diff options
Diffstat (limited to '77479-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 77479-0.txt | 20329 |
1 files changed, 20329 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/77479-0.txt b/77479-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5a4532b --- /dev/null +++ b/77479-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,20329 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77479 *** + + + + + + + DIANA + + _A Novel_ + + By EMIL LUDWIG + + + _Translated by_ + EDEN & CEDAR PAUL + + + + A. L. BURT COMPANY + _PUBLISHERS_ + New York Chicago + + Published by arrangement with The Viking Press + + Printed in U. S. A. + + + + +DIANA + +Originally published in German as two separate novels: _Diana_. +1917, and _Meeresstille, Roman eines deutschen Prinzen_, 1918. +Copyright by Ernst Rowohlt Verlag, Berlin. Revised version, arranged +by the author as a single novel, first published 1929. + + Copyright, 1929, by + THE VIKING PRESS, INC, + + First printing December, 1929 + Second printing December, 1929 + + + PRINTED IN U. S. A. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +BOOK ONE + +BOOK TWO + +BOOK THREE + +BOOK FOUR + +BOOK FIVE + +BOOK SIX + + + + +BOOK ONE + + + +CHAPTER ONE + +"Nothing in sight? Not caught a glimpse of her sail yet?" + +"No, Sir. But she'll be all right today. The wind's from the +south-east; and the weather is glorious this morning." + +"Yes, I know; but this lake of yours is full of shallows and +whirlpools." + +"La Signora sails her boat with so sure a hand, she might have been +born and bred in Baveno!" + +The gardener's voice faded away as he pottered about among the +fish-tanks and continued to mutter to himself: "... born and bred in +Baveno." + +Andreas, who had called down to the old man from the top of a craggy +eminence, dropped the hand he had raised to shield his eyes from the +glare of the sun, so that he might put it to more immediate uses. +The bunch of flowers he had gathered was so large that it needed both +hands to hold the nosegay together. + +"Narcissus!" exclaimed the poet, caressing the blossoms with +sensitive fingers, while they swayed gently in the breeze. +"Narcissus, fresh as the morning dew! Nothing else can rival Diana's +fragrance. And yet--may she not have been akin to other flowers in +the past, and may she not resemble yet others in the future? +Likenesses ever changing, ever renewed? Would it have entered my +head to compare her to the camellias blooming over there in chill +white pyramids? Beautiful they are, proud of mien; but scentless and +passionless. Perhaps some women are like that!" + +The thought dumbfounded him, and he sank down on to a rocky seat. +Pulling a notebook from the pocket of his purple dressing-gown, he +scribbled assiduously for a while. Then he looked up, gazed at the +flowers, jotted down a few more words. Finally he tore off the page +and started afresh. He no longer took his eyes from the paper, but +continued to write diligently until the sonnet was complete. He +began to read it in an undertone, gradually allowing his voice to +become louder, until at the eighth line he had achieved a resounding +forte. After that he restrained the volume of sound, and finished up +with a ritenuto, as if he were playing the final bars of a Bach fugue. + +"How Diana will laugh," he thought. "She'll read it twice. Then she +will open her mother-of-pearl box and lay this page on the top of the +others. Quite unexpectedly one evening, one mild evening, the lines +will slowly drop from her delicate lips. Othello must bring her up +here when she lands. Othello!" + +The Great Dane was snuffing the air as he stood on the landing-stage +which gave access to the little island. As his master called him by +name, the animal pricked up his ears, sought Andreas's whereabouts +with eyes and nose. Having caught sight of the young man, Othello +sprang upward over the rocks and pushed his way through the azaleas. +The dog's movements were so swift that a trail of white and +rose-coloured blossoms was wafted along in his wake. + +He came to a halt, and stood attentive and watchful. Like Gothic +columns, his forelegs rose to the graceful arch of his chest; his +blue eyes had the glint of steel, cold, yet betraying the hidden +fires within; his ears were twitching, his whole being was aquiver, +and he seemed to be asking: "Well, Master, what do you wish me to +do?" Andreas fondled the beast's Head, and the signs of eager +expectation gradually disappeared. The muscles relaxed, a dreamy +look came into the eyes, the dog yielded luxuriously to the caress, +his left paw advancing slightly. As far as is possible to a dumb +beast, Othello had approximated to the reflective mood and the +attitude of his master. + +"Keep still a moment," said the poet. "I want to fix my sonnet in +your collar; ... so ... mind you don't lose it. It's for your +mistress, as soon as she comes ashore. Understand? For Diana." + +The dog had remained motionless, but at the name of Diana he whined, +became restless, and, hardly waiting for Andreas to release the +collar, darted away to take up his post of sentinel on the +landing-stage. + +Andreas sauntered towards the house. Occasionally he would kick a +stone out of the path, would pluck a yellowing leaf, raise a trailing +plant from the ground. He acted mechanically, like one who prefers +things to be orderly, who loves tidiness. These minor occupations in +the garden or the house unconsciously betrayed a certain restlessness +of disposition. Suddenly, as so often happened after he had composed +a poem, he felt inexpressibly tired. + +"I wonder," he murmured, a faint smile puckering his lips, "I wonder +if my fatigue is just the usual tiredness one experiences after a +night of love? Diana was never so beautiful as she was last night. +Was she still like a narcissus? Or did my imagination conjure up the +passionate hour of which I have dreamed since earliest boyhood? I +must be honest with myself. Has ever woman thrown herself into my +arms with such whole-hearted abandonment as I into the arms of women? +Sonia? She was nothing but a little savage. Francisca? She was +merely sensuous. But Diana never promised anything. She is not +called Diana for nothing! When have I ever before, either with my +eyes or in fancy, actually or in a dream, been so dazzled by any +woman?" + +He turned to gaze once again over the waters of the lake. Scuds of +foam seemed to rise from the surface. So absorbed was he in his +contemplation of this phenomenon, that he forgot to watch for Diana's +boat, a sight of which he so ardently coveted. + +"I wonder how early she set sail? No matter the hour at which I wake +in the morning, her place by my side is always empty, smooth and +cold. She must creep away to her dressing-room on bare feet. When +at last I awake, it is to the sound of her voice calling me. By that +time she has been abroad two hours at least in the fresh air, and has +a keen appetite for breakfast. But today? Even as I slept, I was +conceited enough to imagine that after such delights she would surely +not go for an early sail. She had been so full of ecstasy...." + +Andreas strode forward into the blaze of the blossoming +rhododendrons. The flowers stimulated his memory of the hours of +passion and his body quivered in response. He raised his brows as he +mused: + +"Diana as Venus? Impious thought!" + +He plucked idly at the stamens of the flowers in his hand, while his +thoughts wandered. He was called back to reality by the dog, who +approached with every sign of uneasiness. + +"Well, Othello, what's up?" + +He quickened his pace and glanced towards the house across the +terrace where a wicker table was laid for breakfast. On reaching the +top of the steps, he turned about, and once more gazed over the blue +and gold surface of the waters. + +"Domenico!" + +"Yes, Sir," came the old gardener's voice in answer. Then after a +pause: "I see nothing as yet. Signora usually crosses over by the +south-eastern end of Isola Madre." + +"I know; but what about Intra?" + +"No sign of a sail there either." + +Suddenly Andreas was seized with anxiety on account of his beloved, +an anxiety which was rendered more acute by a vague presentiment of +evil. Were the gods taking revenge because Diana had been delighting +in joys which her name would imply her insensible to? Was the boon +so recently granted him already to be snatched from his grasp? Had +he been over-bold? + +"What can it all mean? Why is the dog whining, I wonder?" + +Still hoping to find her, he wandered through the low-ceilinged rooms +of the house, through the cloistered archways which linked the rooms +together, and up the steps which separated them. At his heels walked +Othello, snuffing the same trail. Both seekers came to a halt in +Diana's room. On the gaily coloured floor, in a green earthenware +pot, were the tall sprays of broom she had brought home last night, +waving her trophy aloft like an orange flag. The white curtains +flapped in the breeze, and he glanced through the windows which gave +a view from three angles on to the lake. Nearby was the +writing-table on which was placed a silver vase filled with iris. + +"The curtain might upset that," thought Andreas, with solicitude. + +He grasped the vase, intending to transfer it to a place of security, +and, as he touched the cold metal, a chill ran up his arm and struck +him to the heart. His heart seemed to stop beating; then it +fluttered wildly against his ribs. He had caught sight of a note +propped against the vase: the cover bore his own name in Diana's +handwriting. At once the truth flashed through his mind: "She has +gone!" + +The nosegay of narcissus slowly dropped from his hand. Then he +seized the hard, white paper, while Othello, seeming to understand +all that was afoot, rubbed himself against Andreas's knee. The young +man gazed down at the missive of fate as it lay in his hand; then, +delaying the evil moment, he thrust it deep into his pocket. His +fingers fondled the paper, unseen, as though he were trying to warm +the inexorable message with his life blood. He looked over towards +the lake; then, again, his eyes travelled round the room. Leaning on +the window sill, he drew the letter forth and at length read its +contents. As he folded the sheet of paper, he stepped out on to the +terrace, told the dog to lie down, and paced to and fro in the shade +of the wistaria whose green leaves and lilac flowers were trained on +a pergola overhead. Othello's steel-blue eyes followed every +movement, from the wicker couch on to which he had flung himself in +obedience to his master's command. His great head was pillowed on +his crossed paws. + + + + +CHAPTER TWO + +"My Dear, + +"When I woke this morning I saw you lying before me, a boy asleep. +Your dark, curly head was turned away so that I could hardly reach +your beautiful forehead when I leaned across to kiss you. I gave you +no more than a butterfly kiss on your closed eyelids; I did not +venture to touch your lips, which were half open as you slept. + +"The radiant weather calls me forth this morning. I shall sail away +in the very boat that brought us--how many weeks ago?--to this +island. With sail set, I shall make for Baveno. By the time you +wake I shall be in Milan; by the time you read this, I do not know +where I shall be. + +"Do not try to find me. Did not your spirit leap towards me as, +masked, we danced together amid the many other masked couples that +night in the palace on the Piazza di Spagna? Did I not place my +fullest trust in you, a stranger, whose name was unknown to me just +as was mine to you? Did I not come with you willingly when, after +the ball, we left Rome and travelled together till we alighted on the +shores of this gracious lake? Let these dream days bask in their own +beauty. Do not try to find reasons for my flight. Do not follow me. + +"We were unchallenged monarchs of the island, hedged in by laurel +groves, severed from the inquisitive eyes of the envious, united, you +and I, both by day and by night. + +"Poems fell from your lips, my poet; and morning after morning I +found a fresh sonnet to my praise lying ambushed for my return in +ever-renewed hiding places in our garden. Why trouble to wake? Your +people are on your trail--I saw you trying to push your letters away +out of my sight! Soon, your money will run short, and after one day +of uneasiness, you would have to go to the town, a smile on your +lips, hoping to delude me. + +"What of myself? How often I have heard you say half mockingly and +half in earnest: 'You are made for adventure.' Remember your own +words. The spirit of adventure runs in my veins and has even +affected you. + +"Yesterday, in the gloaming, while we sat on the terrace watching the +circle of lights along the shores of the lake, you spoke softly to +me, gentle words that fell sweetly on my ears. Of a sudden, away +there on the mainland, two fiery eyes appeared, and a snake uncoiled +its glittering length alluringly beneath the precipitous side of the +mountain. Now it would disappear, now shine out again; at one moment +its voice would be stilled, to roar forth the instant after. It was +the train from the Simplon. Never before had it made such an +impression on me. I felt that this was the very snake, magical and +glowing, within whose coils I had been spirited through the world in +days gone by. That now it carried men and women who had sped away +from Paris in the morning and would awaken as day dawned to find +themselves in Milan. I could imagine them coming from far castles in +the Scottish highlands to seek the warm air of Palermo. Who were +they all and what plans had they for themselves? Unrest seethed +within me. I felt I must get away from this enchanted isle, that a +narrow arm of water was keeping me cloistered from the world, that +the hurly-burly was summoning me to the fray--whither I knew not. + +"My grateful thanks to you! Nothing repeats itself; and, even if +fate should make our paths cross a second time, that which united us +this night can never recur, any more than the silent kisses I gave +you in farewell. Our island cannot be snatched from us: it is ours +now as it has been during all these weeks. I am taking no more than +the little mother-of-pearl box which contains your poems, and within +which your spirit lies at rest. Nothing else goes with me, for, if +they saw me packing up, your kindly old servants would want to know +my destination. Forgive me for leaving the clothes you gave me, the +clothes your appraising eye so often looked at as I dressed in the +morning, and which your ardent hands pulled from my limbs at night +with so much passion. + +"In a minute or two Othello will, as usual, come down to the +landing-stage, and wag his tail expectantly, hoping to be taken on +board. I shall sail swiftly away before the wind, without turning +for a last look; I must keep watch over myself lest the unbidden +tears come to my eyes. + +"The wind is blowing. Keep serene of heart, even though you may feel +sad; and remember the motto inscribed on the escutcheon of your soul. +Be grateful! Thank the gods, even as I do, for granting us this +sweetest of springtimes. Ave Poeta! + +"DIANA." + + +By the time Andreas had read the letter a third time he found himself +on the landing-stage. An instinct urged him towards the water, her +special element, and kept him away from the height whence, above the +cypresses that barred the view from below, he might gaze southward +over the lake. From that little eminence he could have seen Baveno +and the coast line. Othello, who had not left Andreas's side the +whole morning, stood beside the young man and endeavoured to lap the +waves as they plashed over the landing-stage. But always, before his +red tongue could reach them, the waters had withdrawn again. + +Now, from round a rocky point, a little boat came in sight. It had +come from the direction of Pallanza and another thirty strokes of the +oars would bring it ashore. The great dog pricked up his ears as the +oarsman waved a hand in greeting. Andreas leaped to his feet, and +hailed the new arrival. + +"Nikolai!" + +"Andreas!" exclaimed a melodious voice in response. + +"You, here?" A cross-fire of surmises rushed through the poet's +brain. Uneasiness as to why his friend had come over the waters to +intrude upon his solitude. This sudden arrival at such a moment +seemed to smack of intrigue. + +"Nikolai," he thought, "dearest of friends; Nikolai the wise, could +he have lent himself to a plot of any kind? No, no, it cannot be!" + +The feeling of mistrust was ephemeral, and Andreas soon pulled +himself together, remembering his duties as host and as master of the +island. Nikolai threw him the painter, and while tying it to the +bollard, Andreas said with a note of irritation in his voice: + +"This is a surprise!" + +Nikolai was quick to perceive his friend's momentary annoyance. He +felt quite unembarrassed as he thought: "Ah, well, these lovers' +moods change from day to day!" Then, turning to Andreas, he asked +courteously: + +"Am I disturbing you? Don't you want my company after all?" + +These words made Andreas yet more uneasy, for he concluded from them +that Diana's flight was known to his friend and had, therefore, been +planned some time ago. He stretched out his hand to help Nikolai to +land, and as he did so he said: + +"In what way could you ever disturb me, old man?" + +At his master's first call across the water towards the oncoming +boat, Othello had changed his bark of warning to a soft whine; and +until the two men clasped hands, the dog's attitude had been one of +alert defiance. Now he followed the two friends as they made their +way up hill towards the house. He sniffed at their heels and at the +leather satchel the oarsman held trailing from his hand. Both young +men endeavoured to conceal their emotion behind a flow of +conventional banalities. The new arrival continued to expatiate at +frequent intervals upon the beauties of the island, while Andreas +asked again and again if his friend had had a comfortable journey. +At length Nikolai exclaimed: + +"Of course I took the very first train from Milan, the eight o'clock, +the sooner to be with you...." + +Andreas stopped in his walk, looked squarely into his friend's grey +eyes, and asked in surprise: + +"Do you mean to say that you've come in answer to a summons?" + +Even more amazed than his interlocutor, Nikolai delved into his +pockets and after a little search produced a telegram which he handed +over, saying: + +"Didn't you send this?" + +Andreas read the message: "Baveno. Please come as soon as possible +to the little island to see your friend Andreas." + +A light of understanding flashed through the poet's mind. Diana, +herself fleeing from him, had sent his best friend to his side in +order that the crushing solitude he would experience in the garden of +their love might be rendered more bearable by Nikolai's presence. He +stood stock still for a moment, biting his lips. Then he fondled +Othello's head, as if by this caress he might compensate himself for +the lack of a touch from Diana's loving hand. At length, steadying +his voice with difficulty as he uttered the name of his mistress, he +said: + +"No. This must have been sent by Diana." + +His friend was silent. Both men turned to go up the terrace steps. + +"Have you quarrelled?" + +"No." + +"Where's she gone off to?" + +"I don't know. She has sent you here to comfort me, no doubt." +Then, hoping to conceal his wound, he added wryly: "Rather a painful +mission, eh?" + +Nikolai glanced at him and, cogitating upon the young man's equivocal +situation, mused: "Least said, soonest mended!" + +"What do you say to half an hour's row?" said Andreas coming suddenly +to a halt. "Are you hungry? No? Hi! Domenico! Get the boat out!" + +The Russian was quick to perceive that his friend fought shy of the +house, and readily acquiesced in the plan. Soon the two of them were +facing each other in the boat, one at the oars while his comrade +steered. Andreas was still in his dressing-gown, hatless; Nikolai in +white trousers, blue blazer, and a tight-fitting cap. They eyed one +another surreptitiously, yet each was aware of his companion's +scrutiny. Andreas's countenance made a strong appeal to Nikolai. It +was a wilful face, crowned with a wealth of curly hair, which was not +quite in keeping with the gentle curve of the mouth. He thought: + +"I can well understand why women should prefer him to me." + +Andreas, for his part, gazed fixedly at Nikolai, trying to extract +the secret of his soul by a contemplation of his facial +characteristics. Accustomed to reading people at a glance, he jumped +now to the conclusion that the high cheek-bones prevalent among the +Slavs denoted fanatical asceticism, the deep-set eyes betokened +moderation in enjoyment, the thin, long nose must signify +cautiousness when dealing with fellow mortals, the fine, rather thin +growth of hair must prove that the owner had early experienced the +joys of the flesh, the reticence of his deportment and the noble +lines of the hand that lay on the gunwale showed him to be a man of +taste and of aristocratic birth. The poet said to himself: + +"I have known all this from the first day of our acquaintance." + +"Shall we land?" The voice broke in on the silence as the boat +neared Isola Madre. + +Slowly the two friends climbed the hill. The morning freshness still +pervaded the air. A bird trilled its rapture from bushes which +scattered their leaves with lavish generosity over the yellow path, +while, all around, the glittering expanse of the lake sent up dappled +reflections amid the green. The youths strode forward on a carpet of +moss and closely cropped ivy. At length they reached the warmer part +of the island, passed through the flower-decked forest of +rhododendrons, disappeared among thickets of pink camellias, brushed +away the dew from the tall sprays of meadowsweet, and emerged amid +the mimosas whose arid branches waved their ochre-tinted plumes like +immense powder-puffs in the air. Sedate, delicate, and elastic, like +well-trained German countesses, the cedars thrust their dark heads +upward towards the sky, and the laurels, their branches constrained +on espalier frames, or fettered together to form bouquets, or clipped +into shapes and figurines, stretched out arms imploringly as if in +longing for their leaves to be used to cool the fevered brows of +inspired poets. + +No word was spoken as the two friends slowly climbed the hill. Every +turn in the path, every plant, every shade and sound and smell, +brought the beloved woman visibly and palpably before Andreas's eyes. +Here they had wandered together; this was her very world. She had +felt all these things, had spoken of them romantically or with +worldly wisdom, with irreverence or mystery, just as the spirit moved +her. And all she said was impregnated with such a power of +imaginative faculty as is only to be found as a rule among children +of exceptional gifts. + +They had reached the pergola of Chinese tea-roses through whose +yellow blossoms glimpses of Monte Rosa could be seen amid a +white-and-blue landscape. Suddenly Andreas came to a standstill, +laid his hand affectionately on his companion's shoulder, and began +talking as if the latter had actively participated in his whole train +of thought. As he spoke he gesticulated, and his voice was agitated +as if he were experiencing the excitement of a new discovery. + +"An atmosphere of freedom envelops her--do you understand that, +Nikolai? Freedom such as--such as hovers around that mountain over +there, so that it can rear its crest of ice upward towards the sun, +such as pervades this pergola whose roses have graciously permitted a +gardener's hand to twine their shoots round the trellis, such freedom +as the warm surface of this lake exhales at noon and yet enables it +at midnight to mirror the coldly shining stars. Do you realize what +it is we are ever in search of? Perfect art accompanied by innocent +cheer. Fullness, mystery hand in hand with absolute clarity, the +appropriate mood to every hour; wisdom and foolishness, surmise and +knowledge, the past freed from sorrow, the magical recipe which will +enable us to be bold and modest at one and the same moment, the +masters of life and the servitors of fate.... Do you know Diana?" + +He threw the four words at his friend as if they were a ball for +Nikolai to catch. Before the Russian could answer, he exclaimed: + +"You have seen her once, she told me so. Just once; for a few +minutes. But that would be long enough for you to realize +everything...." + +"What did she say?" asked Nikolai, trying to recall the incidents of +the encounter. + +They sat down on two wrought-iron chairs which they found tilted +against the balustrade of the uppermost terrace. Andreas threw one +leg over the other, rested his elbows on the parapet, and propped up +his head while his eyes travelled over the waters. Then his +attention was caught by a stray branch which he carefully plaited +into the trellis-work lest it should be broken. Though he was +unaware of it, he had assumed Diana's characteristic pose. Without +stirring, he resumed the thread of his discourse. + +"One day, when I was sorting some papers, your photo tumbled out on +to the floor. She picked it up and said: 'I know this face.' To +which I replied: 'He's a friend of mine.'--'That's a good thing,' +said she, 'I met him once, not so very long ago'--you know how vague +she is about dates, and how definite is her remembrance of +places--'it must have been in Milan last autumn, one day as I came +out of the twilit cathedral. I was wearied with the darkness, and +the mass I had been attending. Nevertheless the square with its +noisy trams and people and loafing youths, disgusted me. Where could +I creep away to quietude? I questioned the oracle. Should I go to +right or left? Since the next comer approached me from the left, I +determined to go in that direction. The oracle was favourable, for +from the narrow street a shop-front beckoned me. I was rooted to the +spot. Huge butterflies from Brazil were spread before me in cases. +Their wings might have been made of precious stones, so dazzling were +the colours. I seemed to be entering into a night of stars'--you are +laughing?" + +"I am only laughing because," protested Nikolai, "I remember standing +at her side, studying the fearless line of her profile and marvelling +at the fervour of her contemplation." + +"At last she saw you and spoke to you," continued Andreas. + +"'Conosce quello, Signore?' said a clear voice in my ear," and +Nikolai, too, seemed unconsciously to assume one of Diana's +characteristic poses. "But I had to admit that I knew nothing about +them." + +Andreas had not heard his friend's words. Yet he gathered Diana's +question together as if it were some costly jewel worth studying in a +good light. He turned the phrase over this way and that, untiringly +reiterating: "Conosce quello, Signore? Conosce quello?" + +Nikolai awaited his friend's pleasure in silence. At length, Andreas +roused himself from his reverie with a laugh. + +"Do forgive me! What else did she say? She never told me. All she +confided to me was that, when you and she were looking at the +specimens together and were talking about them, she had been struck +by the melodiousness of your voice and by the fine shape of your hand +as it rested on the glass." + +"But the really remarkable thing was yet to come," exclaimed Nikolai. +"At my request for information, she pointed to this specimen and to +that, telling me the place in South America whence it came, the +nature of the forests it inhabited, together with the lakes and +swamps it needed for its well-being; she distinguished species from +varieties; indeed, had I not surprised the initial look of +imaginative delight she had cast on the scintillating assembly, I +might have fancied her a member of a zoological academy--and +incontinently taken to flight!" + +Andreas nodded his appreciation, and said encouragingly: + +"Well, and what did she say next?" + +"She stretched out her hand towards me, and, with a look that glanced +at me and then back to the butterflies again, in a tone that was +charmingly candid and yet ambiguous, at once delighting me and +imposing a barrier to further advance, she said: 'Beautiful!' Her +lips remained slightly apart, and her curls were lifted in the breeze +as she turned to go." + +"You did not try to discover who she was?" + +"I do not wantonly pry into the secrets of fate! Still, destiny held +something in store for me. A week later, as I was leaving Countess +Borromeo's, she came in, and the footman announced her name." + +"I told her yours while she was here," observed Andreas. Then, +impetuously, he held his hand out to his friend. Nikolai grasped it +warmly, and said: + +"When I learned last February that you and she had vanished after the +carnival ball..." + +"Were you uneasy?" interrupted Andreas with some acerbity, trying to +withdraw his hand. Nikolai resisted the attempt, maintaining a firm +grip and laying his left hand affectionately on the back of his +friend's right. + +"On the contrary, I felt perfectly happy. Remembering that you are a +poet, I thought: 'He could not have fallen into better hands!'" + + + + +CHAPTER THREE + +Twelve hours later, as they sat on the terrace of the white house, +they were still talking of her. The coloured lampions overhead +swayed gently in the breeze. + +"She has bestowed many a beautiful hymn upon you," murmured Nikolai, +closing the book upon his finger. "I should like to hear you read +this one," he continued, handing over the volume wherein Andreas had +copied the poems he had recently composed. The poet glanced through +the one his friend had indicated. After turning a few pages, he +paused, meditated a moment, then began reading aloud, making no +effort to conceal his emotion. His voice hummed through the quiet +May night. When he had finished, he sat motionless, gazing at the +lights along the shore, the twinkling, moving lights. + +"Movement," he said softly. "Poetry merely creates petrified images. +Paper, written over with conventional signs ... and there, without, +every day sees a mighty...." + +"Be thankful for what you have," interposed his friend. "Could you +expect greater treasures from yourself or from the world than...?" + +"The world! The world! Greater treasures! The whole silly business +sickens me. I want to do something totally different." + +It seemed as if he had been controlling such an outbreak all day, as +he flung out of his chair and strode to the edge of the terrace. He +leaned upon the parapet, throwing his arms outward towards the lake +as though he craved to grasp the world, the mainland, which in the +twinkling lights seemed alluringly close to the island. + +"I want to possess all that, do you hear? Possess it, not write +poems about it. I don't want to capture rare and lovely things from +the world! This evening I am filled with the feeling that all my +six-and-twenty years have been passed on an island, passed in +contemplation, a pencil in my hand, agog to catch a rhythm here or a +harmony there--while, across the water the train on the Simplon +railway was hurrying men and women through the world, day in day out +for six-and-twenty years." + +He turned abruptly, and marched towards his friend. Thumping the +table so that the glasses rang, he exclaimed: + +"You fancy that Diana is my muse because this sheaf of poems has +fallen from her hand on to my field? Listen, Nikolai, you don't know +her! She is a missile, an arrow, ever speeding in front of you, ever +tempting you to run in emulation of its swift flight. You saw her +for ten seconds; but have you gained nothing from her passage? You +are a seer? Yet have you not penetrated to deeper things because you +have seen her? Tell me, am I become clearer-sighted or madder since +she went?" + +He dropped to his knees beside his friend's chair and, fixing his +blazing eyes upon Nikolai, seemed to wrench the words from the +latter's lips. + +"No, you are not mad. That very evening, after I had seen her, I +went home vowing to make use of every year that was left to me of +youth to cultivate all that was worth while in me. During the +ensuing six months I wrote my book on morphology, a work which had +remained on the stocks for so long." + +"Have you finished it?" + +"It's to be published this summer." + +"Do tell me how you felt that evening...." + +"I took the beautiful creature to be an apparition, a sign and a +portent, a call to action. As far as I was concerned, she was +nameless, and simple; as well-informed as she was charming. What did +I care when, later, I discovered that she was a society dame, +frequenting the palace of a princess, and possessing a name like any +one else? She had been sent to me in the street where the +butterflies were to inspire me with the will to put my plans into +execution. Voicelessly she summoned me to work. Therefore--do you +get on with your task, likewise!" + +"How do you know that this is my work?" asked Andreas, tapping the +book of poems. "You saw her only for a fleeting moment, and yet, +what a stimulus she has been to you. But I have imbibed her very +blood! You'll never guess what she said last night. She was leaning +on this railing, pressing her knee against the balustrade, her silk +dress aflutter in the wind; it was orange-coloured and clung to her +lithe young body; tendrils of hair were gently caught by the breeze. +Speaking very softly, she said: 'The swallows are coming north again. +Though the road be long, they find their way unerringly. When they +fly above a ship, there is a sound of rushing aloft as if fine steel +wings were clashing one upon the other. How free they are! Free; +and yet fate's hand is uplifted over them as it is over our heads. +They are in the grip of fear, just as we ourselves are, as soon as +one of their company shows signs of exhaustion. Half an hour more, a +short half hour only, separates them from the island; their strength +must last till then. One final sweep of the wings and they will +reach their goal. It is will that drives them, will +alone!'--Suddenly she began to sob. The paroxysm lasted but a minute +while she was shaken by unseen forces. Then she dried her eyes and +looked at me with a smile. After a while she laughed and, throwing +her head back, pulled me towards her and kissed me, crying: 'Poet!' + +"Believe me, Nikolai, at that moment she bade me farewell. Because +of the daring mockery she was able to infuse into that one, perilous +word, she had to leave me after uttering it. I was taken aback, and, +since I am ever at a loss in such circumstances, all I found to say +was: 'Are you hankering to join the flock, Diana? Do you want to go +with the common herd across the waters of the lake?'--She laughed +again, and as she lay lightly in my arms she said, with a complete +change of voice and of manner as if her mood vacillated between +coquetry and mystery: 'Perhaps, sometimes, why not? Among the herd, +one is lost to sight!'" + +Nikolai frowned, while with listless impatience he struck a light in +spite of the fact that his cigarette was glowing cheerfully. + +"Well, well, Poet, you can't hope to have things otherwise. Over the +lake! Don't allow yourself to be misled by the dazzling lights of +adventure. Many a promising lad has perished in the quest, to rue +the day when he fell away from the right track. Diana was not +mocking you when she called you poet; that is your true name. This +little batch of poems is no more than a prelude. Remember the fine +plans you dreamed of carrying out. When you are calmer, you must +build upon her inspiration, and thus you will become reconciled to +her flight." + +Andreas faced his friend abruptly. + +"What? Is this the same voice I once heard speaking to me from the +shades of Tartarus? Reconciled? Is that all you have to say after a +sublime experience? Was it not you who, just now, spoke of: 'A call +to action'? I must get away." + +Nikolai, who knew his friend's restless temperament from of old, who +knew that the quiet days in love's garden were but an episode in the +course of the ceaseless flow of turbulent waters, did not make direct +answer, but merely asked: "Where do you intend to go?" + +"On to the mainland! Away from my island! To active life! Into the +fray!" + +"Travel?" + +"That's no more than play." + +"To work in a factory?" + +"That takes too long." + +"Get into a ministerial post?" + +"That would mean returning to Vienna which I left years ago. But I +was wondering..." + +"Well?" + +"What about the diplomatic service?" + +"In that career, too, you'll have to climb a ladder!" + +"Maybe I'll climb ten rungs at a time right at the start!" + +Nikolai said nothing, but he thought: + +"Can that be the ideal aim of a poet? What has happened to the young +people of today? They all want distraction, instead of concentrating +on one activity. A hankering after adventures seems to fill them; +even the strongest natures are led astray by dreams of power; the +finest flower of Europe's young citizens is eagerly seeking for +movement and ever more movement. Well, at any rate I've not been +touched by the microbe!" + +"I see you don't approve," said Andreas. + +"Your best sonnet is of greater value than all your dreams of power +and glory." + +"Of greater value? To whom, pray?" + +"To your own soul." + +Nikolai, convinced that this evening would be a decisive one in their +friendship, that they were here and now at the parting of the ways, +which might sever them for many years, to bring them together again +only after battles, and victories, and disappointments, rose from his +chair, emptied his glass, reached out his hand to his friend, and +said: + +"It is late. I was up early this morning. I'll get along to bed." + +But Andreas, in his passionate devotion, flung his arm round his +friend's shoulders, and exclaimed: + +"Don't give me up! Have confidence in my star." + + +Andreas lighted his candle and sought his own room, followed closely +by Othello. The dog, who was always quick to understand changes in +his master's life, realized that once more, as in former days, they +were to live by themselves. Yet he was not happy at the prospect. +He had not been jealous of Diana, as dogs are wont to be where a +woman, and in especial where the beloved mistress of the master, is +concerned. Each morning he had raised the latch of the bathroom door +and had come to the bedside. Then, resting his forelegs on the +coverlet at the foot, Ke had laid his massive head between them, near +enough to sniff Diana's fragrance as she lay in her place next the +wall. Thus would he remain, his earnest eyes never weary of looking +at the young woman whom he allowed his master to house. He never +attempted to fling himself across their bodies, well knowing that he +would prove too heavy. Besides, a dog's proper place is at his +master's feet, and Othello was not one to break the law. + +Andreas guessed the Great Dane's thoughts, just as Othello guessed +his master's. Without awaiting a sign, the dog took up his position +on the white skin that served as bedside rug. He had never done this +before. Andreas, for his part, flung himself half dressed on to the +bed. He wished to avoid direct contact with the cool white pillow at +his side. As he lay there gazing into the darkness, he seemed to +hear a voice saying: "Te quiero!" The very words Diana had spoken to +him at their first encounter that night of the masked ball! She had +entered his life when taking part in a procession of masqueraders, in +a fanciful get-up, sandals on her bare feet, a long yellow chiton +flowing round her figure, a delicate crown of ivy in her wilful +locks. The vision had floated past him as he sat on the steps heavy +of heart and watchful. Then she had paused, had stepped out of the +ranks, had flung her sun-kissed arm round his neck, and had said, her +voice ringing like pure metal in his ear: "Io te quiero!" (I choose +thee.) + +That night they passed in an almost ceaseless dance together. Next +day they found themselves in the Milan train, hastening northward. +On the morrow they had reached the island. + +Andreas roused himself. Had he not heard the closing of a door? She +often went to shut the door leading on to the terrace.... "Othello, +did you hear nothing? Where is Diana now?" The boyish eyes peered +anxiously, almost defiantly, into the darkness. "Why? How could you +mar the sweet harmony of our lives this way? Diana! Diana!" + +His trembling lips breathed the name very softly. As he turned over +on to the pillow where her head had lain, he suddenly drew back. Was +not this the place where, in the cool of the night, he had leaned +over the young body? Had he not, in the flickering candle-light, +stroked the firm and satiny skin which had been bronzed by the sun; +had his poet's hand not travelled over the deep bosom, on which the +delicate breasts rose and fell as she breathed; had he not caressed +those boyish hips so devoid of passionate desire--for always, until +last night, she seemed rather to tolerate his hot wooing than to +crave for it, seemed to be armed for battle rather than for the joys +of the flesh. + +Images of delight floated round the wearied youth, pictures of bliss +he had experienced on this couch; and with all the power of a rich +imagination he once again drew Diana into his arms. + +Othello kept watch throughout the night, his great head resting on +his crossed paws as he lay at his master's feet. + + + + +CHAPTER FOUR + +"Wanted: lady with knowledge of many languages, Balkan tongues +desirable, secretarial work. Call between 10 and 11. Second +courtyard on left...." + +Diana glanced down at her wrist-watch. Nine-thirty! She paid the +bill for her breakfast, left the modest hotel where she had put up, +and struck out through the park towards the centre of the town. + +That morning when she had gone to Milan--was it only last +Sunday?--she had been urged onward by an inner force which made her +willingly look forward to undertaking almost any kind of work be it +never so humdrum. She was tired of the south, and was filled with +longing for a northern climate. Such restlessness often seized her +towards May or June, and the north appealed to her at no other time +of the year. She had clasped her hands and had examined them as if +to sample their usefulness; her eyes had travelled up to the massive +line of the Alps, that mysterious wall cutting her off from her +second self in the north. Six years of untrammelled wandering had +taught her to look upon chance happenings as the bridge of fate +leading to the unknown. + +"How long ago was it?" she asked herself that evening as she looked +out of the window in the train. "Two years? No, it must be three +since I took up a job because I needed to do so. Lack of money and +the wish no longer to lead a quiet life always seem to coincide! +Should I go to Paris? No, London would be better. But I went to +Paris where I worked under Charpentier at the institute.... What +extraordinary things developed out of that move! Of course the +parting had been easier, Sidney was in good hands, and Father... +Father..." + +She laid her hot forehead against the cold window-pane and caught her +own reflection in the glass. Suddenly she became aware of lights +creeping by, slowly and stealthily when they were away there across +the wide fields, and like a flash when they were near the line. +"Other people's destinies are crossing my path through this +transparent pane. Always these alien destinies, which I have not +summoned, move athwart my eyes, and I am doomed, nay rather, I am +blessed in being allowed to let them go by. Stars! I would that the +starlight might once again delight my eyes...." + +Diana looked up, but the sky was overcast. On reaching Milan the +other day she found that her total cash amounted to fifteen hundred +francs. One thousand she spent in buying underclothes, two hats, one +evening gown, and a costume for day-time use. She was wearing the +latter now, with a white blouse, a plain straw hat, and comfortable, +low-heeled shoes. Neither jewellery nor flowers were there to +relieve the Puritan simplicity of her toilet. But her efforts to +assume the aspect of an ordinary office girl were unsuccessful. In +the first place she did not trip along, or strut, or slouch; she just +walked. Her carriage, too, betrayed her, for her head was well +poised on the broad shoulders and her elastic body swayed +rhythmically from the slender hips. She looked like one accustomed +to much rowing and riding. Her arched brows gave her away, as did +likewise her hands with their long, delicate fingers and the finely +moulded wrists. Above all, her face denied her assumed profession. +The bronzed profile was that of a young Sicilian, such as Antonello +da Messina loved to portray. Everything in her belied the character +she had endeavoured to suggest by means of clothes and her alias. + +"This is a very fine park," she thought, "but the lawns should not +have been fenced in, nor all the paths made into alley ways, nor +every bush clipped into a round. How obsessed the north is with its +dreams of the south! Fearing its own peculiarities it becomes a mere +imitator, and tries to tame all that would fain be wild." + +She turned into the central walk which ran in a perfectly straight +line from entry to exit. Here the great town seemed inspired with +the wish to hide its practical, everyday life behind luxuriant trees, +while all the time the electric trams went screeching and roaring +through the ancient forest. Diana sped on. + +"Whenever I wake in this city I feel that it is in some small degree +akin to me, that it responds to the northern half of my make-up. Did +ever town spur one on to activity as this one does? Is London or New +York so incorruptible? I am glad that I am going into its very +heart. Here I shall be able to work just like other people; indeed I +must! High time I began again...." + + +Diana had now been a week at her secretarial post. She had adopted a +new name, determined to forget the past, determined to be an unknown +unit in the metropolis and thus to avoid head-waggings and questions +in regard to her changed circumstances. She was scared at the idea +of repeating previous encounters on the same stage. Since she was +entirely free from sentimentality, she fostered memories only when +they could prove useful to her development. This time, she had +resolved to bury them. + +She sat in the little whitewashed room with its two doors always +flung wide, while twenty voices could be heard clamouring +simultaneously, the simplest sentence being uttered with the loudness +characteristic of persons whose profession it is to be ever on the +go. After a while she glanced up, and gazed at the patch of grey +wall to be seen above the reflector which did its best to cast a +little daylight into the dark office. + +"It's one o'clock," she mused. "We should be coming from our swim. +Andreas's bathing-wrap would fly open and he'd pick his way gingerly +over the stones.... He never liked them! The Barbary doves used to +fly out of our path and flutter overhead. Domenico would speak of +the wind, and would tell us that the weather had set fair till the +new moon.... Till the new moon, an eternity, two whole weeks! A +fortnight of clear skies and sunshine and wind. When before did the +days seem so long; when before had I ever wished them to be unending? +What if Othello could trace me to this cell? ... He'd lay hold of our +bald-headed editor who always comes singing into the office, and +would shake him by the slack of the trousers! Only for a while, only +for a little while I must hold out here...." + +She set to work again. There were articles from Turkish newspapers +to be translated, Serbian reports to run through, Greek pamphlets to +be read. Everything had to be summarized as tersely as possible and +at topmost speed. She found the task interesting, for she knew the +countries well. Certain names would provoke her to laughter, for +though they now stormed through a troubled Europe as signatures to +telegrams, a year ago they were absolutely unknown save in the +locality where their bearers dwelt; the names of petty lawyers, +nervous young deputies, and the like. On the flowery island +confronting Pallanza, she had dreamed away her days in blissful +ignorance of events in the world without, events which her +contemporaries in self-complacent optimism chose to call "historical." + +"Fräulein Linke!" + +Diana answered promptly. + +"Yes, Herr Larisch." + +"Have you any Belgrade left? We want another twenty lines of +Belgrade stuff for tonight." + +The owner of the voice now appeared in the doorway. The man was big +and shapeless, wore his pince-nez astride a thick nose. His left +hand was in his trouser pocket and was for ever fidgeting with the +contents, while with his right he pulled the collar away from his +neck as if to give himself more breathing space. + +"Herr Mailuft has of course gone to sleep at the vital moment, and +yet he's well paid and for a year and a half has had nothing to do +but run up expenses! That comes of engaging literary men to do +journalistic work. Do you know what the fellow did the day the +prince was hunted out of Albania? He sent a long wire describing a +sunset over the mountains of Epirus!" + +Diana laughed. The speaker, who was delighted at her appreciation of +his wit, continued: + +"You may well laugh. They just sink into places others have prepared +for them, and have no responsibilities. If their work is not done +one day they can just as well do it the next. I wouldn't mind taking +on a job like that.--How do you come to know all their mad tongues, +Fräulein? Have you ever been there? A pretty sort of amusement. +What are those people to us, I should like to know. It's the +diplomats' fault when poor innocent nations are involved in such a +crisis." + +By now he had got into his stride, and had no difficulty in pursuing +his discourse. + +"The reason is obvious. Not until there is a parliamentary +government which has assumed control over ministers of State and +diplomatists, not until the responsibility of such persons to the +duly elected representatives of the people has been enforced by a +written constitution..." + +"No disquisitions here, Larisch; that is the chief's prerogative. +Here's the stuff for your evening edition, just count the words, I +must see where it is best to break off...." + +Larisch, crestfallen, withdrew to his own place in the neighbouring +room, thus making way for the newcomer who stepped over to the +writing-table where Diana was at work, and sat down opposite her. +His mocking eyes twinkled at her from behind gold-rimmed spectacles, +yet Diana could detect an underlying melancholy which may have been +due to disappointment at lack of recognition for his talents. He +looked at her placidly and kindly, folded his hands on the table, and +said: + +"Do you think Larisch is right?" Without waiting for an answer, he +continued to hold forth in the way natural to those who have the gift +of words and like to hear the sound of their own voices. "As if it +were not thus in every country, as if, indeed, it were not highly +desirable that the few should decide the fate of millions! As if, +for instance, you, my good Larisch," he turned round and raised his +voice, quite disregarding the fact that his words could be heard by +the whole office, "as if you could sit there in peace and quiet were +it not that our honoured father, the blessings of Allah be on him, +pays you a monthly wage of nine hundred marks in beautiful blue +bank-notes counted out to you by a grim-visaged Cerberus at the cash +desk, not to mention pension insurance, Christmas bonuses, and all +the rest...." + +"Why are you inditing rhapsodies in terms of contracts?" cried the +oily voice from the next room. "Besides, unless I am well paid for +it, how can I sub-edit the precious material sent in by our worthy +chief?" He modified his voice as he came in with the papers. "It's +poor stuff again today. Not infrequently--what is it Horace +says?--'dormitat Homerus'! 'Thoughts!' said Socrates. 'Thoughts, +Gentlemen, if you please!' exclaimed Lassalle. A polished style is +not enough to get us out of this coil. When I recall the happy days +in which straightforward German was the fashion here! One had not +then to overhaul every sentence in order to see whether Nietzsche +might not have expressed the news-item more pithily. We're too +refined nowadays, old chap...." + +He suddenly cut short his eloquence. Scherer, the owner of the +paper, stood on the threshold. The advent of this little god +almighty before whom even the editor, according to Larisch's +mythological hierarchy, was but as Mercury to Jupiter, had become so +rare an occurrence that when he did appear his presence caused no +small amount of perturbation. Scherer, the financier and head of the +great publishing house, was still a comparatively young man. He was +the son of the founder (God rest his soul) of this international +journal; but there was no trace in him of the humble origin of his +forbears, nor, indeed, could one detect any sign of degeneracy in +him. He combined the maturity of a carefully trained successor with +the reposeful qualities of the democrat of the second generation, and +he clothed his whole being with so earnest a philosophical outlook +that he was bound to attract the mistrust of every circle he came +into contact with either in the realm of business or in the realm of +thought. + +The two male subordinates stood to attention as the big man entered, +but Diana kept her seat and analysed his character by the mode of his +entry. She looked him squarely in the face, undismayed by his +prestige. His eyes were dark, and it seemed to her that they were +out of place in their blond setting behind the horn spectacles. Or +did they, perhaps, betoken a certain unrest in this head which seemed +cast in metal, and over which an artificial constraint of silence had +been imposed? Diana was quite unaware that she was gazing at him +with as much concentration as a playgoer looking at an actor through +opera glasses. The chief noticed her scrutiny, and thought: + +"That's no ordinary secretary." + +"Are you the one," he continued aloud, "who sent in this detailed +statement, or, rather, this summary, yesterday?" + +The two men withdrew, and closed the door with a great deal of noise +as much as to say that they had not the slightest interest in what +was to follow. Diana nodded. As she recognized her own handwriting +the blood crept slowly upward into her face until she was blushing +all over. Meanwhile, she was thinking: + +"A metallic voice. I've no liking for tenors as a rule, but the +voice suits the man...." + +"It's very good, Fräulein..." + +He waited for her to help him out with the name. + +"Linke," said Diana, as if she had never been called anything else. + +"Fräulein Linke, excellent. My name is Scherer. Were you ever in +the Balkans? Correspondent?" He took the chair on the opposite side +of the writing-table. + +"I've not as yet done any newspaper work. I was travelling." + +He looked at her more attentively, and thought: + +"Proud. She says: 'Not as yet.' Avoids the word 'never'--which +might serve her very well, for she must know that this first essay of +hers has struck me very favourably." + +Slowly, he set about questioning her, testing her: + +"You were travelling?" + +"Yes." + +She threw the syllable into the air, raising her chin in the act and +thus avoiding his scrutiny. The word rang forth with bell-like +purity, shutting the door upon further questions; it verged on +rebuff; was self-confident, full of a sense of responsibility, +determined. A second or two passed while she felt his analytical +gaze upon her. Then the clear-toned voice was saying; + +"They told me that a woman had put this report together.... There's +a good deal of noise here.... You are not as a matter of fact +engaged to do editorial work. I'll find you an office over in the +firm.... Will you step across with me?..." + +They rose. Diana gathered her papers together. He did not attempt +to help her. Arrived at the door, he made an almost imperceptible +movement to allow her to pass out first. + +The whole office was agog. The two eavesdroppers were immediately +surrounded by an inquisitive crowd. It never entered any of their +heads that Scherer had come to make gallant overtures--they knew him +too well! Within their knowledge, there had never been the faintest +rumour of such things in his connexion. What could he be after? Who +was this new employee? + +"What did he say?"--"What did she say?"--came from three or four +typists simultaneously. Larisch answered evasively. + +"Fish and find out, girls! Do you want a share of the good luck? +You need only come to my department!" + +"Your department? Oh, Herr Larisch!" + + + + +CHAPTER FIVE + +It was still daylight as carriage after carriage drew up before the +colonnade of the opera house. Although the beauty of this evening in +May had called every one forth to enjoy the fresh air, the house was +sold out. Diana had not thought of such a possibility, and was +aggrieved, wellnigh humiliated, when she found herself unable to get +in, and saw other women mounting the red carpeted stairway which she +felt she should be treading in their stead. They were foes, making +no effort to conceal their triumph! The sound of the call-bell +irritated her; it seemed to go on interminably, summoning the +audience to hurry. She gazed with longing eyes at the press of +people entering the vestibule; then, slowly, she walked down the wide +steps. + +Home? The word sent a chill through her. She could not face going +back defeated, to the little room which for two weeks now had served +her as sleeping place. + +She had spent every evening of the fortnight in solitude. It was her +wont during such periods of vital change deliberately to impose +seclusion upon herself. She had written to none of her friends, for +she was saturated with a fatalistic sentiment of adventure which made +her await developments. At night she would go for a walk along the +water's edge; Sunday would be devoted to revisiting old favourites in +the museums, old yet ever fresh as endowed with eternal youth; or, +silently she would pursue her way along the streets, looking at new +buildings. Then, again, the big shops and cafes would attract her +critical eye, and she would study the present-day fashions and +tastes. Such were her recreations. Her work in Scherer's office +absorbed all her intellectual energies; and ambition, which ever +acted as a spur to this woman, goaded her on to give of her best. +Tonight, however, _Carmen_ was to be played, and this was an opera +which Diana could never bear to miss. + +"Shut out! Here am I, not able to hear; and yet I belong to this +tragedy far more vitally than do all those women who have only come +to listen to the new singer. Shall I go for a drive? It would cost +too much; besides it's too late, and my dress is all wrong!" + +An open car drove up. A tall man in evening dress stepped out, +flinging a black evening cloak over his arm. Diana was struck +pleasantly by the gesture. She was likewise delighted with the look +of the taxi, and moved forward to engage it. Suddenly she stopped, +drew back a pace or two, and turned pale from mingled alarm and joy. + +"Sidney!" + +"Diana!" + +The exclamations rang out almost simultaneously as brother and sister +recognized one another. In three strides the young man was at her +side, feeling rather embarrassed, and as if caught in the act of +doing something he should not. He himself was at a loss to account +for the feeling. He bent over her gloved hand, and asked with a +smile: + +"Are you startled?" + +Yes, this was actually her brother. Those were his long, finely +chiselled features, his slim, delicately moulded limbs, his fair, +curly hair, which refused to submit to the discipline of a +parting--much to the chagrin of this fashionably dressed young +gentleman. How alike the two were! His skin, however, contrasted +with hers in that it was of the tint of ivory, whereas hers was a +golden brown. Her body too, as any one with an eye could guess in +spite of her cloak and her gown, differed greatly from that of the +frail, effeminate youth. If she displayed the physical vigour of a +Tobias, he, on the contrary, was cut in the softer lines of the +youthful Sebastian. For the moment, however, he was nothing but a +slender young gentleman in evening dress. + +Diana's face melted into an almost childlike laugh. She looked like +a girl of seventeen. After years of being with persons of her own +choice, she suddenly found herself in the company of one to whom she +belonged through ties of kinship. Her proud nature was enchanted at +the thought of being dependent for a moment upon this callow boy of +nineteen whose senior she was by six years and upon whom she had +always looked as a kind of son. + +With the adaptability of lively natures, they soon recovered from +their first surprise at the unexpected encounter, and, overcoming the +innate reserve peculiar to them both, they asked one another a few +pointed questions: + +"Have you been here long?" + +"A short while," was her answer. + +"You wrote from Rome..." + +"Did I?" + +"Yes, a card with a pine tree on it and the words 'Via Appia' +beneath." + +"Where is Father?" + +"In London, I fancy. I have not seen him since March." + +"And you?" + +"Oh, I," he paused for a moment, nonplussed. Then: "I'm going to the +opera." + +"There are no more tickets!" + +"I've got a box." + +"So well off?" + +"I don't know. Did you think of going?" + +"Are you alone?" + +"Y--yes," he answered with some hesitancy. + +"Andiamo," cried she, slipping her hand lightly through his arm. As +they gaily ascended the steps she had recently come down in so +disappointed a mood, she thought: "I've a brother. He's +good-looking. He drove up in a taxi, through this town, on this +evening, to the very opera I want to hear.... Life, O Life!" + +The lights had been lowered. As Diana let fall her cloak, the +orchestra struck up the first barbaric strains of the prelude. The +sounds surged over her, submerging her. In two seconds she had +completely forgotten her companion. + +Sidney was deaf to the music. Withdrawn into a corner of the box, he +sat obliquely behind Diana and contemplated her with an expression +mature beyond his age. He had not seen her for three years. She had +left London for Paris, in the middle of winter, and had disappeared. +Had those been quiet days, he asked himself with the inner +perturbation of a youth whose childhood had been an agitated one. +She had been working in the British Museum Reading Room; every +morning she had gone there, to a seat immediately on the left as you +entered, beneath the huge glass dome. When he came to fetch her, she +would take him to the galleries where the classical marbles were. +Father would have tea with them at the little boarding-house, they'd +chat together, the old man would pay the weekly bill and would give +them some pocket money. Diana used to go out in the evening; he +rarely knew who her companion was on these occasions.... She had no +women friends, nor, indeed, had she ever had any. What could she be +doing here? Was she having a good time? How lovely she looked in +her green-and-white crêpe de chine dress! Mentally, he estimated its +cost. Her arms are sunburned, she must have spent a long time in the +country. He paused in his meditation, and blinked his eyes in the +darkness. "All alone, without a ticket, at the opera.... And she is +wearing a white camellia. Could this be a shield against love's +attacks? In that case she must just have emerged from a passionate +episode! Yes, that's what it is; and now she's in one of her ascetic +periods. I could wager she was not on the look-out for any one. A +romantic love affair ... somewhere away in the country.... Fairly +long ... probably in the south ... the camellia for remembrance..." + +The curtain went up on the chorus of young folk in the wide square of +Seville. Diana, recovering from her absorption in the music and the +darkness, turned her head towards her companion; her movement was +deliberate, as if she hoped it would give her once again the +pleasurable surprise of a few minutes ago. She liked him immensely, +and touched his foot softly with the point of her slipper: + +"Sidney! How tall you have grown! Ti amo!" + +He whispered back: + +"Diana, I'm ever so proud of you. Why shouldn't I... Why can't you +be my sweetheart?" + +"You're not old enough!" + +Carmen's motif was being played; Carmen herself appeared. Diana's +eyes dilated, she raised her brows so high that her forehead was +wrinkled while with her right hand she seized the edge of the box as +if to steady herself. Always when Carmen's voice fell on her ear, +when the tragically bold glance shot across the footlights, Diana +felt a premonitory flutter at her heart, a prophetic warning of +something still far away, hidden in the night of the future. When, +however, Carmen made her advances and withdrew again, when at one +moment she was unrestrained and at another reserved, when she flung +her sweet, mad song at the officer's head, and with an almost sexual +bravado made as if to draw the young man into her arms, Diana relaxed +her hold, sank back on her chair, and drew her wrap about her +shoulders. She seemed to be the prey of a mood which her brother +could not fathom. + +The lights went up, and Diana hardly had time to pull herself +together before the door of the box was thrown open and an officer +came in. He brought his heels smartly together on the threshold, and +then advanced to kiss Diana's hand. Diana sat quietly for a moment +recovering from her surprise. + +"You, Major!" she said at last. + +"My presence here is far less surprising than yours, for I'm an +habitué of the opera and have searched its seats in vain for a sight +of you for three years now." + +"My brother," said Diana who had been quick to observe her visitor's +uneasy glance towards the corner where Sidney had ensconced himself. + +"Oh, I beg your pardon.... Had I not the pleasure once...?" The +words fell heavily like great drops of rain before a storm. Indeed, +one could almost fancy that the growl of thunder was already in the +air. "At that time I did not know," the officer continued +cautiously, for he hardly believed in the kinship between the two, +"that this lady was your sister...." + +"I, too, had no idea that you had already met a member of my family," +interposed the young man with subtle irony. + +Diana thought: + +"Our two terriers, Jack and Jill, used to snarl at one another in +exactly the same way over their feeding bowl in the old days in +London!" + +She turned to the major: "Won't you stay?" + +"With pleasure, if I may," he answered, looking a rather arrogant +inquiry at Sidney. + +"I shall be delighted, too. I am my sister's guest." + +As the lights went out, the major took his place so close to Diana's +side that he could whisper in her ear, very softly, hardly moving his +lips as he spoke: + +"You are simply wonderful!" + +"Thanks." + +"I've always been on the look-out for you. I knew that some day or +other you'd return." + +"And here I am." + +"But you never wrote a line...." + +"I could not. It had to be one thing or the other.-- Still +suffering from jealousy?" + +"Horribly!" + +"It really is my brother." + +"Swear?" + +"On your sword," she breathed, placing her hand on the hilt of his +weapon as it thrust forward among the folds of her dress. + +"Diana," he urged, pressing closer. + +"No!" + +Ostentatiously she drew away from him, and turned towards Sidney. +The latter had heard the whispered exchange of words and had been +watching the couple, wondering where he had seen the man before. +Slowly came the remembrance of a somewhat shady night club. Yes, it +was there they had met; the officer was in mufti, the encounter +lasted no more than a few seconds. Could the man really have been an +intimate of Diana's. Sisters should be sexless! + +The major continued to whisper in Diana's ear, until the great scene +in the second act, where Carmen sings her most seductive song, +compelled him to silence. Then all she heard at her side was the +heavy breathing of a man who was exercising fierce control over +himself. But even this sound faded from the circle of her +perceptions when the toreador embarked upon his triumphant pæan. She +closed her eyes in the sensuous enjoyment of the final F. It seemed +to her at that moment as if rushing wings drew near, to fold her in +an embrace. Present experiences became less real to her than the +premonitory murmur of the unknown future. + +During the interval, Diana had made for the balcony with her two +companions in order to enjoy a breath of fresh air, for the late +spring weather was mild and the opera house felt hot and stuffy. As +the trio strolled along, the major saluted a friend whom Diana +recognized as Scherer, her chief. She was aware that the latter +turned to look after her, and she hurried out on to the balcony. She +was not a little annoyed at the encounter. The next thing would be +that the publisher would question the major as to her identity, and +then it would be all up with her incognito. This might cost her her +employer's confidence which, during the week she had been working +directly under him, she had won as much by her behaviour as by the +excellence of her work. + +The warm evening air was wafted up to them as they leaned upon the +balustrade. The breeze caressed Diana's bare shoulders and arms so +that she shivered slightly. She drew her wrap closer about her. The +women as they walked to and fro were obviously living in the +atmosphere of Seville; they coquetted with fans, flaunted their +laces, displayed their uncomprehended passions in such a way as would +have shocked their worthy burgher souls had they been consciously +aware of what they were doing. The voluptuousness of the music and +the balminess of the air were responsible for lingering touch of hand +on hand as the men helped the ladies with cloak or shawl. But the +major, whose erotic temperament was never allowed to encroach upon +his courtesy and formal politeness, was careful to avoid any contact +with Diana. + +Now the opera pursued its course, ominous, poignant. As Carmen, +laying out the cards, pronounced the word of doom, Diana shuddered. +It seemed to her that all of a sudden she was quite alone, no longer +young, cut off from liberty. She was annoyed at the meeting of these +two men, a meeting which had at first seemed to her so piquant. Yet +she could not leave the house until once again she had drunk the +intoxicating rhythm of the toreador music; had seen the brilliant +sunlight illuminating the bull ring; had relished to the full the +medley of horses, soldiers, flags; had thrilled responsively to the +hymn of triumph and the glamour of the bloodthirsty sport. Amid all +the noise and brilliancy, she had been snatched away into another +realm by the exquisite tenderness of Micaela's appeal.... + +At last the curtain fell on the final act. Clapping of hands, bows +before the footlights, a rush to the exits. All were still under the +spell of the music and the drama; all were silent; all seemed for the +moment to be rudderless, adrift. + +As the three friends pressed forward in the crowd, their movements +were closely followed by Scherer. For a week now he had had this +amazing woman under observation, and the more he was tempted to +utilize her for his purposes, the more he was struck with the +qualities chance happenings revealed. He had noticed the meeting in +the box, had instantly recognized the woman as Diana and the officer +as an old acquaintance; the younger man was unknown to him. Their +gestures and general behaviour showed the trio to hail from cultured +circles; but he was puzzled as to the relationship of one to the +other. + +"I wonder how they are going to spend the remainder of the evening," +he mused. "To which of those men does she belong?" + +The question continued to occupy his mind for the rest of the night. +He followed them into one of the larger restaurants, and engaged a +table near the wall whence he could watch them unobserved. + +After the second glass of Chambertin, the spirits of the three rose. +It was as if they had thrown off a load. The major began to feel +that this brother of Diana's was not in his way, after all; while +Sidney saw that the officer was a gentleman although their first +encounter had taken place in so dubious a spot. Both men placed +implicit faith in Diana, and she for her part was able by her tactful +management to bring the two to a better understanding. + +"Sidney, do you remember where we last met?" + +"Yes, in London." + +"Whereabouts?" + +"In the British Museum, before the Assyrian fresco with the lion. +You were showing me around. I was keen to learn. Three times a week +for at least two months...." + +"Do you still draw?..." + +"Occasionally." + +"Will you show me some of your work?..." + +"Any time you please!" + +"Have you tried your hand at a portrait of your sister yet?" asked +the major. + +"Not as far as I can remember." + +"Oh, but you did," cried Diana, laughing, "you made a sketch of me +once at Brighton when I was wearing that lilac bathing cloak." Then, +suddenly: "Oh, how I long for the sea! I want to go south, to +Athens! Not just now, later on. I know south-eastern Europe, and +nearly half the East, but I've never been to Athens, the only place +that really matters. I like all that far better than your Assyrian +lions!" + +"Isn't it in Athens that one sees those riders?" asked the major, his +voice suddenly assuming a tone of genuine inquiry. "You know, the +riders you once showed me a cast of?" + +Diana looked at him with lively comprehension as she replied: + +"Yes, the riders are to be seen there." + +Sidney thought: + +"I wonder what memories the riders bring back to them?" + +The major thought: + +"How mad we were that day in Mecklenburg... I locked the garden +gates ... it was early morning ... and I sat her naked on the Irish +stallion ... bareback, like the Grecian riders in the museum.... +Will she ever be mine again?" + +Diana thought: + +"I rode in the sunlight, naked, and I felt the quivering sides of the +beast against my thighs.... It was of a chestnut colour, just like a +nut freshly taken from the husk. We were like children together, he +and I. How long ago those days seem to me now." + +At last she roused herself to ask: + +"So you are in the garrison here?" + +"I'm on the general staff," he said testily, in an endeavour to hide +the turmoil within. A pause. Then: "At that time, the last time I +had the good luck to meet you--exactly three years ago--you were kind +enough to suggest that we might meet again...." + +"Yes, we did speak of the matter," answered Diana airily, hoping to +quell his excitement; for she saw while he was speaking that he +winced at the recollection of all he had made her suffer through his +jealousy and his pride, of all that had led to the final parting. + +Her tone drew a look of gratitude from him, which Sidney was quick to +intercept. The young man rose, trying to find an excuse for leaving +them alone together. + +"Excuse me a moment," he said, "there's old Heinz over there...." + +He was away for a quarter of an hour, and amused himself by sketching +a caricature of the cloakroom attendant. + +The officer seized his opportunity. + +"Diana," he cried, taking her hand and covering it with kisses, "I +have you to thank for what I have become. At the time of our +parting, I hated you, yes, hated you. I could not bear you to look +at any one else.... But when you had gone I drew a line--please +don't laugh, I have not given up love, but I no longer devote all my +time to love. I started studying seriously, and in two years I got +promoted to the general staff. In the ordinary course I could not +have gone that far in less than five years, and only then by a fluke. +Meanwhile I've been devoting my leisure to opera--not just the +ballet--museums, exhibitions, books of travel." Suddenly he found he +could speak in lighter vein again as he exclaimed: "I actually read, +yes, read: a novelty in my family. My forefathers away there in the +churchyard at home would turn in their graves if they could see me!" + +Diana closed her eyes, listening as her friend paid her this belated +homage, and tried to conceal his emotion under cover of a joke. When +he ceased speaking, she lifted her glass, and, with a charming and +dignified mien, toasted him thus: + +"Here's to the golden laurel leaf on your red collar!" + +He embraced her in his glance and raised his glass to clink with +hers, his hand trembling as he did so. + +"How long shall we be alone? I do so much want to tell you what I've +been planning these three years past.--Diana, I'm sorry to make you +such a request in all this racket, but won't you share with me what +remains of my life?" + +Her face stiffened; she looked thirty years old at least as she put +her glass down, and said softly: + +"Never try to repeat things, my friend. Do you want the pleasant +things you have just been saying to lose their flavour? Is not this +moment of greater value than all the remainder of your life, which +may prove a hollow sham if we do what you propose? Do not try to +tame the falcon. Let me fly in a free sky." + +She shot a glowing look at him, but as she emptied her glass her +companion saw that her eyes were moist with tears. + +Sidney came back at this moment. Diana rose, saying: + +"It is late. Good-bye. Please do not come with me." + +Both men protested; but Diana, wearied of the male's everlasting +suspicion of women, beckoned them both towards her and flashed: + +"Can't you trust me to go home by myself?" + +She got into a taxi, and even as it was starting Scherer's big bulk +appeared in the doorway of the restaurant. He had witnessed their +farewells, and was seeking a taxi wherein to follow her and find out +what was her next move. The major, who on no account wanted to lose +her trail, bade Sidney a hasty good-night, and jumped into another +taxi which was drifting along across the street. Sidney, however, +understood the officer's manœuvre. He felt curious as to his +sister's relations with the major and in his turn hailed a taxi. + +In the busier parts of the town the procession was not very +noticeable, but as soon as Diana's cab reached the quiet +neighbourhood where she lived it was evident that she was being +followed by three vehicles in fairly close formation.... When her +driver stopped in front of her door, the others drew up likewise. +Three heads were cautiously poked out of three windows. Scherer at +once knew who the other two men were, but they were puzzled as to his +identity. + +As Diana stepped up to the front door she took the whole comedy in at +a glance, and laughed. She laughed again when she reached her room: + +"I'll never succeed in making men believe that I am a virtuous woman!" + + + + +CHAPTER SIX + +Scherer was determined to find out all about her. He knew that Paula +Linke was not her real name, and the information bureau to which he +applied was soon able to give him further particulars. Her father +was a Pole by birth, had been naturalized a German, and had been +vice-consul in Macedonia some twenty years ago. Rumour had it that +he was a merchant and a dealer in furs. But according to another +report he was a savant with private means, and had spent much of his +time in exploring out-of-the-way parts of the world. He was now +living in England. Diana herself had recently come from Italy, had +been engaged in manifold activities, had worked in various +institutions, had been a librarian. Her movements were even traced +to a riding school in Munich where she had apparently given lessons +in horsemanship. Three years ago she had been in this very town for +a few months in the company of a certain countess, had been +entertained by the Automobile Club, had been a competitor at the +regatta, and was supposed to have spent one summer at a country house +in Masuria. + +Scherer's experience as a man of business had taught him that inquiry +agents, when stumped for accurate information, are wont to spin fairy +tales. He therefore chose to believe about half of this budget, and +it was enough for him to know that the report contained nothing +scandalous. As man of the world he exercised the utmost care in +regard to his private life, avoiding intimacy with persons whose +acquaintance was thrust upon him, and who he considered might be +useful to him. He felt amply rewarded when his affairs in this field +ran smoothly. On the other hand, as financier, he penetrated into +alcoves, private clubs, and bedchambers, for he knew that more money +was lost in such places than on the Stock Exchange. + +He had been led to make his inquiries because he was possessed of the +idea of utilizing Diana's services for a special mission, a mission +for which her qualities made her particularly suitable. Every day +brought him fresh surprises as to her abilities. He would constantly +put her to new tests, would engage her in discussion of the political +issues predominant in the countries they were at the moment chiefly +concerned with; would ask questions whose answers he himself knew +perfectly well; gave answers which he knew to be incorrect. He did +not put these tests in any spirit of mockery; indeed, his respect for +this woman's intelligence grew from day to day. + +At the same time, both were careful to preserve the integrity of +their business footing, and their precautions in this were all the +greater in proportion as his information assumed a more confidential +character. Scherer was pleased to note her aloofness, was delighted +with the way in which she deliberately closed all the avenues to a +more intimate approach. Yet as man of the world he could not ignore +the investigatory gaze of this woman who concealed her inner self +behind a veil of silence, while probing him to the core. It was her +capacity for judging men and things (a capacity which he felt her +exercising in regard to himself with just as fine a penetration as in +respect of other personalities) which led him to consolidate his +plans. + +Yet this man who was bold enough to play with fate, scarcely realized +that the magnetic spell of a woman was driving him, all unconscious, +into ventures which, though they were not in Eros's realm, might +prove no less hazardous in other fields than love. + +Diana guessed his plans. She knew that he had big financial +interests in the East. So much she had gathered from reports, from +letters dealing with company and banking concerns, about which she +was occasionally consulted--not always, of course, for she was not +Scherer's secretary. "He'll need me down there," she thought, +"perhaps he's going to send me...." When, after a while, she +realized that he could not dispense with her services, she slipped +him into the general machinery of her existence, and started to +reckon upon him as a factor in her life, doing so all the more coolly +seeing that she was not stirred by him as a man. The days following +that night of the opera flowed peacefully by. When she entered her +room late on the following day, she found a bunch of white carnations +awaiting her. Despite the ill success of his advances, the major +could not refrain from celebrating this happy meeting by sending her +the loveliest flowers he could find. He was also influenced in his +choice by the recollection of all that similar white carnations had +meant to him one winter day in a snow-storm. At that time they had +been her favourite flowers. His note ran: + + +"Don't be angry with me. Require of me that I await a sign from you, +but do not ask me to take you at your word, for that would rob me of +all hope of renewing the most beautiful days of my life. You have +fresh conquests to record, the homage of young men and old in the +East and in the West. I am turning grey, you saw as much quite +clearly when I bent to kiss your lovely hand and that infernal lamp +blazed down on me. You are more blooming than ever. I have asked +you to share my life and my name. True, my request was bluntly made; +I am nothing but a soldier. You have refused me. But I beg you to +remember that I shall always look upon myself as your friend. I +trust you to give me a chance to be of use to you. Believe me, in +any danger that may arise, your unchangeable + +"FELIX." + + +To which she replied: + +"Your white carnations are as lovely today as those you gave me years +ago. Thank you. I may be leaving before long. It would be nice to +take a drive somewhere together. You will be my first thought if +ever danger arises. + +"DIANA." + + +As she slipped the note into its envelope and addressed it to him in +his new rank, she thought of all the talks they had enjoyed together, +talks which had lured him from his humdrum regimental occupations to +put his gifts to finer uses, talks which had plucked him from the +morass of stereotyped adventures, and, by stimulating his ambition, +had led him to more intellectual spheres of activity. "----, Major +on the General Staff." Surely that was better than an order, a +prize-cup for good horsemanship, or the daily billet-doux in the +scented envelope. + +Diana loathed the idea of being a "general purveyor of happiness." +For her, kindness was not a law unto itself, a regulative principle +residing freely within her. Nay, rather, was it apprehended in a +lively understanding of things, and was, therefore, easier to lavish +upon animals and plants than upon mankind, for in the initial stages +of her acquaintance with human beings her combative instinct was +invariably aroused. Yet she had ever an urgent inclination towards +spurring on to the utmost the individuals with whom she came into +contact, and to this task she devoted herself with all the powers of +a lively imagination, cultivating it as a fine art. + +She glanced from the letter to the flowers and back. Then she smiled +as she pondered the reasons for her brother's silence, for he had +made no move. Sidney was of an undemonstrative temperament, in +absolute contrast to the open-hearted candour of the major. This +quality in her brother was an echo of her own character; like her, he +was reluctant to show off his knowledge, preferred to withhold at +least a portion for his own intimate use, to have reserves in his +battle with the world. She knew that he, too, enjoyed observing +others while himself remaining unobserved. These cogitations aroused +a half-maternal sense of responsibility for Sidney, a feeling that +had slumbered in her heart for years since she had first realized all +the peril that life held for a man of his disposition. Thinking of +him made her wish to find him. + +"He must belong to some club or other," she mused. "He could not +live without his club! There are four hundred clubs in the telephone +book, I'll have to engage a messenger boy to find out the one Sidney +belongs to...." + +Her inquiry was not successful, and she was left troubled in her +mind; for his appearance the other night, his handsome face, his +elegance, showed him to be a man of leisure and of means. This +seemed to her, in view of his youth, to be full of dangerous +possibilities. She must, indeed, find his whereabouts. + + + + +CHAPTER SEVEN + +The dinner was nearing its end. Among the little party of five men +whom the old count had invited to dine with him at the Political +Club, the minister for foreign affairs was obviously the guest of +honour. True the table was a round one, chosen specially in order to +obviate any question of precedence. Yet it was impossible to avoid +the impression that the man tucked away in the corner was really the +presiding genius. From his place he could keep his eyes on the +remainder of the room. The host occupied the seat on the left of the +minister. Since he was of a genial disposition, quite innocuous, and +above all was no longer regarded as a possible competitor, the +younger aspirants to power were glad of his company, for they ran no +risk of being compromised, while at the same time they could flaunt a +halo of disinterestedness. + +To the left of the host sat a naval commander whose youthful face was +surmounted by the bald dome of his head. The effect was all the more +ludicrous because the sun and the sea air had tanned the face a deep +mahogany, while above the line of his cap the skin was shiny and very +white. Furthermore, the man was clean-shaven, so that his head gave +the effect of an anatomical specimen. The commander was flanked by +Diana's friend the major, whose whole countenance was in vivid +contrast to that of his neighbour, the two men thus admirably +illustrating in their persons the perennial antagonism between the +naval and the military arms. + +The fourth guest was a professor of economics whose lively bearing +and mischievous doctrinairism showed him to be a man of the old +school. With the typical arrogance of the learned, he looked down on +the man of war to his right, and devoted himself exclusively to his +left-hand neighbour. This was Scherer, whom the old count had +invited that he and the minister might become acquainted. + +When dessert had been placed on the table, the men pushed back their +chairs and sat more comfortably. Scherer and the minister entered +into close conversation. Thereupon, the other four instinctively +drew together for a talk. Scherer sat quietly listening while his +neighbour spoke; occasionally he would pull his short, fair +moustache, but he said very little. The minister leaned heavily upon +the arm of his chair; he was serious of mien, and gazed inquiringly +at his companion. It was obvious that the task in hand was not the +capture of the statesman, but, rather, that the financier and +publisher was the quarry of the evening. + +Yet the statesman did not abate by one jot or tittle the arrogant +tone that was habitual to him. He was ten years Scherer's senior, it +is true, was engaged in a struggle, and was filled with misgivings in +regard to the twofold profession of his interlocutor. All this +combined to make his subterranean fires glow the brighter, so that +his rather heavy countenance was illuminated and made more vivacious +by the fight. His face was swarthy and was framed in grizzled hair; +his dark eyes were rendered preternaturally large by the huge convex +glasses of his spectacles which gave him an unearthly fixation of +gaze. Scherer, on the other hand, wore a pince-nez whose elegant +poise merely served to enhance the fine line of his features. + +"Do you really trust these orientals?" asked the minister softly and +yet with precision, for he was coming to the kernel of the matter +under discussion. + +"There are as many varieties among the peoples of the East as among +us westerners," answered Scherer, his metallic voice, as always, +ringing true. + +The statesman was somewhat irritated by an answer whose banality +revealed a desire on Scherer's part to evade the issue. For a moment +or two, he toyed with his fruit knife; then, speaking with +deliberation: + +"I have in mind the present situation. Should we base the whole of +our colonial development on the good will of a nation whose resolves +may change at any moment, whose French culture will require more than +a generation to efface, and whose geographical position lays it open +to the advances of any chance comer? The door over there has been +flung wide. Is it right that I should order Turkish coffee to be +served me in that room when I am not sure whether before I reach it, +another member of this club may not bribe the manager to have the +doors shut and may not commandeer all the coffee for his own use?" + +"Did I hear the delicious words, Turkish coffee?" put in the +professor, hoping thereby to bring both conversations to an end. +"How would it be to stretch our legs a trifle after the solemn +enjoyment of our repast? Pardon me, Count..." + +But already the six chairs had been pushed back, and the men made for +the stairs, walking in couples, the professor arm-in-arm with the +count, while the statesman and Scherer brought up the rear, halting +from time to time in order to emphasize some particular point and +thereby holding up the remainder of the party, for the count was +loath to get separated from his guests. Scherer, who was better +acquainted with the East than was his companion, and who had come to +realize that the statesman's ethnological arguments were based upon +personal distrust of specific personages, now took up his parable +from this side. He put a direct question: + +"You feel that the present crisis confirms your outlook--justifies a +policy that would aim at breaking all the engagements entered into by +persons on the spot?" + +The other answered with customary evasiveness: + +"I perceive the danger of allowing oneself to place too much trust +in..." + +"And would, therefore, advise against further investment in the +railway shares?" + +But the minister was not to be coerced into plain speaking, and +answered with studied ambiguity: + +"I would seek to gain time and to make a cautious retreat." + +The minister's main object tonight was to bring the newspaper magnate +to an acceptance of his Balkan policy by giving the financier a hint +as to the possible course of affairs. Scherer guessed the import of +the manœuvre. He was well aware that the minister opposed the +political trend towards expansion in the East, and was, in addition, +devoured with a jealous suspicion of the ambassador at the centre of +present interest. Cautiously avoiding these essential issues, +Scherer gazed down at the points of his patent-leather shoes, and +asked unconcernedly: + +"Your dispatches bring better news today?" + +"Dispatches, indeed," fumed the minister. "There are certain people +who are unteachable! Twelve hours before the outbreak of hostilities +they will still be assuring you of the love these nations feel +towards you." + +"It is possible that those who are commissioned to look after our +interests on the spot do not enjoy your full confidence?" + +"Have you implicit confidence in your correspondents, Herr Scherer?" + +Scherer gave a short laugh. + +"No! But..." + +The moment had come when the minister could no longer postpone the +decisive question. He assumed the attitude of a fencer about to +thrust, an attitude he invariably adopted when dealing with the +Opposition in the Lower House, and asked coldly: + +"Do you believe in the unerring judgment of our ambassador out there?" + +Scherer looked tranquilly into his companion's owl-like eyes, and +drawled: + +"Unerring? He seems to me a pleasant person. No one is infallible. +Surely you don't expect all our ambassadors to be men of genius?" + +There was a challenging note in this question, for the financier +could certainly not be ignorant of the antipathy the two men felt for +one another. The minister, therefore, broke off the conversation by +stepping smartly forward to join the rest of the company, while he +said loud enough for all to hear: + +"I sincerely trust you are right, Herr Scherer, were it only in the +interests of the State." + +"Have you brought him to heel, Sir," asked the professor jovially. +"A marvellous man, this Scherer," continued he, "puts his money in +railways that don't work, publishes newspapers in which the reports +are as false as the type is heavy, with it all is a European +celebrity, and he himself does not know if he owes his notoriety to +his wealth or his wit!" + +"You are merry, worthy privy councillor," said Scherer +good-humouredly. He towered head and shoulders above the professor +and was therefore able to lay his hand condescendingly upon the +smaller man's shoulder. Every one realized that he was revenging +himself for the professor's sally by addressing him with a title the +authorities were never likely to bestow. But the little man did not +put himself about to correct the error. He merely exclaimed: + +"Call me 'colleague,' then at least for a minute I can rejoice in the +illusion of sharing your millions!" + +"And I the delight of sharing a professorship," laughed Scherer, +turning on his heel. + +"What a disagreeable person," muttered the commander, wagging his +head, and looking coldly at the offending professor. + +"Oh, that's a mere nothing," interposed the major. "I've heard the +creature lecture at the Colonial Society. He let drop one insult +after the other. And there were a number of foreign diplomats +present as guests!" + +"Men like that do us a lot of harm abroad," retorted the naval +officer. "It's by them that our nation is judged." + +The party moved on up the stairs, and presently broke up. Scherer +and the two officers walked down the street together. + +"Do you know these lands?" asked Scherer, addressing himself to his +naval friend for the first time that evening. + +"Very little. We seafaring men are restricted to the coasts. +There's seldom an opportunity to get away inland." + +"Which one of us three knows those countries from the inside? I was +recently putting the same question to one of our experts in eastern +affairs. Oriental politics were supposed to be his speciality. +Three times had he been along the caravan route from Konia to Aleppo, +had visited Monastir, had gone to see the temples in the +Peloponnesus. Each expedition had lasted three weeks. I'll wager +that you know more about those places than he does, Commander," said +Scherer with a laugh. + +"I really know practically nothing. True, my ship was stationed +three years in those waters, but one picks up so little trustworthy +information." + +Scherer gave him an appreciative look. + +"Unfortunately our writers fail to realize that! Do you happen to +know our ambassador?" + +"Slightly, very slightly." + +"Shall I seem indiscreet if I ask whether you think he's the right +man for the job?" + +"The only man!" exclaimed the commander with an emphasis which in any +one else might have seemed exaggerated. + +For a while, they walked along in silence, each deep in his own +thoughts, the naval officer gazing straight ahead of him, while +Scherer's eyes were cast on the pavement. + +"He must be an interesting fellow," murmured the major, amid the +prevailing silence. + +"Very," came deliberately from the commander. + +They had reached the street which led to his quarters. He drew +himself up, bade good-night, and went on his way. + +Scherer and the major continued their stroll. They, too, had hardly +had a word with one another. Since the night at the opera, the major +had learned of Diana's connexion with the publisher, and had been +waiting all the evening for the chance of a talk. They often did not +meet for months at a time. Scherer, too, was eager to bring the +conversation round to Diana. He wanted his own view of her confirmed +by some one whose opinion he respected, and he knew by the major's +bearing towards her the other evening, that the soldier was to be +trusted. And yet he felt a certain misgiving, for he was a man of +the world, and, with such, a lack of confidence in others' integrity +is habitual. + +"A man of sterling worth, that," said Scherer, nodding his head in +the direction of their departing friend. He was inclined, when +speaking of men he knew but slightly, to use vaguely pompous +expressions of commendation. + +"Very pleasant, indeed," replied the major. "Very pleasant, and +unassuming. A delightful contrast to most men in his profession." + +Scherer smiled. + +"You army men always underestimate the navy." + +"Pardon me, it's finance that overestimates the navy," corrected the +major. + +Scherer was delighted with the answer. It seemed to him courageous, +penetrating, courteous, and, in addition, perfectly true. + +"Would not you like to go away down there?" + +"Yes, but how?" + +"For instance, as military attaché?" + +"Eckersberg is firm in the saddle!" + +Scherer calculated that no more than a hundred paces or so remained +of their way together. He therefore gave a turn to the conversation, +saying: + +"Those are certainly very interesting countries, but so few of our +people know anything about them. I've a lady at my office, an +extraordinarily intelligent woman, who really knows quite a lot." + +"Ah," thought the major. + +"As a matter of fact you know her, I fancy. Were you not in her +company at the opera the other night?" + +The major noticed how careful his companion was not to mention her +name, and, following suit, he replied: + +"Yes, that's right. We met after several years, and she told me she +was working for you." + +"You knew one another some time ago," said Scherer in so toneless a +voice that it would seem he meant the words to hang suspended in the +air. + +The major thought: "It won't do her any harm if her employer knows +that she had good connexions in the past...." Aloud he said: + +"She was living at the time..." + +"At the 'Bristol,'" put in the other calmly, apparently wishing to +spare the major from giving too intimate details. Then suddenly +changing his manner: "I hope you won't think me impertinent if I ask +you whether in those days she was as extraordinarily gifted, as +well-informed..." + +The major felt a glow of sympathy for the speaker as these words fell +upon the night air. Memories crowded upon him. He remembered the +influence she had exercised over his career, and, crushing back the +feeling of jealousy which involuntarily rose within him, he thought +only of the use he could be in helping Diana forward in her new +sphere of life. + +"Well-informed? Gifted? Certainly--so far as I could learn during +rides and at the parties where I met the young lady." Words failed +him. "Yes--she is really the--the most amazing creature I have--I +have ever met among women!" + +Scherer felt warmly towards his companion, for the embarrassment with +which the words were spoken betrayed everything that the speaker +wanted to keep secret. The major must in his youth have been a man +with a good deal of experience of women! Scherer's surmises were +thus doubly confirmed. He was silent for a while. Then: + +"Wasn't there a young man of the party, very like her in +appearance?..." + +"Her brother." + +"Ah, I thought as much. Let's sec, what was his name?" The question +was put very tentatively. + +"I did not quite catch his name. I fancy he must be her stepbrother." + +Scherer thought: + +"He just says that in order to shield her. He is very much in love +with her." + +A few hours later, by the time he reached home, his mind was made up. +The place was very quiet. He entered his study, a dignified +apartment from whose four sides the books looked at him in solemn +greeting. Works of art were few in number, and no woman's face +smiled down on this man in early middle-age as he took a seat at the +writing-table. Great undertakings, far exceeding in scope the +newspaper he had inherited from his father, had been planned in this +room. Financial schemes with political aims had been thought out +between these walls. During the long summer nights, Scherer, thinker +though he was, had given free rein to feeling. Never, however, had +he permitted a woman's hand to tamper with his work, never had he +asked a woman her advice. He had not even consulted his male friends +if a difficulty arose. Today, for the first time, he was going to +venture the hazard. + +He looked up dates in his calendar. The day after tomorrow was free. +He addressed an envelope to: "Fräulein Paula Linke, Kleins Hotel." +But on the enclosed visiting card he wrote: "... requests the honour +of Fräulein Diana de Wassilko's company to dinner on Wednesday at 8 +p.m." + + + + +CHAPTER EIGHT + +Andreas to Nikolai. + +"... Can it really be only three weeks since we sat on the terrace +together under the lampions overlooking the lake, and I longed to get +away from the beloved island that I might be among the lights along +the shore? Was it not many months ago that you conjured me to be +faithful to my art, which I was in the mood to consign to hell-fire? + +"Now I feel that you were right, and I also feel that some day truth +will return to me. For, just as I had to overcome the despair I +experienced when I was sixteen because my first poem when written +down did not equal the one I had composed in my head, so today, a +decade later, I hope to learn how to travel along new ways, how to +appreciate pauses, before I stand on the heights from which I may +bring my influence to bear upon reality, whence I may possibly even +master and dominate reality. + +"My new plans make me feel more estranged than ever from my homeland. +Was Vienna as tedious a place to live in when I was a boy? Was it +always as odd, as unaccommodating a town as it seems to me now? Or +was I unaware of its peculiarities merely because I was in daily +contact with it, though ignoring its mechanism? True, I lived in a +world apart, a world of dreams.... Be all this as it may, I have +been promised many things these days, have made an advance in one +direction and another, have gained the patronage of a sometime +minister, a man on the spot has no objection to--but--all the +same--by and by--and so on! + +"I have been advised by a person of ability not to start my career in +the antechamber of the chief. 