chaperonage of Princess -Nadasdy, and Zrinyi, as ever, hovered close. He was a beautiful object -in his thick gold embroideries, his plum-colored velvet cloak, his -buttons and his chains; and Alexandra, in the dull-rose costume with -its old-lace veil and apron, lent her by the ambitious Zápolya, -excited his approval to such a degree that once more he poured his -impassioned avowal into her ears, and begged her to accept the chests -of his grandmother as well as himself. - -“Are they at your castle in the Alps?” asked Alexandra. “How can I -decide such a question when I do not yet know whether that castle -is sufficiently romantic to meet my most exacting taste? Like all -Americans, Count, I am a connoisseur in castles; and how can I be sure -that your grandmother’s clothes will fit? Besides, I am a monomaniac on -the subject of microbes.” - -Zrinyi, if he did not yet understand her, was by this time sufficiently -seasoned to accept her sallies with neither sulks nor despair. -Perceiving that she was in a frivolous mood he changed the subject. - -“Are you not glad to be here to-night?” he demanded. “To play a part? -Who knows what may be the result of the extraordinary impression -the Princess has made? I feel that to-night she will either make -a--a--portentous impression or disillusionize us altogether.” - -“Great moment in the history of Hungary?” asked Alexandra mischievously. - -The Count flushed, but laughed. “Yes,” he said defiantly. “I seldom -have presentiments, but when I do--I shall not give you another chance -to laugh at me. I do not see Mr. Abbott. Was he not to come with Prince -Nadasdy? I hope nothing has happened to our king of to-night. He was -not very sober last evening at the club. I have not seen him to-day, -and hoped he was in bed building himself up for the ordeal.” - -“I have not seen my brother since yesterday--he sent word this morning -he could not come to tea; but I know of no one so well able to take -care of himself. Still I am surprised, for he should be here before the -Princess enters. Even he would hardly dare to arrive afterwards. Have -you seen him?” - -“Only this morning in the park, where I happened to be rather early. -Perhaps he went off for a day in the country; I fancy he is tired of -being stared at. He excites as much attention as the Princess, and -he told me last night that he is persecuted by all sorts of men with -business schemes, to say nothing of those who expect him to instruct -them in the art of getting rich. I find something picturesque myself -about his unimaginable wealth, combined with the fact that he is a -gentleman and young; but I admire more his achievements, and I am very -proud to be one of the many to do him honor in Hungary.” - -Then Alexandra gave him a dazzling smile, and moved a step closer. “You -are so much more sensible than you were!” she whispered. “I feel as if -you owed as much to me as to your mother. Who knows what may happen if -you continue to improve?” - -“I know that American girls say things that in any other women would -indicate a small amount of heart and soul. It is safe to assume that -you mean nothing you say.” - -“Think of the reserve force, lacking in your emotional woman! I may -not give much at a time when I marry, but I shall have enough left to -spread over a lifetime.” - -He laughed. “At least I don’t delude myself that you are a poet in -disguise. Well, I only ask that you marry me and let me begin your -education. You may also continue mine.” - -“You really are improving--” began Alexandra, when with the rest of the -company she fell silent. The staff of the Grand Chamberlain smote the -floor three times. - -The doors of the private apartments opened, and the officers of the -court appeared, walking backward. As there was no throne, they took -up their position on either side of the entrance to the Hall of -Ceremonies. And then Ranata entered. - -She entered alone, although her ladies followed a moment later. As she -walked slowly down the two circle rooms, empty but for the pages, the -great company, in curious excitement, which they attributed afterwards -to the complete illusion she produced, thronged towards the entrance of -the hall, breathing shortly and crowding each other without ceremony. - -Her appearance and her solitary progress between the ranks of bowing -pages in their rich mediæval costumes, was as startling in its historic -naturalness as in its stately and picturesque beauty. The full skirts -of her gown were of a material so fine as to be almost invisible, -covered with embroidery in pearls and silver thread, and flounces of -point-lace. The bodice, sloping outward from waist-line to shoulders, -was of pale blue velvet, half covered with lace, and roped together -across the black tulle of the under-bodice with strands of large -pearls. The court train of blue velvet was lined with lace instead of -ermine--thus increasing the ethereal effect of the whole costume--and -embroidered with black ravens holding a golden ring in the beak--the -emblem of John Hunyadi. Her hair fell to her knees in thick ropes wound -about with strands of pearls, two traversing the front of her figure, -the rest half hidden by the veil which hung from a tiara almost as high -as the Pope’s. On her neck and arms were many pearls. The brilliant -fairness of her skin, the flaming copper of her hair, the intense -blackness of her brows and lashes, the regularity of her features, and -the majestic beauty of her figure, combined with her royal state, the -enchantment of her condescension as a daughter of the coldest house -in Europe, and her bewildering presentment of the daughter of the -Anjous, induced one moment of silence so profound that it was almost -hysterical. Then Zrinyi lifted his kalpag and cried “_Élyen!_” and in -another moment the vast company, from Prince Illehazy, most dignified -of magnates, to the most truculent deputy in the room, were stamping -their feet and shouting “_Élyen!_” until the chandeliers trembled, and -their lights were reflected in the jewels on the waving kalpags. Even -the peasants and gypsies forgot their humble rôle and broke in with -abrupt discordant cries, the Roumanians shouting “_Setreasca!_” And -then all united in one great “_Vivat!_” It was a tribute as portentous -as it was spontaneous, for it had been accomplished by the art without -words. - -For an instant Ranata felt a sensation of tumultuous faintness, but -she walked on slowly, not relaxing the mask of her face, except for -a graceful smile of acknowledgment. Then she was possessed by an -exhilaration which sent the blood through her veins like spirits, -and in her brain was a confusion of feminine and patriotic delight, -insolent triumph over the man who had worked harder than she to make -these walls ring, and an emotional melting towards one whose face she -did not see in that worshipping throng. It had been arranged that -the distinguished American should attend King Matthias as captain of -the “Black Troop,” and although his place for the moment was at the -head of the throne room beside the King his height should make him -noticeable even in the confused breaking of ranks. But Ranata’s eyes -did not encounter his, and as she advanced closer to that tossed sea -of flashing eyes and shouting voices, this daughter of the Cæsars, who -had convinced an emperor and his Metternich that she could maintain -the integrity of an empire, for a moment forgot her great rôle and -permitted her soul to murmur, “Is he here? Is he here? If he is, does -he think me the most beautiful woman in the world? Is he thrilled with -my triumph? Does he love me the more for it? Does he love me at all?” - -She had almost reached the entrance of the throne room, and the company -was moving backward to the walls, when, through the falling wave of -sound, a low note reached her ear from a new direction. It came from -the blue drawing-room, which here opens from the second circle-room; -and although the word was merely the one still echoing, and uttered -hardly above a whisper, it thrilled Ranata as even the fulness of her -triumph had not done. Only the self-control which the years and her -state had given her kept her eyes fixed upon those who would note the -flicker of a lash. - -She entered the throne room, and made her tour of the guests in what -was now an atmosphere vibrating with suppressed excitement. They held -their breath to hear her speak; and although to exchange a word with -each would have consumed the night, she paused where she thought it -judicious and said a few personal words, while her eyes included -those close by. When she reached the end of the room she discovered -that the royal bridegroom was not at his post, and was profoundly -annoyed. She herself might be the Hamlet of the piece, but without the -chief accessory the illusion would tremble. There was no sign of him, -however, and she could only hope that, fearing the full fatigue, he was -in the blue room with his captain. - -She forgot him for the moment as her eye suddenly encountered the fixed -and fiery glance of Lajos Molnár. He wore a fierce red uniform, and -stood against the wall with his arms folded. He looked as if he had -been dragged to the palace by a halter and was prepared for the worst -that could befall him. - -Ranata smiled brilliantly, and motioned to him to come forth. He obeyed -with such precipitation that there was a momentary panic in the ranks. -Ranata gave him her lifted hand, and he kissed it like any courtier. - -“Thank you for obeying my orders,” she said. “Have you brought your -friends?” - -“Four,” he stammered. “The others were obdurate, but I shall win -another time. These are all men of importance; and like myself they -would die for you, your Royal Highness!” - -“Ah! Would you?” she asked softly. “I shall not ask that--only that you -will all come here to luncheon to-morrow, and tell me what you think I -should know. Will you?” - -“Yes--yes--will I?” - -Ranata smiled again and passed on, but in truth she was repelled -at the unmasked passion in his face. It was evident that she had -succeeded too well; and, while to fascinate him was a necessary part -of her programme, his love both disgusted and faintly alarmed her. -Like all women whose depths have been profoundly stirred by one man, -she regarded the proffered love of other men as an insult, and was -merciless. - -When she had finished her progress amid a tribute as expressive as its -vocal prelude, she took her stand at the end of the room; the Grand -Chamberlain raised his hand, and the leader of the gypsy bands struck -his cymbal. The peasants made their way to the middle of the hall, and -began the curious stamping march which sometimes opens the Chardash. -The company were diverted at once. Not only was here a novelty worthy -of the night, but the peasants had been selected for their good looks -and the superior beauty and freshness of their costumes. The men from -the Hungarian villages had much embroidery on their white trousers -and flowing shirts, and on the wide sleeves which escaped from jackets -as elaborate in device as they were gay in color; their slender waists -were bound with the silken sash of the gala-day, and many wore chains -about their necks. Those that had been found in Hungary’s Roumanian -villages beyond the Theiss wore the ancient Persian sandal laced -half-way to the knee, closer trousers, and a graceful shoulder-cloak. -Their women wore panels of embroidery over white petticoats, and -blouses almost as elaborate; while the Hungarian women, if not so -richly attired, were quite as picturesque in their tight bodices of -bright cloth with full sleeves and upper front of spotless lawn, -their fancy aprons and dainty kerchiefs. All were handsome, and some -of the Roumanians with their Roman faces and antique heads and forms -had as much beauty as falls to the lot of any mortal. As they passed -Ranata they looked their loyalty, for they too pulsed with the popular -excitement, but they played their part with a calm self-possession -which the great hills and the lonely plains had bred in them, and -courts could do no more. - -Ranata fixed her gaze resolutely upon them, but her ear was strained -towards the drawing-room. Why did not the bridegroom come forth and -bring the captain in his wake? But it was not until the march was over, -and the partners were swinging about to the first slow wail of the -dance, and holding every eye, that she became aware of the trailing of -regal garments on the hard floor behind her. Her quick ear advised her -that, for the moment at least, he was unaccompanied. She set her face -in severity, for she had no mind to let the old Prince take his own -way unreproved, and as he finally halted beside her she did not speak -nor lift her eyes to his, although she darted a glance of feminine -curiosity over his costume. It was regal enough; and in spite of his -age he looked a superb and supple figure in his closely fitting armor -of gold brocade sewn with jewels, covered to the waist with chains; -and his legs in their long silken stockings were as shapely as youth. -From his shoulders flowed a mantle of white velvet lined with ermine, -and embroidered with the black raven holding the golden circlet in its -beak. In spite of her intent to reprove, Ranata’s eye travelled upward -to observe how well he wore the crown, the while her ear was alert for -another footfall. But her ear forgot its cunning, and her eye the crown -it was rising to criticise, the while it should ignore the bleared -apologetic orbs of her father’s old friend. Her gaze was arrested and -held by the piercing glance which tradition and the artist have given -to Matthias Corvinus. And the rest of the presentment was complete, -Ranata noted as her knees shook; even under the fair wig and beard the -outlines were firm and fine, and the head was well poised and shaped. -He looked far more the king than her father or any other sovereign in -Europe, except perhaps the man whose memory she had expunged to-night. -Had the dead risen? As the room swam round her she wondered if she were -expected to drop on one knee. Then the eyes puckered themselves and -smiled, and Ranata was the angriest woman in Hungary. - -“How dared you!” she exclaimed beneath her breath. “How dared you!” - -“Dared?” - -“Yes! Yes! Yes!” - -“It required no courage whatever, merely ingenuity--a considerable -amount of that, however. Would you care to hear the story?” - -“I have no curiosity on the subject whatever. Where is Prince Nadasdy?” - -“At this moment? I have no idea. Yes, he is probably at the casino--if -there is any one left to play with him. Otherwise he is doubtless lost -to every variety of disappointment.” - -“And you--how did you inveigle that costume from him?” - -“Inveigle, madame? I paid a king’s ransom for this costume.” - -“Your loathsome American millions! I thought there were a few things -they could not accomplish.” - -“There is nothing, madame. When they fail it is due to bungling only.” - -“You have no cause to be angry--to assume that tone with me!” - -“You have abused me like a pickpocket.” - -“I beg your pardon--it seemed to me incredible that a magnate of -Hungary, a prince who has been a member of my father’s household, -should do such a thing.” - -“When magnates and courtiers are consumed with a passion for gambling, -to say nothing of the strong wines of Hungary, they are apt to -degenerate into very ordinary human creatures. The story is a brief -one, and I know you wish to hear it. I have had the honor of playing -a number of games of Hungarian poker with your prince, who conceived -a flattering preference for my game, although I usually won. Three -nights ago I told him plainly that I wanted to come to this ball as -King Matthias, and wear his costume. At first he merely stared at me -helplessly; then he reflected that, being an American, I was doubtless -mad, and proceeded to deal with me in his gentle and charming manner. -When he was convinced both of my strength of purpose and sanity, I -proposed a game in which he should stake this costume and his silence -against a sum which I will not name. Furthermore, if I won I was to pay -the price of the costume three times over and return it to him the day -after the ball. He confessed that he was haunted by the fear his tailor -would not hand over the outfit without the price, and that he might -have to mortgage his family jewels to pay it. He closed with my offer -in less time than I am telling you this tale. His last scruple was of -you, for he knew that I could pass unnoticed in the crowd, particularly -if I kept my eyes half shut and waggled my head occasionally; and I -vowed to him that I would secure your forgiveness--” - -“I shall never forgive either of you, and I am ashamed of him.” - -“So am I. But one man’s loss is usually another’s gain, and I am here -without a scruple or regret.” - -“Your horrible money may have bought poor old Nadasdy, but it will -carry you no further.” - -Fessenden’s hand closed deliberately on hers, and he drew it through -his arm. Ranata was aghast, but it was impossible to struggle, and she -stood rigid, but closer to him by two inches. - -“I and the money you hate have no further dealings with each other -to-night,” he whispered. “But for every barrier it has levelled between -you and me, for all that it has permitted me to accomplish that makes -me more worthy of you, it has my eternal gratitude. And now, please -forget it.” - -“I can forget nothing,” she murmured. “And you are running a terrible -risk. If my father hears of this you may be requested to leave the -Empire.” - -“May I tell you that you are looking more beautiful than any one on -earth can look?” - -“Am I?” - -She grasped at her receding anger, but it vanished. Into its place -flashed an enchanting sense of danger; the wildness in her Hapsburg -blood leaped its dike and seemed to roar in her ears the while it -sang in her soul. She forgot the years in which she had mourned -the subjugation of Rudolf’s fine brain by his passions, and the -interminable disasters his weakness had entailed. Why should she not -be thankful that her own drama had begun at last? She should live and -feel. What mattered the end? - -It was by no means the first time the temptation had beset her since -she had met Fessenden Abbott, but her brain had controlled her -hitherto; she had fancied that her clear vision would keep the end -always in view, however she might feel the weakness of woman within her -and indulge it in friendship, while working for the cause of her house. -But the excitement and exhilaration of this evening had lifted her to -reckless heights, her pulses were throbbing, her being was trembling -with exaltation, her head almost whirling. And before her was the great -company who knew nothing, suspected nothing. To live in their very -presence, as if they were ants on a hill--her newly born dramatic sense -flew to the fanning of her emotions. She leaned heavily on his arm and -raised her eyes. - -“Am I?” she whispered again. “I wondered--I heard your _Élyen_.” - -“I knew that you heard it.” - -“I did not turn my head.” - -“Nevertheless, I knew.” - -“Can you read my soul?” she exclaimed in a momentary panic. “Do not -read too much.” - -“That is all I live for.” - -“You--who have so much else! Would you give up one of your ambitions -for me?” - -“I would give up the whole game, every ambition, every penny.” - -“Your country?” - -“Yes, my country.” - -“You were very cool about it yesterday.” - -“Yesterday is not to-night.” - -“I had the greatest faith in your devotion to your country.” - -“When you feel as I do now you will have faith in nothing else.” - -“Do not be too mad. Let us be happy for this one evening.” - -“Is this your idea of happiness?” - -“I am as happy as I dare to be.” - -“When I have taught you what happiness is you will remember this -prelude as a very poor affair.” - -“Have you also bought poor old Nadasdy’s jewels?” - -“No, he is not so bad as that; but he is not above renting them.” - -“Not another magnate would speak to him again if they knew what he had -done.” - -“They are not to know it.” - -“Why did you wish to be king?” - -“For two reasons: I am tired of duennas and interruptions--I have -not much patience. Matthias was the husband of Beatrice, and you are -Beatrice. In the eyes of this fanciful company to-night you are my -wife--I am your bridegroom.” - -He felt her tremble and draw in her breath sharply. But in a moment -she raised her eyes again--and there was no veil upon them--and said: -“Yes--I will be Beatrice for these few hours, and believe that you are -Matthias. Is--do you mean to tell me that there is no happiness in such -imagining? If I have been happy in my fancy before, surely this--this--” - -Fessenden was as nearly intoxicated as a man may be in the presence -of a thousand people. “Listen to the Chardash for a moment,” he said -unsteadily. - -The Chardash was near its finish. The gypsies were playing madly. -The peasants were shouting and stamping, their women dancing with -the graceful energy of panthers; the spectators were looking on in -delight, the bodies of many swaying slightly. The music stopped with a -crash that had a note of disappointment and anger in its triumph; the -peasants marched forward and bowed profoundly to their sovereigns--who -looked as high and impersonal, yet gracious, as sovereigns should -look--then filed out of the room, to revel in the servants’ quarters -till morning. - -The guests were impatient to dance. The musicians in the gallery -received their signal, and the opening quadrilles were quickly formed, -eight in the four circle rooms. - -Fessenden walked through the stately old-fashioned quadrille very -creditably. His hands were concealed in gauntlets, and his height -would have saved his face from too close an inspection had any one -felt sufficient interest in the old Prince to examine him in detail. -Once only he caught the eye of the Countess Piroska Zápolya, and -wondered if she had recognized him. He was the least vain of men, but -she had exhibited a preference for the distinguished young millionaire -as openly as a high-born maiden may; and the glance he encountered -to-night was less guileless, perhaps less amiable than usual. But -she left Fessenden’s mind as abruptly as she had entered it. He was -absorbed in planning an interview alone with Ranata. He had come to the -palace in doubt as to what he should say or leave unsaid until a future -stage, but her sudden unmistakable yielding to her emotions, if not to -him, had sent the blood to his head and spurred his will to action. -He divined that she intended to play with those emotions under the -protecting eye of the public; but while he had no mind to court too -great temptation himself, he was determined to seclude her long enough -for a conversation which should put an end to moods and coquetry, and -compel her to face herself and him. The quadrille finished with a -waltz, and he saw his opportunity. He put his arm about her before she -had time to retire to her former position. - -“Take your train over your arm,” he said, “or you will have a circle -about you as many yards deep; and I want to be lost in the crowd.” - -She obeyed him, and they waltzed unobserved. The greater part of the -company was dancing; the older women, including Sarolta, had gone to -the reception-rooms to play cards or eat ices, and no one would be -surprised if the royal hostess, her part played, had chosen to retire. -It was evident that the guests were expected to enjoy themselves; and -if anything further was necessary to add to the gay content of the -evening, it came with the rumor that immediately after supper Count -Zrinyi and Miss Abbott would lead a cotillion, and that the favors were -many and unique. - -“This evening is ours,” said Fessenden peremptorily. “Take me where we -can talk alone for an hour.” - -But she took alarm. “Not quite alone. On the balcony in front of the -tea-room perhaps--” - -“A balcony, if you like, for it is too warm to think in the palace. But -not that one. You must trust me. You will have to do so for the rest of -your life, so you may as well begin now.” - -Ranata, having no practical knowledge of men, and still throbbing with -a reckless desire for adventure, hesitated no longer. She had learned -that this American’s power of self-control was very great; and if -he would permit her to play with fire until the wildest in her was -exhausted, and she could feel for him again as she had felt in sadder -hours of self-communing, why should she fling aside an opportunity -which might never come again? He held her in a light embrace, but it -filled her with happiness and submission. She was all woman, and the -sensation intoxicated her. Let the morrow and its cold duties take care -of themselves. - -When a woman with an uncommon power of passion delivers herself to -liberty after years of self-repression she is more than likely to -forget all she has ever considered, and pass with blind eyes the -half-way house where most women sit down and think. Perhaps it is more -correct to say that the fire in her brain induces a sort of insanity of -which the average mortal is incapable, and in spite of the ideals of -her calmer moments and her thoughtful programme of conduct, she is at -the mercy of the man. In this instance the man was playing a very big -game; and although Ranata was in no mood for analysis, instinct told -her that he was the one man who had ever loved her with whom she could -trust herself. - -They were in the circle-room from which her apartments opened. It was -not wise to enter directly. She pushed aside a tapestry on the left, -and when it fell they were in a corridor. It was deserted and she led -him through unlighted rooms and into her suite by the door which the -King had used when the Queen came to Buda. Here the lights burned -dimly, but she did not pause until they were on the balcony. The moon -was too young to reveal them to any one below; but a woman who has been -severely chaperoned will sit out all night with a man and shrink from -the indelicacy of screening walls. - -Ranata sank hurriedly into a chair and motioned Fessenden to one -opposite; but he shook his head and stood looking down upon her for a -moment without speaking. He had left his beard and wig and crown in -the sitting-room, and in that superb costume under the light of moon -and stars he looked not unlike Matthias, and handsomer than himself had -ever looked before. His beauty was the last thing that concerned him, -but he saw the sudden rise of Ranata’s bosom under the tight bodice, -and the flash in her eyes as she dropped them. He did not comprehend -the cause, but he tingled in response and almost yielded to an impulse -to kneel beside her and take her in his arms. But there was too much to -say, and he drew back. If he kissed her now he should have to talk to -her another time, and opportunities were too rare. - -“Let us thresh it out,” he said. “I want to marry you. You have a -hundred reasons against it, of course. They never will mean anything to -me; but if you want to relieve your mind I am ready to hear and answer -them.” - -She had put out her hands in deprecation. “Don’t be so practical -to-night! We could write all that if must be said. To-night we were to -play a game--I am Beatrice--you are Matthias.” - -“Not here. That sort of thing is for a ballroom flirtation, or for -lengths which you probably don’t understand. I am up to no such pretty -comedy here alone with you; besides, I am in no mood for the unreal, no -matter how pleasant it might be. This is a matter of eternity with me. -I have never loved any woman before, and I have never wanted anything -I have fought for with my life in my hand as I want you. These are the -first moments I have actually felt the reality of life. It has been -a game before. I know now I could have relinquished that game at any -moment for something else, with no very deep pang. But I could no more -give you up than I could live without my head. And I have no intention -of trying. I shall marry you, but whether it is to be the most -difficult job of my life or not depends entirely upon you. You love -me, and I am romantic enough to believe that every man has his mate -in this world, and that you are mine; but your head is full of absurd -notions that you will have forgotten after a year in the United States.” - -She stood up then, the princess again for a moment. “Oh!” she -exclaimed. “Remember that Europe is still a reality; that, so long as -the United States permits it to exist on the map, its prejudices and -customs are entitled to respect.” - -“I am ready to respect your prejudices, but as I am not a European I am -not obliged to accept them as final.” - -“Is it possible,” she asked, staring at him, “that you do not know we -never could marry?” - -“Only if every clergyman on the planet refused to perform the -ceremony. Have you not, with that fine brain of yours, thought deeply -enough to know that nothing is impossible? I could have told myself -that a hundred things were impossible, and be a nonentity to-day. -Marriage between a man and woman who are free is the least of the -impossibilities.” - -“But, great Heaven!--cannot you understand?--I am the daughter of the -Emperor of Austria!” - -“You are not any other man’s wife. That is all that concerns me.” - -“Do you realize what it would mean to Europe, to the principle of -monarchy, if I, an archduchess of Austria, married an American?” - -“Do you imagine that I am interested in perpetuating the monarchical -idea?” - -“But I am--at all events, I, as a part of it, know where my duty lies; -and--will you consider my mission here?” - -“Your mission here is the impossible one of preserving the integrity of -the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. Western Austria will melt towards the -German Empire by a natural law; and as for Hungary, cannot you see -that the destiny of this people is independence? They would accept you -as a welcome substitute for Franz Ferdinand, but only until they were -ready to face Europe as an independent state. Do you suppose that the -sole destiny of the United States is to live and prosper? Every day -envy of her grows in the European, ridden by police, his individuality -cramped by social laws, his manhood dwarfed by a ridiculous institution -that should have disappeared with the first year of free schools. -Monarchy was necessary enough in its time, but its time is past. All -educated mankind is determined upon freedom. William of Germany will -not admit it, but his mission is to sweep the kinglets of Europe -off the board and unite their states into a peaceful whole which -shall convert itself at the right moment into another great republic -founded on the few sound principles of socialism. Man’s destiny has -steadily progressed towards independence since the beginning of general -education, and the time is almost ripe for the fulfilment of it. That -is the reason, quite aside from friendship, that I shall give my -assistance to William the moment he is ready for it. He pretends not to -believe that the result must be a republic, but in the depths of his -great intelligence he must.” - -Now was the moment for acting, to promise anything if he would desert -William. But the thought passed through her mind and out. That might -have been possible yesterday, but not to-night; might indeed have been -possible an hour earlier, but not now. She too was facing the bald -realities; and the chiefest was that her love for this man, at whom she -seemed to stare through a mountain, was eternal; and that she could -take no advantage of his love for her, even were there anything else -that mattered. - -As she stood and looked at him, her eyes stony, her face set in -despair, Fessenden for the first time felt his courage recede. Her -next words left him for a few moments without speech, and with the -sensation that the world had come suddenly to an end. - -“Then,” she said, “I must work out my destiny with my house. If it is -tottering, then the severer my duty to stand by it till it falls. What -happiness could I have?--what a picture!--I secure in America, and -all my kind groaning under the ruins of Europe? I believe that what -you predict has reason enough. I am no infatuated monarchist. I have -known Alexandra too long for that. And I have never doubted the fate -of Austria since Rudolf’s death. There is no reason why the rest of -Europe should not follow. But it will not come in a moment, and it is -the bare duty of every man and woman of royal birth to give to the old -idea their last drop of heart’s blood and life-blood, whether there -is any individual achievement for them or not. As for me, if I were -convinced--which I am not--that I could do no good by making Hungary -mine, still would I remain at my post. It will break my heart; it will -make life a mere tread-mill, now that I have known you; but if you -kidnapped me I should return.” - -They faced each other then for two or three minutes without speaking; -but although Fessenden could descend into depths of discouragement, -nothing this side of death could keep him there. The army of resources -in his soul stirred in their nap--it was seldom they slept--and -quickened his blood in the old lust of the fight. He revolted with -angry impatience against his momentary despair; and at the same time -realized that this, the supreme desire of his life, he would not have -won with no exercise of the talents which had been given him that he -might wear down and ride down the obstacles of life. - -“Very well,” he said, “your way of looking at things is natural enough; -but I don’t want you to forget for one moment that, deeply as I -respect even your prejudices, they mean nothing to me intellectually, -and never can influence my conduct in the least. But on this subject I -will say no more now except that your argument that you should stand by -your house until it falls is too illogical to be worthy of you. It is -not a woman’s part in life to prop up rotten structures, but to assist -man in founding new ones to replace the old; nor is it the highest -destiny of human beings to retrograde or stand still, but to progress. -And if I regard the past with its superstitions and institutions as -mere history, as a mere prelude to a far greater present, and if I -myself belong to that present and to the future, you by no means are -an indissoluble part of the past. You are too virile, too healthy, -too modern, too great in every part of your equipment; you represent -the utmost that Europe and her centuries have been able to make of -your sex; and if she had any design in making you, it was as a present -to the future, not as a sacrifice to the past. But enough. I have a -plan to propose. For two months we will not speak of this. Nurse your -traditions if you like, believe that we must part, but make up your -mind to be happy during this time. We will have constant companionship -and some moments alone.” - -The light broke through her face again, and she held out her hands. -“Yes! Yes!” she exclaimed. “A fool’s paradise! That is what I would -have asked. It is all I can ever know, and it will give me courage for -the rest of my life. But I was afraid--I was afraid-- It is a very -unpractical plan for you to suggest.” - -“I have my unpractical moments,” said Fessenden, “and this is one of -them.” And then he caught her in his arms and kissed her, while the -music of the Chardash from the palace and the Danube beat upon them; -and something of the dearest dream of both was realized. - -But he left her presently. As he closed behind him the door by which he -had entered the private apartments, he had a flashing glimpse of a face -he knew; but the blood was in his head, and the small white visage, -disappearing like a ghost’s, made no impression on him--he did not even -recall it in cooler moments. He had readjusted his disguise, and he -made his way down the great staircase, exciting no more comment than -would have fallen to the portion of Prince Nadasdy, who certainly would -be expected to go home early. When he reached the palace of the old -Prince he changed his gorgeous trappings for the inconspicuous tweeds -he had left there, and then went out and walked until dawn. When he -returned to his hotel he wrote two letters, one to his father, and one -to his friend in Berlin. The latter concluded as follows: “... But not -for two months, or thereabouts. I want her to have a deep draught of -this Hungarian wine she finds so heady, that she may have the less to -torment her imagination with in the future. Moreover, I want that much -time to teach her that she really loves me. If we acted too promptly, -she might, during the inevitable weeks, perhaps months, of separation, -persuade herself that it had been but a passing madness. And I want her -to be in no doubt during that time of what her rewards will be.” - -“I can safely count on help there,” thought Fessenden, as he enclosed -the letter in a second envelope addressed to a less conspicuous name, -“for before these two months have passed he will be as anxious to see -her in America as I am.” - - - - -XX - - -At luncheon that afternoon Fessenden found himself beside the Countess -Piroska. The Archduchess had an Independent on either hand, and -Alexandra assisted her with one of them. The Countess Vilma had another -in charge. There were no other guests, and Sarolta, who had found the -prospect of Radical politicians anything but amusing, was lunching -elsewhere. The table had been laid in the small dining-room adjoining -the blue room, but the curtains were half drawn across the large -windows, for all the women were paler than usual. Three had danced -until the cocks of Buda announced the morning, and the other had slept -less than they. She and Fessenden had met without a word, but with a -handshake of complete understanding. The “Young Kossuths” were in good -order; they had left the ball as soon as the general dancing began. As -they entered to-day they had looked somewhat truculent, as if fearful -of patronage, but were now at their ease, and Molnár alone appeared -indifferent to the delicate viands of the palace chefs. - -“He is in love with our princess,” whispered Piroska scornfully. “Not -but that it is quite natural everybody should fall in love with her, -but I should think it would be a sensation to be avoided by any one -under an archduke; and as for Molnár, he is not to be pitied, he is too -ludicrous.” - -“I don’t fancy you waste much pity on any one,” said Fessenden. - -“I pity you,” said Piroska softly. - -“Indeed?” he asked innocently. “What have I done that I should be -pitied?” - -“Done? Ah--but I understand American better since I have had the -pleasure to know Miss Abbott. I mean--I think you are too fine to waste -your love on a woman who is no more achievable than the polar star.” - -“Oh-- Do you think I am in love with the Archduchess? Well, I will -confide to you that I am, but don’t--don’t betray me, or the Emperor -will be ordering me out of the Dual Monarchy; and I have a theory that -it is a good thing for a young man to be in love with the polar star. -It keeps him out of much mischief.” - -Piroska was nonplussed, and turned her wide gaze upon him. He was -eating with every appearance of appetite, and Piroska, although a -sordid soul, had her idea of what a lover should be. - -“You never have eyes for any one else,” she murmured, at a loss. - -“Remember the limited time at my disposal. One month--two, perhaps, -and I must walk a tread-mill in a land without polar stars.” He was -thinking, “Shall I throw her off the track, or would she be more useful -as an enemy? I should use her without scruple, for I am convinced -that she is here to spy, and she has a ledger where her heart ought -to be. It will not do to be too precipitate; she might act before we -are ready. All I want is her added weight at the right moment.” He -determined to be guided by events, and turned to her with his frank -smile, which seemed at once to establish a personal relation. “I should -like to show you America--that is a large order!--New York, rather,” -he said. “You must come over some time with my sister.” And then, to -the mystified but delighted little _intrigante_, he made himself as -agreeable for the next half-hour as he knew how; and his spirits were -so plainly unaffected that the Zápolya thought less of Ranata’s power -to charm. - -The rising voice of Molnár gave him the excuse he wanted to assist the -Archduchess in her difficult task. - -“You are all so tired,” he murmured to Piroska. “I had better talk to -that man.” - -“The King is quite mistaken,” Molnár was announcing, “if he believes -that our ultimate idea in wishing the universal use of the Magyar -language in our own country is to divide the army against itself, or -to encourage hatred towards Austria. Not only does the Constitution -accepted by the King provide that Hungarian soldiers shall be commanded -by Hungarian officers, but we wish the language for two reasons--to -fulfil more nearly a passionate national ideal, and because it is the -fitting reward of a thousand years of indomitable individuality.” - -“But do you not think,” asked Fessenden, “that passionate ideals, when -carried to extreme, may degenerate into mere vanity? I suppose you -are not averse from a fair-minded discussion, so you will not mind my -saying that I think vanity is the only rock on which the Hungarian -nation may split and go to pieces. It is a dominant trait in your -aristocracy, as is evidenced by their theatrical and childish delight -in an ancient and ornate costume--this in a day when the more highly -civilized a man is the more simply he dresses. The bulk of the nation -betray this itching vanity in its persistent struggle for things -insignificant in themselves, but whose attainment would inflate its -pride and permit it to exult over its step-children. If you can prove -to me that I am wrong, and that you are possessed by a nobler motive in -this agitation for the compulsory use of your language throughout an -army in which there are so many Austrians, Germans, Roumanians, Saxons, -Slavonians, Bulgarians, and, above all, the Croats, who most hate you, -I shall be glad to acknowledge myself mistaken.” - -Molnár’s eyes had flashed. He was vaguely jealous of the American, -bitterly as he realized that his disappearance would leave no field -for him. But he had come to the palace determined to assist the cause -of his party, and not only did the quiet air of the room and company -depress his energy of temper, but his deep respect for the Archduchess, -and desire to stand well with her, would have restrained him from a -violent outburst. He replied with a calm which he was made subtly aware -his princess commended. - -“It is difficult to prove what is so largely a matter of standard. The -Americans have so vast a country, so many liberties unknown in Europe, -but worthy of emulation, that what seems the noble motive of pride to -us may appear quite petty to them. But after all, did not your country, -when under the heel of another power, make mountains out of many -mole-hills that you would laugh at now? You tax yourselves more heavily -than England ever taxed you, and it is seldom that a voice is raised -in protest. The stamp-tax after your late war is a case in point. You -burned your British governors in effigy, and now your contented and -prosperous people merely shrug their shoulders at the iniquities of -your bosses, confident that the country can take care of itself. The -great patriotic virtues that were extolled a hundred years ago in the -United States of America are passed by now as a matter of course, or -their absence is unnoticed; and I remember reading that a large portion -of your country in its youth went quite hysterical at the monarchical -proposition that Mr. Washington’s head should appear on coins. But -I only wish to illustrate that a young country lacking complete -independence, or fearful of losing that so recently acquired, is never -so indifferent to certain points as a great one.” - -“I admit all the faults of my country past and present, but it seems to -me that if the law of progress means anything, it means that a people -dissatisfied with monarchical government and bent upon republican -should take warning and example from the older republics--not act as -if every page of history had been destroyed. When vanity stiffens -into a monumental conceit, as in the case of England and ourselves, -it is still bad enough, and has its dangers, but at least it is not -childish, and is the result of a developed strength that it would be -next to impossible to wreck. But being still weak as you are, by your -constitutional inferiority to Austria, and the hatred with which you -are regarded by almost every other division and tribe in your share of -the Dual Monarchy, it doubly behooves you to eliminate your weaknesses. -And, I repeat, vanity is the one which will prove most fatal. William -played upon it in a masterly manner; he uttered but a few words -of flattery, he took the trouble to learn but three words of your -language, and the nation wept tears of joy. I amuse myself counting -the number of mustaches--particularly in the army!--that stand on end. -If it had been the tyrant of all the Russias, the momentary enthusiasm -would have been the same, although second thoughts would have -disillusioned you. That an enlightened and progressive monarch chose to -declare himself your friend, no matter for what purpose of his own, you -may count as a piece of good fortune which you had done nothing very -especial to encourage. But do you flatter yourself for a moment that if -William took you over he would permit the universal substitution of any -language for his own?” - -“I was not of those whose heads were turned by the Emperor of Germany,” -snorted the Hungarian, whose own mustache Nature had planted in a most -aggressive fashion. “The constant abuse of Hungary by the German press, -and the attempts of propagandists to corrupt German-speaking Hungarians -and unite them for the propitious moment of rebellion against the -country their ancestors adopted--that Germany may have a weakened state -to oppose her when she is ready to put into execution her designs on -the Balkans--those are scores, sir, that an emperor cannot sweep from -some memories by flattery. I am--since the death of the Crown Prince--” -He hesitated and looked at the Archduchess. - -“You are to speak with perfect freedom to-day,” she said smiling, -and endeavoring to feel as political as she should. “That was the -understanding when you consented to come. Please believe that I am -listening impersonally. Not that I wish your secrets, merely your -well-defined point of view.” - -“Then I will say what is well enough known, your Royal Highness--that -I wish for no king whatever. Our king is as just and indulgent as -his fixed notions permit him to be, and yet under him autonomy is -a failure. I wish for complete independence, with, if not all the -features of the United States of America, at least with those which -have permitted her to exist in the face of all prophecies; and -with many others which we are quite capable of evolving ourselves. -Independence, you will not hesitate to admit, sir, is the only -logical condition for any civilized people at this stage of the -world’s history, and, above all, it is the only condition which will -content the most independent race in Europe. When the hour of this -Dual Monarchy strikes, I am perfectly willing that western Austria -shall go to Germany, provided that the price of our acquiescence -is the complete independence of this country. If the aristocracy -don’t like it they can move to Prussia; that country is badly in -need of a real aristocracy, and the fine clothes of our magnates -would be a pleasant relief among so many uniforms. But for Hungary, -Independence!--Independence!--Independence!” - -His voice ended in a mild roar; and Fessenden replied in his most -matter-of-fact tones, “Then if you want independence, why, I repeat, -don’t you begin now to strengthen instead of weakening yourselves? -Surely you must know that if the King granted this demand of -yours, completely to Magyarize the army, you would incur the still -bitterer hatred of all these races who are obliged to serve in it. -Their native tongue means as much to them as yours does to you. And -when one considers that three-fourths of Hungary is ethnologically -non-Hungarian! If your king were thirty years younger, and you could -reasonably feel that you had that amount of time in which to subdue or -reconcile your rebellious step-children, then one might feel that you -had more wisdom, more reason on your side; but to strain at a gnat when -you must inevitably swallow a whole herd of camels the moment your king -sets these centrifugal forces free, is a folly I cannot comprehend in a -race so like my own in many respects.” - -Molnár had listened sullenly, but with attention. It had been agreed, -although all four of the Hungarians were men of ability, that the brunt -of the talk should be borne by their leader; for they were sure to -interrupt even each other if they sent the blood to their heads with -too many words. But they were neglecting their plates to follow the -argument; and they frowned when Fessenden spoke, and smiled approval -upon the logic of Molnár. When the American asserted the analogy -between his race and theirs, they looked pleased and surprised; for it -is a remarkable fact that, in spite of the execration which Europeans, -as a result of our protective policy and successful invasion of her -aristocracies and industries, bestow upon the United States, they are -invariably surprised into pleasure if informed that they possess an -American trait--which is doubtless owing to the fact that every human -creature craves success; and rightly or wrongly, the United States and -that most vulgarized of words are synonymous. - -Even Molnár looked slightly mollified, but he had come to make good his -cause before a princess who he believed must influence the King her -father, since he was convinced she could twist Hungary round her finger -if she chose. “It is to be hoped that another century will see us even -in advance of where the United States stands to-day,” he replied; “for, -as you justly observed, it is our part as an intelligent nation to -profit by the mistakes of other nations. But it is impossible to admit -that we are unwise to insist upon the adoption of our language as the -sole language of our army, even in the old age of the King; for we are -convinced that our disruption from Austria is but a question of a few -years, and it is wise to accustom the inferior races to the dominance -of our language and rule as long before our independence as possible. -It is our misfortune that we have not been in a position to push this -claim sooner. It was a tremendous innovation when Kossuth and Szechenyi -carried their point that Magyar should be the political language of -Hungary. It was not the part of wisdom to ask for more then, but that -is half a century ago--half a century. And you call us impatient and -unreasonable! You--who are so recently come from the battle-field, -do you recall the passionate enthusiasm with which you sang and -listened to your national hymns by your camp-fires at night--as you -marched to the battle-field? What would have been your emotions if -you had been compelled to sing the national songs of another country? -Good God! Cannot you understand what it would mean to us to sing our -own beautiful battle hymns in our own beautiful language, instead -of the words of a hated power in the most hideous sounds that ever -were invented to torture the ear? It is true that you have set your -national anthem to the tune of England’s, but you have long since -forgotten that; and I am told that when Americans go to England they -are flattered when the band plays ‘God Save the King.’ But that is your -happiness--that you have been permitted to forget--while we--we--” - -“I have no doubt that if you asked for the privilege of ringing your -national hymns, and nothing more, the King would readily indulge you; -and the Hungarian military colleges you are sure to have will no doubt -entail much that you wish--if you have the patience to wait. I admit, -of course, that vanity has no part in your desire to sing your own -anthems in your own language--what more inspiring?--but the imposing of -your difficult tongue on the Austrians who are obliged to command in -your army during the years when you must still have an insufficiency of -Hungarian officers, as well as upon the races that hate you now, and -only await the opportunity to serve you the same trick they served you -in 1847--I repeat, it seems to me the height of vanity and folly. And -I regret it deeply, for in a struggle in which you were incontestably -right, you would have the sympathy of the United States. Kossuth is by -no means forgotten; and the American loves romance, having so little -of it. For romance you stand in history preeminently. But if you make -yourselves ridiculous--” - -“Ridiculous?” All four were muttering. Ranata leaned forward, and drew -Molnár’s eyes to hers. - -“How would it have been if Rudolf had lived?” she asked softly. - -“Ah, Rudolf!” The four men might have received an electric shock. -“If our crown prince had lived,” cried Molnár, “he would be our -sympathetic, our indulgent ruler to-day. The King would surely have -abdicated in his favor before this--if he had been reluctant we should -have found a way to persuade him! The King is preferable to his -present heir; and not only do we hesitate to incur the antagonism of -the world by embittering the last days of our old monarch, but it is a -trait of human nature to postpone the evil day. But Rudolf! He would -have granted our demands; and with his tact and resource have found a -way to reconcile all the other states in the monarchy to our reforms. -Perhaps he would have given us our liberty, and accepted the presidency -of the republic! That indeed would have been Utopia!” - -“No one can admire and regret Rudolf more than I do,” said Fessenden, -in the even dispassionate tones which irritated the Hungarians -more than his words; “but it is impossible not to notice that the -inevitable legend is growing up round his name. In a few years it -will obscure an individuality and a mental endowment that were better -left unexaggerated. I came on the scene too late to know him, but I -have heard him much discussed by more than one of his close personal -friends; and while he was far more genial and sympathetic than is -common among princes, and far more liberal and broad-minded, I do not -in the least believe that he had a republican instinct, or would have -parted voluntarily with an inch of his inheritance. Rather he would -have conceived it his mission to maintain its integrity with the last -corps of his army. No doubt his tact and his alert modern brain would -have found a way through these difficulties which would have satisfied -himself and Hungary. Problems that seem insoluble to an aged king might -have been disentangled readily enough by him. But the hard fact remains -that you have not Rudolf to deal with, but your king--and, for a period -after him, no doubt, the present Crown Prince; so would you not be -wiser to conciliate your enemies until you are strong enough to crush -them? Suppose Germany and Austria in a war against Russia--over the -Balkans, let us say--do you realize what your position would be as an -independent state with all the antagonistic races within your borders -in revolt--these races number 7,500,000, nearly half your population, -do they not? In some respects the Hungarian mind is the brightest and -most alert in Europe, and you are probably the only monarchical people -wholly without servility. If you wreck yourselves, and this rich and -enterprising country, because you love your weaknesses more than your -virtues, then you deserve to be crushed like an egg between the enemies -who will take a particular delight in the process. But your party does -not represent Hungary. The enlightened majority are not extremists. You -can obstruct and keep the country in a turmoil, but when it comes to -the general vote you must be beaten. But meanwhile you are demoralizing -Hungary at home, and making it ridiculous abroad--that is the point to -be considered now.” - -Molnár pushed back his chair and stood up, tossing back his head. For -the moment he looked like the statue of the poet of the Revolution, -Alexander Petöfi, which, in its square across the river, seems to have -the nerves of the dead man in it. - -“You pay us your cold tribute,” he cried, “but what do you know of the -ardor, the passionate enthusiasm of a race as different from yours as -the Latin from the Teutonic. Logic! We have as much as any men when -our hearts are not on fire with our wrongs; but we would rather die, -die, die--be crushed like an egg, if you will--than exist like slaves a -generation longer.” He turned suddenly to Ranata, his face illuminated -under its perpetual frown. “You--your Royal Highness”--he cried, “if -you were our queen--you, who look born to sit on a throne as wisely as -Maria Theresia, yet without her bigotry and obstinacy--you, who are so -like Rudolf-- Ah! Why not? Why not?” - -“We will have our coffee in the next room,” said the Archduchess with -cold severity, as she rose and led the way. “Úr Molnár, have you seen -the river and Pest from the balcony?” - - - - -XXI - - -Fessenden and Ranata were alone in the Hungarian house. Upon the -departure of the Independents--diverted and mollified--the Archduchess -had dismissed her weary ladies-in-waiting; and Alexandra, after -wandering down to the garden with her brother and friend, had stolen -away to sleep until the hour to drive. - -“You heard!” said Ranata. “Do you doubt now that I could be queen in -Hungary?” - -“I never doubted it; nor that your reign would be as exciting as brief. -Hungary is now enjoying her days of halcyon peace. When your father -dies she may not only have your cousin of Austria, and William, to -reckon with, but King Karl of Roumania. It is the secret and persistent -ambition of his life to win back to Roumania the lands it claims it -owned before the conquest of Árpád, and one of these is not only -Transylvania, but Hungary as far as the Theiss. He would join Austria -in any attempt to crush Hungary, and he would be abetted by all the -internal enemies of this country. Moreover, he hates William as only -one strong personality can hate another, and at the first call of -Hungary for the German Emperor, or for his second son, he would not -wait for Austria. He is a big man in a small country, and has never yet -had his opportunity; but when it comes he will grasp it, be sure of -that. But have you not had enough of all this for one day?” - -“Yes--what a contrast you were! I never so fully realized the destiny -of the American race. Your brain remains as cold as your eyes until the -right moment comes to let the fires leap up. And then! Tell me--I have -thought constantly of all that you said last night--it seems to me that -you felt yourself safe enough in declaring that you would sacrifice -everything for me--ambitions, fortune, country--because you knew the -obligation never would confront you. It is I who would have to renounce -all and follow you. Austria would expel us both, and could do you no -harm.” - -“It is you who are most distressingly practical to-day. Why analyze -the vows of a lover? I spoke the language of the heart last night, and -my brain took the rest it needs. You were convinced of my sincerity -then--and I am quite prepared to say it all over again.” And so he did; -but although he could make love with an intensity which Ranata would -be likely to recall in long hours of separation, he was still able to -practise the better part of valor; and with the natural egotism of man, -he was soon talking into a sympathetic ear of his hopes and plans for -the future. Never was the egotism of man so wise in its exercise. It -was the last magnet he needed to draw the soul of the woman to him. As -he unrolled his vast schemes, so practical and so ideal, Ranata forgot -her own conventional ambitions. She seemed to herself to step out of a -volume of history and mingle in the great throng of individuals, who -made their own laws and thought for themselves. - -“Before many years have passed,” said Fessenden, “I hope to have -united South America in one great republic. It is not only necessary -to protect my railways--the element of personal selfishness must -enter into everything that hopes to succeed--but I want to see the -republican ideal flourish over the greater part of the civilized globe -before I die.” - -“And then? Shall you rule over these vast republics?” - -“Not I! I shall have all the work I want while creating them. There -may come the crisis in the United States which I have been trained to -meet, and the result might compel an interval of strong centralization. -But the reconstruction finished, those could rule who were equal to -the task. And such an interval would be brief, for the American would -not stand the infringement of his liberties a moment longer than -circumstances demanded. Although I believe in permanent centralization, -to the extent of a ruler elected for life or good behavior--and -I believe this principle is growing in the minds of all thinking -republicans who are not only sick of corruption but of seeing a fine -man in the presidential chair the slave of politicians, and shelved -coincidently with the full development of his usefulness--still that -ruler must be the free and deliberate selection of the majority of the -people, and a monarch by their will alone, with no privileges whatever -for his heirs. With democracy I have no more patience than with the -autocracy of Russia, but I should be the last to blight an instinct -which it is my desire to sow broadcast over the earth. It is for that -I wish to be remembered; they can forget the dramas as soon as they -like--” - -“Ah, but tell me those!” exclaimed Ranata. “I have waited for years to -hear them.” - -He entertained her with several of his adventures and exploits in South -America, but dropped the subject to tell her something of his problem -in mechanics and electricity. - -“If anything was needed when I awoke at noon to-day to make me feel -as if I owned the entire universe,” he said, “it was a letter from my -chief electrician which convinced me for the first time that he was on -the verge of perfecting this old dream of mine. My father was to go out -as soon as telegraphed for and witness the practical demonstration. -Then, indeed, I practically will hold the fate of the world in the -hollow of my hand.” - -Ranata stared hard at him, her pulse quickening. She had always envied -him, and now he seemed to her to embody all the hopeful ambitions of -all the world, a Titan whom only a new country with its utter disregard -of failure could have produced. What order of men would his republics -bring forth? - -“But shall you never have a reverse, never fail?” she murmured. “There -is a relentless law of compensation in Nature; surely you must have -your blows, your bitterness, like other mortals.” - -“I have already had enough trouble and anxiety, to say nothing of -hideous privations, fatigue, and illness to satisfy Nature for the -present. The only blow that could have reached my heart before this -would have been the death of my father.” - -“Ah!” she exclaimed sharply, “you do love me--I know how much! When -this is over, will its memory mean as much to you as it will to me? -Will the loss embitter, discourage you? It has seemed to me since last -night that it will mean too much to me--that I shall need more courage -than I possess to live on. With men--with you? How would it be, with -your thousand occupations where I might not have one? Oh, at least help -me to win this country! I fear no enemies--nothing else on earth.” - -“All that,” said Fessenden, “is a subject which I positively refuse -to discuss until these two months are up. All I wish you to be firmly -convinced of from this moment--and you might repeat it nightly -with your prayers lest you forget it--is that, under no possible -circumstances short of death, shall I give you up, or relax for a -moment in my determination to overcome every obstacle which either you -or your father may raise. The sooner you recognize me as your destiny -the better.” - - - - -XXII - - -When a woman is groping about among the mysteries of her great passion -she has little to give the world, and, all the forces of her being -consuming her inwardly, her magnetism is diminished. With the average -woman this matters little--she merely bores her friends; but in the -case of a princess, with but a season perhaps at her disposal within -whose limits to preserve the map of Europe, or alter it to her liking, -the untimely advent of love might blight her in the very plethora of -her opportunities. Ranata realized this danger after a few days of -complete indifference to anything but her own thoughts and the presence -of Fessenden Abbott, discovered that she had fallen back into the niche -of the unapproachable princess, from which only he could draw her. -The moment she appreciated her condition she roused, when in public, -the energies of her mind, wrenching it from her inner life. A career -she was determined to have; and although she could not recall the -enthusiasm of those first weeks in Hungary, her purpose was revitalized -by the long shadows of bitterness and despair which the future cast -back to her. True to her compact, she endeavored to eject that future -from her imagination, and in greater part succeeded, for she had more -wisdom than most women, and appreciated the priceless value of the -immediate happiness. She was content, and in brief intervals intensely -happy; her imagination was liberated and her power to feel superlative. -The knowledge that both imagination and capacity for living must prove -her scourge hereafter but made her cultivate both the more ardently -while briefly mistress of her fate. And the concentrated ardor of which -Fessenden was capable in the rare moments they found alone, contrasted -with his average mood when he seemed to belong so wholly to himself, -fascinated her far more than any constant evidence of her consuming -influence over him would have done. Her own powerful individuality -recognized the separateness of his, and was content to touch it in -fugitive moments only. The archaic poem of eternal oneness made no -appeal to her. Passionate love and loyal friendship she had to offer in -the fullest equipment granted to mortals, but the development of her -own individuality in its incorruptible silences must go on forever, -submerged only by the primal tides; and so her instincts and her -endowment saved her from the pursuit of that will-o’-the-wisp which -most women follow until it hides in the grave. She saw that Fessenden -recognized in her this disunion of temperament and personality, for -although his were the masculine limitations which deprived him of the -comprehensions women think they want, the needs of his own soul were -too great for blindness to another that had come so close. - -Therefore, Ranata, although she loved her hours of solitude the more, -and even grudged her brain its sleep, reopened her windows to the world -before it was too late. She entertained frequently, and many of the -magnates gave superb entertainments in her honor. Fessenden, Zrinyi, -and several other young enthusiasts, arranged an illuminated fête on -the Danube, and for a few moments she believed herself to be a fairy -princess on a fairy planet. Every house, great and small, on the hills -of Buda, burned its colored lights, and the bridges, the islands, the -boats, looked as if on fire with the souls of stars and flowers. The -fireworks among the ruins of the castle on the height completed a scene -of illusion possible in only three or four cities of the world. - -Her own entertainments were given in no perfunctory fashion. She had -one state dinner a week, and small dinners and luncheons for the better -study of the Hungarian character. There was no theatre in the palace, -but she had a stage erected in the Hall of Ceremonies, and Possart came -from Munich to give the soliloquy of Manfred among the snow-fields of -the Alps, in what is perhaps the most perfect German spoken in a great -empire where perfect German is seldom heard. Fremstadt came with him -to sing from “Carmen”; and Frau Schratt and other artists of Vienna -were engaged for the later winter. The local poets were permitted -to declaim, and their emotional fires and abandon won the English -and American guests, long divorced from patience with drawing-room -inflictions. - -But the Hungarians shone most brilliantly in music, and there were -frequent concerts in the palace, given entirely by members of the -aristocracy, which inspired no comparison with professionals. When the -Archduchess found time she went to the theatre or opera, and sat in the -gala box, wearing her best conceived gowns, and having taken care that -her intention should be announced in the morning newspapers. - -And so Budapest had its gay winter at last--a winter that exceeded -even longings and dreams, and made the heart of the tradesman sing, -and filled the hotels with curious and ambitious visitors. But perhaps -the true rapture dwelt in the pen of the correspondent, so long driven -in the mere service of politics for the casual glance of a world at -no pains to understand that it might yet be the destiny of Hungary to -precipitate the great convulsion of Europe. These grateful gentlemen -quickly made Ranata the most famous woman on the public stage. Her -pictures were sold in every capital, the illustrated weekly newspapers -presented her to a delighted public in all her available aspects, and -girl reporters came to Budapest and wrote imaginary interviews with her -maids. - -No one knew better than Ranata that this glitter and tinsel was but -the prelude to true fame, and that without the opportunity to prove -her wisdom as a ruler she would take no place in history outside the -covers of some “Book of Beauty”; nevertheless she found the notoriety -and incense sweet after her long monotonies, and her pride was deeply -gratified with the unequivocal success of her first programme. She -would have been more satisfied if she could have had proof of the -jealous uneasiness of William of Germany; and more secure if the state -of mind of the Crown Prince of Austria and Hungary could have been -revealed to her. But if Fessenden corresponded with his friend he -made no confidences; and neither her father nor Count von Königsegg -mentioned her cousin in their letters, although they appeared to -commend her course. - -But to Ranata’s surprise and occasional alarm, she frequently -discovered that her imagination dwelt less on her future in history -than on the great schemes of Fessenden Abbott, and that her thoughts -were far more occupied with their unique and interesting details than -with the future complexities of Europe, which long since had acquired -the habit of repeating themselves. Gone were the hours when she had -striven to untangle the web of her empire’s future, to fit herself for -every imaginable contingency. When her womanhood took its temporary -rest, her brain was far more apt to dwell upon some point that was -puzzling Fessenden. She reminded herself that this may have been the -result of their daily conversations, his abrupt confidential asides; -and believed she might assure herself that when the spell was removed -her interest in subjects so foreign to all in her previous twenty-eight -years would vanish with the sweetness of life. - -But they were not foreign to everything, she suddenly reminded herself. -There was Alexandra! Would this sense of intimacy with the brother -have descended upon her so quickly, even with the assistance of love, -had it not been preceded by that other long intimacy? How deep had the -influence of this American sunk? What changes had it perhaps wrought -in her character during those eighteen years of almost constant mental -friction, beginning when her mind was plastic, and always making her -chief interests in life? Nothing is more difficult than to concentrate -the mind in self-analysis, self-examination; the children of the -experience resent the scientific probing of the mind and hide in the -shadowy deeps. Ranata was forced to recur to the subject abruptly, to -glimpse her mental layers by flashlight. It was difficult even then to -make sure what tracings had been done by an alien hand, much less to -imagine just what she would have been had that hand been withheld; but -finally she learned enough to cause her moments of deep uneasiness, -grave doubts if she were so inviolate a Hapsburg as she had believed; -and when she realized there had been intervals when her emancipated -and now rebellious imagination had transported her to the American -continent, where she moved with the assurance and the vivid sense of -freedom of the American girl, she shrank in terror, as if already she -had taken a traitorous and irrevocable step. She had always been -convinced that she should find all things in the American section of -America quite detestable, from their very unlikeness to all things -sanctified by the traditions of Europe; but now she emerged from -visions of herself penetrated with happiness in a romantic wilderness -of mountain and forest, or in cities which epitomized that wonderful -modern life which seemed to relegate the old to boards and calf-skin. -There were times when she actually felt the rush and fever of the life -in her veins. It was then that she turned her mind to Hungary. She -had been deeply gratified to learn that on the greater portion of the -Left, William had made no impression, except to deepen their hatred -and distrust of Germany. That this enthusiastic and ofttimes desperate -party was being secretly drawn to her standard, Ranata was not long -discovering. For a time, at least, they would accept a queen where -they would reject a king, and their susceptible natures inclined them -naturally towards a young and beautiful ruler whom they could love, -and, no doubt, manage; while she added to their picturesque strength -in the eyes of the world. Ranata was aware that the new thought was -travelling silently; and while trembling lest it reach Vienna, she -dared not notice it sufficiently to demand prudence. The part must be -thrust upon her, not only to save her in the eyes of Europe, but the -lightest hint of ambition from her would have alarmed the Independents -and turned their admiration to contempt. - -There were times during this strange interlude in her life when she -was possessed by a sensation of supreme joy, or by deep and tranquil -happiness--moments when she paced the terrace alone on brilliant -mornings in a tumult of wonder, when Budapest, beautiful enough, was -glorified, and the links binding her to the mundane were dissolved. In -such moments she neither analyzed nor speculated, she but intensely -lived; but when they had passed, she wondered if such ideally pagan -moments were prophetic of greater happiness, or if they were peculiar -to that antechamber of the unknown which is the prelude in love. The -possibility depressed her, and at other times she suffered sharply. If -Fessenden carelessly laid his arm about Alexandra’s shoulders or took -her hand, satisfied in the masculine fashion with what happened to be -convenient at the moment, Ranata would turn cold with jealousy and -disgust with life. As she was too proud to protest--or explain--she -punished the bewildered offender with a freezing demeanor, and both -were miserable for several days. The reconciliation, however, enshrined -the misery in a halo of gratitude. Her jealousy was purely impersonal, -and induced no alteration in her attitude towards Alexandra. It was not -the object but the apparent wandering of his affections that concerned -her, and the physical manifestation. She took for granted that he loved -his sister--would have thought him deficient in human nature if he had -not. But that sort of relation was passive; the active he had entered -upon embraced her alone. Like other women in love, she was constantly -making discoveries about herself; and when, one day, alone with her -thoughts, she found herself overwhelmed and dissolved in a transport -of maternal tenderness for the man to whom ultimately she could be -nothing, she realized for the first time how far love had carried her. -This was towards the end of the interlude; and soon after, even the -uneasiness of this discovery was forgotten in the haunting dismay which -preceded the end. - -Meanwhile Zrinyi was manifestly impatient that the visit should be -made to his castle in the Transylvanian Alps before the full rigors of -winter should compel an indefinite postponement. So far, the winter -was mild, and the snow on the lower Alps not so heavy that oxen could -not draw the sledges up the steep mountain roads. Ranata, welcoming a -few days’ release from the world, and greater freedom, set the date; -and it was arranged that the party should consist only of her ladies, -Alexandra, Fessenden Abbott, and Prince Illehazy. They were to linger -long enough in Klausenbourg, Kronstadt, and the intervening villages, -to give the inhabitants a glimpse of their princess, and an opportunity -to offer the ovation which once had been their joy to give to Rudolf. - - - - -XXIII - - -When one is standing in a window looking down into a gorge a thousand -feet below, the cynical reflections of a mummy in bed smoking a cigar -vex the impulse of romance, quick in the brain. Ranata was in the -window. The window was Zrinyi’s; so was the perpendicular mountain of -which the old border fortress might have been an abrupt continuation, -so indeed were the harsh wild peaks, bare but for the glittering snow, -which rose high above this lofty height. The mummy was Sarolta, who was -in bed with a cold. The invasion of her sacred person by impertinent -microbes always put her in a bad humor, and to-day it urged her to -improve one of her rare solitudes with her royal charge. Moreover, she -was profoundly puzzled. If Ranata was not in love with this American, -why then did she show him a preference never before won, for a moment, -by another admirer? But if she were in love, why then this serenity? -She had expected that Ranata’s inevitable love episode would be fraught -with tragedy from the very first, and that pallid cheeks and heavy eyes -would be the visible signs, haughtily as the Princess might comport -herself. Had the heroine been any one but Ranata she might have drawn -a characteristic deduction from this serenity; but although she was -not the European to swear to the virtue of any woman, she knew that -Ranata, if not bigotedly virtuous, was bigotedly loyal to her house, -and had long since made her vow that by no act of hers should another -of its stones be loosened; rather was she exalted by the hope that it -might be her destiny to save it from destruction. And Sarolta, who had -settled back comfortably into her early doctrine that life was made -to live, could have gone to the stake herself for the aristocratical -or the monarchical ideal. Therefore, she believed that Ranata would -immolate her passion on this altar the moment it burned too fiercely; -and so, after all, was prepared to take her oath upon the virtue of one -woman. Nevertheless, she was curious. Of the compact, of course, she -knew nothing; and had she, still would she have puzzled, knowing the -power and the will of woman to torment herself; but she had come to the -conclusion that it was possible Ranata, never having seen Fessenden -alone--this the good lady also believed--did not wholly realize her -condition, would not until he left her; so determined to do what she -could in the way of preliminary disenchantment. - -“There is no greater fallacy,” she was saying, “than the belief that -women regret their youth--I mean women who have lived the life of -the heart. Nature invariably compensates, and in exchanging wisdom -for youth she is at her best. No woman ever crowded more into her -youth--nor held to it longer--than I did, yet I can recall now -the sensation of relief when I finally realized that henceforth I -should live for myself alone; above all, that I had had my final -disappointment. For love, my dear, is one exquisite disappointment from -first to finish--for the woman, I mean. Men are rarely psychological -enough for the disappointments that grind the heart of woman until it -is callous. When they are, they are not able to hurt us, so may be left -out of the question. The thoroughly masculine man, the only sort that -is capable of inspiring the _grande passion_, because he has the primal -attributes designed by Nature that he may fully mate with woman, is in -the very completeness of his equipment blind to all that is most subtle -and feminine in woman, giving her, therefore, twenty strokes of torment -to one of happiness, or even pleasure. What is the result? We live, -the most irresistible of us, three-fourths--five-eighths--of our lives -alone, striving to find in imagination what man will never give us. -Life, with women who are not small pieces of pulp in the domestic mill, -is one long chase after happiness--what is there for most of us but -happiness, politics, and charities? I have sometimes envied the women -who have to work their brains blunt to fill their conservative little -stomachs!” - -Her voice thickening, she paused to inhale the fumes of the last -specific for colds. Ranata continued to stare out of the window, and -her duenna continued in a moment: - -“But I have also wondered, _ma chère_, if, did man give us what that -craving thing we call our soul demands, would we enjoy ourselves even -as much as we do. It is always a gamble which will tire first, the -man or the woman; and on the whole I am inclined to believe that the -woman of charm and brain, and the position in life which enables her -to find much distraction, is the surer prey to disenchantment. If she -be of a deeper nature, or if she has deluded herself for a little that -the man actually loved her and not himself, she may not tire, but be -so bitterly disgusted and disillusioned that, for a moment, at least, -she is capable of tragedy. But the average man, so particular with -charm at first, merely lets us down in _ennui_. If he gave woman more -of himself than he does now, perhaps she would tire sooner. He needs -all the mystery he has. However, the fact remains that man is eternally -unsatisfactory and woman eternally unsatisfied. I doubt if a woman of -imagination ever lived who, having won what rent her soul and body -while withheld, would not, after the first short chapter, exchange -the reality for the previous lost world of her imagination. Good God! -the disillusionment, the readjustment, the struggle through terror -and despair to philosophy! If I were ordered to live my life over, I -should demand, in compensation, the ever-fresh memory of a great and -unsatisfied passion--after having known one man in the daily life of -matrimony. A woman is briefly happy twice in her life--when a man--the -man--is pursuing her, and palpitating doubt alternates with delicious -certainty; and again, during the man’s first ardor, when he is so -anxious to please, and so certain that he loves the woman, not himself, -that his concentrated charm blinds, yet irradiates the universe. -Shortly after, he becomes as matter-of-fact as he is. And then men -are, no matter what their brains, utterly, irretrievably stupid where -women are concerned. A man is never so happy as when he has lost the -love of the woman, and she, taking refuge in duty, makes him thoroughly -comfortable. On the other hand, men are abruptly left by women, again -and again, and the cleverest of them never guess the reason why. They -go on ruining their own lives--which they never suspect--and those of -the women best worth having, without learning a lesson from the past. -There is no happiness, my dear, until you are as old as I am, look like -a mummy, and smoke _vuelta abajo_.” - -“Of course I recognize that all that was meant for me.” Her charge -left the window and stared down at her. She puffed out a cloud, for -Ranata’s eyes always made her blink. “But I am surprised that a woman -of your wisdom should fancy that the person ever lived who would adjust -his life by the experience of another.” - -“You have a brain. Most women have not. You will always be more or less -guided by it. Therefore, you are worth the trouble to warn.” - -“You are the last person I should have expected advocate the happiness -of the unknown; but I have thought that out for myself, and more than -once. I believe that the only way a woman can avoid the cut of her sex -is to avoid the fulfilment of love. Then the fates are placated, and, -after the first wrench, permit the imagination a certain happiness, the -soul a certain elevation, no doubt impossible in what must eventually -become prosaic and disappointing.” - -“I am not surprised that you have arrived at that truth by yourself; -and be sure that all the troubles in the world amount to little if you -can bear them alone, and that no troubles, barring poverty and pain, -count an infinitesimal speck in the balance with those made by love, -or the desperate attempt to find happiness. Indeed, I will modify what -I said just now, and stake my life that a woman is happy only when she -is not in love. There is no such thing as sympathy between the soul -of man and woman. The man who thinks he sympathizes with a woman’s -subtle wants is a milksop. The other, the only sort we love, doesn’t -try, never thinks about it; and either way we are miserable, having the -primal curse of Eve upon us. So, the old maids, or the quickly widowed, -have the best of it in this life. Doubtless things are better arranged -in another.” - -“Perhaps in that we will be born without imagination. I don’t know but -that would be the deepest definition of heaven after all.” - -“I think it more likely that in alternate existences the man of one is -the woman of another,” said Sarolta dryly. “That would be Nature and -her compensations as we know them. On the whole she is just.” - - - - -XXIV - - -Fessenden was walking restlessly about the hall of the castle, awaiting -the finish of Ranata’s visit of duty at the bedside of her duenna. -There was a prospect, for the first time in several days, of an hour -with her alone. Zrinyi, Prince Illehazy, Vilma, and Alexandra had gone -for a walk, and Piroska had not been seen that day. - -They had arrived two days before, after three, in a special train with -many pauses and no solitudes, and until now had been a gay and united -party. Alexandra had announced herself satisfied with the castle; -but as her tone had been frivolous, Zrinyi had forborne to press his -suit. The roughness of the old days of border warfare was curiously -blended with the modern comforts of a nobleman’s hunting-lodge. The -staircase, towards which Fessenden directed eyes of impatient longing, -looked as if no woman had ever descended it, although many women had -huddled there when the Turkish guns were battering. The logs in the -old fireplace, and the big ornamental stones which have superseded -andirons in the greater part of Europe, tempered the ancient cold; the -rough walls and floors were covered with the skins of wild beasts and -other trophies of the chase; and the chairs at least were comfortable. -The hall was a museum of old battle-flags, captured from the Turks, -Austrians, rival clans in the days of the Oligarchs, and of weapons as -old and varied. The castle was very large, and had been surrounded on -three sides by a double moat; but to former implements of war it had -been impregnable, and the unsquandered wealth of the family had kept -every part of it from decay except the entrance wall. Fessenden thought -it an admirable setting for a honeymoon; failing that, for a few days’ -final courtship. - -But his patience, never a gift of Nature, but a creation of his will, -was close upon its finish, and the day he left Budapest he had set his -train in motion. Only his habit of playing a close and far-seeing game -had saved him from some precipitate act which might have wrecked his -hopes; for the blood was often in his head. Whether or not Mr. Abbott -had had such a crisis as this in mind when he trained his son in the -qualities that conquer, in no other way had they served Fessenden so -well. He was pitting his wit and his wealth against the mightiest -prejudice which existed in the world of his day; and his victory over -Ranata must spring solely from the former, for without it her love -would avail him nothing. Had he been able to conquer her prejudices -by any of the arts of love or passion he would have urged a flight -from this castle--which was far from communication with the telegraph, -and where the sympathetic Zrinyi would have kept guardians and spies -imprisoned--to Trieste, where his yacht awaited him. But he knew that -Ranata, although capable of a revolution which would raze the first -wall between them, must accomplish that revolution in solitude and -despair, under the pressure of circumstances which he had already -shaped. The demolishment of the second wall might cost him something -almost as dear as the woman, but Fessenden was prepared to sacrifice -more than that. - -Fortunate for the great affairs of the house of Abbott, that the -senior was particularly well at this time! The heir, for all his -self-control, was in a state of mind which, had he been compelled to -return--and nothing short of his father’s death or a financial panic -would have drawn him across the seas--would have lost him the faith of -Wall Street. - -Since his violent attack of calf-love and the strange illuminations -which had succeeded it, he had looked upon woman with a critical eye, -and treasured his inmost feelings with a jealous care. Never again, he -had determined long since, would he go through that futile agony at the -instance of anything less than death; when he found the one woman whom -he could love more than his life or his ambitions--or as well--then -would he pour all he had husbanded at her feet; but he would have her -unless the Almighty himself intervened. Busy as was his life, he had -been sharply aware of its incompleteness; there had been many hours -of longing for the deep companionship of love, for the perfection of -his own soul and manhood. The vague ideal of his dreams he had not -recognized in Ranata’s physical part when they met in the cottage, his -sense of adventure being keener than any vital longing, and the fury -of the dance excluding mental knowledge of his partner. But he had -discovered her not long after; and the great measure that he had to -offer of homage and love and passion had since burned steadily; with -a less strong brain the flame would have been less steady, and the -rare moments of solitude with her, and their temptations, might have -overwhelmed him: he had never imagined a woman who could so crowd into -a moment the concentrated essence of all the melting tenderness and the -passionate energy that made up the surrender of woman. It is true that -more than once the temptation had assailed him to use her weakness as -the shortest way out of the difficulties that beset him; but not only -had he so far never taken advantage of any one but a scoundrel, and did -he still hold women in an old-fashioned reverence, but he forecast the -weeks--perhaps months--asunder, when in desperation she might marry any -prince her father selected. And in his cooler moments he tingled at -the thought of a victory which would be as great for his young country -as for himself, of being the chosen instrument to initiate a new order -of things as inevitable as the progress of the world. Romantic as he -was, the campaign he had planned--where the only weapons should be -his own wit and the millions which the world, with its curious love -of self-delusion, affects to despise, typifying as they do modern -life itself--appealed to him more powerfully than a flight across a -picturesque country of many costumes to his yacht, or a rescue from -the palace of Buda. But at present he was not rehearsing his plan of -campaign; the coming moment commanded his imagination, and the blood -was beginning to pound in his ears when he heard the light rustle of -her garments. He sprang up the stairs and met her on the first landing. - -“Not here!” she said nervously. “Sarolta is in bed, and Piroska has a -toothache; but who knows?” - -“Has it ever occurred to you that the Countess Piroska is a spy?” he -asked as they crossed the hall to the room Zrinyi called his study, -although it had not a book in it. - -“Possibly,” said Ranata indifferently. “We are accustomed to spies. -That is usually one of the duties of the Obersthofmeisterin. But as -Sarolta is too wealthy to be bought, and is of a proved fondness for -me, I suppose Count von Königsegg thought it wise to have one in my -household he could count on. I doubt if she has made any report of -consequence so far, for she has bided her time, hoping that the worst -would happen; but she will, for she wants to marry you. But it will -matter little now! Our time is almost up!” - -She spoke in a tone of profound dejection. The serenity she had -maintained in Sarolta’s presence had dropped from her like a mask. -In a moment she withdrew from his embrace and leaned against the -window-frame and stared down into the ravine where so many Turks had -mouldered to dust. - -“It is time for the comedy to end,” she said sharply. “Sarolta knows, -and before long will interfere. Königsegg is sure to interrogate -Piroska before long, if he has not done so already, and there must be -many comments in Budapest and Vienna on your long stay here and your -constant presence in the palace. Moreover, it is impossible you should -remain away from America much longer. The two months you set yourself -have nearly passed. Let us talk plainly. My capacity for self-deception -is at an end--indeed, for days past it has slipped from me again and -again--and I am worried about many other things--” - -“What things?” asked Fessenden gently. He gathered his faculties and -stood looking at her, from the other side of the narrow window, with -his piercing and concentrated glance; but he took her hand and held it -tenderly. “At least, if we are soon to part, let there be as little to -regret as possible. You owe me your confidence--nor is there any one -else to whom you would give it.” - -“Oh!” she exclaimed. “That is true enough! To no other have I ever been -as--been frank at all. No one else has ever known me, nor ever can. -It has given me the most intellectual and voluptuous delight fully to -reveal myself for once in my life--I suppose I do not yet realize how -much. After all, why should I complain? I have had what most women -never find. And I have that sense of the indestructible bond. I shall -have it as long as I live. How many that flutter over this earth, do -you suppose, have that sense of an everlasting indissoluble embrace? -You feel it now. Will you? Will it content you--that sense of spiritual -completeness--can you be faithful to that?” - -“I should be very grateful for it if I could not find anything better, -and I am as capable of complete fidelity as you are. But tell me what -other things have worried you.” - -“It is this--” Her rising excitement flashed the blood into her face, -and she pushed her unsteady hand into her hair, lifting it, as if -its weight oppressed her. “In these weeks that have slipped along -so easily, so naturally, in which we have found so much happiness, -I have--I had grown as accustomed to it all as any engaged girl. -My imagination seemed to sleep, or only to give me to you in the -future. Nothing in me protested, warned, except a mechanical effort -of intellect. It all seemed the most natural thing in the world. I -thought when I entered into that compact that I should lead a dual -mental life; or rather that I should be wholly yours when with you, -and wholly myself when alone, fully alive to the end. But I have been -wholly yours when alone, and as wholly oblivious of the future. And -that is not all. It needed only you and what you brought me to fill -me with a joyous abandon of liberty such as a man might feel who saw -and could walk alone for the first time. I had felt something of this -before you came, for the sudden change from prison to a comparative -freedom almost turned my head; but since you--who breathe liberty, who -typify it, who seem to exhale the very essence of your wonderful young -country--you who fear no one! who fear no one!--Am I still myself? Am -I, Fessenden? That is the thought that has tortured me these last few -days--am I unfaithful in some subtle way to my house, to myself, to -the future, to Europe, to all that slaves born in the purple should be -most steadfast to? Rudolf may have been weak, but he killed himself in -a moment when he was mad with his loathing of life and the methods by -which he had sought to forget it; but he was incapable of deserting -his post deliberately, and if his mind could have been occupied by -the duties of a ruler he would have had no time for despair. But I--I -feel as if this secret revolution in me had made me capable of greater -than weakness--that is common enough in my class! It has bred in me -an indifference--there, I have said it!--to all that I have held most -sacred. I feel as if I had slipped into another world. My rigid love -of duty, even my old superstitions, they have--they had gone. But I -have dragged them back. Last night as I lay awake it seemed to me -that I clawed them out of their graves and shook and warmed them into -life. I have escaped a deadly peril. I know that when you have gone I -shall gradually become myself again--if not quite the same, if without -enthusiasm, at least I shall fit into the old routine--” - -“And you believe that?” asked Fessenden. “You will no more fall back -into your old state of mediæval ignorance and superstition than I shall -be wholly myself until I possess you. You have been remade. You have -come to life, and only in me. You will return neither to separateness -nor to ignorance. The imagination is quiescent while companioned--but -wait!” - -“Do you know, there have been moments when, if you had asked me, I -believe I should have fled with you to your yacht? I don’t know myself! -I almost long to have you gone that I may suffer to the utmost capacity -of my nature, and then adapt myself to the future.” - -He had taken out his watch. “By carriage and a good many changes of -train we could reach Fiume some time to-morrow; a telegram on the way -will bring my yacht there. Will you go?” - -“Oh! No, I will not go! It is bad enough that I am tempted. Oh, I want -to go, I want to go, more than I have ever wanted anything on this -earth! Another man would make it inevitable, but you will not; and in a -few days I shall be battling with regrets, and hating myself the more.” - -“Yes,” he said, and with little enthusiasm. “I could compel you, and -you would love me the more for it; but I should not love myself. It -would not be playing a fair game. I have a Puritanic conscience as -an inheritance; also I have the instinct of the American to protect -women--girls, perhaps, I should say; to look upon them as his chief -responsibility. That is pounded into us early. And I have lived so much -within myself that it would demoralize me to fall too far below my own -standard--God knows, I fall below it often enough. Moreover, if I gave -way to my passions you might--were our escape interrupted--suffer so -terribly that it chills my blood whenever I think of it. I believe that -is the one thing--the knowledge that you were in your father’s power, -unable to escape--that would send me off my head. And it is necessary -that I keep my head until I am able in all ways to protect you.” - - - - -XXV - - -“Have you noticed,” asked Alexandra of Zrinyi, as the Archduchess -descended the staircase, “that our princess has, until to-night, for -the past week worn only black or white?” - -“Why should I notice a trifling detail like that?” asked Zrinyi -sulkily. “If she look beautiful, what matters her dress?” - -“You don’t deserve to be asked intelligent questions.” - -Ranata was trailing down the rough old staircase, between smoking lamps -almost as old, in a green velvet gown of many hues, any one of which -would have enhanced the brilliancy of her skin and hair. The neck of -the gown was cut squarely, and a high stiff collar of white lace rose -behind her head. Her skin was bare of jewels, her hair piled high and -without ornament. In her cheeks was a deep flush, her eyes sparkled -restlessly, her face had escaped from its habitual repose. Her whole -figure expressed vigor, energy, impatience ill-confined. - -“If it were not the Princess, one would almost say she looked -reckless,” murmured Piroska to Fessenden, who was staring at the -vision--the only one of the company, perhaps, who found nothing foreign -in Ranata’s appearance. Piroska compelled him to transfer his gaze. -“That is the way I have always imagined a girl might look who had made -up her mind to elope,” she continued. - -Fessenden started slightly, and quick as he was with his words, the -Countess noticed it. “The Princess has the cruelty of your sex,” he -replied. “She doubtless occupies a very considerable part of her time -thinking out new gowns with which to distract us.” - -“Why don’t you look more hopeless?” whispered Piroska. - -“Must you have men who wear their hearts upon their sleeves?” - -“No; but no man can wear a mask forever, unless he is secretly happier -than he would have us believe.” - -“I am always happy; it is a mere matter of temperament.” He paused -deliberately and looked at her. “Moreover,” he added, “I have -no intention of failing.” And then he joined the group about the -Archduchess. They had parted but two hours before, and although he had -never been so convinced of her love for him, there had been nothing -then of the almost reckless promise which her eyes seemed to flash -to his as the movement was made towards the lower end of the room. -What did it mean? Had an hour of solitary thought in the dark, before -her maids came to dress her, beaten her passion so high that it had -overwhelmed her traditions at last, and urged her to take advantage -of this opportunity for flight? He turned giddy at the thought and -suddenly realized that deeply enamoured as he was with the idea of -manipulating princes, his want of the woman extinguished this ambition -among others, and that he found incomplete happiness something more -than torment. - -The hall was of immense proportions, and the dining-room being far -off, beyond many chill corridors, the table was spread at the end -farthest from the doors that opened directly upon a platform in front -of the castle. The cannon were still in the embrasures. In the light -of the many, yet insufficient, lamps the room with its battle-flags -and weapons, its skins and dim hangings embroidered with the old arts -of Hungary, so recently revived, was feudal enough to please the most -exacting American. - -“Count,” murmured Alexandra, “if you could only provide an earthquake -shock among other phenomena I believe I should no longer resist.” - -“You need an earthquake,” he replied. “But, of course, I am gratified, -and hopeful, at the conquest of the castle.” - -“I shouldn’t care to live here all the year round, however.” - -“Heaven forbid! even with the most adored of women. Give me the -capitals of the world in winter.” - -“It is a great comfort to feel that our tastes are so much alike!” And -she thought, “The Hungarians may be two-thirds fire and impulse, but no -American could take his cues more quickly.” - -Zrinyi, who was not in a sentimental mood, continued: “I have a -surprise for this night, if not an earthquake. I find that the -peasantry all through these mountains have been much excited since -they heard the Princess was coming here--that is to say, the sister -of Rudolf. Most of the young men were beaters at one time or another -for him, and those who were not, and the old and the women, invariably -managed to see him when he came to Görgény. His delightful manners, -combined with the halo of monarchy, made them worship him in a manner -which few modern princes have known--Ludvig II. perhaps furnishes the -only parallel. Nor will they believe him dead. They know that our -princess resembles him in many respects, and doubtless they have some -sort of hope that she can give them definite news of him, that perhaps -she has come to announce his return from the dim unknown. So I have -sent men about inviting them to come here to-night. She has another -opportunity to draw to herself the love that has been wasted since -Rudolf’s death. I am grateful that she is looking her best to-night, -for although she is always beautiful, she has appeared less brilliant -of late.” - -“She wears color to-night,” said Alexandra dryly; “that is the whole -secret.” - -“I am not a fool, mademoiselle; I understand quite well, and sincerely -wish she could be happy. But unhappiness is the fate of princes. They -are born in sacrifice, and they die in it, having known little else. -But our princess has so much to give--it is a great pity I don’t waste -my sympathies on them as a rule. And your brother--it is his first -disappointment? It will go hard with him, but any man worth the name -can get over anything.” - -“That is comforting! If Ranata and Fessenden suddenly made up their -minds to run off, should you help them?” - -“Run off? Great Heaven! How could you conceive such a thing even in -jest? The Hapsburgs have done a good deal for love--but that!” - -“An American? That is the point? It would be a good beginning.” - -“I have always wondered,” murmured Zrinyi, “why you did not put three -heads on your eagle while you were about it.” - -“The two-headed one was sufficiently absurd to deter us. You have not -answered my question. Should you help them?” - -“I suppose I should. My sympathies would be with them as lovers, being -in such a deplorable condition myself. But I should not approve, for -I believe in the principle of monarchy, and that would deal it a -heavy blow. But a liaison--there is no objection to that if it were -circumspectly managed. That shocks your American prudery; but in the -case of princes it is a desirable outlet for the feelings they have in -common with the rest of human-kind, especially when a still more vital -principle is at stake. Our princess can preserve this monarchy if any -one can, and I for one would welcome her as the solution; for William, -with all his great qualities, is perhaps a trifle too high and mighty -for Hungary, and his second son is still an unknown quantity. It would -be criminal in her to desert us, but a liaison would do no one any -harm.” - -“I don’t take monarchies as seriously as you do, and I have brought up -Ranata too well--she will have no liaisons. Besides, my brother plays -for high stakes. It is the best or nothing with him.” - -“Men have been known to take what they could get; and there are -elements in our princess which are beyond even your training. To-night -she looks like a beautiful ripe fruit hanging heavily from the tree. -The Hapsburgs have bad blood in them; not a drachm of the Puritanism of -the Hohenzollerns. The Princess has it in her to be a great sovereign, -but--_bien_; the world is her oyster; why should she not open it?” - -“If I marry you it will be to reform your morals. Not that they are -worse than those of any other European.” - -“American morals are _bourgeoise_.” - -“So is its hypocrisy! But we like things that way. I may even make an -American of you yet.” - -“I have no objection to being an American if I can live in Europe. And -all the Americans I have met seem to make no difficulty about that. I -suppose your excellent father would not wish me to go into business -with him?” - -“I am sure he would not!” - -“Sarolta,” murmured Prince Illehazy, “I have been uneasy for some time. -Has not the moment come to speak?” - -“I have spoken--this afternoon--and her philosophical calm staggered -me.” - -“I see no evidence of philosophical calm.” - -“It is a transformation I do not understand--although I understand it -as a manifestation better than the philosophy. I shall ask Mr. Abbott -to go as soon as we reach Budapest, and doubtless he would be obliged -to return to America very soon in any case; although I had a letter -yesterday from his step-mother, and she seemed to take his long -absence without protest. I do not care to do anything further without -something more specific as an excuse than the young man’s devotion, -and an expression of reckless defiance worn for one evening. Besides, -we have Piroska to do the spying. The King will not remain too long -unwarned. But Ranata’s love-affair hardly worries me as much as this -perhaps too sudden popularity. I fear it may be overdone, and will -alarm Franz, possibly the King. Ranata has not a thought of usurpation. -I am convinced of that. But--” - -“Exactly. I saw Königsegg when I was in Vienna last week, and he tried -in his delicate way to pump me. He learned nothing, but I did. The -wind is blowing the wrong way. If the Princess, in a moment of haughty -forgetfulness, drops her policy of conciliation towards Königsegg, or -he becomes suddenly fearful of American influence--for Mr. Abbott may -go, but he will return, or I know nothing of men--or the minister fears -to anger the heir--then our beautiful princess will go back to her cage -in the Hofburg.” - -“In that case I should not care to be the Emperor,” remarked the -Princess Sarolta. - -Ranata suddenly lifted her hand. “I hear such a peculiar noise,” she -said. “Is a storm rising?” - -The rest became aware of a deep low murmur, not unlike the rolling in -of tides. Zrinyi left the table hastily and looked from one of the -narrow windows at the upper end of the hall. - -“I will send for your cloaks,” he said, “and then I shall ask you to -step out on the platform for a moment.” - -A few minutes later he threw open the great doors of the hall, and -the party stared silently at the scene before them. The full moon -swung close to the ice-fields, the white harsh peaks high above. In -the court-yard, on the small plain beyond, on every snowy hill and -rock, were crowded hundreds of men clad in the skins of the sheep, the -wolf, the goat, and the bear. On their heads were high fur hats, which -exposed but a fringe of long hair on their shoulders and concealed -their brows, giving them an aspect of singular wildness. But they were -very quiet, almost breathless, until Zrinyi stepped forward and shouted -something in Roumanian. Then each man lifted a flute to his lips, and a -sweet and savage melody stole forth gently, to rise and swell until all -the vast and desolate scene seemed to bend and listen. The notes might -have been born of the peaks that looked as if torn asunder by harsh -unlovely hands, then softened to beauty and gentleness by the silver -glitter of the snow. And the strains, piercing yet remote, had in them -too the eternal loneliness of the mountains, the only thing in Nature -akin to the eternal loneliness of the great. The hills took up the echo -and rolled it on, and among far and hidden peaks a laugh seemed flying -from itself. - -When they had finished, Zrinyi turned to Ranata. “They have come here -to see your Royal Highness,” he said; “and not so much because you -are our princess as the sister of our lost crown prince. Have I your -permission to ask them to enter?” - -Ranata, who was pale, turned paler. “Yes,” she said. “Ask them in.” - -The guests returned to the lower end of the hall, whence the table had -been removed, and threw off their cloaks. The women made a brilliant -group in their elaborate dinner dress, their flowers and jewels and -superfluous fans. - -The Wallachians and Roumanians--there are few of Hungarian blood so -far south in Transylvania--came silently but eagerly in. Each man as -he entered removed the tower of fur on his head, revealing a dark -mane of matted hair. The countenances thus exposed were mild and often -handsome, but the dark eyes burned and flashed with an excitement of -which they gave no other evidence. - -Ranata remained with the group until the incoming throng had almost -filled the hall. The doors were still open, and behind the mass of -heads on the platform she could see the snowy slopes of the range, -whose silences seemed to have fallen upon the castle; no one spoke, -and the sandals of the mountaineers pressed the floor silently. Zrinyi -murmured a suggestion, and Ranata ascended a few steps of the staircase -which finished the hall. All the voluptuous beauty had left her face; -it was so white that her eyes burned black. Her aspect would have been -angry had it been less stern. She could not speak Roumanian, but Zrinyi -had hastily taught her a few words. - -“I am the sister of your crown prince,” she said. “And I am honored and -happy that you have come to see me.” - -They gazed at her for a few moments in a heavier silence. To them she -had lost nothing of a beauty they had never seen, and in the wavering -lights, possibly because at the moment her mind was face to face with -her brother, her likeness to Rudolf was so strong as to send the blood -to their heads. It rose slowly, for they were cold with long waiting -and taken by surprise with a beauty they had not expected, but when -they realized that the sister of their prince and the chiefest object -of his affections stood before them, they suddenly sent forth a mighty -cry, hard, wild, abrupt. It was almost a note of agony, such as the -mountains might have given when the fires of the earth boiled them -apart. The cry shot out again, but this time it swelled into volume, -ended in a roar, and then split into intelligible sound. “_Élyen!_” -“_Setreasca!_” “_Setreasca!_” shook the old flags like the wind of -battle; then, on a higher note, “Rudolf!” “Rudolf!” “Rudolf!” They came -forward like a great wave, excited, voluble, demanding to be told what -they had done to anger their prince that he came no more, what his -wicked enemies had done with him, why his father, the great King and -Emperor, was hiding him. It was idle to attempt to answer, and Ranata -stood looking down upon them, at times forgetting the strange scene, -her thoughts in the crypt of the Capuchin Church with her brother. -Suddenly she heard herself addressed in Hungarian, and glanced aside -to see a gypsy standing on the step below her. He was regarding her -with admiring eyes, but there was a sardonic twinkle in them, and his -mien although friendly would not have inspired confidence in an idiot. -However, Ranata came forth from her thoughts and smiled on him. - -“Did you know him?” she asked. - -He addressed her in the most extravagant forms of homage, but when he -answered her question it was with directness enough. - -“I was with his party on every visit,” he asserted triumphantly, as if -exhibiting a valued stock-in-trade; “I and my band. He was always eager -to hear the Chardash. And out on Lake Zenoga, sometimes at Görgény, -we sat at his board, or in the circle by the fire. Oh, those were the -days, your Highness--first a prince, then a gypsy, then a prince, then -a gypsy, all mixed up, all drunk, everybody happy. I know that Rudolf -is dead, for I have travelled far, but I wish he were not.” - -The man’s speech broke through the severity of her mood and she -laughed. “I have no doubt they were gay times,” she said, “and I regret -that I am not a man to come and take his place among you. But I will -do the best I can; and believe that I shall love you as much as he did.” - -The man shook his head. “We would never dare to love like that again.” -He paused, then added meaningly, “The love of the chosen Hapsburgs is -fatal--to themselves and to those who win it.” - -Ranata looked over the man’s head as if he had disappeared into the -still shouting multitude; but he had the assurance of his race, which -acknowledges neither country nor king, and he repeated: - -“It is always fatal, your Royal Highness.” - -Then Ranata looked down at him once more. After all, the creature -was not worth crushing, and he was diverting. Moreover, he had known -and doubtless been spoiled by her brother. Rudolf had told her many -anecdotes of the gypsies who always attached themselves to his -Transylvanian household. - -“You will not return to us!” continued the gypsy. “When Rudolf left us -the last time I said he would not return. Nor did I predict it because -he said to us not ‘_Aufwiedersehen_,’ but ‘_Good-bye_.’” - -“Is that true?” - -“It is true, but that was not the reason. When he came that last time I -said he would not return.” - -“And how do you know I shall not return?” - -“Because love is fatal to the chosen Hapsburgs, your Royal Highness.” - -“Then they can avoid love,” said the Archduchess impersonally. - -“Not when they are made for it. Nature has protected many by a mask -as ugly as the plague. When she gives them beauty be sure it is to -scourge the proudest house on earth, and to chastise it for centuries -of cruelty and oppression.” - -“Maria Theresia was beautiful.” - -“She was fat. She also had more children than a man ever can remember. -Besides, she was not really beautiful.” - -“And you are not very logical. Other houses of Europe have records for -injustice as great as ours may possibly have.” - -“Nature has taken other methods to punish them. Be sure that none shall -escape.” - -“I suppose you wish to tell my fortune. I have not superstition enough -for that, but in the name of my brother I will send you a purse to the -servants’ quarters to-night.” - -She withdrew into the polite silence with which royalty lays down the -burden of audience, but the gypsy held his ground. He thanked her -extravagantly, and added: “I am more honest than most gypsies, your -Royal Highness--I do not pretend to see too far into the future. But -when a man’s heart is black with remorse and bitterness and hatred of -life and the reckless indulgence of passions, I can see the end; and -when a woman--” - -“Go!” said Ranata; and this time the man mingled his featureless -sheepskin with the others. She beckoned to Zrinyi and spoke with him a -moment. Then he stood beside her and lifted his hand. Every man seemed -to shut his voice between his teeth. - -“Her Royal Highness wishes me to tell you,” said the Count, on a note -which carried to those beyond the door, “that Rudolf is dead. That he -has gone where you may meet him again if you are faithful and loyal -subjects to the throne. She will tell you herself.” - -And Ranata said in Roumanian, and with the cold accent of finality, “He -is dead.” - -Zrinyi let the words sink into the silence, then he raised his voice -again and shouted that barrels of wine were opening in the kitchen, -and the great wave turned upon itself and rolled out, but still in -silence and with many a backward glance. - -Ranata ascended the stairs. When she returned she wore a short skirt -and a long fur cloak with a hood. - -“I am going for a walk,” she said to the astonished company. “Mr. -Abbott, will you come with me?” Then to the Princess Sarolta, who had -risen, she added, “No power can prevent me. But do not be alarmed; I -shall return.” - -“Do you give me your royal word for that?” asked the alarmed -Obersthofmeisterin, “otherwise, old and lame as I am, I shall follow -you.” - -“I give you my word. You may sleep in peace.” - - - - -XXVI - - -Fessenden and Ranata walked rapidly and in silence over the paths -the mountain peasants had trodden that night. There had been neither -wind nor snow for many days, and what had fallen was compact and not -too smooth for impatient feet. For a time the path was straight, and, -looking back, the irregular mass of the castle on its isolated rock -was the one dark object in the white radiance of the Alpine world. -Soon, however, a sharp turn about the foot of one of the peaks that -rose straight from the brief level seemed to fling them abruptly into -an eternity of ice-fields and endless chains of glittering crests -so high above that their fierce teeth must surely bite new pictures -into the moon that hung so close. Ranata’s arm was within his, but -Fessenden’s mind reverted to his boyhood in the Adirondacks, when he -had stolen forth to his balcony on winter moonlight nights to gaze upon -the snowy lake and peaks, and dream of their kin in the far-off Alps. -How tame that picture seemed to-night, dear as it was! That was a mild -and pleasant wilderness compared with this upper firmament of ice and -desolation, with its black forests below and on high its masses of rock -and crag that looked as if arrested in brutal warfare with each other. - -In the course of an hour the path came abruptly to an end on the -shore of a small lake, from three sides of which the mountains rose -like the straight and jealous sides of a mighty jewel casket guarding -the diamond treasure of some old god of the hills. The lake, looking -smaller perhaps from the great height of the perpendicular mountains -surrounding it, was oval in shape, and its frozen surface glittered -and sparkled under the moon poised directly above. No light of man had -ever drawn such radiance from the diamond. The air was so still that -the cold was hardly noticeable. The silence was intense, oppressive, -now that their feet no longer met the snow crisply. Ranata put her hand -nervously to her head. - -“What are you thinking of?” she asked. - -“Of my boyhood in the Adirondacks. To-night a thousand years seem to -have disappeared since then. And many and wild as were my dreams of -the future in those callow days when I had leisure for dreams, no -flight penetrated to the future which held these last weeks, to the -indescribable solitude of this night with you. In those days I fancied -myself a poor boy who had begun life in the orthodox log-cabin and must -end in the White House. But that I should love a daughter of the Cæsars -and hold her in my arms among the eternal snows of the loneliest of the -Alps never muttered in my most exalted moments. Life is a rum thing.” - -Ranata laughed in spite of the chaotic emotions that had driven her -forth. “Which do you really love best, I wonder, the sublime or the -ridiculous? Do you know what I had almost made up my mind to do when I -came down to dinner?” - -“To go to-morrow with me to Fiume?” - -“To-night; as soon as the others were out of the way, and Zrinyi -could have the horses harnessed. After I left you there was an hour -in which I think I really was mad. Every fact of existence except -the possibility of being alone with you on your yacht seemed to have -been burned out of my mind. I would have sold Austria to William, -I would have flung Hungary to Roumania--there was no crime I would -not have committed to have been alone on this earth with you. And -now we are alone, and the fever is gone. I look back upon the hours -before those poor creatures came and shouted Rudolf’s name as upon -some half-remembered interval of insanity. But it was appallingly -real then, and if it came once it may come again. After our return to -Budapest--and I shall start to-morrow--I shall never see you again.” - -“I still think you are unwise not to take advantage of this -opportunity. You will regret it; take my word for that.” - -“Doubtless, when it is happily too late. I am ice now. I can only -describe my sensation while those wild men were begging me for Rudolf -by asking you to imagine yourself standing under that frozen cascade -over there. It seemed to me that for the first time I realized -the enormity of his crime. He could have been a great monarch, he -could have preserved his country, he could have saved Europe from -unimaginable horrors; and every gift, every duty, every ambition -disappeared into the flaming abyss of his passions. Oh, if my father -could only have died twenty years ago! That alone could have saved -Rudolf, for it was excess that killed him; the occasional indulgence -would not have mattered. And these men, and thousands like them, would -have obeyed his lightest call to save Austria from Europe, to save -it from Hungary if need be. They would come at my call. They would -laugh even at my father. And, Fessenden, above those wild heads, and -bodies like mountain beasts, I saw for a moment the pale face of -Rudolf, terrible with agony and remorse, with impotent resentment -against the law of the grave, dumbly beseeching me to continue the -work that the great invisible forces up there had sent him into the -world to accomplish. It was then that my blood turned to ice. An hour -before--and in other moments, perhaps--I had been capable of greater -guilt than Rudolf’s; for after all I have had no such temptations, no -such provocations as his. Where you have upheld me, women, from the -time he was old enough, the very girls of the court, flung themselves -beneath his feet, honored to be dishonored by the heir to the throne, -even had he been less fascinating as a man. My father had made no -secret of his own amours; there has been no more corrupt court in -Europe; Rudolf saw no necessity for restraint, and he used none. -If he had married happily all might have been well, for he was not -vicious, and his nature was very affectionate. But when does royalty -marry happily? Fortunate the prince who marries the cow. Then at -least there is one incentive the less. Rudolf had no such fortune, -and disappointment and _ennui_, multiplying themselves, drove him to -the arms of charming women who wished for nothing so much as to make -him forget, and from them to the boon companions who adored him, but -dared not remonstrate had they wished, when he drank till morning. But -what excuse had I? Only that of a passion so great and so real that -it should give me the strength of these mountains. Without it, after -gaining my wishes in Hungary, I might have become bored, indifferent, -cynical; I might even, as I felt youth passing, have indulged in amours -that no one would dare to take me to account for. I might have gone -to my coffin there in the Kaisergruft without an ideal in my soul, -disillusioned, all my original nature in ruins, reviling life, glad -to die. Now it seems to me that after the inevitable agony is over, -I have it in me to become really great in character, sustained by an -inner life and fed by a memory that will keep me young till my death. I -thought of this long ago, when I met you first, but it passed from my -mind. It was more like a dream then. I know it to be a reality now. I -doubt if there can be any such actual happiness as what I shall find in -the memories of you.” - -Fessenden looked at her long and intently. If she was of many and -variable moods, the moods were of an intensity and truth which -submerged the other women in her while they lasted. And he always -responded to her deeper moments so fully and so involuntarily that only -his ever-alert brain saved him from compromising his future conduct. As -in the profoundest solitude he had ever known, he looked through her -eyes into her naked soul, he had a long moment of doubt. In that cold -ideal of fulfilled duty, with her love apotheosized and spiritualized, -might she not in truth be happier than he could make her? Her state, -and the more commonplace cause of the deep chill of an Alpine midnight, -had cooled his own blood, and muffled the passionate voices in his -imagination. For a moment he too felt the white intoxication of the -ideal of a lifetime of self-immolation on the passionless shores of -duty, forecasted the serenity with which Nature rewards perpetual -striving after spiritual heights, and compensates for the voluntary -resignation of the joy of love. He darted a glance upward and was -visited by a brief illusion: he and Ranata stood alone on the highest -peak that pierced the stars. Then like Life he compromised. - -“I wish for nothing less than your full and unconditional surrender,” -he said. “If, when you have had time to know yourself better than you -do now, you tell me that your decision is unalterable, I will persist -no further. I believe that you will send for me before long, but I may -be mistaken. Perhaps I have been blinded by my love, and the hopes -with which it has inspired my imagination. There may be, there are, -of course, depths in your mind of which I have no conception. These -may contain forces that will finally shut me out of your life. If -you convince me that I should add to your unhappiness by persisting, -or that I should do you a great wrong by making you mine in spite of -yourself, then I promise you here solemnly to withdraw finally from -your life; and to be as eternally faithful to you as I believe you will -be to me.” - - * * * * * - -Vilma from her high window saw them return. She had watched for them, -not from the motive which had made her neighbor walk restlessly between -her window and her writing-table, but in tempestuous sympathy with a -romance against which she pressed so close. Her own heart she believed -to be a graveyard with one tomb, and she found a vicarious happiness in -this atmosphere of passionate and uncommon love that she was graciously -permitted to enter. She had seen how it was from the first, and had -done what she could to divert the attentions and the suspicion of -Piroska. Pumping had had no effect on the wary Zápolya, and Vilma, with -all her subtlety, was still in doubt as to what the possible enemy may -have seen or suspected. She had followed Fessenden and Ranata on the -night of the ball, and waited without the door leading to the private -apartments until she heard him returning; that she might be able to -assure Piroska she had been their companion and chaperon. But Piroska -had given no sign that she had been occupied during that brilliant -night except with her many partners, and Vilma dared not tell Ranata -what she had done. Gracious and captivating as the Princess was in -her new rôle, it would have been a braver than Vilma who would have -taken a liberty with her. Fessenden possessed no great charm for this -young Hungarian, who preferred a more romantic type, but if he had -inspired love in her beautiful princess she wished with all her heart -that he too were of the blood of kings. Had these two been content -with intrigue she would willingly have helped and shielded them, but -she shrewdly suspected the truth. Astounding as the fact might be, the -American wished to marry the daughter of an emperor and king. It took -the ancient pattern of her brain a long while to adjust itself to the -bare idea, but when time had accustomed her to its audacity she could, -starved soul that she was, but sympathize. She too had had an intuition -of Ranata’s state of mind when she bloomed upon them at dinner that -night, breathing passion and defiance, and she heartily wished the -Princess had slipped out of the castle with her lover instead of giving -her word to the Obersthofmeisterin to return. - -She had also overheard the words of Piroska to the American, and she -had noted that the moment the Princess left the castle the sister -lady-in-waiting had pleaded the morning toothache and gone to her room. -It adjoined Vilma’s, and for two hours the friend had listened to the -steady scratching of the enemy’s pen, interrupted only by hasty visits -to the window. Vilma had lived close enough to Piroska during these -months of court life to be sure she did not keep a diary. She was now -fully convinced that she was the tool of Königsegg for two reasons: -it was worth her while, and she had intended to marry the American -when he became convinced of the hopelessness of his suit. Piroska’s -wiles had been patent enough if her hostility had not, and to-night, -as the American had turned to her with an air of conclusion and six -words which might have extinguished hope in a more sanguine heart, -the hard little face of Piroska had settled into lines of malice and -determination. She had been as gay as usual during the dinner, but the -color had come back neither to cheek nor lips, and Vilma suspected -that if the unfortunate lovers had flown that night Piroska would have -managed to follow them as far as the first telegraph station. Now, no -doubt, she was writing her long-deferred report. - -As Vilma watched Ranata and Fessenden return, she slipped from the -window-seat and climbed onto the bed, still huddled in her furs. The -fire was out and the room almost cold, but she could not prepare for -sleep knowing of the plot thickening in the next room. The hour had -come to act, but what should she do? To attempt to intercept Piroska’s -letter on the morrow would be futile; Piroska would see to that. Vilma -did her justice; there would be no loose ends, as in novels, for the -good fairy to unravel. Should she walk boldly in and hurl suspicion in -her face? Vilma was too European to approve of the crude method. The -wild idea occurred to her of smothering Piroska with a pillow as she -slept, but she had a certain measure of common-sense; a tragedy in the -royal household would put an end to court life in Buda for the present, -perhaps thwart ambitions she half suspected, possibly send herself to -keep company with Piroska. She dismissed with some reluctance the idea -she was quite capable of executing, and suddenly determined to go into -Piroska’s room and be guided by events. She left the bed and knocked on -the connecting door; then, assuming that she had been answered, opened -it and entered. - -“I cannot sleep,” she said, “and I heard you moving about, so I thought -you might be as glad of company as I. You are writing? How can you -in this cold? Do you know I sat up to watch them come home? Not that -I doubted they would, but I felt as if I were living in a chapter -of romantic memoirs. I may write mine some day--but you should do -that--you are so much cleverer than I.” - -Piroska had risen politely and pushed a chair slightly away from her -table. She had a small pile of manuscript before her, which she had the -presence of mind not to attempt to conceal. “I _am_ cold,” she said, -stifling a yawn, “and tired. But I could not go to bed. The excitement -of the evening made me hopelessly wide awake, so I thought I would -write my long-neglected letters.” - -“It has been exciting--those wild simple creatures! But that looks like -a book. Tell me--” her eyes were bright with girlish curiosity, “_are_ -you writing a novel? You could! Ah! I know you are!” - -“Well,” said Piroska, with a delicate hesitation, “I--for Heaven’s sake -don’t breathe it, Vilma! One is such a fool until one succeeds!” - -Vilma gave an ecstatic cry, and with a movement as swift and unexpected -as that of a panther flung herself upon the mass of papers. “Let me -see! Let me see!” she cried. But they were torn from her hands and -the eyes that met hers blazed with the ferocity of a less civilized -century. - -“You dare!” gasped Piroska--“you dare!” - -Vilma had seen enough. “Oh, very well,” she said haughtily. “I had -no idea a book was like a tiger’s cub. It made me quite wild with -curiosity, and I am sorry we tore the manuscript. Good-night. I -would not sit up and copy it if I were you. Your tooth will be quite -frightful to-morrow.” - -She swept out, and locked the door as she closed it. Piroska, too, -might be capable of using a pillow. She took down a candlestick and let -herself noiselessly into the hall. It was very dark, except for the -patches of ghostly moonlight; but commonplace fears were unknown to -this girl of fighting ancestors, of women who had suffered worse than -death. She knew that the men’s rooms were in the opposite wing, and -she traversed the long corridors between without adventure or qualm. -When she reached the wing she saw light under two doors; Zrinyi had -undoubtedly sat up to await the return of the Princess. Which was the -American’s door she had no means of knowing, but she did not hesitate. -If her knock summoned Zrinyi she would tell him that she had a message -for his guest which must be delivered then. It brought Fessenden, -however, and she stepped quickly into his room and closed the door. - -He did not look as astonished as she had expected, but she told her -story breathlessly and begged him to act at once. - -“It will do no good to intercept the report,” she added. “Even if you -could, she would merely write another. But let me go to the Princess -and beg her to fly with you to-morrow early. We could shut Piroska up -for twenty-four hours. If you do not take this opportunity you will -never have another. Her Royal Highness must have many enemies at court. -This will be the final straw. If she is forced to return to Vienna you -will never see her again.” - -“I wish that report to go to Vienna to-morrow,” said Fessenden, “and if -you are not too tired to sit down for a few moments, I will tell you -how you can help when she is once more in the Hofburg.” - - - - -XXVII - - -Two nights after her return Ranata went to the opera-house of Budapest -for the last time. Much to her chagrin she was ten minutes late. -Royalty has its privileges and virtues. It may exercise the courtesy -of promptness without loss of prestige, and no men and women the world -over sit in an opera-box with the same ease and dignity and grace. From -childhood they are trained to stand and sit without moving or betraying -fatigue, and if the frequent necessity adds to the sum of their mortal -expiations, it makes them as decorative, when properly dressed, as -their ancient palaces and historical pageants. - -But for one princess the tenor of the day had been disturbed. A -sleepless night had resulted in an involuntary nap at three o’clock -in the afternoon. Her drive had been late, and she had returned home -so short a time before the early dinner that her maids had detained -her through half of it. She regretted having announced her intention -to attend the opera, but it was a _première_, and she would have been -expected in any case. - -The large house was crowded with the gay aristocracy of Budapest, -and with many who, if not so highly placed, could dress as well, -and contribute to the general effect of brilliant beauty: an effect -which owed more than the women would have admitted to the varied and -magnificent uniforms of the officers. Orders glittered on black coats -as on colored, and every woman wore her abundant store of jewels. But -fans and heads were moving restlessly. Where was their princess? It was -the _première_ in Hungary of Massenet’s “Le Jongleur de Notre Dame,” -and this music-loving people were eager for the curtain to rise. - -At ten minutes past seven that mysterious electric current that -announces the coming of royalty to the sensitive faculties of Europeans -flew over the house; bringing it to its feet, and lifting its eyes to -the gala box facing the stage, as if manipulated by a spring. - -Ranata, accompanied by Sarolta and Alexandra, her Grand Chamberlain, -Prince Illehazy, and Count Zrinyi, entered and advanced to the front -of the box, acknowledging the waving of handkerchiefs and clapping of -hands, the well-bred “_Élyens_” and “_Vivats_” and “_Hochs_.” She wore -white velvet, a small crown of pearls, and many pearls on her neck. -For the first time she showed the wear of too much thought and loss -of sleep; she was pale rather than white, and her eyes were listless. -During the few moments that she stood there, however, while the band -played the national anthem, her guests on either side of her, the -admiring house saw only the perfect carriage of her form and head, the -undimmed brilliancy of her hair, and that most rare combination of -beauty and majesty. - -The anthem finished, the royal party took their seats, the opera -began. Ranata kept her eyes resolutely bent upon the stage, but -although she felt and had been severely drilled in music, hers was the -imagination which escapes control under the influence of the only art -that penetrates to the key-notes of being. The spell of the limpid -semi-religious music swirled round her like a soft tide. She saw far -beyond the poor juggler apologizing to the Virgin for desecrating her -name that he might gratify a heartless rabble and keep his wretched -body from starving; and if she forbade her eyes to wander over the -house, every nerve told her that Fessenden Abbott was not there. - -She had asked him to leave Hungary immediately upon his return to -Budapest, and she knew that if he had not done so--he must await -important telegrams--he would not come to the palace, nor to any -gathering where she was sure to be. And to attend the opera except in -her train would have excited the comment both wished to avoid. - -Whether he had gone or not she did not know, for she would not ask -Alexandra; if indeed her friend knew, for the brother and sister had -said good-bye at the station in Budapest. Ranata, who had been gifted -with no greater measure of consistency than the rest of her sex, had -hoped to see him while driving, while entering the opera-house, to -receive from him some swift involuntary token that he was thinking of -her as persistently as she was of him. - -For she thought of little else, and she was aghast at the power of -love to defy the will. The emotional struggle had induced a physical -lassitude she had never known before. That morning she had risen with -the thought, “Am I going to send for him to-day? Am I? _Am I?