'There,' he said, 'you will be given +ample time to study the fine frescoes on the ceiling, and to learn +the difference between the rococo style of Fischer von Erlach and +that of Master Hildebrandt--but you will not get any farther along +your chosen road! Item: frequent society drawing-rooms, or, since +this is the month of June, go to as many garden parties as possible.' + +"I am again mixing with women, and I may have the delicate hand of +some charming countess or other to thank for finding myself cutting a +figure in farther Asian or South African diplomatic circles! But my +experiences this spring have supersaturated me so far as women are +concerned. I cannot help making comparisons, and all the while I +feel I am behaving odiously to the other members of the fair sex. + +"I have also lost the power of appreciating my fellow poets. Ever +since my wish to throw myself into the life of the world became a +reality, I have felt alienated from the world of our poets. Indeed, +my inborn veneration for the older poets has been shaken. + +"Nikolai! When my last hour comes, I do not wish to be faced with +fifty volumes of my Works; I would have before my eyes the vision of +fifty different countries, of treaties whereby I had helped to bring +great nations into friendlier touch one with another, of wars I had +had a share in initiating, of perils which had lured me to take the +first steps towards an unknown foe, of alliances which had led to the +annihilation of millions! Do not be impatient with me, Nikolai; I +must be allowed to let my fancy roam while I am still young. + +"I had a strange experience this morning. + +"Othello and I were walking in the Belvedere Park. The clocks had +just struck nine. A few nursemaids with perambulators and some old +men were the only other strollers. I entered the left hand of the +two walks which lead straight up to the palace. I had reached the +top of the steps at the end when I saw a couple coming from the +palace towards me. As in a dream I recognized the lady as Baroness +F. She is a woman in the middle forties, the mother of several +grown-up daughters. But the baroness was soon wiped out of the field +of my vision, for the young man at her side (can you believe it?) was +the image of Diana, indeed he was so like her that I fancied it must +be she disguised as a boy: her very features, her slim figure, her +own familiar way of tossing her head! He was laughing and was +playing with his walking stick, which he tapped against his white +flannel trousers. + +"My heart stopped beating: for a moment I feared I was going to +faint. But I soon pulled myself together. He had removed his hat in +order to enjoy the cool morning air, and now I saw that his +countenance was pale, white, almost deathlike in its pallor. Diana +had never been like that. As he came nearer, his face was hidden +from me, for he had caught sight of Othello and was absorbed in the +dog to the total exclusion of the dog's master. At that moment, the +baroness, who must have recognized me, stopped and turned towards the +exit as if to show her companion the view of the cathedral, for she +obviously did not want to be accosted by me at such an hour in the +company of a young man. The youth, however, gave a cursory glance at +the view, and then turned again to the dog who was snuffing in +friendly fashion and--an extraordinary thing for Othello to +allow--was apparently enjoying the stranger's caresses. Anxious to +avoid giving offence to the baroness, I went quietly on my way, +calling the dog to heel when I was at some distance. He came +bounding after me. + +"Later on, hidden by the breastwork of the terrace, I caught another +glimpse of them down below. She was leaning against one of the +sphinxes; her left hand was partially supporting her from behind and +was pressed against the sphinx's chest, her right hand, the fingers +spread, was slightly raised, and her eyes were fixed upon the young +man at her side, with that longing expression one often sees in women +who are past the prime. Again, from that distance, I was poignantly +reminded of Diana. He was resting his weight on his left foot and +was playing with his right knee--just Diana's pose! + +"Diana once told me she had a handsome brother. + +"O Nikolai Nikolaievich! Why did I not take the next train and +follow her to Milan that morning? + +"ANDREAS." + + + + +CHAPTER NINE + +Scherer's manservant opened the door to Diana. His feelings were a +mixture of expectancy and misgiving. For the first time these eight +years past his master had invited a strange lady to visit him alone. +His orders had been brief: Dinner for two, in the room giving on the +garden; a lady is coming. + +"A lady? Alone? He usually gives a name. Or he says a gentleman is +coming." + +Now, as he took her cloak and contemplated her reflection in the +mirror, he thought: + +"No, she's not from the theatre!" + +He looked relieved, for he had read that the temptations likely to +assail a millionaire invariably hail from the theatre. + +Diana was wearing a summer dress of simple cut, pale mauve silk, full +in the skirt, gathered rather high under the breast, and pinned at +the throat with a huge green scarab. She had bought it yesterday +with all that remained of her little capital, for she had not wished +to appear in a low-cut gown. This evening every vestige of coquetry +was to be eschewed. The woman in her may also have been influenced +by the fact that Scherer had already seen her in the evening frock at +the opera. + +Traditional customs of remote ancestors must have been at work within +her as, like a duchess, she paused on the threshold of the room +waiting for her host to advance and kiss her hand in welcome. He did +not fail to notice the gesture. Indeed, not one of her actions this +evening escaped his observation. Though as a rule he was reserved +where the fair sex was concerned, he allowed his knowledge of human +nature free rein in respect of this strange woman, and accepted as +natural what in truth was natural enough. + +Yesterday he had handed in his invitation to the porter at her hotel, +while she, at the very same moment, following the rule of his firm, +was eating her lunch at the office. Paula Linke had not betrayed by +one syllable that she knew anything of the matter in hand; but Diana +de Wassilko had written a few words accepting the invitation. Both +Scherer and Diana knew that the lady who signed this note with her +true name, the guest he was to entertain tonight, was in a sense to +be considered a different woman from the girl who worked in the +publishing firm. + +She advanced slowly into the room, apologizing for being a little +late. They passed into the library. She looked round her for a +while, then, as was customary with her, she walked swiftly over to +the window. A walnut tree stood outside, its branches illuminated by +the lights from within. Scherer stayed where he was, following her +movements. + +"Her hips are narrow, like a boy's. I wonder if she could ever bear +children," he mused. + +"That's a fine tree," said Diana. "It smells of resin already, and +yet we are only at the beginning of June. Perhaps it's been trimmed +recently?" + +She spoke softly as if communing with herself. Was she tired? + +"Yes, I had to have it trimmed on one side," he answered. "It was +hampering the growth of its neighbour." + +She turned round, and faced towards the room, her hands resting on +the window sill behind. + +"Was it difficult to protect it when the house was being built? It +is very near the wall." + +"Fairly difficult. We had to place a kind of cage round each limb +and root so that the men might not damage them." + +"Yes, yes, especially when digging the foundations." + +"How practical she is," thought Scherer, who was always delighted +when any one showed an interest in his house. "Why is it that in all +these eight years not one of my women acquaintances (nor for that +matter any of my men friends) has thought of asking such a simple +question?" + +"You had it built for you? A beautiful room, and, if I may say so, +conceived in a patrician spirit." + +"That was the spirit which underlay my wishes when it was designed." + +"You have some fine books on the shelves." + +"How can you tell from such a distance?" + +"Their arrangement is dignified, they are well bound, and, from the +backs, I can see that you have some rare editions. I gather from my +survey that there are not many novels among your books." + +"Don't you like novels?" + +"Life is more interesting. But I am very fond of some novels." + +"I'll wager that Balzac is one of your favourites!" + +"How do you know?" + +"Well, I have learned something about you, anyway." + +She laughed, and took the proffered chair. + +"Yes, my name!" + +"Polish?" + +"Ruthenian, and therefore anti-Polish. But my family does actually +come from Poland." + +"Were you born in Poland?" He smiled as he added: "Since you are so +kind as to be communicative." + +"No, I was born in Macedonia, near the Albanian frontier. Have you a +map?" + +"When you were describing the district to me recently you never let +on that you were born there," he said dryly. + +His tone put Diana on the alert. Her combative nature was aroused, +as if she suspected a subtle attack. Raising her eyebrows, she +replied: + +"I was not asked about myself, Herr Scherer." + +"Proud! Easily piqued," thought he. Then, aloud: + +"You did not encourage personal questions. Forgive me if I have +offended you. These past three weeks I have made every effort to +avoid doing or saying anything that might annoy you. Surely you will +not be angry with me for one indiscreet remark?" + +The spontaneity of his words, and the frank way in which he stretched +out his hand in reconciliation, were enough to make her recover her +composure. That he did not kiss her hand was further to his credit; +and when he drew her arm through his and escorted her into the +dining-room she felt quite herself again. + +The doors leading to the garden had been set wide, and the soft +evening air pervaded the room. A little breeze played in the +corners, and sported with the tablecloth, then it fell asleep for a +while. Two or three large moths circled round the electric lamps +which cast an amber light through their shades. + +The wide table put a good distance between Scherer and his guest. +Diana for a time sat silently watching the drunken antics of the +moths, whose yearning for immolation seemed to be hindered by some +higher power. Vaguely daring thoughts came to her. + +Her host followed the direction of her gaze. He half guessed what +was in her mind, and yet did not venture to intrude upon her +meditations. He ate in silence. At last he tried to rouse her by +asking: + +"Are you worrying about those moths? They can't come to any harm." + +"Oh, I know, the lights are enclosed." + +Her voice came as it seemed to him from very far away, and he +realized that she was thoroughly enjoying her own train of thought. +He let a few minutes elapse, and then said very quietly: + +"They are adventurers trying to reach an unsuitable goal!" + +She looked up, and, after a momentary hesitation, said in a tone of +voice that contrasted strangely with her previous tone, having as it +were a tinge of mockery in it: + +"Maybe they are nothing but unfortunate petites femmes seeking for +excitement without running any risks!" + +"Do you dislike women?" + +"How can I--am I not myself a woman? I loved my mother. All the +same, I have never had a woman friend." + +"How do you account for that?" + +Diana took the long-stemmed green glass which the manservant had +filled for the fish course, tasted the wine, and then said: + +"Wonderful! Bittersweet! It must be Deidesheimer. I know a cousin +of that vintage." + +"But it is robbing me of your answer." + +"Not at all. Women seem to me to have much the same qualities as +wines." Her speech had become livelier, and she spoke with the +assurance of a young man. "Most of them are too sweet; some are too +crude. The finest wines, Burgundies, I have only found among men." + +"What about me?" Scherer was unusually vivacious, his mood almost +merry. "What am I? When you are overhauling your cellar what label +would you stick on to Scherer?" + +Her lips opened, she raised her eyes, shook her head ever so lightly, +and looked at him with youthful roguishness as she replied: + +"Herr Scherer? Let me see ... perhaps Deidesheimer Kirchenstuck '93!" + +They both laughed at the sally. The servant thought: "She is +dangerous after all," as he reluctantly filled her glass. + +By now the serious mood in which they had sat down to their meal had +worn off. They conversed cheerfully about vintages, about travelling +through Burgundy, Upper Hungary, Sicily. When at last they rose and +made for the terrace, Diana laughingly observed: + +"Is there anything better than wine in the world?" + +"One thing." + +She was dreadfully afraid he was going to say love and thereby spoil +everything, and she was duly grateful when he added: + +"Music." + +Of a sudden she became acutely aware of the loneliness that +surrounded this man. The vision of a grand piano drawn up near a +window, which she had seen in passing, made her realize how he sought +to relieve the solitude of his evenings. + +"How boundless must be his dreams," thought Diana. + +They sat under the lamp which diffused a gracious light over the +terrace. She held her tiny coffee cup poised in mid-air, her whole +figure standing out in relief against the trellis work. He was +reminded of an English engraving, and told her so. + +"I've lived over there," she said composedly. "My grandmother was an +Englishwoman. Do you like England?" + +"I have mixed feelings towards that country, feelings which vacillate +between respect and mistrust. No, I can't say I am fond of it. I +cannot help seeing in it the future enemy." + +"In Europe?" + +"I hope only in the East." He enlarged upon the theme of +Anglo-German interests. "When you consider Aden, Bagdad, +Gibraltar---- Karl, just bring the globe over here--" + +The man set it down on the low table between them, and Scherer +pointed to the places he had named, spinning the captive globe round +for his guest to see, while he continued to expatiate upon his +subject. Suddenly, noticing she had ceased to reply, he exclaimed: + +"Are you listening?" + +"I'm so sorry, do forgive me," said Diana. "The globe set my +thoughts wandering. I cannot see it turning on its axis without +getting excited. Think of it! A ball, hanging obliquely between two +needles, and yet neither more nor less than the stage upon which we +are destined to play our part." She looked up at him inquiringly: +"Have you ever felt like that?" + +He did not answer. + +This beautiful, young, mysterious woman, who could become enraptured +with the gyrating of a globe, who could see therein something which +touched responsive springs in her own adventurous nature, this woman +who had been true to herself through all the tests he had put her to +and who had thus confirmed him in his estimate of her capabilities, +all these things and, in addition, the vague promptings of an inner +urge, combined to break down the barriers of Scherer's habitual +reserve. + +"Would you allow me, Fräulein Wassilko," he began very calmly. But +he broke off, and continued to speak words which surprised even +himself: "Will you let me call you just once by your beautiful name?" + +She looked at him kindly, though with some astonishment. The mere +fact of her leniency gave him back his poise, and he resumed in +matter of fact tones: + +"Listen, I have a proposal to make. Will you go down there, to the +centre of my interests, where our railway is being built? Will you +act as my eyes, discover if our relations to that power are on a firm +foundation? Above all, will you find out if the ambassador is really +as well posted in local affairs as his abilities would lead me to +suppose? This is an important mission I am proposing to entrust you +with. Take time to think the matter over before you either accept it +or turn it down. The whole question of our railway construction, the +policy of the paper, everything turns upon how you will interpret +things down there. Maybe we shall be strong enough, instead of +having to bow to the sceptical policy of the central administration, +to work along the lines indicated by the ambassador. What this will +mean in a European crisis... Well, think it over; don't hurry with +your answer, but let me have it as soon as you possibly can." + +"I can answer now," rejoined Diana promptly. + +She had followed his appeal sentence by sentence as he hammered out +his wishes with almost melodramatic earnestness. Her expression was +imperious rather than submissive, and yet it was friendly. While he +was speaking, she sat bolt upright, her two hands grasping the round +arms of the basket chair. + +"I can give you your answer at once. I have been watching you day by +day gradually making up your mind to this request. Well, yes, I +should like to take the job on, and I shall do my best, if you, or +your side, will leave me free to follow my own bent in matters of +detail." + +Scherer rose to his feet, and strode towards her. But she stopped +him with a gesture, saying: + +"I am afraid you will be disappointed in the end. Your fancy has +magnified my capacities!" + +He did not offer to shake hands on the bargain, but protested: + +"You will not disappoint me--Diana!" + +He pronounced her name very deliberately, once only. It was as if +some enthusiast had picked the unique flower of a Victoria regia on +the night of its blossoming. + +There was a long silence. He went back to his arm-chair and flung +himself into it, drawing his pencil from his pocket as if he had +notes to jot down. When at last he spoke, his tone was businesslike, +much as if he were in his office. + +"Here is what I suggest. You leave on the fifteenth of this month, a +week from now, that is to say. I'll give you a cheque for twenty +thousand marks, out of which you are to pay yourself a salary of +three thousand marks a month. You are to charge your expenses extra. +I'll give you introductions. You are to write your reports yourself, +to me personally, but only when you consider it necessary. Every one +will say you are travelling in my interests, but you are not to admit +the fact under any circumstances. Give me your word--good--and +promise me likewise that you will give no information to any one +else. That's right! We'll draw up our contract together; I don't +want my secretary to have a suspicion of this undertaking of ours. +Agreed?" + +"All right," she cried with alacrity as she jumped up and assumed a +military attitude of attention. + +He smiled as he accompanied her to the hall. On reaching the music +room she suddenly stopped. + +"What had I better say I am doing down there--officially?" + +"Oh, studying--museums--anything you like." + +"Excavations! That's the thing. Archæological studies. My father +discovered some Phœnician glassware in the neighbourhood." + +He noticed that her movements were slower, that her thoughts were +elsewhere. At the house door he bade her farewell, and at last bent +over her hand and kissed it. + +"Good-bye," she murmured in a far-away voice as she got wearily into +the carriage. + +"She's not been successful after all," thought the manservant as he +closed the door on her. + +"She is thoroughly natural and yet a mystery," thought Scherer on his +way back to his rooms. + +He looked at the objects around him, things she had touched or had +spoken about. On reaching the window he sniffed the resinous scent +of the walnut tree. The moths were still fluttering round the lamps, +the globe was on the little table. Her answers came back to him as +he mused. + +He had quite forgotten that he had entrusted a very unusual and +delicate piece of business to a stranger. Everywhere he felt and saw +the woman. + +When undressing he thought of her boylike figure, and after getting +into bed and switching off the light, he said to himself: + +"Yes. With such a woman one might be tempted to risk the experiment." + +Diana felt tired as she entered her little room. Her body needed +rest and relaxation after the hours of tension. The globe had +stimulated her imagination, and when Scherer laid bare his plans it +seemed to her as if some one had flung wide all the doors of a vast +hall filled with columns. Mirrors reflected the columns again and +again, so that they appeared to be unending. Then, when he had +spoken her name, she had thought: "Can it be that this man has never +called a woman by some loving pet name?" + +Her thoughts had already begun to stray while he was outlining his +conditions. She had felt very tired, had longed to be allowed to go +to sleep. + + + + +CHAPTER TEN + +"Please meet me tonight six-thirty outside New Station. Mufti. +Diana." + +The major had already been informed that she no longer went to the +office regularly, but had been seen at the leading tailor's and +dressmaker's busy replenishing her wardrobe. He guessed that some +fresh adventure was afoot, and was less surprised at her summons than +he otherwise might have been. He accepted the windfall with grateful +thanks. Thrusting the telegram into a drawer, he gave his orderly +the following instructions: + +"See that the place is immaculately clean and tidy. Everything must +be dusted, including the tops of the cupboards, thoroughly. Fresh +candles. Tea to be served. You are to go to bed at ten. Not to +wake me early tomorrow morning; in fact, don't come to my room till I +ring. I shall not want my mail brought in, not even if there's a +wire. If any one calls, I'm not at home. Got it?" + +"Yes, Sir." + +"Here, take this. As soon as I'm off, get along to the florist over +the way and buy some white carnations. Not red ones, or pink ones, +or white roses, or wallflowers. White--Carnations. I want them +arranged in those three vases, a third of the bunch in each, one on +the bedside table. Do you understand?" + +"Yes, Sir." + +But his hopes were dashed as soon as he met her, and when she shook +him in so comradely a fashion by the hand. He thought: "I'll give +her champagne. They all of them succumb to its spell!" + +He tried to persuade her to drive out in a car. She would not hear +of it, insisting that they take a train. + +"If we keep the car it will cost no end of money; I know you won't +send it away, and I can't offer to share expenses. Besides, it's +quicker by train, and in this wind any attempt at conversation will +be impossible if we motor out." + +"Have you so short a time to give me?" + +"Till nine." + +He knew her dislike of ceremonial and that she hated being cajoled +into changing her mind. When she gave, she lavished her gifts with +generous hand. So he merely said teasingly: + +"You've obviously got some important conference at that hour." + +"Well guessed!" + +The train was full. They sat in opposite corners, silently +appraising one another. He looked rather angular in his civilian +suit, and his neck, which was unduly long, struck her as absurd, +rising uncouthly above the linen collar. Still, she refrained from +staring too pointedly at this flaw, for she knew how sensitive her +friend was as to his appearance. Surely he used to be more tanned in +the old days? Intellectual pursuits are always bad for the health! +A white carnation in his buttonhole? Incurable sentimentalist.... + + +The major took in her thin summer dress, and the mauve-coloured rose +in her wide-brimmed, grey-green hat. When he thought he could do so +unobserved, he allowed his fancy to roam over the sweets that lay +beneath the folds of the frock. Memories crowded upon him, his +senses were stirred, he thought of the possible return journey alone +with her in a car. Yes, anything might happen. As they walked +through the wood which led from the little wayside station to the +restaurant, his brain was in a whirl of thoughts and desires. + +A table had been reserved by her. They looked down on the unruffled +waters of the lake. Not a sail was to be seen on the smooth expanse +that gleamed all rosy in the evening light. Diana had ordered the +menu, as had been her wont when they used to dine here; and the +champagne they drank was of the old familiar brand. But he sought in +vain to reawaken in her the mood of long ago by recalling past +suppers in these self-same surroundings. Diana, who was looking +again at a watery expanse after many weeks' starvation, could think +of nothing but the lake and the boat she had run away from so +recently. Very softly she began to tell her friend of the life she +had led on the island, of swimming and climbing and fishing, of the +swallows coming north. She was not in the least amorous this +evening; indeed, so calm and collected was she that he too grew less +disquieted for a time. After a while, however, his passion once more +found expression in his eyes; he drew nearer, pressed his suit with +ardour. She stopped him short, observing humorously: + +"My dear, I no longer wear the white carnation!" + +"You ought to! You must!" + +"I have become another being." + +"Oh, we must not let this lovely summer evening slip through our +fingers. We could be so happy. You would not have wired to me if +you had not been free...." + +"I am leaving town in three hours from now." + +He held his peace, trying to control his emotion, wincing with +jealousy at the thoughts her announcement conjured up. + +"You are going away?" + +"Yes." + +"May I ask where?" + +"To the Balkans." + +Like a flash came the conviction that she was travelling with +Scherer, for his acquaintance with the man was too slight for him to +know that such an intrigue was out of the question. With innuendo he +asked: + +"Wagon-lit, I wager!" + +She laughed gaily as she penetrated his meaning. + +"Yes, wagon-lit. Coupé séparé, for one. A conventual cell from +which on arrival at my destination a nun will emerge. I shall bid a +solemn farewell to sin as I quaff the last glass of this superb +Cliquot!" + +He could not help joining in her good humour. + +"Why not bid your farewell in the arms of a captain of horse in +mufti?" + +"Because he has been raised to the rank of major and is a member of +the general staff with weighty responsibilities on his shoulders. In +addition, my train leaves at eleven." + +"There's plenty of time till then. It's only eight," he exclaimed +incautiously. He bit his lip in mortification, recognizing his +blunder. But she chose to find his words amusing. She laughed, and +rejoined with unexpected candour: + +"You are forgetting the conference at nine o'clock!" + +"Who is the lucky devil?" + +"My brother." + +The major's brows were raised ever so slightly. She instantly +realized that something was amiss. With a complete change of manner, +curt and cold, with masculine firmness, she demanded: + +"What's up?" + +"Oh, nothing." + +"Please tell me. As my friend, I beg you to let me know ... Felix!" + +Her tone was so earnest that he gave way. + +"I am uneasy about him." + +"Women?" + +"Ladies--and women." + +"Hm. Anything else?" + +"Gambling." + +"Is that all?" + +"Debts of honour." + +"Who pays?" + +He was silent, leaving her to draw her own conclusions. Diana +emptied her glass. She gazed down over the peaceful waters of the +lake. The past, instead of lending wings to her spirit, weighed +heavily upon her. This present moment of time seemed to her an +empty, inglorious thing. Ahead of her lay duties to be performed +whose attraction depended on people she did not know and whom she +could not cut adrift from her life if they disappointed her +expectations. She mused: + +"Shall you ever be truly free, poor fluttering heart? A man who +sends you to spy out the land. A friend for ever on the watch. A +brother you must always keep your eye upon. I am a migratory bird. +Continually on the go. Is there no coast where I can rest for +awhile, alone? Why, just today, should I be so overwhelmed with a +longing for solitude, just when I have decided to travel away to +fresh adventures?" + +She rose slowly, and turned to her companion. His face, too, was +clouded. The effervescent spirits provoked by the champagne had +evaporated. The major had given up all hope of carrying out his +plans for the evening, and it was with perfect frankness that he said: + +"We won't go back by train. Too many people." + +The car took them swiftly through the twilit wood. Diana always felt +more alone, weaker, in the gloaming than in the full light of day. +She wanted to seek refuge, to find protection, from this sense of +solitude, and leaned confidingly against her friend's shoulder. He +wrapped his cloak around her, looking down at her in silence. Her +eyes were closed, and round her lips a faint smile hovered. His +heart was filled with infinite gratitude. Forgotten now the dreams +of her physical charms. He could think of nothing but guarding her +from evil. When the car ran over rough surfaces, he held her to him, +trying to parry with his elbow the shock of the jolts. He played +gently with the strands of hair loosened by the wind, and thought: + +"Often and often she has been like a mother towards me. Tonight I +feel as if she were my sister. She is always different, infinitely +varied." + +On reaching town, she sat up again, put her hat to rights, pulled on +her gloves, and gripped his big hand in hers. + +"Will you promise me something?" + +"Willingly." + +"Keep an eye on Sidney. Send me a wire if he needs money. Your last +letter goes with me. Farewell! Thank you for the drive back, and +for your good, kind hands." + +She got down at the door of her modest hotel. He held both her hands +in his, and kissed the right. Then he drove home. It struck nine as +he entered. His man, who had not expected him back so early, was +arranging the white carnations. His jaw dropped as he saw his master. + +"What are you doing there?" + +"The carnations, Sir..." + +"Idiot! Go to bed. Call me at five. I'm going for a ride." + + +Sidney, punctual to the minute, greeted Diana in the hall where she +had been awaiting him. She took him straight to her room, where her +luggage was ready packed. + +"Hallo! Are you going away?" + +"Yes, tonight." + +"To England?" + +"No, to the south. Have you heard from Father?" + +"A card from London with his address and a word or two." + +"May I make a note of it?" + +"Keep the card, and give me the address." + +While Diana was copying the long address, Sidney's eye was caught by +a picture of a dog in a little silver frame. + +"Fine beast! How splendid he looks standing on the shore, staring so +eagerly across the water. Is he expecting some one?" + +"Yes, he's waiting for me. That's Lago Maggiore. I went for a sail +every morning." + +"Is he a sort of silvery grey?" + +"Yes, and his eyes are blue." + +"It's a strange thing, but I came across a dog just like this one +quite recently in a public park...." + +"Here?" + +"No, in Vienna." + +Diana felt uneasy. + +"The dog stayed with me for a minute or two, snuffing round me, and +whining, till his master called him to heel." + +"His master called him?" + +"Of course. The creature had a beautiful and very appropriate +name--Othello." + +Diana snapped her bag to, and asked airily: + +"So you've just been to Vienna?" + +"Last week. Are you going that way?" + +"I'm taking the night train to Vienna." + +"And beyond?" + +"Yes. I'll write to you. Shall I send it to you care of the +Political Club?" + +"They will forward anything." + +"Are you going away, too?" + +"I'm not certain. Are you ready to start?" + +"No, I've got a couple of letters to write first." + +"Then I'll say good-bye. And, please do write to me this time!" + +He kissed her hand. She looked fixedly at him for a moment, then +kissed him on the cheek. + +"Good-bye, Sidney." + +"Good-bye, Diana." + +For some time after his going she sat in a brown study on the edge of +the bed. Then she read the postcard from her father in London, held +it up to the light as if to test the authenticity of the handwriting, +laid it away in her case, sat down at her desk, and wrote: + + +"My dear Father, + +"Sidney, whom I have met during my brief stay here, has given me your +card. You write that our dear old Mary has called, inquiring after +me and weeping. Please tell her I should like her to join me in the +Balkans as soon as possible. I enclose a cheque for her. Ask her to +go to Cook's. They'll tell her how to get to ----. + +"Are you never going to write to me? On all my travels a tiny packet +of your letters goes with me, hardly twenty in the course of seven +years. I know them by heart. I have studied each one over and over, +like an orchestral score, a mystery. Will you send me a picture of +yourself? Nothing could give your Diana greater pleasure. Sidney +tells me your hair is quite white now. + +"I had a Great Dane for a time; his coat was silver-grey. He was so +fond of me that he was not jealous although his master loved me. He +recognized Sidney as my brother when they met by chance in a town far +away from here. + +"I am starting on a journey tonight, which will take me near my old +home. I am in a serious mood, and my mind is full of thoughts. I am +sunburned, but Sidney is white. + + "Love me as I love you. + "DIANA." + + + + +BOOK TWO + + + +CHAPTER ONE + +As Andreas's carriage drew up before the embassy, his ears were +greeted with the strains of Chopin's music pouring down to him +through the open window, and while he waited in the marble vestibule +his whole being seemed to be bathed in the sounds. Could it be that +these minor cadences, simultaneously so bitter and so sweet, gave him +a foretaste of the reception he might expect? He was ushered into a +darkened room, fitfully lighted by tiny rays of the southern sun +penetrating through the Venetian blinds. The alternation of heat and +cold, of dazzling radiance and veiled obscurity, plunged his senses +into uncertain depths. He felt uneasy as he watched the gold-clad +kavass noiselessly retreating into the shadows with his card. At +once elated and oppressed, he was conscious of his heart-beats. + +"Fate seems to brood over this palace," he mused. "Am I to be drawn +into its labyrinthine ways? That oriental moves noiselessly up the +stair. I can hear him knock at the door, can see the statesman +looking at the message which is to introduce a stranger into his +house. My name is unknown to him; nor do I know him. But in a +neighbouring room is a woman playing, sending forth to a stranger +sounds that convey a warning, and seem to tell him that he is more +akin to the music than to the statesman's papers..." + +He took a few steps towards the side whence the music came, hoping to +hear better. He recognized the piece. It was the _Ballade in G +minor_, and as he listened to the constantly recurring lilt which +brought to his mind the leaping and subsiding movement of a fountain, +he thought: + +"The countess plays like a man. I play it more delicately." + +The door was thrown open, and the silent domestic signed to him to +follow. They mounted the stairs, and he was led to the room whence +the music came. At that moment the final note was played, the +servant opened the door, and Andreas moved forward into a twilit +chamber. A tall, slender man in a light summer suit rose from the +music-stool to welcome him. + +"You have just come from Vienna," said the count, so quickly that +Andreas scarcely had time to recover from his surprise. "I am very +grateful to my old friend for sending you to me. What is he doing +now? Rarely do I get a chance of seeing, or hearing about, old +acquaintances. Ah, how one longs for the freedom of youth! Then one +could travel, one had no responsibilities... I gather from my +friend's letter that you are here to look around a bit, to take your +bearings... If only the later gains could make up for our lost +youth! ... Do you smoke? A cigarette?" + +Andreas, from the depths of a huge arm-chair, took a cigarette from +the box his host was offering with the quick, jerky movements of a +restless boy. Then the count went over to the window, and, with an +impatient gesture of the foot, pushed the shutters open. His figure +was silhouetted against a dazzling background of scintillating water, +the broad span of water above which the palace had been built. +Andreas came to his side, and gazed over the landscape. From no +other spot could so magnificent a view of the town and surrounding +country be obtained. Yet it was his host and not the panorama that +held Andreas's attention. The count's right arm was outstretched as +he pointed to certain details, while with his left hand he shaded his +eyes from the midday glare. + +Gregor, Count of Münsterberg, was not the man whose talented Don-Juan +type Andreas had seen in portraits taken long ago. Indeed, the count +had not allowed any pictures of himself to be published for many a +year, and he would certainly not have placed himself in this pitiless +light if he had known Andreas of old. For Gregor's hair was +grey--those golden locks which had bewitched so many women ten or +twenty years back as he sat drawing sweet music from the piano, or +casting a look behind as he rode by. The face whose laughter had +once beguiled, was now furrowed; the cheeks were sunken, the blue, +seductive eyes gazed forth from deep hollows, the mocking lips, +slightly open and moist as with much kissing, lay clean shaven over a +chin that still had something of its former sauciness but which was +no longer round. + +As soon as the ambassador felt himself observed, he withdrew from the +window, closed the shutters, and motioned his guest to an easy-chair. +He himself made for the music-stool once more, puffing at his +cigarette as he went. His hands moved to and fro above the keys as +if they itched to be playing. + +"Am I disturbing you, Your Excellency?" asked Andreas. + +"Not in the least, Doctor." + +"Oh, please, I never use the title." + +"Good. And I will beg you, in return, not to call me 'Your +Excellency.' Now, tell me in what way may I be of service to you?" + +"In nothing specific, Count. I have come here to get in touch with +persons and things, so that ultimately--perhaps--I might be attached +to some provincial consulate--or--" + +"Have you studied law?" + +"No. I am a poet." + +Andreas made the statement with such childlike simplicity that he +left no margin for astonishment. The count, whose passionate nature +made him delight in the unusual, swung himself round on the +music-stool as he laughingly declared: + +"So you want to make Plato's ideas of the State a reality, eh?" + +The name of the great philosopher gave Andreas back his +self-confidence, which the abrupt movement of the count had somewhat +shaken. He therefore replied vivaciously: + +"Action! said Demosthenes." + +"Action, yes. I said that too when I felt my talent and inclination +drawing me to take up music as my profession, while other feelings +were impelling me to devote my life to other issues. Do you imagine +there are no regrets?..." + +"Who has never had things to regret?" + +Andreas spoke very softly. The count became attentive. Such words +coming from so young a man left him wondering. He looked more keenly +at his visitor, while he thought: + +"Should he be pitied or envied because experience has touched him so +early in life?" + +Slowly he left the piano and walked over to where Andreas sat. His +words fell upon the poet's ears like dark drops from a deep, quiet +spring. + +"If only reality corresponded to our formulas! Action? I would +answer your rhetoric with: 'First of all, patience!' Thirty years of +patient work during which your black locks will slowly turn to grey, +as mine have turned which once were golden. Then, when you have got +to the top of the ladder--are you free at last to do what you have +always yearned to be doing? Are you then a master, and can you, with +the freedom of an artist, put your sign manual upon the clay of a +world that now bewitches you? It would have been so splendid to +compose a whole series of operas--to have evolved a new form of +undying melody, far outstripping the wonders Wagner achieved, a huge +symbolical trilogy in three spheres--working undisturbed--in one's +chosen medium--undisturbed... Do you really mean to give up writing +poetry, to crush the dreams that are now surging in your brain, to +renounce the drama now shaping itself within you, in order that you +may become consul in, let us say, Kilimanjaro?" + +Andreas, who had been much with artists and very little with +realists, was not as surprised at such a speech coming from an +ambassador within the walls of an embassy as he might otherwise have +been. He answered composedly: + +"A step up the ladder of patience, Count!" + +The elder man roused himself from his gloomy recollections, resumed +his alert manner, and said briskly: + +"Very well, let us suppose that at some future date you enter as +master into the house of my colleague over the way. Who are you +then?" + +"I don't know exactly... If you mean to imply that here, in this +house, you yourself, Count... Great schemes have matured under this +roof, far-reaching treaties have been signed at that table, maybe the +most amazing alliances have been conceived in this very room. And do +you mean to say that all these things have brought no satisfaction to +the man responsible for their creation, that they are not sufficient +compensation for the sacrifice of a musical career? Forgive me, a +stranger, speaking so freely..." + +He had risen as if to master his emotion, for he felt the rhapsodic +spirit rising within him, and did not wish to be carried away by his +own words, especially in this house. But to the master of the house +the young man at this moment was particularly attractive, as they +walked up and down together and Andreas looked at him, his eyes aglow. + +"Go on, go on! You bring youth back into this room." + +He blew the smoke from between his lips, flicked the ash from the +cigarette, strolled over to a map that was hanging from the wall, and +said, speaking indistinctly and with assumed indifference: + +"Satisfaction? An excellent word! Occasionally it +is--even--quite--interesting." + +He stuck his hands deep into his pockets, balanced himself on the +toes of his brown leather shoes, gazed absently at the map, and +hummed quietly to himself as if he felt he had achieved some +mysterious and subtle victory. Then he was silent for a while, bit +his lips, and looked with concentrated attention at one particular +spot on the map as if he wanted to wrench a town or a province away +from the glazed surface of the print. A minute passed. Suddenly he +turned to his visitor and asked in cold, formal tones: + +"Can I help you in any way? Give you an introduction?" + +"Many thanks. Our own..." + +"I hope to see you again before you leave, Dr. Seeland." + +"With pleasure, Your Excellency." + + +An hour later, the ambassador sat at table with his wife and his +eight-year-old son. While they lunched he told them of his interview +with a young poet who was set on taking up a diplomatic career. + +"Otherwise he seems a most interesting young fellow. The pity of it! +There'll be one poet the less, and if he does not shake off his +present enthusiasms, there will not be one statesman the more!" + +"Who is he?" + +"Let me see... Ah, here's his card." + +He read the name. + +"Andreas Seeland has written some delightful sonnets. I should like +to know him." + +"Invite him to lunch." + +"Lunch is not a good meal at which to make a poet's acquaintance," +laughed the countess. + +"Well, ask him to tea." + +She turned to the butler, gave him Andreas's card, and said: + +"Get some one to telephone to the Grand Hotel as soon as possible to +ask this gentleman if he can come to tea with me this afternoon at +five." + +"Today?" queried the ambassador, looking at her dubiously, as if +perplexed by his wife's strange caprice. + +"Why not?" she counter-queried coldly. + +"May I come too, Mamma?" pleaded the child. + +"Why do you want to come, I'd like to know?" + +"There are always such lovely sandwiches at your tea-parties!" + + +Andreas had heard various reports concerning the Countess of +Münsterberg. It was rumoured that she was a Dalmatian princess, +emancipated, but not amorous; that she wantonly defied the fashions +in dress; that she disseminated scandalous stories about her own life +in order to revenge herself for her husband's dalliance with the fair +sex. All these stereotyped items of society gossip had left Andreas +cold. Nor had his curiosity been sufficiently aroused to make him +seek an early interview with the lady. Besides, he had been +influenced by the almost universal detraction, and fancied her no +more than a society dame wishing to make herself conspicuous by +eccentricities. The unfavourable impression was redoubled when he +received her sudden and informal invitation. With a nameless dread +and misgiving in his heart, he climbed the stairs and was shown into +her boudoir. He stood bowing on the threshold as the kavass +noiselessly closed the door. + +The room was wide and lofty, illuminated with the mellow light of the +afternoon sun. Blue was the prevailing colour, but the furnishings +were in no particular style. Over against one of the windows he saw +a massive table and some cumbersome easy chairs. Away in the farther +corner, as it might be on the opposite bank of a wide river, he +guessed there must be a commodious divan, for he saw the outline of a +reclining feminine form. A vast expanse of blue carpet, thrown +rug-fashion on the floor, separated him from this woman, a huge sea +through whose waters he must swim if he wished to reach her shore. +Slowly, stepping cautiously, he ventured forward. His eyes were +riveted on to that far-off strand where--was it a shoal?--the half +reclining, voluminous shape of the woman awaited him. The rock on +which she lay shone like gold; her flowing raiment was blue; and, +like a golden wave, her hair was massed upon her head, shimmering +amid the encompassing ocean of blue which lapped around her resting +place. He paused for a moment on reaching the middle of the carpet. +The whole thing must be a dream-canvas by Veronese. But those were +two living eyes which gazed so fixedly at him, patiently awaiting his +approach. As if swimming against a strong current, he advanced step +by step towards the distant shore. She raised herself on her arm, +and he saw that she held a book in her hand, a book of verses, +judging by the wide margin. Her eyes were intent upon him, +unfathomable in their earnestness. So immobile was she that he could +study the details of her face as he drew near, could see the +passionate curve of the lips. + +These lips now fell softly apart, and a clear contralto voice +exclaimed: + +"Poeta!" + +He tried to smile his thanks, but when he opened his mouth to speak, +his expression remained serious and he could utter one word only: + +"Principessa!" + + + + +CHAPTER TWO + +At half-past twelve next day a carriage drew up before the embassy. +Diana stepped down. She had arrived the previous evening, a week +later than Andreas, and neither suspected the other's presence in the +town. A sorrel horse was pawing the gravel at the foot of the steps +leading up to the front door, tossing his head as the groom held the +bridle-rein. Diana moved forward up the steps, and at that moment a +little boy came running from the house, closely followed by three men +of uncertain age. The men bowed to Diana in passing, while one of +them called to the child: + +"It's no use, Clemens, Papa is already coming down!" + +"Just one little minute," pleaded the lad, placing his foot in the +groom's hand and leaping into the saddle, while his three friends +gathered round protesting. + +Diana meanwhile handed the servant her card and a letter of +introduction to the ambassador. The man shook his head: + +"I'm sorry, Madam, but His Excellency is out riding." + +She turned to go, and as she did so an Italian greyhound brushed +against her, springing down the steps. From the door came a sound of +spurs clinking; a tall shadow fell across her path. She looked up to +find herself confronted by a man in riding breeches, a crop in his +left hand, while his right was brought to the salute. A nod from her +in acknowledgment, unusually free and debonair, took him so much +aback that he forgot to drop his hand after the greeting. The dog +stood shivering at his side, eager and expectant. Would the man +speak, apologize for not receiving her? His lips opened; she liked +his looks; smiled at him. He, too, smiled; but at that moment the +boy called up to him: + +"Papa! I'm going to ride away, and leave you!" + +The elder man turned abruptly, made a sign to the child, saluted +Diana once again, and, elastic as the greyhound at his side, ran down +the steps to join the group round the horse. + +Diana got into the carriage, the four men and the boy bowed farewell, +the coachman whipped up the horses, and she was gone. + +The ambassador watched the dust cloud rising behind the vehicle, then +slowly dropped his eyes to the card and the envelope the servant had +given him. He read: Diana de Wassilko, Hotel Savoy. The letter was +an introduction from Scherer. He twisted the card between his +fingers, vexed that the meeting had not been better managed on his +part. His eyes travelled to the group round the horse; the greyhound +whined with impatience at his side. Suddenly he saw the boy slip in +the saddle, while the men teasingly pulled him by his little legs. + +"Clemens! Come, I won't have it. Off you get!" And, stepping up +swiftly, he lifted the child down. His voice was so harsh that his +son looked up at him inquiringly. The three men, too, were +embarrassed, as they watched the count swing himself into the saddle +and ride away, preceded by the dog. With a sulky pout, Clemens gazed +after his father's retreating figure. Then the party turned, and +strolled up the hill. They were silent for a while, each thinking +the same thought. At last the eldest murmured: "The chief's in a bad +temper again. I wonder what's up?" + +Baron Linnartz, the speaker, was a man of forty or more, secretary to +the Legation. His bald head was sunk between exaggeratedly broad +shoulders, and his moustache, which he carefully trained into an +upward curve, did not conceal his shapeless lips, which twisted +nervously from time to time. + +"Probably the sequel of a lonely night!" exclaimed the military +attaché. + +The baron made a pretence of being shocked at such barefaced cynicism. + +"My dear Eckersberg, what a suggestion!" + +"Well, Linnartz, if you know of any better amusement in this vale of +tears, out with it. If not, at least let us talk of our rake's +dreams since we have been effectually marooned in this land of +odalisques!" + +"You forget that I am a married man, my dear Count!" + +"Sorry, Baron." + +The youngest attaché, who had hitherto held his peace, now put in a +word hoping to dispel the slight tension which had arisen between his +two companions. He had been nicknamed "the tall prince." A man with +artistic tastes and a pretty wit, he was a universal favourite, +though he himself suffered from a chronic state of tedium as he moved +from one drawing-room to another on his long crane's legs. + +"Honi soit qui mal y pense, Gentlemen! Our worthy chief was +obviously put out because the young lady drove off so quickly. +Didn't you notice? Wasn't she charming in her white dress, with the +love-locks dancing under her lace veil? And he lost his opportunity, +because he had decided on a ride. Poor old Gregory the Seventh! You +ought to be sorry for him." + +"You are always making excuses for him," protested the baron. "He +has no business to behave like that, to be so offhand with us. One +who is ill-tempered and capricious with his intimates is the same +when dealing with political situations. The State..." + +"Oh Lord, the State!" + +"Yes, the State, if Your Highness will allow me to explain. Respect +for the leading officers of a State should not have to depend on +impressions created by the female of the species. One who has the +State's interests at heart should not, indeed, allow himself to be +influenced by impressions of any kind. I stick to what I have said +ever since they sent me here two years ago: he may be a very gifted +man, a man with fine ideas; but a man who has time to play Schubert +all the morning is not fit for an official post." + +"Chopin, my dear Baron," amended the prince, hoping to turn his +companion's thoughts away from this perennial grievance. + +The other cleared his throat for a further attack, but the prince +leaned across him and, speaking to Eckersberg, inquired: + +"Did you, too, notice nothing?" + +"A thoroughbred! Must be of aristocratic birth. Probably she'll be +invited to lunch and trotted out to show her points as usual! Have +you seen the countess this morning?" + +"She put off my wife yesterday--they'd been going to have tea +together. Said she had a visitor. I fancy it was a young man who +has just come here from Vienna." + +"Vienna? He must be the young poet, then," interjected the prince. + +"Poet?" repeated the count. "So that's the kind of people they are +sending down here now! What extraordinary things Austria does +export, to be sure!" + + +Half an hour later Diana was about to sit down to lunch when the +waiter brought her a card. + +"Is the gentleman here?" + +"His Excellency is waiting in the hall." + +"Give me time to get back to my room, then show him up, please." + +Diana deftly put a little order into her sitting room, thinking +meanwhile: "He's been quick about it!" On the way back from the +embassy she had recapitulated the scene which had promised so well +but which the chance word of a child had suddenly brought to a close. +She tried to interpret the omen. Did it mean that the child was to +keep them apart? But she had no designs on this man! All she had to +do was to study him, to find out what influence he exercised, who +were his opponents, and so forth. That is what she had come down +here to accomplish after two days and two nights travelling in the +train. As for him personally... + +There was a knock at the door. The ambassador entered. He was still +in riding breeches, but the dog and the crop had been left below. +Stepping lightly as a youth, he came towards her with outstretched +hand. + +"Please forgive me for coming like this, but I did not wish to delay +bringing my apologies. The servants have a general order... I was +just off for my morning ride.... Yes, I know it is the hottest part +of the day, and you may well shake your head disapprovingly that I +should be so inconsiderate to my horse, in June, midday... And with +such bad roads... I had to pay a call in the suburbs... Do you +ride?" + +"Of course!" + +"I hope you've brought your saddle with you; there's nothing to be +got here to suit a lady..." + +"I don't use a side saddle. I ride astride, like a man." + +There was a momentary silence between them. The words instantly +conjured her up in his imagination as she had stood on the steps at +the embassy; they flooded the whole picture with erotic significance, +and set his heart to a quicker beat. At the same time the memory of +her name flashed through his mind as he said: + +"Perhaps it may suit you to..." + +"With pleasure, if the countess can come too..." + +She merely brought the countess into the conversation because she +considered that the rôle she was destined to play demanded a +scrupulous adherence to social conventions. But the count had been +quick to read her true character, and was no more to be taken in than +a dog one tried to entice on to a false scent. + +"The countess? Oh, she's all right. She doesn't ride any more, +since she was thrown... Besides, as you see, I am no longer young..." + +He bent his head before her with all the subtle coquetry of a man +used to woman's admiration. Her smile did not escape his notice, for +he exclaimed: + +"There, now you are mocking my grey hairs!" + +"Does Your Excellency wish for veneration?" + +"Ah, that title I am doomed to hear reeks of gout!" + +He moved away from her towards the window. + +Diana's mirth took to flight on the instant. She saw the finely +shaped lips twitch ever so slightly, and guessed all the pain that +lurked behind the pleasantry. It seemed to her suddenly as if she +had grown old, had leaped the decades that divided her from this man, +and that she and he were of equal age. So great were her powers of +imagination that she was able to transfer her change of outlook to +her physical appearance. The count turned round intending to make +some trivial comment on the town, but the amazing change in her face +stopped the words before they left his lips. He hesitated a moment, +and then with a boyish smile he asked: + +"Have you no word of comfort for a poor grey-haired man?" + +She was not in the humour to continue in this vein, and whispered +softly to herself: + +"Grey-haired... What are years? ... Are we not here today and gone +tomorrow?..." + +"You mean...?" + +"Don't you remember Hamlet's words to Horatio?" + +"For the moment..." + +She looked him squarely in the eyes, and said with meaning emphasis, +as if shooting two arrows one after the other from the same bow: + +"Hic et ubique? Then, we'll shift our ground." + +"Hic et ubique! Did Hamlet say that too?" + +"Who else, indeed?" + +"That's our motto... It's the motto on the Münsterberg coat-of-arms." + +"Strange coincidence," she said looking earnestly at him. + +He returned her scrutiny, his expression slowly changing as he did +so. Then: + +"Hic et ubique! Are those words true?" + +"What is truth?" said Diana quietly. "Truth is a word only the free +in spirit can pronounce, Count." + +"Are you so fearless?" + +Without stirring from her place, she looked at him gravely and did +not answer. + +"And are you so proud?" + +Again she made no reply. She waited. At last, unable to bear her +scrutiny any longer, he rose from his chair and stood twisting his +cap in his fingers like an awkward boy. + +"Forgive me," he said. "Perhaps such questions are not becoming in a +lady's drawing-room..." + +"We are in a hotel," she replied airily. "Yesterday the room may +have been a forger's den!" + +"Do you think so badly of this town?" he laughingly inquired. + +"No, not of the town, only of mankind in general." + +He let his lips linger on her hand at parting. + +"When may I hope to see you again, and where?" he asked. + +Abruptly she was a girl again as she merrily replied: + +"Hic et ubique, Count of Münsterberg!" + + +He rode slowly home, deep in thought. Abdul, the greyhound, sought +to catch his eye, whining, barking softly, hoping for a run. But his +master continued to keep the horse at a walking pace. + +"Corpo di Baccho," exclaimed the count at last. "Here's a strange +creature crossing my path! She stood on the steps and smiled down at +me--just like a cheeky little duchess of seventeen. She gets into a +carriage like a grande dame of thirty. Then she talks boldly, +frankly, eloquently,--a reincarnation of Byron at nineteen or twenty! +Extraordinary. What am I to do? She's too tender a thing for me to +tamper with. And yet she's not tender, not in the least. She is +made of metal throughout, throat, breast... How splendidly her name +suits her. Why am I so squeamish, then? Is she too young? Am I +really grey? Passé? ... Come up, Cavalier! Abdul!" + +He set spurs to his horse, and the beast sprang forward to a gallop. +Snorting, sweating, the three careered up the hill. At the top was a +little hollow. Gregor, plucked from his impassivity by the +excitement of the ride, now spurred his mount anew, and they flew +over the ditch--much to the astonishment of some passers-by who had +never seen him ride so furiously before. At break-neck speed, he +continued along the alley. In the distance he espied a carriage. +The flutter of light dresses told him that the occupants were women. +Again he pressed forward, determined to overtake them. + +"Youth, youth is driving ahead of me... Youth! I must catch up ... +or ... we are passé... Come on, Abdul! Now then, Cavalier! Abdul!" + +Like a conqueror reaching his goal, intoxicated and yet exhausted, he +passed by the carriage at such speed that the horses shied. + + + + +CHAPTER THREE + +"You are mistaken," said the tall prince pointing to a special bar on +the score. "Weingartner always ignores this repeat, and goes +straight on to the next movement. Nor is it certain whether +Beethoven himself meant that for repeat marks. I have had the +original manuscript in my hand, and just at that point is a blot of +ink!" + +"Still," put in Andreas, "if one compares this with similar effects +in other compositions, don't you think we might conclude that...?" + +"Of course," interposed the countess. "In the next world I shall +always have this part repeated." + +The three speakers were standing in the embrasure of the window. +Gathered round the fireplace at the other end of the small rococo +room, were the count, Baron Linnartz, and the baroness. The shrill +laughter of the lady could be heard from time to time. It rang false +now, as it always did when she was put out and had no suitable answer +ready. Her eyes were full of enmity as she glanced across at the +countess. + +"You have made up your mind, then, to be a man at your next +reincarnation?" + +The prince spoke pointedly and looked down at her with an expression +which emphasized the physical difficulty of such a transformation. +The big woman instinctively pulled up the neck of her gown so that +the soft green silk came into contact with the gems that shone on her +full round bosom. + +"Then maybe I shall at last fall in love with you, Prince, for you +will undoubtedly be a woman!" + +Andreas, who had never heard a lady speak with so much boldness, +looked at the countess dubiously, and pressed his lips tightly +together. The prince, standing slightly in Andreas's rear, was fully +aware that both were trembling. + +"Possibly you are right," said he in a tone that was a mixture of +boredom and reflectiveness. Though he was fond of teasing her, he +felt a platonic sympathy for the eccentric being. "I shall hope to +be a woman fiddler in the orchestra of which you are to be the +conductor." + +"I shall only have men in my orchestra," answered the countess +resolutely. "You shall be my first 'cellist," she added turning to +Andreas, without in any way relaxing the intense seriousness of her +expression. + +"And what will the count play?" asked the prince maliciously. + +"Piccolo!" + +The two men laughed; and now the countess joined in their mirth for +she wished to conceal the fact that this, also, was spoken in earnest. + +"Good morning, Count Eckersberg," she exclaimed as the military +attaché stood bowing at the door. + +"May I share the joke?" he inquired, advancing towards the group in +the window. + +"Which one? Ours?" cried the count from his corner by the fireplace. +He hoped Eckersberg might join his group, for the Linnartz +conversation was anything but entertaining. + +"Embarras de richesse," said Eckersberg in conventional tones, trying +to bring the two groups together. + +"Shall we go in to lunch, Gregor?" + +"I'm expecting another lady." + +"Who is she?" came from the two angles at once. + +"Surprise à la fourchette!" + +"May I know?" asked the baron stepping up to the countess's side. + +"A stranger. I cannot even remember her name. She came with a +letter of introduction to the ambassador. He asked her to luncheon." + +"Introduced by Scherer, comes from Berlin," said the ambassador, as +if to allay any doubts that might have arisen, for he was alive to +the fact that strange things were laid to his charge. "You will find +her quite charming." + +"Can it be the young person with the love-locks?" inquired the +military attaché. + +"Ecco!" was the brief answer. + +Andreas had not missed a syllable of this lively exchange. At the +words "love-locks" his pulses began to throb. The thought of Diana +rushed through his brain. He drew nearer the countess, for she alone +of all those present in the room inspired him with confidence. + +"Who is the lady?" he whispered. + +He was conscious of his heart-beats as the countess, turning to her +husband, asked: + +"Gregor, what is our guest's name?" + +The door was thrown open as she spoke, and her interest was +transferred from the count to the new arrival. Andreas had followed +her first glance, and hung upon the count's lips whence he expected +the answer to the riddle. Now, however, his interest too was centred +on the door which seemed to him to fly open as if by magic, for from +where he stood he could not see the servant who ushered the guest +into the room. The tension he experienced at this moment was so +extreme that he felt anything might happen. + +Diana appeared in the doorway. + +A sudden quiet fell upon the company. She had so recently been the +subject of their conversation that they felt caught in the act, +self-conscious. Diana, as usual, paused a moment on the threshold +before shaking hands with the ambassador, who had stepped forward to +welcome her. The baron and his wife, ever suspicious of anything the +chief was responsible for, looked at Diana sceptically; the officer's +inspection savoured of curiosity; the prince's, of delicate mockery. +The countess, whose lonely heart was wearied with the hundreds of +masks she had been forced to gaze on in this very room, and yet whose +hopes revived with every fresh apparition, saw the young woman in +profile shaking hands with the host. Taken aback by the boyish +silhouette, and at once recognizing all this little figure contained +of pride and courage, the countess turned towards Andreas as if to +seek confirmation of her first impression. But the stranger was +being led towards her by the count, and the hostess, remembering her +rôle, took a step forward in greeting. At that moment Diana came to +a dead stop. The countess, not knowing what had happened, followed +suit. Thus the women faced one another like two foes who had met +unexpectedly. Diana had recognized Andreas; at the same moment she +also saw the golden-haired woman, with the dark-haired youth standing +immediately behind her; one picture, a draught to quaff in one gulp. + +Before the other guests became aware that anything was amiss, the +women had pulled themselves together and were already shaking hands. +The prince, alone, inscribed upon the tablets of his memory the three +looks that had been exchanged. The count was introducing her. + +"Herr Seeland--Fräulein de Wassilko." + +Diana slowly bowed her head; Andreas bent forward from the waist. + +"You take the countess in," whispered the prince to Andreas, for it +was customary among them to make a newly appointed attaché play the +son of the family. + + + + +CHAPTER FOUR + +Andreas to Nikolai. + +"... I am dreaming again. I never can dream when I am actively +happy. Then my nights follow one another in unchanging succession. +The hand, which a moment before had been caressing the beloved, seems +to go to sleep of its own accord; while my head, close to hers, is +still linked to it by some few strands of hair. Then my capacities +for dreaming seem to be lulled as if, in the arms of love, they were +gathering new inspiration for the solitary days which were bound to +follow. + +"For the moment I am not alone, but I am not fully in possession of +my joy; therefore I am dreaming once again. + +"Last night I was on our island. Day was beginning to dawn. The +boatman could hardly see the landing-stage, so dark lay the shadow +from the oleander tree. I went slowly up the hill towards the white +house. The door was open, but Othello was not there to greet me. As +in summer time, cushions were strewn on the terrace, and some rugs +lay there just as Diana might have left them. A book had slipped to +the ground. My weary feet went slowly up the steps. The door +leading into our bedroom was open; on a low table, a candle was +guttering into its socket. I stepped noiselessly up to the curtain +which sheltered the bed, and through whose folds I could hear the +regular breathing of the sleeper. I pulled the curtain back, and +there lay--Olivia, naked, before my eyes. Othello (can you +understand, my Nikolai?), Othello will not enter dreams into which +Diana does not come, and where Olivia breathes and has her being. +Othello is faithful. I fear I am not! Is Diana? + +"For she is here, in this out-of-the-way part of Europe. Don't be +too astonished! + +"The day after the one I last wrote to you about, the day I made the +principessa's acquaintance, I was invited to lunch at the embassy, +and was standing behind Olivia when, all of a sudden, in came Diana. +I cannot honestly say that I was surprised. 'Dream, come back to +me,' I had whispered every night during all those weeks when, in my +loneliness, I longed for a sight of her. So when she appeared thus +before me it was as if in response to my expectations. She herself +was taken aback by our meeting, for she grew pale. When we took our +places at table, and as the meal progressed, my heart went out to +her, and every word I said seemed to be inspired by her. She was +dressed in white, and the bronze of her skin shone through the +raiment and gleamed forth among the pale company like the horns among +the violins in that piece of Schumann's--you remember it. + +"Othello had sensed her presence before I did. He had run hither and +thither restlessly as we were out walking the previous evening. He +was searching for a trail that I knew nothing of. She may have +passed by in a carriage, and only my dog and not my heart had been +aware of her proximity. Am I being put to a test? How would it have +been had I not seen Olivia, and had run across Diana while taking a +stroll? Would everything have been as it was in the spring? I ask +myself whether the extreme of love which Olivia's lips seem to +promise, will, if I ever get so far, sow the field of my life with as +lavish a hand as Diana's when she yielded hesitatingly to my +passionate embrace. I see, I feel, what awaits me. Everything, in +the world of reality, my friend, we are doomed to know beforehand. +You may well ask why I have set my foot on the hard and toilsome road +leading to this new experience. How, I answer, can a man control his +fate in such matters? + +"A creature resembling a young moon has driven me forth into the +noonday glare, I know not why. There I am faced with the great sun +who, in his turn... Will he drive me back into the dusk whence I +have so recently emerged? I'm sorry to be writing so mad a letter. +The nights are to blame, so hot, and the sirocco blowing.... + +"I enclose a new poem--To Olivia. + +"ANDREAS." + + +Diana to Scherer. + +"... My very first experiences here confirm your hopes. I've called +on the minister. The visit was fairly successful, partly because I +did not go with an introduction from the embassy, and partly because +a certain Egyptian, sent to me by the manager, smoothed the way for +me. Furthermore, the process of interpreting facilitated our +negotiations. Where else in Europe are we given so much time for +reflection, where else can we study the effect of our actions upon +our antagonists so admirably as here? He did not believe a word I +said when I informed him that I wished later on to make a few +excavations and wanted to use the new permanent way to get to the +ruins which lie on either side of the track. I gathered all this by +the solemn fashion in which he nodded his head and promised me +everything I asked. He is not more narrow-minded than many of our +own folk, but he is extremely false. He speaks reservedly about the +count, which inclines me to believe that some sympathy exists between +them. The railroad people are of course uncongenial to him, when he +does not positively loathe them; and he is comforted by the thought +that I personally seem to have little to do with them. His secretary +speaks French, and I paid him a score of compliments afterwards. Nor +did I miss an opportunity to have a dig at his master. I shall +certainly need the man's help in the future. The main thing is to +discover what the French have promised, and especially how much they +have offered him if he will consent to act against Münsterberg. I +have tipped the bearer of this letter as handsomely as if the missive +were destined for a ruling monarch.... + +"Your manager is splendid. But he will have to get over the mistrust +he naturally feels towards me on account of your very flattering +recommendation. At present he sees in me nothing other than a kind +of supervisor! His house is not sufficiently comfortable to receive +guests, so I was invited to dine at the hotel. We ate what was +provided by the menu of the day, and drank a sweet fizz very much the +worse for wear, from which I gather he is of a thrifty disposition. +His wife has the beautiful eyes, the slow movements, the cloying +sweetness, the perfidy, and the ceaseless longing for love, typical +of the Levantine woman. He manages to keep her in hand for the +present. While we were at dinner, for instance, she ogled an English +naval officer at a neighbouring table, and her husband literally +crushed the look under foot before my very eyes. You know that since +his marriage he is still received at the embassy, but only once a +year now, at the annual levee when there are some three hundred +guests present. + +"For the rest, I shall have to be concise. I enclose the notes I +made immediately after my several visits to the manager, the minister +and the bank director (who seems ill-disposed towards me). + +"As for the ambassador, I can't say much as yet, for we are only in +the initial stages of our acquaintanceship. Still, I like the man. +Seen him twice, en petit comité, no politics. I cannot believe that +you really care for him. He speaks of you with a kind of cool warmth. + +"His enemy, the baron, is likewise my foe; so is the baroness. +Eckersberg is innocuous, but his thoughts run in a somewhat bawdy +vein. The tall prince may be a friend. I am doing my best to be +pleasant to the secretary who sees after the dispatching of my +correspondence, for as Count M. says, we are all at his mercy. He is +a domestic tyrant, but tamable. + +"Since, in spite of my arts and wiles, I foresee that he will read my +letters, and since I may seldom have a chance of sending you a +letter, as on this occasion, by a trusty hand, we had better agree +upon a code: Greyhound = Count Münsterberg, the German ambassador; +Terrier = Count Eckersberg, the military attaché; Policedog = Baron +Linnartz, secretary to the Legation; Sheepdog = Prince Eduard, +youngest attaché; Drayhound = the aforesaid secretary; Great Dane = +Manager; Bulldog = Minister. Further zoological data to follow. + +"Best wishes. + +"DIANA." + + +The major to Diana. + +"Your card with address only and view of the town hardly seems to +court an acknowledgment. Nevertheless it does not actually forbid me +to answer. So I shall profit by the fact and send you a few lines, +especially as today is the anniversary of a date that will for ever +be inscribed in my heart. + +"Unfortunately such times as those of three years ago are not to be +recaptured. Were it not for my work (I shall ever have you to thank +for helping me to get it) I could hardly believe that I am the same +man. + +"Talk here runs mainly upon that corner of the world where you happen +to be. Nobody has any confidence in the present peaceful situation; +calm before a storm. I have seen Herr Scherer lately, two meetings +quite close together. He is amazingly inquisitive, always plying me +with questions, looks at me searchingly, and so on. I wonder if he +suspects me of something. If anyone has a right to suspicion surely +it is I rather than he! + +"By the way, I have to thank his rival in the political field--if the +question of gratitude arises at all in the matter, which I doubt--for +a very interesting possibility. Last Tuesday, the minister came over +to me after being deep in talk with N. We were all at the club. He +said he had heard that I was interested in politics. Was I good at +languages, and so forth. I was guarded in my replies, for I was not +sure what he was driving at. In the end he asked whether I'd like a +post abroad.... + +"What would you say if one fine morning I appeared on the scene of +your mysterious operations, and greeted you with: 'Good-morning, most +honoured of friends?'--Have no fear, I'm effectively stuck here at my +post, and when I'm 78 I'll be relegated to the pensioners' +almshouse--if any such thing still exists after another eighty years +of peace. + +"Your faithful servant, + +"F. v. M." + + + + +CHAPTER FIVE + +"Where could it have been? Where on earth have I seen that pert toss +of the head before? And those love-locks? And those firm hands, +long and tapering? How do I know that they are strong? Was it at +the tennis tournament in Baden? But she would have been a mere baby +when I was playing there. Or at Cannes?" + +The baron racked his brains trying to remember. At last, next day as +he sat in his study reading a dispatch concerning unrest in the +Soudan, memory suddenly flooded his mind. + +"By God--it is--! St. Petersburg! Of course! St. Petersburg! That +very wrist! My instinct is as trusty as a machine. I felt uneasy +the moment she stepped into the room. Hm. All the same, I can't +exactly tell Gertrude..." + +He laughed, half malignantly and half lasciviously. + +"I say, my dear Linnartz," said the ambassador as he came in quickly, +a cigarette between his lips and a dispatch in his hand. "Just read +this." + +He leaned over the baron's shoulder as the latter sat reading the +document. + +"Well, what do you think of it?" + +"First of all, since it does not come from headquarters, it hardly..." + +"Headquarters," interrupted the count, pacing up and down. "At +headquarters they are as usual sleeping the sleep of the unjust. +When my friend Rochow codes me that he believes Le Chat is to be sent +here, and his surmise harmonizes with our own local information--what +on earth do headquarters matter one way or the other?" + +"Your Excellency must decide..." + +"Now you're offended again, my worthy Baron. For my part, I'm going +to search out proof of that which I have long suspected, and which my +advisers have never wished to believe." + +He flung himself into the depths of an easy-chair next the +writing-table, made rings with his tobacco smoke, drummed with his +fingers on the edge of the glass top, and then said, speaking through +his teeth: + +"If only we were not all of us in such bad odour over there. Every +dragoman may be looked upon as a spy. What have you to say, my dear +Linnartz?" + +"I've always been against these crooked methods, although I am quite +willing to acknowledge that at times..." + +"We must--find--new--people--to..." The ambassador spoke very +slowly, like a beast of prey preparing for a spring. He passed his +acquaintances in review, and suddenly the image of Andreas rose +before his mental vision. + +"If only he were one of our compatriots..." + +The count rose, took a turn round the room, seeking for a way of +approach. + +"Perhaps after all there is no truth in the surmise..." + +He made as if to go, stopped as he reached the door, turned abruptly, +and asked in a completely changed tone of voice: "Tell me, how did +you like our young poet the other day?" + +"Very intelligent young man. But I am always suspicious of people +who are backward in their profession. Anyway he has no knowledge of +law." + +"What matter? The lack relates only to the very beginning of things, +where a man is a slave of documents. It would be a poor sort of poet +whose intuitions would not be of more use to him than having passed +some dry-as-dust examination, when the matter at issue is the +management of men!" + +"I don't know what kind of a poet the young man may be ... but I +personally am inclined to be cautious in my dealings ... with +everyone..." + +The count felt that the last words implied a suspicion against Diana, +too, whom chance had brought to his house at the same time as the +poet, and concerning whom the baroness had whispered her disapproval +in his ear. He knew Linnartz of old, and was accustomed to find in +him the enemy of his friends, of his own inclinations, and, whenever +possible, of his policy. The innuendo did not, therefore, cut very +deep, and he said rather distantly: + +"Yes, it's true, she's a charming little woman, this Fräulein de +Wassilko!" + +Linnartz was quick to seize the opportunity thus afforded. He rose, +fixed his monocle, and approached his chief with the utmost formality. + +"I feel it my duty to inform you, Count, that I have already had +occasion to observe the lady..." + +"How?" asked the other, taken aback. + +"Three or four years ago when I was attaché in St. Petersburg. I had +rooms in the Grand Hotel at the time, as a single man. I met the +lady--several times--in the company of some wealthy young Poles; they +supped together, very décolletée, very lively, somewhat prolonged +festivities...." + +"Well, and what then?" + +"Nothing that I can prove. But I thought that in the interests of +the country I should be remiss in my duty if I failed to draw Your +Excellency's attention..." + +"Thanks, my dear Baron, many thanks," said the count with a frosty +smile as he left the room. + +Once back in his own study he gave vent to his feelings. + +"Je m'en fiche," he exclaimed. "This wretched Linnartz is for ever +there, talking like a decree from the ministry itself. 'I feel it my +duty... in the interests of the country ... décolletée... wealthy +young Poles...' Well, and what if she did?" + +He had seen Diana once since the luncheon party. But a feeling of +unrest, which in no way resembled the ardent desire of a virile +nature, had daily urged him to seek a meeting with this woman. Her +personality and her name intrigued him, lured him to probe the depths +which he had glimpsed in those few seconds of their first encounter. + +"Fine weather for a sail," he had thought when, early one morning, he +glanced from the heights where he lived down upon the great spread of +waters. "Diana would look well in a sweater as she sat at the helm. +I am sure that with such eyes and such hands she must be a splendid +navigator." + +Or, again, as he took a stroll in the park after breakfast, he would +murmur: + +"In the forenoon I'd have her dressed in flowing drapery, à la +grecque, so that her raiment, caught by the breeze, would cling to +her boyish limbs, and, as she stood with her back to the sun, her +whole outline would be visible through the diaphanous material." + +Or, of an evening, he would step forth on to the balcony where dinner +was served, and would imagine her leaning against the balustrade, +illuminated by the lights from within the drawing-room, silhouetted +against the night sky. + +With a reserve which pleased him mightily while it made him all the +more impatient to see her, she had refused all invitations, and once +only had come to play tennis in the afternoon. Even then, she had +been no more than a quarter of an hour on the court. For the +countess, who did not play, was on the watch for her coming and kept +an eye on the lawn from behind the sun-blinds of her apartment. +Twice she had been to the window in vain. After each rebuff she had +returned to her occupation at the great table which was heaped with +Venetian beads of every shade and hue. These she amused herself with +by letting them roll idly through her fingers. On looking down a +third time into the garden she spied Diana. The countess rang. As +soon as her maid appeared she sent word begging her guest to come up +as she was not feeling very well. + +Diana responded at once to the invitation. The blue room was darker, +cooler, more mysterious this day than it had been at Andreas's first +visit, and as Diana entered she saw the big woman with her heavy +coils of golden hair and her long, dark blue, loosely hanging robes, +coming forward in welcome. The countess, however, saw a very young +girl, whose legs emerged firm and slim from below the short white +linen skirt, while from under the brim of her white felt hat the +chestnut hair escaped in delicate tendrils as if it longed to realize +that perfect freedom which indeed breathed from the whole personality +of the visitor. + +"Forgive me," said the countess, "I am not really ill. But I do not +care for the company of the ladies I have to meet in my garden below, +so I never go down now." + +Diana had stepped up to the table where the beads were displayed. +She contemplated them but did not touch them. + +"Do you like them?" asked the countess. + +"Many a chain could be made from them. Strings of beads in one +colour or in many different colours." + +"True enough. I'd never thought of that." + +"What do you do with them?" + +"I--oh I just rummage among them," answered Olivia softly, somewhat +nonplussed. Her thoughts ran: + +"This young creature is striving after proportion and harmony while +engaged in restless adventures. What of myself? I gather reckless +dreams to my heart while my life goes smoothly along in untroubled +ways." + +She offered her guest a tall, inlaid bowl of iced fruits. Then she +withdrew into the shadows, and seated herself on a low couch where +she seemed rather to recline than to sit. The two women sat silently +opposite one another, while from below came the calls of the tennis +players. After a long pause, the countess said languidly: + +"You are sunburnt. As you take the cool fruit in through your lips +you remind me of a young Arab I once saw in the bazaar at Damascus. +His hot, bronzed skin was reflected in the cool waters of the river +that has created the oasis on which the town stands." + +"How beautifully you speak," said Diana as if to ward off the +comparison. + +"When I'm in ordinary social gatherings I am dumb. I hate being in a +large company. Do you not feel the same kind of dislike?" + +"Oh, no! I often feel a sort of stream flowing through people when +they talk together--a stream that gives them life and motion, that +has the beauty of a unified work of art." + +"You are lucky in being able to choose your own companions. I am not +free." + +She flashed a hostile glance towards the window through which the +voices from the garden reached her from time to time. + +"And yet," said Diana, "I find people in your circle, here as +everywhere, who hide more than their chatter reveals." + +"Why hide? Why dissemble?" The countess's rich alto trembled as she +spoke. "Life is short, the possibility of choosing a friend comes so +rarely, opportunities are so few and far between. Why then should +the cumbersome veils of formality be superadded to prevent men from +knowing their fellow men? Artists are freer! Without caring a snap +of the fingers for traditions which might restrict their movements, +they grasp and take all that pleases them. They grab the mad +adventure of life itself by the hair and never pause to inquire +whether they are rumpling those glorious locks... There, now you're +laughing!" + +"What comes after the mere grabbing?" asked Diana. "A man is just a +man and is not to be distinguished from his fellow mortals if he +merely grasps and takes what he likes." + +"You are very young--Diana. May I call you by your name? We are +alone. The years that lie ahead of you are measureless, you think +the forces within you are inexhaustible, and the feeling of undying +youth makes you lavish in your use of time and space. You, with +your--let us say--four-and-twenty years have seen many more countries +and come into contact with many more men than I have during the +thirty-five years of my life. Why is it so? Because you are free. +Because your father never constrained you to live according to the +dictates of a small and exclusive caste, because no husband was +perpetually warning you to be careful lest your conduct might +jeopardize his position, because no one was for ever noting every +step you took. Can you deny this? Are you not free?" + +She lay on her low couch, cowering as it were, her great knees drawn +up and outlined through her draperies. Now she lifted her +gold-crowned head towards the slim white apparition beside her. +Diana slowly rose to her feet. + +"Yes, I am free," she exclaimed, with a joyous ring. She turned +towards the window, holding her arms straight out before her as if +bearing a gift. She did not look at the questioner, but, her eyes +fixed in a vacant stare, she seemed to be following the movements of +a vision. A pause ensued. Then she slowly dropped her arms, and +said gloomily: "Only experience can show how hard a thing freedom is." + +"I am not afraid of it," came in sonorous tones from where the +countess lay. "I used to ride wild horses until I had broken them +in--why should I dread freedom?" + +Diana was suddenly aware of a feeling of hostility towards this woman +who seemed to grudge her her freedom. A dull sense of resentment +moved her to ask: + +"And now? You said 'used.'" + +The countess sat up, and gripped her hair which began to tumble about +her shoulders. + +"I had a fall." + +As if enraged by the recollection, she flung open one of the shutters +and was suddenly flooded with the full light of day. Her great arms +were raised to the glory of her hair which rippled in golden plenty +down her back; her deep bosom rose and fell in mourning and longing. +Diana regretted having asked the question. She stepped up to Olivia +and said shyly: + +"You are beautiful." + +The countess's gloomy eyes gazed down at her, seeming to drink in the +younger woman's fiery spirit as she stood there in her short white +frock, her skin burned by sun and wind, silent, waiting. Then, in a +softer tone Olivia said: + +"No, Diana, it is you who are beautiful." + +Gregor came in as she finished speaking. The women drew apart. He +begged Diana to stay, but she excused herself, pleading a previous +engagement. He was taken aback by the chilly manner of her farewell, +and looked down from the window as she drove away. + +He paced up and down wondering what could have been the gist of this +short interview. When, later, he questioned Olivia as to what she +thought of Diana, the countess replied laconically: + +"I like her." + + + + +CHAPTER SIX + +"We should be very much to blame," answered the baroness when next +morning, as they were getting up, the baron, still in his pyjamas, +had told all his suspicions concerning Diana--carefully suppressing, +as was natural, any details unfavourable to himself. "We should be +very much to blame," repeated the lady with emphasis as she sat +before her mirror pencilling her eyebrows, "very much to blame, +indeed, if we failed to keep our eyes on her. The chief is all but +in love with her, and from what you tell me of her antecedents, this +German, or Polishwoman..." + +"Maybe a Jewess..." interjected Linnartz. + +"... this person will suit our book better than any of the Levantine +women who have hitherto ministered to his happiness. I shall send +her an invitation..." + +"Invite her to my house!" exclaimed the man, his thoughts flying back +to that shameful and unique meeting of long ago. + +"Yes, I'll invite her here so that he may meet her. You are a poor +diplomatist, my dear. At the same time I shall be earning the +countess's gratitude by taking Gregor off her hands, for she seems to +be interested in that abstruse young man...." + +"All right. Ask 'em to lunch." + +"Luncheon! What are you thinking of? That will cost at least two +hundred francs, and with champagne, even if we cut ourselves down to +a couple of bottles and have it served late, it will run us into +another fifty at least. No, no. We'll ask them to tea, thé intime; +and I'll see to it that he will think I am having a special at-home +day in her honour." + +She was struggling with her bodice, and the baron who rarely assisted +at his wife's toilet, was much interested in her doings. He came +near and began to take husbandly liberties, whereupon she protested: + +"Oh, please--do leave me alone!" + +"There, there, Gertrude, why not?..." + + +By the time Count Gregor entered the baroness's exiguous drawing-room +the other guests had assembled and were sitting among the +many-coloured cushions in lively conversation. The prince was just +saying to Diana: + +"I am fond of Sicily, but to see it at its best it should be visited +at the height of summer. Palermo in August and Christiania in +January, that is the ideal." + +"What lovely temperatures you are conjuring up, Prince," said Gregor +kissing Diana's hand after greeting his hostess. "Is he telling the +truth?" + +"He is quite right," answered Diana helping to serve the guests with +iced drinks. "I've always felt the same." + +"Unfortunately the Germans are accustomed to extremes of climate. Is +it to be wondered at that southerners are more harmonious? Between +February and June we have to accommodate ourselves to a leap up from +zero to about 90 degrees in the shade, and we are expected after that +to be a harmonious people!" + +Diana looked at him and said with a laugh: + +"Who expects it of us, Count Münsterberg? One either is or isn't!" + +"Very well, then, one has it," he said softly, trying to capture her +hand. + +"Is this a new parlour game?" asked the prince. "If so, I'd like to +learn it." + +Diana sat there, her laughing face shaded by a large black tulle hat, +light of heart, full of youthful sportiveness, her hands stretched +out on either side towards the two men who had simultaneously pressed +their lips to them, two men differing vastly both as to age and +character. From the next room, four eyes were watching her +inimically, for the host and hostess had retired with Eckersberg to +look at the libretto of a new operetta recently produced in Berlin, +the notices of which had reached the officer that morning. + +"We should arrange an expedition to the temple so as to put these +theories of summer travel in the East to a test. At the same time we +could provide a little excavation work for Mademoiselle, get back the +next day... What say you, my dear Baroness?" + +"Charming, Count Münsterberg! I have some plans of the temple, and +perhaps we could take along Burkhardt, and Curtius's studies, maybe +even Winckelmann..." + +"Special camel for a travelling library," laughed Eckersberg. + +The whole company gathered round the table. + +"Won't the countess join the party?" put in Linnartz, wishing to make +trouble. But the count answered composedly: + +"I fear not. She rather dreads long excursions on horseback, or any +exertion in summer." + +"We shall, therefore, be only six candidates for death by sunstroke," +said the irrepressible Eckersberg. + +The count quickly calculated which of his two assistants would hinder +him least. He was fully aware of Linnartz's malevolent intentions, +but at the same time he knew that the officer was far more efficient +in an emergency and would be a greater menace to his plans if... + +"My good fellow, one of us must stay behind. We cannot evacuate the +embassy. Of course the secretary is enormously our superior in the +management of affairs, still, we cannot leave him to shoulder the +whole responsibility. So either you or Linnartz must stay, and, +since the baron could not possibly entrust the baroness alone to our +tender cares..." + +Eckersberg sank his head, with a comical expression of woe. + +"Kismet, or as it has recently become the fashion to say, Kâder! I +withdraw my candidature, retire weeping from the scene, ladies." + +No sooner had her guests taken their departure than the baroness +burst out with: "Did you see?" + +"Come here," called her husband from the window. + +Gregor and Diana had bade the other two farewell, and were now +walking away together. A long, slowly rising avenue lay before them, +and they strolled up it in the deep shade of a late afternoon. At +last they were alone. She had been so constantly in Gregor's +thoughts lately, that he had established a kind of intimacy with her +in his mind, so that when he now spoke there was a tone of +affectionate camaraderie in his voice. + +"I do hope you like the idea of a trip to this temple." + +She gave him a kindly look, saying: + +"I know the place well from pictures." + +"Burkhardt, Curtius, Winckelmann," he said, mimicking the baroness's +stilted way of talking. "Good Lord, poor woman!" + +"She is false," put in Diana curtly. + +"Well, well, what harm can she do?" + +"A great deal." Then after a pause: "Surely it is unwise to ignore +your enemies." + +"Enemies? They leave me cold. But those at home, in Germany..." + +"Well, they must have servants on the spot." + +"One of my assistants in all probability. That is the custom...." + +"Those two are the only ones," said Diana with a note of asperity in +her voice. + +Gregor, surprised at her petulance, and assuming that it was on his +account, interpreted her mood as a sign of her inclination towards +himself. They continued their walk, and he looked down into her +face, saying very simply: + +"I am happy to think that you are vexed with somebody on my behalf." + +Her voice was unusually cordial as she answered: + +"It is better not to have to feel vexed. Wellwishing is a more +fruitful thing than ill wishing! All beautiful things begin in +friendliness. Then it seems as if the sun were rising. Sometimes I +feel that we should always stop at the beginning..." + +He felt a glow creeping over him, and was about to speak when a +passer-by took off his hat to her, and her lips, which had remained +slightly apart on the unfinished sentence, snapped together. + +"Who was that?" + +"I don't know." + +Gregor glanced over his shoulder and recognized Andreas who, +likewise, had turned round to have another look at them. + +"It was our young poet," said the count cheerfully. "He's in love +with you; he has turned about to look at you again." + +"Why me in especial?" + +"Don't you like him?" + +Diana deigned no reply. He persisted: "Don't you, for instance, +prefer him to me?" + +Diana, whose pace had slackened, whose eyes had become dreamy, whose +lips were dumb, now slowly turned her head away as she thought: + +"Why must men always try to probe our inclinations by setting up +comparisons? Why are they incapable of making the best of the +present? How vain they are, one and all! Still, this man has blue +eyes and the heart of a boy, in spite of his grey hair and his title." + +Her long silence made him uneasy. + +"Have I offended you?" he said very tenderly, his manner almost that +of a wooer. "All I meant was ... you have ... you hardly know him as +yet." + +Again Diana had nothing to answer, while she mused: + +"What fools men are! In spite of all their titles and their renown +and their grey hairs, what fools! He does not know that I loved that +young man a little while back, does not know that the young man is +now in love with the countess. All he wants to know is whether I +love him!" + + +Andreas's sensitive nature made him keenly aware of the bond between +these two, and his heart felt lighter, for, poet though he was, the +young man in him was relieved at being able to shift some of the +reproach of his own unfaithfulness upon Diana's shoulders. After +their unexpected meeting he had kept out of her way, and had likewise +avoided seeing as much of Olivia as his feelings prompted him to do. +His mind was troubled. At bottom he was frightened of both women, +and unsuccessfully endeavoured to fall back upon himself. + +He tried to get an audience with the Austrian representative, but +every move on his part was wrecked on the shoals of ministerial red +tape, was frustrated by suspicion on the part of those in command. +Nor was he himself less to blame, for his own energies were being +sapped by his dreamy absence of mind, and the confusion in his +thoughts consequent upon the motley character of the political life +into which he wished to enter. + +Olivia, being by nature chary of words, seemed to condone his +silence. He had visited her twice since the day of the luncheon +party, and the atmosphere of tension that surrounded her as she gazed +mutely into the depths of his gloomy and passionate heart, roused him +to so great a state of expectancy that he could bear the meetings no +more. He was resolved not to seek her out again till the omens were +more propitious. Olivia had seemed to promise him all he longed for, +but no word of love had been spoken between them. + +On the Friday morning Andreas received a letter addressed in a bold +and virile handwriting. The message it contained ran as follows: + +"They are all going for an excursion next Sunday. Come and dine with +me at eight. Don't bother about evening dress. + +"O. M." + + + + +CHAPTER SEVEN + +They had started early, for it would be impossible to do anything but +lie off in the hours from eleven to three. In this part of the +world, few persons made such excursions in July. One day was amply +sufficient to reach the temple, and they wanted to enjoy the road and +the vistas and viewpoints in the cool of the morning. The ride was, +therefore, divided into two five-hour spells: one in the forenoon, +the other in the evening hours. Gregor and Diana had taken the lead +at first. But the guide persistently encroached upon their duologue, +expatiating upon his splendid qualities in an amazing mishmash of +languages. This disconcerted the pair, who by degrees allowed the +others to overtake them while they dropped to the rear. + +The party had swelled to become a veritable caravan, for since the +tents and provisions for two days had been packed upon horses, the +six westerners required twelve orientals to act as grooms, servants, +and guides. + +On the previous evening, Captain Kopp had arrived from Berlin to take +up his duties as naval attaché, the post having been vacant for +several weeks. He immediately presented himself to pay his respects +to the ambassador and his wife and to report for duty. His hosts +were equally nonplussed, and both cudgelled their brains for a means +of ridding themselves of the unwelcome guest. The count felt he +could not leave him with Eckersberg in charge at the embassy, for +though as military and naval attachés they would naturally be +antagonistic, their mutual distrust of "diplomats" would make them +allies in this field. First impressions are so important.... If, on +the other hand, Kopp came with the party to see the temple, an extra +pair of observant eyes would be following every incident.... The +countess was thinking: Here is a man who takes his work seriously; +he'll plunge into his job without delay so that, after the manner of +his kind, when his chief gets back he will be able to say: "I've +quite got the hang of things, Your Excellency." They had once before +had a man like that, who had often not left his office till late at +night, and she was determined that this particular evening there +should be no one about to spy upon her. Thus it was that, when the +subject of the morrow's excursion came up for discussion, at the +dinner table, she turned amiably to the newcomer, and said: + +"Of course you will join the party, Captain Kopp? It will give you a +chance at the outset of making acquaintance with the interior, and +that is not always easy to manage in the height of summer." + +"I should be delighted, if His Excellency will not mind my coming..." + +Gregor, who had penetrated his wife's manœuvre, glanced at her now +across the table. She looked the picture of innocence, but he knew +this mood of assumed tranquillity just as well as all her other +ruses. He felt obliged to say something: + +"A pleasure I assure you, if you feel that so soon after your long +journey... It is hard on those not accustomed to the climate...." + +"If you have no objection, Sir, I'd like to come." + +When their guest had gone, the count turned to his wife, asking +indifferently: + +"How do you propose spending the next two days?" + +"I hardly know." + +"Paying calls?" + +"No!" + +"Expecting any one?" + +"Nobody particular. Perhaps I shall ask young Seeland to look in." + +"Alone?" + +She raised her heavy head. She had hitherto been attentive and +watchful, trying to find out if he had any suspicions. Now, however, +she said very calmly: + +"Of course, if I invite him he'll come alone. You know how much I +dislike having more than one guest at a time. Have you any +objection?" + +"Good-night, Olivia." + +"Good-night." + + +The baroness had at the outset taken possession of Captain Kopp, and +all had gone well until she tried to pump him for news of what was +going on at the Admiralty. Then, without obvious discourtesy, he +drew the Levantine guide into the conversation, plying him with +questions which the man was only too eager to answer. This suited +the captain, who had joined the party simply in order to learn. + +The prince, who had a smattering of the language, liked to gossip +with camel drivers, fruit venders, and dragomans. Today, likewise, +he would have been better entertained in converse with the horse +drivers, but he had first of all to devote himself to the baron, who +wished to discuss international politics. + +Gregor observed him from the rear and said to Diana: + +"Just look at our long-legged prince. What a picture of misery he is +on his little Anatolian mount. His feet almost touch the ground. +From here he might well pass for Don Quixote--but then Linnartz would +have to be promoted to the rôle of Sancho Panza!" + +It was eight o'clock. There were two good hours of cool before they +need stop; the sun was considerate and the dust not unbearable. The +parched, grey steppe stretched away into endless distance, and the +low range of hills where they planned to camp that night looked quite +unattainable. Diana had discarded the skirt which she had donned to +ride through the town, and was now in khaki breeches and jacket, with +leggings to the knee. There was nothing to distinguish her as a +woman save the soft white-silk collar which peeped above the loose +coat. She looked like a boy of sixteen whose parents, in the +fondness of their hearts, had not yet had the courage to clip his +curls. As always when exploring an unknown countryside, Diana was +silent for a while. Those camels on the sky-line looked like some +primeval phantasmagoria emerging from the dust-laden air. Then, +alert and observant, she plied her companion with questions. While +answering her, the count dropped half a length behind, and it seemed +to him as he looked at her that he was riding alongside his own son, +eager to know. He dwelt for a moment very pleasantly in this vision. + +The ironical words he had indulged in anent the prince and the baron +were the first he had uttered of a personal nature. Even now she was +loath to be distracted from her contemplation of the landscape, +which, far from appearing monotonous, seemed filled with strange and +wonderful things. It was, therefore, with an effort that she +responded to his gayer mood. + +"As far as misanthropical outlooks are concerned, our prince would +fit the part well, but he is too strongly disillusioned to be a +genuine Don Quixote. As for the baron, to turn him into a faithful +servitor..." + +"You dislike him even more than I, it would appear, and perhaps..." + +"Perhaps my dislike for him is greater than his for me? I'll wager +he's started intriguing against me already." + +"Hardly. But I fancy he must have met you before." + +Diana pulled up and forced the count to come alongside. + +"Well?" she asked. + +"Let me see--was it St. Petersburg he said?" + +"He told you--he...?" Diana's tone was so strange that Gregor +pricked up his ears. + +"Has he any reason to--if I may ask...?" + +"Baron Linnartz has dared to..." said Diana, suddenly imitating the +shrill manner of an indignant dowager. But Gregor guessed that her +merry parody hid real mortification, and he felt incensed against the +man who had caused it by such preposterous warnings against her. +When next he spoke there was a note of resolution in his voice. + +"Would it be too much to ask you for an explanation?" + +She evaded the issue by laughing gaily, and setting spurs to her +mount. + +The little Anatolian horse had been longing for a gallop over the +steppe, and eagerly responded to her mood. With curls dancing in the +breeze of her own going, she flew past the baroness and Kopp, flew +past the prince, the guide, and her personal enemy. Abdul, +electrified by this sudden departure, careered at her side, his black +ears flapping, his white hindpaws seeming to be several seconds in +advance of their dark brothers in front. He sped like a swarthy +cloud over the arid plain. For a moment the suddenness of her flight +took Gregor so much by surprise that he could only gaze after her, +thinking that she looked like a wild creature gone mad with love, or +an amazon raging to the attack. Then he, too, set spurs to his horse +and galloped after her. The company grew uneasy. + +"The count seems to be having a little private racing party on his +own," said the baron, who was a poor horseman at the best of times. + +"She has a fine seat," murmured the prince emphatically. + +"Amazing," observed the captain. + +"Yes, she rides well," added the baroness. "One might think one were +in a circus. I mean..." + +Diana sped onwards, with half-closed eyes, unconscious of everything +except the swiftness of her flight and the hound at her side. When +at last the count overtook her, she laughed back at him, crying +through the dust and whirl raised by their movements, like some +uncanny sprite of the wilderness: + +"Hello, Count Münsterberg! Hic et ubique! Small horses, but full of +fire! A whip! If only I had a whip!" + +He tried to pass his to her, but she merely laughed and motioned it +away: + +"Not now. Then!" + +Her horse leapt forward again, and she said no more, though from time +to time Abdul's name dropped from her lips. + +Gregor was a changed being. As he galloped he forgot the +conversation which had immediately preceded the mad ride; and +therefore the word "then" she flung at him about the whip was the +more puzzling. No matter! His youth rose once more within him with +all its madness. It was as if thirty years had fallen away, and he +was once more pursuing that woman on horseback--were they not riding +through an English park?--who had galloped before him, throwing him +words of love over her shoulder. Then, the lady's habit had flapped +against the horse's flank, and from under the brim of her stiff hat +two grey eyes had peered out, the eyes of a mature and passionate +woman. Memories crowded upon him, the wild career to the very door +of the house, the dash up the stairs, the tearing off of her riding +habit, ten minutes' frenzy, away again, somebody catching sight of +him, the challenge, two shots, the husband wounded... + +"Am I indeed younger? Has this young amazon, luring me on through +the dust and over the steppe, has she gifts to give me such as those +of that older woman? I would like to--I will..." + +Suddenly Diana's horse shied; it reared, and for a moment things +looked nasty. The count sprang to her side. + +"Diana," he cried, seizing the rein and pacifying the little animal. +As they continued on their way, jogging along at an easy trot, Gregor +was a little perturbed at having unintentionally called her by name, +and felt distinctly embarrassed as he said: + +"What a splendid horsewoman you are! I believe--I do hope you'll +forgive me--but you have such a lovely name. How do you like mine?" + +"Gregor," whispered she, and he felt happy at the thought that +perhaps her lips had already framed the syllables in secret. +"Gregor," she repeated, crisply this time, with a glance in his +direction. "Something untamed and yet serious--maybe it suits you +well these days---- Forgive me my escapade, Count." + +Like all men whose conquests have been easily achieved, Gregor was +full of hopes. The fact that she had spoken his name was sufficient +to confirm him in the belief that she had a liking for him. He +pressed closer, so that the horses' flanks were actually in contact, +and asked: + +"Why don't you call me Gregor again--Diana?" + +"Because we are no longer flying over the steppe." + +"When shall we fly again?" + +"Nikt nie wie." + +"What does that mean?" + +"It's Polish for: No one knows." + +With the neat movement of a jockey, she turned in her saddle and +called to the others, though they lagged too far behind to hear her +words: + +"Come on! Can't any of you ride? Is he the only one who can ride?" + +Then she said abruptly, with a twinkle in her eyes: + +"That reminds me. Baron Linnartz, St. Petersburg, Grand Hotel. I +owe you an explanation. Well, here goes! Some one with an +aggressively scrubby moustache keeps his eyes on me morning, noon, +and night, for a whole fortnight. Tries every method of approach. +Then one evening I come from the drawing-room, it's very late, I get +into the lift--the baron! I'd noticed him doing sentry-go as it were +for hours down below. He does not get out at his floor but at mine. +Follows me along the passage to my room. I open the door, enter, and +turn to close it again. Suddenly someone springs forward, comes +right into the room, seizes hold of me, throws me on to the sofa. It +takes me several seconds before I can get my teeth into his hand. A +bite, he kisses, lets go. I am still lying under him, but I get one +hand free, then the other. I grip him by the throat, so!--When his +face was blue and he began to gasp, I released him. I had no whip. +He slunk away.--Since then I never go about alone without this little +fellow." She drew a small revolver from her pocket, then in a loud +voice she exclaimed: "And that's the man, Count Münsterberg, who is +doing his best to discredit you at headquarters!" + +Gregor quickly surveyed the situation. It placed the baron in a new +light, for the count never doubted the truth of the St. Petersburg +incident. He was more deeply than ever intrigued by the many-sided +personality of his companion. This was now the sixth time they had +seen each other, and at each encounter she had presented herself in a +different guise. How coolly she had related the unpleasant +adventure! And those last words, the way she had referred to +headquarters--only a person well versed in politics could have put +all the implications she had into that brief assertion. She seemed +disposed to be silent now, turned her horse about, and slowly rode +back to rejoin the others. + +"Who won?" cried the prince as they drew near. "Abdul seems to have +doubled the parts of starter and judge!" + +"Mademoiselle, of course; she won by I don't know how many lengths," +said Gregor beaming at the prince. He was specially grateful that +Diana's escapade should have been so deftly handled and its apparent +hoydenishness masked by a well-turned joke. + +They pitched their camp at noon beneath a cluster of tall eucalyptus +trees which were distinguishable from the all-pervading grey of the +surrounding vegetation only by their height and by the rustling of +their long, thick leaves. Otherwise everything seemed to consist of +sand and dust. The midday heat shimmered over the steppe; far away +on the horizon, faint, undulating lines were dimly visible. Could +they be hills? A few clay walls spoke of scattered villages nestling +among sparse clumps of trees. Grey horses and drab camels browsed in +countless numbers on the parched herbage, or stalked in long +processions like ghosts across the waste. + +The guide had hoped to find a spring at this spot, where he could +water the horses. But there proved to be too little flow, and the +beasts had to be taken farther afield. The human travellers, +however, fared well, for they had brought every imaginable thing with +them, not forgetting the most important item of all: ice. The cloth +was spread in the marquee, and the food was appetizing. But the heat +was too oppressive for much talk; indeed, at this moment they were +all wishing they had not set forth on the excursion. + +Diana had donned her skirt again, and was on her best behaviour, +demure, and endeavouring in every way to fall in with the baroness's +humour. Both Gregor and the prince were puzzled as to what she was +thinking about. "I wonder whether the recalling of that incident has +upset her," mused the count, "or whether the presence of the baron is +making her reserved?" When the meal was over, each one sought +relaxation, some in sleep, others in quiet talk. Kopp came over to +Diana and sat beside her, puffing away at his cigarette. + +"I say, I'd give anything to ride like that," he began. + +She laughed, trying to turn the matter off. + +"I expect you won a prize or two in Kiel?" + +"Yes, a few. I bet you know how to sail a boat." + +"I'm fond of the sea." + +"Been far afield?" + +"Fairly." + +"Indian Ocean?" + +"No. The Atlantic." + +"Some day you must go sailing in the Indian Ocean. That's the finest +of them all." + +"Tell me about it." + +Diana was a good listener as well as an eager questioner, so Kopp +began to tell his story, haltingly at first, in fragmentary fashion, +like others of the seafaring confraternity. And all the while she +was listening, her thoughts travelled vaguely to and fro. "Here I +lie in a tent on an eastern steppe, and this seafarer is telling me +of shellfish and pearls, of sharks and torches, while over there sits +the count discussing business matters with the baron, hate in his +heart, hated in his turn by Linnartz, and thinking of me by name. +Did he not call me by my name as if I were a friend of long standing, +as if he wished to guard me, and yet with the pertness of a boy? +Nikt nie wie!" + +The count liked Captain Kopp. True, he had found the newcomer's bald +bullet head rather comical at first, but it did not take the count +long to detect the man's sterling worth. When they broke camp in the +cool of the afternoon, he made a point of riding next his naval +attaché. + +"Have you had an opportunity for a talk with any of our people +lately, Captain?" he asked. "Seen the foreign secretary, for +instance?" + +"About three weeks ago. Dinner together at the club. Hardly had a +word with him." + +"He's said to be very pessimistic, eh?" + +"I fancy he is. Some one who had just been having a long talk with +him said he saw everything through grey spectacles. Herr Scherer it +was who made the remark." + +"Ah, yes. I know." + +"A most interesting man, that." + +"I feel sure he is.--What does Herr Scherer think about the situation +here?" + +"Scherer has absolute confidence in what Your Excellency does." + +As a rule the count disliked compliments; he knew too well their +insincerity, especially when paid to a man in his position. But this +captain with the bullet head was so simple and so obviously sincere; +Münsterberg could only be interested. + +"Did Scherer say that?" he asked. + +"Yes, he did." + +The three words were spoken with the deliberation of a man who knew +how much worth his interlocutor would place upon them. Gregor was +satisfied. He broke off his talk with the captain in order to rejoin +Diana who was riding with the baroness. The younger woman had been +making vain attempts to draw the lady out. As the count came +alongside, he said: + +"Have you ever made a study of archæology?" + +"Oh no, I'm only an amateur." + +"That's much the pleasantest way of getting to know things," +commented the baroness with a note of hostility in her voice. "When +one is free to travel about the world--to study the world..." + +"Yes, travelling is a good master," interrupted Diana, controlling an +impulse to retaliate, and speaking in quiet, conventional tones. + +"But somewhat exhausting," said Gregor. + +He and Diana trotted forward alone. + +"So you have known Scherer some time," he said after a pause. + +"Not long." + +"Is he interested in artistic matters also?" + +"He is a thinker." + +Her answer disquieted Gregor. Somehow he felt she was making +comparisons, and his pride forbade him to accept a subordinate place +in the estimation of such a woman as Diana. + +"How do you make that out...?" + +She guessed that he was piqued, and answered soothingly: + +"Surely his way of looking at the world is enough to prove it." + +"Yes; but suppose some one has, by devoting his whole life, chary of +words but prolific in deeds, by his decisions and his enterprise, +supposing such a one, too, has built up a world...?" + +"He'd just be a good business man," retaliated Diana, "and Herr +Scherer is that in addition to all his other qualities." + +Gregor was not satisfied. He rode on for a while rather moodily, and +then resumed: + +"Which sort do you prefer?" + +"So much depends on the time and the place, upon the wind, and the +stars...." + +"Let us say: Today!" + +"Today I am thinking of the better rider," laughed Diana. + +The steppe had cooled down, and riding was pleasant now. At certain +spots where water was abundant, the evergreen plants looked fresh, +and their stunted forms peeped through the trees and the stones. +There were tiny ilexes and myrtles; even a laurel here and there. +The shadows of the trees were lengthening over the plain, and the +hills seemed within a hopeful distance. Every one felt that the +worst part of the journey was over, that the reward of their efforts +was at hand, and that tomorrow's return to the town overlooking the +water would be easy. Soon after six, when the sun was sinking and +the plain was taking on a myriad new and glowing hues, when the fresh +breeze came from the hills, the spirits of the company rose, and +conversation flowed once more. They spoke sceptically of the +prospects of sleep under canvas that night; they sentimentalized +about the temple. Kopp said: + +"I've been told that this place is red with poppies in April." + +"But it is only at this time of the year that you find the place so +exquisitely covered with dust that it looks one vast uniform mass," +added the prince. "Only now! I could ride for weeks on end through +this dusty steppe; heat and dust are such admirable adjuncts to muddy +thinking." + +"You are pleased to be paradoxical," protested the baroness. +"Everything in this country is far more poetical in April." + +"I am the enemy of all that smacks of poetry, Baroness; still more do +I hate the romantic. I'm thinking of starting an insurance scheme to +protect the world against falsification of nature by means of +moonrises, stars, colours, and the like." + +Diana laughed heartily; the baroness tried to giggle, but the dust +had dried her throat and her effort was futile. Gregor was busily +going this way and that in search of a good camping ground. Nor +would he allow his three attachés to help him. Then he made them all +turn back a little way, and finally gave them leave to dismount. +There was a bustle of preparation, the horses were unsaddled and +watered, the tents were pitched. The count was suddenly pensive. +After a while he called out: + +"There are four; that's fine!" + +To which the baroness made reply: + +"Yes, splendid. One for you, one for the prince, one for us two +women, and the fourth will be shared by the captain and my husband." + +"Pas du tout, Madame," the count was quick to interpose, for he had +expected the baroness to suggest such an arrangement. "I could never +forgive myself if two married folk like you and my dear Linnartz were +divorced from one another's arms even for one night. You and your +husband must have the large tent; the other big one must be shared by +the prince and the captain--if they don't mind sleeping together? +Otherwise, I shall be delighted to berth with one or the other." + +"Of course, of course," chimed in the two men with one voice. + +"Very well; and I'll have the little one to myself." He stopped +abruptly, for he was loath to couple Diana's name with his own. But +the prince, realizing what was in his chief's mind, added with a +spice of malice: + +"What about the fourth? Ah, yes, of course, I'm so sorry, of course +that will be for Fräulein de Wassilko." + +For an hour past Gregor had been making his plans, and had chosen a +site that suited them admirably. It was a narrow strip of level, +lying in a semicircle intersected by mounds which cut the camp up +into sections. He contrived to have his tent pitched at the lower +end, then the other small one. The horses were to be littered down +next this, separating them from the two large tents at the other end +of the passage. But when the work was done and they came to inspect +it, he assumed a wrath he was far from feeling: + +"What's this!" he exclaimed. "Those two little tents have been put +up in the place where I had ordered the big tent to be pitched. +We'll have to start over again. What a nuisance! Oh, well, perhaps +we can manage after all. Or shall I get them changed?" + +"Capital as they are," some one exclaimed. + +They ate their supper on the slope of a hill, and watched the +daylight fade while the moon rose. Diana was very quiet, almost one +might say absent-minded. She ran her fingers through the herbage, +picked the twigs from off her rug, whispered to the night-birds and +the beasts that came shyly peering round the rocks, stroked the long +velvety ears of the greyhound. They all sought their tents while the +night was young, for they wished to be afoot before sunrise. Gregor +called for a bowl of water, then sent the man away to sleep. He +himself kept vigil. Should he venture? Was he really more than +twenty-five? Was he his own son? He felt so young and could think +of nothing but the moment when she had uttered his name as she flew +over the steppe: "Gregor!" + +Diana had closed her tent in order to discard her habit and slip into +a cool, silk kimono. Now she flung back the flap and sat on the +ground at the mouth of the tent in the crouching attitude of a gypsy. +She slowly rolled back her wide sleeves, thinking the while: "How +well this orange-coloured silk matches the tent and the steppe." As +her gaze travelled to the sky and over the moon-shriven land, she had +hardly a thought in her head. Then, suddenly, she was musing again: +"How otherwise account for all these preparations? ... Can a woman +ever truly know the man who desires her without first giving him what +he wants? ... He has a finely turned leg, and there's a look of youth +in his blue eyes, and he rides as well as I, better than any man I've +known since Bogdanoff, the maddest of lovers.... Of one thing at +least I am certain: grey locks make a stronger appeal to me this +night than any fair head could...." + +Gregor made a tour of the camp before turning in. He took mental +note of where each tent stood. Then he secured Abdul to a tree at +the farther end of the camp, bidding him lie down and be quiet. +Slowly he returned to his tent. He waited. One by one the lights +were extinguished, silence brooded over the land, only the horses, +rubbing their heads together, made a soft, velvety sound. Diana's +tent was dark. Was she sitting within, dreaming? Or was she +waiting--for him? Had she not once spoken words of condemnation +against women who were "prim and prudish"? Was she unaware of the +effect such words would have upon a man of his temperament? There +had been no preliminary skirmishes. Everything would depend on the +success of one single move. He had to take a risk such as, owing to +his position, he had not ventured for at least twenty years--or was +it only fifteen since he had given chase to the beautiful Beata...? + +This last memory stirred the fires of his imagination. He rose and +stood for a while at the mouth of the tent, listening. As if the +better to hear, he raised himself on the tips of his toes. Then he +fastened his tent from without, and crept softly towards the spot +where her tent reared its point into the night sky. Two resolute +strides brought him to the entry. He seized the tapes and secured +the flap behind him. He was inside. + + + + +CHAPTER EIGHT + +At the very hour when Gregor entered Diana's moonlit tent, the +countess sat at dinner with Andreas. + +The small marble table at which they were dining was in a remote +corner of the garden, and the old butler who served them shook his +head patiently over this new whim of his mistress. Since the nook +the countess had chosen was so small as not to admit of a sideboard +of any kind, the man had to make the best of an ivy-clad stump +whereon to place his dishes. In the end, he had contrived everything +in so tasteful and charming a way, that when Olivia led her guest +into the enclosure through an archway cut in the hedge, she smiled +her gratitude and appreciation to her faithful servitor. In her own +peculiar and anarchistic way she was always more courteous and +considerate to her servants than it was customary for women in her +station to be. Consequently she was, as a mistress, at once more +respected and more often cheated than most. As soon as the dessert +had been placed on the table, she made a sign to the butler, who +promptly disappeared within doors. As soon as he had gone, she said: + +"You are worried about something." + +"Yes." + +"What has happened?" + +"Othello, I've lost him." + +"What, the Great Dane you told me about and have always refused to +bring to see me?" + +"Today I did bring him. It's the first time for pretty well a +fortnight that I've taken him for a walk through the town. I've +usually let him out for a run in the hotel park. Well, we got here +at eight. In the vestibule, Othello began snuffing around. I told +him to lie down and wait while I went into the office to see if there +were any letters for me--you know I'm having all my correspondence +sent here because I can't stand the idea of every letter being mauled +about and examined by my worthy Austrian compatriots. I'd hardly +been absent three minutes, yet when I came back Othello was nowhere +to be seen. In all the four years since we have lived together the +dog has never given me the slip before." + +"Have you any idea as to where he may have gone?" + +Andreas did not answer, and she had a shrewd suspicion that he +guessed the dog's whereabouts. She had all along been wondering why +Andreas was so set against bringing Othello to see her, and guessed +that the dog was associated in his mind with some poignant memory or +other. Could it be that of another woman? She had been too immersed +in her own dreams and yearnings to pursue the matter further. And +now, tonight, when at last they were alone with the chance of +enjoying one another's company undisturbed, was their evening to be +spoilt because of the vagaries of a dog? Resolutely she set herself +to win the man. + +During the fifteen years of her married life Olivia had had very few +evenings at her own free disposal. Gregor had been raised to +ambassadorial rank ten years ago, and about the same time he had +resumed his life of adventurous love affairs. This might have given +her the freedom she needed, but she very seldom made use of her +opportunities, far seldomer than her nature might have led one to +suppose. She instinctively shunned the homage of men of aristocratic +birth, people of rank and station. Her womanhood craved for a love +whose impetuous and turbulent waters should flow from inexhaustible +springs of passion. The moment Andreas stood before her, she knew +that his was the poet nature she had been awaiting all these years. + +He for his part had been enmeshed in the coils of desire ever since +he had beheld the superb form of this Venetian beauty reclining on +the divan, had seen the passionate curve of the lips and throat, the +golden glory of her hair. He knew in a flash that he was for her and +she for him. + +In silence, now, the two sat dreaming, wandering along the highways +and byways of their memories. As Olivia watched the poet's face +emerging into the light of the overhanging lampions and retreating +into the shadows again, she knew that the memories crowding into the +mind of this young man were richer than her own, but that in the +realm of dreams hers was the more abundant recollection. + +Andreas gazed at her across the table, and as he gazed, the agitation +which had filled him since Othello's disappearance was gradually +tranquillized. He forgot his trouble. Slowly he stretched his arm +towards her, the back of his hand resting on the marble slab. Slowly +she raised her full round arm and laid her shapely hand in his. They +had never before touched one another. They had studiously avoided +any contact which might raise desires they had no possibility of +assuaging, for both were keenly aware of their own passionate +natures. Now their hearts were filled with fear and hope. For the +first time Andreas felt her hand in his. It lay dry and cool upon +his palm. Slowly he bent forward, and put his lips to her arm. He +was dimly aware that this first kiss was a foretaste of all that was +to follow, and while he, with closed eyes, sank his lips into her +white flesh, she leaned back and gazed earnestly down upon the dark +head of her lover. When, after a long interval, he raised his eyes +to hers, she got up and led him through the green archway and down +towards the river. A wild and overgrown path led them to a crag +whence they could see immemorial cedars stretching columnar arms +skyward out of the immensity of the waters. The undergrowth had +never been cleared in this spot, huge clusters of ferns pushed up +through the tangle, the broom had thickened into veritable bushes, +and cherry laurels, tall and impenetrable, had gathered around the +trunks of the cedar trees. From below came the everlasting lap of +the waters upon the stones, and, amid all these sounds of a primeval +world, could be heard the pulsating paddle of a tiny steamer, far +away, its twinkling lights reflected in the water. + +To the poet, as he followed the pale gleam of Olivia's ample +garments, it seemed that he was being led to the gates of death and +that his guide was holding the fateful scales that should seal his +doom. On reaching the top of the rocky eminence Olivia moved slowly +towards the huge trunk of one of the cedars and leaned her back +against it, a smile on her lips such as he had never seen there +before, an expression he could never have expected to behold on this +face, a look half shy and half alluring. Throwing wide his arms he +folded her to him, pressing her against the tree, and pressing the +back of his hands against the rough bark, while with the palms he +felt the soft contact of her body and her hair. When at last the +long kiss came to an end, the name he had spoken at their first +meeting rose to his mind, but the sweet and melancholy gains of this +present hour left no other wish but to utter the word he had +whispered so many times during the last fortnight: + +"Olivia!" + +All that was woman in her responded to the man in him. She left the +support of the tree and flung herself against him, pulled him to her +in a closer and closer embrace, and pressed her lips to his as she +murmured: + +"Andreas!" + +Two hours later he was once again in her great blue room. She had +given him the key of a private door into the park and told him how he +might find his way in. Then she had led him back to the house, had +bade him good-night from the top of the wide steps that led down from +the hall, and had sent her household to bed. He had wandered the +streets, savouring his two hours' waiting as only a poet knew how. +Certainty, postponement, security, a strategic device, hours of joy +without end, one final delay, a stream of mixed sensations, coursed +through his blood and flooded his brain, driving him and elating him. +The practical necessity of keeping his eye on his watch so as not to +miss the appointed hour merely served to whet his appetite and to +render his expectations more acute. At last he turned the key in the +rusty lock and groped his way to her room. At the door he came to a +halt. He wished to relish the idea that here, two weeks ago, he had +been ushered in, a stranger, where now he was privileged to enter as +a lover. + +The room was unlighted, but in the soft radiance of the moon he could +see Olivia's outline on the shore that lay beyond the blue sea of +carpet. Tonight, in one second, he flew to his haven of love. +Without saying a word she drew him to her, flooding him in the waves +of her long golden tresses. He pushed aside the white cloak that +covered her, his hungry lips devouring the breasts she lifted towards +him. + + +When, many hours later, Andreas rose from the couch, he shivered with +cold, for he was naked, and Olivia, lying motionless, bade him put on +a robe she had brought from Damascus, and which she loved. The moon +had not set, and in its pale light Andreas in his long +gold-embroidered gown, his raven hair disordered by her loving +fingers, looked like an Arab, dark, slender, and burned by the hot +summer sun. Her head pillowed on her arm, she lay there inert, +gazing up at him. Then he heard the lovely alto voice saying: + +"Hafiz!" + +"Venetian beauty," was his quick response. + +And she: "If I am ever to be loved by a Moor, I would have you for my +Othello." + +His face twitched, and she remembered too late what that name must +mean to him. She quickly rose and came towards him: + +"Andreas!" + +She drew him to the window the better to read his countenance. Like +black lace, the delicate tracery of the trees swayed against the +night sky. The mighty stream flowed on, dreaming its dreams, softly +murmuring to itself, no longer enlivened with the twinkling lights, +while in the blue-black distance the line of the hills on the farther +side of the river rose and fell along the horizon. + +"Speak to me, Andreas." + +She clasped him, and he, while fondling her hair, looked over and +beyond her to those distant hills where Diana tonight was sojourning. +"What is she doing? Is she gazing forth from her tent over the wide +steppe, oblivious of the man who is kneeling at her feet?" + +Olivia's eyes, too, had travelled to those same hills. Like the +sound of distant drums she heard her memories marching by, heard the +mad wooing of the count in the days when he had been her lover, heard +his cynically wanton words as he had, increasingly, become the +husband and nothing more. She saw Diana's compact breasts as the +girl had stood before her dressed in a simple linen frock, saw Diana +standing at her side in this same window, murmuring: "You are +beautiful." + +Andreas, too, felt peculiarly lucid. His brain seemed lighted up as +a great hall will be lighted for a festivity. His memories radiated +before him, never had he seen so clearly before. There was the +statue in its niche, the statue of a naked amazon which had so often +lured him to the Vatican last winter. The vision took on life; Diana +herself stepped down from the niche and stood before him, but as he +put out his hand to touch her, the figure of the count came between, +and carried her off, laughing.... + + + + +CHAPTER NINE + +At the selfsame hour, Diana awoke. She lay on a big rug, looked +around her with sleep-laden eyes, and tried to remember what had +happened. Gregor was asleep. She shivered in the chill morning air, +and drew a blanket off her camp-bed which had not been used, covering +both herself and the man at her side. As she did so, she glanced +down at him and smiled to see how childlike was his slumber. Had she +moved too suddenly, or was it merely the consciousness that her eyes +were upon him? Who can tell? But at that moment he awoke, turned +quickly as if danger threatened, looked around, saw Diana, remembered +all, and smiled in his turn. He leaned over her, bending her face +back to kiss her. + +The hour of his conquest over her had been a light-hearted one, +sportive and gay. Everything had lent enchantment to their union, +the spirit of adventure fired their blood, the fact that each shared +the same secret and that only the thin canvas wall of the tent +screened them from inquisitive eyes, the grass of the steppe on which +they lay, the memory of every word they had exchanged, the expectant +waiting, the hopes that had filled their hearts, the delicious +novelty of appealing to one another without the exchange of a single +syllable, the sense of solitude, the enforced silence which caution +constrained them to, all this and a hundred other influences of time +and place had carried the pair onward on a mighty wave of rapturous +daring, so that it was as if two beasts of the wilderness were +playfully endeavouring to overcome one another. The reawakened +yearning to recapture his lost youth, a yearning which had filled +Gregor's whole being since he had met Diana, had gradually +disappeared as day followed day which was to lead to this excursion, +to this night of fulfilment. + +Diana had not repelled him, for she was a woman who never closed the +doors on nature's impulses; and when she felt his sensitive hands +trembling within her own, the words he longed to hear fell simply +from her lips. The man, for all his experience of love, had been shy +as a boy in his attitude towards the enigma of this woman; he who was +used to command had besought; his grey hairs notwithstanding, he had +wooed her like a youth; all this had touched her, rather than carried +her off her feet. He himself was unaware of the unusual emotional +stress which once more after the lapse of decades, had transformed +the connoisseur into a bashful wooer and the spoilt darling of so +many female hearts into one who must use all his arts of cajolery to +induce his love to bestow her gifts upon him. His tenderness, his +supplicating desire, had made her conclude that a great change, a +change he was blissfully unaware of, had taken place in the man at +her side. + +The physical intimacy was, however, no more than the sign that his +whole nature was about to enter a new springtime, for Gregor Count of +Münsterberg, despite his many love adventures, had during these last +ten years been a very lonely man. In the days when Olivia was +everything to him he had come implicitly to rely on her, giving her +his all with a lavishness not unlike Andreas's spendthrift +love--though in other respects the two men's dispositions were in +such complete contrast. + +"Diana, have you slept? Are you cold? Would you like a glass of +water?" + +He tucked her up, solicitous for her comfort; he slipped his arm +under her and petted and caressed her as if he had done her an +injury. He could not look upon the events of that night with the +eyes of a conqueror; he felt somewhat ashamed of himself, for she had +been so tender and, as it seemed to him, had yielded to him through +complaisance, rather than from passion. He whispered: + +"Are you angry? Do you forgive me? Sweet Diana!" + +She smiled as she replied, equally softly: + +"You are good." + +"Won't you call me by my name?" + +"Gregor!" + +"Once again." + +"Gregor!" + +"Ah, that was boldly spoken, as you said it today--no, yesterday, +when we were riding together." + +"Tell me, why did you call out Diana then?" + +"Because I was thinking of you like that, just at the moment when +your horse shied. Had you never thought of me by name?" + +"Yes, once." + +"When?" + +"As you left me that day we talked about the motto on your +coat-of-arms." + +"And then you thought of me as Gregor. Only that once? I always +thought of you as Diana whenever you came into my mind." + +"When was that, I pray?" + +"Constantly." + +"Oh, come." + +"It's true. Constantly; at breakfast: Diana will be going for a +sail. While at work: that's not clear, not very practical--Diana +would have done it better. At dinner: Diana has a fine palate for +wines. Out riding, engaged in conversation, even while dictating +dispatches, always Diana is in my thoughts, for she grasps my +meaning, knows what I want, understands, so much quicker than any one +else." + +She raised herself on her elbow and leaned over him, stroked his +hair, and pushed the grey locks away from his brow. + +"How white your forehead is, how beautifully shaped," she whispered. +Then she hummed very softly to herself, a velvety sound like that +made by the drowsy horses outside as they rubbed their heads one +against the other. "It's a pity to keep it hidden under this mass of +grey hair. Have you ever tried brushing it back?" + +"A high forehead makes a man look older. Besides, my hair is whiter +still underneath. The way one wears the hair is a fine art which +even Peter, my man, is incapable of achieving. I am always my own +hairdresser." + +"Why?" + +He suddenly seized her by the hair: + +"I wish your chestnut locks could stay that colour for ever." + +"I don't wish it at all. Or, perhaps to be quite truthful, the wish +might cross my mind occasionally. Still, I know that when my time +comes I shall not pull one grey hair out. We must not run counter to +nature." + +"You believe that?" he asked, pulling himself up into a sitting +position. "Am I running counter to nature when I...?" He stole a +look at her, and waited for her to complete his thought. But she +played with the fringe of the rug and held her peace. He took her +hand, and bent towards her so as to compel her to look him in the +eyes. "You might easily be my daughter..." + +She answered very slowly: + +"Say, rather, that you might well be my son." + +Hand in hand the two sat gazing at one another, Diana and Gregor, on +the rug widespread among the dry herbage of the steppe, in the softly +diffused moonlight which struggled through the thin canvas of the +tent. + +What did Diana see? + +The vision of this man in his youthful prime, transparent, so that +the story of his life stood revealed. Those blue eyes had never +blenched at what life chose to offer him. They had flashed upon the +world their searching fires. Now their look was turned inward, +earnest, and inexpressibly lonesome. Those lips, once so firm, were +now sunk between furrows telling of a disillusionment in strange +contrast to the strength expressed in the straight, high-pitched nose +and the salient chin, proclaiming as they did the resolution with +which this man sought power and ever more power in compensation for +the loss of his capacity for enjoyment. + +And Gregor, what were his thoughts while he sat in the pale light +filtering through the tent as the moon set? + +He felt as if he were coming into closer contact with humanity as a +whole, not merely with the twenty-five year old creature at his side. +He saw as it were in timeless and ageless shape, before her and +behind her as she sat, the form of a child and of a woman. Slowly, +the meaning of her last words and of his became disentangled from the +vision. How explain the mystery of sexual union? He brooded upon +this, not in relation to what had happened this night, but as +something remote and intangible. How not shudder in the placid +morning light at the madness of venturing to penetrate into the life +of another being, and yet hope neither to kill that being nor to +suffer death at its hands? He was painfully aware of the weight of +the years that lay upon him. Had he not hitherto always been as a +god showering happiness on the woman of his choice? But now, what +had he to bestow on this young thing whose hand lay so confidingly in +his own? + +From those delicate lips that had kissed him last night as if their +owner were asleep, from those cheeks whose oval was so pure, which +sun and wind had bronzed and made so firm a setting for the face, +from those short, boyish curls which seemed wilfully to renounce all +womanly lure, above all from the solemn fire of her brown eyes, he +drew so powerful a sense of vital security, so mighty an assurance of +youth's everlasting renewal, that he was overwhelmed with gratitude +and could only bow his grey head, kiss her hand, and rest his +forehead in her lap. + +She loosed the flap of the tent and threw it back without disturbing +him. Far away on the eastward margin of the steppe the sky was pale +with the earliest flicker of dawn. The tiny breeze came cold and +sharp upon her, so that she drew the folds of the silk cloak tighter +around her. For a moment she thought of a morning on the island when +she had likewise waked up to find herself in the open. But the head +resting in her lap that day had dark hair.... Where was Andreas now? +Alone? + +Many minutes went by before the grizzled man raised his head again. +The blue eyes were so earnest that one might have thought they had +never been aglow with laughter all yesterday. Slowly Gregor pulled +aside the silken folds that covered her, and laid her bosom bare. +His movements were tender and delicate, as with an artist's +appreciation he passed his sensitive fingers over the small bronzed +breasts, while Diana sat spellbound, motionless.... + + + + +CHAPTER TEN + +It was not yet five o'clock, but the party was already under way. +The track was steep and rough, for few shepherds or travellers ever +came to these remote and savage parts. In single file, they pushed +up the hill, the horses stumbling through the stunted vegetation. +The company was silent, each member deep in thought, each suspecting +but unwilling to give words to the suspicion--although the baron and +his wife had exchanged a word or two before breaking camp. Upwards +in zigzags went the path leading to the temple, and only at the +top-most bend would they have their first, amazing view of the object +of their pilgrimage. + +Kopp was the one to break the spell. His seaman's eye, accustomed to +read the signs on vast expanses of water, was quick to detect a +moving particle in the plain they had left behind. The speck halted, +went this way and that, resumed its onward course, stopped again--it +must be an animal. + +"Can that be a wild beast?" he asked at length. + +"Where?" + +"Over there," he said pointing to the speck in the distance. + +They reined in, and all eyes travelled in the direction of his finger. + +"What the dickens can it be?" + +"It's following the trail we made yesterday." + +"Yes, look, now it's reached our camping place." + +"It's a dog!" + +"Impossible! That's not a dog's shape." + +"But it is! A Great Dane." + +"Extraordinary creature! One would think it was on our scent." + +"Whose in particular do you think?" + +"Who can tell!" + +Diana it was who had exclaimed: "It's a dog!" On the instant she had +recognized Othello, and knew whom he was in search of. + +On came the dog, faster and ever faster, following the curves of the +narrow path. All the party awaited his coming with ill-concealed +excitement. Now he had passed the grooms and the pack horses. He +was sobbing for breath as he loped by. At last he came to a +standstill at Diana's side, and looked up at her, whining gently. +She stooped in the saddle to pat his head while he, his front paws +resting on the horse's flank, endeavoured to reach her. The horse +was already in a fidgety mood, and as the dog's paws touched him, he +sprang aside. Diana saw the danger. The precipitous descent yawned +beneath her. In a trice she had leapt out of the saddle and had +landed safely on the path, with Othello upon her. + +But Abdul, misunderstanding the gesture, and already indignant at the +big fellow's intrusion, broke away from his master and, barking and +growling, hurled himself upon Othello, attacking the great beast from +the rear. Pandemonium broke loose. In and out among the legs of the +unhappy horses the two dogs went, the mountain rising sheer above and +the precipice falling away beneath. The greyhound barked and yapped +its fury; the Great Dane, dignified even in combat, protested with +deep bass growls. The greyhound swift and dexterous in his +movements, the other heavy and strong in his defence. Abdul had been +knocked out by a tap from Othello's great paw, but the plucky little +fellow was up and attacking again in a trice. Then the big dog +gripped his assailant by the leg with his teeth and with one smack +with his front paw sent the little beast rolling in the dust. + +Diana had till now watched the fight in speechless amazement and +fear, for she knew Othello's strength and could only hope Gregor's +greyhound would be spared the full taste of the Great Dane's muscles. +As Othello hurled his assailant from him, Diana seized the +opportunity to call him to her side. He responded immediately, and +with docile obedience went towards her while the count secured his +own little beast. Othello placed his two front paws on Diana's +shoulders, his head towering over her. Then he nestled his head in +her neck while she patted him and spoke to him soothing endearments. + +The rest of the company could only gape in foolish amazement, for +none knew who this huge beast could be, and his size alarmed the +natives who had never before seen a dog of such large proportions. + +Baroness Linnartz was the first to recover her composure. She +giggled shrilly and said: + +"How touching!" Then turning to her husband she whispered: +"Enigmatical creature! Fancy travelling about with a dog of that +size and not even to keep it properly locked up and under control. +Had you any idea she possessed such an animal?" + +"I wonder how he tracked her down? We've been on horseback all the +time," muttered the baron perplexedly. + +"Quite within the realm of possibility. I had something much the +same happen to me once," said Gregor. + +All were now speaking at once, each telling of their own or other +people's experience; even the natives by their gestures made it plain +that they, too, had seen such a thing before. At last the caravan +set forward again, the prince observing reflectively: + +"It's enough to put us to the blush, an animal like that, running ten +or at least eight hours on end and then, at the last, when he reaches +his master, rejoicing as if he had found a saviour." + +Kopp, who had been more deeply impressed than the others, said rather +sententiously: + +"What a beautiful picture we had when the dog put his paws on the +young woman's shoulders!" + +The prince had thought the same, but felt that if he expressed it in +words he would be guilty of sentimentality, so he turned the +conversation from this dangerous ground, and cried: + +"Invasion of northern imperialism into the peninsula in the person of +a Bismarckian dog!" + +Abdul was put on the lead and taken to the rear, but no one ventured +to take Othello's liberty from him. Gregor had dismounted, and had +handed the bridles of his and Diana's horses to one of the grooms. + +Diana, preceded by Gregor and with Othello at her heels, silently +continued up the hill on foot. After his first demonstration, the +dog had not shown any further sign of affection save when from time +to time he rubbed his great head against her thigh. The count felt +instinctively that Othello was a rival, or at least a creature who +had robbed him of a part of her affection. He felt vexed, for his +whole mind was absorbed in the endeavour to win her completely for +himself. After a while he asked: + +"Have you been hiding that superb animal from me all this time? +Where was he that day I called on you at your hotel?" + +"He does not belong to me." + +"Not yours?" questioned Gregor tentatively. + +"He lived with me some months ago. Now he's found out where I am and +has followed me." + +"It's all so perplexing. Diana, do tell me..." + +"To me, life is a game, Gregor. On the deck of the ship in which I +am voyaging the reflection of lights will fall from time to time, +lights from the lands or the islands I have visited in times gone +past. They turn and twist about as they cross my path. Then the +ship sails once more into the shadows. Othello is a messenger from +one of those isles. Can you understand?" + +Gregor loved her to speak like this, although he knew quite well that +she chose her words deliberately so as not to betray her secrets. He +was too used to the intrigues inseparable from political life to +allow himself to be beguiled by her smile, but he felt it wiser to +subdue his feeling of jealousy, and therefore said loud enough for +all to hear: + +"Yes, a capital dog. But we'll have to keep him and Abdul apart. +They're likely to be sworn enemies." + +Diana, who, according to her wont, had read an omen into the +encounter between the two dogs, was disquieted by these words, though +Gregor himself had no ulterior meaning in his mind. For him they +were nothing more than a plain statement of fact. But Diana looked +at him searchingly, trying to plumb his strength, his vital energy. +As she looked, another figure took shape beside Gregor, that of +Othello's master. She contemplated them as two rivals, just as the +dogs were, antagonists, and in a flash it was borne in upon her that +these two men symbolized the everlasting clash between youth and age, +age and youth. + +Gregor, wholly unconscious of her searching observation, pursued his +way up the mountain, deep in thought as to who could be the link +between this animal and Diana. Who, he asked himself, was there in +their mutual circle of acquaintances who took an interest in dogs? +He tried to recall which among the many callers at the embassy had +ever bent towards the ground in order to pat Abdul and to speak to +him like a friend. Suddenly the young poet came into his mind. Yes, +Andreas had noticed Abdul every time he had come to the house. Other +recollections crowded upon him. Olivia's intention to ask young +Seeland to dine with her yesterday evening! A multitude of +possibilities jigged and capered before his eyes. He began to look +upon his escapade of this night with the eyes of an ordinary member +of society, became conscious of infidelity, a reproach he had never +felt before in all his other love episodes. Without turning round he +asked with as casual a tone as he could muster: + +"Young Seeland seems to be a very interesting fellow, don't you +think?" + +Diana had been so engrossed in her own thoughts, vaguely musing on +Andreas and the island, Andreas and Olivia, that she was taken aback +by the suddenness of the question. Her hand which had been stroking +Othello's head as she walked, stopped abruptly, and her left eyelid +twitched ever so slightly--the only sign she ever gave of being +surprised. Controlling her emotion, however, she said very quietly: + +"Yes, you are right." + +"The countess speaks favourably of his poems. Do you happen to know +them?" + +"Fairly well." + +"What do you think of them?" + +"They're beautiful." + +"I'll have to read them, then." + +Diana was grateful that he did not pursue the conversation further. + +The sun had not yet risen above the hill whose flank they had now +been scaling for two hours. They were eager for the reward of their +trouble and fatigue. Silence had fallen upon them again as they +grappled with the steepest part of the ascent. The baroness, filled +with curiosity and with ambition to be the first on the spot, had +pushed forward so as to ride immediately behind the guide, who was a +good way in advance of the main caravan. She was in the sunshine +already, so the pass they were making for must be near at hand. +Suddenly the quietude of this unpeopled mountain fastness was broken +by a shrill cry. Baroness Linnartz, preening herself upon her +victory, was hallooing down to them: + +"Lovely! Better than Girgenti! Hurry up, do!" + +She disappeared over the rise, followed by her husband. + +Kopp, on arriving at the top, found nothing to say but: +"Donnerwetter!" + +The prince, coming up close behind him, whistled a fourth through his +teeth in order to cover up his amazement. + +Gregor and Diana continued to climb in the prince's wake. The count +had twice been here before. He knew the little dip in the path +whence the first view could be had, and as he was about to reach it +he drew aside to allow Diana to pass. This charming little gesture, +a mere nothing in itself, the delicacy of feeling that lay behind his +desire that she should glimpse the temple first, touched Diana and +warmed her heart towards the man. She threw him a loving glance as +she passed in front. Her nature was as sensitive as it was strong, +as intuitive and refined as it was steeled and simple. Such kindly +little attentions were greatly appreciated by her. She would give +her all for a tender motion of the hand, for a wooing glance, for an +unobtrusive and affectionate piece of courtesy such as Gregor had +just displayed in letting her go forward to get the first view of the +temple. Perhaps this little demonstration of delicate consideration +was necessary to restore her balance, so that she might be in a fit +state to enjoy the mighty picture she was about to contemplate. + +A landscape conjured together on a heroic scale spread itself before +her, mile upon mile of mountain and hollow stretching far away +towards the sea which was sparkling in the rays of the early sun. In +a clearing of the evergreen wood, just below the crest of the hills, +grey in the orange light, stood the temple, its Doric columns +unimpaired, though roof there was none. The great arms of the +mountains compassed it about; but through a gap in their ranks, the +sea was visible, while away to the west the mighty river-spread of +inland waters glowed darkly, still shadowed by the mountains on its +banks. As she gazed, the sun swung high above the hilltops, catching +the grey columns in a beam of light. + +All had dismounted, and, as their temperaments prompted, had stood +still, or walked round, or approached the temple. The baron was +especially delighted with the precision of its structure, praising +the way in which each section of the columns "fitted like a glove." +His wife had spread the ground plans and sketches out on the steps, +and had forced the captain to examine every detail so as to see +whether everything had been duly recorded on the sheets. The prince +had wandered farther afield and had found a fig tree. He stretched +his long arms up till he could pluck the fruit, then seated himself +beneath the tree with two or three of the grey-green figs in his +hands, and, while he sucked the red heart out of them, his eyes took +in the scene of which the columns formed the centre. Silently he +contemplated them, comparing, balancing, enjoying, criticizing; and +his mind vacillated between thoughts of the men who had built the +temple, and a peculiarly succulent strawberry jam they made at home +whose savour had been called up by the taste of the rosy pulp of the +fruit he now had in his hand. + +Gregor strode up to where Diana had dismounted. For him, the +landscape held nothing but her picture. She stood in her boyish +attire by the side of her horse, with the reins loosely hanging over +her arm, while with the other hand she shaded her eyes from the sun. +A pine tree formed a background for her as, bathed in the glowing +light--the little horse to one side of her, and the huge dog to the +other--she gazed transfixed at the scene before her, aloof, forgetful +of the why and wherefore of the journey. And Gregor knew from her +expression and her aspect that up here in this mountain quietude, in +despite of the long ride and of all that the night had held, nothing +existed for her but the vision of the flawless morning as it rose +towards her from the distant sea. + +Gregor's whole being was flooded with the solemnity of the hour; now +more than ever he became aware of the essential unity of youth and +maturity, of knowledge and physical energy, with which he had been +struck at his first glimpse of her. He fancied he could detect in +her face at this moment, yes at this very moment, that look he had +rarely seen in women, and then only at the instant of love's +surrender. Loath to disturb her, he nevertheless drew near to her, +and, speaking softly, with the tremor of desire in his tone, he spoke +her name: + +"Diana!" + +She did not stir, but murmured: + +"Look! The sea!" + +He stood slightly to the back of her, and in spirit swept her to him +in a wide embrace, while he vowed never, never again to let her out +of his hands. + +From where he sat under his fig tree, the prince had been watching +them as they vowed themselves, one to youth, the other to sunshine +and the sea. He whistled softly through his teeth. + + + + +BOOK THREE + + + +CHAPTER ONE + +Towards the end of July, Diana received the following wire: "Rumour +reports Greyhound daily hunts goddess of chase. Scherer." She +laughed, then handed her reply to the waiting messenger: "Greater the +certainty you will bag both. Wassilko." + +She was reclining in a deck chair on the terrace of a white villa. +The low roof and walls excluded the view on all sides save that which +looked down upon the water. Nine o'clock had just struck, and it was +at this early hour that Gregor had taken to coming. On horseback, +the journey from the town needed a good hour, and under the most +favourable conditions it took half an hour in the motor boat. + +"Mary!" + +The former nurse had joined Diana here in the early days. She was a +native of these parts, and glad indeed was she to be back in the warm +south, hoping never again to have to experience the bleakness of a +northern clime. Her large, melancholy eyes with the earnest +expression habitual to women born in southern lands, gazed forth with +satisfaction upon the surrounding landscape. She now hastened to +rejoin her mistress. + +"Mary, do you see any sign of the boat?" + +"Not yet. Here are your letters." + +"They've come early." + +"The telegraph boy brought them." + +Diana drew the coarse linen wrapper about her knees, and sat up. She +took her mail with a pout, as if swallowing some unpalatable doctor's +stuff. Turning the letters over this way and that, she amused +herself for a while trying to guess who the senders might be. Then +throwing the others aside, she selected one from the pile because it +had the town postmark and a typed address. It looked rather +important, as if it might be an official message, something that +needed immediate attention. The big quarto sheet bore no signature, +merely the typewritten words: + +"Be careful of showing your preference before the baron and his wife" + +Just that; not even a full stop at the end. Diana had a flutter at +her heart as she read the words "your preference" typed by a +stranger's hand. Although she knew quite well that her intimacy with +Gregor could not possibly remain a secret, she was loath to see a +record of it on paper, typed by a fellow mortal's hand, sorted by yet +another unknown person, stamped by a third, delivered by a fourth. +She pushed the thing into an angle of the chair so that it might not +be blown away in one of the sudden gusts of wind which frequently +rose from the waters below. Chin in hand, elbow on knee, she gazed +out over the shimmering expanse. + +"Always this intrusion of the outer world! Always these octopus +tentacles outstretched! Hardly had the blue ocean emerged from chaos +and spread his great limbs to bask in the sun, sufficient unto +himself, content, when ships must come sailing upon his heaving +bosom, men must plumb his depths, besprinkle him with buoys, build +towering lighthouses, so that in the end there is not one part of his +anatomy that has not been discovered and named. When have I ever +been left to love in peace? Not in Paris, where we were forced to +leave the Hotel Athene and seek seclusion in a little servantless +studio on the Montmartre heights. Not at Saint Gingolph, where no +tourists visiting the lake of Geneva were ever supposed to come, and +where Edmond always wore blue spectacles when he went into Evian so +as not to be recognized. Not that time in Scotland when Charlie and +I went away to the seaside, and he tried to transform his +aristocratic ways and become a simple fisherman. Every time we were +tracked down at last. And here are the scandalmongers at their old +amusement once more!" + +Suddenly she got up, called for her bathing things, slipped into a +dark violet swimming suit, flung a white bath cloak about her, and in +a trice had reached the little hut which stood on the margin of the +water at the foot of the garden surrounding the villa. She climbed +to the top of the ladder and dived. Up she came, spluttering to the +surface, the head showing a few locks which had escaped from her cap +and dripped down her cheeks. With a free, overarm stroke, she swam +through a gap in the protective palisading out into the open water. +The currents made swimming in these parts rather dangerous even for +the best of swimmers, but regardless, she made for an eddy which +sparkled in the sun, and swam round it. Now she saw a motor boat +coming from mid-stream and making for the landing-stage she had left +a moment ago. She knew both the vessel and its helmsman, and swam +vigorously towards it. Within a few yards of it she suddenly dived +and swam under water until she saw the keel above her. Then up she +came again and cried: + +"Ware, enemy; torpedo to starboard!" + +Gregor, who had seen something suddenly disappear in the water ahead +and who guessed whence the attack came, had slowed down to dodge his +assailant. Now two brown hands gripped the side of the boat. +Throwing her a rope, he exclaimed: + +"Clear for action! Fire!" + +Glistening and smooth, she pulled herself half out of the water, +while he, making full speed ahead, put the boat's nose towards the +shore. + +"Spoils of war," she laughed. "Surrender!" + +"No, no; having no ship, you are my prisoner." + +Laughing and teasing, they reached the landing-stage. Throwing the +painter to Diana's brown-skinned serving-man who had quickly come +down to the waterside as they drew near, Gregor turned to speak to +the swimmer, but she was nowhere to be seen, having with youthful +alacrity clambered out of the water and made for the hut. + +"Good morning, Sir," said Mary, and once more he was grateful to her +in that she never called him "Excellency," and never bowed in +deference to his rank. + +He passed by the table which had been laid for breakfast in the cool +twilit hall, and leaned against one of the wooden pillars whose +silhouette stood out black against the pale-blue background of waters. + +"Have I recaptured my lost youth? She looked no more than a girl in +her teens just now. If I ever should divulge the fact that six weeks +after I first met her I was confiding all my plans to this woman and +relying on her for counsel and advice, I should be laughed out of +court. People would say: 'Fancy at your age being led into such +folly by the sight of a neat pair of ankles!' Romantic, indeed!" + +The sound of naked feet running up the marble steps made him swing +around. Diana stood in the doorway muffled in her towel wrap, her +hair still damp from her morning dip. + +"You are late and I am hungry. So must you be. Come along!" + +She made him sit down and pushed dishes of meat and eggs and what not +towards him, served him his tea, and scrutinized the figs that lay in +a wide dish at the centre of the table. At last she found one to her +liking, and, breaking it open, plunged her fine white teeth into its +rosy pulp. + +"Perfect! Neither too hard nor too soft, those are the best. They +should be elastic, cool without and ripe within. What are you +smiling at?" + +"Like women, in fact!" + +"There spoke Gregor the thirty-year-old." + +"Yes, I suppose Gregor the greybeard should have said: 'Diana'!" + +"No, not that exactly. You know the symbolism attached to this +perfect fruit; you know that you grew to maturity slower and in a +more natural manner than I, who, maybe, came to know everything too +soon and in the end shall probably incur the wrath of the gods." + +"Nereid! Were it not that you keep your charms (lately disporting +themselves so shamelessly in the sun) hidden away in the folds of +that clumsy wrap, I should establish my claim." + +Diana had learned his way of giving the pathetic an ambiguous twist, +so she let it go at that. He, too, knew his Diana well enough to +know that she would never demean herself to fish for a compliment. +They both sat eating, and kept their own counsel. At length Gregor +broke the silence: + +"We always seem to begin at different ends of the stick when we +breakfast together. Suppose you pick me out a fig, to finish off +with, as perfect as the one you had as an appetizer?" + +She felt several of the fruits before she picked out one that +satisfied her, one of the smallest in the dish. This she offered +him, saying: "Perfect." + +He took it, and cut it open. + +"You always pronounce that word with a kind of solemnity, much as +when I was a young man they came to tell us in the casino: 'Tomorrow +His Majesty will be coming.'" + +"That's just how I feel about it. The word makes me feel sort of +anxious and uneasy." + +"Perhaps it is because unconsciously you feel that you yourself are +nearer perfection than most," he teased. + +"I rarely compare myself with others, except in moments of weakness. +I've too good an opinion of myself! But my idea of perfection is so +immense, that I must remain humble for ever. That's why I have no +desire to write, as you were suggesting lately. No book of mine +could ever attain perfection." + +"Yes, but doesn't the idea of influencing others attract you? I had +that notion once when I dreamt of becoming a great composer." + +"Very little, Gregor. I only care to influence those I am fond of +and who are worth influencing." + +"Is it worth your while this time?" he said banteringly, with a +vestige of coquetry in his voice. But at the same instant he was on +his feet and had come round to her side of the table. Pulling her +chair back, he knelt before her, raising the wrap to her knees and +kissing them: + +"Is it worth your while this time, in spite of grey hairs and limbs +that are no longer as lithe as a young Narcissus's?" + +"Gregor," she protested softly, making him get up and sit at the +table again. + +Somewhat abashed, he changed the subject, and asked abruptly: + +"Have you seen that--have you seen young Seeland again?" + +"Oh yes, I saw him yesterday." + +She spoke calmly, but he made an impatient gesture. There had been a +slumbering uneasiness in his mind ever since that day three weeks ago +when, on the homeward journey from the temple, in answer to his +persistent questioning as to Othello's master she had said: "He was +at one time an intimate friend of mine." Now this uneasiness, which +had been dormant, sprang up, awake and alert again. He had not +wished to intrude upon her privacy, and yet he could not resist +asking: "Here?" + +"Yes, he came to fetch Othello who had again run away from him." + +Silence. Diana watched him. His nostrils quivered slightly, +betraying his secret emotions. She laid a hand affectionately on his +arm. + +"Gregor, he was only here a minute or two, and I did not come down +till he was about to drive away." + +He looked up and said somewhat nervously: + +"Yes, yes, I know, I believe you..." + +"Well, and what then?" + +"It must have been awfully exciting--for him!" + +"Very likely." + +"Did he behave--all right?" + +"Faultlessly." + +"Shake hands?" + +"Of course." + +"Kiss your hand?" + +"Of course not." + +"Er--came in the evening?" + +"In the forenoon. If he'd come ten minutes earlier you'd have met." + +"I must find out from my Austrian colleague when he thinks of +utilizing the young man's capabilities in the consular service." + +She laughed. He was suddenly silent, pensive. Then, drawing an +envelope from an inside pocket he handed it to her. + +"Just read that. Ridiculous nonsense!" + +Diana spread out the sheet of paper and read: "The countess is +betraying the count with Herr Andreas Seeland." The message had been +typed. + +She looked at him earnestly, trying to fathom his thoughts. His face +revealed nothing. With a laugh she said: + +"The letter to you is on smaller paper, intimate, more like a letter +of condolence. Mine is on a large quarto sheet, altogether more +imposing, taking the form of a solemn denunciation." + +"You've had a warning too?" + +Gregor spoke quickly, with ill-concealed excitement. The thought +flashed through his mind that Andreas was courting both these women +at once. Intolerable! + +"My communication does not relate to him," she answered, reading his +thoughts and hoping to tranquillize him. + +"To whom, then? To me?" + +"I am to be on my guard against the baron," she said, going off to +fetch the letter. + +The missives were compared, held up to the light, the postmarks on +the envelopes examined. + +"Differences don't mean anything. It must be the same person... and +yet, no..." + +"Whom do you think mine is from?" + +"Hm. Kopp or the prince. They both dislike the baron and are fond +of me. The prince has also a great admiration for you. But my +correspondent---- Who can that be?" + +"Linnartz, of course." + +"I rather fancy it is the baroness." + +"Yes, that is even more probable." + +"And what do you make of it all?" + +He spoke jauntily, but Diana saw that the second letter had upset him +more even than the one he had received. She realized that with the +receipt of these anonymous warnings the critical stage of Olivia's +relationship to Andreas had begun. She knew that it behoved her to +walk warily, to do her utmost to calm him down in the new emergency, +just as she had lulled to rest his very natural misgivings in respect +of Andreas and herself. Casting a disdainful look on the two +miscreant papers, she exclaimed emphatically: + +"Nonsense!" + +Gregor was only waiting for this confirmation of his hopes. The +expressive word acted like an elixir upon the gayer elements in his +character, and he felt light-hearted again. He rose and thrust the +letter back in his pocket. + +"Going already?" + +"I must. Conference." He embraced her passionately and left. + + + + +CHAPTER Two + +Linnartz to a friend in Berlin. + +"October 3rd. + +"Dear Eberhard, + +"It is with a heavy heart that I take up my pen today, for I have a +piece of news to tell, which, in the interests of the country, I +should be delighted for any one to prove false. Unfortunately, +everything which I am now going to disclose is authentic, I have +incontestable proof. It is only after having made every possible +excuse and looked at the matter in a purely objective way, that I +have made up my mind to send in a complaint against a chief whom I +personally respect and honour. + +"I am sorry, indeed, to have to thrust upon you the uncongenial +office of being clerk of the court in this matter. But I see no +other way out. As far as I know, you are the only one of my friends +I can trust in such a delicate affair, and the only one who is +closely associated with the foreign secretary. I shall be as concise +as possible. + +"Contrary to all expectations, the chief seemed during the last +couple of years to have settled down to a quiet and orderly life--of +course I may flatter myself that this has been due in large measure +to my own example and precept. But since June he has again succumbed +to one of his degrading and perilous love-affairs. Last summer a +lady suddenly arrived in these parts, Diana de Wassilko by name +(though I can find no mention of this 'aristocratic' family in the +Almanach de Gotha). Short hair, rides, swims, and has other +accomplishments; well-trained in social amenities and able to impose +herself. I saw her some years ago in very dubious company in St. +Petersburg--from afar, of course, for even in my bachelor days I +avoided the company of such women. + +"She came with an introduction from the newspaper magnate Scherer, +and in a very short time had completely captivated the chief. Soon +it was common talk that she had become his mistress, that he had +taken a house for her, servants, horses, etc. He goes every day to +see her, usually once, sometimes twice, rides over or takes boat. +Spends half the day in her company, often stays on through the night. + +"If such demoralizing behaviour, such neglect of duty, affected +himself only, the whole thing would have to be fought out between him +and his wife, the unhappy Countess Olivia. But matters are far more +serious. Not only is this person in a position to pass on to Scherer +all the information which the chief may divulge in moments of +weakness and of passion; she is now taking an active part in affairs +herself! On the very best authority I learn that recently by cunning +and craft she induced one of the secretaries of the foreign office +here to hand over copies of letters, among them one to the French +embassy which she entrusted to the chief. These papers, because they +proved beyond a doubt the friendly feeling existing between this +government and France (a friendship the chief has always been +sceptical about), have not been shown to me or to the other gentlemen +at the embassy, nor have they been placed in the archives. We have, +therefore, every indication of the formation of a State within the +State. + +"Not until recently did the matter of the stolen information come to +the ears of the foreign minister here, although even now he has no +exact knowledge of the affair. He sounded the chief, and demanded +the expulsion of the culprit. Of course the chief played the +innocent as in duty bound. Not only did he say nothing about handing +over the culprit for the local authorities to deport if they deemed +it expedient; he actually went out of his way to shield her, +deploring that the suspicion of such an intrigue could have arisen in +connexion with a person who was not engaged in political activities +and who was neither competent nor willing to dabble in matters of the +kind. As the chief took up such an attitude it was impossible for +the minister to insist, but since then he has been telling all the +foreign representatives that the chief is 'conniving with a notorious +spy.' Le Chat and Sir Henry are naturally delighted, and are making +the best of their opportunities. When the minister tried to sound me +in the matter, I was evasive as duty demanded. But the conflict +between loyalty to my chief and loyalty to my country is so great +that I am no longer certain if I am serving the fatherland honourably +while shielding an erring official, even when that official is my own +official superior. To add to my difficulties, now that Eckersberg is +about to leave in order to take up his inheritance, I have no one at +the embassy to give me moral support. All these reasons have led me, +my dear Eberhard, to confide in you, and I beg you to follow your own +counsel as to whether you keep silence or whether you hand on the +intelligence to the most appropriate quarter. + +"I wish you and your dear wife all the best the world has to offer. +Heartiest greetings from my household to yours. + + "Your old friend, + "ERNST LINNARTZ." + + +Scherer to Diana. + +"October 20th. + +"The last dispatch I sent (it was smart of you to guess so promptly +whom I meant by 'Owl'!) will have shown you how matters are shaping +themselves in the duel between policehound and greyhound. The former +has chosen E. N. for his father confessor. E. N. being a notorious +gossip, the news leaked out within twenty-four hours after the +receipt of policehound's letter and became the talk of club-rooms and +editorial offices. That was only to be expected. But I was uneasy +when I found no mention at all of the matter in the government +organs, for this indicated that some big coup was about to be dealt, +and was not to be hampered in any way by ill-timed accusations, no +matter how savoury the morsel might be. + +"In addition, the foreign secretary made no attempt to speak to me +when we shook hands at the opening of an exhibition here. But on +Tuesday I had a call on the phone. Would I go to see him? I allowed +two days to elapse. + +"His reception was cordial, and the look of hostility from his owl's +eyes was balm to my heart, since it was cast upon myself! He laid +the 'original document' before me--of course it only consisted of +items from L's letter. I need hardly say that your name cropped up +as well. He was careful to stress the fact that he knew I had not +sent you out there in any official capacity; at the same time there +was undeniable proof of correspondence between you and myself. When +he saw that I did not demur, he came to the point. He requested +me--there was no challenge in his voice, he spoke in a friendly way +without rising--to recall you. I feigned astonishment. Then he got +up, pushed his left shoulder forward, leaned his head towards it--his +attitude had something akin to one I know so well in yourself--and +said: + +"'You refuse?' + +"'Have you any other complaint against my employees?' + +"'Only against this one. You refuse?' + +"I'm sorry, Sir.' + +"'You feel bound...' + +"'I cannot dismiss an employee who has carried out her duties +admirably, has sent most valuable reports, has established the best +of relations with those I wish to have good relations with--I cannot +dismiss such an employee merely on account of a denunciation, the +subject of which has not come to your ears through the proper +channels and whose object cannot be defended in any way.' + +"'We know all there is to know.' + +"'And what about the ambassador? Is he unaware of the denunciation?' + +"'In all probability.' + +"Does Your Excellency not intend to ask him directly?' + +"'To ask him would mean to recall him.' + +"'And His Majesty...?' + +"'Knows nothing as yet.' + +"'Has Count Münsterberg no friend who could let him know of the +accusation, so that he himself might demand an inquiry?' + +"'I know of none--unless you yourself...' + +"'I have not the honour to call myself his friend. Suppose I ask the +lady if she were willing....' + +"'Would the lady be prepared to imperil her own position by +communicating things that were to her disadvantage?' + +"'One can but try.' + +"'You are willing?' + +"I will send her an account of our conversation, without comment.' + +"'That's very good of you, but your trouble will be vain.' + +"'We'll see.' + +"I have given you this exchange with much detail, so that you may be +in a position to decide whether you will undertake to tell the count +what is afoot against him, and if so how much you will disclose. + +"For my part I would advise you against doing this, and am only +sending you this letter by