_” And the -question had risen again and again, acquainting her for the first time -with the insolent defiance of the fixed idea to the higher qualities -of the brain. She had had experience of the dual entity in the mental -household before, but never so complete a sense of division, nor of -possession by faculties which seemed to have forced an entrance into -her mind rather than have risen from its depths. - -She had not sent for him, however, and she hardly knew whether she -had refrained through the exercise of a will which appeared to sit in -a corner smiling with amusement, from pride, a sense of futility, or -merely because the argument in her mind had not finished in time. In -any case she felt so far from her imperious self that she was almost as -alarmed as she was unhappy. She was filled with a dull abhorrence of -the idea of living the rest of her life on the surface of her nature, -as she was attempting to live it to-night. For what else was left her? -Did she become queen, and none knew better than she that it was but -a possibility among a thousand opposing forces, she could occupy her -brain with routine as her father did; but in a constitutional monarchy, -particularly in one as jealous of its rights as Hungary, she would -exercise so little power that, with her merciless clarity of vision, -she must soon know herself for what she was, an ornamental figure-head. -It would be the pride of the Hungarians to have the most beautiful -queen in Europe, delight the abundant enthusiasm and the loyal instinct -of their natures to love their elected sovereign; and they would value -her the more for a charm which must unite all factions and preserve -them from internal conflict. They would vote her immense sums to live -as a queen should, to restore to the old palace of Buda its ancient -glories and excite the envy of Europe. All these things she might have, -and she knew them to be toys. - -Did she sympathize with the tide of liberty rising in the world, and -nowhere so vigorously as in Hungary? She had put the question from -her again and again, and it had returned as often. Surely he had not -revolutionized her brain to that extent; she must be less than herself -were she unfaithful to the monarchical idea. And yet, when her mind -left Fessenden Abbott it seemed to her that some mysterious force -drew it to the great sullen heart of mankind, brooding eternally on -its birthright of freedom; every instinct of independence, when not -crushed by the tyranny of the Turk or the Russian, still blunted and -pruned in a thousand petty and humiliating ways. Would the socialists -conquer William? And then--when with greater liberty had come their own -adaptation to the unalterable facts of life and human nature--would the -world be better, a more habitable place for mankind in the general? And -was that the destiny of the human race--the happiness of the many, not -the exaltation of the few? That it was a great thought, a grand theory, -she did not pretend to deny. But did she sympathize with it? - -While she assured herself contemptuously that she did not, that the -order of the centuries must be best merely because it was, a part of -her brain seemed to her to accept the doctrine, and give itself no -concern to argue. She turned her back upon it. Why argue, indeed? -A month, a few months hence, possibly a year, the influence that -now possessed her would be so far removed that her mind would have -recovered its balance, alien thoughts must have sunk so deep that she -would only unearth them now and again as curiosities. She made up her -mind that if Alexandra did not marry Zrinyi she would put an end to the -intimacy with herself; and it seemed to her, in her present unhappy -condition, that she would be insensible to further sorrow. She should -indeed welcome complete loneliness, barren of outward suggestion. There -could be no doubt of the triumph, in time, of her strong will, of her -absolute fidelity, in thought as in deed, to the lofty station to which -she had been born. - -She sighed for her lost superstitions, rather for the superstitions -of her fathers which might have been here had no alien influence -entered her life. How they must sustain the soul of majesty through -its trials, through its loneliness, through the long martyrdom of -its earthly course. There had been times when she had heard the -deep mutter of those ancient ghosts, when for a brief hour they had -risen and possessed her brain. Indeed, there had been hours--usually -when Alexandra’s uncompromising practicality summered in its native -land--when it had seemed to her that in the depths of her soul was -a charnel-house of hideous memories, ambiguous of outline, of old -corruptions, unknown in her life but transmitted with her blood, of -impulses for tyranny and cruelty, and unbridled passions, of lust of -blood, and callous indifference to human suffering. Philip the Second -and Joan the Mad were but two of her illustrious ancestors who might -have sent filtering down the worst traits and impulses which the human -heart is capable of supporting. There had been times when she had -believed that had she been born a century earlier it would have needed -but the circumstances to make her the vilest of women. She could have -reigned with her feet in blood and loved as royal harlots have loved -since Messalina burned her pitch in history. And, she recalled, as -she listened to the soft passionless music of the opera, there had -also been moments when she had regretted that no such life could be -hers--wondered if indeed it had not been. - -But it was years now since the last of these obsessions had risen, -five or six, at least. She had acquired great control over herself; -moreover, they had rested impotent under healthy influences; and -assuredly in the company of Fessenden Abbott she could not have evoked -their memory, the ghosts of those old ghosts. Would it not perhaps -be better if she could? Would not even the occasional demoralization -of her spiritual nature be a lesser sin than this treachery to the -divinity in her royal blood? Were she steeped in superstition she -might have known her lover better than she had; but the temptation to -marry him, the persistent disposition to look at life from his point of -view, would never have assailed her for a moment. - -Her eyes during this long reverie, interrupted only by an _entr’acte_, -were fixed upon the stage. The surface of her brain had taken its -impression of the interior of the monastery where the starving -mountebank, cursed by the prior for his blasphemy, had been enticed -that he might find absolution in the life of a monk and fill his -stomach daily. The priests and friars in their rich white cassocks, the -brown interior of the monastic room, made a harmonious and insidious -picture, and the despair of the miserable youth while the other -cenobites boasted of the arts--painting, sculpture, poetry, music--with -which they glorified the Virgin, drew tears from many sympathetic eyes. - -The juggler and a kindly friar were alone, and the elect was pouring -into the astonished ear of the poor ignoramus the story of the birth of -Christ in a manger, and explaining that the Lady of Sorrows understood -not only Latin, but all languages, and even dialects, and had as -merciful an ear for the outcast as for the king. The mountebank, with -his primitive credulity, his almost maniacal terror under the curse -of the abbot, is a vivid study of superstition in the Middle Ages. As -Ranata’s attention was captured for the moment by the intensity of the -final moments of the act, she found herself envying the simplicity of -a creature as capable, in his primal limitations, of the extremest -satisfaction and happiness as of terror and despair. The second -_entr’acte_ is very short. A few moments after the curtain rises the -impressive double row of friars in their sumptuous cassocks march out -of the chapel to their own solemn music, and the mountebank enters -alone, throws off his monastic robe, and in his costume of a harlequin -offers his juggler’s art to the glorification of the painted Virgin -above the altar. It is a scene almost incredible in its childish -superstition, but so pathetic that in that rapt audience neither Jew -nor Protestant paid his brain the tribute of a smile. Ranata, of all -persons, saw no humor in it, for her mind traversed the history of her -race, and halted suddenly at the memory of Maria Theresia, who had sent -her daughters down alone into the imperial crypt on the eve of their -marriage to pray among the coffins of their ancestors. She recalled how -she herself had sometimes felt an impulse to go down there in the night -and do likewise, that she might satisfy that something in the depths of -her soul so akin to those who had dwelt in the benighted past. - -Her attitude suddenly lost its graceful ease. She stiffened and sat -erect as if about to spring; but the eye of the house was focussed -on the stage and she was forgotten. Was not the time come for that -nocturnal pilgrimage? Might not she there, among those four centuries -of her dead, steep herself in that subtle aura of personality which -still must diffuse itself through lead and bronze? Alone there, at -midnight, with but the light of a taper to illumine those motley -hillocks, with the dank odor of death clogging her senses, kneeling -close to the dust and the corruption which had lived so intensely -with the blood that ran in her own veins, must she not recapture her -inherited superstitions, break with the present, absorb once more -the poison of the past? She realized that it was not to satisfy her -sense of kinship with the dead that she should now go to them alone at -midnight, but to revive the lost sense of indissoluble relationship, -of similarities, of the closest likeness of which inherited blood and -brain-cells are capable. She should kneel finally at the foot of -Rudolf’s coffin, and pray there until she was a Hapsburg once more. - -Heavy and abnormal as her brain was from fatigue, sleeplessness, -passionate misery of thought, and reaction from the exalted mood of -her last interview with Fessenden, still it seemed to her that it drew -away in modern disgust from the idea that had risen precipitately in -its middle and taken possession. But Ranata clung to that idea as to -her one hope of salvation; and as the Virgin and the angels, which -had appeared in place of the picture above the altar, to reveal the -eternal beauty of simple faith to the indignant priests, were growing -more luminous, and at the same time, so perfect the art, less and less -material, and the poor juggler’s spirit was struggling from its flesh, -she matured the details of her plan; and half an hour later, when she -descended from the carriage in the palace court-yard, she asked Sarolta -to be ready to accompany her to Vienna on the following day. - - - - -XXVIII - - -Fessenden had found his telegrams awaiting him, and started at once for -Berlin. While the ghosts in Ranata were chuckling their recognition to -the painted superstitions of the stage, he was in the royal palace, in -the comfortable English-looking study overlooking the Schlossplatz. On -the north corner of the huge brown pile floated the purple banner which -informs the people of Berlin that their “Travelling Kaiser” is visiting -at home. - -The Emperor was pleasurably at home this evening, for, although he was -too much of a soldier to lounge, he wore a smoking-jacket and sat deep -in one of his English chairs; the color of animation was in his pale -face, and his eyes, always expressive and brilliant, sparkled with a -more personal emotion. - -It was night. His courtiers, his ministers, his generals, his -supplicants, were on the other side of the door, and he could be wholly -himself for an hour with the one man who neither feared nor flattered -him, to whom he had given a large portion of his own warm affections, -and who, in return, gave him the sincerest friendship he would ever -know. - -Fessenden’s chair was drawn close to the fire, and he was sipping a -Scotch-and-soda. It was a night for a comfortable talk in a warm bright -room, surrounded by books and a man’s more intimate belongings; for the -wind howled about the corner of the palace and dashed the rain against -the glass. Fessenden’s eyes were sparkling also, but with excitement, -and he was more nervous than he usually permitted his manner to betray. - -“Within a week,” the Emperor was saying, “the Archduchess will be -summoned to Vienna on one pretence or another. The plan is to make her -a prisoner in her own rooms until she promises to marry the Archduke -Aloys Franz. I suggested him on account of his commanding qualities -as a disciplinarian; you will recall that they married the Princess -Marie Stefanie to him when her liaison with her tenor was discovered. -He imprisoned her on one of his estates, never permitted her to leave -it for a day, and when she lost a front tooth mortified her vanity by -refusing her the services of a dentist--she was a beauty, poor little -thing! As a husband for refractory princesses he is without a peer; and -my indirect suggestion met with instant favor from the Emperor, who is -distracted between the jealousies of the court and the new motive for -disturbance in the caldron of Hungary. The full information--furnished -by the maid of honor and other spies--of her love for you was the last -straw; and much as the Emperor loves peace and quiet, when the moment -comes to act he acts. The Archduchess, of course, will not marry Aloys -Franz. We know her; elaboration of that statement is superfluous. But -several weeks of solitary meditation will probably convince her that, -as her ambitions are thwarted, she may as well marry you and be happy. -Confinement will reduce her to an abnormal state, where love will seem -the only object for living.” - -He left his chair and moved restlessly about the room. “I don’t like -it!” he announced in his harsh emphatic voice. “It is unheard of. It is -a dangerous precedent. We shall have other dissatisfied and romantic -princesses following her example. Take one stone out of the monarchical -edifice and it is impossible to foresee the end. God knows, we are -shaky enough now. I tell you frankly, Fessenden, that I should assist -in no such revolution solely out of friendship for even you; but to -get her out of Europe is the less of two evils. I have been called -the trigger of Europe. She is the firebrand charged with dynamite. -She was dangerous enough before. Now that she has fallen in love, the -only thing to do is to marry her to the object as quickly as possible. -Balked, and thrown in upon herself, she would set Europe in flames -merely to distract her mind and gratify some other passion.” He swung -round abruptly and laughed. “I must say, Fessenden, that while I am -delighted to be able to help you get the woman you want, I don’t envy -you. I shouldn’t say she was the sort of woman a man could settle down -and have a comfortable time with.” - -“I want nothing more nor less,” said Fessenden; and the Emperor laughed -again, although his generous nature was gratified at the opportunity -to be of service to his friend. - -“It will be rather more than less,” he said. “I have known her since -childhood, and while I admire her more in certain respects than any -woman living, I am not precisely blind to her faults. I will confess -that I shook her once, a good many years ago, when I was visiting -Rudolf, and that she bit and scratched me in return. However, the one -man can always manage the woman of strong passions, so I wish you joy.” - -“Thanks; and don’t let my domestic prospects worry you. Are you -perfectly sure of your man, by the way?” - -“Oh, perfectly. He has the ear of the Emperor and the Crown Prince, -and, while by no means false to them, is so good a friend of mine that -he would do more than that if I asked it of him. Moreover, he has the -confidence of Königsegg.” - -“Suppose they should suspect that you put him up to it? That would ruin -everything. They are quite as afraid of you as they are of her.” - -“No diplomat in Europe is more discreet--or finer in his methods. -He has dropped the poison by degrees. His first references to the -astonishing popularity of the Archduchess in Hungary were almost -inadvertent, and at the same time accompanied with enthusiastic -comments upon her talents. Her conquest of the Independents was the -last straw. The Emperor has been convinced that they would proclaim her -queen the moment he died. Was it your suggestion that they met her in a -body at the train when she arrived from Transylvania?” - -“I put Molnár and one or two others up to it, although they are quite -convinced it was their own idea.” - -“I am thankful you are my friend, for I shouldn’t want your finger -in my political pie! Well, Ranata will never see Budapest after this -week--if you are quick enough. If she should devil the poor old Emperor -into his grave while he was trying to bring her to terms, I should not -venture to answer for the consequences. What is your next move? I see -no further. How shall you get her out of the Hofburg? Bribe the guards? -It will be difficult. The Emperor will guard her well. She could hardly -disguise herself and slip out. How shall you manage to communicate with -her?” - -“Do not exercise your imagination over possibilities of escape, for -I have no idea of attempting any. I intend to marry her with the -Emperor’s consent. Not very graciously given, perhaps, but still--” - -“Oh, Fessenden!” The Emperor spoke impatiently. He had paused on the -hearth-rug, and stood there with his left hand resting lightly on his -hip, the familiar sword-hilt being absent, the right gesticulating -slightly, with a constant movement of the wrist and an occasional -pointing of the index finger. “That, my dear boy,” he added kindly, -“is just the one thing that even you cannot accomplish. That you will -get the Archduchess sooner or later I have no doubt. When a woman like -that loves a man--” He shot his hand up expressively. “It may be that -I shall have an inspiration of some sort and help you further, but I -cannot act openly or I would invite her here. But I have every faith in -your resource.” - -“You will have more when I tell you my plan.” - -The Emperor’s keen eyes met his, and they measured each other as they -had a habit of doing. - -“Well?” asked the Emperor of Germany. - -Fessenden stood up and thrust his hands into pockets. His nervousness -had gone, and his eyes were hard and brilliant. “What do you suppose -the Emperor would give to restore the ancient strength and prestige of -Austria?” he asked, in the cool and even tones he employed in his Wall -Street offices. “To obliterate the memory of 1866? To finish his long -and unhappy reign gloriously?” - -“What on earth are you driving at? I never heard you talk at random -before.” - -“You have never heard me talk at random. What would he give in return -for such a certainty?” - -“More than Ranata. But I hate riddles!” His eyes flashed. The blood -burned his cheek. He knew Fessenden, and was sure that he was not -listening to bombast. His curiosity and impatience nearly choked him. -“Come! Come!” he said. “What idea have you in your head? After South -America I am prepared for anything. If you were not such a good fellow -I should hate you--but go on.” - -“Perhaps what all the world most wants next to the fulfilment of -its personal desires,” continued Fessenden imperturbably, “is the -obliteration of its most actively malignant forces. The most malignant -force in the world to-day is Russia; in a lesser degree, Turkey. These -countries, by their unredeemable barbarism, compass the utter misery -of more millions of helpless human beings than all the other causes in -the rest of the world that conduce, in the natural order of things, to -unhappiness. Moreover, Russia is the one menace which prevents Europe -and England from enjoying a moment’s security. She creeps and creeps, -and never retraces a step. In far-sightedness Russia is the greatest -genius among nations, and she is absolutely unscrupulous; the tyro in -diplomacy does not trust her, and yet she outwits again and again. -There is a hideous possibility of her eventual triumph, and the day she -weakens the power of England, puts her nose in the Persian Gulf, flows -over Turkey, that day sounds the passing bell of modern civilization. -Therefore, the power or powers that hamstring this anomaly in the -twentieth century, forcing her to crouch with her feet in the sand like -a malignant but helpless sphinx until invading progress has taught her -wisdom--these powers would achieve an immortality in history which they -could compass by means of no other modern conditions. Am I not right?” - -The Emperor nodded. He was very pale. Not only had Fessenden pricked -from its drugged sleep one of the passionate hopes of his early -manhood, but he knew that the American was no idle dreamer, that -he had already accomplished the impossible. He had a sensation of -standing spellbound on the threshold of a miraculous future towards -which the great forces within him had moved precisely since the birth -of the worlds. But the impression was hardly realized; his faculties -were concentrated upon the utterance of the man who no longer looked -young, in whose aspect was no trace of the lover of the Archduchess of -Austria, who, indeed, looked little more than an intellect, using a -casual body as a convenient medium. Abbott asked his next question so -abruptly that the Emperor stiffened into an attitude not unlike that of -a midnight sentry alarmed by a sudden footfall. - -“You know what I have been trying to do in my factory out West?” - -“Well?” - -“The experiments are perfected. The kites--and they are as beautiful -as they are deadly--can be sent by electricity to an incalculable -distance, and each one will rain down dynamite enough to kill a -thousand men at a time if they are close enough together. The -generators to charge storage batteries have, by other experiments, been -so reduced in size and weight that they hardly count among the effects -of a travelling army. The enemy could be routed in ten minutes. Even -balloons are not necessary, except for reconnoitring. You also know of -the other invention, no less important. That is perfected. The steel -forts are not only impregnable, but the secret has been discovered of -moving electrically operated machines over any sort of ground. So far, -moving forts, bicycles, automobiles have been useless except on good -roads. These forts will travel without so much as a lowering of speed -over the worst that nature has to offer; there is even an apparatus, on -the principles of the flying-machine, which will carry them over swamps -and rivers. Do you see my drift?” - -The Emperor’s face would have looked like wax but for the severity of -its lines. “Good God!” he muttered finally. “If this is true it will -make you the master of the world.” - -“It will make you the master of Europe.” - -“What riddle now?” He spoke thickly, but involuntarily twitched his -shoulders. He was quick to resent any attempt to manage him. - -“The Spanish War has come and gone. I have no use for these new weapons -of war. They must be used at once, for ideas are microbes. A few years -hence--a year hence--and the discoveries may be universal. If I had -never met Ranata I should have presented them to you and told you to -go ahead, and in the name of humanity wipe Russia and Turkey, in the -form they now exist, off the map. I want to see you at the helm while -you are still young, and discouragements and disappointments have not -crushed all the enthusiasm out of you. The world has waited and waited -for you to do the great thing, not realizing your difficulties, and -that it was your purpose to make Germany strong and prosperous before -launching it into a great war; your crusade will be looked upon as -quite in keeping with your character. And you are the only man on this -side of the water capable of handling a great empire. So, I repeat, I -should have offered you this new power in any case. Now I ask you to -use it as a bait for the Emperor of Austria. Owing to your alliance it -would be a natural act; unless you could afford to wait for his death, -which you cannot. Tell him that if he refuses you will swallow him -too. But he can hardly hesitate to snatch at the one compensation for -the failures of his reign and life. Such of the conquered territory -as you may have to yield to him will flow to you naturally at his -death, for his heir could not hold it, and you may be sure that, as -the initiator of so magnificent and beneficent a conquest, and as the -younger and more picturesque of the majesties, you will be the idol of -Austria-Hungary, as well as the hero of the world. France can be as -easily disposed of as Russia, and indeed every intelligent power will -let you alone after your first battle. Of course you can have all the -money you want should you meet with opposition in the Reichstag. That -offer has always stood. As for the excuse for war, it will be simple -enough to whip up a disturbance in the Balkans. A few discreet agents, -a revolutionary committee, surreptitious presents of arms, and Bulgaria -or Macedonia is in flames. A secret understanding with Ferdinand and -he will do anything to get Russia off his back. Then when the pot is -boiling, and the so-called Christians are sprinkling their gore on -their own unspeakable filth, announce to Christendom that Christian -rulers can stand no more, impose impossible conditions on Russia, and -sail in. There will be enough of these weapons of destruction ready -before the end of three months to conquer the whole of Europe, and no -more time is necessary to manipulate the Balkans.” - -He paused abruptly, and again the two men stared hard and long at -each other. The pallor and the burning eyes of both testified to the -passionate emotion they controlled. Fessenden had permitted eagerness -to creep neither into his tones nor manner, but he felt as if he were -standing in the dock awaiting a sentence of life or death. The Emperor -felt as if he had been whirled back to the first years of his reign, -when all things seemed possible to a young and indomitable ruler. -And that reign had been one long and desperate struggle between his -autocratic instincts and the deep and persistent desire for the extreme -rights of man among a large division of his subjects. He had given them -much, but they wanted more; and being advised by flatterers, and so far -removed from contact with the masses, he looked upon the greater part -of their demands with angry impatience. But no ruler had ever brought a -more lofty enthusiasm to reform, and he had been thwarted by ignorance, -and conservative stupidity, and personal hatred, until he sometimes -felt that the day might not be far distant when he should shrug his -shoulders and simmer down into the routine of other sovereigns. It was -true he had accomplished many things and he had made a great city of -Berlin and a wealthy state of Prussia; but when he thought of his old -ambitions he felt sick with the futility of life. Fessenden’s abrupt -proposition had given him a moment of unutterable happiness, then -almost paralyzed his faculties. He wondered if he should awake and find -himself alone, still compelled to profess friendship for the enemy of -civilization. - -Fessenden continued. “Ranata, of course, will formally renounce all -rights to the throne. But the Emperor’s consent I will have, if only -as a concession of Europe to the United States--a formal recognition -of her absolute equality among nations. I forgot to tell you that the -details of these inventions have been so worked out that no one but my -head electrician and myself knows them all, and the exact combinations. -And he is not only a man of honor, but no crowned head in Europe could -offer him a bribe comparable to what he will receive from me on the day -of your first battle with Russia.” - -The Emperor came out of his reverie. “Have you samples here?” - -“They are in the custom-house. They have not been examined, and await -your order to pass them through unopened. The electrician is also here. -My father arrives to-morrow. We can have an object-lesson on Saturday.” - -“Let us have it by all means,” said the Emperor of Germany. - - - - -XXIX - - -Vienna, the stately brown city, so haughty without, so simple within. -Vienna, the city of beautiful men and women, of fastidious breeding and -dispersing forces. Vienna, the gay, the wanton, the merciless. Vienna, -the city of the dead soul; the great actress whose still perfect shell -moves mechanically upon the stage, not knowing under what sudden stroke -she may tremble and disappear. In no city on earth is life so full of -charm and yet of unreality, no city where one feels so alive and yet -so encompassed by dreams, where to the American New York is not, but a -superlative civilization with the taint of the Middle Ages in its brain. - -Ranata felt something of this luscious yet corrupt flavor of her native -city as she drove from the station to the Hofburg; but vaguely, for her -contrasts were few. Moreover, her father had met her, and was talking -constantly and somewhat at random. If Ranata had not been preoccupied -she would have noticed the evident embarrassment in his manner and -his elaborate attempt at dissimulation. He was more affectionate than -was his wont; a shade less of his perfect breeding and he would have -appeared apologetic. But his daughter’s brain was heavy and absorbed by -one idea. Sarolta was driving to her own palace, and Ranata was anxious -to take advantage of these few moments with her father. Suddenly he -gave her the opportunity she wished. He remarked in the tone of one -whose masculine recesses have received a welcome illumination: - -“I suppose, my dear, that you have come to Vienna to have a personal -conference with your dressmakers.” - -“No,” said Ranata, and it was notable that she did not smile; “I have -come to ask a great favor of your Majesty, and I beg that you will -predispose yourself to grant it.” - -The Emperor stiffened, the natural act of a monarch whose life is -passed with those that crave the royal favor. But the act to-day -was more than mechanical; there were several portentous favors this -extraordinary daughter of his might have nerved herself to ask--might -indeed have deluded herself she was in a position to ask--and the very -thought of them turned him to steel. - -“Well?” he demanded. - -“It is a singular request, sir, for it is for permission to revive an -ancient custom of our house. I wish to go down into the crypt alone on -this midnight and pray by the coffin of Rudolf.” - -The Emperor drew a long breath of relief. There was nothing remarkable -to him in the request, for he believed his daughter to be as devout a -Catholic as himself. “How could a Hapsburg be otherwise?” he would -have asked, if questioned; and dismissed the subject. Nevertheless, he -divined that her mind must be in heavy shadow to prompt an immediate -act of devotion at some inconvenience, when any other time would have -done as well. Scrutinizing her face, he saw the change in it, even -through the disguise of a veil with heavy dots. Trained in detail, he -remembered that he had never seen her wear such a veil before. His -experienced brain travelled to the natural solution. There was truth -in the story that she loved the American; and she wished to do penance -among the tombs of her ancestors. That meant, of course, that the -affair was closed, that when she had realized the enormity of her folly -she had hastened to mortify her flesh and spirit in a worthy manner. -He had not been surprised to hear that she loved at last, but he -wondered at the security into which he had fallen during the preceding -ten years, deluded, like others, by her superb indifference; and the -evident marks of suffering he saw in her face to-day in nowise set his -heart at odds with his purpose to marry her at once. Even were he not -now convinced that she might at any moment become a menace to the Dual -Monarchy, or had he been less harassed by those that feared and hated -her, he still would have used his authority to marry her without delay. -He knew the weaknesses of his blood, and was determined that her very -obvious genius to make the world ring with a scandal should be clogged -immediately. He resolved, however, to defer the subject until the -morrow, snatching at the prospect that the midnight vigil would subdue -and chasten her spirit. He answered as if he had given her request due -consideration: - -“There is no objection, if you are sure you have the strength to go -through the ordeal--that you will not have an attack of hysteria. Of -course”--in response to an indignant ejaculation--“I know you are -not that sort of woman, but it will be a trying hour. Sarolta must -accompany you to the church; she can wait for you in one of the chapels -or in the carriage. And a friar will go down with you to hold the -taper. I insist upon that.” - -“Very well,” said Ranata listlessly. The friar would be an integral -part of the scene, like enough to those who had gone down with her -ancestors, dead and alive. - -She sat through the early dinner with her father, but five o’clock -was now her hour for tea, and she made a bare pretence to eat. She -wondered if she would be hungry in the crypt, then scowled so severely -at her levity that Count von Königsegg, who was watching her, feared -that her suspicions had been roused by something in the dull flow of -conversation. Several of the archdukes were present, besides the many -members of the Emperor’s household, and they were mildly discussing a -crisis in the Reichsrath. The minister had greeted her coldly. He was -profoundly annoyed at the sensation she had made, and the consequent -failure of their carefully laid plans. That she would play her cards -in Hungary with the historic tact of the Hapsburgs he had made no -doubt, and that she could fascinate and beguile he had had personal -evidence; but that she had in her the elements of a public popularity, -so desirable in a sovereign, and so reprehensible in anything less -than the acknowledged heir to the throne, he had not for a moment -suspected. These last weeks had left him aghast, for he was by no -means desirous of the slightest disturbance in the present order of -things, nor to be the victim of suspicion from those who might one -day be in a position to elevate or ruin him. He had been prepared to -declare for the Archduchess if she played her part properly, and her -star shot up at precisely the right moment; but for the present he was -puzzled how to act. His instinct was to desert the sinking ship, but -he found it difficult to connect Ranata with the idea of failure; she -looked, pallid and extinguished as she was, cast for a great part--not -endowed by Nature with the finest gifts of the Hapsburgs to languish -in obscurity. He did not approve of marrying her. The Emperor’s course -must be nearly run, and she would be a valuable card to hold when the -anticipated calamities fell upon them. However, the man selected was -of Hapsburg blood; no vow of renunciation would be required of her, -and at the right moment she could be summoned forth. Perhaps it was as -well; for what to do with her meanwhile, he confessed, was beyond any -inspiration likely to visit his fertile brain. Perhaps she would be ill -for a time; she looked so unlike her usual self as to invite the hope, -and that at least would keep her quiet for some months. - -Ranata, suspecting naught of these unsympathetic reflections, was -longing for the night. When she was finally alone in her rooms--those -rooms that looked like nothing outside the Hofburg except other musty -old palaces where the sun never entered--she sat down in the dark and -attempted to prepare her mind for the ghostly pilgrimage. Her sense of -drama was stirred at the thought of performing this ancient rite, but -she felt less religious than she had hoped, less ancestral, less akin -to those quaking girls who had been swept down into the cold vault of -the Capuchin by the stern arm of Maria Theresia. One had died of the -small-pox, caught from the emanations of a recent victim--doubtless the -poor little body had half-disintegrated with fright, and let the poison -in. She wondered if she would be frightened, and dismissed the thought -with an impatient shrug. Her strong soul had little acquaintance with -fear. Still she would have welcomed a premonition of it at this moment, -if it had brought on its long shadows the first mutters of ancestral -superstition--the first stirring of her stupefied Hapsburg sense. But -her thought flew to Fessenden Abbott. She wrenched it from him, and it -fluttered about among the pleasures and distractions of her months in -Hungary. She found herself longing for the bright rooms in the palace -of Buda, the bustling business-like streets of Pest. She recalled -her first and only visit to a shop, and wished she might repeat the -experience on the morrow; she had had many vivid accounts of the shops -of Vienna from Alexandra, who, untrammelled by state, or even by the -haughty usages of the aristocracy, visited the shops as often as she -pleased. - -“I feel hopelessly modern, frivolous,” she thought, as she rose and -walked to the window. “But it is merely the perversity of the brain. -Like a spoiled child, it must do precisely what is not expected of it. -I thought I had disciplined it better.” - -She held aside a corner of the lace curtain, and peered down into -the court-yard, and at the battered walls opposite. There would have -been no danger of detection had her room been light, for the rain -was falling heavily. The court-yard was deserted; and the scene was -intolerably dreary. A prison-yard could be no worse. - -Suddenly she was seized with a wild unreasoning terror, an impulse to -fly from the Hofburg to Budapest and her many friends. A premonition -seemed to rise out of the dark and press close upon her. Her brain -tossed up the reserve, the embarrassment of her father’s manner, the -watchful speculative regard of Königsegg’s cold eyes, the sensation -of insignificance that had vaguely assailed her as she arrived in -Vienna--of stepping down from a pedestal to withdraw into a niche. -Why had she left Hungary? There she would have been safe, for nothing -short of violence could have removed her, and that they would not dare -to use. She touched the electric button as soon as she could find it; -and when the room was softly brilliant, she wondered at her nerves. -Determined to reduce them to subjection before their midnight ordeal, -she sat down with a novel Alexandra had given her at parting. This -was not the preparation for nocturnal prayer she might have wished, -but it could be no more mischievous than her own unruly thoughts. It -proved to be absorbing--a brisk well-written tale of mediæval love and -adventure, war and romantic incident, without psychology, or a reminder -of modern life and character. It was not the literature of her habit, -but for that reason perhaps held her the more closely, the tenor of her -mind being altered, and life as she knew it best forgotten. When, at a -quarter to twelve, one of her maids entered with a long fur garment, -and the announcement that the Obersthofmeisterin awaited the pleasure -of her Imperial Highness, she arose with reluctance, and, as the woman -adjusted the cloak and hood, glanced at the finish. “If I had not been -sure of that final rapture,” she informed herself apologetically, “I -believe I could not have rid my mind of it in the church.” - - - - -XXX - - -Sarolta had sunk on a hot-water cushion in one of the chapels of the -Capuchin Church, after an involuntary appeal to her archduchess to -pray no longer than she could help. The friar, a dark blur in his -brown robes, unlocked the door that opens on the winding stair sacred -to the House of Hapsburg. As Ranata carried a lighted taper in her -own hand, she motioned to him to walk behind her, and picked her way -on the uneven stones worn by four centuries of men and women who had -gone down with the dead, or to pray among the ruins of those who had -ruled and loved and oppressed, or battled in secret and impotence -with the wretched comedy of their existence. Twice before--since her -early girlhood, when her tutor in history had included an occasional -visit to the Hapsburg dust in his course--had Ranata descended this -stair: behind the coffin of Rudolf, and the coffin of her mother. -The first time she had been blind and dumb with grief; the second, -horror-stricken as she still was, she had meditated sadly upon the -conquest of life over the charming and singular woman she had known -so little. To-night, as she reached the foot of the stair, and held -the taper aloft, she was conscious of little but the cold and the dank -smell of death, which in spite of glass and lead and bronze, and robbed -of its final offensiveness, pervades the crypt. It is an odor hardly -definable; it might be the very breath of Death himself rising thickly -through earth and mould. - -Ranata shuddered and drew her cloak about her, but walked resolutely -down between the long rows of sarcophagi, elaborate and ostentatiously -simple, crowding close behind the bars. She was thankful that her -father had insisted upon the escort of the friar; but when she came to -the great gates behind which Maria Theresia still reigns in the pomp of -death over those that have followed her, and her silent attendant had -turned the key, she motioned to him to remain without. - -She stood for a moment looking with a curious impersonality, of which -she could not divest herself, at the magnificent leaden sarcophagus, -on its pedestal, of one of the few great rulers of Austria. The -carving and chasing, the bas-reliefs and fixtures, were so elaborate -and beautiful that she caught herself wondering how many years the -august remains had awaited their final state, or if the far-sighted -Empress had set the craftsmen to work long before her death. She was -a practical soul, and it was likely. At her feet, in the plainest of -leaden coffins, lay the husband she had loved and snubbed. About her, -in receptacles of varying art and costliness, were nine of her sixteen -children. - -Ranata turned her back upon the last vanity of the ancestor who had -been a religion of her youth, and passing the equally lofty but -far less imposing sarcophagus of Franz II., with the perfunctory -receptacles of his four wives scattered near, she paused for a moment -beside the long coffins of Napoleon’s second wife, and of him who had -been called King of Rome and Duke of Reichstadt--he whom the French -remembered as the second Napoleon when his cousin seized the throne. -She stared down at the lead above the dust of the little cousin for -whom she had much sympathy and compassion, knowing him to have been the -victim of court intrigues, his soul and body systematically ruined. She -wondered how much rebellion had beaten beneath that apparent docility, -how much cunning, perhaps; biding his time in his grandfather’s old -age, hating and fearing Metternich, yet neither wise enough nor strong -enough to avoid the traps that never cut his feet, and closed about -him as softly and warmly as sirens and drugs. She wondered if the -French poet had divined the secretive nature correctly, or if a true -Hapsburg brain had dissolved in the silences of the crypt; then, if the -ruined soul had been graciously relit in consideration of its youth -and ignorance; if, in some juster world, the fine brain he may have -inherited might not now in its maturity be fulfilling the purpose for -which it had sprung from a force that would still seem to haunt the -earth. - -These were not the thoughts, the sulking superstitions, she had come to -evoke, and she passed on. The alcove containing what was left of her -mother and brother, with the angel between them presented by the ladies -of Hungary, was before her, but she wished before kneeling and praying -there to saturate herself with this subtle atmosphere of ancient death, -of indestructible repose, of serene and final disassociation from the -world above. This portion of the crypt is only two-thirds below ground. -A high small window admits a patch of light by day; but the glass is -heavy, and no sound penetrates. The Hapsburgs sleep as quietly as the -Pharaohs. - -Ranata wandered past the brilliant silver-like coffin of Ferdinand -Maximilian Joseph, but she did not linger; she had little sympathy with -the unknown uncle whose wavering brain had cost him throne and life. -“If I had had Mexico,” she thought arrogantly, “I should have kept it. -Picturesque an object as he was with his American empire, and his brave -death, he will never be a favorite in history or romance, for human -nature despises the waverer. What the Americans call bluff is not only -the wiser policy, but makes a stronger appeal to the imagination.” She -walked down between the long rows of the lesser dead, pausing a moment -at the simple coffin of that cousin who had set her thin frock on fire -with a lighted cigarette, hastily concealed as her father approached. -She smiled with tender pity, grateful that her own parent, obdurate in -many things, was advanced in a few simple particulars. - -Finally she returned to the elevated remains of the old Emperor -Franz, and holding her taper high, looked slowly about her. It was a -sufficiently grewsome sight, those piles and rows of gray sarcophagi, -most of them but stark shadows under the meagre light she carried, and -the ray of a lamp that filtered through the little window. She gave -an involuntary shudder of feminine horror, and once more experienced -a throb of gratitude for the proximity of the friar, standing beyond -the door. He had extinguished his taper and looked like a statue at -prayer. Her eye rested again on the coffin of the Duc de Reichstadt. -“Poor Franz!” she thought. “What barbarians they were only two-thirds -of a century ago! I wonder how much better we are now--they! I feel, -rather, as if my spirit had been purged down here, than packed with its -old ghosts.” - -She let her taper trail on the stones. Her pilgrimage was a failure. -The night and its horrid suggestions had accomplished no degeneration -for her; she might as well have come by day, or spared at any time -her limbs the cold, her nostrils this infliction. And there she faced -and accepted the truth. What she had been was gone, what she was so -must she remain. Her brain in its absolute modernity must help her to -endure and to regulate her life; from her ancestors she would receive -no further help, neither now nor ever. From all miasmatic obsessions -rising out of the crypt in her soul she was free henceforth; the crypt -itself had vanished into that eternity so far from the corruption about -her. She lifted her head suddenly with a sensation of liberty, of -independence, which even Hungary and her intimate spiritual absorption -of her American lover had not given her. Then she went forward and -knelt at the foot of Rudolf’s coffin. She had rejected dogmas and -theologies, but she still could pray; for she had perfect faith in an -overruling power, who, if great enough to manage the universe, must -be great enough to answer prayer without upsetting the balance of His -machinery. And prostrate at the foot of the ugly bronze coffin under -half its height of brittle wreaths, that held the clay of the warmest -nature she had ever known, of the only being she had deeply loved -until now, of the Hapsburg whose light might have raised him so high -in history and had gone out in folly and dishonor, she had her moment -of profound tribute to the dead, of utter abnegation of self. When -she rose from her knees she entered the recess, and pushing aside the -old wreaths with their emblazoned streamers, the gifts of kings, and -princes, of family, and illustrious subjects, she pressed her wet face -for a moment to the head of the coffin, then walked rapidly from the -inner crypt, down the lane between the older dead, and up the stair. - -Sarolta was not in her chapel, and, dismissing the friar, Ranata left -the church. The Obersthofmeisterin was in a corner of the carriage -sound asleep. The coachman slept profoundly on the box. The footman had -disappeared. Ranata stood alone in the streets of Vienna. The clock -struck one. She, a daughter of the Hapsburgs, was as free as any waif -in the city. The sensation of liberty which had taken possession of her -down in the crypt surged wildly to her head. She walked swiftly to the -corner and stood there, pushing back her hood and staring about her. -The rain had ceased, but the night was black. What was there to prevent -her from finding a cab, driving to the station, and taking the first -train for Berlin? If Fessenden were not already there a telegram would -summon him in haste. From Berlin it was but a few hours to Bremen. She -took another step forward, then almost laughed aloud. Was this the -first result of her rendezvous with the dead? But if that had been -futile, her brain and her sense of duty were still in control. She had -renounced love once for all. Moreover, her flight would mean the exile -and disgrace in her old age of Sarolta. To-morrow she would return to -Hungary and take up her work there. Now that she knew exactly on what -forces she must rely, she could hope to walk her self-appointed path -without faltering; and in gratitude for her strength, and for a memory -which the inflexible laws of her station could never take from her. - -Nevertheless, she lingered for a time, walking aimlessly to and fro, -for it was the most complete liberty she had ever known, and she -enjoyed it much as a child enjoys itself the first time it runs away. -It also appealed to her sense of humor, and she would have been amused -still more could she have come face to face with her father. - -And so she rejected her second opportunity for flight and actual -liberty, awakened the terrified coachman, and returned to the Hofburg. - - - - -XXXI - - -She slept well, and late; then being already long past her early hour -of rising, lay for a time, half in pleasure of that narrow world -wherein she still could confuse dreams and life, half in dread of -the realities into which she must step with her clothes. Should she -go to Budapest that day? It occurred to her too late that it is more -difficult to return to the associations identified with the intense -or tragic moments of life even than to remain among them. Should she -stay in Vienna for a few days? The Hofburg had never seemed so dreary; -her own rooms were musty and chill. In Buda, at least, she would be -companioned, and she should find novel work to do immediately upon her -return. She remembered Fessenden’s early suggestion to conciliate the -Independents by inviting their wives to the palace. Many of these men -were her slaves, but of them several would not come to Buda, and others -held wholly aloof. She should persuade to her cause, as soon as she -returned, the patriotism of the influential women of the aristocracy. -And there were charities to organize, subtler methods of conquest to -be conceived, now that society had been won by gayeties and pleasure. -As soon as the winter broke she would make her progress through the -country; she had made the impression she desired on the crowds that -had met her at the stations in Transylvania. It was all easy enough, -this brilliant preliminary, but what of the future? Would she have her -great public career, and would it console her for the renunciation of -what she wanted at that moment more than the career of a Maria Theresia -or even the triumph of cold duty? As she awoke fully the tenderness -and passion, roused and stimulated, yet so little satisfied in these -past weeks, which for two days and nights had been quiescent under the -sullen despair of her brain, now, after long hours of refreshing sleep, -rushed in tumult through all her channels of emotion; and all her soul -and body shook with longing and regret. Why should she not see him once -more? And would it always be once more, and once more? Would her life -be bearable if his expulsion from it were final? She had not seen so -far into the future while with him, but now it looked as empty and cold -as space. _Could this be the end?_ She almost cried the words aloud -as she sprang from her bed in a frantic desire to take some step--at -once--before it was too late. He could not have sailed, for he had told -her he should spend some days in Berlin, and his yacht was at Trieste. -She should see him again if the world stood still. In all the emotions -that had rent her, even after the terrible deaths of her brother and -mother, she had never so faced the awful vista of finality; and she -discovered that it was the one for which she had no power in her to -endure. Of course he must leave her at last, but not yet! It is all -very well for the old and the wise to argue with the accents of fatigue -that love is not the only thing in life; so it is not, for those that -argue. - -She rang. Her women came in and dressed her in a travelling costume. -She sent a note to the Princess Sarolta, asking her to be ready an -hour hence, and another to her father expressing a wish to bid him -_Aufwiedersehen_. The Emperor replied that he would call upon her as -soon as she had finished her coffee, and that it was with regret he was -obliged to inform her that her Obersthofmeisterin had caught a severe -cold the night before and was unable to leave her bed. He had sent a -messenger to Maria Leopoldina, who was at Baden, asking her to resume -for the moment her old duties; and doubtless she would arrive in the -course of the day. - -It was a long message, and the Emperor had taken the trouble to write -it, when a simple announcement by a chamberlain that he would call upon -her immediately would have sufficed. Ranata left her breakfast-room -abruptly, and stood alone in her dressing-room removing her hat with -shaking fingers. For what was he preparing her? What pathway smoothing -for himself? Had Piroska tattled? Was she to receive the paternal -fiat that she must never see Fessenden Abbott again? Her father might -require her submission before permitting her to return to Hungary. Had -the world come to an end? She felt as if the floor were swaying and -sinking. - -She heard the Emperor’s voice in the salon, and controlled herself -and went in to meet him. Her eyes met his squarely in the manner he -detested. He kissed her, however, and congratulated her upon her -improved appearance. She had rarely looked better than in this frock of -green cloth and steel and sable, so simple and closely fitting that on -her slim yet heroic figure it gave her a somewhat warlike appearance. -The Emperor himself was looking remarkably well, in his parade uniform -with its sky-blue coat and black and scarlet trousers. He had been in -the saddle for two hours inspecting his troops, and the fresh color was -in his cheeks, his well-exercised body was almost as free and elastic -as his daughter’s. He sat erect and alert like the good soldier he was; -but with the wariness of the diplomat he had taken the precaution to -seek this interview on the enemy’s territory that he might retreat if a -sudden lapse in the negotiations seemed wise; he knew that he would be -physically unable to expel Ranata from his apartments until she chose -to go. - -He began with diplomacy, also, asking her of the pilgrimage of the -night before; complimented her on her courage and piety--and no man -could turn a compliment more neatly. But as Ranata answered him in -monosyllables and preserved an upright attitude of expectancy, he felt -himself driven towards the point. - -“My dear,” he began delicately, “it has come to my knowledge that you -are more interested than is prudent in the brother of your friend.” -He paused, but as Ranata made no reply, nor even changed color, he -continued. “Of course it is to be expected that a girl as beautiful as -you are will captivate many men, aloof as you must hold yourself; but -I am surprised that you have permitted a devotion so conspicuous as to -create gossip. A princess can never be sure that gossip will stop short -of scandal; for where a woman may not select her own husband, the idle -and the envious are always on the lookout for an irregular connection -to gloat over. I am very sorry to seem to reprove you--” - -“I have expected it, of course. I knew that the little Zápolya was a -spy; and she also wished to marry Mr. Abbott.” - -“I hope you will give me the credit of having lived long enough to sift -evidence before I decide, of making due allowance for circumstances, -and of accepting no evidence unsupported. You and Mr. Abbott have been -much in public together; your mutual interest has been commented upon -far and wide. I have been warned from more sources than one. If I had -known that Count Zrinyi had invited Mr. Abbott--and scarcely any one -else!--to accompany you to Transylvania, I should have forbidden the -visit. It had long been a part of your programme, and I inferred, as a -matter of course, that you would be accompanied by a full court and a -large number of guests. There is no doubt in my mind that Zrinyi made -this opportunity for you, and he must take the consequences--” - -“I doubt if he gave my private affairs a thought. He may have cared to -entertain me as a princess, but his first object was to see as much of -Alexandra alone as possible--in romantic surroundings.” - -“That may be. Now I must ask you if you are prepared to deny that -you took a walk at midnight up there alone with Mr. Abbott; that you -managed upon numberless occasions to see him alone--at Buda, as well as -at Zrinyi-vár? That he wore Prince Nadasdy’s costume on the night of -the fancy-dress ball, and that you both retired simultaneously--” - -“I deny nothing,” said Ranata. “I am in no humor to make a sentimental -confession. Your Majesty may believe or not that I love him. I have, -however, sent him away. That should satisfy you. You will accept my -word, I suppose.” - -“Your word is the last I should doubt. But I happen to know that human -nature is stronger than promises. You will not send for him, but he -will return. He is a young man with an exceptional record for attaining -his ends. If he manages to see you alone again after a separation”--he -spread out his little hands with the grace of his Spanish ancestors--“I -should not answer for the consequences. If you were your mother I -should have no apprehension, for she was devoid of passion; but you -are a Hapsburg, and God knows I have had knowledge enough of the -weakness of my race to act promptly when I am graciously vouchsafed a -timely warning.” - -“What are you going to do about it?” asked Ranata--unconsciously, -in her quick suspicion, using the American vernacular, although her -language was German; her father had never found it necessary to learn -English. - -This time the Emperor met her eye fully, although his heart quaked. “I -have determined that it is time for you to marry,” he said in a louder -tone than he was sensible of in time. - -Ranata laughed. She was surprised at her rudeness. The disrespectful -ebullition was due partly to nervousness; but the Emperor’s brave -announcement had also struck at the quick of her humor. - -His Majesty’s ruddy face deepened in hue, but he had too difficult -a task to accomplish to permit himself the luxury of a personal -sensation. He had steeled his heart against pity; to give himself up -to anger was unworthy, and he brushed the emotion aside. He would have -been glad to see his daughter happy, but the stoicism of lonely majesty -had been immutably set in his case by the many and agonizing personal -experiences which he had weathered into a healthy and tolerable old -age. Princes were born to earthly martyrdom tempered by much casual -consolation. If their women were forced to play their part without the -compensations, that was the decree of God, who made kings, and they -must suffer and make no complaint. As a rule they did, and it was the -manifest duty of him who was divinely permitted to govern to see that -they found no opportunity to do otherwise. “You are overwrought, I -fear,” he said tactfully. “Did you sleep well after your pilgrimage?” - -“Perfectly. May I ask whom your Majesty has considered as a son-in-law?” - -The Emperor made a slight motion that in a person of less graceful -dignity might have been mistaken for a squirm. He had no doubt of the -wisdom of his choice--his own choice he believed it to be--for his -relative, if stern and unbending, a disciplinarian of the first rank, -was neither brutal nor cruel, nor, if met with a discreet submission, -unamiable. The idea of handing over his potential daughter to this -Gibraltar among husbands, who had responded with enthusiasm to the -invitation to marry a beautiful and wealthy princess, had taken full -possession of the apprehensive mind of the old monarch; but he had not -planned to break the name until after the right amount of preparation. -He had anticipated that Ranata would dissolve into tears and perhaps -more tempestuous emotions, under cover of which he could retreat, to -communicate in writing the fulness of her fate. But there was no sign -of a tear in the large angry eyes transfixing him, and her full fine -mouth, with its short upper lip and unsatisfied corners, looked as if a -sob had never shaken it. - -“Well?” she asked. - -There was nothing for it but to plump out the name. Even were he -willing to gain time by asserting that the man had not yet been chosen, -he knew that she would detect the lie and place him at an immediate -disadvantage. He answered stolidly, - -“Aloys Franz--” - -“What?” she stood up and stared down upon him as if she were repeating -his statement to herself and endeavoring to place it in connection with -her brain. In a moment the blood rose hotly to her hair, even her eyes -looked bloodshot. “Oh!” she exclaimed. “Oh!” and then she walked to the -window. - -It was an opportune moment for retreat, but there was more to be said; -she was calm, and the sooner the whole task was finished the better. - -“Perhaps you will understand why I think it best you should not return -to Budapest,” he said gently. “It is well for many reasons that this -wedding take place at once, and it is my duty to expose you to no -further temptation. It can be given out that your trousseau detains you -here, or Sarolta’s illness--” - -Ranata wheeled about and faced him. For the first time in her life she -was ugly. - -“And have you really deluded yourself,” she asked with an ominous calm, -“that you will marry me to that man?--or to any one else?” - -The Emperor rose then and faced her. War was declared, and he knew -where he stood. There was no better mettle in Europe than his. - -“You will marry Aloys Franz,” he said. - -Again Ranata laughed, and for the moment she looked hideous. “I shall -not,” she said. “And you should know by this time what stuff I am made -of.” - -“I have not had a doubt of your resistance. I have as little of my -firmness of purpose. You have not been sufficiently disciplined. A -princess marries whom and when her father and sovereign dictates. You -were my youngest, in many ways exceptional, and very much alone. I have -been more indulgent, more lax, than I should. But that is over. From -this moment you will recognize that I am your emperor as well as your -father.” - -“We are no longer in the Middle Ages, nor yet in the middle of the last -century. Your subjects are free to marry whom they please, or to remain -unmarried if they choose.” - -“Constitutions have shorn monarchs of too much power over their -subjects, but in his own family the power of an emperor is as absolute -as it ever was. To the law you would have no appeal did I choose to -practise upon you the tortures of the Inquisition here in my palace, -to starve you in a cell, to cause you to disappear forever from human -sight. Please understand once for all that you are my property, given -into my care by Almighty God; and for your own salvation and for the -honor of my house I shall do what I think best with you.” - -“And if I still refuse?” - -“You will remain a prisoner in these rooms until you consent. Your -servants will attend to every want, you will have the society of Maria -Leopoldina, and you may take your exercise in the corridor. You will -see no one else. There will be a guard day and night at each end of -the corridor. If you make any attempt to bribe these guards, or to -communicate with any one in the court-yard, you will be moved elsewhere -and deprived of exercise. But I do not wish to be forced into undue -severity, and you may remain here so long as you transgress no rules.” - -“Good God!” she exclaimed. “And this is the twentieth century! Have I -heard aright? Am I a prisoner under an armed guard? Am I more helpless -in the eyes of the law than the meanest of your subjects? May any -illiterate peasant woman seek redress in the courts of justice while -a princess of the realm, whose supreme advantages have set her apart -from mankind, is but a chattel among the possessions of her father? I -suppose I have known this. But I have managed to surround myself with a -different atmosphere. But you--you are a man of the world, and all your -faculties are still alert--do you mean to tell me that you have not -outgrown the barbarism of the past?” - -“You may call it by what name you will. I shall go now, and you will -meditate--” - -But Ranata had flashed between him and the door, and he knew that he -could not pass her. He was deeply annoyed that he had not retreated in -time, but he stood immobile, looking coldly into her distorted face. - -“No,” she said hoarsely, but still retaining an appreciable measure of -self-control; “you will not leave this room until you have heard the -truth for once. If you are no longer my father but my tyrant, then from -this moment I am your most rebellious subject and nothing more. And -I would that I could open my veins and drain out every drop of royal -blood. Has it ever occurred to you, sir, that the great enlightened -masses not only in America but here in central Europe regard us -not with the hatred of half a century ago, but with impatience and -contempt; that they look upon us as anomalies, anachronisms, ornamental -nuisances, and do not rise to let out our blood on the guillotine -only because they are well aware of the peaceful disintegration, -the irresistible rising of the tide of independence and liberty? -If your people love you--here, not in Hungary!--it is for your -personal qualities, not because you represent an idea which, in their -estimate of life and civilization, they have relegated to the past, -with crinolines and Bath chairs. Do you suppose that what loyalty -you enjoy will be transferred to the Heir? You know it will not. -That alone is proof enough that the people are carelessly--perhaps -unconsciously--determined to have what they want--monarchy, only if -it happen to suit them at the moment. There is only one monarchy on -the face of the earth enlightened enough to grasp this fact before -it is too late, and that is England. There alone is monarchy not -ridiculous--and not threatened. What do you suppose is the meaning of -the immense and undaunted increase of socialism in Germany? What is the -meaning of the incalculable and persistent forces of disintegration -in this empire? Look at Italy. At Spain. At Turkey. At Russia--that -dares not sleep. Only the insignificant little monarchies are -comparatively safe from themselves, being occupied with apprehension -of the greater. Even in the United States the unsatisfied tide of -liberty is rising. McKinley was not shot by a lunatic, a fanatic, nor -by a member of any deadly organization; the assassin was merely one -of the millions of dissatisfied poor in the richest country on earth, -where he saw liberty and justice becoming as paralytic as in Europe. -Did the portent of that assassination never occur to you? And with -this spirit abroad in the world we dare over here to play at divine -rights, at being hereditary rulers of millions more enlightened than -ourselves--we--pygmies--marionettes--who may be born as foolish as -the last Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary, who thought that all -eagles had two heads, and yet dare to mount a throne and cry ‘I am -King!’ No one has ever more devoutly tried to do what he conceived to -be his inherited duty than I have done. I have, for many years, been -deliberately blind. During these last months in Hungary I have _held_ -the scales to my eyes lest they fall off. Last night down there in -the crypt, where, if you must know, I went in the hope of finding my -old idols, I lost most of those scales. To-day I have lost the last -of them. If I had it in my power to do, I would give liberty and the -broadest sort of constitutional government to every man that breathes. -I am mortified that it took the deprivation of my own liberty to force -my brain to acknowledge the truth. I would rather I had been less human -and welcomed the truth as the result of much deep and intelligent -meditation. But to expect the godlike of one of us of royal blood is -beyond reason, and I am thankful that I am not too dense to receive -illumination from any source. But I loathe my blood. I hope to God I -may live to see every monarch now alive a useful member of a republic -and no man degraded by being forced to submit to what he had no hand -in making. I am sorry to have detained and agitated you; and for any -unintentional rudeness I hope your Majesty will forgive me. For you, -until to-day, I have had a great respect. For what you stand for it is -impossible that I should ever again have anything but the profoundest -contempt. I will not detain you any longer except to repeat that you -will save yourself a great deal of trouble if you give up at once this -idea of marrying me to any man but the one I shall select for myself.” - -She no longer looked hideous. The relief of her emotions, the tide of -passion which had surged over its dam laden with the profoundest truth -of the century, had carried her to the heights of her nature, and she -had never been more beautiful--nor more formidable. Not so the Emperor. -He was purple, and his heavy underlip trembled. But he preserved his -dignity, his soldierly bearing. As she moved aside to let him pass, he -bowed courteously to her without speaking and left the room. - - - - -XXXII - - -The Princess Sarolta, Prince Illehazy, Countess Vilma Festetics, -Alexandra Abbott, and Count Zrinyi sat in agitated conclave in the -palace of Buda. The Countess Piroska Zápolya was officially in bed with -an attack of influenza. - -The five friends sat close together in the blue drawing-room. -Sarolta had related the story of the appalling interview between the -Emperor and Ranata as reported to herself by a faithful maid of the -Archduchess; who had almost fainted in a window-curtain. The woman had -escaped to invoke the aid of the powerful Obersthofmeisterin before -orders had been issued for the isolation of the Archduchess’s servants. - -“There you are!” exclaimed Sarolta, who frequently expressed herself in -English for the sake of its facile idiom. “God help us, what a lashing -she must have given him! It was not the first, poor dear man, but I -doubt if he ever had it quite so straight; for Ranata’s brain would -always preserve her from the usual feminine tangents. But--but--our -poor princess! she is a prisoner! Do you realize it? He will keep -his word, the more rigorously as he now no doubt thinks she is mad. -And _Aloys Franz_! If I didn’t love Ranata, nothing would amuse me -more than to look on at his attempts to reduce her to submission. But -the situation is not humorous; it is tragic! What in Heaven’s name -are we to do to help her? We shall not be able even to get a word of -consolation to her; not one of us will be allowed to visit her; she -will receive no letters; she will be shut up for months, perhaps, -with _Maria Leopoldina_, for whom I feel an even more acute sympathy -than for herself. And she, with that active brain, that nervous -temperament--no exercise, no society, no change--Good God! she may lose -her reason.” - -“That need not concern us,” said Alexandra. “Nor Aloys Franz. They’ll -never marry her, with or without antediluvian methods. But the rest -is bad enough. Surely the Emperor will let her exercise in the -riding-school. She would still be in the Hofburg and sufficiently -guarded.” - -“I am sure the Emperor will not hear of it. The official announcement -has been made that she is suffering from a light attack of -influenza--light, you will understand, that neither suspicion nor too -much sympathy may be awakened. If she went as far as the riding-school -there would be too many people in the secret. She is confined to five -rooms and a corridor, and there I am afraid she will stay. Refractory -princesses have been shut up since the beginning of kings, and will be -until all the kings have gone to the guillotine. Poor dear!” - -“I shall telegraph to my brother at once. We have a code. He will get -her out. Be sure of that. If he doesn’t he may look upon his life as a -failure. He will, however.” - -“Would it not be better,” suggested Prince Illehazy, “if Mr. Abbott -did not take any step in the matter? It might create a scandal and do -the Princess a lasting injury. She has a severe ordeal before her, but -I think there is no doubt she will win. Her will is stronger than the -King’s. I think it would be better to leave the matter to Time.” - -“Time!--a woman like Ranata for six months, a year, in confinement and -uncertainty! She must be got out at once, and there is only one person -who can make the deliverance final. Now I am going to say something -that will make you all jump. My brother intends to marry Ranata.” - -They did jump, with the exception of Vilma. - -“_Ach so!_” Sarolta’s tones were guttural with irony, but her fingers -shook slightly as she lit a cigar. - -“But, mademoiselle,” murmured Prince Illehazy politely, “you know, -of course, that it is impossible. No one can sympathize more than I -with the romance of youth, and I have been deeply interested; but -marriage--between an Archduchess of Austria and Princess of Hungary -and, pardon me, an American--you who know your Europe must surely have -discouraged Mr. Abbott.” - -“I never set myself impossible tasks. Fessenden will marry Ranata; -of that I have not the slightest doubt. I know now that I have always -anticipated it--and so has my father!--although as far as I am -concerned I thought of it until lately as a dream, rather. I know now -that it was a belief, and founded on my intimate knowledge of both and -of their fitness for each other; as well as on that very knowledge -of Europe which assures me that if I live I shall see greater social -revolutions than the marriage of an American with a princess of the -blood. You are dumfounded because you know Europe only. Go over and -live in the United States for a while and you will come back with the -future in your brain as well as the past.” - -“I have never been in the United States, but I think this strange -love-affair is the most beautiful thing in the world, and I would help -them if I could!” - -It was Vilma who spoke, and she was leaning forward with her hands -gripping the arms of her chair. The grayish pallor of her skin had -never been more noticeable, and the lines about her mouth were tense. -Not only had every nerve been on edge since Ranata’s departure two -days ago, but she was possessed by the exaltation of the martyr; she -was not going to the stake for the ideals of the proud aristocracy -of her ancient country, but in sacrificing those ideals in the hope -to compass the happiness of two exceptional beings she felt that she -had made good her claim to the martyr’s crown. But the time had come -when her morbidity might prove more useful than the healthy impatience -of Alexandra, who had little talent for intrigue; and who looked -upon Vilma as one of the unfortunate products of a too conservative -aristocracy. - -“Princess,” she continued, appealing to her chief, “you do not approve, -of course. But you would not betray us if we attempted to help her?” - -Sarolta bit the end of her cigar. “I would do all I could to help -her out of this difficulty; but connive at her marriage with an -American--never! I have outgrown romantic nonsense; and I am also a -loyal subject of my king, although I do think he is an--” - -“But what you did not know, dear Princess, you would not feel obliged -to discover, now that you are no longer Obersthofmeisterin,” said Vilma -wheedlingly. “Why not leave it to her? You do not believe, do you, that -she would make such a marriage?” - -“I do not. There at least my faith is unshaken.” - -“Then take me to Vienna with you, and close your eyes if I try to -communicate with her. Only I can, for I am quite unknown in Vienna, -insignificant in appearance, and if the King has ever seen me he would -not recognize me. I cannot go unless you take me, but go I must.” - -Sarolta, whose heart, as the astute Vilma well knew, was aching, -appeared to consider deeply. Finally she shrugged her shoulders. “I -cannot see what you could accomplish; but you might let her see you -occasionally in the Franzensplatz and give her a little comfort. The -rest of us cannot go near it. Alex, of course you will return with me -as soon as I have closed the palace. Zrinyi, I think you and Vienna had -better be strangers for the present.” - -“I go to Vienna the day you do,” announced Zrinyi. “The King, on -second thoughts, will do nothing more to irritate Hungary. If he -ordered me out of Vienna I should return here and tell the whole story. -Molnár would go off his head and demand the liberty and return of the -Princess as the price of peace in the country. In any case he could -set the tongues of all Europe wagging, and the King would find himself -outwitted. He is shrewd enough to know this--or his ministers are. -They will pursue a very moderate and conservative course outside the -Hofburg. After all, this is the twentieth century.” - -“Who would have thought it!” said Alexandra. “Will you come with me, -Count, while I write my telegram, and then send it yourself?” - -“I would take it to Berlin if I could get there as quickly,” said -Zrinyi gallantly. - -“Count,” murmured his tormentor as they left the room, “you are a -brick. I am a grateful soul. I feel uncommonly like rewarding you.” - - - - -XXXIII - - -For twenty-four hours Ranata’s brain whirled to no machinery but -her wrath. To that succeeded an energetic desire to escape. All her -prejudices and separate ambitions had gone down in that final moment -of disillusion, and she was determined to marry Fessenden Abbott as -soon as she was beyond the reach of her father. But her brain, fertile -as it was, and abnormally active, could conceive no method of leaving -unobserved that great palace of many corridors never for a moment -deserted. She was forced to relinquish her intention to bribe the -guards, for there were constantly three together, and it would seem -that they were changed every half-hour. To assume the disguise of a -servant was equally impracticable, for not one of those in attendance -upon her reached her shoulder, and they were as closely watched as -herself. Her rooms were not high above the ground, but a guard paced -beneath her window day and night, and the guard-room was opposite. She -was in the very heart of a great European capital preeminent in science -and art, the civilized virtues and vices, not a hundred yards from cabs -and crowded streets, and no mountain fortress could enclose her more -securely. - -When Maria Leopoldina arrived, after a delay welcome to both, Ranata -greeted her with some warmth, but frankly asked her to remain in her -own rooms as much as possible. This the duenna was more than willing to -do. Not only had she returned to her exacting post from her pleasant -retirement with a reluctance she dared not express to her sovereign, -but she had a very considerable understanding of her former charge, -and was by no means unsympathetic. She recognized the necessity of -drastic measures in so lamentable a state of a princess’s affections -and temper, and she should do her duty cost her what it might; but she -would obey the letter of her instructions only, and leave the prisoner -such freedom as she still could find within her own walls. - -And then the days dragged themselves out. Ranata saw no one but her -cousin and servants, received no message from the world; even Maria -Leopoldina was not permitted the solace of a newspaper. Ranata seldom -sat down, but moved about until all her body ached with weariness, -pausing every few moments to look down upon the Franzensplatz, through -the sheltering lace of the curtain, in the hope that Fessenden Abbott -would saunter through with intent to give her courage. If she tried to -forget her plight in a book she would fling it down presently and fly -to the window lest she miss him. - -In these first hours she was too hard for lovers’ regrets, so wroth -was she at the insult put upon her individuality, and so great her -astonishment that with all the intellect and character of which she -had vaunted herself she was as helpless to move in behalf of her own -destiny, as poor in resource, in these primitive circumstances to -which her father and sovereign had reduced her, as any little fool of -the Middle Ages. Although she had been warned by her opportunities of -close observation against the devouring and repulsive selfishness of -those who pushed the _culte du moi_ to its modern limits, yet few women -had so proudly developed their individuality, few had so jealously -insisted upon the right of the brain to its own thoughts, of the -character to develop in its own way and as far as human limitations -would permit. If she had until her visit to Hungary been submissive -to the laws of her position it had been because she had deliberately -chosen submission, and aloofness, as her part, as her highest duties to -her house; not because she stood in the slightest awe of her father, or -recognized his right to direct her thoughts and conduct. It is doubtful -if she could have loved Fessenden Abbott had she not recognized in him -a spirit as free as her own, and an enlightenment and a sympathetic -understanding which would never seek to change nor control her. She -had found a mate, not a master, and both being the extreme products of -their century, their prospects of a lifelong desire for partnership -exceeded those in the great restless sea of awakened intelligence -between the highest type and the commonplace. Ranata, in more -passionate hours of longing and anguish, had felt the possibilities she -relinquished, rather than grasped them with her reason, but now she -knew their full significance, and the knowledge helped her to deeper -indignation of the mediæval conditions into which she had abruptly been -thrust. - -The days passed and the lover gave no sign that he was as distraught -as the prisoner. There are times in life when one lives very fast. -The first forty-eight hours of her imprisonment consumed the mental -energies of months. As the first excitement decreased, and with it -something of the novelty of her situation, her mind was free again for -thoughts and dreams she had been half glad to forget, so many were the -pangs they had held. And in the train of love came all the doubts and -tragic conceptions with which a woman cursed with imagination never -fails to torment herself. The women for whom men would most willingly -die--if there be yet that spirit abroad in the world--women who in -the end are most sure to discard the still ardent lover, often suffer -in their imaginary tragedies as intensely as their more constant and -less valued sisters in their hopeless realities. Ranata was not the -woman to love and tire, but her imagination was the least controlled -of her faculties. She descended into the very depths of depression -and convinced herself that Fessenden Abbott had taken her at her word -and returned to America before any one had suspected her imprisonment -and sent him warning. (The faithful maid had not dared to confess her -eavesdropping.) She might be confined here until she lost her reason, -and he would drown his thoughts of her in the hideous details of -business, or in those great schemes of his, remembering her only as -a purified spirit; likely enough, wearying of the cold picture. She -forgot her ideals, even her instinctive knowledge of him, and treated -his vows with cynicism. What man in this practical modern world--and -the world was practical and modern outside of the Hofburg--would be -faithful to the woman hidden forever from his sight? He would marry, -of course, and forget her; why, indeed, should he not? And what if -he did? There were times when she hated him, when in the prolonged -contemplation of his commonplace infidelity she despised him as -unworthy of her, and hardened her heart until she doubted if it ever -would melt again, even if he suddenly appeared and took her in his -arms. - -These crises in a woman’s brain are very unfortunate, and when men are -wiser they will study to prevent them. After all, it is the psychical -experience that tells, not the visible cause, and the scars may be -deep and callous. In this case poor Fessenden was helpless, and Ranata -had still felt and known so little that she had elasticity enough to -survive several such crises without the worst effects; but if life had -added bitterness to her store of experience she might have come out of -her ordeal with her best prospect for happiness blasted. - -Time cured this mood; but the passing of doubt and the restoration of -the lover to favor helped her little to serenity. She recalled every -look, the tones of his voice, every moment they had snatched together, -all that he had taught her. She remembered every trick of speech and -expression, the lighter but still personal habit they had fallen into -of sitting apart for a few minutes after the tea-hour, while the others -were drinking their coffee in one of the reception-rooms, at the opera -and theatre, or riding to the Schwabenberg in the early morning. -These had become established habits, and she regretted them almost as -intensely as the more concentrated moments; she had known to the full -the tantalizing sweetness of the intimate understanding in a crowd. - -And she recalled all she knew of him through the stories he had told -her of himself in the years before they had met. They revealed him in -many phases, and she had often lingered on them when alone. But there -was one that now seemed to be always in her brain, to rise vividly in -the brief moments when she was not struggling with a passion of grief, -of regret, above all striving to tear her mind from the uncertainty, -the maddening inability to act. - -It was a brief graphic story of an adventure in a mountain-pass in -Venezuela, when with three or four men he had been set upon by half -a score of the threatened dictator’s followers. The case had been -desperate, there had been a few moments when he had never expected -to see a wider sky again, and in those moments it was not so much he -that had fought as Life itself. His pistol emptied, stabbed, shot, -his clothing almost off his back, he was dragged to and fro on the -rough mountain-road, hacking, struggling, hating, not a harking in him -to his old love of the fight in that gasping tortured wrestle with -Death himself; possessed only by the furious determination of Life to -persist, to win against the enemy that never for an instant sleeps on -its trail--so that the wonder is man lives a month from birth. At the -end it had seemed to him that he saw the two ancient enemies at each -other’s throats. - -Fessenden’s face had been composed enough as he told the story, but her -imagination had visioned it set and desperate, pictured the swollen -chords of his neck, the muscles on his half-naked and bleeding body -bulging with rage and resistance. His eye had glazed as Keene arrived -and put the assassins to flight, and he had sunk into unconsciousness -in bitterness and resentment, believing that he was dying. None of -his stories of brilliant and reckless adventure had stirred her like -this glimpse into his primeval depths, depths which in the lower types -make for ruin, and when rarely in the ken of the great forces of soul -and brain are chief among the main-springs of a man’s conquest over -Life. The oftener this picture recurred to her, the face convulsed, or -indomitable and grim, of the man she understood so well, the more was -she persuaded that something had happened to still his energies, or he -would have made her a sign before this. It had not needed that story to -convince her that his courage would never fail him, but it now served -the purpose of suggesting a similar strait where a wild revolt against -death availed him nothing. - -It needed only a shock to send the blood to her head and deliver her -nerves from the control of her will, which had struggled hard to keep -in office. The shock came, and Maria Leopoldina was the apologetic -medium. She entered Ranata’s sitting-room on the sixth morning of the -imprisonment with a newspaper, and pointed to a marked paragraph. The -news item stated that the famous American, Herr Abbott, had sailed on -his yacht from Trieste for New York on the previous day. - -Then it was that the blood flew to Ranata’s head and stayed there. It -disorganized her will, almost her powers of consecutive thought. A -moment of forgetfulness and the tide of feeling, of terrified emotion, -poured upward again, shaking her body and racking her nerves. She slept -but a few hours at night, waking with a load of despair and terror -in her brain. Her desperate efforts at self-control, her prayers for -strength, were of no avail; for it must be remembered that mental -suffering is a physical thing after all, psychical as may be the -heights it is flung upon, and, until it has spent itself, as little to -be controlled as a fever of the body. There was a constant effort in -her throat to gasp, and moments of such utter and tumultuous despair -that it seemed to her she saw straight into the soul of her brother -during his last tormented moments. For it is in such depths of mental -suffering, when the passions are in absolute control of the brain, -and the victim if not mad might as well be, that life is taken. The -strength in Ranata’s soul fought dumbly and persistently for mastery, -and won in the end, but a weaker woman, with imagination and passions -as strong, would have killed herself. - -Finally she demanded of Maria Leopoldina--blissfully ignorant of -the tragedies enacting within the hard exterior of her charge--a -sleeping-potion; and the stewardess, when she returned with it, brought -also the information that as a hasty marriage would undoubtedly cause -a scandal exactly similar to that which had entertained Europe upon the -informal exit into matrimony of the late wife of the Archduke Aloys -Franz, it had been determined that the ceremony should not take place -until two months hence. The official announcement of the engagement -would be made presently, however, and until the day of the wedding she -must remain in her rooms. - -“Why, now that Mr. Abbott has gone?” asked Ranata. “Why deprive me of -my liberty when I could make no use of it?” - -“I cannot say, my dear,” answered Maria Leopoldina. “It would not take -him long to come back, you know; and then you have not given your -formal consent to marriage with Aloys.” - -“That is a point I had quite forgotten,” said Ranata dryly. “I hope my -father and my prospective husband are not unduly impatient.” - -On the following day, after the surcease of the sleeping-powder, and -the inevitable reaction from many days of torment, she felt almost -light-hearted and frivolous, and wondered if it were possible to -suffer like that more than once in a lifetime. Passing a window her -eye was idly attracted by the shabby figure of a tourist. It was a -bright winter’s day, and visitors to the great capital came to look -at the fine bronze of old Emperor Franz and the gilded wall where the -drawbridge had been. Ranata envied them deeply, nameless as no doubt -they were--she had a vague idea that all sight-seers were a composite -with a number--for they had their precious liberty, no doubt belonged -to such free and happy countries as England and America. - -This insignificant little woman carried a Baedeker, which she read -industriously, walking round and round the statue, with but an -occasional upward glance at the work of art. Alexandra had told Ranata -of tourists who read their Baedekers on the Rhine, forgetting to look -at the historic monuments described, and she watched this illustration -with some amusement. Suddenly her brows met, and she drew closer to the -window. There was something oddly familiar in the little deliberate -steps, in the fashion of opening and closing the book. And this tourist -had been here on other days, when her brain was too surcharged to piece -impression to thought! In a moment the girl paused with her back to the -window, and, raising her hand, nervously twisted a curl on the right of -her neck. It was Vilma Festetics. - -She turned, her curious tourist eye roving over the ugly wall of the -palace, concealing unimaginable splendors! She even sighed, and let her -mouth fall with discontent. Ranata shook the edge of the curtain. Vilma -came forward laggingly, her eyes on her book. The guard was inspecting -the peculiar antics of another tourist, who had a bulge beneath his -coat. When Vilma was directly beneath the window Ranata threw it open -and leaned out. - -“He has not gone,” said Vilma distinctly, “and he wants your answer -before he proceeds further.” - -And Ranata answered as distinctly: “Yes. Yes. Yes.” - -It was all over in an instant. Vilma had shot through the archway and -mingled with the throng in the Michaelerplatz and Ranata had closed her -window before the astounded guards realized they had been outwitted. - -Ranata sat down to await the consequences of her act. Her heart sang, -and she did not care in the least what they might be. Indeed, closer -imprisonment, probably a change of quarters, was the worst she had -to fear; her father was not benighted enough to put her in solitary -confinement, nor even on bread and water. She wondered at her doubts, -at her facile acceptance of a news item that no doubt had been inserted -by order of the Emperor. She knew now that Fessenden had made his plans -and that he would not fail. She looked back in amazement at the power -and instinct of woman to torment herself, and she also felt a throb -of satisfaction that she should not grow old and ugly in the course -of a month, as she had fully expected to do. Finally she shed tears -of wondering gratitude, and for a few moments felt as humble as a man -could wish. - - * * * * * - -It was not until two days later that Maria Leopoldina announced -herself to the Archduchess at an early hour, and with an air of deep -depression imparted the information that they were to leave Vienna on -the following morning. - -“I infer that we are bound for the country,” said Ranata smiling. “It -is unfortunate that you should hate it as much as I love it. Cannot -some other trustworthy duenna be found?” - -The Obersthofmeisterin shook her head with gloomy pride. “How many -people has his Majesty had reason to trust? I may not be as brilliant -at Sarolta, but I shall live and die in the confidence of my sovereign. -And as I have borne so many crosses in this life, I may perhaps hope -for compensation in the next.” - -“Where there will be no kings?” - -“I see no fault in our august relative,” said Maria Leopoldina -hurriedly. - -“I should not tell him if you did. Where are we going?” - -“That, I deeply regret to say, I am not permitted to tell you until we -are in the train. But we are going not only because you have had the -misfortune to incur the royal displeasure, but because, as you are not -to be married immediately, his Majesty fears for your health if you -are confined too long in-doors.” - -Ranata drew a long breath. “To live out of doors again! Even alone it -will be the next best thing to the Atlantic Ocean on a yacht.” - -“What?” demanded the stewardess sharply. - -“Oh, you will not have to go to sea with me; and you will be rid of me -sooner than you think.” - -On the following morning, Ranata, accompanied only by Maria Leopoldina, -three officers of the Emperor’s household, and her servants, left -Vienna, not in the Emperor’s private car but in ordinary railway -carriages reserved for her use. She wore the plainest of her -travelling-frocks, nor was there anything in the appearance of her -modest suite to attract attention; and in the heavy fog of daybreak -even the mounted escort that guarded her to the station passed -unnoticed. - -When Vienna was an hour behind them Maria Leopoldina informed the -prisoner that they were bound for the Adriatic, for the castle of -Miramar, built by Maximilian several years before his departure for -Mexico. The information gave Ranata pleasure, for she had never seen -the beautiful home from which her uncle had sailed to his romantic -and ignominious fate. Her father and mother had avoided it since long -before her birth, but she knew that the castle was as comfortable as it -was magnificent, and that there were grounds in whose labyrinths she -could walk for hours without the monotony of repetition. Suddenly she -had an inspiration. - -“Did my father order Mr. Abbott’s yacht to leave Trieste?” she asked. - -“Ah!--well, it can do no harm--he did.” - -“Where is it?” - -“That I do not know. I think his Majesty has not inquired--so long as -it is not in Austrian waters.” - -“Does my father expect to keep my departure, my residence at so -conspicuous a spot as Miramar, a secret?” - -“That will not matter. There will be an official announcement made that -you are gone to the sea to recuperate from an attack of the influenza, -and a man-of-war has been ordered to Trieste; it will anchor off the -castle. The guard in the castle and grounds has been quadrupled from -the garrison at Trieste. Moreover--I will tell you all, as it can do no -harm--Mr. Abbott has given his _parole d’honneur_ that he will make no -attempt to carry you off; he wished you to be removed to the country, -it seems. He has had the audacity to ask your hand of his Majesty. I -suppose he is of unsound mind, poor young man.” - -And Maria Leopoldina had the profound satisfaction of writing to her -sovereign and cousin that evening that his daughter had received this -proof of American absurdity and presumption with a peal of laughter -which had warmed her own heart, heavy with responsibility, and with -sympathy for his most gracious majesty. - - - - -XXXIV - - -The Emperor of Austria, the Emperor of Germany, Mr. Abbott, and -Fessenden Abbott sat in secret and informal conclave in a small -audience-chamber in the Hofburg. The host sat behind a table between -two high and heavy golden candlesticks. The Emperors, erect in their -uniforms, were imposing figures. They had the free supple upright -carriage of men whose lives have been more than half passed in the -saddle, and their eyes sparkled with the evidence of exercise and fresh -air, regular habits, and systematic care. Mr. Abbott, in a frock-coat, -was huddled in a perpendicular chair of crimson velvet and gilded oak, -in a vain endeavor to make himself comfortable, and surreptitiously -consuming tabloids; suffering in the stomach he had failed to treat as -a brother the tortures of the damned. He looked with envy at the older -Emperor who had been born some twenty years before himself, had endured -enough public cares and private castigations to kill half a dozen -Americans, and looked more vigorous than many in their youth. It was -even possible that he might outlive the young man who aspired to be his -son-in-law; toward whom his eyes, in spite of his will, wandered in the -fascination of a shock from which he found himself unable to recover. - -It was now a fortnight since he had been made aware that nothing less -was asked of him than that he should give his daughter in marriage to -a scion of a country not only devoid of every tradition of royalty, -but of an hereditary aristocracy; and while he was still stunned and -dully alarmed for what he conceived to be his failing wits, this -demand had been backed up by an offer which had awakened him, it is -true, but, he having outlived the age of romance and enthusiasm, had -by no means met with favor, nor even credulity. To avoid war in any -form was the final ambition of his life, and he was proud of his -position as keeper of the peace of central and eastern Europe. On the -other hand, he admitted that were he forty years younger he would -doubtless have grasped any reasonable opportunity to rid Europe of the -governments of Russia and Turkey, civilize and give happiness to those -two countries, estimable enough in themselves, and mount to a place -in history high above the mistakes and disasters of his unfortunate -reign. But he was old, and with the selfishness of the old had long -since resolved that he would close his reign in peace could it be -done without dishonor. As for the inventions, they seemed to him as -chimerical as the prospective telegraph did to his forefathers, as the -telephone would seem to an Esquimaux. Moreover, that the restless and -uncertain quantity who claimed him as his “fatherly friend” was the -one from whom the astounding proposition came, was enough to fill his -bosom to repletion with distrust; the more especially as the invention -was the property of an American notoriously the German’s friend. The -Emperor took little interest in American history or affairs, but it -happened that he knew a good deal about Fessenden Abbott; not only -through the intimacy of Alexandra with his daughter, nor yet through -an acquaintance of long standing with Mr. Abbott--for whom he had a -very considerable respect--but because of the young man’s menacing -exploit in South America, his establishment of certain and apparently -impregnable industries in Europe, and his reputation as a manipulator -of men. No doubt he was the only man in his raw country who would have -dared so far as to love a princess of royal blood, much less have had -the incomprehensible audacity to bargain for her hand; but of all men -in any objectionable republic whatsoever, the Emperor-King knew of no -one to whom under severest stress he would longer hesitate to give any -sort of recognition. He was aware of young Abbott’s principles and -theories; they had been hammered into his smarting ears by the only -one of his children who had been dowered to the full with the haughty -and intolerant spirit of her race; and he looked upon him as a menace -to the best that was left in the world. The wealth of these two men -appalled him, albeit he was the richest monarch in Europe; and as he -listened once more to the description of the incredible inventions and -their certainties, he found himself staring at the little old man in -the chair and the vigorous restless young man standing by the window -much as a half-dazed man watches the approach of a land cyclone, -whirling houses, people, and trees in its funnel. - -He had been astounded that one of his generals, whom he had sent -to Berlin to witness the experiments, had returned convinced, and -advocating war; and he had been still more astonished and upset -when, in the formal consultation which at the insistence of the -German Emperor he had held with his cabinets, he found that to a man -they were for accepting the offer of the American. During the past -week his ears had rung to no tune but the glorious finish of his -reign, the inestimable service he had it in his power to bestow upon -Christianity and Europe, the sure future of his Dual Monarchy--which -the intoxicating knowledge of its greatness would solidify. The only -thing they had stumbled over was the condition; for the Emperor was -no more conservative than his aristocracy, and the idea of allying -the most exclusive monarchy in the world with the most blatant and -dangerous of republics, that moreover which had recently whipped one -of the ancient states of Europe, was a huge pill for them to swallow. -Had it not been that they all felt that Europe would be well rid of -this particular princess--even Königsegg, with this alternative--it is -doubtful if, no matter what their reason for approving this projected -war, they would have opened their batteries upon the Emperor But as it -was, the old sovereign, who had permitted these many years his advisers -to do so much of his thinking had an irritated subconsciousness of -being trapped, and hardly realized yet that he had actually gone so far -as to grant this private audience and to permit the royal countenance -to shine upon a manifest impossibility. - -It was notable that the Emperor of Germany, in spite of his warm -friendship for Fessenden, had drawn his chair close to his host’s, -and for the moment was in fuller sympathy with him; an unconscious -manifestation of that _esprit de corps_ which exists among great -rulers, no matter what their differences. Fessenden felt this but did -not resent it; but he also felt that it left him practically alone, -his father’s faculties being necessarily bent to introspection; but -the isolation merely put him on his mettle, and he had fought too many -battles single-handed to feel any faintness of spirit. Even he did not -compare favorably in freshness with the two Emperors, for he had known -too many anxious hours in the past three weeks, too many sleepless -nights; but his temper was now cast in iron. - -“Your general, as well as the Prussian generals who have witnessed -the experiments, are satisfied that failure is impossible,” he said, -having finished the description of the inventions, which, like all -great inventions, were simple enough. “It will be the first time in the -history of the world that a war will have commenced with no uncertainty -whatever as to the issue.” - -The Austrian Emperor answered with a German proverb, the equivalent of -“There’s many a slip ’twixt cup and lip.” - -“We include no bunglers in our calculations, sir,” said Fessenden -dryly. “Although every precaution will be taken against their -admittance in the first place.” - -The Emperor turned to his brother of Germany, who answered promptly: -“I will confess that I entertained the identical doubts of your -Majesty, at first, but I have since been fully convinced. And I am -also convinced that it is our great and only chance. Sooner or later, -doubtless before half a dozen years have passed, Russia will be at -war with Japan. That war may involve the rest of Europe, including -ourselves; and fighting for our lives perhaps instead of shaping -history as we think best. Sooner still there is bound to be trouble -again in Turkey, which may involve one or more of the Balkans, and if -we delay we shall once more be in the periodically mortifying position -of daring to do nothing for the peace of Europe, for humanity, in our -fear of Russia. At present we are in the not imposing position of -merely holding on to our inheritances by what my American friend would -call main strength. I conceive that a sovereign has a higher duty. This -great power is not given to him in the interest of his inheritance -alone, although no doubt its welfare is his first duty, but as a -stepping-stone to a greater power which shall benefit the human race. -It is often the case, as your Majesty well knows, that a ruler may be -so confined by circumstances that he can make no such attempt without -causing disaster instead of benefit, but the great men of history have -been alive to the great moment. I believe that ours has come, your -Majesty.” - -The old Emperor darted a glance at his rival and friend, as though to -note if his tongue were in his cheek. He answered with the same accent -of respect, however. - -“I cannot fail to respond to words so stirring, your Majesty, and I -need not add that my conception of the lofty duties of a ruler is -precisely the same as your own. But war in any case is a stupendous -calamity, if only for the loss of life it incurs. And in any conditions -the added responsibilities of conquered territory are among the -weightiest considerations which must always affect a ruler no longer -young. In this case, with the half of Russia and Turkey and the Balkans -to add to my present heavy load, I confess the prospect does not allure -me! Reflect, your Majesty, that I have already a perpetual nightmare -in Hungary. If I were a generation younger I might contemplate with -equanimity the additional problem of sixty or seventy million more -subjects clamoring for constitutions, but not now!” - -William did not reply that he would gladly relieve his august friend of -all but his countenance; he answered quickly. - -“It will be our part to civilize these people, to give them the benefit -of the reforms they have long been promised and never granted. That -will keep them quiet for a while. When they reach the stage where -enough has begotten a desire for more, then we can deal with them by -another method for which we will have the inspiration at the right -moment. And in this war, your Majesty, there need be no loss of life on -our side; there will of course on the other for a short time, but less -by many thousands than both Turkey and Russia will cause before Europe -is many years older, less than die of famine and filth every year.” - -He stood up, his eyes flashing, his cheeks glowing. Europeans, unlike -Anglo-Saxons, are not afraid of expressing lofty sentiments, and -William was the last man to consider whether people approved or not -of any sentiments he chose to entertain. “I believe that it is our -destiny, your Majesty,” he cried. “And that it is the greatest destiny -that ever has befallen any sovereign. For, I swear to you all, I have -no desire to be a second Napoleon, crushing and ravaging, but to rule -men for their good, to have a vast empire in which human life shall -be as protected, as safe, as it is in my own empire to-day, where all -may have a chance to prosper and be happy, to worship God in their -own way, where such tyranny of the mind and body as still exists in -these benighted parts of Europe--to our shame, your Majesty, to our -shame!--will be abolished so completely that the children of those -who suffer so bitterly to-day shall listen to tales of the past with -incredulous amazement. I have burned for this since the day I ascended -the throne, but I had no right to plunge my country into a war in -which the chances were all against me. Now I believe that the day has -come!--the day has come! And I beg, I implore your Majesty not to -throw away this opportunity to make our names and our empires the most -invincible on earth, our opportunity for good such as no sovereign -before has ever dared to dream of. If we let it pass we deserve the -worst that can befall us. But it is impossible for me to believe that -your Majesty will let it pass. I have seen it all before me! I have -already lived in that future--ruled by the sword, by kings divinely -appointed, sternly, inflexibly, but with wisdom, with kindness, with -justice. I have been cramped, thwarted, balked at every turn; there -have been times when my interest, even my courage, has almost failed -me; but with a power so vast as this conquest would give me, I should -be invincible, the enemies in my present empire would crumble. Far from -fearing such increase of power, of responsibility, I court it, I am -eager for it, for with no lesser weapons can I accomplish the destiny -to which I was born.” - -Even Mr. Abbott had forgotten his pangs, and a faint glow of excitement -had entered his gray cheeks. Fessenden, thrilling, forgot his own -desires for the moment: he knew that however the Emperor might feel -to-morrow that was the way he felt to-day. Indeed there had been little -exaggeration in his mood. William thoroughly believed in himself and -in his gifts and mission as a ruler; and no matter what the causes -of discontent which had bred the German socialist of to-day--causes -insignificant enough when compared with those of even Italy and Spain, -leaving out Russia and other barbarous states--no one questioned the -clock-work system of rule in his country, the security of life and -freedom of conscience, and the solid industrial basis on which he had -set it. - -The Emperor of Austria knew him well enough to believe in him when he -was excited, at least, and he too felt a spark fly up from the ashes in -his breast. He answered temperately, however. - -“I should be the last to forbid the fulfilment of such worthy -ambitions, your Majesty, had this opportunity come to us in the regular -and legitimate channels. But not only does it savor too much to my -mind, grown old in practicality, of Aladdin’s lamp, but it would place -us under an obligation to a republic on another continent which, it -seems to me, is full of portent.” - -“The obligation is a personal one, your Majesty; and when we are in -possession of Europe I think we will be in a position to force our own -tariff conditions on the United States. More I cannot say.” - -The older Emperor leaned across the table and fixed him with his eye. - -“Your Majesty,” he said solemnly, “are there any conceivable conditions -in which you would marry your daughter to an American?” - -William had expected this question, and had trusted to inspiration -to answer it without betraying the fact that no such circumstances -existed in the womb of Time. “Your Majesty,” he replied quickly, “may -I not answer your question with another? Is not the Archduchess Ranata -Theresia a menace in her own remarkable self to the peace of your -empire, and doubly so since she has given in Hungary the evidence of -her talents, and achieved a popularity that no sovereign in Europe -enjoys? I heartily wish she had been born a man, but as it is I must -frankly insist that the future peace of Europe depends as much upon her -removal as upon any other cause.” - -“What you say is true enough,” replied the ruler of the Dual Monarchy -gloomily, “but she can be removed otherwise. You are informed of the -alliance I have in mind?” - -“I am, your Majesty, and with all my humble deference for your judgment -I am forced to say that I do not believe such a marriage would effect -the result we desire. In the first place, it would be a contest of -two strong wills, and your daughter is a woman of Hapsburg gifts, -quite aside from her force of character; in the second place, she is -a woman of uncommon fascination. No doubt she would bind the Archduke -Aloys Franz hand and foot, and gratify her ambitions through him; it -must be remembered that she could not be asked to take the oath of -renunciation, your Majesty.” - -The Emperor of Austria stirred uneasily. His daughter’s charm as a -woman had never seriously occurred to him, but he saw the danger in a -flash. Would it not indeed be better to get her out of Europe? But he -looked at the American leaning against the casement, encountered the -cold blue eyes before which millions seemed ever passing in review, -and stiffened. The temptation fled. The idea was preposterous enough, -without a son-in-law who would make him feel as if Europe were on a -library-shelf in an antique binding. - -“She can be shut up,” he said briefly. “There is no necessity to -marry her at all. Such things have been done, and they can be done -again--with all kindness, of course, but as securely as if in an -underground dungeon.” - -Fessenden strode forward and stood in front of the table. - -“Is that your answer?” he asked. - -“That is my answer.” - -“That you would shut up a woman like that as if she were a lunatic -or an idiot, without liberty, without friends, until she went mad or -killed herself?” - -“What would be done would be for the good of the state, and she herself -would see it in time.” The last words were not emphatic, but it was -evident that the gorge of the Emperor was rising. - -“Well, sir, you will do nothing of the sort,” said Fessenden. - -“What?” The Emperor was on his feet. Angry as he was, he stood erect -and majestic against the red wall, an imposing figure; but the old man -and the young man, the old world and the new, glared at each other -between the tall candelabra. - -The other men had also risen. The Emperor of Germany, who had had an -instant of deep depression, felt his spirits rise, and at the same time -resented the light treatment of majesty. - -“You will do nothing of the sort,” repeated Fessenden. “And before -the month is out you will give me your daughter in marriage here in -the Hofburg. I have had no desire to threaten you, to make you feel -your impotence; I hoped that, like the Emperor of Germany, you would -be sufficiently enlightened to take advantage of the offer I made--an -offer in which you would have had no share, by the way, but for the -daughter you propose to treat as if she were a wooden doll, or you -some long-forgotten Hapsburg. Now I will tell you, your Majesty, why -you will neither incarcerate her nor forbid her marriage to me. If you -withhold your consent for twenty-four hours, I shall take the train -to-morrow for St. Petersburg and make the same offer to the Russian -government. You may imagine how long they would hesitate. With such -assurance of success they would strike to-day instead of waiting a -half-dozen years for greater preparedness. Then, sir, when Austria was -a province of Russia, your daughter would be the first prisoner set -free.” - -The Emperor had fallen heavily into his chair. As Fessenden finished -speaking, William, with a gasp, walked to the window. There was a -moment of intense and painful silence, and then the German Emperor -spoke. - -“He will keep his word, your Majesty.” - -The Emperor rose. His face was almost purple. His heavy Hapsburg mouth -was trembling. - -“I shall give you your answer before to-night,” he said to Fessenden, -although he did not look at him. “And now I beg that you will excuse -me. I am unable to stand any more.” - -He passed out. William turned to Fessenden. His eyes sparkled with -excitement, but he frowned. - -“The battle is won,” he said. “But what a _coup d’etat_! I am thankful -I knew nothing of it.” - -“I should have been a poor sort of friend to have taken you as deeply -as that into my confidence.” - -“Ah! Well, I wish the Emperor could have consented more gracefully. I -hated seeing him driven to the wall like that.” - -“So did I. But it was success or failure. The odds were even. He is -the ruler of a great empire, skilled in power and diplomacy. If I had -hesitated to use the only available means of success, I should not be -worth my salt. For that matter, he merely followed a law of Nature.” - -“Well, you have won, and I wish you joy. No doubt you will see her -before many days have passed.” - -As they were leaving the room, Fessenden laid his hand on the other’s -arm. “Always remember,” he said, “that I am no trafficker in human -beings. I throw this great power into your hands because I believe you -will govern so wisely that your people will be fitted for the great -European republic before you die.” - -“_Ach was!_” said the Emperor of Germany. - - - - -XXXV - - -The _bora_ which had raged for days, making it not only unsafe but -impossible to venture out of doors, had flown round the isthmus to -torment Fiume. The blue Adriatic sparkled in a great silence, and, so -brilliant was the atmosphere, Ranata could fancy she saw Italy far away -on the edge of the level waters. Even the little breakers at the foot -of the castle growled like cubs instead of bellowing in fury at the -high confident roar in the pine tops on the hill. The white castle, -with its Norman tower and gateway and innumerable turrets, fresh, -strong, symmetrical, solitary on the long curving line of white coast, -whose little peninsula juts abruptly from the wooded mountain into the -sea, was the fairest prison that had ever held a princess captive. The -bluest sea in the world was at its feet, the yellow sun flamed in a sky -almost as blue, and on the mountain behind were the everlasting greens -of cypress and pine. There is no more dazzling combination of color in -the world, and on moonlight nights it is but the exchange of gold for -silver. - -Ranata, standing on the stone terrace in front of the library and -overhanging the sea, her back to the war-ship on the right of the -castle, her eyes roaming from the incomparable expanse of the Adriatic -to Trieste and the mountains beyond, felt that with knowledge, in -addition to the faith that sustained her, she could serenely endure -her exile throughout what she believed to be the inevitable months. -She had now been two weeks at Miramar, and kings might have died and -dynasties fallen, the very continents might be at war, for all the news -that had come to her from the world. Not a letter, not a newspaper, -passed the sentries at the gates; the grounds swarmed with guards; one -paced the terrace where she stood; others were on duty at the head -of the staircase at night. She met Maria Leopoldina at the second -breakfast and at dinner, and was accompanied by that vigorous duenna -on her long walks in fine weather, but subjects of common interest had -long since been exhausted and they bore each other silent company, the -older woman too thankful that her charge was amiable to repine at her -own fate. - -Complete faith had restored Ranata’s peace of mind, delivered her even -from variability of mood, and on the whole she had been glad of these -many days alone. She no longer yearned with romantic melancholy for -life companioned but by a spiritualized memory, but examined herself -and her possibilities conscientiously, and dwelt much, if soberly, in -the upper air. If she idealized Fessenden and the matrimonial state, -that did her no harm. Still, the time seemed long, and she had not -the least idea by what method the American lover purposed to induce a -Hapsburg to give him his daughter in marriage. She knew that he would -succeed, but she also knew that the petrifactions in his way might -yield very slowly even to his energy and habit of success. - -She sighed and entered the castle. Her morning walk had been a long -one, and she returned to the library for rest and the unfailing -distraction it afforded her. It was a lofty room, not too large, the -light woods of floor and ceiling almost reflecting the sunshine which -poured through the windows. Each one of the six thousand books in many -languages looked as if personally selected by the poor gentleman -and scholar who had graced so delightfully the one sphere for which -Nature had designed him, and in whose alien rôle naught had become him -but his death. The room had been bright even while the _bora_ seemed -to blow the very sun about the sky, and the books in their haphazard -bindings looked so gay and fresh that it was difficult to believe -their owner had left them forty years before. Only the photographs of -friends, which covered the walls of the adjoining study, were faded, -their garments old-fashioned. Eugénie, in her crinoline, looked like -a by-gone fashion-plate; even her autograph was dim; for the pictures -had been hastily thrust into ordinary little wooden or gilt frames, -and unprotected by glass. The beauty of Elizabeth had retired to the -inmost folds of her hideous Victorian costume, and of her two oldest -babies, taken with her, little was noticeable but the bulging brow -and solemn eyes of Rudolf. But the crimson of hangings and chairs was -still fresh and vivid, the heavy woodwork of the low ceiling, its -design repeated in the floor, was highly polished, the pen on the table -might have been dropped yesterday; all the clocks had been ticking -these forty years. Every room in the castle looked as if designed and -furnished by the happy young couple, but these two rooms were still -most personal, still were pervaded by the refinement, the love of -comfort and of home, of Maximilian and Carlotta. Ranata, when forced -to remain in-doors, spent most of her time in them. In the library she -had discovered five volumes of _Reports on Explorations and Surveys_, -fruits of the thirty-third Congress of the United States, and had read -them diligently. She had succeeded in investing the dry and spotted -pages with a sentimental interest, all things being possible to a woman -in love; but although most of the books she read at this time were -written in the English language, it must be confessed that she did not -find her profoundest distraction in the _Reports_. To-day, however, she -was taking down the fourth volume, albeit with some humor, when Maria -Leopoldina entered the library hurriedly, consternation and amazement -distorting a countenance habitually masked with the mincing placidity -of the courtier. - -“The ship is weighing anchor!” she exclaimed. “And all but the usual -guard have received orders--by telegraph from Vienna--to return -to Trieste. And that is not all! I was asked a moment ago to look -through the spy-glass--a steam-yacht is approaching from the Italian -coast--they say it is Mr. Abbott’s. Can Franz have gone mad? Good God! -can he be dead?” - -Ranata dashed past her, and up the stair to the tower-room, where -she had spent so many hours scanning the horizon through the glass. -A moment later, in its burgee, she had read the personality of the -rapidly approaching yacht. It was the _Alexandra_; and the war-ship was -steaming in the opposite direction. - -When she turned to the agitated Obersthofmeisterin, close upon her -heels, she was trembling so violently she hardly could stand, her -cheeks were blazing, and she thrust her hands into her heavy hair, and -pulled it down as if its weight were intolerable. - -“It means,” she stammered--“it means--cannot you see?