a trustworthy messenger in order that you +may take your bearings. The count will of course want to exculpate +himself immediately, and might injure himself a great deal more by so +doing than if he kept silent. His position must be uncommonly +strong, seeing that none of his superiors ventures to denounce him. + +"Business affairs by ordinary post. I can't get to that before +Sunday. + + "Yours very truly, + "SCHERER." + + + + +CHAPTER THREE + +In November the major came to replace Eckersberg. Ever since the +foreign secretary had given him the hint last summer he had lived +expectant of such a turn in his fortunes, and had hoped that by some +stroke of good luck he might be transferred to the spot where she who +had inspired him to seek advance in his profession had taken up her +quarters. Not for nothing, he thought, had he been christened Felix! +When, one morning, he had read in the paper the news of old Count +Eckersberg's death he took the omen as a gift from the gods. He +moved heaven and earth, setting friends and relatives in motion on +his behalf, and he had finally thrust himself on the minister's +notice one evening at a dinner party. When, a week later, his chief +asked him whether he would like the post, he accepted with rapture. + +Yet he had a presentiment that his lady, in spite of his fair hair +and the many memories he and she shared in common, would never be +weaned from her allegiance to that grey-haired man down south, whose +mistress she was said to be, and who was said even by his enemies to +be endowed with a most attractive personality. + +The major's first two visits to Diana had not escaped the notice of +his colleagues at the embassy. He had refrained from seeing any more +of her, partly because he was overwhelmed with work, and partly he +was deterred by the fear of meeting his chief at Diana's villa. But +the baron's party, which consisted only of Linnartz and his wife, +though they thought they had now secured Olivia's adherence, had +quickly discerned in his visits confirmation of their suspicions of +Diana's "demi-monde" antecedents. + +From the very first the Linnartzes, man and wife, had looked upon the +major as a possible enemy. Felix, whose natural jealousy had been +aroused by visions of Gregor and Diana perpetually together, had +entered upon his new post with a feeling of animosity towards his +chief. But the longer he worked for the ambassador, the more he came +to like the man, to feel a growing sympathy for him. Gregor's fresh +vitality appealed to him, also his waywardness, and his comradely way +of treating his subordinates. The embassy being a household divided +against itself, the major's antagonistic reception by one faction, +and the cordial welcome extended to him by the other, helped to +define the newcomer's position. He made himself an object of +suspicion to the Linnartzes as soon as he called on Diana. Kopp, on +the other hand, had mentally rallied to the major's side. Army and +navy had greeted one another with a kind of formal cordiality; the +two men had recalled the dinner at the club and the homeward walk +with Scherer when this very ambassador had come up for discussion. +Though at the outset Scherer's name had served as a link between +them, it was of Scherer's envoy, of Diana, that both men had thought +during their first interview. + +The prince was less affable. He could not help wondering what the +bond might be between Diana and the major, and how many weeks would +elapse before the military attaché would come into collision with the +chief. Nevertheless, the major's open-heartedness made a strong +appeal--a fact which the prince was careful to keep to himself. + +When Gregor had told Diana the name of Eckersberg's successor, she +had answered that she knew the major of old. Yet she kept the +major's second visit from her lover. A first call could be looked +upon as a mere courtesy visit, but how might others be construed? +The better she came to know Gregor, the more ardent her love for him +had grown, the more she was at pains to spare him anything that might +shake his confidence in her, might make him uneasy or agitated. She +therefore begged the major not to call again. Felix had looked +mutely at her, the woman who had taught him all that was worth +knowing, even how to take a rebuff; then he had left the villa like +the well-disciplined soldier he was, sad at heart, and yet hopeful +that some day he might be allowed to return. + +That same afternoon the prince came into the office where the major +and Kopp were deep in the study of a document. As he entered, he +said banteringly: + +"How incredibly industrious you two men of war are. By half past +four you'll have saved the Fatherland, I shouldn't wonder! Decrees! +Decrees! Decrees! What the devil's it all about?" + +"About the amount of crape to be worn at funerals!" + +"Va bene!" Then he added with a sigh: "And you went for a long ride +this morning." + +"Yes, in a southerly direction," answered the major, to whom this +observation was addressed. + +"Nice place to stay in the summer, eh?" + +"A splendid place for a ride," put in Kopp. + +Both men wanted to bring the major to a mention of the visits, but he +exclaimed airily: + +"Yes, splendid." + +"The chief knows the road well," said the prince tentatively. "Let's +see, how long is it since he took to riding in that direction? Six +months?" + +The major, who knew when his chief's visits had begun just as well as +they, said calmly: + +"As long ago as that? Ever since May?" + +"No, it must have been July." + +"Ah, of course, July." + +All three looked relieved as this word was pronounced, like people +who had been given an explanation for which they had long been +waiting. Each stood pensive for a while, wondering what the others +were thinking of. Then Kopp, drumming on the window pane, exclaimed: + +"Magnificent woman!" + +To which the prince responded: + +"Idem est natura et ars." + +The major said nothing, but looked inquiringly at the prince. The +latter slowly and deliberately put his question: + +"Major, have you met Fräulein de Wassilko before?" + +Felix pressed his lips together, and hesitated a moment before +answering. + +"Yes, I had the pleasure--some time ago--slightly..." + +His answer coming as it did after too long a pause, the expression +which had flitted across his face when the prince had spoken the +Latin tag, the agitation he had displayed when adding the word +"slightly" a second too late, and leaving it hanging in the air, were +enough to tell the prince all he wanted to know. Kopp, on the other +hand, was as innocent as ever. The soldier could deceive his +comrade, but he could not deceive the diplomat. + +The prince had always been devoted to Gregor. What he admired in him +was the mixture of energy and sound critical faculty--a rare +conjuncture. He had a great respect for Olivia, and yet the way in +which Gregor snapped up women and dropped them again with a kind of +abrupt geniality made him, the precociously wise young man, feel that +here was one who could dominate life as he himself would have given +much to be able to do. But it was not until Diana's advent that the +prince wholly surrendered to the personality of his chief. Then the +marvellous change that had occurred in the count, his recaptured +youth which was reflected in all he did and said, confirmed the young +man in what had hitherto only been surmise as to the elder's fine +capabilities. Linnartz, on the other hand, the prince had always +found intolerable, and as soon as the baron's intrigues at +headquarters came to his ears he determined more than ever to rally +to the count's side. He knew he could rely on Kopp's help. +Eckersberg had been an uncertain quantity. But his successor in +office had, by this secret visit to Diana, made himself one of their +group. He guessed by the major's manner the nature of the bond +between Diana and this old friend of hers. What now remained to be +discovered was whether the relationship between the two had come to +an end as had obviously the one with Andreas, or whether the major +had come here in order to oust the new lover. + +In the past the prince had done much to shield his chief from the +consequences of his own folly, and this time, likewise, he may have +been instrumental in burking the effects of Linnartz's denunciation. +But a rival might prove dangerous, a rival could do successfully what +the baron merely botched, a rival could unearth matters that would +bring disaster in their train, a rival alone could achieve his +chief's fall. The prince had given much thought to such a +possibility ere this. Now, however, he felt that events might crowd +upon him at any moment. He must act at once, must infringe his own +strict canons of behaviour to find out how the land lay. Kopp's +presence was a boon to him, for the captain's earnestness seemed in +some sort to excuse his own unusual solemnity. Having thus made up +his mind to take the step, he rose from his chair and went over to +where the major stood. Kopp turned from the window through which he +had been gazing and followed the prince's movement. He was surprised +at the strange formality of the prince's manner in addressing the +military attaché: + +"Major, you have doubtless noticed that there are two factions here +which..." + +Felix looked at his interlocutor earnestly, drew himself up as if on +duty, and answered: + +"I belong to this one, Your Highness." + +For a moment the prince's right hand itched to go forward and clasp +the major's, but his whole nature was so averse to anything that +savoured of sentimentality that he overcame the impulse. He +therefore said nonchalantly: "Do forgive me for this absurdly +melodramatic intervention...." + +The door opened, and Linnartz came in. + +"The countess has sent me to invite you to take tea with her and my +wife. Will you come down, gentlemen?" + +As the four men entered Olivia's little boudoir, they saw Andreas +sitting on a low stool showing Olivia's son the pictures in a big +portfolio and telling the child stories about them. The countess +seemed more agitated than usual. Her vexation at having missed an +appointment with Andreas, through the blunder of a servant, had +brought her inner unrest to the surface. Andreas, too, was in a +similar state of nervous irritability, and had sought refuge in the +boy's company. Now he wished to rejoin the others, but Clemens +pulled him by the sleeve, protesting: + +"Don't get up. They are only our own gentlemen." + +Every one laughed, and Andreas released himself from the child's +hold. The major was introduced to the young poet. As soon as Felix +heard Andreas's name, he remembered the story of the dog, which had +been told him, and he saw in this new acquaintance yet another man +that in some way was connected with Diana. The men drew up in a +semi-circle round the countess while she poured out tea. Meanwhile +the prince had gone over to the lad who was sitting rather +disconsolate after Andreas's desertion. Though quite unused to +children, he tried to propitiate the little boy by saying as he took +a seat beside him: "Give me a trial, Clemens. I can tell stories +too. What have we here? Adam and Eve being turned out of the Garden +of Eden. Very unpleasant scene, and all on account of an apple." + +"Tell me, what does 'and they knew that they were naked' mean; I've +never been able to understand," asked Clemens. + +"You're right," answered the prince. "It's a queer story. Baroness, +can't you help me out? I'm being put through my catechism!" + +He gave up his place to the baroness who had responded to his appeal, +and he now joined the circle round the tea-table. + +"What has Clemens been up to? I hope he has not been naughty." + +"Contrariwise, Countess, eager for knowledge; though perhaps on +rather perilous ground." + +"May we be told?" asked the countess, who had overheard part of the +child's question and wanted to bring the conversation into the erotic +sphere--a thing she was usually careful to avoid in mixed society. + +"Well he has just been studying the Scriptures with Herr Seeland, and +is very keen on knowing about the Fall." + +"Come, come," protested Linnartz, while the others laughed. Even +Andreas joined in the merriment, lest his uneasiness be observed. +But he sought Olivia's eyes, hoping to deter her. She, however, +clutched hold of the subject with a kind of irritable despair, saying: + +"Well, and how would you explain it, Prince Eduard?" + +"I'm the youngest, Countess. You should ask the men of experience +who surround you..." + +"I am younger still," put in Andreas, hoping even now to turn the +conversation away from the subject. + +"And what do you think, Youngster?" asked the countess, looking at +him, a challenge in her eye, as if no one else was present. + +"I can no longer conceive of the idea of sin. I can only feel." + +"Well spoken, Doctor," cried the major. "I can only feel!" + +Kopp nodded his head in approval. + +The prince smiled, and ventured to throw the ball back to the +countess, saying: + +"After the elucidation we have just had, an elucidation which for +brevity matches the Spartan, and for licentiousness is worthy of +Sardanapalus, we have a right to ask that you too..." + +"Yes, yes, please," chimed in the officers. + +All were silent. The countess, who today resembled a cat that has +been offended, stared gloomily in front of her, muttering: + +"The Fall! As if every pleasure did not contain the germs of +bitterness--and yet one wants it all the same!" + +The baroness had forgotten the child for a moment, absorbed in what +was being said round the tea-table. Now she turned to Clemens again, +once more willing to look at the pictures. But the boy, who had +followed the baroness's eyes, had likewise heard what was said, and +now, puzzled by all these incomprehensible things, he sat mumchance +and rigid, taking no further interest in what the baroness was +showing him. At last she asked: + +"Clemens, what is the matter?" + +Then he bent towards her and, as children do when they are telling +secrets to one another, said in an exaggerated whisper: + +"Bitterness. What is bitterness? Mama used that word twice just the +other day when she was upstairs with Herr Seeland." + +"Where upstairs?" whispered the baroness in her turn. + +"Upstairs in the guest's room, near the balcony." + +"When was it?" + +"In the afternoon when Papa had gone for his ride. Mama said they +were going on to the balcony to see the view, but they were in the +guest's room, and I heard them, twice." + +"To work," broke in the baron from the other end of the room. + +With the countess's strange speech ringing in their ears, the four +men made their way back to the office. Linnartz uttered one word: + +"Unprecedented!" + +Kopp said softly: + +"That's what I call nature." + +The major said nothing but, without being fully conscious of his own +mental process, compared Olivia's outburst with Diana's freedom of +speech. + +The prince thought: + +"Olivia has quarrelled with her only friend, while Diana has +attracted three more friends to her side." + +When, downstairs in the boudoir, Andreas once more sought the boy's +company, Clemens clung to his arm as if to make amends for the +betrayal, pulled the young man on to the bench beside him, and glared +at the baroness, so recently the recipient of his childish confidence. + + + + +CHAPTER FOUR + +"Are you taking the sea road?" cried Andreas, as the major suddenly +turned his horse's head to the right. "Do you want to ride that way, +Major?" + +It was a bright, sunny winter's morning, and Andreas had asked Felix +to join him. In the early hours, the wind blew chill from the west, +but later it dropped, and the days were as mild as in September. The +major and the young poet had made better acquaintance after meeting +at the club, and the elder man was attracted to the younger on +account of the intellectual interests they shared, rather than by +Andreas's peculiar character and fantastical way of talking. Above +all, however, what effectively bound the major to Andreas was the +fact that Diana had known and had loved the youth. + +"Yes, let's take the sea road," cried back the major, who was already +some distance along it. "I hardly trust my mount's off hind shoe to +keep on if we ride over cobbles much longer. What sort of a beast is +yours?" + +"This is not my own horse," answered Andreas, overhauling him, and +endeavouring to push his way to the major's left. But the latter +would give no room for such a manœuvre, saying pleasantly: + +"Please, no formalities! Anyway it is only seemly that a simple +soldier like myself should give the place of honour to the poet. Nay +more, have I not heard that you are soon to become consul general?" + +The last words brought home to Andreas the fundamental cleavage +between his thoughts and that reality which he had made the goal of +his life. What would he not give to be consul general here and now! +He said resignedly: + +"I'll be grey before that day arrives." + +"And prospects?" + +"They keep putting me off. All I've learned about nations and +customs during these many months I could have learned equally well as +a mere traveller in no way concerned with seeking an official post." + +"Quite possibly," agreed Felix absent-mindedly, for his thoughts had +suddenly switched off to other matters. He was thinking: "It is ten +o'clock, we are riding along the sea road. Why the devil should I +not call on her, seeing that I am not alone..." He calculated the +risks, and held his peace. + +Andreas was grateful to his companion for not talking. He loved to +walk or to ride long stretches at a time, without exchanging a word. +Then it was that he felt the thoughts of the two silent friends to be +like huntsmen each going his separate way in search of game, getting +widely separated. When, at last, one or the other raised his voice, +it sounded like a distant horn calling to him in the valley from +afar. To the right of him was the water reflecting the sun's rays in +quivering columns of light. Ships sailed by, cutting the sparkling +pillars in two, and followed by comet-like tails of dancing waters; +the paddles of the little steamboats tossed sprays which glinted like +a shower of stars; strife and sportiveness rose from the heart of the +shining expanse, bringing to the poet's vision an allegory of love. +He saw Olivia, majestically proportioned as some being of a primal +age, resting on the bosom of the waters, smiling sensuously as the +wavelets played on her white body. Like a sea-god he arose, and was +about to seize her in his arms, when he heard a voice saying: + +"Shall we put our horses to a canter?" + +The major's thoughts had been with Diana, recalling the days long +past. He felt agitated and disturbed by his reminiscences, and had +recourse to the means which he knew from old experience would restore +him to calm--a good gallop. But Andreas was vexed at being thus +ruthlessly disturbed in his dream which weighed heavy upon him as +Olivia's hair. Still, his ambition to make good in the real world, +and not to be conquered by it, stimulated him to pull himself +together and to put spurs to his horse. + +On arriving at the villa quarter they reined in their mounts to a +walking pace. Both men looked over to the white house which had so +often been in their thoughts. The poet, who did not know the time of +the count's visits, having never studied the man's habits, asked +himself whether Gregor might not be with Diana at this very moment. +The major, for his part, had reckoned up the reasons why the count +could not possibly be there at this hour, and had by now determined +to venture on the call. "I wonder if she'll be very angry," he asked +himself. "Is this a harem, and she an eastern monarch's favourite? +Two acquaintances, on a morning ride, stop in front of her villa. +Perhaps we do no more than send her a hello as she looks out of the +window...." + +"You--know Fräulein de Wassilko, don't you?" + +"Of course." + +"Shall we--we're just passing by--just give her a wave of the +hand?..." + +"I'd rather not stop." + +"Just as you like." + +The major was furious. In a trice, he felt antipathy for this young +man who was hindering rather than helping. He'd probably suffered at +her hands and was afraid of seeing her again. Andreas meanwhile was +thinking that the major would very likely deem him a bit of a coward. +He had his suspicions as to the "slight" acquaintance the major had +professed to have with Diana, remembering that she had once confided +to him her weakness for handsome cavalrymen. Might not Felix be the +man she had alluded to, and, therefore, a rival claimant to her +affections? A few minutes elapsed before he could trust himself to +speak. + +"It's only that--perhaps..." + +"I bet we'll not be coming at an inopportune moment," put in Felix +quickly. "Is that all you are afraid of?" + +"Yes; what else to be sure?" + +"Then I'll take French leave!" + +Felix, for whom to wish was to do, rode on, and in a few minutes they +drew up by Diana's garden gate. Mary, thinking it was the count, +poked her head out of the window, while the manservant was making his +way down: + +"Can we see Fräulein de Wassilko," Felix called up to Mary. + +"I'll go and ask." + +A moment later, Diana herself appeared at the window, crying down to +them gaily: + +"Good morning. Glad to see you. Ali, let the gentlemen in.--I hope +neither of your horses is inclined to kick," she resumed when her +visitors entered the hall and were shaking hands. "Poor Ali is so +afraid of horses that at any sign of restlessness he lets go the +bridle, and we have all the trouble of catching the beasts again." + +"What a jolly old hunt that would be," laughed the major. + +"What'll you take? Whisky, sherry, cognac? These changing +temperatures make choice a difficult matter." + +She was delightfully self-possessed as she entertained her two old +friends. They thought her more charming than ever while she played +the hostess, making them at home, ministering to their wants. She +was wearing a short, sandy-coloured skirt of a warm material, and +over her blouse she had slipped on a jacket of pale lilac silk. +Motioning her visitors into arm-chairs, she pulled up a dumpty for +her own use. Andreas saw her profile, clear-cut against the blue +waters; Felix faced her; neither could catch the expression of her +eyes as she glanced now at one and now at the other. She sat there +aloof and free as a statue, instinctively yielding to the spirit of +independence within her. + +"Not to be taken unawares," thought the officer. "Already secure in +the rôle she means to play." + +"Aloof," thought the poet. + +"Queer notion," thought Diana. "I wonder if they came hoping to +surprise Gregor. He's not likely to turn up this morning. And if he +did?" + +Aloud she said placidly: + +"How is Countess Münsterberg?" + +Her eyes travelled over the water as she spoke, for she did not wish +either to look at Andreas or to look through him. + +"I have not had the pleasure of seeing her this week. Perhaps Herr +Seeland..." + +Andreas felt that he was taking part, not so much in a dream, as in +some intangible scene conjured up from the world of unreality. An +unknown voice seemed to be asking him a question, to which he +answered very slowly: + +"I believe she is very well." + +Diana murmured softly: + +"I should very much like to see her again." + +Andreas, whose nature responded more readily to plastic +transformations than to cold facts of reality, and who was ever prone +to merge contrasts into a poetical whole, suddenly threw off his +reserve at this sign of Diana's sympathy, and said warmly: + +"The countess, I fancy, has taken a great liking to you." + +"I should, indeed, be happy if that were so, but can hardly hope that +it is. It seems to me that the countess is deceived in herself." + +They were interrupted by the entrance of the servant bearing a tray +with glasses. + +"Now, Major, you'll take whisky, I know," she cried teasingly, for +the major had always and emphatically expressed his dislike for the +beverage. "Real Old Scotch Whisky, your favourite poison!" + +"No thanks! I'll have some of this deliciously fragrant Arab coffee." + +"Are you, too, succumbing to the spell of the East? How are +negotiations getting on?" + +She went over to where Andreas was sitting, and, while the major held +forth about Serbia, she placed the tray at Andreas's elbow. Then, +taking two bottles of liqueur, she mixed a glass of cognac and +Chartreuse and handed it to the young man as if he were a friend of +the family whose tastes were well known and whom one was accustomed +to serve. Diana had forgotten herself for a moment because she was +really interested in what the major was saying, and liked him +immensely for the line he was taking in respect of the count. But +her spontaneous action had not escaped Felix, who drew his own +conclusions, and was even more delighted at having caught Diana out, +than at having solved the riddle of her earlier relationship with the +poet. + +Andreas took no part in the political discussion that ensued. His +mind was occupied with Diana's words, so inopportunely cut short, and +he spun fanciful tissues with the antitheses which these two women +presented. Suddenly he was torn from his dream by a gesture he +particularly loved in Diana; she was tossing her head in that +audacious way which had always captivated him, and he saw her before +him as she really was. Short-kirtled, she stood free and debonair in +the centre of the hall, her chin tilted in the air, her curls tossed +back, reminding him of the youth portrayed by Antonello da Messina. +Again he was aware of her mastery of life, a mastery he admired so +intensely as expressed in the statues and pictures, the romances and +histories, of the Renaissance. And he said to himself: + +"Does she not stand there discoursing about the Serbs as if she were +a member of parliament who had been making the same demand for +decades? Who could believe that those lips had recited the tenderest +verses of Petrarch, and said my own poems, yes, my own poems..." He +lost himself in recollections of how those lines of his had been +written, the circumstances that had inspired them; and incontinently +his thoughts flew back to the enchanted isle. + +The sound of horses' hoofs hammered upon his ears, breaking the +current of his fantasy. Bustle without, and the noise of neighing as +when horses that know one another meet. Then Gregor stood on the +threshold. + +"May I come in? Am I disturbing you? I was just passing. Came to +ask how you were--Good-morning, Major. Ah, Herr Seeland?--Glorious +riding weather. How would it be if we all went on a little +expedition round to---- Perhaps rather too late--and business..." + +"I'm all confusion, Sir," said Felix, "to be caught away from work at +so late an hour." + +"Pray don't mention it. I'm caught playing truant too. I ought to +have been consulting the oracle long ere this for an answer to this +morning's dispatches. An almost insoluble riddle, I must confess. +What has the sphinx to say about it? And what the poet?" + +He was the "mad" Gregor of his youth, tossing his ambiguous words in +the air, including all three in his talk, making light of an +embarrassing situation with quips and sallies, anecdotes and +laughter, putting them at their ease. But he simultaneously +scrutinized their faces, took in every detail of table, chair, and +stool, to see if anything suspicious lay hidden. Then he looked +again at Diana, who had not shown the slightest uneasiness, but had +remained her own natural self in spite of the surprise of his sudden +appearance. When his first rush of words was exhausted, she fell in +with his mood, teased him, retaliated, egged him on with smart +repartee, until the major and the poet were bewildered by the +concentrated medley of gallantry and mockery, of gaiety and +mischievousness, and retired from the scene, leaving the field to a +man who was victor even before he entered the arena. + +At last the two young men rose to go, and Gregor said, with an abrupt +change of manner: + +"How are your plans shaping themselves, Herr Seeland? Are you going +to be sent travelling? Or are we to have the pleasure of your +company among us for some time to come?" + +Andreas's reserve once more broke down as he answered: + +"If Your Excellency will not consider me a nuisance..." + +"Certainly not, my dear Doctor. Anyway you seem to have returned to +the country of the muses rather than gone forward into the realm of +politics, eh?" + +"May I ask why...?" + +"The countess has told me you are reading Dante together. I'm fond +of the poet myself, at least the first part. Paradise is for me +too--what shall I say--too..." + +"Innocent, perhaps," put in Andreas, trying in vain to mitigate the +sharpness of the words by speaking gently. + +"Say, rather, too clear," interposed Diana, who scented danger in the +air. + +"I--love the rose of heaven," added Andreas defiantly. + +"For my part," said Gregor, avoiding Diana's eye, "I'd like to be +like Paolo in the region of winds, always flying, flying eternally, +with Francesca." + +Diana laughed. + +"Yes, but then both you and Francesca would to all eternity have your +old cavalry sabre stuck into their hearts!" + +"Is that so? Was that so? I had quite forgotten about the sword. +I've always had the picture of them in my mind as eternally flying. +To be flying with Francesca!" + +When they were alone again, Gregor looked searchingly at Diana as if +awaiting an explanation, as was the custom of this man in his +dealings with women. But Diana merely laughed up at him so sweetly +that his one desire was to catch her and hug her to him. She, +however, kept the table between them, dodging his every approach. At +last she took refuge behind the piano whose long tail cut off one of +the corners of the room. Before he could catch hold of her she +drummed delicately on the case to remind him of the lesson the fair +Helen had taught her husband--that he should have knocked before +entering, since his coming was unexpected. + +Gregor, whose mind had been completely tranquillized by the behaviour +of the two men, was in a gay mood. He took his place at the +keyboard, struck a few chords, and after a while began playing +Chopin's _Fantasia-Impromptu_. As he played, he kept Diana close to +him, his right arm encircling her hips so that he had some difficulty +in reaching the keys. Her left arm had slipped round his neck. + +As the music echoed through the room, she stood motionless; even her +hand had ceased to caress his hair, and lay at rest. The +extraordinary rigidity of her body thus pressed so close against him +filled him with a vague apprehension as he played, and he looked up +at her in alarm. Her head rose above him, the eyes were closed, but +around the slightly open mouth was a smile of perfect self-surrender +such as he had seen only once before--the morning they had reached +the temple. Very cautiously, so as not to rouse her from her trance, +only desirous of giving a lead to her thoughts, he quickly let the +fantasia peter out into a few chords and cadences which brought him +to the Nocturne in F-sharp major. + +A new light of interpretation flashed upon him as he played. In the +charmed circle of love, he once again heard this melody which had +sprung intact from Eros's realm. He pressed his beloved yet closer +to his side, laid his grey head against her breast, and he, too, +closed his eyes, while his hands continued to play and he forgot that +it was he himself that drew the music from the keys. It seemed to +him that he was cradled with her upon these swaying passages of +sound; as if they lay together dreaming on a cloud while the wind +blew around them; as if they were almost sexless beings, united by an +intangible tenderness, without ecstasy, without awaking, without +strife, without goal.... + +Voices from outside came to disturb them. Diana sprang away, and +Gregor broke off suddenly as Mary came in to say deferentially that +her mistress's secretary had arrived. Gregor burst into jovial +laughter, exclaiming: + +"The fair Helen was right, one should never come unannounced, +especially when one is a man of Menelaus's age!" + +"Send him to the devil, Mary," said Diana in a rage. + +"No, no! Let him be. Show him into the other room," said Gregor. +"He need not exactly find me here, you know. Duty calls, as Linnartz +would say. I'll leave the field to your secretary, since work claims +you. Let's hope you will have some famous revelations from him. I'm +off. And may I--tomorrow...?" + +"Tonight, come, come back this evening," she cried, still carried +beyond herself by those moments of rapturous communion. + +Never before had she pleaded for his company, it had always been he +who urged. He was taken aback, and stood for a while asking himself +whether it were possible that at last her love was unfolding itself +like a flower.... He drew her to him.... Did her words imply a +surrender she had never yet granted him? ... And he smiled down into +her eyes, saying: + +"This evening, if you like. Nocturnes in the morning are in any case +not quite fair! I'm invited to the Spanish embassy tonight. Never +mind, I'll plead a headache, and he can say what he likes in Madrid!" + +Diana gazed after him as he rode away. + +"I breathed in time to that night-song, and as my bosom rose and fell +with the music, his head rose and fell too.... Is his hair grey? ... +I did not see any... His kiss and his hand are gentler than the +fierce touch of youth.... We hover beyond the starry heights and the +depths...." + +She wrenched herself away from such musings, and went resolutely +through the hall to the room where her secretary awaited her. + +"Good-morning! What is the news today?" + +Her tone was friendly, and yet distant, as though she were the wife +of a minister of State. She dealt with correspondence, with +dispatches, questioned the man, discussed affairs with him, then she +was silent. Finally she got up, and started dictating: + +"Postscript to the dispatch of the 26th. (You can type this +afterwards.) I did not receive the report from T. until this +morning. As far as my trustworthy sources of information go, we may +reckon that the influence of the very able French consul in this +province will continue to grow. He is actually responsible for +having brought the construction of the railway to a standstill in +that locality under pretext of Mohammedan feast-days. We must try +and win over his lady, an Armenian, who was once the Wali's...." + + + + +CHAPTER FIVE + +Since the failure of Linnartz's intrigue, the ambassador's prestige +had grown and his position had strengthened. At the same time, while +his political opponents were committing one mistake after another, +his own plans were maturing and the possibility of a military +alliance was in prospect. Events pointed to a fresh crisis, and the +grouping of parties around the competing great powers was becoming +plainer day by day. + +The baroness had long been of opinion that the only way to shake +Gregor's position was through the publication of some scandal +connected with his private life, some scandal having no political +significance, and yet one that could not be ignored. Diana was of no +use to her in this field, for Diana was not received in society +circles, and could do and say what she liked without compromising any +one but herself. At first the Linnartzes had come forward as +champions of Olivia's honour, as defenders of the unhappy wife who +was being so basely betrayed. But the baroness soon changed her +tactics, when she had learned from little Clemens the secret of the +countess's relations to Andreas. She was now engaged in thinking out +a means whereby the count might become aware of his wife's +unfaithfulness, and she calculated that such a revelation would +compel the ambassador to resign his post. + +Her plans were considerably delayed because just about that time the +countess and Andreas were very seldom able to meet. December had +come again with its seasonal demands on Olivia; she had purchases to +make, and other preparations. Andreas, too, was giving more time to +political affairs, for a new attaché had just been appointed who was +interested in the young man and took a pleasure in initiating him +into his work. He had been sorely troubled that morning at Diana's +house: her gentleness, the friendliness with which, all +unconsciously, she had served him as of old, the frank comradeliness +of her gesture as she shook hands with him; then Gregor's sudden +apparition in the hall, the way he stood beside the woman who seemed +so obviously to belong to him, the hint he had given that he would +like Andreas to clear out; and, finally, the acerbity of his own +reply to this twofold rival of his--all these things reacted upon his +irritated nerves and filled him with perplexity. To add to his +troubles he was now more or less cut off from Olivia, and no longer +able to find solace as often as he wished in his beloved's arms. + +Gregor, on the other hand, was flourishing in every way. He had +succeeded in giving a good turn to affairs in the Balkans, and this +success was a fertile ground for the planning of fresh political +victories. The growing consciousness of his own power fired his +creative energies to put forth of their best. When Diana had told +him of the plot against him, and of Scherer's refusal to do the +foreign secretary's bidding, he had sprung to his feet, had wanted an +inquiry to be made as to his own actions. Thus far his superiors' +prognosis had been fulfilled. But what the foreign secretary could +not foresee, and what even Scherer had failed to estimate correctly, +was the mutual confidence that existed between Diana and Gregor, and +the influence Diana wielded in consequence of Gregor's trust. She +had never to keep anything from him, had fearlessly told him all that +troubled her; and she could show him how good had been Scherer's +advice that he should keep silent, seeing that after all he was the +stronger. + +The evening after this talk, in which the courses of their destinies +seemed to draw very near, both sharing in a common gloom and a common +splendour, Gregor's passion for this strange and wonderful woman +deepened and broadened. While they discussed the details of the +intrigue directed against them both, and realized the extent of the +danger they had been exposed to, their will to go on living and to +conquer life became firmer and had mutual reactions and interactions +upon the reserves of energy with which to face the world. + +Although Diana had, in the early days of their love, yielded to +Gregor rather than given herself spontaneously, in the course of many +starry nights shared together she had come to depend on him as a +young sapling depends on its post for support. He, the artist in +love, had extended the spiritual scope of the adventure into wider +and ever widening circles. In the nights that followed that night in +the tent at the foot of the mountain, he had guided her with the sure +strokes of an accomplished oarsman in the stream of undreamed +delights. Vaguely and as from afar, she felt that this love was +driving her towards a high-water mark in her life. + + +Diana stood before her tall mirror smartening herself up, and smiling +as she did so at the thought: "It is not for him!" It was New Year's +Eve, and the prince had invited her to a little supper party. His +letter, at once reserved and gallant, the way in which he commented +upon this same letter when he called at her house next day, his +manner when asking whom else he might invite--all this had been done +in so friendly a spirit that she felt she could not refuse. Now she +stood in an old-gold evening gown before her glass, trying the effect +of a golden ribbon in her hair. In days gone by she had been fond of +such an ornament, but tonight she pulled the snood this way and that, +unable to get the effect she wanted. At last she threw the thing +away from her, took a few steps backward, looked at herself from this +new vantage point, and, finally, decided to wear the ribbon. She was +always chary of adornment, so contented herself this evening with a +gold brooch set with three large topazes, living stones, two as it +were awake while the third slumbered. + +Coming into the prince's little drawing-room, her golden fillet +created quite a sensation among the three men, although the major had +known her to wear such an ornament in days gone by. He could not +resist reminding her of those times by a gentle hint: + +"I have not had the pleasure of seeing Mademoiselle wear a hair-band +before!" + +"Nor have we," said Kopp. + +"A golden coronal as for the wedding of a god," exclaimed the prince +as he led her into dinner. + +"I don't care for weddings. Dreadful affairs. Even the banquets of +the gods in Homer seem to me grotesque," protested Diana. + +"And yet such things may sometimes be very pleasant," said Kopp, +thereby earning a friendly glance from Diana, who loved the man for +his solemn way of dealing with the merest trifle. + +"As a matter of fact," argued Felix, "we none of us are in a position +to judge, seeing that marriage still lies in the unknown future so +far as we are concerned." + +"Unquestionably," put in the captain, while simultaneously a +deprecating "Oh" came from Diana and the prince. + +"In that case we'd never be allowed to pass judgment.--The law should +be: Never marry--even when your grand-daughter clings beseeching to +your knee!" + +They all laughed at the prince's sally. Diana felt very genially +disposed towards her host, each flower got a word of praise, each +dish a laudatory comment. Indeed the whole place was charming in its +miniature way. + +"Since we have now both sung the praises of bachelorhood, it is meet +that, as a woman, I add my regret at your resolve. A woman could be +very happy in this house, which your yourself manage so admirably." + +The two other guests applauded Diana's words, but the prince was +determined to give a whimsical turn to the conversation, so he said: + +"I attributed to you, Mademoiselle, a taste for light foods, ragouts, +fancy bread, pasties, and souffles. And I hope your sons, gentlemen, +will be exclusively fed by injections!" + +"What do you use those exquisite Viennese bowls for? Or it is +Schumann ware?" Diana turned the little plate over as she spoke. + +"The backside gives us a foretaste of beauty to come," said the major +thoughtlessly, and he hastened to remedy the false step by adding: "A +connoisseur need only see a graceful figure from behind, he knows +then what to expect." + +Diana and the prince had been studying the mark on the china while +the major blundered. Now the prince took up the point: + +"Just as among the aristocracy, my dear Major. The coat-of-arms must +first tell us of a nobleman's worth!" + +Felix laughed somewhat wryly. His pride of birth made such an +aspersion unsavoury. Yet he did not venture to protest, seeing that +the prince's family was far older and far higher in the social scale +than his own. Kopp, too, as a man of plebeian origin, held his +peace, for he was well aware how touchy these aristocrats were when +their democratic principles were openly approved of by a commoner. + +Diana alone took the prince boldly to task: + +"And yet Your Highness knows very well that armorial bearings do not +make the man." + +The prince looked at her delightedly, for any contradiction that +helped the flow of conversation was welcome to him. + +"You are right, Mademoiselle. But you speak positively and +enigmatically, just as if you were drawing up a list of birthday +honours in that brain of yours beneath its golden fillet--and +certainly no princely diadem would hold its own beside your simple +band." + +With an unexpected gesture Diana tore off the ribbon, and declared +hotly: + +"I do not want a diadem! I am free!" + +The three men looked at one another, and then at her as she lifted +her chin in the air and shook out her locks. + +Kopp once more was overcome with amazement as he contemplated this +free-born nature, which made a strong appeal to his seafarer's heart. +The major recognized the Diana he had known of old, the woman who +had, by one look, filled his heart with courage and sent him along +the highroad to fine achievement. The prince saw his first +impression confirmed; he felt that he had before him an exemplar of +his contention that, in some inexplicable way, certain natures, +though they possess no genealogical tree, contain within themselves +the germs of power, are, in fact, born rulers. + +Diana who, after an outburst of this kind, was ever anxious to +dissimulate its full meaning, beamed upon her companions, her smile +effectually melting the haughty and wrathful expression her words had +conjured up. Indeed, she was a little astonished at the effect she +had created, and hastened to break the spell of silence which had +fallen upon the company. + +"All clear now?" she asked merrily. + +The prince raised his glass and, though not, as a rule, fond of +formalities, looked upon the occasion as a propitious one for a +little friendly ceremony. + +"Pereat vitta! Vivat vita!" he exclaimed clinking glasses with Diana. + +All the guests followed suit. Then came a silence, during which each +of the three was meditating the significance of the words. At length +the prince said: + +"Vitta, vittae, second declension, the sacerdotal fillet, which I may +be allowed to recall to your memory, Gentlemen. Undeserved gift of +the gods that this band should have come to my mind at a decisive +moment." + +"For my part," said Kopp, ruefully passing his hand over his bald +head, "I am excluded from wearing my hair in the classical fashion +usque ad finem I fear!" + +"I, too, am being deforested," laughed the major. "We're all beaten +in that respect by the chief." + +As he uttered the last word, the three men simultaneously raised +their eyes from their plates and looked at one another. The mention +of Gregor's name acted like a signal they were all awaiting. But the +prince, uncertain as to how Diana might be feeling about it, +hurriedly changed the subject. + +"I beseech you, Mademoiselle, another mouthful of my vol au vent! It +is stuffed with pure south-east! I had the recipe from my +great-grandmother, who had saved a few from the Confederation of the +Rhine. This? A light Assmannshauser, not, unfortunately, a '93, but +an '87--a year when mother sun fulfilled her maternal duties to +perfection." + +The talk ran upon old Rhenish. The captain had once found on board a +sailing vessel the oldest wine of the century; it was so bitter that +in the end all those who had partaken of it challenged one another to +a fight. The major had a tale to tell of the three last bottles that +remained of a present Old Fritz had made to his regiment. Diana, +too, had her contribution to make. + +"Do you know Etna? All wines grown on volcanic soil have fire within +them. Lacrimæ Christi is one of the tamest. From Etna by way of +Falernian to Stromboli, we get a rising scale of interest. The +climax is Stromboli, but that wine is to be shunned." + +"Why?" + +"Because it makes the drinker mad." + +"And--is that a thing to be shunned?" The major was still hoping to +draw her out. "Could we not imagine that certain wines, let us say, +old, but not too old, medium-dry Palugyai, would confer a boon if +they sent us crazy?" + +He did not venture to look at Diana as he spoke, hoping to remind her +of an evening they had spent together in the former days. She took +her revenge adroitly: + +"Forbidden fantasies, Major. You must take precautions against any +further deforestation!" + +"How's that, is alcohol supposed to make the hair fall out?" and the +prince ran his fingers over his fair head. + +"In that case the chief must be a total abstainer," cried the major, +trying to get a rise out of Diana. + +This second reference to Gregor made it extremely difficult to turn +the conversation once more on to dishes and wines. The men were +nonplussed, but Diana said quite simply: + +"Yes, he has a very nice head of hair." + +"Twenty years ago he is said to have wrought havoc with fair ladies' +hearts when he sat playing the piano and tossing his locks. My +father used to tell me about him," said the prince. + +Diana, who was determined not to lose her presence of mind among +these men whom she knew to be her friends, took the prince up readily. + +"Yes, he must have been a very different man in the days when he +earned his name of 'mad Gregor.'" + +"He must have been irresistible when he was young," rejoined the +major. + +"Even today, he scuds under full sail," said the captain. + +"Perhaps it was not until he grew older that he became really +interesting," added Diana calmly. + +The men were attentive. They went forward cautiously, as if they +were conspiring together. + +"Interesting? Many people are that," hazarded the prince. "But +Münsterberg--he seems to have some traits of Prince Louis Ferdinand +rather than..." + +"I venture to disagree," interrupted Diana. + +"Why?" asked the three men simultaneously. + +The prince laid his fruit-knife gently on his plate, the major leaned +forward, the captain pushed his chair back a little way. Diana held +a review of the six eyes that were fixed upon her. Then, speaking +earnestly, she said: + +"Youth seems to me to be the most rapturous time in a man's life, but +only when he is sure of dying young, like our charming prince, or +living to fade away as so many. The count, however, has grown so +greatly in importance with the passage of the years, that I am +inclined to believe a brilliant and superficial youth may..." + +The men made no reply, so that her last words were left floating in +the air until the prince made up his mind to blow them away. + +"Does Mademoiselle fancy the count may enjoy a long life?" + +"I did not say so." + +"Since he has only now arrived at the point where his life's work and +fundamental ideas have a chance of bearing fruit, may we not conclude +that you had that in mind?" + +"I make no prognosis, Your Highness, I am merely taking a backward +glance." + +"True. I hope you'll forgive me! But all the same, prognosis is +extraordinarily interesting...." + +"Yes, let's have your prognosis," cried the officers who had listened +with keen attention. It was as if all three attributed the power of +second sight to this strange woman opposite them. Again they urged: + +"Your prognosis, please!" + +Diana did not laugh, although the droll effect of this trio of voices +tickled her sense of humour. She gazed in front of her, peeled off a +long tongue of skin from her Jaffa orange, and said in a low voice, +her eyes now fixed upon the fruit in her hand: + +"I hardly know if it is fair to wish that a man who has remained so +young should live to be old." + +She sat silent now, not letting them into the secret of what had +moved her. Her tone was strangely sad, and she had seemed, rather, +to be speaking to herself than to her friends. A veil of melancholy +fell upon the little company. The prince, remembering his duties as +host, sprang up to dispel it. The others followed his example. All +stood, their raised glasses in their hands, while he proposed a toast. + +"It is New Year's Day! We will drink to the health of our honoured +chief, Gregor Count of Münsterberg!" + +The three men leaned over the table to clink glasses with Diana. + + + + +CHAPTER SIX + +"Fancy a child of eleven reading such learned books!" + +"I'm twelve," corrected Clemens, swinging his legs. "Don't you know +that even now?" + +"A thousand pardons," said Linnartz, bowing in mock reverence. + +"And you? You must be at least a thousand," teased the child. + +Gregor, who as usual after lunch had taken up the day's paper, drew +the lad towards him. + +"What makes you think the baron is a thousand years old?" + +"Because he always treats me as if I were a kid. He's older than +you, isn't he?" + +"The other way about." + +"How old are you, Papa?" + +"Very old," answered Gregor evasively. + +The boy continued to lean against his father's knee for a while, +pensive and silent. Then, turning to Andreas, he asked: + +"And you, Herr Seeland, how old are you?" + +"Clemens, be quiet," said Olivia who had taken a seat in the +background. "I told you only the other day that Herr Seeland is +twenty-six years old." + +Gregor, who had fallen into a brown study, roused himself at these +words. + +"Twenty-six," he repeated, and covered Andreas with his eyes. + +"Yes, already, Excellency." + +"Already? Then what is left for me to say, my dear Doctor?" + +"I do not know. But when you were six-and-twenty did you not +likewise say 'already'?" + +"Never!" + +"Were you so mature? Did your plans so satisfy you that you felt no +uneasiness?" + +"I was nothing but a junior barrister at the time. Yet such an idea +would never have crossed my mind. Uneasiness as to my plans? As to +a pretty wench, yes, but as to my plans? I hadn't any!" + +"Strange," murmured Andreas. + +"You are disappointed? Really, you take life too seriously." + +"Can one take it too seriously?" interposed Olivia from her corner. + +"I should like to say," Linnartz's strident voice was heard +vociferating, "that he who always endeavours to..." + +Gregor's eyes had passed over the baron to Olivia: + +"It is well that we mortals should try to live our lives without +exclamation marks. At least women, who are incapable of renouncing +their dreams..." + +"No," said Olivia coldly. + +"... and can only find comfort in the poets," concluded Gregor, +smiling at Andreas with a challenge in his eyes. "They have to live +on dreams, unless they choose to scramble after the illusion of +effective action. Had I adopted a poet's--beg pardon, a +composer's--career, I should not have spent my time dreaming." + +"What would you have done, Sir, if I may ask?" said Gregor's victim. + +"Worked! Worked with feverish energy. Every day and all day. Yes. +Perhaps then at six-and-twenty I might have felt uneasy lest I could +not accomplish what I had set myself to do. Still, every man to his +own temperament!" + +He took leave of Olivia and the poet, and disappeared with Linnartz +into his study. + +Olivia sent the child away to its schoolroom. Then, turning to +Andreas, she said: + +"He has become your foe." + +"And yours." + +"He's been that these many years," she answered bitterly. + + +Ever since the baroness had learned what she wanted to know from +Clemens, her husband, acting on her advice, had kept a note of the +days when Andreas came to the house. His surveillance was an easy +matter, for he had merely to ring and ask the servant how his +mistress was, an act of ordinary courtesy. Then he would say: + +"Is the countess at home?" + +"The countess is upstairs reading with Herr Seeland." + +He had noticed that the visits had mostly taken place during the +count's absence from home, while Gregor was taking his afternoon +ride, or away at Diana's. Today, the count had asked Linnartz to his +study to run through some papers that had been accumulating, and the +baron was determined not to let him escape this time. This "could +not be postponed," that "could not be postponed"; he was untiring in +finding important documents that needed discussion, needed Gregor's +signature. An hour went by; half an hour more. Still the baron +brought forward other important matters. At last Gregor lost +patience. + +"Just one thing more, Excellency, I must beg you to give me your +decision. A moment," and he disappeared, apparently to fetch a +document from his own office downstairs. But he had merely gone to +make his usual inquiry, and, having received the hoped-for answer, he +came jubilantly back again. + +"It's the question of finding accommodation for the older archives. +We're up to the ceiling with the stuff downstairs, and you once +suggested, Excellency, that we might find room for them in your own +apartments...." + +"Certainly, certainly," said Gregor rising. "That will be all right. +You can get to work on it as soon as you like." + +"I could not do it entirely on my own responsibility. The +dividing-up of the room which has hitherto been used for domestic +purposes. I beg Your Excellency to show me just how you would like +it arranged." + +"Must it be done today?" + +"As you like, Sir," said Linnartz, playing the faithful subordinate. + +His chief thought: "What does the fellow mean by shrugging his +shoulders like that?" + +Aloud, he said: + +"All right, come along. Which room had you in mind, the one where we +used to put up guests, and perhaps the one with the balcony?" + +"If the countess has no objection, it seems to me that they would be +the most convenient." + +Linnartz's heart was all of a flutter, for the count invariably went +upstairs two at a time, and this pace was rather beyond the baron's +capacities. Above all, however, he was excited at the expectation +that his plans were about to be crowned with success--a success he +had so long been hoping and longing for. He was thinking: "It's a +sure thing, they can't escape now. Please God they will not simply +be reading together on the balcony!" As he drew near the door he was +on tenter-hooks. The count, who was blissfully unaware of his +companion's agitation, thought: "How pleasantly these rooms are +situated, so cut off from the rest of the house! If only Diana had +come here as Olivia's guest...." + +Linnartz opened the door and drew aside to allow his chief to pass in +first. Thank God, the room was empty; they must be next door; and +while he followed Gregor into the first room he glanced over at the +door leading to the next. There, he knew, his victims must be. He +wondered if they had locked themselves in. An unwise thing to do! +His lascivious imagination conjured up what might be going on there, +the disordered attire, rumpled hair. Would they hear steps +approaching, voices speaking? Gregor was saying: + +"The folios can be stacked up here ... tables as may be necessary... +That will be all right...." + +"And in the next room, Excellency?" + +"Of course, the same arrangement as here." + +Gregor went towards the door. Linnartz, with a remnant of decency, +remained behind. Gregor opened the door. Linnartz trembled. Not a +sound. + +"Why, it's quite dark here," said Gregor. "The blinds are down. +Where's the switch?" His hand travelled on the wall. He turned on +the light. + +One second of abysmal silence went by. Two seconds. Three. +Linnartz peered in from behind. He saw Olivia on a divan, propping +herself up on her hand, while Andreas stood opposite her, hard +pressed against the wall. Both, blinded by the sudden light, had +raised a hand to shield their eyes, stretching it out towards the +electric globe thus all unconsciously assuming an attitude of shame. +As if suddenly turned to stone, the count stood in the doorway, a +black shadow against the staring lamp. + +Andreas was the first to recover his wits; he had foreseen the +disaster as soon as the voices came through the door and was +therefore better prepared than the others. He now took two steps +towards the count, and in a hoarse voice he began: + +"Count..." + +The spell was broken. All three moved. Olivia got up and stood +behind Andreas, looking at her husband with haughty and hostile eyes +whose expression was colder than he had ever seen before. At the +same time Gregor marched upon Andreas with uplifted fist. Whilst +almost simultaneously Linnartz sprang towards him from the rear, +holding him back, and whispering in a warning voice: "Excellency!" + +Another pause, not so long as the first, ensued. Then the count +turned half round and said in a low voice, tense with wrath: + +"Go!" + +Andreas made an apology for a bow to the countess, and, passing +Linnartz, moved towards the door. But the count, who by now had +guessed the part Linnartz had played, was filled with so great a +loathing for the intriguer, that even now he wished to shield Olivia +against him. He, therefore, slowly left the room, closing the door +after him as he went. + + +That same evening the major and the captain called upon Andreas at +his hotel, and presented him with the count's challenge. As they +turned to go away, Othello pushed open the bedroom door and sprang +towards the strangers. His master seized him by the collar, and it +was as much as Andreas could do to hold the door back while the two +men made their exit. + + + + +CHAPTER SEVEN + +"Gregor! Please, no more," pleaded Diana softly as she shook her +curls. "My lips are worn out, and I shall never be able to kiss +again!" + +"A thousand times more--and me, only me--until we die." + +He threw himself upon her and looked deep into her eyes. + +"Brown, deep brown. Any red in them? The red of a deer? No, a +falcon. Did your father know beforehand what you would grow up to be +that he chose the name Diana?" + +"If you will let me go, I will tell you all about it." + +With the swift movement of a stripling, he sprang up from the wide +bed, slipped into his dressing gown which he wrapped round him, tying +the cord with the same care with which, as lieutenant, he had +buttoned up his uniform tunic, pushed his fingers through his hair, +and flung himself into the big arm-chair by the fire. Holding his +hands out towards the blaze, he spoke softly to her over his +shoulder, a playful note in his voice. + +"Diana." + +"Gregor." + +"No, say it the way you did that first time when you were riding." + +"Gregor." + +He laughed. + +"Go on, tell me all about it." + +"Well, it happened over there in Macedonia," she began, bringing a +footstool towards the hearth, and sitting down on it at his feet. +"My father, you must know, is very wise; he can interpret dreams, +understands about magnetic currents, has studied Swedenborg and +Leonardo...." + +"The portrait in that portfolio is...?" + +"Yes, it is he. He told me he had believed my mother would die in +giving birth to me, for he thought I was going to be a boy, and he +knew that if she gave birth to a boy she would die. So firm was his +conviction, that he was going to call me Tristan, because Tristan's +mother, too, had died at his birth. When I turned out to be a girl, +he said to himself: She will have many masculine elements in her +make-up, so I'll call her Diana. Five years later my brother came +into the world, and that same night my mother passed away." + +She ceased. Gregor's hand lay lightly on her head. She seemed +suddenly to have become agitated, her thoughts elsewhere as she +prodded the wood in the fireplace. The logs fell apart, and he had +to gather them together, very cautiously, so as not to disturb her as +she rested her head on his knee. + +"Are you cold?" she asked after a while. "Where had I got to?" + +It was not her habit to be so absent-minded. Yet this night she had +constantly been distrait. Could she have something on her mind? Was +she frightened? He tried to shake off his thoughts. But he had come +near the truth. Diana was filled with an anxiety which she would +have hidden from him had she been able. Before his arrival, when she +had received a tiny note from the major telling her what had taken +place, she had thought: "The feeling of security is what makes the +victor! If he is confident, I shall certainly do nothing to shake +his courage." Yet when she saw him so self-reliant, in the mood of a +man who has at last become master of some unpleasant perturbation, +her own doubts had been laid to rest. Again she tried to rouse +herself from her meditations. She turned her eyes towards him and +said tenderly: + +"Are you cold, Gregor?" + +"Why should I be?--Well, your mother died. You told me something +about her before. She was beautiful." + +"Yes, but do you know what she was? Shall I tell Your Excellency a +secret?" + +She smiled as she addressed him thus formally, and looked up at him +with the inscrutable air of the professional story-teller. + +"I hear and obey," he said, smiling back at her. + +They sat silent. An atmosphere of security seemed to envelop them, +such as they had never experienced before, and had never thought it +possible to achieve. Peace and contentment coupled with a slight +feeling of lassitude pervaded their bodies and their minds, as they +settled down in the comfortable warmth of the log fire. Had they not +lain for long in the ardour of love's embraces? + +"My great-grandmother, or, rather, her mother, held the crown of +Poland concealed within her house. It was in the days following one +of the partitions. The fugitive king--or maybe he was only the +pretender--in any case he was the son of the old king--came to her +estate in order, secretly, to kiss the royal crown. The lady was +very beautiful, and she was a widow. Romantic as were the kings of +those days, after kissing the crown he kissed its lovely guardian, +and thus it was that she gave birth to my grandfather. My family has +always tried to pooh-pooh the old legend, but I have positive proof +of its veracity. We still have the medallion he gave her on the +morning when he bade farewell. The features on the medallion are +identical with those of the picture which hangs in the museum at +Rapperswyl, where all the Polish monarchs hang in rows. Does the +story please you?" + +"And so you've got mighty ancestors too. I am overwhelmed with it +all. What more can you have? Yours is youth, and beauty, and +intelligence--and now you have added to all this, ancestors that wore +the kingly crown." He looked down at her with paternal ecstasy. + +"You are as gallant in your talk as the lovers were in the old +romances," she laughed up at him. + +"The style has stuck to me from my youth," he answered ironically. +"My mother was not nearly such a grand lady as yours, but she, too, +was a beautiful woman." + +"Did she die young?" No sooner had she asked the question than she +thought: "It is strange how my mind dwells on the idea of death, +tonight." + +"Haven't I told you? This was the manner of her dying:--I was about +seven-and-twenty at the time. She had been ailing for a long time, +and her home life was not happy. Well, one day I got a wire: 'Come +at once, Mother very ill.' It so happened that on the day previous I +had received my first order, the Danebrog cross--of course I had not +deserved it, I just chanced to be at dinner with the Danish prime +minister with whom we were negotiating at the time. There are few +really pretty decorations in our country, so that a nicely enamelled +cross, rather cheap to be sure, but with a quite charming +blue-and-white ribbon, would naturally attract a good deal of +comment. At home I found my mother in bed, very feeble. I had +always been rather a handful, never made a success of +anything--except music, and escapades, and, again, music. Father's +best hope for me was a job in the orchestra at some spa or other. +But Mother always stood up for me. She used to say: 'Do let the +youngster be, he'll make good in the end, never fear.' So when I +bent over her as she lay dying, I showed her the cross on my breast, +my first decoration. She fingered it gently and said nothing. Then, +suddenly, she pressed it to her lips, kissing it as if it were a +crucifix. Tears rolled down her temples, wetting the pillow. She +said: 'Thank you, Gregor, I have always had faith in you. Now you +can prove to your father and the rest of the world that I was right.' +She put her arm round my neck--and soon she had passed away, holding +my cross in her hand." + +Diana had risen to her feet as he spoke, and now he bowed his grey +head, resting it on her hands. She, too, was profoundly stirred. A +look of ageless compassion came over her face as she gazed down on +this man whom nature had endowed with physical beauty, and an +intellect bordering on genius. He who had made himself the master of +the art of dissembling as well as of self-control, was nevertheless, +although thirty years had now elapsed since the tragical event he was +recalling, broken at its recollection. Was he really sobbing? She +felt that at this moment the restraint he had exercised over himself +during the last twenty-four hours was suddenly broken down, and that +this overwhelming grief was a tardy and unexpected reaction from the +shock of yesterday's discovery. + +"Gregor," she whispered tenderly laying her head against his so that +the brown and the grey locks mingled. "Gregor, I am here." + +"Stay--by--me--Diana." + +The words were a new revelation to her of the man's loneliness. +Suddenly he sprang up, pushed his hair back, hastily wiped his eyes, +and said with forced joviality: + +"I'm sorry, what a fool I've been! Last time, ten, twelve years ago +I said to myself that three duels were a good number, and it would be +well to stop at that. Apparently there's to be a fourth. That's a +handsome number, too. And even if there had to be ten," his voice +rang out into the room, "I should fight them all to protect Olivia +from slander." + +The first time during all these months he had ever uttered Olivia's +name in Diana's presence! Too late he realized what he had done. He +rushed over to where she stood, seized her hands and covered them +with kisses: + +"Forgive me--my darling--beloved--Diana--forgive me." + +"What have I to forgive?" she asked earnestly. "Is it not a fine +thing that you wish to shield her for her own sake, and not merely +because it happens to be the custom?" + +"And Linnartz, what do you make of him?" + +"He's been trying to do it for some time." + +"To do what?" + +"Bring about your fall, Gregor." + +"There are other ways...." + +"Did he not try them--in vain?" + +"Was the baroness working with him do you think?" + +"Undoubtedly." + +"The brutes! But when all is over---- Next week I've got to go to +court for the birthday celebrations; I shall be in Berlin and shall +demand his removal--even if I have to make a cabinet question of it." + +"That's precisely what I advised you to do three weeks ago." + +"Yes, and if I had at that time brought a little more pressure to +bear on the Austrian minister, he'd have sent that devil of a +poet..." He pulled himself up. "Forgive me," he pleaded, drawing +her to him on the sofa. "I'm sorry--he was your friend--well, +there's nothing to be done now--he'll have to do penance for his +sins--rather young, but he has always lived fast---- What do you +think?" + +He fancied her preoccupied with a woman's memories of Andreas while +he was speaking. But her thoughts were quite differently engaged. +She was coolly calculating the hazards of the impending duel, +remembering Andreas's inaptitude with firearms. Had he not given her +a demonstration of it that day in the shooting-range? Again she +considered the risks an opponent must run when faced by an unskilled +marksman.... + +"Twenty paces, did you say?" + +She closed her left eye, raised her right arm, and aimed an imaginary +weapon at the door. + +"An exchange of three shots? Who's the umpire?" + +"The prince." + +"At six?" + +"Six-thirty." + +Diana got up, went towards the fireplace, pushed the logs together, +and leaned on the marble mantelpiece, staring at the little clock. + +"It is two," she said in a strangely cold voice. + +The practical, everyday tone, which she had assumed as armour against +the emotional strain under which she was labouring, was misconstrued +by her lover to mean that she was deep in memories of Andreas. +Jealousy, which Gregor had hitherto kept in leash for her sake, now +flamed up with redoubled force against this young rival whom he hoped +soon to put out of action. His voice was gloomy as he exclaimed: + +"Diana." + +"Gregor." + +The two names, which so shortly before they had tossed towards one +another like gaily coloured balls, now fell darkly through the night. + +"Did you--love this poet?" he asked at length. + +"At one time I loved him," she answered calmly, after a slight pause. + +He thought: + +"Will she speak as calmly of me, saying 'at one time,' when another +than I asks her the same question? A chain in which I am no more +than a link? In days gone by, the rôles were the other way about...." + +His agitation increased. + +"And he you?" + +"He loves the countess." + +"Not you, Diana, no longer you?" + +His question was uttered in a tone of such urgent need, such poignant +longing, that she turned towards him in a sudden impulse. Her heart +was full of pity at the sight of this man whom jealous doubts had +thus mastered after all that had happened between them and after he +had surprised Andreas with Olivia; yet she realized that it was +solely on her account that he was thus overwhelmed with anxiety and +mistrust; had he not asked only about Andreas's feelings towards her, +not the other way about? + +He, for his part, as he now saw her standing before him, the contour +of her body gleaming through her thin silken nightgown as she stood +with her back to the fire, seemed transported to another sphere, and +everything around him seemed like the memory of a dream. The fine +room, built in the Arab style, the heavy curtains, the figure of the +young woman by the hearth--all this on the night before a duel.... +Had he not lived through it once already, long ago? As if under +compulsion, unconscious of his movements, he got up, and went towards +the apparition, which advanced a step to meet him. The vision +stretched out hands, his hands reached out likewise. What was the +matter? What was the burden of grief weighing upon this moment of +time? Was she perhaps a spirit come to take him far away? She was +close to him, and he saw that she had mighty pinions, and in her +right hand a torch hanging down towards the ground.... + +Her hand pressed his in silence, and suddenly he knew that her life +at that present moment was bound up in his. His gaze, which had been +fixed and hard, softened, and she saw his eyes looking kindly down +into her own. + +"Where have you been, my dear?" + +He sighed deeply, as if freed from a torpor. + +"I seemed--to be--in a dense--fog. Is that you, Diana? Is it you?" + +He sank into a chair, drew her down on to his knee, pressed his lips +against her, wrapping her about in his arms as if he were hugging the +very essence of life and youth to his heart. + +"Stay with me!" + +Very softly the words were spoken, and it seemed to her as if he were +afraid of giving voice to a presentiment that he was about to be torn +apart from her; it seemed as if he were melting away in her very +arms, vanishing like a shadow, a thought. + +But she shook off the terror, smiled up at him, and said: + +"You stay with me!" + +Never before had Gregor felt this steeled body nestling against him +with such passionate self-surrender. + + + + +CHAPTER EIGHT + +For an hour Olivia had lain motionless upon the divan in the guest's +room. Then she was seized with anxiety, not so much as to the issue +of the duel, but rather as to the possibility of seeing Andreas +again. He could not come to her; she could not go to his hotel. +Next morning she sought out the prince in his office. She was +hatless, for thus she had left her apartment to come down to see him. +Her whole aspect and the unusualness of such a visit (she had never +entered the offices at the embassy before) were a surprise. + +"Prince, listen to me. I want--I must--this evening--I must see Herr +Seeland once more. You will lend me your rooms?" + +It sounded more like a command than a request. He understood, drew +his keys from his pocket, and handed her the one she needed. + +"Thanks. Thank you very much." + +Late that same evening, on foot, muffled in a veil, she entered the +little flat. It was empty. Soon after, there was a gentle tap on +the door. She opened. Andreas stood outside. + +There had been no extensive preparations for the visitors. On the +buffet, fresh water and wine, cigarettes, and a few biscuits, were +just as the prince had left them. He had sent his servants away till +the morrow, had, himself, gone through the rooms to see that all was +as it should be. In the dining-room where, on New Year's Eve, they +had drunk the count's health, he paused for a moment and smiled +ironically. Here, two weeks later, the count's wife was to spend +what would perhaps be the last hours she would ever spend with her +husband's rival. He put on his hat, took his walking-stick, then +went back to his bedroom to readjust his tie in front of the mirror. +His eye fell upon the perfectly made bed with its faultless coverlet, +and he whistled softly as he puffed at his cigarette. + +"Honi soit..." + +At first Olivia seemed agitated, and her lover thought: + +"She's not at her best tonight." + +She would stare mutely into nothingness, and then suddenly make a +wild gesture as if to pull him to her, following this with another +gesture which thrust him away. She got up and paced to and fro in +the little room, backwards and forwards between the window, the +chairs, and the divan. She spoke of Clemens, of divorce, of +Linnartz, once even referred to her mother in Dalmatia, about whom +she usually thought with contempt. But Andreas soon realized that +all this was merely an effort to bridge the gulf that had yawned +between them when these two persons of simple nature had suddenly +been brought face to face with the fact that they were guilty of +adultery. + +Andreas had always looked indulgently and even reverently upon her +blind gratification of her instincts; he had interpreted the +inability on her part to speak, a dumbness which was wont to follow +upon moments of ardent ecstasy, as a symbol of the ineffable which +he, the plastic artist, was excluded from experiencing. His alert +and active mind had found a haven in the churlish silences of this +woman, and it was that more than anything else which had swept him +along into the stormy waters in which he now found himself. He had +never conceived of his passion or of hers as appertaining to the +courses of everyday life, and he was at a loss to understand why this +everyday life should now intrude upon a province outside its sphere. +Yesterday's happenings left him cold, they did not seem to him to be +part of the world he and she had created in common--a community based +on the sensuous and yet quite above and beyond the circle of the +senses, intangible, in no way belonging to the realm of reason. + +Now, when he and Olivia were alone and together once more, he too was +aware of the same inhibition within himself which had caused her so +much disquietude; and he who had vowed himself to Olivia with that +first look into her languorous eyes as he gazed from afar across the +wide expanse of blue carpet, felt that he was hedged about with the +identical constraints as she. Had it been otherwise, the insatiable +thirst which consumed them would have driven them into one another's +arms immediately the door had closed upon the outside world, and the +turbulent waters of passion would have submerged them, leaving them +with neither regrets nor shame when they came to the surface again. +Today the banality of a conventional discovery stood like a barrier +between them. In the twilight hours, as he sat with Othello in his +room, the thought of death sprang at him, attacking him unexpectedly, +from the rear. But now he had no other thought at all than to come +to some sort of an understanding with this woman. + +An hour of torturing suspense found them at last in that sphere which +their natures shared in common: their passion. Olivia, wearied with +pacing the tiny room like a wild beast in a cage, had thrown herself, +distraught and exhausted, upon the divan, and Andreas, who felt that +at any cost this state of tension must be snapped, flung himself upon +her and with shameless cynicism took that which in no way he desired. +And yet, maybe, it was this rough handling which she needed for the +appeasement of her uneasy soul. She yielded to his embraces with the +frosty delight of a hetaira, wrapping herself round in the mantle of +fleshly lust as if in defiance, as if to shield herself from a foe. + +Yet when they emerged from this dread battlefield, they had found +themselves and they had found each other. The lassitude with which +love's combat had so often before made limp their limbs, filling +their souls with a strange and voluptuous horror, was now, after this +present possession, bordering as it did upon the realm of hate, to +leave them benumbed, inert, as if death's hand were upon them. +Bitterness, the bitterness Olivia had dreamed of these twenty years, +the draught whose waters she had first tasted in Andreas's arms, now +submerged her, covering her face, her body, as with a grievous mask. +She felt the flesh of her cheeks, her brow, her chin, her throat, +filmed over as it were with a strange, green patina like that which +covers very ancient bronzes, while her body seemed crushed and broken +beneath the man who lay like a corpse across her. + +A chance movement at last released them from the spell. Andreas said: + +"Why continue?" + +The words fell into the great pool of tragical silence with a sound +as warm and gentle as that of woodwind after brass. + +"We should soon have been consumed in our own fires. It is well that +the man should die, his heart pierced by so tiny a thing as a bullet. +But the woman must live!" + +She scarcely heard what he said. All she felt sure of was that he +had surrendered himself to his destiny, that a strange, far-away +voice was telling her what she had known since yesterday: "It may not +be just, but it is perfectly logical, that Andreas should perish at +Gregor's hands." Age-long and primeval things had surged up within +her. In the half-ruinous crypts of her soul, after millennial sleep, +feelings, judgments, rights, belonging to an ancient line whose +origins were lost in the mists of time, now stirred, revealing to +her, who had imagined such primeval impulses to be dead, that she was +indeed a true daughter of her race, and that in her veins too the +same blood flowed. Vague memories of fights long past merged +themselves with present-day combats in her brain. In the mechanical +processes of thought, Gregor once more stood before her as a young +man, the descendant of a long succession of counts, bearing every +advantage in his hands; for now he was to use the weapons familiar to +all members of his caste, and to use them against a stripling who had +moved away from the customary pursuits of several generations of +learning in an inward, spiritual sense only, not by practical +experience. She, who had always been out of tune with his plans for +worldly advancement, who had been ever more and more strongly +convinced that his urge towards the practical field of politics and +diplomacy was in truth only the outcome of imaginative yearnings, +felt today more keenly than ever that he was a poet first, last, and +all the time, and that his invasion of the practical world would +recoil on his own head. + +Andreas swung his legs over the divan and sat on the edge. Olivia +leaned on her elbow as was her custom, and surveyed the length of her +body. Then she said softly, as if lying in wait for his reply: + +"Not long now, Andreas." + +The words, and the queer way she added his name as an afterthought, +struck him by their strange ambiguity. He tried to jest: + +"You are right, it is two o'clock," he said, glancing at the little +timepiece over the fireplace. + +He did not know Diana's bedroom, nor could he know what she was doing +at the moment; and yet her form, her voice, appeared clearly to his +memory, at that instant when she, too, was saying the same words +while glancing at a similar clock. Incontinently he asked Olivia: +"Where's the count? At home?" + +"He went out before I left. The servant said he had gone off in the +motor boat." + +She held her peace and he, too, was silent. But Olivia's thoughts +ranged wide, and she asked after a considerable interval: + +"Do you still love Diana?" + +He flushed a little for she had read his thoughts, and countered with: + +"Do you love the count?" + +Olivia stirred. She put her right foot to the ground, and at the +same time drew the coverlet over her naked limbs as far as the waist. +Then she leaned her right arm on to the low table at the head of the +divan, and, drawing up her knee, clasped it round with her left hand. +A smile, at once wise and tragical, flitted across her habitually +solemn features. She gazed straight before her. + +There rose upon her vision a castle overlooking the sea. Wedding +festivities were in progress. Two evenings earlier Gregor had been +sitting near her in her low-ceilinged, wainscoted room, and he had +watched her, from the embrasure in the window, combing her long, +golden hair. Suddenly he had sprung to his feet, had seized her in +his arms, had stepped over to the door and slipped the bolt, and had +had his will of the astonished bride. For him it was probably no +more than a dare-devil escapade, the gratification of a young man's +vanity; but her heart went out to him in thanks, for her stormy +nature felt a repugnance of displaying the squeamishness of a maiden +who, though betrothed, has not yet been legally wedded. Many years +later, in the midst of the disappointments of her married life, her +imagination was still pleasurably stimulated by the thought of that +adventurous impropriety which had been the herald of their nuptial +day. + +"At one time I loved him," she said at last in a calm voice strangely +resembling the tone in which Diana was speaking those same words at +that same hour. Her alto gave the phrase a richer, fuller sound, +maybe; she uttered it, too, with greater solemnity to match the +heaviness of her nature as compared with Diana's elasticity and +lightsomeness. + +Like an endless band, her life with Gregor unrolled itself before her +vision in retrospect. They were out hunting, the horn sounded in the +air, she was riding in advance of the others. Now she was walking +slowly, like a beast heavy with young. Those were the months just +before Clemens was born. She saw Gregor's gleeful face as he tossed +the baby, and how he played with the child in those early years. +Then she saw him drift away from her, she heard the whispers of +friends, the advice of the family doctor, her mother's anger; it +seemed as if her own recollection of these troublous days was +becoming dimmer, as if the measures taken by her relatives, their aid +and their claims, were receding more and more into the background. +Now she was always alone, she took no further part in the hunts, but +rode by herself, galloped, put her horse to jumps that only a madman +would attempt. She fell and lay for long where she had fallen. +Peasants found her and carried her home. Long months she kept her +bed, motionless. It was at that time she had acquired her taste for +recumbency. She read much, read and pondered. Sometimes she would +write letters which were never posted. She probed and sampled the +many who came to her house; in her, distrust of the higher circles of +society grew to irony, irony to cynicism. A sculptor had once wished +to model her, but Gregor had refused to let her sit to the man; such +opposition roused her desire, and for a while she was restless and +agitated. Then the post of ambassador had come their way. She saw +their new, palatial dwelling, heard the congratulations, pictured +again the mighty waters upon whose bosom she wished, all in vain, to +sail alone, gazed upon the immemorial park which reminded her so +poignantly of the home of her fathers, contemplated the blue carpet +she loved, alone, all alone, always alone, for Gregor had long since +vanished from the landscape, and even the child was lost in distant +mist-wreaths. Now, the poet entered her blue room, and she was +recalled from her dream, back into the world of reality, back to the +present hour. + +Meanwhile Andreas had been gazing his fill at the majestic creature +before him, the woman who lay as it seemed on a rock emerging from a +vast blue sea, her eyes grave, overshadowed by a dark and monstrous +bird with pinions wide spread behind her. The beat of those giant +wings caused a wind which ruffled his hair; he knew that those were +the wings of the angel of death and he gazed on them unafraid. The +vision and the night filled his passionate nature with a contentment +he had never experienced before, so that as she now looked up at him +her eyes met a countenance at once so earnest and so taciturn that +she felt she must be gazing into her own soul. + +They suddenly realized that this was the moment of their +leave-taking. Slowly they drew nearer to each other, body to body, +lip to lip, in a long farewell. + + +Four hours later three carriages drew up near a little pinewood where +many westerners had ere this met in mortal combat. Gregor was +accompanied by Kopp and the major; Andreas by two compatriots from +the Austrian embassy; the prince by a doctor. Abdul ran by the side +of the first carriage, eager as if going to the chase. He had +escaped just as his master was leaving the embassy and none had been +able to catch him. + +It was raining. The fog lay like a canopy over their heads as they +took up their positions. The prince tested the pistols, handed them +to the seconds for their examination; hardly a word was spoken. +Andreas was wearing a grey morning suit; Gregor his loose and easy +blue jacket. The prince measured the distance; gave each a weapon. + +Andreas was himself amazed at his own coolness. On the drive hither +he had been thinking: "Nikolai will publish my last poems.... My +sister will hang my portrait in the old garden house, next to +father's, in a black frame...." Now, when they had led him to his +place and he could look his opponent in the eyes, he thought: "Yes, +he is a lovable man; I understand Diana's choice better than I do +Olivia's. I wonder if Diana will weep when she gets my letter? I +have never seen her cry...." + +Gregor was thinking: "He is still very young." And immediately +thereafter: "Scoundrel! What is the countess to him?" He looked +towards the prince from whom the signal was to come. + +The prince asked: + +"Ready?" + +"Ready," came the reply. + +"Fire!" + +The two men stood unscathed. + +The prince thought: + +"What madness! As if a woman's part in life were not to bind men in +friendship rather than to separate them!" + +While thus thinking he stepped up and changed the weapons. + +"Attention! Fire!" + +Gregor fell to the ground. The prince raised an arm. Kopp, who was +holding the dog in leash, was dragged forward by the outraged animal. +Doctor and umpire hastened to the wounded man's side. Gregor did not +stir, a little blood was oozing through his clothes on the left side. +The doctor cast a look of intelligence at the men who had gathered +round. The prince formally declared the duel at an end. + +At first Andreas did not in the least understand what had happened. +He looked inquiringly at his seconds. One of them went over to where +the count lay. Then he beckoned to Andreas. The young man +approached. He found four men busied round Gregor. The doctor was +giving an injection of camphor; he was pouring brandy into the +prostrate man's mouth. Five minutes passed. At last Gregor opened +his eyes, looked at the circle of men, realized from the expression +on their faces and from his own feeling of weakness, from a strange +sensation near his heart, that all was over with him. + +The others pushed Andreas forward. The count contemplated the young +man for a while, critically rather than wrathfully. He was silent. +Then he held out his hand and Andreas took it in his own. +"Impossible," the poet thought. "He cannot be more than slightly +wounded. He'll be all right again in a few minutes. Then..." He +felt himself tapped on the shoulder; he drew back, slowly, as if his +senses were befogged. Abdul was whining at his master's side. The +dog had growled at Andreas's approach. Then, he laid a paw ever so +lightly on the master's breast, cautiously, a caress as airy as +gossamer lest the touch should hurt the dying man. + +Gregor tried to rise. Impossible! He mused: "Better lie quiet, +absolutely quiet, then, perhaps, I'll be able to say a few words." +With a look, he bade the prince come nearer. The other three +withdrew. The prince knelt close beside him. Gregor looked him in +the eyes, assembling his forces for a last endeavour. Then, very +slowly, in short-pulsed sentences: + +"I beg you--to see that--Muthesius is not--given the post--as +ambassador--otherwise--everything will be ruined--Tell His +Majesty--yourself--personally, Prince--personally--I would +recommend--Winterthur--He shares my views--Promise me you'll..." + +The prince slipped his hand into the limp hand beside him. He knew +his chief was nearing the end. A few minutes went by. Again the +lips moved, but all Gregor had strength to say was: + +"My love to--my love to--the ladies...." + +His eyes glazed over; another fifteen seconds passed; he fell back, +dead. + + + + +CHAPTER NINE + +"No messenger yet, and it's nine o'clock. Mary, can't you see a boat +on the water?" + +"Nothing at all." + +"Have you sent Ali on to the roof to look out?" + +"Ali's been up there since seven." + +"Mary, tell them to saddle my horse. I'll go myself..." + +"But suppose they take the water-way?" + +"You're right. Oh my God, this waiting!..." + +When Diana had let Gregor out by the garden gate in the chilly hour +before sunrise, she had said in her heart: "Never again. You will +see him no more." It was only by exercising supreme control that she +had been able to give him a parting look of encouragement and +comfort. But as she stood once more on the balcony watching the day +emerge in rain from beyond the grey horizon of the sea, her hopes +revived: "Was he not always the lucky one?" To which an inner voice +replied: "No, he was lonely."--"But does not the world spirit need +him more than it does Andreas?"--"Who can tell?"--"Andreas is young; +maybe the soul of a genius slumbers within him."--"And even so, what +does a bullet care?" + +Half past nine. Ali calls out that he sees a little cloud of dust in +the distance; then a rider. Diana hastens up to the roof. She may +perhaps be able to guess the news by the rider--Felix? Kopp? A +servant?---- The prince! Gregor is dead! Only on Gregor's account +would the prince be the messenger---- In any other case it would be +Felix.... + +Yet might it not mean that both had been wounded? Over and over +again the words were hammered out by her pulsating heart. Groping +blindly she again found herself in the hall. "What am I hoping for? +What am I still afraid of? Mary! Mary, go to meet him.--No, Mary, +stay, don't go.--Ali, open the door." Forcibly she kept herself in +the hall, waiting. The prince approached. He bit his lips. Diana +dared not put the question that tortured her. At last, as if Diana +were concerned with one only of the two duellists, he said: + +"A bullet in the heart, at the second shot. Eight minutes later, he +was dead." + +Slowly Diana turned away, and leaned against a pillar. For a while +she remained thus, saying nothing. Certainty, even of the worst, +brought peace, of a kind; and yet her whole being seemed dumb and +void. A painful clarity of vision made her aware of every detail in +the material world, and she saw the little steamers plying up and +down on the waters. "Ah yes, the nine o'clock boat. Late again," +she thought. + +Now she turned to her guest. + +"You are hot with your ride," said she. "It is very good of you to +have come yourself.... His household is probably... Who told the +countess? You?" + +The prince nodded. She begged him to be seated, herself took a +chair, crossing her legs in her short serge skirt. + +Again she was speaking: "Olivia has much strength of character, and +has probably been just as anxious on the poet's behalf...." + +He thought: "She's steeling herself by speaking of others. Does she +feel it deeply?" + +He rose to go. + +"Already?" + +"Sorry, but I'm afraid I must. There's much to do. We have to +discuss the funeral arrangements. We may have to take his remains +back to Germany." + +"Of course---- But--did the count say anything--?" + +"Yes, to me. Recommendations as to his successor." + +"Winterthur," said Diana quietly. + +"Yes," confirmed the prince, realizing how fully Gregor had trusted +this woman. Then he took leave. + +But as he reached the door, Eduard turned: + +"Forgive me, but I forgot... I have one other thing to tell you--a +message...." + +"To me?" + +Diana, who knew how reserved Gregor was by nature, was deeply moved +at the thought that her lover had sent her a farewell greeting. The +prince had besought the major to let him come to break the news to +Diana solely on account of this last message. He found it difficult +to speak. + +"You will have to judge for yourself. The very last words the count +uttered were: 'My love to the ladies'..." + +Diana had listened with dilated eyes; she gripped the back of a +chair; she stood silent. Then she sat down and was about to hide her +face in her hands, when suddenly great tears were coursing down her +cheeks. The prince, uncertain whether he should go or not, took a +step towards the door. But she stayed him with a gesture, and he +brought up a chair and sat down beside her. + +Like water purling through a wood, this cool, proud woman's tears +flowed down her face. From afar he had always admired her amazing +self-possession, but even in this moment of her grief he could only +think of Gregor's happy end. He had the melancholy recognition that +he would never be able to woo and win a woman of this kind. + +A long time passed before Diana raised her head. With a calm mien +she now looked at her visitor. Then she wiped her eyes, smiled, and +with a complete change of voice, like one who does not wish to +disturb a sleeper's rest, she murmured: + +"What a tender thing to have said; only a fully mature man could have +sent such a message. Don't you think so too? I wonder if the +countess will understand? Oh, surely she cannot fail to do so. Tell +her, please tell her Prince, that by these words of a dying man she +and I..." + +From the landing-stage came voices, interrupting her whispered plea. +She listened without stirring; the prince did likewise. He would +have given much that nothing should come to trouble her in this, her +hour of weakness and of confiding trust. At last he rose and went on +to the balcony to see who the intruder might be. Simultaneously, +Diana recognized the voice as that of the major. + +"What can he be wanting?" she said petulantly. + +"Can't think! He knew that I..." + +Felix came in; hesitated a moment when he saw how pensive she was; +then he said urgently: + +"Forgive me for coming so early. No time to waste. Mademoiselle, +you must go, at once." + +Diana, whose heart had expanded under the influence of the dead man's +last words and the noble dignity of her living friend, was refractory +to any interruption, and was especially offended by the major's loud +voice and inopportune intervention. She asked scathingly: + +"Go? And why, pray? I have no intention of going." + +"Sorry to insist, but the matter is urgent." + +Diana got up, tossed her head, pulled her blouse to rights in her +waistband, and said in a changed voice: + +"What has happened?" + +Felix was wounded by her manner. He assumed an official tone, and +announced, as if he were reading a telegram: + +"Just heard, that ministry here, been informed duel on your account. +Foreign secretary wishes to profit by fact that you are temporarily +unprotected to have you arrested as spy. Embassy cannot intervene on +your behalf. Linnartz taken over running of affairs. Advise you to +go at once." + +Diana was by now regaining her usual clarity of mind. + +"In that case I shall have to go. But I shall need a passport if I +go by rail or passenger steamer, and arrest will be practically +inevitable.... A little boat will be the only way of escape." + +Felix nodded, and a twinkle in his eye was an indication of how much +he relished the similarity of her nature and his when there was a +question of having to make a decision or to take a comprehensive +survey of the matter in hand. + +"You have immediately grasped the sole possibility. I have already +sent word to old Mohammed...." + +"Thoroughly trustworthy fellow, in spite of being an Arab," +interjected the prince. + +"He has two dhows, a big one and a little one." + +"We'll take the larger," said Diana promptly. + +Felix nodded. + +"It'll be ready in half an hour. The farther quay, south of the +commercial harbour. Can you be ready by then?" + +"Ready? Of course. Mary must come too." + +"Impossible. Too conspicuous." + +"Is she to be left to their tender mercies on my account? Mary goes +too--or I stay." + +"Very well. We'll do our best. But be quick." + +"How are we to evade the port authorities?" + +"I'm going with you. I've a free pass. Once through the danger +zone, I'll land." + +"Thanks." + +She gave him a look full of friendliness, and offered him her hand. +The major stooped over it, and kissed it. A thought crossed her mind. + +"What about money? Can I get a cheque through to the bank?" + +"Out of the question. They are sure to advise the bank first thing. +Knowing this, I've brought what's necessary. A little bag of gold! +Can't risk a cheque. Where shall I tell him to go?" + +"Mohammed will know best.--Mary, your shawl. Bring me my coats. +Yes, all of them, and yours.--Has Mohammed food aboard?" + +"Of course--à l'orientale!" + +"Good.--Are you coming with us, Prince? We'll drop you at the +bridge. Ali can take your horse back to town." + +She disappeared upstairs. Footsteps hurrying overhead, orders. + +"Mary, my top boots. No, not those; the brown ones without nails." + +Meanwhile she went over to the writing-table, and took three little +packages out of one of the drawers. + +"Mary, I'd better have my sword-stick. Not there, next the bed. +Hurry up. No, don't bother about my dresses, they'll have to be left +behind." + +She went back into her bedroom, gave a cursory glance round. The +arm-chair caught her eye, the one in which Gregor had sat last night. +She stroked the leather of it; then went over to the sofa and shook +up the cushions. Something fell out as she did so, something violet +in colour. A garter she had hunted for that morning. + +"He hid it," she thought. "I wonder when? Quite recently, anyway. +He took it, and hid it." + +She put it away in her pocket. Very lightly she ran her finger-tips +over the embroidered bedspread. + +"Good-bye," she whispered. + +At the door, she turned for a last look. + +The two men waited patiently below. + +"Pressing danger?" asked the prince as soon as Diana had left the +room. + +"In two hours they'll be here." + +"But she's not in any way compromised as far as I can see." + +"No, but Linnartz is spreading rumours." + +"Sure?" + +"The first thing he did when he learned of the chief's death was to +give the ministry the tip to clear Mademoiselle out. His pretext: +the duel was on her account. The Linnartz factory has been busy!" + +"The man is taking his revenge for something or other, I feel sure," +exclaimed the prince. + +Diana came back, wrapping the packets of letters in a cloth which she +secured in her waistband. Her two friends noted that on her left +side she carried her revolver in its brown leather case. She was +wearing a brown sailcloth cap, had a small field-glass slung over her +shoulder, and flourished an elegant cane in her hand. The major +recognized this last item as a souvenir from Lyons. Felix handed her +the little bag of gold, and she gave him a wire. + +"Please have this sent to Herr Scherer. Send it in code. I've left +absolutely nothing in writing behind." + +They all three stepped forward towards the landing-stage. Ali and +the other servants were scurrying hither and thither. Mary came, +lugging her paraphernalia. Diana jumped into the boat. As they +pushed off she suddenly fancied Gregor sitting at the helm just as he +had sat so many times during these months coming and going to and +from the little haven. It was the same boat he had used. + +"Our own tiny harbour," she thought. "He used to laugh in that spot, +and I with him. Am I to come here a second time?" + +The major was worrying: "If only that idiot of a harbourmaster is not +on duty yet. He can't possibly be at his office before eleven." + +The prince mused: "Only adventurers are free. We others plod along +our weary way. At the best we allow ourselves to be shot by one of +them." + + +Towards evening, Diana awoke in the dark and evil-smelling cabin. +She had slept long, dreamlessly, soundly. Mary, who was none too +eager to trust these Arabs, had sat by her side, keeping watch. It +was the voices of men singing at their work on the deck overhead that +had at last roused Diana. She lay quietly for a while, motionless, +silent, her eyes staring. Mary, who knew her mistress's dislike for +being spoken to on waking, held her peace. + +"Are we already at sea?" + +"A long while ago." + +"Will it soon be day?" + +"It is going on towards night." + +"Night? Have I been asleep since yesterday?" + +"No, only since noon today." + +"Is the wind in the north?" + +"Captain says, north-east." + +Diana raised herself on her elbow, and asked in a more vivacious tone: + +"The captain? Does he speak Italian?" + +"A few words." + +"Is he the old man, the handsome old fellow?" + +"No, the short one with the grey beard." + +"I'm hungry." + +"Here's some coffee." + +"Aren't there any rusks?" + +"Yes, but..." + +"Well?" + +"We've got to ration ourselves." + +"Are you afraid we'll suffer shipwreck?" + +"No, but it'll take some time to get to Egypt, and supplies are not +abundant." + +"Egypt? Did the captain tell you he was going there?" + +"I have not asked him. I just thought that..." + +"Why?" + +"Because the other day you said you wanted to see the Sphinx again." + +Diana laughed. She threw her two arms round the old woman's neck: + +"You dear, you remember everything." + +Suddenly she swung out of the berth, pulled on her top boots, and +said: + +"No, we're not going to Egypt. We'll put in at Athens." + +"That's nice, too; it's warm," said Mary. + +Diana leaned against the tall mast looking westward through her +glasses. A saffron-coloured mountain thrust up its crest from the +level waters, while the sun, concealed behind a cloud, sent out great +shafts of yellow light in all directions. She dropped the glasses +for a moment and gazed on the scene with the naked eye, then resumed +the glasses once more. Calling over her shoulder, she said: + +"É la costa bulgarese--quella?" + +"No, Signora. Samothrace." + +The captain came up, and pointed to various salient points on the +mainland, telling her the names of these and of the islands. + +"How many days will it take if the north-easter holds?" + +"We may do it in four days." + +"And if the wind changes?" + +"Six. Possibly eight." + +"Have we enough food on board?" + +"I had barely an hour to get in provisions. There's plenty of olives +and bread." + +"Where else are we likely to put in?" + +"Thasos. Maybe Eubœa also." + +"Capable crew?" + +"The boy's a new hand. The other three are experienced sailors. No +time to pick and choose." + +"When was your dhow last caulked?" + +"Three weeks ago." + +Diana went forward and examined the little sail; she asked the +captain if he did not think it might be braced up a trifle more. He +nodded, and called the youngster, giving his orders peremptorily in +his native tongue, accompanied as it seemed by a torrent of abuse. + +As she now sat on a campstool by the mast, the men resumed their +singing, a monotonous, syncopated melody, accompanied by the deep +moan of the keel cutting through the waters with a note which gave +the impression of a pedal bass. In the pauses of the song she heard +the click-clack of the cordage against the mast. She looked up to +the spot whence the noise came, then her eyes travelled across the +water, while she mused: + +"That sound again, wet cords clapping against wood? Evening--the +weather clearing--promise of fine weather tomorrow." + +The men's voices rose once more, filling the air with sonorous sound. + +"When could it have been?--Two years ago--Azores--when we were +sailing over from Oporto. What a merry party we were. And that +handsome young painter who was so indignant because there was only +one cabin, always full of people. There must have been five of us in +all. What's happened since? Last April, Baveno. I sailed a good +deal there, but mostly alone. A nice little craft, though a trifle +too light. Today? January is nearly out. The ball in the Piazza di +Spagna did not take place until towards the close of the +carnival--nearly a year ago." + +The Arab song floated over to her, monotonous, now loud, now soft. +The damp cordage flapped against the mast. The sonorous pedal note +rose from the keel. + +"Over the waters I sail; sailing, sailing over the sea. Where are +you now Gregor, my friend, the proud young man with the white hair +over the temples, where are you? At the bottom of this sea? Up +there in the clouds, which cling to the last sunset hues as if they +were loath to let another day go by? Or are you in the wind, blowing +to me from another world, helping me on my course, that I may the +sooner win to safety? Are you angry with me? Had I not come, you +would perhaps not have left Olivia so often alone, and she would +never have yielded to Andreas's love. If I had not left him he would +probably never have come here, would never have called on you, never +have gazed into Olivia's languorous eyes. And if I had not bitten +Linnartz's hand in that hotel room at St. Petersburg, he might not +have been so like a sleuth-hound on your trail. Entrapped! Again +and again the net closes round me. And I who am so in love with +liberty! Am I ever alone? Can I be sure that that young Arab boy +who has just been getting a wigging on my account, does not hate me? +He may have liked me at first; and now he may already be laying his +plans for my undoing, may be contemplating murder. What remains in +the end? Nothing but sorrow and loss." + +Mary had gently laid a cloak about Diana's shoulders. Now the young +woman slowly drew a locket from the bosom of her blouse; it had been +one of Gregor's gifts. A slender silver chain; at the end a round, +pale green chrysolite with a motto cut round the margin: Hic et +ubique. She turned the gem in her fingers as she read. On the +reverse side, engraved on a tiny silver disk, was the date of their +first meeting. Very slowly she pressed the spring, and the locket +opened. + +A strand of grey hair lay within. + + + + +CHAPTER TEN + +Andreas to Nikolai. + +"On board the 'White Star.' + +"Quiet days in the archipelago, but I cannot linger in this pleasant +warmth. My whole being has to adapt itself to equatorial conditions, +if you can grasp the meaning of such a daft kind of expression. + +"For be it known to you, my friend, I am off to Zanzibar, not the +isle of dreams peopled with cloves and palm trees, but to our +consulate as attaché, where I shall have to apply myself to practical +work. Is it really that the post 'happened to fall vacant' so that +I, doctor of laws, could so conveniently slip into it? Or was it +not, rather, that they wanted to get rid as quickly as possible of +the man who had murdered the ambassador of a foreign power? I gather +that I, whose poems no one in the home country has ever taken the +slightest notice of, have suddenly become celebrated, and that people +are interested enough in me to put themselves about in order to save +me from detention in a fortress. The truth is that I am impatient to +take up my job, that I am in love with my work, although the cause of +my going and the place I am going to smack a little too much of the +romantic. + +"Meanwhile I am doing my best to keep a new work that has gripped me +lately from intruding itself upon my conscious life. But it won't +stay in the background all the time. It is taking shape in the form +of a kind of rhapsodic trilogy, vaguely resembling certain things of +Hector Berlioz's. I could give you an idea of it if you were here.... + +"It is horrible that my poems should have appeared just before the +catastrophe; they have made a sensation and already run into several +editions. Olivia has gone to the ancestral castle in Dalmatia; there +was a picture of it in all the papers. Diana has disappeared without +leaving a trace, spirited away from us all, and the cloak of mystery +has once more fallen upon her strong young shoulders. + +"The world which had always seemed to me a complicated but logical +phenomenon, has become simpler, more understandable--because it is +unlogical. Anyway, so far as I am concerned I cannot grasp how it +happened that I should have slain that fine, able, and talented man, +made Olivia a widow and Clemens an orphan, I who had no conception of +bringing about all these disasters at the time I wooed and won.... + +"Othello has become very quiet these days. It is as if he knew all. +I am a little anxious as to how he will stand the tropics. He will +have to be my only muse now; no more women; no more poetry writing; +only work. + +"ANDREAS." + + +Linnartz to the Foreign Secretary. + +"Sir, + +"I beg to enclose a formal report on recent events. You will gather +from its perusal that the catastrophe came as the logical consequence +of the advent of that adventuress whose shameless flight has made it +impossible for us, by delivering her over unconditionally to the +local authorities, to counteract Sir Henry's and Le Chat's calumnious +insinuations at the ministry here. + +"Indeed, the Minister for Foreign Affairs is more incensed than ever +against us because he firmly believes that we were instrumental in +effecting her escape. You will see, Sir, from the report, that I did +everything in my power to prevent her departure. Who is responsible +for assisting this female spy to escape, neither I nor the local +authorities have as yet been able to discover. The day it fell to my +happy lot temporarily to take over control of affairs at the embassy, +the most exemplary good order reigned in the house in spite of the +very natural excitement caused by recent events. The gentlemen of +the embassy were all at their posts, energetically dealing with the +more pressing business, and making preparations, etc. I have treated +as idle gossip the rumour that His Highness Prince Eduard ... went to +see the spy at her villa early that morning; but at the same time I +held it to be my duty to mention the rumour in my enclosed report. + +"Putting things together, I would like to repeat, what you, Sir, will +gather for yourself from my report, that Count von Münsterberg was +the victim of a spy who used the so-called poet as her stalking-horse +to get into the confidence of the countess (the strange behaviour of +the Great Dane betrayed her machinations); that this same spy used +her seductions to keep the count away from home, thereby isolating +the countess and precipitating the catastrophe; and all this with a +view to getting rid of the count and replacing him by a protégé of +the newspaper magnate and financier Herr Scherer, whose interests +make him wish to see Baron von Winterthur take over the ambassadorial +post. + +"Believe me, Sir, to be + + "Your obedient servant, + "LINNARTZ." + + + + +CHAPTER ELEVEN + +The Lloyd steamer made its way into the harbour of Piræus twelve +hours overdue. Scherer, who had left Berlin on the twenty-third, had +thought to arrive in Athens on the last day of February. Now, as he +put his foot on land this morning of March 1st, he asked himself +whether the omen was a favourable one or otherwise. He had +unwillingly to admit that he was superstitious, and would have done +much to rid himself of this "sign of weakness," as he named it. In +this he was successful for the most part, but the superstitious mood +always reappeared when he had something important on hand. + +And this day seemed to him an important one. Scherer's serious and +thoroughgoing methods of negotiation, his ways of thinking and of +feeling, had now depended upon the reports of this woman for +something like nine months, a woman he had had under personal +observation for no more than a couple of weeks and with whom he had +talked intimately for one evening only. Her quick perceptions and +her practical good sense had amazed him at the outset, and it was not +until he had received proof of her capacity that the fact of her +beauty began to penetrate his mind and senses. Just as his intellect +built up the separate elements of the world of things, gradually, +into a synthetic whole, so had he pieced together, bit by bit, the +atoms which went into the composition of this strange young woman. +On the evening when they had dined together, he had for the first +time got a more or less coherent picture, but even then the splendid +unity of form and content baffled him. + +How could all this be encompassed within the framework of one woman, +he had asked himself. The unusual tension of his nerves had informed +him that it was, indeed, the woman in her which stirred him. When he +sent her to see after his interests in the Near East, he hardly +realized how much he had been influenced by the fear lest her +presence near him might distract him from the work he had in hand. +He wanted to have her at a distance; and yet, when she had gone, he +found he missed her sorely. + +The purely business nature of their correspondence (for never a word +of personal news slipped into their letters from either side) removed +her to an objective distance. But when rumour coupled her name with +the count's, when gossip became rife in political circles, a feeling +of envy began to stir in Scherer's heart. For just as Scherer was +many other things besides being a clever thinker, and Count +Münsterberg many things besides being a Don Juan, yet this +fundamental contrast between the two men was bound in the end to lead +to friction. They realized the possibility themselves. There was, +indeed, a conflict in Scherer's mind. The more his own +representative, by her intimacy with the representative of the +country, was able to turn this friendship to Scherer's account, the +more uneasy did he become; and yet the count's passion was welcome as +the confirmation of Scherer's personal impression of the young woman. + +The news of the tragedy had first reached the circles in which he +moved with Linnartz's gloss on it, a gloss not only expressing the +baron's personal pique, but likewise subservient to the design of +advancing the writer in his career. To most people, therefore, the +fatal shot was the symbol of time's revenges against a man of +adventurous temperament; and no one thought that the countess's +honour might be tarnished by such an interpretation, for every one +considered her blameless. Meanwhile, those in the know had learned +the true motives that lay at the back of the affair. A week after +the first tidings had come to hand, the second version was all the +rage, and was the more readily believed because of its piquant +implications. Scherer had guessed the truth almost at once, and had +pierced to the heart of Baron Linnartz's intrigue. It speedily +became obvious that Linnartz was going to fight tooth and nail +against Münsterberg's last wishes in the matter of a successor to the +ambassadorial post. Scherer set about countering Linnartz's +activities. Diana had not interrupted her correspondence with her +employer. On the contrary, she furnished him with such a wealth of +detail that he was able to confute page after page of Linnartz's +first report to the foreign secretary. + +Although as business man and as observer Scherer had felt the count's +death keenly, yet at the same time this removal of a rival had made +him easier in his mind, especially at first. As he paced up and down +his library that night, he could not help exclaiming: "She is free!" +Next day came her wire: "Compelled to leave. Wassilko." Nothing +more. No reason given for her sudden departure, no mention of where +she was going. The major had coded the message himself, so that it +need not go through the office; and it was unlikely that its contents +caused any curiosity at the capital seeing that every one's interests +were otherwise engaged. So Scherer waited. He was confident of +hearing from her as soon as she was in a position to communicate with +him anew. As for seeing Diana in Berlin, he knew this was unlikely, +for she would have to avoid the metropolis for a time. When, a week +later, he received her first dispatch, it came from Athens. He +thereupon made up his mind to leave town and seek her out. + +He was fond of Athens from of old. As a young man he had been +attracted to that place in preference to Rome, for he had been +trained in the humanities and he loved to come into close contact +with the relics of the most orderly and magnificent of civilizations. +Again, fairly recently, on the return voyage from Ceylon, he had +renewed his earlier impressions, and come nearer perhaps to +understanding the secrets of Athens' attraction. But he was not the +man to yield to a romantic lure, and to crown these early weeks of +spring by an intrigue with a lovely woman. He had come here with a +definite purpose, for he had resolved to ask Diana to marry him. His +chances, he surmised, would be all the better if he tried his luck +soon, while she was still stunned by her recent adventure, and when +the security of a comfortable home such as he had to offer would make +a specially strong appeal. + +He sent his luggage on to the hotel where he had ordered a room. +Ignoring even the light railway linking harbour to town, he set forth +on foot for Diana's quarters. It was now ten o'clock; the morning +was bright, and so warm that every one was sporting summer attire. +He was informed that the lady had gone out early. Scherer took a +seat on the terrace, turning his back on the sea he had been gazing +at so many days, and facing the Acropolis. From no other point, it +would appear, could so fine a view of the temple be obtained, for the +west front lay fully exposed, and from this distance, the slight +damages in the pediment were invisible. One therefore got the +impression of a well-preserved building. Scherer knew the view of +old, and enjoyed it once again in the morning radiance which seemed +to filter through the very substance of the structure. + +"I wonder how long she'll be?" + +What with the dazzling light, and a certain restlessness that had +come upon him, he got up and made for the marble hall which ran round +the inner side of the terrace. Force of habit led him to the table +where journals of all sorts lay; and since he had not seen his own +newspaper since leaving Trieste he seized upon that one first. "It +must have come by a faster boat," thought he, "by way of Venice most +likely." His feelings were mixed as he scanned these familiar +columns; for in part he contemplated them with the boredom of an +expert weary of the stale tricks of journalism; and in part he was +animated by a wish to detect some flaw which would after all prove +his presence at the head of things to be indispensable. + +He sat leaning back, his legs crossed. One saw light-grey trousers, +a huge newspaper hiding most of the reader's body, and a face in +profile to the entrance. It was thus Diana glimpsed him on her +return. A whole minute she stood looking at him, unnoticed, +motionless, after her first gesture of surprise. "Scherer!" At that +instant she became acutely aware that she was a woman. + +Scherer put down his paper, and saw Diana, who stood smiling at him +from the doorway. He rose and went calmly up to her, while she moved +towards him, her gait timed to a nicety so that it was a trifle +slower than his. + +"My word, she is beautiful," thought the man. + +Diana, whom he had always before seen dressed in light colours, now +stood before him clothed entirely in black. Her tightly clinging +gown was almost too narrow in the skirt to be fashionable, and her +wide-brimmed hat was not such as were being worn at the time. A long +silver chain hung down to below the waist-line; gauntlet gloves of +grey doeskin were pulled well up the forearm. A huge bunch of Greek +violets was pinned into her bodice at the breast. Her face was +tanned as he had always seen it; but she looked slimmer, and prouder +of mien, than his memory of her had led him to expect. Though her +lips were parted in a smile, they seemed to him more reticent than +ever, and sad. She stretched out a hand in welcome: + +"Good-morning. So you've come all the way to Phaleron to read your +own paper! When did you arrive? How did you get here? You look the +picture of health!" + +Her voice rang out clear and steady. His voice, too, sounded like +true metal as he answered: + +"You are looking well, likewise; and since, as each new day dawns, +Dame Rumour has it that tomorrow you will die, I thought I'd look you +up so as to give her and all of them the lie." They laughed. + +"Are you going to stay down here?" asked she. + +"No, in the town." + +"Got some decent rooms?" + +"I hope so. I've not seen them yet, only just landed, came here +straight from the boat." + +"It's a shame to have kept you waiting! I usually go up to the hill +of the gods in the morning." + +Scherer thought: "Her questions are apt. Now she knows that I have +come on her account, her use of the word 'waiting' makes the whole +thing clear." + +Diana thought: "So soon? He lets me know at once that he has come +here only to see me. Probably he has a definite scheme in mind." + +She proposed a walk along the sea-front, and while questioning him +about everything and anything in which they were mutually interested +(though naturally avoiding a reference to the duel and its +consequences), her eyes travelled over the coastline, the hills, and +the islands and, lest this semi-political conversation should +dissipate itself in chatter about the landscape, she drew his +attention to the works then in progress for the fortification of the +shore, and to the new hangar for the seaplanes. Scherer showed a +lively interest, and yet he was at pains to bring the talk back to +personal topics. After a while he said with a smile: + +"May I express a wish that even here, though you are on furlough, you +will continue your work? ..." + +She laughed, but more out of courtesy than because she was amused. + +"There's twelve sounding. Shall we go in to lunch?" + +As Scherer awaited her in the hall his mood underwent a change. +Diana had stirred him to the depths. She seemed so alone; as she +walked along by the blue sea, a forlorn little figure in black, +mourning for the beloved, the scent of those wonderful violets around +her, her form outlined through the folds of her tightly fitting +dress, she had, all unawares, awakened the man in Scherer. He, who +had left his artificially warmed office in the capital where the +lords of winter still held sway, had paced the deck of a little +steamship for days, his heart beating in anticipation, had hoped to +find her shaken by her recent experiences. He had, besides, for many +years voluntarily renounced all intimate friendship with women. +Diana had always appealed to him; now it was the feminine in her that +made a special impression; indeed, at this moment she affected him +more than any woman had ever done before. So greatly were his senses +stirred that he, usually so self-controlled, could not keep his +thoughts off her, but needs must allow his errant fancy to follow her +to her room and picture her as she slipped off her morning dress and +put on an afternoon gown. He even went so far as to regret his +tactfulness in taking rooms elsewhere, and wished he had put up at +her hotel. But when she came back she was in the same black dress, +and said as they passed into the dining-room together: + +"I like wearing black just now, and anyway nobody knows me here...." + +As luncheon was nearing an end, Scherer said: + +"It is nine months since for the first and only time we sat at table +together." + +"So long, already?" + +"To a day. It was on the first of June." + +"How is your beautiful house?" + +"My house is empty." + +Her hand went to her bosom with a gesture as of defence. Then, to +give herself countenance, she took the flowers from her bodice and +asked the waiter for a glass of water into which she put the drooping +violets. + +"They are rather tired, poor things. But it's amazing how quickly +they revive. I buy a big bunch every morning. My room is full of +them. In no land I have ever visited have I come across such huge +violets. Nor have I ever experienced such a spring. Yes, they come +from Attica. So different from the small, modest violets of the +north. Huge blossoms which seem to open melancholy eyes as if to +express the language of passion." + +She spoke very quietly, almost to herself; but her last words seemed +to him a sign, or, at least, they seemed to give him permission to +broach the subject of his thoughts. + +"Are you vexed that I should have looked you up?" + +"No, no; I am grateful to you for coming. I've been alone for three +weeks with only Mary to talk to. She's my old servant, who came away +with me in the little sailing boat." + +"Did you have favourable winds?" This was the first he had heard of +the method of her escape. + +"One day it was a bit slack, but otherwise brisk, mainly from the +north-east." + +"It was good of you to think of wiring." + +"I did not dare to be more explicit. The prince made himself +responsible. Oh, no, it was the major who saw after it. And it was +he who managed to smuggle me out of the port." + +Scherer was glad that the major's name had come up. He seized his +opportunity to say: + +"... The major loves you." + +Diana looked up quickly. + +"Did he tell you that?" + +"Very nearly." + +Diana thought: "Felix is absolutely incorrigible. What can I do to +distract Scherer's mind?" + +"Do you know that you've just come in time for the carnival?" she +said aloud. "The whole town is full of music and laughter. Nearly a +week it lasts. Shall we go and have a look at it?" + +They agreed to meet later at his hotel. He bade her good-bye for the +time, and went to his rooms. Here he changed, read his +correspondence, answered what was necessary. Then he stepped out on +the balcony which looked on to the gardens adjoining the royal +palace, and on to the big square. Every minute the number of +masqueraders increased; they must form at least half of all those who +are now promenading the streets, he thought. The bright colours +swamped the sober greys and blacks of everyday fashion. As soon as +he caught sight of Diana driving up, he went downstairs to meet her, +and soon they were lost in the crowd of merry-makers. + +In order not to be too conspicuous, she had put on a grey dress, and +a violet-coloured veil almost covered her hat. As they reached the +corner by his hotel, they stopped, and for a moment they were +completely surrounded. Women and boys, addressing them in a medley +of languages, were pressing their wares upon them: great branches of +apple blossom, round and resplendent like buxom women; delicate pink +almond sprays, willowy and tall; huge bundles of blue hyacinths; +cascades of yellow tulips; and, conspicuous among them all, the huge +bunches of violets whose dreamlike flowers seemed to resent the +restricting string which bound them together. + +"These people know me," said Diana, laughing. "I have to trundle the +whole cart load off to Phaleron most days. Today..." + +Suddenly, she had an idea. She separated one lad from his comrades, +gave him a note, and told him to take the whole contents of his +handcart to the hotel and ask the porter to put them in Herr +Scherer's room. Scherer gathered from her gestures what she had in +mind, and, turning to another vender, bought a bunch of violets for +her to wear. He gave it to her, saying: + +"So little, for so much." + +His voice trembled slightly as he spoke. It was the first time she +had known him to be deeply moved. "He is indeed poor, this man; for +all his millions could not buy that barrow of flowers I (who tomorrow +may be penniless) have just sent to his room!" + + + + +CHAPTER TWELVE + +They spent the next few days wandering about on foot, driving to this +place and that, taking a boat and sailing upon the waters of the +Ægean Sea. Hitherto they had known each other only from afar; now +they studied one another close at hand. How contrasted were their +temperaments! Their lives had run along such different paths of +experience, and yet their intellectual and instinctive sympathies +bridged the gulf that might otherwise have yawned between them. +Scherer had escaped from the northern winter and from his +professional duties. Now the companionship of this young woman was +to confirm his first impression of her. She interested him, she was +prolific of ideas, she was productive in her work; and yet it seemed +to him that the woman in her was again slipping through his fingers, +and that all he had beside him was a trusty friend. Diana, whose +doubts of him had been laid to rest as soon as he had resumed his +ordinary poise, was eager to discover all she could of this man whose +brain was a match for hers, and whose knowledge of the world was far +superior. + +When, four days later, they met by appointment in the museum to look +at the Mycenean relics, he seemed pleasurably excited. Drawing a +telegram from his pocket, he handed it to Diana, saying: + +"Something to cheer you up!" + +She read: "Winterthur to succeed Münsterberg. Linnartz to go. +Foreign secretary probably retiring." + +"A voice from the tomb," murmured Diana, as she gave the slip of +paper back to him. "Maybe this is the modern equivalent of the +old-fashioned ghost, the way to make your influence felt after death! +These people of an age long past took gold with them into the grave, +and we of a later generation stand looking at them as they lie in +their glass cases. This cup with the running lions carved upon it +speaks to us of the spirit of Agamemnon. And look at this one, and +this, are they not perfect?" + +They examined the treasures in the glass cases for a while; a dagger, +a pot, a ring. Then, quite suddenly, Diana exclaimed: + +"Linnartz to go!? They should have strung him up to the first +lamp-post that came handy!" + +Scherer smiled as he answered, mimicking Linnartz's voice and manner: + +"Throughout he assumed an absolutely unprejudiced attitude, and +deserves a good mark against his name in the State archives." + +Diana resumed her study of the contents of the glass cases in +silence. After a while they passed out of that room and into the one +where the coffins are preserved. She had become very quiet, as if +she were no longer aware of Scherer's presence. Then she noticed +that his attention was concentrated upon one tomb in particular. He +stood contemplating it for many minutes. A naked youth, life size, +was depicted on it, in very low relief. Leaping towards him was a +greyhound. Beneath, was carved the Greek word: Χαϊρε!--Scherer knew +what was in Diana's thoughts. + + +That evening as they were dining at his hotel, the tumult from the +streets came to them through the open windows. Carnival frolics were +in full swing. The sound of flutes, rattles, mandolins, and drums, +mixed with the patter of many feet, filled the wide square. There +were calls and screams, snatches of music and laughter. Like +fireflies on a summer evening in the north, little Japanese lanterns +flickered and fluttered by in the gloaming. But away there beyond +the noise and the bustle, rose the flat-topped hill crowned with the +silent, stately pile of the Acropolis, still glowing faintly in the +light of the western sky. The scent of the orange blossom was wafted +to them from the royal gardens, to mingle with all the other +springtime perfumes within the room and without. + +Scherer's fancy endowed his companion with magic arts, and he felt as +if bewitched with a circle of her making. She had a long Venetian +shawl wrapped round her shoulders, a garment she dearly loved. The +lamp shone softly down upon her bare head, and Scherer was struck +with the difference in her looks tonight from what he remembered of +her as she had sat that evening nine months ago on the terrace of his +home in her pale lilac silk frock. He was amazed at her faculty for +changing her appearance, of becoming, as it were, a different woman, +adapted to different moods and circumstances. The barriers he had so +carefully set up around him were being broken down one by one as his +interest and curiosity were aroused. A tone of subdued excitement +was in his voice as he spoke. + +"On the way here, I kept on thinking that in this land at least you +should adopt the Greek form of your name, and call yourself Artemis. +Yet now it seems to me that Cassandra would be a more fitting +appellation, and that I should be awaiting your oracle." + +"Just listen to the way that merry throng is responding to your +rhetoric," laughed Diana. "Little drum-taps such as the god will +call for when he is in a good humour, and before he has lost his +head. Lanterns swaying joyously over the heads of the merrymakers, +who are laughing and singing as if Death were dead and everlasting +life were the key to happiness!" + +"Do you want to die?" asked Scherer, calmly. + +She raised her arms slightly, so that the black folds of the shawl +fell apart, disclosing the delicate tint of her bare neck. + +"Why do you ask?" she said reservedly but without any coldness in her +voice. "Had I wished to do so, should I not already have gone from +this life, now, when a part of my very self has slipped from my hands +and vanished into the night of darkness? Yes, I loved Count +Münsterberg, and the baron's lies are in essence truths far greater +than he can have any idea of, for it was on my account that Gregor +died. I felt all along that the affair must come to a violent end. +Only I did not know who the victim would be. In any case our +friendship would have had to cease as soon as the poet or the +countess decided to go away. It might very well have turned out that +I was to be the victim. But fate struck him...." + +She sighed, caught in the toils of pain renewed, her eyes lowered on +to the table. Then she turned towards the square and looked at the +medley of masqueraders below. Her voice was steady when she resumed: + +"And we three go on living, all three of us, who mourn his death. I, +who was the greatest loser, do I not sit here at dinner with you, +feel the scent of flowers around me, wear a nosegay of violets at my +breast, listen to the joyous calls of the Athenian youth, just as if +nothing unusual had happened? We are enmeshed in the web of life; +don't you feel it too? And since I am thus enmeshed I do not choose +to die before I have experienced all there is to experience. To +taste of everything just once--in order to be able to despise +everything." + +She flung the last words across the table to him, a note of challenge +in her voice. But he had long since known that she despised +possessions and wealth. Nevertheless he picked up the gauntlet she +had thus thrown down, for he was resolved to make his request, now, +fearlessly and without ambiguity. Yet when the moment came to put +the question in cold blood, his heart failed him; his intellect took +command, and all he was able to say was: + +"So much striving after harmony and yet so great disquietude! Need +one really experience everything in actual reality? You, who are a +student of Plato, is it possible that you should not have recognized +what I fully recognized when I decided to confine my activities in +life to the narrow circle of my present occupations--narrow, for all +the outer world may think to the contrary? You who have gained in a +few years a knowledge of the world which others take many decades to +acquire, can afford to break away from your present way of living. +And I urge you: give it up now. Concentrate your activities, instead +of scattering them to the four winds. Try to possess yourself of +yourself. Make your life secure and safe; do this hand in hand with +me, as mistress of my house, which you once were kind enough to +praise. I came to Athens for no other purpose than to ask you to be +my wife." + +With a sudden inspiration, he took up the orange he had peeled, +divided it in half, and handed one portion over the table to Diana. +Moved by his impassioned speech, she reached towards the fruit, and +as she did so she met his eyes fixed on her with an expression of +infinite longing, most unusual in a man accustomed to command. + +"I accept the half," she said, unflinchingly, as she kept her eyes on +his, "for I feel that you are my friend.--You said well. Harmony. +It might be thought a rather venturesome word to utter in this place +and at this time. Yet over there, on the hill of the gods, which the +night has now swallowed up so that I can no longer see it as +background to your silhouette; over there, harmony watches over the +present, harmony in its everlasting embodiment. But I am not a +column, or a structure of stone, or, even, a tree. You have created +for yourself a world of security wherein you may dwell in peace and +harmony; I love life precisely because of its insecurity, and, +because of this love of mine, I have no fear of death. You with your +clear vision, have you not noticed that I have no roots? Did I not +hear you say--I am so fond of your voice, it rings true--did I not +hear you say my name that evening on the terrace of your home as if +you understood all its implications? And again, when you were coming +down here to see me, you thought of me as Artemis. I am for the +chase, for a lifelong chase through the world. Even if I do strive +after harmony, I must have freedom all around me. Would you ever +grant freedom to your wife? Every freedom, even to the ultimate, the +freest of freedoms?--Have I lost you now by my refusal? Please, +please, do not deprive me of your confidence, you who came to +recognize what I was, and what my worth. Please--shake hands...." + +He set the half of the orange on the table and took her outstretched +hand. He held it for a moment, but did not kiss it. + + +Towards midnight she prepared to go back to her hotel. He begged to +be allowed to drive to Phaleron with her. The carriage could only +move along at a foot's pace, so densely packed were the streets with +revellers. Even now, the air was full of confetti, and flowers long +since withered were thrown aloft with jubilant cries. As they neared +the outskirts of the town, the crowd gradually thinned, and the going +was better. The sweet air was blowing from the sea. They had both +lapsed into a mood of quiet contemplation, and it was with a faraway +smile that Scherer shook some confetti out of her shawl. He, as a +northerner unused to southern exuberance, had been more bewildered by +the noise and commotion than she, and the heavy southern wine flowed +sluggishly through his veins. His mind was clouded, and in vain did +he try to fill the great black void which her answer had dug in his +very heart. The little act of flicking the confetti from the folds +of her wrap was no more than a pretext; he wanted to be nearer to +her, and yet was fearful lest by some rash move he might spoil his +chances for ever. + +With the knowledge of an experienced woman, Diana knew the struggle +that was going on within him, and was cogitating as to the best way +to meet him. Since Gregor's death her senses were benumbed. Never +in her life had she been so free from all sensual desire, especially +in the springtime of the year. Scherer took her hand in his, slowly +unbuttoned her glove, and suddenly bowed his dark head over the back +of the hand he held, covering it with kisses. + +"I am lonely," he said disjointedly. "Won't you--join me--?" + +Looking down at him, she murmured: + +"You want a faithful and devoted wife, and children in your home. I +need freedom." + +His passionate desire grew as the conviction was forced upon him that +he pleaded in vain. Instinct took possession, while intellect went +to sleep in the warm and fragrant night. He seized her hand, her +arm, and said: + +"Diana! I would have given my life..." + +She felt him pressing against her shoulder, and realized how shaken +he was, how his whole spirit bent beneath the emotional stresses of +this hour. Even more, she knew that now he was asking her to accept +no more than what a hundred other women would have accepted on the +terms, and she recalled the honourable proposals with which he had at +first pressed his suit, in spite of the facts he knew about her +previous life. Again she felt, as in days gone by, that there +inevitably comes a moment when the platonic affection between man and +woman breaks down before the onslaught of human instincts. + +They had passed the sea-front, had driven along the quay, and were +now coming to the lighted streets again, to houses, and at any minute +might be crossing the path of other vehicles. She made him sit up +and begged him to compose himself. As they drew near her hotel, she +took him kindly by the hand. + +"Try to--pull yourself together--go back and have a good sleep...." + +They drew up. He sprang out and helped her to alight, hardly +touching her in the process. Then he asked in as matter-of-fact +tones as he could muster: + +"And tomorrow?" + +She stood pensive for a second, then said gaily: + +"Tomorrow? Weren't we going to Salamis tomorrow?" + + + + +CHAPTER THIRTEEN + +Evening was drawing on. On the topmost step of the Parthenon, her +left elbow resting on her knee and her chin in the cup of her hand, +sat Diana in her long black draperies, motionless as a statue, her +gaze towards the sea. Only a veil streaming out from behind the +pillar gave evidence that between the rigid column and the woman +seated there, the wind, a living creature, was at work. + +Scherer's tall figure was seen mounting the white steps towards the +Propylæum. He liked to visit the great antiques, and to ignore the +little ones which the moderns have interspersed here and there as if +to give relief. His expression was typical of a man thoroughly +enjoying his leisure; he looked lively and his face was lit up by a +smile of perfect contentment. Muscular, perhaps a trifle too broad +in the shoulders in spite of his height, he might have been taken for +an Englishman; and yet his thoughtful cast of countenance showed him +to be in reality a member of the German confraternity. He was, +indeed, more akin to the massive, square-cut structure of the +Propylæum, than to the temple itself, and during his sojourn in +Athens had made frequent pilgrimages to study the portal. When he +reached the platform and turned his steps westward, he became aware +of Diana's dark shape away there in the corner. + +"Is solitude after all the fundamental need of this woman?" he +wondered as he advanced towards her. "Or is it just that she is +seeking refuge from me? She behaves differently to others, I feel it +in my bones; does not succumb to these long meditative pauses, which +at times develop into actual flight. I wonder whether, having +refused my offer of a secure life, she will one day give herself to +me freely.... She will not grow old; suddenly, she'll die; but +she'll leave no heirs behind, leave no sign of her passage...." + +She had caught sight of him now, and they had nodded recognition +without uttering a word. Diana looked up at him, thinking: + +"Modern clothes usually look so ridiculous up here among these noble +columns; but he looks well, he's so elastic in his gait, and how +earnest is his expression. He's as healthy an animal as I, and he +thinks he acts up to the same laws--and yet in reality how different +are our outlooks! He is devoted to me--but he would fight me tooth +and nail. His love stirs me, and I could give him all, +everything--except my personal freedom. That I must safeguard...." + +His clear voice broke in on her musings. + +"I'm late. Business. One can't get away from it completely." + +"The sun is setting over Corinth--it must be past six o'clock." + +"... Ah, you've been reading them," he said, taking his place beside +her on the step and picking up a little book she had let fall. + +"Yes, but I should have done better to refrain. Andreas's poems, the +ones he wrote to me, are more delightful to read in his own delicate +script than here in cold print, on hand-made paper...." + +Scherer turned over the pages as one who knew the book well, seeking +for a special poem of his choice. Then in his clear, metallic voice, +which he subdued to the spirit of the verses and the place where he +was sitting, he read the poem he loved. As his lips shaped the +words, Diana was transported back to the isle where they had first +been written; she forgot his proximity for a while, but as with the +concluding words he let the book sink, and she was brought back to +the present, she marvelled that he had been able to read so +unfalteringly--for did they not apply to his case with special +poignancy? Now he was saying: + +"And--what about those he wrote to Countess Olivia?" + +But her thoughts were elsewhere as she answered: + +"At first I was troubled by such passion. I asked myself where it +would find a suitable outlet. I wondered what dreams would come to +play havoc with this young soul. Then he found Olivia." She paused +a moment, and Scherer knew she was thinking of many things in her +life with Andreas, things that were for her alone. "And then," again +she paused. When she resumed, her voice trembled slightly. "Then I +asked myself whether these verses had not been paid too dear, whether +they were beautiful enough to warrant such an expenditure, whether +the gods had been right to sacrifice Gregor the man of the world to +Andreas the poet?" + +"Well," said Scherer reassuringly, "maybe they would have been wrong +if Münsterberg's work had gone down with him, if his opponent +Muthesius had replaced him instead of Winterthur...." + +"Yes, Winterthur has come," she affirmed, looking at her companion +with steady fearlessness. "And was not that his achievement, the +last work of a dying man? It seems almost as if he had bequeathed +his convictions to his follower, a spiritual heritage, so that his +nation might be safeguarded from war; or, if war comes nevertheless, +that his people shall find a treaty awaiting them in an emergency +where they expected to find a foe." + +Scherer smiled. + +"Is the world spirit to be rehabilitated? Is Hegel to oust Plato in +order that a northern friend may be pleased?" + +His tone was comradely, as it had been ever since the night of the +carnival. He had deliberately assumed it as armour against his own +too passionate feelings. Even today she let him have his little +joke, for she well knew he merely wished for a confirmation of his +own statement. She could not help smiling in her turn when she +reflected that at another time and in another mood she would have +been swayed by passion to give a far different judgment from the one +she had spoken with such wise audacity. + +She, therefore, left his question unanswered, saying brightly: + +"And what are the northern friend's plans?" + +"He must soon be off." + +"When?" she asked with a sigh. + +"At the end of the week." + +She smiled. + +"And today is Friday--I know, because Mary told me this morning." + +As if to anchor herself to this land, she grasped the lip of the +marble step. He noticed her movement, noticed how eagerly she leaned +forward drinking in the landscape and the sea. After a while he said: + +"You'll stay on here, I suppose. Of course. Only I'm afraid that in +summer the heat may..." + +His mien was solicitous; but she laughed. + +"I'm in your service, and four months' leave is more than even an +operatic tenor would expect! Let me have--shall we say four, or +five, weeks more. Then I'll come back to the office again. On the +first of May, when I come knocking at your door, I should be grateful +to find you at home...." + + + +END OF VOLUME ONE + + + + +BOOK FOUR + + + +CHAPTER ONE + +In the opera of _Manon_, the curtain had just been lowered for the +second time. Prince Eduard stood in the entry to his box looking +quietly down on the disturbed ant-heap below. Yet he hardly saw the +people, for his heart was beating a wild response to the drama he had +been witnessing; indeed the spirit of adventure was singing within +him, in strains wilder by far than those he had just been hearing; a +phantasmagoria of freedom and destiny passed to and fro before his +mind as it had so often done before; a high tide of emotion, in +conspicuous contrast to the habitual state of his feelings, now +flooded his being. Ever since boyhood, music had been able to +transport him to a brighter world; and when adventure beckoned him, +even his hypercritical senses were laid to rest, so that he became +nothing more than an eager and simple-hearted auditor. A girl's +voice, grave beyond her years, broke in on his meditations: + +"But why does Manon give up the poet whom she loves, and why does she +let him be arrested by the officer?" + +She put the question to her cousin with disingenuous emphasis, for +she fancied that, since he invariably gave foolish answers, he must +know a very great deal and say much less than he knew. + +Eduard, thus suddenly dragged from the world of his fancy into that +of his family, was furious at the interruption. The two spheres were +such absolutely separate entities that he went from one into the +other as through a trap-door. A certain amount of commotion +invariably followed. He looked down at the eager face of his cousin, +rose slightly on his toes, and said harshly: + +"Officer versus poet, cara Matilda? Just imagine the composer of +this tragi-comedy as your lover. Then along comes Herbert, in +full-dress uniform, death's head on shako, stupendous boots, and all +the rest of it--for whom would your heart flutter, eh?" + +"Must it be so?" he thought, as he swept his opera glasses round the +house. Then he laid them aside. Strange idea, to give a whole +evening, once every week, to this naïve cousin of his.... Why did he +do it? ... One ought to strike out more for oneself.... + +Berlin seemed crabbed and confined after his experience among +intriguing diplomats in foreign parts. At least they did come within +hailing distance of adventure.... But here? ... How constantly his +thoughts were travelling to that Balkan world tonight! ... What +things were possible down there; what a part women could play in +affairs.... Old-time customs, old-time outlooks, had persisted, amid +modern refinements and daring ventures; a strange medley of west and +east struggling for supremacy in that disintegrated world.... + +"Do you think she goes to live with her officer?" The voice bored +itself into his ears. + +"Après minuit," he growled. + +She turned away from him in a huff. + +Again he was immersed in the tangle of his thoughts. "That will +teach her not to ask such silly questions. She's blushed right down +her neck and farther, to her utterly uninteresting body beneath her +clothes. She's actually gasping for breath! And that's what our +race is bred from.... Young cow! ... Ah, me, how was it such an +anarchical creature as myself found its way into the lying-in chamber +of a princely house?..." + +His companion had discovered some friends; she was nodding to them, +and insisted that he should bow to them likewise. Now she was happy. + +"To find reflections of oneself, always oneself ... that's the idea," +he thought, pursing up his lips and whistling his scorn inaudibly +down the wind. But Manon--such women, who dance before the chariot +of liberty like that groom of old who used to run clearing the way in +front of Egyptian equipages.... Always ready to bestow themselves, +lavishing their gifts, thoughtless of themselves, unsteady, +undisciplined, carried away--redskins of the world of the +emotions.... Shafts of freedom shot from sparkling eyes ... where +else can one find them except on the stage? ... There was one woman +... yes, that morning.... Then the brown sail of her boat +disappeared in the waters near that southern capital ... it seemed to +get redder.... + +An insistent noise startled him from his reverie. It was the +call-bell summoning the people back to their seats. Eduard stepped +up behind the chair in which his cousin was sitting. He leaned very +lightly on the back of it with one hand while with the other he once +more swept the auditorium with his glasses before retreating to his +corner to listen. + +Suddenly he gripped the glasses firmer, his lips twitched; he was +like a man who quite unexpectedly finds his dream coming true. He +saw some one he knew leaning over the railing of her box. She could +only just have come in, for her left foot was still upon the last of +the shallow steps leading down to the front of the box. A draught of +cold air must be coming through the door at her back, for she pulled +her silk wrap closer around her. Her dauntless and radiant profile +made her look for all the world like that carving of Nike which had +served as a figure-head so many hundred years ago. Even the short +hair gave an impression of wind and movement, for the curls trembled +above the sun-tanned neck like wavelets breaking against a barque. +She wore no gloves, and supported herself on the tips of her fingers +as she looked down at the crowd below. At this moment she seemed to +be the very embodiment of freedom and youth. + +Yes, it was she, it was Diana, appearing thus before him in response +to the memories which Manon's voice and destiny had revived. He +stood, gazing his fill. He had found what he had not sought but had +yearned for, and his feeling gradually passed from surprise to +conviction as his dream took on flesh and blood before his very eyes. +His first impulse was to go and join her; he raged in his heart at +the social convention which decreed that he should stay where he was, +at his cousin's side. + +Then the lights went out, the magic wand of the conductor was raised, +a fresh act began, and Eduard knew that for half an hour he would +have to peer through the opalescent twilight trying to discern her +box, wondering why she was alone, his brain in a turmoil, his ears +assailed by Manon's voice and passion. + +He had known for some weeks now that she was in town, and he might +very well have looked her up. Yet he had hesitated even to find out +where she was living, had contented himself with the hope of meeting +her some day by chance in the street, in a concert hall, at the play. +Now Manon, behind the footlights, was laughing and loving, betraying +her friend in all innocence, weeping over her fault; and it seemed to +the young man that he, the third son of a reigning prince, was being +drawn into a magic circle wherein he himself, the adventuress on the +stage, and the woman over there in the box, were interconnected by +imponderable bonds.... + +In imagination he transferred the singer to the box and Diana to the +stage; instantly he felt the freedom and tempo, the love, passion, +and youth of Manon to be redoubled; it seemed to him that the +orchestra lagged behind the accelerated impetus of the singer.... +The fanciful vision disappeared, to be replaced by memories.... +Summer months enlivened with her laughter.... A morning when she had +wept the death of a friend.... Again he saw those same bronzed +features, blooming and fresh.... What strangers they were to one +another in spite of the many months of proximity ... not one moment +of intimacy during the whole time.... But he had thought of her a +great deal, and compared her, always compared her with other people +and other things.... + +The act was nearing its end. He crept noiselessly out of his box so +as not to make his cousin aware of his desertion, and when the lights +went up and the applause was at its height, he was already by Diana's +side. + +She did not notice him for a second or two, and his delicacy forbade +his forcing himself upon her attention. Indeed, he was reluctant to +disturb the picture before him. Unheeding the commotion around her, +she sat leaning back in her chair, her elbow resting on the +upholstered ledge, her hand curved over ear and temple, her neck, +shoulders, and arm silhouetted against a background of lights. She +did not seem to belong to this time and to this modern opera house, +but must surely be some nymph of ancient days woefully astray! + +The moment of ecstatic delight was over. She awoke from her trance, +turned round, and became aware of the prince's eyes upon her. Was he +intentionally assuming the same pose as on that morning when they had +bade farewell to one another? It seemed but yesterday. A shade +arose behind him, a shade belonging to the past, belonging to an +episode she had lived under his very eyes. With an effort, she +dismissed these ghosts of yesteryear, rose to greet him, and +stretched her long, virile hand towards him as he stood on the upper +step at the back of the box. + +"Good evening, Your Highness," she said with formal simplicity. + +The words fell on his ears like faraway strains of a violin; they +seemed the embodiment of a friendly reserve, of a chaste salutation, +as if he and she had certain rights and preferences in common. He +had taken her hand and was looking down at it as it lay in his; +following up the line of blue veins, his mind became a blank. He +forgot to kiss her hand as was the custom, and let it drop, while he +stammered somewhat incoherently: + +"Thanks, thanks...." + +Diana was puzzled. What had become of his habitual savoir-faire? +She had expected a witty phrase, a sparkling repartee. What on earth +was he thanking her for? She must rise to the occasion and help him +out of his embarrassment. Looking up at him with merry, challenging +eyes, she said softly: + +"How would it be if you ventured the plunge? You are rather +high-perched up there!" + +He smiled gratefully as he came down the shallow steps towards her. + +"Not being successful in running you to earth anywhere else, I +thought I might draw the Manon covert!" + +"How daintily you dish up your lies! You see, Scherer has told me +how long you've been in town." + +"Still, for the moment it has the deliciously bitter-sweet flavour of +quince ice--or have I just invented the delicacy?" + +"For Manon, Prince," she rejoined, taking her seat. + +"The wish is there, but I have no hopes! Our worthy forefathers were +wont to go behind the scenes when their hearts were captured by the +fair. Elopement followed...." + +"Mm," commented Diana, crossing her legs, and sticking her hand +behind her between the chair and her back in a very boyish attitude. +Her voice took on a cutting tone as of a fine whiplash. "She'd smell +of make-up, and would hurl a volley of abuse at the manager's head. +The stage is all very well for those who, having no courage in their +hearts, are willing to buy their dreams." + +"And what about us?" asked Eduard incautiously. The words had hardly +passed his lips before he regretted having spoken so heedlessly. + +Diana frowned, and drew her shawl round her shoulders. She appeared +to be withdrawing, isolating herself. That "us" seemed to her an +impertinence. Nevertheless, she would treat him indulgently because +he was obviously not himself tonight. So she retorted calmly: + +"We? I have no idea how you live." + +"Outwardly reasonable; inwardly a crusade," he growled. + +"To Atlantis?" she queried mockingly. + +"To the Holy Land, Mademoiselle." + +Again she was nonplussed. Could this really be the man she had +known, the man who had always barricaded the approaches to his heart +with a thickset hedge of mockery? She opened her shawl a little at +the throat with a conciliatory gesture, and as she caught the look in +his eyes she suddenly realized what a terribly lonely man he was. +Then the thought flashed through her mind that perhaps her image had +been with him ever since the day they had parted, and that maybe all +he needed to give him back his customary self-possession was a +deliberate reference to the past, a thing she had so far avoided. +She made the plunge. + +"I saw Countess Olivia recently." + +"Is she in Berlin?" + +"She has been here." + +The mention of Olivia's name opened the sluices of memory for them +both. They relived those hours which they had experienced together. +It was as if some secret they had shared in common had been recalled, +sealing a friendship whose roots lay far back in wellnigh forgotten +events and tinting it with faintly erotic hues. Diana's thoughts +glanced over the twenty-five years of her life; the prince toyed with +notions which were a mixture of desire and irony. + +Once more the house was filled with the shrill-voiced bell. Eduard +drew himself up as though he were a young officer, clapped his heels +smartly together, fixed his monocle into his left eye-socket, and +said with an affected twang: + +"May I, with three compliments prolonged, as the son of a petty +caliph, ask you for your Mutabor, or, rather, your 'phone number, so +that I may make an appointment? And when may I have the pleasure...?" + +"Always," she answered smartly. + +But he felt that such a word falling from her lips was too vague; he +wanted her to be more precise. + +"Always? Does that mean constantly?" + +She laughed. + +"Always means over and over again! But just now it means away with +you, for it will be dark in a minute and then you'll be a prisoner in +my cave, and here comes the magician already, knocking at the door." + +Many years of training in the conventional civilities now all at once +had their way with the young man, and he remembered his obligations +to the lady awaiting him in the box opposite; the clockwork inside +him automatically set its pace to the tempo of his eighteenth-century +ancestors; and just as Diana, somewhat discomfited by his abrupt +change of manner, was expecting him to stay, he growled: + +"My cousin is expecting me back; not safe for her to be alone in the +dark; some one might make advances from a neighbouring box, you +know...." + +"Please go, then," she said airily, giving her attention to the stage. + +He went without saying another word. + +"The trees in the forest sing when they are swept by the wind," +thought Diana. "When the prince play-acts he betrays himself, and he +is for ever play-acting. Then he is like those little negresses who +press their arms tightly over their breasts, for he is conscious of +the nakedness of his soul.... Why do we always try to hide the best +that is in us? ... Ah me, he should choose a little girl like that +cousin of his and lead her home to be his bride; it is such as she +should be mistress in the halls of his ancestors. That 'cello is +playing as if it were the voice of fate...." + +The prince opposite was also dreaming. + +"Freedom! And were she no more than the beautiful, gay, wise thing +she is, she'd be the very essence of freedom! ... Bronze, as if it +were still summer and we were in the south.... She is a lady of such +high breeding as might arouse the envy of my own folk who have taken +years to attain the miserable culture they possess.... Hold her! +Hold her, Eduard!" + + + + +CHAPTER Two + +It was February 1913. + +In a corner of Baroness Mühlwerth's reception room, Scherer and +Prince Eduard were exchanging sly digs at the crowd of sycophants +assembled there. They were interrupted by a high-pitched voice +belonging to a man who wore a galaxy of decorations. + +"Always drawing away into corners, you big bugs in the world of +finance, eh?" + +Sensing that their conversation was critical of the gathering, the +foreign secretary, their host, had steered his way through the +throng, hoping to break the tête-à-tête, and was shaking hands +effusively. + +"You financiers! Incorruptible, accepting no political honours or +decorations or titles, independent of this world's goods, free to +have your own thoughts, a king without the incumbrance of a +crown--that's what I call true twentieth-century freedom! What? Or +am I to gather from the prince's ironical expression that he is +challenging me to say the twenty-first century? Yes, yes," said the +minister, raising his voice, for a glance in a wall mirror showed him +that a group of left-wing members were standing just behind him, "a +new day is dawning over Prussia, and I should indeed count myself a +lucky man if I could enlist such brains as associates." + +"Your Excellency is well aware," Scherer replied coldly, "that I have +never placed too high a value on my business affairs, but, for the +present, I am indispensable as a factor in their running smoothly." + +"Unpatriotic, my friend; and in the best sense of the word, +unsocial!----What do you think?" he asked, turning to the prince. + +"If I may be allowed to contradict, I should say, the more unsocial +the more independent in his judgment when new ideas are put to the +test, those new ideas which one greets with an ironical expression!" + +"You talk that way because you are the youngest of several brothers +and will never have to worry about governing." + +"If I'd had the misfortune to be the first-born I should not have +deprived my little country of the benefit of Herr Scherer's advice by +insisting that he accept a ministerial post or what not. Financiers +and other imaginative spirits must not have their flights impeded by +being made prisoners of office." + +"Always paradoxical, and, therefore, always productive! But as far +as imaginative spirits are concerned, there is one close at hand, I +hear the rustling of his wings. Have you met Franklin yet, the +seaman, consul, physiognomist, the Austrian poet and philosopher, +that man who is talking to my wife?" + +"He is laughing," said Scherer under his breath, as he fixed his eyes +on the stranger. + +"He's grey-haired and tanned," added the prince. + +Franklin, at that moment catching sight of Scherer, stared quite +openly, and a friendly expression spread down from the black eyes +over the haggard cheeks and seemed to penetrate into the little +pointed beard as well. He was lean and brown, like all men who spend +much of their lives in the open, and looked cleverer than God could +possibly have meant any mortal to be. A life of rich experience had +set its marks upon his face; but the warm glow of the eyes gave the +lie to any suggestion of renunciation, even where battles may have +been lost. + +"Ah, you are looking at Prince Eduard," said the baroness, who +invariably made such false guesses. "Do you know him?" + +"Is that the man next his Excellency?" came in a rich baritone from +her side. + +"Yes, quite near Herr Scherer." + +"And who is he, if I may ask?" + +"Scherer? Don't you know Scherer? Then a gem is lacking to your +collection." + +"A humanist?" Franklin asked himself. "Looks like a Holbein--in +spite of the horn-rimmed spectacles; they seem to be an actual part +of the man--and yet he's certainly a man of action. One can see that +in the way he has turned to the tall young man whose mouth has such +an ironical twist, and is taking leave of him with a seriousness +hardly befitting the place and time...." Thus musing and observing, +he quite forgot the baroness who was entertaining him, as she fondly +imagined, with her clever prattle; he forgot the company he was in, +all these political bigwigs, his own interests and intentions; the +only thing he was aware of was this man, this stranger, whose +enigmatical and reserved demeanour fascinated him, and absorbed his +every faculty, so that he hardly heard his hostess taking leave of +him. + +Now the host himself stepped up and led him to where Scherer and the +prince stood apart, introducing his three guests to one another. + +"Ecco," he exclaimed after saying the three names. "An African +example to confute the prince's thesis that an original mind is +necessarily an unsocial mind. Or would you prefer not to hear +anything about those noble things here in the sanctuary of this +temple?" + +"Here," said Franklin with composure, "is, rather, the manger of the +priests. Anyway I shall repudiate none of my sonnets, even those I +wrote years ago, which are not nearly as original as they should be." + +"Proud and humble, as were ever the masters of the temple," observed +the minister with false urbanity. He drifted away to another group +and the three pairs of eyes followed his retreating figure with +expressions varying from mockery to pity. But the trio kept their +thoughts of their host to themselves. + +"Did we not meet in Zanzibar?" asked Franklin, in his downright way, +turning to the prince. + +"Unfortunately, no! I am virgin soil so far as the equator is +concerned. It must have been my brother Stefan." + +"Of course; but I thought..." + +Scherer was eyeing him shrewdly, and thought he detected that the +questioner had deliberately confused the personality of the two +brothers. But Franklin's nature was far simpler than Scherer +surmised, and, even when he was making use of a ruse, he was always +honest in intention. The prince's answer, however, raised a doubt in +his mind, and this doubt had found speedy expression in his face. He +was unhappy at his own blunder, he was unhappy at the prince's manner +and tone when replying. In his embarrassment he glanced over at +Scherer who immediately came to his aid: + +"Then we may hope, after what you've said, for more poems from your +pen in the future? Unless you trade only in coco-nuts or in royal +and imperial decrees?" + +His genial laughter was much to Franklin's taste, and it was merely +to keep the ball rolling that he answered provocatively: "Verses +only, unfortunately!" + +"Why so?" retorted Scherer, still smiling. + +"As a poet I am prone to overestimate the importance of commerce, +just as you, a business man, obviously attach too much importance to +poetry--or at least to my stuff." + +"Neither yours nor any one else's," said Scherer in a more serious +tone. "Everything in this world depends upon the perfection with +which a sonnet is written." + +"Say rather upon the perfection of a coco-nut!" + +They all laughed, though not quite as heartily as their manner +implied. It was as if they were nonplussed and trying to fill in an +embarrassing pause. Then Scherer turned upon the prince: + +"Suppose you tell us who's right? Reveal unto us the truth, O +Oracle! I am all humility and attention...." + +"But I am not," interpolated Franklin decisively, though in no +unfriendly spirit. + +"Do you hear?" laughed the prince, rising slightly on his toes. +"That man is obviously in the right who defies the oracle, for he is +sure of himself." + +"I live among oracles," answered Franklin; "every day I put half a +dozen questions or more--or maybe it's the gods I question." + +"You can't escape that way," laughed Scherer, "for the prince +probably traces his ancestry back to the gods, to Thor or to +Wotan...." + +"Not so bad," said Eduard, touched both as scion of an ancient line +and as anarchist. "But such whimsies only attack the younger +nobility, people who have no prospect of ascending a throne--like +Lord Byron, for instance. We older stocks only count by centuries." + +The prince said this with so puckish a humour that none could accuse +him of arrogance. But Scherer took him up: + +"Then the line passed from the gods over the nobleman's head to the +poet?" + +"And back from the poet to the gods," growled the prince. "Curve +downwards, with a tendency to soar upwards again. Looping the loop +in mythology. Herr Franklin has undoubtedly won this round!" + + + + +CHAPTER THREE + +Diana read the Bombay agent's letter a second time, slowly, +thoughtfully, for the roundabout method of expression the writer had +chosen seemed to her most un-English. She wondered if he could be +concealing something. Was he trying to ingratiate himself with +Scherer, who had big schemes on hand and needed a trustworthy +correspondent on the spot, or did he mean by these references of his +to "competing plans" to get as much private information as possible +from headquarters at Berlin in order to use his knowledge against the +firm in the sequel? Such ambiguity in business affairs was not at +all to her liking. She must satisfy her mind as to what kind of +person this Englishman might be. Opening the index cabinet she +selected the man's previous correspondence and stood reading his +letters at the window. + +Thus it was that Scherer found her, silhouetted against the pale +light reflected up from the snow, her face in profile, her dark +tailor-made gown contrasting with the white walls of the office. He, +too, held a sheet of paper in his hand, and, as he stood for a moment +on the threshold, he realized anew the amazing productivity of an +association such as theirs. They acted and reacted upon one another, +a genuine camaraderie in which the erotic element seemed to have been +entirely eliminated. + +"Well," she said, not moving from her place. "Am I disturbing you?" + +Neither seemed eager to broach the subject of their thoughts. It was +not in Scherer's nature to play the chief with his employee by +suddenly intruding with a question of his own into the realm of her +activity. She, too, was cautious enough not to endanger her position +by imparting needless details of information. So, this morning, as +was their custom in these daily encounters of theirs, they stood +looking at one another in silence, almost like two opponents. The +woman was the first to yield. She smiled, dropped the hand which +held the letter to her side, and looked at her employer with a +mischievous twinkle in her eye. The man always enjoyed these subtle +duels of the will, which were fought out in mid air. At last he drew +nearer, and, pointing to the paper in his hand, asked: + +"Do you happen to remember a certain Said Bey, the timekeeper on the +Anatolian railway?" + +"Of course. But first you must tell me whether this Henry S. Jackson +in Bombay..." + +"Who on earth is he?" + +"Your future information agent in India. Can one offer the man a +higher wage?" + +"Why?" + +"His references are good, and he seems to be coquetting with your +rivals." + +"With our rivals?" + +"Yes, with yours," she affirmed, for she was ever careful to make it +clear that she was no part of the firm, and would therefore never +acquiesce in the use of "our" and "we." Scherer was very well aware +of her sensitiveness in the matter, and, in order to change the +topic, said he would look into the case. He had not come here merely +for a talk, though he had used Said Bey as a stalking horse. His +respect for her time and intelligence forbade his interrupting her +work unnecessarily; but today he had something urgent to discuss, and +he was at a loss how to begin. Happily the telephone bell came to +the rescue. + +"Yes," Diana was saying, "This is she speaking." He guessed at once +by her smile and the little exclamations she threw in here and there +that the call was a private one, and was making to retire when Diana +signed to him to stay. "All right, come Saturday," she cried, +hanging the receiver up. Then, turning to Scherer: "It was only +Prince Eduard!" + +"Ah, I met him last night at Mühlwerth's," said he, going over to the +window. He wanted Diana to face the light so that he might see what +she was feeling. But she guessed what underlay the manœuvre, and +stayed quietly where she was with her back to the light. + +"You meet him occasionally?" + +"He's been back a couple of weeks." + +"And as tall and lanky as ever! He suddenly appeared in my box at +the opera the other night--like Hamlet's ghost." + +Scherer was none the wiser after this exchange, for Diana was +completely mistress of the situation and her words flowed smoothly +and easily. He knew that she had met the prince in the Balkans, and +it was no feeling of jealousy which prompted him. All he wanted was +to keep a friendly eye on her. She knew his motives, and, not +wishing to disturb her friend's quiet confidence in her, she indulged +this fancy of his. But he was never tired of putting her to the +test, of studying her reactions, so now he said: + +"By the way there was a stranger in the company, who stood out from +among the other guests on account of his sunburn and his leanness. I +can't help fancying you would have taken to him, although he's a bit +grizzled. It was Franklin, the poet, consul, explorer." + +"Is Franklin here?" she exclaimed with lively interest. + +"Do you know him?" + +"He's the man with the beautiful speaking voice with whom I studied +Phœnician glass as a girl in the British Museum, a pupil of my +father's. Didn't I ever tell you?" + +At such moments he envied her the wealth of her experience, feeling +that his own eminently successful career had been too even, too +commonplace, too ordinary. Diana, on the contrary, realized how +solitary she was. Her employer belonged to a circle of society in +which he could meet the Franklins and Prince Eduards at parties and +receptions from which she was debarred. She had no social status, no +world at her back. True, she was free; but she had no roots +anywhere; today here, tomorrow somewhere else, in fresh climes, among +new strata of society. Little did either know that each was thus +occupied with much the same kind of thoughts. + +"Your well is a deep one," he said at last. "Always some fresh +surprise is brought up in the bucket!" + +She laughed: + +"And there you sit on the window sill and imagine I'm going to allow +you to fish up whatever you please!" + +"Have I ever pried into your affairs?" + +"I have always found you the pink of propriety, Herr Scherer." + +He thought: "The pity of it! There seems to be a wall between us, a +glass wall...." + +While she was thinking: "A pity; he is so good, if I had a sister I +could not wish her to have a nicer lover. He's a queer fellow. +Never a woman in his life...." + +She became aware that he was asking politely: + +"Would you care to meet Herr Franklin again?" + +"Very kind of you, but he'll probably come and look me up of his own +accord. How would you like to meet him at my house?" + +She had put the question nonchalantly, but Scherer, who was beginning +to know her fairly well, detected an undertone of pride in the way +she had countered his civility, which placed her on a social level +with himself. These mute contests, wherein she sought to rob the man +of the world of the advantages he had over a free nature such as +hers, were always a delight to Scherer. They had precisely the +stimulating effect Diana wished them to have, for from the very first +day of their acquaintance she had realized how fruitful her influence +might be upon this well-balanced temperament and upon the whole tenor +of his purposeful life. Diana acted thus like a ferment upon all who +came in contact with her. + +Meanwhile the question and counter-question remained unanswered. +Seeing Scherer once more cast his eyes on the paper he held, Diana +now stepped across to where he stood and said: + +"This man, Said Bey, you were asking about, was time-keeper on the +railway when I was down there. He led a typically oriental life at +Konia, doing absolutely nothing. He was said to be a person of a +pious frame of mind, hatching conspiracies with the French consul +whose wife was a friend of his...." She was kneeling with one knee +on a chair as she spoke, and was see-sawing to and fro. He barely +heard what she was saying. His eyes and his thoughts were engrossed +in her, hovering between her delicate lips that spoke so calmly and +so precisely, and the finely chiselled framework of her body which +was brought into relief by the swaying movement of the chair. + + +An hour later Diana was making her way through the forsaken +Tiergarten. Hoar-frost was still upon the trees which spread their +boughs aloft in the bluish-white winter sky. Crystalline and airy, +motionless but not rigid, they seemed to be caressed by a spirit's +breath, a spirit that simultaneously liberated and bound captive; +they were sweet and fresh, delivered from the wintry blasts and from +their burden of snow, and looked like the product of an uncanny, +leafless spring sending forth countless white blossoms. Diana, light +of foot and of heart, as cheerful and cold as this enchanted woodland +under the pale midday sun, went on her way, smiling to herself. A +tiny breeze passed among the branches overhead, scattering a few of +the eerie blossoms. Her mood was such that she could not resist the +joy of running against the very next tree and shaking it so +vigorously that a shower of hoar-frost fell on her, covering her dark +clothes with a sprinkle of white. She looked up, like a child, +opened her mouth, and tried to catch some of the drops. Then, as she +was slapping her cap free, she became aware that she was not alone. +Three paces away, leaning on a stick, a man was quietly observing her. + +"Oh--have you been here long? How d'you do--how d'you do, Wilhelm!" + +A fair young man, long-limbed, and with large eyes that gazed +wonderingly on to the world, stood before her. He looked a trifle +gawky in his big ulster and wide hat, was evidently shy, had a sad +smile, and made no attempt to come nearer as he answered: + +"Well, you see I thought perhaps you might be coming through the +Tiergarten, and we might meet one another, and so I just came on the +chance." + +"Come along, we'd better keep on the move or we'll get cold," she +said crisply, setting out in quick-march style. "Come on, come on," +she teased, beginning to run, "otherwise we'll start dreaming!" + +"The wood is dreaming already. What can you do to prevent it?" + +He, too, quickened his pace until he was near enough to slip the +crook of his walking stick into the belt of her coat and hold her +back. Now he became more active and while she pulled and he held +firm, he took her hand and pleaded: + +"Nice, soft gloves. Do they fit so tight that...?" + +"Frozen to my hands," she cried freeing both her hand from his grasp +and her belt from his stick. "Fancy giving way to such sentimental +wishes in the midst of sunshine and frost!--Well, what have you been +doing all this while?" + +"Nothing. Absolutely nothing, as usual," he said, dropping into step +at her side. "But last night I saw the most beautiful lute I've ever +seen in my life, or, let us say, the second most beautiful, almost as +lovely as the one from Pieve di Cadore." + +"Tell me all about it. Is it old?" + +"Old? Did Luther not flourish somewhere about the seventeenth +century? Or was it Old Fritz? You know such a lot. Well, it's a +theorbo--about so big, like a bronze covered with patina, its belly +like--do you remember that three-cornered seed of some Indian fruit +you once showed me?--its belly is like that, and it has a full, rich +tone, that has nevertheless a tartness which reminds me of that +Burgundy I told you about, and..." + +"Is it dear?" + +"The price of a castle! Absolutely out of the question even for such +a person as yourself--perhaps, if he were very economical for a year, +a man in Scherer's position might be able to afford it...." + +"Where may it be seen?" + +"At my own pet curio-dealer's of course, in the Wilhelm Strasse, +where we found those blue Schumann cups, which you gave away after +all, and not even to me!" + +"What amazing creatures these poets are, to be sure," thought Diana. +Last night, at the upper end of the Wilhelm Strasse, dear old +Franklin, evening dress and all complete, was one of a company at a +ministerial reception, taking a look at the new political world, +while at the lower end of the same street Wilhelm was nosing around +among dusty lutes--"and yet both are at one and the same time the +masters and the servants of their fantasies." + +"I tell you what," she said after a pause, "I'll ask you to my house +one of these days to meet a man who's just home from Africa. He's a +poet, like yourself." + +"He'll have some fine tales to tell! Where is he staying? I should +love to look him up. Camels! And nigger girls with small, firm +breasts! And the native dances! Oh, and, of course, elephants! I +should like to go. And what about you?" + +"I'd like to harness the pair of you together, give you rein, and let +you gallop awhile through the world with me," she cried merrily, +shaking a young tree so that he was powdered with frost. + +"Diana! You are shaking away their dreams," protested Wilhelm, +mopping the damp from his neck. + +"I wish I could shake you too, so that one would rise higher and the +other fall lower. Don't you understand?" + +She kicked the herbage impatiently with the point of her shoe, as he +cried half reproachfully: + +"Do you mean in the world?" + +"No, in the Wilhelm Strasse!" + +Now both of them laughed. + + + + +CHAPTER FOUR + +Sidney was ensconced in an arm-chair in his sister's pleasant +sitting-room. There was not much of him to be seen, save a pair of +elegantly trousered legs crossed in mid air. Examining the treasures +in a glass cupboard at the other side of the room was Prince Eduard. +Both young men were smoking. They did not speak, but seemed to be +awaiting some event which might break the distressful tension that +resulted from their being alone together. They heard Diana moving +about in a neighbouring room. Neither could endure the other, and +both were now cudgelling their brains to discover why Diana should +have brought them together a second time. A superficial look would +imply that they had much in common. One in the early twenties, the +other close on thirty, they both sought the same kind of distractions +in the same kind of club circles, both were courtly, of an ironical +turn of mind, reserved; it might have been expected that even in the +course of many years' acquaintanceship no cause of friction should +arise between them. + +And yet from the first moment when Diana had introduced them to one +another, a spontaneous feeling of mistrust had seized them both. +Could it have been Sidney's boyish good looks, and the shy hesitancy +of his first handshake, that had annoyed the elder man? Or was it +the assumed stiffness of Prince Eduard's pose? Eduard sensed a +dangerous reticence in the youth; Sidney felt that the prince's +silence was due to arrogance; each had mental reserves in respect of +the other. Thinking over the matter afterwards, they justified their +attitude satisfactorily to themselves: the brother seeing in Eduard a +princeling in search of a beautiful mistress; Eduard, a brother who +by gambling and underground activities was bringing further discredit +on a family which had already suffered in the world's esteem. This +evening they had hitherto been content to exchange a chilly and +formal greeting. + +Although it was Sidney's duty to play the host in his sister's stead +until she should appear, it fell to the prince to break the long +silence. Pointing to the glass-doored cupboard with the tip of his +patent-leather shoe, he said: + +"A fine piece. Simplicity is after all the best master. How restful +this room is with its couple of easy chairs, its two serviceable +tables, its many flowers and few pictures. It speaks eloquently of +the occupant!" + +"Yes, thank goodness," agreed Sidney, pulling himself up and looking +round. "Style consists in bringing suitable things together. I can +conceive of nothing more intolerable than to have to live in a +'period' house, so that one has to come in like an old-time marquis, +eat in a Raphael setting, listen to music in Napoleonic surroundings, +and digest one's meals among the jejune furnishings of the ordinary +middle-class household. That's the English fashion...." + +"Were you long in England?" + +"We were brought up there--at least I was. My father lives in +London." + +"Fräulein de Wassilko has not spoken of him to me." + +"She rarely speaks of him. She is very fond of him." + +Prince Eduard became pensive. "That's beautifully put," he thought; +and again he was filled with envy of those people who could live +their lives out in privacy, who were not for ever forced to be in the +public eyes, whose genealogy was obscure. + +Sidney was thinking: "That's touched him on the raw. He did not like +a reference to the father, since he thinks he'll make light work of +the brother to reach his ends!" Then, in spiteful mood, and hoping +to get even with this scion of a ruling house from whom he expected +nothing but arrogance and treachery, he said: + +"Didn't I see you the other day talking with His Highness? He looked +to me a good deal older than the pictures of him would have us +believe." + +"My father is far from well," answered Eduard, much relieved that +Diana came in at that moment. + +"I'm so sorry. Please forgive me for being late. Well, Sidney, I +hope you did the honours in proper style. What's the time?" + +Her manner was easy. She wore a loosely falling dress with a chain +of amber beads so long that it reached her knees although she had +wound it twice round her neck. + +"I am glad to find you 'en famille,' for I am an ambassador bringing +a petition," said Eduard. + +"This sounds very solemn!" + +"You are respectfully requested to play the part of a goddess. The +divine huntress." + +"A southern one?" asked Sidney in unfriendly tones. "We are still in +February--a Prussian February!" + +"And yet I have just come from a hive of buzzing ladies," retorted +the prince, "gathered together with intent to uplift, or ameliorate, +or educate, or--well, in a word, I come from a meeting of some +women's welfare society or other. The chair was occupied by my +worthy chief's wife, Baroness Mühlwerth, who is a wholehearted +advocate of human progress, and supports the movement with the full +weight of her--of her position. The slogan runs: Down with +prejudice! The committee is meeting today to discuss plans for the +organization of a great propaganda festival. Admission (which does +not include the banquet) gentlemen thirty marks, ladies twenty. I +have never been able to fathom why the admission price for women +should be less than for men.--Let that pass.