--he has -won--already--_I am to marry him!_” And then Maria Leopoldina felt -as if her nerves had been assaulted by a swarm of hornets. Ranata -collapsed upon a chair, and flew into hysterics. She had suffered in -silence during that first awful week in the Hofburg, pride carrying -her successfully through even that ordeal; and she had been calm -enough during the past fortnight of solitude and uncertainty; but in -the face of this sudden and violent prospect of victory and immediate -happiness, her suppressed energies leaped their walls, and she cried -and laughed and talked incoherent phrases until the duenna could stand -no more and took refuge in a dead faint. - -Ranata promptly recovered her reason, and applied the necessary -restoratives without summoning help. When she had led her vibrating -relative to a sofa, and fetched a bottle of salts, she arranged her -own hair and face, and returned to the tower to watch the approach -of the yacht. It steamed swiftly over the calm sea, but to Ranata’s -excited nerves hours passed before she could read the ensign and burgee -without the aid of the glass. She was now schooled to any surprise, but -experienced a sharp thrill nevertheless when the proud craft, instead -of passing the castle and making for Trieste, deliberately swung about -and dropped anchor upon the exact spot where the war-ship had kept its -vigilant watch. A moment later it ran up two flags, side by side--the -Austrian and the American. - -Ranata sank again upon a chair and held her breath, expecting to see -a boat lowered and Fessenden descend. But the long moments passed--an -hour passed; the incident appeared to be closed for the present. -Officers sauntered up and down the deck, sailors bustled about, but no -one appeared to manifest any interest in the castle. Finally she was -forced to conclude that, whatever Fessenden had accomplished in Vienna, -his yacht had come without him. - -To remain inactive any longer was beyond her electrified nerves. She -regarded Maria Leopoldina’s authority as at an end, and it was evident -that the shaken Obersthofmeisterin was of the same opinion, for she had -dragged herself to her room, and was seen no more that day. Ranata sent -an invitation to the captain and the officers of the yacht to lunch at -the castle. They lowered the flags and returned with the messenger; -and although there was an animated party in the little dining-room -up-stairs, all her subtle questioning was able to extract were the bare -facts that on the previous evening they had received orders from their -master in Vienna to proceed in the morning to Miramar, run up the two -flags as they anchored off the castle, and not to lower them until they -had received some answering signal from her. They were naïvely curious, -and, face to face with the Archduchess beloved of their chief, frankly -suspicious of the sequel. It was evident, however, that her information -was more meagre than theirs, and they were so glad to get back to the -tonic sweetness of the Adriatic after their fortnight at Venice, most -malodorous of cities, and so enchanted with this beautiful princess and -her castle, that they were content without knowledge, Yankees though -they were. - -After luncheon Ranata took them for a walk through the gardens and -woods of the park, keeping them until they bored her, for she dreaded -solitude and looked forward to the night with terror. But before the -night came her nerves were to be lifted from the rack. - - - - -XXXVI - - -It was sundown and she stood on the terrace before the windows of the -state dining-room on the eastern side of the castle, watching the -shadows darken the woods rising almost perpendicularly before her. She -heard the train go by high on the mountain, and sighed impatiently. -She was at liberty to take any train up there she wished, and here she -must remain in maddening unquiet. She even felt some impatience with -Fessenden, who surely might have sent her a telegram. - -But dinner had calmed her nerves--she had eaten no luncheon, and once -more took her evening meal at the hour of five, that Maria Leopoldina -might not add dyspepsia to her other burdens--and she made an effort -to detach her thoughts from the fixed idea and subdue them before -bedtime. There was an infinity of suggestion in her surroundings, -and she conjured back the scene of nearly half a century ago when -Maximilian and Carlotta had stood up in the boat at the foot of the -water-steps down on her left, smiling farewell to the throng of -relatives and friends who hung over the parapet or had crowded out upon -the narrow mole as far as the sphinx at its point. Where the American -yacht rode at anchor, a ship, in the gala dress of flags and banners -and pennants, had waited to carry the brother of the Emperor to the -imperial destiny in which he and the many who loved him found cause -for pride. Some there may have been with misgivings, but they trusted -in France; and that an Indian would in his dreams presume to treat an -archduke of Austria as a mere rebel was beyond the imagination of any -in that aristocratic throng--certainly unconceived by the gallant and -smiling gentleman who looked his last upon Miramar. Throngs also--the -people of Trieste--had stood on the long flight of stone steps with its -three tiers, which led from Ranata’s feet to the broad terrace below, -leading, in its turn, to the landing and the parapet; on the similar -flight rising opposite; and on the steps beyond, ascending steeply to -the quaint stiff old gardens. Ranata fancied the scoop bonnets, the -ugly garments over the crinoline; and even the gay aftermath in the sky -seemed to flaunt the colors that had bedecked the fatal vessel. - -But visions and the past fled to their limbo. From the mountain came -a wild peculiar cry, the supposed Indian war-whoop with which herself -and Alexandra had been accustomed to pierce the repose of Ischl and -Schönbrunn, when younger. For a moment she believed it to be another -delusion; but it was repeated and careless of the astonished sentry -she answered it. She skirted the upper parapet and first garden with -a fair assumption of dignity, and entered the dim twilight of a long -arbor covered with wisteria vine and ivy. Here she picked up the tail -of her gown and sped onward, and then up flight after flight of steps, -along wild path and avenues and arbors, and up, up, again, until she -suddenly came upon Alexandra followed by her maids and a score of the -Hofburg servants. The girls kissed each other formally, although one -was palpitating with more than exercise, and the other bulged with news -repressed. When they finally reached the library Ranata had never been -paler. - -“Tell me quickly!” she exclaimed. “This change--these changes--why have -I received no official information? What does it all mean?” - -“That the Emperor has practically washed his hands of you, my dear, and -that your day for receiving official information is over--for which I -hope you are duly thankful. It has been a long and weary tussle, but -Fessenden has won on every score but the last: he was set on marrying -you in the Hofburg, but there your father held out. They were at it -alone for two hours, and even Fessenden was limp when he left the -palace, while the poor Emperor went to bed and slept ten hours instead -of seven. No argument nor reasoning could move him. In so far as he -could punish and humiliate you he would; moreover, he wishes the public -to know nothing of the affair until it is over. Fessenden was forced to -give way, partly because he didn’t want to be the death of him, partly -because every delay involves too much risk. So, my dear, prepare for -the shock--they are all coming to-morrow--the Emperor, my father and -Fessenden, the Archdukes and Constitutional Cabinet--to witness the -oath of renunciation, the Archbishop to administer it--not a woman but -myself and Maria Leopoldina--no wedding-gown--I begged him to let me -bring one, but he said you should be married in a travelling-dress and -hat and go from the chapel to the yacht. He is fearfully upset, and -I confess my knees shook when I received his summons to the Hofburg -yesterday. He gave me my official instructions, if you like to call -them that, in less than ten minutes, and then wouldn’t even shake hands -with me, much less kiss me. Well--there you are! Of course, if you want -to retreat it is not too late.” - -The words had dinned into Ranata’s ears like the inharmonious clashing -of many bells, and her mental attitude was little less homogeneous. Her -conquering sensation was one of profound humiliation, accompanied by a -vivid appreciation of all she was renouncing. In less than forty-eight -hours she would be no longer the daughter of a great empire, -Archduchess of Austria and Princess of Hungary, but a _citoyenne_, -a unit of a huge and heaving republic. And, barring the unavoidable -ceremony of renunciation and the distinguished witnesses, she was to be -married and despatched as were she one of her own maids. Was love so -tremendous a thing that it was worth the barter of birthright and the -loftiest state to which a mortal might be born? Ranata had driven forth -most of her traditions, but she was the descendant of eight centuries -of kings, and her Americanism was yet in the making. She looked hard -into the future, and wondered. At this juncture Alexandra produced a -letter. - -“It is from Fessenden. I will leave you alone with it if you will tell -me where I am to sleep. I dined on the train, but I’d like to get into -something loose.” - -Ranata took the letter. It warmed her hand and she smiled. “You -had better take my aunt’s room,” she said. “It has two beds, and -to-morrow night I will sleep with you there. I have been using the -state bedroom, as it has fewer associations, but I shall have to give -that to my father. What on earth are we to do with all those people? -Some will have to go to the villa up on the hill, or to the hotel in -Trieste--this castle is not so large as it looks. I suppose Fessenden -will sleep on the yacht? Thank Heaven there will be plenty to think -about. What time do they arrive?” - -“At half-past four, on a special train--so that the Emperor may dine -as usual at five. The ceremonies are to be performed on the following -morning, and your father’s train will leave for Vienna at twelve. My -father and I start in the evening for Genoa, whence we sail for New -York. I suspect the Emperor hates the thought of coming here, but in -his present frame of mind it is the less of two evils.” - -Ranata escorted Alexandra to the simple blue and gray bedroom with -its two pathetic little beds, then went to the state bedchamber in -which she had lodged for the past fortnight. It was a superb and -stately room, in which, like the rest of the castle, one might yet -be comfortable. The old French bedstead was of massive gilt, with -high and twisted pillars, but open above; and on the walls and on the -furniture was the crimson brocade wrought with the Mexican eagle and -imperial crown; a tapestry which the prince who ordered it had never -seen. Contemporary kings, a pope and a queen, with their coats-of-arms -above the frames, covered much of the walls; and most of those who -had sat to please their friend were dead. Beyond was the great -audience-chamber, hung and furnished with the same imperial crimson, -but with fewer paintings: the Emperor of Austria when young; Elizabeth -in her exquisite and high-spirited youth; and Maximilian in his -ermine, looking still, majestic as was his figure, the gentleman and -the scholar and no more--the heavy open mouth the index to his failure -in the alien rôle. Continuing the great suite were similar rooms, where -the eagle and the crown deepened to blood shade in the twilight. - -Ranata looked about her lingeringly. It was all a mockery, to be sure. -Had her father possessed a proper sense of humor he would have burned -the tapestries and the portrait, done all that he could to obliterate -the memory of a fiasco which would have been one of the passing -absurdities of history had it not been for the untimely finish of an -estimable man and the more cruel fate of his wife; nevertheless it was -impressive in its high and perfect harmonies and in its serious intent, -and it expressed sufficiently all that she was about to renounce. -Moreover, she was leaving the loveliest and most various country in -Europe--for what? She might have this beautiful castle for her own did -she remain Archduchess of Austria, and in Europe there must always be -a thousand compensations that could never be found in a new country -among a crude and alien people, were love less than she had dreamed. A -composite of woman seemed to come forth from the shades and warn her -that love was not all, nor yet enough, for man demands all, yet so -little, giving less in return. The music of the Chardash rose, as the -ghost of the dead women drifted on; and then the words of Sarolta. But -in a moment she lit a candle and read Fessenden’s letter. - - - - -XXXVII - - -They arrived on the following afternoon, the Emperor and his American -guests, his relatives, his primate, two or three members of his -household, and his ministers. It was raining when they left the -train at the little mountain-station, and there was no driveway, no -alternative but to walk down the steep and winding paths and stairs, -sheltered by the umbrellas the lackeys held over them. As the long file -under the umbrellas emerged from the arbor into the garden, the Emperor -picking his way daintily on his diminutive toes, and the Archbishop -holding up his gown with both hands, while the gorgeous flunkies -streamed with rain, the sight was not as imperial as it should have -been, and two girls in an upper window giggled irreverently. Being -uncertain of their status, they left Maria Leopoldina to receive in -solitary state, and did not appear until dinner; but when this solemn -hour arrived, Ranata, in an evening-gown of pale-green velvet and all -her pearls, entered the audience-chamber where the party was assembled, -greeted her father and the guests as she had done many times before, -and led the Archbishop down to dinner. With Fessenden it was not -possible to exchange more than a flash. - -It was a dreary function. The Emperor did not utter a word, although -he was graciously pleased to intimate that his guests might talk if -they could. Mr. Abbott ate his restricted meal with an expression -of grim honor, and felt himself exempt from verbal expression. The -Emperor, perhaps with a corresponding sense of irony, had asked him -to occupy the state bedroom, lodging himself in the little camp-bed -with its tentlike curtains, beloved of the sailor in Maximilian. The -archdukes and ministers mumbled at each other; Fessenden and Ranata -were many feet apart. Even Alexandra was depressed, and stared at the -ugly old masters on the walls, longing for the solace of Zrinyi. Maria -Leopoldina was still in a state of bewilderment and horror, which made -her fearful of attempting speech lest she gibber. At times the ticking -of the clock in the ceiling above the table could be distinctly heard. - -After dinner the Emperor and three of his friends retired hastily to -the study for a game of whist, the others scattered, and Ranata and -Fessenden found a few moments alone in Carlotta’s boudoir in the tower. - -For a time there was no conversation; then Fessenden placed his hands -on her shoulders and held her from him, his eyes narrowing to a fiery -point. - -“Do you realize that I have won?” he said--“that you and I are changing -the face of the world?” - -“Yes--Alexandra has told me everything. I think you more wonderful than -ever--but--is it for the best? Changes should come in the slow course -of events.” - -“No change occurs that the world is not ready for. The world has never -been readier for the extermination of Russia, particularly now that she -has become a menace to the United States. And the sooner Europe is a -republic the better.” - -“I believe you care more for this part of your accomplishment than for -me.” - -His eyes relaxed and the fires spread. - -“No,” he said; “I do not. And we are all mere tools, my dear.” - -“If I were still superstitious,” she said a while later, “I should -feel very uncomfortable. I am sure this is a subtle revenge of my -father’s--not only to marry me in this castle, but to force me to -embark from the very spot on which Maximilian said good-bye to Europe -forever. Your yacht is where the ship stood which took him to Mexico. -Not that my father wishes me any such terrible fate, but he believes me -to be superstitious, and that I shall be punished by my imagination, -if not by my conscience. But it is too late for that! And Maximilian -failed because he was Maximilian. I believe you could not fail if you -tried.” - - - - -XXXVIII - - -The next morning at ten o’clock the Emperor and his guests entered the -great brown and gold and crimson throne room with its imposing frieze -of Hapsburg rulers, its illustrated genealogy of the blended houses of -Hapsburg and Lorraine, crowned so naïvely with Maximilian and Carlotta, -its eleven graceful chandeliers, and its meagre and apologetic throne. -This the Emperor, in the full-dress uniform of an Austrian general, -ascended with no apparent sense of its incongruity, thankful, no doubt, -that it stood ready for the occasion. Before it was a table spread -with a formidable-looking document. On either side of the throne stood -the archdukes and the ministers, also in full uniform. The Primate, in -his robes of ceremony, faced the Emperor, and Fessenden stood close -to the table, his father beside him. The rain had passed, the gay -southern sunshine flooded the fine room, where, for the first time in -its history, an emperor stood on its mockery of a throne. It had been -built for balls and other functions of young and wealthy royalty, and -in those days the crimson tapestries had not been woven. - -A moment after the Emperor had taken his position on the throne, -Ranata, accompanied by Alexandra, and for the last time by an -Obersthofmeisterin, entered and walked proudly up the room. She -wore, not the sombre frock her father had had in mind when he issued -the imperial fiat that she should marry in travelling-dress, but -an elaborate and beautiful costume of white cloth. The Emperor -scowled, but felt himself helpless, for she also wore a hat, albeit -with plumes that were truly imperial, and framing and enhancing a -beauty which might have been conventionalized and half obscured by -orange-blossoms and lace. She wore the pearls which her skin always -seemed to reflect, her eyes sparkled, there was a faint pink in her -cheeks, a deeper hue in her lips, and she had never borne herself with -a more subtle blending of triumphant beauty and the dower of eight -centuries of kings. She looked so happy that even her relatives smiled -in involuntary sympathy, although they had never disapproved of a -Hapsburg more. As for Fessenden, who had been beating a light tattoo on -the table, staring at the document, he stood suddenly erect, his eyes -flashing their pride and delight; and when they stood together before -the throne they seemed to fill the room with their victorious youth, -and to obliterate every memory of failure and tragedy. - -The Emperor stood speechless for almost two moments. Age might have -atrophied his power to suffer, and religion and philosophy have long -since taught him to accept the inevitable with little more than a sigh; -nevertheless, in these moments he felt a hot tide of youthful rebellion -rise from mould and mildew, and of all the crosses he had been called -upon to lift to his shoulders this seemed to him the heaviest. The -stillness was so intense that many made a quick movement of uneasiness. -The Emperor recovered himself, and in cold grave tones called upon all -present to witness that his daughter renounced her rights and titles, -and, with her betrothed, all pretensions to the thrones of Austria -and Hungary. The terms of the renunciation were then read aloud by -the prime-minister of Austria, the Primate administered the oath, the -affianced couple signed the document, and Ranata for the moment felt -nameless and bewildered. - -But the signatures having been witnessed with due solemnity, the party -went at once to the little Jerusalem chapel, and Fessenden gave Ranata -what her father had taken from her; and, so the Americans and the man -in him believed, far more besides. There was no breakfast, for that -would involve the drinking of healths with their flowered expressions -of approval, their reiterated good wishes and will. The moment the -brief ceremony was over the Emperor led the way out to the terrace, -and down the long flight to that other terrace whose lower steps were -in the sea. A boat--its rowers with tossed oars--awaited the newly -wed, and beyond was the yacht in gala dress of flags and banners and -pennants. - -Fessenden and Ranata were the last to leave the castle. The others -stood stiff and straight beside the two short flights of steps leading -into the water, the Emperor on the right and slightly in front. The -windows in this angle of the castle were suddenly alive with servants, -not wholly unsympathetic, but no flunkies lined the long flight to the -lower terrace as the bridal couple descended. Did Ranata think of the -stately ceremonies in the Hofburg, the dim and perfumed magnificence -of St. Stephen’s, the joyous pealing of all the bells in Vienna, the -procession to the church of prelates, and military, and royalty in the -six-horsed coaches of gilt and glass, that the world had come to see, -the congratulations of every sovereign in Europe--all that would have -been hers had she married as an Archduchess of Austria is expected to -marry? Perhaps; for she was human, and a woman; but doubtless she also -reflected that she had spent a goodly part of her life avoiding, with -dexterity or obstinacy, such a wedding-day as that; and, Fessenden -Abbott remaining unknown to her, she never would have married at all. - -But any such fugitive reflections were routed by the prospect of the -impending farewell with her father; for the moment her very happiness -seemed blighted. It was true she had known him little, that her more -congenial older sisters had appropriated what love had not been shocked -out of him, but until these last weeks she had had little to forgive, -and indirectly she owed her happiness to him; for she had laid its -foundations in the period of liberty he granted her. And he was her -father, nor was it likely she would ever see him again. He stood like -a soldier, staring at the yacht, nothing betraying the genial kindness -of his nature. When Ranata, with her husband, reached the landing, the -Emperor turned and appeared about to favor her with another of the cold -and courteous bows which had been her portion of late; but she saw that -he was maintaining the severity of his countenance with an effort, and -she approached him and put up her lips timidly. He took her in his arms -then and held her closely, and told her that he forgave her, and hoped -she would be happy. After that her relatives came forward and embraced -her, the other Austrians kissed her hand for the last time, and then -Mr. Abbott and Alexandra went with her down the water-steps and into -the boat. - -“Good-bye, sir, and thank you,” said Fessenden, as he shook hands with -his father-in-law. He was turning away when he faced about again. “I -should like to tell you,” he added, “that I am not superstitious--and -neither is Ranata.” - -“Ah!” exclaimed the Emperor. “Well--I am glad--I am very glad.” - - -THE END - - - - -TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES: - - - Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_. - - Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. - - Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized. - - Archaic or variant spelling has been retained. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RULERS OF KINGS *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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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 will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Rulers of kings</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em;'>A novel</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Gertrude Atherton</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: December 2, 2022 [eBook #69460]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: D A Alexander, David E. Brown, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was created from images of public domain material made available by the University of Toronto Libraries.)</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RULERS OF KINGS ***</div> - -<div class="figcenter hide"><img src="images/coversmall.jpg" width="450" alt=""></div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> -<div class="titlepage"> - -<h1>Rulers of Kings</h1> - -<p>A Novel</p> - -<p>By<br> -<span class="large">Gertrude Atherton</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_logo.jpg" alt=""></div> - -<p><span class="large">Harper & Brothers Publishers</span><br> -New York and London<br> -1904</p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> -<div class="chapter"> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="bbox"> - -<p class="center"> -Copyright, 1904, by <span class="smcap">Harper</span> & <span class="smcap">Brothers</span>.</p> - -<hr class="tiny"> -<p class="center"><i>All rights reserved.</i><br> - -Published April, 1904.</p> -</div></div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p class="center">To<br> -<br> -<span class="large">Poultney Bigelow</span><br> -<br> -one of the<br> -small band of American writers<br> -who dares at all times to tell the truth<br> -whose patriotism is genuine and useful<br> -and who has revealed to us so<br> -much of modern Europe</p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div class="blockquot"> -<p><span class="smcap">May</span> it not be that in every family there are unborn -children—souls that have come too late perhaps to -find a medium, yet, in consequence of their hereditary -particles, unable to seek it elsewhere? We know not -what mysterious dissolutions and recombinations of -spirit take place in the realm where the released forces -go, with what deliberation the essences of families are remixed; -oftenest, no doubt, with commonplace results; -sometimes with intent to bring humiliation and disaster -upon a house which has transgressed too many laws; -yet again, combining the great characteristics of mind -and soul and temperament of those who have distinguished -themselves in history, with such weaknesses -as must inevitably destroy all three—as in the notable -instance of the last Rudolf von Hapsburg. Again, -the best may have been remixed with only enough -of human weakness and passion that love may be inspired -instead of awe, that happiness without disaster -may be possible. And yet the most fortunate of these -fusions may be finished too late for its generation, and -be forced to bide its time invisible; or perhaps, by some -spiritual statute of limitations, is deprived of its earthly -rights forever. Nevertheless, it may linger in spirit -where it should walk in its servant of flesh, and unknown, -unsuspected, take its part in the daily life -of its kin, having its own influence perhaps on their -destinies and on history. And the romanticist, so -much of whose time is spent in the unreal world, may -fancy, once in a way, that one of these belated souls -has swum into his ken, and that his privilege is to -rescue it, to fit it to the part for which Nature so tirelessly -equipped it.</p> - -</div></div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div class="blockquot"> -<p><span class="smcap">Note.</span>—The dinner described in Chapter IV., Part II. occurred -in 1897, but it being necessary that the action of the story -should take place several years later, I have brought it forward. -This of course could not have been done had certain circumstances -arisen which might have given immediate historic results -to the speech of the Emperor of Germany. Those circumstances -not having arisen, it makes little difference whether the -speech was delivered yesterday or six years ago. Otherwise, the -dinner, the speech, its effect upon the Hungarian magnates present, -its reception next day by the Hungarian press and people, -were as described.</p> -</div></div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="nobreak">PART I</h2> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">[1]</span> -<p class="ph2">RULERS OF KINGS</p> - -<h3 class="nobreak">I</h3> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap">WHEN Fessenden Abbott heard that he was to inherit -four hundred millions of dollars he experienced -the profoundest discouragement he was ever to -know, except on that midnight ten years later when he -stood on a moonlit balcony in Hungary, alone with the -daughter of an Emperor, and opened his contemptuous -American mind to the deeper problems of Europe.</p> - -<p>His ambition had been immeasurable, yet almost defined. -His hopes had been the confident imperious extravagances -of a youth in whom narrow circumstances -and a high indomitable spirit had developed that ardent -personal force which equips man to conquer life. His -ideals had soared in stellar spaces—ideals created by -passionate brooding on the careers of Washington, Hamilton, -Napoleon, Nelson, Cromwell, Kossuth, the great -Hunyadis, Alexander, Cæsar, Rudolph the First of -Austria. How he had pored over the lives of this -catholic assortment of heroes while his fingers froze and -the winds roared through the Adirondack wilderness; on -hot summer afternoons as he trudged behind his plough, -the reins wound about one arm, his book in the bend of -the other, vaguely wondering sometimes why his manifest -delinquencies were never noticed.</p> - -<p>As he looked back he marvelled at the bluntness of -his observation. His difference from the other young<span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">[2]</span> -men of that high gallery of the continent must have been -obvious, and whenever he thought of his dead mother -it was to associate her with a magnificence of personal -environment which in time he grew to believe he had -borrowed from the <i>Arabian Nights</i> for the more loyal -framing of a created memory; certainly in real life, even -in those huge cities where men made money, even in -the vast cold palaces of Europe, of which he had read, -there could be nothing to-day like those splendors which -haunted his young mind.</p> - -<p>He had just investigated the interiors of the toys of -his third Christmas when he was made to keep so quiet -for four days that he became a miserable and obstreperous -baby; on the fifth he forgot the troubles of his past -in a twelve-hours’ journey with his doting father. His -indulgent nurse had been dismissed, and a woman with -a white cap and a firm admonishing eye formed the -rear of his body-guard, and held him to the window when -his restless legs sent his father to the smoking compartment. -He could remember still his bewildered sensation -as the train climbed slowly through dark forests, as -hard black peaks travelled across his blinking vision. Of -the night ride through the woods in a springless wagon -he recalled little but the sharp accentuations of the -“bull’s-eye” and the deep sighs of his nurse. After -that, life for several years was too monotonous for memories. -He lived in a farm-house without toys and -sweets—which he quickly forgot—and after the departure -of his nurse at the end of three months his was the -life of any mountain-boy; out of doors in the wildest -weather, out of bed at six o’clock, cuffed, spanked, -roughly petted by the farmer’s mother, beside whose -bed he slept during the remaining years of his childhood. -Twice a year his father came and spent a day on the -Nettlebeck farm. In summer Fessenden led him through<span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[3]</span> -the woods, and exhibited his many treasures, expounded -the forest lore to which he had instinctively applied -himself as soon as he could run alone—unanticipative of -the lore to which it would be the golden key in more -difficult years. In winter they sat in the best parlor, -close to a red stove, which made the boy, little used to -the luxury of fires, sleepy and almost ill. Neither woods -nor fire inspired Mr. Abbott to many words. He examined -the boy in his studies, and took his physical -measurements, comparing them with previous entries -in a little red book. Then, after an interval of sound -fatherly advice, and another of tender interest, he usually -went to sleep; or remained motionless for hours, his -weary eyes fixed and rapt, his lips and nostrils quivering -occasionally, but stern, immobile, relentless, the lower -lip raised, the upper drawn down and under. His little -son fidgeted, coughed respectfully, yawned shamelessly, -and finally stole away. Mr. Abbott, upon his arrival, -always presented Fessenden with a box of books, several -red sweaters, and, as soon as he was old enough, a new -pair of trousers—for his Sunday use; the boy wore overalls -on other days. Mr. Abbott forbade him to clothe -his more conspicuous part in anything but red, that he -might be found in briefer time if lost, and avoided with -less effort in the hunting season.</p> - -<p>The books were selected with a careful regard for his -succeeding years, and under their insidious gardening -his imagination developed and his horizon receded. -He received his elementary schooling from a young -woman on a neighboring farm. At the same time his -body grew tall and strong and his temper fierce. He -took as easily to fighting as to books; he was sometimes -ignominiously whipped by hulking mountain-boys, sometimes -he won against heavy odds, for he had an instinct -for the scientific rules of the game, a long wind,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">[4]</span> -hard muscles, and the primitive delight of the small boy -in war. The fights were not uncommonly for the favor -of some baby minx, but oftener for the pure lust of battle. -He was frequently mangled and battered when his father -arrived, but Mr. Abbott merely laughed, and, on the -whole, seemed to approve his appearance. So passed the -uneventful years until his tenth birthday, when life began -to ring its changes.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">II</h3> -</div> - -<p>Mr. Abbott sat in the rocking-chair by the hot stove -regarding his son with his dreamy far-seeing eyes. For -the first time Fessenden wondered who and what his -father was. This man was like no one in the books he -had read, like no one in the Adirondacks. He was a boy -of direct methods, and was about to ask for information -when his father spoke.</p> - -<p>“I am more gratified at your physical development -than you will ever know, my son,” said Mr. Abbott, tenderly. -“When I brought you here you were fragile and -undersized; it was thought that your chance of becoming -a strong man, or of reaching manhood at all, was -perhaps two in ten. But I knew the magic of the mountains; -I made my experiment, and I have succeeded. -There are other things I wish to say to you, however, so -sit down and listen attentively.”</p> - -<p>Fessenden, in a glow of expectation, fell upon a corner -of the sofa, and Mr. Abbott continued.</p> - -<p>“Originally I planned to speak to you decisively when -you were thirteen or fourteen, but it seems to me that -you are brighter than most boys of your age; I think I -cannot begin too soon to prepare you for the future. -Some boys are taught to say their prayers. I presume -you have been taught to say yours by our good Mrs.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[5]</span> -Nettlebeck, and I am sure I hope you say them; but I -want you to repeat, every Saturday night before you lie -down, these words I am going to teach to you; if you -forget them, to rise in the coldest and darkest night, -stand in the middle of the room, and repeat them twice. -The words are these—write them down: ‘Life is a fight. -Millions fail. Only the strong win. Failure is worse -than death. Man’s internal strength is created by watching -Circumstance like a hawk, meeting her every spring -stiff and straight, laughing at her pitfalls—which in the -beginning of life are excess, excess, and always excess, -and all manner of dishonor. Strength is created by adversity, -by trying to win first the small battles of life, -then the great, by casting out fear, by training the mind -to rule in all things—the heart, the passions, the impulses, -which if indulged make the brain the slave instead -of the master. Success, for which alone a man -lives, if he be honest with himself, comes to those who -are strong, strong, strong.’ When you have finished -that I want you to repeat ‘No’ aloud for ten minutes. -The time will come when you will rejoice that ‘No’ flies, -instead of moving reluctantly, to your tongue. As for -that prayer I have given you, you may not understand -it all now, but you will as you grow older, better and -better; you will analyze and ponder upon it. Life is -choked and gasping with young men trying to get a decent -living, with thousands besides struggling for a -career, reputation. I shall do my best to educate you, -but I want you to grow up with the distinct understanding -that you must support yourself when that preparatory -period is over. I may be able to help you to -some sort of a position, but I may be dead—and I must -do what I can for your sister—”</p> - -<p>“My what?” shouted Fessenden. “You never told -me I had a sister!”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[6]</span>“Did I not? I should have thought I must have mentioned -it. She was born when your mother died, and -her name is Alexandra. Do not interrupt me again, and -listen attentively. I wish you, as I have just said, to -grow up with the clearly defined idea that you must -make your own way in the world, make every dollar you -spend, owe your position, and the respect you may be -able to inspire, to your personality—to the dignity of -your character and the brilliancy of your mind. I shall -keep you here until you are ready for college, where I -hope to be able to send you; for, unlike many Americans, -I believe in educating a man like a gentleman. I have -just met with a piece of extraordinary good fortune: the -other day an old friend called on me for the first time in -many years; he told me that his son, a Harvard man, -and a profound student, was so delicate that he might -be obliged to spend the remainder of his life in the high -altitudes. I called on the young man immediately—his -name is Stanley Morris—and persuaded him to come -here, for I realized what such companionship would mean -to my bright little son. He was very glad of the suggestion, -and agreed, for the sake of a small annual sum, to -become your teacher—in time to prepare you for college. -It was a great relief to my mind, for I want you to remain -in this healthy mountain region until you are -grown, and, of course, expensive tutors and schools are -out of the question. He will be able to teach you -German and French among other things, and he has a -large library. Therefore, I shall not send you any more -books. Fortunately you need only these rough clothes -up here. I feel quite confident that I shall be able to -afford the small yearly sum Mr. Morris demands. But -you are never to forget that you are studying for equipment, -not as the mere routine of youth. Do you understand?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[7]</span>“Yes, sir.” Fessenden was deeply impressed, but -longing, nevertheless, to get away from the stove and -steer the conversation to lighter topics. His young -brain felt as if it had been hammered. “Couldn’t you -send my sister up here?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“No; you will have little in common till you are -grown. You would act detrimentally upon each other. -Girls have such a different part to play in life,” he concluded, -somewhat vaguely.</p> - -<p>“I’d like her picture.”</p> - -<p>“I will send it to you, but you are to promise me first -that you will not write to her. I want no sentimental -nonsense.”</p> - -<p>“I hate to write letters, so I don’t mind promising.”</p> - -<p>There was a long silence during which Mr. Abbott -dreamed and Fessenden squirmed.</p> - -<p>“Are you a success, father, or a failure?”</p> - -<p>Mr. Abbott jumped. “I?—well—I will let you judge -of that for yourself when you are grown.”</p> - -<p>“Do you keep a grocery store?—or teach school?—or -write books?”</p> - -<p>“No,” Mr. Abbott laughed. “But I get my humble -living honestly. I am a lawyer by profession.”</p> - -<p>“What is a lawyer?”</p> - -<p>“Dear, happy child! All in good time, my boy. -Now run out in the air if you like. Your cheeks are -very red. Perhaps you will find an apple in my bag.”</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">III</h3> -</div> - -<p>During the following week Fessenden read little and -was too amiably excited for battle. He had seen few -strangers in that primeval wilderness—no gentleman but -his father; and Mr. Abbott had taken pains to admonish<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[8]</span> -him that he was never to forget he was a gentleman—to -criticise his table manners, gait, and carriage. In the -course of his last visit, after he had twice swept his son’s -elbows off the table and arrested his knife on its flight -to the butter-dish, he had said, severely: “I am not raising -you to be a congressman from a backwoods district. -Without manners your morals might just as well be bad -as good. I am no democrat. I believe in hard work, -and above all things I despise the idle fools that rich -fathers foist upon the world; but I equally despise the -man who ever forgets he was born a gentleman. You -were. One reason why I have persuaded Stanley Morris -to come here is that you may be reminded constantly -that you are not to grow up a country lout, and disgrace—your -sister, when the time comes for you to meet. -Do you think that small head can remember all this tiresome -advice?”</p> - -<p>“Youbetcherlife! But can’t I fight any more?” Fessenden -had asked anxiously. “I feel my <i>goodest</i> when -I’ve wiped the face off’n a chap.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, fight all you like. Never take an insult. Never -see a woman insulted. Never take a back seat. If you -did I’d disown you. But put on no airs, even when you -are being properly educated by Morris. I despise a snob -as much as I abhor a weakling.”</p> - -<p>“What is a snob?”</p> - -<p>“The snob is a man who furnishes comedy for others -and tragedy for himself.”</p> - -<p>Fessenden’s eyes were a hard blue stare, but experience -had taught him that when his father was cryptic he -did not intend to be questioned further.</p> - -<p>Two rooms on the second floor facing the south were -put in such order as young Abbott had heretofore associated -with the unlicensed imagination of the story-teller. -Not only were the walls covered with heavy red paper,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[9]</span> -but a special car was switched off at a distant station, and -its contents, when hauled the intervening miles and unpacked, -proved to be worn but red and luxurious furniture, -four bookcases, several heavy rugs, two stoves, -and some nine hundred books. Fessenden unwrapped -and shelved every book, his fingers tingling, unfaithful -for the moment to his chipmunks and rabbits, his hidden -places in the forest where he was the mighty leader of an -invisible robber band.</p> - -<p>When all was in order, Mr. Stanley Morris arrived. -He was very tall and attenuated, with a bulging brow -and long pale fingers. Nature had designed him for the -ascetic and scholar, and doubtless had taken back a mere -sufficiency of his lung cells to complete her purpose. -On this shelf of the world he could live into old age, -pack his avid brain with the master thoughts of other -men, and one day, possibly, give to the world a thought -system of his own.</p> - -<p>“He kinder gives me the dumps,” remarked Fritz -Nettlebeck, as he filled his pipe in the kitchen that evening. -“I don’t take to people who looks as if their brains -was distributed all over them. His head-piece is twice -the size of an ordinary man’s, but he looks as if he kept -that for Sundays, and any other part of him would do as -well for other days.”</p> - -<p>“You’re gitten imagination,” said Christina, with contempt. -She was a sour and elderly virgin, hard-worked, -now that her mother was growing old, and disapproving -of her brothers in all their phases. Beaux were few in -that vast and lonely wilderness, and these few had passed -her by. Even the hired man had failed to succumb to -the potencies of propinquity and the only woman. She -was an uncommonly good cook for an American of her -class—her parents were Hamburgers—and had won favor -with the campers who ventured into this part of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[10]</span> -Adirondacks, Mr. Abbott among the number; but if her -cake was delicate, her griddle-cakes light, her venison a -culinary achievement, her temper had been bitter from -childhood, her sarcasm a thing to make a strong man -falter and slink away. Christina was very proud of this -substitute for scholarship, and persuaded herself that it -compensated her for all that lay buried in ligneous -spinsterhood. “The young un’ll have to turn to now, I -guess,” she continued. “Much chores you’ll git out of -him if he’s got to learn all them books. And he’s real -handy about the house, too. He’s mended a power of -things for me.”</p> - -<p>“You’re sweet on that kid,” said Nettlebeck, with -borrowed sarcasm. “It’s about the only soft spot -you’ve got. But if you make him sick again on cocoanut-cake, -and his father finds it out, he’ll be packed off, -I give you that.”</p> - -<p>“Who is that father of his, anyhow?” Christina never -argued when she was sure of defeat; and having sat up -all night with Fessenden—who had stolen the greater -part of the cake—she was not prepared to face the -enemy. “I don’t believe he’s as poor as he makes -out. The mortgage is paid off this farm, I happen to -know—”</p> - -<p>“And you’re insinuatin’ that your two brothers ain’t -hard-workin’ enough to pay it off theirselves!” cried -Nettlebeck, bringing his fist down on the table with such -violence that Christina’s pile of clean plates rattled, and -she gave a wholly feminine shriek. “If you ever insult -me like that again I’ll git a wife, and how’ll you like -that?”</p> - -<p>This threat never failed to subdue Christina, for although -she shrewdly guessed that no girl within a radius -of a hundred miles had the courage to become her sister-in-law, -she knew that a desperate man might make a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[11]</span> -pilgrimage to some distant town which her fame had not -penetrated. She sniffed, muttered something about not -being minded to insult her own family, whatever she -might think of folks in general, and carried off her dishes -to their shelves.</p> - -<p>“Mr. Abbott,” resumed Nettlebeck, having given his -wrath such time to cool as a female could expect, “is a -generous and self-sacrificin’ father, and he just worships -that kid; he’d wear one suit of clothes a year to give him -what he needed, and of course keep don’t cost much up -here. As for this here Morris, he’s spent all his money -on books and furniture, thinkin’ he was goin’ to be a -college professor. Mr. Abbott must have got him cheap. -And the little we git from the old man’s regular. Just -you remember that.”</p> - -<p>“I ain’t forgettin’. Nobody asked you to make excuses -for Mr. Abbott bein’ alive. I s’pose he ain’t payin’ -fur that canoe, either.”</p> - -<p>“That there canoe is a second-handed one, and I got -it dirt cheap. Mr. Abbott consulted me about it when he -was here last, and asked me to do the best I could, as -he’d like the kid to have a canoe if one could be got inside -his means. But Fess ain’t to know it’s here till his -birthday comes round; so mind your own business till -the ice goes out, if you can.” And Mr. Nettlebeck -slouched off to join his brother in the barn and avoid -further questions.</p> - -<p>“I ain’t no fool,” confided Christina to herself, as she -“covered” her fire. “But I know which side my bread’s -buttered on, and the young un’ll git no hint from me. -Then when our share in raisin’ him is over, there’ll be a -big present all-round, or my name ain’t Christina Nettlebeck. -There’s been too many campers in these woods in -my time, and I know a rich man and a gentleman when I -see one. Mr. Abbott was the worst-lookin’ tramp in the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[12]</span> -woods I ever saw, and that’s a sure sign. It’s lucky, -though, the kid’s what he is, for I couldn’t stand a hateful -brat, nohow.”</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">IV</h3> -</div> - -<p>Like all invalids, Morris had little affection for any one -but himself, but what he lacked in human sympathy he -atoned for in courtesy of manner and nicety of conscience. -He instructed Fessenden until that restless youngster -besought Nettlebeck to find him many “chores.” But -Fessenden was still too small to chop down trees, to -plough ice, or to saw wood, and there is little other work -in the mountains in winter. There was no alternative -but to accommodate himself to his new condition, and -brace his endurance by repeating his father’s advice and -attempting to understand it. At the end of the long -winter he was studying hard and fighting less. Now -that he did not recite on the neighboring farm, there was -no one to fight with, except on such rare occasions as -when a boy came to borrow of Christina after some culinary -disaster at home or some unexpected shortage at -the mountain “store.” Fessenden, no matter how deep -in study, seemed to scent the messenger from afar, and -was standing in the middle of the slippery road, his -muscles bunched, his eye glaring like a tiger’s, when his -expectant foe, uttering a hideous war-whoop, flung his -bag into a snowdrift and hurled himself upon the champion. -Upon these occasions, Dolf, the younger of the -Nettlebeck brothers, always dropped his work and encouraged -the sport. When it was over, no matter what -the issue, Christina invariably cuffed Fessenden, then -made him a cake; and gentle old Mrs. Nettlebeck wept -profusely as she sponged him off, convinced that it would -yet be her mournful duty to lay him out. Her own sons<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[13]</span> -had the peaceful blood of the German peasant in them, -and this enterprising American lad was a dear and perpetual -mystery. Upon one occasion, when he looked -like a blind puppy, and study was out of the question for -two days, Morris improved the occasion in the interest of -reform.</p> - -<p>“You are a great fighter, Fess,” he began, tactfully; -“and it does my poor blood good to watch so much energy -explode. Only it seems to me a waste. Why don’t -you concentrate your energy in your brain and become -a leader by the force of superior will and intelligence?”</p> - -<p>“When I fight with my head I fight with its outside,” -replied Fessenden dryly. “I’ve got to make myself understood, -and I do, you bet. And I’m not complaining -of the headache next day, neither.”</p> - -<p>“Think of what I’ve said, however. You have established -your reputation as a fighter; you occupy the -proud position of champion among boys of your own age -and older. The raging hate which must saturate you -when fighting like a savage would make me feel mean -and terrified for days after. It is all very well to know -how to use your fists, and no doubt they are of service -to you here, and at your age; but they will play a small -part in after-life, and your character will play a very -great one. You are so constituted that if you would -learn to control yourself you could command your fellows -with little effort; and at least when you fight try not -to hate so hard.”</p> - -<p>“How would you like Christina’s puddings with all -the raisins left out? Would you mind reading to me?”</p> - -<p>“As long as you like.” And Morris made him comfortable -on the sofa, and read from the lives of ancient -warriors until the heir of the ages fell asleep.</p> - -<p>Fessenden’s mind at this time was a virgin field into -which seeds fell to rise again and be tended by a curious<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[14]</span> -young tiller. Those flung into a fertile crevice by Morris, -who took the responsibility very seriously, put out their -green heads in time. Fessenden nodded his recognition, -and, although they were by no means his favorite products, -between their insistency and a decreasing lack of -opportunity, he arrived, in the course of another year, at -the conclusion that it might be interesting to make boys -follow his lead without resorting to primitive methods. -“I suppose one might as well wait till one has a real call -to fight,” he remarked to himself with philosophy. “The -animals don’t fight till they have to—none, that is, but -dogs, and perhaps that’s living so much with us—we -sickin’ them on and all that. It’s good to fight, though,” -he added, with a long sigh, “even if the headache does -last longer than the fun—that’s a point. Perhaps Mr. -Morris is right, although I’d like to know what he knows -about it. Maybe I’ll try the other tack and see what -there’s in it, but there are some things will make my fists -fly till I’m eighty. I guess I wasn’t cut out for a Sunday-school -teacher.” Nevertheless, he worked himself into -such a terrific rage the next time he was challenged—after -an unusual period of virtuous abstinence—that he -was thoroughly frightened at the result: for several days -he felt flat and peevish, and more worn out in mind than -in body. Morris came upon him in the forest where he -was seated on a stump dismally chewing a cud, and embraced -an obvious opportunity.</p> - -<p>“After all,” he said sympathetically, “what you fight -for is supremacy, is it not? Why not get it some other -way? Although you poison yourself with the hate you -feel while actually fighting, hate is never the motive of -battle with you. You like all these boys well enough, -but you must find out who is the best man or burst. -Find it out some other way—or rather, having decided -that point, try others. Besides, the great man uses the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[15]</span> -brute force of others, he rarely indulges in it himself. -Did not Napoleon sit aloft on a hill while his hundreds -of thousands of nameless minions did the fighting? So -long as they could see that being whom they looked -upon as an emanation from the divine intellect, they -were willing to fight like fanatics, but if he had rushed -forward with a musket and fallen, the ranks would have -scattered in irretrievable panic. Are you cultivating -your prowess to fight years hence when a great man -orders you out?”</p> - -<p>“Not much,” growled Fessenden.</p> - -<p>“Well, take me out in your canoe now. We’ll talk it -over further this evening.”</p> - -<p>Fessenden’s twelfth birthday occurred a week later, -and he persuaded Christina to give him a party and invite -his enemies. They came, howling through the -mountain passes, brandishing big sticks as a manifest of -their readiness for the fray. But although, having been -invited to dinner and birthday cake, they expected a respite -of perhaps two hours, they were disconcerted, and -privately alarmed at being received by young Abbott -quite in the style of the grand seigneur. He wore a -new white sweater and a new pair of trousers, and he had -been scrubbed and brushed by Mrs. Nettlebeck until, to -mountain taste, he was offensively godly. He greeted his -weather-beaten guests with a hearty grip of the hand, -insinuated his appreciation of the forgiving spirit so -touchingly displayed, and when he had them all seated -about the table in the large kitchen he entertained them -brilliantly with anecdotes from his most exciting books, -while they devoured Christina’s substantial dainties. -When he had gorged them into a state of sleepy good-nature, -he led them out into the woods, and, mounting a -stump, invited them to spin yarns of personal prowess. -Each youth in turn told a tale of terrible adventure and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[16]</span> -glorious triumph, which Fessenden applauded as a host -should. When they were alert once more and ready for -action, he organized them into a band of pirates, and -they scuttled several ships with such demoniacal vigor -that they worked off all the steam that was left in them; -and departed at nightfall vowing that Fessenden—who -was now dirty enough to satisfy the most exacting standard—was -the finest fellow in the woods, and that they’d -never had such a Time since they were born.</p> - -<p>After supper Fessenden untied his canoe, <i>Pocahontas</i>—whom -he loved better than any mortal except his -father—and pulled out into the evening shadows. The -Nettlebeck farm was on a clearing of some fifty acres on -the north and east shores of a large lake. Surrounding -it on three sides was the virgin unkempt forest, as yet -undesecrated by the lumberman or the logger. Just -beyond the clearing the forest grew to the shores of the -lake—a body of water so clear that in the early morning -and evening, until the ice came, or except when the winds -raged, the great spruces and pines, the beeches and -maples, looked as if petrified in one of the old glaciers -which had ground this vast region into form. Beyond -the lake, beyond the surrounding forest, rose the encircling -chain of gentle peaks, some barren rocks of eccentric -shape, others black with woods. This evening their -upper slopes were white with a late fall of snow. The -Nettlebecks, like all American farmers, had done what -they could to make Nature hideous, and their big house -with its haphazard additions, the barns and boat-house, -the ragged orchard and vegetable garden, were like a -patchwork apron on the robes of a goddess. But Fessenden -had turned his back on the Nettlebeck outrage, -and not a shingle could he see—not a column of smoke. -The blue shadows on the mountains were melting as the -stars came out. The silence was so intense that Nature<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[17]</span> -seemed to laugh noiselessly at man’s puny attempt to -impress himself upon her higher solitudes.</p> - -<p>Fessenden shot his canoe round a bend, and entered a -long water-pass, irregular, half-choked with reeds and -swamp, dark from the forest on the slopes of the gorge. -It led to another lake, the second in a long chain of lakes -great and small, on many of which some farmer had made -his clearing and erected his monstrosities. But the -gorge was long, and the next lake too wild and rocky to -invite the attentions of man. Fessenden could paddle -far, and fancy himself as alone in the great Adirondack -wilderness as the first Red Indian. From the day when -Mrs. Nettlebeck had allowed him to run unattended, -much of his time had been spent apart. The nearest -neighbor lived three miles away, on the farm where with -several other boys he had attended school of a sort for -four months in the year. The boys were kept busy at -other times, and only sought him out when, like himself, -they ached for a fight. Solitude had become as necessary -in his life as his bed and his bread; and except when -storms raged and the thermometer stood too far below -zero, he left the house the moment his studies with his -tutor were over, and took his reading into the woods or -his canoe. On Saturdays and Sundays he was not permitted -to open a book, and during the short summer -there were no mental tasks. He spent these holidays in -the woods or on the water, only returning to the house -for his evening meal and his hard bed. Occasionally -Morris accompanied him, and taught him much of practical -forestry; but although the man and the boy were -good friends, each preferred his solitudes—his long -silences.</p> - -<p>To-night Fessenden was in a strangely exultant mood -which he was anxious to understand. He was tired, for -he had played hard; but it was a pleasant languor beside<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[18]</span> -the exhaustion which followed his pitched battles, to say -nothing of their accompaniment of gaping wounds and -nervous depression. He had passed successfully through -his first attempt at diplomacy and self-command; his fists -had ached more than once, for Jeff Hunter was in fine -fighting trim and invariably lashed his crimson tide; and -he tasted all the sweets of power, of dominating in a new -rôle, of discovering unsuspected talents, and of using -them easily in the control of his fellows. He looked -back upon his career of fists and blood, this youngster -of twelve, with much the same disgust and contempt as -might animate a debauchee crossing the threshold of -reform. He did not return home until midnight, and in -those lonely hours under the stars, in the profoundest -stillness that America can give us, his ambition was born. -He felt able to go out and conquer the world then and -there; but he was modest by an earlier endowment, and -the value of a sound education had been impressed upon -his responsive mind. But his soul took a long flight, -and met on high vague and beautiful shapes, which, -when he was older, he knew men called ideals—looked -down upon a wonderful world far beyond these mountains, -wherein was stored the records of an eternity of -great deeds, where greater still were doing; where, in the -nebulous galleries of time, things beyond human imaginings -awaited the quickening touch of men still in the -making.</p> - -<p>Fessenden returned and raided the pantry for a glass -of milk, but it was some time before he sought his bed. -In the depths of his soul the sleeping man still muttered, -and he felt like Mercury poised for a flight and not knowing -which way to turn, but half drunk with wondrous -possibilities. The full moon hung low on the reflecting -lake. The mountain-tops were white, their lower forests -black. The deer came noiselessly out of the woods and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[19]</span> -drank. The sublime and lonely scene murmured voicelessly -of its greater kin in the highest valleys of the alpine -world. Fessenden, standing on the upper veranda -of the house, again saw only Nature, unchanged since a -thousand years. Her silences might never have been -broken.</p> - -<p>“You—kid!” cried a shrill voice as a window flew open. -“What on earth are you doin’ up this time of night? -Lands sakes! Git into bed this minute or I’ll come out -and cuff you good.” And Fessenden, who had a wholesome -respect for Christina, fled to his room and was -asleep in ten minutes.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">V</h3> -</div> - -<p>But although solitude moulded unceasingly in the -structure of Fessenden Abbott’s character, and with coincident -intellectual development opened Gothic spaces -in his soul which made him lastingly different from the -city-bred man, yet was his life on the whole much like -that of any healthy youngster of his age who lived his -boyhood in an American wilderness. He played pioneer -to his complete satisfaction, and blazed trails in all directions -through the forest. In company with the redoubtable -Jeff Hunter, he built a hut on an island in a -lake of wild and uninhabitable surroundings, and impersonated -Crusoe to his old enemy’s Friday. This social -triumph was not won without another struggle, partly -fistic, partly diplomatic; and Fessenden regarded the -issue as his greatest achievement. After the first supper, -cooked by Friday and eaten with the graciousness of -royalty by his master, Jeff succumbed amiably and followed -Fessenden on such adventurous tramps as his -hard-working father would permit. They spent many -days and nights, during the summer months, on the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[20]</span> -island, from which they sallied forth into the forest or to -the high peaks of the range in search of Nature’s dearest -terrors. They were once treed by a bear, whose cubs -they stumbled over; but managed to escape, by climbing -from tree-top to tree-top, when the bear was obliged to -return to maternal duties; they had, with what discrimination -was possible, selected trees too slender for the -bear to mount. During one of Mr. Abbott’s visits he -was entertained on the island; and by the light of a camp-fire -and to the accompaniment of ominous sounds in the -surrounding forest was regaled by an account of this -adventure, to say nothing of one with a panther, and -yet another with a catamount, told by Fessenden in a -direct unvarnished style which made his father tingle -with pride and an echo of youth. Shortly after, Fritz -Nettlebeck remarked to the boys that he had two shotguns -which “he guessed they were old enough to use, -and he’d teach ’em and give ’em the loan of the guns -provided they learned how to shoot straight and would -promise to be careful.” The immediate result was an -indiscriminate slaughter and loud protests from Christina, -who viewed an overstocked and gory larder with -disfavor. When, however, they had riddled and dragged -home a bear, they were thereafter too proud to kill small -game for other than purposes of replenishment. In the -hunting season they spent their Saturdays on the runs, -and killed more deer than the law allowed. One fine -buck was shipped to Mr. Abbott by Nettlebeck. Fessenden -had brought it down, and it was the prize of the season. -Having achieved this fresh distinction, Fessenden, -who, if he now fought rarely, still burned with youthful -ambitions, which had no relation to the swirling yet -luminous desires in his soul, organized a canoe race in -which boys from seven lakes competed. As his practice -had been constant for three years, and as he applied<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[21]</span> -a very superior brain to the sport, he not unnaturally -came off best man; but this he did not realize, and he -embraced his canoe that night in a glow of complete -happiness. He had named her after his favorite girl in -history, and he loved her with his first boyish passion.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">VI</h3> -</div> - -<p>Fessenden shivered and sat up in bed. It was the -first time he had ever heard sounds in the house at this -hour, and even the birds and the cocks were still asleep. -He felt more oppressed than curious, and, dressing hastily, -opened his window and slipped out upon the veranda. -The moon shone on vast fields of ice and -snow, on white peaks sharply defined against the dark -starry sky, on great stretches of woods whose heavy -spruce and naked maples were laden and glittering. -The lake was a sheet of ice several feet in depth. Fessenden -had driven a team across it yesterday to the opposite -woods, where the men were chopping trees blown -down in a recent storm. The thermometer was very -low, but the air so still that the cold had no sting in it. -Without the house the world might have been dead; but -not so within. Several people seemed to be moving -about in a curious and stealthy manner. Suddenly -some one ran down the hall and back again. Immediately -after there was a scream from Christina, followed -by a silence so sudden and complete that it seemed profounder -than that without.</p> - -<p>How he realized at once that Mrs. Nettlebeck was dead -he never knew. She had not been a strong woman for -years, and had spent more and more of her time in the -big rocking-chair, looking out on the lake or reading her -Bible; but when he had kissed her as usual the night<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[22]</span> -before, she had prodded him playfully in search of damaged -bones, and told him in her broken English that she -forgot she was too old to work while she watched him -skate and turn somersaults on the ice. Fessenden knew -that she loved him more than she did her own children, -for he interested her and they did not, and he showed -her much demonstrative affection, which they thought -beneath their religiously acquired Americanism—if indeed -there were any impulses left in those dry economical -natures. And now Fessenden looked about vaguely -as if in search of the fleeing spirit. For the moment it -seemed to him that he vibrated in unison with the great -forces beyond the Universe. It was several days before -he was conscious of grief and his loss, but he tingled with -cosmic curiosity.</p> - -<p>Morris’s window was open, and himself buried under -so many blankets that he did not hear Fessenden enter -the room. He sprang up when gripped by the shoulder, -however, and after a brief visit to the death-chamber -returned and endeavored until morning to answer his -pupil’s eager almost incoherent questions. He expounded -every belief he had investigated. After Fessenden -had concluded that he would prefer to think of his -poor old friend in that Nirvana where there was no more -work, he went out and spent the day in the woods by -himself. This new idea of Death and its impenetrability -to mortal light seemed to him magnificent; and Christina, -hastily patching together a shroud out of sheets—old -sheets at that—and Fritz and Dolf, not even assisted -by the hired man—who was sent to chop wood as usual—hammering -together a rude coffin, while a few neighbors -stamped through the defiles to “help lay the old lady -out,” filled his ardent young mind with revolt.</p> - -<p>The burial-ground was ten miles distant, close by a -church, a mountain store, a post-office, and three or four<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[23]</span> -houses—a hamlet in a clearing through which a stage -passed twice a week. Once a month the church was visited -by an itinerant preacher. Mrs. Nettlebeck, to the -satisfaction of her family, had accommodated her setting -forth to the Methodist’s returning flight, and, as there was -no time to lose, her remains, on the night following her -death, were placed on the “jumper”—a low sledge—and -driven through the snowdrifts of the forest by torchlight. -Fritz drove; Christina stood beside him, arrayed -in fragments of hastily contributed black; Fessenden and -his faithful chum tramped in the rear; and Dolf and the -hired man lighted the way with great pine torches. -The jumper was on runners; the men and the boys -wore snow-shoes, for the snow was often five or six feet -deep; now and then the rude vehicle plunged into a drift -and had to be dug out, while the coffin was deposited -beyond the reach of the plunging horses. Once the -coffin disappeared, and as no one could remember exactly -where it had been placed, and the pitch-pine was -smoking heavily, it was some time before the treacherous -catafalque was discovered. After the box had been -dug out and safely hearsed, Fessenden let fly his wrath.</p> - -<p>“Why on earth can’t you bury the poor old lady in -the forest?” he demanded. “You’re treating her horribly, -in my opinion; and I’d like to know what better -church-yard any one wants than the woods.”</p> - -<p>“I guess this family’ll git Christian burial every time,” -replied Fritz. “But I must say it’s mighty inconvenient -dyin’ in the winter. Still, we can spare the time -better than if we was sowin’ or harvestin’; there’s something -in that. You can’t for to git everything right in -this world.”</p> - -<p>And the tramp went on through the forest, where the -late moon rarely penetrated, and the wild torches peopled -the caverns of the dark with the evil spirits which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[24]</span> -had haunted the forests of the old peasant’s childhood, -and cast sinister shadows over the stark outline bumping -close to the ground. Mrs. Nettlebeck had been a bit of -a cynic in her way, for she had never been persuaded that -the transit from her quaint comfortable village in the -toy state of Hamburg to this souring struggle for existence -in an aboriginal wilderness had exalted her second -condition over her first; and Fessenden wondered if she -were smiling grimly in her coffin at the hardships of her -final journey.</p> - -<p>They arrived at the settlement in the late sunrise, but -although several neighbors had assembled to help them, -neither pick nor spade made any impression on the frozen -snow, many feet in depth, which covered the church-yard -and its graves. The preacher managed to flounder -through the drifts to his duty, and preached a long and -dismal sermon on the platitudes of life and death, which -further outraged Fessenden; and then Mrs. Nettlebeck -was stowed away in a little room behind the pulpit to -wait till the spring came and the “ice went out.”</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">VII</h3> -</div> - -<p>It was several days before Fessenden realized that he -felt something more than natural grief at the death of -Mrs. Nettlebeck. He knew that his father loved him, -but Mr. Abbott’s visits were brief and far between, and -his infrequent letters rarely covered a sheet of notepaper. -Fessenden now had his ardent following among -the boys of his region, but boys manifest their liking by -loyalty, not by sentiment. Fritz and Dolf treated him -with good-natured indifference; he would as soon have -thought of kissing one of the scraggy winter maples as -Christina, in spite of her cross indulgence, and Morris<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[25]</span> -might have been a disembodied spirit. Mrs. Nettlebeck -had been his one steady well of affection. She had -petted and crooned over him since he had come to her, -a baby in a chronic state of disapproval with his nurse; -and the large measure of rejected love that was still in -her she had lavished upon him daily. He had taken it -as a matter of course, for he was lordly and masculine, -and there was no sharp contrast of neglect and ill-treatment -to fuse it into light. But now that the magic had -gone abruptly from him, and there was nothing to take -its place, he felt himself up against the barren rocks of -life; for the first time the future seemed to hold vague and -unknown terrors, the present to be less than the supremely -satisfactory thing he had esteemed it. He went first -for consolation to his canoe, whom perhaps he loved the -more ardently as her responses held an exciting element -of doubt. But <i>Pocahontas</i>, like the bears, seemed to -“deaden” in winter, at all events to be coldly impersonal -until she was skimming above the sunken ice before the -first breeze of spring. So he left her to the chill repose -of the boat-house, and poured out his lonely and frightened -soul to his father. Mr. Abbott answered that he -would go up to see him at once, and did manage to pay -his son a flying visit in the course of a month. But by -this time Fessenden was ashamed of his reckless exhibition -of sentiment, and, like a true American, had jealously -concealed his gushing fountains under a cool, alert, -and practical exterior. When his father arrived his -head was high, and his blue eyes keen and bright, his -very muscles expressive of masculine impatience with -the soft side of life. Mr. Abbott had brought him a -fishing-rod, which appeared to afford immediate consolement; -and then, somewhat to his father’s relief, he -began to talk about American history.</p> - -<p>“Mr. Morris wanted me to wait until I had read more<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[26]</span> -of English and foreign history,” he said. “But I -couldn’t, and I’ve been reading out of hours. We’ve a -great country, haven’t we?”</p> - -<p>“Great.”</p> - -<p>“Up here they all think it’s the greatest in the world. -Is it?”</p> - -<p>“That is largely a matter of experience. Personally, I -see more in the future than in the present. We have -never been whipped. That is fatal to steady and rounded -development. A nation, like man, is full of vanity -until life has trounced him more than once.”</p> - -<p>“I should hate it if we had ever been licked. And we -have had such grand men to guide us—I have read the -lives of Washington and Hamilton and Franklin; and we -have such grand ideals—after I read the Declaration of -Independence I went out into the woods and whooped -and whooped. With that to live by we can’t be in need -of a trouncing; and of course all other men try to follow -in the footsteps of our great ones—there are a lot of -others whose lives I haven’t had time to read yet.”</p> - -<p>Mr. Abbott turned his eyes to his son’s flushed face, -and opened his straight lips as if about to smile and -speak. But he closed them quickly, and brought down -his lids over his cold dreaming eyes.</p> - -<p>He answered in a moment: “Our ideals, like our -theories, are the best in the world. When you are -launched out into the hustle, it will be time enough to -know how they work. Meanwhile, don’t worry about -your country—it has an amazing power of taking care of -itself; but develop your intellect and your strength of -character. Do you repeat that lesson of mine once a -week?”</p> - -<p>Mr. Abbott invariably asked this question, and Fessenden -was usually able to nod satisfactorily. He continued: -“A man who came up here once said that this<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[27]</span> -was the rich man’s country, that the poor man was getting -less and less of a show, and often couldn’t get justice. -They all argued after that—it was down at the store; -but it didn’t seem to lead anywhere, and I’d like to -know what he meant. Was he only talking? Is that -the reason you are poor? You seem to me the cleverest -man in the world—and even Mr. Morris thinks an awful -lot of you—he’s not much on admiring. Are you ground -down by the rich? I should think you could sail into -’em, and send ’em all higher’n a kite.”</p> - -<p>Mr. Abbott opened the door of the stove and poked -the fire. Its red glow was reflected in his face, usually -the hue of leather.</p> - -<p>“I cannot say that the rich have interfered with me,” -he replied, after a considerable pause. “I have chosen -my own course, and have felt justified in pursuing it. -Don’t believe all this twaddle about the rich, my son. -It is their enterprise that has made this country great, -not the growling of the failures. It is they who encourage -and promote industries, whether their employees like -their manner of doing it or not. It is they who make the -money circulate, find employment for millions, keep -the fires crackling under the great boiling caldron. -Moreover, most of them have risen from the ranks of -these grumblers—who, one and all, dream of reaching -their altitude and having their chance to dictate to -those still below. Never forget that point. Every -working-man on strike is a potential millionaire—in fact -as well as in fancy—for this country offers equal chances -to all. It is the brains of the men that are not equal; -and every millionaire has only himself—in rare instances -his immediate forebears—to thank that he is not still -grovelling with the herd, close to the wall.”</p> - -<p>“Then of course the millionaires have the really great -minds nowadays. Having done such wonderful things,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[28]</span> -I should think they would feel as if all the rest of the -world were their children.”</p> - -<p>“H’m! My son, I think it is time for you to go to -bed.”</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">VIII</h3> -</div> - -<p>Fessenden, until his Great Love Affair, which occurred -when he had rounded his seventeenth year, lived in his -books and the future, finding less and less companionship -in his now humble and devoted band of followers. -This interval of four years was pricked out by two variations -only: the gradually discontinuing visits of his -father and the slight change incident upon a letter -received from Mr. Abbott on his son’s fifteenth birthday:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">My dear Boy</span>”—(this letter began, in the well-bred but -curiously unexercised handwriting which sometimes made Fessenden -wonder if his father never wrote to any one else)—“It -may be some time, perhaps years, before we meet again. I shall -give you no reason now for this additional separation, so painful -to me. When the time comes I shall explain, and you will find -the explanation satisfactory. Meanwhile, I shall write to you -twice a year, remind you of all the advice and admonition I have -given you, and ask many questions. I am very much gratified -with Mr. Morris’s accounts of you. It is in your blood to take -naturally to books. I hope and pray that other things may -come as readily to you in due course.</p> - -<p>“I have now concluded that you are old and strong enough to -support yourself—barring your tuition, which I shall manage to -meet. I am writing to Nettlebeck to put you to work during the -fine weather. As you know, I prefer you should not study during -those months, and you will be paid what will more than -meet your expenses the year round. You are quite equal to the -work of a farm-hand, and it is time you knew how it feels to earn -money. It will also be a very considerable relief to me, besides -accustoming you to the fit of the harness before it is imperatively -necessary to put it on. Your sister is well, and sends you her<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[29]</span> -love. I add mine, and I beg you to believe that in spite of appearances -I love you devotedly—more than I have ever loved -any one. You ask for my picture. I have never had one taken. -I have my reasons. One is that a man always seems to me most -of an ass when smirking on cardboard.</p> - -<p class="right">“Your very affectionate          <br> - -“<span class="smcap">Father</span>.”</p> -</div> - -<p>“He believes in disciplining,” remarked Fessenden to -Morris, with some acerbity. He was not enchanted at -the prospect of being a farm-hand. “If I must I must, -but somehow I can’t believe my father is as poor as he -makes out. If he is poor, it must be because he wants -to be, for it always seems to me as if a sort of power came -straight out of him, and hit me hard. And up here, -where all men are equal—quite unlike what you say it is -in cities—the Nettlebecks show him more respect than -they ever show any one else.”</p> - -<p>“That is the mere force of personality. You can have -the same experience when you are grown, if you make of -yourself a strong and isolated spirit, not a mere creditable -member of a type. As for your father, his opinions are -worth their weight in gold. Obey him without question—therein -lies the success of your future. He is not only -a man of remarkable brain-power, but he is between three -and four times your age. He is helping you now out of -his own experience. Be thankful that he takes so great -an interest in you, instead of spoiling you in the usual -criminal American fashion.”</p> - -<p>“His interest appears to be more excessive than his -love.”</p> - -<p>“Cannot you take love on trust?”</p> - -<p>“Does anybody take anything on trust? Can I eat -nails and believe them bread? I know what I see, what -I feel, what I am permitted to enjoy. I might say to -myself twenty times a day, ‘My father loves me,’ and it<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[30]</span> -wouldn’t make one-thousandth the impression that a -weekly visit of ten minutes would.”</p> - -<p>“A weekly visit from Mr. Abbott—” Morris checked -his laugh abruptly. “Your father is not too strong, -and hates travelling. But you have brain and imagination; -it is odd you should need the regularly administered -pap of the ordinary youth.”</p> - -<p>“I am human,” responded Fessenden dryly; and as -usual he went to <i>Pocahontas</i> for comfort and counsel.</p> - -<p>The world was green on this birthday of his, for the -spring had come early. The snow had gone from the -mountains, the young maple-leaves were fluttering in the -forest, the fields were green, the golden sunshine flooded -the lake. There was a light breeze, and Fessenden unfurled -his sails and thought into the sympathetic soul -of his canoe.</p> - -<p>“Perhaps, on the whole, I like the idea,” he admitted.</p> - -<p>“With one or two exceptions, our great men have -risen from the ranks—were hired men, grocery-store -clerks, born in log-cabins, and all that sort of thing. To -be sure, my favorites happen to be the ones who were not; -still it seems to be the proper thing in this country, and -as I intend to be a great man, old girl, I am contented -to start at the proper place—no log-hut could be uglier -than the Nettlebeck farm-house, and I am going to be a -hired man, all right. I can’t help being thankful that -it isn’t to be a grocery-store clerk. What am I to be? -What am I to be? Can’t you give me a hint?” He laid -his ear to the spot where he fancied the heart of <i>Pocahontas</i> -beat warmly, and for him alone. “When I read -the life of a great warrior, I want to be one. Upon -some other occasion I want to be a great statesman and -orator, and spout the seventh-of-March speech in the -woods, as exalted as if the world listened—and feel like -a fool afterwards. Write? Morris says there are too<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[31]</span> -many writers now, and that my brain is that of the man -of action. He certainly seems to know more about it -than I do, and as for you, my beauty, you’re a selfish -hussy. When your sails are up you think of nothing -but filling your belly with wind.”</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">IX</h3> -</div> - -<p>Fessenden was so preoccupied that even the voices -and laughter of girls did not attract his attention for -some moments. He was inserting the little nickel -troughs called spiles into the trees of the maple orchard, -and hanging the red buckets beneath to catch the sap. -Dolf was in the sugar shanty nearby, scouring out the -vats, for the boiling would begin to-morrow, and maple-sugar -was an industry from which the Nettlebecks derived -a yearly income of several hundred dollars. This -year Fessenden, who was now seventeen and tired of -being a farm-hand, had stipulated that he was to work -on shares, arguing that if he did two-thirds of the work -he was entitled to at least one-third of the profits. Nettlebeck, -after some demur, and a long growl over his -pipe one evening, capitulated when young Abbott threatened -to stake off a claim on government land and in -partnership with Jeff Hunter build his own vats. Fessenden -was feeling much elated over his rise in life, and his -imagination was running riot in a great future to which -sugar should be the stepping-stone—he had recently -read several articles on self-made men in magazines -sent to Morris—when his house of cards came tumbling -down, and the future financier rose from the ruins, a -blushing, shivering, gibbering swain.</p> - -<p>“This here is Grace Morton, Fess,” remarked the dry -young voice of Mamie Hunter. “She’s come to stay<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[32]</span> -with me a spell. Lives down to Malone, and ain’t very -well.”</p> - -<p>During this elaborate introduction Fessenden was -gazing into the soft black eyes of the prettiest girl he -had ever seen. Her hair was dark, her features fragile -and regular; she wore a black frock and a red-peaked -cap, red about her throat and tiny waist. Her complexion -was sickly, her figure might have been that of the -last woman, but Fessenden saw no defects. Neither did -he recognize the vacant, the utterly commonplace mind -that looked from that sweet unchanging face. She was -a little beauty in her way, and wholly unlike the buxom -rough-handed girls of his district; there pervaded her -that neutral refinement which nature has lavished with -such a curious lack of discrimination upon all classes in -the United States; and to Fessenden, who had never seen -even a village, she seemed city-bred and fashionable. -She blushed under his devouring gaze, and then she -looked like a wild rose of the woods; one barrier fell. -She raised her eyes and glanced vaguely round.</p> - -<p>“I’ve never seen the sap running before,” she remarked. -“It looks real nice. Is it sweet like what we -eat on cakes?”</p> - -<p>“You goose!” exclaimed Miss Hunter. “It’s got to -be boiled down first—the water boiled out of it; not that -it’s so bad now.”</p> - -<p>Fessenden had produced a tin cup and filled it with -the running liquid. “Will you taste it?” he asked -hoarsely.</p> - -<p>She took the cup from him, and their fingers met. He -trembled. She did not, and tasted the sap daintily. -“Well, I like it,” she announced. “It’s real refreshing, -and we had a long walk over here. I never walked so -far before, and I’m all tuckered out. I guess I’ll sit -down.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[33]</span>Fessenden hastily cleared off a log, and regretted that -he had no coat to fling upon it—for obvious reasons he -could not remove his sweater. She seated herself with -the fastidious little manner which pervaded her personality, -and Miss Hunter, remarking that she guessed she -was not wanted, strolled off to call on Christina. Fessenden, -humbly craving permission, seated himself beside -the beauty from Malone, regardless of the sap that was -flowing from the punctured trees which still awaited spile -and bucket. They talked disconnectedly of various -things, no one of which could Fessenden recall later. -Her remarks were pleasant and meaningless and she was -utterly unmoved. She thought this young mountaineer -very handsome and clever-looking, and she had a faint -romantic preference for tall men; but her poor little -body was not destined for reproduction, and her brain -was too small for imagination and sentiment. She was -vain and liked attention, but she was without guile, -and as she had no immediate reason for marrying, her -mother keeping a small store comfortably, she encouraged -no one of her admirers, while accepting the homage -of several as a matter of course. The wild tempest in -Fessenden she could not have understood with the aid of -a miracle.</p> - -<p>“Is this your first visit to the woods?” asked Fessenden, -who wondered dully why he was so stupid; he could -think of nothing to say to this divine creature, and -words, as a rule, came to him almost as rapidly as -thoughts.</p> - -<p>“No, I’ve never been before. I always wanted to.” -Her voice was sweet and thin; it was only when she -raised it that it escaped through her nose. To the infatuated -Fessenden it sounded like the rilling of one of -the minor streams in the woods.</p> - -<p>“I hope you’ll stay a long while.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[34]</span>“I guess I will. Most of our folks’ve died of consumption, -and I’ve had a hackin’ kind of cough. But I -guess I’ll get over it here. I’m better already.”</p> - -<p>If there was a mutter of protest from the race in -Fessenden’s depths he let it pass unheeded. His suddenly -conceived and violent passion needed but the lash -of pity to transform him from the individual into the -type, tumultuous with sentimental desire; the instinct -of the strong to protect the beloved weak, keen and -quick; pouring into a flimsy shell such an ideal as man -knows only in his dreams—the determination to possess -this inestimable treasure though the world stood still -and the angels warned through brazen trumpets.</p> - -<p>“I hope this log isn’t damp,” he said anxiously. “I’d -better fetch you something from the house to sit on.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I’d be afraid to stay here alone, and I can’t walk -another step. It’s bad enough to walk home. I guess -this log’s all right. Have you ever been to Malone?”</p> - -<p>“Never!” Fessenden for the first time realized his -rude wild state. “I’ve never been twenty miles from -here.”</p> - -<p>“My! you are a country bumpkin. I’m sorry if I’ve -hurt your feelings,” she added contritely as Fessenden’s -sunburnt face assumed a purple hue. “I’m always -saying silly things. You mustn’t mind me. The boys -always say I just rattle out anything that comes into my -head, and they don’t mind a bit.”</p> - -<p>“I’m sure I don’t either,” said Fessenden quickly; he -was determined to equal the Maloner in insensibility. -“I should think”—he blundered somehow through his -first compliment—“that anything you said would be -about right.”</p> - -<p>“Well, that’s what they tell me,” she replied complacently. -“You can get me another cup of that sap -if you like.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[35]</span>Fessenden held the cup to her mouth, which was thin -and curved and scarlet. Then, partly because his emotions -were rendering him speechless, partly because he -was fired with the primitive desire of the male to show -off before the female, he swung his axe to his shoulder -and muttered that he guessed he’d better cut down a -tree; he was wasting too much time.</p> - -<p>His axe he always carried with him. It occupied a -place in his affections second to his canoe, and preceding -a more lukewarm passion for his gun. In a moment -Miss Grace Morton, of Malone, was admiring a lithe -strong back, the supple free action of two brawny arms -as the axe swung as easily as a switch, cutting straight -and deep at every stroke. The old tree was quickly -brought to earth, and Fessenden leaned on his axe and -dared once more to look into the soft eyes beneath the -red cap.</p> - -<p>“It was time that old tree came down,” he remarked -huskily, yet with a fair assumption of indifference. “It -hasn’t given any sap for two years, and has been bothering -the other trees.”</p> - -<p>“Bothering? You talk as if trees was people.”</p> - -<p>“Well, they are in a way—that is, they’ve often -seemed alive to me.”</p> - -<p>“My! You ain’t crazy, are you?”</p> - -<p>Fessenden laughed, and a term of endearment ran -close to the tip of his tongue. “People who live much -alone have odd fancies. But that doesn’t mean they’re -crazy.”</p> - -<p>“I guess they’re crazy enough if they’re too different. -But you look real sensible. I presume you’re all right.”</p> - -<p>She looked adorable in her feminine attempt to console -him, and Fessenden wheeled about and swung the axe -victoriously into a fruitful maple. This time the young -lady was bored. She preferred conversation, and this<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[36]</span> -mountain stripling certainly was handsomer than the -Malone small-fry who worshipped at her shrine.</p> - -<p>She coughed pleasantly but imperiously, and as Fessenden -turned quickly the sun blazed full upon her, covering -her bright hair with little golden sparks. Her -eyes looked babyish and wistful; she had one of those -mouths that quiver when pouting. The poor little -creature was the more dangerous for being quite natural -and sincere. She had neither the brains nor the energy -for coquetry, and even to youths of some slight experience -she seemed as perfect as she was pretty.</p> - -<p>Fessenden threw aside his axe. “Let’s go down to -the lake,” he said, with brutal abruptness. “It’s not -far, and I’ll row you and Mamie home—here she comes.”</p> - -<p>He strode on ahead, and when the girls reached the -shore he had one of the boats drawn up to the landing. -He rowed with such swift strong strokes that the light -craft fairly flew up the lake.</p> - -<p>“My, Fess!” remarked Mamie Hunter. “You appear -to be in a hurry—must have wasted time after I left -you.”</p> - -<p>“Of course the trees have to be spiled, but Miss Morton -was too tired to walk home. You shouldn’t have -brought her such a distance the first time.”</p> - -<p>“She didn’t calculate on finding a nurse ready made; -she’s real fortunate. Perhaps you’ll come over and carry -her next time.”</p> - -<p>“I should like to.” He smiled protectingly into the -impassive expectant eyes; even in the throes he was -the lordly male. Moreover, pride had shaken him into -a temporary possession of his senses. “What do you -think of our scenery?” he asked Miss Morton.</p> - -<p>“It’s real pretty.”</p> - -<p>“Pretty? Beautiful, I should call it.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I guess beautiful suits it better.” If he had<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[37]</span> -applied to it erudite and foreign adjectives she would -have assented as amiably.</p> - -<p>“Fess is a crank,” advised Mamie. “You mustn’t -mind anything he raves over. You’ll be the next thing, -I suppose—he’ll find it quite a relief after so much brain -work.” Mamie was an admirer and disciple of Christina, -besides possessing a quick and observing eye of her own. -She had a long, investigating nose, and no beauty whatever; -but with the boys, whom she treated villanously, -she was the most popular girl in the district.</p> - -<p>“Have you read much?” asked Fessenden of his divinity, -ignoring Mamie.</p> - -<p>“Oh yes.”</p> - -<p>“What? Shakespeare? History? Biographies?”</p> - -<p>“I guess so. I always forget people’s names that -write things.”</p> - -<p>And even then the rosy halo swirled unrent. Fessenden -returned home and viciously punctured his trees. -At supper he was so incoherent that Christina arose and -felt his pulse. He passed the greater part of the night -wandering in the woods. During the ensuing fortnight -he spent every evening at the Hunters’. Several times -the girls came to the sugar shanty where he was boiling, -and he rowed them home in the dusk. He lived aloft -with the gods and the goddesses, one of whom was Grace, -who gradually assumed heroic proportions. It mattered -not that every interview betrayed her paucity the more -pitifully; it mattered not that he never once struck fire -in that meagre breast, that never once did her brain respond -to the confidences, the ambitions, the aspirations -he poured into her puzzled and ofttimes weary ear. He -no longer loved Grace, little as he realized that world-old -fact; he loved the ideal it was her limited destiny to -quicken in his imagination. The great forces rushing -through his veins and thumping in his brain had nothing<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[38]</span> -in common with mere facts and girls. They were having -their first innings, and not even grateful to the cause. -Nothing in the vagaries of nature is more inexplicable -than nine-tenths of what, for want of a better name, is -called love. It is a wanton waste of good energy and -a lamentable waste of spiritual forces; for the passion -moves the victim to all sorts of unselfish impulses, exalted -emotion, and even religion, all of which, in the reaction -when delusion is over, are finely scorned. That love -which is composed of an instinct for companionship, and -a complete honesty of emotions, and is lacking in sentimentalism -and the tragic note, delays its arrival, to people -of ardent imagination, until so late that they must -have much richness of nature and large recuperative -powers to dismiss into the past the memory of all they -have spent. The theory that the blind passion of youth -springs from the relentless instinct of reproduction is -true only in part, for some of the maddest passions are -inspired by anæmic and useless women, and the earth -has its full measure of sickly children. If Nature has -any well-defined plan she has as yet hesitated to reveal -it, and it is probable that she is still amusing herself in -her laboratory. Most love would appear to be a momentary -fever of the imagination to which the body responds, -and the soul, always struggling for utterance, tries its -wings, flies a little span, and flatters the brain: when a -man is in love then is he most pleased with himself; he -never imagined that for heights and depths, within an -apparently trite exterior, he was so remarkable a being; -and until the wave recedes he bestows a like approval -on the chance object who, in the prettiness of her hour, -or by some trick of manner, bulged his ego into grander -proportions.</p> - -<p>Considering the issues, it was fortunate in many respects -that Fessenden had the inevitable attack so early in life.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[39]</span>He was subjected to an unmerciful chaffing, to the -most sarcastic achievements of Christina’s tongue, and -to more than one crude remark by Mr. Nettlebeck; in -subject the eternal damnation tendency of young fools to -fall in love with a bigger fool than themselves—in this -case as useless a bit of furniture as ever littered the -earth. Morris for a time ignored the episode, but after -Fessenden, who scorned his tormentors, overflowed one -day in the presence of the polite philosopher, and announced -that he intended to marry as soon as he had a -maple-grove of his own—college had no further charms -for him—the tutor and Nettlebeck had a long and meaning -conference. At its conclusion Morris spent an hour -in composition, the farmer hitched up his buckboard and, -in spite of the pressing duties of the season, drove thirty -miles to the station and gave the letter to an obliging -conductor to post in New York. Nettlebeck, not many -days later, took a trip which lasted nearly a week.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">X</h3> -</div> - -<p>Fessenden, who had long since proposed to Grace and -been listlessly accepted, started as usual for the Hunters’ -one evening, striking through the woods. The -moon illuminated the recesses, in which the snow still -lingered, and Fessenden strode along, idealizing even -that beautiful forest; for would it not, in another hour, -shelter two divinely selected beings? He still trod the -upper ether, but even in that rarefied atmosphere he -experienced a slight chill as he saw Jeff Hunter hastening -towards him through the romantic reaches.</p> - -<p>Jeff, who under Fessenden’s training had acquired a -direct and uncompromising method of speech, wasted no -time in coming to the point.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[40]</span>“I’ve got bad news for you,” he announced. “Grace’s -gone, and she won’t come back, neither.”</p> - -<p>Fessenden, who had a confused sense that he was -tumbling through space, merely stared at Jeff, who continued:</p> - -<p>“Her ma came this morning and yanked her off—said -she’d have no such nonsense with a girl who was not -strong enough to darn her own stockings, let alone getten’ -married. Grace cried, of course—all girls do whenever -they get an excuse—but soon dried up when her ma said -she’d take her out West and show her something of the -world. Grace told me to tell you she guessed it was all -right, she hadn’t felt much like getten’ married, anyway; -she’d only said yes because it wouldn’t have been -any use to say no; and the old lady told me to tell you -that it was no sort of use to follow her, for she was coverin’ -up her tracks—she’s a tartar, that one, and I guess -you needn’t cry that you ain’t goin’ to have her for a -mother-in-law; and I guess she’s got enough money to -go ’s fur ’s she likes—she told me she’d be five hundred -miles away before night. As for Grace, Fess, she ain’t -worth one of the ribs in <i>Pocahontas</i>—that’s the reason -I didn’t warn you this morning.”</p> - -<p>“Good-night,” said Fessenden.</p> - -<p>The blood had rushed to his head. It remained there -and confused him, until, after a brief sleep, he awoke -next morning; then he burst in upon the astonished -Morris and raged like a madman. He smashed a window -and two chairs, vowed that he would walk to the -West, that he knew Grace loved him, and that if she -did not he had no use for life anyway.</p> - -<p>Morris brought him partly to his senses by the ironic -method, to which Fessenden was peculiarly susceptible, -and then suggested that he put a sandwich in his pocket -and spend the day in the woods.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[41]</span>“When you are a rational being once more I shall be -glad to see you again and talk it over. I sincerely hope I -may be able to help you in some way. But we all have -to go through this, my boy. It is as inevitable as the -phenomenon of man and woman itself, and must be -taken as philosophically as the ills of the flesh, which -under the proper diffusion of scientific knowledge will be -obviated in time. It is to be hoped that puppy-love -will prove an equally amenable microbe. Now take to -the woods and think like a man.”</p> - -<p>Fessenden took to the woods, but the time was not yet -come when he could think like a man. Calf-love has -furnished the mills of the wits since the first pen impaled -the emotions; but it may be a hideous experience to -youths in whom are the makings of strong and passionate -men. The academic standard arbitrarily established -by our literary powers has given the world an entirely -false idea of the American temperament, which, in its -masculine half, at least, is excitable and sentimental. -It is their capacity for intense and powerful emotion, -making them in mob capable of the maddest excesses of -enthusiasm, which is the deep indestructible bond of -unity in the American race; that has saved it from passing -off long since in fireworks; that, when it has found -the courage and acquired the brain-power to struggle -through its artificial envelope, will permit it to become -as great as it now thinks it is.</p> - -<p>Poor Fessenden had not yet reached the analytical -stage. He went out into the forest and suffered horribly. -He wept and raved, and believed that so far as he was -concerned the world had reached its finish. For the -time he was primeval man balked of the first woman; -later, when the acute stage had passed, and imagination -had returned, every fine impulse and need of his nature -which had leaped to assertion under the quickening<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[42]</span> -process of idealized woman seemed to have withered out -of him under the sudden blight. He felt shorn, impoverished, -hopeless; worse than all, helpless. To pursue -would be less than folly. Only a fortune and a detective -could have found the indifferent girl, hidden in the skirts -of a determined mother; and he had not a penny. The -little he made beyond what Nettlebeck charged him for -his board went, after the replenishment of his rough wardrobe, -to New York for books. His helplessness degraded -his manhood, added to the sum of his miseries. He -stood two days of this mental hell, during which he ate -little and slept less, and then he shouldered his axe and -put a sandwich in his pocket.</p> - -<p>“I’m going over to the river to get a job driving logs,” -he said to Nettlebeck. “I’ve had fourteen years of this, -and I’d like a change for a week or two. When the logging -is over I’ll come home.”</p> - -<p>The river was twelve miles distant. Ten minutes -after he had started on his tramp through the forest he -heard a shout behind him. He answered mechanically, -and a moment later was joined by Dolf.</p> - -<p>“I thought I’d come along,” panted the younger Nettlebeck. -“I ain’t seen drivin’ for six years or so, and it’s -good exercise; you have to jump so lively.”</p> - -<p>Fessenden shrugged his shoulders ungraciously, and -declined conversation, but even here he did not recognize -the ever-watchful spirit of his father. Nevertheless the -thought of that sympathetic parent spontaneously occurred -to him. He was the one person to whom he -could have spoken, but he remembered his fiercely reacting -pride at the age of thirteen; moreover, he was -bound to respect his father’s mandate of complete separation. -He had puzzled deeply over the motive which -had prompted this decision in a proud and affectionate -parent, but had finally put the question aside, as so far<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[43]</span> -beyond his limited experience that he had better apply -his inquiring mind elsewhere. He had perfect faith in -both the wisdom and the love of his father, in spite of -occasional outbursts of disappointment, and although the -kind firm hand that guided his destinies and smoothed -his path without weakening his spirit was too well covered -to attract his attention, some spiritual emanation -from it kept his heart from closing and the bitterness -of neglect from entering his soul.</p> - -<p>They reached the river in three hours, hearing from -the forest the roar of the dam, the loud shouts of the -men. On their side the woods grew down to the stream, -but on the heights opposite and far beyond hundreds of -virgin trees had been sacrificed that the people of New -York might have their daily news. The gates had just -been opened, the river was foaming and racing over the -rocks, its surface already crowded with long sections of -tree-trunks, while others were rolling down the hill. -The boss was short of men, and Fessenden and Dolf were -employed at once, for the logs were already becoming -jammed. Fessenden had watched “driving” many -times, and, jumping from log to log to avoid crushing his -feet, while at the same time he pried refractory logs into -position and relieved jams, he was soon so deeply occupied -learning his new trade, to say nothing of preserving -his bones, that Grace lay down among the memories. His -passion for proving himself the best man replaced the -other, and applying all his intelligence to the task, he -was very soon the most expert driver on the river. This -elated him and sent consoling rays through the dark recesses -of his soul. At night he was so tired that, after -the evening meal—a repetition of the two preceding ones -of pork, beans, bread, and coffee—he was asleep before he -had settled himself in his bunk; and although his spirit may -have wept over the hearse in the back alleys of his memory,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[44]</span> -for he awoke depressed and rebellious, he sprang out of -bed at once, ate his beans with a relish, and went to work.</p> - -<p>As he tramped home at night two weeks later, he informed -himself that he was cured, and when he reached -his own comfortable bed he slept until late on the following -day; moreover, he enjoyed Christina’s savory dinner -with a relish which, as a rule, associates only with an -untroubled mind. Then he went for a stroll through -his favorite haunts of the forest—a guilty sense of disloyalty -had led him to avoid <i>Pocahontas</i> since the day -he met Grace—and it all came back. As it rushed upon -him, as he realized that he was still in bondage, he trembled -in panic. The horror of returning into the torments -of a fortnight since was as strong as the overwhelming -passion itself. He ran back to the house, the blood -pounding in his head, and searched the shelf over Fritz -Nettlebeck’s desk, where letters for the household and -neighbors awaited the leisurely claimant.</p> - -<p>There was nothing for him; and then he realized that, -subconsciously, he had expected Grace to defy her -mother and write to him—had believed the separation -to be a matter of a few weeks; that the time would come -when her demand would be as imperative as his own. -He leaped up the stairs to his room and rummaged -among the papers on his table; there were fragments of -exercises in five languages, dead and alive, brief studies -of public men, but there was no letter, even from his -father. He returned to the forest, his hands and knees -trembling, his brain whirling, his panic increasing, muttering -vague phrases, filled with terror of the future, -confusion, a mad desire for annihilation. Then, as his -ego reached its depths and grovelled there, he straightened -himself suddenly and, flinging his fist against a -tree, exclaimed: “By God, what slavery!” What he had -seen of religion as expressed by itinerant and ignorant<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[45]</span> -preachers had left him cold, but he had entire faith in -some great force pervading the Universe, although he did -not think it worth while to apply a name to it. He bethought -himself of this force, and by a violent effort put -himself in relation with it, demanding imperiously that -some of its strength should pass into him and relieve -him from this intolerable state of slavery. His prayer -was answered so quickly that for a moment he stood as -dazed as if he had been transferred abruptly to another -planet. Then he shrugged his shoulders, laughed at his -recent self, went down to the lake, and took <i>Pocahontas</i> out -for a long, confidential, and somewhat cynical conversation.</p> - -<p>He half expected that the obsession would return, but -it did not, even when, missing his agonies, he endeavored -to evoke their ghosts. Finally he sat down and wrote a -long letter to his father.</p> - -<p>“It has taught me two things,” he concluded: “the -advisability of keeping a tight hold on the bulk of your -energies until you are sure of having found the right -woman, and the danger of praying for strength to annihilate -unless you are quite sure you are not making a -mistake. In this case it was all right, but she might -have been the one woman; there might have been merely -a misunderstanding, and the result would have been the -same. I dragged the strength from out there into myself -and blasted the thing to the roots. I am convinced -that I can evoke that strength whenever I will, but it -rather frightens me to think that I might have made -this discovery at the wrong time.”</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">XI</h3> -</div> - -<p>The immediate results of Fessenden’s enslavement and -deliverance were a terror of women, which he called contempt,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[46]</span> -an augmented interest in the great men of history, -and a daily mounting ardor for his country. He -had the usual school-boy’s idea of the isolated grandeur -of the American Republic, and a corresponding resentment -against the rest of the world for having annoyed it -occasionally. Mr. Abbott, who liked all healthy manifestations -in a youth, had asked Morris to let him keep -his illusions until he was old enough to accept their loss -without bitterness. Fessenden, who had been patriotic -enough in all conscience before he met Grace, now burned -with a holy fire, built an altar in the depths of the forest, -and solemnly devoted his life and energies to the service -of the United States—thought of her, dreamed of her, -poured upon her all the rejected passion of his nature. -But as yet no light had been shed upon the manner in -which he should best serve her, and one day he abruptly -broached the subject to Morris. The tutor came to attention -at once. He had been in correspondence with -Mr. Abbott for some time, and was awaiting his opportunity -to speak: Fessenden was a delicate subject.</p> - -<p>“I have been thinking it over,” he said. “Of course -your father’s wish—and mine—has been that you should -go to Harvard, but in the few years since I left college -things have changed so in America—I am not old as -years go, and judging from the occasional newspaper and -magazine that comes my way, the world seems to have -run by me.” He spoke hesitatingly, as if the subject -had been presented to him too abruptly, after all; and -Fessenden, who did not count patience among his virtues, -beat a roll-call on the window-pane. The woods -were green and warm; <i>Pocahontas</i> was making imperious -little motions on the lake. A hint, a stimulus, was -all he expected from Morris; the final solution would be -found in solitude.</p> - -<p>“Why not Harvard?” he asked, as Morris continued<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[47]</span> -to look out upon the world in mute reproach. “Of -course I expect to go to Harvard. And my father says -the world’s all right.”</p> - -<p>“Whatever is is right. I am philosopher enough to -believe that—but this is the point: the great universities, -like Harvard, are for the sons of rich men, or at all -events for those of that privileged class who do not have -to enter into the great struggle the moment they graduate. -If you had even a small income, and purposed to -become a man of letters, if you had in you the makings -of a professor or a clergyman, I should say Harvard without -hesitation, even though you would have to skimp -through in a manner that is very humiliating to a gentleman; -but I have studied you closely now for seven -years, and I cannot associate you with any of the old-fashioned -callings. You are peculiarly energetic and -practical. You have tremendous ideals, but you would -never have the patience to angle for them in an ink-pot, -and you have too much common-sense to stump the -world as a propagandist. The way for you to achieve -great ends is through the medium of money—no one in -this country to-day respects anything as much—and -through that medium you could make yourself understood -at once, and have what following you chose. It -seems to me that you could make money in very large -amounts—you were born with concentration, obstinacy, -and industry; you must excel in all you undertake or -burn to ashes in the attempt, and you have an uncommonly -good brain. Of course I have only been able -to cultivate its intellectual part, and there are a thousand -things you must study in the next few years—men, -your country, other countries, the great industrial, financial, -commercial, and political problems which make -up the machinery of the world. Now, if you were merely -to be a dilettante in these matters, I should again say<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[48]</span> -Harvard; but as it seems to me that you were born to -take an active part in the great world problems, and as -you have your living to make, I have thought it expedient -to suggest the University of the Northwest—” -He paused again and turned away his head; the polite -scholar loathed the thought of the Western college. As -Fessenden stared at him in earnest attention, he proceeded, -in a moment.</p> - -<p>“It is quite a remarkable institution in a way, and very -cheap. As it is in a small Western town, living costs next -to nothing; and as it is not patronized by rich men’s -sons, the scale of living is very low—there are no expensive -clubs and other constant demands. Of course it is -your duty to consider this, as well as the more complete -freedom which it would give you. It is my private -opinion that the great colleges are no place for a man -who cannot spend money like a gentleman. If my -father had lost his money earlier I should not have gone -to Harvard.”</p> - -<p>“Well, what should I get at this Western university -that would send me straight from the log-cabin to Aladdin’s -cave—it used to be the White House.”</p> - -<p>“That is what you would decide after you had been -there a year or two. The point is that you would find -there special courses on electricity, mechanics, banking, -transportation, agriculture, international relations, politics, -all the industrial problems. Through some one of -these great modern avenues you will make your way to -wealth, and you will have the inestimable advantage of -starting from the ground up—of mastering, for instance, -all the details of a machine-shop, of an engine, of railway -tracks, of the progressive development of that -most mysterious of all forces, electricity, while your -mind is still plastic. There is still another reason for -making yourself familiar with all these things while you<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[49]</span> -are young and enthusiastic—even if you happened to -make your money in some field outside them all.” He -hesitated again, but proceeded almost immediately, and -in the tone of a man resolute to pursue any subject as -far as analysis would take him. “Suppose, for instance, -you should make a very great fortune, modern conditions -would place you in the most complex relations -with all the subjects which this university specializes. -You would be elected upon the boards of companies -without end, perhaps become president, vice-president, -of others; and, as a rule, directors know next to nothing -of the industries over which they preside; employers -know too little of what is <i>a b c</i> to the men under them. -Railroad presidents cannot know too much about mechanics -and electricity if they want to pay heavier dividends -than their rivals—in a word, it is the millionaire -who knows most of those subjects of which most millionaires -know nothing who rules all the other millionaires. -You see, I have let my imagination run away with me—I -already saw you aloft on a gold pedestal. Perhaps -I am too sanguine for you—one dreams much when one -lives the solitary life—”</p> - -<p>“The millionaire proposition seems to me a good deal -of a come-down after all my fine dreams and ambitions, -but if it’s the short cut— I haven’t much patience— Is -money really so easy to make?”</p> - -<p>“There is nothing less easy to make. My argument is -that you are one of the few who could make it if you -would.”</p> - -<p>“Well, the harder the better. I wouldn’t give a red -cent for anything that could be had for the asking.”</p> - -<p>Again Morris turned his head and stared into the fire. -He heartily wished that Mr. Abbott had come up and -done his own talking.</p> - -<p>“Your life is likely to be strenuous enough,” he said,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[50]</span> -after a pause. “When you are rich—if you ever are—you -will work as hard, if not harder, than before. Will -you think over what I have said about this university, -and write to your father? He told me once that he -should leave the matter to you; but, of course, he must -know soon, as you could enter any college this autumn.”</p> - -<p>“I do not need to think it over. How long do you suppose -it takes me to make up my mind? I shall go to the -Western University.”</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">XII</h3> -</div> - -<p>He started early in September, accompanied by Morris, -who now confessed that he had long pined for the orange -groves, the perpetual sunshine of southern California; -and as far as the station by the stoical but cheerless -Jeff. Christina embarrassed him by a farewell embrace -and a tear, while promising him a monthly box of good -things. Morris requested him to take no clothes but those -he was obliged to wear, but he stuffed his sweaters among -his books; he could imagine himself permanently in no -less elastic envelope. In spite of remonstrance he also -packed his axe. He was quick and eager for the change, -and, with the ingratitude of man, left even <i>Pocahontas</i> -with little reluctance; his imagination pictured the great -gates of the world at the foot of the Adirondacks; and at -last he was to pass through them and into that infinite -beyond where all dreams were realities.</p> - -<p>Morris had chosen the night train for obvious reasons; -and when they reached the station in New York he -hurried his young mountaineer into a cab and drove to -the best of the tailors, who met the immediate demand. -The necessary autumn and winter wardrobe he bought -for his charge called forth a vigorous remonstrance; -Fessenden had never imagined such reckless extravagance;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[51]</span> -but when his mentor had reassured him, he further -indulged himself in several sweaters. He was the -proud possessor of a hundred dollars, made in sugar, and -his fingers tingled with the new pleasure of spending.</p> - -<p>From the shop they drove directly back to the station -to catch the morning train for the West. Fessenden -grumbled, for he wanted to see New York; every nerve -had sprung to greet the great city, and he hung out of -the cab in spite of remonstrances and to the amusement -of passers-by.</p> - -<p>“I know how you feel,” said Morris. “I should like -it myself, but I dare not linger in New York an hour—its -air is fatal to me—so near the Atlantic—you will see -enough of New York in the future—I am sure you will -not mind.” And Fessenden submitted with what grace -he could muster. As they were standing in the station -awaiting the announcement of their train, Fessenden, to -the alarm of Morris, suddenly darted from his side and -disappeared in the crowd. Morris suspected the cause -and turned pale with anxiety. The color the mountains -had given him came back as he saw his charge returning -alone. Fessenden’s face, however, was flushed, his eyes -were as bright as tears.</p> - -<p>“I saw my father!” he exclaimed, with a complete disregard -of the bystanders that was quite superb. “I -know I saw him! Why does he act like this? I was sure -he would come to meet me. Why should he look at me -and go away?”</p> - -<p>“It could not have been Mr. Abbott,” said Morris -soothingly, and taking his arm he hurried him through -open gates. “It is doubtful if he is in New York, -and he is not the man to do anything so silly and sentimental. -He is very busy working out some idea which -requires all his energies—he dares venture upon no distraction—there, -I have told you that much—your unerring<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[52]</span> -instinct has kept you from doubting that he loves -you.”</p> - -<p>“Is he an inventor?” asked Fessenden eagerly. “Is -that the mystery? Is that the reason he wants me to -study all these new things—that I may be of use to -him?”</p> - -<p>“Well, he is something of an inventor, and you certainly -can be of great use to him—more than anybody -on earth can be.”</p> - -<p>“Why didn’t you tell me that before? Now I have -a double object. I’ll work like a logger. What’s his -line?”</p> - -<p>Morris groaned; but as he disposed his hand-baggage -neatly about him he had another inspiration. “All!” -he announced. “That is to say, a combination of all -this very modern university can teach you. The result -may be extraordinary.”</p> - -<p>Fessenden fell back on his seat and stared out of the -window, seeing nothing. His imagination was fired -with the vision of his lonely potential devoted father -experimenting in obscurity with a revolutionizing idea, -whose bare elementary threads—awaiting himself in the -Northwest—filled him with such excitement and exhilaration -that he wanted to get out and race the train. -Fortunately his deep emotions always rendered him -speechless, and Morris was permitted to sleep peacefully -during the greater part of the journey.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">XIII</h3> -</div> - -<p>Although Morris had never reached the heart-strings -of his pupil, the youth was his one human interest—his -father was dead long since; and as Fessenden fully -realized his debt of gratitude to the capable and conscientious<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[53]</span> -tutor, as well as being a person in whom habit -struck long roots, the parting was unexpectedly affecting. -As Fessenden returned from the station of the -little town of Turbine, where he was to spend the greater -part of the next four years, he suddenly conceived a -violent antipathy for his new surroundings, and a desire -to flee back to his mountains. This flat interminable -prairie, this cheap town, not an elevation in sight, much -less the mountains which had gone far into the modelling -of his nature—there was nothing here resembling the -great world of which he had dreamed. He longed for -real solitude, feeling for the first time the miserable substitute -the crowd offers; and suddenly understood how -much closer to the great realities of life it brings a man -than any actual juxtaposition.</p> - -<p>But in a few days he was too busy and interested for -either homesickness or dreams. Morris had drilled him -so thoroughly in English, the dead languages, German, -French, in history and mathematics, that he could have -entered Yale or Harvard with sails spread, and in the -younger university he took a rank at once which gave -him the more time for the course known as “Training for -Business.” Almost immediately it seemed to him that -sleeping things rose in his brain, things whose existence -he had never suspected, and strove to put themselves in -touch with inspiring forces without. Fessenden, who -had made up his mind to place himself in a neutral receptive -state, to give no more thought to the future and -to ambition until he had learned all that the university -could teach him, was some time recognizing that these -new-comers were talents, and that they responded to all -that was inventive and practical in his initial course.</p> - -<p>He recognized them in time, however, as day by day -he grew more absorbed in the mysteries of the engine -and electricity; and the glimpses he had, in his first<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[54]</span> -year, of finance and political economy stirred him like -old love-letters. His imagination idealized and personified -the engine he worked upon as it had his canoe; -and on the day when he finally mastered the difficult -art of taking it to pieces and putting it together again -without help or hitch, he challenged the strong man of -the college to combat, and polished him off with such -enthusiasm that once more he occupied the proud position -of champion. This satisfied his masculine vanity, -besides delivering him from the chaffing and petty persecutions -provoked by his mountain hues; he was henceforth -permitted to indulge his passion for sweaters and -old hats, even on Sundays, unchallenged, while his remarkable -abilities were as frankly acknowledged.</p> - -<p>The military drill did not give him enough exercise, -and he had promised his father he would waste no time -on sport. “Your passion to excel,” Mr. Abbott had -written, “would make you neglect your studies; so be -wise and get your exercise some other way.” Fessenden -was feeling nervous and somewhat confused one -Friday afternoon when he suddenly bethought himself -of his axe. He brought it forth, fingered it lovingly in -a rush of memories, then shouldered it and started for -the open country. He was not long finding a farmer -who was willing to have his wood cut for nothing, and -thereafter Fessenden spent an hour every evening and -half of Saturday, either felling Mr. Lunt’s trees or sawing -his logs; and the exercise relieved his brain and kept -his muscles hard.</p> - -<p>The military drill not only dismissed his mountain -slouch and gave him a free and upright carriage, but inspired -him with dreams of war and glory. The martial -music quickened his blood, and secretly he fancied himself -very much in his uniform. It was not long before -he became restless in the ranks and announced to the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[55]</span> -West Point officer in charge his desire to become captain. -The officer stared, laughed, then reminded him -that military rank was—as a rule—or should be (he was -a victim of politics himself), the result of superior accomplishments -and talents, to say naught of hard work. -Thereafter, three times a week during two of the afternoon -hours, Fessenden dismissed books and machinery -from his brain and concentrated that energetic instrument -upon military drill alone.</p> - -<p>But he spent the greater part of his time and thought -in the shops and yards. Aside from the ambition and -the superabundant energy which prompted him to excel -in all he undertook, his imagination was absorbed in the -rapture of unravelling certain mysteries of science—was -at work on far-distant but great and picturesque -results. He was in no hurry to invent, but even while -signalling and switching at night he saw trains of unimaginable -beauty and grace and lightness skim by in -the dark, and great fleets of ships, invincible and terrible -in war, forcing the Monroe Doctrine down the throat of -Europe, perhaps annexing the rotten old monarchies -altogether. That the red hair of a daughter of the -Cæsars would one day entangle itself in his wondrous -electrical stores, and jerk them far afield, he did not -forebode then, poor Fessenden; he was happy in his -dreams and ideals.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">XIV</h3> -</div> - -<p>As the college year was drawing to its close he received -the following letter from his father:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">My dear Boy</span>,—I am sorry to be obliged to inform you that -you must manage somehow to pay your own expenses during -the remaining three years at the university. Five hundred dollars -a year are a good deal, and you are younger than I am, remember. -I can let you have a hundred, but that is all, and I<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[56]</span> -have every confidence that you will be able to make the rest for -yourself. Perhaps you may imagine what it means to me to -reflect that I have such a son to lean on in my old age! I know -of no man living that I envy. I am informed of your progress, -and I am proud of you beyond the power of any poor words of -mine to express.