--The profits to be +devoted to the cause of illegitimate children, so there's to be a +ball and tableaux. Subject: A Gallery of Famous Women. Of course +they won't be the most important, for those only seek notoriety in +memoirs. The women in this gallery are to be persons who have +acquired legitimate celebrity, a celebrity built up in the course of +centuries, tier upon tier like a wedding cake, from Semiramis down to +Sonya Kovaleffska." + +"How many tickets do you want me to buy?" asked Diana. + +"Oh, but I haven't come here to sell you tickets! You are +misunderstanding me. What these worthy ladies have sent me to do is +to get your consent to figure in one of the tableaux they have +arranged, in No. 4--or 5, I can't remember which. They literally +assaulted me with petitions: You know Fräulein de Wassilko! She is +so lovely, so beautiful! You must persuade her to do it! She's the +only one who can take the part of Atalanta!" + +Sidney frowned. His lower lip drooped, as a greyhound's does when it +is about to be nasty. He moved away from the other two, murmuring: + +"That's queer!" + +Diana, who disliked that others should precipitate her decisions, +felt mischievously defiant, and inclined to acquiesce in the plan +before her better judgment could counsel her to refuse. There was +vexation in her face, as she looked at her brother's back. + +"Atalanta," she said softly, going towards a little bronze statue on +the writing-table. It was a copy of the Diana at the Louvre, +short-kirtled for action, her hand holding back by the antlers the +very deer she is about to chase. Diana stood gazing down at the +statuette, her arms behind her, as if studying the lines of the +perfect body of the sculptured goddess. But her cold and searching +glance passed beyond the little figure on the table. How long she +stood thus before the godlike impersonation of herself, she did not +know. Sidney, the inevitable cigarette between his lips, stood by +the window, looking askance at his sister from the farther end of the +room. Eduard, on the other hand, felt his pulses quicken as he +watched the silent colloquy with approval. For the first time he +became fully aware of her two-fold nature: the pensive woman and the +free woman; the ardent woman and the student. He had always +instinctively felt this duality of character, but it was his cultured +mind that had brought him to realization. During these last few +weeks he had felt bolder, and younger than he had ever hoped he might +feel again. + +At first he had been unsympathetic towards the charitable scheme. +But when the chairwoman had read the name of Atalanta from the list +of notable women, his imagination had summoned up Diana's figure in a +trice. He was, therefore, hardly surprised when commissioned to seek +her out and get her to consent. All the way to her rooms, he had +been wondering if she would agree. For three seconds he would see +her from afar.... But it would be before a thousand others eyes.... +Had not the whole thing already taken place? ... And was it not now a +memory and nothing more? ... Or could it be that his heart misgave +him? Was it that, from a distant box, protected behind an opera +glass, he wanted to assure himself that she was as beautiful as the +picture his imagination had conjured up? ... He was inclined to +repent of his mission, when, with an abrupt move, as if she had +suddenly made up her mind, Diana turned and faced him, supporting +herself from behind by her hands on the edge of the table where the +goddess presided. Then, with perfect self-possession, she said: + +"Agreed!" + +Sidney scowled. The prince bowed, and seemed to await an addendum. +She came towards him, defiantly, and continued: + +"But you can tell your ladies that I refuse to play the part in a +perfunctory way. I hate tights, and nobody is to dictate to me the +manner and mode of my appearance-- Good evening," she exclaimed as +Scherer and Franklin came in. + +Franklin had already called upon her, but she had felt a little +estranged. He had plied her with questions, and she was not +accustomed to giving an account of herself to anyone. She did not +feel inclined to permit his bluntness to encroach upon her freedom. +During the years since they had parted, Diana had developed into an +independent personality. Franklin, although younger than his grey +hair would lead one to believe, had become more staid; whereas she, +in spite of her rich experience of life, seemed to have grown +younger, to be even more full of vitality than before. He was +inclined to cherish the illusion that he would be able to take up the +threads where he had dropped them, become the teacher again, +establish a mastery over one who had long enjoyed the boon of liberty. + +Franklin would have liked to unite in himself the qualities of a man +of the world and an artist, and he could not help feeling a twinge of +affectionate envy for this young woman who, in spite of playing her +part in the turmoil of mundane life, succeeded in being the artist as +well. In addition, he was curious to know what sort of man this +child--it was thus he thought of her--would bless with her favours. +There would be no shadow of jealousy in this case; his regard for her +was paternal, thanks to his friendship with her father and his +relationship to her as a little girl. + +Diana read him easily, and determined to fend off his indiscreet +questionings in a friendly spirit. But she felt that Sidney would +not be a match for him, and would have to be shielded from his +intrusiveness. The four guests were obviously embarrassed. Though +each had been separately to Diana's rooms before, they had never met +here together. There was a feeling of tension in the air, which +warned the hostess that she had better lead her guests to the +dining-room as soon as possible, when at that very moment Wilhelm +arrived breathless on the scene and put them all at their ease. + +"So sorry, it really isn't my fault," he gabbled in his usual +rambling way, "for what could I do if a dapple-grey horse drawing a +carriage, very slowly, passed me by, with a lady inside smiling like +the queen of heaven, as they say in the court circulars, only it was +true this time, yes, smiling full graciously at me..." + +"Oh, Wilhelm, that's so like you," said Diana. "This is Wilhelm," +she continued, turning to the company and not mentioning his surname, +"and his dapple-greys are quite enough to betray what kind of a man +he is without my taking the trouble to introduce him as a poet. +Let's go in to dinner." + +The ice was broken. None of them wished to shine, but each +contributed his quota to a sprightly interchange of rather desultory +conversation which ranged from overfeeding on ocean-going steamers to +Hungarian national dishes and back again to the sea with its dolphins +and its flying fishes. Diana, as hostess, was prone to take a back +seat, and so this evening she let her five guests do the talking +while she followed the trail of her own thoughts: "They are all +artists and men of the world, and yet I should be nonplussed, except +of course in Wilhelm's case, to say just exactly what each of them +really is, for Scherer is also a philosopher, and I fancy the prince +hides the heart of a poet." + +"You must decide," she heard Prince Eduard say to Franklin, "for, +sandwiched as I am between two poets, I have no choice but to fall +back upon the time-honoured method of setting you one against the +other! On my right," he phrased his speech rather peculiarly so as +to avoid mentioning names, seeing that he knew the young man only as +Wilhelm, "we have enthusiastic eulogies of your position as consul. +Can you, in spite of having been there in person, swear in cold blood +that Zanzibar, an exporting land of third-rate importance, exchanged +(thank all the gods there be) against Heligoland, is a genuine island +swimming on the bosom of the waters, and is not just a place on a map +where the sea is always painted such an obstreperous blue? That +forests of palm trees, forests like our Grunewald with its pines, +Potsdam in short, stretch away for mile upon mile against the +everlastingly cloudless skies? That coco-nuts, as large as a +full-sized baby, hang threateningly suspended over the heads of the +natives, and when one of the fruits does happen to fall it is the nut +and not the head which suffers damage?" + +"What is Your Highness doing?" exclaimed Wilhelm. "Would you deprive +us even of the scent of clove carnations in that magic isle? It does +smell of carnations, doesn't it, Dr. Franklin? Say it does, please! +I read all about it in a detailed account, and have no intention of +influencing you one way or the other." + +"Well," bantered Scherer, "are you going to answer as poet or as man +of the world?" + +"Both conceptions of the place are correct," began Franklin perfectly +seriously. But he could not proceed, for the company burst into +merry laughter. + +"As diplomatist," exclaimed Diana. "But the day you become Austrian +minister for foreign affairs you'll have to write verses again, poems +about Zanzibar." + +"Maybe--when we have dined," put in Wilhelm, whose author's vanity +was a trifle touched. "For the moment, we want an answer to the +prince's question." + +"You are right, Herr Wilhelm," said Franklin, "Zanzibar is a medley +of Indian gems, of silks, wood inlays, daggers; it is a wilderness of +phœnix palms; an island in the sea, which catches the rays of sun +and moon so that it becomes iridescent as a shell; it is a place +wherein the long, lean Arab steals to and fro; where the palaces have +roofs opening to the sky, and princely dames sit there of an evening, +fanning themselves drowsily in the twilight. No place, be it never +so hoary with saga and legend, is more entrancing than this island +whose airs are heavy with the scent of carnations. But Zanzibar is +likewise a market of third-rate (though I fancy it has risen to +second place now!) importance; it has an export harbour with +evil-smelling warehouses, yelling niggers, black women at whose +pendant breasts squalling children tug. It is a nest of wicked +intriguers acting on behalf of the great powers, a land whose soil is +being drained of its fertility by the thriftless farming of Arabs, a +land overrun by rapacious half-castes and perfidious Hindus--in fact +it is a world in miniature, Herr Wilhelm, just like any other State +where the chancelleries and business houses smell, like Zanzibar, of +the mixed perfumes of carnations and sweat." + +"I am all for the carnations," cried Wilhelm resolutely. + +"Quite recently," said Scherer, "I heard a speaker who demanded +justice for his brethren, and yet he was howled down by the very +persons on whose behalf he was speaking, because he advocated methods +of achievement that pleased him but which did not please his +auditors. What was that man out for, do you fancy? For the +carnations? Or for the sweat?" + +"For crucifixion," murmured the prince. + +"Maybe he was out for power," said Diana pensively, looking at the +last speaker. But Eduard did not answer. At such moments her voice +was apt to become inaudible to his ears, and he was only aware of the +shaft from her falcon eyes. + +When, later, they had gone to her sitting-room, the prince said +softly to Diana: + +"This consul represents the newer forms of public activity. He has, +as it were, skipped the disappointments which are almost inevitably +the lot of idealists. And yet I cannot rid myself of one final +doubt, whether the expenditure of time, energy, and talent is really +worth the experience gained, whether there is any balance between the +two--as in the case of that marvellous cuckoo clock we had in the +nursery at home, which went unfailingly for twenty years and was +obviously wound up by the hand of God." + +"The present cuckoo," said Sidney sardonically, fixing his eyes on +Franklin, "is obviously wound up every morning with the utmost +precision." + +His sally at the elder man's expense brought balm to his feelings, +which had been set on edge by Franklin's paternal attitude. But it +laid him open to a possible agreement with the prince's contention, +and this he determined to avoid. He found it impossible to escape a +feeling of antagonism towards all men who admired his sister, for he +was jealous of her without loving her, and hated her friends without +harbouring any jealousy towards them. + +Scherer, who had been keeping a tight hand on himself all the +evening, now said reflectively: + +"Herr Franklin is a poet, whatever you may say." + +"And precisely for that reason we can allow him his export +statistics," exclaimed Diana. + +Meanwhile Franklin and Wilhelm were standing in the bow window. The +young man seemed to have won the elder man's regard. Candour, and +belief in everything that was said, such were two of the +characteristics possessed by Wilhelm, and they reminded Franklin of +himself as a youth, though, if he remembered rightly, he had been +somewhat more ambitious at Wilhelm's age. He was genuinely happy at +finding so disingenuous a youngster, one who looked forth with such +innocent eyes into a world which Franklin at that age had already +resolved to analyse and investigate. + +"Would you, too, like to travel?" he asked at length. + +"I can't understand you," said Wilhelm irrelevantly. "When I listen +to you speaking, you seem to me like one of those knights of old who +wore silken shifts under their armour." + +"Armour does not form part of my outfit," answered Franklin gaily. +"But I always carry an opera glass handy, and alternately look +through the wrong end and the right. Thus I get a vision of the +world at close quarters or at a distance--a most hygienic exercise +for the eyes of one's soul!" + +He moved away to join the others, for he wanted to get Scherer to +elaborate an idea which had only been broached between them at the +Political Club recently: the idea of introducing on the continent the +English system of news service, the "tape," whereby items of interest +were recorded without comment anywhere you liked. + +"I can't see," said Scherer, "why Berlin should not be able to +install what every good hotel in London has installed in the lounge. +It's merely a matter of organization." + +"As to telegraph, I'd have it introduced right into the heart of the +jungle," exclaimed Franklin, rhapsodically. "It is the symbol of our +epoch. I am fascinated with the notion that when I become a minister +of State I shall sit in my little office and my words shall float out +over land and sea, and shall be recorded there, crisp and dry, meting +out law and order to nigger chieftains!" + +"No doubt about the dryness," commented Eduard, "especially when we +are dealing with dispatches from the Wilhelm Strasse!" + +Wilhelm, who was all ears, could not understand what they were +laughing at, and asked them to explain the joke. + +"Just imagine for a moment," exclaimed Franklin good-humouredly, +while Diana handed round the coffee, "a long strip of paper, +endlessly running on a rod under a a little glass plate, and a +strange kind of pencil writing on it, ceaselessly writing, day and +night, while you stand in front of it...." + +"What is it writing? A novel?" + +"Something far more precious," said Diana, who was taking an active +part in this new undertaking of Scherer's. "It's writing the most +exciting things imaginable, for the tape itself has no idea what is +going to be inscribed on it from minute to minute." + +Wilhelm suspected them all of playing upon his credulity, and asked +cautiously: + +"Who dictates the stuff?" + +"Life, Wilhelm!" + +Diana spoke quietly and reverently. Eduard was moved by the words +and by the way she had said them. Franklin was struck by the tone of +her voice, and vague thoughts drifted through his brain. But Scherer +came to the young poet's rescue. + +"At a telephone exchange, thousands of messages flow in from every +part of the world...." + +"Yes, I know that...." + +"Well, by means of a ticker," exclaimed Scherer patiently, "news is +recorded on a strip of paper, and the message then transmitted +through another instrument to hundreds of hotels and clubs and +private houses. And these tickers, as the paper moves continually +onward, record all the important happenings throughout the world, and +news-items are received simultaneously from Peking, Washington, +Hamburg, or Zanzibar, always at the same speed, always in the same +signs, without interruption, without any arrangement, just haphazard +as they take place and as they are sent in." + +"Wonderful," said Wilhelm softly. "It's like a piece of finely +worked tapestry, a Gobelin." + +"A mirror," put in Diana. + +"A rhapsody," exclaimed Franklin. + +All eyes were turned upon Wilhelm, who stood pensive. During the +pause which followed, Prince Eduard joined them, saying: + +"To me it sounded more like a fugue." + +"It is a fugue," cried Diana and Franklin in one voice. This made +them laugh; but the prince felt uneasy. Was she on intimate terms +with this grey-haired and yet youthful man? Or had they been on such +good terms formerly that now, after many years' separation, without +prearrangement, they should have the same thoughts? + +At that moment a sound came from the door. They all turned round to +see who was there. The handle was pressed down, but no one entered. + +"Doreville," cried Diana. The door was pushed open a little way and +a light grey muzzle was seen through the opening. Then followed the +remainder of a dog, whose length of limb and whose build resembled a +greyhound, but whose muscular development and smooth coat made him +look more like a Great Dane. + +Sidney was transformed. The dog had made straight for him, and was +now rubbing its head against the young man's knee. Laughing down at +the creature, Sidney fondled it and spoke gently to it, bending over +it affectionately. He looked so amazingly beautiful at the moment, +that although none of the four other men could bear him, they were +constrained to stare in silence at the charming picture. + +Then the animal went over to Diana, and she, jumping up to meet it, +pulled it towards her. At the same time her eyes caught sight of the +statuette on the writing-table, and she scrutinized it as though to +test it, to compare it with herself. + +"The girl should be riding a horse," thought Franklin, "instead of +sitting in an office; or she should be sailing upon the waters of her +Macedonian birthplace, instead of being engaged in paddling about on +the ponds of such typically urban conversations!" + +"Maybe he was out for power," repeated Prince Eduard to himself, for +Diana's tone had forced him to apply the words to himself. + +Sidney and Wilhelm were looking at each other from either end of the +room. + +"He is certainly very handsome," thought Wilhelm. "But I wonder if +he really can draw?" + +"If I only had the naïveté of that boy," thought Sidney, "I'd be a +genius." + + + + +CHAPTER FIVE + +"Why do you affect this huge reception room, my dear Father? There +are such cosy wine-cellars to go to nowadays, low-ceilinged, +comfortable; the kind that only the upper middle class and artists +used to patronize, but now available to higher circles of society. +These old hotels along the Linden oppress one, as soon as one passes +the threshold, by their Bismarckian proportions." + +"And it is for that very reason that I am not going to allow my sons +to persuade me into making a change," answered the old prince. +"There are sufficient visitors here to make a public figure +inconspicuous; besides, these many mirrors permit of one making +valuable observations--or are the devices of our old-world diplomacy +likewise to be thrown on the scrap-heap along with all the other +relics of the Metternich age?" + +Prince Eduard and his father were a strange contrast as they stood +talking together. The old man's face was lined with suffering, his +square musician's head was grey and bowed with the years and with +illness, but it was finely moulded and gave an impression of great +intelligence. The son's fair head, with its carefully parted hair, +was long and narrow, for he took after his mother's family. They +nevertheless had one point in common: both were fond of indulging in +quaintly ironical turns of phrase, though the son's reserved nature, +and his dread of giving himself away, frequently made him assume a +cynical pose. As father and reigning monarch, the old man was +kindly, though in other respects his knowledge of human nature had +induced a mood of resigned scepticism. Towards this queer son whose +mind was filled with such outlandish notions he was tolerant; indeed +he loved the strange fellow, and was all the more lenient in that +there was no likelihood of Eduard ever rising to a position of +responsibility in which his modern ideas might jeopardize the welfare +of the little State. True, this visit to the metropolis had been +undertaken with a view to finding out by discreet inquiries at court +and among old friends of the family what sort of company Eduard kept, +for gossip was rife at the paternal residence, and painted the young +man's life in lurid colours. + +As they sat at dinner in a corner of the vast dining hall, they would +have been cut off from the rest of the room were it not that the many +mirrors reflected every detail to the very entrance. Prince Eduard's +glance was continually travelling to these detectors while he spoke. +Suddenly he leaned forward and scrutinized one of them with keener +interest. + +"On the contrary, I'm all for the old school," he said, "for I can +look my fill, unobserved, at Olivia Countess of Münsterberg who is +dining over there in a corner, alone, divinely beautiful in a +dark-blue gown. Even you, Father, whom Queen Louise dandled as a +baby, would enjoy the sight of her..." + +"I met the countess yesterday, and had a word with her in the +entrance hall. As for Queen Louise, she was a friend of your +great-grandmother; and in spite of your proverbial lack of +genealogical competence I should have thought some of your tutor's +lessons might have stuck..." + +"Good old Mengeberg," exclaimed Eduard. Then mimicking his teacher's +voice and manner: "Now, let us recapitulate: Your late honoured +great-grandmother..." + +"Eduard!" + +"Sorry, Father!" + +"Tell me, is it true," continued the old man precipitately, partly to +cover up the little reproof, and partly because the moment seemed +opportune to put the question which had long occupied his thoughts, +"is it true that Countess Münsterberg is on friendly terms with her +former rival, that--that political agent or--whatever the woman may +be?" + +"What woman, Father?" + +The young man's tone was so formal and so distant that the father +realized his motives were discovered, and he acknowledged in his own +mind that Eduard's forbearance was commendable. Yet they pursued the +game as if neither knew what the other was driving at. + +"But Eduard, you were there at the time..." + +"Ah yes, so I was. Yes, I fancy they are seeing one another." + +"Have you not met the countess there from time to time?" + +"Yes, Father." + +A pause. Eduard helped his father to another dish. The old man +leaned forward and looked kindly into his son's face. + +"Tell me, Eduard, is it seemly that you should visit that house?" + +"If Countess Münsterberg..." + +Another pause. The father settled himself back comfortably in his +chair, sipped his wine with an affectation of relish, looked round as +if wanting something to complete the savoury dish before him. + +"What is it you want, Father? Mustard? Waiter! Mustard please." + +"Yes, Sir!" + +A third pause. The elder man again leaned forward, even going so far +as to lay a hand lightly on his son's arm. + +"My dear Eduard, you are in an independent position. Heinrich and +Stefan are not so free. But I would ask you to consider this. There +are people who may find occasion to say that you are often to be seen +in the house of a young woman who cannot be your mistress since +Countess Münsterberg visits her, but who is at the same time not +quite obviously enough a lady whose position could warrant her, +unwedded as she is, to keep a house of her own... For she is not +received anywhere ... and Scherer's bachelor quarters seem to be the +only respectable house she has hitherto been able to penetrate, the +climax of her social achievement..." + +Prince Eduard loved his father, and though during these last few +weeks Diana's image and Diana's name had much occupied his mind, +endowing him, the confirmed sceptic, with a youthful vivacity none of +his friends had suspected him capable of, he had perpetually repeated +to himself, as if to condone his sentiments: "But there is certainly +one person who has a prior claim on you:--Father." Now, as he saw +the beloved head before him, the warning the old man wished to give +appeared in a fresh light, so that when Eduard spoke again there was +a boyish ring in his voice and a smile on his lips. + +"Excuse me, Father. The climax attainable by--that lady--far exceeds +the confines of the salons she sets her foot in. Remember what the +worthy Mengeberg, whose shade you so recently called up from the +tomb, remember what he, at your command, used to tell us about the +aristocracy of the mind." + +The tenderness with which he pronounced the words "sets her foot" +struck the old man as something quite novel in his son. He thought: +"Things seem to have gone pretty deep with him, and it is all +rendered even more complex by the fact that she does not appear to be +his mistress." + +"Still, it's a pity you should see so much of political women," he +said at last. + +"I fear Curtius--or was it Senderstein?--has misinformed you. The +lady whom your gentlemen are so worried about is not in any way +connected with politics.--Won't you take a little cheese?" + +"No thanks. Please go on..." + +"There's nothing more to say. Are we going to spoil our evening +together on account of some one whom I've seen at most about four +times? Does that look as if I were in love, Father?" + +"I hope not, Eduard." + +"What are you afraid of, then? To what end all those precepts of +toleration, that catechism of liberalism which you so earnestly +forced upon us all in the hope of democratizing your realm? Because +poor Heinrich cannot marry a lady with fewer than thirteen +quarterings in her coat-of-arms, am I to forgo the acquaintance of a +woman who happens to earn her own livelihood?" He broke off +suddenly, surprised at his own vivacity. Then, laughing: "How +absurdly melodramatic! I might be quoting a socialist paper!" + +In spite of his earnestness, he had not raised his voice, nor +exceeded the bounds imposed by respect and good breeding. But the +father was so unaccustomed to hear this son of his express himself +with feeling, that he was profoundly moved. He felt that Eduard had +right on his side, and yet he continued to question the young man +coldly: + +"German family?" + +"I think some Slav blood as well, born in the Balkans, the father has +become anglicized." + +"Is he--on view?" + +"No, only a brother." + +"What--does this brother do?" + +"I don't know, Father." + +"They tell me he gambles." + +"Quite possible. I saw him once at the club playing with Sagan. The +duke won." + +The old man dipped his fingers into the bowl, and as he dried them he +seemed to be washing his hands of this matter as one he would rather +discuss no further. He realized that his son had had the best of the +argument, that the duke's name had been introduced adroitly, all the +more since the scene of the card-table had very likely been invented +on the spur of the moment. He seized the favourable opportunity thus +afforded him to ask innocently: + +"Do you see much of Sagan?" + +"I met him recently at my chief's." + +"Ah, and how is Mühlwerth?" + +Eduard, delighted at having tided over the momentary clash with his +father, answered in his customary mocking yet courteous tone: + +"Mühlwerth is playing to the gallery, while his lady struts as +tragedy queen by his side. False democrats, Father, coquetting with +the left wing. When he drives along in an open car, he +ostentatiously reads Vorwaerts. The first day he was in office, +he... Have one of mine, won't you?" + +They had both opened their silver cigarette cases bearing the family +crest, and each was pressing the other to partake, the older man +offering a large sized smoke tucked away in two orderly rows in a +wide case, the younger, with a less steady hand, offering lighter +fare in a smaller case. They smiled at one another as they made +their choice, and the reconciliation was complete. + +"Thanks. And what did Mühlwerth do the first day he was in office?" + +"Many thanks.--He got there at twenty past eight, himself opened all +the correspondence--one hundred and eighty letters in all--read every +line, dictated to three typists who were scared out of their senses +and had come dribbling in at eight-forty, eight-fifty, and eight +fifty-five, the whole hundred and eighty answers, and at half past +ten, when we were standing around at a loss how to repair the +catastrophe: 'I trust your well-known acumen to see to it that these +answers are modified as far as may be necessary to make them fully +accordant with the tenor of your letter-files.'" + +He stopped short as he heard a boyish voice greeting him, and looking +up beheld Sidney. The youth's extraordinary beauty, his resemblance +to Diana in all essentials save that his face was unwholesomely pale +and his eyes lacked lustre, struck the prince afresh. The old man +was rather repelled by so much comeliness in a male, and asked coldly: + +"Who's that? I don't know quite what to make of your modern types, +but it seems to me that that young man must be a natural son of a man +of distinction--unless he happens to be a well-bred actor." + +"Ignotus," lied Eduard complacently, resolved to avoid reopening a +subject which might renew the friction between him and his father. + +"He seems to be accosting Countess Münsterberg. Does she live here?" + +"Yes, I fancy she does." + +In the mirror, Eduard saw Sidney bowing to the countess, his gesture +almost maidenly in its graceful disingenuousness. Olivia then +motioned him to a chair at her side. The likeness to Diana, the talk +he had just had with his father, the dim light that pervaded the +room, everything combined to make the prince feel that Diana herself +was over there by the countess, masquerading in male attire. It was +a relief to him when the old man rose and he could rid himself of the +vision the mirror revealed. As they sought the exit, he endeavoured +to edge his father away from the young couple. But try as he would, +he did not succeed. Olivia and the reigning prince only exchanged a +few commonplaces, but the thing Eduard had especially wished to avoid +took place. Before he realized quite what had happened, he heard the +countess saying: + +"Herr de Wassilko." + +The deed was done. Eduard grew pale, and he hardly knew whether to +thank his father or not, when the old man, turning on his heel, +silently left the room. + +"What a splendid veteran," commented Olivia in her golden voice, her +languorous eyes looking ardently into the grey, catlike orbs of her +companion. She might well have been Sidney's mother, so that her +expression had something incestuous about it. Passion alone could +serve as bond between two such disparate natures. + + +Not until he was driving home did Eduard find sufficient peace of +mind to reflect calmly upon the relationship between these two. Yet +he had been aware of it at the first glance. He knew that Olivia had +been Diana's guest once, and must therefore have met Sidney on that +occasion. Her greedy eyes having alighted on so handsome a youth, it +would not take long for his precociousness to rally to her desire. + +"She is capable of any freedom where the feelings are concerned," +thought Eduard, as he jolted along in company with his father. But +what of the young man himself? Why did he meet her half way? +Because of her rank, or because of her money? + +Meanwhile the old man at his side was asking himself: + +"Why did Eduard pretend not to know his inamorata's brother?" + +After a while he asked aloud: + +"Wassilko, is not that a Ruthenian name?" + +"Quite possibly." + +"Or, maybe, it is Polish," said the old man, amused by his son's +reticence. "You never can tell with such people...." + + + + +CHAPTER SIX + +The ball was at its height. Two orchestras, one at either end of the +huge hall, alternately struck up a succession of dances; eighty +ladies, members of the organizing committee, were unwearied in their +efforts to keep the guests amused; fairy lights, garlands, curious +and delectable sweetmeats, a myriad fanciful preparations abounded to +enchant the charitably hearted crowd. And yet a certain North German +rigidity kept the dancers from abandoning themselves to the revels +which perhaps lacked freshness and originality to a society already +surfeited with the pleasures the metropolis had to offer. Still, two +thousand persons had paid entrance money, and the treasurer reckoned +on a return of no less than forty thousand marks. + +Eleven o'clock struck, and the multitude was urged to withdraw to the +farther end of the hall. A noisy march blared out, and the guests +found themselves faced by serried ranks of chairs. On consulting +their programmes, the younger dancers sighed when they realized that +they would now have to face half an hour of edification. "Living +pictures to orchestral accompaniment in the style of the epoch," they +read. + +"Why are the names of the participants not given? That is really the +only point of interest in the whole show. Do you happen to know who +they are?" + +"I'm going along to have a look," said Sidney. + +He felt uneasy, and nevertheless he was determined, unobserved by his +sister, to gaze his fill at her. Diana was to him like a much-loved +statue. When he knew her to be among admirers, his selfish regard +for her demanded that she behave coldly towards all other men. His +affection made the thought of her as the object and the victim of +masculine desire intolerable. Did not the same blood flow in her +veins as in his? He might wish that she had a woman as friend. But +his wish must for ever remain unfulfilled, for Diana was not the kind +of woman to make friends among her own sex. Women fought shy of her, +and Olivia was the only one for whom Diana could feel affection. + +"So you are here after all," a strident voice was saying to Olivia in +welcome. "My dear, why didn't you give us the pleasure of adding +your name to our list of distinguished patrons?" + +The speaker was Baroness Mühlwerth, who now took a chair just behind +Olivia. + +"I am still leading a very retired life," answered the countess +simply. + +"Yes, yes, of course," the baroness rejoined fluently and heedlessly. +"But on occasions such as this, intelligent people always manage to +put in an appearance, although as a rule they can find little +pleasure in sharing the amusements of the thoughtless many. Ideas +invariably triumph in the end!" + +Prince Eduard had just run up against Scherer, and would like to have +got clear again. But the newspaper magnate was unwilling to let him +go. The older man pressed the younger to share his box, and at that +moment the lights were lowered. + +A beautiful girl stepped forward on the platform and endeavoured to +gain a hearing for a little speech which the restless merrymakers +rendered inaudible. She was to have spoken a kind of prologue +outlining the benefits woman had brought to mankind. Her futile +efforts were applauded, and, instantly, the orchestra began to play +the priests' stately march from _The Magic Flute_. The curtain went +up, and Semiramis, the most remote in the annals of notable women, +was disclosed, sitting stiffly on her throne, clad in gold, a regal +figure indeed, flanked by Assyrian lions. Four girl slaves crouched +nearby, while a grandee of the empire knelt offering a salver. The +whole tableau was obviously meant to symbolize the subjugation of +half Asia. + +"Who is the severe looking lady?" asked Scherer, glancing over his +shoulder at the prince. "You are on the committee, so you must know." + +"A certain Frau Meister or Meiler, who has been influenced by +Deussen's treatise on cuneiform writing, and therefore insists that +Semiramis did not wear a veil. She was willing, however, to retire +if the other members of the committee felt that such an opinion was +erroneous." + +Scherer smiled, while the remainder of the audience clapped its +appreciation. The curtain was raised once more on the unveiled +Semiramis, whose heart throbbed responsive to these plaudits, and to +the pleasure of being the target for two thousand pairs of eyes. + +"Has one long to wait between tableaux?" asked Scherer. + +"I am not on the tableaux committee, and have no responsibility in +the matter. Through private channels of information I've managed to +get a lot of fun out of the affair. Ah, the band has struck up +Schumann's _Hebrew Melodies_; that means that Holofernes is about to +receive his quietus from the woman's movement!" + +The second tableau showed a man asleep upon a renaissance sofa, +completely unaware that a tall, dark-haired Jewess was about to slay +him with his own sword. The group had been fashioned after +Caravaggio's picture, and won lively applause. + +"Quite authentic, eh?" the baroness was saying to Olivia, while +intending her neighbours to hear as well. "She's Goldmann's +daughter, you know, the councillor to the Board of Trade. Religious +prejudice would be out of place under the circumstances." + +"Hasn't Goldmann himself any?" + +The baroness laughed up at the questioner and answered softly: + +"As a matter of fact, Dr. Franklin, the young lady's father did enter +a protest. He suggested that his daughter be allowed to represent +Maria Theresa rather than Judith." + +When the 'cellos began to play the opening strains of the Aria in +A-major from Gluck's _Iphigenia_, the young girls in the audience +instinctively drew closer together while the men nodded their +approval. Every one appeared now to be at ease as the curtain rose +on a heavily-draped woman representing the Greek heroine, +endeavouring with a kindly gesture to heal her retreating brother. +But some of the audience did not fail to note the absence of the +Furies to the left of the scene. + +"Capital," exclaimed Scherer. "I suppose the Eumenides were too +naked...." + +"That goes without saying," answered the prince absently, and for a +moment Scherer failed to catch the import of the prince's mischievous +insinuation. + +This tableau proved a great favourite, and the curtain was raised +repeatedly. All agreed that it was the best thus far shown. + +"Atalanta next," some one said. + +"I'm not sure..." + +"The huntress, is it not?" + +"Quite right; the Caledonian boar! Meleager." + +This time the music was less familiar, and sounded strangely in the +ears of these merrymakers. Ah, yes, of course, Debussy's +_L'après-midi d'un jaune_. Diana had selected the piece, and had +herself arranged the tableau. The band played for some little while +before the curtain was raised, and then, for a moment, the audience +was nonplussed. + +Hitherto the tableaux had depicted groups in postures of activity. +Now, on a greatly diminished stage, before a red curtain, a solitary +figure emerged in relief. The young woman was seen in profile, +resting her weight on the left foot, while her right hand fondled a +great hound. Both woman and hound stood absolutely motionless. + +Diana had modelled herself upon the Louvre statue of the huntress, a +copy of which was on the writing-table in her flat. She had a golden +fillet circling her brow, and a short, full chiton of the same colour +covering her from breast to knee. The draperies were so arranged as +to give the effect of being blown against her body by the wind and +carried backward so as to expose part of the left thigh. Her +sandals, the girdle fastened high under the breast, the quiver on her +back, all were of the same shade of gold, which harmonized +exquisitely with the red curtain, the grey dog, and the fine bronze +of her skin. The beast at her side did not stir, and his gentle +breathing only served to enhance the beautiful effect of this living +statue, coming as it did so rhythmically from between his teeth and +setting the muscles over the ribs quivering and vibrating. + +The curtain remained up longer for this tableau than for its +predecessors, while the band continued to play the beautiful, strange +music. When at last it was lowered, the applause, at first hesitant, +became vociferous. But the curtain was not raised a second time, +only the strains of Debussy's magical music continued until the end. +The assembly was eager to see the tableau once more and was not a +little vexed when its applause was ignored. Many, in their +excitement, had risen in their places. Now they resumed their seats +and waited for the music to stop. "Who can the lady be?" was on +everyone's lips. Few could answer the question for Diana's name and +antecedents were very little known in Berlin society circles. A few +of the older ladies were at first inclined to protest against the +breach of the conventions, judging the tableau to have exceeded the +limits of propriety. But such objections were speedily quelled, for +no one in this domain of pseudo-emancipation had any wish to appear +old-fashioned and reactionary. Some of the older men whispered to +one another that the young lady had undoubtedly been scantily clad. +The younger girls blushed under the scrutiny of their admirers, who +seemed to be making unfavourable comparisons. + +Olivia, completely taken off her guard, had risen as she recognized +Diana and softly spoke her name. But a lady in the next row, +pointing to the programme, had corrected the countess, saying: +"Atalanta is what's printed here." The baroness, who was relishing +the sensational atmosphere of the whole scene, began to laugh, +whereat Olivia was put out of countenance. Her eyes fluttered from +left to right, and her pleasure in the scene was spoilt. + +Franklin, who had been let into the secret, looked on as connoisseur. +He had advised Diana to take up a somewhat firmer position than the +one adopted in the original statue. But she had laughed, having made +up her mind to measure her strength with the marble model in every +detail. Now his feelings were divided for he half wished that his +fears might prove to be well grounded, while at the same time he +hoped she might come out of the ordeal triumphant all along the line. +He was thus almost too agitated to enjoy the tableau to the full. +Further, his heart was troubled by another image which he had +glimpsed a moment before the curtain rose on Diana. His eyes had +encountered those of Olivia. + +As soon as Debussy's strange music beat upon his ears, Scherer had +become keenly attentive. He asked the prince how it was that such a +modern composition had found its way into this place. Receiving no +answer, he turned round, and found the prince's place vacant. He was +greatly surprised when he recognized Diana in the person of Atalanta; +indeed, he was so taken aback that he was incapable of savouring +unreservedly a sight he had many times yearned to have before his +eyes. Still, he greatly relished the artistic perfection of the +grouping and execution; she looked so maidenly, so strong, so free, +that the artist in him was satisfied. He laid his opera glass aside, +and glanced round the hall. In a box opposite he saw Sidney, +standing, wrapped in a fur coat, and in an attitude so similar to the +one Diana had assumed that the relationship between the two was even +more obvious than usual. As Sidney took up his opera hat and left +the box, Scherer, for the first time, felt his heart go out to that +young man in genuine sympathy. He wanted to join him, to be with +him. How could he know what feelings were troubling the young man's +heart? + +Scherer rose and was preparing to leave his box when a voice from the +neighbouring box, speaking in broken German, inquired: + +"Do you know the name of the young lady who stood as the huntress +just now?" + +"Haven't the ghost of an idea, Doctor," answered another voice with a +strong Berlinese accent. + +Like a flash of lightning Scherer's acute memory recalled a scene: a +strike-meeting that he and Diana had attended together, incognito, as +an adventure. There had been the usual talk of wages and oppression, +and then a square-headed young Slav, a peasant from the Caucasus, had +arisen and talked with passionate idealism about brotherhood, in a +speech that had gone quite over the heads of the city workers in the +meeting. A fair-haired young Russian, blue-eyed, wearing a +close-fitting jacket of dark cloth--what could he be doing in a +society affair such as this? The Russian stood motionless, staring +at the curtain as if it were not there and he was still contemplating +the tableau of the goddess and her dog. Scherer recognized the man +who was with the Russian as one of the parliamentary deputies of the +German Social Democratic Party. The two men nodded to one another. + +"You have guests in your box?" inquired Scherer. + +"The box is not mine, nor have I any guests," said the deputy as if +to excuse his presence at a society function. "I merely wished my +Russian friend to have a little relaxation after a heavy day at +accounts. Allow me----Doctor Sergievitch, Herr Scherer," whereupon +Scherer felt his hand gripped by a huge peasant fist. + +"I heard you speak not so very long ago," said Scherer with greater +directness than was his wont. + +"Ah? Do you often go to our meetings?" asked the Russian, with a +slight emphasis on the "you." + +"Yes, but in other clothes," laughed Scherer, for Sergievitch seemed +to base his doubts rather on the dress of the interlocutor than on +anything else. + +"How do you like the tableaux?" Scherer went on to ask politely. + +"One only was to my liking," answered the Russian curtly. + +Prince Eduard was the only member of the audience who had known +beforehand what he was to expect. And now he had seen Diana as he +had always hoped to see her; stepping boldly forward on splendidly +muscular legs, slim of haunch, her broad chest veiled by diaphanous +draperies, her bronzed arms bare, one hand reaching for the arrows in +the quiver slung over her back. His gaze travelled up to her face +which he had seen but yesterday so close and so aloof, in quietude or +in animation, severe, sweet and tender, or fiery, and he felt he +could never take his eyes off this personification of youth. Yet the +ruthless curtain fell, and severed him from the vision. + + + + +CHAPTER SEVEN + +Diana had gone straight home after her tableau. As she entered her +flat the maid told her that Doctor Franklin had been waiting to see +her for ten minutes or so. + +The visit was not wholly welcome, for Diana had wished to be alone, +had wanted not to speak to anyone this evening. The tableau had had +for her a quasi-religious significance. For a moment, she had +embodied the semblance of the goddess whose name she bore, and she +had felt herself to be the handmaiden of her to whom she had +dedicated her life. She had hardly been conscious of all this until +that very morning when she had waked in her white bedroom and had +beheld the pale wintry sun shining through the window greeting her +like a herald from a southern clime. Then, in silence, she had +offered up a prayer to her namesake, as if in very truth the huntress +were a deity. While driving to the show, her mind had been wholly +concerned with practical affairs. She thought of the beautiful way +the draperies were to cling to her, of how she would hold Doreville +by the collar and constrain him to stillness; and on the homeward +journey she had been wondering if perhaps she had not lifted her +right heel a trifle too high. + +"Are you hungry?" she asked Franklin, unable wholly to hide her +irritation. "Mary won't be long now. She is bringing Doreville +home." + +"How splendidly he behaved." + +"Could you see him breathing?" + +"When I looked at the tableaux through my glasses it was easy to see +that all the figures were breathing, with one exception--you, my +child." + +"I had lost the knack of holding my breath and have been practising +every day for the last week by holding my face under water in my +bath." + +She took a cigarette from the box and threw herself just as she was, +in her dark walking dress, upon a low sofa. She looked pensive and +serious. + +Franklin was in a mood of contemplation rather than of admiration, +and as he looked down on her reclining form he no longer saw her as +an individual but as a type. He followed in imagination the course +of the development of the eager girl she had been, to the beautiful +woman she was now; and, with the injustice habitual to mankind (which +is on the whole envious when it sees a beloved being on the way to a +fruitful expansion) he asked himself whether her experience of life +had not been bought too dear, whether the wandering and aimless +existence she led had not hindered the development of her inner self. +Only to his artist friends did he acknowledge the cleavage in his own +soul, torn as it was between the world of art and the world of +practical affairs; and, like all active idealists, he was inclined to +be intolerant when other idealists invaded his privacies. + +"Is it really necessary," he said with a smile, "to learn diving if +one would be a goddess?" + +She sat up. All that was combative in her nature was on the alert. + +"Is it really necessary," she expostulated, "to visa passports in +order to be lord of the land of dreams?" + +"One tries to keep the two things separate...." + +Diana relaxed, and laid her head back among the cushions. + +"For my part, my dear Franklin, I try to combine the two." + +"You were very fine, Diana. Even the foot you were not putting your +weight on remained perfectly steady. Your breast and hair were in +keeping with works of the seventh or sixth century. You seemed to +belong to the classical world, for unfortunately you wear your hair +short." + +"Yet the Sphinx is old. I think she is ages older," she retorted +pertly. + +"Only the Sphinx happens to be a man, you know," he corrected, her +provocative manner have piqued him into assuming the rôle of teacher. + +"You are awfully domineering tonight; whereas I feel..." She did not +finish her thoughts, but stretched her arms out sideways. + +"A younger man's company would suit your mood better, I fancy." + +She clasped her hands under her head and looked at him, a challenge +in her eyes. + +"You seem to take me for an idiot or a cow...." + +"Not at all; just a woman." + +She became defiant. + +"Mm, and yet, barely an hour ago, I was Diana immaculata striding +through the woods!" + +"A statue which is very active on weekdays!" + +"Like certain poets, Franklin." + +"Precisely! Do you not realize that I am fighting against myself and +not against you, dear child?" + +"My father is very different from you," she said, hoping to +discourage his paternal airs. + +"Your father, like all mysteries, is a precious possession. For that +very reason he will never tell you genuine truths." + +She did not stir, but put her next question squarely. + +"What do you object to in my present way of living?" + +He blew the smoke noisily through his lips and rejoined: + +"I had hoped..." + +At that moment the door opened and Countess Olivia entered, +accompanied by the dog. + +Of all those who had been spectators at the entertainment and had +seen Diana's tableau, Olivia had been the most deeply stirred. +Filled with loving envy of Diana's youthful freedom, she had today +experienced an almost tragical intensity of delight which had urged +her to come and tell Diana of her affectionate gratitude for the +pleasure the tableau had given. So great had been her desire to +unburden herself that, contrary to her custom, she had hastened +hither instantly in spite of the late hour. She had met Mary and the +dog as she was waiting for her car and had offered to give them both +a lift. The faithful old soul had assured her she would find Diana +alone and had again as the car drew up before Diana's door, urgently +requested her to drop in for a moment. Now the countess stood +motionless and aghast on the threshold. Her hand loosed its hold on +the dog's collar, whereupon Doreville precipitated himself upon his +mistress, displaying so stormy a delight at finding her again as to +prevent her rising to receive her visitor. + +Franklin, too, was taken aback by the countess's intrusion, and his +chilly aspect added to the lady's discomfiture. Diana's mood, +however, was considerably enlivened by the new turn of affairs. She +did not speak immediately, but while trying to calm the dog's +demonstrations of joy, lay thinking: + +"How quickly people are made to suffer when they over-step the +conventions. The countess has to pay for it because she comes to +visit me at an unusual hour; and Franklin is punished for his +contrariety by the inopportune appearance of this blond beauty." + +She smiled at Olivia, saying: + +"I am so pleased that you should have brought him and not someone +else. He did splendidly, didn't he? He has earned his supper, and +we'll give him the bone I promised if he were good. Mary! Please +bring in tea for us all.--You must be perishing with cold; or did I +suffer alone because of my scanty raiment? Huntress goddesses must +wear furs here in Prussia if they are to enjoy the chase!--Do take +this yellow chair, it goes so well with your dress. That blue +reminds me of the southern seas." + +"Your tableau was very beautiful," said Olivia gravely. Her velvety +voice made Diana think of the lap of the waters among the rocks at +the foot of the countess's Dalmatian home, away there in the +Adriatic, the ancestral castle of ancient story. + +"Thank you," she answered no less gravely, looking affectionately at +Olivia. Then, in lighter voice: "You are the first among all those +who saw my tableau to tell me that. For the poet here has only had +time to criticize my way of wearing my hair. I like long hair in +others, but not for myself." + +The tea-tray was now brought in. A bone for the dog too, and +Doreville was put through his paces before being given his reward for +his good behaviour. There were questions of sugar, of cream, of rum, +and all the other byplay relating to the comfort of her guests. Yet +the atmosphere remained charged, and not one of the three felt at +ease. + +Diana's thoughts ran: "Why could they not have left me to myself? I +wonder whether she came on Sidney's account?" + +Olivia mused: "She is more racy than Sidney. I wish I were a man so +that I could be her lover. What does that old bachelor want from me?" + +Franklin was thinking: "Those two women are a living poem. There +they sit opposite one another and I am hard put to it, as I am with +Titian's picture, to decide which represents sacred love and which +profane." + +They simultaneously broke the silence which had encompassed them, and +their voices seemed to them to come from infinite distance. + +"Was the hall full?" + +"Not a free seat to be seen." + +"They must have done well for their charity." + +But Diana as she spoke was thinking: "I wonder if Franklin is her +lover? Their voices go so well together." + +And Olivia: "I shall not see Sidney again." + +Franklin: "Leopardess and lioness." + +Aloud they were saying, and again their voices seemed to be coming +from afar: + +"Did you have a good place?" + +"Yes, about the sixth row." + +"One could see well from every part of the hall." + +At last they were gone. + +"I wonder why my tall prince did not come? A visit from him would +have pleased me better," thought Diana as she slipped into bed. + + +Franklin, in order to prolong the few minutes he would be in the +countess's company, had proposed to walk home with her across the +park. The arc lamps shone down upon the tree-tops like moons that +had come close to the earth. It was a lovely night, clear and fresh +as only a winter night can be. They walked along in silence side by +side; and the longer the silence lasted, the more freely did they +allow their thoughts to range, until Franklin said aloud: + +"And yet Diana's beauty is no more than a cloak to protect her +liberty." + +Olivia's mind had been toying with similar ideas. She looked up +suddenly at the tall stranger with the mellow voice, and the poet +read in her eyes the meaning of her melancholy. Olivia said: + +"And at the same time it is a magic garment which carries her away +into the air. Have you known her long?" + +"Many years ago I was studying with her father in London. She was my +fellow student." + +"Is he a professor?" + +"He is a sage." + +"Does he live alone?" + +"As man of the world and crank." + +"Is her mother still alive? She never speaks of her." + +"She died when giving birth to her son. It is for that reason that +the old man cannot bear to have his son near him. Her name was +Helena, but he never mentioned her to me. Diana once showed me her +picture." + +As they emerged from the park, Franklin reflected that he had wasted +his few minutes with Olivia in talk about Diana instead of about the +countess herself, and he would have liked to remedy matters now. But +she turned to him again and asked: + +"Do you think she cares for her brother?" + +Franklin answered innocently: + +"He'll make good yet." + +"As an artist?" + +"As a man." + +Olivia's thoughts took a somewhat cynical turn. Then: + +"I may hope for as much in my son's case!" + +"You have a son, Countess? A child?" + +"Not that, but a boy who is still quite young." + +"Like you?" + +"He takes after his father." + +Franklin suddenly remembered the duel which had put an end to the +count's career, he remembered that a love affair had been the cause +of the duel, and he saw the woman walking at his side burdened rather +than protected by her furs, and for several minutes he climbed the +ladder of imagination, up and down, up and down again, giving his +fancy full play. Then, very slowly, as if he would have prepared to +stop half way in the expression of his thought, he murmured: + +"And his father was, so I am told, obliging enough to..." + +Ten strides separated her from her hotel. Olivia was thinking: + +"They are all alike, these poets, these worthy cits. Ah, if only our +own people were less banal, one would give such men the +go-by.--Sidney took a room here yesterday. I suppose he's waiting +for me in the lobby." + +Aloud she said frigidly to the man who had seen her home: + +"Thanks. Good night." + +But the young man was not awaiting her in the lobby after all. + + + + +CHAPTER EIGHT + +Next day, while Diana was at breakfast, Sidney called. + +"Wonders will never cease," exclaimed Diana; "you up at half past +eight in the morning! What's afoot?" + +"I have it in mind to come round every day until further notice at +nine o'clock, if your chief will agree to your arriving an hour later +at the office. It all depends upon you." + +He spoke quietly, but with a note of firmness in his voice, and with +a sprightliness of mien she was surprised to find in a man of his +lackadaisical disposition. + +"Can it be that you are in love, and want to have me teach you +Serbian or Turkish because your lady understands no other tongue?" + +"May I light up, or is it too early?" he asked, striking a match. He +did not sit in his usual way with his legs higher than his head, but, +rather, as rider. Both his feet were firmly planted on the floor, he +narrowed his eyes as if he were about to take pencil in hand and +start drawing. Then he said: + +"Didn't you and father always harbour a wish that I should do +modelling?" + +"And do you want to model me?" + +He made no answer. Diana rose and went towards the window, drummed +upon the pane, tapped her toe gently on the floor, and then stood +silent for a while. Suddenly she turned about, folded her arms, +looked steadily at her brother who had not moved from his earlier +position and had kept his eyes fixed upon her, and at length asked +composedly: + +"Sidney, have you a commission to do this? Sit still, don't lose +your temper at once like that. You have no commission for the work? +Honour bright?" + +She went up to him with the gait of a young man and held out her +hand. He shook, but his expression remained somewhat rueful, his +lips pouting, and his eyebrows raised. Diana took a deep breath, and +said: + +"That's all right. I'll gladly be your model, and I'll take you at +your word. You'll come here every morning from eight to ten." + +He smiled. Seductive lines formed themselves in the beautiful oval +of his rather weak face, as he said, softly and beseechingly: + +"I said nine." + +Diana laughed gaily. She took him round the neck and kissed him. +But he seized her vehemently and drew her towards him, so that +Diana's heart seemed to cease beating for a second. Her spirit +darkened. She closed her eyes against her brother's soft cheek. +Then she pulled herself free. + +"You really mean that we shall work? The place will have to be very +adequately warmed. There is rather a draught from the bay window." + +"Why not in your bedroom?" + +Again her heart seemed to stop beating. After a moment's hesitation +she acquiesced. + +"And when do you wish to begin?" + +"Tomorrow." + +"Are you going to do some sketches first?" + +"No, I'll start straight away with the clay." + +"Good." After a pause, and with slight emphasis, she added: "Of +course the work will belong to me." + +"If it is a success," he answered unsteadily. + +"That won't do. I must have it in any case." + +"Agreed!" he laughed. + +When he had gone, she stood deep in thought. It seemed to her that +her limbs were made of lead, for her body readily responded to her +mood. He had vowed he was not commissioned to do the work. Yet she +felt uneasy. + +Sidney set himself to his task with feverish haste. He had been wont +to do his drawing hesitantly, in an undisciplined way, by fits and +starts. Now his whole manner was changed. Next morning, on the +stroke of eight, he was knocking at Diana's door. He was elegantly +dressed, as if paying a courtesy call. Diana was ready for him, +waiting in a well heated room which she had had transformed from a +bedroom into a workroom. The carpet had been covered with a +dust-sheet. She stood on a wooden pedestal, clad like Atalanta in +short, clinging draperies, almost naked. The quiver lay ready to +sling over her shoulder. Sidney was baffled. He smiled, kneaded his +clay, and hardly gave her a glance. Now he wished to start the work, +took his measurements, then flung all aside and looked earnestly at +her, saying: + +"No, Diana. That won't do. I want--I would like--to model you in +action." + +She hesitated. Her thoughts seemed to drop from her head to her +heart, and her feelings seemed to rise from her heart to her head and +overwhelm her. For years, Diana had been endeavouring to cajole her +brother to take his work seriously. Vainly had she tried to wean him +from his lethargy, for she felt that it held nothing but danger for +his future development. He had never mentioned any of his friends to +her, and she was not at all sure that she wished to know anything +about them. Occasionally, Scherer had given her news of him and his +doings, but he had done so with caution, and she had not been +encouraged to ask further. + +Sidney's sudden decision to model her led Diana to believe that he +was going through a crisis. She was reluctant to hamper him in any +way, for she felt that her reappearance on the stage of his life had +aroused more than his artistic appreciation. As his sister, she had +been somewhat alarmed at the warmth of his embrace. But she was too +courageous in face of danger and too proud to go back upon her +resolutions. Besides she felt a maternal tenderness for Sidney which +added to her determination to do all in her power to bring him back +into the path of artistic accomplishment. + +His half-commanding and half-imploring manner, the compelling gaze of +his cat-like eyes, told her she must obey if she was to succeed in +doing what she had set herself to do. Without a word, quite simply, +she let the draperies fall from her shoulders. Now she stood before +him, very still, her arms hanging by her side, her thoughts turned +inward upon herself. + +Swiftly and silently he gripped the moistened clay. Morning after +morning for five consecutive days he toiled to reproduce what he saw +before him. As soon as the two hours were up, he took his departure, +silently, leaving the work wrapped in wet cloths. Thus he came, and +thus he went. He had got her to stand in profile, as if striding +along, her right arm slightly raised. He hardly spoke a word, and +never came to see her at other times. + +She had not looked closer at the work, nor even from where she stood +did she seem to discover what he was doing. + +On the fifth morning, as he was stopping work for the day, Diana +flung her bath wrap over her shoulders and, drawing it closely round +her, stepped up to the clay model which was about a quarter life +size. Sidney stood behind her. She was looking at something that +was certainly not a portrait of herself. + +The clay showed her the figure of a girl of fifteen, remotely similar +to herself; the breasts were small and undeveloped, the legs thin and +boylike. The head resembled hers so little that it might have been +modelled on a younger brother, one not even as like her as Sidney. +The strange statue seemed to her the work of an amateur, of a man +endowed with talent, but entirely self-taught. It set her guessing +as to Sidney's fantastic and erotic life; she thought of his +dreams.... + +She turned towards him and as she did so he looked away and began +gathering his tools together. He did so precipitately and +absent-mindedly. She hesitated to say a word of praise. It seemed +to her that he wished to avoid any physical contact. + +"Are you not going to work any more today?" + +"It's all nonsense," he muttered. "Nothing doing. No use trying to +blind oneself to the truth. Break it up. Thanks, all the same. +Good-bye." + +He made his exit in a state of agitation, leaving the fragment +behind. No sooner was he gone than Diana began to study the work +more closely. Her thoughts were confused, now flitting to him, now +back upon herself, now concentrated upon this dream child. Mary came +in to help her. + +"Mr. Sidney went away at nine today?" + +"Yes, Mary. Give me my coat and skirt, the black one, please." + +"But the sun is shining today and it is sure to be warm." + +"No matter." + +While helping Diana to dress, the old servant glanced at the statue. + +"Is that Mr. Sidney's work," she asked dryly. + +"Do you like it?" + +"What's it supposed to be?" + +"Can't you recognize it?" + +"No, I do not know the child." + +Mary's opinion was important to Diana, for if this old nurse failed +to recognize her youthful charge, the resemblance must indeed be +difficult to trace. + +"Why did Mr. Sidney want to do his modelling here?" + +"There's no central heating where he lives." + +"Ah, I see," answered Mary, paying little heed to the +inconclusiveness of her mistress's explanation. She loved Sidney, +but was sad at heart concerning him, and often wished that the lad's +father would exercise a little parental control. + +Diana lifted the statuette in her arms and carried it into the +sitting-room. She set it up in the bay window. + + +Towards evening that same day Prince Eduard called. He did not +notice the new statuette, for the bay window where Diana had placed +it was not lighted. Since the evening of the charity fete he had +come but once to see her, and had been told she was out. Today, a +week later, he came without giving notice. His first words on +entering were: + +"It's an eternity, or as my old tutor would have said, a decade, +since I last saw you. Our, or rather, your, evenings a trois seem to +be things of the past.... Besides so many 'seasonable' events came +to interfere.... And ever since the recent martyrdom I have not once +looked up the committee ladies to present them with roses in token of +my gratitude--though I should have done so seeing that I am the only +male on the committee. The press has been obliging enough to do the +job for me, but I don't suppose you have read the papers." + +"I read nothing but the competitions," put in Diana as she paced to +and fro. "Also the news items under the captions 'accidents,' +'agriculture,' 'weather forecast.' Herr Scherer tells me that the +clerical press insists that in those days the huntresses were fully +clad." + +"The funeral orations concerning you were worse, for they were +written with genuine feeling. One depicted the dream you had given +him, although he can't possibly have had time to dream his dream and +get it into next morning's paper. His soul..." + +"Don't let's talk about the soul when the subject in hand is the +body! It makes me think of the missionaries who corrupt the negroes +by turning the poor creatures' thoughts away from work to contemplate +the so-called soul." + +"Psychology is a pitfall!" + +"No," said Diana, whose critical faculty seemed to have become more +acute since that morning's experience, "all that is wrong with +psychology is that it should have escaped from the hands of the poets +and brain specialists and strayed into the dubious hands of women and +journalists. Dancers should not meddle with the science, and +diplomatists would be well advised to give it closer study." + +"At times they all begin to take an interest in it, and in the end +this works productively." + +"You mean to imply that the latter are led to embark upon bold +undertakings, while the former set about concocting sly intrigues?" + +"I meant that both are led to create racy offspring--and that +handsome women petrify into pretty images, since they are too proud +to become dancers and too dangerous to be allowed to dabble in +diplomacy." + +"Would either exist at all if there were no onlookers, do you think?" + +"The way is free," laughed the prince waving his hand towards the +stretch of carpet and stepping aside. "I, at least, will disappear +behind the curtains." + +She laughed, but as he entered the bay window he said: + +"I seem to have fallen in with a very young girl." + +He drew the curtain back, and Diana switched on a light which +instantly flooded the statue. The prince became very still and very +silent. Time passed by unheeded. He wanted to know who had stood as +model and who could be the author. Gradually it dawned on him that +Sidney might have done it, for the young man's sketches were familiar +to him, and he had come to appreciate the work of this queer brother +of Diana's. He did not venture, however, to mention any names, +merely commenting: + +"Good, quite good. Almost perverse. Pardon me, but who has +fashioned this child?" + +He deliberately chose the word "child" in order to exclude any +thought that the statue resembled Diana. She put out the light, +turned, and went back into the room, saying nonchalantly: + +"A study by my brother." + +"I did not know he modelled in clay." + +"He's having a try at it now." + +"What a waste of talent! He really ought to go to some art school or +other and study." + +"Do you see him sometimes?" + +"Very seldom." + +"Is he gambling still?" + +"I--hardly know. Perhaps, a trifle, occasionally, as we all do." + +Diana noticed the prince's embarrassment, and the old sensation of +anguish seized upon her heart as it always did when she felt her own +personal freedom was being invaded by other people's destinies. She +must rid herself of the tension that had oppressed her since early +morning. Her eye fell on the piano. Stepping up to it, she opened +it and asked the prince to play. + +Eduard, sensitively aware of her uneasiness, sat down and began to +play, although in reality he was a violinist rather than a pianist. +Diana sat at the other end of the room as far away from him as +possible. She was wearing a golden brown frock, and lay back in an +arm-chair, letting her thoughts run free. Not until he had played +several bars did she recognize the piece. + +It was Debussy's romantic idyl of the faun, upon whose strains she +had built up her tableau of Atalanta. The tender and joyous strains +flowed over her sad heart, and she was grateful to the prince for his +gentle homage. Her limbs lost their leaden weariness, she slowly +rose to her feet, and, hardly conscious that it might be the prince's +former reference to the free path along the carpet and his gesture +which invited her to dance, she began to move rhythmically to and fro +in the room like a living statue, He scarcely looked at her, so +anxious was he not to disturb her mood. But she knew very well that +she owed him a debt of gratitude for having through his music broken +the spell upon her limbs, and after a while she ceased her strange +dance. He concluded the piece somewhat abruptly, but the picture had +been engraved upon his memory. When, without any witticism or +sardonic joke he took leave of her a moment later, he realized just +as she did that a bond of feeling had been set up between them. + + + + +CHAPTER NINE + +The first movement closed on a cadence. No one spoke. Franklin, who +took the viola part, very softly tested his G string, which had gone +a little flat, while Scherer, from his seat at the piano, looked over +the top to where the 'cellist sat. Seeing that the trio of strings +was ready, he started the adagio which he played as a passionate +prologue. The piano was soon joined by the sombre strains of the +viola, taking up the subject in fugal form. Now another voice, +soaring aloft in seraphic ecstasy like a boy's, joined itself to the +others. It was the violin, played by the prince. Eduard did not +intend to make the violin part take precedence of the piano, as is so +often the way with soloists when they embark on chamber music. But +the exquisite tone of his instrument, and the upward curve of the +melody, put the others for a moment into the shade, so that the three +were forgotten, and, indeed, themselves both listeners and players, +kept their parts strictly modified to form a genuine accompaniment. + +Soon, however, the 'cello made its entry with a second subject in a +more lively rhythm, and the boyish voice seemed to be replaced by the +mellow contralto of a woman. Then, gradually, the strings were +dominated by the virile notes of the piano, which, in generous +chords, united the melodies into a harmonious whole. + +The little company had forgathered in Scherer's music-room, a place +devoid of carpets, and panelled throughout. Diana, who alone had +been invited as audience, had ensconced herself in a corner, +protected from the view of the players by darkness and distance. +Neither during the previous quartette, nor during the one they were +now performing had she cast her eyes towards the circle of light in +which the musicians played, save once, when the 'cello had introduced +the second theme. Then she had glanced over towards the player, who +was a new acquisition to their circle. She mused: "He presses his +instrument against him, and, gently caressing it with his hand, +brings forth its rich and perfect tones." Her thoughts took flight +into other realms of emotion; they hovered and dipped and rose again +on wings of sensual delight, until her whole being was suffused with +feelings such as she had not experienced since the previous summer, +her life having since then passed on a purely platonic level. + +The men broke up, stretching their legs which had become stiff with +long sitting. They fluttered the pages of the music for a while in +silence. Then, with maternal gentleness, the three string players +tucked their instruments away into the cosy warmth of the cases, and +snapped the locks to, while Scherer, spreading cloths over the keys +and the outside of the piano, closed down the lid. Diana, meanwhile, +had not stirred from her corner. + +Scherer came slowly towards her. + +"You are smiling," he said softly, taking a seat at her side. "And +yet you have been gazing on Medusa's head." + +"No, not Medusa's," she corrected, wincing as Scherer suddenly turned +on the full lights in the centre of the room. "I hardly heard the +presto. What's the opus number?" + +Scherer named it. + +"One of Beethoven's last works," he added, somewhat didactically. +She had asked her question merely to gain time, and his tone +instantly scattered what remained of her dreamlike trance. Suddenly +rising, she stepped over to join the other group. + +"Don't be too severe in your criticism, please," said Franklin. "I +made a terrible hash of the last movement. But it goes so quickly, +and I've never had much technique. Besides, I'm not used to playing +with others." + +"You'd rather play solo," teased Diana, laughingly. + +They went in to dinner, Diana on Scherer's arm, and all five took +their places at the round table. + +"Yes, I like playing alone," exclaimed Franklin, his whole tone +betraying how hard he found it to accommodate his libertarian +temperament to co-operative labours. + +"And yet," said Scherer, motioning the prince to a chair next Diana's +and the other two men to the remaining places, "and yet, it seems to +me that a solo player can never be a genuine musician." + +"Poets never get beyond the solo stage," commented the prince. "They +feel they must reign as absolute monarchs." + +At these words the newcomer to the quartette raised his head. He had +hitherto taken hardly any share in the conversation, and now turned +his eyes on the speaker. But the prince was immersed in the +contemplation of his plate, and, instead of the prince's eyes, the +stranger met Diana's fixed upon him. There was an eloquent +expression of protest in the man's whole countenance, a critical +rebuke of the prince's paradoxical utterance. + +"What a strange, dumb method of speech these Russians possess," +thought Diana, lowering her eyes in turn to her plate. + +After the introduction at the charity tableaux, Scherer had invited +Dr. Kyril Sergievitch to his house, and had been surprised and +delighted to learn that the young man played the 'cello. This was +decidedly an addition to his musical evenings, for he had long wished +to have a full quartette. His invitation had been all the more +cordial and pressing. When he had told Diana of his find, he waited +in vain for a token of surprise and curiosity in her, or, at least, +some sign that she was forcing herself to show indifference. She had +almost forgotten the Russian, and, in general was inclined to keep +music and musicians apart from her inner life. When she had felt her +hand in Sergievitch's huge fist earlier this evening, he seemed to +her more bashful than she had expected him to be. She found his +embarrassment difficult to explain, for Scherer had not told her of +the meeting at the charity ball, nor of the Russian's question that +same night, nor of their further encounters at the political club. + +Diana and Sergievitch sat opposite one another, strangers, although +each had seen the other at different times on a stage under somewhat +peculiar circumstances. + +Conversation emerged slowly for all were still under the spell of the +music, and at first was carried on by the three other men, while +Diana and the Russian sat silent, the latter intent and listening, +the former abstracted. + +"If everyone were to play tutti all the time," Franklin was saying +challengingly, "who would be left to create and lead? The conductor? +He's only an employee!" + +"Perhaps the invisible composer, Herr Franklin," said Scherer. + +"Dust and ashes this long while since," exclaimed the prince. +"Ideas, if they are to be fecund here below, must filter down to us +from the spheres of those who hold aloof from the world's turmoil." + +Again the Russian raised his handsome head with its crown of fair +hair. But his forehead was puckered in a frown as if he were trying +to keep his eyes from flashing. This time it was Scherer who was +given the benefit of the Russian's silent conversation. The effect +on the host was somewhat uncanny, and, hoping to break the spell he +said to his guest. + +"You appear to be dubious?" + +"Why should not ideas rise, once in a while? May it not be that this +earth of ours holds hidden treasures, stores of ideas, undreamed of +in that enlightened heaven of yours?" His eyes turned to the prince, +dark and questioning. + +Silence. + +"A threatening storm," thought Franklin. + +"Heavy artillery," thought the prince. + +Then to crush any possibility of a debate in the Russian manner, +Prince Eduard said aloud: + +"Certainly, certainly, you are right, Doctor. Heaven and earth are +each of them the mental terminuses of the human express." + +"Why except the sea?" demanded Diana, a warm protest in her voice. + +"What can one do with fishes and molluscs, Madam?" asked the Russian +coldly. "The sea is just nature and nothing more!" + +Diana turned away from the speaker, with an aggrieved air the prince +was quick to detect. Franklin seemed to hear in space a conversation +similar to this, but better developed and on a higher intellectual +plane. Scherer was unwilling that so all-embracing a theme should +occupy his guests while at dinner, and so soon after the enjoyment of +the music. He tried therefore to soothe matters by saying: + +"One thing is certain, that we have been permitted to hear the music +of earth, sky, and ocean through the medium of your exquisite 'cello." + +Passionate debater though he was, and loath to miss the opportunity +of discussion with such an adversary as the prince, the Russian was +nevertheless sidetracked by this reference to his beloved instrument. +After a slight pause he said: + +"Yes, it has a lovely tone. It is seventeenth century, from Brescia, +a legacy from a friend of mine." + +The quiet warmth with which he spoke acted soothingly upon the +company, and the talk wandered off on to the subject of old fiddles. +The prince told the story of his own violin, which he had inherited +from long dead ancestors, he himself being the eleventh member of his +family to be a competent player. Diana spoke of the wonderful lute +Wilhelm had found, an instrument of so great value that Scherer alone +was in a position to buy it, and even he would have to cut his +expenses down for a year at least to do so. All made merry over the +story, especially Scherer himself, who invariably chuckled over +stories concerning his "great wealth." By the time the tokay was +served they were in good fettle, and at ease one with the other. + +"All the sunshine of Hungary has been captured in this bottle," cried +Diana, "and there is more sunlight in this one glass than in the +whole of the Balkans! In actual fact, I never have suffered from +cold so greatly as in our Castoria, among the Macedonian lakes; and +never experienced such heat as on Lake Flatten." + +Everybody now complained of the unusual cold, which this year had +continued intense even into March. + +"Each morning as I turn that draughty corner in the Wilhelms Platz," +said the prince, "my thoughts fly to Hamlet, Act One, the scene on +the platform before the castle at Elsinore, when Francisco says: +''Tis bitter cold.' As soon as I enter the office, the resemblance +to Hamlet becomes acute, because of the prevalent indecision in +ministerial circles. So let us, Herr Scherer, up anchor and set sail +for Zanzibar." + +Franklin declared that nothing would please him better than to have +the whole party as his guests in his Arab home; the Russian invited +them all to Livadia, where the tsar's fist could not reach them; +Scherer, who seemed to be enjoying some secret of his own apart from +the others, turned to Diana, asking: + +"And you? Whither does our good European want to take us?" + +The men were silent, waiting upon her words. + +"I? I have but one home," said Diana softly, "but I am afraid it is +not to the liking of all here present." Her smile slowly changed +from an external demonstration of social affability to one of inward +enjoyment, while her companions sat expectant. Then quickly and +fervently, she added: "My home is on the sea." + +"I love the sea," said the Russian, who felt that her shaft had been +aimed at him. "I don't expect any of you have sailed the seas so +much as I. But I did not voyage on them in search--of ideas!" + +"If only I possessed one that would please you," said Scherer +blithely. + +As he spoke he drew a postcard from his wallet and offered it to his +neighbour at table. Diana looked upon the picture of a yacht, +graceful and white, with but one funnel, and displaying abundance of +tackle--a boat that could be used either as steamer or as sailing +vessel. Aft, the deck was sheltered by an awning. The name of the +yacht could be deciphered at the stern. It read, "Excelsior." Diana +waved the picture aloft, crying: + +"Excelsior!" + +"Excelsior," echoed Scherer, smiling. + +Franklin was the first to question. Then the whole company joined in +a chorus of gleeful laughter. + +"A friend in Hamburg has asked me whether I will not hire it for a +few weeks because he himself has to go to London this spring. So I +was wondering if you would care to give the sea and me the pleasure +of your company for a little while...." + +Eduard looked up in surprise. In a flash he sensed all that the +invitation held of adventure. He glanced at Diana, then at Scherer, +for Diana's eyes were fixed upon her host. + +She was probably the only one of the party used to sudden invitations +of the kind, and the way in which Scherer had spoken told her the +command he was exercising over himself. She was loath to make a +decision before the three men concerned had expressed their feelings +in the matter. But since all eyes were now upon her, and everyone +seemed waiting upon her word, she felt constrained to say something. +Nothing better came to her mind than to exclaim once more: + +"Excelsior!" + +Now there was a different ring in her voice, as though she had said: +"Excellent!" + +Scherer handed round other papers with sketches of the yacht from +various angles, information regarding its tonnage, accommodation, and +so forth. Questions, surmises, proposals, flew from mouth to mouth. +Only the Russian sat silent, waiting for the others to allow him a +glimpse. But they seemed to have completely forgotten him. At last +Scherer, to whom an adventure appealed only so long as he felt it was +going to run the course he had planned, turned with sudden resolve +towards Sergievitch, saying: + +"And you, Doctor, if these gentlemen will but allow you a glimpse of +the pictures, will see that there are six cabins in addition to those +belonging to the crew. Will you choose one for yourself? I should +recommend either No. 5 or No. 6, whichever seems to you the nicer." + +The other men turned eagerly towards him encouraging him to a +decision. But he sat silently gazing at Diana, who, unconscious of +his scrutiny, was examining the intricacies of cordage one of the +pictures displayed. At last the young man said: + +"It is very kind of you, but I came to Germany to study ideas, not to +voyage on the blue sea, not to study nature." + +They laughed, and each was brought back upon himself. Even the +prince felt he ought to think the matter over before deciding. But +Scherer said: + +"So that's settled. The only question remaining open is when we +shall start. I was thinking that April would be a good month to +choose. What do you say?" + +Eduard and Franklin agreed. Diana demurred: + +"I shall have to get leave of absence from my employer, first!" + +"Your contract with the firm is quite clear upon that matter," +retorted Scherer. + +Diana looked pensive and remained so for the rest of the evening. +The prince, as he contemplated her, realized how closely attuned she +was to nature, to the sea and the wind and the sun. When Scherer +left her to rejoin Franklin, who wished to have further particulars +as to the length of the voyage, the prince and the Russian moved +forward to her side, and the three thus stood grouped in the middle +of the room. + +"Are you going, too?" asked Diana, including both men in her glance. + +"I'm entirely at your orders," answered the prince, assuming a +certain military rigidity of pose. + +The Russian laughed: + +"Your orders! So German!" + +"But only to those in authority," said the prince curtly. + +"Is this fair lady...?" began Sergievitch. + +"Only in the realm of ideas," Diana was quick to rejoin with a merry +laugh. "Not in nature! And you?" + +"I would pray for personal liberty," said the Russian proudly, his +anarchist spirit rising in the ascendant. + +"At your orders," retorted Diana coldly, looking through him +haughtily as he bowed his acknowledgment. + +Then she turned with a pleasant smile towards the prince. + + + + +BOOK FIVE + + + +CHAPTER ONE + +The white yacht sailed gracefully over the dark blue waters of the +Mediterranean. She seemed to be moving in response to an inner +impulse. This was the sixth day of the cruise, and that morning she +had left the harbour at Messina to sail in a southerly course round +the eastern shores of Sicily. The sea was calm, and the bows cut so +smoothly into the water, that the dividing line between water and +metal was as sharp as if it had been ruled with a diamond point on +the surface of a mirror. + +Diana stood in the bows, her head tossed back and the breeze playing +with her curls, the white linen dress clinging to her and outlining +breast and leg. From a distance, she might have been taken for the +figure of that marble Nike which, in times of old, had been placed at +the nose of the Greek warship and had flown forward to victory. But +no one was about on this particular morning. She had ship and sea +and sunlight to herself, so far as any personal observation was +concerned, for the weatherbeaten helmsman and the two Low German +sailors keeping the watch had no time to contemplate young ladies at +so early an hour, even though, if we except old Mary, Diana was the +only woman aboard. + +And Diana knew that she was unobserved. She, like her companions, +had started off in a spirit of adventure, and had sought nothing but +enjoyment out of the voyage, the sprightly talk, the long silences, +the laughter. But, alone of all the pleasant company, Diana knew and +loved the sea, was under the spell of the dancing waters. She had +felt this as soon as she stepped on board at Genoa, and now she was +completely won to its moods and enchantments, in storm or calm, +radiant at morn, tranquil at noon-tide, lively at sunset, or a +murmuring mystery at night. She felt at home among the hawsers and +tackle, the life-belts and ropes and masts, the shining brasses, all +the paraphernalia of seafaring life. Untiringly she questioned the +crew as to this, that, and the other detail she did not understand. +She was learning to be an adept in reckoning how many knots they were +making, in reading the charts, in calculating the mid pressure, and +was becoming weather wise. Yet all this seemed to her no more than a +game played upon the surface of the waters. Dark forces were at work +within the abysses of her soul. She was lured within the magic +circle of this fluid element, to plumb her own depths, dumbly, +unseeingly, and to gauge her strength in the eyes of her friends and +under the blue dome of the starry night. When such moods of +self-contemplation assailed her, she forgot all about logarithms and +maps, and allowed herself to penetrate into the mysteries of her own +nature. Nowhere were such meditations more fruitful than when she +was surrounded by the sea. + +As Diana stood in the bows this morning she seemed to form part of +the elements around her. The sunshine sparkled from the water as +from the surface of a mirror, it was split up into a thousand facets +on the ripples, as if the mighty fist of a god had dealt a blow upon +the moving mass from which, at the moment of impact, a cascade of +light had generated. But the impression upon Diana was different. +The radiance and the sea were for her a world divided against itself +and seeking reunion through strife; as night fell, the radiance was +absorbed into the sea; when day dawned, it arose once more from the +bosom of the waters; and this descent and resurrection was reproduced +within herself as if she too were part of the living cosmos. The +sensation of fettered freedom was strong upon her as the yacht glided +through the Mediterranean, for here, and here alone, did night and +morning become visible phenomena, superseding the habits of a +lifetime, and giving concrete substance to the passage of the hours. +The stars, which served to guide the vessel on her course, appeared +more pregnant with mystery than those which shone over the houses of +a town or even over the trees of a forest. At such moments, Diana +became blind to externals, for she yielded herself up entirely to a +kind of mystical contemplation. She saw neither birds nor fishes, +nor the distant mountains coming slowly into view to starboard, nor +the flattened cone shimmering white against the blue sky. Her +thoughts were turned inward, while the breeze played fresh and cool +upon her skin, the murmur of waters caressed her ears, the brine and +the brilliance smote upon her eyes. Oblivious to all exterior +happenings, she was only aware of palpitating sensation. + +It was for her one of those rare moments of inner solitude which seem +absolutely unattainable amid the growing tumult and complication of +modern life. Of one thing alone did she become aware as the moments +passed and she stood awake while her friends lay wrapped in slumber: +that the sky was cloudless over a glittering sea. + + + + +CHAPTER TWO + +She was roused from her reverie by the sound of rushing water. The +men were washing down the decks, and she had to jump lightly on to a +coil of ropes in order to escape the flood. It looked like glass as +it flowed over the boards and through the scuppers. Diana felt her +whole personality invaded by a sensation of cheerful security, of +joy, at being absorbed as it were into a moving entity. She smiled +serenely, and looked around her at these evidences of a century to +which she seemed to be returning from a flight into a primal age. +Westward, barely eight miles away, the rugged cliffs of an island +rose out of the sea, crowned with what might be--she had no +telescope--the Roman Theatre of Taormina. Years ago she had sailed +these self-same waters, but she had never had an opportunity of +visiting the island before, or of studying its coast-line. The young +sailor who was busy swabbing down the deck had hitherto only sailed +the Atlantic to and from America. This was his first experience of +the Mediterranean, and he could give her none of the information she +so eagerly desired. Nor could she consult the charts, for they were +in the captain's cabin. The man at the wheel was always chary of +words first thing in the morning. No one was about who could tell +her what she longed to know. But soon the sound of an electric bell +warned her that her friends were beginning to stir below, and she +forgot her preoccupation with the landscape in order to guess who the +ringer might be. Three times the summons was repeated, short, +decisive, peremptory. It must be Scherer; he alone, as owner of the +yacht, would venture on so authoritative an expression of urgency. +The prince usually rang but once, with deliberation. Franklin's +impatience was implied by three short, syncopated trills following +close upon each other. The Russian never rang at all, probably, +thought Diana, because it smacked too much of the master. She smiled +to herself, hoping breakfast might soon be served. Meanwhile she +watched the gulls flying overhead, and as she did so she heard +footsteps approaching. The soft, slow tread told her that this was +the fifth of her friends aboard. + +When the plans for the cruise had been concluded, soon after that +evening at Scherer's, and Diana had been asked if she knew of anyone +else who would fit into the party, her thoughts had naturally flown +to Wilhelm, whose lute playing and fanciful imagination would be +greatly appreciated during such a voyage. Indeed, Wilhelm had proved +so pleasant a companion to all concerned, that Scherer himself was +grateful for the young man's presence. + +"Good morning, Wilhelm," Diana called to him as he approached. "You +are the first to put in an appearance, and yet you come an hour too +late. The best of the day is past!" + +"What? Breakfast?" + +"No, the early hours!" + +"But the sun's hardly risen." + +"True; still, like a traveller after an hour's tramp, the sun's +beginning to feel a trifle hot and weary. The first step into the +free morning air when all the rest of the household is asleep, the +first footfall to rouse the echoes along the slumbering +street--that's over for today. And look, there's Etna!" + +"You are cold," said Wilhelm waving his hand to the mountain. +"Farewell! Farewell!