</p> - -<p class="right">Your affectionate <span class="gap"> <span class="smcap">Father</span>.”</span></p> -</div> - -<p>For the moment Fessenden was shocked and bewildered; -but not only did the subtlety of Mr. Abbott’s -letter begin its work at once, but his mettle flew to its -opportunity. He promptly turned to with that absolute -lack of doubt which, in a man well equipped, compels -success. There were a number of relatively wealthy -men in the university whose patriotism for the West -and contempt for the effete East had led them, or their -fathers, to patronize the home institution. Fessenden -imperiously persuaded these men that they needed a -course of practical lessons in forestry and longed for a -summer in camp in the Adirondacks not far from the -cooking of Christina. The summer was pleasant and -profitable for all, but particularly for Fessenden, who -found many hours to dream alone among his mountains -and into the sympathetic ear of <i>Pocahontas</i>. She was -haughty and evasive for several days after his enthusiastic -arrival, turned him over twice, and took advantage -of every abstraction to make for submerged stumps and -shore. But having made him sufficiently miserable, -she gradually restored him to favor, and the old happy -bond was re-established. But although he was glad of -the long hours of rest and of pondering over the world -of science into which he had been precipitated by the -intuition and foresight of his father, he was soon eager -to get back to the practical application. He returned -to the university with half the money he needed, and -he could easily make up the remainder by coaching. -The day after his return he walked out to Mr. Lunt’s<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[57]</span> -and announced his intention of living with him and paying -for his board with his axe, or in any other reasonable -manner. The farmer was taken aback, and somewhat -displeased at the idea of paying for what he had grown -accustomed to accept as his right; but finally admitted -the justice of Fessenden’s argument, especially as he had -no such enthusiast for hard labor on his farm. Shortly -after, Fessenden, in a burst of adolescent pride, returned -his father’s contribution, having persuaded his forestry -class that they needed private lessons in German, which -in truth they did, although they enjoyed the study of -Fessenden more. They never connected him with the -author of his being, but they thought him unique and -perennially interesting. Occasionally they marvelled at -his sublime audacity, a quality as a rule born of the easy -assurance of wealth and social position, particularly -when well-bred and unconscious; but they never got -beyond the conclusion that it was the result of an unusual -brain and a gift for leadership. That he should -become the captain of his company before the end of -his first year, and prove an ardent disciplinarian, did -not so much surprise them; but his talents were less -easy to account for, and those interested in heredity -approached him on the subject. Fessenden was determined -to keep his father’s secret, whatever it might be; -and as he could be diplomatic when diplomacy seemed -more advisable than throwing an impertinent man out -of the window, he sent the curious away with the impression -that he came of plain mountain people.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">XV</h3> -</div> - -<p>During this year he took up modern history, the development -of railway intercourse in Europe and America,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[58]</span> -and pursued his studies and experiments of the previous -year with unabated ardor. He likewise became violently -interested in politics, and let off a good deal of steam -in public speaking. He also took up the cudgels for the -East, partly because his father was a New-Yorker, partly -because in this attitude he stood practically alone. -Privately he thought the West had cause for grievance -in the absurd and ignorant attitude of the East; but it -was impossible for him to run with the majority, and -there certainly was much to be said for the older civilization. -The question of strikes and all the manifestations -of the antagonism between capital and labor did not -engage his attention until the following year; and when -it did his sympathies were entirely with the poor man, -as he informed his father in long and impassioned letters. -In answer, Mr. Abbott invariably reminded him that as -yet he knew nothing of the rich, and advised him to -suspend judgment. But although Fessenden by this -time was an intolerant democrat, wore his oldest sweaters, -and even persuaded Miss Lunt to patch his trousers, -there was something curiously aristocratic in his attitude -and personality, which his associates felt rather -than analyzed. There was not a man in the college who -would have dared to emulate his utter disregard of appearance, -his indifference to comment on the streets of -Turbine, the catholicity of his acquaintance, the manner -in which he ignored the very existence of those he -did not like, the recklessness with which he thought out -loud, apparently unconscious that anything could affect -his standing, popularity, and reputation, and the indefinable -touch of patronage in his most extreme democracy. -And although even at that period, when he was -full of vanity, he did not swagger, still it was noticeable -that he carried himself as if the world were his. He -made enemies, but he either fought them or accepted<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[59]</span> -them with philosophy, and he had an army of disciples, -who followed his imaginative flights and his most radical -theories to the bitter end.</p> - -<p>But his fellow-men interested Fessenden less at this -period than the wonderful excursions he was making -daily into the new realms of thought and research. It -was during the middle of the third year that he gave himself -up more particularly to the study of finance, the development -of banking, and political economy. He pursued -these studies with a curious sense of reviving old -memories; he surprised himself at his love of dry details—that -even here his imagination saw picturesqueness in -the possibilities of concentrating vast sums of money and -yet filling the veins of a great country with a life-blood -of liquid gold. During his democratic madness he had -seriously doubted whether his conscience would permit -him to be a rich man; but now, with a chastened yet no -less sincere democracy, he made up his mind that for a -man of the people to acquire millions and then use them -for the amelioration of his less-gifted fellows, to say -nothing of glorifying his country, was both wise and -poetical. Having satisfied his mind on this point, he -astonished the university and Turbine by appearing at -church in a suit of clothes not only of harmoniously assorted -pieces, but manifestly made to order. He sustained -the balance by looking worse than usual during -the week.</p> - -<p>In the vacation preceding Fessenden’s fourth year the -university received, from a source which was to remain -unknown to all but the president, a large bequest for -the departments of banking and finance. The bequest -was accompanied by the condition that during the ensuing -year certain eminent authorities were to be asked -to lecture. Somewhat to the surprise but greatly to the -satisfaction of the faculty, invitations to lecture were<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[60]</span> -promptly accepted by the Secretary of the Treasury, the -President of the Pennsylvania Railroad, the owner of a -great department store, and three leading bank presidents. -These gentlemen did not confine themselves to -generalities; they described the practical workings of -their respective systems, enriched by a wealth of comparison -with corresponding systems in other countries; -they pointed out the defects and disadvantages of both -sides, and analyzed the causes of the remarkable progress -of so young a country as the United States; they emphasized -the necessity of a sleepless alertness, and the -demand for new ideas which should be bold without -recklessness and safe without conservatism. Fessenden -listened with tingling nerves and legs moving restlessly. -He wrote to his father that he regarded this -timely benefaction as a direct interposition of Providence -in his behalf, and that although he certainly had to work -harder than any one in the world, he believed that he had -been born under a star of remarkable magnitude. His -ambitions had revived long since. He had in his imagination -a union of steel and electricity so madly romantic -that he dared not confide even in his father. He must -make a large sum of money first, for he would trust no -one with his secret. He believed that he could make his -country invincible, the ruler, if she chose, of two hemispheres, -and he looked back somewhat patronizingly -upon his old heroes. Other times, other gods! The -pendulum in him was still swinging wildly, the balance -was not yet; but the depth and tenacity of purpose, the -clear creative intellect, quick and versatile in grasp, and -of an extraordinary energy; the high enthusiasm and -real capacity for the passion of patriotism were all modelling -and biding their time within the exterior made up -of their defects.</p> - -<p>So passed the four years, with their intervals of mountain-life,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[61]</span> -when, in spite of his ever-increasing classes, -he drew renewed strength and courage from solitude -and the invigorating air of high altitudes. Hard -work told little on him, for his body was full of red -mountain-blood and clamped with magnificent muscles.</p> - -<p>He hoped that his father would come and witness his -triumphs of Commencement Day, but he received this -letter instead:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">My dear Boy</span>,—It is a matter of very great regret to me -that I cannot be with you at this time, but I will explain my absence -to your entire satisfaction when we meet. Thank God -that will be almost immediately. At a very bitter price to myself -I have relentlessly pursued a plan conceived the day after -your mother’s death; and my compensation so far has been its -entire success. Will you come to New York on Monday? It -had been my intention to meet you in the Adirondacks and tell -my story there, for I dislike anything savoring of drama, but -business imperatively commands me to stay here, and I must -ask you to come to me. I have sent for <i>Pocahontas</i>. I enclose -a postal order for a hundred dollars. May I ask you not to arrive -in a sweater? New York is not Turbine. Moreover, a natural -weakness makes me wish to see you, after so many years, at the -best possible advantage.</p> - -<p class="right">“Your very affectionate          <br> - -“<span class="smcap">Father</span>.”</p> -</div> - -<p>Fessenden pondered over this letter. It was enigmatic, -and Mr. Abbott’s brief communications were -usually remarkable for their clarity. He had made up -his mind four years ago that his father was an inventor, -and denuded him of all mystery. It also occurred to -him with startling abruptness that he had never seen his -father’s signature. As he stood staring at the paper, -shadowy images, impressions, chance words, blurred -pictures rose from some forgotten well in his mind, endeavored -to sharpen, to cohere; but they faded away<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[62]</span> -impotently; the vital interests of the morrow rushed in -and claimed place; he shrugged his shoulders and sent -his father a telegram.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">XVI</h3> -</div> - -<p>“Fess,” said Jeremiah Keene, on the night of Commencement -Day, “what are you going to do with yourself? -You are the most expansive—nay, sentimental -and emotional creature on one side of you, and on the -other the most secretive! I’ve turned myself inside out -to you over and over again. You know all my hopes, -aspirations, plans—who doesn’t? What have I been -digging away at this school of mines for? But you’ve -gone in for everything, distinguished yourself in pretty -nearly everything—and we are none the wiser. In -these days you’ve got to be one thing—one thing—there’s -no chance for any but the specialist, and you -are as well aware of that as any one else. So I know, -we all know, that you must have made up your mind—that -you know what you are about. It isn’t only curiosity -that prompts me to ask for your secret—there is -no necessity for maunderings on my part. I’d like to -know; we may not meet again for years—you go East, -I go West—I’ve never taken a liberty with you before; -forgive me this.”</p> - -<p>Fessenden made no reply for a moment. He was -spending his last night in Turbine in the rooms of his -chum. The day had been crowded with triumphs. He -was dazzled, elated, a trifle bewildered. Compliments -and flattering predictions had fallen thick upon him. -The president had congratulated him publicly, invited -him to dinner to meet the distinguished guests, and he -had been the only student so honored. Among the -guests were several of the eminent men who had condescended<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[63]</span> -to illuminate the university during the past -year, and they had singled out Fessenden and paid him -such marked attentions, besides interrogating him so -closely as to his interest in his more important studies, -that both faculty and students, highly as they thought -of their star, were astonished: the successful self-made -American takes very little interest in unmade futures. -It was a great and notable tribute to personality, and -Fessenden’s chest had risen and his head bulged more -than once. He was feeling his strength at every nerve-point, -he knew himself to be ready to go out and conquer -the world at once; his mind had flashed back during -the exciting day to the long course of training, from -his babyhood until this last week of his twenty-first year, -which had modelled his inherited forces in brain and -character, slowly and safely, given him the physical -endurance to keep pace with the restless energies of his -mind. He was filled with gratitude for his father, but -he also thought very well of himself. The self-made -American was his type, the ideal he had set on high; -whether born in a log-cabin, on a Virginia plantation, or -a romantic British isle, was immaterial. All the great -men of his country had started with a reasonable amount -of poverty, and certainly the youthful record of none -was more brilliant than his. He had had his disappointments, -his disillusionments, even in Turbine; he had been -deceived and tricked and tripped and hurt like all men; -but he lived too much in imagination, in the future, and -his application to study had been too severe for brooding -on the shortcomings of the world. He still thought -well of it, and his consistent admiration for his friend -Keene had gone far to nurse his optimism. Life never -did a kinder thing for him than in bestowing so abundant -a measure of contentment in these last hours of his -boyhood.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[64]</span>He stood up in a moment, turning over his chair. -Keene was lying on a divan, smoking. The lamp was -low. The windows were open, but to silence only. It -was very late.</p> - -<p>“Well—well—well—” said Fessenden. “I don’t know. -I should have to tell you so much—and my ambitions -are defined and at the same time rather nebulous. You -see, I have to find out just what my father wants of me -first—what he is—”</p> - -<p>“What he is? There is a mystery, then? You’ve -bluffed us pretty well.”</p> - -<p>“I’m no maker of mysteries. I don’t know, myself—but—and -you’re the only person living I’d say this to, -and I’d break even your head if you gave a hint before -he was ready—I think he is a great inventor and wanted -me to have this training that I might help him.”</p> - -<p>It was on the tip of Keene’s tongue to remark upon the -uselessness of Mr. Abbott’s secrecy so far as his son was -concerned, but congratulated himself a few moments -later that Fessenden had given him no time for comment.</p> - -<p>“I have not seen him for years, but not through lack -of affection—he asked me to trust him and I have done -so. I had a curious letter from him on Tuesday—I have -thought a good deal about it since—and now that I am -to see him and know all so soon, I may permit myself to -indulge in curiosity. I’ll read it to you if you like.”</p> - -<p>He held Mr. Abbott’s last letter to the lamp and read -it aloud; then plunged his hands into his pockets, planted -himself squarely on his feet, and told Keene of his -peculiar relations with his father since his mother’s -death. He made it all very vivid; the brief visits of Mr. -Abbott, the concise pregnant conversations, the firm -careful finger always modelling at the foundations of -his character, the cleverness and foresight with which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[65]</span> -his father had secured the services of Stanley Morris, -who through seven monotonous years had pined for -California. Much of this was revealed unconsciously in -the narrative of his mountain-life. While he was in the -midst of his story Keene sat up suddenly; a moment -later interrupted him to ask for a description of Mr. -Abbott. Fessenden had answered: “Small, thin, but -with an immense lot of presence—even up there where -one man is exactly the same as another, where there is -real equality and no bluff about it—they all bowed down -to him instinctively—even Morris, who is a deep scholar -and thinker and belongs to one of the best families in -the country—if you care for that sort of American rot. -Even when I was a little chap and he used to pet and -fondle me, I could feel the power come out of him, and -I told Morris once that if he wasn’t a rich man it must -be his own fault—he made you feel he could be anything -he chose. His face is beautiful to me, perhaps -because I love him, for Morris remarked rather nastily -once that he was not generally considered a beauty; but -he has eyes that can light up, and his face always changed -for me anyhow, if it did look rather cold—perhaps hard—at -other times. Nettlebeck swore once that it was -hard, but I never could see it. His features are well cut, -too, his nose looks as if it could go through a stone wall, -and there is not an indefinite curve in his mouth—there -you have him, as well as I can describe anybody.”</p> - -<p>But Keene, long since, had rolled over and buried his -face in the sofa cushions.</p> - -<p>The next day, as the two men parted at Chicago, -Keene, who was far more mature than Fessenden, having -less of the eternal boy in him, put his arm about his -friend’s shoulder and said hesitatingly: “Remember—there -are terrible disappointments awaiting you out -here in the great world—as for all of us. Take everything<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[66]</span> -that comes along as philosophically as you can—everything -is for the best, I suppose. Above all, don’t -let any shock embitter you. I am sure, I am sure that -your father is all that you imagine him to be—that whatever -he does in regard to you—has done—is right.... -I wish he were not so poor, however; I wish he were -<i>the</i> Abbott.”</p> - -<p>“Who is <i>the</i> Abbott?”</p> - -<p>“Of course you never read the newspapers, and it is -odd how he manages to keep out of the illustrated magazines—I -should think he must pay them. The Abbott, -my dear boy, is richer than the whole Rothschild outfit -condensed into the singular.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I’m glad he’s not that sort of Abbott,” said -Fessenden indifferently. “Thank God I can show my -mettle and start from the ground up.”</p> - -<p>The words left no trail in Fessenden’s mind; the parting -which followed affected him deeply, and he was too -excited at the prospect of seeing his father again to recall -what had impressed him as a mere chance remark.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">XVII</h3> -</div> - -<p>As Fessenden left the train on Monday morning and -walked down the long crowded platform to the gates, he -was nervous and happy and sentimental, but full of -vanity. Not as the prodigal son was he returning to his -father after these long years of disunion. Had not a -telegram from the president of his university acquainted -Mr. Abbott with his son’s brilliant climax? Was he not -about to relieve his parent of all further worries and responsibilities, -to say naught of shedding lustre upon the -family name? He was sure that his father, if he had -chosen obscurity for his own portion, must still be in a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[67]</span> -position to give him advice and immediate suggestion, -of more value than gold.</p> - -<p>He had arrayed himself in a new suit of summer gray, -and with considerable satisfaction, for he had spasms of -personal vanity, although only death could separate -him permanently from the reprobates of his wardrobe. -His long body was still very slight, but it was muscular -and lithe. When his eyes were not hard or dreamy with -concentrated thought they were ready to laugh their response -into any friendly eyes they chanced to meet. -Although as a rule he would have scorned to admit that -he knew whether he was good-looking or not, he was in -so gay a mood this fine summer morning that he frankly -accepted admiring glances for what they were worth, -and was glad to add such attractions as his ancestors -had given him to the sum he was about to present to one -doting parent. Not that Fessenden was a handsome -boy; his present attractiveness lay for the most part in -his youthful armory of glancing and glinting expressions; -but his hair was brown and bright, his eyes were blue -and dark, and his features cut by race, not by chance. -In his most disreputable alliances with old clothes he -never lacked distinction, and to-day, in spite of the eager -restlessness of his muscles—he was seldom in repose—he -was very naturally mistaken by the calculating feminine -mind for a fledgling of the privileged class.</p> - -<p>His progress in the dense crowd was slow, and his -stride was naturally long. It was not in him to submit -to impeded progress, and he jumped back into the train -and made his way rapidly to the front car. As he sprang -to the ground near the gates he saw his father’s pale -eager face, and he stiffened suddenly lest he utter a -mountain whoop or imperil his dignity in the feminine -manner. When he had forced his way beyond the barriers, -he nearly crushed Mr. Abbott’s firm bony hand,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[68]</span> -then pulled it through his arm and—started for Forty-second -Street.</p> - -<p>“Come on! Come on!” he said through his teeth, -“we can’t say anything here.”</p> - -<p>His father managed to steer him to the cab-stand, and, -as they drove down Madison Avenue, talked rapidly and -somewhat at random. It was evident that he was as -nervous as his son, but equally manifest that he was full -of paternal pride and delight. Fessenden gripped his -hand two or three times, incoherent, but happy in the -light of approval and the warmth of an affection so long -withheld.</p> - -<p>The hansom stopped before an immense brown-stone -house on a corner, and Mr. Abbott descended, dismissing -the cab. Fessenden wondered, but assumed that his -father lived in a private hotel. It was his last moment -of density. As the door was opened by an elderly butler, -behind whom stood four footmen in livery, a band of -ghosts seemed to race past his inner vision; as he entered -the wide hall hung with tapestries, doors on the -right and the left showing the splendor of delicate brocade -and historic furnishing, his brain experienced a -sharp and clarifying shock. He had a dizzying vision -of a little boy, in the pride of his first trousers, flying -down those massive banisters and followed by a soft -protesting shriek. For a moment every part of the -house seemed to be pervaded by that small child and the -minor almost querulous chords of a long-forgotten voice. -His hand shook as he gave his hat to a footman of preternatural -dignity, as he met the stolid but recognizing -eye of the butler. He had not the courage to think, -and he was white and almost weak as he followed his -father to the library at the back of the house. It was a -great room, lifted bodily from a ducal castle—books, -pictures, busts, weapons—in the devouring American<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[69]</span> -fashion. Fessenden, after one glance, fell into a chair -and covered his face with his hands. He had torn up -the papers on that table more than once, tobogganed -his father in the deep chair opposite.</p> - -<p>Mr. Abbott seated himself in the chair and grasped -the arms firmly. His face was more sallow than usual, -but his glance was unwavering. “I see that you are -already beginning to suspect—to know,” he said. “I -will not insult you by circumlocution, but make my -confession at once—”</p> - -<p>Fessenden emerged suddenly from his lethargy, sprang -to his feet, and glared down upon his father. His eyes -were almost black, his nostrils were jerking, and the -pallor under his tan made him look quite ferocious. -“What is there to say?” he almost shouted. “I can -see the cursed truth plainly enough. You are a rich -man.”</p> - -<p>His father met his glare steadily. “I am the richest -man in the world,” he said.</p> - -<p>Again Fessenden was inarticulate, and under this -merciless assault even his anger fell. He stared at his -father with paling eyes and coloring face.</p> - -<p>“Sit down, will you not? I have a great deal to -say.”</p> - -<p>Fessenden, bewildered with the knowledge that he -stood on the threshold of an unknown world which even -now mocked his years of strenuous endeavor, resumed -his chair mechanically and fixed his eyes on his father’s -face that he might make sure he was hearing facts at -least. The flattering attentions of the university guests -suddenly arose in his memory, and he writhed in self-abasement. -He felt the floor with the heel of his boot -to ascertain if it were secure beneath his feet.</p> - -<p>“I suppose I had better begin at the beginning,” said -Mr. Abbott. “I saw little of your mother after the first<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[70]</span> -year of our marriage. She was born in the world of -fashion, was a natural and determined leader; and -shortly after your birth she entered upon a career of -extravagance which has seldom been equalled even in -this town. It was a matter of indifference to me how -much money she spent so long as she was contented—she -was badly spoiled—and as she was a beautiful and -clever creature I was very proud of her; moreover, too -busy to regret that she had so little time for me. Perhaps -I should go back a step further here and tell you -that my father was also a man of large wealth—for his -day—and of great importance in the banking world. I -was trained as his successor from my earliest years, and -fortunately took to it naturally. In those days the sons -of rich men were more serious than they are now; but -I sowed a few wild oats before I settled down, and, being -of a delicate constitution, they permanently impaired -my health. This fact will enable you more readily to -understand my course in regard to you.</p> - -<p>“But to return to your mother. Naturally she spoiled -you—badly! You were never permitted to draw a -breath of fresh air except in fine weather; you had whatever -you cried for. There was every prospect that you -would grow up—if you survived childhood—the average -nervous dyspeptic American—worse still, the average -worthless rich man’s son. The day after her death, as -I sat alone here in this room, with you playing on the -hearth-rug, I had an inspiration, and determined at once -to act upon it. I had known the Nettlebecks for many -years; I was in the habit of going into camp with several -of my friends not far from their farm. Only Fritz, who -acted as our guide, knew that I was a rich man, and I -knew his capacity for silence. I had a sudden vision -of all you might become in that magnificent air, raised -by frugal but well-living Germans, who would obey my<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[71]</span> -orders to the letter—removed from all the debilitating -influences and the temptations of wealth—well! I did -not wait to communicate with Nettlebeck. I whisked -you off the day after the funeral, and without warning -to grandmothers and aunts. I made Nettlebeck an offer -which he accepted promptly, swore him to secrecy, -and left you in that wilderness as elated as if I had -scooped up Wall Street, hard as it was to leave you. -Later came the fortunate episode of my conversation -with Stanley Morris’s father—”</p> - -<p>Fessenden interrupted him with a sharp exclamation. -“He, too, was in the plot! You chose your tools well. I -never received a hint.”</p> - -<p>“Morris knew all. It is quite true, however, that he -was the son of an old college friend, suddenly impoverished, -and that it was necessary for him to live in a -peculiar atmosphere. He was bent upon California, but -I offered him five thousand a year to live at the Nettlebecks’ -and prepare you for college; also twenty-five -thousand dollars the day you entered. He did not hesitate; -moreover, I gave him carte blanche at the best -bookshops of New York and Boston, and offered to send -to Europe for anything which was not imported through -the regular channels—”</p> - -<p>“In other words, you bought him body and soul! -Well, he was not much of a man, anyhow. And no -wonder he was so well fitted to impress me with the -value of money!”</p> - -<p>“I have bought bigger men than Morris,” said Mr. -Abbott dryly. “I own twenty-eight members of Congress, -seven of the most imposing figure-heads of the -British aristocracy, one sovereign, and several minor -presidents. But to proceed. So far, I have given you -only my paternal reasons for your bringing-up. I will -say little now of what the separation meant to me. I<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[72]</span> -had never been too busy to play with you, had haunted -the nursery or had you brought down here during every -hour I could snatch for home. As I saw you improve -up there in the mountains, from a charming but sickly -baby into such a sturdy, bright, manly little chap, it -took all the will I possessed to leave you behind me -when I returned. At last the effort cost too much, and -I dreaded failure. I took the drastic course and saw -you no more. The day you left New York for the West -I stole a glimpse of you at the station. Since then I -have not seen you until to-day. During this last year -others have shared my secret besides Morris and Nettlebeck—the -president of your university and the close -personal friends whom you know only as prominent -men who agreed to lecture on the subjects which happened -to absorb you. They were tremendously interested -in my experiment, and, as they are men who owe -their success in life as much to their talent for keeping -their mouths shut as to anything else, I had no fear that -they would betray me. As for the president, of course -I knew I could trust him fully. But enough of this personal -side. I had another object in preserving you from -the pitfalls, the physically and mentally debilitating influences -of wealth, which I should have pursued had I -been twenty times less a father. You were my only son, -you must carry on the traditions of our house, become -the custodian of millions, of the vast power they entailed—”</p> - -<p>“And suppose your method has done its work too -well,” cried Fessenden, setting his jaw exactly as his -father did while he listened to his angry son. “You -know something of the results of your—your intrigue, -but not all. You know that I have developed strength, -power, but not how much. You see only the obstacles -I have conquered; you know nothing of the ambition<span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[73]</span> -that discipline of yours has developed in me—the inspirations -of lives of men of not dissimilar—so far as I knew—beginnings. -And now! Good God, I feel like a mountebank!”</p> - -<p>“Answer this question, and not too hastily: Have I -done you an injustice? Nothing could alter the fact that -I was a rich man. Do you regret that I did not run the -risk first of your becoming a sickly spoiled brat, then a -dissipated fool? A few, a very few sons of rich men in -this country have turned out passably well—never what -their fathers were: circumstances did not compel them -to or go to the wall; and I dared not tell you—the risk -was too great. I could see no other way; and, looking -back, I see none now.”</p> - -<p>Fessenden rose and mechanically started for the log -in the grate, but it was June, and he kicked a stool instead. -He was still seething; but even so, his sense of -justice dominated his desire to indulge to the full his -bitter indignation and disappointment. “No,” he said, -after a moment, “you were right enough. Doubtless -in time I shall be duly grateful to you. But that premonition -does not mitigate in the faintest degree what -I feel now.” His eyes met his father’s, which were -full of affection and pride, and he suddenly descended -a peg or two. “I don’t mind telling you, sir—I believe -you will not laugh at me—but I felt—conceited -ass that I was—that I was destined to become a great -man. I felt it was in me to accomplish anything, be -anything I set my brains upon. Of course it was all -red blood—the result of precocious development in solitude, -of the little successes which your watchful care -enabled me to win; but the result was the same as if it -had been the real thing. I feel like a peacock with its -tail pulled out. And now please tell me what it has all -been for. You say you need a strong man—is that necessary<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[74]</span> -for the custody of millions? An ordinary sober -honest hard-working agent could do as well, I should -think; you must have some estimable relatives.”</p> - -<p>Mr. Abbott laughed. “Not suitable for my purpose,” -he said. “Sit down. I have still much to say. I never -blinded myself to the fact that I was running a great -risk, my dear boy; that you might get far beyond me, -refuse to conform to my ultimate plans—especially after -you realized that I not only had been obliged to act a -lie but to utter more than one. One source of my great -power is that my word has never been questioned, and -I can manipulate Wall Street by a simple statement. I -may add that my word is as unchallenged in Europe. -I have bitter enemies, and they have called me every -opprobrious epithet except liar. But for once I determined -to play the Jesuit; and as you have as truthful -and honest a nature as one meets here below, I will add -that the man who cannot lie when some great issue is at -stake is too big an ass for this world. Well, to proceed. -It does not so much matter about the destiny of the -average millionaire’s wealth; it is usually cut up among -relatives and benefactions—bids for immortality in the -third degree. At the worst it can be left in trust. But -when I follow my father, only ten millions will go to—to—relatives. -You must be the custodian of the bulk; -and when I give you its present figure—reminding you -that such wealth rolls up wealth unceasingly, by the -mere force of momentum—it may dawn upon you that -you still have it in your power to become as great and -as mighty as ever your boyish imaginings dictated, and -that you will need all the character you have put in storage. -What is your idea of a great fortune—an American -fortune?”</p> - -<p>“I have thought very little about it. A million seems -to me a huge sum. I have heard of fortunes of fifty or<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[75]</span> -sixty millions—I have scarcely believed in them, although -I perfectly comprehend the wealth of nations. I -am now prepared to hear you say you are worth anything.”</p> - -<p>“I am worth four hundred millions.”</p> - -<p>Fessenden gasped. The distant rumble of the streets -came to his sensitive ears like the sound of crashing -worlds. In a moment he laughed. “Go on,” he said. -“I anxiously await the dawn, the arrival of hope. I -am utterly incapable of grasping such a sum. Have -you got it in gold coin in the bank? If you could show -it to me in that concrete form I might realize it—not -otherwise.”</p> - -<p>“You will realize it when you have spent several -months examining my papers; and when this natural -bewilderment has passed you will recall all you have -recently mastered of banking and finance. You can lay -your hands on several millions in gold coin if you desire—and -transfer them to your own account, for that -matter; no wish of yours will ever again be ungratified -by me. But the greater part represents the controlling -interests in the leading corporations, industries, and railroads -in this country, to say nothing of real estate, government -bonds—of which I have the largest share of -any man or combination of men—and the bank of which -I am the president and principal shareholder. That is -the skeleton; the details require weeks of explanation -on my part and close application on yours. I have told -you enough to demonstrate to you that the day approaches -when you may be the most powerful man in -the world if you choose. You will have heard that the -Rothschilds dictate to Europe—that a nation may be -unable to go to war if they refuse to advance the money. -What the Rothschilds are as a family I am as an individual—and -doubly so, for I can act on the moment; I<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[76]</span> -am obliged to consult no one. When the coffers of the -United States Treasury are low I can fill them; if I refused, -and lifted my warning finger to others, they -would remain empty. I can reduce the President of -this great country to a mere figure-head. When the -right moment comes I can push the United States into -the front of nations, or force it to continue to play a -third-rate part. In time I can—and shall—make her -the most powerful, the most feared, the most hated of -all the countries on the globe—through such a concentration -of capital as no one at the present moment has -had more than a tantalizing dream of. Fifteen years -from now this country will not only be the clearinghouse -of the world, but the autocrat of commerce. Do -you begin to see light?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, the dawn breaks; but by your leave I will go to -my own room for a while. My brain must have a brief -respite. Where am I to hang out?”</p> - -<p>“The corner suite on the third floor. I have had a -swimming-tank put in, a Russian bath, and a gymnasium. -What you don’t like you will change, of -course.”</p> - -<p>“Thanks. I shall probably put a cot in the gymnasium.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t fear that I am stifling you with luxury. -I have my idea of what a man’s rooms should be, -and I doubt if you find that it differs from your -own.”</p> - -<p>As Fessenden opened the door he turned with a sudden -flash in his eyes. “Where is my sister?” he -asked.</p> - -<p>“She is visiting the Archduchess Ranata Theresia, -daughter of the Emperor—”</p> - -<p>But Fessenden had closed the door with force and was -bounding up the stair. “Good God!” he thought, “is<span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[77]</span> -the world I am to live in made up of superlatives? I -feel like Gulliver fallen upon Brobdingnag.”</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">XVIII</h3> -</div> - -<p>He found no fault with his rooms. They were not -those of a poor student with a great future, but they -were severe, masculine, and entirely adequate. When he -had taken a cold swim in his marble tank, and exercised -for half an hour in his gymnasium, the blood which his -father’s millions had shocked to his brain receded and -left it clear and logical again. But he was by no means -reconciled to his lot; he feared the stifling influences of -wealth, of which he had read in so many books. To -make a great fortune in constant warfare with all the -difficulties, acquiring a painful knowledge of the value -of every dollar, was an achievement which might easily -lead to greater accomplishment still, but to fling a man -on his back without warning and pour gold over him by -the ton—</p> - -<p>He left his room abruptly and walked slowly downstairs. -“What’s the use of thinking about it? or about -what was to have been?—my absurd impossible past, -which I shall put away in lavender and cherish like a -dead love. There is nothing to be done but to make the -best of a bad business, re-adapt myself—mortals are -always doing that, anyhow. I shall ask for a respite -before settling down to it, however.”</p> - -<p>When he reached the main floor he turned into the reception-room -and strolled through the several large and -lofty rooms which ended in a music-room of immense -proportions. He inferred that it was the largest in New -York; and, still feeling sore and satirical, returned to a -more appreciative inspection of the other rooms. That<span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[78]</span> -their harmonies were exquisite he needed no telling, and -he thought the pale soft tints, as faded and elusive as -charming old memories, a pleasant contrast to his beloved -Nature. That the few pictures were as great in -art as they must be in price he also knew instinctively, -and found consolation in the reflection that his father -did not belong to the class of millionaires who furnished -with a single check and leaned upon the agent and the -decorator. The rich worn oddly built furniture looked -as if brooding in cold aloofness upon an historic past, -yet not wholly dissatisfied with its present. Where there -were no pictures, bits of brocade, which looked as if a -breath might waft them in search of their makers, had -been inserted with such skill that they were a part of the -background of tarnished gold. Not a chair, not a table, -not a cabinet, was formed like anything Fessenden had -ever seen, and there were numberless objects for which -he had no name; but he approved of everything; indeed, -they gave him a distinct pleasure—caressed the raw -edges of his resentment, and inclined his mind more -philosophically to his new condition.</p> - -<p>When his eye had mastered the general effect, it took -note of the exceeding repetition of one object, the photograph -of a girl. There were perhaps twenty of these -large photographs in the different rooms, framed in -silver, in gold, in brilliants, in semi-precious stones, on -tables, on easels, on shelves. One massive gold frame, -incrusted with jewels, bore aloft the double eagle of the -House of Hapsburg. Across all these pictures was dashed, -rather than written, the name <span class="smcap">Ranata</span>, followed by an -inscription in German, French, English, or in another -language for which Fessenden had no name. The girl -herself was taken in full, in profile, on horseback, sitting -in throne-like chairs, leaning on balustrades, at any age -from ten to eighteen, and in as many different costumes<span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[79]</span> -as there were photographs. Fessenden sniffed at the -vanity of woman, but concluded that he had never seen -such a seat in the saddle, and that she certainly looked -as if she knew her own mind. Whether he admired her -or not he was unable to determine. She had an antique -profile, and her eyes were as American as his own—shrewd, -alert, eager, powerful. One of the photographs -was colored, and the hair blazed, but the eyes were gray. -Fessenden thought it romantic to have a princess in the -family, and examined the pictures with much interest. -The greater number had been given to her much-loved -Alexandra, but one was apparently the property of his -father, and another of a Mrs. Abbott, of whom he knew -nothing. He was not the youth to fall in love with a -photograph, however, and as he walked towards the library -the Archduchess Ranata Theresia made way in his -mind for other matters which at that stage concerned -him far more deeply.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">XIX</h3> -</div> - -<p>His father was standing on the hearth-rug, awaiting -his return with some uneasiness. Fessenden gave his -hand a mighty grip. “It’s all right,” he said. “I was -born into this family, and that is the end of it. I’d -never go back on you, anyhow. But if you don’t mind, -I’d like to go up to the mountains for a while. I’d like -it awfully if you would come, too, of course—it’s only -that I can think better there than anywhere else—and it -occurs to me for the first time that I am rather tired—the -examinations were very stiff, and I went in for an -unusual amount.”</p> - -<p>“The Adirondacks, by all means, if you prefer them; -and I am badly in need of a holiday; but how would you -like a yachting cruise for a change? I have a new<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[80]</span> -steam-yacht of 7000 tons that I think would interest—”</p> - -<p>“A steam-yacht of 7000 tons!” cried Fessenden, his -terrible responsibilities forgotten. “I can think of nothing -on earth—what sort of machinery has she got? How -fast can she go? Can I run her?”</p> - -<p>While Mr. Abbott was answering questions, luncheon -was announced, and he passed his hand through his son’s -arm. “We are lunching earlier than usual on your account, -and the time has run away,” he said haltingly. -“I don’t wish to give you too many shocks in one day, -but I must make another confession. You have—I -married again some years ago.”</p> - -<p>“My dear father,” replied his son dryly, “if you told -me that you had married Queen Victoria and annexed -the British realm—in fact I expect it. Are there—have -I any more brothers and sisters scattered about -among the palaces of Europe?”</p> - -<p>Mr. Abbott laughed. “No, I did not marry another -young wife. Your step-mother is ornamental in her -way; but I selected her partly for companionship—I -had known her always—partly because I wanted some -one to bring up your sister with common-sense and care. -I am perfectly satisfied with her; and, as she is a woman -of infinite tact, I am sure you will get on with her -whether you like her or not. She will probably be a -little late for luncheon—she has so many morning engagements—charities—”</p> - -<p>But this was not the occasion for Mrs. Abbott’s tact -to fail her. She had given the father and son their uninterrupted -morning; but to hasten home and preside at -luncheon at the unseemly hour of half-past twelve, to -make such a performance appear both natural and a -compliment, was an occasion for subtlety too rare to be -missed. She was standing in the dining-room as they<span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[81]</span> -entered, one hand resting on the table, her eyes fixed in -pleasant anticipation on the Gobelin which hung before -the door. She still wore her hat, she was slightly flushed, -her wrap was half removed—her whole appearance -was stamped with delicate haste. As she shook hands -warmly with Fessenden, smiling and talking rapidly in -a very cultivated voice, her step-son wondered at her -extreme unlikeness to any woman of her probable age -that he had ever seen. She was tall, slender, as willowy -as youth; her hair was as black as her eyes, her skin, although -sallow, was without wrinkle or line, and her features -were mobile. She wore a gown of light summer -silk and a large hat, yet both were made and worn with -such tact that the painful affectation of lost youth was -not suggested: she looked what she was, a woman of the -ever-receding middle age, fashionably dressed. Whatever -use she might make of modern science to avert age, -she employed no art to simulate youth, and as her year -was various and crowded, both mind and face were plastic. -Whatever her temperament may have been originally, -she had made it equable long since; and while she -escaped the stigma of amiability, her self-control carried -her evenly through the smooth waters of her life. No -one ever knew whether she were a really intellectual -woman or a brilliantly superficial one, for she had a -delicately masterful habit of changing the conversation, -as if the end of living were to avert the monotonies. -Even in the soft vagueness of chiffon and lace she looked -well groomed, and on the promenade and in her carriage -no one outshone her in distinction. Distinction, indeed, -was the keynote of her personality; and it is doubtful -if she would not have sacrificed all other possible gifts -to this. An efficient housekeeper managed her twenty -servants, her pin-money would have kept an ambitious -family of the middle class in affluence, her life was far<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[82]</span> -more luxurious than royalty’s; she was the leader of the -most exclusive old set in New York, presided over the -most important charities, and yet found time to read -the foreign news and play with intellect. With it all -she had the rare good sense to be content with her lot -and to keep her health.</p> - -<p>But in spite of this charming personage who diffused -ease as with unseen wings, discontent had assailed Fessenden -again. The immense dim baronial room, the -automatic butler, the catlike footmen, absurdly tall in -their livery, the gold and crystal and floral splendor -of the table, made him long gloomily for <i>Pocahontas</i> -and a “hunk” of Christina’s bread. He was grateful, -however, that Mrs. Abbott talked constantly, in her -sprightly abrupt manner. She had been educated as -thoroughly as an Englishwoman, trained in a deportment -which was a nice mixture of reserve and graciousness—Fessenden -inferred that she would treat a servant -with the utmost consideration, and never permit a liberty -from a friend—and she had cultivated the art of -conversation, of appearing spontaneous—rarely finishing -a long sentence—and of adapting herself to all men, -from a reforming drunkard in the slums straight up to -royalty. She presently divined her step-son’s mental -state, and diverted him by talking of his sister.</p> - -<p>“Alexandra spends her winters with the Archduchess, -with whom she was brought up, you know. She hates -New York, but is fond of our home on the Hudson, and -will go with me this summer to Newport—makes her -début, you know—she is just eighteen, but went to court -functions during the year preceding Rudolf’s death. -The Archduchess—they are the same age—came out -at sixteen—the Empress being so much away made a -difference. Alexandra has rather Americanized her, although -in her way she is as much of an individual as<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[83]</span> -the German Emperor—if she only becomes American -enough, I believe Europe will hear of her—do you observe -your father smile? It’s too bad, really—if you -rush off yachting like this, you won’t see Alexandra for -months; she has remained later than usual this year, -for the Archduchess is still in terrible distress over the -death of her brother—a greater tragedy for Europe than -for her, however! I wonder how you and Alexandra -will like each other? How odd for you to meet for the -first time at your age! She is most brilliantly educated, -very clever, and a really remarkable linguist; speaks -even Hungarian with fluency, and already has quite -a knowledge of the world—foreign men are such an -education; but I don’t think she will marry early. She -is a handsome girl—looks like your mother, but less -beautiful; not in the least susceptible—has a remarkably -level head; is singularly like your father in many respects. -We hardly fancy she will marry a foreigner. If she does, -her choice is sure to be a wise one; her head is very cool, -and she is in a position to take any step with her eyes -open.”</p> - -<p>Fessenden had all the young, or the untravelled, -American’s contempt for the foreigner. As his step-mother -paused for breath, he elevated the nose that -England had given him. “I should hope she wouldn’t,” -he said emphatically. “Aren’t there enough men in -America? Why don’t you make her live over here? -I think hobnobbing with royalty is ridiculous for an -American.”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Abbott laughed pleasantly. “If you could only -be an American woman for five minutes! But don’t -worry; your sister is as good an American as you are—we -have seen to that—and, as I have said, remarkably -level-headed; Europe has merely improved, not changed -her. I am positive you will be delighted with her, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[84]</span> -what she can’t tell you of <i>la haute politique</i>!— She is -tremendously interested in you—but I must run! I -have an engagement with the housekeeper, and she has -the vice of promptness. She is moving us to The Abbey, -and we are late this year—I love New York; and as -your father was going abroad, and Alex is so far behind -time—you will excuse me, I know; and mind you come -to tea with me in my own little room at half-past five. -You are included in that invitation, my lord.” And, -nodding brightly, she left the room with an elastic step -that in no way detracted from the light dignity of her -carriage.</p> - -<p>Fessenden drew a long breath.</p> - -<p>“It is not always so,” said Mr. Abbott, with a smile. -“As I remarked before, she has great tact. She saw -that you were bored, and was determined to entertain -you; but when another wants the floor, I do not know -any one who can yield it more gracefully. But of -course she lives in an atmosphere of flattery—you -must expect to find her rather spoiled; but if you really -are a good American, you won’t mind that. Alexandra -is far less so; she has been educated in a severer school, -and she has a far juster sense of proportion—knows exactly -what the flattery of the courtier amounts to. That -is one reason I have permitted her to be over there so -much—one of many reasons.”</p> - -<p>He lapsed into the dreamy condition his son remembered -so well; but he emerged in a few moments, and -waved his hand. The servants disappeared. Mr. Abbott -concentrated his gaze on his son. “Fessenden,” -he said slowly, “I will tell you my programme for the -next year; and please remember, as you listen, that if -you do not like it you are at liberty to follow one of your -own. I shall never do more than suggest again; for I -admit that I have had my day, and that it is your turn<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[85]</span> -now. To prove my entire sincerity in this respect, I -shall deposit a million dollars to your credit to-morrow. -That will make you your own master—”</p> - -<p>Fessenden had flung himself half-way across the table. -“I know what I will do with it,” he cried eagerly. “I -never dreamed I could get to work so soon—but pardon -me; go ahead, sir. Mine will keep.”</p> - -<p>“I have no doubt that plans will come to you very -thickly, but I want you to learn something of Europe -before settling down. I shall take three secretaries on -the yacht with me—I should break down if I relaxed -altogether—and in the course of the journey you will -learn a great deal about my affairs. After that preliminary -course I want you to stay over there for a time, -and apply yourself to the study of Europe. If churches -and picture-galleries happen to interest you, polish them -off as quickly as possible, and then get down beneath -the surface. Study politics, governments, the financial -and commercial conditions of the first-rate powers—make -yourself master at first hand of national traits and -idiosyncrasies; you will have letters that will carry you -everywhere. There are going to be two controlling -forces in the world in the next thirty years, yourself and -William of Germany—if he lives!—if he lives! Keep a -hawk-eye on him, and don’t make the common shallow -mistake of underrating him. He alone can block the -progress of the United States; all the other nations put -together are not worth considering. He only needs certain -conditions to scoop in Europe like another Charlemagne. -It may be that he will create these conditions. -It may be that you will help him to them, if you both -happen to pull in the same direction. That of course -is for the future. I will see that you meet him informally -this summer. But if he fascinates you—as he probably -will—make always this reserve: your future friendship<span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[86]</span> -for him depends upon his course towards the United -States. It is not too soon to begin checkmating him, -and it can always be done by this country; but it must -be done by the individual. Washington is blind by -too much occupation with other things. Would you -like to walk down-town and see our offices? Historical -landmarks, too—Washington—Hamilton— Let me -hear your plans.”</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">XX</h3> -</div> - -<p>Fessenden walked slowly towards the rift in the great -wall of rock which marked the land entrance to the fjord. -<i>Pocahontas</i> was dancing just beyond that narrow gate, -but although his fingers tingled for her sail, his step still -halted; he knew that she would bring him swiftly within -range of the keen thumping of a typewriter, possibly of -more than one. He was dutifully and even deeply interested -in his father’s vast affairs, and there were nights -when he went to bed with the sensation that the Earth -was his pillow; there were days when he dared to hope -the time would come when he could with pleasure embroider -the scenery with figures and puncture the silences -of Nature with a typewriter. But the time was -not yet. Four days since he had awakened his father at -three in the morning, informed him that he was off for a -solitary tramp into Norway, and promised to return at -the end of a week. Conscience was driving him home -sooner than he had intended, for he had revelled in the -stillness and solitude of his wild and lonely tramp. -He missed at first the friendliness of the Adirondacks, -the only other mountains he knew; but the harsh and -terrible grandeur about him companioned his mood—finally -inspired him with a passionate sense of gratitude. -For he was in a desperate state of rebellion. The philosophy<span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[87]</span> -he had invoked on the heels of Mr. Abbott’s -revelation had but deferred the inevitable moment. He -did not doubt that the future presented to him by his -father would bring him power, but that future was—he -sincerely hoped—far distant, and at present he was little -more than a glorified clerk in training. His inheritance -and his education permitted him to grasp the stupendous -details with a sufficient facility, and there were moments -when he was staggered and overwhelmed with the -thought of such world-manipulating power, at others -intoxicated with dreams of a future when himself should -be a ruler of many times the strength of any monarch in -Europe. In such moments he felt arrogant, and contemptuous -of sovereigns who were but the tools of a people -or a cabinet, no matter what the euphemisms, longed -for the time to come when he could demonstrate to -them the absolutism of concentrated capital in the hands -of an uncrowned ruler of a great republic. But reaction -under the lonely stars invariably chastened him. What -did he amount to now? Who would recognize in him -more than his famous father’s second? He was bursting -with energy, with ambition for himself and the -United States, and, in spite of his father’s love and sincere -indulgence, he felt like a prisoner on parole. It is -true that when he had confided his cherished ideal, the -great and beneficent conception which was to have -worked his fingers to the bone and made him old in his -youth, Mr. Abbott had waved his golden wand. A -Western desert hummed and echoed, and even now a -huge building was rising on its foundations, and the first -of the world’s electricians, for a yearly salary which -made Fessenden’s head swim, had agreed to occupy this -building with a corps of assistants and work upon the -idea which a youth had conceived. The author of the -idea felt no temptation to take charge himself. The<span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[88]</span> -mere fact that more experienced genius could be bought -delivered him from the thrall of his ideal, although he -still took a scientific and patriotic interest in its accomplishment.</p> - -<p>Robbed of this dream of immortality, he had dropped -the curtain upon his inner life and endeavored to fulfil his -immediate destiny. As his powers of concentration -were very great, he had succeeded for a time. During -the fortnight before sailing, novelty and wonder had -sustained him, and for a time at sea the long conversations -with his father were agreeably varied by instructions -in the science of yachting. But Fessenden was -Fessenden—a personality, a young man bursting with -precocious energy, ambition, independence. His reassertion -was slow but persistent, and during one sleepless -night alone on deck the naked truth confronted him that -he was at the end of his endurance, that however he -might conform to his father’s wishes in the future, for -the present he must not only have an interval of personal -liberty, but arrange his nebulous ambitions and -satisfy them. He restrained his impatience until three -o’clock, then awakened Mr. Abbott—who smiled and -slept again—and plunged without a guide into Norway.</p> - -<p>He bathed in streams, he slept under the stars, he saw -no one but peasants, he hardly uttered a word for three -days; and he was completely happy. When he was not -in mountain gorges he was in pine forests; everywhere -he had Nature in her magnificence, and he was alone. -For two days he refused to think—it was enough to forget, -to feel the freedom of the years when he believed -himself innocent of fortune, with a glorious and self-made -future stretching through infinite horizons. But -on the evening of the third day he turned his back on -the scenery, sat down on the grass, and thought.</p> - -<p>That the prospect before him was hateful and hideous<span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[89]</span> -he admitted aloud, lest he should seem to blink any -modicum of the truth. The abstract fact that he was -a rich man instead of a poor one dwindled to comparative -insignificance beside the million details which made -up the sum of that fact. Had he been the author of -those details, his inherited and financial instincts, so -quick at college, would no doubt possess him and obliterate -the dreams of his youth. But that mountain of particulars, -massive and petty, had fallen upon him without -a moment’s warning, and he was not its illustrious -author, but its future custodian. The youth in him was -rampant, and his strong vein of romance unsatisfied. -He admitted—again aloud—that he was as romantic as -he was practical. He would train to succeed his father, -but meanwhile would distinguish himself in his own -manner. He would use the wealth at his disposal, but -the manner should be picturesque.</p> - -<p>Without admitting that he intended to demand a -period of liberty, his imagination in the past weeks had -toyed with many plans. At first, when he learned of -the more than thousands in his father’s employ, he had -been fired with the desire to ameliorate the lot of the -working-man; and in his enthusiasm had awakened his -father from his afternoon nap on deck and talked to him -for an hour. Mr. Abbott, who revelled in the very sound -of Fessenden’s voice, and would have attempted to give -him the North Pole had he wanted it, listened indulgently; -but when his turn came to speak he was smiling -grimly.</p> - -<p>“My dear boy,” he had said, “what reason have I -given you to think me a fool? There are those who will -tell you that the day must come when the streets of our -great cities will run red with blood, when not one stone -on Fifth Avenue will remain upon another; that, in -short, the great civil war between capital and labor can<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[90]</span> -be delayed only until a strong leader of organized labor -arises who cannot be bought. I do not go so far as to -say that I—or you—can avert that calamity, for our -rotten municipal governments have destroyed the respect -of the thinking laboring man for authority, and -these tremendous aggregations of capital I have in hand, -which will make the United States strong and feared -among nations, may be carried to an excess which will -lessen the chances of individual achievement and curtail -personal liberty. If rich men—that is to say, the manipulators—make -fools of themselves, and in their greed for -wealth and power reduce wages and sow further seeds of -discontent, there is no telling what may happen. But -although I make no denial of my own greed for wealth -and power, and although these concentrations of many -small industries into one huge enterprise will double my -fortune, I make no such mistake as that. I have always -maintained that a man may get rich and still share a -certain portion of his gains with his assistants; and my -working-men all receive good salaries, perquisites, heavy -Christmas presents, and pensions in their old age. I -make no pretence at philanthropy. There is no man -who needs friends as the rich man does; there are no -friends so valuable as an army of employés. I know -many of mine personally; at some time or other I have -managed to come into contact with most of them. They -like me. They are content. They never go on strike. -They are the one formidable bulwark against united -labor in the country. When you return, I wish you -to go about among those men, show them your personal -interest in them as human beings, make them love you as -much as they like me; then, if an industrial war ever -comes, you will make yourself their leader and take -whichever side you think wisest. But the thing to do is -to avert war and use that great following for another<span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[91]</span> -purpose. Either with or without civil war the time must -come for the reform of municipalities, the reduction of -state power, and, possibly, an interval of benevolent -despotism. There is the rôle I have cut out for you; -but meanwhile work with me to avert the worst calamity -which could visit this country—set it back a hundred -years. My men are not overpaid; they receive strict -justice, that is all. I have harangued for hours with -almost every great employer in the country, appealing -to his common-sense, even his cupidity, but in most -cases in vain. The average rich man in the United -States is lowly born. He has worked himself up from -the ranks. There never was a real democrat who was -not born an aristocrat. The risen plebeian is a tyrant, -is insatiable in his greed, glories in the thought of grinding -the life out of thousands of his own class, delights in -the hatred and envy which are but another signal of his -success; in short, he is a damned fool, and deserves to -wake up and find his throat cut. I suppose all revolutions -are the result of stupidity. Ours, if it comes, will -arise from no other cause whatever. If you have the -genius in you that I believe, you will avert this war or -control it. Now I will sleep again if you will permit -me.”</p> - -<p>The words had kept Fessenden awake all night, but -after several days his enthusiasm cooled. Again he -was willing to take the helm whenever the time came, -and with all his energies; but the idea was his father’s, -not his. His young ego, uniquely developed, demanded -creation.</p> - -<p>During the last day of his tramp he had looked down -twenty avenues of possible greatness, and turned his -back upon all. He was not discouraged, for he knew -that inspiration comes suddenly, even if it be the final -result of industrious raking. He was now returning to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[92]</span> -demand a vacation of some months, during which he -would tramp and study Europe in his own way. But -inspiration was closer than he knew, and although he -was to tramp Europe again and again with various and, -in one case, extraordinary results, there were to be intervening -years.</p> - -<p>As he jumped into his canoe and set his sail, he saw -that the <i>Alexandra</i> was no longer the solitary inhabitant -of the fjord. Not half a mile from his father’s yacht -was what looked to be a miniature man-of-war. It was -painted white, and had a heavily gilded figure-head. In -a few moments he was close enough to see the colors and -design on the standard. He whistled and experienced -a glow of anticipation.</p> - -<p>“The German Emperor! I hardly know whether I -am more anxious to see him or his yacht. Ours is the -biggest in the world—of course!—his is the most original; -but that may only mean resource: he couldn’t get the -money voted any other way. The more I hear of Europe -the rottener it appears, with the exception of Germany. -This man seems to be making an American city -out of Berlin, and to have plenty of sand all-round. -Some one has said of him that he is an autocrat with a -Yankee head on his shoulders; and, if that is the case, he -may be worth studying for future points.”</p> - -<p>Nevertheless, when a half-hour later his father told -him that the Emperor had invited him to visit the -<i>Hohenzollern</i> the day of his return, he sniffed with youthful -Americanism.</p> - -<p>“I don’t fancy waiting till I’m spoken to,” he announced—“for -his high-mightiness to introduce every -subject. He may be interesting in himself, but he is a -monarch, and I have no use for any of them. They are -a burlesque in the end of the nineteenth century.”</p> - -<p>“Tell that to William, if you like, and introduce what<span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[93]</span> -subjects interest you—if you get a chance. He observes -little formality up here, and less with Americans. -Now please go and exchange that sweater and those -pants—they are not trousers—for a suit of flannels.”</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">XXI</h3> -</div> - -<p>Fessenden drew a long and audible breath. It had not -occurred to him soon enough to keep tally, but he felt -justified in assuming that he had answered eight hundred -questions. The power and magnetism of the Emperor -still impressed him, but the fascination had waned. -When he had boarded the yacht early in the afternoon, -excited with a sensation that was half eager curiosity, -half aggressive fear of being patronized, and had received -a hearty greeting from a man as informal as he -was charming, Fessenden had promptly conceived his -first enthusiasm for a contemporary. He had as promptly -reminded himself that he too intended to inspire -enthusiasms—that his was not the rôle of the follower; -nevertheless he had beamed back upon his imperial host; -and, in spite of a flinty reserve in the background of both -pairs of eyes, a mutual friendship was conceived at once. -The Emperor had taken care to cement his personal -fascination by exhibiting the machinery of his new -yacht to his curious young guest, and a twenty-minutes’ -argument on a subject of which one had much practical -knowledge and the other almost as much by theory and -observation, established a respect as strong as the sentiment. -But when they were seated alone on deck, the -Emperor’s inquiring mind was no longer to be restrained. -A conversation with Mr. Abbott the day before had excited -his curiosity; his interrogations began upon Fessenden’s -babyhood; and then, with the rapid strokes of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[94]</span> -a minute impressionist, never losing sight of causes and -effects, he built up a complete picture of a self-made -boy with a beneficent providence in the background. In -three-quarters of an hour he not only knew the boy in -the wilderness as well as the boy had known himself, -but the history of the Nettlebecks, the size and condition -of their farm, their attitude—or, as he discovered, their -lack of attitude—towards Germany, the area of the -Adirondack tract, the attention—or lack of attention—given -it by the government, the inferior condition, as -compared with Germany, of its forests, its roads, its -bridges. His questions and comments showed such -grasp and activity of intelligence that for a time Fessenden -was as interested as the Man of Questions, and there -were intervals when he was permitted to give a bit of -thrilling description, notably of logging-camps and -“driving,” which, as the Emperor’s eyes kindled and -his horned upper lip twitched, flattered him for five or -six consecutive minutes.</p> - -<p>But from the Adirondacks, William passed swiftly to -the Western University, and here his curiosity threatened -to be insatiable. His questions indicated that Harvard -and Yale could tell him no secrets, but of this more -modern institution he had never heard until the day -before; and an enterprise so novel, practical, and cheap -appealed irresistibly to a ruler bent upon modernizing -his country and making it the strongest industrially in -Europe. He made no secret of the cause of his interest, -and Fessenden sympathized heartily with the ambitious -and energetic young monarch, and glowed at the thought -of flinging a handful of American seeds broadcast upon -the German Empire. But at the end of an hour and a -quarter, when he had not only presented a picture of -the university in all its complex details, from its methods -of military drill to the last drop of grease in the machine-shops,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[95]</span> -but had sketched the personalities of all the professors -and the most notable of the students, the strident -tones of the august interlocutor seemed to be banging -about in his brain, the abrupt rapid firing to have -torn his nerves to tatters. The impatient action of his -lungs receiving no attention from his host, whose eyes -were concentrated and glittering, he sprang suddenly to -his feet.</p> - -<p>“Look here!” he exclaimed. “I really can’t stand -it any longer. I’ll come back to-morrow, if you like. I -think you are a great man, and I’m only too delighted -to help you in any way I can, but if you ask me another -question to-day I’ll jump off the yacht.”</p> - -<p>For a second the Emperor’s eyes had flashed with a -haughty surprise which gave Fessenden a passing glimpse -of outraged majesty, but he recovered himself swiftly, -and before the plaint finished he had sprung to his feet -and grasped Fessenden’s hand, looking like a contrite -school-boy.</p> - -<p>“I beg your pardon,” he stammered. “How inhospitable!—I -never was so tactless in my life. But you have -interested me so deeply. You are the most extraordinary -young man—will you forgive me? and will you do -me the honor to return for dinner? Mr. Abbott comes -too.”</p> - -<p>A warm responsiveness rushed through Fessenden’s -veins and flashed from his frank impatient eyes; and he -returned the hearty grasp of the other’s hand. But although -the two men were mutually and strongly attracted, -almost to the point of effusiveness, they nevertheless, -and almost unconsciously, stared hard and long at each -other. For the moment, despite aggressive differences, -they looked alike. Their personalities pushed aside the -mask of their features and snatched the knowledge that -for them it was love or hate, friendship or enmity,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[96]</span> -mutual assistance or a bitter lifelong struggle, which -might waste their energies and thwart their most passionate -hopes.</p> - -<p>William was the older and subtler. He laid his hand -affectionately on his new friend’s shoulder. “I have -suspected something of your father’s ultimate plans for -you,” he said. “Now I am sure. I can help you as -much as you can help me. The next time we are alone, -turn the tables and ask me as many questions as you -like. There is no reason why you should ever remind -yourself that I am an Emperor—why our friendship -should not be as informal and sincere as that of your -charming sister and the daughter of the Emperor of -Austria.”</p> - -<p>“Do you know my sister?”</p> - -<p>“Of course, and since she was twelve years old. But -her chosen friend is my sworn enemy.”</p> - -<hr class="tb"> - -<p>That night, in the retirement of his state-room, Fessenden -brushed his hair backward and his mustache upright. -The Emperor at dinner had drawn his coils more -closely. He had been brilliant, demonstrative, instructive, -humorous, almost unegotistical. He had made -Fessenden shine without asking a question, and he had -toasted Mr. Abbott in the effusive rhetoric with which -one ripened sovereign disguises his fear of another. -Fessenden forgot his long array of self-made heroes—even -those who had been cradled in purple and yet ridden -victoriously through the pages of history. He took -up an autographed picture of William, presented at parting, -and studied it attentively, then regarded his own -smooth young face with dissatisfaction.</p> - -<p>“However,” he thought, “in his earlier photographs -he had even less character than I have. It’s since he -got his own way that he’s put it on with a brush. I<span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">[97]</span> -suppose I can have that eagle roll of the eye in time, -too, if I choose, and square my iron jaw, and look as if -I were hewn out of finely tempered steel. He has a -sensitive mouth, all the same.”</p> - -<p>In a moment he parted his short hair rapidly and -brushed his mustache into a dejected curve. “I’d like -to see myself!” he thought, with some irritation. “He -<i>would</i> have the laugh on me to-morrow!”</p> - -<p>He sat for an hour and pondered deeply on all that had -passed between himself and the Emperor of Germany -that day. Then he started up suddenly, opened the door -of the adjoining state-room, and awakened his father.</p> - -<p>“What does William want?” he demanded.</p> - -<p>“Europe and South America,” murmured Mr. Abbott -sleepily.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">XXII</h3> -</div> - -<p>The tremendous walls of the fjord were black, but the -moon poured in a flood of light. There had been a sharp -breeze earlier in the evening, and Fessenden had invited -the Emperor out in <i>Pocahontas</i>; then, perceiving the -difficulty of keeping him quiet, had given him the sheet. -The Emperor had accepted the invitation with alacrity—he -was not only happy and at home in a canoe, but -although he had now had several long conversations with -the young American, something in this new personality -evaded him, and he was determined to find it. Fessenden, -on the other hand, was studying him attentively, -his interest in the most remarkable specimen of living -royalty quite distinct from his liking for the man. -William had not refrained from questions during this past -week, and Fessenden had been permitted to learn Germany -from the Throne. When he had mentioned that -he intended, a year or two hence, to tramp the Empire<span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">[98]</span> -and study it from another point of view, the Kaiser had -promptly extracted a promise to bring the burden of his -information to Berlin.</p> - -<p>William expressed a lively sympathy for his young -friend’s desire for immediate distinction, and confided -some of the difficulties of majesty in getting its own -way. Nevertheless he felt that Fessenden, despite his -romantic enthusiasm for himself, was frank only to a -certain point. He thought of all in his own depths that -he could give to no man, and forbore to press him too -closely; but his abnormally acute brain suspected something -in that deliberate reserve which concerned himself, -and he had accepted the proposal of the lonely sail -in the hope of an impulsive confidence. He had no -suspicion that the younger man had brought him out -for the purpose of making this confidence.</p> - -<p>The wind fell, and they left the canoe to stretch their -legs.</p> - -<p>“Do you really believe in the divine right of kings?” -asked Fessenden abruptly. “I mean <i>you</i>.”</p> - -<p>The Emperor stared, then laughed outright. “Certainly!” -he announced in that harsh abrupt voice which -conveyed the impression that he had not the patience to -lie. Then, having his own reasons for expanding under -the influence of the lonely moon, he added: “Is not a -peasant a peasant by divine law? How much more a -hereditary ruler with his terrible responsibilities! With -our vast fund of inherited knowledge and traditions, -our instinct for rule, our gift of commanding respect -and obedience, we are far more successful as rulers than -your presidents, chosen every four or eight years from -all sorts and conditions of life, and more often for some -unworthy political reason than for any merit in the -man.” He added deliberately: “The monarchs of the -earth are the chosen deputies of God in Heaven; they<span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">[99]</span> -rule their people by right divine. The time will come -when you will feel this as deeply as I do now. Of course -my understanding is illumined with the torch of the -centuries; but there must be a beginning,” he added -graciously.</p> - -<p>“And you disassociate yourself absolutely from the -race?”</p> - -<p>“Certainly. So will you one day.”</p> - -<p>“I am a good democrat, and I believe in the principles -of the American Constitution and the Declaration -of Independence.”</p> - -<p>“Quite so—as long as they are permitted to hold; but -when your revolution comes they will go down with the -rest, and then you will no longer be a democrat.” The -pronounced roll of William’s r-r-r-r’s made him utter -the last word as if he hated it.</p> - -<p>“And I suppose you think the Monroe Doctrine would -go too?”</p> - -<p>“It would be as well to begin a new government on a -sensible international basis,” said the Emperor dryly. -“That doctrine only maintains its fictitious life by the -courtesy, or perhaps I should say the indifference—the -present indifference—of Europe. It means nothing -until you have established it by force of arms. It would -be better to abandon it gracefully while there is yet -time.”</p> - -<p>The two men were picking their way through an uneven -pass. Fessenden halted and leaned against the -wall of rock. He fixed his eyes, which in the brilliant -night light shone like steel, on the imperious and searching -orbs that swung round him abruptly.</p> - -<p>“It is by converting the Monroe Doctrine from a -theory into a principle of international law without a -war with Europe that I propose to make my fame,” he -said.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">[100]</span>William’s pale face twitched, then settled into its -hardest lines. He returned Fessenden’s stare, and there -was neither friendship nor good-fellowship in his eyes; -he was a monarch on the alert in the presence of the -enemy. It was a moment before he spoke; then he said -coldly:</p> - -<p>“It is a large and, no doubt, patriotic idea. I shall be -interested to watch the method develop. When shall -you get to work? When shall Europe have its first -astonished glimpse of your purpose?”</p> - -<p>“Europe will know nothing until it is too late to -interfere; but I shall tell you the whole scheme -now.”</p> - -<p>“Tell me!” cried the German Emperor in his astonishment.</p> - -<p>“I owe the idea to you, and, crazy as it may appear, I -shall confide it to you. I should be rather base if I did -not; and I rely, if not on your generosity, then on your -foresight, to let me alone. You can have Europe, and -welcome, and when the time comes that you need my -help you will get it; but you can’t have South America—not -an inch of it; and now I’ll tell you why—”</p> - -<p>“Suppose I decline to listen?”—and none but himself -could know what it cost him to admit that possibility. -But the excitable color had flashed into his face, and his -eyes were glittering. “If I do listen,” he added in a -moment, “I decline to commit myself beforehand.”</p> - -<p>“It won’t matter. Even if you betrayed me you -could not obstruct my purpose. Of course I wish my -secret kept. Only the fool takes the world into his confidence. -I only tell you—well, not so much for the reason -I just gave, as because you have given me your -friendship, and I like you better than any one on earth -except my father. You would have suggested the idea -in any case; and if we had been cut out for enemies I’d<span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">[101]</span> -have left the next day, and it would have been a year -before you would have known what I was up to.”</p> - -<p>The Emperor’s face did not soften. He felt anything -but sentimental. “Why are you so sure that Europe—that -I—could not balk you?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“Because I have a hundred million dollars at my disposal -at the present moment, and the work will be done -before you can cook up a war with the United States.”</p> - -<p>The Emperor turned gray, and let his temper fly. -“Damn your American billions!” he cried. “If I could -lay my hands on that amount—”</p> - -<p>“Well,” said Fessenden. “When the time comes -you can have it.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">[102]</span></p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">[103]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">PART II</h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">[104]</span></p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">[105]</span> -<h3 class="nobreak">I</h3> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap">“I  WISH I had been born in Oshkosh or Massachusetts,” -said the Archduchess, with innocent humor.</p> - -<p>“What have you been doing with yourself?” asked -Alexandra. “Your letters were long enough, but they -seemed to say less than usual.”</p> - -<p>The Archduchess Ranata Theresia took her friend by -the arm and led her to the window. The fine lace -which covered it, woven with the double eagle of the -House of Hapsburg, concealed every detail of the room -from the curious below, but was a mere veil to those -behind it.</p> - -<p>“Oh, I know this prospect!” exclaimed the American -girl.</p> - -<p>The private apartments of the Hofburg look down -upon the Franzensplatz, an oblong court-yard of inconsiderable -size, surrounded by flat and dingy walls, its -bare surface relieved only by a bronze Hapsburg leaning -upon all the virtues he knew not in life. Opposite is -the guard-room. In the court-yard to-day were a few -tourists staring at the bronze or the remains of the moat -and the gilded armorial bearings on the eastern side. -All sorts and conditions of people, from peasants with -their market-baskets to the hurrying bourgeois and the -member of Parliament, took the short cut through the -Palace court-yards, while private carriages, with servants -in mediæval liveries, and rickety cabs, driven by reckless -shouting <i>kutschers</i>, awoke the hollow echoes of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">[106]</span> -deep portals, and clattered across the platz. From two -of the upper windows housemaids were shaking rugs, -and the only ornaments of the dreary scene were the -tall well-built house-guards, who, lackeys as they were, -carried their all-round horse-hair plumes and glittering -uniforms with the elegance and distinction so indiscriminately -lavished by Nature upon the Austrian race.</p> - -<p>“I know this scene!” repeated Alexandra. “And I -usually turn my back upon it. Why—why—doesn’t -the Emperor have the private apartments on the Heldenplatz, -where at least you might see trees and the -tops of the buildings on the Ringstrasse? This would -drive some people melancholy mad. You have not -been standing at this window ever since I left you, I -hope? Trotting solemnly round the riding-school is -better than that. But you seem to have been in Vienna -more than usual this year. I congratulated myself that -this was the year I was detained in New York.”</p> - -<p>“That is brutal! I have only left this prison for two -months at Ischl. Between the fire at Schönbrunn and -various political reasons, we have been here since you -left—now eight months ago! And as you are my only -real companion—! I do sometimes wish I had been born -an American.”</p> - -<p>“There is an asylum in America whenever you make -up your mind to run. I have a handsome determined -and adventurous brother—he has heard of you! You -have only to say the word and his yacht will be in the -Adriatic.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t talk romantic nonsense. I’m not up to it.”</p> - -<p>The Archduchess turned her back on the window and -sat down before a table in an upright chair. Alexandra -took a rocking-chair—one of three she had long since -presented to the Hofburg, that she might always be -sure of a comfortable seat. Ranata had no idea whatever<span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">[107]</span> -of comfort. Her morning bath was supplied by a -procession of servants bringing the necessary amount -of water in ewers—she had never seen water gush from -pipes except into a fountain, and she privately believed -that rocking-chairs were a relic of the North American -Indian. But if her apartments were as high and angular -and unhomelike as those of most royal palaces, she had -a decided love of splendor, and originality enough to -avoid crimson and white-and-gold. The morbid virginal -face of young Ludvig von Bayern looked down -from the wall opposite the windows of her salon, and -although she made sport of his vanity, she gave the -portrait a place for the sake of its beauty, and approved -of one form his madness had taken. The walls and -windows of her salon were panelled with blue velvet -lightly embroidered with gold. The tables, most of the -ornaments, several chairs, and even the window-seats -were made from blocks of <i>lapis lazuli</i>. On one side of -the lofty room were her books—English, German, -French, and Hungarian—bound in flexible blue-and-white -morocco, an unconscious tribute perhaps to her -humbler Bavarian blood. Scattered among the embroideries -on the walls were many miniatures. In the -small writing-room adjoining was a large desk of gilt -and <i>lapis lazuli</i>, with furnishings of gold and blue vellum. -In this little room was one picture only, a small painting -of Rudolf in the costume of the Transylvanian sportsman. -The frame of this picture was eternally hidden -under a wreath of green or flowers.</p> - -<p>The walls of her bedroom and breakfast-room were -panelled with the Gobelins of which the Hapsburgs have -the monopoly in abundance and splendor. Her ancient -narrow bed, surmounted by the insignia of her house -clutching at a mass of yellow brocade and lace, was high -on a dais. Alexandra declared that it looked like a catafalque,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">[108]</span> -and was haunted with the <i>ennuis</i> and miseries of -a hundred princesses long since forgotten. When Ranata, -sleepless and in want of sympathy, demanded -companionship, she was forced to transfer her imperial -person into the enamelled and inlaid but wide and -modern bed of her American friend, who did what she -could to banish ghosts. Alexandra had diplomatically -refurnished her apartments by degrees, until now they -were those of a young American who, while extravagant -and luxurious, was studious of music and books -and a devotee of light and air. Ranata never felt at -home in them, but they exercised over her a certain -fascination, for they breathed the freedom of their -owner’s personality.</p> - -<p>“I am told,” continued the Archduchess, still with an -inflection of bitterness, “that there are people who envy -royalty!”</p> - -<p>“That is your safeguard—the glamour. It is that -blinding halo more than any other cause that has made -this country rise serenely after six crushing defeats in -one century. The Lord’s anointed—genial yet remote—afflicted -beyond all men, yet carefully preserved to his -state and people—alive yet dead—kind and just yet—”</p> - -<p>She paused abruptly, for although Ranata was at -times extravagantly informal and confidential with the -one friend to whom her rank meant nothing, Alexandra, -with all her audacity, never ventured beyond a certain -point. There were moments when Ranata’s ancestors -rose in her soul and peremptorily ordered up the drawbridge -which the lonely princess loved to fling recklessly -at the feet of her American friend; to taste the sweets of -girlish intercourse, unrestrained by the fear of imperilling -her royal dignity or untainted by the suspicion of -self-interest. There was no honor that the House of -Hapsburg could bestow upon the American, and Ranata<span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">[109]</span> -knew that court life was too old a story to offer any further -attractions to Alexandra. If the Archduchess had -not been fully aware that the Austrian Court was the -dullest in Europe, Alexandra would have enlightened -her: her lively friend could rehearse every word that -would be uttered at a function, the tidbits of scandal -that would be murmured at royal dinners after the terrible -interval of no conversation whatever. But for Ranata -she cherished a deep and almost romantic affection, -and believed her existence to be the most tragic in the -world. Had it been possible—and it was a possibility -of which she never despaired—she would have carried -her off to New York; but for the present she spent six -months of every year in Austria, and sowed seeds of -which the Emperor and his court knew nothing; for -outside the privacy of these rooms she was more European -than American. Although she was now accepted -as a matter of course, for several years the haughtiest -and most exclusive people on earth had tolerated her -with ill-concealed resentment, by no means unexaggerated -by jealousy; and Alexandra, feeling that the pride -of her country was involved, to say nothing of her own -comfort, had succeeded in obliterating all trace of the -alien. Only an American can imagine the force of the -reaction. And this morning, returning after a long absence -to find her friend more than ever in need of the -diversion she knew so well how to provide, she was forced -to pause suddenly and bite her lip. But Ranata’s ancestors -were slumbering, and the atmosphere of freedom -came subtly to her nostrils.</p> - -<p>“If possible, my father is more of a machine than -ever,” she remarked dryly. “I sometimes think that -his very remarks to me at dinner—I see less and less of -him anywhere else—are dictated by his ministers. I -don’t blame him, poor man, for being afraid to love anybody<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">[110]</span> -again. If he wants to be a machine, I should be -the last to deny him, and I really believe that he now -feels nothing, and is a mere automaton from four in the -morning until he goes to sleep peacefully at nine in the -evening. I wish I were a machine myself. It must be -the only refuge this side the grave. But the stupid -physical fact is that my nerve-cells are still stronger -than my fibrous tissue, and I must wait thirty years or -so for Nature to do her work.”</p> - -<p>“Your afflictions have been shocking, poor dear—”</p> - -<p>“I am not thinking of my afflictions. No one experienced -in sorrow will ever whine. It is the future I am -thinking of—to say nothing of the present. I am -twenty-eight. Except when you are here I am utterly -without companionship, unless, to be sure, when I am -in the country on a horse. Here in Vienna, as you -know, I rarely leave the Hofburg—leave these rooms -only for the riding-school or some other part of the -palace; for my father—or his ministers—seems to dislike -more and more the attention I attract whenever I -show myself abroad—”</p> - -<p>She paused abruptly and gave a curious sidelong -glance at her friend.</p> - -<p>“You have been thinking of matrimony!” exclaimed -Alexandra.</p> - -<p>“Yes—twice during the past year. I have been almost -tempted to consider it—almost, but not quite. -The change would be too temporary. If there is one -thing that must surpass the eternal boredom of unmarried -royal women, it is putting up with a wired automaton -and bearing his sickly children. And liberty! -Now, at least, I can lock these doors, and even my father -would not force them, and my ladies are only too -glad to be relieved of my society. But perhaps I have -spoken too strongly. In solitude I have found much<span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">[111]</span> -happiness. I can dream and dream, and forget that not -the least of my dreams can ever come true.”</p> - -<p>She had spoken flippantly, quite brutally, but she -finished with an accent of profound sadness.</p> - -<p>“You will become morbid if you are not careful,” -said Miss Abbott seriously. “Only the deliberately -cultivated reasonableness with which you have accepted -this deadly—and ridiculous—life of yours, and the superhuman -control you have acquired over your natural -impatience and impulsiveness, have saved you so far. -But thirty is a dangerous age. I am beginning to feel -it myself—wasted emotions, opportunities, passing -youth—all that sort of thing. You, my dear, grow -more beautiful every day, and your beauty has done -you so little good! Gasps and murmurs as you trail -down between the tapestries of the Great Hall of Ceremonies -in the most gorgeous white gowns ever seen, -or ride once a year or so in the Prater!” She paused -a moment, and then added deliberately: “Why not cut -it? It is incongruous and monstrous to see the most -intelligent women in Europe cramped in a three-by-six -cage like one of Louis XI.’s victims. What keeps you? -Nothing but the silliest superstition in the world to-day, -drivelling out its precarious existence. You have your -own money. My father can double and treble it. My -step-mother would preserve you from all scandal. You -could exercise your gifts and have a career, or marry -and be happy. Come along—don’t be an idiot.”</p> - -<p>“There is just one thing you never can understand. -I know you think we are fatuous, if not mad, to believe -ourselves heaven-born, divinely appointed; but here we -are, we have our inherited duties, and here we must remain. -Ourselves are the last we are permitted to consider -from our coming to our going. We come into this -world with a birthright of obligations to millions of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">[112]</span> -people whose ancestors permitted us first to mount the -throne—in our case eight centuries ago! We Hapsburgs -have been threatened with annihilation, we have -lost much that was precious, the German Empire overshadows -and threatens us, and God knows what will -happen when my father dies. But although our star -has often turned black, it has never gone out. It has a -way of flashing up from its embers and disconcerting -Europe that suggests eternal fires—if they are carefully -watched. And it is the hearth fires that need watching. -William’s ambitions will come to nothing if our people -stand firm. I have no illusion regarding the real danger. -So long as my father lives we are safe against the -worst that revolutionists can do. But Rudolf is dead! -Both Austria and Hungary detest the Heir, that cold -bigot, who has never a smile for the people. And court -life will cease when he comes to the throne, for it is not -likely he will divorce that woman and marry a princess. -Only the most watchful care can save us. The Hungarians -are straining at the bit all the time, and the -moment disintegration begins William will find some -pretext to march in. He will lose no more time than -Frederick lost when he saw a woman ascend a tottering -throne. Although I am permitted to take no part in -politics, I still have a rôle to play which is of almost as -much importance to my country as my father’s. One -of my obligations is to make the world believe that a -princess is above ordinary temptations and weaknesses—a -tradition which the Hapsburgs have done more -than any royal house to obliterate—and that makes my -personal duty the more obvious. Another thing, as -you know—to the world I am not even the individual. -During these last ten years my study has been to persuade -my father’s people that I am the conventional, -safely stupid, and normal princess, to make them forget<span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">[113]</span> -my mother’s supposed gift to this House. If I should -do what you propose, Austria would either assume that -I was as mad as Ludvig and Otto, or, were they convinced -that I had a better brain than my sort, they -would accept my act as a deliberate insult to the monarchical -idea. In either case I should loosen one more -stone in these rotting foundations of ours. Marriage -out of class, elopement, a whispered intrigue—they are -accustomed to all! But a deliberate renunciation, -based on non-sentimental grounds, a flight to America—that -would be the new thing with a vengeance, and it -is only the innovation that tells. Oh, if Rudolf had -lived. If Rudolf—Rudolf—”</p> - -<p>She pushed back her chair violently, banished the -seriousness from her face.</p> - -<p>“Enough of this infliction. I have opened the safety-valves -and feel better. Come, show me your new -frocks. Are they finer than mine? What have you -brought me from New York? And the bonbons! the -bonbons! Do you know where we go two weeks from -to-day? To Hungary, for the autumn manœuvres. I -am so glad! I have not been to Budapest since I was -a child. I long to go. I love Hungary. It dares to rebel, -and sometimes it gets what it wants. And our dear -cousin Willy is to be our guest. He’s bound to come -with a sensation up his sleeve. Sometimes I regret -that I was not old enough to marry him, for although I -fear and sometimes hate him, life with him might have -been interesting, for he at least is a man.”</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">II</h3> -</div> - -<p>When Alexandra was twelve years old Mrs. Abbott -had taken her to Vienna to consult a famous surgeon<span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">[114]</span> -for a threatened deformity. He had commanded that -the child be left under his care for at least five years, -and Mrs. Abbott, whose devotion to her husband -amounted to a mannerism, left her with an old friend, a -Hungarian, whose infinite quarterings made her one of -that small band so closely allied with the court that -they have never learned to snub, since nobody has -ever dared to take a liberty with them. This lady, -who had married one of the Princes Windischgrätz -had formed a friendship with Mrs. Abbott in her impulsive -youth when the American’s father had been -minister to Austria, renewing it when she returned as -the wife of a secretary of Legation. The young husband -had died in Vienna, and the Princess had shown -a sincere and spontaneous sympathy which cemented -their friendship into an intimacy where each might dare -to accept a favor from the other. She also extravagantly -admired the American’s toilettes, having a natural -and exquisite taste, and rebelling at the frequent necessity -to wear an old gown, soiled and frayed, perhaps, -under her load of family jewels. After her friend married -the chieftain of millions, she visited her in New -York and Newport, and was deeply impressed with a -style of living far more comfortable and luxurious than -anything in Europe, and quite as magnificent. Immobile -to a world whose existence she barely admitted, -with her own class she was simple and natural; and Mrs. -Abbott having acquired the same tactics in an early experience -of European courts, there was no marked external -difference between these two exalted dames, and -much in common. The friendship never waned, for Mrs. -Abbott was frequently in Europe, and was the first -American to dress in Vienna; when, therefore, she was -for once in a way confronted with a serious problem, the -Princess came gallantly to the rescue, and Alexandra<span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">[115]</span> -for three years lived in a palace immense and chilly, -but as full of old furniture and pictures as a museum, -and often of gay Hungarian relatives who played high -and slept late.</p> - -<p>The “Princess Sarolta,” as she was known to the elect, -was a woman of much heart and cynicism, of strong -loves and stronger hates. Without children of her own, -one of the deepest affections of her life had been for the -Archduke Rudolf. Her pet aversion had been the Empress, -whom she denounced as a mixture of the country -girl and the mystic, wholly unfit to wear a crown. She -never forgave her for being, not von Bayern, but in -Bayern; and when, in addition to the comparative insignificance -of her birth, the sweet and gentle but shy -and unhappy Empress treated a throne with contumely -and sought the consolations of the inner life, the Princess -became her most contemptuous enemy.</p> - -<p>To Ranata the Princess transferred the affection she -had given to Rudolf, although it was unmixed with the -enthusiasm inspired by the brilliant if reckless hope of a -house to which she was loyally devoted. When Alexandra -was left on her hands Rudolf was still alive, but -she was much interested in the rebellious little Archduchess, -who in looks and temperament was unlike her -mother or any of the recent Hapsburg women; and -partly out of sympathy, partly because it pleased her -to do one original thing in her life, she brought the two -children together on all their holidays.</p> - -<p>They promptly gave to each other their hoarded stores -of affection. Alexandra, lively, fearless, without awe of -rank, yet with too much inherited and inculcated taste to -take the wrong sort of liberty with the humblest of her -friends, seemed in the nature of a divine gift to a princess -who was never permitted to forget her rank by the -children of the court circle. These little girls came,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">[116]</span> -when invited, with phrases and sentiments carefully -drilled, their small minds already agitated by the possibility -of future favors. They bored and exasperated -their intelligent, if imperious and highly strung, hostess; -the more so that her courtesy must be unwavering, lest she -remind them of their inferiority in rank. But Alexandra -slapped her when she was angry, and hugged her when -the tide of her young and ardent affections rose, indulged -in ribald merriment at the rigid Spanish etiquette of the -court, the chill magnificence of the ceremonial rooms, -of the army of splendid guards and chamberlains and -lackeys, and the many other inconsistencies with the -daily democracy of the court-yards and the general external -dinginess and internal discomfort of the wealthiest -house in Europe. But to the Emperor she accorded -an unwavering respect, and she always amused him. -When, after the terrible loss of his only son—a tragedy -which practically banished his wife from his homes—Ranata -was first ill, then melancholy, clinging to her -chosen friend day and night, he had given his indifferent -consent to the American remaining in the Hofburg until -his daughter could live without her. That time had not -yet arrived, and although the incongruity of an American -inmate of the Hofburg sometimes entered the carefully -occupied brain of a monarch whose traditions would not -permit him to receive the bourgeoise wife of the greatest -of his subjects, and bade him ignore the distinguished -in art and letters, yet was he so grateful for any cause -that might lessen the problem of his youngest born that -he deferred indefinitely a half-cherished protest. He -believed Alexandra’s influence to be wholesome, and he -dreaded the scene which he knew must follow any attempt -to reduce the friendship to a more formal footing; -Ranata had pounded shrieking on his door more than -once.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">[117]</span>So the years had passed, the children had played and -studied together, and been satisfied with their lot, and -no specific excuse had ever arrived to interfere with an -arrangement to which even the Emperor became too -accustomed in time to question.</p> - -<p>After Alexandra’s physical trouble was over, Mr. Abbott -had insisted that she spend her summers on his -Hudson River estate, where he could see her daily, make -sure she passed the greater part of her time out of doors, -and preserved her Americanism. He had no objection -to her close friendship with the Hapsburg, for he had a -far-seeing eye, moreover fully appreciated the education -she would have under the royal tutors, the simple food -and habits, and, not of the least importance to this erratic -American father, the strict discipline to which the -heiress of many millions would be subjected. But he -invariably informed her, every year when he escorted -her to the steamer, that the first time she returned with -any “airs,” any reduction in the sum of her Americanism, -that would be the last she would see of her beloved -Ranata. Doubtless the advice was salutary, as all advice -is; but Alexandra from the first had perceived -the advantage her Americanism gave her over the born -subjects of royalty. Not only did her national exemption -from the courtier’s deference and her unconscious -indifference to future favors exercise a wild and picturesque -charm, but her exciting yarns of Western adventure, -spun for the most part out of a fertile imagination, -her astonishing games, labelled “American,” won -her the unswerving admiration of Ranata and almost -conquered the jealousies of the other little girls. As -she grew older she became fully aware that her influence -over the Archduchess, aside from the deep mutual affection, -lay in her fine careless independence and her utter -unlikeness to anything in Europe.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">[118]</span>The influence of the girls on each other was of mutual -benefit. The deep serious nature of the Archduchess, -with her centuries of storied impressions, her lofty sense -of duty, even in her most rebellious moments, did much -to remodel the lighter nature, the slenderer mental and -ethical equipment of the American girl. On the other -hand, the absolutely fearless outlook of Alexandra, her -unswerving American point of view and republican ideal, -combined, as she grew older, with a close knowledge of -European politics, her habit of thinking for herself, her -mere tolerance of Old World standards and traditions, -her eager interest in new thoughts and movements, -early awakened emulation in the brilliant Austrian, -made her eager to lengthen her vision, to comprehend -the thought of the more sensible of the liberated women -out in the world; finally taught her to project herself -beyond the royal horizon, to feel and to know how it -was with humanity in its multitudes.</p> - -<p>Alexandra watched the two personalities in her friend -grow and flourish coincidently; the one uncompromising, -traditional, bigotedly loyal to her house and condition; -the other tragically human, womanly, broad, generous, -passionate, sympathizing with the masses in their struggle -for happiness.</p> - -<p>As Ranata grew older, the two women in her held -many an excited controversy; there were hours of profound -depression, discouragement, rebellion, abhorrence -of the royal tread-mill, and a wild pagan love of mere existence. -Encouraged by Alexandra, she had taken an -early stand against matrimony. Twice, however, she -had submitted to her father’s wishes, and permitted herself -to be affianced; but one of her princes dying before -the wedding-day and the other disgracing himself, she -announced that she had now done all that could be expected -of her, and should be permitted to remain single.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">[119]</span> -The Emperor acknowledged the justice of her argument -and bided his time. Of his daughter’s intense inner life -he knew nothing, but he recognized that he had an -individual, not a mere princess, on his hands, and he -humored her as far as was in his power and consistent -with her conspicuous position. Liberty beyond palace -walls or royal enclosures was not to be considered; -tradition was tradition, even to the toothpicks on the -imperial table; moreover, although she bore no resemblance -to her mother, fate had spared her the growling -visage of the Hapsburgs, and, unlike most royal women, -she looked born to crown and purple. To the world she -was the princess, the goddess, a valuable asset for any -reigning house; and, tradition aside, the glorified ideal of -a vast and restless people must not be vulgarized, nor -even dimmed. But although she had her separate household -and a large income to spend on her wardrobe and -private fancies, the Emperor and his ministers had no -intention that a young, healthy, and beautiful princess -should carry out her romantic programme of being an -old maid. Happy in their ignorance of her resources, -they occasionally frowned over the shrinking list of -eligible princes. Early plans to place her on two of the -highest thrones in Europe had been frustrated by a -method so simple that neither the Emperor nor his advisers -had ever penetrated the mystery. Ranata had -treated each of the visiting young princes to a furious -exhibition of temper, which, taken in connection with -her red hair and American influences, appeared to them -to be of alarming domestic significance. The impression -was ineradicably fixed by the ingenious and terrible -tales poured into their ears by the fertile Alexandra.</p> - -<p>Men had loved her, but as men love a picture or a character -in history; they hardly knew her better, for she was -too proud for intrigue, and conversation in the presence<span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">[120]</span> -of a watchful court is neither sympathetic nor enlightening. -Moreover, her Obersthofmeisterin, the Archduchess -Maria Leopoldina, was the most anxious duenna -that ever had princess in charge, and the boldest officer -dared not brave that protecting wing.</p> - -<p>Ranata had her dreams, her ideals, but she found her -heroes in history; a few ballroom flirtations completed -the sum of her interest in mere mortals. Knowing that -earthly love and passion were not for her, she did what -she could to forget their existence, occupied her mind -and wearied her body. The cruel afflictions of her family -chastened her somewhat, but she still had her hours -of intense rebellion, caught her imagination on the wing -in a future which never before had risen on the horizon -of what is technically known as “the Great.”</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">III</h3> -</div> - -<p>“This is certainly an improvement on the Hofburg,” -said Alexandra. “It is the only palace I have ever -seen that looks like a palace, not a museum, barrack, or -hospital; and Budapest is as picturesque a setting for the -kings and queens one reads about in books. The Danube -is not blue, but it moves—it moves—and its islands -are certainly green. The illuminations last night looked -as if the stars had come down to kow-tow to the <i>Hohenzollern</i>. -He has indulged in much affectionate rhetoric, -but has not yet broken loose. I wonder if he will to-night?”</p> - -<p>“He is sure to, I should think. And I understand -that he fell on Count Andrassy’s neck this morning with -a rhapsody of Count Julius—to whom we certainly owe -the strongest tie that now binds Hungary to us. What -children the Hungarians are to be so flattered by this<span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">[121]</span> -visit! They could have shown no greater enthusiasm -for a Charlemagne.”</p> - -<p>“He is the one picturesque figure in Europe, my -dear.”</p> - -<p>“And the one man who could have outshone him is -dead! The Hungarians worshipped Rudolf; the peasants -will not believe that he is dead; but this romantic -hot-blooded people must be enthusiastic about somebody, -and my father is too old. William is young; he -looks the Emperor; he is as ambitious as Napoleon; there -is an idea abroad that he dangles the scales of Europe -in his fingers. Oh, if I had been born a man!”</p> - -<p>The two girls were standing on the balcony of the private -suite of apartments formerly occupied by the Empress -Elizabeth when playing the part of Queen of Hungary. -Down on their left, beyond the Danube with its -mighty bridges, was the beautiful and busy city of Pest. -Opposite them, on the most precipitous height of Buda, -were the ruins of the citadel. The palace, a vast and -symmetrical pile of nearly a thousand rooms, crowns the -lowest ridge of a mountain-range which slopes in irregular -masses to the river. Behind rises the long shoulder -of the Schwabenberg, its arm curved downward in the -north to grasp the Danube.</p> - -<p>The great hills were brilliant with autumnal color; -many boats were on the river; the world was promenading -on the corsos; the flags streaming from every window -were gayer than the woods. Far below, at the foot -of the Palace Hill, in one of the cafés on the quay, the -girls could hear the music of the Chardash, and held -their breath as its wild note of longing changed to furious -appeal.</p> - -<p>“This is living!” said Alexandra. “I feel romantic -for the first time in my life. Can’t we stay here?”</p> - -<p>“It is perfect. I should be happy—almost; content if<span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">[122]</span> -<i>he</i> were not here. But he must have taught the very -Hungarians the hollowness of their fictitious love for -my father. They have too much to forgive! They -never will forgive it. He is old. He has suffered greatly. -They pity him. That is all. And William knows -that. He has chosen this moment of uneasiness in -Europe to come here, looking the invincible young monarch, -bursting with arrogance and daring and the success -of his reign. No wonder the susceptible Hungarians -think him the chosen of God, and assured of infinite conquest. -Did you see the <i>Pester Lloyd</i> this morning? -‘<i>Till now it is the minds of the Hungarians which, with its -own mind, Emperor William knew how to conquer, but -he evidently knows as well how to conquer the hearts. -This he proved to-day once more, and we can only give him -the assurance that of all the languages in the world, it is -the language of the heart which in Hungary is best understood.</i>’ -Oh, if I were a man!”</p> - -<p>“I wouldn’t let a little thing like that stop me. Your -brain is as good as his, and you have all the courage of -all your ancestors. In more ways than one you are like -him who prompted the old bishop to cry, ‘Sit fast, Lord -God, or Rudolf will occupy thy throne!’ Times are -times, but I don’t believe that all your talents were given -to you for no purpose.”</p> - -<p>“I believe in the blind law of cause and effect. It is -only in my wildest moments that I have dreamed that -the first Rudolf and Maria Theresia circled low when I -was born and shook a bit of their golden dust into my -brain-cells—I hate to talk nonsense! Here come two -carriages across the bridge, the first of the guests, no -doubt. We had better go in, it is a quarter to five. -Mind you are careful not to allude to my father here as -‘The Emperor.’ That is a great point in Hungary.”</p> - -<p>“If fate ever should whirl you to the throne, Ranata,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">[123]</span> -for Heaven’s sake have dinner at a Christian hour. I -have indigestion for a month every time I come back -from America.”</p> - -<p>The girls, who had stepped out on the balcony in the -broad light of afternoon, ignoring the protests of Maria -Leopoldina, who, rather than carry the mausoleum of -her charms into the sunshine, had retired in dudgeon, -were dressed for a great banquet to be given at five -o’clock to the guest of the King of Hungary, the German -Emperor. The Archduchess, who, with some reason, -had come to the conclusion that life with her was to -be a sequence of weeds, interrupted by intervals of uncertain -duration, varied her black with white only. -Nevertheless, she was one of the best-dressed women in -Europe, and only her patient tire-women knew the infinite -range of her wardrobe. “I often sigh for color,” -she confided once to her American friend, “but I am -too superstitious to venture. And perhaps it is as well. -My rôle is the princess of the antique, the traditional -pattern. In white I look ready for a memorial window -or a bas-relief in the Augustin.” To which Alexandra -had replied practically, “To say nothing of the fact that -it makes your own coloring twice as strong as it would -be above a brilliant plumage.”</p> - -<p>Certainly the gown of white velvet embroidered with -pearls and silver which she wore to-day in honor of her -enemy enhanced her statuesque appearance, and gave -her sharp black brows, the scarlet of her lips, and the -brilliant masses of her hair an insolent effect of being -able to supply all the color that a dazzled beholder -could endure. The almost fierce incongruousness of her -coloring might have defeated her attempt to convince -the world that a mere princess dwelt within that virile -shell, had it not been for the cold regularity of an -Egyptian profile carried loftily above a form of antique<span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">[124]</span> -height and mould, and a skin so white that despairing -man had vowed there was sacrilege in the thought of -its being put to mortal use. Her gray eyes were alert -and so expressive that she had formed the habit of holding -them half closed, and her black lashes were very -thick. She had inherited her hands and feet from her -Spanish ancestors; while not out of proportion to her -great height, they were so finely fashioned that they -looked too small for serious work. Her trick of eyebrow -and shoulder, when animated, may have indicated the -persistence of the French blood brought in by Francis -of Lorraine. Nature, unspiteful for once to royal women, -had given her the infrequent best of her ancestors, and -even modified the not unpleasing nose that Elizabeth -of Brunswick had presented to the Hapsburgs. Ranata -had immense strength, had been ill but once in her life, -hardly ever had experienced the sensation of utter fatigue. -Her horsemanship was as remarkable as her -mother’s had been; and when she appeared in the Prater -beside the equally accomplished Emperor, it was a sight -that no man ever forgot. She broke in her own horses; -when in the country, frequently groomed and saddled -them. After Alexandra, they were her only intimates, -and she had known her keenest happiness when riding -eight hours of the day through the forests of Upper -Austria.</p> - -<p>Alexandra never accompanied the Archduchess on -her longer walks and rides. She was an accomplished -horse-woman and a resigned pedestrian, but she had -the frail physique of her race, and had been born of a -hard-working fashionable mother with none of that profound -sense of parental responsibility so ingrained in -the European from queen to peasant. She was handsome -rather than beautiful; her eyes were too analytical, -her mouth betrayed too pronounced a scorn of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">[125]</span> -shams of life, her whole expression was too keen and -humorous to compare victoriously either with the lofty -exalted style of the Archduchess Ranata Theresia or the -impassive harmonies of fashionable standards. But her -eyes and hair were the brown that took lights from the -sun, her features were delicate, high-bred, full of character -and energy. Her figure was light, round, active; -when compared with any but Ranata’s it was sufficiently -tall. In her way she was as complex as her friend of the -tremendous and conflicting elements drawn from every -civilization in Europe, but her salient and unquestioned -characteristics were loyalty and sincerity. She dressed -exquisitely, and the thousands she spent yearly in Vienna -had long since established her popularity.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">IV</h3> -</div> - -<p>Alexandra pressed her hand on the table in a flutter -of nerves, to which she was little accustomed. But they -had vibrated painfully more than once during the dinner, -although, with all her experience of courts, she had -rarely been present at so magnificent a scene. The -immense Throne Room, or Great Hall of Ceremonies, -of perfectly simulated yellow marble, relieved only -by white wood heavily incrusted with yellow bronze, -seemed to quiver in its flood of amber light. The three -chandeliers were huge inverted stacks of golden leaves, -with no false note of crystal. The few women present -were superbly dressed, and covered from crown to waist -with the jewels of centuries, but they made an indifferent -showing beside the barbarous magnificence of the -Hungarian magnates. Every other man at the table, -except the cardinals, was in uniform: the King, the -Archdukes, and the Emperor’s suite, in the Prussian;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">[126]</span> -the few members of his household whom Franz Joseph -had ventured to bring to the jealous capital of his most -uncertain possession, and the Grand Stewards of the -Archdukes, wore an Austrian uniform; and the Ambassadors -were in fullest dress. But it was evident that -the fiery independent spirit of the great nobles of Hungary -recognized no uniform except that of a glorious -extravagance. Their fancy ran riot in color, in textile, -in form. But whether in thick brocade, delicate or -gorgeous of hue, in cloth of gold or silver, in white satin -fitting like a cuirass and studded with jewels, or in silk -so heavily embroidered with gold that it creaked like -an armor; whether the long velvet cloak, trimmed and -lined with priceless fur, its embroideries representing -years of labor, its buttons and chains of big uncut jewels, -was worn, or used carelessly as a background, there was -nothing in Europe, not even in Russia, to compare with -them. The headpieces of fur, the plume fastened with a -jewelled rosette, were under their chairs, their high boots -and silken small-clothes were likewise eclipsed for the -hour, but there was more than enough of them to make -the great golden room look like a page of old Hungarian -history. So their ancestors had sat at Árpád’s table a -thousand years ago. The hair of these men might be -shorter, but it is doubtful if they varied in another external -detail. Their faces were mobile, excitable, sometimes -very clever. A few looked like men of the great -world, although in that costume it was difficult to look -like anything but the feudal lord ready on an instant’s -notice to blow the trumpet in his villages and lead his -bondsmen to battle.</p> - -<p>As their fiery glances wandered from the Archduchess -Ranata Theresia to the German Emperor, from the beautiful -woman who reminded them of their lost Rudolf to -the dashing young monarch they so passionately admired,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">[127]</span> -a man after their own indomitable Hungarian -hearts, they seemed to create an atmosphere of uneasiness, -of premonition. Alexandra could imagine their -swift transition from extravagant courtesy towards their -aged King into the wildest excitement of which the -modern man is capable; and endeavored to hope that -William would behave himself. The young magnate -on her right, Count Zrinyi, was evidently a very excitable -person. He had from various causes approached -the verge of explosion several times. Never having -met anything like this cool American girl, he had fallen -madly in love with her; the blood flew to and from his -face, his jewelled armor creaked, and twice he dashed -the tears from his eyes. Alexandra would have imagined -herself in one of the Nights of Arabia had it not been -for the intervals of rational conversation, when, seeing -himself mirrored in the clear eyes beside him, and fancying, -as many a wiser man has done, that it was a kindred -soul he saw, he had talked of the grievances of the -Hungarians and their determination to have their own -way in their own country. At present they were engaged -in the extermination of the hated German language -and the universal substitution of the Magyar. -It mattered nothing that less than half the population -of their country spoke Hungarian, that the spirit of -Roumania still hovered over the land beyond the Theiss, -that there were whole villages where the language was -never heard, and that Croatia and Slavonia hated them; -the intense national pride and spirit which had endured -for a thousand years, weathering every conquest, every -humiliation, as ardent under the two centuries of Turkish -rule as during the climax of their glory under Matthias -Corvinus, had gathered fuller strength since the -Revolution of ’48; and the determination was growing -daily to give emphasis in every possible way to the individuality<span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">[128]</span> -of this most individual of European states. -Let those pitch their tents in Hungary who would, but -they must learn and use the Hungarian language or -feel themselves the aliens they were—Austrian officers -not excepted.</p> - -<p>Alexandra yielded to an impulse, not so much of -coquetry as of curiosity; she expressed approval of his -patriotism in the beautiful Magyar tongue. She had -avoided German instinctively, and they had talked in -English—like most of his class he was accomplished in -many languages. For the moment she regretted her -experiment. He trembled violently and turned white. -It was then that he shed his first tear.</p> - -<p>“You are <i>not</i> cruel!” he murmured. “You have enraptured -me! How kind—how wonderful. It is said -to be the most difficult of tongues. Did you learn a few -words, perhaps, before coming to Hungary, knowing our -greatest weakness—”</p> - -<p>“Dear me, no. I studied Hungarian, as one of many -languages, with the Archduchess. She studied it as a -matter of course.”</p> - -<p>“That is a very practical explanation,” he said sulkily. -“If I had had time to think I should have known. -Queen Elizabeth,” he looked as if he would have raised -his plumed and jewelled <i>kalpag</i> had it not been under -his chair, “bewitched Hungary upon her first visit by -speaking perfectly the Magyar language. She took a -great fancy to a young Hungarian girl and invited her to -become a maid of honor, but when she discovered that -she had been educated in Paris and had almost forgotten -her native language she sent her home to learn it, and -would not receive her into her household again until she -was proficient. We have never forgotten that. And -Rudolf! it <i>was</i> his language—we refused to believe that -he knew how to speak German.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">[129]</span>“Do you regret Rudolf?” asked Alexandra, in the -tone she might have used to demand his opinion of the -soft music in the gallery. Again she had touched powder -with her wicked torch.</p> - -<p>“Regret Rudolf?—<i>Rudolf?</i>” He took himself in hand -and proceeded more calmly in a moment. “Mademoiselle, -I regret the Crown Prince, like many others, for personal -reasons, and, like the whole of my country, like all -Europe, in fact, for grave political reasons. He was so -warm, so genial, so fascinating—the best of good fellows, -the most simple and unostentatious of princes, and, what -all princes are not—we have one at this table, mademoiselle—a -gentleman to the core. He loved Hungary -as much as Hungary loved him. Had he lived there -would be no straining at the bit now; we should be content -to wait. Had he lived, there would be in Europe -to-day no uneasy anticipation of our poor old King’s -death. And not only could Rudolf make himself beloved -by everybody, but there have been few better brains -born to thrones—or in spheres where brains are more -abundant. He would have sown his wild oats, poor -chap!—and have made a great ruler. Then our guest -would have had a rival worthy of his mettle. Now he -has none.” With one of his abrupt transitions he continued: -“And such tact! In all the years that he came -to us and held his little court here in Buda, or was a -mere sportsman in his hunting-castle, he never made -a mistake. Do you know that the King actually has his -drinking-water brought from Vienna? And the very food -we are eating—and the cooks! Bah!—I’ll eat no more. -It is your fault, mademoiselle, that I did not think of -it sooner. I never go to Vienna. When he is here—our -King—I honor him, for he is old and good and kind—now!—but -you will acknowledge, mademoiselle, that -he insults us unnecessarily when he brings with him<span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">[130]</span> -water and meat, vegetables, fruits, to this land flowing -with milk and honey.”</p> - -<p>“Well, perhaps he does not like milk and honey. I -detest both myself. And while I am willing to admit -that your language is the most beautiful in the world—a -union of velvet and steel, of music and running water -and of the sonorousness of distant thunder—yet, my -dear Count, still will I give the palm to Vienna for -water. It always tastes and sparkles as if it were gushing -still from its springs in the mountains, and I am delighted -that the Emp—King brings it along.”</p> - -<p>The Hungarian looked at her speculatively. He was -not a fool, and recognized her difference from the women -to whom he was accustomed, although he did not -pretend to understand her. The mystery, and her curious -treatment of his love-making, made him more -thoughtful than usual. He was about to feel his way -towards a new channel of attack when his eyes encountered -the heavy black-framed visage of the King’s heir, -and his ardent brain leaped in a new direction.</p> - -<p>“Do you know what that man has done to-night?” -he murmured furiously. “He has left his wife at the -station in a railway carriage, while he dines here as the -guest of the King! I only pretend to touch his hand! -Do you call that a man—to make a woman his wife, the -mother of his children, and treat her like his mistress? -If he had not the courage to renounce his pretensions to -the throne and live like a gentleman, why did he marry -her? Would such a thing be done in your great country?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, well, we do not have morganatic marriages,” -said Alexandra soothingly. “It certainly was inconsistent -of him to marry her.”</p> - -<p>“It is very awkward for us. We acknowledge no -difference between husband and wife in Hungary. If<span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">[131]</span> -that man ever does come to the throne, his wife will be -our Queen—”</p> - -<p>“Rise!” said Alexandra, “the King is on his feet.”</p> - -<p>And now the King had made his pleasant toast to the -illustrious guest, the room had rung with enthusiastic -“<i>Élyens</i>,” and the German Emperor was facing his audience -in a stillness so profound that others besides Alexandra -longed to have him begin a speech which all knew, -from the defiant almost impish light in his eyes, was to -be something more than the voluble rhetoric commonly -heard at royal tables. He had been in the highest -spirits all the evening, joking with the King, at whose -right he sat in the middle of the long table, and with -every one else in his neighborhood, temporarily charming -even his avowed enemy, the Archduchess Ranata -Theresia, who sat on his right. In the light-blue and -white uniform of a general of the Austro-Hungarian -army, his breast covered with orders, he had never -looked handsomer; and in the atmosphere of approval -that he loved he was ready—everybody felt who knew -him—to do and dare anything. But the most expectant -were unprepared for his actual performance.</p> - -<p>He began at last, turning with deep respect to the -King, and a slight excitement was perceptible in his -strident tones.</p> - -<p>“It is with a feeling of the deepest gratitude that I -receive the hearty welcome of your Majesty. Thanks -to the invitation of your Majesty, I have been able to -visit this splendid town, whose grand reception nearly -overwhelmed me.” He paused as if again overcome by -the memory, then launched his first thunderbolt at the -tempestuous hearts of a people who but half a century -before had almost succeeded in wresting their great -kingdom from the monarch whose guests they were to-night—a -people whose fathers had died cursing the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">[132]</span> -name of Hapsburg, and petitioning Heaven for the success -of the Hungarian arms.</p> - -<p>“We are following at home,” announced the German -Emperor, “with <i>sympathetic interest</i> the story of the -knightly Hungarians, <i>whose patriotism has become proverbial</i>, -and who in a glorious past did not hesitate to -sacrifice their blood—for the holy cross,” he added with -pious haste. “Names like Zrinyi inspire the hearts of -German youths to the present day. We witnessed with -<i>sympathetic admiration</i> the festival of the thousandth -birthday, which the Hungarians, surrounding their beloved -King, celebrated with such astounding pomp. -The proud architectural works of your great city give -evidence of her artistic spirit, and the bursting of the -bonds of the Iron Gates has opened a new way for commerce, -and <i>has ranged Hungary as an equal among the -great and the most highly civilized nations of the Earth</i>.”</p> - -<p>By this time the Hungarians were heaving like the -sea. They had left their seats and were pressing towards -the Emperor, silently, that they might not lose a -word of his utterance; and it was evident that only etiquette -restrained their emotions. Never before, not in -modern times at least, had a monarch so flattered them. -Not for centuries had they been saluted as a practically -independent state, unhyphenated, for once permitted to -stand alone under the crown of St. Stephen, the hated -double-headed bird brushed lightly aside. The air -seemed shaking with deep political import; more than -one man was trembling violently within his barbaric -splendors. The Emperor pulled himself up abruptly, -and turned once more to his host, whose face, indignant -and aghast, composed itself suddenly to courteous attention. -William’s tones had been rich with sympathy -for a race passionately admired. They now softened -with filial affection. “But what has made the deepest<span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">[133]</span> -impression upon me, particularly during my reception -in Budapest, is the enthusiastic devotion of Hungary -to your Majesty. And not only here, but in all Europe, -above all among my own people, does the same enthusiasm -for your Majesty glow—an enthusiasm which -I venture myself to cherish, in looking up, after the -manner of a son, to your Majesty as my Fatherly -Friend.</p> - -<p>“Thanks to your Majesty’s wisdom, our union stands -firm and unquenchable, a blessing to our people; for it -has meant the peace of Europe for many years, and it -will continue to do so for many more.</p> - -<p>“Enthusiastic devotion to your Majesty—of this I am -sure—dwells as firmly now in the hearts of the sons of -Árpád as when they cried to your Majesty’s great ancestor, -‘<i>Moriamur pro rege nostro!</i>’”</p> - -<p>He paused a moment before crying the hurrah for the -King, which all present expected as a matter of course -would be given in German. But William, under that -apparently tactless exterior, capable of the profoundest -diplomacy, had a still surer bolt in store. Raising his -goblet on high, his eagle glance flashing from end to -end of the pale company, his passionate tones thrilling -the most antagonistic heart present, he cried:</p> - -<p>“Giving expression now to these sentiments, we will -put all we are capable of feeling, thinking, and praying -for your Majesty into those words which every Hungarian -utters with his latest breath—<i>Élyen a Király!</i>”</p> - -<p>As the words rang out in the Magyar language, so -jealously beloved and preserved, from the lips of a -monarch whom duty had never commanded to cope with -its difficulties, the tongue the King, his host, ignored, -there was an instant of almost stupefied silence. Then -some one gave an <i>Élyen!</i> as wild and abrupt as a battle-cry, -the spell broke, the hot blood of the Hungarians<span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">[134]</span> -leaped to their heads, they forgot etiquette and crowded -about the Emperor, shouting until the marble walls -rumbled the echo. Their wild glances never wandered -to the convulsed face of their King, nor from the triumphant -eyes of the German. Several of the younger men -and equally excited women stood upon chairs that they -might see him better. Then for the first time in that old -palace there rang out the word most hated in Hungary, -“<i>Élyen a császar! Élyen a császar!</i>” (Hurrah for the -Emperor!) Then again that most musical and thrilling -of vocatives, “<i>Élyen! Élyen! Élyen!</i>”</p> - -<p>Alexandra took her Count firmly by the arm and -pushed him into a chair. “You don’t look very strong,” -she said, “and you will faint if you are not careful.” -Her own knees were trembling as she took the chair beside -him, but she proceeded coolly, “What an infant you -are to be taken in by the cleverest man in Europe—”</p> - -<p>“He is the greatest man living,” stammered Zrinyi. -“This is a great moment in the history of Hungary, -mademoiselle. It should be painted and hung beside -Munkacsy’s <i>Árpád</i>, or the <i>Sally of Zrinyi from Szigetvár</i>. -He is the man for us!—the man for us!”</p> - -<p>“I don’t doubt every mustache in Budapest will stand -on end to-morrow. What a pity you have none.”</p> - -<p>“Mademoiselle!” he cried, outraged at her flippancy; -but she was moving away.</p> - -<p>She had looked once at Ranata during William’s speech. -The Archduchess, as the Hungarians pushed forward, -had withdrawn from the Emperor’s side and stood leaning -against the wall, her head bent, her arms rigid. Her -face was expressionless, but, Alexandra commented, her -hair had never looked so red.</p> - -<p>William, as the King, experiencing satiety, led the way -to the reception-rooms, turned his head rapidly in all -directions, taking a final survey of the scene of his latest<span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">[135]</span> -triumph. His glance roved over faces angry, approving, -terrified, adoring; encountered the amused stare of the -American with haughty indifference, then rested suddenly -on the face of his young hostess. The Archduchess -had dropped her mask. Her head was thrust forward, -deliberately waiting for the moment when William’s -eyes must meet hers. When they did they lingered. -The Hapsburg’s eyes blazed with a hatred so implacable, -with a defiance so reckless and contemptuous, that -the Almighty’s best-beloved experienced a shock. It -seemed to him, for the first time in his triumphant career, -that he heard the steel of another will clash menacingly -with his own. Sustained in his dizziest flights by his -honest belief in his earthly mission, insolently aware that -he had the best brain in the royal hierarchy, the most -splendid energy, a capacity for work never surpassed, -he was fully convinced that he had but to develop his -gifts, use all his vigilance and what patience he could -find in him, to realize his vast ambitions. But for the -moment, in the presence of another human will, and -that the will of a woman, he experienced a chill rising of -the imperial flesh. He forgot his majesty, flung his head -high like an irritated stallion, glared back his defiance, -and jerked his eyes away. In a moment he was reminded -of his manners.</p> - -<p>“Your arm, your Majesty,” said the cold voice of his -hostess; and in silence, but with an impressive exhibition -of royal self-control, they walked side by side through -the first circle-room into the blue drawing-room. He -was mightily uncomfortable, however, for in some subtle -feminine way she made him feel as if she were towering -above him by nearly a foot. It seemed to him that she -grew an inch with every step, that her little crown of -black pearls was rising higher and higher; and when -he finally shot an apprehensive glance upward, almost<span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">[136]</span> -laughing aloud at his folly, he was relieved to find that -her nose was still on a level with his brow. But she was -making the most of her height, which, with the diadem -on her lofty head and the immense train dragging behind -her, would have made a man of her own inches look -insignificant. It is doubtful if William ever breathed -deeper relief than when, a few moments after arriving -in the drawing-room, he was informed that the carriages -were waiting to take himself and his suite to the train, -and that he must make his adieux.</p> - -<p>The guests had scattered through the long line of -rooms. Many went out upon the balcony to watch the -royal carriages and mounted escort cross the illuminated -bridge, and the roar of cheering thousands seemed storming -the hill. The royal party retired almost immediately, -and Alexandra followed the Archduchess to the sitting-room -of her private apartments. Ranata’s ladies -had been dismissed, and she had closed the dressing-room -door on her tire-women. She was standing alone at the -window sobbing convulsively. The room was ringing -with <i>Vivats</i> and <i>Élyens</i>, for it was too hot to close the -windows.</p> - -<p>Alexandra pushed her into a chair, removed the pins -and pearls from the heavy mane of hair, and sprayed her -head and wrists with cologne. In a few moments the -Archduchess had commanded her tears. She threw -back her head and looked down upon shouting Pest with -a sullen glare.</p> - -<p>“What wouldn’t I have given to be able to wring his -neck!” she said in a moment. “How dared he! At my -father’s table! What insolent cruelty—he, who need -fear no one living—to come here and fling his dynamite -into the weak foundations of this poor old Empire! I -wish to God I were on the thrones of Austria and Hungary. -I’d pit myself against him without a qualm.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">[137]</span> -It would be two of our ancestors over again and joy in -the fight—I believe that in one of his exalted moments -he enrolled Frederick the Great among his ancestors.”</p> - -<p>“Well,” began Alexandra, but Ranata did not hear -her. She had risen and was standing in the middle of the -room, her long hair flaming about her. To the American -girl, her quivering slender figure looked ready for a coat-of-mail, -her head for the helmet. “I can’t help admiring -the brute for flinging his designs in our faces,” she exclaimed -furiously. “Did my father understand? The -Hungarians?—The Emperor dies. Franz Ferdinand—<i>Franz -Ferdinand!</i>—succeeds him. The Empire, bound -together by rotten threads, begins its disintegration -with my father’s corpse. Do you remember the rapacity -of Europe, that greedy horde of vultures, after the -death of Charles VI.?—Frederick’s swoop upon Silesia? -William, ‘in the manner of a son,’ only awaits the death -of his ‘Fatherly Friend’ to devour Austria to the gates -of Vienna. And Hungary? Could you not see his bait? -Hungary quiescent—Hungary once more an independent -kingdom, or with himself as its nominal and indulgent -ruler!—Oh, for another Pragmatic Sanction!”</p> - -<p>“I have a plan—if you will sit down quietly for a few -moments and listen to me. It is a practical plan, and I -know it will appeal to you.”</p> - -<p>The Archduchess resumed her seat. “Well? Tell it -to me quickly. I am panting for a practical idea. But -the blood is blazing in my head.”</p> - -<p>“William has made a deep impression on the Hungarians, -and no doubt they understood him plainly enough. -But impressions can be counteracted. He leaves here -to-night, and your father will be in no hurry to invite -him again. Do you remain here this winter, instead -of returning to Vienna with the Emperor—announce -that you have found no city so fascinating, that you<span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">[138]</span> -cannot tear yourself away; entertain constantly and -brilliantly; let loose all your bottled personal charm—show -them that you are the sister of Rudolf; be seen in -public; make a royal pilgrimage through the villages. -The Hungarians resent unceasingly that the Emperor -spends but a few weeks of the year in Budapest—and -they look upon Austria as a mere annex of the great kingdom -of Hungary. They will be flattered—your slaves; -with your personality, if you will come down off your -high horse, they will end by adoring you—especially if -you give them a royal good time. So much for the present. -When the time comes! When the time comes! -When the Empire shakes and William threatens, all you -will have to do will be to have a King’s Mount ready, fasten -the crown of St. Stephen securely on your head, ride -up the mount, and wave your sword to the four corners -of the earth. All Hungary would break into deficient -Latin and shout, ‘Long live our Lady and King!’ The -dust of Maria Theresia would quiver at that old war-cry—and -she is no more forgotten here than in Austria. -You will be a fool if you throw away the greatest opportunity -ever offered to a woman cursed with royal -blood.”</p> - -<p>“It would almost be like meditating an act of usurpation,” -muttered the Archduchess; but her head was -thrust forward, her eyes were glittering. “But the alternative!—who -knows? It might be for the best. It -may be my destiny. These Hungarians! There are no -people in the world so easy to arouse by appealing, -not to their nerves and passions, but to their chivalry -and highest ideals.” She stood up again in her excitement. -“Do you remember when Maria Theresia, desperate -and almost helpless, with Europe sucking at every -vein of the Empire, the Austrian army an army of corpses—do -you remember when she came here, young, beautiful,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">[139]</span> -pregnant, eloquent, and appealed to Hungary to -save her, how the magnates not only went off their heads -and cried that they would die for her, but inspired more -than their own retainers with their enthusiasm?—until -from every mountain, from regions so remote that William -had never heard of them, there poured down tribes -so wild and terrible that Europe fled in dismay. If Austria -exists to-day, she owes it to Hungary—and no Hapsburg -since Maria Theresia has ever acknowledged the -debt. And again—when Napoleon bribed and my great-grandfather -appealed, how they spurned the one and -poured out their blood for the other—who was neither -picturesque nor grateful. Throughout their history the -Hungarian character has been astonishingly consistent, -their nationalism has been as unwavering, in spite of -conquests and immigrations, as that of your own countrymen. -They are as independent as republicans and -as loyal as the British. But it makes them the easier -for tact and diplomacy to manage. If I convinced them -that I really loved them, that I was capable of the right -sort of rule—oh, go now. I will think all night. Come -down early, will you?”</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">V</h3> -</div> - -<p>When Alexandra presented herself at the door leading -to the apartments of the Archduchess at ten o’clock on -the following morning, she was informed by the groom -of the chambers that her Imperial Highness awaited her -in the “Hungarian House.” Her arms were full of -newspapers and her eyes sparkled with excitement. -She ran down the little staircase just beyond the door -and out upon the first terrace, blinking in the brilliant -sunshine, but pausing to look at the cool gray Danube, -the splendid bridges, the gay city opposite; then wandered<span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">[140]</span> -about aimlessly for a few moments, her enjoyment -still keen in the freedom of the Hungarian atmosphere, -the unapproachable beauty of Buda, ancient city of -kings. The hill which the palace crowns is so abrupt -that its many terraces have the effect of the hanging -gardens of old; and its pillared galleries of white stone, -its wide and narrow flights of steps leading down the -steep hill-side, through parterres of flowers or thickets of -green to the great gates on the Danube, its upright unshaded -lawns and winding ways lost in romantic gloom -seduce the imagination away from the crimes that have -been committed within the fair walls above, the prisoners -that have languished in the dungeons beneath. -When the most dazzling of suns floods the tremendous -white front of the palace, with its carved and pillared -rotunda, its straight and stately wings, the one bit of -color in the crown of St. Stephen above; when the statues -of kings seem quivering with life and the water of the -fountain flies upward in an eager bursting of its bonds to -leap outward on all sides and rush back as eagerly, in -a confused and glittering mass of foam and spray, then -must the most casual sojourner in the city of Pest, -smoking his cigar in the shades of its corso, comprehend -the proud spirit of Hungary. The royal palace of Buda -is the embodiment of that pride, personal and national, -the glorified symbol of a thousand years of steady and -upward persistence, while battling with every misfortune -that can assail a devoted nation.</p> - -<p>“No wonder Kossuth lost his head when he was lord -here for a few minutes,” thought Alexandra. “If he -hadn’t—if he had sent Görgei on to Vienna—well, may -I be in at the next death!”</p> - -<p>She descended a wide flight of marble steps on the left -of the palace, then another, and approached the little -“Hungarian House,” built into a portion of the ancient<span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">[141]</span> -wall, almost hidden by trees as old. It was a gay little -tea-house of primitive Hungarian architecture, its inner -walls decorated with panels of native embroidery, the -whole effect light, Oriental, frivolous.</p> - -<p>Two of Ranata’s ladies were reading under a tree nearby. -The Archduchess was alone in the one room of the -house. Her eyes were heavy. It was evident that she -had slept little. They flashed, however, and she suddenly -sat erect as she saw the newspapers.</p> - -<p>“Ah!” she exclaimed sharply. “What do they say? -I did not care to send for them, myself.”</p> - -<p>Alexandra threw herself into a chair and rattled the -journals viciously. “I have come to read you a few -select extracts. Oh, he hit the mark—hit it in the bull’s-eye! -I am told they are in such a state of enthusiasm -and excitement over there that if he hadn’t left last -night he wouldn’t have been able to get out of Hungary -at all. Here’s the first gun: ‘The majestic words will -find an echo in all parts of Hungary, which will ever remain -in the debt of the great Hohenzollern, who has forever -conquered the soul of every Hungarian; ... the love -and gratitude of the Hungarian nation will follow the -guest of our King wherever he goes.’ But that is mere -rhetoric. Listen to this: ‘In every line there is so much -heart and so much sympathy with the Hungarian nation, -its glorious past as well as its promising future, that it -seems not the language of politics only, but of a loving -friend, on whose well-meaning we may ever rely! Perhaps -it will give cause for reflection in those parts of the -German Empire which have been prone, without cause, -to cast blame upon Hungary, now that they see with -how great a sympathy the German Emperor expresses -himself in our behalf.’ Here is another: ‘As a political -assurance it is the grandest which ever came from the -lips of the Emperor William himself.... Many wounds<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">[142]</span> -are healed by those words, which put an end to such -calumny.’ There are two more. Of course there are -columns, but I have marked the significant extracts. -‘The toasts of yesterday will be written in the annals -of the nation with letters of gold, and sustain and rejoice -the soul of future generations. No Hungarian will read -the warm and inspired words of the German Emperor -without a joyful and a burning heart. No strange monarch -has ever spoken to our nation with so much feeling.’ -This is the last: ‘Where did the German Emperor -find those colors for his palette? Why, they are our -own colors! Where did he find that tune? It is the -pulse of our own hearts! God bless this great monarch, -who knows so well how to appreciate our -striving country! We utter these words of parting -to him with a never-dying gratitude!’ There you -are!”</p> - -<p>“I tasted gall with every word, but I am glad they -have been printed, for they will help me to accomplish -my object. I need strong arguments—my request to -remain here alone will be a tremendous innovation. I -shall send these to my father at once, that he may have -read them before our interview. They may or may -not have been shown to him. If I personally request -it, he is sure to read them, no matter who is at his -elbow.</p> - -<p>“The sole consolation,” she continued after a moment, -“is that William is not a Catholic. I doubt if -the Hungarians would ever accept a Protestant king. -Perhaps if Kossuth had been a Catholic he would have -been stronger in his exile.”</p> - -<p>“William may have to turn Catholic yet, or Socialist, -to keep his throne and get all the other things he wants. -Surely religion—the incidental husk of it—cannot mean -much to a brain like that.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">[143]</span>“He would never let the Jesuits rule him,” said the -Archduchess bitterly. “They have been the curse of -the Hapsburgs, and their restoration constitutes Metternich’s -chief claim to infamy. But their power over -rulers in this enlightened age is incredible—perhaps, -however, royalty is not so much enslaved by the Church -as by its ancestors. Even I, to whom the Catholic -Church is but one of many inherited forms, long since -rejected by pride and reason—even I am sometimes -the victim of that ancient sea of superstition that murmurs -in the soul. I can see my father wash the feet of -the poor and feel nothing but amusement. I can see -him march bareheaded in the Corpus Christi procession, -and only fear that he will get a sunstroke—his face -was purple last June. But there are times in the cathedral, -on great occasions of ceremony, when the mysterious -colored dimness, the long sonorousness of priests, -the glorified pageant, the divine music, and the intoxicating -incense seem to liberate all the ghosts in my soul -and send them to my head. Then I have a confused -sensation of being in a past century—old doors are -opened, old ecstasies, terrors, desires, creep forth. I -long to prostrate myself and grovel, to scourge myself -into a spiritual delirium, to feel the foot of the Church -on my neck. Then creep out the old lusts of cruelty, -of tyranny, of torture—what a mere ghost of power a -civilized monarch has to-day! Can you imagine that -there have been moments in my life when I regretted -that?—when, under the spell of Holy Church, I have, -for a moment, been a composite of the worst of my ancestors?”</p> - -<p>“You are always picturesque, and you always make -me rejoice that I am an American and not descended -in the royal line. But I am astonished that you ever -permit your reason, your personality, to be submerged<span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">[144]</span> -in such a fashion! I should think if there was one woman -who could seal up her ancestors and leave them to -moulder where they belong, it was yourself. You are -not morbid, except in erratic, incidental, ancestral -streaks.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t think I am morbid in the usual sense, for I -have too good an appetite and take too much exercise. -But I am bound to have deeps and fissures in my soul, -for the centuries have cut them there; and what <i>must</i> be -in them sometimes affects my imagination. And my ancestors -have a curious fascination for me—the idea that -they may or may not have the power to shape the destinies -of the living. There have been moments when -I have been disposed to prostrate myself amid the remains -of their mortal part in the crypt and demand their -intercession. Did you know that Maria Theresia used -to make her daughters, on the eve of marriage, go down -into the crypt alone at night and pray among the coffins -of their ancestors? There have been times—very rarely—when -that idea has appealed to me with an almost -irresistible force.”</p> - -<p>“For Heaven’s sake stay here in Budapest, where you -can live in the sun. You have grown mouldy in the -Hofburg this last year, and your ancestors have had it -all their own way. I thought you had got over that -sort of nonsense long ago. This is the result of William -and a sleepless night.”</p> - -<p>The Archduchess laughed. “Perhaps. I am willing -to suppose that my predecessors have troubled me less -all these years than they might have done without the -fatal antidote of your American humor. Nevertheless, -I have no right to be faithless to them, and I would -not forget them if I could. And I find them much more -satisfactory to contemplate than most of my living relatives, -who, as a rule, have neither morals nor brains.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">[145]</span>“I agree with you there. When Death lays his iron -hand upon a mortal’s power to bore, his virtues rise and -sit upon the corpse. That is the secret of the superstition -which makes us think kindly of the dead. Do you -mind if I read a letter from Fess? I have been too excited -even to open it.”</p> - -<p>“Pray do.” Ranata smiled with both sympathy and -interest. Then she sighed. “I believe your brother -is the only person I envy—I mean the only person -I’d be if some fairy would bid me choose. He -has his destiny in his own hands. He has done such -wonderful things! He is famous and powerful; his -future holds the most astounding possibilities—and he -is only thirty-one! Oh, your America! Where will -you stop? And what will you do to poor old Europe?”</p> - -<p>“Now you’re talking! Come down out of your -niche, with the worm-eaten past behind it, and identify -yourself with us. Therein lies your only salvation. -William and my brother have some great scheme -on foot; I don’t know what, but I know that -much from a few words I happened to overhear between -Fess and my father. William and Fessenden! -They could turn the world upside down if they chose! -Well?”</p> - -<p>The Archduchess was leaning forward, her eyes blazing. -“An alliance between William and your brother?” -she exclaimed. She composed herself with a manifest -effort, and added: “It is really remarkable—I know -your father and Mrs. Abbott so well, and yet your -brother—I have never seen him—not even his picture. -You say those cuts in the newspapers during your war -with Spain—”</p> - -<p>“Were probably a composite of Roosevelt, John -Jacob Astor, and Cervera. Fess, like my father, has<span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">[146]</span> -never had his picture taken. He hasn’t the patience, -and says he has no desire to display his weak side to the -world—that the weak side of a man is more likely to -come out in his photographs than not. It is hardly -remarkable that you have not met him. First those -years in South America, putting blood and iron in place -of wind inside the Monroe Doctrine; since then he has -had too much to do at home to come to Europe, except -for two months in summer, when he brings a canoe and -a knapsack. About his only other recreation has been -the Spanish War. But this letter has the Berlin postmark. -I thought he had gone back. Let me see what -he has to say.”</p> - -<p>She glanced through the short letter. “He is not -going back at present. He has one of his periodical -attacks of disgust for business and details, and will -tramp over here for a month or two longer.”</p> - -<p>“Ask him to come here—to Budapest,” said the Archduchess -sweetly. “It is high time we met. And as he -is the most distinguished of young Americans, I should -like him to be one of my court. I intend to have the illustrious -of all sorts about me here, in art, in letters, in -music, and irrespective of noble birth. I intend to show -Europe what a court should be.”</p> - -<p>“You <i>have</i> thought it out! And the Emperor? Are -you sure? It is my turn to have misgivings. He will -see many objections. There is no one so rigid in his -traditions.”</p> - -<p>“I shall stay,” said Ranata shortly. “He would never -go so far as to follow some illustrious examples and shut -me up. If the worst comes to the worst, I’ll threaten -to go to America and live there.”</p> - -<p>“Good! At last my seeds are showing their little green -heads. Now I know you will succeed in whatever you -put your brain to. You may count on me. I’ll even<span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">[147]</span> -engage to help you alienate Fessenden’s affections from -William, and he is devoted to him.”</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">VI</h3> -</div> - -<p>The private apartments of the King, at the southwestern -extremity of the palace, correspond with the -suite on the southeastern corner, which had been furnished -for his wife, and was now occupied by Ranata. -He had sent his daughter word that he would receive her -alone at four o’clock, and when she was announced he -was standing on the balcony, looking down into the -distant street behind the palace. There were excited -groups of people in the street, and he guessed of what -they talked. From the many old houses, fine and simple, -on the still loftier hill which faced him, and from -neighboring slopes above and about, from the villas on -the precipitous heights of the Schwabenberg, the flags -still floated, and it seemed to him that the German outnumbered -the Austrian in the ratio of three to one. As -he turned to greet his daughter, she saw that his face -was more harassed than usual, but he advanced with the -grace and courtesy which, even in his old age, were unsurpassed -in Europe. The years which had robbed his -heavy Hapsburg features of what beauty youth may -have lent them had spared his light erect figure, his exquisite -hands and feet. His genial eyes kindled at sight -of Ranata, but he kissed her lightly and handed her to -a chair. Had she been born twenty years earlier she -might have been his idol, and as it was he admired no -woman more and was proud of her. But not only had -misfortunes, humiliations, reverses of every sort, and -the cruellest personal afflictions that in number and -degree have ever assailed a monarch atrophied his heart,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">[148]</span> -but he feared to find even the eidola of happiness in this -gifted creature, lest the knife be driven into the responsive -breast and his own earthly expiation of the -sins of all his ancestors be the more complete. His ancient -habit of temperate affection for his older and married -daughters excited no misgivings. But if Ranata -had never been permitted to know him intimately -enough to love him, she sympathized with and admired -him. If enthusiasm, hope, passion, were dead within -him, he was equally without bitterness, without resentment, -without jealousy, and in theory, at least, without -indifference to the least of his subjects. Even the -cruel insult of the day before had not stirred him to -anger. He had lost and lost and lost from the day he -had ascended the throne, and the driving of Austria -from the Germanic Confederation, and substitution in -supremacy of Prussia, must forever be associated with -his name. In William’s brief career Germany had been -reorganized, strengthened, incredibly promoted in industrial -importance. William received an occasional -snub and reminder that he was two-thirds mortal, but -to associate the idea of failure with him was as unthinkable -as to imagine him in the robes of a monk -praying for humility. Personally the Emperor and King -could afford to pass his pyrotechnics by with a smile, -but there was more to consider than his own sensations, -and he was meditating an early retreat that he might -consult with his Austrian ministers.</p> - -<p>The room, with its olive walls and its lowered awnings, -was cool and dim, but Ranata deliberately rose and -placed her chair where the light would fall fullest upon -her. Then she turned her powerful gray eyes on the -Emperor, and he moved slightly; like the rest of the -world, he usually saw his daughter’s eyes through their -lashes, and it was now at rare intervals that he was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">[149]</span> -reminded of the problem of his youngest born. He -suddenly remembered that when he was, the laurels -fell from his brow, and involuntarily he braced himself.</p> - -<p>“I need not ask you, sir,” began Ranata, “if you -recognized the calculation under William’s impetuosity -last night. There is no doubt that he made the deepest -possible impression on the Hungarians, that, if present -conditions continue, no other subject will be discussed -for months to come in this dissatisfied country, even to -its remotest villages. At first I was merely humiliated, -enraged, terrified. But I have thought all night, sir, -and I have reached the conclusion that I have it in my -power not only to obliterate the impression he has made, -but to create one deeper and more persistent. His, he -may not have the opportunity of renewing—you certainly -are under no obligation to ask him here again. -This is my plan: let me live here and keep the Hungarians, -from magnates to peasants, constantly reminded of -the great love they bear you. If I can make them love -me, so much stronger will the bond be between this restive -country and Austria.” She leaned forward and spoke -as solemnly as if taking an oath of allegiance. “I know -that if I am given my way I can preserve this state to the -Empire, avert the calamity which all Europe expects to -follow your death. I am willing to pledge every hour -of my life to this great mission. I believe that every -human being is put on earth to be of use in some form or -other. Assuredly usefulness—to the uttermost moment—is -demanded of us. So far I have accomplished no destiny -whatever, and I do not for a moment believe that -I had so many of the characteristics of my house concentrated -in me for no purpose—although in endeavoring -to find reconciliation to my lot I have sometimes -argued myself into a belief of the blind law of cause and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">[150]</span> -effect. But I do not believe in it. I am here for a purpose, -and the time has come for the accomplishment of -that purpose. <i>I will not marry.</i> I am quite well aware -that it is your intention to arrange an alliance for me before -my thirtieth birthday; but there is no mortal power, -sir, that can force me to the altar. I make no threats. -I have no intention of resorting to any desperate measures. -I am strong enough in myself. I simply will not -marry. But I now represent a sinful waste of high usefulness. -Moreover, the emptiness and monotony of my -life have become quite unbearable. I ask that I may be -permitted to exert, for the good of my country, the best -of those qualities which have come to me from yourself -and my ancestors.”</p> - -<p>The Emperor stared at her for a moment without -speaking. He was as astonished as it was in his power -to be at anything. Then he gave her the answer she -expected.</p> - -<p>“It is a subject for deep thought on my part, my dear -child. A week from to-day I will give you my decision. -Meanwhile there is no reason why you should not remain -here if you desire it.” Then, as Ranata merely -continued to transfix him with her determined eyes, he -continued hastily: “It is a great and generous idea, and -I am much gratified to learn that you take so deep an -interest in your house. I had thought you absorbed in -books and horses. But are you sure you would not pine -in this strange country? Remember, you would be -obliged to send all your Austrian ladies home, and surround -yourself with Hungarians. I, as you know, hardly -dare to bring an aide among these people, so fierce in -their national pride. The women are as proud as the -men, and very independent, quite unused now to leadership -of any sort. Every Hungarian woman in the -higher aristocratic circles is a sort of queen, is a social<span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">[151]</span> -law unto herself. You are accustomed to the courtier, -to the flexible—”</p> - -<p>“I am sick of it! And as tact is one of the prerogatives -of royalty, I hope you will give me credit for my -share. As for being lonesome, nothing on this earth -can ever approach the suicidal ennui I have experienced -in the Hofburg. As for Schönbrunn, I loathe the -sight of it. This change is necessary, sir. Moreover, -Alexandra will be with me. And if there were -drawbacks—do you think your daughter is the person -to consider trifles when a great object is to be -gained?”</p> - -<p>The Emperor’s eyes happened to rest on her hair. It -flamed against his green walls. “Red-haired women -are dangerous,” he thought. “It is well to keep them -occupied. Why on earth doesn’t she marry?” Aloud -he repeated, “A week from to-day, Ranata, you shall -have my answer.”</p> - -<p>Ranata, having spent her first round, was content -to retire. She knew that a definite answer was not -to be thought of until the Emperor had asked the -advice of his ministers. “But the idea made an impression -on him, no doubt of that,” she informed -Alexandra, whom she met in the garden. “And so -did I. If I didn’t tell him I would stay here whether -or no, I don’t think he has any doubt of my intention. -If he won’t give his consent, I’ll spend all my -money and all yours; and his refusal of the necessary -allowance is the worst he would do, for he wants no -more scandals. To remove me by force—and I’d -leave Hungary in no other fashion—would be to make -the world believe I was mad, and he has had enough -of that. Besides, poor man, I made him think I should -go mad if I didn’t have my head for a while.”</p> - -<p>“We are a wicked unprincipled sex when we want<span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">[152]</span> -our own way,” commented Miss Abbott. “But to -get it—that is the main thing; especially when there -is a good and great end in view.”</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">VII</h3> -</div> - -<p>On the following Thursday Ranata was not surprised -to receive a note from her father asking her to grant an -audience to his minister Count von Königsegg, who -went to Budapest for the purpose.</p> - -<p>“Now for it!” exclaimed Alexandra. “Of course he’s -brought a corkscrew. Are your brain-cells hermetically -sealed?”</p> - -<p>“His corkscrew will do him no good. Nevertheless, -I feel a certain apprehension—feminine, I suppose. He -is the one person who has done me the honor to believe -that I might play with politics in a manner to disconcert -his clever manipulation of my father, and I have -shown my dislike of him by ignoring his existence, as -far as possible. He detests me; nevertheless, if I am -able to convince him that I have no purpose behind the -one I have advanced, I believe he will make no opposition -to my plan: he has no desire to see William in the -Hofburg and himself in obscurity. He will not have -the least objection to using me—he is the sort to feel -quite sure that a woman can be disposed of the moment -a man sees fit. But if he thought that I had any ulterior -design—”</p> - -<p>“Try American diplomacy on him if you get in too -deep—speak out bluntly and agitate his guile. Let him -squirm himself into a corner, and then tell him to speak -out or get out.”</p> - -<p>“I sometimes feel half an American,” said the Archduchess -Ranata Theresia.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">[153]</span>Down the long front of the southeast wing of the -palace is a suite of some ten or twelve rooms, large and -small, beginning with the private dining-room and finishing -with the red reception-room. The yellow Throne -Room, or Great Hall of Ceremonies, runs parallel, occupying -the width of the circle-room and audience-chamber, -which flank it at one end, and of the circle-room and -blue drawing-room of its southern termination. From -this last circle-room opens another, which in turn leads -to the private apartments occupied by the Queen of -Hungary when there is one. The windows of these -apartments, closed during the clouded last years of -Elizabeth’s life and since her death, were now open to -the sun; the hangings were losing their musty odor, and -the numerous belongings of Ranata had already obliterated -the little individualities of the Empress. Ranata, -whose strong soul had little in common with the unhappy -woman who had permitted life to crush her, had tender -pity for her mother’s memory, but no great amount -of sentiment. Not only were the rooms dingy and oppressive, -but her own individuality was too strong to -exist comfortably in surroundings stamped throughout -many years by that of another; she had made up her -mind that the day after her father’s decision, whatever -it might be, she should refurnish the four rooms of -her suite; and when the Emperor’s letter arrived they -were full of stuffs, sent up from Pest for the approval of -her Imperial Highness. Some pieces of curious brocade -were pinned into the panels, and the dusty old rugs had -vanished. The girls, ordered to remain in strict seclusion -during this week of deliberation, had entertained -themselves in their own fashion.</p> - -<p>“I cannot receive him here,” said the Archduchess, -when she received the humble petition of the great minister -for an audience. “Besides, I don’t want to. If<span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">[154]</span> -I could help it no one should set foot in my personal -surroundings—atmosphere—who was even uncongenial -to me.”</p> - -<p>“It is a family failing,” said Alexandra dryly. “But -I always admired Ludvig for putting his head out of the -window when he had to have his tooth pulled rather -than have the royal atmosphere polluted by a dentist. -It may have been uncomfortable for both, but it was -magnificently consistent.”</p> - -<p>“I am not Ludvig, and I have no intention of making -a fool of myself,” replied the Archduchess, also with -some dryness. “I’ll receive him in the tea-room; I like -the blue walls. Shall I wear black or white? I look -more imposing in black.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, look your guileless best—white, by all means.”</p> - -<p>Therefore, Ranata caused herself to be arrayed in a -bewildering gown of a pellicular Eastern stuff, much -embroidered, and billowing about her feet in the fashion -of the moment. She wore her heavy hair in a gold net, -and a string of pearls about her throat, exposed to the -base. She looked girlish, if not ingenuous, and very lovely.</p> - -<p>The Archduchess Maria Leopoldina, Obersthofmeisterin, -or Grand Stewardess, of Ranata’s Household, together -with one of the ladies-in-waiting, the Lectrice, -and Alexandra, disposed themselves just beyond the -door of the tea-room as the carriage which had been -sent for the minister appeared on the bridge below the -palace.</p> - -<p>“It is fearfully hot, and he’s probably cross,” said -Alexandra from the balcony. “Better begin with iced -coffee and predispose him to amiability of a sort.”</p> - -<p>And thus it came about that the subtle and wary -minister tarried for a few moments beneath the youthful -presentment of his sovereign in the brave uniform of the -Hungarian Hussars, while four women smiled upon him<span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">[155]</span> -and flattered him with many little attentions. Then -he went in to his fate.</p> - -<p>Ranata had carefully arranged her features before the -mirror, and had succeeded in banishing the expression -of haughty dislike evoked by the mere mention of her -enemy. When he entered her presence her eyes were -half closed as usual, but their visible surface was soft. -She dared not receive him with cordiality, but a frank -admission of an enemy’s stewardship of the plums she -desired involved a certain amount of graciousness.</p> - -<p>“This is very kind, your Excellency,” she said gently, -giving him her hand to kiss. “Had you permitted any -one else to bring me the Emperor’s decision, I should -still have been tortured by many doubts; but now I -shall know my fate at once.” She leaned forward slightly -and deepened her emphasis, her lashes lifting a little. -“Of course I shall abide by what you and my father -think best; but remember it is little less than life or -death to me. No one knows better than you the dreary -monotony of the lives of royal women. You know how -my mother stood it! You who know men, and must -know women so well, must have suspected that had it -not been for the constant scandals which seem to be the -peculiar curse of my house, I might have taken my life -in my own hands before this; but the very years of suppression -I have endured, ordered by a sense of duty to -the dynasty, has strengthened and deepened that feeling -until it rules my life. Now, for the first time, I have -had an inspiration, which, if permitted me to act upon, -will fill my days with no dishonor to my house. Of the -good I may accomplish by remaining here I will not insult -your understanding by dwelling upon. But, although -we never seem to have been friends, I am so well aware -that I am now in your power that I have given you this -glimpse of my inner self—so be merciful,” she added, as<span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">[156]</span> -if with an attempt at playfulness, while a smile rippled -through her eyelashes.</p> - -<p>For a moment the minister did not reply. He was -not a man easy to nonplus, but he had come to test his -strength with the haughtiest woman in the Empire, and -he found himself staring at the loveliness of a softly -impassioned girl. He had come to flatter, and his very -spine thrilled at subtle compliments delivered in a voice -whose cold music had become as sweet as a harp some -one was playing in a distant chamber. He had come -to sound with the elastic skill of time-honored methods, -and his scornful Archduchess had thrown wide a window -of her soul and left him blinking. He had entered with -the smile and the supple backbone of the courtier, but -quite aware that he might retire with his tail between -his legs, and a fully matured enmity in his fertile brain. -He was by no means sure of her even now, and he studied -her face—she had lowered her eyes that he might; -but there is no influence so potent, no wine so heady, -as the flattery of royalty to courtier. And the—perhaps -unconscious?—flattery of this woman of all women, -of whose coldness those nearest to her complained, -seemed to rise like a rosy mist to his brain. He swept -it back, however; there was too much at stake. Although -he did not hate her as much as she imagined, for -he was philosophical where women were concerned, he -had recognized in her a powerful individuality, a violent -will, which, if given its head, might deprive himself of -the sweets of existence.</p> - -<p>“I am deeply flattered and grateful, your Imperial -Highness,” he said finally. “Truly, like his Majesty, I -had believed you to be absorbed in the purely intellectual -life—”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I was! I was!” exclaimed the Archduchess, -with sad ardor. “But pardon me.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">[157]</span>“His Majesty is deeply moved by an idea as great in -conception as it is indicative of an ardent loyalty to the -dynasty. He was overwhelmed when you advanced it, -and could give you no answer at the time. But he has -thought of little else since, and has deigned to consult -his ministers on the subject. As it was manifestly impossible -for his Majesty to return to Hungary within so -short a space of time, he did me the honor to appoint -me his messenger. Even my visit will probably attract -more attention than is desirable, but fortunately Count -Zichy had invited me for the shooting, and I have taken -pains to speak freely of the ostensible object of my visit -to Hungary. Of course, it is my duty to kiss your hand -in passing.” He paused and looked at her with a frankness -which rivalled her own. “Your Imperial Highness,” -he said impressively, “personally, I am deeply in -favor of your remaining here. I believe you can accomplish -all you so nobly and intelligently have conceived; -and the time will come when we shall have need -of the strength and loyalty of Hungary! More than -three hundred thousand of the army are drawn from -this state, and there are no better fighters in Europe. -It is quite true that the seat of government should be in -this division of the Empire, which is little less in area -than all the other divisions put together. The Hungarians -are a more progressive, enterprising, more <i>modern</i> -race than the Austrian in certain respects; on the -other hand, they still have much savagery in their blood; -they have been so shut out from personal competition -with the higher civilizations of Europe that they have -too rich a soil for the seeds of degeneration. Their -very lack of morality has always been robust, and to-day -the Hungarians believe the city of Budapest to be as -superior to Vienna in morals as it is in industrial activity. -While Austria is retrogressing, disintegrating, Hungary<span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">[158]</span> -is progressing, has all her old virility, ambition, unconquerable -patriotism. Moreover, when Ferdinand was -elected King of Hungary, he promised to live here, and -the Hungarians have never forgotten that promise, never -ceased to resent the neglect of their capital. His Majesty’s -brief compulsory annual sojourn that he may -keep the letter of the Constitution which commands that -the King shall spend a portion of every year in Hungary, -merely exasperates them—trade as well as society. -Therefore your suggestion to remain here, promptly -upon the extravagant hopes raised in their imaginations -by the juggling of the German Emperor, and to use your -great gifts constantly to remind them of their loyalty to -the dynasty, has struck me as one of the shrewdest instances -of statecraft which has ever come within my -experience. Perhaps”—as the Archduchess blushed -and gave a delighted little exclamation—“perhaps I -should say that <i>was</i> the manner in which his Majesty’s -communication impressed me. It was such an idea as -might have come to Maria Theresia, wise in statecraft -from her youth—but—it is true—you have never condescended -to politics—apparently had not given them a -thought—”</p> - -<p>“I have certain inherited instincts. And is not the -capacity to rise to an emergency also a part of my inheritance? -It is true that I have taken little interest in -politics. My books, my music, my out-door life, my -brilliant American friend sufficed me. Being uninvited, -I could not meddle in affairs of state without bringing -one more calamity upon this unfortunate house; and -this dynasty, I do assure you solemnly, has all the loyalty -and the fealty of my soul. With this sudden idea of -mine politics have nothing whatever to do. I know -the current history of Europe and I know William, -God forbid that I should be expected to talk politics<span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">[159]</span> -with these Hungarians. It would be to turn the palace -into bedlam, and I am accustomed to the repose of -stellar voids. My only idea is to make them love me, -to win to myself what they gave to Rudolf, to <i>increase</i>—I -am more frank with you than with my father, and -choose the word advisedly—the popularity of the dynasty. -I shall entertain magnificently and constantly, give -them such a winter as they have always claimed to be -their right and never have had. I shall travel and make -the peasantry merry. I shall give up my studies and -throw myself into this programme heart and soul. But -it is a purely feminine programme. If there is anything -else I can accomplish, I know that your Excellency -will instruct me.”</p> - -<p>And here she proved the possession of really great -talents. Pleading a necessary word with her Obersthofmeisterin, -she left him alone for a few moments.</p> - -<p>He drew a sharp but silent breath. He had never -seen a woman look more like an angel, and he knew no -woman in whom he was so convinced the devil made extended -sojourns. He understood for the first time why -she had disciplined her spirit to rise triumphant above -that breadth of jaw, the grand sweeping lines of her -body, above her diabolical hair; for he was too astute to -question her integrity on this point. In a flash he understood -why she would not marry. But ambition?—and -a permanent and ever-widening outlet for that tumultuous -spirit, that repressed and violent nature? Was she -sincere for the moment? Had he been sure of even that -he would not have hesitated to give his cordial endorsement -to her plan. But he had persuaded the Emperor -that unless they could be positive she meditated no act of -usurpation upon the succession of her unpopular cousin, -she must not be permitted a liberty with which she -might even before that event plunge all Europe into war.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">[160]</span> -The Emperor, who asked no more of life but peace, had -told him to go to Budapest, investigate the mind of his -problematical daughter, and then act in accordance with -what his Majesty believed to be an unfailing judgment. -What a tool she might be, his Excellency had thought. -She looked like anything but a tool. It suddenly rushed -upon his brain that he had never seen a woman who -looked so surely born to sit upon a throne. <i>Why not? -Why not?</i> And if he were her good friend now, if he, -whom she knew to be the arbiter of her destiny, if he -were the one to place the sceptre within her reach—who -so fitted to serve her hereafter? to rise higher and higher -in power?—for this woman would take no puppet consort. -Might not Europe welcome such a solution of an -agitating problem? Not William, perhaps, nor Russia; -but by that time William and Russia might be too occupied -with each other to scramble for plums in the Austrian -pie. And a young and beautiful empress, with an -intelligence capable of assimilating all the statecraft her -ministers chose to impart, always of imposing dignity, -irreproachable, her heart and soul given to her state and -people, her beauty the constant inspiration of the artist, -would she not be worshipped by her subjects, and appeal -to the interest and chivalry of Europe? If she had -the tact to appear nobly indifferent to any such result -during the lifetime of her father; if the Hungarians, immediately -upon the death of their king, arose as one -man and proclaimed her queen, she would tower above -reproach or criticism, the most picturesque personality -in the world, far more certain of holding the Dual Monarchy -together than Maria Theresia with the aid of the -Pragmatic Sanction; for to-day the majority of nations -wanted peace and the preservation of the Austrian Empire. -Franz Ferdinand might attempt a struggle for -his rights, but it was more likely that the army of Austria<span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">[161]</span> -would march to this woman than against her. It -well might be that she alone could rouse England as well -as Europe to defeat the designs of William. With Franz -Ferdinand on the throne, war, internal and external, -Königsegg believed to be as inevitable as the messenger -of death in the palace of kings.</p> - -<p>He had experienced a shock from crown to heel. The -Archduchess re-entered the room and graciously asked -him again to take the chair opposite hers. He commanded -his eyes, but permitted his voice to tremble as -he made his first cautious move.</p> - -<p>“Your Imperial Highness—it is my bitter regret that -I have never been permitted to know you before—would -to God that you were a man—what a solution of all our -difficulties!”</p> - -<p>“But I am not a man,” replied the Archduchess indifferently.</p> - -<p>“It has flashed upon me—humiliating thought to -my sex!—that the greatest of the Hapsburgs was a -woman.”</p> - -<p>Ranata knew as well as he did that the greatest of the -Hapsburgs was Rudolf the First, but this was not the -moment to establish the claims of the dead, and she -demanded, “Has it taken you all these years to make -that discovery, or have you been too busy making history?” -Her first words were delivered in the tones of -one moved to cold analysis; her last were accompanied -by an enchanting smile. She had drawn her eyelashes -together, lest a flash escape; she was quite aware -of what was passing in his agitated brain, and her own -heart beat high.</p> - -<p>The minister drew another long breath. He dared -not express himself more plainly. He was absolutely -in the dark as to whether she understood him or not. -A false move and he might be the laughing-stock of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">[162]</span> -Empire. Failure to comprehend this imperial sphinx -and his future might be passed in heaven or upon his -estates for all the world would know or care. Muttering -an obsequious request, he rose abruptly and walked -down the long suite of rooms. As his back turned Ranata’s -statuesque face twitched with an almost ribald -mirth and her eyebrows peaked in a manner which -made her look truly diabolical; but when the minister -returned she looked pleading and girlish, a trifle nervous.</p> - -<p>He stood in front of her. “Your Imperial Highness,” -he said, solemnly, “I came here in much doubt, for you -have never permitted me the honor of knowing you. -But this brief interview—the most enlightening of my -life—has convinced me of the wisdom of your plan, -and of your ability to carry it out in every detail. I -believe that you alone can hold Hungary to the throne -when the hour comes which we dread so deeply, for -there is no question that you can reduce this gallant -passionate race to a state of willing slavery. Your brain -will become more and more fertile with expedients; but -I should be deeply honored if you would maintain a -regular correspondence with me, for this is an experiment -with unimaginable consequences, and I shall give -it my unflagging attention. There is much I may be -able to suggest to you if you will deign to permit me.”</p> - -<p>Ranata had too much tact to rise impulsively, for she -towered above the minister by not a few inches, but she -held out her hand and shook his warmly, and her face -was radiant. “I am so glad! I am so glad!” she cried -softly. “And you do not hate me! I have been so desperately -bored and hopeless that it has given me a certain -pleasure to make enemies—if only for the sake of -sensation; and as you were the most powerful man in -the Empire, it amused me to defy you. In your magnanimity<span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">[163]</span> -you have forgiven me! If you knew how -grateful I am, how I thank you!”</p> - -<p>His Excellency trembled, but he kept his head; how, -he never knew. “Your Imperial Highness,” he said, -“I, too, am a patriot. I am acting in this instance, as -in all others, in the service of the Empire. If, in addition, -I am to be permitted to act in the service of a -woman—of such a woman—madam, will you permit me -to retire?”</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">VIII</h3> -</div> - -<p>“We parted with mutual distrust, a mutual increase -of respect, even of tolerance, and a common determination -to make use of each other,” said the Archduchess -to Alexandra, as she finished the account of her interview -with the minister. They were alone in her salon. -“I reserved my Americanism for a future occasion, and -played the old European game of the cat and the mouse. -He is not in the least sure which is the cat and which -the mouse. Neither am I, for that matter; but I have -the advantage of knowing him better than he knows -me. However, here I am for the present.”</p> - -<p>Alexandra drew a long and almost voluptuous sigh of -content. “No more awful evenings in the Hofburg!—whist -with his Majesty, or, worse still, with M. L.; a -little music; tittle-tattle about the same threadbare old -royalties, the last novel—French and wicked—the play, -the last baby—there are always several; yawns, decorum -<i>ad nauseam</i>; mad desire to lie down on the floor and -kick up your heels. Oh, just and beneficent Heaven -that sent William to Hungary with a wasp at his heel!”</p> - -<p>“Let us forget William—and Austria. Where are the -cigarettes?”</p> - -<p>The girls smoked in silence for a time, the Archduchess<span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">[164]</span> -staring hard before her, after her habit, as if she were -poring over the cryptogram of the future. When the -short Russian cigarette had burned to its mouth-piece -she returned to the present.</p> - -<p>“I suppose it will be wise to pay my new friend the -compliment of asking his advice about my Hungarian -household—about the Obersthofmeisterin, at all events. -I will write him an autograph letter to-night. What -tact I shall develop with a few weeks’ practice! I wonder -who the new duenna will be? But no one even he -approved of could be worse than Maria Leopoldina, and, -after twelve years in the arena with her, I flatter myself -I am more than a match for the most masterful he could -select.”</p> - -<p>The Archduchess Maria Leopoldina, a member of a -younger branch of the House of Hapsburg, who had succeeded -the scrupulous but too obsequious English governess, -had been selected, after much anxious thought -on the part of the Emperor, consultation with his ministers, -and with his old friend the Princess Sarolta of -Windischgrätz, as especially fit for her delicate post. -The Empress’s prolonged absences from court, as well -as the inevitable suspicions engendered by her increasing -repugnance for contact with common mortals, made -it doubly imperative to give the headstrong young Archduchess -a duenna who would, by precept and example, -educate her conspicuous charge in the great responsibilities -of her position and curb any bent to eccentricity. -Maria Leopoldina, a conscientious woman of masterful -temperament but considerable tact, had done her work -well, and took to herself the credit of much that had -been evolved by the thoughtful mind of Ranata herself. -Nevertheless, there is no doubt that her early lectures, -delivered to an impatient but imaginative young princess, -had sown seeds which might have floated longer with a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">[165]</span> -more pliable guardian. For several years she insisted -upon the observation of the very letter of her great authority; -no friend could Ranata make without her approval, -no acquaintance talk with for five minutes alone. -The Archduchess had never appeared in the streets of -Vienna without her, but in the country, particularly on -Ranata’s personal estate on the wildest part of the Danube -in Upper Austria, where they were as secluded as -soldiers in a border fortress, she wisely allowed her -charge a good deal of liberty; and as the years went on -she relaxed by imperceptible degrees the rigor of her -sovereignty; she left the girl more and more to herself, -merely asserting her authority at discreet intervals, that -the rebellious nature confided to her should not experience -the temptations of freedom.</p> - -<p>She knew that if she had failed to win her august -kinswoman’s heart she had her respect and gratitude; for -not only had she early suggested to Ranata the benefit -she could confer upon her house by playing the rôle of -the lofty and immaculate princess, devoid of common -weakness, inaccessible to common temptations, but she -had inculcated the great art of self-command, and in the -depths of this profoundly accepted lesson Ranata had -discovered the strength to endure her life, accept her -colorless future, and dominate her nature by her intellect.</p> - -<p>Between Maria Leopoldina and Alexandra there was -no love lost, but there was a golden and bejewelled -truce. Alexandra, even at sixteen—at which age both -girls attended court functions, although tutors and governesses -were in attendance for two years longer, under -the general supervision of the Obersthofmeisterin—was -too wise in the ways of royalty openly to defy this valuable -woman, who rejoiced in the absolute approval of -the Emperor and his ministers; and the Obersthofmeisterin, -who often longed to shake her and pack her off to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">[166]</span> -America, dared not, in this one particular, brave the -wrath of her princess. During the first two years of -her reign, however, they were more than once perilously -close to open war, and a fatal rupture might have been -precipitated by the more impulsive Alexandra had not -Mrs. Abbott arrived in Vienna for her step-daughter’s -eighteenth birthday, and during a moment of extreme -tension. Grasping the situation and its dangers, Mrs. -Abbott admonished Alexandra severely, and made her -present the duenna with a magnificent set of diamond -stars—given out of the fulness of her heart on this the -most sentimental of birthdays. The present was peculiarly -welcome to Maria Leopoldina, who, herself the -youngest of her family, having married in her uncalculating -youth a junior member of an impoverished house, -was sadly deficient in that jewelled panoply which diverts -the eye from the shabby gowns of so many of -Austria’s noble dames. Moreover, this concrete illustration -of the vast wealth of the American girl inspired -respect, if not awe, and these sentiments were nourished -at decent intervals by other offerings of increasing magnificence. -As time went on, Alexandra, too, imbibed -the great lesson of self-restraint, and developed a high -impersonal way of looking out upon life; she ceased to -irritate the Hapsburg, and admitted her own debt as -well as that of her friend. Nevertheless, she had no -love for Maria Leopoldina, and was alive to all her foibles. -To Ranata’s remark she replied, assuming a severe and -elderly demeanor, elevating her head until the roundness -left her throat, from which her voice issued with a scraping -sound:</p> - -<p>“Will your Imperial Highness kindly remember to-night -that the Princess Cockolorum is only entitled to -one minute of your august notice, as it is necessary to -remind her that her manner in public with Lieutenant<span class="pagenum" id="Page_167">[167]</span> -von Poodle is unbecoming in a member of the Austrian -court, which has dignity if not morals? And will your -Imperial Highness exert yourself to remember that the -wife of the American ambassador, although no doubt -charming, is still an American? It is not necessary to -inquire after her entire family. And—my dear child, -your hair looks like a rat’s nest! I shall dismiss that coiffeur -to-morrow!”</p> - -<p>Ranata laughed. “She should be glad of a holiday, -poor soul. I had rather be a poor prisoner of a princess -than a slave of a duenna like an Obersthofmeisterin—I -have an idea! Why not Sarolta? She is Hungarian. -She is in every way suitable. She would be <i>persona -grata</i> here, is loved and trusted by my father, and while -standing to the world as an impregnable outpost, would -really give me a free hand, and with all her cynical soul -enjoy the experiment. I shall write to her at once to -manage it—as only she can. That would be the last -thing necessary to make me feel as if I had been born -again. Now, Alexis, let us give our attention to these -rooms. I think I shall have cloth of gold in these panels, -and curtains of these Turkish embroideries. My writing-room -must be blue. Shall I have my bedroom in cloth -of silver and white?—and my dressing-room in these old-rose -brocades? And all the furniture must be new—nothing -ancestral here! There is an intoxicating freedom -in the air of Hungary—ah! I really do feel as if I -had been born again.”</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">IX</h3> -</div> - -<p>The Princess Sarolta was obscuring the moon with the -smoke-clouds of her big black cigar. It was nine o’clock—dinner -in the Királyi Palota was now served at half-past -seven—and the court could smoke behind the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">[168]</span> -pillars and the vines of the long stone terrace beneath -the west windows of the private apartments of the King -without consideration of possible field-glasses on the -heights above. The Princess, who normally resembled -a mummy, looked more like a witch in her encircling -fumes, and her eyes glittered and blinked behind the -red disk of her cigar. They were black eyes, and their -fires in youth, and indeed long after Nature had given -her more than one admonishing nip and claw, had recklessly -leaped to so many other combustible hearts that -even now the court gossips disentangled the pulsing -tales of her past from others more commonplace. But -with wrinkles and man’s manifest preference for her conversation -had come not only reform but the evolution -of a severe and uncompromising code of morals. She -astonished Vienna for a number of years by the vehemence -of her criticisms and her treatment of certain noble -dames whose fires were still unquenched, or who found -in intrigue that taste of liberty which knocks alluringly -upon even the doors of Austria. With the mellowness -of approaching age the enthusiasm of the Princess had -tempered somewhat, and it was observed that she -grinned behind her big cigar when an after-dinner scandal -exhaled a faint perfume of novelty; but by this time her -fame as a she-dragon was securely established. Her -tactics, combined with a fortune inherited coincidently -with her reform, from a relative who had married a -wealthy and, as it proved, childless Jewess of Budapest, -gave her a unique and impregnable position which made -her the most natural guardian in Austria for a young -princess who had left her father’s roof to hold court in -his most conspicuous possession. The Emperor, who -was a little afraid of Sarolta, but who asked her advice -on all momentous domestic questions, bundled her off -to Budapest with a deep sigh of relief. Her reputation<span class="pagenum" id="Page_169">[169]</span> -as a dragoness relieved him of much of the anxiety with -which he had entered upon this radical experiment, and -he had not chanced to take note of her mellowing. But -Ranata had, and, believing herself exempt from the -weakness to which the Princess still showed her teeth, -knew that she would have the real authority, while the -Obersthofmeisterin sat scowling in the foreground, her -wrinkles impassive above the chuckling within. As for -Count von Königsegg, Sarolta had begun his education -while unwrinkled, and not only had done him many -good turns since, but had taught him to believe that -there was one greater diplomatist in Austria than the -Princess Sarolta Windischgrätz, and that was himself. -Therefore when, after a hasty and pleading note from -Ranata, and a long and humorous petition from Alexandra, -she gave the minister to understand that it was -his wish she assume charge of his interests in Hungary, -it was but a matter of hours before her women were -packing her boxes. She had come to Buda in full possession -of his confidence.</p> - -<p>The situation amused her intensely, but while she was -too wise ever to betray a confidence or to share her -amusement of a man with his enemy, yet she did not -scruple to use any secret she might possess when engaged -in the manipulation of human destinies. She -cared as little for Königsegg as for the Emperor, sentimental -memories being no longer insistent. But Nature -had denied her children, and she had a considerable -hoard of affection in her erratic but wholly human -depths. Now that Rudolf was dead, she cared more for -Ranata and Alexandra than for any one in the world, -and was determined, to use the phrase of her American -protégée, that they should have the “time of their -lives.”</p> - -<p>To-night she grinned amiably at them from the depths<span class="pagenum" id="Page_170">[170]</span> -of a rocking-chair, long since presented to her by Alexandra, -which accompanied her wherever she went. -The party was a small one: the Obersthofmeisterin and -her charges, two young Hungarian ladies-in-waiting of -her selection, the Countess Vilma Festetics and the -Countess Piroska Zápolya, and two invited guests, -Prince Béla Illehazy, a magnate, who, in simple evening -dress, looked a middle-aged and somewhat humorous -man of the world, and Count Zrinyi, whose national fire -and still youthful ardors—he was thirty-five in years—had -given him over to love of an American on the night -of a great and memorable dinner. It had been decided -that the Grand Chamberlain and other court officials -were only to serve at great functions, and that those -who were in waiting upon the Emperor during his -annual sojourn were to give their services to the Archduchess -when she demanded them.</p> - -<p>Zrinyi was leaning against one of the pillars, his black -eyes flaming down upon Alexandra, who smiled upon -him indulgently; she thought him a nice boy who might -be useful in the cotillion and in general advice of a lighter -nature. They were all discussing the momentous question -of the first entertainment to be given by the new -court.</p> - -<p>The dictum of the Princess Sarolta, that it must be a -great ball, to which men and women should come in the -ancient dress of Hungary, had been received with approval -by all but Prince Illehazy, who scowled at his -girth.</p> - -<p>“I thought I should burst the other night,” he admitted. -“And I must say that my native costume always -makes me feel more or less a fool. I suppose I -have lived too much elsewhere.”</p> - -<p>“You are no patriot,” said his old friend, whose eye, -as it followed his, twinkled with some malice. “I insist<span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">[171]</span> -that you give up Vienna and Paris this winter and -remain here as my private cabinet.”</p> - -<p>“You may need help,” he murmured, and he looked -at Ranata.</p> - -<p>“And we? Are we to wear Hungarian costumes, -too?” asked Alexandra.</p> - -<p>“By all means,” answered Ranata for the Princess. -“I have already designed mine; the skirts and apron will -be of white lace, and the bodice of black velvet.”</p> - -<p>“That will be your second stroke of diplomacy,” -murmured Alexandra. “But it seems to me that I -should be a screaming absurdity in an ancient Hungarian -costume.”</p> - -<p>“Not if—not if—” muttered Zrinyi.</p> - -<p>“Why not make it a fancy-dress ball, everybody to be -a personage of the court of Matthias Corvinus, during -whose reign Hungary reached the height of its splendor -and power and prosperity?” asked the Countess Piroska -Zápolya. She looked full at the Archduchess with innocent -blue eyes which were too widely opened for -frankness. She was excessively pretty, and her mouth -pouted like a spoiled child’s. She was a descendant of -that Stephen Zápolya, vayvode of Transylvania, who, -in 1526, after the terrible battle of Mohács, when Hungary -was threatened with annihilation by the Turks, -and her king lost his life, was elected to rule over the -distracted country by the faction which believed in a -native dynasty and peaceful relations with the enemy. -Another powerful faction elected Ferdinand of Austria, -and in spite of the occupations of the Turks, which gave -the Hapsburg as little authority as his rival, his dynasty -kept its grasp upon the shadow until it became substance; -while the son of the trooper who had been raised to a -position of such power and magnificence by Matthias -that his ambition knew no bounds, was unable to extend<span class="pagenum" id="Page_172">[172]</span> -his rule beyond Transylvania, and his dynasty -ended in his son. His descendants, powerful magnates -as they were, had two enduring grievances: their inferior -descent as compared with that of the magnates whose -line ran back unbroken to Árpád and haunted the mists -beyond, and the ancient victory of the Hapsburgs. The -first grievance was little discussed, but no Zápolya permitted -himself or others to forget that his right to the -throne was as great as the Austrian’s. Impoverished, -and knowing little of the world beyond Budapest, the -present generation was even fiercer in pride than the -majority of their order, and bitterer in their hatred of -the Hapsburgs. They were wise enough, however, to -know that Hungary had not the strength for a native -dynasty, even could one be established without devastating -civil wars, and the father and brother of the clever -little maid of honor had been the first to fling open the -gates and drive out the wild waters of unrest towards -William of Germany. Count von Königsegg had advised -the selection of Piroska, for he believed she would -be hostile and a willing spy, and Sarolta had acquiesced -because she believed that herself and Ranata would be -more than a match for any disaffected young woman. -Outwardly the Countess was irreproachable. Her manners -were high-bred and charming; five centuries of intermarriage -with the best blood of Roumania and Hungary -had obliterated all characteristics of John Zápolya -except his ambition. She was lively and cultivated, -and there was nothing in her manner to betray her -hostility. She was the only enemy in camp. The -other maid of honor, Countess Vilma Festetics, although -proud and reserved, had loved the dead Elizabeth and -had transferred her large measure of passionate loyalty, -since unclaimed, to the princess who, in her great beauty -and greater isolation, seemed to her the most romantic<span class="pagenum" id="Page_173">[173]</span> -figure on earth. Without humor or more logic than -the larger division of her sex, she was capable of martyrdom -for her ideals, however narrow. But she was -bright and shrewd, and never having trusted Piroska -Zápolya, suspected that she might be too high in the favor -of Ranata’s enemies. In appearance the young Countess -was of a type more often seen in Hungary than described; -she had neither the sparkling blond nor the -voluptuous brunette beauty which, with their womanly -figures and happy animation, have made the women of -that romantic country so famous. She was small and -slender, and her coloring was drab; under the hauteur of -her delicately cut pale face were the tense lines of tragedy. -Her breeding helped her to control a high and intolerant -temper. Of the most ancient blood in Hungary, poor, -high-spirited, and proud, she had seen nothing of the -world, but her high accomplishments and qualities, and -the affection which she had inspired in the Queen while -a child, had induced Sarolta to select her for what -the cynical elder believed to be a temporary post. She -was also glad to give the girl a few months of light-hearted -luxury, and would have included many like her had -it been possible.</p> - -<p>“She is the sort that in a less enlightened day would -have used the poisoned bowl and then killed herself at -the foot of the altar,” she had said to Ranata; “but -she will be loyal to you, and when she has nothing on -her mind she can be very lively and young.”</p> - -<p>“We have many costumes of the time in our chests, -Highness,” the Zápolya was saying. “I am sure that -Miss Abbott would look charming in one of rose-colored -velvet—to which she would be more than welcome; and -if you conclude to ask the Deputies, some tailor here -could use the others as models. We have also two or -three of the purple velvet costumes with the long gold<span class="pagenum" id="Page_174">[174]</span> -chains, and the head braidwork of gold and pearls, worn -by two of the three hundred youths sent by Matthias in -the embassy to Charles VIII., King of France. If you -were escorted into the throne room by a great number -of pages in this costume, Highness, the effect would be -one of perfect loveliness.”</p> - -<p>The Archduchess understood her perfectly, but she -felt her own strength, and was amused at the flash in -the American’s eyes.</p> - -<p>Moreover, her mind grasped the peculiar advantages -which a fancy-dress ball would afford herself. She said -sweetly:</p> - -<p>“The national costume during the reign of Matthias -differed little from that of any other reign, I suppose?”</p> - -<p>“It merely reached its height of extravagance. The -national characteristics have always remained the same.”</p> - -<p>“Then, if you will allow me, I will look at your costumes, -and, no doubt, find one that I shall be delighted -to copy.”</p> - -<p>In spite of her hostility the little Countess was flattered. -She assured her princess, with something like spontaneous -enthusiasm, that she should order the costumes -brought to the palace on the morrow.</p> - -<p>“I have a painting of Matthias in his robes of state,” -said Prince Illehazy. “I wonder will any one have the -courage to impersonate him? He was a mighty figure, -that son of John Hunyadi, and I have not the slightest -doubt that the blood of kings was in his veins. There -is no man in Hungary, alas! fit to wear his mantle, not -even at a fancy-dress ball.”</p> - -<p>“He was a plebeian,” said the Countess Piroska, lifting -her little nose. “And even could it be proved that -John Hunyadi was the son of King Sigismund, all his -fame, even the medicinal water named after him, could -not obliterate the bar sinister.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_175">[175]</span>“The little cat!” said Prince Illehazy under his breath. -He replied, “When a man makes a success of his life the -bar sinister lends him the added distinction of picturesqueness, -and not only did the Knight of the Black -Raven have the blood of real kings in his veins, but Sigismund -united on his head the crowns of Imperial Germany, -Hungary, and Bohemia. Sigismund had his -faults, but he was the head of the Holy Roman Empire, -and neither he, nor his great son, and greater -grandson, need descendants to keep the family name -alive.”</p> - -<p>“I suppose the ball must open with the Chardash,” -said Ranata hastily, and forbearing to glance at the -crushed Zápolya. “And I do not know how to dance -it!”</p> - -<p>Zrinyi found his opportunity. “May I be permitted -a suggestion, Highness?” he asked. “The Chardash -has been ruined by society—is a miserable degenerate -thing. They sway and glide and languish. Have you -ever seen the peasants dance it? They have preserved -it in all its original simplicity, energy, and variety. If -you could see them—and then dance it here in the palace -as it should be danced—it is never vulgar, never -boisterous, merely virile, full of the abandon of a happy -and healthy people—”</p> - -<p>“But how can I see it? I learn any dance quickly, -but I must see it.”</p> - -<p>“To-morrow is a <i>festa</i>,” said Zrinyi eagerly. “The -peasants will be dancing all day. If you would go far -enough you would see them in their native costumes—impossible -near Budapest; but if you would deign to go -five hours on the train—to a village on one of my estates—”</p> - -<p>“Deign!” whispered Alexandra.</p> - -<p>The Archduchess turned to her Obersthofmeisterin<span class="pagenum" id="Page_176">[176]</span> -with a very pretty show of deference. “I should like it,” -she said. “And I believe it is the right thing to do. I -could go very simply dressed; they have not yet seen -me; I should be under no restraint—what do you think, -<i>ma princesse</i>?”</p> - -<p>“I shall have to go too,” grumbled Sarolta. “And -there must be no publicity about it. We must not get -the reputation here in Budapest for eccentricities; -neither must we ever explain ourselves—how early can -we leave here in the morning?”</p> - -<p>“At five?” said Zrinyi.</p> - -<p>“And we can return late—the palace can be lighted up -at seven as usual. I like the idea of seeing the Chardash -properly danced once more—so be it, then. Mind you -are at the station before us, Géra, and that you exert all -your talents in carrying out the programme. We shall -dine with you, of course.”</p> - -<p>“Hurrah!” said Alexandra.</p> - -<p>“<i>Élyen!</i>” murmured Zrinyi.</p> - -<p>Ranata for a moment said nothing. Then with a -sudden impulse for which she could give no reason then -or later, she turned to Alexandra and said, “Where is -your brother? Have you heard from him?”</p> - -<p>“Not a word since I asked him to come here. He had -probably started on his wanderings before my letter -reached Berlin. He may be on the Russian steppes or -over in Pest. The one is as likely as the other.”</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">X</h3> -</div> - -<p>Fessenden drew his leg over his horse’s neck and -looked idly about him. The sun was directly overhead; -he had forgotten his compass, and, apparently, he was lost -in the very middle of the great plain of Hungary. But<span class="pagenum" id="Page_177">[177]</span> -he had been lost many times before, and in far worse -places than this green and smiling expanse; so flat and -lying in an atmosphere of such clarity he could well believe -the gentle Magyar boast that with the naked eye a -man could be distinguished from a beast at a distance -of fifteen miles. There appeared to be nothing whatever -on the horizon; but an occasional small farm dotted -the prairie, and here and there he saw a goose girl with -her little flock, a shepherd in his native costume: a long -white coat of spun wool, with panels of black embroidered -at the edges; a garment as immaculate as if just -from the loom, and swung carelessly about the shoulders, -the sleeves evidently designed for ornament alone. The -little goose girls might have stood for a study in lonely -childhood; as Fessenden turned his head one was the -solitary figure in the vast expanse behind him; but when -he passed her she had nodded brightly and seemed -quite content with her lot. It was not his first visit to -Hungary; he had voyaged on the Danube and the Theiss -in his canoe, and had climbed Retyezat to the lake of -Zenoga, making his way thence into Roumania. He -knew something of the language and much of the hospitality -of the amiable peasant people, and could recall -no other country in whose wilderness he would rather -be lost. Moreover, the great plains of Hungary reminded -him of the wild reaches of his own country. -They were green and smiling, indescribably friendly and -gentle of aspect, in spite of the barbarous hordes, the -fierce battles that had ravaged them, the blood that had -soaked their soil; and the American deserts, without history -of consequence, scowled eternally at the sun that -devoured them, and gave no hospitality to man. But -both represented Nature in one of her abrupt desires to -emulate the plains of Space; both gave man a sense of -personal freedom, of disseverance from the complications<span class="pagenum" id="Page_178">[178]</span> -of life. And the great Alfold had long since suggested -to the practical mind of Fessenden what could -be done with the Western deserts; in the last five years -he had reclaimed the largest of them by means of a -complicated system of irrigation, and encouragement -of immigration from the Eastern States. One of his -dreams was to make the United States fertile and productive -from end to end, if only to relieve the congestion -in the great centres and give the plain people of his country -the happiness they constantly, with reason or without, -demanded as their birthright. But he had sighed -humorously more than once as he reflected that to compass -all his plans would require at least two more lifetimes -than Nature had placed at the disposal of any -man.</p> - -<p>But he had accomplished a great deal, and he was -only thirty-one. Thirty years more, and did his energies -survive devastating tropical fevers, the rarely relaxing -strain of organizing and guarding industries, investments, -transit systems, the ever-trembling aggregations -of capital called Trusts, sound a money basis as his own -were built upon, all the manifold ramifications of a -fortune, which, through the increased resources of the -country during the past ten years, through his own and -his father’s genius, and by the mere force of momentum, -was now close upon a billion dollars; still far in the lead -of all the other colossal fortunes which in the past decade -had raised the United States to a position no less -menacing to herself than to the rest of the world; -did not only his health, his life, survive the strain, -but his ambition, his hope, his faith in the worth -while, then might he expect something like immortal -fame.</p> - -<p>Most men would have said that he had fame and -power enough to satisfy any man of his years. His<span class="pagenum" id="Page_179">[179]</span> -accomplishment in South America alone had made his -name a byword on two hemispheres. In company with -his college friend, Jeremiah Keene, who promptly renounced -the Northwest, he had gone to South America, -intent upon fencing it off from European invasion and -saving his country from what he believed must otherwise -be an inevitable and humiliating war. Privately, -he thought the Monroe Doctrine an obsolete absurdity, -and heartily wished it never had been conceived. Like -all of his countrymen who thought, he would infinitely -have preferred the civilizing forces of Europe in South -America to the tumultuous opera-bouffe republics of -vicious hybrids, where no American could invest his -money with a reasonable certainty of seeing the tail of -it a year hence; but the Monroe Doctrine was as sacred -to the American people as the Lord’s Prayer, therefore -the only thing to do was to make it theirs in fact as well -as in fancy, and such an accomplishment must be the -work of one man, of a citizen of the United States, -who possessed that hitherto unheard-of combination -of boundless wealth and burning patriotism. The government -would never give a serious thought to the matter -until the fleets of Europe were in the Caribbean -Sea.</p> - -<p>The three years in South America Fessenden looked -back upon as the most picturesque and satisfying of his -life. He had twice nearly died of fever, and he had been -stabbed and shot, but life had been adventurous, exciting, -never worth a moment’s purchase; above all, one -long test of his gifts and resources, with victory in the -end. Where immediate bribery had availed not with -the suspicious villain in temporary power, he had tracked -the biding rival to his lair, furnished him with the -necessary outfit and promises, while Keene and other -agents persuaded the ever-disaffected people that another<span class="pagenum" id="Page_180">[180]</span> -revolution was due. With the impromptu gunboats -and inexhaustible ammunition sent down by Mr. -Abbott, the revolution was an invariable success, and -the enthroned dictator, with all the vices of his kind, -was still shrewd enough to comprehend that did he -wish his reign to be permanent he must be true to his -benefactor and give him a free hand.</p> - -<p>As a state passed into Fessenden’s control he built a -railroad close to the coast, and as he employed native -labor as much as possible, and there was a rapid influx -of American merchants, he was reverenced as the White -God who had brought security and prosperity to a tormented -country.</p> - -<p>With the more advanced states it was a mere question -of capital, particularly as the enterprise was a private -one, and sure to bring an increase of civilization and -wealth. The last tie had been laid seven years ago, and -South America girdled by a complete system of railways, -with at least one train on each section running daily. -To-day the trains had increased ten per cent., many -thousands of discontented North Americans had emigrated, -there were American school-houses, churches, -villages, and towns in every state, and a new and enormously -profitable investment had been found for American -capital. Four hundred thousand negroes had emigrated, -and, reverting easily to a state of amiable and -naked barbarism—sinking to the bottom as naturally -as the black mud of the Mississippi—worked in the fields -for the white man and forgot the Constitution of the -United States. Fessenden’s praises had been sung until -he might have become conceited and obnoxious had it -not been for the hostile press, which called him a robber -baron, an unscrupulous blood-letter, and a future Czar; -and so preserved the balance.</p> - -<p>Then had come the long years at home, varied only by<span class="pagenum" id="Page_181">[181]</span> -the yearly tramp in Europe and an occasional visit to -South America, where Keene was his general representative, -and his boyhood chum, Jeff Hunter, his scout and -secret agent. Two-thirds of the control of affairs had -gradually passed into his hands, but he had found time -to carry out his father’s more personal programme as -well as his own: the great army of working-men in his -employ believed in him blindly, and withstood the pressure -of trades-unions. He had, indeed, raised the standard -of wages throughout the United States, and had -made so many bitter enemies that much of his best -talent was consumed in circumventing the attempts of -other great capitalists to ruin him. With the decent -laboring man he was more popular than any President -of the United States could hope to be; and this class was -not only grateful for his actual benefits, and appreciated -his sincerity, but believed that he had been as especially -created to pilot the United States through her difficulties -as the great men of the early days of the republic. -His methods and his genius were different, but so were -the times. With the professional politician of the laboring -class, with that breed who made their bread and beer -by agitating, he was deservedly unpopular, but he now -had most of them in his pocket, and they gave him little -trouble. He hoped to bring about a condition of living -in the United States which would avert a death struggle -between capital and labor; if this task were beyond him, -then would he at least be in a position in some measure -to control it.</p> - -<p>When the war broke out with Spain it was a matter of -deep mortification and disappointment to him that the -great electrical and mechanical ideal he had conceived -in his youth was so far from completion. It had, indeed, -given him more trouble than all his other enterprises -together. Three accomplished electricians had met<span class="pagenum" id="Page_182">[182]</span> -with violent deaths in the building on the prairie, and he -had their discontented families on his hands. Two reporters -had been maimed for life while attempting to -solve a mystery which annoyed the public, accustomed -to the easy elucidations of the press, and others had -“lost their jobs” for failure as signal, if less painful. All -these men were among Fessenden’s bitterest and most -enterprising foes.</p> - -<p>Again and again, when his keenest attention was demanded -in New York, he had received an excited telegram -bidding him hasten to the spot and witness the -final combination which was to affect the great result; -and as invariably he had added to the sum of his disappointments. -Five years ago the buildings, in the -course of a wind-storm, had burned to the ground, and -not only the difficult and expensive machinery had gone -with them, but the personal effects of several hundred -men. More than once Fessenden’s faith had been -shaken, and even with the vast resources at his disposal -he had hesitated before the increasing costliness of his -coy ideal; but he dreaded the possibly demoralizing -effect of his first failure; the position in which he -could place the United States lured him on; and his -father believed in the idea and encouraged him to persist. -When the war threatened, Fessenden went out to -his Western settlement and worked in the laboratory -and machine-shops himself. At the last possible moment -he hastened home and raised one of the most satisfactory -regiments that went to Cuba. By this time -he was a rigid disciplinarian, and his original genius for -detail was fully developed. He also found his opportunity -to distinguish himself, and returned to New York -better pleased with life than since he had left South -America.</p> - -<p>And the old Fessenden? There was much of him left,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_183">[183]</span> -for strong individualities with the eternal boy in them -change less than psychologists would have us believe, -however much they may develop. He was less enthusiastic -about some of his old ideals; his patience was at the -same time greater and less; he was even more practical -than Nature had made him, matter-of-fact and intolerant -of shams, and somewhat hardened and cynical by -his constant manipulation of fabulous wealth and the -buying of men. Although money would never be his -god, his life and times had taught him to respect, almost -to reverence it as the mightiest force in the world of -his day. He had in his brief span watched the crumbling -of ancient aristocracies, the progressive ascendency -of the middle classes all over Europe, their reconstruction -of power in their various states, their contributions -to solidity and permanence, their slow absorption of the -helpless classes above, and their increasing contempt for -royal figure-heads; in his own country he had witnessed -an outburst of wealth that in volume and results had -never occurred before in the history of the world. He -saw the financial centre of gravity swinging steadily -from London to New York, the enormous aggregations -of capital, combined with the unlimited production of -the United States, controlling the markets of the world. -Money had raised the United States from a negligible -quantity, often mentioned with disrespect, into a menace -which was winning for her the precarious tributes -of hatred and abuse, more especially since she had let -it be seen that she estimated affectionate overtures at -their just value.</p> - -<p>Therefore was her most characteristic product filled -with a quiet and gentle arrogance, sadly, if contemptuously, -confident of the illimitable powers of wealth, and -owning to a sincere respect for but one man in Europe. -With that man, in spite of a deep and mutual friendship,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_184">[184]</span> -he played many a game of chess, and once in a while -he was beaten.</p> - -<p>He no longer regarded the severe and ofttimes thunderous -visage of William of Germany with envy; for -time and work, fever and bitter anxieties had robbed -his own face of all its freshness and most of its youth. -His long body had lost its lankness, and was closely -knit, properly covered, and very erect and imposing; -but his face was thin, sallow, lined, and his finely -cut features had acquired the sharpness peculiar to the -American of intellect who gives his life to practical -affairs—the sort that has the mere million-making kink -is always as fat of face as of wit. But his smile was still -quick and delightful, and his eyes, if sharper, were as -bright and dark, sometimes as happy and eager as ever. -He had acquired the trick of throwing back his head, -lowering his upper lid, and darting a look over a cheek-bone, -which was merely impish, or peculiarly disconcerting, -according to his mood. As regards the rest of his -personal appearance on this October morning in Hungary, -he wore a sweater, the oldest pair of trousers in -his wardrobe, and a straw hat with the brim turned -down—by which it will be seen there was a good deal -of the old Fessenden left.</p> - -<p>Indeed there was a great deal; and as he rode straight -towards the gala village on Count Zrinyi’s estate, he was -in a very susceptible not to say sentimental frame of -mind—which was usually the case when he was alone in -Europe. The fountain of romance in the depths of him -still bubbled. He had worked it deeply in the way of -adventure and the realizing of patriotic ideals, superficially -when he met an attractive woman. But life -had pressed him too hard for love; moreover, he was -easily disillusioned, and this particular ideal increased -in stature and seemed ever more impossible of attainment.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_185">[185]</span> -He stood on a lonely height himself, and he -wanted a woman who stood on one as lonely.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">XI</h3> -</div> - -<p>Fessenden stood for a few moments at the window -before entering, although he had danced the Chardash -many times and was arrayed as one of the elect. The -deserted street of the village, and the muffled strains -of a gypsy band, had informed him as he approached -that it was a day of dancing and feasting, and he had -despatched a casual boy to summon the tallest young -man of the village. From the genial peasant he had -borrowed a native costume, and without the aid of gold—for -he carried a love potion in his indifferent command -of the Magyar tongue. Another New-Yorker -might have been daunted by the white divided skirt, -which looked like anything but trousers, and the white -blouse hanging free above it, but not Fessenden. He -would indeed have preferred the Sunday best which the -man had offered him to his own undoing, but had generously -refused it. The men all looked very fine in their -gay cloth or leathern jackets, embroidered, inlaid, their -bright sashes, loose shirts and flapping trousers, embroidered -with worsted or silk; but the women, after -decorating their lords and brothers, would appear to have -had no time left to enhance their own charms, for they -wore common cotton frocks and had made no attempt at -adornment beyond a ribbon or a string of glass beads.</p> - -<p>The room in which they danced evidently belonged -to the rich man of the village. It was of fair size for a -peasant’s house, and its prints of saints and Mary were -draped with embroidered towels. The older folk sat -against the wall, and some sixty young people danced in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_186">[186]</span> -what at first sight looked to be a solid mass. The Chardash -was near its finish, and the couples were executing -the vigorous and intricate figures, even separating for a -second and flying together again, without the collision of -an elbow or the twitch of a facial muscle.</p> - -<p>Suddenly Fessenden swore in three languages and -clutched the arm of his host.</p> - -<p>“Who is that girl?” he demanded.</p> - -<p>“I do not know her name. The Count came two -hours ago with two—Austrian peasants,” he said, “but -we doubt—who wished to learn the Chardash. We -know nothing further, except that they speak Hungarian -well and are virgins, for they wear their braids -hanging; but we are curious, for that one you admire is -very pretty and lively, and the other is as beautiful and -queenlike as a Roumanian peasant—observe her, my -friend.”</p> - -<p>The music had ceased and the crowd was melting -towards the open. The girl worthy to be compared to a -Roumanian stood almost in the middle of the room -talking with pleasing humility to a young man who, -even in his peasant’s costume, was plainly the lord of -the village. She wore a common blue cotton gown a -size too small for her, and a kerchief pinned so tightly -about her head that only half an inch of hair brushed -flatly backward was visible. But the figure was magnificent; -the hands were small, pointed, white; the skin of -face and throat had never been exposed to a peasant -sun, and the visible hair was red. The girl suddenly -raised her eyes, and Fessenden screwed up his own and -left the window.</p> - -<p>So he had seen the Archduchess!—was about to meet -her at last! The fountain burst its bonds and flew to -his head. His deep, almost passionate love of adventure -shook him slightly from head to foot. The color<span class="pagenum" id="Page_187">[187]</span> -came into his face, and his nostrils quivered. If he could -only corner his sister and warn her before she betrayed -him by a feminine scream. She was standing just within -the door arranging the ribbon at the end of her long -plait of hair, which, like many another, had been disordered -by the energy of the dance; and the hanging -tresses brought forward for reconstruction by herself -and several other maidens may possibly have fetched a -sigh from lips too soon surrendered. Fessenden entered -and placed his back between her face and Ranata.</p> - -<p>“Now don’t even raise your eyes,” he said rapidly. “I -want to be unknown here. I want you to introduce me -to her and not tell her who I am.”</p> - -<p>Fessenden had underestimated his sister’s accomplishments. -“I won’t do anything of the sort,” she replied, -smoothing her kerchief with steady fingers. “It is just -one thing I should never dare to do. The responsibility -shall be entirely your own.”</p> - -<p>“Very well. I can manage it if you do not betray -me. What on earth does this mean, anyhow? Are -you and she here alone? I don’t see the ghost of a -chaperon.”</p> - -<p>“Our first idea was merely to look on, but we had no -sooner arrived at Count Zrinyi’s castle this morning than -Sarolta was attacked by the gout—or pretended she was; -she is an angel—and ordered us to our rooms. We made -Zrinyi borrow clothes from two of his servants—and -here we are. I’ve never had so much fun in my life—neither -has Ranata.” She looked him over. “You are -not a bad imitation,” she admitted. “So many of them -are fair, and luckily they all wear their hats. Pull your -brim a little lower; your eyes are hopelessly American. -Of course you’ll fall in love with her—I’ve seen it coming -for years; but don’t propose on the spot and spoil -all our fun.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_188">[188]</span>“What do you take me for?” and Fessenden left her -to an admiring peasant and sought his host.</p> - -<p>“That girl is very pretty,” he said discontentedly, -“but I can’t dance with a girl so much shorter than myself; -I am always swinging her off her feet. Will you -introduce me to the other Austrian—or Roumanian, did -you say?”</p> - -<p>“What is your name, my friend?”</p> - -<p>“Árpád Hunyadi will do as well as any other.”</p> - -<p>The peasant embraced him on both cheeks. “A great -name,” he said solemnly. “All I have is yours.”</p> - -<p>A moment later Fessenden was standing before the -Archduchess, while Zrinyi’s willing eyes were diverted -by Alexandra.</p> - -<p>“You will dance this with me?” he asked in Magyar, -his eyes bashfully lowered.</p> - -<p>“You are not a Hungarian!” she exclaimed.</p> - -<p>“Alas, that your first word should be so cruel! It is -true that I speak the German tongue better—I have -been much away—but my children shall speak only -Hungarian.”</p> - -<p>“It is to be hoped so.”</p> - -<p>“You will dance with me?”</p> - -<p>“I do not know. I am tired.”</p> - -<p>“One is never too tired for the Chardash. It would -raise a Hungarian from the grave.” This was uttered -with simple fervor. He felt her powerful gaze and -dared not raise his eyes. But the majestic beauty of -her figure was in the direct line of his vision, and involuntarily -he lifted his hands to tuck in his shirt, but bethought -himself in time.</p> - -<p>“I don’t know,” repeated the Archduchess coldly, -“I am tired, and I do not happen to be a Hungarian.”</p> - -<p>“A Roumanian? We have all said it; you are so -beautiful.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_189">[189]</span>“No.”</p> - -<p>The leader of the gypsy band struck his cymbal. His -brothers drew the first long wail from their fiddles. The -crowd thronged in.</p> - -<p>Fessenden raised his hands and placed them firmly -about the slender waist of the Archduchess. “Put your -hands on my shoulders,” he said. “I shall not let you -go.”</p> - -<p>She drew herself up rigidly for a moment, then obeyed -him.</p> - -<p>“I know who you are,” she said.</p> - -<p>“So much the better,” replied Fessenden.</p> - -<hr class="tb"> - -<p>“This is a great moment in the history of Hungary!” -said Zrinyi solemnly.</p> - -<p>“It is!” said Alexandra.</p> - -<p>“A daughter of the Emperor of Austria and a Hungarian -peasant! What a symbol! It is full of portent!”</p> - -<p>“If you only knew how much!”</p> - -<p>“Ah, you dream of a universal democracy, I suppose. -I fear I dream only of the independence of Hungary—with -William as enlightened overlord—and the humiliation -of Austria.”</p> - -<p>“I can’t talk politics and dance the Chardash.”</p> - -<p>Fessenden summoned to his eyes a far and impassive -stare. Ranata pointed her lashes to her cheeks. They -were the tallest couple in the room, and those who sat -had much to say in comment. There was little to criticise, -for their natural grace and beauty of form diverted -the eye from their few mistakes; and in truth those -whose blood is quick must learn the Chardash easily. For -a time the music is a wail of almost hopeless longing, and -the feet and body move hesitatingly, monotonously, the -man and woman at arm’s-length; gradually it grows -sweeter, more inspiring, and the feet move faster—life<span class="pagenum" id="Page_190">[190]</span> -seems to awaken. The music swells and the man takes -the girl’s left hand and raises it high; then, as it becomes -triumphant and peremptory, he swings her faster and -faster, executes wild and rapid figures, stamps his feet, -snaps his fingers in the air, increases his speed to that of -the whirlwind, flings his partner from him and catches -her again, to whirl and whirl and whirl in a circle scarcely -larger than his feet; and all without a moment of forgetfulness, -a rude embrace, a change of expression. “It -is the story of elementary passion before man was -created to express it,” Ranata had said to Alexandra -before they had ventured to take part; and certainly the -Hungarian peasant, intelligent and gay, but polite and -dignified to his marrow, is worthy of a place beside the -impersonal artists of any civilization.</p> - -<p>Nevertheless, the Chardash is so intoxicating that no -one can dance it perfunctorily, no matter how self-conscious -at starting; and there was nothing here to distract -the attention of the most fastidious: the air was pure, -for the windows were open, and the Hungarian peasant -is clean. No matter what the pressure of the speed, not -a foot was trodden, not a temper shaken. Fessenden -had danced half the native dances of the world, sometimes -in hours of greater abandon than this, and Ranata had -a natural love of the dance and indulged it whenever possible. -As she had recognized and intuitively obeyed -her friend’s brother, she realized in a flash that for sixteen -years he had occupied a silent but permanent place -in a shadowy realm that was hers alone. He had been -Alexandra’s favorite theme from childhood, and Ranata’s -interest had never flagged. His sister was as -truthful as most women, but in her extreme youth she -had possessed a violent imagination, and her unknown -brother, dwelling in the wilderness, had inspired it to -deeds which had caused the little Archduchess to sit<span class="pagenum" id="Page_191">[191]</span> -open-mouthed for hours as she drank in his blood-curdling -and heroic adventures with Indian tribes, robber -bands, pirates, and wild beasts of every variety whose -pictures were to be found in Alexandra’s natural history. -He had seemed to her the most splendid and -picturesque of living creatures, and although the reduction -of Alexandra’s allowance for a year to the wages -of a footman by her perturbed father had cured her of -the habit of exaggeration, she still could tell a pretty -tale, and there had been much to recount during Fessenden’s -sojourn in South America and after his return. -To a princess living the most conventional and restricted -of earthly lives he represented all that the world, beyond -palace walls, held of romance, of freedom, of the -grand free play of personality. As she grew older she -forbade her fancy to lead him into the backwaters of -sentiment, that being a part of the necessary discipline -of self; but there had been times when the effort had -exhausted her. Two thoughts had flashed through her -mind as she realized that she stood face to face with -him at last: the one came from depths she did not -pause to analyze—“If I had suddenly heard that he -was dead, instead of meeting him like this, I should have -been appalled by a sense of personal loss.” The other -thought flew straight from superstition and made her -for the moment the sister of the peasant-women about -her—“This colored frock! I might have known it -would bring me bad luck!”</p> - -<p>In a moment she had angrily dismissed both suggestions, -but she endeavored to nurse a general resentment. -She had been taken abominable advantage of. He had -known who she was and dared to treat her like any ordinary -girl masquerading. That royalty, or aristocracy -for that matter, moves on unselfconscious heights is one -of the fictions of fiction. The aristocracies of Europe<span class="pagenum" id="Page_192">[192]</span> -may not, in the manner of the American, carry their -ancestors like a bunch of chips on their shoulder, but -like royalty, they are “simple and unaffected” only so -long as they are not expected to be humble and are not -approached by the wrong sort of people. The intense -dramatic moments of William of Germany might alone -convince the unthinking of royalty’s sense of its own -value.</p> - -<p>Ranata was not dramatic, or at all events had wanted -opportunity; but had she inherited the simplicity of her -mother, which assuredly she had not, she would have -found it a difficult task to forget that she was the daughter -of an emperor. But she had experienced no such -inclination. She might sigh for liberty, and in erratic -moments wish she had been born an American, but to -her composition had gone the haughtiest particles of -Europe. She was not only the last born of an ancient -line of kings who had exercised despotic rule over vast -possessions, but who had built about themselves a triple -golden wall of ceremony. No court had ever been so -uncomplaisant, no royal favor so difficult to gain; to-day -no house in Europe was so tenacious of its ancient -formalities. Every act of Ranata’s life to which the -least importance could be attached had been the combined -result of her active consciousness that she was the -daughter of the Emperor of Austria, and of instinctive -ancestral tribute.</p> - -<p>Therefore did the Archduchess Ranata Theresia feel -that her sacred self had been trifled with, and was filled -with wrath against her friend and her friend’s brother. -But it is both difficult and anomalous to nurse the -severer passions while moving one’s body and feet to -the cry of the Chardash for the fulfilment of human happiness. -A mist rose to and diffused itself through the -historic tiers of Ranata’s brain, and created an illusion.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_193">[193]</span> -The music of the Chardash, older than the House of -Hapsburg, as old, perhaps, as that mysterious gypsy people -who brought it to Hungary, was the song of the -wind among peaks about a wild and lovely valley high -in the Eastern Alps. She was primeval woman dancing -with primeval man. A silver hammer rang on the -distant rocks, the wind drew its bow on the young -branches of the trees; all the new world moved in measure -about her, groping towards its birthright. The -vague melancholy promise of Nature grew ever more -distinct in its utterance, swelled in fuller volume from -the heights and passes. The man felt it and swung her -with swifter assurance, clasped her surrendered waist -more firmly; then in the wild and breathless whirl, -where the male, inspired by the reckless adhortation of -the music, expresses the insolent triumph of his manhood, -and the woman alone hears the persistent note -of sadness, the warning of the unfulfilment of mortal -desire, the heroine of this tale was the creature of another -will. In that dizzying circle she followed his -every motion, the peremptory guiding of his hand, with -neither thought nor desire of resistance; and when he -flung her scornfully from him she leaped back to his -embrace as automatically as the meanest peasant in the -room. At the end she was conscious of nothing but -that the mountain-tops were flying about her in a furious -attempt to meet and crash together; the shouting -of the men, the abrupt loud stamping of their feet, as the -musicians played like madmen, came to her confused -senses as the forces of the earth bursting their bonds; -and when the illusion abruptly finished and she found -herself on the veranda she leaned heavily against the -wall and sought for nothing but her breath.</p> - -<p>Fessenden mopped his streaming face. “By Jove!” -he remarked, “that was warm work! But it’s a great<span class="pagenum" id="Page_194">[194]</span> -dance—and you—you—were simply magnificent! When -I get my breath I’ll tell you how grateful I am.”</p> - -<p>Ranata lifted her head and assumed an expression of -frigid severity, which shone oddly from a face that was -wet and red from hair to throat.</p> - -<p>“Would you like to walk up and down the road for a -change?” asked Fessenden.</p> - -<p>“No!” exclaimed Ranata, still short of breath. “I -should not.”</p> - -<p>“You are not ready for another?”</p> - -<p>“No, I am not ready for another!” She spoke with -an asperity quite unnatural in a princess who never forgot -to be gracious, lest she wound the <i>amour propre</i> of -those at her mercy. The tumult within her had soured -and fermented into a sudden hatred of the colossal -wealth, the constant exercise of a power greater than -her father’s, and the habit of republican independence, -which enabled this man to stand before her as unconcernedly -as if she were a girl of his own class. Her -wrath might be unreasonable, but she was in no mood -to admit it, and she was divided between a desire to -relieve her tension with tears and for power to humiliate -the man.</p> - -<p>Fessenden, who was too hot and thirsty to be sentimental, -much less conscious of outraged royalty that -he had been swinging in the Chardash, glanced about -longingly. “I think there must be wine in that shed,” -he said. “Where there is a crowd after the Chardash -there usually is wine; and doubtless the Count has set -up a barrel of his own. If you will wait here I’ll fetch -you some.”</p> - -<p>As he walked away, his white blouse and skirts flapping -in the breeze, Ranata sank upon a bench. For the -first time in her life she was nonplussed, at a loss what -to do. Her long experience with Alexandra did not<span class="pagenum" id="Page_195">[195]</span> -help her in the least. Not only had she always regarded -the American girl as <i>sui generis</i>, but it had been her -royal pleasure that she should be so. She suddenly became -aware that her friend was standing before her.</p> - -<p>“Of course you are angry,” said Miss Abbott contritely. -“And I must confess at once that I knew he -was here, and might have warned you. But Fessenden -is Fessenden, and I knew that he would do what he -wanted in spite of me or any one else. Would you -rather go at once?”</p> - -<p>The Archduchess rose with alacrity. “Yes,” she said, -“let us go as quickly as possible.”</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">XII</h3> -</div> - -<p>Fessenden sat over his coffee on the terrace of his -hotel in Pest, and stared up at Buda with little appreciation -of its evening beauty. The sunset glow still lingered, -pushing forward the dark masses of the Schwabenberg, -where brilliant points of light were appearing -among the dim outlines of the villas. On the long -ridge above the Danube, and the abrupt irregular heights -beyond, lights were darting forth rapidly, and one wing -of the palace was illuminated. The irregular groups and -single dots of fire gave the fissures and cliffs, the ruins -of the citadel on its isolated height far to the left, and -the beautiful outline of the palace a dark and savage -grandeur. On the rough side of the cliff, far below the -citadel, was a mass of lights like a meteor fallen upon a -void, so dark were the woods and rocks about the little -kiosk where men and women drank their iced coffee to -the music of the gypsies. Along the ridge on the right -of the palace were the melting outlines of public buildings, -of ancient churches, the arches of the chapel above<span class="pagenum" id="Page_196">[196]</span> -the dust of Shêkl Gül Baba, which alone commemorates -the century and a half of Turkish occupation, and the -modern structures which cover the baths the Romans -built two thousand years ago. Down on the riverbank, -in the shadow of the precipitous gardens of the -palace, the cafés were brilliantly alight, and the music -of cymbal and fiddle floated over to Pest and mingled -with the strains of the gypsy band in the hotel behind -Fessenden.</p> - -<p>On the long line of terrace before the hotels of Pest, -hundreds sat at little tables smoking and drinking their -coffee. On the wide promenade in front many more -sauntered, the women gayly and fashionably dressed, -many of them beautiful, animated—bewitching, no -doubt, to the fine-looking men who accompanied them. -Fessenden had a fervent admiration for the women of -Hungary, and he had sat at this same table during -former visits and observed them with pleasure. But -to-night his eyes rarely wandered from the balcony at -the southeast extremity of the palace, where several -figures were discernible, and the regular rising, lingering, -disappearing of what might have been the travail -of a miniature volcano. The volcano, doubtless, was -the Princess Sarolta of Windischgrätz, for the figures -had moved from time to time, and there appeared to be -no man among them. Once the tallest of the group -had entered the room at the corner and stood for a moment -against the light. Fessenden, his heart beating -faster, had fancied he recognized the Archduchess, and -had half risen in angry determination to cross the river -and storm the hill, but had thrown himself back in his -chair and ordered another glass of iced coffee.</p> - -<p>Nevertheless, his anger did not cool nor his determination -weaken. It was now three days since he and Ranata -had surrendered themselves to the wild exhilaration<span class="pagenum" id="Page_197">[197]</span> -of the Chardash, and he had not even received permission -to call on his sister in the palace. Alexandra -had written him that the Archduchess was doubtless -very angry, as she had ignored the day in the village as -completely as if her memory had failed her, and every -one was in doubt as to the manner in which they were -to dance the Chardash at the ball. “But the ball will -take place,” Miss Abbott had added, “and if you will -possess your soul in patience and remain here, I shall -make a very especial point of your coming. She can -hardly refuse. Indeed, she would know that if she did -it would be the end of our friendship. I refuse to look -ahead in this matter. I have always known that something -would happen when you met. It is all on the -knees of the gods. The twentieth century is not the -eighteenth nor yet the nineteenth. For my part, I -want to see history make itself, and the past, I hold, is -merely designed by the inexorable law of progress as a -background for the present. There will be an American -queen in Europe yet. I am glad I am young—and I -love you both.”</p> - -<p>She had asked Zrinyi and Prince Illehazy to call upon -him, and he had pressed a tailor into hasty service and -dined with them at the Park Club on successive evenings. -He knew that he must meet the Archduchess before -long, for both these nobles had designed entertainments -in her honor, nor was it likely that she would refuse his -sister’s request. But he was not possessing his soul in -patience. He was used to personal activity in the -levelling of obstacles; moreover, the resentment of the -Archduchess seemed to him the most erratic manifestation -of feminine perversity to which man had ever been -subjected. If she choose to dress herself as a peasant -and dance with peasants, what right had she to vent her -anger upon him for dancing with her as respectfully as<span class="pagenum" id="Page_198">[198]</span> -the most courteous among them? He had chosen to -ignore her state, and no course could have been more consistent. -He would not apologize, for he had done nothing -culpable; he was as entitled to incognito as herself. -To vent her wrath on him for a situation of her own -making was a caprice so far unworthy of her character, -as he understood it, that he was inclined to believe there -was a misapprehension of which he knew nothing. By -which it will be seen that there were many things Fessenden -knew better than woman.</p> - -<p>Whether he was in love with the Archduchess of Austria -or not he was at no pains to discover. But his instinct -for adventure was now on edge—the youth in him -was rampant; New York was non-existent; his weeks of -rest in Europe, passed almost entirely in solitude and -sunshine, had made his pulses full and quick; he was -ready for anything, and his will had never set itself -more squarely. Here were all the high elements of -romance at last; moreover, when he awakened in the -night and heard the distant wail or rush of the Chardash, -he trembled and experienced a sensation of -being stabbed by something that was both sharp and -sweet.</p> - -<p>The attitude of the Archduchess, the insurmountable -barrier she had raised, but whetted his determination to -know her. With all his contempt for monarchy, he -was still too wise in its ways to make the mistake of -republican approach. He was unconventional, but he -was also a man of the world; while he would not hesitate -to insist upon talking with any sovereign as man to man, -with no more formality than he would yield to the -President of the United States, he knew that to walk up -to a palace door and demand admittance, even to his -sister’s apartments, would be merely to make an ass of -himself. Moreover, he had long since learned that one<span class="pagenum" id="Page_199">[199]</span> -of the secrets of man’s victory over life is never to court -certain failure.</p> - -<p>The afternoon before, he had crossed over to Buda -and walked all round the palace. The great gates on -the Danube looked impervious to battering-rams. On -the farther side of the court-yard the central portion of -the palace, which was of a symmetrical height in front, -was built straight down to the street behind in no less -than eighteen tiers of rooms. There were guards everywhere, -and it looked as impregnable as a fortress. The -gardens surrounded the front and south of the palace. -At the north end were more guards, and just without -the great court-yard, easy of access at its northern extremity, -its southern gates closed upon the private gardens, -was the guard-house. Connecting the vast front -of the palace with the mass at the rear of the court-yard -were galleries and many rooms. The private apartments -of the royal family did not look upon the court, -but were in the extension beyond it, above that sacred -portion of the grounds to which the public was never -admitted. No princess had ever been more securely -intrenched. The wild idea of disguising himself as a -working-man, and obtaining entrance to the portion of -the palace as yet unfinished within, had invaded Fessenden’s -brain and been dismissed. In that huge labyrinth -a man would be lost and found many times before he -was escorted to the guard-house.</p> - -<p>Fessenden, who liked a good story, had read the romances -of the day which dealt with the imaginary modern -princess of the imaginary modern kingdom, thrilling -scenes of rescue, hair-breadth escapes, revolutions. -They had been in his mind as he whimsically examined -the palace, but they were no guide for him, even had he -been of a less practical turn of mind. Were there a -revolution in Budapest, none would be safer than the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_200">[200]</span> -Archduchess. There would be no hair-breadth rescue -from that palace, unless, indeed, of himself. There was -no moat, no drawbridge. The walls were ever visible -to more than guards. He would meet her at balls, at -dinners; a word alone with her in the garden or a corner -of a balcony would seem to be all that he might anticipate. -Nevertheless, the situation was romantic enough -to keep him in Budapest; nor, he suspected, was Ranata -a woman who needed romantic accessories; she -would doubtless have interested him similarly in his -father’s house in New York. She was evidently a -creature of many sides, an infinite number of ingredients -mixed into a not altogether harmonious whole. -As Fessenden caught himself sentimentally wondering -if she were the isolated being of whom he had dreamed, -and who like himself lacked completeness, he remembered -that he had promised Zrinyi a game of Csendes—the -Hungarian poker—at ten o’clock; but as he strolled -up to the Nemzesi Casino he vowed anew that he would -know the daughter of the Emperor of Austria and King -of Hungary if he had to run the gamut of all the conventions.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">XIII</h3> -</div> - -<p>It was on the following morning that the Archduchess -remarked to Miss Abbott—they were walking on the -third terrace and paused under the shade of a heavy -tree—“I have decided that the bodice of my costume -shall be of blue velvet instead of black—and the -train.”