--Where are we going to land?" + +"Herr Scherer said Syracuse." + +"At noon?" + +"No, later. Perhaps not before evening." + +"And there we'll find the tyrant?" + +"Say, rather, the ear of Dionysius." + +He sat Turkish fashion on a coil of ropes, his eyes blinking in the +dazzle of sun and sea. His dreamy nature made him critical of all +this clarity and hardness of outline. It seemed to him that the +white apparition before him, resting a foot lightly upon a taut bit +of cordage and leaning against the brass rail, with the background of +blue, was poised in mid air. + +"You have a way of talking about the gods as if they were relations +of yours, Diana. And now you want to know where Dionysius keeps his +ears! What do they matter? A man needs no more than mouth and nose +to appreciate Burgundy." + +"This morning you have no eyes," she retorted, smiling and poking him +playfully with the point of her shoe. "If only you had ears! Then +you would have heard what Herr Scherer had to tell us last night +about this ear, seeing that this time, may it please you, we are not +making for your tutelary deity, but for the tyrant who took the name +of the god because--well, because he may have felt a kinship to the +gods just as Diana does. And now let's have some breakfast." + +So saying she jumped off the rail, pulled Wilhelm to his feet, linked +arms with him, and sped down the deck to the dining-room, a place of +glass and steel situated on the promenade deck. Taking the seat at +the head of the table, she said to the steward, who awaited her +orders menu in hand, "Oh, just give us anything you have a mind to, +fruit, tea, what you will!" + +"Impossible," protested Wilhelm, grasping the menu and measuring it +with his fingers. "Eight inches of breakfast can't be walked off! +And the spacing between dishes is as close as in the cheap edition of +Jean Paul I have downstairs in my cabin. So for today I decree that +we choose the even numbers 2, 4, 6, 8, and tomorrow we'll eat the +uneven." + +Thereupon he handed back the card to the steward who went off to get +them what they had ordered. As soon as the man was out of earshot, +Wilhelm said: + +"Have you noticed how the Russian eats?" + +"He eats splendidly," said Diana with ostentatious decision, +smoothing her table napkin primly over her lap. + +"Splendidly! Indeed?" The young man raised a hand in protest. Then +with the utmost solemnity, as if the conventions of good manners were +his main concern in life, he continued: "Didn't you notice how, last +night at dinner, he took a quail in his fingers and bit off its head, +smartly and almost savagely, as if he were an ogre dining off a grand +duke?" + +Diana laughed in spite of herself. She bit heartily into an apple, +as she retorted: + +"Yes, Wilhelm, smartly and savagely," and she suited her action to +the words, biting ferociously into the fruit she held in hand. "I'm +not particularly enamoured of this conceited young Russian, and as +far as I am concerned he might have stayed at home. But he has the +finest teeth I've ever seen biting into anything, and it's only when +he attacks his food that you can see them, for he never laughs. +Besides, as far as quails are concerned, conventional etiquette +permits one to bite their heads off, as you can read for yourself in +Brillat-Savarin, even if one be a grand duke and one takes the quail +for a roasted anarchist!" + +"I'll have to ask the prince about that," said Wilhelm huffily, +helping himself to porridge. "He's nearly a grand duke himself and +must know about such things better than any of us." + +The prince appeared at that moment and stood looking through the +glass door, as he said with indulgent pity: + +"Fancy eating breakfast just as we are sailing by Fiumefreddo, Gurna, +and Fondachello! A fleeting moment we may never hope to +recapture...." + +"Fancy sleeping on to eight o'clock on such a morning," retorted +Diana, "and then to try and cloak the misdemeanour with an erudition +acquired on the wing as it were--for I am sure you've only culled +those names from a map as you were dressing!" + +"Well, you can't deny that I've committed them to memory with +commendable promptitude," said the prince, as he took his place on +Diana's left, for, wishing to avoid formal etiquette of any kind, it +had been agreed that all were to take their seats at table as chance +would have it--an arrangement which invariably entailed a general +post of table napkins as the prelude to every meal. "Fate, in the +person of Giorgino, our worthy chef's assistant, who from a +passionate desire to move in high social circles gets up when +everyone else is asleep and lays the breakfast table, fate, I say, +had decreed that the Russian should sit here. But I am not afraid to +gainsay the dame by removing Sergievitch's napkin to a lower place at +our board," and he suited the action to the word. "Good morning, +Herr Wilhelm!" + +Wilhelm, busy ladling in his porridge, was content to reply: + +"Good morning! Do you happen ever to have killed a quail by biting +off its head?" + +The prince's eyebrows went up in perplexity at the question. Then, +turning to Diana, he inquired: + +"Has Herr Wilhelm had a bad dream?" + +She shook her head, saying: + +"Marsala, porridge, sea air, Jean Paul, and a good deal of +Stromboli...." + +"Too much Stromboli," interrupted Scherer as he came forward with the +Russian. When the chorus of greetings had subsided, he continued: +"Not only that, but too much mail as well. I was a fool to call for +it in Messina yesterday, it's given me a headache going through the +pile and has made me late for breakfast." + +"Allow me," said Diana offering him the dish, and for a good while +thereafter the five of them were busy with the details of +breakfasting. + +"Can I get no information for my department?" inquired Diana, at +length. + +"I suggest an editorial staff on the following lines," said the +prince. "The aim of the Scherer expedition: to incite Lord +Northcliffe to suicide. The means: publication of events just before +their occurrence. Leader writer: the Captain. Trade: Herr Scherer. +Commerce: Fräulein de Wassilko. Technical affairs: Herr Wilhelm. +Advertisements: Herr Franklin. Art: Giorgino, who lays our dining +table so well. Reminiscences of the twenty-first century: Dr. +Sergievitch." + +"And what about yourself, Prince?" + +"I am, of course, the Constant Reader, who for years has sent in +letters of protest, in English, in American, in Russian, in Italian, +to say: 'I earnestly request you to give us a little less +"Excelsior."'" + +"Your arrangement won't do at all," interrupted Scherer, "for, since +we shall have to depend on our advertisements for our financial +security, we must have some one who can get up early!" + +Whereupon they all began to comment on Franklin's unpunctuality as if +they themselves had been up for hours. Diana recommended Wilhelm for +the post, seeing that he had been the first of the men to put in an +appearance, but, since Franklin himself entered at that moment, all +were nonplussed for a reply. + +"I'm awfully sorry," apologized Franklin, hastily slipping into the +vacant place, "but I've had a most extraordinary dream!" + +"With whom?" asked Wilhelm innocently. + +"With a French colonial. He and I used constantly to be at +loggerheads...." + +Whereat they all laughed, and Diana said: + +"The prince told us a similar story yesterday. It seems to me there +is too much dreaming aboard the 'Excelsior.' You ought to run more +races, or swing dumbbells or something. Have we any foils?" + +"You need not have anxiety on my account," said Scherer, "for I never +dream." + +He spoke so simply that no one could doubt the truth of the +statement. The prince's scepticism might have led him to demur had +not Kyril, with his usual solemnity amid the flashes of wit and +humour of his comrades, exclaimed: + +"So there really are people in the world who never dream!" + +"And who are, nevertheless, musical, you'd like to add. Eh?" + +The prince had tossed the repartee to the Russian, hoping to bring a +little levity into the solemn seriousness which the man's words had +cast upon the company. + +"No, what I had in mind was that there were actually persons who +never dream and are yet competent to carry out business transactions." + +Even the prince, paradoxical as were his outlooks as a rule, was +taken aback. Who could have imagined such words in the mouth of a +revolutionary? Everyone was now alert in the discussion, while +Scherer endeavoured to exculpate himself by saying: + +"And why not? So long as a man does not forget the dream of his own +practical endeavour, what matters it if his nights are dreamless? +Day cannot kill a dream which night has not created!" + +"Wilhelm," cried Diana cheerfully, "confirmed dreamer that you are, +there's hope for you yet! Even now you may become a man of action!" +Her eyes met Franklin's as she spoke, and she realized that though he +too was striving towards practical achievements, he had no wish to be +exiled from the realm of dreams. She smiled at him across the table. + +"You're laughing at me," protested Scherer. + +"I am merely laughing at the principles of those who can tolerate +fulfilment only when it is in harmony with their own peculiar nature." + +The prince, silent himself, became aware that between Diana and the +four other men, a series of epigrams was in course of construction. +He seemed to perceive the thoughts like living sparks glowing in mid +air, when the Russian intervened: + +"Fulfilment? There's no such thing so far as rationalists are +concerned, and as for us others it would only serve to hinder our +activities. Unless one can die at the very moment of fulfilment, it +were better never to have been born at all. He who, while dreaming, +acts, is even more dangerous than he who could create in response to +his dream. In this matter, likewise, I am all in favour of a +partition of powers." + +Franklin, hardly admitting even to himself how much he disliked the +Russian, followed what Sergievitch said as in a dream, barely +conscious of the meaning of the words. Before him he saw a man, +handsome and young, with hair, complexion, and eyes so clear as to +gainsay the sombre spirit which pervaded Kyril's whole inner being. +Surely, thought Franklin, this man must be instinct with devotion, +imagination, and at the same time so completely master of himself +that he gives his fancy rein only to a circumscribed extent, never +allowing it to get out of control. He sought to probe the young +Russian's heart. + +Precisely because he did not understand Kyril as well as Franklin +did, Wilhelm liked the Russian. After a while he asked innocently: + +"Do you mind telling me what partition of powers means?" + +"Alternative spells of freedom and unfreedom," explained Scherer. + +"Not bad, so long as you don't take the words in a political sense," +commented Kyril. "All the same there's a certain danger...." + +"Everything seems to harbour dangers for you this morning," said the +prince politely. "And yet the sky is blue and cloudless, and there +is no wind to ruffle the waters." He glanced over at Diana to see if +she would not give the signal to rise. But she remained seated. + +Scherer said softly: "Give me the man who, wide-awake, controls his +deeds!" + +"And I love the deed which is moulded on the anvil of a dream," put +in Franklin. + +All were silent for a time. Then Diana, turning to the prince, asked +with a smile: + +"What have you to say to this?" + +"I? Oh, I am honestly fonder of the people themselves than of the +people's leaders or of their works, though I would not renounce +laurel or other crowns. But I know that such thoughts are quite out +of date!" + +He looked squarely at Diana as he finished, thus making it clear to +her that he wished her to give the signal which should put an end to +the meal. He wanted to withdraw, to be free, for he had revealed a +tiny corner of his heart and felt profoundly moved at what he had +done. In his embarrassment he turned away, and did not observe +Kyril's blue eyes, more pure, more innocent than ever, fixed upon him +appreciatively. The people! That word, falling from the lips of so +paradoxical a creature as the prince, spoken so simply, nonplussed +the revolutionary and yet gave him premonitions of a future +understanding. + +Diana, as she rose, avoided the eyes of both men, seeking Scherer's +steady gaze. But instead, she encountered Wilhelm's boyish eyes, +puzzled, perplexed, and she heard him mutter to himself: + +"What on earth are they all talking about? I haven't understood a +word!" + +And he slipped through the glass door in her wake. + + + + +CHAPTER THREE + +The sun hung midway between the zenith and the western horizon as the +"Excelsior" drew near the harbour of Syracuse. As they approached, +the travellers looked through the telescope at the reality about +which they had been dreaming all along. But although the prince +jested and Wilhelm gave rein to his fancy, the one dryly sceptical, +the other naïve and ingenuous, although the whole company was eager +and expectant at the proximity of this memorial of ancient Greece, +yet their customary cheerfulness seemed a little damped this +afternoon. Diana had passed the day in far-ranging talk with Wilhelm +and Franklin; the others had been more silent than usual. It was +obvious that the conversation was stimulated by Diana's presence, and +though not actually antagonistic, nevertheless occasionally bordered +on recrimination. + +Scherer, as host and owner of the yacht, had become accustomed to the +shade of arrogance with which the intellectuals of the party regarded +him, the mere business man. He was tolerant and indulgent towards +this unconscious assumption of superiority. But the way in which the +Russian opposed Scherer's practical outlook on life with his own +ideological conceptions, seemed to the financier on a different plane +from the oppositions he encountered among his other guests. It made +him pensive and a little uneasy on his own and on Sergievitch's +account. For he felt that from the point of view of problems to be +faced, he and the Russian had much in common, whereas, from the +outlook of political principles, everything tended to keep them +apart. He himself could never be more than a dabbler in socialism. +He was instinctively aware that in the young foreigner's heart there +was something else besides the anarchist autocrat. This premonition +moved him profoundly, as when a man unintentionally touching a woman +or seeing her in a new gown, is conscious of a sensual thrill at the +contact or the sight, and suddenly realizes she is quitting the +circle in which she has hitherto existed for him, and is escaping +into the distance. + + +The party's spirits rose as the yacht put into the harbour. Scherer +estimated the width of the entry which the Syracusans had once closed +with chains and boats against the onslaughts of Nicias. There was +talk of mines and submarines, and of how only the means had changed, +not the theories. Once ashore, they found themselves accompanied by +a growing crowd of self-constituted guides as they strolled about the +streets of the ancient city. They chaffed one another about their +recently acquired knowledge of the place--mostly crammed up for the +occasion from guide books. The gloom which had clung to the company +all day gradually dispelled, and even the two poets joined in the +general hilarity. A little cluster of shrubs which formed a circle +round the well in the ancient market-place attracted Wilhelm's +attention. + +"The first courier from Africa," said Scherer sententiously. "And to +think that out of these amazingly bristly stalks the Egyptians of old +made their amazingly bristly paper." + +Wilhelm looked up, inquiringly, for he was puzzled. + +"Scherer means papyrus," said Franklin softly. "You could write +sonnets on the stuff." + +Wilhelm passed his fingers over the stalks. Nowhere could he find a +smooth surface. + +"But how could one ever write on such a thing?" he asked suspiciously. + +Scherer explained the process whereby the fibres were converted into +paper, while the whole company lolled against the shaft of the well, +and a dozen or more children and beggars took up their stand around +the visitors. Wilhelm followed Scherer's little lecture with the +keen curiosity of a boy. + +"In a word," concluded the prince, who had recaptured his customary +mood of raillery, "all the misfortunes which beset this world have +their origin in this plant, which may be looked upon as the +instrument whereby light has been brought out of the East!" + +"It serves also to disseminate speeches from the throne, Your +Highness," retorted Kyril provocatively. + +"Sonnets, demonstrations, newspapers," said Scherer, still stroking +the plant with his fingers, "the stuff's as dangerous as dynamite! +Don't you think so too?" + +Diana, to whom the question had been addressed in order to draw her +out of her silence, answered laughingly: + +"Does not one of you hear the voice of the well which is encircled by +the plant? Arethusa herself, and at this very spot the hunted nymph +must have been metamorphosed. The water in the well is salt to the +tongue, so bitterly did the maiden weep. Diana was responsible for +the metamorphosis..." + +She muttered the last words to herself and gazed into the well's +depths. There was a silence, while five men's eyes were fixed upon +the young woman who stood leaning over the parapet, and who bore the +name of a goddess. + +The prince clicked his tongue. He hated to have to live through such +moments of tension while in the company of others. + +"Diana has in very truth metamorphosed all of us," he said at length. +"How about following this gentleman who for the last ten minutes has +been trying to entice us into his osteria?" + + +"Al teatro, Signori! Al teatro!" yelled a voice from the throng, +while twenty hands pointed in the same direction, and twenty voices +echoed the cry. It was agreed that they would go, and as they went +towards the building the crowd pushed them and pulled them and +gesticulated wildly. They passed over the bridge which separated +Ortygia from the mainland, and soon came to the hill, Eduard leading +the way amid a mob of citizens, and Kyril walking on the flank, not +quite so hemmed in as the prince. Scherer, who was following with +Franklin, noticed this and observed: + +"How could a stranger decide which was the prince and which the man +of the people?" + +"But are they so different? Are they really so different?" asked +Franklin. "Are they not, rather, brothers? Idealists both?" + +"It often happens that those who belong to the same intellectual +category possess the fewest points of resemblance." + +"But would you suffer yourself to be kept apart from a person you +liked simply because of differences in social status, position, rank, +or what not?" + +Scherer thought: "He'd love to write a sonnet on a papyrus after +all!" A smile lighted up his face at the notion, and he said aloud: +"Yes, such things can keep kindred spirits apart. Birth, above all, +is a hindrance. The papyrus, born in Egypt, and transplanted to +Syracuse, cannot be acclimatized in Stockholm. But what I mainly had +in mind was the varying quantity of freedom these two men might enjoy +and turn to advantage." + +"Is the Russian then so fettered and unfree merely because the tsar +has exiled him from the possible arena of his activity?" + +"The Russian? I would rather say the prince; it is he who is +shackled because his father is a reigning monarch! Can't you see the +counterpart?" + +Franklin was silent. His mind, ever ready to absorb as much of the +world of reality as he could house in the realm of his fancy, was +open to the influence of this man of the world. He was ever willing, +despite his grey hairs, to acquire new knowledge, and, since the +beginning of the cruise, he had kept aloof from Diana and Wilhelm +whose playful ways put him out of humour. + +These two young people brought up the rear. Wilhelm had held his +peace for some time; then he said: + +"Arethusa! I can fancy christening a serious little girl by such a +name, a little maid one would sit upon one's knee. Arethusa..." + +He weighed the name, dandling it, as if it were in actual fact a +child one were playing with. Then he asked abruptly: + +"Diana?" + +"Yes, Wilhelm?" + +"Are you really a nymph?" + +"You are a fool," chanted Diana, running away from his side and +rejoining the others. + +It was not until they had entered the Greek theatre that they were +able to shake off the crowd which had accompanied them. The +custodian, a man as solemn as a Saracen and as beautiful as an Arab, +uniting in his person the attributes of the two races out of which +the Sicilians have sprung, was content to murmur a few names, and +after a while he ceased talking altogether. The travellers sat +motionless upon the topmost step, looking down on the great tiers +which had been hewn out of the rock, and which still gave the +impression of an amphitheatre. But an earthquake had destroyed the +stage and other structures, thus freeing the view westward over the +harbour, the town, and the sea. + +The flight of steps was overgrown with moss and ivy, and the stone +had been weathered by two thousand years of wind and brine. Laurels +and cherry-laurels shaded the parapets and walls, while fresh green +leaves were sprouting from the gnarled and twisted branches of +ancient fig trees. Gloomy olive groves were burnished by the evening +sun, and, clinging to the broken pillars of what had been the stage, +the wistaria drooped under the weight of its heavy clusters of purple +blossoms. The eye travelled over the silhouettes of towers and +gables in the town, to the sea, circumscribed by jagged cliffs and +mountains capped with a bank of cloud. The foreground of this +picture was inexpressibly sweet, wellnigh idyllic, with its scents +and delicate melancholy; but the distant view verged on the tragical +and forced the onlooker to recall how in far-off days the great +choruses of the poets had filled the air and delighted the ears of +the thousands who occupied the serried rows of the amphitheatre. + +Each member of the little company from the yacht had sat down where +chance had offered a convenient resting place. No one spoke. All +were busied with their private meditations. Franklin, carried away +by the mighty rhythm of the view, peopled the scene with figures from +his own dramas. Kyril, nearby, envisaged vast assemblies of workers, +gathered together in this spot before they marched upon the town, not +to be hewn mercilessly down a second time as they had been at the +Winter Palace! Scherer, who had happened to take a lower step for +his resting place, thought how splendid a thing it would be to have +such an open-air theatre up north, where, of a Sunday, popular plays +on the large scale might be played; later on one might perform +Schiller; and then, in the end, have a try at producing Goethe's +_Iphigenia_. But not the dramas of classical antiquity, they might +not be understood. Wilhelm was congratulating himself that he had +not brought his lute. "I could not have refrained from playing it, +and that might not have suited the others' moods. I wonder if we are +going back to the yacht for dinner? Those wisteria clusters look +like grapes. It must be exquisite here in autumn..." + +Eduard and Diana were sitting higher than the rest, but they were +separated by the whole width of the round tower. The prince looked +at her and thought: "Are we foredoomed to be separated? Still, we +are sitting on the same step!" + +Diana leaned her arm on a broken shaft, her head was bent back, her +legs were crossed, and her eyes were fixed upon the sea as it +struggled with the forces of light and shade. She had completely +forgotten the friends around her. + + + + +CHAPTER FOUR + +"Here's a revised sketch of the thing. Kraus has just sent it. +You'll be able to judge from a glance at it whether you are mistaken +or not." + +Scherer, who was pacing the deck with Diana, stopped in his walk to +extract a sheet of paper from a yellow folder. The wind caught the +sheet and wrestled for its possession, but Scherer took refuge behind +a screen where Diana rejoined him. Each held a corner of the +refractory paper in order the better to study it. + +"The red lines indicate the numbers of the first-rate hotels +throughout Germany, don't they?" + +"Yes. And the blue the bigger clubs. They are used as yet only by +the editorial staffs of newspapers, by ministers and stockbrokers, +whose numbers are reckoned up in the yellow column. But the figures +are grossly exaggerated. The small figures at the foot of the page +indicate that the cost of the news service should be reduced by from +ten to twenty per cent, if we are to get a decent dividend out of the +concern." + +He pocketed the document once more, and the two resumed their morning +walk, still discussing business affairs as was their habit at this +hour of the morning. + +"That's all right, I quite understand. Wouldn't it be better to +increase the rate of subscription than to lower the cost of +production?" + +"There's your English training peeping out," laughed Scherer. "A +club or hotel in Germany would far rather pay twelve hundred marks +for a glass-doored cupboard wherein it could store all the news of +the world to be gaped at by every passer-by; they would sooner expend +thousands in subscriptions to periodicals which they could file in +ancient presses as if they were some rare plants, than subscribe +liberally to such a news service as I propose, which is a much less +tangible asset." + +"I've never heard any one rail against newspapers as you do," +retorted Diana merrily. "There's nothing in the world you have your +knife into so much!" + +Scherer, who in this matter had very definite principles to guide +him, answered half ironically: + +"The newspaper is a thing that needs to be conquered." + +"Thus spake Zarathustra," came a voice from the recesses of a deck +chair. The two paused for a moment by the owner of the voice, who +was engaged in a conversation with Kyril. Diana was used now to the +prince's badinage, and she surmised that his sudden intrusion into an +alien tête-à-tête must mean that he had come to a knotty point in his +discussion with the Russian. She was, therefore, somewhat surprised +when Kyril himself gave sanction to the prince's interpolation by +saying: + +"But not until the kings have spoken, Herr Scherer!" + +"Oh, they never read the papers," answered Scherer good-humouredly, +"and yet they are the very people who need them most!" + +He turned on his heel to resume his walk, and as Diana prepared to +follow, a gust of wind took her skirt and lifted it high. As she +turned on herself to bring it to reason, Scherer noticed that the two +young men, who had obviously been having an argument over contentious +points, with equal seriousness were now regarding Diana's legs. + +"They look as if they were faced with a very intricate problem," said +Diana as she rejoined the financier. + +Scherer, amused by the ambiguity of the words, which he knew to be +spoken in perfect innocence, answered nothing. She was puzzled by +his silence and his obvious amusement. + +"You are smiling," she said. "Have I ... have you...?" + +"No, no! Nothing," protested Scherer kindly, and he was delighted to +see a blush mounting to her cheeks. "Their talk may have come to a +dead point just as we came up." + +Diana, patting her blouse and skirt with a very feminine gesture in +case there should still be a certain disorder in her appearance, +racked her brains to discover what he was hiding from her. + +"Well now," said Scherer coming back to the point in a businesslike +manner, "a news service for Germans must be run cheaply or not at +all. Otherwise our worthy compatriots will reproach us, saying: the +Wolff Information Bureau gave us just as good service for a quarter +the price." + +"Wolff's!" cried Diana, disdainfully. + +"A poor, miserable tapeworm," rejoined Scherer zealously, "never +stopping once it is set going, and provides the reader with the +pleasure of seeing world history printed before his very eyes. A +fantastical freak of a thing!" + +Diana listened to his tirade with amusement. These rare moments of +enthusiasm in a man who habitually assumed an attitude of reserve, +were congenial to her. It pleased her to see his ripe experience +irradiated with youthful ardour. + +"I surrender," she said merrily, bringing her hand to the salute, and +speaking with the smartness of a young midshipman on duty. "As soon +as we are back in Berlin, I'll get to work on our budget and see +whether I can't make a reduction in its figures of at least ten per +cent a year." + +"Ten to twenty." + +"That means fifteen." + +"Which is not quite the same thing, you know!" + +They discussed the issue thus raised, and while they did so the +figures they mentioned were wafted over to Franklin as he stood +gazing seaward from the bows. Wilhelm was lounging in a deck chair +by his side, blinking his eyes in the sunlight, wrapped in reverie. +Diana, as she and Scherer turned, caught him saying: + +"You are deceiving me. There aren't any dolphins in reality. This +is the tenth day of our cruise and I haven't seen a sign of one yet!" + +"They're always discussing percentage," muttered Franklin, who had +not heard what Wilhelm was saying. He was invariably more of the +poet and less of the diplomat when he had to do with men of the +world. "It's amazing the way he parcels out the wealth of Mother +Earth!" + +Franklin seemed to have forgotten Wilhelm's presence, to have +forgotten the ship, and above all to have forgotten his own position +in the world, as he continued to utter his thoughts aloud oblivious +of whether he was overheard or not. + +"A woman of genius, daring to the verge of indiscretion.... A man, +emerging from the mist, revealing himself for one minute of time, and +realizing that he stands on the edge of an abyss..." He turned +abruptly towards Wilhelm, leaning over him, his hands working as if +he were moulding clay: "Can't you understand? The man of the world's +clarity of vision dimmed by sensual charms which he, and he alone, +must never, never allow himself to enjoy unless he breaks the laws of +his own being." + +He pulled himself together, turned away, and once more contemplated +the expanse of waters. + +Wilhelm had followed his discourse with composure. He did not budge +from his chair, but continued to lie back among the comfortable +cushions as he said: + +"You've fallen into one of your mad moods again, I see. Hardly +twenty minutes have passed by since you were informing me that there +was nothing in the whole world to equal movement, motion. You even +raised your voice to exclaim: 'Swimming, Wilhelm, swimming!' And the +sailor over there, whose name is likewise Wilhelm, was preparing to +come to our assistance with a life-belt. 'To swim with a comrade, +breasting the current together, and to reach the goal before him. +That's better by far than to sit shivering on the bank and make +sketches of the swimmers.'" + +"What the devil are you talking about?" interrupted Franklin crossly. + +"I assure you," continued Wilhelm quietly, "that's exactly what you +said. It was eleven o'clock precisely when you made your +proclamation--I'd just looked at my watch--and it is not quite +half-past now." + + +"There'll be no such embassies in the future," Kyril was saying at +the other end of the vessel, just as Diana and Scherer turned in +their walk. "Red plush. Gobelin tapestry, birthday celebrations, +tea-parties as background to decisions concerning foreign policy, all +will come to an end; and we'll have business conducted in offices, +soberly decorated, with grey walls and carpets and easy chairs such +as we affect in clubs and smoking rooms..." + +"Are you so profoundly convinced of the ethical value of leather?" +asked the prince mockingly. But Kyril continued unheeding: + +"No conversation shall take place save in the presence of a +dictaphone, set up somewhere conspicuous so that everyone can see it, +a dictaphone which will reproduce the talk within the walls of +parliament. Everything must be clear, unambiguous, sober. Business, +not diplomacy!" + +"Shall we be allowed to smoke cigarettes?" + +"Each member of the community will eat and smoke according to +individual preference. But the State will no longer foot the bill +for what its representative sets before the representative of another +State and his wife in order that through the exploitation of the +indigestion of the former or the taste for good wines of the latter, +he may elicit from his guests certain useful information." + +"Rather a dreary world, Doctor. Doesn't it seem to you that such +representation abroad is very similar to the interior functioning of +a certain police-ridden State which is far from being to your taste?" + +Kyril stood motionless, pipe in hand. + +"The common things of everyday life will be irradiated with the +Idea," he said at length. + +"The Idea? Ah, yes, of course! But what about the persons who carry +out the Idea?" + +"They will devote themselves whole-heartedly to the carrying out of +the Idea." + +"And they'll all be in complete sympathy with it, eh? As a matter of +principle, there will be no such thing as hatred in your community, I +suppose? Les passions seront tout à fait nivelées?" + +"Les passions," echoed Kyril gloomily, a savage tone coming into his +voice, and Eduard, who had quite casually lapsed into the foreign +idiom, was surprised at having inveigled the young man into speaking +French, and equally surprised at the excellent way the words were +pronounced. He also noticed that the thick, blond brows were drawn +together, the eyes, which had been shining and happy, were clouded, +and the whole man, hitherto so motionless, leaning against the rail, +was stirring, was pulling himself away from the support, and was +slowly turning round to contemplate upon the sea the yacht's wake. + +Eduard noted all these things, and held his peace. It is always so, +he mused. Whenever such ideologues leave the party rut, they +invariably lapse into being dragons from a primitive age. Just as he +begins to be interesting, he ceases to talk--much as I do myself! + + +That evening the prince stood with Diana, on the bridge. A fresh +breeze had been blowing all day from the east, and the yacht was +under sail. Now the air was very still and very warm. They were +rounding Cape Matapan, and knew that they were in for a spell of +balmy weather. Diana had thrown a white cape over her evening gown, +and was wearing it toga fashion, like an Italian officer. She stood +bare-headed just in front of Eduard, who was likewise wrapped in a +cloak, and towering head and shoulders above her. From a distance, +they might have been taken for one person, standing alone. + +The night sky, clear as crystal, brilliant as it can only be in the +south, was studded with stars. Diana did not speak. She looked this +way and that, bending over the rail, gazing upward at the +constellations which, as she picked them out, she named quietly, for +her own gratification. Eduard pressed close against the rail so as +not to hinder her in her movements, for, though she herself had +invited him to come with her, she seemed to have forgotten his +presence, and to be averse to being reminded that he was at her side. +He was, therefore, taken unawares when she cried: + +"There it is!" + +"What?" + +"The Scales. Don't you see? Over there!" + +"Where?" + +"There, just in line with the helmsman's cap is Lyra, and two spans +away the four bright stars--over there! Do you see them now?" + +He leaned forward to follow her indications, and as he did so, she +placed her left hand on his shoulder. Eduard saw nothing, but he +kept very still. He wanted to prolong this moment, to eke it out to +the utmost. He wondered if he had better say that he saw the +constellation, but that might put an end to her present position. +Perhaps he had better ask her once more to point it out; but that +might cause her to make some other movement. At last he felt that he +dared not allow any more time to elapse before speaking, so he forced +himself to say: + +"Four stars, of course, yes, that's the Scales." + +His tone affected Diana disagreeably; she made for the ladder, and +climbed down before he had collected his wits sufficiently to give +her a helping hand. But she knew the prince too well now to feel +piqued; and he, though annoyed with himself, was determined not to +spoil their stroll together. They walked forward in silence, and +after a while he said: + +"Is that your constellation?" + +"A balance! Could one have a better guiding star?" She paused in +her walk and leaned against the rail. + +Again the prince was silent. She had opened her cloak in order to +throw the end over her shoulder again for it had become dislodged, +and as she did so the fragrance of her body and her gown was wafted +to him on the night air, confusing his thoughts once more. Could +this woman, speaking so calmly under the stars, be the one whose +slim, boylike legs a wanton wind had displayed this same morning, +whose sun-tanned neck had spoken to him of youth and vigour as the +company had sat over dinner, and whose bronzed figure he had seen for +one second of time when she had posed as the goddess of the chase? + +Determined to come back to the present, he said: + +"Someone was talking to me only this morning about balance in the +government of a State, as if we need no longer reckon with the human, +emotional factor. At last I asked him: 'And what about the passions?' + +"La passione," Diana softly murmured, turning round to peer into the +sea. + +Eduard was taken aback by her choice of such romantic words in so +romantic a tongue; he was no less struck by the similarity between +Kyril's reaction and Diana's to his shaft. He was annoyed at finding +any similarity between two such alien natures, and said with some +asperity: + +"Si, signorina! Or is the constellation to become obscured as soon +as we are driven to do something ill-balanced?" + +She looked over her shoulder, and asked coldly: + +"Are you afraid of ill-balanced things?" + +He did not yield ground under her gaze, and retorted: + +"You yourself chose the Scales as your guiding star, not I!" + +"My life," she continued in a gentler voice, "has been one long stare +at that constellation--and yet, judging by the course my life has +hitherto taken, one would think that Mars had been my guiding star." + +She raised her head as she spoke, and looked up as if seeking the +planet she had just named. He gazed at her in speechless devotion, +and when she, calmed by her own words, rested her arms once more on +the rail and cast her eyes upon the water, he said tranquilly: + +"And yet your life seems to me, as I contemplate it from afar, to +have been constructive rather than destructive." + +She was wholly reconciled by his words, and said softly: + +"Mars lives within me, Prince, as he lives within us all." + +Eduard watched her as, her arms wrapped in her cloak, she leaned over +the yacht's side. A tiny hem of her silk dress gleamed beneath the +lower edge of her cloak. He took in every detail, as he mused: "In +an hour's time she will be alone, looking into the small, triangular +glass I caught a glimpse of as I passed by her open door +yesterday..." At length he said, almost in a whisper: + +"Mars and the Scales. Maybe they are both alternatively the guiding +stars of wanderers?" + +Diana raised her eyes to his, as she said: + +"And yet one of them guides the steadfast, while the other illumines +the path of the warrior. Surely of all the company aboard the +'Excelsior,' you are the one who should choose the Scales for your +emblem." + +He felt that he had been dissected, that the words were hemming him +in, and was about to answer somewhat warmly, when the sound of a lute +broke upon the stillness of the night. Diana's harshness evaporated +as the strains were carried towards her, and she said, smiling +happily: + +"Listen! Wilhelm is going to sing," and she began to hum the song. + + Quant' é bella giovinezza + mà si fugge tuttavia... + + +With the sprightliness of a girl of seventeen, and as unwittingly as +a princess, she slipped her hand through Eduard's arm, and rejoined +the circle of her friends. + + + + +CHAPTER FIVE + +A solitary gull followed the yacht. How had it got separated from +its fellows? Had its flight been hindered by some accident? From +what far-off island had it come, towards what shore was it now +winging its way? It hovered above the masthead. Minutes went by. +Then suddenly it swooped, making straight for the sea. Was it +pouncing upon its prey? + +"A lonesome creature," mused Diana, who had spent the whole afternoon +on deck, reclining in a chair, alone, motionless, brooding. +"Freedom! There is more freedom around that bird than there is +around the leopard in the African desert or the sable in the northern +wilds. There are sportsmen it is true--but sportsmen can do no more +than kill. They do not trap, and if they do, it is only to capture +the young and immature or those which have allowed themselves to be +hoaxed. Has a human being ever ventured to arrogate to himself so +great an abundance of freedom as does this wild bird, winging its way +through those vast solitudes? And I, shall I not be punished because +of my bold determination to be free? + +"Homeless as that bird, and to remain so, always... She flies +through the infinite shining heavens, between sky and sea, and +screams her joy towards the setting stars. Or has she a nest on a +ledge of cliff in one of the islands, with chicks agog for her +return? ... Home. Whenever we sail away from port, these five men, +my companions, cannot tear their eyes away from the land, they gaze +yearningly back at it as if they were leaving a mother behind, or +some work they had created and loved. If I had ever known a mother, +I might have been the creator of a work.... But it may be that, +being a reincarnation of herself, I have never thought it worth while +to seek her.... Perhaps my standard of perfection is too high for me +ever to try to attain it.... And these men here, they are always +building, they are hampered by innumerable veils, shackled by the +multiplicity of the trivial happenings on dry land. Not one of them +is self-sufficient enough to love the solitude of the sea.... Is +pride taking its revenge on you, Diana? ... I am alone...." + +She closed her eyes to the long shafts of sunlight coming from a rift +in the cloud-bank that lay over the western horizon. Her other +senses were rendered more acute by the exclusion of the sense of +sight, and the hum of the yacht's engines smote upon her ears. Her +own pulse seemed to accommodate its rhythm to that of the engines; +she became aware of the smell of brine and paint, of damp linen and +lacquer, of scrubbing soap and train oil; and now came salt and +spindrift from the waves, she tasted the bitterness on her lips, it +clung to her cheeks, and the crystals dried upon her hair. For a +while she lay, absorbing these delights of seafaring life through her +ears and nose and tongue and skin and hair. With her eyes still +closed, she drank in the elements around her, as she had occasionally +drunk in her loves, and had she found herself in a man's arms on +opening her eyes she would have felt no surprise whatever. + +"The waters are dancing to the northward," mused Diana; "blue and +gold eddies dimple and smile round a thousand bays because the wind +is blowing softly from the south and ruffles the sea. Yet all the +while, deep down under the surface, the great currents flow on, cold +or hot, violet or green, obeying the uncoded laws of their existence, +remote from the winds whose influence they never feel, and whose..." + +Suddenly Diana's attention was attracted by a strange apparition just +in front of the ship's nose, a dark wave as it were of black satin, +thrusting up through the pellucid water: a dolphin! She sat upright, +straining eagerly forward, gripping the arms of her chair, her feet +planted firmly before her, her eyes, so recently closed or veiled in +dreams, alight with curiosity, lending intensity to her whole +attitude. + +"How happy they are, rolling and somersaulting more full of joy than +the dumb fishes. When we were in Ischia, Rafaello told me they +responded to whistling, that they draw near, attracted by the sound, +and then compete with each other in leaping and racing." + +She sprang from her chair and, leaning over the rail, started to +whistle, shrilly and loud, like a calling bird of prey. More and +ever more shining black bodies rose to the surface, disappeared, +popped up again, looking as if their backs were curving knives. On +they went, playing in front of the yacht as she cut her way through +the waters. + +"Whistle and I'll come to ye," said Eduard coming up softly behind +her. Diana barely gave him a nod, so delighted was she in watching +the antics of the dolphins. She called out laughingly: + +"Wilhelm ought to be here! He'd see Aries riding on their backs!" + +"The modern Orpheus is having his tea, and my unmusical lips offer +their services as substitute," whereupon he, too, started to whistle. + +"On my father's table there was a---- Oh look! There's another--and +another." She stretched her arms out over the rail jubilantly. + +"What was on your father's table?" + +"A tiny figure of Aphrodite, and there was a dolphin at her feet." + +She spoke loudly in her excitement. Then, suddenly modifying her +voice, she added quietly: + +"And when one day I asked him the reason he said: 'Well you know, +Diana,' and he had a wonderful way of giving full value to the vowels +in my name, 'they both emerged from the sea.' That's all he +said--and now, there they are!" + +"Both?" + +"All of them," avoiding the net of questions he was trying to +entangle her in. + +The wind now took control of the evening, its deep organ tones +filling the air, scattering in one gust the play of light and shade, +the fishes, and the thoughts of Diana and her friend. The sun, as it +sank behind a menacing bank of clouds, sent its rays up into the +zenith in a final effort to assert its power, and thereby converted +the sky into one huge opal in a twilight of milky blue. + +"We are already sinking into a dead world, while up there all is +bright serenity," said Diana softly, her mood in tune with the hour. + +Again the sun's disk broke through a rift in the clouds. + +"When a king lies dying, the meanest of his subjects can gaze into +his eyes," murmured Eduard misanthropically, turning away from the +west as if he wished to avoid witnessing the end. + +"But this king rises again and again," said Diana. + +Giorgino came along to haul down the flag. It still fluttered in the +breeze as it ran down the yard, but on touching the deck it suddenly +lay flat and motionless. Eduard lifted his cap abruptly, his face +darkening. + +"So you still pay homage to a linen rag?" a voice broke in on the +silence, and Kyril stepped out of the cabin where he had been passing +the afternoon over his books. + +Eduard was the only passenger aboard who held to this ceremony. But +he felt a certain embarrassment in its performance and usually took +care to be alone. Now he stood there, not knowing what to do, +completely nonplussed, for he dared not raise his voice in derision, +and equally dared not, in view of the freedom he encouraged among his +companions, enter a protest. Diana guessed his dilemma, and came to +his aid, saying earnestly: + +"The prince is saluting a thing in the death-throes." + +Eduard's heart went out to her. The moment after she had spoken the +words, he would have liked to fall at her feet in gratitude. Of +course he did no such thing, but firmly stood his ground, and only a +slight twitching at the corner of his mouth betrayed how deeply the +Russian's words had piqued him. Kyril was not slow to perceive the +effect his remark had had. He pulled himself together and said +ambiguously, taking his pipe from between his lips and bringing his +hand to the salute: + +"Yes, Your Highness, a thing in the death-throes." + +Eduard turned towards the speaker, likewise saluted, and said +laconically: + +"Nothing to worry about, Doctor Sergievitch. Black and white are the +colours of Prussia. Red is for the Internationale. Maybe I was +paying reverence to all three." + + + + +CHAPTER SIX + +The "Excelsior," the graceful vessel that had been steaming on her +way, a long streamer of smoke flying backward from the funnel like +the scarf of a woman hastening to the tryst, had suffered a change in +the course of the night, and was now a sailing ship under full canvas +before a fresh north-westerly wind. When the company came on deck, +everyone was surprised and delighted at the transformation. Six +pairs of eyes were cast up towards the bellying sails. Questions +rained upon the crew, who were hard put to it to find satisfactory +answers; and if any of the passengers were in a mood to air their +knowledge of such matters, they very soon proved themselves +ignoramuses who had merely gleaned a little untrustworthy information +from books. Scherer, who had made himself so expert in the running +of his own machines, and turbines, and lighting, and what not in his +industrial undertakings, that he could make a repair when needed with +his own hands, felt completely at fault where a sailing yacht was +concerned. He got the captain to take him round, to show him this +and explain him that, and his scientifically trained mind very +quickly grasped the most intricate details of stress and strain, of +cordage and canvas and yard. + +At the outset, Franklin had accompanied the two on their round, +listening to the captain's lesson in sailcraft. But soon he ceased +to hear and became absorbed in contemplative reverie, as was his wont +when his fellow mortals were experiencing some new sensation. He +loved to watch their reactions to hitherto unknown phenomena. So +now, he soon saw nothing else but the voyager and the ship-owner into +whom Scherer for the nonce was metamorphosed; he envisaged the two +personalities as separate entities; the former gesticulating to make +himself the better understood, the latter, hands thrust deep into his +pockets, putting his mind in motion to grasp the unknown terminology +and to memorize it methodically. + +Eduard, meanwhile, found himself near the ratlines with Wilhelm at +his side. A young fellow was aloft trying to catch a rope that had +worked loose and was dangling and swinging in the breeze. But +neither from above nor from below could the sailor reach the +refractory piece of cordage. + +"Try from above," yelled the mate from the deck, "from above." + +But the youngster tried in vain. + +"Is that Giorgino?" asked the prince. + +"How can I tell what the young idiot's name is? I'd like to know +where the devil the captain could have found such a booby. He's hard +put to it to wash the dishes properly, and now he's suddenly expected +to do the work of a sailor!" + +The prince, tickled at this summary of the lad's career, laughed, and +called up to him: + +"Tira quell' altera corda!" + +Thereupon Giorgino started pulling on a cord as if in response to the +order. But his action proved hopelessly wrong, and the sail was put +out of gear. The mate swore and raged. Wilhelm roared with +laughter, while the mate glared at him ferociously. Then the young +poet, having divested himself of his jacket, began to climb the +ratlines. Eduard pulled him back, for he knew that only those with a +very steady head could venture up into those swaying, airy altitudes. + +Kyril meanwhile had joined the group. He quietly laid aside his coat +and, without awaiting the mate's orders, called his instructions up +to the boy. He spoke in Italian and Giorgino promptly responded by +clambering down to one of the yards while the Russian mounted to +replace him. Kyril's longer arm was able to reach the offending bit +of rope. He drew it in and attached it where it belonged, adjusted +the flapping sail so that soon it was again catching the wind, and +then descended from his perch. + +The mate had done nothing to hinder him in his operations, for he +realized that he had to do with a man who knew what was amiss. He +growled his satisfaction, hustled the youngster out of his path, and, +before Kyril had stepped down on to the deck, said to the two others: + +"Not so bad, not so bad! The young man must have had some seafaring +experience!" + +Diana, who had just come up, overheard his words and looked +inquiringly at the prince and then at the mate. But since neither +seemed inclined to enlighten her, Wilhelm constituted himself her +informant and pointed slyly up into the rigging. Someone was coming +towards her from aloft. It could not be a member of the crew because +the clothing was not that of a sailor. But she soon recognized the +figure as that of her Russian fellow traveller. She followed the +movement of his feet as they sought the rungs of the swaying ladder, +was tempted to help him by calling: "to right," or "to left." Then +she realized that she was looking at a man accustomed to climbing in +the rigging. In silence, the little group followed Kyril's descent. + +One final spring brought the Russian on to the deck again. +Unabashed, he put order into his clothing, smoothed his trousers, +tucked his shirt in, adjusted his belt. Diana watched him, herself +unobserved. Not one of his movements escaped her. She had seldom +been given an opportunity of observing a man, unaware of feminine +scrutiny, attending to his physical comfort. Suddenly the vision of +other manly forms she had known rose before her eyes. She saw them +on horseback, or swimming, or rowing, or doing gymnastics, as she had +seen them in the flesh at music halls or while engaged in sport. +Simultaneously the slender body of the major she had once known, +passed by; then that of a Pole as shapely as a young god of classical +antiquity, to whom she had given her love solely in order to feast +her eyes upon his physical beauty. And when the young Russian, +pushing the sail aside, suddenly became aware of her observation and +raised his cap from his ruffled hair, she said judiciously to herself: + +"A very good figure indeed!" + +The prince, who had also come forward, said: + +"Dr. Sergievitch has it in mind to charter a vessel on his own +account." + +And Wilhelm, full of awed surprise, added: + +"Oh, but surely you could be a captain on your own account, couldn't +you?" + +"Awfully sorry to be so untidy," apologized Kyril running his fingers +through his rumpled hair and putting on his coat which Wilhelm +respectfully held out for him. "I did not know that you... Besides, +I'm all out of practice." + +"How long ago?" asked Diana. + +"Eighteen months." + +"Regatta?" + +"No, escaping." + +Kyril answered these questions with a kind of ardent coldness, the +tone he invariably assumed when he was asked for what he considered +useless information. Eduard felt somewhat abashed, and looked to +Diana to help him out of his perplexity. She did not respond at all +to his appeal; indeed, it pleased her completely to ignore his +presence. The one word "escaping" had gripped her, had touched a +chord of sympathy in her heart. And while Wilhelm continued to stare +open-mouthed at the amazing stranger, Diana rapidly ran through her +mind the possible course of Kyril's life history, about which none of +those aboard knew anything other than that Sergievitch had been +exiled to Siberia. + +"Ah? Then you escaped via Vladivostok?" + +"On an American sailing vessel." + +"Passport under a false name?" + +"Of course. No money." + +"Many weeks?" + +"A good many." + +"As foremast hand? My word!" + +Wilhelm's astonishment waxed with every answer. Eduard had ears for +Diana's questions alone, his attention was riveted on the manner of +her asking. The economy of words between the two, the precision of +question and answer, was demonstration enough that the man and the +woman had been through experiences of a kindred nature. He was +reminded of the curt manner of speech among apaches, artists, +craftsmen; and suddenly it was borne in upon him that these two alien +beings were intimately bound together by the ties of an adventurous +life. + +The breakfast gong broke up the group, Kyril walking away with Diana, +and Wilhelm with Eduard bringing up the rear. + +"Do you think he ever feels giddy?" asked Wilhelm in an awed voice. + +"He climbs with great assurance," said Eduard vaguely, not wishing to +have his thoughts disturbed. + + +Prince Eduard, as far as he was able, spent the rest of the day +alone. He was trying in vain to recapture the strange and rare +simplicity of that morning dialogue; and every time he caught sight +of Kyril or of Diana, they seemed to be getting farther and farther +away from the spheres he knew. + +The Russian, too, was in no mood for any company but his own. He +stood in the stern, gazing at the ship's wake, as if he saw therein a +symbol of a world that was being left behind. He had been silently +and yet mistrustfully drawing nearer to Diana, and now of a sudden a +bridge had been thrown from either shore across the abyss which +separated them. For just as Eduard's elegance and conversational +powers were for ever rubbing him up the wrong way, so this woman's +every gesture, so captivating in Eduard's eyes, was repellent and +strange to him. + +Diana spent the whole morning with Scherer; and the rest of the day, +till sunset, she passed by herself. Now she lay in her deck chair, +an unread book on her lap, dreaming, forgetful of the flight of time. +Kyril found her thus alone, and made up his mind to have a talk with +her, a thing he had hitherto been careful to avoid. + +"What are you reading?" he asked without preface, for he was +genuinely curious to know. + +She roused herself at the sound of his rich baritone voice, looked +up, and saw him leaning against the rail in the same blue suit he had +been wearing in the morning. + +"I'm not reading at all," she answered, closing the volume. "It's a +collection of Swinburne's poems, poems of the sea among others. But +today the sea is not as Swinburne saw it, so I have not been reading +them." + +"Does Herr Scherer like such things, too?" + +She smiled. + +"Why do you want to know?" + +"Because you work with him, help him in his journalistic work. What +do you do it for, Fräulein de Wassilko?" + +To Diana it was as if a sluice-gate had been opened in her heart, and +the waters were rushing down into a huge basin, flooding over, and +filling a second. Her name falling naked and cold from these Russian +lips, here, in the midst of a southern sea, was a summons to her, +warning her to steel herself, to buckle on her armour for the +encounter. She sat up very straight as she answered: + +"Because I have to earn my living, Dr. Sergievitch." + +"For the sake of money?" + +"Is that anything to be ashamed of?" + +"A poor sort of aim in life!" + +"But suppose it is only a means?" + +"Then I should ask you to what end." + +Diana became more reserved, and, used to make what capital she could +out of those who questioned her by countering their questions with +questions of her own, she inquired: + +"Are means and end one and the same thing to you?" + +His mouth twitched. He raised his voice, saying almost angrily: + +"Always." + +Then in a quieter tone he added: + +"I serve an idea, and live by the party which serves the same idea." + +She was taken aback by the precision and clarity of his words. +Still, not wishing him to think she agreed with what he said, she +asked: + +"Has it always been so?" + +"This ten years past." + +"No other thought but the revolution?" + +"And its consequences. Revolution is no more than a means." + +She gazed up at him in silence. "Yes," she thought, "he has fine +features still. Soon fanaticism will set its mark upon his face." +Her fingers closed on her book and it made her feel that it at least +portrayed a better world. She rose to her feet as she said softly: + +"May you live to see your hopes fulfilled!" + +"That's of no consequence," he cried, stepping up nearer to her. +"Maybe it is only our children's children who are destined to see +that future day." + +The slightly ambiguous tone in which he had, all unawares, pronounced +the word "our," offended Diana anew. She stepped back a pace and +said: + +"At any rate you want someone of your own blood to see that day." + +Her eyes challenged his, and suddenly he saw nothing but the woman in +her, standing as he had seen her once before, on the night she had +posed as Atalanta. Thoughts chased one another through his brain as +he asked: + +"Why don't you, too, serve an idea?" + +"You mean your own ideas, I suppose?" + +"There does not appear to be any sense in your present activities. +You don't seem to me to wish either to seduce or to shine or to climb +or to bear children as other beautiful women do." + +He spoke so coldly that any suggestion of flattery was excluded from +his words. Her answer was as cool and collected: + +"And do you recognize no other aims in life?" + +He was silent, and she turned away, leaning over the rail and gazing +down at the sea, now glowing in the evening splendour. "And he sees +nothing of all this," thought Diana, "or, if he does, he despises it." + +She straightened, and walked away towards her cabin; as she went, the +sound of flapping sail and swaying ropes smote on her ears. Looking +up into the ordered wilderness of shroud and canvas and masts she +asked irrelevantly: + +"Was it a fishing boat in which you escaped?" + +"An old tub of a thing." + +"Carrying a lot of canvas?" + +"Aye." + +"Bad crossing?" + +"March." + +"And before that--how did you get through Siberia?" + +"Reindeer sledge." + +"Is it true that they can go twenty-four hours in the traces without +feeding?" + +"Twenty hours, and sometimes even more. At every halt they snuggle +down close to one another and lick snow. On arrival at a settlement, +a native will lead them to a place where Iceland moss grows. Then +they'll dig themselves in and eat their fill." + +They had reached the companion ladder as he spoke. He was about to +say something more, when a tall figure emerged from below and started +to climb the steps. It was the prince, who had already changed for +the evening. + +"They look like two conspirators," he thought as he looked up and saw +the pair silhouetted against the sky. + +"He looks like a prince," thought Kyril, a feeling of hostility +leaping up within him as Eduard's white shirtfront gleamed from the +darkness below. + +"Hello! Dressed already?" cried Diana as if suddenly aroused from +sleep. + +"On board H.M.S. 'Excelsior,' supper is served at seven--no frills." + +"And we were in Siberia," laughed Diana, disappearing into her cabin. + + + + +CHAPTER SEVEN + +Expectant, filled with that insatiable hunger which persons +travelling by sea attribute to the tonic action of the salt-laden +air, Scherer, Eduard, and Franklin were standing at the dining-room +door, discussing the weather while awaiting the arrival of the rest +of the company. Meals were served punctually aboard the "Excelsior," +and Diana, as the only lady present, was especially careful as a rule +to avoid being late. Eduard, who alone knew why she was not ready, +held his tongue, so as not to have to tell the others that he had +discovered her at so late an hour still in conversation with the +Russian. It was difficult to decide what motive was uppermost in the +prince's thoughts as he made up his mind to keep silence in the +matter. He may have merely wished to avoid the risk of making a +mountain out of a molehill by suggesting there was anything as yet +between Kyril and Diana. Such vague surmises were apt, within the +narrow confines of a ship at sea, to assume undue proportions. Or +could it be that he, a prince, was suddenly aware that the +revolutionist might be a rival for the lady's favour? + +The conversation had petered out, and Franklin, going over to consult +the chronometer, saw that it was already twenty minutes past the +hour. Scherer pulled his gold watch from his waistcoat pocket, +slowly wound it up, and replaced it without looking to see what time +it was. Eduard, observing the movements of the other two, shook his +shirt cuff free of his left wrist and looked down at the dial. At +that moment, Wilhelm, who had been standing a little apart and +contemplating the sea from the ship's side, suddenly broke in upon +the silence. + +"It's all illuminated! The foam is all alight!" + +The other three rejoined him, to watch the phosphorescent light on +the water. Each wave as it rose towards the vessel seemed to be lit +from beneath. + +"Murmuring pearls," whispered Franklin. + +"How wonderfully phosphorescent these tiny creatures are, to be +sure," said Scherer, thoroughly interested. + +"Like the Bundesrat during the speech from the throne," came from the +prince. + +Wilhelm who had hitherto been absorbed in his contemplation, now +looked up, and asked: + +"Oh, do they wear such shining robes on State occasions?" + +"Dresses of State," answered the prince, and his tone implied a +strange mixture of respect and mockery. "Furbelows from +Haroun-al-Rashid's epoch, as our Russian comrade would say." + +"It reminds me of Phœnician glass," said Diana, who had, +unnoticed, joined the group. Everyone turned as she spoke, and, +since there seemed to her an element of reproof in her friends' +aspect, she added: "Perhaps you'll be sending me back to my cabin in +disgrace, for I see it has gone the half hour and I have no excuse +ready." + +"I'm awfully sorry to be so late," said Kyril, dashing up from below. +But his excuses sounded dull and inadequate after Diana's dainty +little thrust. + +Franklin thought: "A bassoon after the flute! How lovely her voice +is." + +"You've mentioned those glasses before," said Scherer as he made way +to allow Diana to pass. "Did you not tell me your father had +unearthed them somewhere?" + +"Yes, and they lighted up the whole of my childhood with their +opalescent spots, covered, as it were, by a film of lava." + +By the time she had finished speaking, she had reached her end of the +table, and, making a half turn, she stood poised for a moment with +her bare arms slightly raised. + +"She is certainly very beautiful," thought the Russian. "But she +only cares for admiration and adventure; not an idea in her head. +She's a lost soul." + +"I'd always have her dress stunningly in the evening," said Scherer +to himself. "And in the daytime she should be dressed as a girl." + +"What an intricate gown," said Eduard, aloud. "It must be the +butterfly that's holding it all together." + +And Wilhelm exclaimed: + +"Oh, what a rare specimen! Where was it caught, and by whom?" + +He pushed back his chair, and, with the simplicity of a child, went +over to where Diana sat, in order to get a closer view of the +exquisite thing as it nestled in the soft folds of her low-cut gown. +And it was only now, at such proximity, that he realized how low +indeed the neck was cut. His young, inexperienced eyes lingered on +Diana's bosom, his senses became confused with the delicate aroma +that rose from her person, he forgot the passage of time. Four pairs +of eyes, glaring their protest and reproof, were fixed questioningly +upon Wilhelm, each man wondering when the indiscreet inspection would +come to an end. Diana, who had turned towards Wilhelm to show him +the ornament, did not see the men's expression, but she sensed +disapproval in the air by the silence that had fallen on the company. +She was rather amused by the little scene, and allowed half a minute +to go by before turning away and saying: + +"Your soup will be cold, Wilhelm, and it's turtle soup today, you +know, tortoise, the sort upon which an elephant can stand, a Buddha +sitting on its back." + +Wilhelm took a deep breath, and, as he hastened back to his place, he +was heard murmuring: "Marvellous!" but whether he was referring to +the turtle, or to the butterfly, or to Diana's bosom, not one of the +four men could decide. + +Conversation now became general. There was talk about sacred rites +among the Hindus; Scherer gave an account of the tortoise-shell +mausoleum in Kandy, and told how he had hurriedly left the place and +gone back to Colombo, because a company of English snobs had taken +possession of the little lake, and how relieved he felt when he got +back to the vision of the infinite sea. Diana had some interesting +things to say concerning the customs in Upper Egypt, and about +camel-riding, and her first experience of sea-sickness as she +crouched between the animal's humps. Franklin spoke of the +serpentine movements of the elephant's trunk, and went on to refer to +the anomalous aspect of this strange creature as seen amid the haunts +of men. Finally he opened a discussion on the price of ivory, which +seemed greatly to interest Scherer. "Yes," he was saying, "I +remember my awe when the first tusk was put in my hand and how I +turned to the skinny little hunter to say that such a beautiful thing +was certainly worth all the perils of the chase. To which he +answered: 'Of course you know that out of one tusk six billiard balls +can be made.'' + +"All my sympathies go to the elephant," exclaimed Kyril, rousing +himself from his silence. "The futile uses to which such fine things +and so much labour are put..." + +"Quite right! Quite right!" exclaimed Eduard. "I'm wholeheartedly a +partisan of the pachyderms. All politicians should belong to that +race, and to that race alone!" + +"It's a pity you speak ironically," retorted Kyril, "for what you say +happens to be true." + +The prince's lips twitched, then he said: + +"By the time the present generation of diplomats, the spiders, have +died out, I fear the elephants will have been exterminated by the +Austrian consular service under the leadership of Dr. Franklin as +head huntsman! Whom shall we then have left to send as ambassador to +St. Petersburg, I should like to know?" + +"Reynard the Fox," laughed Scherer. + +"On the contrary," said Eduard, "the revolutionists here wish it +might be the lamb!" + +"Neither will do," put in Kyril gravely, "but, rather, Herr Scherer +himself--on the understanding of course that he has accepted our +ideas in their entirety." + +Although Scherer's acceptance of these ideas was only partial and, +even then, mainly theoretical, he felt more flattered by the +Russian's implied appreciation than he would have been by an official +summons to such a post. Nevertheless, he did not betray his +feelings, merely answering: + +"I'm no more than a business man. You'd better try to convince the +prince, so that in the future when he is appointed to some foreign +post, he may work hand in hand with us, democratically. Advanced +ideas coming from abroad have a much better chance of acceptance at +home, you know!" + +"Compromise," muttered Kyril disdainfully. "Parson Brand says: 'All +or nothing!'" + +Since Scherer had spoken, the prince had kept his eyes on the +Russian, considering him attentively. Again tonight he reacted as he +had always reacted to similar talks during the past weeks, when this +slogan had been voiced, and it seemed to him that the Russian's +fanaticism was a serious obstacle to fulfilment. He intervened by +saying: + +"Would you appoint Ibsen's Brand as chargé d'affaires in Christiania?" + +"He'd be a trifle old for the job, I fear," answered Kyril. + +"You would, then, introduce an age-limit for diplomats? Treat them +as the Fiji Islanders treat their old folk? At sixty lead them on to +the rostrum whence, if they proved no longer capable of maintaining +their equilibrium, they would fall to the ground!" + +"The Russians are right," cried Franklin enthusiastically; "young +people are better for such posts." + +"Bravo! I think so too," exclaimed Wilhelm, the youngest of the +party, who, as usual, had been silently and reverently watching the +others while they talked. + +For the time being, the problem was settled in a chorus of merry +laughter, which suddenly ceased when Scherer rose as if to deliver a +formal speech. + +"Don't be alarmed," he said, smiling round the circle. "I have no +intention of introducing etiquette of any sort on board the +'Excelsior,' but, since we have been talking of diplomats and of +youth, I should like us all to give our good wishes to one among us +who, this day, has added another year to the tale of his young +decades--I drink to the health of our friend and my guest, His +Highness, Prince Eduard!" + +The men had risen. Clicking his heels together and bowing +ceremoniously, the prince touched glasses with his host. Then he +turned to Diana and found her gazing up at him, her eyes dimmed with +tears. Memories of another dinner party crowded upon him. It had +been in the Balkans; she had had a lover at the time; he himself had +been filled with envy. Now, as he bent towards her, Eduard became +poignantly aware of the caresses the dead man must have given to the +Diana-like body before him, a body which he had glimpsed for a +fleeting moment from a distant vantage point in a public gathering. +The lure of the woman was strong upon him. + +All had by now clinked glasses and had drunk the toast. There +followed an awkward pause, so usual in the train of such ceremonies. +Then Wilhelm's voice broke in on the silence. + +"I thought something must be up directly I saw champagne glasses on +the table!" + +"So we have an Almanach de Gotha on board the man-of-war," said +Eduard, turning to Scherer. + +"You'll have to own up to your age now," cried Kyril with unwonted +eagerness. + +Whereat Diana thought: "Does he hope to be the younger of the two?" +And, as if to shield the prince, she said hastily to Kyril: "You, +too, will have to make the same confession." + +"After His Highness!" + +"Guess," said Eduard turning to Diana. + +She hesitated. + +"According to the Almanach, Prince Eduard is nine-and-twenty years of +age," said Scherer, meaning to help the prince out of an embarrassing +situation. "Kürschner, in which we'd be bound to find Dr. +Sergievitch's name, is unfortunately not on board, and I'm afraid +we'll have some difficulty in finding a copy among the Ionian +Islands." + +"Twenty-nine, likewise," Kyril informed them simply. + +Diana, who was always responsive to the mystical in things, and +endowed with a physical love of youth, felt moved and excited as she +asked: + +"Which of you is the younger?" + +Her eyes travelled from one to the other. + +Eduard and Kyril leaned across the table; they gave the impression of +two wrestlers as each gazed in his opponent's eyes. Their companions +were silent witnesses of this soundless duel. Kyril at this moment +appeared to be endowed with superior strength, and seemed to be +hiding something which his vis-à-vis was endeavouring to divine. A +moment or two passed. Then Wilhelm's voice again broke the tension: + +"They were born on the same day!" he cried exultantly. + +"How do you know that?" retorted Kyril, his face darkening, his +manner rough and imperious. + +"I--I guessed it from the way you behaved," stammered Wilhelm, +abashed. + +"Is he right?" asked Diana eagerly, leaning forward in her turn. + +"Is he right?" chimed in Franklin and Scherer simultaneously. + +Kyril sat back in his chair, folded his table napkin, and answered +gruffly: + +"Yes, he's right." + +Diana and Eduard drew themselves up, completely taken aback. + +"Then we can seize the opportunity of wishing you many happy returns, +too," said Scherer jocularly, hoping to relieve the tension. + +"Not today," protested Kyril, "our Russian seventeenth of April does +not fall due until your thirtieth." + +"Still, you were born under the same star," said Diana. + +"Star? A new kind of decoration," mocked Eduard, trying to conceal +his excitement. "Do you know anything about such matters, my +mystical foster-brother?" + +"I don't believe in such things," answered Kyril. + +Scherer laughed, and Diana, too, could not hide her mirth as she said +merrily: + +"You were both born in the constellation of the Ram." + +"Hence these horns," commented Eduard. + +"Wool," said Kyril. + +"Maybe, likewise, the power of growth, a future vita nuova," put in +Diana. + +"Both of us--identical," said Kyril sullenly; like someone who +disapproved of such pleasantries and felt drawn into retaliating in +spite of his better judgment. "How will you, then, be able to tell +us apart?" + +"Your horoscopes will not be identical because the actual days of +your birth differ. My father could tell you all that with precision. +I don't know much about such things myself, or, at most, if you care +to show me your palms...?" + +Both men stretched out their left hands towards Diana who pushed her +dessert plate aside. She drew the hands towards her, placed her +elbows on the table and her chin in her hands, then looked from one +palm to the other while the company sat eagerly waiting for her to +speak. + +"How very different they are," she murmured after a while, "so many +lines crossing one another on your palm, Prince. Here, in the long +line of your life, a kink as it were, cutting it short, after which +the line becomes firmer. Head line good, decidedly domineering. The +line of heart seems to peter out here, but it rises in the Jupiter +mound." + +"May I ask what course it follows?" queried the prince. + +"It gives pride of place to love," answered Diana in a matter-of-fact +voice. "The mound of Venus is, however, not so pronounced. The +fingers are contemplative rather than grasping. But this middle one, +so square when compared with the others, that brings us to the +Scales, equilibrium." She had not touched him while thus telling his +fortune. Now she looked him in the face as she added: "On the whole, +a lucky hand, Prince." + +He turned his hand over on the table, took hers in his and kissed it. +Then: + +"And now for my rival," he said. + +Kyril meanwhile, had been sitting motionless, following every word, +staring enviously at Eduard's long fingers. Before she began to +speak, Diana looked up into the Russian's face and found his eyes +fixed inquiringly on her own. + +"This hand," she began even more sententiously than heretofore, "has +fewer lines. A wonderful line of fate. It rises here, below the +line of life, and runs up in two great curves to join the lines of +the head and the heart, straight up into the mound of Jupiter: and +there is a star." + +"What does the star signify?" asked Kyril, dully. + +"A great career," answered Diana, so frigidly that Eduard felt uneasy +at such a display of hostility. "But the line of life is not good at +this point, it divides in two, very decidedly, and it is not long." + +"How can you tell that?" queried Kyril harshly, bending forward so +eagerly that his fair hair caressed her cheek. She did not draw +back, but said calmly, pointing to the spot again: + +"By this." + +"That's all right. What else do you see?" + +"The head line does not join the line of life. That betokens +fanaticism. Mound of Venus, very strongly developed; line of heart, +simple. The fingers are grasping fingers," she concluded, raising +her head. "A square hand: more will than intelligence. Please +forgive me, I'm keeping you all too long at table." + +When, later, they sat in the smoking cabin over cigarettes and +coffee, their wicker chairs drawn together in a circle, the +conversation drifted from suggestion to sleep-walking and to +premonitions of death. From time to time Wilhelm had dragged one or +the other of the circle to the railing to look at the phosphorescence +in the water. These ecstatic excursions had been interpolated into +the general talk which see-sawed between acceptance and denial of +extraordinary phenomena. Franklin could contemplate the cosmos only +from the mystical view-point. Scherer, as a man of the world who had +never wholly denied the possibility of abnormal happenings, +endeavoured always to anchor himself on certainties, as the only safe +harbourage. But despite his best endeavours the springs of +conversation gradually dried up. + +The prince and the Russian contributed nothing to the entertainment. +The strange coincidence of their birthdates, separated merely by the +vagaries of the calendar, the variations in their fortunes as read in +the lines of their hands, the aura emanating from the clothing and +the personality of the woman in their midst: all this, and more +especially the strangely prophetic confirmation of her own +consciousness, lay heavy upon the spirits of the two men, one of whom +had been dancing attendance upon Diana for many months in spite of +prejudices of race and rank, while the other held aloof from her, +hostile and suspicious, and yet attracted to her in his own despite. + +The young woman herself was under the spell of her own perceptions. +She felt bemused. As always when things lying without the circle of +the tangible sent a ray of light towards her like a beacon from a +distant port, she seemed to be gathered up into the mysterious in a +way that appeared to her almost offensive, so greatly did she revere +her own aptitudes and so much did she hate to tamper with these +secret forces of her being. In such moods the incentive which her +essentially productive nature was in the habit of giving to those who +came in contact with her, was stilled; it was as if she were tossed +amid dark and gloomy waters, and thoughts knocked at her heart, +thoughts which at other times she sought to handle collectedly. + +She felt the warm night wind on her throat and arms; her hand moved +slowly, as if half asleep, towards the butterfly on her bosom which, +in rhythm with the rock crystal pendant, rose and fell with her +breathing; her imagination, more alert now than her eyes which lay +deep in the shadows, drank in the luminous movement of the waves, +sensing their luminosity rather than perceiving it. And as she lay +thus pensive and dreamy she felt acutely how alone she was, and how +impossible it was for these friends and lovers around her to put an +end to such solitude as hers. + +Was such a thing desirable she asked herself. Could passion, once +more aroused, be lovelier than the mute sympathy of air and sea and +death and night and stars? She looked up, searching for the Scales, +and became uneasy when she could not make out the constellation amid +the clouds which delicately veiled the firmament. + +Abruptly she got up, swept by the astonished Wilhelm whose eyes +followed her movements inquisitively, and made for the bows. The +waters were no longer aglow; the sky was partially overcast. She +became conscious of her youth as the wind played around her +shoulders, she saw the rise and fall of her breast beneath the +diaphanous folds of her gown, she felt the sensual delight of the +soft wrap covering her bare arms, and the dead butterfly adorning the +low-cut neck of her dress seemed more brilliant and more alluring +than the waves. + +She threw back her shawl so that she might fully enjoy the warm +caress of the wind. Was not all this the prelude to an embrace? Was +she, a young, beautiful, and independent woman, to continue living, +as she had lived for a year and more, like a cloistered nun?