</p> - -<p>Alexandra being too dumfounded to reply, Ranata -continued, “I have concluded that superstitions are -unworthy of any one who claims to live by the light of -his reason. Therefore I have made up my mind deliberately<span class="pagenum" id="Page_201">[201]</span> -to violate all that may still linger like weeds in -my mind.”</p> - -<p>“Blue is very becoming to you.”</p> - -<p>“I think more so than any other color except perhaps -green. I have also ordered several green gowns. I shall -not interfere with your pinks and yellows.”</p> - -<p>“That is kind, my dear, for you certainly would extinguish -me. I see your new rôle is to lack nothing in -thoroughness. Have you made up your mind how the -Chardash is to be danced?”</p> - -<p>“As it should be danced. Why not? All the manifestations -are on the part of the men; the women do little -but keep time.”</p> - -<p>The moment was favorable, the ice of Ranata’s three -days’ reserve being broken, but Alexandra hesitated to -introduce the subject of Fessenden. When Ranata -chose to be unfathomable there was an aloofness about -her which suggested that her soul was surrounded by -the watchful ghosts of all her ancestors. She had never -looked more aloof than to-day, despite the apparent -frivolity of her conversation. She was standing very -straight, apparently absorbed in contemplation of the -roofs of Pest, glittering in fragments through the leaves -of Buda. In the deep shade of the tree her face looked -like marble, her hair like metal. There had been no -coolness between the girls since the day of the <i>festa</i>. -They had been much together and talked on any other -subject; but it had been evident to Alexandra that a -part of the Archduchess’s mind had been bent introspectively, -and she had retired to her bedroom earlier -and left it later than was her habit. How Fessenden -had impressed her, what tortuous train of thought she -had been following, Alexandra felt it would be folly to -guess, for she knew there were depths and ways in that -mind no friend would ever enter. But it was her policy<span class="pagenum" id="Page_202">[202]</span> -never to manifest surprise, except at some lighter erraticism, -and she did not lift an eyebrow when Ranata -turned to her and said sweetly:</p> - -<p>“Do you think your brother would dine with us to-night? -We were to have been forty, but Sarolta tells -me that Count Ábris Teleky is ill.”</p> - -<p>“I am sure Fessenden would be delighted.”</p> - -<p>“Will you write, or shall Sarolta send him a formal -invitation?”</p> - -<p>“I will write. Perhaps I had better go at once.”</p> - -<p>“I will wait for you here.”</p> - -<p>“How did she know he is in Pest?” wondered Miss -Abbott, as she ran up the steps in the terrace wall. -“And <i>what</i> is she up to?”</p> - -<p>When she returned, Ranata was sitting on the rustic -bench staring at the ground. Alexandra sat down beside -her.</p> - -<p>“What do you think of Count Zrinyi’s invitation -to visit his castle in the Transylvanian Alps?” she -asked.</p> - -<p>“I should like to go. Retyezat was the scene of -Rudolf’s first visit to Transylvania—he was the guest of -Count Samuel Teleky who took him to Boldogfalva, the -castle of Baron Kendeffy—it is not far from Zrinyi’s -castle—and they went into camp on Lake Zenoga. -That was one of the most delightful experiences of Rudolf’s -life! He hunted the bear all over those frozen -peaks, high above any vegetation except the Alpine -roses. He used to thrill me with his descriptions of -those terrible rugged mountains, the breathless wait for -the bear, sometimes terrified, as often stolidly unsuspecting, -and then the wild dance of the Wallach and -Roumanian beaters round the camp-fire at night to the -music of their flutes. Rudolf and all the others of the -party sat huddled under a rock, muffled in furs, smoking<span class="pagenum" id="Page_203">[203]</span> -the long Hungarian pipe; but the wild men of the mountains -were warm enough, for they danced like fiends, and -the effect of the wild gyrations almost in the very midst -of the leaping flames, the great teeth of the rocks cutting -the sky on every side, the gathering storm shrieking into -the sweet wild music of the flutes, the infernal cries of -the excited creatures—I remember Rudolf swept all the -things off my most precious table in his animation the -first time he told me the story! Those were his happiest -days—his hunting expeditions to Transylvania for -bear and other game, and he loved to talk to me about -them, for no one else cared to listen—at home, at least. -Even when I was a child he often came and spent an -hour with me, partly out of pity for my loneliness, partly -because I was so much like himself in many ways, and in -despair that I could not join in all his sports. He promised -me the last time he returned from Transylvania that -the next year I should go with him to Görgény—the -crown property where he always went after that first -visit. The occasion upon which he won his oak as a -Transylvanian bear-hunter was almost as exciting in another -way. When he had killed his first bear the beaters -tied its legs together, and raising it on crossed poles -carried it through the forest to the stretchers, followed -by all the Roumanians in their strange costumes shouting -<i>Setreasca! Setreasca!</i> The guests surrounding Rudolf -responded with <i>Élyens</i> almost as wild, and Count -Teleky dipped an oak twig in the bear’s blood and presented -it to Rudolf, who stuck it in his cap. When he -returned to the castle in the evening, all the delighted -and shouting people knew by that sign that their prince -had taken his position among the great bear-hunters of -Transylvania.”</p> - -<p>Ranata had been speaking rapidly and excitedly. As -she finished she sprang to her feet. The blood was in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_204">[204]</span> -her cheeks, and her eyes were flashing with a curious -angry animation.</p> - -<p>“Do you think any man could ever come between me -and the memory of my brother?” she demanded passionately—“between -my duty to his memory, to his unfinished -work? Do you think that I could ever admire, love, -respect any man one-half so well? What of his weaknesses? -He had the greatest of natures. He knew that -he had the fate of Europe in his hands, and he would -have made the soberest of rulers. Do you think that -any woman was ever so fortified as I against the common -weakness of woman? Rudolf!—Austria!—” She turned -abruptly and walked down the dim path under the wall.</p> - -<p>Alexandra caught her breath. She felt curiously uncomfortable, -as a sensitive American girl, unskilled in -feeling, always does at the sudden revelation of passion -in another woman. Calmly to analyze the passions of -the world, and stare ironically at the complications of -life through a lorgnette, was all in the mental progress -of a girl brought up with the peculiar advantages of -Alexandra and possessing her uncommon acuteness; -but direct contact vaguely offended the cool purity of -her lighter nature.</p> - -<p>She also experienced a sensation of terror which vibrated -oddly among her calm and calculating particles. -Should she write and tell Fessenden to go at once? Or—might -it not be merely Ranata’s imagination that -had taken fire? Impossible that she could love a man -with whom she had not exchanged ten words; who to -his sister’s critical eye had looked like anything but a -god with his shirt hanging over his skirts, and sweating -like any crimson peasant in the room—she had sent -Zrinyi out immediately to wash his face. No, she decided, -after a few moments of hard maidenly thinking, -it was merely the romantic streak in that abundant<span class="pagenum" id="Page_205">[205]</span> -dreaming nature that had claimed dominion for the -moment—aggravated no doubt by much retrospection -and idealizing since; the occasion and Fessenden, to -Alexandra’s mind, stood in need of at least three days’ -perspective and created glamour. But should she send -away Fessenden and leave Ranata at peace with her -dead and her duties? She hardly had realized what -she expected to result upon the meeting of these two. -A vague and picturesque drama, mixed with much history, -with a final prophetic vision of the two in New -York, had whirled through her head. Passion, suffering, -tragedy—she had given them no thought, well as -she knew Ranata’s capacity for all. Her friend had -been the heroine of many romances woven by her energetic -brain; but the romances had been creations of -an exalted and poetic nature, like unto what she assumed -the gods and goddesses had compassed.</p> - -<p>And Fessenden? How would he fall in love? He -usually teased her and joked with her; but his serious -side and his achievement had no more fervent admirer. -He had never told her an anecdote in which a woman -figured sentimentally; to what degree women had the -power to move him she found herself unable to imagine. -He certainly was adventurous—born to make and to -change history; therefore had she coupled him with -Ranata in some great drama of the future; but in looks -and deportment he was as little romantic as any other -American. She calculated rapidly that he had upset -most of her theories about him at least once a year -since she had known him, and recalled that she had frequently -wondered how well she ever should know him. -She half rose. Should she send him away? She sank -back with a laugh. That was beyond the power of anything -short of law or violence. She recalled the angry -and determined letter she had received the day before.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_206">[206]</span>“He will come!” she thought. “They will meet and -talk. Well—it is all on the knees of the gods.”</p> - -<p>Ranata returned and sat beside her. “We were talking -about visiting your count,” she said. “I am sure -you want to go, and it will give me the opportunity to -make the progress I intended through some of the villages. -But it will have to be a little later. I must start -the ball here first—make as deep an impression as possible -before leaving Budapest even for a week. Why -do you not ask your brother to take tea with you to-day? -I shall be engaged this afternoon, but you will -enjoy having him to yourself. Forgive me that I did -not think of it before, but my mind has been so full of -other things—the best plan of campaign with the members -of the Left, for one. And tell him of all our plans -and schemes. I should be glad of the advice of one so -accustomed to the management of men.”</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">XIV</h3> -</div> - -<p>The Princess Sarolta, apparently absorbed in the -achievements of the chef of Királyi Palota and the lively -conversation about her, observed her imperial charge -and pondered. It was the first time that Ranata had -played the part of independent hostess beyond the limits -of her small court and the few privileged friends, and -the Princess was not surprised at her sudden blossoming -into a graceful, almost informal, hostess, with a word -of personal meaning for each of her guests as she greeted -them, and an animation at table which a keen sense of -liberty and her desire for popularity had finally set free. -But what puzzled and faintly alarmed the valiant but -suspicious soul of the Obersthofmeisterin was her exceeding -graciousness to the brother of her American<span class="pagenum" id="Page_207">[207]</span> -friend. The Archduchess had lifted her chin coquettishly -as he bowed formally before her, and then offered -him her hand with a spontaneous warmth as she made -known her wholly feminine and unroyal pleasure in -meeting the brother of her dearest friend. To the handshake -and the remarks the Princess had no particular -objection—there was fitness in both; but why the blush -and the coquetry? Why the curiously puzzled expression -of Mr. Abbott, followed by a flash of relief and pleasure? -Why the constant change of expression as she -turned from Prince Illehazy who sat on her right to the -American who sat on her left? The Princess was abnormally -acute in the ways of her sex, and with age she -added to the sum of a knowledge born of much experience, -while forgetting nothing. It was towards the -middle of the dinner that her alarm faded, and she remarked -to herself: “She is up to some game or other. -She is playing a part. But what an actress! Who -would have suspected—but no, has she not always been -playing the parts demanded of her rank? This is merely -one of her own choosing. But what does it mean? I -must find out before I sleep to-night.”</p> - -<p>Ranata, to those who knew her well, had never looked -so beautiful. She wore white, for her colored wardrobe -had not yet come, but the low bodice of her gown had -been trimmed with blue velvet flowers, and there were -sapphires on her neck instead of the usual pearls. Her -brilliant coppery hair was arranged with so many little -sparkling combs that it looked as if enmeshed in a diamond -net; and almost in front was a sapphire lily. She -had adjusted her new manner to perfection; while losing -nothing of the dignity of the princess, she was a girl -delighting in the levity of the hour, a human being conscious -to the quick of unrestricted intercourse with lively -and intelligent minds. She joined in the general conversation<span class="pagenum" id="Page_208">[208]</span> -as far as was possible; pleasing and astonishing -her guests with her intimate knowledge of Hungarian -affairs and the crisis of the moment—there is always a -crisis in Hungary—her subtly expressed sympathy, and -her constant intimate references to the mother and -brother who had been so beloved by this ardent and appreciative -people. Her evident devotion to the memory -of her brother would have insured her popularity had -she reminded them less of him, been less attractive in -herself. Those within her range had no sense whatever -of being entertained by royalty; forgot the awful dinners -they had sat through with their king; were at exactly -the same informal ease as when dining with each other. -And yet, so deathless is the reverence of the monarchical -born for majesty and all begotten of majesty; so insidious -the flattery of those whose souls are steeped in purple; -that even these most independent of all monarchists -unconsciously swelled with a fuller enthusiasm for the -beautiful and gracious hostess, inasmuch as she commanded -homage by divine right.</p> - -<p>During the early part of the dinner Ranata was conscious -only of the buoyant atmosphere, the gay content -of her guests, their versatility of mind, their very evident -admiration of herself, the smiling approval of the -beautiful women in the pink flood of the palm-and-flower-filled -gallery where the table was spread. It was -her first taste of power, and it was not only sweet but -inspiring. Her own enthusiasm waxed high. She felt -expansive, democratic. Her ardent nature struggled -with its bonds. She felt a momentary impulse to tell -them that she was happy for the first time in her life, -and felt as keenly as they the common bond of human -nature.</p> - -<p>She hardly knew when she began to feel the subtle -difference between the American’s homage and that of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_209">[209]</span> -the great Hungarian magnates. For some time her -words with him were desultory, so much of her attention -was demanded elsewhere; but as the conversation at the -long table coupled, and the beautiful Roumanian, wife -of Count Ábris Teleky, who sat on the other side of -Prince Illehazy, absorbed more and more of his attention, -she found her own consecutively claimed by Fessenden -Abbott. She had been content with the apparent -impression her coquetry and graciousness had made on -the American, reflecting with arrogance that there is -nothing so dense as the vanity of man. It was not -long before she was made aware that Fessenden, if admiring, -was not prostrate; that sensible as he might be -to her flattery, his head was still cool. But it was not -until they talked without interruption that she experienced -for the first time in her life the sensation of being -a mere woman talking to a mere man, and realized in a -flash that she had spent the early part of the evening -in a fool’s paradise. Given to self-analysis, she wondered -at its fascination, for Fessenden’s attitude after -the Chardash had been intensely irritating. But every -nerve in her had been on edge during that extraordinary -dance; however he had comported himself at its finish -would doubtless have served as a pretext for opening a -safety-valve among the sensations that were oppressing -her. To-night she was filled with good-will to all the -world; she had already sighed for democracy, and while -she sighed again at the death of an illusion, it was doubtless -consistent to accept pleasurably a momentary sensation -of true equality. That this famous American, -who was beginning to appall the world with his resource, -was dazzled by her beauty and captivated by her charm, -was apparent to whomsoever chose to observe, but it was -the surrender of man to his goddess; his eyes were level, -not upcast in the homage of courtier to princess. His<span class="pagenum" id="Page_210">[210]</span> -masculine vanity was flattered, no doubt, but by the -woman, not by the daughter of the Emperor of Austria.</p> - -<p>For a time the conversation was impersonal enough. -“I hope you will come to my ball,” the Archduchess had -said, and then added with a laugh—“That ball! How -often its plans have been changed! The Princess Sarolta -thought that it should be given to the aristocracy alone, -but I have finally decided that all the members of Parliament -shall be invited, and all who have distinguished -themselves in art and letters. I am not very patient. -I do not like doing things by degrees. You saw Alexandra -this afternoon? I told her to take you into our -confidence.”</p> - -<p>“It is a very great scheme, and I am entirely at your -disposal. But what do you intend, in this instance, to -do about the wives of your untitled members? And -the wives of your other distinguished guests who do not -come to court as a matter of course?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, the women cannot come. They do not expect -it.”</p> - -<p>“They would be valuable allies.”</p> - -<p>“It is quite impossible. The women of the aristocracy -would rebel—would stay away from court, no doubt.”</p> - -<p>“I wonder. Court life in Hungary is very rare. Surely -you are powerful enough to set your own fashions.”</p> - -<p>But Ranata looked determined and unmoved. “I -should lose much and gain nothing. And, besides, I do -not wish it. An empire is an empire, not a republic. -If I opened the gates, where would be the end? I should -be shaking hands with eight thousand people of an evening, -like your poor President.”</p> - -<p>“You would find that rather interesting. Your wild -and picturesque peasants—Hungarians, Roumanians, -Wallachians, Servians, Croats, Orthodox Jews, and what -not—would come pouring in from their fastnesses.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_211">[211]</span>“I shall go to them in their villages. To hold a little -court for them, as it were, will be delightful. But here—it -would be only to cheapen myself.”</p> - -<p>“It would be a great victory gained if you could bring -the members of the Extreme Left to court. The Emperor -cannot; but if you invited their wives, no doubt -you would conquer their prejudices—the wives would -see to that.”</p> - -<p>“Do you think I have given no thought to the Kossuths? -I have my plan of campaign. ‘Just you wait,’ -as Alex would say.” She lifted her eyes and looked -directly at him; there was not even defiance in their -rays. “It has also been decided that although all the -magnates and their families will come in the national -costume, only a hundred of the younger will dance the -Chardash. The older—the men at least—seem to have -lost nothing of their fire, but I fear apoplexy.”</p> - -<p>“It certainly requires the wind of youth. I suppose -I shall not be permitted to dance it,” he added discontentedly. -“Whom shall you dance it with?”</p> - -<p>She hesitated a perceptible half moment; then she -answered, “I shall not dance it at all.”</p> - -<p>He turned to her with a flash in his eyes, and her own -dropped. “Allow me to contribute an idea. Why not -have it danced by peasants? Many of the women have -beautiful costumes, although they do not always wear -them; enough could be found, at all events. Bring -them here—house them in the servants’ quarters for -two or three nights. Do not offer to pay anything but -their expenses. Ask them to come as a favor. Give -them a feast and dance of their own afterwards. All -the peasantry of Hungary will be delighted. Let your -other guests dance the Chardash in their own way afterwards. -You would then please everybody. I suppose -no one has dared to tell you, but the women are by no<span class="pagenum" id="Page_212">[212]</span> -means enthusiastic at the prospect of having the breath -whirled out of them; and many are disappointed at not -being able to wear their latest costumes from Paris and -Vienna.”</p> - -<p>“Ah! That <i>is</i> the truth, I suppose.” She laughed. -“The evolution of a ball! One would think this was the -first that ever had been heard of. But I like your idea. -Yes—it shall be. And only those who wish shall dance -the Chardash.”</p> - -<p>“Then,” said Fessenden quickly, “you can dance with -me afterwards. I have to wear some sort of a costume, -anyhow.”</p> - -<p>She caught her breath, and again her anger rose.</p> - -<p>“It is customary,” she began haughtily, then paused, -at a loss how to word her rebuke. This was not only an -American, but a sovereign in his way, and her friend’s -brother. She stole a glance at him. He had thrown -back his head, and was staring down at her with a glitter -in his eyes that made them seem peculiarly contracted. -He looked more angry than she felt. She lifted her -head and said defiantly, “I shall not dance at all.”</p> - -<p>“That is a great pity,” said Fessenden coldly, “for I -never knew any one to enjoy dancing more.” Then, as -her face flushed and her own eyes glittered, he added -deliberately: “I have no intention of ignoring an experience -which I have lain awake more than one night to remember. -There is no reason why the subject should be -taboo, and it makes an absurd and annoying complication. -Do you expect me to be eternally on my guard -lest I make a reference to it?”</p> - -<p>For a moment the Archduchess did not answer. Her -next words must decide the status of their future acquaintance, -possibly would determine whether they ever met -again or not. There was no mistaking the gauntlet he -had thrown down: she was to take him on his own terms<span class="pagenum" id="Page_213">[213]</span> -or not at all. Should she? Should she? Her anger -had ebbed in an unaccountable manner. There was -something very alluring in the prospect not only of a -new variety of homage, but of adventuring farther on -the path of liberty. Many changes had lifted their -heads within her since her break for comparative independence -and her rapid victory. She was beginning to -perceive how fatally easy it is for women and nations to -cross the border between liberty and license. Four days -ago she had made an appalling addition to the limited -sum of her experiences: she had known for a few moments -the intoxication of abandonment. The retrospect -had filled her with an alternate fury and delight. Woman-like -she had vented her wrath on the man; and he -had commanded her waking thoughts to the exclusion -of the Austrian dynasty. Then, with the elaborate subtlety -of the feminine mind, she had persuaded herself -that her duty to her country demanded that she win the -American from the man who menaced the future integrity -of the Austrian Empire; and, buoyed up by the -virtue of her cause, she had drawn him into the circle of -her influence, having first analyzed him into the abstract -condition of a curiosity. During the last half-hour she -had quite forgotten that virtue alone had summoned -Fessenden Abbott to court; but as she hesitated, fascinated, -but doubting the policy of letting him eat the -fruits of victory, the devil, which sits on his tail in a -corner of every woman’s brain, plucked this virtue from -its hook and flung it into the light.</p> - -<p>She raised her brilliant powerful eyes to his and said -sweetly: “You have placed me in a position from which -there are only two outlets. I acknowledge myself defeated. -What is it you would like to say about our -Chardash? I am quite ready to discuss it threadbare.”</p> - -<p>He laughed, but without annoyance, for she had uttered<span class="pagenum" id="Page_214">[214]</span> -the words “our Chardash” in a tone that gave him -a sharp sensation of delight. “The laurels are to you,” -he said with commendable sobriety. “It is my turn to -acknowledge defeat. I shall never mention the subject -again except at your command.”</p> - -<p>She had accomplished her purpose, and should have -been satisfied. But she was filled with a sudden desire -to hear all that he had left unsaid. What had he wanted -to tell her? How had he felt for her that day? What -did the memory mean to him? She cast about in her -mind for the words that would express a delicate and -elusive query, to lead him on, while not committing herself. -But an interview with a Königsegg was a simple -matter beside playing with fire when the fire was actually -between one’s fingers; the hereditary game of coquetry -was no guide. Nonplussed, but unwilling to -leave the subject, she bit her lip and drew a long breath.</p> - -<p>“What are you sighing about?” asked Fessenden.</p> - -<p>“I am a woman and inconsistent.”</p> - -<p>“I know less about women than you do, so I can’t -help you out—at all events unless you tell me what is -the matter with you.”</p> - -<p>“Alexandra is direct, but she has a great deal of subtlety!”</p> - -<p>“I haven’t a particle of subtlety. I’ll give a direct -answer to a direct question from anybody but a South -American president or a Chinaman. What is it?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t think I’ll tell you,” said Ranata hurriedly. -“How I long to hear all your adventures at first hand! -Even listening to Alexandra, I have held my breath. -But we are going to have our coffee on the terrace.”</p> - -<p>A few moments later, as the company was standing -about the pillared gallery behind the vines, the Princess -Sarolta took Alexandra’s arm and strolled with her beyond -the others.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_215">[215]</span>“Why are you angry?” asked the watchful Obersthofmeisterin.</p> - -<p>“Ranata is trying to make a fool of my brother.”</p> - -<p>“You are making a fool of Zrinyi. Your brother has -doubtless been made a fool of before. I was afraid that -Ranata was taking man—in the person of your brother—as -seriously as she has taken all life heretofore.”</p> - -<p>Alexandra was on the alert at once. “You are quite -mistaken,” she said indifferently. “Ranata has a very -particular reason for turning my brother’s head. I promised, -in a moment of enthusiasm, to help her. I do not -know that that would hold, but I am in a quandary. I -want Ranata to succeed in all that she has undertaken, -but I do not want my brother sacrificed.”</p> - -<p>“At your age tender consideration for a man is a characteristic! -It is one of the amusing reminiscences of -age. When you have learned, my child, how much -they can stand—<i>enfin!</i> I am relieved that it is this -way, for although I hope to have Ranata under my supervision -when she goes through the inevitable, yet I -shrink from it—and there is little I do shrink from! -She would suffer quite horribly, because she must be -utterly without hope; even intrigue would be forbidden -her—she has too much at stake. But no! as well now -as any time. As well your brother as any man. He looks -as if he would never <i>affiché</i> a woman, he is not hot of head, -he knows the world—and lives on the other side of it!”</p> - -<p>“You are all wrong, Sarolta. Ranata is playing a game.”</p> - -<p>“The game is fire,” replied the Princess dryly.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">XV</h3> -</div> - -<p>After that Fessenden took his tea—he detested tea—every -day in the Hungarian house. Sometimes the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_216">[216]</span> -entire court was present, all conforming to the English -custom approved by their princess, except the Obersthofmeisterin, -who consumed glass after glass of iced -coffee, to the secret envy of the rest. Sometimes only -the younger ladies-in-waiting were present besides the -Archduchess and Alexandra; but even at dinner, to -which he was frequently invited, Fessenden rarely had -a word alone with Ranata. Twice he had ridden with -the court to the summit of the Schwabenberg in the -early morning, but he had been obliged to content himself -with observing the fine effect of flaming hair among -the sweeping branches of the acacia.</p> - -<p>If Fessenden had not long since come to the conclusion -that it was a waste of man’s valuable time to puzzle -over the idiosyncrasies of any woman, he would have -wondered at the sudden change in the Archduchess’s -tactics. She had dropped coquetry as abruptly as she -had assumed it, and now treated him with a sisterly -frankness which, in some respects, was a curious imitation -of Alexandra’s. The truth was that Ranata had -taken warning from an angry glint in her friend’s eye, -although the subject of Fessenden had been mutually -avoided. Moreover, Ranata had informed herself that -the American’s friendship would doubtless be as valuable -to the House of Hapsburg as his love, and far easier for -her inexperienced self to manage. He had thrilled her -unaccountably in the Chardash, and startled and fascinated -her later by his momentary conquest of her will; -but she had finally taken alarm, and when he arose in -her thought she wrote a letter to Count von Königsegg, -or demanded the company of her lively ladies-in-waiting. -When she was alone in bed she sternly reviewed -the Hungarian programme, and forced herself to plan -for the subjugation of the Party of Independence. On -this question she had much correspondence with the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_217">[217]</span> -minister; for she had received more than one veiled command -to let politics ostensibly alone while exercising the -purely feminine forces of attraction to bind all parties -in a common loyalty to the throne. This was not a -difficult task for a beautiful and intelligent princess -within the circle of her influence; but if a powerful -band of enthusiastic Radicals chose to keep themselves -far beyond the outer edge of that circle, how was she, -hedged by every restriction, to cast her nets about them? -She did not regard Fessenden’s suggestion as feasible—not -for the present at least. If all else failed, however, -she finally decided, with a secret preference for following -his advice, that she would summon the most influential -women of the aristocracy in secret conclave, and, -appealing to their patriotism, ask them to come forth -temporarily from their haughty exclusiveness and meet -the women of the dangerous element within the neutral -shades of the palace. She had discussed this plan with -her mentor, and it had been agreed upon as a last resort.</p> - -<p>The enthusiasm and curiosity she excited among the -masses were sufficient to satisfy the most patriotic and -feminine heart. Every day from four to five she drove -abroad, taking invariably the same route; crossing the -suspension-bridge and driving out the wide Andrássy <i>ut</i> -into the Stefenia <i>ut</i> of the park. All Pest seemed to -tumble into the streets and the footways of the bridge -as she passed, and frequently there was cheering. Beloved -as her father was in Vienna, his people showed -him no further attention in public than a perfunctory -salute; and although in Hungary the masses cheered -him during his brief visits, it was much in the same manner -as the American is enthusiastic over any spectacle -that varies the monotony of business. But that the -people of Budapest were not only genuinely delighted -with this flower of the Hapsburgs, but pleased and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_218">[218]</span> -flattered that she chose to live among them, was evident -both by their spontaneous enthusiasm and its reflection -in the press. In all but the Radical newspapers there -was a daily chronicle of her doings, and gallant comment; -the opposition had nothing to say in her disfavor, -and was evidently unsuspicious of her motive in deserting -Vienna for Budapest.</p> - -<p>One morning, persuaded by Alexandra, she entered a -shop for the first time in her life. It was a shop in the -Vácri utcza, and she spent a delighted half-hour to the -greater delight of the sordid soul that kept it. When -she left it she was mobbed into her carriage by a throng -that impeded the traffic. She passed through the ordeal -with such a lack of condescension in her good-nature -that even the women cheered her, and there were murmurs -of “Rudolf!” among their “<i>Élyens!</i>” When -driving past the waiting crowds in the street, instead of -favoring her admirers with the usual fixed smile and -stately bow of bored royalty, she inclined her head -slowly, including many in one salutation, and sometimes -smiling in a manner that seemed both spontaneous -and personal.</p> - -<p>And then, one other morning, accompanied only by -the Princess Sarolta, Fessenden, and Alexandra, she visited -the Hall of the Deputies, the Lower House of the -Diet. The new Parliament building, that epitome of -Venice on the brink of the Danube, was unfinished, and -both houses of the Diet still met in the old buildings in -the “Magnates’ Quarter.” Ranata insisted upon sitting -quietly in the diplomats’ gallery for a time, and found -much food for reflection. The magnates meet irregularly; -the Deputies daily while Parliament is in session, and -transact the business of the nation when not engaged in -moving their kings and pawns a square further towards -independence. One finds no type in Budapest, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_219">[219]</span> -these were men of many types. Few possessed the -famed Hungarian beauty, and the majority looked like -energetic business-men whose native fires were nicely -balanced by determination. They were curiously unmonarchical -in appearance and atmosphere; and the unenlightened -stranger would have assumed without question -that they were the working body of an aggressive -republic. The ministry, striking-looking men, all of the -Liberal party, sat in a semicircle below the desk of the -President of the House, and followed the proceedings -with evident cynicism.</p> - -<p>The President, one of the few nobles in the Lower -House, was lecturing the Party of Independence upon the -inconvenient extreme to which it was carrying its policy -of obstruction. He sat aloft, and the beautiful Magyar -language rolled down, an impassioned yet monotonous -torrent. The constant interruptions from the Extreme -Left in nowise disturbed it. The “Young Kossuth -party” acted much in the fashion of bad boys too big -for the ferrule.</p> - -<p>“They need Tom Reed,” muttered Fessenden.</p> - -<p>“They interest me very much,” whispered Ranata. -“I have never seen anything like them. Do they represent -Hungary?”</p> - -<p>“That is what they are here for.”</p> - -<p>“Your House of Representatives—does it look more -democratic?”</p> - -<p>“Only when it has its coat off and its feet on the desk.”</p> - -<p>“These men—why do they want William? Why do -they want any king?”</p> - -<p>“The great body are not extremists. They know -that Hungary is not ready for independence—neither -internally nor by her geographical position. No country -is surrounded by so many enemies—who hate her for -that obstinate individuality which has survived every<span class="pagenum" id="Page_220">[220]</span> -reverse and threatens to engulf themselves. The Hungarians -would make their own terms with William—and -give him their help in smashing Russia.”</p> - -<p>“Is this matter the talk of Europe?” asked the Archduchess -sharply.</p> - -<p>“Not of Europe, but of those who do the hard thinking.”</p> - -<p>“How could William smash Russia?”</p> - -<p>“He only needs the money.”</p> - -<p>“Ah! He promised his grandfather on the old Kaiser’s -death-bed that he would maintain friendly relations -with Russia. It is a matter of sentiment with -him.”</p> - -<p>“Sentiment evaporates, and promises are nullified, -when it comes to a question of self-protection.”</p> - -<p>“Or ambition! Will he ever be able to get this -money? The Reichstag will not vote it, and the Socialists -become stronger daily. How can he get it?”</p> - -<p>“Well—he might raise the embargo on certain American -industries, and as a return favor they might advance -him fifty million dollars or so.”</p> - -<p>“You know that is one of the few things he would not -dare do. He cannot afford to antagonise another party—he -is as much of a politician as your Roosevelt.”</p> - -<p>“Well, you see, success in a great war would bind all -parties in a common approval.”</p> - -<p>Ranata was a thorough European in the sinuousness -of her methods; but she recalled the picturesque advice -of Alexandra to push a fellow-diplomat into a corner and -tell him “to speak out or get out.” She fixed her disconcerting -eyes on Fessenden and asked deliberately, -“Do you intend to give him this money?”</p> - -<p>Fessenden was not to be nonplussed by methods direct -or indirect. His sharp eyes met the strength of -her gaze unmoved. “Can you keep a secret? Yes?<span class="pagenum" id="Page_221">[221]</span> -If the time ever comes when our interests seem one, I -shall let him have all the money he wants.”</p> - -<p>“That is the vagueness of diplomacy.”</p> - -<p>“I have no immediate intention of putting my hand -in my pocket, if that is what you mean. Nor is the -time ripe for him to strike.”</p> - -<p>Ranata drew a long breath. To bridge an interval she -asked, “Is it true—I mean in your personal knowledge—that -the Balkan states would rally to him in case of a -war with Russia—that they share the infatuated notion -that he is destined to be the savior of eastern Europe—instead -of ourselves!”</p> - -<p>“I am as sure of it as one can be of anything in Eastern -politics.”</p> - -<p>“And this story I heard yesterday—that he is having -his second son taught Hungarian—is that true?”</p> - -<p>“I heard it in Berlin, but not from the Emperor.”</p> - -<p>For a moment Ranata hated him. Then she registered -a vow anew, and this time her chin seemed to absorb -its firm pink flesh. She turned to Fessenden pettishly. -“I hate politics!” she said. “I shall play my -part here quietly, but there is no necessity to talk or -even to think about it, except when I am obliged to discuss -some point with Count von Königsegg. Of course, -if you have advice to give me I shall be grateful, but at -other times please forget and let me forget that I am -an unhappy princess imagining I have the fate of an -empire on my shoulders.”</p> - -<p>“I am not in Hungary to talk politics.”</p> - -<p>Ranata lifted her eyes to his; they were both soft and -dazzling. “Why are you here?” she whispered audaciously.</p> - -<p>The fires in Fessenden flew to his head and flashed -from his eyes, but his voice if unsteady came to her ear<span class="pagenum" id="Page_222">[222]</span> -distinctly. “If we are ever alone for a moment I will -tell you why.”</p> - -<p>Ranata received her first electric shock of passion. -He had won again and with her own weapons. Tumultuous -delight, amazement, anger, rushed through -her brain. She clinched her hand in an attempt at self-control, -and it slipped from her knee and touched his. -She recovered herself at once.</p> - -<p>“One would think you were a Hungarian!” she said -scornfully, oblivious of the significance of her failure to -comment upon the ancient ocean that rolled between -them. “They need only a spark, and are accustomed -to women who are always expectant of the language of -love. From Alexandra I have gathered that the American -man has been too well educated by his women to -let himself go until he is sure he will not be laughed at, -and that he is greatly assisted by the national frigidity -of temperament.”</p> - -<p>“What you learn of the national temperament will -be from me, not from my sister.”</p> - -<p>Ranata was now fully alive to her rôle. That her -being was still in tumult, her brain alert with womanly -curiosity, mattered nothing; she would follow her programme -to the end. If that end were unimaginable for -the woman, it was defined enough for the princess.</p> - -<p>“I should like to know one man in my life,” she murmured. -“And you are an American—the only one I -ever could know, I suppose. I find the prospect rather -delightful. But you must not insist upon flirting with -me. It would be an unfair advantage—I am terribly -unskilled.”</p> - -<p>“I have not the slightest intention of flirting with -you. I have had no time to learn the <i>a b c</i> of flirtation. -Nor do I waste my time.”</p> - -<p>“How long shall you stay in Hungary?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_223">[223]</span>“I know less about that than you do.”</p> - -<p>“But you do not take long vacations. Surely, your -enormous interests in America—they must demand your -attention before long.”</p> - -<p>“My enormous interests can—take care of themselves.”</p> - -<p>The blood ran up to Ranata’s hair. For a second she -forgot her rôle. She tasted the sweets of woman’s power -for the first time, and wondered at the barrenness of -the regal. “Would you stay here if your great fortune -were in danger—if—”</p> - -<p>“I should stay here if the world went to smash.”</p> - -<p>Ranata became aware that Alexandra’s lips were at -her other ear. “Sarolta is going to sleep,” whispered -the warning voice. “She will be horribly cross. Hadn’t -we better go?”</p> - -<p>The Archduchess rose. “Yes,” she said indifferently. -“It is quite time. And we have promised to go on the -floor for a moment. The President has left his seat. -Doubtless he is coming to meet us.”</p> - -<p>A few moments later she was receiving the compliments -of the ministers, most of whom she had met while -her father was in Budapest. She was Archduchess of -Austria and Princess of Hungary once more, touched -with the happy informality of her brother. The members -of the press had been requested to leave the room. -The Deputies were standing at their desks regarding her -with deep attention, and she played to them quite as -much as to the ministers. She stood just beneath the -elevated seat of the President, and its sombre dignity -made the proper background for her noble height and -brilliant hair. She wore a large black hat and a gown -of black velvet whose jacket opened over the white softness -of chiffons. The color was still in her cheeks, her -eyes sparkled, her short upper lip curved in a smile<span class="pagenum" id="Page_224">[224]</span> -which was less gracious than youthful, and revealed -teeth whose like from time immemorial have inspired -man with longing and forgiveness.</p> - -<p>Her eyes wandered several times to the benches of the -Extreme Left. These men also stood at their posts. -There was one who overtopped his fellows by a head. -This head was shaped like a cannon-ball and surrounded -by harsh black hair. His nose was short and thick, but -the face was strongly built and the small black eyes -dashed beneath a permanent frown.</p> - -<p>She turned to the President. “Who is that man?” -she asked.</p> - -<p>“Molnár Lajos.” He gave the names in the Hungarian -sequence. “He is one of the most influential and -violent of the Obstructionists, and gives us far more -trouble than the son of Kossuth.”</p> - -<p>“Present him to me.”</p> - -<p>The great Liberal magnate hesitated. He thought of -his king and turned pale. His eye sought that of the -Obersthofmeisterin. She raised her brows expressively -and lifted one shoulder. The President, wondering, for -he had known Sarolta through many imperious years, -turned and walked over to the young Radical. For a -moment it was apparent that the disciple of Kossuth -hesitated, but he had the courtesy of his race, and he -hardly could decline to meet even an archduchess whose -smiling eyes were not twenty feet from his. Moreover, -she was young and beautiful. He felt that an apologetic -glance at his colleagues was unnecessary, and a -moment later he was bowing stiffly before the daughter -of the king he hated.</p> - -<p>Ranata began in the royal manner. “I found your -remarks very interesting. Do you speak often?”</p> - -<p>“My painful duty compels me to, your Royal Highness.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_225">[225]</span>“Painful?” She looked at him with melting eyes. -“Are you ill? Pardon me—you look very strong.”</p> - -<p>“You misunderstand me.” (“I will not tag on your -Royal Highness to every sentence,” he registered.) “It -is Hungary that is ill.”</p> - -<p>“Ah! Of course I know that you must refer to politics, -Úr Molnár.” The name of a man or woman, unexpectedly -introduced, can be made the vehicle of the -subtlest flattery, of a half-timid hint of deepening interest, -may even foreshadow a caress. Ranata’s rich voice -uttered the commonplace name, with its long vowel, -in a manner to mount to the head of any man. Wholly -unused to the effort to please, she would have enjoyed -this new exercise of power with all that was feminine -in her nature, had the dynasty been rooted in the fires -of the earth.</p> - -<p>Molnár was young, he was barely thirty. He was -ardent and susceptible, and for the moment he was not -in love. And although he hated the House of Hapsburg -as passionately as ever his great master had done, still -was he monarchical born; the soul that could hate kings -and love liberty was haunted by the ghosts of ancestors -who had lived and died in reverence of the Lord’s -anointed. The poison was entering his nostrils. If Ranata -had looked like most princesses doubtless he would -have held sternly to his ideals. But she was the most -beautiful woman he had ever seen, and her ineffable air -of breeding, her sweet condescension, and the changing -expression of her powerful eyes were pumping the blood -to his head. He made a final grasp for his politics and -his pride.</p> - -<p>“It is your happiness, madame, that you can afford to -know nothing about politics.”</p> - -<p>“Ah! I wonder if I can? I have been much enlightened -to-day. Enough so to understand your meaning.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_226">[226]</span> -Should I not know more? Can any member of -my family afford to misunderstand this most important -part of our Empire? It is true that I am only a woman—but -at least I have some influence with my father. -Will you not advise me?”</p> - -<p>“Your Royal Highness,” stammered Molnár. “Your -Royal— Yes, of course you should understand our -politics—would to Heaven that you did!”</p> - -<p>“Whom shall I ask? I am in a position to hear only -one side. Ah!” Her face was radiant. “You will -come to the palace and give us a little lecture. My ball -is to-morrow night. We can arrange then for an hour -when you are not too busy to talk to us.”</p> - -<p>“I cannot go to your ball, your Royal Highness—none -of the Left will go.”</p> - -<p>“Not come to my ball? Why not?”</p> - -<p>“We never enter the palace.”</p> - -<p>“But my ball has nothing to do with politics. I am -not your sovereign. I have my father’s permission to -live here this winter because my American friend and I -are so tired of Vienna, and I am so fascinated by your -city. I wish to enjoy Budapest, Úr Molnár. Is my -winter to be poisoned by party feeling?—of which I -know too little. How illogical, and how ungallant! -You will come and bring your colleagues to-morrow -night? It is to be the great night of my life, and I am -sure you will not spoil it.”</p> - -<p>“I? Ah!” Once more he braced himself. “I am -afraid there will not be enough women to go round, your -Royal Highness,” he said meaningly.</p> - -<p>“That was clever. But”—she spoke very softly—“wait. -I cannot do everything at once. I have an -Obersthofmeisterin. Remember that you are far more -your own master than I am mistress of my acts.”</p> - -<p>As she finally dismissed the bewildered Obstructionist,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_227">[227]</span> -she caught Fessenden’s eye. It was twinkling with appreciation -of a fellow-man’s enslavement. Ranata saw -in the twinkle approval of her manœuvres in a great -cause, and responded to the new chord of sympathy -with all a woman’s facile manufacture of subtle understandings -with unconscious man.</p> - -<p>“I feel somewhat of a Jesuit,” she said to him as they -left the building. “But it is success or failure, and I -shall not fail.”</p> - -<p>“Your tactics are those of the man who wins. And I -suppose you reason that men will fall in love with you -anyhow—that one more or less doesn’t matter.”</p> - -<p>“That is an idea!” said Ranata.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">XVI</h3> -</div> - -<p>After luncheon the two girls, by Alexandra’s manœuvring, -were alone in Ranata’s sitting-room. It was -a very beautiful room now, with its golden walls, its rich -Oriental hangings and chairs. The windows were open, -and the Hungarian sunshine flooded it. Ranata sat in -one of the deep straight-back chairs so beloved of royalty, -Alexandra in a rocking-chair which had been upholstered -to match the rest of the furniture, yet was impertinent -and incongruous. “There is only one thing -that will reconcile me to parting with you when you -marry,” the Archduchess had remarked when it arrived; -“I can have a bonfire made of all those ridiculous -chairs.” And Alexandra had replied, “I will convert -you even to those before I die.”</p> - -<p>To-day neither was sensible of pleasantries. Alexandra’s -face was flushed, and the Archduchess, although -her eyes were fixed absently on Pest, and her profile -might have been cut in stone, was bracing herself for the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_228">[228]</span> -coming conflict. Her subtle brain cleared and balanced -its parts. She was determined to lose neither her friend -nor her friend’s brother, and an ill-considered word might -lose her both. She needed all her resources, for no one -understood her so well as Alexandra.</p> - -<p>“You know I never beat about the bush,” the disconcerting -American began. “You would think me a -fool if I pretended any longer to be blind to the fact that -you are entangling my brother in order the better to -turn the tables on the German Emperor. If he were any -one else’s brother I should follow your course with pleasure—I -was as delighted as amused at your easy subjugation -of poor Molnár this morning; for I am, up to a certain -point, heart and soul with you in this great matter—but -Fessenden is my brother.”</p> - -<p>“I wish he were not. Can you look at this matter -dispassionately and impersonally, Alexandra? Do -you believe that I can succeed as well without your -brother?”</p> - -<p>“Possibly not. But I see no reason why any American, -much less the most useful young man in the United -States, should be sacrificed to the Austrian dynasty. If -it were a matter concerning your happiness, I might -hesitate, for I love you as well as I do Fessenden; but -when patriotism goes into the balance with family affection, -pride also casts in a heavy weight.”</p> - -<p>“But why do you speak so surely of sacrifice? Men -are always falling in love with women, and always getting -over it.”</p> - -<p>“I have thought a good deal in the last few days. If -Fessenden fell in love with you, he would have a hideous -time getting over it—if he ever did.”</p> - -<p>“If he fell in love with me? You do not think he has, -then?”</p> - -<p>“He is in the first stage now. I suppose a man can<span class="pagenum" id="Page_229">[229]</span> -get over that. But quite aside from his feelings, I don’t -wish to see him made a fool of.”</p> - -<p>“I have no desire to make a fool of him.”</p> - -<p>“I should like to know what you call it. Do not let -us quibble. If you cannot love my brother send him -away.”</p> - -<p>“How would it help the matter if I did love your -brother? I hope you do not wish me any such unhappy -fate as that.”</p> - -<p>“I wish only for your happiness. You know that -from my point of view the impossible is always possible. -And it is not altogether the American point of view. -Heaven knows the Hapsburgs have adopted it more than -once. I hear that another of your illustrious cousins is -about to renounce his rights of possible succession, and -his titles, in order to marry an actress—or is it a girl in a -chocolate shop?”</p> - -<p>“They are insignificant—they lose nothing but their -titles and their position at court, for which presumably -they care nothing. And you know my sorrow and disgust -at all such poverty of self-respect and sense of duty. -We need not go over that old ground again. You know -that with me it would always be my house first. I -should never consider myself for a moment.”</p> - -<p>“Then send my brother away. He was an after-thought. -You had made all your plans to succeed -without him.”</p> - -<p>“I am convinced that when William has made his -Germany as strong and prosperous—when he has fulfilled -that first ideal of his reign—and when my father is -dead—he means to make war on Russia, and that your -brother means to furnish the enormous sum necessary. -And if William conquered Russia—” she waved her -hands expressively.</p> - -<p>“It is by no means certain that William will conquer<span class="pagenum" id="Page_230">[230]</span> -Russia. It is a large order. The rest of Europe, to say -nothing of England, would have something to say about -it.”</p> - -<p>“With the best part of Austria and all of Hungary -at his back he could snap his fingers at the rest of Europe. -Without the interference of Russia in 1849, Hungary -would be a free state to-day, and she only waits for -her chance of revenge. Who knows what agencies are -at work to give reality to the Pan-Germanic movement -the moment my father dies? Bohemia might sympathize -with Russia, but what could she do, hemmed in as -she is? Besides, the Slavs outside of Russia have little -desire to put themselves under the heel of the heaviest -tyranny in Europe. Most of them would prefer annexation -with Germany, if only because the German Emperor -has learned the secret of prosperity. If he tempted -them with that inducement, you may be sure that only -a Pole would hesitate and stand out for complete independence. -All this enthusiasm here for William in Hungary -is genuine enough, no doubt, but Budapest is as -active and ambitious as Berlin, and a ruler who could and -would make Hungary as rich and as successful, industrially -and commercially, as she should be with her resources -and her enterprise, would be quite as acceptable -if he were less fascinating. And I will confess that I -am superstitious about William. I never raise my eyes -to the heavens at night that I do not fancy I see his star -laughing at me. Indomitable ambition has united Europe -before. There is no sufficient reason why it should -not happen again. Before every great change of the -world’s map wiseacres have shrugged their shoulders at -the impossible, and the barriers have been solemnly -pronounced impregnable. How easy it all seems when -one looks back upon it. And with your brother—perhaps -the United States—as his ally—great Heaven! If<span class="pagenum" id="Page_231">[231]</span> -I were William I should sleep serenely enough, in spite -of all the antagonistic forces in Germany itself. And -he grows in tact. He has the brain to learn his lessons.”</p> - -<p>“And it is your purpose to reduce Fessenden to such -a state of idiocy that he would give you his pledge to let -William take care of himself? Suppose he had already -given his word to the Emperor of Germany? Have you -not seen enough of him to know that he is a man who -under no possible circumstances would break his word?”</p> - -<p>“I have seen enough to know that he is a man who -would give the one woman the world if she asked for it. -It is not necessary to break promises. There can be misunderstandings, -quarrels, which leave men mutually free -of one another.”</p> - -<p>Alexandra drew her breath in and her brows together. -She had hardly expected such frankness, well as she knew -the methods of diplomacy. But she answered readily: -“A man does not sacrifice his honor and his friendship, -and place the world at the feet of the adored object with -no hope of reward. Do you mean to say that you purpose -to dazzle my brother with the hope of ultimate -success?”</p> - -<p>“No; it will not be long before we understand each -other too completely for that!”</p> - -<p>“What <i>do</i> you mean?”</p> - -<p>A deep blush suffused Ranata’s face, and she stood up -suddenly. “I believe I shall love your brother,” she -said distinctly. “I believe it is my destiny as surely -as it is that I was born to be useful to my house. I -have never seen another man who has touched—has interested -me at all. There has never been any hope in my -heart that I should not love sooner or later—perhaps no -wish. Would you take this from me—from him? Cannot -you understand what a great love may mean to -natures like mine and your brother’s—that the earthly<span class="pagenum" id="Page_232">[232]</span> -consummation of love has nothing to do with its immortal -part? Your brother did not receive your letter -asking him to come here. We met by the merest accident—apparently!—and -he interested me quite independently -of my ambitions, my purpose. If ambition -and purpose had never been born I should implore you -as I do now to let him remain near me as long as possible. -I shall not relax in my determination to win him -from the Emperor of Germany, but there is so much in -my soul to give! I shall give it to him—and I believe -he will be satisfied.”</p> - -<p>Alexandra, who had been repelled by the half revelation -of purely human passion, thrilled at the vision of -poetic and spiritual love high on the snowy peaks of -Imagination. Ranata looked too exalted to kiss, but -the American girl was delighted to find the infrequent -tears in her own eyes. In a moment, however, her practical -brain replied:</p> - -<p>“I don’t believe Fessenden is very sentimental. You -will have to educate him.”</p> - -<p>“He needs less education than you think.”</p> - -<p>“Of course you have already begun to idealize him. -He is accustomed to get what he wants. He loves obstacles—and -he always surmounts them.”</p> - -<p>“I shall give him what he wants.”</p> - -<p>Alexandra considered. She had little regard for the -ultimate wants of men, had, indeed, given them slight -consideration. But she knew that man was extremely -prosaic on the subject of matrimony, and she was allured -by the prospect of beholding her brother, purified -of earthly gross, standing alone on a lofty peak, -wrapped in the chastity of spiritual love. She shivered -slightly, and Fessenden, somehow, seemed to slip out -of the picture; but it pleased her nevertheless, and it -was not unlike her own cool and romantic visions of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_233">[233]</span> -Ranata’s future. Besides, it was not necessarily final. -There was always the possibility that Fessenden, if induced -to climb his peak, would stay on it only long -enough to create a scheme for the further and final subjugation -of Ranata. She answered after a moment’s -thinking—</p> - -<p>“You have put such an entirely different complexion -on it! I should be a fiend to betray you. William and -Fessenden both know how to take care of themselves. -I’m frightfully interested, old girl, and I’ll never turn a -hair again.”</p> - -<p>When Ranata was alone she sat straight in her chair -and stared hard at the floor. “How much of that did -I mean?” she said finally and aloud. “How much! I -wish to God I knew!”</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">XVII</h3> -</div> - -<p>Immediately after tea the Archduchess rose to leave -the Hungarian house, saying that she had letters to -write, neglected in the morning. She had included all -in the slight explanation, but as she passed Fessenden -she raised her eyes irresistibly. He was looking as -haughty and distant as she was attempting to feel. -Again their positions were subtly reversed.</p> - -<p>“Would you like to see my new rooms?” she asked -hurriedly. “I think them very charming. Perhaps -you will come up with Alexandra—in an hour?”</p> - -<p>When she had gone Fessenden turned to his sister. -“Wouldn’t you like to walk about the garden?” he -asked. “You do not take half as much exercise as -you should.”</p> - -<p>They did not walk far. As soon as they reached a -rustic seat out of sight of the others, and Fessenden had -made sure there were no lurking places for eavesdroppers,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_234">[234]</span> -they sat down, and he began at once, as if pursuing -aloud the current of his thoughts—</p> - -<p>“The great uncle, Frederick William IV., of the Emperor -of Germany was mad, and there has been no suggestion -of insanity in the family since. That disproves -not only the alternate generation theory, but that insanity -is necessarily persistent.”</p> - -<p>“What on earth are you driving at?”</p> - -<p>“A good many things have kept me awake at night -lately, and one of them is the uncomfortable number of -lunatics in the royal and ducal families of Bavaria.” He -added deliberately: “I mean that the late Empress, and -her cousins, Ludvig II. and the present Otto, seem to -hover ever behind the Archduchess Ranata, three black -and stalking ghosts.”</p> - -<p>“I thought you knew your Europe.”</p> - -<p>“I have no time to waste in analyzing court gossip. -But do you mean to say that these three were not mad?”</p> - -<p>“Elizabeth was no more mad than I am, and the other -two lost their minds through specific causes. If I don’t -know anything else, I know the facts about every royalty -in Europe; I have been brought up on them.”</p> - -<p>“Well, explain,” said Fessenden impatiently. “And -don’t let your loyalty and your imagination run away -with you.”</p> - -<p>“You must have learned that the commonplace world -always revenges itself on an unusual character by believing -it mad. Doubtless you have been called mad -yourself. It is only recently that people have resigned -themselves to the sanity of the German Emperor. Elizabeth -hated the footlights as much as he loves them, -and publicity has readjusted him to the common estimate. -The ever-increasing seclusion of her life deepened -the mystery and the gossip, and both confirmed -those who were not in a position to learn the truth, in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_235">[235]</span> -the belief that an empress who spurned a throne must -necessarily have lost her wits. At the other extreme -are psychic enthusiasts—over here in Europe—who already -have begun The Legend of Elizabeth. A legend -of some sort was inevitable, for she was royal, beautiful, -unhappy, mysterious, and died a violent death. These -enthusiasts knew as little of her personally as the world -in general, but their imaginations are of finer fibre, and -there was much in this lovely and romantic figure to -appeal to them. No doubt, a hundred years from now -Elizabeth will be one of the most irresistible figures of -the past to the poet and the romancer, for the legend -that the members of this cult have set on foot will grow -and strengthen daily. Their belief is that she was one -of those rare beings who are too exalted for human contact, -and that the development of her natural superiority -was one of the most remarkable in the psychic history -of mortals. Profoundly imbued, according to them, -with the doctrine that a man should develop his personality -at the expense of every duty, every affection, of -kin or subject, she withdrew herself more and more, not -only from the world, but from her husband and children, -that she might devote her thoughts only to what was -beautiful, live the inner life alone, and develop her personality -in a manner possible to most people only after -they have cast off the flesh; that her sensitiveness in -time became so great that contact with common mortals -was unbearable. That is the legend, and, mark my -words, before a century has passed she will be painted -with a halo about her head. It will be only the glamour -of royalty, but the world will never suspect that.</p> - -<p>“This is the truth of the matter—like all truth, to be -found midway between two extremes of belief: Elizabeth -was a simple creature, bright, sweet, lovely, but, -although highly accomplished, moderately gifted in the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_236">[236]</span> -matter of intellect and strength of character. Nature -never intended her to mount a throne. She should have -married for love a man who would have been faithful -to her, and lived a life without the ostentation and public -duties she hated, a life that would have been filled -with all the refined pleasures. Instead of that the poor -child was suddenly shot from her simple country home, -where hardly a whisper of the world and its ways had -reached her, up to the most formal and exacting throne -in Europe. Here she was not only tormented by her -mother-in-law, but by the rapidly waning love of her -husband, to whom at that time she was much attached. -She was too young and too undisciplined to accept her -fate with philosophy; nor did she ever develop the -strength of intellect and character which enables a disappointed -woman to conquer life. Life conquered her, -poor thing; as a queen and a woman she was a failure. -First, while she was very young, she ran away and -sulked for several years. She returned, but only to absent -herself more and more from a life which she detested -increasingly. It is quite true that she loved the -beautiful things of this world—art, music, literature—above -all, nature. In many ways she was an exquisite -creature, and in these congenial resources she found -much compensation for the constant unhappiness and -the terrible tragedies of her life. Every person of refined -tastes cares less and less for the world as he grows -older. When the most excruciating disappointments -crown this natural tendency, and there is not ambition -to dominate experience, then most men and women of -Elizabeth’s age live much the same sort of life that she -did; and the world knows too little about them to call -them either mad or psychic phenomena. So much for -Elizabeth—and let no one grudge her success in legend -as a compensation for the failure of her life.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_237">[237]</span>“As to Ludvig—”</p> - -<p>“A moment,” interrupted Fessenden, “what of Rudolf?”</p> - -<p>“Rudolf had suffered frightfully from headaches for -several months before he died, brought on by the dissipations -into which he plunged to drown the miseries of -his life. He was one of the most rarely gifted of the -Hapsburgs, from the first Rudolf down; he had no responsibilities -to occupy his brilliant and restless mind; -he had a great weakness for women, and they pursued -him; his domestic life was wretched; he sought oblivion -in every possible way, and the autopsy proved that he -had unhinged his brain. He undoubtedly killed himself -in a wild moment of intolerable <i>ennui</i> and disgust. That -Marie Vetsera was present adds little to the significance -of his death. It might as well have been any other -woman, and Rudolf was incapable of the pathos of a -romantic suicide. As to his insanity, it was not congenital; -and there was no sign of it before he gave himself -up to his last dissipations.</p> - -<p>“Ludvig was born with no other screw loose than an -inordinate admiration of himself and the actor’s disposition -to startle the world from the centre of the stage. -All little kings—and some big ones—have a disproportionate -idea of their own importance; and to realize the -extreme point to which Ludvig, after his brain became -clouded, carried this not unnatural delusion, you have -only to visit his castle of Neu-Schwanstein and look at the -throne room. It was not even built before Bavaria became -a mere state of the German Empire, and yet it has -the proportions and the splendor suitable for one of the -three or four great monarchs of the earth. And this, -not in his capital, but in one of his many castles! But -Ludvig’s passion for beauty, his patronage of Wagner, -and the splendid monuments he has raised in Bavaria<span class="pagenum" id="Page_238">[238]</span> -to his own artistic genius, make him quite worthy of the -inevitable legend. If you will look at his photographs, -even those taken after he became gross and had suffered -from many attacks of insanity, you will see that his eyes -were always the eyes of the idealist. It was to this very -idealism that he owed his insanity. Above all others -was the monastic ideal of chastity, but he did not have -the self-denial to live on monastic fare; and he was a -king, and there was everything in his life to give his -brain and imagination a preternatural activity. The -consequence was periodical attacks of insanity, and the -accentuation of his original peculiarities; towards the -end, no doubt, he was vicious enough. The same thing -might happen to any American, although, of course, -centuries of interbreeding render the brain more susceptible -to abnormal conditions. So much for Ludvig -von Bayern, who in his youth was beautiful enough to -demand from the very canvas absolution for all his -vanities. As for poor Otto—recall all you know of the -Duc de Reichstadt—I mean the young man of history, -not of fiction.”</p> - -<p>Fessenden rose and thrust his hands into his pockets, -staring at the ground. In a moment he raised his head -and made the motion of flinging a load from his shoulders.</p> - -<p>“Is that all that has worried you?” asked Alexandra -curiously.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” he said, “that is all.”</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">XVIII</h3> -</div> - -<p>A few moments later a lackey informed them that her -Royal Highness had finished her letters, and they went -up to the private apartments of the Archduchess. She -received them in the writing-room, the first of the suite,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_239">[239]</span> -whose windows looked down upon Pest only. It had -been panelled and hung with blue brocade, almost as -bright as the cornflower, and the furniture and woodwork -were white and silver. It was handsome and -stately and stiff.</p> - -<p>Fessenden wandered about for a time looking at the -miniatures; the Archduchess, apparently in her most -gracious mood, and somewhat amused withal, moving -beside him and giving him little biographical notes. -There was one of Maria Theresia before the flesh rolled -out, and the face and poise of head were full of young -pride and indomitable will; but this artist, like his fellows, -had failed to demonstrate the beauty with which -the historian accredits her. Several of the men and -women had the terrible Hapsburg mouth, but their eyes -were genial, and they looked like kindly simple folk. -Most of the Bavarians had some degree of beauty, although -the young women all wore that meekness of -expression which would seem to be the pertainment of -the inconspicuous females of reigning houses. The -lovely face of Elizabeth, with its strange and disconcerting -shadow of perpetual girlhood, looked from several of -the bits of porcelain and ivory. There were two of Ranata -herself, one in haughty profile, the other with eyes -cast down, but, by cunning art, suggesting a swift uplifting -of lash and a blaze beneath. The bosom also -looked about to heave, the throat to swell. The artist -evidently had caught her in some mood of self-repression -and penetrated the mask she wore so well. Fessenden -studied it for a moment in silence, then turned and -looked at her sharply. Again the subtle delight of being -understood stirred in Ranata, who had yet to learn -that the truly masculine man never understands a -woman, and has only a fleeting desire to do so when -anxious or uncomfortable. She colored slightly and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_240">[240]</span> -turned her head away. Its movement happened to -be in the direction of the door leading into the sitting-room. -Fessenden’s eyes followed here, and he gave an -exclamation of rapture.</p> - -<p>“Do I see a rocking-chair?” he exclaimed—“a rocking-chair?”</p> - -<p>Ranata experienced the first pang of her new condition; -but deep among the complexities of her womanhood -was that indulgence for man which carries so -many of her sex through the shoals of amazement, disappointment, -and weariness, into the calm waters of -philosophy. To this instinct, as much as to pride, -might be attributed her ready words and hospitable smile.</p> - -<p>“I suppose it is many weeks now since you have seen -one—unless you have happened to notice Sarolta’s? -This is Alexandra’s most cherished possession, but I am -sure she will lend it to you for a few moments.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, indeed,” quoth Alexandra. “I will write a -note here, if I may.”</p> - -<p>Fessenden started for the rocking-chair, but branched -abruptly to the window. “Ah!” he exclaimed, “it is -finer from here than from the garden—there are too -many trees there. The Margarenthen-Insel looks as -frivolous and unhistoried as any pleasure island in -America, and that downward sweep of the mountain is -very like the Adirondacks.”</p> - -<p>“Are Americans disappointed when they find the incomparable -in Europe?” demanded the Archduchess -dryly. “I asked a lady of one of your Embassies once -how she liked Vienna, and she said she liked it very -much, but she did so miss her back-yard.”</p> - -<p>Fessenden laughed heartily. “Doubtless her husband’s -post was a Christmas present from an appreciative -President. You know something of our politics, -so I need not explain.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_241">[241]</span>It might be said of Ranata that she paraphrased a -famous saying of Mark Twain’s and had adopted the -version as her safeguard: “When in doubt talk politics.” -She stood beside Fessenden and regarded him with contemplative -admiration. “You have done so much,” -she said, as if considering. “Why do not you give your -country a new code of political morals?”</p> - -<p>“The pigeon-holes of my country are stuffed with -codes of regeneration. The United States must dree its -weird, and suffer the penalty of springing full grown -from the brain of the old civilization. Several things -may happen, however, before she is many years older: -a revolution, which will let out the bad blood and bring -what best elements are left to the surface; a collapse of -our worst institutions through sheer rottenness; or a sudden -awakening of the public conscience. That may happen -at any moment, for all our history has proved that -you can try an American so far and no farther. The -sensationalism of the press has accustomed them to almost -anything, from daily lynchings to the unblushing -politics of their Presidents; but there is always the last -straw, and I await the falling of that straw with considerable -hope. I no longer remonstrate; on the contrary, -I give a helpful shove whenever I can do so unobserved—and -I have my men in Congress and State legislatures. -They may not be first-class men, but they are intelligent, -and they obey my orders.”</p> - -<p>“You are a bit of a Jesuit.”</p> - -<p>“It is a valuable lesson I have learned in your Europe. -Besides, I want the crisis to come in my best years. -Even my father could not grapple with it now; and as -this crisis was what I was born for and raised for, you -will admit that it is my duty to use every faculty and -whatever methods the peculiarities of my country demand.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_242">[242]</span>“We are not the only ones who think ourselves heaven-born,” -murmured Ranata.</p> - -<p>“True, but your inspiration and mine spring from -sources as asunder as the poles. A fool ascends a throne, -with no more than enough wit to sign his name, with not -an impulse for progression, not an idea with which to -keep his state abreast of the other great nations of the -earth, with perhaps every folly that will scuttle her unless -a revolution or Heaven intervenes; and yet there he -is, half his length above other men, braver, infinitely -more intelligent men, who accept him without protest and -never forget to flatter. His masses endure him without -question, unless he push them to extremity, and often -then. Can you wonder that he believes the Almighty -placed him on that throne for some inscrutable purpose, -or that his people believe it, knowing that they would -have selected almost any one else? With us a man -blunders along through square holes and round holes -until he finds the one that fits him, and then he settles -down and attends to business. I had the superior advantage -of being trained for a specific purpose by one of -the most remarkable men living, and I have inherited -enough of him to make the consummation possible. I -‘found myself’ earlier than most men do, and I have -been finishing my education ever since. I know where -I stand and what I can do. My final accomplishment, -of course, depends entirely upon circumstances. My -best effort now is to make myself ready to meet any contingency -whatever, and to leap swiftly to its mastery.”</p> - -<p>Ranata turned her head and regarded him intently. -“If I did not know you so well through my intimacy -with Alexandra,” she said, “I should find it difficult to -believe that patriotism with you was a consuming passion. -You have so much carelessness, boyishness, in -your manner—and—you are so practical!”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_243">[243]</span>“If I tore about like a raging bull I might accomplish -notoriety, but I certainly should accomplish nothing -else. And the secret of the failure of the ‘reformers’ of -the United States is that they have the ideals and the -political bosses have the sense.”</p> - -<p>She asked irresistibly, “If it ever came to a choice -between your country and a woman, what would be the -result?”</p> - -<p>“No such question will ever arise.”</p> - -<p>“No?”</p> - -<p>“Certainly not. Do you think so meanly of my resources -as that?”</p> - -<p>“But circumstances are sometimes stronger than -men.”</p> - -<p>“Some men.”</p> - -<p>Ranata had let her arm drop to her side; her hand was -not an inch from Fessenden’s. Both were acutely -aware of the magnetic temptation of that nearness; for -a second all their being seemed to have surged into -their finger-tips. Fessenden’s curved rigidly inward. -His brain was still in control, and he was accustomed to -play a careful and far-seeing game. Her hand fluttered -towards his; then she swung about abruptly.</p> - -<p>“Why don’t you sit in your rocking-chair?” she asked -with a nervous laugh. “I must turn you out directly; -it is nearly time to dress.”</p> - -<p>Fessenden marched to the chair, and rocked himself -for twenty minutes with every appearance of content. -Alexandra came in from the next room, and they talked -of the ball of the following night and of other impersonal -things. The peasants had come and were -housed, and a remarkable band of gypsies had been -found in Transylvania. Fessenden, who was dining in -Pest, rose regretfully at seven.</p> - -<p>He smiled down upon Ranata and shook her hand<span class="pagenum" id="Page_244">[244]</span> -slightly. “Can I come up here again?” he asked. “I -like it much better than any other part of the palace.”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps,” said Ranata, smiling, but angry at the -quick response within her to the warm and personal -attitude of the lordly male. “You have had your own -way too much. I think you need disciplining.”</p> - -<p>Alexandra was retiring through the outer room. Fessenden -raised the hand he held and pressed his lips to it -twice quickly. “I am humblest of your slaves,” he said -unsteadily.</p> - -<p>“No you are not!” replied Ranata almost as unsteadily. -“And I wish you would go. I have never been -late for dinner in my life.”</p> - -<p>When she was alone she turned her eyes to the rocking-chair; -then, after a manifest effort in another direction, -she moved slowly towards it, regarded it impatiently, -tenderly, then sank slowly into its embrace and dropped -her head against the cushion.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">XIX</h3> -</div> - -<p>The palace at Buda to-day (restored by Maria Theresia) -is chiefly remarkable for the imposing beauty of -its exterior; within, the severe elegance of its walls and -furniture conveys not a hint of the ornate luxury, the -gorgeous magnificence of the palace of the fifteenth century, -during the reign of Matthias Corvinus, son of John -Hunyadi, the period in which Hungary commanded the -admiration and homage of Europe.</p> - -<p>Not content with the reputation of a soldier second -only to that of his great father, Matthias, ascending the -throne at the age of fifteen, and giving immediate evidence -of intellectual and governing qualities of a rare -precocity and order, quickly ripened into a scholar and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_245">[245]</span> -the most liberal patron of the arts in the world of his -day. This great and singular man, who on the battle-field -endured the hardships of the meanest of his soldiers; -who, disguised, entered the camp of his enemies -again and again, or calmly took his observations amid -a rain of bullets and spears, whose justice passed into -a proverb, and who was a rigorous administrator of -finance, had a love of luxury, matched by no contemporary, -that would have sapped the energies of another man, -and a delight in purely intellectual pursuits and discussions -that rounded one of the most versatile and grandly -equipped characters known to history. He established -and personally disciplined a body of foot soldiers—the -Black Troop—modelled upon and equal to the -famous Janissaries of Turkey, conquered the Czechs, -and captured Vienna, driving out Frederick, the German -Emperor, forcing him to take refuge in a wagon -drawn by oxen, and to beg from convent to monastery -like any common mendicant. The court of this ardent -soldier became the rallying-ground of scholars and artists, -who not only lived on his bounty, but were raised -to the highest positions in the royal household. He -spent his hours of leisure in day-long arguments with -the scientists and savants who had deserted all other -courts for this most enlightened and fascinating of monarchs, -or lying at ease on a couch covered with a golden -tapestry embroidered with pearls, in one of the most -splendid libraries that any mortal has ever possessed. -This library, sacked with the rest of the palace by the -Turks after the battle of Mohács, was contained in two -immense rooms, whose walls were covered with carved -shelves of precious woods and tapestries of velvet embroidered -with gold. The books, collected by Matthias, -and in many cases written for him, numbered ten thousand. -They were inscribed on white vellum, illuminated<span class="pagenum" id="Page_246">[246]</span> -by the most accomplished masters of the art, and bound -in colored skins set with precious and semi-precious -stones. On the cover of each volume was a miniature -of Matthias and his coat-of-arms. The furnishings of -the Palace of Buda, its objects of art, many made from -gold or silver and of a great size, the tapestries, the pleasure-rooms, -the hanging gardens of his several palaces, -were marvels of beauty and costliness; and the embassies -which he constantly sent to the various courts of -Europe so surpassed the efforts of other monarchs in -extravagance that his resources of wealth alone struck -despair to the hearts of those who may have meditated -an assault upon his kingdom. When about to take a -second wife, Beatrice, daughter of the King of Naples, -the splendors and luxuries of Buda were augmented two-fold; -and on the day of the wedding the great hall of the -palace, in addition to its silken hangings interwoven -with gold and precious stones, its tapestry of sheer gold, -its thousand vessels of silver, its golden service chased -with the history of the world, silver casks of wine were -suspended from the ceiling, and a huge silver fountain -spouted the choicest and costliest of all wines, the Tokay -of Hungary.</p> - -<p>The manuscripts in their jewelled cases, the thousand -objects of barbaric magnificence, were gone forever. -There was no modern art that could simulate them, -even could craftsmen be found with patience for the attempt; -but Ranata had persuaded the Emperor to send -to Buda some twenty of the superfluous Gobelins which -the Hapsburgs have retained throughout their vicissitudes. -Her argument had enlivened the mood of her -father, and raised still higher his hope in his youngest -born.</p> - -<p>“The Hungarians,” Ranata had written, “no doubt -resent the very obvious fact that there are so few treasures<span class="pagenum" id="Page_247">[247]</span> -in the Palace of Buda, and, knowing that our tapestries -are packed away in large numbers, and are as -priceless as they are beautiful, must infer that we fear -to trust them in this most precarious of our possessions. -So it has seemed to me that it would be another stroke -of diplomacy to send several of the best, with the understanding -that they are to remain here. It is a small yet -impressive sum to stake as an expression of our confidence -in ourselves and our Hungarian subjects.”</p> - -<p>The tapestries had been promptly despatched, and -now hung in the four circle rooms opening into the Great -Hall of Ceremonies, and in the blue drawing-room and -adjacent dining-room. These rooms, as well as the long -suite down the front of the palace, were recalled for the -night of the ball from their arctic splendors by a lavish -adornment of palms and flowers, and in several of the -smaller rooms the lights were pink. Modern as it was, -the Great Hall itself, with its panels, like lakes of liquid -gold, its heavy incrustations of yellow bronze on the -brilliant white of the wood, and its immense chandeliers, -with their thousand points of light, was too perfect in -its way to gain aught from the past, nor did Ranata add -so much as a flower.</p> - -<p>It had been decided that Prince Árpád Nadasdy, an -aged magnate and close friend of the Emperor, should -wear the royal robes of Matthias, as neither political nor -sentimental significance could be attached to his impersonation. -The old Prince was far closer upon senility -than his king would ever be, and addicted to long nights -of Csendes, at the Nemzesi Casino, the club of the magnates, -where he had left all of a once large income not -absorbed by the turf; but he had ordered his costume -of a long-suffering tailor, and vowed, over the hand of -his beloved princess, that he would give the final touch -of reality to the scene. As Matthias had died in his<span class="pagenum" id="Page_248">[248]</span> -prime, and was possessed of a classic beauty, Prince -Nadasdy, who did not number vanity among his vices, -had announced his intention to wear a flowing fair wig -and a beard, although the fine outline of Matthias had -been shaved on the battle-field. The piercing glance of -that monarch no art could coax into the bleared orbs of -the old magnate, but he still had a figure of majestic -height and carriage, and in spite of dissipations he had -preserved its slimness. He was to wait at the upper -end of the Throne Room until Ranata, who was to impersonate -Beatrice of Naples, dressed for the first time -in the national costume of her lord, should have made, -in her own character, the perfunctory round of greeting -among her assembled guests. He would then stand at -her side at the lower end of the hall while the peasants -danced the Chardash, and afterwards walk with her -through a <i>quadrille d’honneur</i>.</p> - -<p>At nine o’clock on the night of the ball the great company -was assembled in the Hall of Ceremonies awaiting -the entrance of the court, but the aged Matthias had not -made his appearance. In that splendid scene, however, -he was not missed, and every eye turned constantly -towards the door beyond the second circle-room which -led to the private apartments of the Archduchess. Many -had not yet seen her, or but in glimpses, and by this -time curiosity had risen to fever pitch. The women as -well as the men were in the eccentric splendor of their -national dress, and although it varied little in cut, fancy -and extravagance prevailed in the materials of the low -bodice, the apron, and the voluminous skirts; and bodice, -neck, and arms were almost obliterated by the big -dull uncut jewels and heavy chains which, with the ancient -costumes of velvet and satin, embroidered and -brocaded with a lost art, neither time nor poverty has -been able to drive from the chest of the Hungarian.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_249">[249]</span> -The magnates wore, although lightly, their velvet cloaks, -fur-lined, embroidered with jewels, and carried their -plumed kalpags in one hand.</p> - -<p>The men distinguished in art and letters, without -jewels or hereditary costume, still made a fine showing -in the silk-and-velvet dress of the retainers of the court -of Matthias, but the greater number of the deputies, in -their fierce Hungarian pride, had chosen to wear the -military uniform of that period, which included a short -braided jacket and a velvet cloak of some brilliant color.</p> - -<p>The young girls, although in attire less imposing than -that of their mothers and married sisters, were quite as -picturesque, and their white gowns rested the eye in -that blaze of color. Each house had contributed a -young son who wore the purple velvet, the golden chain, -and the golden network on their heads of the ambassadorial -youths of King Matthias. These pages stood -in a double file along the two circle rooms leading to the -apartments of the Archduchess. In the high gallery -that traverses the hall a military band played softly. -Beneath, in the arcade, a double gypsy band awaited -their turn and eagerly observed the historic scene. Behind -them, erect against the wall, as dignified and impressive -as the greatest of the nobles, were the peasants -who were to dance the Chardash. Their presence was -a surprise to all, and they had inspired almost as much -conversation as the royal hostess herself.</p> - -<p>That conversation was very animated, at times quite -shrill, for the Hungarians, as lively by temperament as -the American, were more excited to-night than they had -been during the visit of William of Germany. The excitement -during his entertainment had been, with slight -exception, confined to the men, but there was not a -woman in the palace to-night who did not feel a flutter -at her heart and a shortening of her breath. Not only<span class="pagenum" id="Page_250">[250]</span> -was Ranata is appearance and manner their ideal of -what a princess should be, and the daughter of a queen -and the sister of a prince they had worshipped, but they -stood in expectation of the initial moment of a court -life which promised to be more brilliant than anything -in Europe, might indeed revive the gay splendors of the -days when their fathers had been the greatest aristocracy -in the world—when the Hapsburgs were robber -barons and the Hohenzollerns unknown. That this -should be given to them who had been starved of court -life, that those who were too impoverished to leave their -entailed homes and go to Vienna should now cherish -the prospect of constant functions, and many private -entertainments in the palace, filled every feminine heart -with a sense of enchantment, and gratitude to this fairy -princess who had dared to have an idea. They were -prepared to love as much as they admired her, and jealousy -had entered few souls, in spite of the extravagant -admiration of the men. Many of the women, indeed, -were beautiful enough to spare themselves envy, and -those who were neither handsome, nor yet pretty, had -sufficient cleverness and animation to keep their little -courts together.</p> - -<p>Alexandra had decided not to enter in Ranata’s wake. -Having none of that unwisdom which permits a wound -to self-love that a grievance may be nursed afterwards, -nor yet affinity for the rôle of the humble follower, she -was always careful not to be placed in any position by -her exalted friend that might rankle too late in her brain. -She had, therefore, entered the room early, under the -chaperonage of Princess Nadasdy, and Zrinyi, as ever, -hovered close. He was a beautiful object in his thick -gold embroideries, his plum-colored velvet cloak, his -buttons and his chains; and Alexandra, in the dull-rose -costume with its old-lace veil and apron, lent her by the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_251">[251]</span> -ambitious Zápolya, excited his approval to such a degree -that once more he poured his impassioned avowal -into her ears, and begged her to accept the chests of -his grandmother as well as himself.</p> - -<p>“Are they at your castle in the Alps?” asked Alexandra. -“How can I decide such a question when I do -not yet know whether that castle is sufficiently romantic -to meet my most exacting taste? Like all -Americans, Count, I am a connoisseur in castles; and -how can I be sure that your grandmother’s clothes will -fit? Besides, I am a monomaniac on the subject of -microbes.”</p> - -<p>Zrinyi, if he did not yet understand her, was by this -time sufficiently seasoned to accept her sallies with -neither sulks nor despair. Perceiving that she was in a -frivolous mood he changed the subject.</p> - -<p>“Are you not glad to be here to-night?” he demanded. -“To play a part? Who knows what may be the result of -the extraordinary impression the Princess has made? I -feel that to-night she will either make a—a—portentous -impression or disillusionize us altogether.”</p> - -<p>“Great moment in the history of Hungary?” asked -Alexandra mischievously.</p> - -<p>The Count flushed, but laughed. “Yes,” he said defiantly. -“I seldom have presentiments, but when I do—I -shall not give you another chance to laugh at me. -I do not see Mr. Abbott. Was he not to come with -Prince Nadasdy? I hope nothing has happened to our -king of to-night. He was not very sober last evening -at the club. I have not seen him to-day, and hoped he -was in bed building himself up for the ordeal.”</p> - -<p>“I have not seen my brother since yesterday—he sent -word this morning he could not come to tea; but I know -of no one so well able to take care of himself. Still I -am surprised, for he should be here before the Princess<span class="pagenum" id="Page_252">[252]</span> -enters. Even he would hardly dare to arrive afterwards. -Have you seen him?”</p> - -<p>“Only this morning in the park, where I happened to -be rather early. Perhaps he went off for a day in the -country; I fancy he is tired of being stared at. He excites -as much attention as the Princess, and he told me -last night that he is persecuted by all sorts of men with -business schemes, to say nothing of those who expect -him to instruct them in the art of getting rich. I find -something picturesque myself about his unimaginable -wealth, combined with the fact that he is a gentleman -and young; but I admire more his achievements, and I -am very proud to be one of the many to do him honor in -Hungary.”</p> - -<p>Then Alexandra gave him a dazzling smile, and -moved a step closer. “You are so much more sensible -than you were!” she whispered. “I feel as if you owed -as much to me as to your mother. Who knows what -may happen if you continue to improve?”</p> - -<p>“I know that American girls say things that in any -other women would indicate a small amount of heart -and soul. It is safe to assume that you mean nothing -you say.”</p> - -<p>“Think of the reserve force, lacking in your emotional -woman! I may not give much at a time when I marry, -but I shall have enough left to spread over a lifetime.”</p> - -<p>He laughed. “At least I don’t delude myself that you -are a poet in disguise. Well, I only ask that you marry -me and let me begin your education. You may also -continue mine.”</p> - -<p>“You really are improving—” began Alexandra, when -with the rest of the company she fell silent. The staff -of the Grand Chamberlain smote the floor three times.</p> - -<p>The doors of the private apartments opened, and the -officers of the court appeared, walking backward. As<span class="pagenum" id="Page_253">[253]</span> -there was no throne, they took up their position on either -side of the entrance to the Hall of Ceremonies. And -then Ranata entered.</p> - -<p>She entered alone, although her ladies followed a -moment later. As she walked slowly down the two -circle rooms, empty but for the pages, the great company, -in curious excitement, which they attributed afterwards -to the complete illusion she produced, thronged -towards the entrance of the hall, breathing shortly and -crowding each other without ceremony.</p> - -<p>Her appearance and her solitary progress between the -ranks of bowing pages in their rich mediæval costumes, -was as startling in its historic naturalness as in its stately -and picturesque beauty. The full skirts of her gown -were of a material so fine as to be almost invisible, covered -with embroidery in pearls and silver thread, and -flounces of point-lace. The bodice, sloping outward -from waist-line to shoulders, was of pale blue velvet, half -covered with lace, and roped together across the black -tulle of the under-bodice with strands of large pearls. -The court train of blue velvet was lined with lace instead -of ermine—thus increasing the ethereal effect of the -whole costume—and embroidered with black ravens -holding a golden ring in the beak—the emblem of John -Hunyadi. Her hair fell to her knees in thick ropes wound -about with strands of pearls, two traversing the front -of her figure, the rest half hidden by the veil which hung -from a tiara almost as high as the Pope’s. On her neck -and arms were many pearls. The brilliant fairness of -her skin, the flaming copper of her hair, the intense -blackness of her brows and lashes, the regularity of her -features, and the majestic beauty of her figure, combined -with her royal state, the enchantment of her condescension -as a daughter of the coldest house in Europe, -and her bewildering presentment of the daughter<span class="pagenum" id="Page_254">[254]</span> -of the Anjous, induced one moment of silence so profound -that it was almost hysterical. Then Zrinyi lifted -his kalpag and cried “<i>Élyen!</i>” and in another moment -the vast company, from Prince Illehazy, most dignified -of magnates, to the most truculent deputy in the room, -were stamping their feet and shouting “<i>Élyen!</i>” until -the chandeliers trembled, and their lights were reflected -in the jewels on the waving kalpags. Even the peasants -and gypsies forgot their humble rôle and broke in -with abrupt discordant cries, the Roumanians shouting -“<i>Setreasca!</i>” And then all united in one great -“<i>Vivat!</i>” It was a tribute as portentous as it was spontaneous, -for it had been accomplished by the art without -words.</p> - -<p>For an instant Ranata felt a sensation of tumultuous -faintness, but she walked on slowly, not relaxing the -mask of her face, except for a graceful smile of acknowledgment. -Then she was possessed by an exhilaration -which sent the blood through her veins like spirits, and -in her brain was a confusion of feminine and patriotic -delight, insolent triumph over the man who had worked -harder than she to make these walls ring, and an emotional -melting towards one whose face she did not see -in that worshipping throng. It had been arranged that -the distinguished American should attend King Matthias -as captain of the “Black Troop,” and although his -place for the moment was at the head of the throne -room beside the King his height should make him noticeable -even in the confused breaking of ranks. But -Ranata’s eyes did not encounter his, and as she advanced -closer to that tossed sea of flashing eyes and shouting -voices, this daughter of the Cæsars, who had convinced -an emperor and his Metternich that she could maintain -the integrity of an empire, for a moment forgot her -great rôle and permitted her soul to murmur, “Is he<span class="pagenum" id="Page_255">[255]</span> -here? Is he here? If he is, does he think me the most -beautiful woman in the world? Is he thrilled with my -triumph? Does he love me the more for it? Does he -love me at all?”</p> - -<p>She had almost reached the entrance of the throne -room, and the company was moving backward to the -walls, when, through the falling wave of sound, a low -note reached her ear from a new direction. It came -from the blue drawing-room, which here opens from the -second circle-room; and although the word was merely -the one still echoing, and uttered hardly above a whisper, -it thrilled Ranata as even the fulness of her triumph -had not done. Only the self-control which the years -and her state had given her kept her eyes fixed upon -those who would note the flicker of a lash.</p> - -<p>She entered the throne room, and made her tour of -the guests in what was now an atmosphere vibrating -with suppressed excitement. They held their breath -to hear her speak; and although to exchange a word with -each would have consumed the night, she paused where -she thought it judicious and said a few personal words, -while her eyes included those close by. When she -reached the end of the room she discovered that the royal -bridegroom was not at his post, and was profoundly annoyed. -She herself might be the Hamlet of the piece, -but without the chief accessory the illusion would -tremble. There was no sign of him, however, and she -could only hope that, fearing the full fatigue, he was in -the blue room with his captain.</p> - -<p>She forgot him for the moment as her eye suddenly -encountered the fixed and fiery glance of Lajos Molnár. -He wore a fierce red uniform, and stood against the wall -with his arms folded. He looked as if he had been -dragged to the palace by a halter and was prepared for -the worst that could befall him.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_256">[256]</span>Ranata smiled brilliantly, and motioned to him to -come forth. He obeyed with such precipitation that -there was a momentary panic in the ranks. Ranata -gave him her lifted hand, and he kissed it like any -courtier.</p> - -<p>“Thank you for obeying my orders,” she said. “Have -you brought your friends?”</p> - -<p>“Four,” he stammered. “The others were obdurate, -but I shall win another time. These are all men of -importance; and like myself they would die for you, -your Royal Highness!”</p> - -<p>“Ah! Would you?” she asked softly. “I shall not -ask that—only that you will all come here to luncheon -to-morrow, and tell me what you think I should know. -Will you?”</p> - -<p>“Yes—yes—will I?”</p> - -<p>Ranata smiled again and passed on, but in truth she -was repelled at the unmasked passion in his face. It -was evident that she had succeeded too well; and, while -to fascinate him was a necessary part of her programme, -his love both disgusted and faintly alarmed her. Like -all women whose depths have been profoundly stirred -by one man, she regarded the proffered love of other men -as an insult, and was merciless.</p> - -<p>When she had finished her progress amid a tribute -as expressive as its vocal prelude, she took her stand at -the end of the room; the Grand Chamberlain raised his -hand, and the leader of the gypsy bands struck his cymbal. -The peasants made their way to the middle of -the hall, and began the curious stamping march which -sometimes opens the Chardash. The company were -diverted at once. Not only was here a novelty worthy -of the night, but the peasants had been selected for -their good looks and the superior beauty and freshness -of their costumes. The men from the Hungarian villages<span class="pagenum" id="Page_257">[257]</span> -had much embroidery on their white trousers and -flowing shirts, and on the wide sleeves which escaped -from jackets as elaborate in device as they were gay in -color; their slender waists were bound with the silken -sash of the gala-day, and many wore chains about their -necks. Those that had been found in Hungary’s Roumanian -villages beyond the Theiss wore the ancient -Persian sandal laced half-way to the knee, closer trousers, -and a graceful shoulder-cloak. Their women wore -panels of embroidery over white petticoats, and blouses -almost as elaborate; while the Hungarian women, if not -so richly attired, were quite as picturesque in their tight -bodices of bright cloth with full sleeves and upper -front of spotless lawn, their fancy aprons and dainty -kerchiefs. All were handsome, and some of the Roumanians -with their Roman faces and antique heads and -forms had as much beauty as falls to the lot of any mortal. -As they passed Ranata they looked their loyalty, -for they too pulsed with the popular excitement, but -they played their part with a calm self-possession which -the great hills and the lonely plains had bred in them, -and courts could do no more.</p> - -<p>Ranata fixed her gaze resolutely upon them, but her -ear was strained towards the drawing-room. Why did -not the bridegroom come forth and bring the captain -in his wake? But it was not until the march was over, -and the partners were swinging about to the first slow -wail of the dance, and holding every eye, that she became -aware of the trailing of regal garments on the hard -floor behind her. Her quick ear advised her that, for -the moment at least, he was unaccompanied. She set -her face in severity, for she had no mind to let the old -Prince take his own way unreproved, and as he finally -halted beside her she did not speak nor lift her eyes to -his, although she darted a glance of feminine curiosity<span class="pagenum" id="Page_258">[258]</span> -over his costume. It was regal enough; and in spite of -his age he looked a superb and supple figure in his closely -fitting armor of gold brocade sewn with jewels, covered -to the waist with chains; and his legs in their long silken -stockings were as shapely as youth. From his shoulders -flowed a mantle of white velvet lined with ermine, -and embroidered with the black raven holding the golden -circlet in its beak. In spite of her intent to reprove, -Ranata’s eye travelled upward to observe how well he -wore the crown, the while her ear was alert for another -footfall. But her ear forgot its cunning, and her eye -the crown it was rising to criticise, the while it should ignore -the bleared apologetic orbs of her father’s old friend. -Her gaze was arrested and held by the piercing glance -which tradition and the artist have given to Matthias -Corvinus. And the rest of the presentment was complete, -Ranata noted as her knees shook; even under the -fair wig and beard the outlines were firm and fine, and -the head was well poised and shaped. He looked far more -the king than her father or any other sovereign in Europe, -except perhaps the man whose memory she had -expunged to-night. Had the dead risen? As the room -swam round her she wondered if she were expected to -drop on one knee. Then the eyes puckered themselves -and smiled, and Ranata was the angriest woman in -Hungary.</p> - -<p>“How dared you!” she exclaimed beneath her breath. -“How dared you!”</p> - -<p>“Dared?”</p> - -<p>“Yes! Yes! Yes!”</p> - -<p>“It required no courage whatever, merely ingenuity—a -considerable amount of that, however. Would you -care to hear the story?”</p> - -<p>“I have no curiosity on the subject whatever. Where -is Prince Nadasdy?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_259">[259]</span>“At this moment? I have no idea. Yes, he is probably -at the casino—if there is any one left to play with -him. Otherwise he is doubtless lost to every variety of -disappointment.”</p> - -<p>“And you—how did you inveigle that costume from -him?”</p> - -<p>“Inveigle, madame? I paid a king’s ransom for this -costume.”</p> - -<p>“Your loathsome American millions! I thought there -were a few things they could not accomplish.”</p> - -<p>“There is nothing, madame. When they fail it is due -to bungling only.”</p> - -<p>“You have no cause to be angry—to assume that tone -with me!”</p> - -<p>“You have abused me like a pickpocket.”</p> - -<p>“I beg your pardon—it seemed to me incredible that -a magnate of Hungary, a prince who has been a member -of my father’s household, should do such a thing.”</p> - -<p>“When magnates and courtiers are consumed with a -passion for gambling, to say nothing of the strong wines -of Hungary, they are apt to degenerate into very ordinary -human creatures. The story is a brief one, and I -know you wish to hear it. I have had the honor of -playing a number of games of Hungarian poker with -your prince, who conceived a flattering preference for -my game, although I usually won. Three nights ago I -told him plainly that I wanted to come to this ball as -King Matthias, and wear his costume. At first he merely -stared at me helplessly; then he reflected that, being -an American, I was doubtless mad, and proceeded to -deal with me in his gentle and charming manner. When -he was convinced both of my strength of purpose and -sanity, I proposed a game in which he should stake this -costume and his silence against a sum which I will not -name. Furthermore, if I won I was to pay the price of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_260">[260]</span> -the costume three times over and return it to him the -day after the ball. He confessed that he was haunted -by the fear his tailor would not hand over the outfit -without the price, and that he might have to mortgage -his family jewels to pay it. He closed with my offer in -less time than I am telling you this tale. His last scruple -was of you, for he knew that I could pass unnoticed in -the crowd, particularly if I kept my eyes half shut and -waggled my head occasionally; and I vowed to him that -I would secure your forgiveness—”</p> - -<p>“I shall never forgive either of you, and I am ashamed -of him.”</p> - -<p>“So am I. But one man’s loss is usually another’s -gain, and I am here without a scruple or regret.”</p> - -<p>“Your horrible money may have bought poor old -Nadasdy, but it will carry you no further.”</p> - -<p>Fessenden’s hand closed deliberately on hers, and he -drew it through his arm. Ranata was aghast, but it was -impossible to struggle, and she stood rigid, but closer to -him by two inches.</p> - -<p>“I and the money you hate have no further dealings -with each other to-night,” he whispered. “But for -every barrier it has levelled between you and me, for -all that it has permitted me to accomplish that makes -me more worthy of you, it has my eternal gratitude. -And now, please forget it.”</p> - -<p>“I can forget nothing,” she murmured. “And you -are running a terrible risk. If my father hears of this -you may be requested to leave the Empire.”</p> - -<p>“May I tell you that you are looking more beautiful -than any one on earth can look?”</p> - -<p>“Am I?”</p> - -<p>She grasped at her receding anger, but it vanished. -Into its place flashed an enchanting sense of danger; -the wildness in her Hapsburg blood leaped its dike and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_261">[261]</span> -seemed to roar in her ears the while it sang in her soul. -She forgot the years in which she had mourned the subjugation -of Rudolf’s fine brain by his passions, and the -interminable disasters his weakness had entailed. Why -should she not be thankful that her own drama had begun -at last? She should live and feel. What mattered -the end?</p> - -<p>It was by no means the first time the temptation had -beset her since she had met Fessenden Abbott, but her -brain had controlled her hitherto; she had fancied that -her clear vision would keep the end always in view, -however she might feel the weakness of woman within -her and indulge it in friendship, while working for the -cause of her house. But the excitement and exhilaration -of this evening had lifted her to reckless heights, her -pulses were throbbing, her being was trembling with exaltation, -her head almost whirling. And before her was -the great company who knew nothing, suspected nothing. -To live in their very presence, as if they were ants on a -hill—her newly born dramatic sense flew to the fanning -of her emotions. She leaned heavily on his arm and -raised her eyes.</p> - -<p>“Am I?” she whispered again. “I wondered—I -heard your <i>Élyen</i>.”</p> - -<p>“I knew that you heard it.”</p> - -<p>“I did not turn my head.”</p> - -<p>“Nevertheless, I knew.”</p> - -<p>“Can you read my soul?” she exclaimed in a momentary -panic. “Do not read too much.”</p> - -<p>“That is all I live for.”</p> - -<p>“You—who have so much else! Would you give up -one of your ambitions for me?”</p> - -<p>“I would give up the whole game, every ambition, -every penny.”</p> - -<p>“Your country?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_262">[262]</span>“Yes, my country.”</p> - -<p>“You were very cool about it yesterday.”</p> - -<p>“Yesterday is not to-night.”</p> - -<p>“I had the greatest faith in your devotion to your -country.”</p> - -<p>“When you feel as I do now you will have faith in -nothing else.”</p> - -<p>“Do not be too mad. Let us be happy for this one -evening.”</p> - -<p>“Is this your idea of happiness?”</p> - -<p>“I am as happy as I dare to be.”</p> - -<p>“When I have taught you what happiness is you will -remember this prelude as a very poor affair.”</p> - -<p>“Have you also bought poor old Nadasdy’s jewels?”</p> - -<p>“No, he is not so bad as that; but he is not above -renting them.”</p> - -<p>“Not another magnate would speak to him again if -they knew what he had done.”</p> - -<p>“They are not to know it.”</p> - -<p>“Why did you wish to be king?”</p> - -<p>“For two reasons: I am tired of duennas and interruptions—I -have not much patience. Matthias was the -husband of Beatrice, and you are Beatrice. In the eyes -of this fanciful company to-night you are my wife—I -am your bridegroom.”</p> - -<p>He felt her tremble and draw in her breath sharply. -But in a moment she raised her eyes again—and there -was no veil upon them—and said: “Yes—I will be Beatrice -for these few hours, and believe that you are Matthias. -Is—do you mean to tell me that there is no -happiness in such imagining? If I have been happy in -my fancy before, surely this—this—”</p> - -<p>Fessenden was as nearly intoxicated as a man may -be in the presence of a thousand people. “Listen to the -Chardash for a moment,” he said unsteadily.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_263">[263]</span>The Chardash was near its finish. The gypsies were -playing madly. The peasants were shouting and stamping, -their women dancing with the graceful energy of -panthers; the spectators were looking on in delight, the -bodies of many swaying slightly. The music stopped -with a crash that had a note of disappointment and -anger in its triumph; the peasants marched forward and -bowed profoundly to their sovereigns—who looked as -high and impersonal, yet gracious, as sovereigns should -look—then filed out of the room, to revel in the servants’ -quarters till morning.</p> - -<p>The guests were impatient to dance. The musicians -in the gallery received their signal, and the opening -quadrilles were quickly formed, eight in the four circle -rooms.</p> - -<p>Fessenden walked through the stately old-fashioned -quadrille very creditably. His hands were concealed in -gauntlets, and his height would have saved his face from -too close an inspection had any one felt sufficient interest -in the old Prince to examine him in detail. Once -only he caught the eye of the Countess Piroska Zápolya, -and wondered if she had recognized him. He was the -least vain of men, but she had exhibited a preference -for the distinguished young millionaire as openly as a -high-born maiden may; and the glance he encountered -to-night was less guileless, perhaps less amiable than -usual. But she left Fessenden’s mind as abruptly as she -had entered it. He was absorbed in planning an interview -alone with Ranata. He had come to the palace in -doubt as to what he should say or leave unsaid until a -future stage, but her sudden unmistakable yielding to -her emotions, if not to him, had sent the blood to his -head and spurred his will to action. He divined that -she intended to play with those emotions under the protecting -eye of the public; but while he had no mind to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_264">[264]</span> -court too great temptation himself, he was determined -to seclude her long enough for a conversation which -should put an end to moods and coquetry, and compel -her to face herself and him. The quadrille finished with -a waltz, and he saw his opportunity. He put his arm -about her before she had time to retire to her former -position.</p> - -<p>“Take your train over your arm,” he said, “or you will -have a circle about you as many yards deep; and I want -to be lost in the crowd.”</p> - -<p>She obeyed him, and they waltzed unobserved. The -greater part of the company was dancing; the older -women, including Sarolta, had gone to the reception-rooms -to play cards or eat ices, and no one would be -surprised if the royal hostess, her part played, had -chosen to retire. It was evident that the guests were -expected to enjoy themselves; and if anything further -was necessary to add to the gay content of the evening, -it came with the rumor that immediately after supper -Count Zrinyi and Miss Abbott would lead a cotillion, -and that the favors were many and unique.</p> - -<p>“This evening is ours,” said Fessenden peremptorily. -“Take me where we can talk alone for an hour.”</p> - -<p>But she took alarm. “Not quite alone. On the -balcony in front of the tea-room perhaps—”</p> - -<p>“A balcony, if you like, for it is too warm to think in -the palace. But not that one. You must trust me. -You will have to do so for the rest of your life, so you -may as well begin now.”</p> - -<p>Ranata, having no practical knowledge of men, and -still throbbing with a reckless desire for adventure, -hesitated no longer. She had learned that this American’s -power of self-control was very great; and if he -would permit her to play with fire until the wildest in -her was exhausted, and she could feel for him again as<span class="pagenum" id="Page_265">[265]</span> -she had felt in sadder hours of self-communing, why -should she fling aside an opportunity which might never -come again? He held her in a light embrace, but it -filled her with happiness and submission. She was all -woman, and the sensation intoxicated her. Let the -morrow and its cold duties take care of themselves.</p> - -<p>When a woman with an uncommon power of passion -delivers herself to liberty after years of self-repression she -is more than likely to forget all she has ever considered, -and pass with blind eyes the half-way house where most -women sit down and think. Perhaps it is more correct -to say that the fire in her brain induces a sort of insanity -of which the average mortal is incapable, and in spite -of the ideals of her calmer moments and her thoughtful -programme of conduct, she is at the mercy of the man. -In this instance the man was playing a very big game; -and although Ranata was in no mood for analysis, -instinct told her that he was the one man who had ever -loved her with whom she could trust herself.</p> - -<p>They were in the circle-room from which her apartments -opened. It was not wise to enter directly. She -pushed aside a tapestry on the left, and when it fell they -were in a corridor. It was deserted and she led him -through unlighted rooms and into her suite by the door -which the King had used when the Queen came to Buda. -Here the lights burned dimly, but she did not pause -until they were on the balcony. The moon was too -young to reveal them to any one below; but a woman -who has been severely chaperoned will sit out all night -with a man and shrink from the indelicacy of screening -walls.</p> - -<p>Ranata sank hurriedly into a chair and motioned -Fessenden to one opposite; but he shook his head and -stood looking down upon her for a moment without -speaking. He had left his beard and wig and crown in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_266">[266]</span> -the sitting-room, and in that superb costume under the -light of moon and stars he looked not unlike Matthias, -and handsomer than himself had ever looked before. His -beauty was the last thing that concerned him, but he saw -the sudden rise of Ranata’s bosom under the tight bodice, -and the flash in her eyes as she dropped them. He did -not comprehend the cause, but he tingled in response and -almost yielded to an impulse to kneel beside her and take -her in his arms. But there was too much to say, and he -drew back. If he kissed her now he should have to talk -to her another time, and opportunities were too rare.</p> - -<p>“Let us thresh it out,” he said. “I want to marry -you. You have a hundred reasons against it, of course. -They never will mean anything to me; but if you want -to relieve your mind I am ready to hear and answer them.”</p> - -<p>She had put out her hands in deprecation. “Don’t -be so practical to-night! We could write all that if -must be said. To-night we were to play a game—I -am Beatrice—you are Matthias.”</p> - -<p>“Not here. That sort of thing is for a ballroom flirtation, -or for lengths which you probably don’t understand. -I am up to no such pretty comedy here alone -with you; besides, I am in no mood for the unreal, no -matter how pleasant it might be. This is a matter -of eternity with me. I have never loved any woman -before, and I have never wanted anything I have fought -for with my life in my hand as I want you. These are -the first moments I have actually felt the reality of life. -It has been a game before. I know now I could have -relinquished that game at any moment for something -else, with no very deep pang. But I could no more give -you up than I could live without my head. And I -have no intention of trying. I shall marry you, but -whether it is to be the most difficult job of my life -or not depends entirely upon you. You love me, and I<span class="pagenum" id="Page_267">[267]</span> -am romantic enough to believe that every man has his -mate in this world, and that you are mine; but your -head is full of absurd notions that you will have forgotten -after a year in the United States.”</p> - -<p>She stood up then, the princess again for a moment. -“Oh!” she exclaimed. “Remember that Europe is still -a reality; that, so long as the United States permits it to -exist on the map, its prejudices and customs are entitled -to respect.”</p> - -<p>“I am ready to respect your prejudices, but as I am -not a European I am not obliged to accept them as final.”</p> - -<p>“Is it possible,” she asked, staring at him, “that you -do not know we never could marry?”</p> - -<p>“Only if every clergyman on the planet refused to -perform the ceremony. Have you not, with that fine -brain of yours, thought deeply enough to know that -nothing is impossible? I could have told myself that a -hundred things were impossible, and be a nonentity -to-day. Marriage between a man and woman who are -free is the least of the impossibilities.”</p> - -<p>“But, great Heaven!—cannot you understand?—I am -the daughter of the Emperor of Austria!”</p> - -<p>“You are not any other man’s wife. That is all that -concerns me.”</p> - -<p>“Do you realize what it would mean to Europe, to -the principle of monarchy, if I, an archduchess of -Austria, married an American?”</p> - -<p>“Do you imagine that I am interested in perpetuating -the monarchical idea?”</p> - -<p>“But I am—at all events, I, as a part of it, know where -my duty lies; and—will you consider my mission here?”</p> - -<p>“Your mission here is the impossible one of preserving -the integrity of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. -Western Austria will melt towards the German Empire -by a natural law; and as for Hungary, cannot you see<span class="pagenum" id="Page_268">[268]</span> -that the destiny of this people is independence? They -would accept you as a welcome substitute for Franz -Ferdinand, but only until they were ready to face Europe -as an independent state. Do you suppose that the -sole destiny of the United States is to live and prosper? -Every day envy of her grows in the European, ridden -by police, his individuality cramped by social laws, his -manhood dwarfed by a ridiculous institution that should -have disappeared with the first year of free schools. -Monarchy was necessary enough in its time, but its -time is past. All educated mankind is determined upon -freedom. William of Germany will not admit it, but his -mission is to sweep the kinglets of Europe off the board -and unite their states into a peaceful whole which shall -convert itself at the right moment into another great -republic founded on the few sound principles of socialism. -Man’s destiny has steadily progressed towards independence -since the beginning of general education, -and the time is almost ripe for the fulfilment of it. That -is the reason, quite aside from friendship, that I shall give -my assistance to William the moment he is ready for it. -He pretends not to believe that the result must be a republic, -but in the depths of his great intelligence he must.”</p> - -<p>Now was the moment for acting, to promise anything -if he would desert William. But the thought passed -through her mind and out. That might have been -possible yesterday, but not to-night; might indeed have -been possible an hour earlier, but not now. She too -was facing the bald realities; and the chiefest was that -her love for this man, at whom she seemed to stare -through a mountain, was eternal; and that she could -take no advantage of his love for her, even were there -anything else that mattered.</p> - -<p>As she stood and looked at him, her eyes stony, her -face set in despair, Fessenden for the first time felt his<span class="pagenum" id="Page_269">[269]</span> -courage recede. Her next words left him for a few -moments without speech, and with the sensation that -the world had come suddenly to an end.</p> - -<p>“Then,” she said, “I must work out my destiny with -my house. If it is tottering, then the severer my duty -to stand by it till it falls. What happiness could I -have?—what a picture!—I secure in America, and all -my kind groaning under the ruins of Europe? I believe -that what you predict has reason enough. I am no -infatuated monarchist. I have known Alexandra too -long for that. And I have never doubted the fate of -Austria since Rudolf’s death. There is no reason why -the rest of Europe should not follow. But it will not come -in a moment, and it is the bare duty of every man and -woman of royal birth to give to the old idea their last -drop of heart’s blood and life-blood, whether there is -any individual achievement for them or not. As for me, -if I were convinced—which I am not—that I could do -no good by making Hungary mine, still would I remain -at my post. It will break my heart; it will make life a -mere tread-mill, now that I have known you; but if you -kidnapped me I should return.”</p> - -<p>They faced each other then for two or three minutes -without speaking; but although Fessenden could descend -into depths of discouragement, nothing this side -of death could keep him there. The army of resources -in his soul stirred in their nap—it was seldom they slept—and -quickened his blood in the old lust of the fight. -He revolted with angry impatience against his momentary -despair; and at the same time realized that this, the -supreme desire of his life, he would not have won with -no exercise of the talents which had been given him that -he might wear down and ride down the obstacles of life.</p> - -<p>“Very well,” he said, “your way of looking at things -is natural enough; but I don’t want you to forget for<span class="pagenum" id="Page_270">[270]</span> -one moment that, deeply as I respect even your prejudices, -they mean nothing to me intellectually, and -never can influence my conduct in the least. But on -this subject I will say no more now except that your -argument that you should stand by your house until -it falls is too illogical to be worthy of you. It is not a -woman’s part in life to prop up rotten structures, but to -assist man in founding new ones to replace the old; nor -is it the highest destiny of human beings to retrograde -or stand still, but to progress. And if I regard the past -with its superstitions and institutions as mere history, -as a mere prelude to a far greater present, and if I myself -belong to that present and to the future, you by no -means are an indissoluble part of the past. You are too -virile, too healthy, too modern, too great in every part -of your equipment; you represent the utmost that Europe -and her centuries have been able to make of your -sex; and if she had any design in making you, it was as -a present to the future, not as a sacrifice to the past. -But enough. I have a plan to propose. For two months -we will not speak of this. Nurse your traditions if you -like, believe that we must part, but make up your mind -to be happy during this time. We will have constant -companionship and some moments alone.”</p> - -<p>The light broke through her face again, and she held -out her hands. “Yes! Yes!” she exclaimed. “A fool’s -paradise! That is what I would have asked. It is all -I can ever know, and it will give me courage for the rest -of my life. But I was afraid—I was afraid— It is a -very unpractical plan for you to suggest.”</p> - -<p>“I have my unpractical moments,” said Fessenden, -“and this is one of them.” And then he caught her in -his arms and kissed her, while the music of the Chardash -from the palace and the Danube beat upon them; and -something of the dearest dream of both was realized.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_271">[271]</span>But he left her presently. As he closed behind him -the door by which he had entered the private apartments, -he had a flashing glimpse of a face he knew; but the -blood was in his head, and the small white visage, disappearing -like a ghost’s, made no impression on him—he -did not even recall it in cooler moments. He had readjusted -his disguise, and he made his way down the great -staircase, exciting no more comment than would have -fallen to the portion of Prince Nadasdy, who certainly -would be expected to go home early. When he reached -the palace of the old Prince he changed his gorgeous -trappings for the inconspicuous tweeds he had left there, -and then went out and walked until dawn. When he returned -to his hotel he wrote two letters, one to his father, -and one to his friend in Berlin. The latter concluded as -follows: “... But not for two months, or thereabouts. -I want her to have a deep draught of this Hungarian -wine she finds so heady, that she may have the less to -torment her imagination with in the future. Moreover, -I want that much time to teach her that she really loves -me. If we acted too promptly, she might, during the -inevitable weeks, perhaps months, of separation, persuade -herself that it had been but a passing madness. -And I want her to be in no doubt during that time of -what her rewards will be.”</p> - -<p>“I can safely count on help there,” thought Fessenden, -as he enclosed the letter in a second envelope addressed -to a less conspicuous name, “for before these two months -have passed he will be as anxious to see her in America -as I am.”</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">XX</h3> -</div> - -<p>At luncheon that afternoon Fessenden found himself -beside the Countess Piroska. The Archduchess had an<span class="pagenum" id="Page_272">[272]</span> -Independent on either hand, and Alexandra assisted her -with one of them. The Countess Vilma had another in -charge. There were no other guests, and Sarolta, who -had found the prospect of Radical politicians anything -but amusing, was lunching elsewhere. The table had -been laid in the small dining-room adjoining the blue -room, but the curtains were half drawn across the large -windows, for all the women were paler than usual. -Three had danced until the cocks of Buda announced -the morning, and the other had slept less than they. -She and Fessenden had met without a word, but with a -handshake of complete understanding. The “Young -Kossuths” were in good order; they had left the ball as -soon as the general dancing began. As they entered -to-day they had looked somewhat truculent, as if fearful -of patronage, but were now at their ease, and Molnár -alone appeared indifferent to the delicate viands of the -palace chefs.</p> - -<p>“He is in love with our princess,” whispered Piroska -scornfully. “Not but that it is quite natural everybody -should fall in love with her, but I should think it would -be a sensation to be avoided by any one under an archduke; -and as for Molnár, he is not to be pitied, he is too -ludicrous.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t fancy you waste much pity on any one,” -said Fessenden.</p> - -<p>“I pity you,” said Piroska softly.</p> - -<p>“Indeed?” he asked innocently. “What have I done -that I should be pitied?”</p> - -<p>“Done? Ah—but I understand American better -since I have had the pleasure to know Miss Abbott. I -mean—I think you are too fine to waste your love on a -woman who is no more achievable than the polar star.”</p> - -<p>“Oh— Do you think I am in love with the Archduchess? -Well, I will confide to you that I am, but<span class="pagenum" id="Page_273">[273]</span> -don’t—don’t betray me, or the Emperor will be ordering -me out of the Dual Monarchy; and I have a theory that -it is a good thing for a young man to be in love with the -polar star. It keeps him out of much mischief.”</p> - -<p>Piroska was nonplussed, and turned her wide gaze -upon him. He was eating with every appearance of -appetite, and Piroska, although a sordid soul, had her -idea of what a lover should be.</p> - -<p>“You never have eyes for any one else,” she murmured, -at a loss.</p> - -<p>“Remember the limited time at my disposal. One -month—two, perhaps, and I must walk a tread-mill in a -land without polar stars.” He was thinking, “Shall I -throw her off the track, or would she be more useful as -an enemy? I should use her without scruple, for I -am convinced that she is here to spy, and she has a -ledger where her heart ought to be. It will not do to -be too precipitate; she might act before we are ready. -All I want is her added weight at the right moment.” -He determined to be guided by events, and turned to -her with his frank smile, which seemed at once to establish -a personal relation. “I should like to show you -America—that is a large order!—New York, rather,” he -said. “You must come over some time with my sister.” -And then, to the mystified but delighted little <i>intrigante</i>, -he made himself as agreeable for the next -half-hour as he knew how; and his spirits were so plainly -unaffected that the Zápolya thought less of Ranata’s -power to charm.</p> - -<p>The rising voice of Molnár gave him the excuse he -wanted to assist the Archduchess in her difficult task.</p> - -<p>“You are all so tired,” he murmured to Piroska. “I -had better talk to that man.”</p> - -<p>“The King is quite mistaken,” Molnár was announcing, -“if he believes that our ultimate idea in wishing<span class="pagenum" id="Page_274">[274]</span> -the universal use of the Magyar language in our own -country is to divide the army against itself, or to encourage -hatred towards Austria. Not only does the -Constitution accepted by the King provide that Hungarian -soldiers shall be commanded by Hungarian officers, -but we wish the language for two reasons—to fulfil -more nearly a passionate national ideal, and because it -is the fitting reward of a thousand years of indomitable -individuality.”</p> - -<p>“But do you not think,” asked Fessenden, “that passionate -ideals, when carried to extreme, may degenerate -into mere vanity? I suppose you are not averse -from a fair-minded discussion, so you will not mind my -saying that I think vanity is the only rock on which -the Hungarian nation may split and go to pieces. It -is a dominant trait in your aristocracy, as is evidenced -by their theatrical and childish delight in an ancient and -ornate costume—this in a day when the more highly -civilized a man is the more simply he dresses. The bulk -of the nation betray this itching vanity in its persistent -struggle for things insignificant in themselves, but -whose attainment would inflate its pride and permit it to -exult over its step-children. If you can prove to me that -I am wrong, and that you are possessed by a nobler -motive in this agitation for the compulsory use of your -language throughout an army in which there are so -many Austrians, Germans, Roumanians, Saxons, Slavonians, -Bulgarians, and, above all, the Croats, who most -hate you, I shall be glad to acknowledge myself mistaken.”</p> - -<p>Molnár’s eyes had flashed. He was vaguely jealous -of the American, bitterly as he realized that his disappearance -would leave no field for him. But he had -come to the palace determined to assist the cause of his -party, and not only did the quiet air of the room and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_275">[275]</span> -company depress his energy of temper, but his deep -respect for the Archduchess, and desire to stand well -with her, would have restrained him from a violent -outburst. He replied with a calm which he was made -subtly aware his princess commended.</p> - -<p>“It is difficult to prove what is so largely a matter of -standard. The Americans have so vast a country, so -many liberties unknown in Europe, but worthy of -emulation, that what seems the noble motive of pride to -us may appear quite petty to them. But after all, did -not your country, when under the heel of another power, -make mountains out of many mole-hills that you would -laugh at now? You tax yourselves more heavily than -England ever taxed you, and it is seldom that a voice -is raised in protest. The stamp-tax after your late war -is a case in point. You burned your British governors -in effigy, and now your contented and prosperous -people merely shrug their shoulders at the iniquities of -your bosses, confident that the country can take care of -itself. The great patriotic virtues that were extolled a -hundred years ago in the United States of America are -passed by now as a matter of course, or their absence is -unnoticed; and I remember reading that a large portion -of your country in its youth went quite hysterical at -the monarchical proposition that Mr. Washington’s head -should appear on coins. But I only wish to illustrate -that a young country lacking complete independence, -or fearful of losing that so recently acquired, is never -so indifferent to certain points as a great one.”</p> - -<p>“I admit all the faults of my country past and present, -but it seems to me that if the law of progress means anything, -it means that a people dissatisfied with monarchical -government and bent upon republican should take -warning and example from the older republics—not act -as if every page of history had been destroyed. When<span class="pagenum" id="Page_276">[276]</span> -vanity stiffens into a monumental conceit, as in the case -of England and ourselves, it is still bad enough, and has -its dangers, but at least it is not childish, and is the -result of a developed strength that it would be next to -impossible to wreck. But being still weak as you are, -by your constitutional inferiority to Austria, and the -hatred with which you are regarded by almost every -other division and tribe in your share of the Dual -Monarchy, it doubly behooves you to eliminate your -weaknesses. And, I repeat, vanity is the one which -will prove most fatal. William played upon it in a -masterly manner; he uttered but a few words of flattery, -he took the trouble to learn but three words of your -language, and the nation wept tears of joy. I amuse -myself counting the number of mustaches—particularly -in the army!—that stand on end. If it had been the -tyrant of all the Russias, the momentary enthusiasm -would have been the same, although second thoughts -would have disillusioned you. That an enlightened and -progressive monarch chose to declare himself your friend, -no matter for what purpose of his own, you may count -as a piece of good fortune which you had done nothing -very especial to encourage. But do you flatter yourself -for a moment that if William took you over he would -permit the universal substitution of any language for his -own?”</p> - -<p>“I was not of those whose heads were turned by the -Emperor of Germany,” snorted the Hungarian, whose -own mustache Nature had planted in a most aggressive -fashion. “The constant abuse of Hungary by the German -press, and the attempts of propagandists to corrupt -German-speaking Hungarians and unite them for -the propitious moment of rebellion against the country -their ancestors adopted—that Germany may have a -weakened state to oppose her when she is ready to put<span class="pagenum" id="Page_277">[277]</span> -into execution her designs on the Balkans—those are -scores, sir, that an emperor cannot sweep from some -memories by flattery. I am—since the death of the Crown -Prince—” He hesitated and looked at the Archduchess.</p> - -<p>“You are to speak with perfect freedom to-day,” she -said smiling, and endeavoring to feel as political as she -should. “That was the understanding when you consented -to come. Please believe that I am listening impersonally. -Not that I wish your secrets, merely your -well-defined point of view.”</p> - -<p>“Then I will say what is well enough known, your -Royal Highness—that I wish for no king whatever. -Our king is as just and indulgent as his fixed notions -permit him to be, and yet under him autonomy is a -failure. I wish for complete independence, with, if not -all the features of the United States of America, at least -with those which have permitted her to exist in the face -of all prophecies; and with many others which we are -quite capable of evolving ourselves. Independence, you -will not hesitate to admit, sir, is the only logical condition -for any civilized people at this stage of the world’s -history, and, above all, it is the only condition which -will content the most independent race in Europe. -When the hour of this Dual Monarchy strikes, I am perfectly -willing that western Austria shall go to Germany, -provided that the price of our acquiescence is the complete -independence of this country. If the aristocracy -don’t like it they can move to Prussia; that country is -badly in need of a real aristocracy, and the fine clothes -of our magnates would be a pleasant relief among so -many uniforms. But for Hungary, Independence!—Independence!—Independence!”</p> - -<p>His voice ended in a mild roar; and Fessenden replied -in his most matter-of-fact tones, “Then if you want -independence, why, I repeat, don’t you begin now to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_278">[278]</span> -strengthen instead of weakening yourselves? Surely -you must know that if the King granted this demand of -yours, completely to Magyarize the army, you would -incur the still bitterer hatred of all these races who are -obliged to serve in it. Their native tongue means as -much to them as yours does to you. And when one -considers that three-fourths of Hungary is ethnologically -non-Hungarian! If your king were thirty years -younger, and you could reasonably feel that you had -that amount of time in which to subdue or reconcile -your rebellious step-children, then one might feel that -you had more wisdom, more reason on your side; but -to strain at a gnat when you must inevitably swallow -a whole herd of camels the moment your king sets these -centrifugal forces free, is a folly I cannot comprehend -in a race so like my own in many respects.”</p> - -<p>Molnár had listened sullenly, but with attention. It -had been agreed, although all four of the Hungarians -were men of ability, that the brunt of the talk should be -borne by their leader; for they were sure to interrupt -even each other if they sent the blood to their heads -with too many words. But they were neglecting their -plates to follow the argument; and they frowned when -Fessenden spoke, and smiled approval upon the logic of -Molnár. When the American asserted the analogy between -his race and theirs, they looked pleased and surprised; -for it is a remarkable fact that, in spite of the execration -which Europeans, as a result of our protective -policy and successful invasion of her aristocracies and -industries, bestow upon the United States, they are invariably -surprised into pleasure if informed that they -possess an American trait—which is doubtless owing to -the fact that every human creature craves success; and -rightly or wrongly, the United States and that most -vulgarized of words are synonymous.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_279">[279]</span>Even Molnár looked slightly mollified, but he had -come to make good his cause before a princess who he -believed must influence the King her father, since he -was convinced she could twist Hungary round her finger -if she chose. “It is to be hoped that another century -will see us even in advance of where the United States -stands to-day,” he replied; “for, as you justly observed, -it is our part as an intelligent nation to profit by the -mistakes of other nations. But it is impossible to admit -that we are unwise to insist upon the adoption of -our language as the sole language of our army, even -in the old age of the King; for we are convinced that -our disruption from Austria is but a question of a few -years, and it is wise to accustom the inferior races to the -dominance of our language and rule as long before our -independence as possible. It is our misfortune that -we have not been in a position to push this claim sooner. -It was a tremendous innovation when Kossuth and -Szechenyi carried their point that Magyar should be the -political language of Hungary. It was not the part of -wisdom to ask for more then, but that is half a century -ago—half a century. And you call us impatient and -unreasonable! You—who are so recently come from -the battle-field, do you recall the passionate enthusiasm -with which you sang and listened to your national -hymns by your camp-fires at night—as you marched to -the battle-field? What would have been your emotions -if you had been compelled to sing the national songs of -another country? Good God! Cannot you understand -what it would mean to us to sing our own beautiful battle -hymns in our own beautiful language, instead of the -words of a hated power in the most hideous sounds that -ever were invented to torture the ear? It is true that -you have set your national anthem to the tune of England’s, -but you have long since forgotten that; and I am<span class="pagenum" id="Page_280">[280]</span> -told that when Americans go to England they are flattered -when the band plays ‘God Save the King.’ But -that is your happiness—that you have been permitted -to forget—while we—we—”</p> - -<p>“I have no doubt that if you asked for the privilege -of ringing your national hymns, and nothing more, the -King would readily indulge you; and the Hungarian -military colleges you are sure to have will no doubt -entail much that you wish—if you have the patience to -wait. I admit, of course, that vanity has no part in -your desire to sing your own anthems in your own language—what -more inspiring?—but the imposing of -your difficult tongue on the Austrians who are obliged -to command in your army during the years when you -must still have an insufficiency of Hungarian officers, -as well as upon the races that hate you now, and only -await the opportunity to serve you the same trick they -served you in 1847—I repeat, it seems to me the height -of vanity and folly. And I regret it deeply, for in a struggle -in which you were incontestably right, you would -have the sympathy of the United States. Kossuth is by -no means forgotten; and the American loves romance, -having so little of it. For romance you stand in history -preeminently. But if you make yourselves ridiculous—”</p> - -<p>“Ridiculous?” All four were muttering. Ranata -leaned forward, and drew Molnár’s eyes to hers.</p> - -<p>“How would it have been if Rudolf had lived?” she -asked softly.</p> - -<p>“Ah, Rudolf!” The four men might have received an -electric shock. “If our crown prince had lived,” cried -Molnár, “he would be our sympathetic, our indulgent -ruler to-day. The King would surely have abdicated -in his favor before this—if he had been reluctant we -should have found a way to persuade him! The King<span class="pagenum" id="Page_281">[281]</span> -is preferable to his present heir; and not only do we -hesitate to incur the antagonism of the world by embittering -the last days of our old monarch, but it is a trait -of human nature to postpone the evil day. But Rudolf! -He would have granted our demands; and with his tact -and resource have found a way to reconcile all the other -states in the monarchy to our reforms. Perhaps he -would have given us our liberty, and accepted the presidency -of the republic! That indeed would have been -Utopia!”</p> - -<p>“No one can admire and regret Rudolf more than I -do,” said Fessenden, in the even dispassionate tones -which irritated the Hungarians more than his words; -“but it is impossible not to notice that the inevitable -legend is growing up round his name. In a few years it -will obscure an individuality and a mental endowment -that were better left unexaggerated. I came on the scene -too late to know him, but I have heard him much discussed -by more than one of his close personal friends; -and while he was far more genial and sympathetic than -is common among princes, and far more liberal and -broad-minded, I do not in the least believe that he had -a republican instinct, or would have parted voluntarily -with an inch of his inheritance. Rather he would have -conceived it his mission to maintain its integrity with -the last corps of his army. No doubt his tact and his -alert modern brain would have found a way through -these difficulties which would have satisfied himself and -Hungary. Problems that seem insoluble to an aged -king might have been disentangled readily enough by -him. But the hard fact remains that you have not -Rudolf to deal with, but your king—and, for a period -after him, no doubt, the present Crown Prince; so would -you not be wiser to conciliate your enemies until you are -strong enough to crush them? Suppose Germany and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_282">[282]</span> -Austria in a war against Russia—over the Balkans, let -us say—do you realize what your position would be as -an independent state with all the antagonistic races -within your borders in revolt—these races number -7,500,000, nearly half your population, do they not? -In some respects the Hungarian mind is the brightest -and most alert in Europe, and you are probably the only -monarchical people wholly without servility. If you -wreck yourselves, and this rich and enterprising country, -because you love your weaknesses more than your -virtues, then you deserve to be crushed like an egg between -the enemies who will take a particular delight in -the process. But your party does not represent Hungary. -The enlightened majority are not extremists. -You can obstruct and keep the country in a turmoil, -but when it comes to the general vote you must be -beaten. But meanwhile you are demoralizing Hungary -at home, and making it ridiculous abroad—that is the -point to be considered now.”</p> - -<p>Molnár pushed back his chair and stood up, tossing -back his head. For the moment he looked like the -statue of the poet of the Revolution, Alexander Petöfi, -which, in its square across the river, seems to have -the nerves of the dead man in it.</p> - -<p>“You pay us your cold tribute,” he cried, “but what -do you know of the ardor, the passionate enthusiasm -of a race as different from yours as the Latin from the -Teutonic. Logic! We have as much as any men -when our hearts are not on fire with our wrongs; but -we would rather die, die, die—be crushed like an egg, -if you will—than exist like slaves a generation longer.” -He turned suddenly to Ranata, his face illuminated -under its perpetual frown. “You—your Royal Highness”—he -cried, “if you were our queen—you, who -look born to sit on a throne as wisely as Maria Theresia,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_283">[283]</span> -yet without her bigotry and obstinacy—you, who are so -like Rudolf— Ah! Why not? Why not?”</p> - -<p>“We will have our coffee in the next room,” said the -Archduchess with cold severity, as she rose and led the -way. “Úr Molnár, have you seen the river and Pest -from the balcony?”</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">XXI</h3> -</div> - -<p>Fessenden and Ranata were alone in the Hungarian -house. Upon the departure of the Independents—diverted -and mollified—the Archduchess had dismissed -her weary ladies-in-waiting; and Alexandra, after wandering -down to the garden with her brother and friend, -had stolen away to sleep until the hour to drive.</p> - -<p>“You heard!” said Ranata. “Do you doubt now -that I could be queen in Hungary?”</p> - -<p>“I never doubted it; nor that your reign would be -as exciting as brief. Hungary is now enjoying her days -of halcyon peace. When your father dies she may not -only have your cousin of Austria, and William, to reckon -with, but King Karl of Roumania. It is the secret and -persistent ambition of his life to win back to Roumania -the lands it claims it owned before the conquest of Árpád, -and one of these is not only Transylvania, but Hungary -as far as the Theiss. He would join Austria in any -attempt to crush Hungary, and he would be abetted by -all the internal enemies of this country. Moreover, he -hates William as only one strong personality can hate -another, and at the first call of Hungary for the German -Emperor, or for his second son, he would not wait for -Austria. He is a big man in a small country, and has -never yet had his opportunity; but when it comes he -will grasp it, be sure of that. But have you not had -enough of all this for one day?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_284">[284]</span>“Yes—what a contrast you were! I never so fully -realized the destiny of the American race. Your brain -remains as cold as your eyes until the right moment -comes to let the fires leap up. And then! Tell me—I -have thought constantly of all that you said last night—it -seems to me that you felt yourself safe enough in -declaring that you would sacrifice everything for me—ambitions, -fortune, country—because you knew the -obligation never would confront you. It is I who -would have to renounce all and follow you. Austria -would expel us both, and could do you no -harm.”</p> - -<p>“It is you who are most distressingly practical to-day. -Why analyze the vows of a lover? I spoke the language -of the heart last night, and my brain took the rest it needs. -You were convinced of my sincerity then—and I am -quite prepared to say it all over again.” And so he did; -but although he could make love with an intensity which -Ranata would be likely to recall in long hours of separation, -he was still able to practise the better part of valor; -and with the natural egotism of man, he was soon -talking into a sympathetic ear of his hopes and plans for -the future. Never was the egotism of man so wise in its -exercise. It was the last magnet he needed to draw the -soul of the woman to him. As he unrolled his vast -schemes, so practical and so ideal, Ranata forgot her own -conventional ambitions. She seemed to herself to step -out of a volume of history and mingle in the great throng -of individuals, who made their own laws and thought for -themselves.</p> - -<p>“Before many years have passed,” said Fessenden, “I -hope to have united South America in one great republic. -It is not only necessary to protect my railways—the -element of personal selfishness must enter into everything -that hopes to succeed—but I want to see the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_285">[285]</span> -republican ideal flourish over the greater part of the -civilized globe before I die.”</p> - -<p>“And then? Shall you rule over these vast republics?”</p> - -<p>“Not I! I shall have all the work I want while -creating them. There may come the crisis in the -United States which I have been trained to meet, and -the result might compel an interval of strong centralization. -But the reconstruction finished, those could rule -who were equal to the task. And such an interval -would be brief, for the American would not stand the -infringement of his liberties a moment longer than circumstances -demanded. Although I believe in permanent -centralization, to the extent of a ruler elected for -life or good behavior—and I believe this principle is -growing in the minds of all thinking republicans who -are not only sick of corruption but of seeing a fine -man in the presidential chair the slave of politicians, and -shelved coincidently with the full development of his -usefulness—still that ruler must be the free and deliberate -selection of the majority of the people, and a -monarch by their will alone, with no privileges whatever -for his heirs. With democracy I have no more patience -than with the autocracy of Russia, but I should be the -last to blight an instinct which it is my desire to sow -broadcast over the earth. It is for that I wish to be -remembered; they can forget the dramas as soon as they -like—”</p> - -<p>“Ah, but tell me those!” exclaimed Ranata. “I have -waited for years to hear them.”</p> - -<p>He entertained her with several of his adventures and -exploits in South America, but dropped the subject to -tell her something of his problem in mechanics and electricity.</p> - -<p>“If anything was needed when I awoke at noon to-day<span class="pagenum" id="Page_286">[286]</span> -to make me feel as if I owned the entire universe,” -he said, “it was a letter from my chief electrician which -convinced me for the first time that he was on the -verge of perfecting this old dream of mine. My father -was to go out as soon as telegraphed for and witness -the practical demonstration. Then, indeed, I practically -will hold the fate of the world in the hollow of my hand.”</p> - -<p>Ranata stared hard at him, her pulse quickening. She -had always envied him, and now he seemed to her to -embody all the hopeful ambitions of all the world, a Titan -whom only a new country with its utter disregard of -failure could have produced. What order of men would -his republics bring forth?</p> - -<p>“But shall you never have a reverse, never fail?” she -murmured. “There is a relentless law of compensation -in Nature; surely you must have your blows, your -bitterness, like other mortals.”</p> - -<p>“I have already had enough trouble and anxiety, to -say nothing of hideous privations, fatigue, and illness to -satisfy Nature for the present. The only blow that could -have reached my heart before this would have been the -death of my father.”</p> - -<p>“Ah!” she exclaimed sharply, “you do love me—I -know how much! When this is over, will its memory -mean as much to you as it will to me? Will the loss -embitter, discourage you? It has seemed to me since -last night that it will mean too much to me—that I -shall need more courage than I possess to live on. -With men—with you? How would it be, with your -thousand occupations where I might not have one? -Oh, at least help me to win this country! I fear no -enemies—nothing else on earth.”</p> - -<p>“All that,” said Fessenden, “is a subject which I -positively refuse to discuss until these two months are -up. All I wish you to be firmly convinced of from this<span class="pagenum" id="Page_287">[287]</span> -moment—and you might repeat it nightly with your -prayers lest you forget it—is that, under no possible -circumstances short of death, shall I give you up, or -relax for a moment in my determination to overcome -every obstacle which either you or your father may raise. -The sooner you recognize me as your destiny the better.”</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">XXII</h3> -</div> - -<p>When a woman is groping about among the mysteries -of her great passion she has little to give the world, and, -all the forces of her being consuming her inwardly, her -magnetism is diminished. With the average woman -this matters little—she merely bores her friends; but in -the case of a princess, with but a season perhaps at her -disposal within whose limits to preserve the map of -Europe, or alter it to her liking, the untimely advent -of love might blight her in the very plethora of her -opportunities. Ranata realized this danger after a -few days of complete indifference to anything but her -own thoughts and the presence of Fessenden Abbott, -discovered that she had fallen back into the niche of -the unapproachable princess, from which only he could -draw her. The moment she appreciated her condition -she roused, when in public, the energies of her mind, -wrenching it from her inner life. A career she was -determined to have; and although she could not recall the -enthusiasm of those first weeks in Hungary, her purpose -was revitalized by the long shadows of bitterness and -despair which the future cast back to her. True to her -compact, she endeavored to eject that future from her -imagination, and in greater part succeeded, for she had -more wisdom than most women, and appreciated the -priceless value of the immediate happiness. She was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_288">[288]</span> -content, and in brief intervals intensely happy; her -imagination was liberated and her power to feel superlative. -The knowledge that both imagination and -capacity for living must prove her scourge hereafter -but made her cultivate both the more ardently while -briefly mistress of her fate. And the concentrated -ardor of which Fessenden was capable in the rare moments -they found alone, contrasted with his average -mood when he seemed to belong so wholly to himself, -fascinated her far more than any constant evidence of -her consuming influence over him would have done. -Her own powerful individuality recognized the separateness -of his, and was content to touch it in fugitive -moments only. The archaic poem of eternal oneness -made no appeal to her. Passionate love and loyal -friendship she had to offer in the fullest equipment -granted to mortals, but the development of her own -individuality in its incorruptible silences must go on -forever, submerged only by the primal tides; and so -her instincts and her endowment saved her from the -pursuit of that will-o’-the-wisp which most women follow -until it hides in the grave. She saw that Fessenden -recognized in her this disunion of temperament and -personality, for although his were the masculine limitations -which deprived him of the comprehensions women -think they want, the needs of his own soul were too -great for blindness to another that had come so close.</p> - -<p>Therefore, Ranata, although she loved her hours of -solitude the more, and even grudged her brain its sleep, -reopened her windows to the world before it was too late. -She entertained frequently, and many of the magnates -gave superb entertainments in her honor. Fessenden, -Zrinyi, and several other young enthusiasts, arranged -an illuminated fête on the Danube, and for a few -moments she believed herself to be a fairy princess on a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_289">[289]</span> -fairy planet. Every house, great and small, on the -hills of Buda, burned its colored lights, and the bridges, -the islands, the boats, looked as if on fire with the -souls of stars and flowers. The fireworks among the -ruins of the castle on the height completed a scene of -illusion possible in only three or four cities of the world.</p> - -<p>Her own entertainments were given in no perfunctory -fashion. She had one state dinner a week, and small -dinners and luncheons for the better study of the -Hungarian character. There was no theatre in the -palace, but she had a stage erected in the Hall of -Ceremonies, and Possart came from Munich to give the -soliloquy of Manfred among the snow-fields of the Alps, -in what is perhaps the most perfect German spoken in -a great empire where perfect German is seldom heard. -Fremstadt came with him to sing from “Carmen”; and -Frau Schratt and other artists of Vienna were engaged -for the later winter. The local poets were permitted to -declaim, and their emotional fires and abandon won -the English and American guests, long divorced from -patience with drawing-room inflictions.</p> - -<p>But the Hungarians shone most brilliantly in music, -and there were frequent concerts in the palace, given -entirely by members of the aristocracy, which inspired -no comparison with professionals. When the Archduchess -found time she went to the theatre or opera, -and sat in the gala box, wearing her best conceived -gowns, and having taken care that her intention should -be announced in the morning newspapers.</p> - -<p>And so Budapest had its gay winter at last—a winter -that exceeded even longings and dreams, and made the -heart of the tradesman sing, and filled the hotels with -curious and ambitious visitors. But perhaps the true -rapture dwelt in the pen of the correspondent, so long -driven in the mere service of politics for the casual<span class="pagenum" id="Page_290">[290]</span> -glance of a world at no pains to understand that it might -yet be the destiny of Hungary to precipitate the great -convulsion of Europe. These grateful gentlemen quickly -made Ranata the most famous woman on the public -stage. Her pictures were sold in every capital, the -illustrated weekly newspapers presented her to a delighted -public in all her available aspects, and girl reporters -came to Budapest and wrote imaginary interviews with -her maids.</p> - -<p>No one knew better than Ranata that this glitter and -tinsel was but the prelude to true fame, and that without -the opportunity to prove her wisdom as a ruler she would -take no place in history outside the covers of some -“Book of Beauty”; nevertheless she found the notoriety -and incense sweet after her long monotonies, and her -pride was deeply gratified with the unequivocal success -of her first programme. She would have been more -satisfied if she could have had proof of the jealous uneasiness -of William of Germany; and more secure if the -state of mind of the Crown Prince of Austria and Hungary -could have been revealed to her. But if Fessenden -corresponded with his friend he made no confidences; -and neither her father nor Count von Königsegg mentioned -her cousin in their letters, although they appeared -to commend her course.</p> - -<p>But to Ranata’s surprise and occasional alarm, she -frequently discovered that her imagination dwelt less -on her future in history than on the great schemes of -Fessenden Abbott, and that her thoughts were far more -occupied with their unique and interesting details than -with the future complexities of Europe, which long since -had acquired the habit of repeating themselves. Gone -were the hours when she had striven to untangle the web -of her empire’s future, to fit herself for every imaginable -contingency. When her womanhood took its temporary<span class="pagenum" id="Page_291">[291]</span> -rest, her brain was far more apt to dwell upon some point -that was puzzling Fessenden. She reminded herself -that this may have been the result of their daily conversations, -his abrupt confidential asides; and believed -she might assure herself that when the spell was removed -her interest in subjects so foreign to all in her -previous twenty-eight years would vanish with the -sweetness of life.</p> - -<p>But they were not foreign to everything, she suddenly -reminded herself. There was Alexandra! Would -this sense of intimacy with the brother have descended -upon her so quickly, even with the assistance of love, -had it not been preceded by that other long intimacy? -How deep had the influence of this American sunk? -What changes had it perhaps wrought in her character -during those eighteen years of almost constant mental -friction, beginning when her mind was plastic, and always -making her chief interests in life? Nothing is -more difficult than to concentrate the mind in self-analysis, -self-examination; the children of the experience -resent the scientific probing of the mind and hide in the -shadowy deeps. Ranata was forced to recur to the -subject abruptly, to glimpse her mental layers by flashlight. -It was difficult even then to make sure what -tracings had been done by an alien hand, much less to -imagine just what she would have been had that hand -been withheld; but finally she learned enough to cause -her moments of deep uneasiness, grave doubts if she -were so inviolate a Hapsburg as she had believed; and -when she realized there had been intervals when her -emancipated and now rebellious imagination had transported -her to the American continent, where she moved -with the assurance and the vivid sense of freedom of -the American girl, she shrank in terror, as if already -she had taken a traitorous and irrevocable step. She<span class="pagenum" id="Page_292">[292]</span> -had always been convinced that she should find all -things in the American section of America quite detestable, -from their very unlikeness to all things sanctified -by the traditions of Europe; but now she emerged from -visions of herself penetrated with happiness in a romantic -wilderness of mountain and forest, or in cities which -epitomized that wonderful modern life which seemed -to relegate the old to boards and calf-skin. There were -times when she actually felt the rush and fever of the -life in her veins. It was then that she turned her mind -to Hungary. She had been deeply gratified to learn -that on the greater portion of the Left, William had -made no impression, except to deepen their hatred and -distrust of Germany. That this enthusiastic and ofttimes -desperate party was being secretly drawn to her -standard, Ranata was not long discovering. For a -time, at least, they would accept a queen where they -would reject a king, and their susceptible natures inclined -them naturally towards a young and beautiful ruler -whom they could love, and, no doubt, manage; while -she added to their picturesque strength in the eyes of -the world. Ranata was aware that the new thought -was travelling silently; and while trembling lest it reach -Vienna, she dared not notice it sufficiently to demand -prudence. The part must be thrust upon her, not only -to save her in the eyes of Europe, but the lightest hint -of ambition from her would have alarmed the Independents -and turned their admiration to contempt.</p> - -<p>There were times during this strange interlude in her -life when she was possessed by a sensation of supreme -joy, or by deep and tranquil happiness—moments when -she paced the terrace alone on brilliant mornings in a -tumult of wonder, when Budapest, beautiful enough, -was glorified, and the links binding her to the mundane -were dissolved. In such moments she neither analyzed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_293">[293]</span> -nor speculated, she but intensely lived; but when they -had passed, she wondered if such ideally pagan moments -were prophetic of greater happiness, or if they -were peculiar to that antechamber of the unknown which -is the prelude in love. The possibility depressed her, -and at other times she suffered sharply. If Fessenden -carelessly laid his arm about Alexandra’s shoulders or -took her hand, satisfied in the masculine fashion with -what happened to be convenient at the moment, Ranata -would turn cold with jealousy and disgust with life. As -she was too proud to protest—or explain—she punished -the bewildered offender with a freezing demeanor, and -both were miserable for several days. The reconciliation, -however, enshrined the misery in a halo of gratitude. -Her jealousy was purely impersonal, and induced -no alteration in her attitude towards Alexandra. It -was not the object but the apparent wandering of his -affections that concerned her, and the physical manifestation. -She took for granted that he loved his sister—would -have thought him deficient in human nature if -he had not. But that sort of relation was passive; the -active he had entered upon embraced her alone. Like -other women in love, she was constantly making discoveries -about herself; and when, one day, alone with her -thoughts, she found herself overwhelmed and dissolved -in a transport of maternal tenderness for the man to -whom ultimately she could be nothing, she realized for -the first time how far love had carried her. This was -towards the end of the interlude; and soon after, even -the uneasiness of this discovery was forgotten in the -haunting dismay which preceded the end.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile Zrinyi was manifestly impatient that the -visit should be made to his castle in the Transylvanian -Alps before the full rigors of winter should compel an -indefinite postponement. So far, the winter was mild,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_294">[294]</span> -and the snow on the lower Alps not so heavy that oxen -could not draw the sledges up the steep mountain roads. -Ranata, welcoming a few days’ release from the world, -and greater freedom, set the date; and it was arranged -that the party should consist only of her ladies, Alexandra, -Fessenden Abbott, and Prince Illehazy. They were -to linger long enough in Klausenbourg, Kronstadt, and -the intervening villages, to give the inhabitants a -glimpse of their princess, and an opportunity to offer -the ovation which once had been their joy to give to -Rudolf.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">XXIII</h3> -</div> - -<p>When one is standing in a window looking down into a -gorge a thousand feet below, the cynical reflections of a -mummy in bed smoking a cigar vex the impulse of romance, -quick in the brain. Ranata was in the window. -The window was Zrinyi’s; so was the perpendicular -mountain of which the old border fortress might have -been an abrupt continuation, so indeed were the harsh -wild peaks, bare but for the glittering snow, which rose -high above this lofty height. The mummy was Sarolta, -who was in bed with a cold. The invasion of her sacred -person by impertinent microbes always put her in a bad -humor, and to-day it urged her to improve one of her -rare solitudes with her royal charge. Moreover, she -was profoundly puzzled. If Ranata was not in love -with this American, why then did she show him a -preference never before won, for a moment, by another -admirer? But if she were in love, why then this serenity? -She had expected that Ranata’s inevitable love -episode would be fraught with tragedy from the very -first, and that pallid cheeks and heavy eyes would be -the visible signs, haughtily as the Princess might comport<span class="pagenum" id="Page_295">[295]</span> -herself. Had the heroine been any one but Ranata -she might have drawn a characteristic deduction from -this serenity; but although she was not the European to -swear to the virtue of any woman, she knew that Ranata, -if not bigotedly virtuous, was bigotedly loyal to her -house, and had long since made her vow that by no act -of hers should another of its stones be loosened; rather -was she exalted by the hope that it might be her destiny -to save it from destruction. And Sarolta, who had settled -back comfortably into her early doctrine that life -was made to live, could have gone to the stake herself -for the aristocratical or the monarchical ideal. Therefore, -she believed that Ranata would immolate her passion -on this altar the moment it burned too fiercely; and -so, after all, was prepared to take her oath upon the -virtue of one woman. Nevertheless, she was curious. Of -the compact, of course, she knew nothing; and had she, -still would she have puzzled, knowing the power and the -will of woman to torment herself; but she had come to -the conclusion that it was possible Ranata, never having -seen Fessenden alone—this the good lady also believed—did -not wholly realize her condition, would not until -he left her; so determined to do what she could in the -way of preliminary disenchantment.</p> - -<p>“There is no greater fallacy,” she was saying, “than -the belief that women regret their youth—I mean women -who have lived the life of the heart. Nature invariably -compensates, and in exchanging wisdom for youth -she is at her best. No woman ever crowded more into -her youth—nor held to it longer—than I did, yet I can -recall now the sensation of relief when I finally realized -that henceforth I should live for myself alone; above -all, that I had had my final disappointment. For love, -my dear, is one exquisite disappointment from first to -finish—for the woman, I mean. Men are rarely psychological<span class="pagenum" id="Page_296">[296]</span> -enough for the disappointments that grind -the heart of woman until it is callous. When they are, -they are not able to hurt us, so may be left out of the -question. The thoroughly masculine man, the only sort -that is capable of inspiring the <i>grande passion</i>, because -he has the primal attributes designed by Nature that -he may fully mate with woman, is in the very completeness -of his equipment blind to all that is most subtle -and feminine in woman, giving her, therefore, twenty -strokes of torment to one of happiness, or even pleasure. -What is the result? We live, the most irresistible of us, -three-fourths—five-eighths—of our lives alone, striving -to find in imagination what man will never give us. Life, -with women who are not small pieces of pulp in the domestic -mill, is one long chase after happiness—what is -there for most of us but happiness, politics, and charities? -I have sometimes envied the women who have to work -their brains blunt to fill their conservative little stomachs!”</p> - -<p>Her voice thickening, she paused to inhale the fumes -of the last specific for colds. Ranata continued to stare -out of the window, and her duenna continued in a -moment:</p> - -<p>“But I have also wondered, <i>ma chère</i>, if, did man give -us what that craving thing we call our soul demands, -would we enjoy ourselves even as much as we do. It -is always a gamble which will tire first, the man or the -woman; and on the whole I am inclined to believe that -the woman of charm and brain, and the position in life -which enables her to find much distraction, is the surer -prey to disenchantment. If she be of a deeper nature, -or if she has deluded herself for a little that the man -actually loved her and not himself, she may not tire, -but be so bitterly disgusted and disillusioned that, for a -moment, at least, she is capable of tragedy. But the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_297">[297]</span> -average man, so particular with charm at first, merely -lets us down in <i>ennui</i>. If he gave woman more of himself -than he does now, perhaps she would tire sooner. -He needs all the mystery he has. However, the fact -remains that man is eternally unsatisfactory and woman -eternally unsatisfied. I doubt if a woman of imagination -ever lived who, having won what rent her -soul and body while withheld, would not, after the first -short chapter, exchange the reality for the previous -lost world of her imagination. Good God! the disillusionment, -the readjustment, the struggle through -terror and despair to philosophy! If I were ordered to -live my life over, I should demand, in compensation, the -ever-fresh memory of a great and unsatisfied passion—after -having known one man in the daily life of -matrimony. A woman is briefly happy twice in her -life—when a man—the man—is pursuing her, and -palpitating doubt alternates with delicious certainty; -and again, during the man’s first ardor, when he is so -anxious to please, and so certain that he loves the -woman, not himself, that his concentrated charm blinds, -yet irradiates the universe. Shortly after, he becomes -as matter-of-fact as he is. And then men are, no matter -what their brains, utterly, irretrievably stupid where -women are concerned. A man is never so happy as -when he has lost the love of the woman, and she, taking -refuge in duty, makes him thoroughly comfortable. -On the other hand, men are abruptly left by women, -again and again, and the cleverest of them never guess -the reason why. They go on ruining their own lives—which -they never suspect—and those of the women best -worth having, without learning a lesson from the past. -There is no happiness, my dear, until you are as old -as I am, look like a mummy, and smoke <i>vuelta abajo</i>.”</p> - -<p>“Of course I recognize that all that was meant for me.”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_298">[298]</span> -Her charge left the window and stared down at her. -She puffed out a cloud, for Ranata’s eyes always made -her blink. “But I am surprised that a woman of your -wisdom should fancy that the person ever lived who -would adjust his life by the experience of another.”</p> - -<p>“You have a brain. Most women have not. You will -always be more or less guided by it. Therefore, you -are worth the trouble to warn.”</p> - -<p>“You are the last person I should have expected -advocate the happiness of the unknown; but I have -thought that out for myself, and more than once. I -believe that the only way a woman can avoid the cut -of her sex is to avoid the fulfilment of love. Then the -fates are placated, and, after the first wrench, permit -the imagination a certain happiness, the soul a certain -elevation, no doubt impossible in what must eventually -become prosaic and disappointing.”</p> - -<p>“I am not surprised that you have arrived at that -truth by yourself; and be sure that all the troubles in -the world amount to little if you can bear them alone, -and that no troubles, barring poverty and pain, count -an infinitesimal speck in the balance with those made -by love, or the desperate attempt to find happiness. -Indeed, I will modify what I said just now, and stake -my life that a woman is happy only when she is not in -love. There is no such thing as sympathy between -the soul of man and woman. The man who thinks he -sympathizes with a woman’s subtle wants is a milksop. -The other, the only sort we love, doesn’t try, never -thinks about it; and either way we are miserable, -having the primal curse of Eve upon us. So, the -old maids, or the quickly widowed, have the best of it -in this life. Doubtless things are better arranged in -another.”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps in that we will be born without imagination.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_299">[299]</span> -I don’t know but that would be the deepest definition of -heaven after all.”</p> - -<p>“I think it more likely that in alternate existences the -man of one is the woman of another,” said Sarolta dryly. -“That would be Nature and her compensations as we -know them. On the whole she is just.”</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">XXIV</h3> -</div> - -<p>Fessenden was walking restlessly about the hall of the -castle, awaiting the finish of Ranata’s visit of duty at the -bedside of her duenna. There was a prospect, for the -first time in several days, of an hour with her alone. -Zrinyi, Prince Illehazy, Vilma, and Alexandra had gone -for a walk, and Piroska had not been seen that day.</p> - -<p>They had arrived two days before, after three, in a -special train with many pauses and no solitudes, and -until now had been a gay and united party. Alexandra -had announced herself satisfied with the castle; but -as her tone had been frivolous, Zrinyi had forborne to -press his suit. The roughness of the old days of border -warfare was curiously blended with the modern comforts -of a nobleman’s hunting-lodge. The staircase, -towards which Fessenden directed eyes of impatient -longing, looked as if no woman had ever descended it, -although many women had huddled there when the -Turkish guns were battering. The logs in the old -fireplace, and the big ornamental stones which have -superseded andirons in the greater part of Europe, -tempered the ancient cold; the rough walls and floors -were covered with the skins of wild beasts and other -trophies of the chase; and the chairs at least were -comfortable. The hall was a museum of old battle-flags, -captured from the Turks, Austrians, rival clans<span class="pagenum" id="Page_300">[300]</span> -in the days of the Oligarchs, and of weapons as old -and varied. The castle was very large, and had been -surrounded on three sides by a double moat; but to -former implements of war it had been impregnable, -and the unsquandered wealth of the family had kept -every part of it from decay except the entrance wall. -Fessenden thought it an admirable setting for a honeymoon; -failing that, for a few days’ final courtship.</p> - -<p>But his patience, never a gift of Nature, but a creation -of his will, was close upon its finish, and the day he -left Budapest he had set his train in motion. Only his -habit of playing a close and far-seeing game had saved -him from some precipitate act which might have wrecked -his hopes; for the blood was often in his head. Whether -or not Mr. Abbott had had such a crisis as this in mind -when he trained his son in the qualities that conquer, -in no other way had they served Fessenden so well. -He was pitting his wit and his wealth against the -mightiest prejudice which existed in the world of his -day; and his victory over Ranata must spring solely -from the former, for without it her love would avail -him nothing. Had he been able to conquer her prejudices -by any of the arts of love or passion he would -have urged a flight from this castle—which was far from -communication with the telegraph, and where the sympathetic -Zrinyi would have kept guardians and spies -imprisoned—to Trieste, where his yacht awaited him. -But he knew that Ranata, although capable of a revolution -which would raze the first wall between them, must -accomplish that revolution in solitude and despair, under -the pressure of circumstances which he had already -shaped. The demolishment of the second wall might -cost him something almost as dear as the woman, but -Fessenden was prepared to sacrifice more than that.</p> - -<p>Fortunate for the great affairs of the house of Abbott,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_301">[301]</span> -that the senior was particularly well at this time! The -heir, for all his self-control, was in a state of mind which, -had he been compelled to return—and nothing short of -his father’s death or a financial panic would have drawn -him across the seas—would have lost him the faith of -Wall Street.</p> - -<p>Since his violent attack of calf-love and the strange -illuminations which had succeeded it, he had looked upon -woman with a critical eye, and treasured his inmost feelings -with a jealous care. Never again, he had determined -long since, would he go through that futile agony at the -instance of anything less than death; when he found the -one woman whom he could love more than his life or his -ambitions—or as well—then would he pour all he had -husbanded at her feet; but he would have her unless -the Almighty himself intervened. Busy as was his life, -he had been sharply aware of its incompleteness; there -had been many hours of longing for the deep companionship -of love, for the perfection of his own soul and -manhood. The vague ideal of his dreams he had not -recognized in Ranata’s physical part when they met in -the cottage, his sense of adventure being keener than -any vital longing, and the fury of the dance excluding -mental knowledge of his partner. But he had discovered -her not long after; and the great measure that he -had to offer of homage and love and passion had since -burned steadily; with a less strong brain the flame -would have been less steady, and the rare moments of -solitude with her, and their temptations, might have overwhelmed -him: he had never imagined a woman who -could so crowd into a moment the concentrated essence -of all the melting tenderness and the passionate energy -that made up the surrender of woman. It is true that -more than once the temptation had assailed him to use -her weakness as the shortest way out of the difficulties<span class="pagenum" id="Page_302">[302]</span> -that beset him; but not only had he so far never taken -advantage of any one but a scoundrel, and did he still -hold women in an old-fashioned reverence, but he forecast -the weeks—perhaps months—asunder, when -in desperation she might marry any prince her father -selected. And in his cooler moments he tingled at the -thought of a victory which would be as great for his -young country as for himself, of being the chosen instrument -to initiate a new order of things as inevitable as -the progress of the world. Romantic as he was, the -campaign he had planned—where the only weapons -should be his own wit and the millions which the world, -with its curious love of self-delusion, affects to despise, -typifying as they do modern life itself—appealed to -him more powerfully than a flight across a picturesque -country of many costumes to his yacht, or a rescue from -the palace of Buda. But at present he was not rehearsing -his plan of campaign; the coming moment commanded -his imagination, and the blood was beginning -to pound in his ears when he heard the light rustle of her -garments. He sprang up the stairs and met her on -the first landing.</p> - -<p>“Not here!” she said nervously. “Sarolta is in bed, -and Piroska has a toothache; but who knows?”</p> - -<p>“Has it ever occurred to you that the Countess -Piroska is a spy?” he asked as they crossed the hall to -the room Zrinyi called his study, although it had not a -book in it.</p> - -<p>“Possibly,” said Ranata indifferently. “We are accustomed -to spies. That is usually one of the duties of -the Obersthofmeisterin. But as Sarolta is too wealthy -to be bought, and is of a proved fondness for me, I suppose -Count von Königsegg thought it wise to have one -in my household he could count on. I doubt if she has -made any report of consequence so far, for she has bided<span class="pagenum" id="Page_303">[303]</span> -her time, hoping that the worst would happen; but she -will, for she wants to marry you. But it will matter little -now! Our time is almost up!”</p> - -<p>She spoke in a tone of profound dejection. The serenity -she had maintained in Sarolta’s presence had -dropped from her like a mask. In a moment she withdrew -from his embrace and leaned against the window-frame -and stared down into the ravine where so many -Turks had mouldered to dust.</p> - -<p>“It is time for the comedy to end,” she said sharply. -“Sarolta knows, and before long will interfere. Königsegg -is sure to interrogate Piroska before long, if he -has not done so already, and there must be many comments -in Budapest and Vienna on your long stay here -and your constant presence in the palace. Moreover, -it is impossible you should remain away from America -much longer. The two months you set yourself have -nearly passed. Let us talk plainly. My capacity for -self-deception is at an end—indeed, for days past it has -slipped from me again and again—and I am worried -about many other things—”</p> - -<p>“What things?” asked Fessenden gently. He gathered -his faculties and stood looking at her, from the -other side of the narrow window, with his piercing and -concentrated glance; but he took her hand and held it -tenderly. “At least, if we are soon to part, let there be -as little to regret as possible. You owe me your confidence—nor -is there any one else to whom you would -give it.”</p> - -<p>“Oh!” she exclaimed. “That is true enough! To -no other have I ever been as—been frank at all. No -one else has ever known me, nor ever can. It has given -me the most intellectual and voluptuous delight fully to -reveal myself for once in my life—I suppose I do not yet -realize how much. After all, why should I complain?<span class="pagenum" id="Page_304">[304]</span> -I have had what most women never find. And I have -that sense of the indestructible bond. I shall have it as -long as I live. How many that flutter over this earth, -do you suppose, have that sense of an everlasting indissoluble -embrace? You feel it now. Will you? Will it -content you—that sense of spiritual completeness—can -you be faithful to that?”</p> - -<p>“I should be very grateful for it if I could not find -anything better, and I am as capable of complete fidelity -as you are. But tell me what other things have worried -you.”</p> - -<p>“It is this—” Her rising excitement flashed the blood -into her face, and she pushed her unsteady hand into her -hair, lifting it, as if its weight oppressed her. “In these -weeks that have slipped along so easily, so naturally, in -which we have found so much happiness, I have—I had -grown as accustomed to it all as any engaged girl. My -imagination seemed to sleep, or only to give me to you -in the future. Nothing in me protested, warned, except -a mechanical effort of intellect. It all seemed the -most natural thing in the world. I thought when I entered -into that compact that I should lead a dual mental -life; or rather that I should be wholly yours when with -you, and wholly myself when alone, fully alive to the end. -But I have been wholly yours when alone, and as wholly -oblivious of the future. And that is not all. It needed -only you and what you brought me to fill me with -a joyous abandon of liberty such as a man might feel -who saw and could walk alone for the first time. I had -felt something of this before you came, for the sudden -change from prison to a comparative freedom almost -turned my head; but since you—who breathe liberty, -who typify it, who seem to exhale the very essence of -your wonderful young country—you who fear no one! -who fear no one!—Am I still myself? Am I, Fessenden?<span class="pagenum" id="Page_305">[305]</span> -That is the thought that has tortured me these last few -days—am I unfaithful in some subtle way to my house, -to myself, to the future, to Europe, to all that slaves -born in the purple should be most steadfast to? Rudolf -may have been weak, but he killed himself in a moment -when he was mad with his loathing of life and the methods -by which he had sought to forget it; but he was incapable -of deserting his post deliberately, and if his mind -could have been occupied by the duties of a ruler he -would have had no time for despair. But I—I feel as if -this secret revolution in me had made me capable of -greater than weakness—that is common enough in my -class! It has bred in me an indifference—there, I have -said it!—to all that I have held most sacred. I feel as -if I had slipped into another world. My rigid love of -duty, even my old superstitions, they have—they had -gone. But I have dragged them back. Last night as -I lay awake it seemed to me that I clawed them out of -their graves and shook and warmed them into life. I -have escaped a deadly peril. I know that when you -have gone I shall gradually become myself again—if not -quite the same, if without enthusiasm, at least I shall -fit into the old routine—”</p> - -<p>“And you believe that?” asked Fessenden. “You -will no more fall back into your old state of mediæval -ignorance and superstition than I shall be wholly myself -until I possess you. You have been remade. You have -come to life, and only in me. You will return neither -to separateness nor to ignorance. The imagination is -quiescent while companioned—but wait!”</p> - -<p>“Do you know, there have been moments when, if -you had asked me, I believe I should have fled with you -to your yacht? I don’t know myself! I almost long to -have you gone that I may suffer to the utmost capacity -of my nature, and then adapt myself to the future.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_306">[306]</span>He had taken out his watch. “By carriage and a -good many changes of train we could reach Fiume some -time to-morrow; a telegram on the way will bring my -yacht there. Will you go?”</p> - -<p>“Oh! No, I will not go! It is bad enough that I am -tempted. Oh, I want to go, I want to go, more than I -have ever wanted anything on this earth! Another man -would make it inevitable, but you will not; and in a few -days I shall be battling with regrets, and hating myself -the more.”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” he said, and with little enthusiasm. “I could -compel you, and you would love me the more for it; but I -should not love myself. It would not be playing a fair -game. I have a Puritanic conscience as an inheritance; -also I have the instinct of the American to protect women—girls, -perhaps, I should say; to look upon them as -his chief responsibility. That is pounded into us early. -And I have lived so much within myself that it would -demoralize me to fall too far below my own standard—God -knows, I fall below it often enough. Moreover, if I -gave way to my passions you might—were our escape -interrupted—suffer so terribly that it chills my blood -whenever I think of it. I believe that is the one thing—the -knowledge that you were in your father’s power, -unable to escape—that would send me off my head. And -it is necessary that I keep my head until I am able in -all ways to protect you.”</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">XXV</h3> -</div> - -<p>“Have you noticed,” asked Alexandra of Zrinyi, as -the Archduchess descended the staircase, “that our -princess has, until to-night, for the past week worn only -black or white?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_307">[307]</span>“Why should I notice a trifling detail like that?” -asked Zrinyi sulkily. “If she look beautiful, what -matters her dress?”</p> - -<p>“You don’t deserve to be asked intelligent questions.”</p> - -<p>Ranata was trailing down the rough old staircase, -between smoking lamps almost as old, in a green velvet -gown of many hues, any one of which would have -enhanced the brilliancy of her skin and hair. The neck -of the gown was cut squarely, and a high stiff collar of -white lace rose behind her head. Her skin was bare of -jewels, her hair piled high and without ornament. In -her cheeks was a deep flush, her eyes sparkled restlessly, -her face had escaped from its habitual repose. Her -whole figure expressed vigor, energy, impatience ill-confined.</p> - -<p>“If it were not the Princess, one would almost say she -looked reckless,” murmured Piroska to Fessenden, who -was staring at the vision—the only one of the company, -perhaps, who found nothing foreign in Ranata’s appearance. -Piroska compelled him to transfer his gaze. -“That is the way I have always imagined a girl might -look who had made up her mind to elope,” she continued.</p> - -<p>Fessenden started slightly, and quick as he was with -his words, the Countess noticed it. “The Princess has -the cruelty of your sex,” he replied. “She doubtless -occupies a very considerable part of her time thinking -out new gowns with which to distract us.”</p> - -<p>“Why don’t you look more hopeless?” whispered -Piroska.</p> - -<p>“Must you have men who wear their hearts upon their -sleeves?”</p> - -<p>“No; but no man can wear a mask forever, unless he -is secretly happier than he would have us believe.”</p> - -<p>“I am always happy; it is a mere matter of temperament.” -He paused deliberately and looked at her.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_308">[308]</span> -“Moreover,” he added, “I have no intention of failing.” -And then he joined the group about the Archduchess. -They had parted but two hours before, and although he -had never been so convinced of her love for him, there -had been nothing then of the almost reckless promise -which her eyes seemed to flash to his as the movement -was made towards the lower end of the room. What -did it mean? Had an hour of solitary thought in the -dark, before her maids came to dress her, beaten her -passion so high that it had overwhelmed her traditions -at last, and urged her to take advantage of this opportunity -for flight? He turned giddy at the thought -and suddenly realized that deeply enamoured as he was -with the idea of manipulating princes, his want of -the woman extinguished this ambition among others, and -that he found incomplete happiness something more -than torment.</p> - -<p>The hall was of immense proportions, and the dining-room -being far off, beyond many chill corridors, the -table was spread at the end farthest from the doors that -opened directly upon a platform in front of the castle. -The cannon were still in the embrasures. In the light -of the many, yet insufficient, lamps the room with its -battle-flags and weapons, its skins and dim hangings -embroidered with the old arts of Hungary, so recently -revived, was feudal enough to please the most exacting -American.</p> - -<p>“Count,” murmured Alexandra, “if you could only -provide an earthquake shock among other phenomena -I believe I should no longer resist.”</p> - -<p>“You need an earthquake,” he replied. “But, of -course, I am gratified, and hopeful, at the conquest of -the castle.”</p> - -<p>“I shouldn’t care to live here all the year round, -however.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_309">[309]</span>“Heaven forbid! even with the most adored of women. -Give me the capitals of the world in winter.”</p> - -<p>“It is a great comfort to feel that our tastes are so -much alike!” And she thought, “The Hungarians may -be two-thirds fire and impulse, but no American could -take his cues more quickly.”</p> - -<p>Zrinyi, who was not in a sentimental mood, continued: -“I have a surprise for this night, if not an earthquake. -I find that the peasantry all through these -mountains have been much excited since they heard -the Princess was coming here—that is to say, the sister -of Rudolf. Most of the young men were beaters at one -time or another for him, and those who were not, and -the old and the women, invariably managed to see him -when he came to Görgény. His delightful manners, -combined with the halo of monarchy, made them worship -him in a manner which few modern princes have -known—Ludvig II. perhaps furnishes the only parallel. -Nor will they believe him dead. They know that our -princess resembles him in many respects, and doubtless -they have some sort of hope that she can give them -definite news of him, that perhaps she has come to -announce his return from the dim unknown. So I have -sent men about inviting them to come here to-night. -She has another opportunity to draw to herself the love -that has been wasted since Rudolf’s death. I am grateful -that she is looking her best to-night, for although -she is always beautiful, she has appeared less brilliant -of late.”</p> - -<p>“She wears color to-night,” said Alexandra dryly; -“that is the whole secret.”</p> - -<p>“I am not a fool, mademoiselle; I understand quite -well, and sincerely wish she could be happy. But -unhappiness is the fate of princes. They are born in -sacrifice, and they die in it, having known little else.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_310">[310]</span> -But our princess has so much to give—it is a great pity -I don’t waste my sympathies on them as a rule. And -your brother—it is his first disappointment? It will -go hard with him, but any man worth the name can -get over anything.”</p> - -<p>“That is comforting! If Ranata and Fessenden suddenly -made up their minds to run off, should you help -them?”</p> - -<p>“Run off? Great Heaven! How could you conceive -such a thing even in jest? The Hapsburgs have done a -good deal for love—but that!”</p> - -<p>“An American? That is the point? It would be a -good beginning.”</p> - -<p>“I have always wondered,” murmured Zrinyi, “why -you did not put three heads on your eagle while you -were about it.”</p> - -<p>“The two-headed one was sufficiently absurd to deter -us. You have not answered my question. Should you -help them?”</p> - -<p>“I suppose I should. My sympathies would be with -them as lovers, being in such a deplorable condition -myself. But I should not approve, for I believe in the -principle of monarchy, and that would deal it a heavy -blow. But a liaison—there is no objection to that if it -were circumspectly managed. That shocks your American -prudery; but in the case of princes it is a desirable -outlet for the feelings they have in common with the -rest of human-kind, especially when a still more vital -principle is at stake. Our princess can preserve this -monarchy if any one can, and I for one would welcome -her as the solution; for William, with all his great qualities, -is perhaps a trifle too high and mighty for Hungary, -and his second son is still an unknown quantity. -It would be criminal in her to desert us, but a liaison -would do no one any harm.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_311">[311]</span>“I don’t take monarchies as seriously as you do, and -I have brought up Ranata too well—she will have no -liaisons. Besides, my brother plays for high stakes. It -is the best or nothing with him.”</p> - -<p>“Men have been known to take what they could get; -and there are elements in our princess which are beyond -even your training. To-night she looks like a beautiful -ripe fruit hanging heavily from the tree. The Hapsburgs -have bad blood in them; not a drachm of the Puritanism -of the Hohenzollerns. The Princess has it in her to be a -great sovereign, but—<i>bien</i>; the world is her oyster; why -should she not open it?”</p> - -<p>“If I marry you it will be to reform your morals. Not -that they are worse than those of any other European.”</p> - -<p>“American morals are <i>bourgeoise</i>.”</p> - -<p>“So is its hypocrisy! But we like things that way. I -may even make an American of you yet.”</p> - -<p>“I have no objection to being an American if I can -live in Europe. And all the Americans I have met seem -to make no difficulty about that. I suppose your excellent -father would not wish me to go into business with -him?”</p> - -<p>“I am sure he would not!”</p> - -<p>“Sarolta,” murmured Prince Illehazy, “I have been -uneasy for some time. Has not the moment come to -speak?”</p> - -<p>“I have spoken—this afternoon—and her philosophical -calm staggered me.”</p> - -<p>“I see no evidence of philosophical calm.”</p> - -<p>“It is a transformation I do not understand—although -I understand it as a manifestation better than -the philosophy. I shall ask Mr. Abbott to go as soon -as we reach Budapest, and doubtless he would be -obliged to return to America very soon in any case; -although I had a letter yesterday from his step-mother,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_312">[312]</span> -and she seemed to take his long absence without protest. -I do not care to do anything further without something -more specific as an excuse than the young man’s -devotion, and an expression of reckless defiance worn -for one evening. Besides, we have Piroska to do the -spying. The King will not remain too long unwarned. -But Ranata’s love-affair hardly worries me as much as -this perhaps too sudden popularity. I fear it may be -overdone, and will alarm Franz, possibly the King. -Ranata has not a thought of usurpation. I am convinced -of that. But—”</p> - -<p>“Exactly. I saw Königsegg when I was in Vienna -last week, and he tried in his delicate way to pump me. -He learned nothing, but I did. The wind is blowing the -wrong way. If the Princess, in a moment of haughty -forgetfulness, drops her policy of conciliation towards -Königsegg, or he becomes suddenly fearful of American -influence—for Mr. Abbott may go, but he will return, -or I know nothing of men—or the minister fears to anger -the heir—then our beautiful princess will go back -to her cage in the Hofburg.”</p> - -<p>“In that case I should not care to be the Emperor,” -remarked the Princess Sarolta.</p> - -<p>Ranata suddenly lifted her hand. “I hear such a -peculiar noise,” she said. “Is a storm rising?”</p> - -<p>The rest became aware of a deep low murmur, not unlike -the rolling in of tides. Zrinyi left the table hastily -and looked from one of the narrow windows at the upper -end of the hall.</p> - -<p>“I will send for your cloaks,” he said, “and then I -shall ask you to step out on the platform for a moment.”</p> - -<p>A few minutes later he threw open the great doors of -the hall, and the party stared silently at the scene before -them. The full moon swung close to the ice-fields, the -white harsh peaks high above. In the court-yard, on<span class="pagenum" id="Page_313">[313]</span> -the small plain beyond, on every snowy hill and rock, -were crowded hundreds of men clad in the skins of the -sheep, the wolf, the goat, and the bear. On their heads -were high fur hats, which exposed but a fringe of long -hair on their shoulders and concealed their brows, giving -them an aspect of singular wildness. But they were -very quiet, almost breathless, until Zrinyi stepped forward -and shouted something in Roumanian. Then each -man lifted a flute to his lips, and a sweet and savage -melody stole forth gently, to rise and swell until all the -vast and desolate scene seemed to bend and listen. The -notes might have been born of the peaks that looked as -if torn asunder by harsh unlovely hands, then softened -to beauty and gentleness by the silver glitter of the -snow. And the strains, piercing yet remote, had in -them too the eternal loneliness of the mountains, the only -thing in Nature akin to the eternal loneliness of the -great. The hills took up the echo and rolled it on, and -among far and hidden peaks a laugh seemed flying from -itself.</p> - -<p>When they had finished, Zrinyi turned to Ranata. -“They have come here to see your Royal Highness,” he -said; “and not so much because you are our princess as -the sister of our lost crown prince. Have I your permission -to ask them to enter?”</p> - -<p>Ranata, who was pale, turned paler. “Yes,” she -said. “Ask them in.”</p> - -<p>The guests returned to the lower end of the hall, whence -the table had been removed, and threw off their cloaks. -The women made a brilliant group in their elaborate -dinner dress, their flowers and jewels and superfluous -fans.</p> - -<p>The Wallachians and Roumanians—there are few of -Hungarian blood so far south in Transylvania—came -silently but eagerly in. Each man as he entered removed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_314">[314]</span> -the tower of fur on his head, revealing a dark -mane of matted hair. The countenances thus exposed -were mild and often handsome, but the dark eyes burned -and flashed with an excitement of which they gave no -other evidence.</p> - -<p>Ranata remained with the group until the incoming -throng had almost filled the hall. The doors were still -open, and behind the mass of heads on the platform she -could see the snowy slopes of the range, whose silences -seemed to have fallen upon the castle; no one spoke, -and the sandals of the mountaineers pressed the floor -silently. Zrinyi murmured a suggestion, and Ranata -ascended a few steps of the staircase which finished the -hall. All the voluptuous beauty had left her face; it -was so white that her eyes burned black. Her aspect -would have been angry had it been less stern. She -could not speak Roumanian, but Zrinyi had hastily -taught her a few words.</p> - -<p>“I am the sister of your crown prince,” she said. -“And I am honored and happy that you have come to -see me.”</p> - -<p>They gazed at her for a few moments in a heavier -silence. To them she had lost nothing of a beauty -they had never seen, and in the wavering lights, possibly -because at the moment her mind was face to face -with her brother, her likeness to Rudolf was so strong -as to send the blood to their heads. It rose slowly, for -they were cold with long waiting and taken by surprise -with a beauty they had not expected, but when they -realized that the sister of their prince and the chiefest -object of his affections stood before them, they suddenly -sent forth a mighty cry, hard, wild, abrupt. It was almost -a note of agony, such as the mountains might have -given when the fires of the earth boiled them apart. The -cry shot out again, but this time it swelled into volume,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_315">[315]</span> -ended in a roar, and then split into intelligible sound. -“<i>Élyen!</i>” “<i>Setreasca!</i>” “<i>Setreasca!</i>” shook the old -flags like the wind of battle; then, on a higher note, -“Rudolf!” “Rudolf!” “Rudolf!” They came forward -like a great wave, excited, voluble, demanding to -be told what they had done to anger their prince that he -came no more, what his wicked enemies had done with -him, why his father, the great King and Emperor, was -hiding him. It was idle to attempt to answer, and -Ranata stood looking down upon them, at times forgetting -the strange scene, her thoughts in the crypt of the -Capuchin Church with her brother. Suddenly she heard -herself addressed in Hungarian, and glanced aside to -see a gypsy standing on the step below her. He was -regarding her with admiring eyes, but there was a sardonic -twinkle in them, and his mien although friendly -would not have inspired confidence in an idiot. However, -Ranata came forth from her thoughts and smiled -on him.</p> - -<p>“Did you know him?” she asked.</p> - -<p>He addressed her in the most extravagant forms of -homage, but when he answered her question it was with -directness enough.</p> - -<p>“I was with his party on every visit,” he asserted -triumphantly, as if exhibiting a valued stock-in-trade; -“I and my band. He was always eager to hear the Chardash. -And out on Lake Zenoga, sometimes at Görgény, -we sat at his board, or in the circle by the fire. Oh, -those were the days, your Highness—first a prince, then -a gypsy, then a prince, then a gypsy, all mixed up, all -drunk, everybody happy. I know that Rudolf is dead, -for I have travelled far, but I wish he were not.”</p> - -<p>The man’s speech broke through the severity of her -mood and she laughed. “I have no doubt they were -gay times,” she said, “and I regret that I am not a man<span class="pagenum" id="Page_316">[316]</span> -to come and take his place among you. But I will do -the best I can; and believe that I shall love you as much -as he did.”</p> - -<p>The man shook his head. “We would never dare to -love like that again.” He paused, then added meaningly, -“The love of the chosen Hapsburgs is fatal—to -themselves and to those who win it.”</p> - -<p>Ranata looked over the man’s head as if he had disappeared -into the still shouting multitude; but he had -the assurance of his race, which acknowledges neither -country nor king, and he repeated:</p> - -<p>“It is always fatal, your Royal Highness.”</p> - -<p>Then Ranata looked down at him once more. After -all, the creature was not worth crushing, and he was -diverting. Moreover, he had known and doubtless been -spoiled by her brother. Rudolf had told her many -anecdotes of the gypsies who always attached themselves -to his Transylvanian household.</p> - -<p>“You will not return to us!” continued the gypsy. -“When Rudolf left us the last time I said he would not -return. Nor did I predict it because he said to us not -‘<i>Aufwiedersehen</i>,’ but ‘<i>Good-bye</i>.’”</p> - -<p>“Is that true?”</p> - -<p>“It is true, but that was not the reason. When he -came that last time I said he would not return.”</p> - -<p>“And how do you know I shall not return?”</p> - -<p>“Because love is fatal to the chosen Hapsburgs, your -Royal Highness.”</p> - -<p>“Then they can avoid love,” said the Archduchess -impersonally.</p> - -<p>“Not when they are made for it. Nature has protected -many by a mask as ugly as the plague. When -she gives them beauty be sure it is to scourge the proudest -house on earth, and to chastise it for centuries of -cruelty and oppression.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_317">[317]</span>“Maria Theresia was beautiful.”</p> - -<p>“She was fat. She also had more children than a -man ever can remember. Besides, she was not really -beautiful.”</p> - -<p>“And you are not very logical. Other houses of -Europe have records for injustice as great as ours may -possibly have.”</p> - -<p>“Nature has taken other methods to punish them. -Be sure that none shall escape.”</p> - -<p>“I suppose you wish to tell my fortune. I have not -superstition enough for that, but in the name of my -brother I will send you a purse to the servants’ quarters -to-night.”</p> - -<p>She withdrew into the polite silence with which royalty -lays down the burden of audience, but the gypsy held -his ground. He thanked her extravagantly, and added: -“I am more honest than most gypsies, your Royal -Highness—I do not pretend to see too far into the future. -But when a man’s heart is black with remorse and bitterness -and hatred of life and the reckless indulgence of -passions, I can see the end; and when a woman—”</p> - -<p>“Go!” said Ranata; and this time the man mingled his -featureless sheepskin with the others. She beckoned to -Zrinyi and spoke with him a moment. Then he stood -beside her and lifted his hand. Every man seemed to -shut his voice between his teeth.</p> - -<p>“Her Royal Highness wishes me to tell you,” said the -Count, on a note which carried to those beyond the door, -“that Rudolf is dead. That he has gone where you may -meet him again if you are faithful and loyal subjects -to the throne. She will tell you herself.”</p> - -<p>And Ranata said in Roumanian, and with the cold accent -of finality, “He is dead.”</p> - -<p>Zrinyi let the words sink into the silence, then he raised -his voice again and shouted that barrels of wine were<span class="pagenum" id="Page_318">[318]</span> -opening in the kitchen, and the great wave turned upon -itself and rolled out, but still in silence and with many -a backward glance.</p> - -<p>Ranata ascended the stairs. When she returned she -wore a short skirt and a long fur cloak with a hood.</p> - -<p>“I am going for a walk,” she said to the astonished -company. “Mr. Abbott, will you come with me?” Then -to the Princess Sarolta, who had risen, she added, “No -power can prevent me. But do not be alarmed; I shall -return.”</p> - -<p>“Do you give me your royal word for that?” asked -the alarmed Obersthofmeisterin, “otherwise, old and -lame as I am, I shall follow you.”</p> - -<p>“I give you my word. You may sleep in peace.”</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">XXVI</h3> -</div> - -<p>Fessenden and Ranata walked rapidly and in silence -over the paths the mountain peasants had trodden that -night. There had been neither wind nor snow for many -days, and what had fallen was compact and not too -smooth for impatient feet. For a time the path was -straight, and, looking back, the irregular mass of the -castle on its isolated rock was the one dark object in the -white radiance of the Alpine world. Soon, however, a -sharp turn about the foot of one of the peaks that rose -straight from the brief level seemed to fling them abruptly -into an eternity of ice-fields and endless chains of -glittering crests so high above that their fierce teeth -must surely bite new pictures into the moon that hung -so close. Ranata’s arm was within his, but Fessenden’s -mind reverted to his boyhood in the Adirondacks, when -he had stolen forth to his balcony on winter moonlight -nights to gaze upon the snowy lake and peaks, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_319">[319]</span> -dream of their kin in the far-off Alps. How tame -that picture seemed to-night, dear as it was! That -was a mild and pleasant wilderness compared with this -upper firmament of ice and desolation, with its black -forests below and on high its masses of rock and crag -that looked as if arrested in brutal warfare with each -other.</p> - -<p>In the course of an hour the path came abruptly to an -end on the shore of a small lake, from three sides of -which the mountains rose like the straight and jealous -sides of a mighty jewel casket guarding the diamond -treasure of some old god of the hills. The lake, looking -smaller perhaps from the great height of the perpendicular -mountains surrounding it, was oval in shape, and -its frozen surface glittered and sparkled under the moon -poised directly above. No light of man had ever drawn -such radiance from the diamond. The air was so still -that the cold was hardly noticeable. The silence was -intense, oppressive, now that their feet no longer met -the snow crisply. Ranata put her hand nervously to -her head.</p> - -<p>“What are you thinking of?” she asked.</p> - -<p>“Of my boyhood in the Adirondacks. To-night a -thousand years seem to have disappeared since then. -And many and wild as were my dreams of the future in -those callow days when I had leisure for dreams, no flight -penetrated to the future which held these last weeks, to -the indescribable solitude of this night with you. In -those days I fancied myself a poor boy who had begun -life in the orthodox log-cabin and must end in the White -House. But that I should love a daughter of the -Cæsars and hold her in my arms among the eternal snows -of the loneliest of the Alps never muttered in my most -exalted moments. Life is a rum thing.”</p> - -<p>Ranata laughed in spite of the chaotic emotions that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_320">[320]</span> -had driven her forth. “Which do you really love best, I -wonder, the sublime or the ridiculous? Do you know -what I had almost made up my mind to do when I came -down to dinner?”</p> - -<p>“To go to-morrow with me to Fiume?”</p> - -<p>“To-night; as soon as the others were out of the way, -and Zrinyi could have the horses harnessed. After I -left you there was an hour in which I think I really was -mad. Every fact of existence except the possibility of -being alone with you on your yacht seemed to have been -burned out of my mind. I would have sold Austria to -William, I would have flung Hungary to Roumania—there -was no crime I would not have committed to have -been alone on this earth with you. And now we are -alone, and the fever is gone. I look back upon the hours -before those poor creatures came and shouted Rudolf’s -name as upon some half-remembered interval of insanity. -But it was appallingly real then, and if it came -once it may come again. After our return to Budapest—and -I shall start to-morrow—I shall never see you -again.”</p> - -<p>“I still think you are unwise not to take advantage of -this opportunity. You will regret it; take my word -for that.”</p> - -<p>“Doubtless, when it is happily too late. I am ice now. -I can only describe my sensation while those wild men -were begging me for Rudolf by asking you to imagine -yourself standing under that frozen cascade over there. -It seemed to me that for the first time I realized the -enormity of his crime. He could have been a great -monarch, he could have preserved his country, he could -have saved Europe from unimaginable horrors; and -every gift, every duty, every ambition disappeared into -the flaming abyss of his passions. Oh, if my father -could only have died twenty years ago! That alone<span class="pagenum" id="Page_321">[321]</span> -could have saved Rudolf, for it was excess that killed -him; the occasional indulgence would not have mattered. -And these men, and thousands like them, would have -obeyed his lightest call to save Austria from Europe, -to save it from Hungary if need be. They would come -at my call. They would laugh even at my father. -And, Fessenden, above those wild heads, and bodies -like mountain beasts, I saw for a moment the pale -face of Rudolf, terrible with agony and remorse, with -impotent resentment against the law of the grave, -dumbly beseeching me to continue the work that the -great invisible forces up there had sent him into the -world to accomplish. It was then that my blood -turned to ice. An hour before—and in other moments, -perhaps—I had been capable of greater guilt than -Rudolf’s; for after all I have had no such temptations, -no such provocations as his. Where you have upheld -me, women, from the time he was old enough, the -very girls of the court, flung themselves beneath his feet, -honored to be dishonored by the heir to the throne, -even had he been less fascinating as a man. My father -had made no secret of his own amours; there has been -no more corrupt court in Europe; Rudolf saw no -necessity for restraint, and he used none. If he had -married happily all might have been well, for he was not -vicious, and his nature was very affectionate. But when -does royalty marry happily? Fortunate the prince who -marries the cow. Then at least there is one incentive -the less. Rudolf had no such fortune, and disappointment -and <i>ennui</i>, multiplying themselves, drove him to -the arms of charming women who wished for nothing -so much as to make him forget, and from them to the -boon companions who adored him, but dared not -remonstrate had they wished, when he drank till -morning. But what excuse had I? Only that of a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_322">[322]</span> -passion so great and so real that it should give me the -strength of these mountains. Without it, after gaining -my wishes in Hungary, I might have become bored, -indifferent, cynical; I might even, as I felt youth passing, -have indulged in amours that no one would dare to -take me to account for. I might have gone to my -coffin there in the Kaisergruft without an ideal in my -soul, disillusioned, all my original nature in ruins, reviling -life, glad to die. Now it seems to me that after -the inevitable agony is over, I have it in me to become -really great in character, sustained by an inner life and -fed by a memory that will keep me young till my death. -I thought of this long ago, when I met you first, but it -passed from my mind. It was more like a dream then. -I know it to be a reality now. I doubt if there can be -any such actual happiness as what I shall find in the -memories of you.”</p> - -<p>Fessenden looked at her long and intently. If she -was of many and variable moods, the moods were of an -intensity and truth which submerged the other women in -her while they lasted. And he always responded to her -deeper moments so fully and so involuntarily that only -his ever-alert brain saved him from compromising his -future conduct. As in the profoundest solitude he had -ever known, he looked through her eyes into her naked -soul, he had a long moment of doubt. In that cold ideal -of fulfilled duty, with her love apotheosized and -spiritualized, might she not in truth be happier than he -could make her? Her state, and the more commonplace -cause of the deep chill of an Alpine midnight, had -cooled his own blood, and muffled the passionate voices -in his imagination. For a moment he too felt the -white intoxication of the ideal of a lifetime of self-immolation -on the passionless shores of duty, forecasted -the serenity with which Nature rewards perpetual<span class="pagenum" id="Page_323">[323]</span> -striving after spiritual heights, and compensates for the -voluntary resignation of the joy of love. He darted -a glance upward and was visited by a brief illusion: -he and Ranata stood alone on the highest peak that -pierced the stars. Then like Life he compromised.</p> - -<p>“I wish for nothing less than your full and unconditional -surrender,” he said. “If, when you have -had time to know yourself better than you do now, you -tell me that your decision is unalterable, I will persist -no further. I believe that you will send for me before -long, but I may be mistaken. Perhaps I have been -blinded by my love, and the hopes with which it has -inspired my imagination. There may be, there are, of -course, depths in your mind of which I have no conception. -These may contain forces that will finally -shut me out of your life. If you convince me that I -should add to your unhappiness by persisting, or that -I should do you a great wrong by making you mine -in spite of yourself, then I promise you here solemnly -to withdraw finally from your life; and to be as eternally -faithful to you as I believe you will be to me.”</p> - -<hr class="tb"> - -<p>Vilma from her high window saw them return. She -had watched for them, not from the motive which had -made her neighbor walk restlessly between her window -and her writing-table, but in tempestuous sympathy with -a romance against which she pressed so close. Her own -heart she believed to be a graveyard with one tomb, and -she found a vicarious happiness in this atmosphere of -passionate and uncommon love that she was graciously -permitted to enter. She had seen how it was from the -first, and had done what she could to divert the attentions -and the suspicion of Piroska. Pumping had had -no effect on the wary Zápolya, and Vilma, with all her -subtlety, was still in doubt as to what the possible<span class="pagenum" id="Page_324">[324]</span> -enemy may have seen or suspected. She had followed -Fessenden and Ranata on the night of the ball, and -waited without the door leading to the private apartments -until she heard him returning; that she might -be able to assure Piroska she had been their companion -and chaperon. But Piroska had given no sign -that she had been occupied during that brilliant night -except with her many partners, and Vilma dared not tell -Ranata what she had done. Gracious and captivating -as the Princess was in her new rôle, it would have been -a braver than Vilma who would have taken a liberty -with her. Fessenden possessed no great charm for this -young Hungarian, who preferred a more romantic type, -but if he had inspired love in her beautiful princess she -wished with all her heart that he too were of the blood -of kings. Had these two been content with intrigue she -would willingly have helped and shielded them, but she -shrewdly suspected the truth. Astounding as the fact -might be, the American wished to marry the daughter of -an emperor and king. It took the ancient pattern of -her brain a long while to adjust itself to the bare idea, but -when time had accustomed her to its audacity she could, -starved soul that she was, but sympathize. She too had -had an intuition of Ranata’s state of mind when she -bloomed upon them at dinner that night, breathing -passion and defiance, and she heartily wished the Princess -had slipped out of the castle with her lover instead of -giving her word to the Obersthofmeisterin to return.</p> - -<p>She had also overheard the words of Piroska to the -American, and she had noted that the moment the -Princess left the castle the sister lady-in-waiting had -pleaded the morning toothache and gone to her room. It -adjoined Vilma’s, and for two hours the friend had -listened to the steady scratching of the enemy’s pen, -interrupted only by hasty visits to the window. Vilma<span class="pagenum" id="Page_325">[325]</span> -had lived close enough to Piroska during these months -of court life to be sure she did not keep a diary. She -was now fully convinced that she was the tool of -Königsegg for two reasons: it was worth her while, and -she had intended to marry the American when he -became convinced of the hopelessness of his suit. -Piroska’s wiles had been patent enough if her hostility -had not, and to-night, as the American had turned -to her with an air of conclusion and six words which -might have extinguished hope in a more sanguine heart, -the hard little face of Piroska had settled into lines -of malice and determination. She had been as gay as -usual during the dinner, but the color had come back -neither to cheek nor lips, and Vilma suspected that if -the unfortunate lovers had flown that night Piroska -would have managed to follow them as far as the first -telegraph station. Now, no doubt, she was writing -her long-deferred report.</p> - -<p>As Vilma watched Ranata and Fessenden return, she -slipped from the window-seat and climbed onto the bed, -still huddled in her furs. The fire was out and the room -almost cold, but she could not prepare for sleep knowing -of the plot thickening in the next room. The hour had -come to act, but what should she do? To attempt to -intercept Piroska’s letter on the morrow would be futile; -Piroska would see to that. Vilma did her justice; there -would be no loose ends, as in novels, for the good fairy to -unravel. Should she walk boldly in and hurl suspicion -in her face? Vilma was too European to approve of -the crude method. The wild idea occurred to her of -smothering Piroska with a pillow as she slept, but she -had a certain measure of common-sense; a tragedy in the -royal household would put an end to court life in Buda -for the present, perhaps thwart ambitions she half -suspected, possibly send herself to keep company with<span class="pagenum" id="Page_326">[326]</span> -Piroska. She dismissed with some reluctance the idea -she was quite capable of executing, and suddenly -determined to go into Piroska’s room and be guided by -events. She left the bed and knocked on the connecting -door; then, assuming that she had been answered, -opened it and entered.</p> - -<p>“I cannot sleep,” she said, “and I heard you moving -about, so I thought you might be as glad of company as -I. You are writing? How can you in this cold? Do -you know I sat up to watch them come home? Not -that I doubted they would, but I felt as if I were -living in a chapter of romantic memoirs. I may write -mine some day—but you should do that—you are so -much cleverer than I.”</p> - -<p>Piroska had risen politely and pushed a chair slightly -away from her table. She had a small pile of manuscript -before her, which she had the presence of mind -not to attempt to conceal. “I <i>am</i> cold,” she said, stifling -a yawn, “and tired. But I could not go to bed. -The excitement of the evening made me hopelessly wide -awake, so I thought I would write my long-neglected -letters.”</p> - -<p>“It has been exciting—those wild simple creatures! -But that looks like a book. Tell me—” her eyes were -bright with girlish curiosity, “<i>are</i> you writing a novel? -You could! Ah! I know you are!”</p> - -<p>“Well,” said Piroska, with a delicate hesitation, “I—for -Heaven’s sake don’t breathe it, Vilma! One is such -a fool until one succeeds!”</p> - -<p>Vilma gave an ecstatic cry, and with a movement as -swift and unexpected as that of a panther flung herself -upon the mass of papers. “Let me see! Let me see!” -she cried. But they were torn from her hands and the -eyes that met hers blazed with the ferocity of a less -civilized century.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_327">[327]</span>“You dare!” gasped Piroska—“you dare!”</p> - -<p>Vilma had seen enough. “Oh, very well,” she said -haughtily. “I had no idea a book was like a tiger’s -cub. It made me quite wild with curiosity, and I am -sorry we tore the manuscript. Good-night. I would -not sit up and copy it if I were you. Your tooth will -be quite frightful to-morrow.”</p> - -<p>She swept out, and locked the door as she closed it. -Piroska, too, might be capable of using a pillow. She -took down a candlestick and let herself noiselessly into -the hall. It was very dark, except for the patches of -ghostly moonlight; but commonplace fears were unknown -to this girl of fighting ancestors, of women who -had suffered worse than death. She knew that the -men’s rooms were in the opposite wing, and she traversed -the long corridors between without adventure or -qualm. When she reached the wing she saw light under -two doors; Zrinyi had undoubtedly sat up to await the -return of the Princess. Which was the American’s door -she had no means of knowing, but she did not hesitate. -If her knock summoned Zrinyi she would tell -him that she had a message for his guest which must -be delivered then. It brought Fessenden, however, -and she stepped quickly into his room and closed the -door.</p> - -<p>He did not look as astonished as she had expected, -but she told her story breathlessly and begged him to act -at once.</p> - -<p>“It will do no good to intercept the report,” she added. -“Even if you could, she would merely write another. -But let me go to the Princess and beg her to fly with you -to-morrow early. We could shut Piroska up for twenty-four -hours. If you do not take this opportunity you -will never have another. Her Royal Highness must have -many enemies at court. This will be the final straw. If<span class="pagenum" id="Page_328">[328]</span> -she is forced to return to Vienna you will never see her -again.”</p> - -<p>“I wish that report to go to Vienna to-morrow,” said -Fessenden, “and if you are not too tired to sit down for -a few moments, I will tell you how you can help -when she is once more in the Hofburg.”</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">XXVII</h3> -</div> - -<p>Two nights after her return Ranata went to the opera-house -of Budapest for the last time. Much to her chagrin -she was ten minutes late. Royalty has its privileges -and virtues. It may exercise the courtesy of -promptness without loss of prestige, and no men and -women the world over sit in an opera-box with the same -ease and dignity and grace. From childhood they are -trained to stand and sit without moving or betraying -fatigue, and if the frequent necessity adds to the sum of -their mortal expiations, it makes them as decorative, -when properly dressed, as their ancient palaces and historical -pageants.</p> - -<p>But for one princess the tenor of the day had been -disturbed. A sleepless night had resulted in an involuntary -nap at three o’clock in the afternoon. Her drive -had been late, and she had returned home so short a -time before the early dinner that her maids had detained -her through half of it. She regretted having announced -her intention to attend the opera, but it was a <i>première</i>, -and she would have been expected in any case.</p> - -<p>The large house was crowded with the gay aristocracy -of Budapest, and with many who, if not so highly -placed, could dress as well, and contribute to the general -effect of brilliant beauty: an effect which owed more -than the women would have admitted to the varied and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_329">[329]</span> -magnificent uniforms of the officers. Orders glittered -on black coats as on colored, and every woman wore her -abundant store of jewels. But fans and heads were -moving restlessly. Where was their princess? It was -the <i>première</i> in Hungary of Massenet’s “Le Jongleur de -Notre Dame,” and this music-loving people were eager -for the curtain to rise.</p> - -<p>At ten minutes past seven that mysterious electric -current that announces the coming of royalty to the -sensitive faculties of Europeans flew over the house; -bringing it to its feet, and lifting its eyes to the gala box -facing the stage, as if manipulated by a spring.</p> - -<p>Ranata, accompanied by Sarolta and Alexandra, her -Grand Chamberlain, Prince Illehazy, and Count Zrinyi, -entered and advanced to the front of the box, acknowledging -the waving of handkerchiefs and clapping of hands, -the well-bred “<i>Élyens</i>” and “<i>Vivats</i>” and “<i>Hochs</i>.” -She wore white velvet, a small crown of pearls, and -many pearls on her neck. For the first time she showed -the wear of too much thought and loss of sleep; she was -pale rather than white, and her eyes were listless. During -the few moments that she stood there, however, -while the band played the national anthem, her guests -on either side of her, the admiring house saw only the -perfect carriage of her form and head, the undimmed -brilliancy of her hair, and that most rare combination -of beauty and majesty.</p> - -<p>The anthem finished, the royal party took their seats, -the opera began. Ranata kept her eyes resolutely bent -upon the stage, but although she felt and had been severely -drilled in music, hers was the imagination which -escapes control under the influence of the only art that -penetrates to the key-notes of being. The spell of the -limpid semi-religious music swirled round her like a soft -tide. She saw far beyond the poor juggler apologizing<span class="pagenum" id="Page_330">[330]</span> -to the Virgin for desecrating her name that he might -gratify a heartless rabble and keep his wretched body -from starving; and if she forbade her eyes to wander over -the house, every nerve told her that Fessenden Abbott -was not there.</p> - -<p>She had asked him to leave Hungary immediately -upon his return to Budapest, and she knew that if he -had not done so—he must await important telegrams—he -would not come to the palace, nor to any gathering -where she was sure to be. And to attend the opera except -in her train would have excited the comment both -wished to avoid.</p> - -<p>Whether he had gone or not she did not know, for she -would not ask Alexandra; if indeed her friend knew, for -the brother and sister had said good-bye at the station -in Budapest. Ranata, who had been gifted with no -greater measure of consistency than the rest of her sex, -had hoped to see him while driving, while entering the -opera-house, to receive from him some swift involuntary -token that he was thinking of her as persistently as -she was of him.</p> - -<p>For she thought of little else, and she was aghast at -the power of love to defy the will. The emotional -struggle had induced a physical lassitude she had never -known before. That morning she had risen with the -thought, “Am I going to send for him to-day? Am I? -<i>Am I?</i>” And the question had risen again and again, -acquainting her for the first time with the insolent defiance -of the fixed idea to the higher qualities of the -brain. She had had experience of the dual entity in the -mental household before, but never so complete a sense -of division, nor of possession by faculties which seemed -to have forced an entrance into her mind rather than -have risen from its depths.</p> - -<p>She had not sent for him, however, and she hardly<span class="pagenum" id="Page_331">[331]</span> -knew whether she had refrained through the exercise of -a will which appeared to sit in a corner smiling with -amusement, from pride, a sense of futility, or merely -because the argument in her mind had not finished in -time. In any case she felt so far from her imperious -self that she was almost as alarmed as she was unhappy. -She was filled with a dull abhorrence of the idea of living -the rest of her life on the surface of her nature, as -she was attempting to live it to-night. For what else -was left her? Did she become queen, and none knew -better than she that it was but a possibility among a -thousand opposing forces, she could occupy her brain -with routine as her father did; but in a constitutional -monarchy, particularly in one as jealous of its rights as -Hungary, she would exercise so little power that, with -her merciless clarity of vision, she must soon know herself -for what she was, an ornamental figure-head. It -would be the pride of the Hungarians to have the most -beautiful queen in Europe, delight the abundant enthusiasm -and the loyal instinct of their natures to love -their elected sovereign; and they would value her the -more for a charm which must unite all factions and preserve -them from internal conflict. They would vote -her immense sums to live as a queen should, to restore -to the old palace of Buda its ancient glories and excite -the envy of Europe. All these things she might have, -and she knew them to be toys.</p> - -<p>Did she sympathize with the tide of liberty rising in -the world, and nowhere so vigorously as in Hungary? -She had put the question from her again and again, and -it had returned as often. Surely he had not revolutionized -her brain to that extent; she must be less than -herself were she unfaithful to the monarchical idea. -And yet, when her mind left Fessenden Abbott it seemed -to her that some mysterious force drew it to the great<span class="pagenum" id="Page_332">[332]</span> -sullen heart of mankind, brooding eternally on its birthright -of freedom; every instinct of independence, when -not crushed by the tyranny of the Turk or the Russian, -still blunted and pruned in a thousand petty and humiliating -ways. Would the socialists conquer William? -And then—when with greater liberty had come their -own adaptation to the unalterable facts of life and human -nature—would the world be better, a more habitable -place for mankind in the general? And was that the -destiny of the human race—the happiness of the many, -not the exaltation of the few? That it was a great -thought, a grand theory, she did not pretend to deny. -But did she sympathize with it?</p> - -<p>While she assured herself contemptuously that she -did not, that the order of the centuries must be best merely -because it was, a part of her brain seemed to her to -accept the doctrine, and give itself no concern to argue. -She turned her back upon it. Why argue, indeed? A -month, a few months hence, possibly a year, the influence -that now possessed her would be so far removed that her -mind would have recovered its balance, alien thoughts -must have sunk so deep that she would only unearth -them now and again as curiosities. She made up her -mind that if Alexandra did not marry Zrinyi she would -put an end to the intimacy with herself; and it seemed -to her, in her present unhappy condition, that she would -be insensible to further sorrow. She should indeed -welcome complete loneliness, barren of outward suggestion. -There could be no doubt of the triumph, in -time, of her strong will, of her absolute fidelity, in -thought as in deed, to the lofty station to which she had -been born.</p> - -<p>She sighed for her lost superstitions, rather for the -superstitions of her fathers which might have been here -had no alien influence entered her life. How they must<span class="pagenum" id="Page_333">[333]</span> -sustain the soul of majesty through its trials, through -its loneliness, through the long martyrdom of its earthly -course. There had been times when she had heard the -deep mutter of those ancient ghosts, when for a brief -hour they had risen and possessed her brain. Indeed, -there had been hours—usually when Alexandra’s uncompromising -practicality summered in its native land—when -it had seemed to her that in the depths of her -soul was a charnel-house of hideous memories, ambiguous -of outline, of old corruptions, unknown in her life but -transmitted with her blood, of impulses for tyranny -and cruelty, and unbridled passions, of lust of blood, -and callous indifference to human suffering. Philip the -Second and Joan the Mad were but two of her illustrious -ancestors who might have sent filtering down the worst -traits and impulses which the human heart is capable -of supporting. There had been times when she had believed -that had she been born a century earlier it would -have needed but the circumstances to make her the -vilest of women. She could have reigned with her feet -in blood and loved as royal harlots have loved since -Messalina burned her pitch in history. And, she recalled, -as she listened to the soft passionless music of -the opera, there had also been moments when she had -regretted that no such life could be hers—wondered if -indeed it had not been.</p> - -<p>But it was years now since the last of these obsessions -had risen, five or six, at least. She had acquired great -control over herself; moreover, they had rested impotent -under healthy influences; and assuredly in the company -of Fessenden Abbott she could not have evoked their -memory, the ghosts of those old ghosts. Would it not -perhaps be better if she could? Would not even the -occasional demoralization of her spiritual nature be a -lesser sin than this treachery to the divinity in her royal<span class="pagenum" id="Page_334">[334]</span> -blood? Were she steeped in superstition she might -have known her lover better than she had; but the -temptation to marry him, the persistent disposition to -look at life from his point of view, would never have assailed -her for a moment.</p> - -<p>Her eyes during this long reverie, interrupted only -by an <i>entr’acte</i>, were fixed upon the stage. The surface -of her brain had taken its impression of the interior of -the monastery where the starving mountebank, cursed -by the prior for his blasphemy, had been enticed that -he might find absolution in the life of a monk and fill -his stomach daily. The priests and friars in their rich -white cassocks, the brown interior of the monastic room, -made a harmonious and insidious picture, and the despair -of the miserable youth while the other cenobites -boasted of the arts—painting, sculpture, poetry, music—with -which they glorified the Virgin, drew tears from -many sympathetic eyes.</p> - -<p>The juggler and a kindly friar were alone, and the -elect was pouring into the astonished ear of the poor -ignoramus the story of the birth of Christ in a manger, -and explaining that the Lady of Sorrows understood -not only Latin, but all languages, and even dialects, and -had as merciful an ear for the outcast as for the king. -The mountebank, with his primitive credulity, his almost -maniacal terror under the curse of the abbot, is a vivid -study of superstition in the Middle Ages. As Ranata’s -attention was captured for the moment by the intensity -of the final moments of the act, she found herself envying -the simplicity of a creature as capable, in his primal -limitations, of the extremest satisfaction and happiness -as of terror and despair. The second <i>entr’acte</i> is very -short. A few moments after the curtain rises the impressive -double row of friars in their sumptuous cassocks -march out of the chapel to their own solemn music,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_335">[335]</span> -and the mountebank enters alone, throws off his -monastic robe, and in his costume of a harlequin offers -his juggler’s art to the glorification of the painted Virgin -above the altar. It is a scene almost incredible in its -childish superstition, but so pathetic that in that rapt -audience neither Jew nor Protestant paid his brain the -tribute of a smile. Ranata, of all persons, saw no humor -in it, for her mind traversed the history of her -race, and halted suddenly at the memory of Maria -Theresia, who had sent her daughters down alone into -the imperial crypt on the eve of their marriage to pray -among the coffins of their ancestors. She recalled how -she herself had sometimes felt an impulse to go down -there in the night and do likewise, that she might satisfy -that something in the depths of her soul so akin to those -who had dwelt in the benighted past.</p> - -<p>Her attitude suddenly lost its graceful ease. She -stiffened and sat erect as if about to spring; but the -eye of the house was focussed on the stage and she was -forgotten. Was not the time come for that nocturnal -pilgrimage? Might not she there, among those four -centuries of her dead, steep herself in that subtle aura -of personality which still must diffuse itself through lead -and bronze? Alone there, at midnight, with but the light -of a taper to illumine those motley hillocks, with the -dank odor of death clogging her senses, kneeling close -to the dust and the corruption which had lived so intensely -with the blood that ran in her own veins, must -she not recapture her inherited superstitions, break with -the present, absorb once more the poison of the past? -She realized that it was not to satisfy her sense of kinship -with the dead that she should now go to them alone -at midnight, but to revive the lost sense of indissoluble -relationship, of similarities, of the closest likeness of -which inherited blood and brain-cells are capable. She<span class="pagenum" id="Page_336">[336]</span> -should kneel finally at the foot of Rudolf’s coffin, and -pray there until she was a Hapsburg once more.</p> - -<p>Heavy and abnormal as her brain was from fatigue, -sleeplessness, passionate misery of thought, and reaction -from the exalted mood of her last interview with -Fessenden, still it seemed to her that it drew away in -modern disgust from the idea that had risen precipitately -in its middle and taken possession. But -Ranata clung to that idea as to her one hope of salvation; -and as the Virgin and the angels, which had appeared in -place of the picture above the altar, to reveal the -eternal beauty of simple faith to the indignant priests, -were growing more luminous, and at the same time, -so perfect the art, less and less material, and the poor -juggler’s spirit was struggling from its flesh, she matured -the details of her plan; and half an hour later, when she -descended from the carriage in the palace court-yard, -she asked Sarolta to be ready to accompany her to -Vienna on the following day.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">XXVIII</h3> -</div> - -<p>Fessenden had found his telegrams awaiting him, and -started at once for Berlin. While the ghosts in Ranata -were chuckling their recognition to the painted superstitions -of the stage, he was in the royal palace, in -the comfortable English-looking study overlooking the -Schlossplatz. On the north corner of the huge brown -pile floated the purple banner which informs the people -of Berlin that their “Travelling Kaiser” is visiting at -home.</p> - -<p>The Emperor was pleasurably at home this evening, -for, although he was too much of a soldier to lounge, he -wore a smoking-jacket and sat deep in one of his English<span class="pagenum" id="Page_337">[337]</span> -chairs; the color of animation was in his pale face, and -his eyes, always expressive and brilliant, sparkled with a -more personal emotion.</p> - -<p>It was night. His courtiers, his ministers, his generals, -his supplicants, were on the other side of the door, -and he could be wholly himself for an hour with the -one man who neither feared nor flattered him, to whom -he had given a large portion of his own warm affections, -and who, in return, gave him the sincerest friendship he -would ever know.</p> - -<p>Fessenden’s chair was drawn close to the fire, and he -was sipping a Scotch-and-soda. It was a night for a -comfortable talk in a warm bright room, surrounded -by books and a man’s more intimate belongings; for -the wind howled about the corner of the palace and -dashed the rain against the glass. Fessenden’s eyes -were sparkling also, but with excitement, and he was -more nervous than he usually permitted his manner to -betray.</p> - -<p>“Within a week,” the Emperor was saying, “the Archduchess -will be summoned to Vienna on one pretence or -another. The plan is to make her a prisoner in her own -rooms until she promises to marry the Archduke Aloys -Franz. I suggested him on account of his commanding -qualities as a disciplinarian; you will recall that they -married the Princess Marie Stefanie to him when her -liaison with her tenor was discovered. He imprisoned -her on one of his estates, never permitted her to leave it -for a day, and when she lost a front tooth mortified her -vanity by refusing her the services of a dentist—she was -a beauty, poor little thing! As a husband for refractory -princesses he is without a peer; and my indirect suggestion -met with instant favor from the Emperor, who is -distracted between the jealousies of the court and the -new motive for disturbance in the caldron of Hungary.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_338">[338]</span> -The full information—furnished by the maid of honor -and other spies—of her love for you was the last straw; -and much as the Emperor loves peace and quiet, when -the moment comes to act he acts. The Archduchess, -of course, will not marry Aloys Franz. We know her; -elaboration of that statement is superfluous. But -several weeks of solitary meditation will probably convince -her that, as her ambitions are thwarted, she may -as well marry you and be happy. Confinement will -reduce her to an abnormal state, where love will seem -the only object for living.”</p> - -<p>He left his chair and moved restlessly about the room. -“I don’t like it!” he announced in his harsh emphatic -voice. “It is unheard of. It is a dangerous precedent. -We shall have other dissatisfied and romantic princesses -following her example. Take one stone out of the -monarchical edifice and it is impossible to foresee the -end. God knows, we are shaky enough now. I tell you -frankly, Fessenden, that I should assist in no such -revolution solely out of friendship for even you; but to -get her out of Europe is the less of two evils. I have -been called the trigger of Europe. She is the firebrand -charged with dynamite. She was dangerous enough -before. Now that she has fallen in love, the only thing -to do is to marry her to the object as quickly as possible. -Balked, and thrown in upon herself, she would set -Europe in flames merely to distract her mind and -gratify some other passion.” He swung round abruptly -and laughed. “I must say, Fessenden, that while I -am delighted to be able to help you get the woman -you want, I don’t envy you. I shouldn’t say she was -the sort of woman a man could settle down and have -a comfortable time with.”</p> - -<p>“I want nothing more nor less,” said Fessenden; and -the Emperor laughed again, although his generous nature<span class="pagenum" id="Page_339">[339]</span> -was gratified at the opportunity to be of service to -his friend.</p> - -<p>“It will be rather more than less,” he said. “I have -known her since childhood, and while I admire her more -in certain respects than any woman living, I am not -precisely blind to her faults. I will confess that I shook -her once, a good many years ago, when I was visiting -Rudolf, and that she bit and scratched me in return. -However, the one man can always manage the woman -of strong passions, so I wish you joy.”</p> - -<p>“Thanks; and don’t let my domestic prospects worry -you. Are you perfectly sure of your man, by the way?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, perfectly. He has the ear of the Emperor and -the Crown Prince, and, while by no means false to them, -is so good a friend of mine that he would do more than -that if I asked it of him. Moreover, he has the confidence -of Königsegg.”</p> - -<p>“Suppose they should suspect that you put him up -to it? That would ruin everything. They are quite -as afraid of you as they are of her.”</p> - -<p>“No diplomat in Europe is more discreet—or finer in -his methods. He has dropped the poison by degrees. -His first references to the astonishing popularity of the -Archduchess in Hungary were almost inadvertent, and -at the same time accompanied with enthusiastic comments -upon her talents. Her conquest of the Independents -was the last straw. The Emperor has been -convinced that they would proclaim her queen the -moment he died. Was it your suggestion that they -met her in a body at the train when she arrived from -Transylvania?”</p> - -<p>“I put Molnár and one or two others up to it, although -they are quite convinced it was their own -idea.”</p> - -<p>“I am thankful you are my friend, for I shouldn’t want<span class="pagenum" id="Page_340">[340]</span> -your finger in my political pie! Well, Ranata will never -see Budapest after this week—if you are quick enough. -If she should devil the poor old Emperor into his grave -while he was trying to bring her to terms, I should not -venture to answer for the consequences. What is your -next move? I see no further. How shall you get her -out of the Hofburg? Bribe the guards? It will be -difficult. The Emperor will guard her well. She could -hardly disguise herself and slip out. How shall you -manage to communicate with her?”</p> - -<p>“Do not exercise your imagination over possibilities -of escape, for I have no idea of attempting any. I -intend to marry her with the Emperor’s consent. Not -very graciously given, perhaps, but still—”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Fessenden!” The Emperor spoke impatiently. -He had paused on the hearth-rug, and stood there with -his left hand resting lightly on his hip, the familiar sword-hilt -being absent, the right gesticulating slightly, with -a constant movement of the wrist and an occasional -pointing of the index finger. “That, my dear boy,” he -added kindly, “is just the one thing that even you cannot -accomplish. That you will get the Archduchess -sooner or later I have no doubt. When a woman like -that loves a man—” He shot his hand up expressively. -“It may be that I shall have an inspiration of some sort -and help you further, but I cannot act openly or I would -invite her here. But I have every faith in your resource.”</p> - -<p>“You will have more when I tell you my plan.”</p> - -<p>The Emperor’s keen eyes met his, and they measured -each other as they had a habit of doing.</p> - -<p>“Well?” asked the Emperor of Germany.</p> - -<p>Fessenden stood up and thrust his hands into -pockets. His nervousness had gone, and his eyes were -hard and brilliant. “What do you suppose the Emperor<span class="pagenum" id="Page_341">[341]</span> -would give to restore the ancient strength and prestige of -Austria?” he asked, in the cool and even tones he employed -in his Wall Street offices. “To obliterate the -memory of 1866? To finish his long and unhappy reign -gloriously?”</p> - -<p>“What on earth are you driving at? I never heard -you talk at random before.”</p> - -<p>“You have never heard me talk at random. What -would he give in return for such a certainty?”</p> - -<p>“More than Ranata. But I hate riddles!” His eyes -flashed. The blood burned his cheek. He knew Fessenden, -and was sure that he was not listening to bombast. -His curiosity and impatience nearly choked him. -“Come! Come!” he said. “What idea have you in -your head? After South America I am prepared for -anything. If you were not such a good fellow I should -hate you—but go on.”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps what all the world most wants next to the -fulfilment of its personal desires,” continued Fessenden -imperturbably, “is the obliteration of its most actively -malignant forces. The most malignant force in the -world to-day is Russia; in a lesser degree, Turkey. -These countries, by their unredeemable barbarism, compass -the utter misery of more millions of helpless human -beings than all the other causes in the rest of the world -that conduce, in the natural order of things, to unhappiness. -Moreover, Russia is the one menace which -prevents Europe and England from enjoying a moment’s -security. She creeps and creeps, and never retraces a -step. In far-sightedness Russia is the greatest genius -among nations, and she is absolutely unscrupulous; -the tyro in diplomacy does not trust her, and yet she -outwits again and again. There is a hideous possibility -of her eventual triumph, and the day she weakens the -power of England, puts her nose in the Persian Gulf,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_342">[342]</span> -flows over Turkey, that day sounds the passing bell of -modern civilization. Therefore, the power or powers -that hamstring this anomaly in the twentieth century, -forcing her to crouch with her feet in the sand like a -malignant but helpless sphinx until invading progress -has taught her wisdom—these powers would achieve -an immortality in history which they could compass by -means of no other modern conditions. Am I not right?”</p> - -<p>The Emperor nodded. He was very pale. Not only -had Fessenden pricked from its drugged sleep one of the -passionate hopes of his early manhood, but he knew that -the American was no idle dreamer, that he had already -accomplished the impossible. He had a sensation of -standing spellbound on the threshold of a miraculous -future towards which the great forces within him had -moved precisely since the birth of the worlds. But -the impression was hardly realized; his faculties were concentrated -upon the utterance of the man who no longer -looked young, in whose aspect was no trace of the lover -of the Archduchess of Austria, who, indeed, looked -little more than an intellect, using a casual body as a -convenient medium. Abbott asked his next question so -abruptly that the Emperor stiffened into an attitude -not unlike that of a midnight sentry alarmed by a sudden -footfall.</p> - -<p>“You know what I have been trying to do in my -factory out West?”</p> - -<p>“Well?”</p> - -<p>“The experiments are perfected. The kites—and they -are as beautiful as they are deadly—can be sent by electricity -to an incalculable distance, and each one will rain -down dynamite enough to kill a thousand men at a time -if they are close enough together. The generators to -charge storage batteries have, by other experiments, -been so reduced in size and weight that they hardly<span class="pagenum" id="Page_343">[343]</span> -count among the effects of a travelling army. The -enemy could be routed in ten minutes. Even balloons -are not necessary, except for reconnoitring. You also -know of the other invention, no less important. That -is perfected. The steel forts are not only impregnable, -but the secret has been discovered of moving electrically -operated machines over any sort of ground. -So far, moving forts, bicycles, automobiles have been -useless except on good roads. These forts will travel -without so much as a lowering of speed over the worst -that nature has to offer; there is even an apparatus, on -the principles of the flying-machine, which will carry -them over swamps and rivers. Do you see my drift?”</p> - -<p>The Emperor’s face would have looked like wax but -for the severity of its lines. “Good God!” he muttered -finally. “If this is true it will make you the master of -the world.”</p> - -<p>“It will make you the master of Europe.”</p> - -<p>“What riddle now?” He spoke thickly, but involuntarily -twitched his shoulders. He was quick to resent -any attempt to manage him.</p> - -<p>“The Spanish War has come and gone. I have no use -for these new weapons of war. They must be used at -once, for ideas are microbes. A few years hence—a year -hence—and the discoveries may be universal. If I had -never met Ranata I should have presented them to you -and told you to go ahead, and in the name of humanity -wipe Russia and Turkey, in the form they now exist, off -the map. I want to see you at the helm while you are -still young, and discouragements and disappointments -have not crushed all the enthusiasm out of you. The -world has waited and waited for you to do the great -thing, not realizing your difficulties, and that it was -your purpose to make Germany strong and prosperous -before launching it into a great war; your crusade will<span class="pagenum" id="Page_344">[344]</span> -be looked upon as quite in keeping with your character. -And you are the only man on this side of the water -capable of handling a great empire. So, I repeat, I -should have offered you this new power in any case. -Now I ask you to use it as a bait for the Emperor of -Austria. Owing to your alliance it would be a natural -act; unless you could afford to wait for his death, which -you cannot. Tell him that if he refuses you will swallow -him too. But he can hardly hesitate to snatch at the -one compensation for the failures of his reign and life. -Such of the conquered territory as you may have to -yield to him will flow to you naturally at his death, -for his heir could not hold it, and you may be sure that, -as the initiator of so magnificent and beneficent a conquest, -and as the younger and more picturesque of the -majesties, you will be the idol of Austria-Hungary, as -well as the hero of the world. France can be as easily -disposed of as Russia, and indeed every intelligent power -will let you alone after your first battle. Of course you -can have all the money you want should you meet with -opposition in the Reichstag. That offer has always -stood. As for the excuse for war, it will be simple -enough to whip up a disturbance in the Balkans. A -few discreet agents, a revolutionary committee, surreptitious -presents of arms, and Bulgaria or Macedonia is in -flames. A secret understanding with Ferdinand and he -will do anything to get Russia off his back. Then when -the pot is boiling, and the so-called Christians are -sprinkling their gore on their own unspeakable filth, -announce to Christendom that Christian rulers can -stand no more, impose impossible conditions on Russia, -and sail in. There will be enough of these weapons of -destruction ready before the end of three months to -conquer the whole of Europe, and no more time is -necessary to manipulate the Balkans.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_345">[345]</span>He paused abruptly, and again the two men stared -hard and long at each other. The pallor and the burning -eyes of both testified to the passionate emotion they -controlled. Fessenden had permitted eagerness to -creep neither into his tones nor manner, but he felt as -if he were standing in the dock awaiting a sentence of -life or death. The Emperor felt as if he had been -whirled back to the first years of his reign, when all -things seemed possible to a young and indomitable ruler. -And that reign had been one long and desperate struggle -between his autocratic instincts and the deep and -persistent desire for the extreme rights of man among a -large division of his subjects. He had given them much, -but they wanted more; and being advised by flatterers, -and so far removed from contact with the masses, he -looked upon the greater part of their demands with -angry impatience. But no ruler had ever brought a -more lofty enthusiasm to reform, and he had been -thwarted by ignorance, and conservative stupidity, and -personal hatred, until he sometimes felt that the day -might not be far distant when he should shrug his -shoulders and simmer down into the routine of other -sovereigns. It was true he had accomplished many -things and he had made a great city of Berlin and a -wealthy state of Prussia; but when he thought of his old -ambitions he felt sick with the futility of life. Fessenden’s -abrupt proposition had given him a moment of -unutterable happiness, then almost paralyzed his faculties. -He wondered if he should awake and find himself -alone, still compelled to profess friendship for the -enemy of civilization.</p> - -<p>Fessenden continued. “Ranata, of course, will formally -renounce all rights to the throne. But the Emperor’s -consent I will have, if only as a concession -of Europe to the United States—a formal recognition<span class="pagenum" id="Page_346">[346]</span> -of her absolute equality among nations. I forgot to -tell you that the details of these inventions have been -so worked out that no one but my head electrician and -myself knows them all, and the exact combinations. -And he is not only a man of honor, but no crowned head -in Europe could offer him a bribe comparable to what -he will receive from me on the day of your first battle -with Russia.”</p> - -<p>The Emperor came out of his reverie. “Have you -samples here?”</p> - -<p>“They are in the custom-house. They have not been -examined, and await your order to pass them through -unopened. The electrician is also here. My father -arrives to-morrow. We can have an object-lesson on -Saturday.”</p> - -<p>“Let us have it by all means,” said the Emperor of -Germany.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">XXIX</h3> -</div> - -<p>Vienna, the stately brown city, so haughty without, so -simple within. Vienna, the city of beautiful men and -women, of fastidious breeding and dispersing forces. -Vienna, the gay, the wanton, the merciless. Vienna, the -city of the dead soul; the great actress whose still perfect -shell moves mechanically upon the stage, not knowing -under what sudden stroke she may tremble and disappear. -In no city on earth is life so full of charm and yet -of unreality, no city where one feels so alive and yet so -encompassed by dreams, where to the American New -York is not, but a superlative civilization with the taint -of the Middle Ages in its brain.</p> - -<p>Ranata felt something of this luscious yet corrupt -flavor of her native city as she drove from the station -to the Hofburg; but vaguely, for her contrasts were few.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_347">[347]</span> -Moreover, her father had met her, and was talking constantly -and somewhat at random. If Ranata had not -been preoccupied she would have noticed the evident -embarrassment in his manner and his elaborate attempt -at dissimulation. He was more affectionate than was -his wont; a shade less of his perfect breeding and he would -have appeared apologetic. But his daughter’s brain was -heavy and absorbed by one idea. Sarolta was driving to -her own palace, and Ranata was anxious to take advantage -of these few moments with her father. Suddenly -he gave her the opportunity she wished. He remarked -in the tone of one whose masculine recesses have received -a welcome illumination:</p> - -<p>“I suppose, my dear, that you have come to Vienna -to have a personal conference with your dressmakers.”</p> - -<p>“No,” said Ranata, and it was notable that she did -not smile; “I have come to ask a great favor of your -Majesty, and I beg that you will predispose yourself to -grant it.”</p> - -<p>The Emperor stiffened, the natural act of a monarch -whose life is passed with those that crave the royal favor. -But the act to-day was more than mechanical; -there were several portentous favors this extraordinary -daughter of his might have nerved herself to ask—might -indeed have deluded herself she was in a position -to ask—and the very thought of them turned him to -steel.</p> - -<p>“Well?” he demanded.</p> - -<p>“It is a singular request, sir, for it is for permission -to revive an ancient custom of our house. I wish to go -down into the crypt alone on this midnight and pray by -the coffin of Rudolf.”</p> - -<p>The Emperor drew a long breath of relief. There was -nothing remarkable to him in the request, for he believed -his daughter to be as devout a Catholic as himself. “How<span class="pagenum" id="Page_348">[348]</span> -could a Hapsburg be otherwise?” he would have asked, -if questioned; and dismissed the subject. Nevertheless, -he divined that her mind must be in heavy shadow to -prompt an immediate act of devotion at some inconvenience, -when any other time would have done as well. -Scrutinizing her face, he saw the change in it, even -through the disguise of a veil with heavy dots. Trained -in detail, he remembered that he had never seen her -wear such a veil before. His experienced brain travelled -to the natural solution. There was truth in the -story that she loved the American; and she wished to -do penance among the tombs of her ancestors. That -meant, of course, that the affair was closed, that when -she had realized the enormity of her folly she had hastened -to mortify her flesh and spirit in a worthy manner. -He had not been surprised to hear that she loved at last, -but he wondered at the security into which he had fallen -during the preceding ten years, deluded, like others, by -her superb indifference; and the evident marks of suffering -he saw in her face to-day in nowise set his heart at -odds with his purpose to marry her at once. Even were -he not now convinced that she might at any moment become -a menace to the Dual Monarchy, or had he been -less harassed by those that feared and hated her, he still -would have used his authority to marry her without -delay. He knew the weaknesses of his blood, and was -determined that her very obvious genius to make the -world ring with a scandal should be clogged immediately. -He resolved, however, to defer the subject until the -morrow, snatching at the prospect that the midnight -vigil would subdue and chasten her spirit. He answered -as if he had given her request due consideration:</p> - -<p>“There is no objection, if you are sure you have the -strength to go through the ordeal—that you will not -have an attack of hysteria. Of course”—in response to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_349">[349]</span> -an indignant ejaculation—“I know you are not that sort -of woman, but it will be a trying hour. Sarolta must -accompany you to the church; she can wait for you in -one of the chapels or in the carriage. And a friar will -go down with you to hold the taper. I insist upon that.”</p> - -<p>“Very well,” said Ranata listlessly. The friar would -be an integral part of the scene, like enough to those -who had gone down with her ancestors, dead and alive.</p> - -<p>She sat through the early dinner with her father, but -five o’clock was now her hour for tea, and she made a -bare pretence to eat. She wondered if she would be -hungry in the crypt, then scowled so severely at her levity -that Count von Königsegg, who was watching her, -feared that her suspicions had been roused by something -in the dull flow of conversation. Several of the archdukes -were present, besides the many members of the -Emperor’s household, and they were mildly discussing -a crisis in the Reichsrath. The minister had greeted -her coldly. He was profoundly annoyed at the sensation -she had made, and the consequent failure of their -carefully laid plans. That she would play her cards in -Hungary with the historic tact of the Hapsburgs he had -made no doubt, and that she could fascinate and beguile -he had had personal evidence; but that she had in her -the elements of a public popularity, so desirable in a -sovereign, and so reprehensible in anything less than the -acknowledged heir to the throne, he had not for a moment -suspected. These last weeks had left him aghast, -for he was by no means desirous of the slightest disturbance -in the present order of things, nor to be the victim -of suspicion from those who might one day be in a position -to elevate or ruin him. He had been prepared to -declare for the Archduchess if she played her part properly, -and her star shot up at precisely the right moment; -but for the present he was puzzled how to act. His instinct<span class="pagenum" id="Page_350">[350]</span> -was to desert the sinking ship, but he found it -difficult to connect Ranata with the idea of failure; -she looked, pallid and extinguished as she was, cast for a -great part—not endowed by Nature with the finest gifts -of the Hapsburgs to languish in obscurity. He did not -approve of marrying her. The Emperor’s course must -be nearly run, and she would be a valuable card to -hold when the anticipated calamities fell upon them. -However, the man selected was of Hapsburg blood; no -vow of renunciation would be required of her, and at the -right moment she could be summoned forth. Perhaps -it was as well; for what to do with her meanwhile, he -confessed, was beyond any inspiration likely to visit his -fertile brain. Perhaps she would be ill for a time; she -looked so unlike her usual self as to invite the hope, -and that at least would keep her quiet for some months.</p> - -<p>Ranata, suspecting naught of these unsympathetic -reflections, was longing for the night. When she was -finally alone in her rooms—those rooms that looked -like nothing outside the Hofburg except other musty old -palaces where the sun never entered—she sat down in -the dark and attempted to prepare her mind for the -ghostly pilgrimage. Her sense of drama was stirred at -the thought of performing this ancient rite, but she felt -less religious than she had hoped, less ancestral, less -akin to those quaking girls who had been swept down -into the cold vault of the Capuchin by the stern arm of -Maria Theresia. One had died of the small-pox, caught -from the emanations of a recent victim—doubtless the -poor little body had half-disintegrated with fright, and -let the poison in. She wondered if she would be frightened, -and dismissed the thought with an impatient -shrug. Her strong soul had little acquaintance with fear. -Still she would have welcomed a premonition of it at this -moment, if it had brought on its long shadows the first<span class="pagenum" id="Page_351">[351]</span> -mutters of ancestral superstition—the first stirring of -her stupefied Hapsburg sense. But her thought flew -to Fessenden Abbott. She wrenched it from him, and -it fluttered about among the pleasures and distractions -of her months in Hungary. She found herself longing -for the bright rooms in the palace of Buda, the bustling -business-like streets of Pest. She recalled her first and -only visit to a shop, and wished she might repeat the -experience on the morrow; she had had many vivid -accounts of the shops of Vienna from Alexandra, who, -untrammelled by state, or even by the haughty usages of -the aristocracy, visited the shops as often as she pleased.</p> - -<p>“I feel hopelessly modern, frivolous,” she thought, as -she rose and walked to the window. “But it is merely -the perversity of the brain. Like a spoiled child, it -must do precisely what is not expected of it. I thought -I had disciplined it better.”</p> - -<p>She held aside a corner of the lace curtain, and peered -down into the court-yard, and at the battered walls opposite. -There would have been no danger of detection -had her room been light, for the rain was falling heavily. -The court-yard was deserted; and the scene was intolerably -dreary. A prison-yard could be no worse.</p> - -<p>Suddenly she was seized with a wild unreasoning terror, -an impulse to fly from the Hofburg to Budapest and -her many friends. A premonition seemed to rise out of -the dark and press close upon her. Her brain tossed -up the reserve, the embarrassment of her father’s manner, -the watchful speculative regard of Königsegg’s cold -eyes, the sensation of insignificance that had vaguely assailed -her as she arrived in Vienna—of stepping down -from a pedestal to withdraw into a niche. Why had she -left Hungary? There she would have been safe, for -nothing short of violence could have removed her, and -that they would not dare to use. She touched the electric<span class="pagenum" id="Page_352">[352]</span> -button as soon as she could find it; and when the room -was softly brilliant, she wondered at her nerves. Determined -to reduce them to subjection before their midnight -ordeal, she sat down with a novel Alexandra had -given her at parting. This was not the preparation for -nocturnal prayer she might have wished, but it could be -no more mischievous than her own unruly thoughts. -It proved to be absorbing—a brisk well-written tale of -mediæval love and adventure, war and romantic incident, -without psychology, or a reminder of modern life -and character. It was not the literature of her habit, -but for that reason perhaps held her the more closely, -the tenor of her mind being altered, and life as she knew -it best forgotten. When, at a quarter to twelve, one of -her maids entered with a long fur garment, and the announcement -that the Obersthofmeisterin awaited the -pleasure of her Imperial Highness, she arose with reluctance, -and, as the woman adjusted the cloak and hood, -glanced at the finish. “If I had not been sure of that -final rapture,” she informed herself apologetically, “I -believe I could not have rid my mind of it in the church.”</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">XXX</h3> -</div> - -<p>Sarolta had sunk on a hot-water cushion in one of the -chapels of the Capuchin Church, after an involuntary -appeal to her archduchess to pray no longer than she -could help. The friar, a dark blur in his brown robes, -unlocked the door that opens on the winding stair sacred -to the House of Hapsburg. As Ranata carried a lighted -taper in her own hand, she motioned to him to walk -behind her, and picked her way on the uneven stones -worn by four centuries of men and women who had gone -down with the dead, or to pray among the ruins of those<span class="pagenum" id="Page_353">[353]</span> -who had ruled and loved and oppressed, or battled in -secret and impotence with the wretched comedy of their -existence. Twice before—since her early girlhood, when -her tutor in history had included an occasional visit to -the Hapsburg dust in his course—had Ranata descended -this stair: behind the coffin of Rudolf, and the coffin -of her mother. The first time she had been blind and -dumb with grief; the second, horror-stricken as she still -was, she had meditated sadly upon the conquest of life -over the charming and singular woman she had known -so little. To-night, as she reached the foot of the stair, -and held the taper aloft, she was conscious of little but -the cold and the dank smell of death, which in spite of -glass and lead and bronze, and robbed of its final offensiveness, -pervades the crypt. It is an odor hardly -definable; it might be the very breath of Death himself -rising thickly through earth and mould.</p> - -<p>Ranata shuddered and drew her cloak about her, but -walked resolutely down between the long rows of sarcophagi, -elaborate and ostentatiously simple, crowding -close behind the bars. She was thankful that her father -had insisted upon the escort of the friar; but when she -came to the great gates behind which Maria Theresia -still reigns in the pomp of death over those that have -followed her, and her silent attendant had turned the -key, she motioned to him to remain without.</p> - -<p>She stood for a moment looking with a curious impersonality, -of which she could not divest herself, at the -magnificent leaden sarcophagus, on its pedestal, of one -of the few great rulers of Austria. The carving and -chasing, the bas-reliefs and fixtures, were so elaborate -and beautiful that she caught herself wondering how -many years the august remains had awaited their final -state, or if the far-sighted Empress had set the craftsmen -to work long before her death. She was a practical<span class="pagenum" id="Page_354">[354]</span> -soul, and it was likely. At her feet, in the plainest -of leaden coffins, lay the husband she had loved and -snubbed. About her, in receptacles of varying art and -costliness, were nine of her sixteen children.</p> - -<p>Ranata turned her back upon the last vanity of the -ancestor who had been a religion of her youth, and passing -the equally lofty but far less imposing sarcophagus -of Franz II., with the perfunctory receptacles of his four -wives scattered near, she paused for a moment beside -the long coffins of Napoleon’s second wife, and of him -who had been called King of Rome and Duke of Reichstadt—he -whom the French remembered as the second -Napoleon when his cousin seized the throne. She stared -down at the lead above the dust of the little cousin for -whom she had much sympathy and compassion, knowing -him to have been the victim of court intrigues, his -soul and body systematically ruined. She wondered -how much rebellion had beaten beneath that apparent -docility, how much cunning, perhaps; biding his time -in his grandfather’s old age, hating and fearing Metternich, -yet neither wise enough nor strong enough to avoid -the traps that never cut his feet, and closed about him -as softly and warmly as sirens and drugs. She wondered -if the French poet had divined the secretive nature -correctly, or if a true Hapsburg brain had dissolved -in the silences of the crypt; then, if the ruined soul had -been graciously relit in consideration of its youth and -ignorance; if, in some juster world, the fine brain he may -have inherited might not now in its maturity be fulfilling -the purpose for which it had sprung from a force that -would still seem to haunt the earth.</p> - -<p>These were not the thoughts, the sulking superstitions, -she had come to evoke, and she passed on. The alcove -containing what was left of her mother and brother, -with the angel between them presented by the ladies of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_355">[355]</span> -Hungary, was before her, but she wished before kneeling -and praying there to saturate herself with this subtle -atmosphere of ancient death, of indestructible repose, -of serene and final disassociation from the world above. -This portion of the crypt is only two-thirds below -ground. A high small window admits a patch of light -by day; but the glass is heavy, and no sound penetrates. -The Hapsburgs sleep as quietly as the Pharaohs.</p> - -<p>Ranata wandered past the brilliant silver-like coffin of -Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph, but she did not linger; -she had little sympathy with the unknown uncle whose -wavering brain had cost him throne and life. “If I had -had Mexico,” she thought arrogantly, “I should have -kept it. Picturesque an object as he was with his American -empire, and his brave death, he will never be a favorite -in history or romance, for human nature despises -the waverer. What the Americans call bluff is not only -the wiser policy, but makes a stronger appeal to the imagination.” -She walked down between the long rows -of the lesser dead, pausing a moment at the simple coffin -of that cousin who had set her thin frock on fire with -a lighted cigarette, hastily concealed as her father approached. -She smiled with tender pity, grateful that -her own parent, obdurate in many things, was advanced -in a few simple particulars.</p> - -<p>Finally she returned to the elevated remains of the old -Emperor Franz, and holding her taper high, looked slowly -about her. It was a sufficiently grewsome sight, those -piles and rows of gray sarcophagi, most of them but stark -shadows under the meagre light she carried, and the ray -of a lamp that filtered through the little window. She -gave an involuntary shudder of feminine horror, and -once more experienced a throb of gratitude for the proximity -of the friar, standing beyond the door. He had -extinguished his taper and looked like a statue at prayer.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_356">[356]</span> -Her eye rested again on the coffin of the Duc de -Reichstadt. “Poor Franz!” she thought. “What barbarians -they were only two-thirds of a century ago! I -wonder how much better we are now—they! I feel, -rather, as if my spirit had been purged down here, than -packed with its old ghosts.”</p> - -<p>She let her taper trail on the stones. Her pilgrimage -was a failure. The night and its horrid suggestions had -accomplished no degeneration for her; she might as well -have come by day, or spared at any time her limbs the -cold, her nostrils this infliction. And there she faced and -accepted the truth. What she had been was gone, what -she was so must she remain. Her brain in its absolute -modernity must help her to endure and to regulate her -life; from her ancestors she would receive no further -help, neither now nor ever. From all miasmatic obsessions -rising out of the crypt in her soul she was free -henceforth; the crypt itself had vanished into that eternity -so far from the corruption about her. She lifted -her head suddenly with a sensation of liberty, of independence, -which even Hungary and her intimate spiritual -absorption of her American lover had not given her. -Then she went forward and knelt at the foot of Rudolf’s -coffin. She had rejected dogmas and theologies, but -she still could pray; for she had perfect faith in an overruling -power, who, if great enough to manage the universe, -must be great enough to answer prayer without -upsetting the balance of His machinery. And prostrate -at the foot of the ugly bronze coffin under half its height -of brittle wreaths, that held the clay of the warmest -nature she had ever known, of the only being she had -deeply loved until now, of the Hapsburg whose light -might have raised him so high in history and had gone -out in folly and dishonor, she had her moment of profound -tribute to the dead, of utter abnegation of self.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_357">[357]</span> -When she rose from her knees she entered the recess, -and pushing aside the old wreaths with their emblazoned -streamers, the gifts of kings, and princes, of family, and -illustrious subjects, she pressed her wet face for a moment -to the head of the coffin, then walked rapidly from -the inner crypt, down the lane between the older dead, -and up the stair.</p> - -<p>Sarolta was not in her chapel, and, dismissing the friar, -Ranata left the church. The Obersthofmeisterin was -in a corner of the carriage sound asleep. The coachman -slept profoundly on the box. The footman had disappeared. -Ranata stood alone in the streets of Vienna. -The clock struck one. She, a daughter of the Hapsburgs, -was as free as any waif in the city. The sensation of liberty -which had taken possession of her down in the -crypt surged wildly to her head. She walked swiftly -to the corner and stood there, pushing back her hood -and staring about her. The rain had ceased, but the -night was black. What was there to prevent her from -finding a cab, driving to the station, and taking the first -train for Berlin? If Fessenden were not already there -a telegram would summon him in haste. From Berlin -it was but a few hours to Bremen. She took another -step forward, then almost laughed aloud. Was this -the first result of her rendezvous with the dead? But -if that had been futile, her brain and her sense of duty -were still in control. She had renounced love once for -all. Moreover, her flight would mean the exile and disgrace -in her old age of Sarolta. To-morrow she would -return to Hungary and take up her work there. Now -that she knew exactly on what forces she must rely, she -could hope to walk her self-appointed path without faltering; -and in gratitude for her strength, and for a memory -which the inflexible laws of her station could never -take from her.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_358">[358]</span>Nevertheless, she lingered for a time, walking aimlessly -to and fro, for it was the most complete liberty she -had ever known, and she enjoyed it much as a child enjoys -itself the first time it runs away. It also appealed -to her sense of humor, and she would have been amused -still more could she have come face to face with her -father.</p> - -<p>And so she rejected her second opportunity for flight -and actual liberty, awakened the terrified coachman, and -returned to the Hofburg.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">XXXI</h3> -</div> - -<p>She slept well, and late; then being already long past -her early hour of rising, lay for a time, half in pleasure -of that narrow world wherein she still could confuse -dreams and life, half in dread of the realities into which -she must step with her clothes. Should she go to Budapest -that day? It occurred to her too late that it is -more difficult to return to the associations identified -with the intense or tragic moments of life even than to -remain among them. Should she stay in Vienna for a -few days? The Hofburg had never seemed so dreary; -her own rooms were musty and chill. In Buda, at -least, she would be companioned, and she should find -novel work to do immediately upon her return. She -remembered Fessenden’s early suggestion to conciliate -the Independents by inviting their wives to the palace. -Many of these men were her slaves, but of them several -would not come to Buda, and others held wholly aloof. -She should persuade to her cause, as soon as she returned, -the patriotism of the influential women of the aristocracy. -And there were charities to organize, subtler methods -of conquest to be conceived, now that society had<span class="pagenum" id="Page_359">[359]</span> -been won by gayeties and pleasure. As soon as the winter -broke she would make her progress through the -country; she had made the impression she desired on the -crowds that had met her at the stations in Transylvania. -It was all easy enough, this brilliant preliminary, but -what of the future? Would she have her great public -career, and would it console her for the renunciation of -what she wanted at that moment more than the career -of a Maria Theresia or even the triumph of cold duty? -As she awoke fully the tenderness and passion, roused -and stimulated, yet so little satisfied in these past weeks, -which for two days and nights had been quiescent under -the sullen despair of her brain, now, after long hours of -refreshing sleep, rushed in tumult through all her channels -of emotion; and all her soul and body shook with -longing and regret. Why should she not see him once -more? And would it always be once more, and once -more? Would her life be bearable if his expulsion from -it were final? She had not seen so far into the future -while with him, but now it looked as empty and cold as -space. <i>Could this be the end?</i> She almost cried the -words aloud as she sprang from her bed in a frantic desire -to take some step—at once—before it was too late. -He could not have sailed, for he had told her he should -spend some days in Berlin, and his yacht was at Trieste. -She should see him again if the world stood still. In all -the emotions that had rent her, even after the terrible -deaths of her brother and mother, she had never so faced -the awful vista of finality; and she discovered that it was -the one for which she had no power in her to endure. -Of course he must leave her at last, but not yet! It is -all very well for the old and the wise to argue with the -accents of fatigue that love is not the only thing in life; -so it is not, for those that argue.</p> - -<p>She rang. Her women came in and dressed her in a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_360">[360]</span> -travelling costume. She sent a note to the Princess -Sarolta, asking her to be ready an hour hence, and another -to her father expressing a wish to bid him <i>Aufwiedersehen</i>. -The Emperor replied that he would call -upon her as soon as she had finished her coffee, and that -it was with regret he was obliged to inform her that her -Obersthofmeisterin had caught a severe cold the night -before and was unable to leave her bed. He had sent a -messenger to Maria Leopoldina, who was at Baden, asking -her to resume for the moment her old duties; and -doubtless she would arrive in the course of the day.</p> - -<p>It was a long message, and the Emperor had taken -the trouble to write it, when a simple announcement by -a chamberlain that he would call upon her immediately -would have sufficed. Ranata left her breakfast-room -abruptly, and stood alone in her dressing-room removing -her hat with shaking fingers. For what was he preparing -her? What pathway smoothing for himself? Had -Piroska tattled? Was she to receive the paternal fiat -that she must never see Fessenden Abbott again? Her -father might require her submission before permitting -her to return to Hungary. Had the world come to an -end? She felt as if the floor were swaying and sinking.</p> - -<p>She heard the Emperor’s voice in the salon, and controlled -herself and went in to meet him. Her eyes met -his squarely in the manner he detested. He kissed her, -however, and congratulated her upon her improved appearance. -She had rarely looked better than in this -frock of green cloth and steel and sable, so simple and -closely fitting that on her slim yet heroic figure it gave -her a somewhat warlike appearance. The Emperor -himself was looking remarkably well, in his parade uniform -with its sky-blue coat and black and scarlet trousers. -He had been in the saddle for two hours inspecting -his troops, and the fresh color was in his cheeks, his<span class="pagenum" id="Page_361">[361]</span> -well-exercised body was almost as free and elastic as his -daughter’s. He sat erect and alert like the good soldier -he was; but with the wariness of the diplomat he had -taken the precaution to seek this interview on the enemy’s -territory that he might retreat if a sudden lapse -in the negotiations seemed wise; he knew that he would -be physically unable to expel Ranata from his apartments -until she chose to go.</p> - -<p>He began with diplomacy, also, asking her of the pilgrimage -of the night before; complimented her on her -courage and piety—and no man could turn a compliment -more neatly. But as Ranata answered him in monosyllables -and preserved an upright attitude of expectancy, -he felt himself driven towards the point.</p> - -<p>“My dear,” he began delicately, “it has come to my -knowledge that you are more interested than is prudent -in the brother of your friend.” He paused, but as Ranata -made no reply, nor even changed color, he continued. -“Of course it is to be expected that a girl as -beautiful as you are will captivate many men, aloof as -you must hold yourself; but I am surprised that you -have permitted a devotion so conspicuous as to create -gossip. A princess can never be sure that gossip will -stop short of scandal; for where a woman may not select -her own husband, the idle and the envious are always on -the lookout for an irregular connection to gloat over. -I am very sorry to seem to reprove you—”</p> - -<p>“I have expected it, of course. I knew that the little -Zápolya was a spy; and she also wished to marry Mr. -Abbott.”</p> - -<p>“I hope you will give me the credit of having lived -long enough to sift evidence before I decide, of making -due allowance for circumstances, and of accepting no -evidence unsupported. You and Mr. Abbott have been -much in public together; your mutual interest has been<span class="pagenum" id="Page_362">[362]</span> -commented upon far and wide. I have been warned from -more sources than one. If I had known that Count -Zrinyi had invited Mr. Abbott—and scarcely any one -else!—to accompany you to Transylvania, I should have -forbidden the visit. It had long been a part of your -programme, and I inferred, as a matter of course, that -you would be accompanied by a full court and a large -number of guests. There is no doubt in my mind that -Zrinyi made this opportunity for you, and he must take -the consequences—”</p> - -<p>“I doubt if he gave my private affairs a thought. He -may have cared to entertain me as a princess, but his -first object was to see as much of Alexandra alone as -possible—in romantic surroundings.”</p> - -<p>“That may be. Now I must ask you if you are prepared -to deny that you took a walk at midnight up there -alone with Mr. Abbott; that you managed upon numberless -occasions to see him alone—at Buda, as well as -at Zrinyi-vár? That he wore Prince Nadasdy’s costume -on the night of the fancy-dress ball, and that you both -retired simultaneously—”</p> - -<p>“I deny nothing,” said Ranata. “I am in no humor -to make a sentimental confession. Your Majesty may -believe or not that I love him. I have, however, sent -him away. That should satisfy you. You will accept -my word, I suppose.”</p> - -<p>“Your word is the last I should doubt. But I happen -to know that human nature is stronger than promises. -You will not send for him, but he will return. He -is a young man with an exceptional record for attaining -his ends. If he manages to see you alone again after a -separation”—he spread out his little hands with the -grace of his Spanish ancestors—“I should not answer for -the consequences. If you were your mother I should -have no apprehension, for she was devoid of passion;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_363">[363]</span> -but you are a Hapsburg, and God knows I have had -knowledge enough of the weakness of my race to act -promptly when I am graciously vouchsafed a timely -warning.”</p> - -<p>“What are you going to do about it?” asked Ranata—unconsciously, -in her quick suspicion, using the American -vernacular, although her language was German; her -father had never found it necessary to learn English.</p> - -<p>This time the Emperor met her eye fully, although his -heart quaked. “I have determined that it is time for -you to marry,” he said in a louder tone than he was -sensible of in time.</p> - -<p>Ranata laughed. She was surprised at her rudeness. -The disrespectful ebullition was due partly to nervousness; -but the Emperor’s brave announcement had also -struck at the quick of her humor.</p> - -<p>His Majesty’s ruddy face deepened in hue, but he had -too difficult a task to accomplish to permit himself the -luxury of a personal sensation. He had steeled his heart -against pity; to give himself up to anger was unworthy, -and he brushed the emotion aside. He would have been -glad to see his daughter happy, but the stoicism of lonely -majesty had been immutably set in his case by the -many and agonizing personal experiences which he had -weathered into a healthy and tolerable old age. Princes -were born to earthly martyrdom tempered by much casual -consolation. If their women were forced to play -their part without the compensations, that was the decree -of God, who made kings, and they must suffer and -make no complaint. As a rule they did, and it was the -manifest duty of him who was divinely permitted to -govern to see that they found no opportunity to do -otherwise. “You are overwrought, I fear,” he said -tactfully. “Did you sleep well after your pilgrimage?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_364">[364]</span>“Perfectly. May I ask whom your Majesty has considered -as a son-in-law?”</p> - -<p>The Emperor made a slight motion that in a person -of less graceful dignity might have been mistaken for a -squirm. He had no doubt of the wisdom of his choice—his -own choice he believed it to be—for his relative, -if stern and unbending, a disciplinarian of the first rank, -was neither brutal nor cruel, nor, if met with a discreet -submission, unamiable. The idea of handing over his -potential daughter to this Gibraltar among husbands, -who had responded with enthusiasm to the invitation -to marry a beautiful and wealthy princess, had taken -full possession of the apprehensive mind of the old monarch; -but he had not planned to break the name until -after the right amount of preparation. He had anticipated -that Ranata would dissolve into tears and perhaps -more tempestuous emotions, under cover of which -he could retreat, to communicate in writing the fulness -of her fate. But there was no sign of a tear in the large -angry eyes transfixing him, and her full fine mouth, with -its short upper lip and unsatisfied corners, looked as if -a sob had never shaken it.</p> - -<p>“Well?” she asked.</p> - -<p>There was nothing for it but to plump out the name. -Even were he willing to gain time by asserting that the -man had not yet been chosen, he knew that she would -detect the lie and place him at an immediate disadvantage. -He answered stolidly,</p> - -<p>“Aloys Franz—”</p> - -<p>“What?” she stood up and stared down upon him as -if she were repeating his statement to herself and endeavoring -to place it in connection with her brain. In -a moment the blood rose hotly to her hair, even her -eyes looked bloodshot. “Oh!” she exclaimed. “Oh!” -and then she walked to the window.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_365">[365]</span>It was an opportune moment for retreat, but there -was more to be said; she was calm, and the sooner the -whole task was finished the better.</p> - -<p>“Perhaps you will understand why I think it best -you should not return to Budapest,” he said gently. “It -is well for many reasons that this wedding take place -at once, and it is my duty to expose you to no further -temptation. It can be given out that your trousseau -detains you here, or Sarolta’s illness—”</p> - -<p>Ranata wheeled about and faced him. For the first -time in her life she was ugly.</p> - -<p>“And have you really deluded yourself,” she asked -with an ominous calm, “that you will marry me to that -man?—or to any one else?”</p> - -<p>The Emperor rose then and faced her. War was declared, -and he knew where he stood. There was no better -mettle in Europe than his.</p> - -<p>“You will marry Aloys Franz,” he said.</p> - -<p>Again Ranata laughed, and for the moment she -looked hideous. “I shall not,” she said. “And you -should know by this time what stuff I am made of.”</p> - -<p>“I have not had a doubt of your resistance. I have -as little of my firmness of purpose. You have not been -sufficiently disciplined. A princess marries whom and -when her father and sovereign dictates. You were my -youngest, in many ways exceptional, and very much -alone. I have been more indulgent, more lax, than I -should. But that is over. From this moment you will -recognize that I am your emperor as well as your father.”</p> - -<p>“We are no longer in the Middle Ages, nor yet in the -middle of the last century. Your subjects are free to -marry whom they please, or to remain unmarried if they -choose.”</p> - -<p>“Constitutions have shorn monarchs of too much -power over their subjects, but in his own family the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_366">[366]</span> -power of an emperor is as absolute as it ever was. To -the law you would have no appeal did I choose to practise -upon you the tortures of the Inquisition here in my -palace, to starve you in a cell, to cause you to disappear -forever from human sight. Please understand once for -all that you are my property, given into my care by Almighty -God; and for your own salvation and for the honor -of my house I shall do what I think best with you.”</p> - -<p>“And if I still refuse?”</p> - -<p>“You will remain a prisoner in these rooms until you -consent. Your servants will attend to every want, you -will have the society of Maria Leopoldina, and you may -take your exercise in the corridor. You will see no one -else. There will be a guard day and night at each end -of the corridor. If you make any attempt to bribe -these guards, or to communicate with any one in the -court-yard, you will be moved elsewhere and deprived -of exercise. But I do not wish to be forced into undue -severity, and you may remain here so long as you transgress -no rules.”</p> - -<p>“Good God!” she exclaimed. “And this is the twentieth -century! Have I heard aright? Am I a prisoner -under an armed guard? Am I more helpless in the -eyes of the law than the meanest of your subjects? May -any illiterate peasant woman seek redress in the courts -of justice while a princess of the realm, whose supreme -advantages have set her apart from mankind, is but a -chattel among the possessions of her father? I suppose -I have known this. But I have managed to surround -myself with a different atmosphere. But you—you -are a man of the world, and all your faculties are still -alert—do you mean to tell me that you have not outgrown -the barbarism of the past?”</p> - -<p>“You may call it by what name you will. I shall go -now, and you will meditate—”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_367">[367]</span>But Ranata had flashed between him and the door, -and he knew that he could not pass her. He was deeply -annoyed that he had not retreated in time, but he stood -immobile, looking coldly into her distorted face.</p> - -<p>“No,” she said hoarsely, but still retaining an appreciable -measure of self-control; “you will not leave this -room until you have heard the truth for once. If you -are no longer my father but my tyrant, then from this -moment I am your most rebellious subject and nothing -more. And I would that I could open my veins and -drain out every drop of royal blood. Has it ever occurred -to you, sir, that the great enlightened masses -not only in America but here in central Europe regard -us not with the hatred of half a century ago, but with -impatience and contempt; that they look upon us as -anomalies, anachronisms, ornamental nuisances, and do -not rise to let out our blood on the guillotine only because -they are well aware of the peaceful disintegration, the -irresistible rising of the tide of independence and liberty? -If your people love you—here, not in Hungary!—it is -for your personal qualities, not because you represent -an idea which, in their estimate of life and civilization, -they have relegated to the past, with crinolines and -Bath chairs. Do you suppose that what loyalty you -enjoy will be transferred to the Heir? You know it will -not. That alone is proof enough that the people are carelessly—perhaps -unconsciously—determined to have what -they want—monarchy, only if it happen to suit them at -the moment. There is only one monarchy on the face -of the earth enlightened enough to grasp this fact before -it is too late, and that is England. There alone is monarchy -not ridiculous—and not threatened. What do -you suppose is the meaning of the immense and undaunted -increase of socialism in Germany? What is the -meaning of the incalculable and persistent forces of disintegration<span class="pagenum" id="Page_368">[368]</span> -in this empire? Look at Italy. At Spain. -At Turkey. At Russia—that dares not sleep. Only -the insignificant little monarchies are comparatively safe -from themselves, being occupied with apprehension of -the greater. Even in the United States the unsatisfied -tide of liberty is rising. McKinley was not shot by -a lunatic, a fanatic, nor by a member of any deadly organization; -the assassin was merely one of the millions -of dissatisfied poor in the richest country on earth, -where he saw liberty and justice becoming as paralytic -as in Europe. Did the portent of that assassination -never occur to you? And with this spirit abroad in the -world we dare over here to play at divine rights, at -being hereditary rulers of millions more enlightened -than ourselves—we—pygmies—marionettes—who may -be born as foolish as the last Emperor of Austria and -King of Hungary, who thought that all eagles had two -heads, and yet dare to mount a throne and cry ‘I am -King!’ No one has ever more devoutly tried to do -what he conceived to be his inherited duty than I have -done. I have, for many years, been deliberately blind. -During these last months in Hungary I have <i>held</i> the -scales to my eyes lest they fall off. Last night down -there in the crypt, where, if you must know, I went in -the hope of finding my old idols, I lost most of those scales. -To-day I have lost the last of them. If I had it in my -power to do, I would give liberty and the broadest -sort of constitutional government to every man that -breathes. I am mortified that it took the deprivation -of my own liberty to force my brain to acknowledge the -truth. I would rather I had been less human and welcomed -the truth as the result of much deep and intelligent -meditation. But to expect the godlike of one of -us of royal blood is beyond reason, and I am thankful -that I am not too dense to receive illumination from any<span class="pagenum" id="Page_369">[369]</span> -source. But I loathe my blood. I hope to God I may -live to see every monarch now alive a useful member of -a republic and no man degraded by being forced to -submit to what he had no hand in making. I am sorry -to have detained and agitated you; and for any unintentional -rudeness I hope your Majesty will forgive me. -For you, until to-day, I have had a great respect. For -what you stand for it is impossible that I should ever -again have anything but the profoundest contempt. I -will not detain you any longer except to repeat that -you will save yourself a great deal of trouble if you give -up at once this idea of marrying me to any man but the -one I shall select for myself.”</p> - -<p>She no longer looked hideous. The relief of her emotions, -the tide of passion which had surged over its dam -laden with the profoundest truth of the century, had -carried her to the heights of her nature, and she had -never been more beautiful—nor more formidable. Not -so the Emperor. He was purple, and his heavy underlip -trembled. But he preserved his dignity, his soldierly -bearing. As she moved aside to let him pass, he -bowed courteously to her without speaking and left -the room.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">XXXII</h3> -</div> - -<p>The Princess Sarolta, Prince Illehazy, Countess Vilma -Festetics, Alexandra Abbott, and Count Zrinyi sat in -agitated conclave in the palace of Buda. The Countess -Piroska Zápolya was officially in bed with an attack of -influenza.</p> - -<p>The five friends sat close together in the blue drawing-room. -Sarolta had related the story of the appalling interview -between the Emperor and Ranata as reported -to herself by a faithful maid of the Archduchess; who<span class="pagenum" id="Page_370">[370]</span> -had almost fainted in a window-curtain. The woman -had escaped to invoke the aid of the powerful Obersthofmeisterin -before orders had been issued for the isolation -of the Archduchess’s servants.</p> - -<p>“There you are!” exclaimed Sarolta, who frequently -expressed herself in English for the sake of its facile -idiom. “God help us, what a lashing she must have -given him! It was not the first, poor dear man, but I -doubt if he ever had it quite so straight; for Ranata’s -brain would always preserve her from the usual feminine -tangents. But—but—our poor princess! she is a -prisoner! Do you realize it? He will keep his word, -the more rigorously as he now no doubt thinks she is -mad. And <i>Aloys Franz</i>! If I didn’t love Ranata, nothing -would amuse me more than to look on at his attempts -to reduce her to submission. But the situation -is not humorous; it is tragic! What in Heaven’s name -are we to do to help her? We shall not be able even to -get a word of consolation to her; not one of us will be -allowed to visit her; she will receive no letters; she will -be shut up for months, perhaps, with <i>Maria Leopoldina</i>, -for whom I feel an even more acute sympathy than -for herself. And she, with that active brain, that nervous -temperament—no exercise, no society, no change—Good -God! she may lose her reason.”</p> - -<p>“That need not concern us,” said Alexandra. “Nor -Aloys Franz. They’ll never marry her, with or without -antediluvian methods. But the rest is bad enough. -Surely the Emperor will let her exercise in the riding-school. -She would still be in the Hofburg and sufficiently guarded.”</p> - -<p>“I am sure the Emperor will not hear of it. The -official announcement has been made that she is suffering -from a light attack of influenza—light, you will -understand, that neither suspicion nor too much sympathy<span class="pagenum" id="Page_371">[371]</span> -may be awakened. If she went as far as the -riding-school there would be too many people in the -secret. She is confined to five rooms and a corridor, -and there I am afraid she will stay. Refractory princesses -have been shut up since the beginning of kings, -and will be until all the kings have gone to the guillotine. -Poor dear!”</p> - -<p>“I shall telegraph to my brother at once. We have a -code. He will get her out. Be sure of that. If he -doesn’t he may look upon his life as a failure. He will, -however.”</p> - -<p>“Would it not be better,” suggested Prince Illehazy, -“if Mr. Abbott did not take any step in the matter? It -might create a scandal and do the Princess a lasting -injury. She has a severe ordeal before her, but I think -there is no doubt she will win. Her will is stronger than -the King’s. I think it would be better to leave the -matter to Time.”</p> - -<p>“Time!—a woman like Ranata for six months, a year, -in confinement and uncertainty! She must be got out -at once, and there is only one person who can make the -deliverance final. Now I am going to say something -that will make you all jump. My brother intends to -marry Ranata.”</p> - -<p>They did jump, with the exception of Vilma.</p> - -<p>“<i>Ach so!</i>” Sarolta’s tones were guttural with irony, -but her fingers shook slightly as she lit a cigar.</p> - -<p>“But, mademoiselle,” murmured Prince Illehazy -politely, “you know, of course, that it is impossible. -No one can sympathize more than I with the romance of -youth, and I have been deeply interested; but marriage—between -an Archduchess of Austria and Princess of -Hungary and, pardon me, an American—you who know -your Europe must surely have discouraged Mr. Abbott.”</p> - -<p>“I never set myself impossible tasks. Fessenden will<span class="pagenum" id="Page_372">[372]</span> -marry Ranata; of that I have not the slightest doubt. I -know now that I have always anticipated it—and so has -my father!—although as far as I am concerned I thought -of it until lately as a dream, rather. I know now that it -was a belief, and founded on my intimate knowledge of -both and of their fitness for each other; as well as on -that very knowledge of Europe which assures me that -if I live I shall see greater social revolutions than the -marriage of an American with a princess of the blood. -You are dumfounded because you know Europe only. -Go over and live in the United States for a while and -you will come back with the future in your brain as -well as the past.”</p> - -<p>“I have never been in the United States, but I think -this strange love-affair is the most beautiful thing in -the world, and I would help them if I could!”</p> - -<p>It was Vilma who spoke, and she was leaning forward -with her hands gripping the arms of her chair. The -grayish pallor of her skin had never been more noticeable, -and the lines about her mouth were tense. Not only -had every nerve been on edge since Ranata’s departure -two days ago, but she was possessed by the exaltation -of the martyr; she was not going to the stake for the -ideals of the proud aristocracy of her ancient country, -but in sacrificing those ideals in the hope to compass the -happiness of two exceptional beings she felt that she -had made good her claim to the martyr’s crown. But -the time had come when her morbidity might prove more -useful than the healthy impatience of Alexandra, who -had little talent for intrigue; and who looked upon -Vilma as one of the unfortunate products of a too -conservative aristocracy.</p> - -<p>“Princess,” she continued, appealing to her chief, -“you do not approve, of course. But you would not -betray us if we attempted to help her?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_373">[373]</span>Sarolta bit the end of her cigar. “I would do all I -could to help her out of this difficulty; but connive at -her marriage with an American—never! I have outgrown -romantic nonsense; and I am also a loyal subject -of my king, although I do think he is an—”</p> - -<p>“But what you did not know, dear Princess, you -would not feel obliged to discover, now that you are -no longer Obersthofmeisterin,” said Vilma wheedlingly. -“Why not leave it to her? You do not believe, do you, -that she would make such a marriage?”</p> - -<p>“I do not. There at least my faith is unshaken.”</p> - -<p>“Then take me to Vienna with you, and close your -eyes if I try to communicate with her. Only I can, for I -am quite unknown in Vienna, insignificant in appearance, -and if the King has ever seen me he would not recognize -me. I cannot go unless you take me, but go I must.”</p> - -<p>Sarolta, whose heart, as the astute Vilma well knew, -was aching, appeared to consider deeply. Finally she -shrugged her shoulders. “I cannot see what you could -accomplish; but you might let her see you occasionally in -the Franzensplatz and give her a little comfort. The rest -of us cannot go near it. Alex, of course you will return -with me as soon as I have closed the palace. Zrinyi, I -think you and Vienna had better be strangers for the -present.”</p> - -<p>“I go to Vienna the day you do,” announced Zrinyi. -“The King, on second thoughts, will do nothing more to -irritate Hungary. If he ordered me out of Vienna I -should return here and tell the whole story. Molnár -would go off his head and demand the liberty and return -of the Princess as the price of peace in the country. -In any case he could set the tongues of all Europe -wagging, and the King would find himself outwitted. -He is shrewd enough to know this—or his ministers -are. They will pursue a very moderate and conservative<span class="pagenum" id="Page_374">[374]</span> -course outside the Hofburg. After all, this is the -twentieth century.”</p> - -<p>“Who would have thought it!” said Alexandra. “Will -you come with me, Count, while I write my telegram, -and then send it yourself?”</p> - -<p>“I would take it to Berlin if I could get there as -quickly,” said Zrinyi gallantly.</p> - -<p>“Count,” murmured his tormentor as they left the -room, “you are a brick. I am a grateful soul. I feel -uncommonly like rewarding you.”</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">XXXIII</h3> -</div> - -<p>For twenty-four hours Ranata’s brain whirled to no -machinery but her wrath. To that succeeded an energetic -desire to escape. All her prejudices and separate -ambitions had gone down in that final moment -of disillusion, and she was determined to marry Fessenden -Abbott as soon as she was beyond the reach of her -father. But her brain, fertile as it was, and abnormally -active, could conceive no method of leaving unobserved -that great palace of many corridors never for a moment -deserted. She was forced to relinquish her intention -to bribe the guards, for there were constantly -three together, and it would seem that they were changed -every half-hour. To assume the disguise of a servant -was equally impracticable, for not one of those in attendance -upon her reached her shoulder, and they were -as closely watched as herself. Her rooms were not -high above the ground, but a guard paced beneath her -window day and night, and the guard-room was opposite. -She was in the very heart of a great European capital -preeminent in science and art, the civilized virtues and -vices, not a hundred yards from cabs and crowded<span class="pagenum" id="Page_375">[375]</span> -streets, and no mountain fortress could enclose her -more securely.</p> - -<p>When Maria Leopoldina arrived, after a delay welcome -to both, Ranata greeted her with some warmth, -but frankly asked her to remain in her own rooms as -much as possible. This the duenna was more than -willing to do. Not only had she returned to her exacting -post from her pleasant retirement with a reluctance -she dared not express to her sovereign, but she had a -very considerable understanding of her former charge, -and was by no means unsympathetic. She recognized -the necessity of drastic measures in so lamentable a -state of a princess’s affections and temper, and she -should do her duty cost her what it might; but she -would obey the letter of her instructions only, and -leave the prisoner such freedom as she still could find -within her own walls.</p> - -<p>And then the days dragged themselves out. Ranata -saw no one but her cousin and servants, received no -message from the world; even Maria Leopoldina was -not permitted the solace of a newspaper. Ranata seldom -sat down, but moved about until all her body ached -with weariness, pausing every few moments to look down -upon the Franzensplatz, through the sheltering lace of -the curtain, in the hope that Fessenden Abbott would -saunter through with intent to give her courage. If -she tried to forget her plight in a book she would fling -it down presently and fly to the window lest she miss -him.</p> - -<p>In these first hours she was too hard for lovers’ regrets, -so wroth was she at the insult put upon her individuality, -and so great her astonishment that with all the intellect -and character of which she had vaunted herself she was -as helpless to move in behalf of her own destiny, as poor -in resource, in these primitive circumstances to which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_376">[376]</span> -her father and sovereign had reduced her, as any little -fool of the Middle Ages. Although she had been warned -by her opportunities of close observation against the -devouring and repulsive selfishness of those who pushed -the <i>culte du moi</i> to its modern limits, yet few women had -so proudly developed their individuality, few had so -jealously insisted upon the right of the brain to its own -thoughts, of the character to develop in its own way -and as far as human limitations would permit. If she -had until her visit to Hungary been submissive to the -laws of her position it had been because she had deliberately -chosen submission, and aloofness, as her part, -as her highest duties to her house; not because she -stood in the slightest awe of her father, or recognized -his right to direct her thoughts and conduct. It is -doubtful if she could have loved Fessenden Abbott had -she not recognized in him a spirit as free as her own, -and an enlightenment and a sympathetic understanding -which would never seek to change nor control her. She -had found a mate, not a master, and both being the -extreme products of their century, their prospects of a -lifelong desire for partnership exceeded those in the -great restless sea of awakened intelligence between the -highest type and the commonplace. Ranata, in more -passionate hours of longing and anguish, had felt the -possibilities she relinquished, rather than grasped them -with her reason, but now she knew their full significance, -and the knowledge helped her to deeper indignation of -the mediæval conditions into which she had abruptly -been thrust.</p> - -<p>The days passed and the lover gave no sign that he was -as distraught as the prisoner. There are times in life -when one lives very fast. The first forty-eight hours of -her imprisonment consumed the mental energies of -months. As the first excitement decreased, and with it<span class="pagenum" id="Page_377">[377]</span> -something of the novelty of her situation, her mind was -free again for thoughts and dreams she had been half -glad to forget, so many were the pangs they had held. -And in the train of love came all the doubts and tragic -conceptions with which a woman cursed with imagination -never fails to torment herself. The women for -whom men would most willingly die—if there be yet -that spirit abroad in the world—women who in the end -are most sure to discard the still ardent lover, often -suffer in their imaginary tragedies as intensely as their -more constant and less valued sisters in their hopeless -realities. Ranata was not the woman to love and tire, -but her imagination was the least controlled of her -faculties. She descended into the very depths of depression -and convinced herself that Fessenden Abbott -had taken her at her word and returned to America -before any one had suspected her imprisonment and -sent him warning. (The faithful maid had not dared -to confess her eavesdropping.) She might be confined -here until she lost her reason, and he would drown his -thoughts of her in the hideous details of business, or in -those great schemes of his, remembering her only as a -purified spirit; likely enough, wearying of the cold picture. -She forgot her ideals, even her instinctive knowledge of -him, and treated his vows with cynicism. What man in -this practical modern world—and the world was practical -and modern outside of the Hofburg—would be faithful -to the woman hidden forever from his sight? He would -marry, of course, and forget her; why, indeed, should he -not? And what if he did? There were times when she -hated him, when in the prolonged contemplation of his -commonplace infidelity she despised him as unworthy of -her, and hardened her heart until she doubted if it ever -would melt again, even if he suddenly appeared and -took her in his arms.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_378">[378]</span>These crises in a woman’s brain are very unfortunate, -and when men are wiser they will study to prevent them. -After all, it is the psychical experience that tells, not the -visible cause, and the scars may be deep and callous. In -this case poor Fessenden was helpless, and Ranata had -still felt and known so little that she had elasticity enough -to survive several such crises without the worst effects; -but if life had added bitterness to her store of experience -she might have come out of her ordeal with her -best prospect for happiness blasted.</p> - -<p>Time cured this mood; but the passing of doubt and -the restoration of the lover to favor helped her little to -serenity. She recalled every look, the tones of his voice, -every moment they had snatched together, all that he -had taught her. She remembered every trick of speech -and expression, the lighter but still personal habit they -had fallen into of sitting apart for a few minutes after -the tea-hour, while the others were drinking their coffee -in one of the reception-rooms, at the opera and theatre, -or riding to the Schwabenberg in the early morning. -These had become established habits, and she regretted -them almost as intensely as the more concentrated moments; -she had known to the full the tantalizing sweetness -of the intimate understanding in a crowd.</p> - -<p>And she recalled all she knew of him through the stories -he had told her of himself in the years before they had -met. They revealed him in many phases, and she had -often lingered on them when alone. But there was one -that now seemed to be always in her brain, to rise vividly -in the brief moments when she was not struggling with a -passion of grief, of regret, above all striving to tear her -mind from the uncertainty, the maddening inability to act.</p> - -<p>It was a brief graphic story of an adventure in a -mountain-pass in Venezuela, when with three or four -men he had been set upon by half a score of the threatened<span class="pagenum" id="Page_379">[379]</span> -dictator’s followers. The case had been desperate, -there had been a few moments when he had never expected -to see a wider sky again, and in those moments it -was not so much he that had fought as Life itself. His -pistol emptied, stabbed, shot, his clothing almost off his -back, he was dragged to and fro on the rough mountain-road, -hacking, struggling, hating, not a harking in him -to his old love of the fight in that gasping tortured -wrestle with Death himself; possessed only by the -furious determination of Life to persist, to win against -the enemy that never for an instant sleeps on its trail—so -that the wonder is man lives a month from birth. -At the end it had seemed to him that he saw the two -ancient enemies at each other’s throats.</p> - -<p>Fessenden’s face had been composed enough as he told -the story, but her imagination had visioned it set and -desperate, pictured the swollen chords of his neck, the -muscles on his half-naked and bleeding body bulging with -rage and resistance. His eye had glazed as Keene arrived -and put the assassins to flight, and he had sunk into -unconsciousness in bitterness and resentment, believing -that he was dying. None of his stories of brilliant and -reckless adventure had stirred her like this glimpse into -his primeval depths, depths which in the lower types -make for ruin, and when rarely in the ken of the great -forces of soul and brain are chief among the main-springs -of a man’s conquest over Life. The oftener this picture -recurred to her, the face convulsed, or indomitable and -grim, of the man she understood so well, the more was -she persuaded that something had happened to still his -energies, or he would have made her a sign before this. -It had not needed that story to convince her that his -courage would never fail him, but it now served the purpose -of suggesting a similar strait where a wild revolt -against death availed him nothing.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_380">[380]</span>It needed only a shock to send the blood to her head -and deliver her nerves from the control of her will, which -had struggled hard to keep in office. The shock came, -and Maria Leopoldina was the apologetic medium. She -entered Ranata’s sitting-room on the sixth morning of -the imprisonment with a newspaper, and pointed to a -marked paragraph. The news item stated that the -famous American, Herr Abbott, had sailed on his yacht -from Trieste for New York on the previous day.</p> - -<p>Then it was that the blood flew to Ranata’s head and -stayed there. It disorganized her will, almost her powers -of consecutive thought. A moment of forgetfulness and -the tide of feeling, of terrified emotion, poured upward -again, shaking her body and racking her nerves. She -slept but a few hours at night, waking with a load of -despair and terror in her brain. Her desperate efforts at -self-control, her prayers for strength, were of no avail; for -it must be remembered that mental suffering is a physical -thing after all, psychical as may be the heights it is flung -upon, and, until it has spent itself, as little to be controlled -as a fever of the body. There was a constant -effort in her throat to gasp, and moments of such utter -and tumultuous despair that it seemed to her she saw -straight into the soul of her brother during his last -tormented moments. For it is in such depths of mental -suffering, when the passions are in absolute control of -the brain, and the victim if not mad might as well be, -that life is taken. The strength in Ranata’s soul fought -dumbly and persistently for mastery, and won in the -end, but a weaker woman, with imagination and passions -as strong, would have killed herself.</p> - -<p>Finally she demanded of Maria Leopoldina—blissfully -ignorant of the tragedies enacting within the hard exterior -of her charge—a sleeping-potion; and the stewardess, -when she returned with it, brought also the information<span class="pagenum" id="Page_381">[381]</span> -that as a hasty marriage would undoubtedly cause -a scandal exactly similar to that which had entertained -Europe upon the informal exit into matrimony of the -late wife of the Archduke Aloys Franz, it had been -determined that the ceremony should not take place -until two months hence. The official announcement -of the engagement would be made presently, however, -and until the day of the wedding she must remain in -her rooms.</p> - -<p>“Why, now that Mr. Abbott has gone?” asked -Ranata. “Why deprive me of my liberty when I could -make no use of it?”</p> - -<p>“I cannot say, my dear,” answered Maria Leopoldina. -“It would not take him long to come back, you know; -and then you have not given your formal consent to -marriage with Aloys.”</p> - -<p>“That is a point I had quite forgotten,” said Ranata -dryly. “I hope my father and my prospective husband -are not unduly impatient.”</p> - -<p>On the following day, after the surcease of the sleeping-powder, -and the inevitable reaction from many days of -torment, she felt almost light-hearted and frivolous, and -wondered if it were possible to suffer like that more than -once in a lifetime. Passing a window her eye was idly -attracted by the shabby figure of a tourist. It was a -bright winter’s day, and visitors to the great capital -came to look at the fine bronze of old Emperor Franz -and the gilded wall where the drawbridge had been. -Ranata envied them deeply, nameless as no doubt they -were—she had a vague idea that all sight-seers were a -composite with a number—for they had their precious -liberty, no doubt belonged to such free and happy -countries as England and America.</p> - -<p>This insignificant little woman carried a Baedeker, -which she read industriously, walking round and round<span class="pagenum" id="Page_382">[382]</span> -the statue, with but an occasional upward glance at the -work of art. Alexandra had told Ranata of tourists who -read their Baedekers on the Rhine, forgetting to look at -the historic monuments described, and she watched this -illustration with some amusement. Suddenly her brows -met, and she drew closer to the window. There was -something oddly familiar in the little deliberate steps, -in the fashion of opening and closing the book. And this -tourist had been here on other days, when her brain was -too surcharged to piece impression to thought! In a -moment the girl paused with her back to the window, -and, raising her hand, nervously twisted a curl on the -right of her neck. It was Vilma Festetics.</p> - -<p>She turned, her curious tourist eye roving over the -ugly wall of the palace, concealing unimaginable splendors! -She even sighed, and let her mouth fall with -discontent. Ranata shook the edge of the curtain. -Vilma came forward laggingly, her eyes on her book. -The guard was inspecting the peculiar antics of another -tourist, who had a bulge beneath his coat. When -Vilma was directly beneath the window Ranata threw -it open and leaned out.</p> - -<p>“He has not gone,” said Vilma distinctly, “and he -wants your answer before he proceeds further.”</p> - -<p>And Ranata answered as distinctly: “Yes. Yes. Yes.”</p> - -<p>It was all over in an instant. Vilma had shot through -the archway and mingled with the throng in the Michaelerplatz -and Ranata had closed her window before -the astounded guards realized they had been outwitted.</p> - -<p>Ranata sat down to await the consequences of her act. -Her heart sang, and she did not care in the least what -they might be. Indeed, closer imprisonment, probably -a change of quarters, was the worst she had to fear; her -father was not benighted enough to put her in solitary -confinement, nor even on bread and water. She wondered<span class="pagenum" id="Page_383">[383]</span> -at her doubts, at her facile acceptance of a news item that -no doubt had been inserted by order of the Emperor. -She knew now that Fessenden had made his plans and -that he would not fail. She looked back in amazement -at the power and instinct of woman to torment herself, -and she also felt a throb of satisfaction that she should -not grow old and ugly in the course of a month, as she -had fully expected to do. Finally she shed tears of wondering -gratitude, and for a few moments felt as humble -as a man could wish.</p> - -<hr class="tb"> - -<p>It was not until two days later that Maria Leopoldina -announced herself to the Archduchess at an early hour, -and with an air of deep depression imparted the information -that they were to leave Vienna on the following -morning.</p> - -<p>“I infer that we are bound for the country,” said -Ranata smiling. “It is unfortunate that you should -hate it as much as I love it. Cannot some other trustworthy -duenna be found?”</p> - -<p>The Obersthofmeisterin shook her head with gloomy -pride. “How many people has his Majesty had reason -to trust? I may not be as brilliant at Sarolta, but I shall -live and die in the confidence of my sovereign. And as I -have borne so many crosses in this life, I may perhaps -hope for compensation in the next.”</p> - -<p>“Where there will be no kings?”</p> - -<p>“I see no fault in our august relative,” said Maria -Leopoldina hurriedly.</p> - -<p>“I should not tell him if you did. Where are we -going?”</p> - -<p>“That, I deeply regret to say, I am not permitted to -tell you until we are in the train. But we are going not -only because you have had the misfortune to incur the -royal displeasure, but because, as you are not to be<span class="pagenum" id="Page_384">[384]</span> -married immediately, his Majesty fears for your health -if you are confined too long in-doors.”</p> - -<p>Ranata drew a long breath. “To live out of doors -again! Even alone it will be the next best thing to the -Atlantic Ocean on a yacht.”</p> - -<p>“What?” demanded the stewardess sharply.</p> - -<p>“Oh, you will not have to go to sea with me; and you -will be rid of me sooner than you think.”</p> - -<p>On the following morning, Ranata, accompanied only -by Maria Leopoldina, three officers of the Emperor’s -household, and her servants, left Vienna, not in the -Emperor’s private car but in ordinary railway carriages -reserved for her use. She wore the plainest of her -travelling-frocks, nor was there anything in the appearance -of her modest suite to attract attention; and -in the heavy fog of daybreak even the mounted escort -that guarded her to the station passed unnoticed.</p> - -<p>When Vienna was an hour behind them Maria Leopoldina -informed the prisoner that they were bound for -the Adriatic, for the castle of Miramar, built by Maximilian -several years before his departure for Mexico. The -information gave Ranata pleasure, for she had never seen -the beautiful home from which her uncle had sailed to his -romantic and ignominious fate. Her father and mother -had avoided it since long before her birth, but she knew -that the castle was as comfortable as it was magnificent, -and that there were grounds in whose labyrinths she -could walk for hours without the monotony of repetition. -Suddenly she had an inspiration.</p> - -<p>“Did my father order Mr. Abbott’s yacht to leave -Trieste?” she asked.</p> - -<p>“Ah!—well, it can do no harm—he did.”</p> - -<p>“Where is it?”</p> - -<p>“That I do not know. I think his Majesty has not -inquired—so long as it is not in Austrian waters.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_385">[385]</span>“Does my father expect to keep my departure, my -residence at so conspicuous a spot as Miramar, a secret?”</p> - -<p>“That will not matter. There will be an official -announcement made that you are gone to the sea to -recuperate from an attack of the influenza, and a man-of-war -has been ordered to Trieste; it will anchor off the -castle. The guard in the castle and grounds has been -quadrupled from the garrison at Trieste. Moreover—I -will tell you all, as it can do no harm—Mr. Abbott has -given his <i>parole d’honneur</i> that he will make no attempt -to carry you off; he wished you to be removed to the -country, it seems. He has had the audacity to ask your -hand of his Majesty. I suppose he is of unsound mind, -poor young man.”</p> - -<p>And Maria Leopoldina had the profound satisfaction -of writing to her sovereign and cousin that evening -that his daughter had received this proof of American absurdity -and presumption with a peal of laughter which -had warmed her own heart, heavy with responsibility, -and with sympathy for his most gracious majesty.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">XXXIV</h3> -</div> - -<p>The Emperor of Austria, the Emperor of Germany, Mr. -Abbott, and Fessenden Abbott sat in secret and informal -conclave in a small audience-chamber in the Hofburg. -The host sat behind a table between two high and heavy -golden candlesticks. The Emperors, erect in their uniforms, -were imposing figures. They had the free supple -upright carriage of men whose lives have been more -than half passed in the saddle, and their eyes sparkled -with the evidence of exercise and fresh air, regular -habits, and systematic care. Mr. Abbott, in a frock-coat, -was huddled in a perpendicular chair of crimson<span class="pagenum" id="Page_386">[386]</span> -velvet and gilded oak, in a vain endeavor to make himself -comfortable, and surreptitiously consuming tabloids; -suffering in the stomach he had failed to treat as -a brother the tortures of the damned. He looked with -envy at the older Emperor who had been born some -twenty years before himself, had endured enough public -cares and private castigations to kill half a dozen -Americans, and looked more vigorous than many in -their youth. It was even possible that he might outlive -the young man who aspired to be his son-in-law; toward -whom his eyes, in spite of his will, wandered in the -fascination of a shock from which he found himself -unable to recover.</p> - -<p>It was now a fortnight since he had been made aware -that nothing less was asked of him than that he should -give his daughter in marriage to a scion of a country not -only devoid of every tradition of royalty, but of an -hereditary aristocracy; and while he was still stunned -and dully alarmed for what he conceived to be his -failing wits, this demand had been backed up by an -offer which had awakened him, it is true, but, he having -outlived the age of romance and enthusiasm, had by -no means met with favor, nor even credulity. To avoid -war in any form was the final ambition of his life, and -he was proud of his position as keeper of the peace of -central and eastern Europe. On the other hand, he -admitted that were he forty years younger he would -doubtless have grasped any reasonable opportunity to -rid Europe of the governments of Russia and Turkey, -civilize and give happiness to those two countries, -estimable enough in themselves, and mount to a place -in history high above the mistakes and disasters of his -unfortunate reign. But he was old, and with the -selfishness of the old had long since resolved that he -would close his reign in peace could it be done without<span class="pagenum" id="Page_387">[387]</span> -dishonor. As for the inventions, they seemed to him -as chimerical as the prospective telegraph did to his -forefathers, as the telephone would seem to an Esquimaux. -Moreover, that the restless and uncertain quantity -who claimed him as his “fatherly friend” was the -one from whom the astounding proposition came, was -enough to fill his bosom to repletion with distrust; the -more especially as the invention was the property of an -American notoriously the German’s friend. The Emperor -took little interest in American history or affairs, -but it happened that he knew a good deal about Fessenden -Abbott; not only through the intimacy of Alexandra -with his daughter, nor yet through an acquaintance of -long standing with Mr. Abbott—for whom he had a -very considerable respect—but because of the young -man’s menacing exploit in South America, his establishment -of certain and apparently impregnable industries -in Europe, and his reputation as a manipulator of men. -No doubt he was the only man in his raw country who -would have dared so far as to love a princess of royal -blood, much less have had the incomprehensible audacity -to bargain for her hand; but of all men in any -objectionable republic whatsoever, the Emperor-King -knew of no one to whom under severest stress he would -longer hesitate to give any sort of recognition. He was -aware of young Abbott’s principles and theories; they -had been hammered into his smarting ears by the only -one of his children who had been dowered to the full -with the haughty and intolerant spirit of her race; and -he looked upon him as a menace to the best that was -left in the world. The wealth of these two men appalled -him, albeit he was the richest monarch in Europe; and -as he listened once more to the description of the incredible -inventions and their certainties, he found himself -staring at the little old man in the chair and the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_388">[388]</span> -vigorous restless young man standing by the window -much as a half-dazed man watches the approach of a -land cyclone, whirling houses, people, and trees in its -funnel.</p> - -<p>He had been astounded that one of his generals, -whom he had sent to Berlin to witness the experiments, -had returned convinced, and advocating war; and he -had been still more astonished and upset when, in the -formal consultation which at the insistence of the German -Emperor he had held with his cabinets, he found -that to a man they were for accepting the offer of the -American. During the past week his ears had rung -to no tune but the glorious finish of his reign, the -inestimable service he had it in his power to bestow upon -Christianity and Europe, the sure future of his Dual -Monarchy—which the intoxicating knowledge of its -greatness would solidify. The only thing they had -stumbled over was the condition; for the Emperor was -no more conservative than his aristocracy, and the idea -of allying the most exclusive monarchy in the world with -the most blatant and dangerous of republics, that moreover -which had recently whipped one of the ancient -states of Europe, was a huge pill for them to swallow. -Had it not been that they all felt that Europe would -be well rid of this particular princess—even Königsegg, -with this alternative—it is doubtful if, no matter what -their reason for approving this projected war, they -would have opened their batteries upon the Emperor -But as it was, the old sovereign, who had permitted these -many years his advisers to do so much of his thinking -had an irritated subconsciousness of being trapped, and -hardly realized yet that he had actually gone so far as to -grant this private audience and to permit the royal -countenance to shine upon a manifest impossibility.</p> - -<p>It was notable that the Emperor of Germany, in spite<span class="pagenum" id="Page_389">[389]</span> -of his warm friendship for Fessenden, had drawn his -chair close to his host’s, and for the moment was in fuller -sympathy with him; an unconscious manifestation of -that <i>esprit de corps</i> which exists among great rulers, -no matter what their differences. Fessenden felt this -but did not resent it; but he also felt that it left him -practically alone, his father’s faculties being necessarily -bent to introspection; but the isolation merely put him -on his mettle, and he had fought too many battles -single-handed to feel any faintness of spirit. Even he did -not compare favorably in freshness with the two Emperors, -for he had known too many anxious hours in the -past three weeks, too many sleepless nights; but his -temper was now cast in iron.</p> - -<p>“Your general, as well as the Prussian generals who -have witnessed the experiments, are satisfied that -failure is impossible,” he said, having finished the -description of the inventions, which, like all great inventions, -were simple enough. “It will be the first -time in the history of the world that a war will have -commenced with no uncertainty whatever as to the -issue.”</p> - -<p>The Austrian Emperor answered with a German proverb, -the equivalent of “There’s many a slip ’twixt cup -and lip.”</p> - -<p>“We include no bunglers in our calculations, sir,” said -Fessenden dryly. “Although every precaution will be -taken against their admittance in the first place.”</p> - -<p>The Emperor turned to his brother of Germany, who -answered promptly: “I will confess that I entertained -the identical doubts of your Majesty, at first, but I have -since been fully convinced. And I am also convinced -that it is our great and only chance. Sooner or later, -doubtless before half a dozen years have passed, Russia -will be at war with Japan. That war may involve the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_390">[390]</span> -rest of Europe, including ourselves; and fighting for our -lives perhaps instead of shaping history as we think -best. Sooner still there is bound to be trouble again -in Turkey, which may involve one or more of the -Balkans, and if we delay we shall once more be in the -periodically mortifying position of daring to do nothing -for the peace of Europe, for humanity, in our fear of -Russia. At present we are in the not imposing position -of merely holding on to our inheritances by what my -American friend would call main strength. I conceive -that a sovereign has a higher duty. This great power -is not given to him in the interest of his inheritance -alone, although no doubt its welfare is his first duty, but -as a stepping-stone to a greater power which shall benefit -the human race. It is often the case, as your Majesty -well knows, that a ruler may be so confined by circumstances -that he can make no such attempt without -causing disaster instead of benefit, but the great men -of history have been alive to the great moment. I -believe that ours has come, your Majesty.”</p> - -<p>The old Emperor darted a glance at his rival and -friend, as though to note if his tongue were in his cheek. -He answered with the same accent of respect, however.</p> - -<p>“I cannot fail to respond to words so stirring, your -Majesty, and I need not add that my conception of the -lofty duties of a ruler is precisely the same as your own. -But war in any case is a stupendous calamity, if only for -the loss of life it incurs. And in any conditions the -added responsibilities of conquered territory are among -the weightiest considerations which must always affect -a ruler no longer young. In this case, with the half of -Russia and Turkey and the Balkans to add to my -present heavy load, I confess the prospect does not -allure me! Reflect, your Majesty, that I have already -a perpetual nightmare in Hungary. If I were a generation<span class="pagenum" id="Page_391">[391]</span> -younger I might contemplate with equanimity -the additional problem of sixty or seventy million more -subjects clamoring for constitutions, but not now!”</p> - -<p>William did not reply that he would gladly relieve -his august friend of all but his countenance; he answered -quickly.</p> - -<p>“It will be our part to civilize these people, to give -them the benefit of the reforms they have long been -promised and never granted. That will keep them -quiet for a while. When they reach the stage where -enough has begotten a desire for more, then we can deal -with them by another method for which we will have -the inspiration at the right moment. And in this war, -your Majesty, there need be no loss of life on our side; -there will of course on the other for a short time, but -less by many thousands than both Turkey and Russia -will cause before Europe is many years older, less than -die of famine and filth every year.”</p> - -<p>He stood up, his eyes flashing, his cheeks glowing. -Europeans, unlike Anglo-Saxons, are not afraid of expressing -lofty sentiments, and William was the last man -to consider whether people approved or not of any -sentiments he chose to entertain. “I believe that it is -our destiny, your Majesty,” he cried. “And that it is -the greatest destiny that ever has befallen any sovereign. -For, I swear to you all, I have no desire to be a second -Napoleon, crushing and ravaging, but to rule men for -their good, to have a vast empire in which human life -shall be as protected, as safe, as it is in my own empire -to-day, where all may have a chance to prosper and be -happy, to worship God in their own way, where such -tyranny of the mind and body as still exists in these -benighted parts of Europe—to our shame, your Majesty, -to our shame!—will be abolished so completely that -the children of those who suffer so bitterly to-day shall<span class="pagenum" id="Page_392">[392]</span> -listen to tales of the past with incredulous amazement. -I have burned for this since the day I ascended the -throne, but I had no right to plunge my country into a -war in which the chances were all against me. Now I -believe that the day has come!—the day has come! And -I beg, I implore your Majesty not to throw away this -opportunity to make our names and our empires the -most invincible on earth, our opportunity for good such -as no sovereign before has ever dared to dream of. If -we let it pass we deserve the worst that can befall us. -But it is impossible for me to believe that your Majesty -will let it pass. I have seen it all before me! I have -already lived in that future—ruled by the sword, by -kings divinely appointed, sternly, inflexibly, but with -wisdom, with kindness, with justice. I have been -cramped, thwarted, balked at every turn; there have -been times when my interest, even my courage, has almost -failed me; but with a power so vast as this conquest -would give me, I should be invincible, the enemies -in my present empire would crumble. Far from fearing -such increase of power, of responsibility, I court it, -I am eager for it, for with no lesser weapons can I accomplish -the destiny to which I was born.”</p> - -<p>Even Mr. Abbott had forgotten his pangs, and a faint -glow of excitement had entered his gray cheeks. Fessenden, -thrilling, forgot his own desires for the moment: he -knew that however the Emperor might feel to-morrow -that was the way he felt to-day. Indeed there had been -little exaggeration in his mood. William thoroughly -believed in himself and in his gifts and mission as a ruler; -and no matter what the causes of discontent which had -bred the German socialist of to-day—causes insignificant -enough when compared with those of even Italy and -Spain, leaving out Russia and other barbarous states—no -one questioned the clock-work system of rule in his<span class="pagenum" id="Page_393">[393]</span> -country, the security of life and freedom of conscience, -and the solid industrial basis on which he had set it.</p> - -<p>The Emperor of Austria knew him well enough to -believe in him when he was excited, at least, and he too -felt a spark fly up from the ashes in his breast. He -answered temperately, however.</p> - -<p>“I should be the last to forbid the fulfilment of such -worthy ambitions, your Majesty, had this opportunity -come to us in the regular and legitimate channels. -But not only does it savor too much to my mind, grown -old in practicality, of Aladdin’s lamp, but it would place -us under an obligation to a republic on another continent -which, it seems to me, is full of portent.”</p> - -<p>“The obligation is a personal one, your Majesty; and -when we are in possession of Europe I think we will be -in a position to force our own tariff conditions on the -United States. More I cannot say.”</p> - -<p>The older Emperor leaned across the table and fixed -him with his eye.</p> - -<p>“Your Majesty,” he said solemnly, “are there any -conceivable conditions in which you would marry your -daughter to an American?”</p> - -<p>William had expected this question, and had trusted -to inspiration to answer it without betraying the fact -that no such circumstances existed in the womb of Time. -“Your Majesty,” he replied quickly, “may I not answer -your question with another? Is not the Archduchess -Ranata Theresia a menace in her own remarkable self -to the peace of your empire, and doubly so since she has -given in Hungary the evidence of her talents, and -achieved a popularity that no sovereign in Europe enjoys? -I heartily wish she had been born a man, but as -it is I must frankly insist that the future peace of -Europe depends as much upon her removal as upon any -other cause.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_394">[394]</span>“What you say is true enough,” replied the ruler of the -Dual Monarchy gloomily, “but she can be removed -otherwise. You are informed of the alliance I have in -mind?”</p> - -<p>“I am, your Majesty, and with all my humble deference -for your judgment I am forced to say that I do -not believe such a marriage would effect the result we -desire. In the first place, it would be a contest of two -strong wills, and your daughter is a woman of Hapsburg -gifts, quite aside from her force of character; in -the second place, she is a woman of uncommon fascination. -No doubt she would bind the Archduke Aloys -Franz hand and foot, and gratify her ambitions through -him; it must be remembered that she could not be asked -to take the oath of renunciation, your Majesty.”</p> - -<p>The Emperor of Austria stirred uneasily. His daughter’s -charm as a woman had never seriously occurred to -him, but he saw the danger in a flash. Would it not -indeed be better to get her out of Europe? But he -looked at the American leaning against the casement, -encountered the cold blue eyes before which millions -seemed ever passing in review, and stiffened. The -temptation fled. The idea was preposterous enough, -without a son-in-law who would make him feel as if -Europe were on a library-shelf in an antique binding.</p> - -<p>“She can be shut up,” he said briefly. “There is no -necessity to marry her at all. Such things have been -done, and they can be done again—with all kindness, -of course, but as securely as if in an underground -dungeon.”</p> - -<p>Fessenden strode forward and stood in front of the -table.</p> - -<p>“Is that your answer?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“That is my answer.”</p> - -<p>“That you would shut up a woman like that as if she<span class="pagenum" id="Page_395">[395]</span> -were a lunatic or an idiot, without liberty, without -friends, until she went mad or killed herself?”</p> - -<p>“What would be done would be for the good of the -state, and she herself would see it in time.” The last -words were not emphatic, but it was evident that the -gorge of the Emperor was rising.</p> - -<p>“Well, sir, you will do nothing of the sort,” said -Fessenden.</p> - -<p>“What?” The Emperor was on his feet. Angry as he -was, he stood erect and majestic against the red wall, an -imposing figure; but the old man and the young man, the -old world and the new, glared at each other between the -tall candelabra.</p> - -<p>The other men had also risen. The Emperor of Germany, -who had had an instant of deep depression, felt his -spirits rise, and at the same time resented the light -treatment of majesty.</p> - -<p>“You will do nothing of the sort,” repeated Fessenden. -“And before the month is out you will give me your -daughter in marriage here in the Hofburg. I have had no -desire to threaten you, to make you feel your impotence; -I hoped that, like the Emperor of Germany, you would be -sufficiently enlightened to take advantage of the offer I -made—an offer in which you would have had no share, -by the way, but for the daughter you propose to treat as -if she were a wooden doll, or you some long-forgotten -Hapsburg. Now I will tell you, your Majesty, why -you will neither incarcerate her nor forbid her marriage -to me. If you withhold your consent for twenty-four -hours, I shall take the train to-morrow for St. Petersburg -and make the same offer to the Russian government. -You may imagine how long they would hesitate. With -such assurance of success they would strike to-day -instead of waiting a half-dozen years for greater preparedness. -Then, sir, when Austria was a province of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_396">[396]</span> -Russia, your daughter would be the first prisoner set -free.”</p> - -<p>The Emperor had fallen heavily into his chair. As -Fessenden finished speaking, William, with a gasp, -walked to the window. There was a moment of intense -and painful silence, and then the German Emperor -spoke.</p> - -<p>“He will keep his word, your Majesty.”</p> - -<p>The Emperor rose. His face was almost purple. His -heavy Hapsburg mouth was trembling.</p> - -<p>“I shall give you your answer before to-night,” he -said to Fessenden, although he did not look at him. -“And now I beg that you will excuse me. I am unable -to stand any more.”</p> - -<p>He passed out. William turned to Fessenden. His -eyes sparkled with excitement, but he frowned.</p> - -<p>“The battle is won,” he said. “But what a <i>coup -d’etat</i>! I am thankful I knew nothing of it.”</p> - -<p>“I should have been a poor sort of friend to have -taken you as deeply as that into my confidence.”</p> - -<p>“Ah! Well, I wish the Emperor could have consented -more gracefully. I hated seeing him driven to the -wall like that.”</p> - -<p>“So did I. But it was success or failure. The odds -were even. He is the ruler of a great empire, skilled in -power and diplomacy. If I had hesitated to use the only -available means of success, I should not be worth my -salt. For that matter, he merely followed a law of -Nature.”</p> - -<p>“Well, you have won, and I wish you joy. No doubt -you will see her before many days have passed.”</p> - -<p>As they were leaving the room, Fessenden laid his -hand on the other’s arm. “Always remember,” he -said, “that I am no trafficker in human beings. I -throw this great power into your hands because I<span class="pagenum" id="Page_397">[397]</span> -believe you will govern so wisely that your people will -be fitted for the great European republic before you -die.”</p> - -<p>“<i>Ach was!</i>” said the Emperor of Germany.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">XXXV</h3> -</div> - -<p>The <i>bora</i> which had raged for days, making it not only -unsafe but impossible to venture out of doors, had flown -round the isthmus to torment Fiume. The blue Adriatic -sparkled in a great silence, and, so brilliant was the -atmosphere, Ranata could fancy she saw Italy far away -on the edge of the level waters. Even the little breakers -at the foot of the castle growled like cubs instead of -bellowing in fury at the high confident roar in the pine -tops on the hill. The white castle, with its Norman -tower and gateway and innumerable turrets, fresh, -strong, symmetrical, solitary on the long curving line -of white coast, whose little peninsula juts abruptly -from the wooded mountain into the sea, was the fairest -prison that had ever held a princess captive. The -bluest sea in the world was at its feet, the yellow sun -flamed in a sky almost as blue, and on the mountain -behind were the everlasting greens of cypress and pine. -There is no more dazzling combination of color in the -world, and on moonlight nights it is but the exchange -of gold for silver.</p> - -<p>Ranata, standing on the stone terrace in front of the -library and overhanging the sea, her back to the war-ship -on the right of the castle, her eyes roaming from the incomparable -expanse of the Adriatic to Trieste and the -mountains beyond, felt that with knowledge, in addition -to the faith that sustained her, she could serenely endure -her exile throughout what she believed to be the inevitable<span class="pagenum" id="Page_398">[398]</span> -months. She had now been two weeks at -Miramar, and kings might have died and dynasties -fallen, the very continents might be at war, for all the -news that had come to her from the world. Not a letter, -not a newspaper, passed the sentries at the gates; the -grounds swarmed with guards; one paced the terrace -where she stood; others were on duty at the head of the -staircase at night. She met Maria Leopoldina at the -second breakfast and at dinner, and was accompanied -by that vigorous duenna on her long walks in fine -weather, but subjects of common interest had long since -been exhausted and they bore each other silent company, -the older woman too thankful that her charge -was amiable to repine at her own fate.</p> - -<p>Complete faith had restored Ranata’s peace of mind, -delivered her even from variability of mood, and on the -whole she had been glad of these many days alone. She -no longer yearned with romantic melancholy for life -companioned but by a spiritualized memory, but examined -herself and her possibilities conscientiously, and -dwelt much, if soberly, in the upper air. If she idealized -Fessenden and the matrimonial state, that did her no -harm. Still, the time seemed long, and she had not the -least idea by what method the American lover purposed -to induce a Hapsburg to give him his daughter in -marriage. She knew that he would succeed, but she -also knew that the petrifactions in his way might yield -very slowly even to his energy and habit of success.</p> - -<p>She sighed and entered the castle. Her morning walk -had been a long one, and she returned to the library for -rest and the unfailing distraction it afforded her. It was a -lofty room, not too large, the light woods of floor and -ceiling almost reflecting the sunshine which poured -through the windows. Each one of the six thousand -books in many languages looked as if personally selected<span class="pagenum" id="Page_399">[399]</span> -by the poor gentleman and scholar who had graced so -delightfully the one sphere for which Nature had designed -him, and in whose alien rôle naught had become him -but his death. The room had been bright even while -the <i>bora</i> seemed to blow the very sun about the sky, -and the books in their haphazard bindings looked so -gay and fresh that it was difficult to believe their owner -had left them forty years before. Only the photographs -of friends, which covered the walls of the adjoining -study, were faded, their garments old-fashioned. -Eugénie, in her crinoline, looked like a by-gone fashion-plate; -even her autograph was dim; for the pictures -had been hastily thrust into ordinary little wooden or -gilt frames, and unprotected by glass. The beauty of -Elizabeth had retired to the inmost folds of her hideous -Victorian costume, and of her two oldest babies, taken -with her, little was noticeable but the bulging brow and -solemn eyes of Rudolf. But the crimson of hangings -and chairs was still fresh and vivid, the heavy woodwork -of the low ceiling, its design repeated in the -floor, was highly polished, the pen on the table might -have been dropped yesterday; all the clocks had been -ticking these forty years. Every room in the castle -looked as if designed and furnished by the happy -young couple, but these two rooms were still most personal, -still were pervaded by the refinement, the love -of comfort and of home, of Maximilian and Carlotta. -Ranata, when forced to remain in-doors, spent most of her -time in them. In the library she had discovered five -volumes of <i>Reports on Explorations and Surveys</i>, fruits -of the thirty-third Congress of the United States, and had -read them diligently. She had succeeded in investing the -dry and spotted pages with a sentimental interest, all -things being possible to a woman in love; but although -most of the books she read at this time were written in the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_400">[400]</span> -English language, it must be confessed that she did not -find her profoundest distraction in the <i>Reports</i>. To-day, -however, she was taking down the fourth volume, albeit -with some humor, when Maria Leopoldina entered the -library hurriedly, consternation and amazement distorting -a countenance habitually masked with the mincing -placidity of the courtier.</p> - -<p>“The ship is weighing anchor!” she exclaimed. “And -all but the usual guard have received orders—by telegraph -from Vienna—to return to Trieste. And that -is not all! I was asked a moment ago to look through -the spy-glass—a steam-yacht is approaching from the -Italian coast—they say it is Mr. Abbott’s. Can Franz -have gone mad? Good God! can he be dead?”</p> - -<p>Ranata dashed past her, and up the stair to the tower-room, -where she had spent so many hours scanning the -horizon through the glass. A moment later, in its -burgee, she had read the personality of the rapidly -approaching yacht. It was the <i>Alexandra</i>; and the -war-ship was steaming in the opposite direction.</p> - -<p>When she turned to the agitated Obersthofmeisterin, -close upon her heels, she was trembling so violently she -hardly could stand, her cheeks were blazing, and she -thrust her hands into her heavy hair, and pulled it down -as if its weight were intolerable.</p> - -<p>“It means,” she stammered—“it means—cannot you -see?—he has won—already—<i>I am to marry him!</i>” And -then Maria Leopoldina felt as if her nerves had been -assaulted by a swarm of hornets. Ranata collapsed -upon a chair, and flew into hysterics. She had suffered -in silence during that first awful week in the Hofburg, -pride carrying her successfully through even that ordeal; -and she had been calm enough during the past fortnight -of solitude and uncertainty; but in the face of this -sudden and violent prospect of victory and immediate<span class="pagenum" id="Page_401">[401]</span> -happiness, her suppressed energies leaped their walls, -and she cried and laughed and talked incoherent phrases -until the duenna could stand no more and took refuge -in a dead faint.</p> - -<p>Ranata promptly recovered her reason, and applied -the necessary restoratives without summoning help. -When she had led her vibrating relative to a sofa, and -fetched a bottle of salts, she arranged her own hair -and face, and returned to the tower to watch the approach -of the yacht. It steamed swiftly over the calm -sea, but to Ranata’s excited nerves hours passed before -she could read the ensign and burgee without the aid -of the glass. She was now schooled to any surprise, -but experienced a sharp thrill nevertheless when the -proud craft, instead of passing the castle and making for -Trieste, deliberately swung about and dropped anchor -upon the exact spot where the war-ship had kept its -vigilant watch. A moment later it ran up two flags, side -by side—the Austrian and the American.</p> - -<p>Ranata sank again upon a chair and held her breath, -expecting to see a boat lowered and Fessenden descend. -But the long moments passed—an hour passed; the -incident appeared to be closed for the present. Officers -sauntered up and down the deck, sailors bustled about, -but no one appeared to manifest any interest in the -castle. Finally she was forced to conclude that, whatever -Fessenden had accomplished in Vienna, his yacht -had come without him.</p> - -<p>To remain inactive any longer was beyond her electrified -nerves. She regarded Maria Leopoldina’s authority -as at an end, and it was evident that the shaken -Obersthofmeisterin was of the same opinion, for she -had dragged herself to her room, and was seen no more -that day. Ranata sent an invitation to the captain -and the officers of the yacht to lunch at the castle. They<span class="pagenum" id="Page_402">[402]</span> -lowered the flags and returned with the messenger; and -although there was an animated party in the little -dining-room up-stairs, all her subtle questioning was -able to extract were the bare facts that on the previous -evening they had received orders from their master in -Vienna to proceed in the morning to Miramar, run up -the two flags as they anchored off the castle, and not -to lower them until they had received some answering -signal from her. They were naïvely curious, and, face to -face with the Archduchess beloved of their chief, frankly -suspicious of the sequel. It was evident, however, that -her information was more meagre than theirs, and they -were so glad to get back to the tonic sweetness of the -Adriatic after their fortnight at Venice, most malodorous -of cities, and so enchanted with this beautiful princess -and her castle, that they were content without knowledge, -Yankees though they were.</p> - -<p>After luncheon Ranata took them for a walk through -the gardens and woods of the park, keeping them until -they bored her, for she dreaded solitude and looked -forward to the night with terror. But before the night -came her nerves were to be lifted from the rack.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">XXXVI</h3> -</div> - -<p>It was sundown and she stood on the terrace before the -windows of the state dining-room on the eastern side of -the castle, watching the shadows darken the woods rising -almost perpendicularly before her. She heard the train -go by high on the mountain, and sighed impatiently. -She was at liberty to take any train up there she wished, -and here she must remain in maddening unquiet. She -even felt some impatience with Fessenden, who surely -might have sent her a telegram.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_403">[403]</span>But dinner had calmed her nerves—she had eaten no -luncheon, and once more took her evening meal at the -hour of five, that Maria Leopoldina might not add dyspepsia -to her other burdens—and she made an effort to -detach her thoughts from the fixed idea and subdue them -before bedtime. There was an infinity of suggestion in her -surroundings, and she conjured back the scene of nearly -half a century ago when Maximilian and Carlotta had -stood up in the boat at the foot of the water-steps down -on her left, smiling farewell to the throng of relatives and -friends who hung over the parapet or had crowded out -upon the narrow mole as far as the sphinx at its point. -Where the American yacht rode at anchor, a ship, in the -gala dress of flags and banners and pennants, had waited -to carry the brother of the Emperor to the imperial -destiny in which he and the many who loved him found -cause for pride. Some there may have been with -misgivings, but they trusted in France; and that an -Indian would in his dreams presume to treat an archduke -of Austria as a mere rebel was beyond the imagination -of any in that aristocratic throng—certainly unconceived -by the gallant and smiling gentleman who -looked his last upon Miramar. Throngs also—the -people of Trieste—had stood on the long flight of stone -steps with its three tiers, which led from Ranata’s feet -to the broad terrace below, leading, in its turn, to the -landing and the parapet; on the similar flight rising -opposite; and on the steps beyond, ascending steeply -to the quaint stiff old gardens. Ranata fancied the -scoop bonnets, the ugly garments over the crinoline; and -even the gay aftermath in the sky seemed to flaunt the -colors that had bedecked the fatal vessel.</p> - -<p>But visions and the past fled to their limbo. From -the mountain came a wild peculiar cry, the supposed -Indian war-whoop with which herself and Alexandra<span class="pagenum" id="Page_404">[404]</span> -had been accustomed to pierce the repose of Ischl and -Schönbrunn, when younger. For a moment she believed -it to be another delusion; but it was repeated -and careless of the astonished sentry she answered it. -She skirted the upper parapet and first garden with a -fair assumption of dignity, and entered the dim twilight -of a long arbor covered with wisteria vine and ivy. -Here she picked up the tail of her gown and sped onward, -and then up flight after flight of steps, along wild path -and avenues and arbors, and up, up, again, until she -suddenly came upon Alexandra followed by her maids -and a score of the Hofburg servants. The girls kissed -each other formally, although one was palpitating with -more than exercise, and the other bulged with news -repressed. When they finally reached the library Ranata -had never been paler.</p> - -<p>“Tell me quickly!” she exclaimed. “This change—these -changes—why have I received no official information? -What does it all mean?”</p> - -<p>“That the Emperor has practically washed his hands -of you, my dear, and that your day for receiving official -information is over—for which I hope you are duly -thankful. It has been a long and weary tussle, but -Fessenden has won on every score but the last: he was -set on marrying you in the Hofburg, but there your -father held out. They were at it alone for two hours, -and even Fessenden was limp when he left the palace, -while the poor Emperor went to bed and slept ten hours -instead of seven. No argument nor reasoning could move -him. In so far as he could punish and humiliate you he -would; moreover, he wishes the public to know nothing -of the affair until it is over. Fessenden was forced to give -way, partly because he didn’t want to be the death of him, -partly because every delay involves too much risk. So, -my dear, prepare for the shock—they are all coming<span class="pagenum" id="Page_405">[405]</span> -to-morrow—the Emperor, my father and Fessenden, the -Archdukes and Constitutional Cabinet—to witness the -oath of renunciation, the Archbishop to administer it—not -a woman but myself and Maria Leopoldina—no -wedding-gown—I begged him to let me bring one, but -he said you should be married in a travelling-dress and -hat and go from the chapel to the yacht. He is fearfully -upset, and I confess my knees shook when I received his -summons to the Hofburg yesterday. He gave me my -official instructions, if you like to call them that, in less -than ten minutes, and then wouldn’t even shake hands -with me, much less kiss me. Well—there you are! Of -course, if you want to retreat it is not too late.”</p> - -<p>The words had dinned into Ranata’s ears like the -inharmonious clashing of many bells, and her mental -attitude was little less homogeneous. Her conquering -sensation was one of profound humiliation, accompanied -by a vivid appreciation of all she was renouncing. In less -than forty-eight hours she would be no longer the daughter -of a great empire, Archduchess of Austria and Princess -of Hungary, but a <i>citoyenne</i>, a unit of a huge and heaving -republic. And, barring the unavoidable ceremony of -renunciation and the distinguished witnesses, she was to -be married and despatched as were she one of her own -maids. Was love so tremendous a thing that it was -worth the barter of birthright and the loftiest state to -which a mortal might be born? Ranata had driven -forth most of her traditions, but she was the descendant -of eight centuries of kings, and her Americanism was yet -in the making. She looked hard into the future, and -wondered. At this juncture Alexandra produced a letter.</p> - -<p>“It is from Fessenden. I will leave you alone with it -if you will tell me where I am to sleep. I dined on the -train, but I’d like to get into something loose.”</p> - -<p>Ranata took the letter. It warmed her hand and she<span class="pagenum" id="Page_406">[406]</span> -smiled. “You had better take my aunt’s room,” she said. -“It has two beds, and to-morrow night I will sleep with -you there. I have been using the state bedroom, as it has -fewer associations, but I shall have to give that to my -father. What on earth are we to do with all those -people? Some will have to go to the villa up on the hill, -or to the hotel in Trieste—this castle is not so large as it -looks. I suppose Fessenden will sleep on the yacht? -Thank Heaven there will be plenty to think about. -What time do they arrive?”</p> - -<p>“At half-past four, on a special train—so that the -Emperor may dine as usual at five. The ceremonies are -to be performed on the following morning, and your -father’s train will leave for Vienna at twelve. My father -and I start in the evening for Genoa, whence we sail for -New York. I suspect the Emperor hates the thought of -coming here, but in his present frame of mind it is the -less of two evils.”</p> - -<p>Ranata escorted Alexandra to the simple blue and gray -bedroom with its two pathetic little beds, then went to -the state bedchamber in which she had lodged for the -past fortnight. It was a superb and stately room, in -which, like the rest of the castle, one might yet be -comfortable. The old French bedstead was of massive -gilt, with high and twisted pillars, but open above; -and on the walls and on the furniture was the crimson -brocade wrought with the Mexican eagle and imperial -crown; a tapestry which the prince who ordered it had -never seen. Contemporary kings, a pope and a queen, -with their coats-of-arms above the frames, covered much -of the walls; and most of those who had sat to please -their friend were dead. Beyond was the great audience-chamber, -hung and furnished with the same imperial -crimson, but with fewer paintings: the Emperor of -Austria when young; Elizabeth in her exquisite and high-spirited<span class="pagenum" id="Page_407">[407]</span> -youth; and Maximilian in his ermine, looking -still, majestic as was his figure, the gentleman and the -scholar and no more—the heavy open mouth the index -to his failure in the alien rôle. Continuing the great -suite were similar rooms, where the eagle and the crown -deepened to blood shade in the twilight.</p> - -<p>Ranata looked about her lingeringly. It was all a -mockery, to be sure. Had her father possessed a proper -sense of humor he would have burned the tapestries -and the portrait, done all that he could to obliterate the -memory of a fiasco which would have been one of the -passing absurdities of history had it not been for the -untimely finish of an estimable man and the more cruel -fate of his wife; nevertheless it was impressive in its -high and perfect harmonies and in its serious intent, -and it expressed sufficiently all that she was about to -renounce. Moreover, she was leaving the loveliest and -most various country in Europe—for what? She might -have this beautiful castle for her own did she remain -Archduchess of Austria, and in Europe there must always -be a thousand compensations that could never be found -in a new country among a crude and alien people, were -love less than she had dreamed. A composite of -woman seemed to come forth from the shades and warn -her that love was not all, nor yet enough, for man -demands all, yet so little, giving less in return. The -music of the Chardash rose, as the ghost of the dead -women drifted on; and then the words of Sarolta. But -in a moment she lit a candle and read Fessenden’s letter.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">XXXVII</h3> -</div> - -<p>They arrived on the following afternoon, the Emperor -and his American guests, his relatives, his primate,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_408">[408]</span> -two or three members of his household, and his ministers. -It was raining when they left the train at the little -mountain-station, and there was no driveway, no -alternative but to walk down the steep and winding -paths and stairs, sheltered by the umbrellas the lackeys -held over them. As the long file under the umbrellas -emerged from the arbor into the garden, the Emperor -picking his way daintily on his diminutive toes, and the -Archbishop holding up his gown with both hands, while -the gorgeous flunkies streamed with rain, the sight -was not as imperial as it should have been, and two -girls in an upper window giggled irreverently. Being -uncertain of their status, they left Maria Leopoldina -to receive in solitary state, and did not appear until -dinner; but when this solemn hour arrived, Ranata, -in an evening-gown of pale-green velvet and all her -pearls, entered the audience-chamber where the party -was assembled, greeted her father and the guests as she -had done many times before, and led the Archbishop -down to dinner. With Fessenden it was not possible -to exchange more than a flash.</p> - -<p>It was a dreary function. The Emperor did not utter -a word, although he was graciously pleased to intimate -that his guests might talk if they could. Mr. Abbott -ate his restricted meal with an expression of grim honor, -and felt himself exempt from verbal expression. The -Emperor, perhaps with a corresponding sense of irony, -had asked him to occupy the state bedroom, lodging -himself in the little camp-bed with its tentlike curtains, -beloved of the sailor in Maximilian. The archdukes and -ministers mumbled at each other; Fessenden and Ranata -were many feet apart. Even Alexandra was depressed, -and stared at the ugly old masters on the walls, -longing for the solace of Zrinyi. Maria Leopoldina was -still in a state of bewilderment and horror, which made<span class="pagenum" id="Page_409">[409]</span> -her fearful of attempting speech lest she gibber. At -times the ticking of the clock in the ceiling above the -table could be distinctly heard.</p> - -<p>After dinner the Emperor and three of his friends -retired hastily to the study for a game of whist, the -others scattered, and Ranata and Fessenden found a -few moments alone in Carlotta’s boudoir in the tower.</p> - -<p>For a time there was no conversation; then Fessenden -placed his hands on her shoulders and held her from him, -his eyes narrowing to a fiery point.</p> - -<p>“Do you realize that I have won?” he said—“that -you and I are changing the face of the world?”</p> - -<p>“Yes—Alexandra has told me everything. I think -you more wonderful than ever—but—is it for the best? -Changes should come in the slow course of events.”</p> - -<p>“No change occurs that the world is not ready for. -The world has never been readier for the extermination -of Russia, particularly now that she has become a -menace to the United States. And the sooner Europe -is a republic the better.”</p> - -<p>“I believe you care more for this part of your accomplishment -than for me.”</p> - -<p>His eyes relaxed and the fires spread.</p> - -<p>“No,” he said; “I do not. And we are all mere tools, -my dear.”</p> - -<p>“If I were still superstitious,” she said a while later, “I -should feel very uncomfortable. I am sure this is a -subtle revenge of my father’s—not only to marry me -in this castle, but to force me to embark from the very -spot on which Maximilian said good-bye to Europe -forever. Your yacht is where the ship stood which -took him to Mexico. Not that my father wishes me -any such terrible fate, but he believes me to be superstitious, -and that I shall be punished by my imagination, -if not by my conscience. But it is too late for that!<span class="pagenum" id="Page_410">[410]</span> -And Maximilian failed because he was Maximilian. I -believe you could not fail if you tried.”</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h3 class="nobreak">XXXVIII</h3> -</div> - -<p>The next morning at ten o’clock the Emperor and his -guests entered the great brown and gold and crimson -throne room with its imposing frieze of Hapsburg rulers, -its illustrated genealogy of the blended houses of -Hapsburg and Lorraine, crowned so naïvely with -Maximilian and Carlotta, its eleven graceful chandeliers, -and its meagre and apologetic throne. This the Emperor, -in the full-dress uniform of an Austrian general, -ascended with no apparent sense of its incongruity, -thankful, no doubt, that it stood ready for the occasion. -Before it was a table spread with a formidable-looking -document. On either side of the throne stood the -archdukes and the ministers, also in full uniform. -The Primate, in his robes of ceremony, faced the Emperor, -and Fessenden stood close to the table, his -father beside him. The rain had passed, the gay -southern sunshine flooded the fine room, where, for the -first time in its history, an emperor stood on its mockery -of a throne. It had been built for balls and other -functions of young and wealthy royalty, and in those -days the crimson tapestries had not been woven.</p> - -<p>A moment after the Emperor had taken his position -on the throne, Ranata, accompanied by Alexandra, and -for the last time by an Obersthofmeisterin, entered and -walked proudly up the room. She wore, not the sombre -frock her father had had in mind when he issued the -imperial fiat that she should marry in travelling-dress, -but an elaborate and beautiful costume of white cloth. -The Emperor scowled, but felt himself helpless, for she<span class="pagenum" id="Page_411">[411]</span> -also wore a hat, albeit with plumes that were truly -imperial, and framing and enhancing a beauty which -might have been conventionalized and half obscured -by orange-blossoms and lace. She wore the pearls -which her skin always seemed to reflect, her eyes -sparkled, there was a faint pink in her cheeks, a deeper -hue in her lips, and she had never borne herself with -a more subtle blending of triumphant beauty and the -dower of eight centuries of kings. She looked so happy -that even her relatives smiled in involuntary sympathy, -although they had never disapproved of a Hapsburg -more. As for Fessenden, who had been beating a light -tattoo on the table, staring at the document, he stood -suddenly erect, his eyes flashing their pride and delight; -and when they stood together before the throne -they seemed to fill the room with their victorious youth, -and to obliterate every memory of failure and tragedy.</p> - -<p>The Emperor stood speechless for almost two moments. -Age might have atrophied his power to suffer, -and religion and philosophy have long since taught -him to accept the inevitable with little more than a -sigh; nevertheless, in these moments he felt a hot tide -of youthful rebellion rise from mould and mildew, and -of all the crosses he had been called upon to lift to his -shoulders this seemed to him the heaviest. The stillness -was so intense that many made a quick movement of -uneasiness. The Emperor recovered himself, and in -cold grave tones called upon all present to witness that -his daughter renounced her rights and titles, and, with -her betrothed, all pretensions to the thrones of Austria -and Hungary. The terms of the renunciation were -then read aloud by the prime-minister of Austria, the -Primate administered the oath, the affianced couple -signed the document, and Ranata for the moment -felt nameless and bewildered.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_412">[412]</span>But the signatures having been witnessed with due -solemnity, the party went at once to the little Jerusalem -chapel, and Fessenden gave Ranata what her father had -taken from her; and, so the Americans and the man in -him believed, far more besides. There was no breakfast, -for that would involve the drinking of healths with -their flowered expressions of approval, their reiterated -good wishes and will. The moment the brief ceremony -was over the Emperor led the way out to the terrace, -and down the long flight to that other terrace whose -lower steps were in the sea. A boat—its rowers with -tossed oars—awaited the newly wed, and beyond was -the yacht in gala dress of flags and banners and pennants.</p> - -<p>Fessenden and Ranata were the last to leave the castle. -The others stood stiff and straight beside the two short -flights of steps leading into the water, the Emperor on -the right and slightly in front. The windows in this -angle of the castle were suddenly alive with servants, not -wholly unsympathetic, but no flunkies lined the long -flight to the lower terrace as the bridal couple descended. -Did Ranata think of the stately ceremonies in the -Hofburg, the dim and perfumed magnificence of St. -Stephen’s, the joyous pealing of all the bells in Vienna, -the procession to the church of prelates, and military, -and royalty in the six-horsed coaches of gilt and glass, -that the world had come to see, the congratulations of -every sovereign in Europe—all that would have been -hers had she married as an Archduchess of Austria is -expected to marry? Perhaps; for she was human, and -a woman; but doubtless she also reflected that she had -spent a goodly part of her life avoiding, with dexterity -or obstinacy, such a wedding-day as that; and, Fessenden -Abbott remaining unknown to her, she never would -have married at all.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_413">[413]</span>But any such fugitive reflections were routed by the -prospect of the impending farewell with her father; for -the moment her very happiness seemed blighted. It -was true she had known him little, that her more -congenial older sisters had appropriated what love had -not been shocked out of him, but until these last weeks -she had had little to forgive, and indirectly she owed -her happiness to him; for she had laid its foundations -in the period of liberty he granted her. And he was her -father, nor was it likely she would ever see him again. -He stood like a soldier, staring at the yacht, nothing -betraying the genial kindness of his nature. When -Ranata, with her husband, reached the landing, the -Emperor turned and appeared about to favor her with -another of the cold and courteous bows which had been -her portion of late; but she saw that he was maintaining -the severity of his countenance with an effort, and -she approached him and put up her lips timidly. He -took her in his arms then and held her closely, and told -her that he forgave her, and hoped she would be happy. -After that her relatives came forward and embraced her, -the other Austrians kissed her hand for the last time, -and then Mr. Abbott and Alexandra went with her -down the water-steps and into the boat.</p> - -<p>“Good-bye, sir, and thank you,” said Fessenden, as he -shook hands with his father-in-law. He was turning -away when he faced about again. “I should like to -tell you,” he added, “that I am not superstitious—and -neither is Ranata.”</p> - -<p>“Ah!” exclaimed the Emperor. “Well—I am glad—I -am very glad.”</p> - -<p class="center">THE END</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div class="transnote"> -<p class="ph1">TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:</p> - -<p>Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.</p> - -<p>Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.</p> - -<p>Archaic or variant spelling has been retained.</p> -</div></div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RULERS OF KINGS ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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