---- Why +does he hesitate? Why does he not come, unannounced, tonight, appear +suddenly in my cabin, this respectable, ardent cynic, and forget his +habitual irony and decorum in the ecstasy of an endless night? Do I +frighten the men who refrain from seizing me in the first hour of our +acquaintance? + +She returned to the circle of her friends, excused herself as she +lightly shook each by the hand, and withdrew to her cabin. Hastily +dismissing Mary, she took a seat in front of her threefold mirror and +hearkened to the murmur of the waters beneath the port-hole. She +pushed back the wrap from her shoulders, and, as if her own fingers +were those of a lover beginning to unclothe his sweetheart, she +started to unhook her gown. With a slow and voluptuous movement, she +raised her arms above her head, so that the frail bodice slipped down +to the broad waistband which she had loosened likewise. She pressed +the hard crystal between her breasts and held the dead butterfly +against her bosom. Her other arm was still upraised to frame her +curly head. For a long time she sat there, gazing at herself in the +mirror. Then she rose. With a single motion the dress and her +underwear slid to her feet; then stepping free, as from a pupa-case, +she again contemplated herself in the glass. + +She found herself beautiful, and yet as she stretched out her arms in +longing, she had no desire for the man who had been in her thoughts. +What she desired now was love. The tones of Wilhelm's lute floated +down to her, yearning and soft. + +She clasped her strong hands together, and then pressed their palms +against her body. Aghast, she let them fall to her side, her eyes +darkened, for as she had watched the movements of her own hands her +thoughts had flown to the huge fists of the Russian. She pulled on a +nightgown, and slipped into her bunk. Soon she was wrapped in a +dreamless sleep. + + + + +CHAPTER EIGHT + +The rattling of chains awoke Diana. She sprang out of bed, and as +she opened the port-hole she saw land, flat stones lapped by gentle +waves, a few bushes, the whole lit up with the first shafts of the +rising sun. On deck she found there was little more to see, save a +hillock, a sun-kissed beach, a few cottages, and a couple of dozen +fisherfolk who had never seen any other vessel than their own cobles +putting into the bay. + +It was the island of Leucas that lay before them. Scherer had hunted +out this little place, for his friends and he himself wished to avoid +Corfu and considered Cephalonia too big. On this particular voyage +they none of them wished to run up against acquaintances or strangers +whom they might, as in a dream, talk with for one forenoon. Ithaca, +which had been Scherer's first choice, had been turned down by the +rest of the company. Even more than Syracuse did the place smack of +archæological research. + +"Good morning! Is this wild enough for you?" called Scherer from the +other end of the deck, as Diana appeared up the companion. "The +natives here don't even ask for harbour dues!" + +"And they catch fish, and milk goats, and our Father who is in heaven +provides for their needs," she called back. + +"You've got out of bed in biblical vein," said Scherer as he shook +hands. + +"Say rather in a pagan mood. For this place is rich and lonesome, +and within an hour the sun will be burning hot and we shall be +walking upon Greek ivy." + +"It was here that Dorpfeld sought Ithaca." + +"I don't want to hear about that. Ithaca is where I choose it shall +be!" + +"You are talking like Franklin." + +"For today, his way of speaking is the right one! Are we going +ashore?" + +Diana pointed to a boat that was drawn up alongside. + +"Yes. And, I say, what about going really ashore?" retorted Scherer +meaningly. + +"What's your idea?" she asked. + +"Well, since I've caught you alone thus early, why not go to Patras?" + +They were standing near the gangway which was still shaking from the +heavy tread of the captain who had just left the yacht to go ashore. +Such a question, the proposal that they two should do something apart +from the others, had never been mooted before. Both rather dreaded +the possibility. Patras spelled Athens. Athens was full of certain +joint memories that needed careful handling. + +Diana said: + +"Patras is hardly worth a visit, and it's too late in the year for +Athens. Agreed? Besides one might get involved in the Balkan +imbroglio and the yacht captured as a prize! Wouldn't you prefer +sailing northward?" + +"Really northward?" he asked with a smile, for he knew her weakness +for Venice. + +She laughed. Then tossing her head defiantly, she said: + +"One should always avoid the scenes of former happenings, you +know--especially if one holds the past in contempt." + +Her words were only meant to express her vivid joy of the +moment--like a bugle summoning up the morning. But for Scherer they +seemed a disavowal of the past, knowing as he did her faith in the +mutations of the moment. He looked at her steadily, as if to fix her +words upon his retina. She returned his gaze unflinchingly, +combative and audacious, until he lowered his eyes and continued +unruffled: + +"It's to be Venice, then; and after that we'll skirt the coast. Is +that your idea? The plan suits me very well, for I should dearly +like a chat with Ricci, who is doing propaganda in Italy on behalf of +our views. I may learn something useful. If only our captain +doesn't fall in love!" + +"I'd willingly put temptation in his way for the sake of Venice," she +laughed. "But I'm not his type." + +"Highly improbable! What you really mean is that he is not a type +that appeals to you." + +"That's neither here nor there, if one has an end in view." + +She spoke with the deliberate coldness she occasionally affected when +she wished to mislead even those whom she most trusted. + +Scherer did not answer. He was pondering her words. "An end in +view? What would be the upshot?" + +An hour later they were all being pulled ashore. The silence that +brooded over the island, the absence of any sights, the speedy growth +of the sun's power, and above all the estrangement which had arisen +between Eduard and Kyril since the events of the previous evening, +made the little company unusually taciturn. Scherer contemplated +Diana from a new angle, and was absorbed in his own thoughts; Eduard +did not wish to be with Diana while Kyril was about; Diana had no +desire to speak to any one; even Franklin seemed strangely glum since +last night. + +Wilhelm, alone, was cheerful. He felt more at home on land than at +sea, especially when the country was wild and the weather hot. He +had been walking for some time at Diana's side, admiring the flowers, +the hills, and the tide. Gradually he felt that he had experienced +all this before; the landscape and, indeed, the whole excursion was +familiar. Such a feeling of reliving past events was one this dreamy +poet's nature was accustomed to, and he was never taken aback when +things or persons unexpectedly appeared as old friends or as the +realization of a dream. The party broke up into groups, rambling +whithersoever fancy led: Wilhelm's mood became more and more joyous. +He walked along at Diana's side, absorbed in his dreams, the +incarnation of youth. + +"There does not seem to be any way through up there," Scherer called +after the pair. + +"All the better," cried Diana, waving her hand. "We'll probably +discover a temple!" + +"As you will," shouted Scherer from below. "Only I beg you to be +aboard again at one." + +He invited the remainder of the little band to follow him along a +more beaten path which wound away to the right, mounting the cliff, +and overlooking the bay. Absentmindedly, the three men followed +where Scherer led, not one of them much caring whither they went. +Scherer proved right and Diana came to what she had hoped. The track +vanished amid a tangle of broom, and she felt thoroughly in her +element as she beat a passage for herself through the thicket, +Wilhelm following in her wake. Now, at last, she could throw off the +burden of thought with which she had been oppressed since her talk +with Scherer early that morning. + +The broom grew to a man's height in this spot, and its yellow plumes +waved aloft in the golden light of the early day. At times the shrub +attained the proportions of a tree, and scattered blossoms with +profusion as if they were a tropical rain. It was difficult to find +a foothold among the thick growth of ivy which covered the ground, a +carpet of damp green flecked with the gold of fallen petals. Gnarled +fig trees spread their heavy leafage abroad, while myrtles in full +blossom formed cascades among the ivy-mantled crags. The prickly +fronds of the cactus stuck their grey-green fingers in the air, and +here and there one of the plants flaunted the beauty of red buds; +violet agave flowers, like thorny fountains, inhaled the light and +the warm sunshine with avidity, profiting by every instant of their +short-lived glory to nourish the fruit of their blossoming time; and +mother earth in her green gown, lying amid a welter of sword-shaped +leaves, was already parched from the boiling noonday suns. From a +medley of mosses and weeds the delicate stems of olive trees had +sprung up, but, affrighted by the rough caresses of the sea winds, +they had bowed their heads to earth again. In the general hum of +insect and animal life, sounds differentiated themselves so that one +could distinguish the rustle of lizards amid leaves, the slithery +movement of unseen snakes avoiding the tread of a human foot and yet +seemingly on the alert to follow the wayfarer; while, dominating all, +came the deep bourdon of the humble bees, and the shrill chirp of the +crickets. The hot air was heavy with the scent of honey and parched +blossoms, and it was a labour to lift the foot to a higher level on +the sweltering hill-side, where the tall, beaker-shaped ferns grew +luxuriantly and the stiff stems of the orchis thrust their purple +buds amid the green, where the cherry-laurel attained undreamed of +heights, displaying its cool leaves to the ardent sun and reflecting +the light in the thousand facets of its sombre depths. + +Now the sea was again visible, spreading its calm and polished +surface beneath the radiant sky, and Diana, catching sight of it, let +herself slide to the ground amid the tangle of golden broom, and +gazed her fill, breast high among the blossoms. She leaned upon her +elbows, her chin cupped in her hands, her eyes fixed upon the distant +blue, looking for all the world like a sentry awaiting the arrival of +a ship. Thus she lay amid the yellow wilderness, a slender figure in +her simple white frock, her wide-brimmed hat flung negligently at her +side, absorbed in contemplation of the dazzling waters. Wilhelm, who +had discarded his coat and his cap, sat at a little distance from +her. He had followed her silently, using his stick and his hands to +clear a path for himself. Occasionally he had sprung forward in +advance of her, holding branches aside for her passage; then again he +would fall to the rear, seeking an easier way. + +"You are a shepherdess," said he, his head cocked to one side. "When +you talk, I can hardly ever understand, since you are too clever for +me. But as you are now, I can understand you very well, just as I +used to understand my collie, who was stolen from me last autumn." +He spoke very softly, a note of supplication in his voice. + +"How gentle a tone, how mute and humble his affection," thought +Diana, a smile hovering about her lips. "He hums like one of those +great hairy bees, and he, too, is wishing to find honey." + +"None of the other men are near," continued Wilhelm, cuddling down +beside her, "and I feel sure you will allow me to kiss your hand--but +I want to kiss it here, quite high up." + +Diana laughed. + +"You are but a shepherd lad," she said, "and I'll let you kiss me +wherever you please." + +Wilhelm bent forward and kissed her lightly on the cheek. + +"Ah, Diana, you are a goddess taking your ease among the broom, and +you think the shepherd does not recognize you for what you are. But +he knows, he recognizes you," and he leaned over her as she lay. + +"By what sign do you recognize me, Wilhelm?" + +"By your knees," he said roguishly. "Atalanta did not wear +stockings, you know!" + +She pulled her skirt down. + +"Did you like Atalanta?" + +"So greatly that I could only gaze and gaze at her, and forget to +fall in love with you." + +"But I'm in love with you, Wilhelm!" + +"Yes, I know; but I make very cautious advances as you see..." + +He slipped his head on to her breast and caressed her knees. + +"You are so gentle and so kindly, Wilhelm, and you taste like +strawberries." + +"You are the most beautiful of women, Diana, and Wilhelm is the +happiest of mortals," and he quietly began to unfasten her dress.... + + +They were startled from an infinitude of slumbrous joy by a sound of +crackling nearby, and sprang apart with the frightened shock of +lovers surprised by an alien third. But their alarm soon changed to +laughter, for the intruder was only a he-goat who was no less +startled at finding human stragglers in his haunts than they had been +by his intrusion. + +"The very creature himself," cried Diana, trying to seize the beast +by the horns, "the Dionysian animal arousing us from a Pan-like +lethargy. It is just as well that he invaded our sanctum, for +otherwise we'd have overslept ourselves, been late for lunch, might +even have been left behind and condemned for ever to live on Leucas +isle!" + +"Would that not have been paradise, indeed? What might I not achieve +on Leucas, and you?" + +She laughed, glancing up at him shyly from under her lids, as she +said: + +"I'd make myself a rough canoe..." + +"To live in?" + +She flung her arms about him and kissed him precipitately, laughing, +and looking straight into his eyes. + +"No, no! To sail in, to make for Corfu, under cover of night, while +you were fast asleep in the cave of Telemachus. Once arrived at +Corfu, I'd board a Lloyd steamer and voyage to Rio or to the moon." + +Lighter of step than during the upward climb, fleeing from the +heights, with the springy gait of a young shepherdess, Diana sped +down the hillside, along the path they had beaten, humming softly to +herself, until she reached the road and the shore. + + +The thoughts of the four men who had taken the easier way were +concentrated on the person of Diana, during the time that she herself +was living a genuine pastoral with the fifth. + +As chance would have it, Eduard and Kyril walked side by side along +the narrow path. They were silent. Their discovery had aroused in +them a sense of hostility: the chance circumstances which had brought +them together, seemed to them now, since the previous evening, to +have imposed indissoluble and fateful ties; at the same time they +both felt that henceforward Diana's relationship towards them would +be a more intimate one. This conviction, for the first time, +awakened a sense of unwarranted jealousy between the two men, a +feeling which served in the case of each to accentuate their +inclination towards the lady. + +Kyril, however, with his instinctive and deliberately fostered animus +against persons of high station, was inclined to rationalize his +dislike for the man as contempt for the prince; whereas the latter, +being set upon freeing himself from prejudice, did his utmost to draw +a clear distinction between Kyril the rival and Kyril the man of +ideas. It was Eduard, therefore, who broke the long silence. + +"Rather an ominous field of research, astrology, don't you think, +Doctor? If one believes in it, one has misgivings, and if one does +not believe in it, one has nevertheless a feeling of resentment." + +"Just as one has with human beings," responded Kyril gloomily, and +with so audible a hint that he wished for the silence to continue, +that the prince had plenty of time wherein to ruminate as to whether +his neighbour believed in Diana or mistrusted her. + +Scherer and Franklin, following the two younger men, had lapsed from +the cheerful mood they had begun the day with. Now they were in a +critical vein, from which neither the sunshine nor the sea could +release them. They had lost their equanimity. Franklin, who had +neither in earlier days nor now looked upon Diana with the eyes of a +lover, had felt all along a little out of the picture as he watched +her relations with the little circle of friends; since the events of +last night, however, this vague feeling had become more tangible and +he actually fancied she regarded him with contumely. It seemed to +him that as poet and as one who prided himself on his knowledge of +women, Diana might treat him in less daughterly a fashion, though it +was, he had to admit, he himself who had encouraged this attitude in +her. Now, quite suddenly, although in his quiet way he had enjoyed +the voyage, learning and observing a new kind of life, he felt that +what remained to him of youth had forcibly been wrenched away from +him. Above all, his suspicions were aroused in regard to Scherer, +whose relationship to Diana he had never wholly understood, and whose +unwonted buoyancy this morning, in spite of the veneer of worldliness +with which the financier masked his feelings, made Franklin more +alert than usual. + +For since Diana had spoken to him that morning Scherer had been the +prey of an inner turmoil; possibilities of all kinds rose in his mind +and were rejected, and it seemed to him that of all men Franklin was +the one who could inform him as to certain happenings of her youth. +Both men had feelers out; both were silent. Scherer waited till +Franklin spoke. + +"Have you known the young people long?" + +"Those two young men ahead of us?" returned Scherer, deliberately +misunderstanding Franklin's inquiry. + +"Prince Eduard and the girl." + +Franklin invariably referred to Diana thus. + +"Oh," answered Scherer, "I met the prince in Turkey some time ago, +but I did not make Fräulein de Wassilko's acquaintance till +considerably later." + +"Well, what about the prince? And suppose she takes up with the +other...?" + +Scherer assumed an air of absolute innocence. + +"She must have had nothing but a platonic friendship with him in +those days..." + +"Platonic? Can she keep that up indefinitely?" exclaimed Franklin. + +Scherer smiled. + +"You've known her much longer than I have." + +"Yes, long ago," rejoined Franklin in a tone of voice as if he were +referring to a lost paradise. "The girl was observant and wise in +those days. Now--she seems to me to be rather more a woman made for +love." + +"Since she has been living and working so closely in touch with me, I +have found her far more maidenly than most people deem she could +possibly be after such an adventure." + +"Outwardly, perhaps, Herr Scherer. But inwardly? The cup is filled +with blissful delight." + +Franklin spoke the last words so loud, tossing them as it were into +the air in his rhapsodic way, that they floated as far as Eduard's +and Kyril's ears, whereupon the two young men simultaneously turned +right about. Scherer, secretly amused, and emboldened by the turn +the conversation had taken, wished to give the subject a more +conventional twist, so he called to the two who had taken the lead on +the path: + +"You are missing the best sonnet Herr Franklin has ever composed. He +wrote it years ago, taking our huntress as subject, when she was +still a priestess." + +"May one ask for it to be repeated?" asked Eduard, shaking off the +spell that had held him, and falling into line with the elder couple. + +"Herr Scherer is the poet this time," protested Franklin, "not I." + +"Wares acquire value through rarity," said Eduard mockingly. + +"Let's reckon up which of us has burned the greater number of poems, +Prince," answered Scherer. + +"I never burned any. The few I composed I made into paper boats and +set them adrift on the pond in our park at home." + +They were by now in merrier mood, and gave themselves up to +good-humoured banter. + +All, save the Russian, who continued on his way ahead of them, alone +and sullen, in the scorching noontide glare. + + +An hour later the whole party met at lunch on the yacht. The Russian +was very uneasy, and, since the prince felt himself to be in rather +less serious plight, he assumed the task of finding out how Diana had +spent the morning, a matter about which both men were extremely +inquisitive. + +"I expect you have added to your academic laurels this morning by +increasing our knowledge of Homeric times--excavations I mean." + +She was determined not to give herself away, so she took refuge in a +lie. + +"We really did discover something, Wilhelm and I. Higher up, soon +after we had left you, a little farther inland, we came upon an olive +tree under which, covered with ivy, we saw two stones. On closer +inspection they proved to be pieces of a truncated column, late +epoch, might even be Roman. But, Wilhelm, you know about these +things better than I for you have studied the history of art." + +Wilhelm was nonplussed, not so much by her powers of invention in +order to shield their secret, as by the calm way in which she +appealed to him. + +"I think they are called Roman drums," he said diffidently, "but for +the moment I want to give my attention to this excellent fish." + +The Russian looked inquiringly at the speaker and then turned his +eyes upon Diana, while the prince cast a meaning glance at Kyril and +Scherer. Immediately Wilhelm, who had so recently deemed himself the +favoured one in relation to this much-courted woman, assured that he +alone of all on board had enjoyed the favour of her kisses, felt +confused, and poverty stricken, and banished from her sight. + +As the day was fading, Diana stood alone on the deck. The island was +left far behind, its hills rising faint and dreamlike out of the sea. +Diana gazed over the waters, absorbed in reverie. "The hand of the +past has lain heavy upon me today," she mused. "Scherer, always on +the lookout for a wife ... he's missed his chances ... Wilhelm finds +a shepherdess ... as that handsome Scottish lad did so many years +ago... And what of this taciturn, amiable prince? Is it not +dangerous for us to let the favourable moment slip through our +fingers? Why does he hesitate?" + +A shadow climbed up the companion ladder. Wilhelm stood beside her. + +"Diana," he whispered, a caressing note in his voice. + +"Good evening," she answered in a louder key. + +"Are you happy?" + +"Is it not lovely?" + +"What?" asked Wilhelm, at a loss to know what she was referring to. + +"The sea! And that we are making for Venice!" + + + + +CHAPTER NINE + +Eduard was sitting at one of the little marble tables in Florian's +cafe on the Piazza. He had chosen a seat in the back row, and was +fluttering the pages of an illustrated paper. A small glass of +vermouth stood on the table beside him. He had at last discarded his +yachting jacket and white shoes, and was now clad in a light-coloured +summer suit, enjoying the luxury of being ashore again after so many +days at sea. + +Here, in Venice, ran his thoughts, I hope to stay two days; but I +don't mean to spend them in hunting up art treasures. I'm going to +be an ascetic so far as such things are concerned. I wonder why she +left the yacht so early? The time had certainly come when it was +expedient to land somewhere! + +Pictures of the last few days aboard the "Excelsior" passed before +his eyes. All the cheerfulness of the first days had vanished; +monosyllabic courtesy prevailed; laughter had become a stranger. +Wilhelm spent half the day in solitude, apart; his friends watched +him sadly as he sat crouching on a chair in the bows; he avoided +Diana and the prince, and chose only Franklin's company, conversing +with him about camels, elephant hair, and crocodile tears. When he +played the lute, he touched its strings lightly, making music for +himself alone, and he never sang now. Of an evening, he would creep +down to where Giorgino, the ship's boy, sat on the companion steps, +and Scherer as he went by heard them practising the Venetian dialect +together. + +Scherer, too, was restless, and tried every expedient to relieve his +boredom, asking the captain for information concerning winds and +tides, fogs and lighthouses. Eduard and Kyril had long discussions +about the people as against the individual, at the end of which, they +would fetch the chess board and sit down to a game. Four or five +hours would go by, and neither would raise his eyes from the board; +and even during the meals that followed, they would remain pensive +and chary of words. + +Every one on board had become suspect to Kyril, his fundamental +mistrust of Diana having now spread to her friends; hardly had the +fences which separated the two begun to be pulled down, than he +carefully set them up again. On the whole, this state of affairs +fell in with Eduard's humour, for the prince's uneasiness concerning +Diana's little excursion with Wilhelm had assuaged his jealousy of +the Russian, and it seemed to him that the latter's comradely +attitude towards Diana was a good one to imitate. Diana herself, +since that strangely poignant evening, had been constrained to +greater precaution, seeing that the prince held back; indeed, he +seemed to be slipping away altogether, and he for his part made no +effort to hold her. She could not guess what he had been cogitating +for months; all she was aware of was that he revered her instead of +taking possession of her; her spirit was rent by the conflict between +pride and inclination, a conflict in which pride usually gained the +upper hand, and thereby augmented the alienation. + +Eduard got up, paid his score, and was making for the colonnade by +the public library, wishing to mix with the crowd that always +promenaded there towards noon, when he heard himself called by name. +As he abruptly turned in response, his sleeve caught the change the +waiter had deposited on the little table, and swept it to the ground. +Four hands were instantly stretched out to pick the money from the +ground, and as the prince, too, stooped in order to help, he saw +himself confronted by Kyril and another young Russian. All three +laughed as they rose and shook hands. + +"That's the first time I've ever seen you groping for money, most +honoured Samoroff," cried Eduard. "You always allow it to roll away +unheeded at Monte Carlo. Thanks," he added as the coins were +returned to his hand. + +"It's only to show myself an arrant foe of capitalism in the eyes of +my old friend Kyril. We were students together. Otherwise, quand il +aura puissance dans l'Institut Smolny, he might put me under lock and +key in the dungeons of the Peter-Paul fortress!" + +The elegant young gentleman who spoke these words, partly in broken +German and partly in excellent French, was nearly as tall as Eduard. +His walking cane between his legs, he was preparing to take a seat, +when Kyril said, addressing Eduard: + +"Dimiter Alexandrovitch will excuse me, I feel sure. He'll be +happier chatting with you about the gaming table than with me about +Kropotkin whom he met in London and whose samovar is the only thing +he has been able to understand! Good-bye, I have other matters in +hand." + +He then turned to his compatriot, and took leave of him in Russian. +Soon he was lost in the crowd. Eduard realized how glad Kyril was at +such an easy escape, and with what relish the young man had foisted a +compatriot of birth and standing upon himself as one of similar +lineage. + +"How goes the world with you, cher Prince?" said Dimiter, slipping +his hand lightly through Eduard's arm, and leading him towards the +colonnade. He seemed a little distrait, but his manner was more +cordial towards Eduard than the latter's towards him, for both by +education and temperament the German was more reserved than the +Russian globe-trotter. While they chatted, Dimiter sauntering easily +along, Prince Eduard walking with greater decorum, the latter's mind +was occupied with thoughts as to how he could get rid of his +fortuitous companion. He feared Dimiter might invite him to lunch, +that he, in turn, would have to reciprocate, and he was loath to +bring this idler aboard Scherer's yacht since he, as member of the +same caste, would thus render himself more or less responsible for +the Russian. They had passed a few days together in Cannes a couple +of years ago, empty days to be sure, but since Dimiter had just come +from those parts, the conversation naturally turned to recollections +of that time, whose charm was greatly exaggerated in retrospect by +the Russian. In Eduard's memory those same few days were far from +appearing so beautiful, and he was determined not to contribute +anything to their glamour. + +"I hear you've been cruising in the Mediterranean with a newspaper +magnate," began Dimiter. But he broke off to say: "Just look, there, +the girl on the right--look at the movement of her shoulder under her +black shawl, you can actually see it as if it were being X-rayed!" +He spoke with the utmost physical unconcern. "Superb," he continued, +"only most of them smell so strong. In winter, it's not so bad.... +Apropos, Kyril tells me you have a lady on board. Very convenient +when one's at sea, only one must be sure the cabin doors open +quietly, see that the hinges are well-oiled, otherwise the husband--I +speak from experience! Enfin... Not going already?" + +Eduard protested that he must rejoin his friends, though in reality +he was under no obligation to do so, for it had been agreed among +them that each was free to do what he liked ashore. As the prince +was about to move away, it suddenly occurred to him that this +loose-tongued gossip might give him information about Kyril. He +therefore said somewhat irrelevantly: "You know, of course, that Dr. +Sergievitch is a great favourite on board the yacht?" + +"Naturally," exclaimed Dimiter with vivacity, and he unexpectedly sat +himself down on one of the steps of the flagstaff belonging to the +church of San Marco, his cane between his legs. "That goes without +saying. When we were students together--my father wanted me to take +my degree--I was to study law in Switzerland, at Lausanne, for the +old man had friends there, exiles from Alexander's reign--and Kyril +was to study there likewise. It was charming, for at Ouchy, in +Madame Dorée's pension, there lived a most adorable woman, her +daughter, you know--seventeen, noli me tangere type, brunette, slim +as a boy, only up here, you know.--Eh bien, we were all crazy about +this bronze divinity. But this poor devil---- Let's see, we must +have been twenty-two at the time---- Yes, that's right, for it was +in 1906, a year after the October revolution---- Well, Kyril, who +was not in a position to make her a present of even so much as a +bracelet, went straight to the goal, just as if this cool and suave +young lady were a rutting bitch. Straight there, after seeing her +but twice. I bet you it was his regard demoniaque and his +magnificent teeth that did the trick." Dimiter struck viciously at +the square red slabs with his cane. "Cette canaille!" he exclaimed. +Then, unexpectedly, he sat silent, ruminating, filled with jealousy, +as if he actually saw the couple before him in the flesh, ignoring +the many years that had elapsed and the many successful adventures +that had come his way since. + +Eduard, standing in front of him, had at first listened, his hands +resting on the small of his back, as he balanced himself on the soles +of his brown shoes. But, his interest in the story waxing, he +brought his face nearer to the speaker, placing one foot upon the +step above and gripping the flagstaff with his left hand. He noticed +the Russian's preoccupation and respected it for a while. Then, into +the silence, he flung a question, lightly, as if he attached but +little importance to the answer: + +"He was very poor at the time?" + +Dimiter looked up, blinking his eyes as he answered: + +"Son of a cottager, Ukrainian peasant folk, adopted by some farmer or +other. Suddenly wrenched from his natural surroundings and hurled +into the vortex of revolutionary intrigue. Then he studied, buried +himself in his work. Got subsidies, financed by the party--je ne +connais pas les details. Later, I gather, he was sent to Siberia. +Escaped, as usual.--En avant! Enough of this camelot! Come along to +Danieli's. You must consent to be my guest at lunch, and tell me the +most recent Berlin scandals." + +"That would be delightful," rejoined Eduard, hoping to hide behind a +mask of levity the pensive mood these scraps of information had +induced. "Unfortunately I am a slave aboard the galley which you can +see from here flaunting her charms in a robe of snow-white innocence. +Tomorrow I'll drop you a line at your hotel. For today, I have no +choice, I must aboard. Mille pardons!" + +As soon as he had shaken the Russian off, Eduard made his way, with +greater speed than was customary to him, through the strollers who +were by now thronging the Piazza. He hailed a gondola, and, not +wishing to be the prey of further questionings, called haphazard the +first name that occurred to him: + +"All' Accademia!" + +He would thus gain time to consider where he would next order the man +to go, and meanwhile he could give himself up to meditation. +Lounging on the well-worn leather cushions, he saw nothing of the +sights around him. His mental vision was filled with Kyril's form; +he saw Kyril's eyes asparkle, Kyril's teeth gleaming; he heard +Dimiter's envious voice saying, "Straight there, after seeing her but +twice," and again Dimiter's tone as he uttered the words "bronze +divinity," words that had pierced Eduard's heart. Then the dim +interior of a peasant's hut rose before the prince's eyes, a new-born +baby was crying, the farmer in his high boots entering and carrying +the child away, the snow, the heat, the endless steppe, a resolute +lad growing up on a farm, a propagandist on his rounds whispering the +word of promise for a brighter future and giving the boy a book, the +youngster devouring page after page, his face aglow--now the lad is +packing his few things, scraping a handful of coins together, making +for the railway station, journeying to Moscow--public meetings, a +kopeck or two spent on food, all the rest of his scanty hoard going +to buy books, and again books--then, suddenly, reindeer drawing a +sleigh over Siberian wastes, Kyril sitting inside it, hastening +onwards, for ever hastening, that "they" might not catch him, onward +till he reaches the coast--now the youth is aboard a sailing vessel, +none of your spick-and-span white yachts--and then the vision of the +girl of seventeen summers, a bronze divinity, spurning the advances +of the scion of a princely race in order to give herself to the +meanly born swain who possessed her then and there as if she were "a +rutting bitch." ... + +"O--hé! Guarda--mi!" + +The gondolier's warning cry broke in upon his reverie. The man's +voice reminded him of the voice of his first tutor calling to him as +he played in the park at home, summoning him back to his quarters in +the left wing of the castle. But first he must bring his wooden +ducks ashore, lovely white-lacquer birds, with which he had been +playing in the marble basin where the goldfish swam; they must not be +allowed to stay out over night. "Johann! Johann!" And the old +servant would come running along the avenue of yew trees while the +youngster stamped about in water, crying: "Johann, catch my ducks! +No, not yet; first help me on with my shoes, I've got to be quick, +Stefan is already with Herr Hollrigel, we've got to do twice two +today!" + + +At this very hour, Diana was sitting alone in the cool, spacious hall +of the Accademia, looking up at Titian's last masterpiece. + +"What depth, what weight," thought she. "This is surely the climax +of the century when, after so glorious a course, after hundreds of +paintings depicting sunlit nudities, red-gold, shimmering hair, lute +players twanging love-lorn ditties beside Aphrodite; of pictures of +chains and war-harness, of boldness and of freedom--there should be +conceived this canvas, showing beneath a green-gold cupola of +transcendental loveliness, the dusky and livid body of Our Lord being +taken down from the cross before the gloomy eyes of the watchful +Magdalen.... To die young ... younger even than He ... in the dread +ecstasy of love, in the throes of a twin pulsation, naked, up on a +couch within earshot of the surges of a southern sea, under the skies +in full view of one's guiding star.... Is my constellation really +the Scales? Last night, when I heard them lowering the anchor, and +the chain rattled over the cathead, I looked out through the +port-hole, straight across to San Giorgio's point, and there was +Saturn, the girdled god.... I must get away from this tragical +picture.... It was here I saw those enigmatic angel heads of +Leonardo's that time when I came away from Rome.... They were under +glass, and some one carefully rolled back the cloth that protected +them from the light.... They must be over there...." + +Diana got up, passed through two other rooms, full of people coming +and going and chatting, to reach a little gallery whose walls were +adorned with glass cases. The place was deserted but for one other, +a glimpse of whose back she caught in the farther corner. She +started looking at the pages which were spread out for inspection +beneath the glass. They were drawings by Leonardo himself. + +She looked long and lovingly at these sweet angel faces with their +ecstatic upward gaze and their unearthly, enigmatic smile; herein she +read nothing but heavenly love, desireless and candid; and her heart, +which had been troubled of late, gradually found ease and quietude +from the contemplation of these pure and ethereal beings; she felt +her soul flooded with the reflected laughter and devotion of these +fanciful creations. The face of the master who had conjured them +forth from the recesses of his fancy rose before her, and as peace +invaded her and wrapped her round she felt that his spirit must be +near at hand. A light footfall to her left brought her back to +reality, though for a moment, so greatly was she under the spell of +her musings, she thought it was the tread of the great master himself. + +The form she had glimpsed as she entered the gallery had detached +itself from the shadowy corner, and was now studying the contents of +the cases, just as she was, only from the other end. He was a tall +man in the middle sixties, dressed in a suit of dark cloth, and, from +the position of his body as he bent to look at the drawings, it was +difficult to decide whether he would be equally bent when walking or +not. He wore no hat, his hair was silvery white, and his delicate +face with its long nose and thin lips looked like an etching, +especially when seen in profile and when one could appreciate the +line of his long, white beard which fell softly over chin and throat. +Indeed his head resembled the portrait Leonardo has left us of +himself. + +It was thus, in profile, as he bent over the cases, that Diana caught +sight of him on raising her eyes, her pulses still throbbing from the +glory of her vision. She started, for she recognized him at once. + +"Father!" she cried, never stirring from where she stood. He looked +up, without haste, and she saw his blue eyes turned towards her, +kindly and inquiring now, whereas once they had been like shafts of +glittering steel. + +"Diana! It is you, my dear daughter!" + +His voice struck to her very heart, just as his eyes had done. It +had become more cordial during these three years since she had heard +it last. + +"Father!" + +Slowly, as if she were a little girl, she went towards him. He +raised his arms, but did not open them for an embrace, and kissed her +on the forehead. It was as though he were giving her his blessing. +They were silent for a while. + +"Just before I caught sight of you," she said softly, "the head of +this magician loomed near me, and when I heard footsteps approaching +I thought it could be none other than he." + +"And it turned out to be only your old father! How simply things +explain themselves! As I look at you now you seem to me all aglow +inside." + +"I come from the company of angels," said Diana, casting another look +at the drawings under the glass. + +"And I am on my way to them, for at my end there were nothing but +grimacing devils. I always start down there and make my way upward." + +"Shall I have to go down among the devils?" + +"Are you afraid of them?" he asked, scrutinizing her closely. + +"I fear no one," said she, tossing her head defiantly, and thus +making her curls dance around the edge of her cap. + +He stood motionless as if captivated. Then he raised his arms once +more in that peculiar gesture of his, and spoke in a voice that +sounded younger and sweeter: + +"Helena! That's just the way Helena had of tossing her head...." + +The reference to her mother made Diana long to throw herself at his +feet. She stood silent, controlling the impulse, for she knew that +at any moment a stranger might appear in the doorway. He, too, made +an effort to regain composure. + +"Will you stay a little while with me?" he said at last. + +"I--shall come with you, Father!" + +As she spoke, she remembered other claims, the yacht, the prince, her +own desires; and her father was quick to perceive that there was an +obstacle to the free disposal of her time, an impediment imposed from +without. He said: + +"Not long ago I dreamed that I might meet you." + +"When was that? Do you remember?" + +"I remember not only the day when each of my dreams has occurred, but +almost the time as well, for I have written them all down these +twelve years past. This one came three days ago, towards evening, +when I fell asleep in my arm-chair--a very unusual thing for me to +do. It must have been nearly seven o'clock, for when I awoke I saw +the little steamer passing by. So I could not have been asleep long." + +She nodded her head. + +"And at the same hour, three days ago, I was standing on the deck of +a pleasure yacht, thinking: We are going to Venice! It is April, +perhaps Father will be there!" + +"There, you see how simple it all is!" The old man smiled genially. +"And now let's go and have some lunch and a good talk." + +With the deliberate and courtly gesture appropriate to a man of his +years, he offered his daughter an arm. As she took it, a surge of +maternal solicitude flooded her heart: she saw the soft hat he held +in his hand, and looked up at his silvery head: + +"Won't you," she began, "... it is rather cold in these rooms...." + +"I cannot wear a hat in the presence of the master's work," he said +simply, as they went on their way. + +As they were about to descend, she caught sight of the prince who was +in the act of landing. He, however, changed his mind, stepping back +into the gondola, hastily pulling the curtains around the seat, and +thus concealing himself from the passers-by. Since the gondolier had +brought his fare to the place he was bidden, the man waited patiently +till it should please the gentleman to alight. But Eduard did not +stir. + +Hidden by the curtains, the prince watched Diana stepping lightly +between the huge couchant lions. She looked the embodiment of youth +as she accommodated her springy gait to that of the tall old +gentleman at her side: she was in a light-coloured coat and skirt +that the wind from the lagoon played with as she walked; he in +well-tailored black, leaning upon an ivory-handled stick. Eduard's +mind was still full of reminiscences of his childhood days, and for +him the broad steps were those of his ancestral halls where likewise +two couchant lions kept guard, and Diana was descending them, leaning +on the arm of his own old father. + +As she stepped into a gondola near by, the prince suddenly resolved +to follow her. + + + + +CHAPTER TEN + +The "Excelsior" while at sea had appeared to be the sanctuary of +orderliness: here, in port, she had cast her virtues to the wind. No +one came punctually to meals; the steward had gone ashore and his +substitute proved a broken reed; the captain was invisible; the +cabins were hot and stuffy, with port-holes tightly shut; above all, +everything was grimed with coal dust, for the yacht was replenishing +her bunkers, and the air was filled with the rattle of the operation. + +When Scherer arrived, half an hour late, and went to the dining +saloon, he found Wilhelm the solitary occupant, waiting patiently +before his empty plate, and whiling away the time till his comrades +should put in an appearance by cutting initials in the skin of an +orange and gently whistling as he worked. + +"You must be awfully hungry, my dear fellow," said Scherer +apologetically. "I see you are trying to make the best of my +unpunctuality by carving the emblems of love. May I have a look?" + +Wilhelm turned the fruit towards his host, so that the letters D. W. +became visible. + +"Are you so very deeply in love?" Scherer asked with a blend of +gravity and amusement. + +"I don't quite understand." + +"Well, you've joined your initial to that of the young lady." + +"My initial? Oh no. The letters stand for Diana de Wassilko. When +I was cutting the little 'd' which marks her rank, the knife slipped; +but one can still make it out if one looks close enough. I meant to +put the orange at her place, so that we all might know where she +would sit if she happened to turn up for lunch." + +Scherer took his seat at the table, and, after a word of excuse, +buried himself in the letters he had fetched at the post office. + +"If I were to set about carving initials in real earnest," continued +Wilhelm, when the meal was at last served, "a number of other letters +would have to be grouped round the D." + +"What other letters?" asked Scherer pleasantly. + +"You are not going to lure any secrets out of me, Herr Scherer," said +Wilhelm, trying to copy his host's worldly manner. "All I will tell +you is that I'd put an E. and a K. and also an S. under the D." + +"An S. too?" + +"Of course. But they'd only be there as liabilities, you know, not +as assets in relation to the D. Not that, certainly not that." + +"And which would be assets?" + +"Assets? None at all. Nothing but a D. I seem to be giving a +double meaning to everything I say. Honour bright, the D. stands +alone." + +Eduard and Kyril followed close on one another's heels. The Russian +was agitated, he threw his letters down higgledy-piggledy, growling +to himself in his native tongue, and all because a packet he had been +expecting had failed to come. He asked if Scherer would not like to +meet Salvatore, the leader of the socialist press in the town. +Scherer countered by offering to introduce Kyril to Ricci. Both men +were aware that their two spheres of interest could never be +reconciled. + +The prince, for his part, was pensive, taciturn, saying he had seen +nothing, and that Dimiter had bored him. Kyril laughed, and begged +the prince to forgive him his desertion. This was the first day +Eduard had seen the Russian laugh, and the splendid teeth that were +disclosed in the act made the prince uneasy. + +Finally came Franklin, making what speed he could, his necktie askew, +preoccupied and uncompanionable. + +"I'm afraid I can't raise your spirits by handing you some pleasant +correspondence," said Scherer. "There were no letters for you." + +"I fetched them myself," answered Franklin mendaciously, as he +continued to eat in silence. + +One of the crew stepped up to Scherer at that moment, and handed him +a letter, telling him that the messenger was awaiting an answer. +Scherer tore open the envelope, ran his eyes over the note, and then +read it aloud to the company. + +"I have met my father ashore. Till the yacht sails, I should like to +stay with him. Please ask Mary to come to me. You, dear Herr +Scherer, and your friends are cordially invited to come and see us +tomorrow. + + "Yours, + "D. W." + + +Wilhelm was the first to break the silence which had fallen upon the +party, completely taken aback by the news. He lifted the orange he +had carved, saying: + +"You see, Gentlemen, there are the letters, prophetic, D. W., as in +the note." + +Scherer opened another envelope, enclosed within Diana's, and read: + +"Grigori de Wassilko + +asks the pleasure of your company ... tomorrow evening at seven +o'clock. Palazzo Tiepoletto." + + +"There are four similar cards, one for each of you," continued +Scherer, dealing the invitations out to his guests. + +Wilhelm took his, read it, turned it over, endeavouring to solve the +mystery of a visiting card, and to infuse with poesy the display of a +name on an oblong of white pasteboard. + +"Tiepoletto," queried Scherer, "are there not three palaces of that +name?" + +"This one is the last as you leave the harbour," explained Eduard, +pocketing his card. + +"You know...?" + +All eyes were raised from the cards and fixed on Eduard's face. + +"Elderly gentleman, white beard, carefully tended," explained the +prince with assumed indifference. "I propose that we, too, send an +avalanche of cards!" + +Scherer undertook to accept the invitation in the name of his guests, +and while he was penning his note, the others stood about the dining +saloon, chary of words, reserved, while the coal rattled into the +bunkers, a hostile symbol as it were, racking to ears accustomed for +many days to the monotonous bourdon of seas and winds. Wilhelm, +submissive young simpleton that he was, had got over his pastoral +adventure with Diana in the best way he could, by forcing himself to +regard it in silence as a bitter-sweet jest--for never since she had +on that first evening, rejected his advances in a friendly enough +fashion, had he again ventured to approach her as a lover. Eduard, +at a loose end like a wooer who just before declaring himself has to +leave his beloved if only for a day, was a bundle of nerves, +restlessness, and impatience. Kyril and Franklin had had strange and +disquieting news. Nothing was to be got from the latter, but when +all the others had gone ashore he had his trunks carried down the +gangway, and when his host returned that same evening a note was all +that was left to tell of Franklin's presence. + +"A letter was awaiting me here which summoned me to Vienna, urging me +to use the utmost speed as the matter concerned my official duties. +I am thus constrained to leave the white ship earlier than we had +planned, a step I regret all the more when I remember how generously +you have played your part as host. Forgive me for departing in this +unceremonious way without a personal leave-taking, but it is +expedient that I should catch the night train; now it is already six +o'clock, and there is no sign of your return. + +"A day will come when I shall be able to thank you in person. + +"FRANKLIN." + + +Folded within this sheet was another, written in a more youthful +hand, the lines running in curves, rhapsodic and divided into +rhythmical versicles: + +"No! There must be truth between friends. May I count you my +friend, today? There was no letter, no night train at all. A +meeting merely. Just fancy! A meeting in a little street... +Languid embraces, melancholy, staring eyes... Forgetting culture, +ambition, knowledge! You smile? At my age one does not find that +the gods often trouble to bestow ecstatic hours. Yes, it is true, +during these last days, when it has seemed that a greater intimacy +has sprung up between me and the girl, my senses have become +confused, I have felt rejuvenated--and I am happy to acknowledge the +fact: it is the huntress who has sent me into this Venetian +beggar-woman's arms, has sent me to this queen. Her hair is like +what one sees in the elder Palma's pictures, but her skin is like +Franklin's the younger." + + +After lunch, Eduard had tried to get a siesta, but he was still +agitated with his morning adventure, and presently decided to leave +the noisy, dusty ship. He was pulled ashore in company with Kyril +and Wilhelm, the two latter having agreed to explore a distant +quarter of the town together, each wishing, though from very +different motives, to rub shoulders with the common people. The +Russian spoke very little Italian, but Wilhelm had bicycled all over +Italy, learning old songs and new, and in the process becoming a +master of the language. Now they had cajoled Giorgino into acting as +guide, for though the lad had come originally from Vicenza, he knew +Venice very well. + +Eduard, though attracted by the excursion, could not bring himself to +make one of the party. It seemed to him impossible to walk with this +Russian among people whom, no more than a couple of hours ago, he had +regarded with a blend of envy and timidity as aboriginals. When he +turned to leave his two companions, Wilhelm's faithful, doglike +glance smote him to the heart, and he asked himself why it was that +people should find it so hard to understand one another. He went on +his way aimlessly, dreading the long afternoon that lay ahead, and +suddenly realizing that all the hours till seven the following +evening had to be spent somehow. "I ought to have joined forces with +Scherer," he thought as he strolled along streets which at this hour +were always empty.--"Women... One could spend the time in a woman's +company... Adelheid might be better than nothing... They have a +lovely house ... and even if Umberto, the husband, does talk +exclusively of Principe Doria, she herself is a fine figure of a +woman, and invariably gracious...." Now he found himself accosted by +a flower girl whose nosegays of narcissus suggested a lady's +boudoir.... Hailing a gondola, he asked to be taken to the +palazzo.... + +"Eduard," cried a plump and handsome woman entering the little salon +precipitately, his card still in her hand. "Eduard the Confessor! +How nice to see you again." + +"1042 to 1066, my dear Adelaide," said Eduard, allowing himself to be +embraced. "I have not come here as a confessor this time, but as a +true and faithful knight, to lay these narcissi upon your ever +youthful breast!" + +She took the proffered nosegay, and, without a look at the flowers, +stuck them in her bodice. The whole thing was done in so +matter-of-fact a way, in so stereotyped a manner, that Eduard could +not help thinking how different Diana's reaction would have been, how +graciously she would have taken a bouquet from the hands that offered +it. He could not now understand how he had managed to be even a +little in love with this woman a few years ago, though she was +amiability personified, and at that time had been slim and graceful. + +"On the contrary, I am no longer old enough to act the mother +confessor as I did when you were here before, because your noble +family has unfortunately determined to turn so Protestant a face to +the world. But, Dio mio, what are you doing now? How's uncle +Heinrich? And Elisabeth? And Katharina? And where do you come from +now?" + +Eduard gave a pithy report of these family matters, and then turned +the conversation to the lady's husband and children. The former, he +learned, had gone to Rome, the latter had gone for a day's excursion +to the country. He was shown countless photographs of the +youngsters, indeed every table was laden with these effigies, so that +his cup of steaming tea, as he pleasantly remarked, looked like an +offering of incense at the shrine of Margherita, his little cousin. +This cheerful, worldly-wise woman had a wholesome effect upon Eduard, +relieving him from his depression; and, after half an hour in which +she had made many more references to the days of their youth, he +congratulated himself on the impulse which had made him come to see +her, and on finding her alone. + +"The view from here is really too Baedekerish, Adelaide," he said, +looking through the slats of the green Venetian blind. + +"Please use the German version of my name." + +"The other is Beethoven's version," bowing profoundly and then coming +towards her again. "I recollect that when I was still a little boy +in sailor suits and Therese sang the song I always conceived of the +beloved lady as having red-gold hair like yours." + +"Caro mio, one is doomed to become grey, and that very soon now; that +much-praised landscape is not a little to blame in the process. When +I first came here, a young and inexperienced girl, everything seemed +like heaven to me. But, dear cousin, to have nothing to look out +upon during fifteen years beyond water and black boats, with never a +motor car to relieve the monotony, not even a motor boat allowed on +the canals--it becomes melancholy in the long run! In fact when one +sees these romantic Venetians at close quarters, it puts a gloom on +one's spirits. It's all very well to love in such melancholy +surroundings, but when it comes to marriage--I'm all for dry land, my +dear." + +"Neither damp nor dry, Adelheid! Unmated one can fly freely in the +third element." + +"Or one roasts in the fourth," cried she, drawing him down to her +side on the blue baroque sofa. "And now your confession, Eduard the +Confessor, just as in old times, on this very sofa. Tell me, when is +it to be, and, above all, on whom has your choice fallen?" + +"Stefan must lead the way," he said, evasively. + +"Stefan is a sick man, and, though Heinrich has been married these +three years, he has no children. It's up to you, Eduard, to make the +succession safe. You surely ought to do it for the throne's sake, +even if the claims of the altar mean nothing to you." + +"My younger brothers will cater for countless heirs, it's such a +delightful society game!" + +"Fi donc," she protested, laughing. + +"Why? Don't you agree?" + +She laughed more heartily, saying: + +"No doubt you have had experiences of the sort?" + +"Only theoretical knowledge." + +"No young sprigs of your own?" + +"I am alone; am unfortunately not in a position..." + +"But there must be beautiful young women about, who will pose with as +little on as Phidias's statues--or was it Michelangelo?" + +Eduard was honestly pleased that Diana should have been introduced +into the conversation. His thoughts lingered upon the vision of her +as Atalanta, he saw her ankles, her throat, again, and the dauntless +line of her profile. Hard upon the vision came one of her in a +close-fitting sweater, standing in the bows of a ship; then, another, +when she wore a black evening dress, low-cut; he lost all sense of +the passage of time as a hundred other postures, talks, looks, and +thoughts drifted by, till at last the scene enacted this very morning +on the flight of steps, between the two guardian lions, rose to his +mind.... He sat brooding longer than Adelheid had expected, and it +was with instinctive delicacy that she asked very softly: + +"Or am I perhaps indiscreet?" + +Eduard, who had lost his mother early and had no sisters, had from +childhood been on brotherly terms of affection with this cousin. As +a lieutenant, then eighteen years of age, he had confided his first +and only love affair to Adelheid who was ten years his senior and the +mother of two boys. The confidence had taken place on this very +sofa, as she had just reminded him. After the manner of young men, +his avowal to a woman who was still charming with the freshness of +youth and who had not yet become resigned to her fate, moved him to a +deeper sentiment towards his confidante, so that his regard for her, +hitherto quasi-filial, became sublimer, verging on love. Yet it was +all no more than a breath, a sigh, on a September day, as evening was +drawing near. + +This afternoon, in the dimly lit room, as he sat near so good a +friend, after the strange happenings of the morning, after the cruise +in which the tides of love had ebbed and flowed along his lonely +shores, the old-time trust revived in his heart, and he said, as he +leaned back among the cushions, a cigarette between his teeth, with +unwonted gravity in his voice: + +"Don't you worry on my account, dear Adelheid. But, since rumour has +travelled to your lagoon, I will make the fatal confession that I do +not like the lady spoken of casually--at least I would prefer if you +did not do so..." + +"Oh," she cried softly, taken aback. + +"Well, you see," he continued tranquilly, "this is a far more serious +affair than that other long ago, although at that time we had to do +with a young duchess. Meanwhile, for these ten years, calm has +prevailed, no wind has stirred to fill the sails of my outlandish +vessel. And even now--I hardly know if I dare venture on the +voyage..." + +She was all ears, eager and inspired. + +"Is it to be a long journey?" she inquired at length. + +He stood up, saying curtly: + +"It will be this journey, dear Adelheid, or not at all." + +He frightened her. Eduard was looked upon by his family as a crank +and a libertarian, but one nevertheless who would guard the old +traditions from tarnish or decay. Now it seemed all at once as if he +were resolved to break with the conventions proper to a ruling house. +Confused and perplexed, she asked: + +"Does your--does anyone know?..." + +"No one can know what does not yet exist--although Papa has had his +medicine to swallow already... But I wanted you to know what a jade +fate is. As for me," and now he spoke with his customary persiflage, +"usque ad naufragium I'll sail alone--a simpler and cheaper way. +Please forgive me the melodramatic intermezzo I've been inflicting +upon you. The danger is not great.... Have you heard from Papa? +Heinrich writes me that the doctor finds him much as usual. Don't +you think I ought to go and see him?" + +"Are you then on the homeward road? You told me, did you not, that +you have been yachting, with friends.... Where have you been, and +how has the cruise pleased you, if one may ask?" + +"Mediterranean, Adriatic. Exquisite aimlessness, sometimes under +sail, at others by steam. No museums; nothing but wind and deck +chairs. When we leave here, we're to cruise down the Dalmatian +coast...." + +"That reminds me. Last Tuesday Countess Münsterberg was here. You +remember, the woman with the feline movements, and the rather mad +vagaries. Ah, you were the more fortunate onlooker!" + +"On her way home?" + +"She wanted to take the steamer to Ragusa next day; it's a tiresome +journey via Trieste, you know. I can't understand how any one can +bear to live in so out-of-the-way a place!" + +Eduard made some quick mental calculations: If we call on Olivia, +Diana will at length find a background. A unique opportunity to see +her in such surroundings. What for, though? Know everything +beforehand. All the same... + +Then he said: + +"Yes, my dear Adelheid! How can anyone bear to live in so +out-of-the-way a place?" + + + + +CHAPTER ELEVEN + +The morning light shone down limpid and warm in the courtyard of the +Armenian monastery on the island in the lagoon; and as the slanting +shadows of column and arch fell athwart the cloistered ways, the +shafts and crosses and arches were figured on the marble flooring, +creating as it were a second architectural masterpiece. + +Two human shadows came to mix their contours with those of the +masonry. A tall, black-robed elderly monk was leaning against one of +the pillars, and was speaking quietly but earnestly to an old man, +likewise clad in black, who was bending his head in order to be on a +level with the eyes of his interlocutor, and was listening +attentively. Both men had flowing white beards. In the court round +which the cloisters were built, there was a little fountain plashing +in the sunshine, and on the edge of its basin sat a young woman +lazily stroking a great cat which responded with sensual delight to +her caresses, arching its back and raising its tail as her hand +passed from its neck and down its spine. + +All four of these sentient creatures were being penetrated with the +sun's rays, and three of them appeared to be so content as to be +wholly without a desire of any sort. Only he who had vowed to +renounce the world, seemed to be a prey to passionate impulses. + +"Even a convent is unable to kill the impulsive force of man," +thought Diana, as her eyes travelled from the calm face of her +father, to the glossy coat of the animal, now stroked into ecstatic +quietude; as she considered her own mood, and then compared these +three states of beatific tranquillity with the secret flame which +consumed the monk. "Maybe my father only attained his present +condition of meditative peace after death had deprived him of his +companion. Helena! The name rose from his very heart when he +uttered it yesterday. And she died in giving birth to a son whom he +never sees...." + +The two men separated, and her father turned to seek her out. With +infinite precaution, lest she disturb the sleeping cat, she slid down +from the basin's rim and crossed the flags to where he stood. As she +went, she noticed that the well-tended beds were planted with +vegetables, and the aroma of damp earth rose to her nostrils. + +"They must have watered the young shoots before the sun got round," +she thought, vaguely. + +The conversation which the meeting with the monk had interrupted was +now resumed as father and daughter paced up and down beneath the +Gothic arches. + +"As I looked at you both," began Diana, "the layman seemed to be the +more spiritual of the two. What had occurred to excite the Armenian?" + +"I have known him these twenty years," said the old man, passing his +ivory-handled stick into the small of his back and resting his two +hands on it at either end. "In those days, when I was engaged on +excavation work in Anatolia, he spoke with just the same animation. +His people out there are still being harried by the Turks, and he +imagines I can pull strings on Armenia's behalf because I +occasionally dine at the embassy in London." + +"Have you ties out there?" + +"I don't keep them up now. But you were in those parts not so long +ago, and at cross purposes, it seemed to me." + +"Not at cross purposes, Father." + +"What about the heart--did you not write to me that...?" + +She hung on his arm, saying: + +"When will my heart beat a steady rhythm?" + +"As soon as it beats slower, Diana," he assured her, looking at her +out of friendly eyes, while she clung to him more resolutely than +ever. + +"When did your heart begin to beat slower, Father?" + +"A long while ago." + +"How long?" + +"When my hair turned white." + +"I wish mine were grey," she said, a smile on her lips. + +"I have no wish that mine be brown again. I love age. It seems to +me like a statue one has dug up out of the ground: more lovely than a +new one could ever be, even though a limb should be lacking." + +He paused by a capital which had fallen from one of the columns in +the cloisters and now lay amid the grass, surrounded by purple iris, +looking for all the world as if it had just been shovelled out of the +earth and the column to which it belonged lay still beneath the soil. + +"What purpose can this old thing serve, I wonder?" He stood +contemplating it pensively. + +"It will catch the dews from heaven in its convolutions so that birds +may come and slake their thirst," answered Diana. + +He looked up, and they resumed their walk. + +"How charmingly you choose your words," he said after a while. "But +my birds are all flown and seek other springs." + +"Let me fly free a little longer, spreading my wings over the endless +seas that lie beyond this lagoon. Do you hear how the gulls are +calling?" + +She pulled herself away from his arm as if to get nearer to the +waters which lapped round the island's sandy shores. He stood +awaiting her pleasure, a smile irradiating his face. He watched her +as she took off her wide-brimmed hat and swung it over her arm, while +shaking out her curls as if to feel the sea-wind through her locks. +Soon, she turned to him again, took his hand in hers, and kissed it. + +"Forgive me," she said. "It is barely a day since I left the yacht, +and the scream of a seagull fills me with longing. How will the bird +fare inland?" + +"And what about Sidney?" + +"Sidney? Would you not like to have him back with you again?" + +"He left of his own accord, two years ago. I cannot put constraint +upon grown-up children." + +"Is he getting--sufficient money from you?" + +"Only a little sum, hardly enough to live even modestly upon, the +same I wanted you to have when you decided to fend for yourself. I +have no more to give." + +"But he needs a great deal." + +"He's never written to ask for more. Is he earning nothing? Is he +not drawing?" + +"He did--a little modelling recently." + +"Ah? Caricatures? Animals?" + +"No, a figure." + +"A man's?" + +"No, mine." + +The father asked no further. He had an allegorical turn of mind, and +the faculty of seeing symbolical meanings in things. He saw his two +children before him in fancy, and marvelled at the idea that one of +them should serve as the beautiful material for the art of the other. +The sense of liberation, which he was invariably aware of when +confronted by the work of a master, became associated with this +symbolical conception, so that he felt only allegory and form, and +that the two were mysteriously intertwined. He lost himself in a +series of strange conclusions, wherein a mythical brother wedded his +mythical sister; he then returned to his own fatherhood and let his +fancy roam on the thought how the mother of these two children (who +had always seemed to him the symbol of beauty) was reproduced in the +form of Diana, while his own plastic talents had been reincarnated in +Sidney's hands. Thus plunged in meditation, the old man strolled +along at Diana's side. After a while he seemed to arouse himself as +if from slumber, and was about to ask if the modelling had been +successful, when he became aware of a quickening in Diana's step, a +tall apparition arising in the path, and of greetings exchanged. + +Eduard, who had spoken of the San Lazzaro monastery with Diana, and +whose thoughts were wholly centred upon her, had come over to the +island this morning on the chance of meeting her there. As the +father slowly aroused himself from his reverie and observed the +cordiality of the encounter between the two young people, it was +borne in upon him how far he was removed from the trend of his +daughter's destiny. He observed the countenance of the man, suffused +with inner happiness, and, guessing all this signified, he turned his +eyes away as the two, like a bridal pair, came towards him. Diana +introduced the prince, whose bow was deeper than he himself was aware. + +"I'm disturbing you, intruding on your morning serenity, I fear," +Eduard said hesitantly, and his tone took Diana by surprise, for it +had such a boyish ring. + +"Certainly not, Your Highness," said the old gentleman. "Diana has +been telling me how well you keep the party entertained on board. +And to think that on her old father's account she should have had to +forgo those pleasures!" + +"I have to thank you for your invitation, Herr von Wassilko," and +Eduard felt how much more seemly the name sounded when addressed to +this white-haired veteran than to the young whipper-snapper in Berlin. + +They continued their stroll to the accompaniment of such civilities +until they reached a stone bench at the other end of the cloisters. +The seat was bathed in sunshine, and the three sat enjoying the +warmth. The old man was pleased with the young man's manner, though +it seemed a trifle too conventional for his taste, and he asked +himself why it was that Diana had singled out this particular member +of the yachting party for specially friendly commendation. Diana did +not join in the conversation; she was waiting for one of those airy +nothings which the prince was wont to indulge in when he talked. + +But Eduard was thoroughly enjoying these exchanges. He wanted more +of them, and he was delighted when the old gentleman rose to his fly +and began to discuss personalities moving in the diplomatic circles +of London society. The prince was wholly indifferent to such people +as a rule, but he listened now, for the pleasant gossip gave him a +sense of security, showed him the social background against which +Diana's father moved and had his being. At last he was getting +something he had long sought for, the confirmation of his own +surmises as to Diana's status and upbringing. Inasmuch as, under +stress of the remnant of inherited prejudices which persisted despite +all his open-mindedness, he was on the lookout for a uniform in which +he could clothe the members of this remarkable family, thereby +raising them to his own level--he showed towards this man whose whole +demeanour and aspect betokened a rare intelligence, a suavity which +his father had never been able to make him exhibit towards his real +equals. + +"Do you know San Lazzaro, Sir," asked Wassilko, rising and pointing +to the monastery buildings. "I fear I am keeping you too long in +England when you should be enjoying a glimpse of Armenia." + +"I know the place well. Here, too, there is at least one English +room." + +"Ah, Lord Byron's? Is he a favourite of yours?" + +"Now at last," thought Diana, "he will raise his mask." + +But the prince was silent. He was asking himself whether Diana, this +child of liberty, would ever adapt herself to the laws of his class +(at least to the extent of an outward observance of its conventions). +In his perplexity, he had been tempted, that morning, to emphasize, +before her and her father, his own rank and station. Now, when the +name of the English poet cropped up in the air radiant with morning +sunlight, he looked past the questioner and Diana, across the +glistening waters of the lagoon, and said: + +"As a poet I appreciate him greatly. But as a nobleman he seems to +me to have been somewhat of a wastrel." + +Hardly had he spoken, when Diana realized what was going on within +Eduard, and why he separated at this particular moment in time the +poet from the nobleman. At the same instant she saw through the +whole complicated network of considerations and hesitations in which +he had for so long been enmeshed. Nevertheless, she was not going to +allow that there was anything amiss in the famous adventurer's +conduct; she was on the defensive in his behalf; but her training +hindered her from taking up the cudgels by word of mouth until her +father had spoken. He, meanwhile, had been tranquilly awaiting the +prince's reply and now made ready to answer, beginning with grave +formality. + +"Sir, your own birth and station would naturally predispose you to +consider the nobleman before the poet. But we others, who have no +ties either as Englishmen or as noblemen, may be permitted to judge +him by his verses, whose beauty even you are willing to concede." + +Diana, who had listened in silence while the two men were talking, +now seized her opportunity for the defence. "I can see him as he sat +at his table in a cell over there in the east wing. He would rise +from his stool after hours of toil, for the light of day was fading +and he could no longer decipher the words in his Armenian Bible. +Approaching the window he would look out, his ear bent towards the +town over there, across the lagoon. It must have been in June. He +calls his servant, who makes ready the gondola. Byron steps down to +the water's edge, indifferent to the little waves which wet his feet. +Suddenly, he flings his coat and boots into the boat, plunges into +the water, and swims to the town. Dripping, he steps ashore, crosses +the Piazzetta, and changes his clothes in the rooms of one of his +inamoratas, dances the night through, and returns next morning to the +holy fathers to resume his studies and his translation of the sacred +text. Yes, indeed, Prince! In such circumstances one may well +remain unproductive as a poet--and scandalous as a nobleman!" + +Eduard, forgetful of his pose, listened to Diana's tirade with +growing appreciation. Her voice, low and melodious at first, had +increased in volume as she warmed to her subject, until, at the last, +she had flung out the words sharply, turning her shaft against him in +a direct attack. He smiled as he said: + +"Mademoiselle has sacrificed the poet. Nothing can hinder me now +from sacrificing the nobleman." + +"You could not venture to speak in that way in England, Diana," +commented her father, wishing to pour oil on troubled waters, while +he thought: "They must be on very unfriendly terms, I fear." + + + + +CHAPTER TWELVE + +The simple meal came to an end quicker than any of the party +expected, and Scherer was thinking how difficult its preparation must +have been, for Herr von Wassilko lived in two rambling, scantily +furnished rooms lacking all the amenities that would have tended to +make guests comfortable. And yet, in spite of obvious drawbacks, +everything had gone off without a hitch. The very simplicity of the +entertainment was a factor of its success. Mary had noiselessly +attended to every one's needs, and talk flowed easily around the +table under the red-shaded lamp, the only spot of light in a room +where the shadows lingered. The old gentleman and Scherer had +contributed most to the conversation, for they found one another +congenial. Diana's attention was divided, for she had to play +hostess and see that Mary provided all that was needed for the +comfort of her father's guests. Eduard could not take his eyes off +her as, sitting there in her flowing lilac gown, she acquitted +herself of her part with so much ease and dignity. Before him arose +visions of her presiding at other tables, not at official banquets so +much, as at homely gatherings, homely both in the worldly and in the +idyllic meaning of the word. He fancied himself unobserved, but +Diana felt his eyes upon her, and she knew (since she had so suddenly +plumbed the depths of his thoughts that morning) that this evening he +would come to certain conclusions concerning her, conclusions which +would be the result of long previous cogitation. + +Kyril, taciturn by nature and only able to give vent to his ideas in +spontaneous debates, had met so many party members since his arrival +in Venice and had learned of so many underground intrigues, that his +tendency to keep silence in the presence of others was accentuated +this evening. In addition, his host's appearance fascinated him, and +he sat observing the old gentleman attentively. Wilhelm, alone of +the company, appeared to be disappointed. He had expected to meet an +astrologer, a man who could read the meaning of the stars, or, at +least, an alchemist, some wonder-worker whose house would be full of +maps and globes, of bottles, retorts, and measuring glasses. Yet in +the hall, as he entered this sometime wealthy palace which had now +fallen on evil days, instead of armour and chains, all he saw was a +row of pegs each bearing a hat belonging to the master of the house. +To this display, the newcomers reacted differently. Kyril sneered +inwardly at so much needless formality; Scherer mentally appraised +their cost; and the prince noted the absence of the tall hat, which +might of course be in safe keeping in one of the old man's boxes. + +As Herr von Wassilko rose from table, he said: + +"I trust you will excuse so primitive an entertainment, it is all the +impoverished descendant of an old family can afford. But I prefer to +rent a couple of rooms such as these, rather than put up in a hotel. +I cannot help envisaging the persons who have been there before me, +perhaps vacated the premises an hour before, sat upon the same +chairs, eaten from the same spoons, and set the air tingling with the +sound of their senseless talk. I cannot help being aware of this as +I sit at table; the whole atmosphere is full of it." + +They took their places in a semicircle before the open glass doors +leading to the balcony, two of the chairs being comfortable modern +ones, and the remainder stiff and austere, recalling the furniture of +an earlier period. The host, though his guests had pressed him to +take one of the easy chairs, elected to sit in a large Gothic chair +devoid of any kind of upholstering. Eduard and Scherer, loath to +make themselves more comfortable than the old man, had ensconced +themselves in equally rigid seats, while Diana, throwing a huge +Venetian shawl about her shoulders, had pulled a dumpty to the step +leading on to the balcony and had settled down there out of range of +the lamp and of Eduard's persistent eyes. Only from time to time was +she for a moment lit up in the flickering light of a passing gondola. + +"Thus it remains for the two young gentlemen to play the +grandfather," said the host pleasantly. + +Wilhelm, who had expected as much, immediately threw himself into the +depths of one of the arm-chairs, exclaiming: + +"That's just what I feel too! And we'll have to be taken great care +of for we are the hope of the nation." + +"I accept the rôle with pleasure," said Kyril, suiting the action to +the word. "It seems to me the only thing I can do under the +circumstances, though I don't feel in the least bit grandfatherly. +Those other chairs take us back to earlier centuries, reminding us of +the might wielded by long extinct courts. At best they should be in +a museum, where a protective cord would intimate to the man of the +twentieth century that he may only gaze on them from afar--if, that +is to say, he ever finds time in this age of hustle to study such +antiquities." + +"You would thus appear to be the most advanced among us, and so, I +suppose, the youngest, Doctor?" + +"His Highness is no older," said Kyril grumpily. + +"And now you must draw their horoscopes," cried Wilhelm eagerly. +"You have all the necessary apparatus, haven't you?" He sprang up +from his chair, ready to fetch the supposed implements, and burning +with curiosity to see them. But Scherer held him back. + +"We must not trouble Herr von Wassilko today." + +"Ah, my daughter has been giving me away! I gather the young +gentleman looks upon me as a second Swedenborg." + +"Was Swedenborg in Venice once?" asked Diana dreamily. She had paid +no heed to the rest of the conversation, but the seer's name had +caught her attention, and she sensed an affinity between him and her +father, though the latter had seemed inclined to repudiate anything +of the kind. + +"Yes," he said, "Swedenborg was here, anno 1718. That's nearly two +hundred years ago, Diana." + +Eduard pricked up his ears. The quiet way in which the words were +spoken, the mystery surrounding the Swedish mystic, the old-fashioned +use of the Latin word, the affectionate tone in which he had +pronounced Diana's beautiful name, the resemblance of his manner of +speech to hers, so pensive and comfortable, as if the best had been +left unsaid; his movements, as he leaned forward in his high-backed +Gothic chair, to address his daughter sitting at the open door; his +flowing, white beard, lit up in the rays of the lamp which had been +brought over to where they sat; the contrast between this venerable +countenance and her face, lifted in childlike expectancy to his, +questioning and eager, suffused with a ruddy glow from the shaded +lamp--all these things combined to fill Eduard with a sudden rush of +tender impatience, and his lonely heart longed to be linked for ever +with such fellow mortals as these, persons who realized freedom +through self-restraint. Now, for the first time, he wished that +Diana might read his feelings clearly in his eyes. He stepped +forward towards the circle of light, intending, while turning his +back upon the others, to be visible to her alone. But he was +arrested half way by a sonorous voice inquiring: + +"What, actually, did this man Swedenborg achieve?" + +It was Kyril who spoke from the encompassing shadows. Diana turned +her eyes from the contemplation of her father towards the spot whence +the voice had come, and Eduard perceived that her brows were puckered +where a moment before they had been serene. But Wassilko answered +unperturbed: + +"He left us twenty volumes of natural science, dealing in especial +with mineralogy; he was a member of many learned societies; and, on +account of his achievements, his name has been entered in the annals +of science." + +Kyril stirred uneasily. Imbued with a fanatical conception of an +imaginary future, ever in conflict with prejudice and tradition, he +had found no time, pressed as he was with the tasks imposed by his +own spirit and by the position he held in the party, to bring +equipoise into his nature. Thus it was that, with all the powers of +his mind, he had resisted the daimonic forces within him, banishing +them whenever he felt that they were raising their heads, looking +upon them as some out-worn conceit that must at all cost be overcome. +And yet he was attracted by that other world, lured by the +unreasoning realm of emotion, especially by the realm of music; the +cosmos of impenetrable laws fascinated him, drawing him away from the +tangible laws of economics, and subjecting him against his will to +its caprices. Now, when he learned for the first time that a +visionary, a man towards whom he felt a fundamental mistrust, had +likewise been an investigator in the field of positive science, he +realized (for gifted natures almost invariably apply the lessons from +the life histories of notable personalities to themselves) that there +was a possibility that he himself might some day lapse into a similar +state of spiritual depravity. He said after a pause: + +"Yet had he produced nothing more than these works of science, he +would hardly have penetrated into the ranks of the famous and dwelt +in the memories of men. I had myself never heard of his achievements +in this field, nor do I fancy have most people." + +"That's true enough," confirmed Scherer. "I remember when Professor +Somebody-or-Other was giving the memorial lecture at the Stockholm +academy, he stated that he himself was far from knowing all the works +of the master whose memory he was honouring." + +A laugh rippled round the circle, and the old gentleman added: + +"You are right, and I, too, am no wiser than that laudator +officialis." + +Kyril stuck to his point. + +"But what about those other works of his which dealt with the occult? +His so-called 'supernatural' ideas must be familiar to you. Tell me +whether in these there is anything tangible, anything of lasting +value." + +Diana turned away and gazed down upon the canal, thinking: "He should +be climbing in the rigging, using his splendid limbs, or biting into +an apple with his dazzling teeth. He is a fish out of water in +Venice and in my father's company." + +Eduard, who had followed her movement and had dimly caught the +expression on her face as she turned away, was thinking: "If I were +sitting beside her in that gondola now drifting by, I would try to +whisper away all the things that are causing her pain at this moment." + +"Such a question is very difficult to answer," said Herr von +Wassilko, sitting upright in his high-backed chair. "These things +are impalpable, and durability is hardly one of their +characteristics. They do not seem bound by time, but only to men +(and there have been such since man first began to think) who, +following the laws of their own nature, aspire to bring them into +closer relation with their own humanity." + +"Very ably put," thought Scherer, whose habit it was to evade such +transcendental questions by similar generalizations. He felt the old +man was his equal as a man of the world, and entirely failed to +perceive that the reticence of the reply masked a believing soul and +was not the result, as it would have been in Scherer's case, of +consideration for a cultured, though thoroughly rational, outlook +which had to be upheld from two sides at once. + +Kyril was silent. He felt that he had been worsted, and since the +others felt the same, they were grateful to Wilhelm for his +intervention when he said innocently: + +"If only I knew whether one could learn the art of seeing spirits! I +once asked an expert in Berlin after a séance, and he said: 'Your +friends tell me you play the lute. Well, if one has music in one's +heart one is not far from the occult world.'" + +"Where is your lute, Wilhelm?" asked Diana. + +There was a general sigh of relief at this change of subject. They +spoke of musical instruments; and when Wilhelm came back with his +lute in his hand (he rarely went out of an evening without it and +Venice was the last place in the world where he would neglect to take +it), Wassilko said: + +"I'm sorry there is neither a piano nor a violin here. But my +landlord possesses a wonderful 'cello, and, since I used to play the +instrument long ago, he always leaves it in its case in my room +whenever I come to stay." + +He got up, and after a short absence, returned with the 'cello. His +guests hastened to relieve him of his burden, and gathered round to +examine it and pass their comments. Wilhelm alone had not risen. He +was back in the huge arm-chair, which he had vacated for no more than +a minute to fetch the lute. Now he said very softly to Diana: + +"No one is going to take this chair from me this evening, after what +he said about them--unless, of course, you have a fancy for it, +Diana." + +His gentle considerateness went to her heart. She felt sundered from +Eduard, wounded by Kyril, disturbed by the course the talk had taken; +she had more and more cut herself adrift from them all, giving +herself up to her own train of thought as she gazed into the darkness +without, and was dimly aware from time to time of the lap of waters, +the emergent lights, and the cadenced calls, arising from the canal +below. The boyish words spoken to her by the young man lounging in +the easy chair had fallen with so friendly a lilt upon her ear that +she was grateful. Franklin's image rose before her, and she wondered +why he had stayed away, whether he dreaded being together with her +and her father; then, again, her thoughts turned to the prince. + +Meanwhile Kyril had possessed himself of the 'cello, had sat down, +tuned it, and had become wholly absorbed in the instrument. + +"Will you play something?" asked Scherer. + +"Alone?" + +"Wilhelm's lute will replace the piano as accompaniment." + +Every one was delighted. Wilhelm, who could not read music, playing +by ear and adapting his accompaniment to almost any song, agreed to +do his best, but insisted he be allowed to remain seated where he was +in the "revolutionist's chair" as he called it. Kyril exchanged with +the prince so as to sit more commodiously with the instrument. He +glanced with misgivings at Wilhelm and the lute; then, without +preface or explanation, started to play Bach's suite for 'cello. +Wilhelm, who knew it well, was too alarmed to venture an +accompaniment. He would not dare to make up something out of his own +head to music such as this. So he laid his lute aside. Kyril +glanced up for a moment, looked his appreciation, and continued to +play alone. As the mellow tones fell into the quietude of this warm +spring night, Diana sat up and turned towards the player. At first +her blood surged wrathfully through her veins, as if she had been +touched with a fencing foil. Then the music subjected her to its +mighty melodies. She sat very straight on her low stool, her black +shawl slipping unheeded from her shoulders. + +The music penetrated her whole being, sapping her combativeness, and +luring her eyes to the figure of the Russian as he played his 'cello +in the ruddy glow of the lamp. She saw his powerful right hand +wielding the bow, the fingers of his left, agile and dexterous, +drawing vibrant notes from the strings, his muscular legs pressing +the red-brown wood between his knees, and, silhouetted against the +carved back of a chair once occupied by a Venetian nobleman, the fair +head of a fanatical Russian peasant bent over the instrument as if +over a woman he held against him while with his right hand he +caressed her to responsiveness and with his left he toyed with her +curving throat.... + +Eduard was all too aware of her absorption in the man who was +ravishing the company with his music, and at this minute he would +gladly have exchanged the realm of his father and his brothers for +the spiriting of his fiddle to his side that he might pit his +musicianship against this alien's. + +A long silence followed upon the final notes of the suite, broken at +last by Wilhelm, who said: "I'm sorry, but I really could not give +you any assistance in that. I had thought you were going to give us +some Chopin." + +They laughed at the speaker's naïve excuses, and the host together +with Scherer and Eduard, gave voice to their appreciation. But +Diana, awaking as it were from a spell, rose and stepped out on to +the balcony, shaking off the magic which had bound her and to which +she had surrendered against her will. She leaned for a moment +against the iron balustrade, then turned, and, stretching her arms +towards the glass door (a gesture which suggested a longing to +embrace this evening so pregnant with melancholy) picked up the wrap +which had fallen from her shoulders, saying: + +"Wilhelm is right! The day itself and all the ardours of the sun are +in your playing--and yet here we are encompassed by night." + +Kyril looked at her, and in his heart he told himself that what she +said was true, for through the medium of music every hesitancy of the +spirit was revealed to him who, in theory, denied that any such +insight existed. He began playing Chopin's nocturne in E-flat major, +and Wilhelm accompanied him throughout, while Diana stood leaning +upon the rail of the balcony gazing down on the darkened water. + +"All this is good," thought she. "So is this town, and my father, +and the prince, and Wilhelm. So, too, maybe is the Russian at times. +And even if things are to be otherwise in the future, yet for tonight +I will that they be as they are!" + +Soon after this the party broke up, for the yacht was to put to sea +at peep of day. Wassilko stopped Diana when she reached the middle +of the great room, and, taking her face between his hands, he kissed +his daughter on the top of her head. The four men watched him in +silence: Scherer and Wilhelm as if they were assisting at a ceremony +which they would, undoubtedly, have performed better than any of +those who were present; Kyril with vague recollections of the Russian +parental blessing; Eduard once again with the feeling that his own +father was before him, his father, kissing Diana. + +Their farewells were more genial than their greetings had been, and +yet there was something aloof in the manner of the four men as they +bade their host good-night. They divided forces as they approached +the two gondolas, the prince pairing off with Diana while Scherer and +Kyril took their places in the other boat. Wilhelm stood hesitant on +the landing-stage, pondering the alternatives: should he please +Scherer by stepping into the foremost boat and thus preventing the +prince and Diana from being alone, or should he please Eduard by +leaving the field free? Scherer, guessing his dilemma, was +determined to bring no pressure to bear upon the young man's +decision. Finally Diana signalled to him her wish to have the prince +all to herself, and so it was that Wilhelm sprang in beside Scherer. +He instantly struck up one of those light-hearted ditties that are +the rage in Venice, and make one feel they must have been composed in +Vicenza, so gay and debonair is their lilt. Old Mary, in company +with one of the yacht's crew, followed in a third gondola. + +"Shall I tell him to stop?" asked Eduard softly. + +"Oh no! It is sweet to hear his lute over the water...." + +"Is Herr von Wassilko a good player?" + +"His heart plays well, but his fingers are clumsy and out of +practice." + +"And yet they were dextrous enough when it was a question of bringing +ancient statues out of the earth...." + +"Yes, and glass-ware too; that's a far more delicate business." + +"He seems more vigorous than my father, and yet is much the same age." + +"Is the prince still ailing? Have you any news of his health?" + +She was never the one to start a conversation about his relatives, +always waiting for him to begin. + +"He has been in a precarious condition ever since my mother died. I +have not much confidence either in the bulletins or in his doctor," +said Eduard softly, turning away. + +"I, too, love my father," murmured Diana. + +Eduard, profoundly moved by her unuttered thought, again reminded of +the scenes he had witnessed on the steps of the museum and in the +room at the moment of farewell, seized her hand as it lay in her lap. +She made no protest, and he whispered her name: "Diana..." + +He had never yet called her by name, and now, very slowly, he bent +his head and kissed her hand, pressing his lips to it long and +tenderly. + +"How gentle are this young man's kisses," she mused. "I would like +to kiss him... Yet he is silent, and seems to be enclosing me in a +great circle ... slowly... Behind us, in our wake, Wilhelm trills +his song of love, as if life were nothing but an Eden of amoretti, +short-kilted in pale blue raiment... Have I dreamed all this +before?..." + +And, as if the prince had drunk in her reverie through the pores of +her bronzed skin, he raised his head, still holding her hand in his, +and leaned back once more among the black cushions, saying dreamily, +as if musing on things long past: + +"One night we were in a gondola together, and, for the first time, I +called you by your name ... Diana... Do you remember? It was the +same evening that your father had entertained us at his rooms. The +Russian had tried to draw him into a discussion on Swedenborg ... +that fair-haired Russian who was born on the same day as I ... He +plays Bach as only a man can play... Is he still alive? ... Has he +been hanged? ... Scherer, too, was one of the party, young still, and +hospitable and active ... Wilhelm played and sang in a gondola that +followed us, a song about a Venetian woman and her lout of a husband +and her handsome cousin... It was amid this queer medley of voyaging, +do you recollect? ... The 'Excelsior' ... and the journey was not yet +at an end..." + +"And as we passed by the Piazzetta," Diana took up the tale in the +same key, as she, too, leaned back among the cushions, "the two +giants were just striking the clock in the tower to the leftward, for +it was midnight... But the journey was not yet at an end... Do you +remember, Prince?" + +They were very still, hand lay in hand, but they did not turn to look +at one another. Then, close in the rear of San Marco, the gondola +swung round a bend, and the lights of the "Excelsior" shone through +the darkness. + +The prince sprang on to the gangway and helped her up. At the top, +he kissed her hand. Diana turned, and bade good-night to the others +who had followed close on her heels. + + + + +BOOK SIX + + + +CHAPTER ONE + +Three wide terraces sloped downwards towards the sea, thrusting +forward into the waters. On the centre one of these terraces, +beneath a straw-thatched roof supported on bamboo canes, lay Olivia +in a long wicker chair, her light-coloured dress contrasting with the +brown-and-white fur stretched out beneath her, which she had thrust +here and there, as fancy dictated, into the interstices of the +wickerwork. She had turned away from the light, and was gazing +eastward, where the sky was aflame with the reflected glow of the +sunset. Then, from her eyrie, she looked down towards the bay and +the little grey town on its shores, and it was as if all the +legendary lore that had grown up around the castle of her Dalmatian +forefathers in the course of centuries were gathered into one vast +legend, embodied in herself alone. Her mien was threatening rather +than pensive; her eyes domineering and gloomy as she stared at the +huddled houses below, which sheltered a hundred poverty-stricken +fisherfolk--who, dumb and sullen, continued to tolerate the yoke of +servitude imposed by her ancestors. She felt very much alone; but +she was not alone. A girl of sixteen was sitting near by on a low +stool. Her hair was golden like Olivia's, but not with so dazzling a +sheen; her eyes had the tranquil look of unawakened maidenhood, her +lips were full, but innocent; she looked like a young madonna, +entrancing with the promise of womanhood. Her hands were clasped +behind her head, and her eyes were fixed on the western sky where the +colours lingered, though the sun had set. Without a desire in her +heart, she sat contemplating the fiery interplay of sky and sea, +merely enjoying the spectacle before it vanished, gratifying the +natural instinct of her youth. But the big woman's gaze was full of +anger as the evening closed around them. + +Maria, who was almost young enough to be Olivia's daughter, had been +reading aloud and a book lay within reach of her hand. It was a +dishevelled and forlorn little object, as its pages fluttered in the +breeze now blowing from the sea. Ever since Gregor's death had given +her back her freedom, and had simultaneously condemned her to a life +of solitude once more, Olivia had taken to reading again; yet she +harboured a peculiar kind of hostility within her against the books +of her own choice. Her searching, restless heart, wearied with the +habits of her class, found no comfort in the tale of the doings of +imaginary characters. She had hoped to read studies of free people, +but found that their lives, too, were involved in inextricable +tangles. + +Olivia had returned to her ancestral hall with the coming of spring, +and her mother (a worldly and vigorous lady) had started for Rome two +days after the daughter's return, intending to enjoy a few weeks of +society life. Olivia had herself proposed the journey to her mother +in one of her letters, hoping thereby to shorten the period of their +life together that summer. + +So long as she had the old castle to herself Olivia found it a +beautiful refuge. But when her mother took it into her head to fill +it with Dalmatian nobility (as she purposed to do this year with a +special end in view) the place became intolerable. To dream away the +hot days lazing on the broad terraces, very slightly disturbed by her +son's little friends who came and went; to take a leisurely bathe in +the blue waters of the bay; to lie about a great deal; in the morning +to gaze westward, and as day drew to an end to turn and contemplate +the eastern sky; occasionally to read a strange and fascinating book; +it was thus she had thought to pass her time till the end of June, +undisturbed, save for the company of this young niece whose quiet +ways she loved, and whose gentle fingers proved to be strong and +supple when, seated at the piano, she would play a fugue of Bach or a +chaconne. And when on retiring to bed Olivia kissed the girl +good-night, she would inhale the subtle aroma of womanly locks, and +feel her pulses stir uneasily in never-satisfied expectation. + +The bay was usually calm; from time to time fishing boats would +furrow its waters, trailing the long nets homeward with the morning +catch; twice a week the steamer from Trieste would put in to shore, +or, if by chance the sea was agitated, the captain would send the +dinghy instead, for every one eagerly awaited the mail-bag. These +afternoons Olivia was disinclined to spend out of doors, for her +untamed, undisciplined nature resented having to wait and to keep a +lookout, and the steamer never arrived at a definite hour. Every +other day in the week she could lie on the terrace in perfect +security, knowing that nothing was likely to arrive from the outer +world and establish a claim upon her against her will. + +It was, therefore, with a feeling of alarm rather than of joy that +she now saw, rounding the point in the gloaming, the nose of a +vessel, which soon revealed itself to be a white ship. She called +softly to the girl beside her: + +"Maria." + +Startled by this unusual interruption of the silence which she knew +her aunt loved, the young girl swung round, and, as she turned, she, +too, caught sight of the vessel. + +"A ship," she cried, "a white ship! It is not one of ours--and she's +turning round!" + +"What do you mean?" + +"She's changing her course, she's making for land, they are going to +come ashore!" + +The girl ran to the railing. + +Olivia, too, rose and moved towards the edge of the terrace, but +before she reached it the voice of her little son came to her from +below, calling eagerly up to her and her companion. + +"Mamma! Maria! There's a cutter in our bay. I'll run down to the +harbour, I must see it close...." + +The household bestirred itself, there was much talking and guessing, +and when, half an hour later, a sailor under Clemens's somewhat +imperious leadership handed Olivia a note, she guessed at once who +had landed on the shores of her little realm. + +"My dear Countess, Prince Eduard was informed while we were in Venice +that you had returned home. The 'Excelsior' is lying in your bay, +but we still have steam up, so that you may feel quite at liberty to +say if our advent is inopportune. In that case we will run up a flag +in salute, its message being: Au revoir. If, however, we shall not +be a burden upon you or upon the princess, your mother, we can be +with you in an hour. + +"SCHERER" + + +They had planned to stay a couple of days but to make the yacht their +headquarters as far as sleeping and feeding were concerned, for they +could imagine the confusion the unexpected arrival of five guests +would cause in this sleepy little household. Scherer, even as he +proposed this arrangement, had secretly hoped the party would veto +it, for he would willingly have entered upon more commodious quarters +than the yacht could offer. Since that early morning talk as they +lay outside Leucas his spirit had been casting new and ever renewed +circles around Diana, and when, two evenings ago, the prince had +paired off in so determined a manner with her in the gondola, Scherer +had resolutely tightened the net. He felt his senses more and more +stirred as he perceived that she and the prince were drawing +together. Kyril's silent observation had the effect of making her +appear more desirable than ever. He had been rather surprised when +both Eduard and Kyril acquiesced in his proposal, and could not help +wondering whether they, too, had secret fears of what the freer +intercourse ashore might entail, and had therefore elected to remain +together on the yacht. + +The meeting at the castle was as natural and simple as could be; it +seemed as if they had all been parted for no more than a couple of +weeks. That Olivia's mother was away made the company feel more at +ease; and Maria, to whom all of them were strangers, immediately made +friends with Wilhelm, who, at the very first handshake, laid his +heart at her feet. Being the youngest of the grown-ups, he was +seized upon by Clemens, who was attracted to a man whom his elders +called a poet, and with childlike impatience the boy insisted on +dragging Wilhelm away from the rest of the party. Thus it was that +Maria, Clemens, and Wilhelm sped gaily away, a trio of youthful +freshness and innocence. + +Kyril and Olivia felt hostile towards one another at their first +encounter. Reserved, cold, and ardent, as they both were at bottom, +they exercised that inimical attraction for each other which serves +as a bond between persons who temperamentally mistrust happy +encounters. It was not in error, but by malice aforethought, that +the Russian insisted on addressing her as "Your Highness," as if he +were resolved not to let her forget her royal descent. Defiance +severed these two from the rest of the cheerful company, and welded +them together against their will. The situation at once became +apparent. During one of the first walks in the park, whose shelving +terraces had been cut out of the mountain face, and along which +little paths zigzagged up the steep acclivity, Scherer had said to +the prince: + +"Have you noticed? The countess, too, never laughs." + +"Had she not been born in a castle, our Russian friend would find a +way to make her open her lips. He'd only have to show his own fine +set of teeth!" + +"And all this is yours," exclaimed Wilhelm with the gracious gesture +of a king of balladry, embracing in the sweep of his arm the whole of +Dalmatia. He was flanked on either side by Maria and Clemens, the +three of them dancing lightly along well ahead of the others. "And +to think we can explore the whole place to our hearts' content! Are +there many quails and lizards? Let's have a hunt! Now!" + +"It's getting too dark," said Maria demurely, although she would have +loved to begin the search at once. Clemens was quick to feel how he +was to deport himself in respect of the other two. + +"We have some with blue heads," he said, as if speaking of his +subjects. "They live in our grottoes above the seashore. It's an +awfully difficult climb to get to them, but I've climbed up twice, +with Giro." + +"Let's take Giro along with us tomorrow morning," suggested Wilhelm, +wondering who Giro might be. + +"I will order him to be at the Rocco Grande at six o'clock without +fail," said Clemens grandiloquently. + +"He'll not be back from the fishing grounds at six," put in Maria. + +"When we have guests, he does not need to go fishing," said Clemens +decisively. + +Diana, at the outset, had joined Kyril and Olivia in the dark avenue +of ancient yews. But the stuffiness under the thick arches of the +trees and the oppressive silence of her companions made her break +away into a gayer atmosphere. Thus it was that she had overheard the +amusing braggadocio of the little boy who was the son of her dead +friend. She sought some likeness to his father in the lad's +countenance, and, drawing him towards her, said, swinging the hand he +had clasped in hers to and fro: + +"But what shall we do if there's nothing to eat, Clemens?" + +The boy, hitherto absorbed in Wilhelm, whose droll ways attracted and +pleased him greatly, had not taken any notice of his mother's other +friends. Now, hearing himself directly addressed, he looked up at +Diana, and suddenly recognized her as a lady who had come to tea with +his mother at the embassy. And yet his recollection of her was +somewhat blurred, for two years had passed since then. + +"We have heaps of fish, you know. A whole lot of fish in the +larder." Torn between perplexity and arrogance, he lied with the +utmost assurance. Then adroitly changing the subject: "D'you know +I've got a boat! Have you seen my boat?" + +He pulled vigorously at the lower ends of his short breeks as if to +make trousers out of them--had he not besought his grandmother for a +year and more to allow him to wear trousers? Only since his mother's +return had she prevailed upon the princess to concede the boy's +urgent request. The trousers had been ordered, but they were a long +time coming, and here were these strangers--of course they chose +today for their visit--and he was still in shorts. Was it any wonder +this beautiful lady should address him by name? Clemens, indeed! +Just as if he were a kid! + +Diana was struck by the lad's question: Have you seen my boat? Were +not those the very words Gregor had spoken, Clemens's father, so +cheekily and gaily, so wilfully and yet so shyly? She sensed +instinctively that the boy wished her to treat him no longer as a +child; yet she wanted him precisely to give her a child's trust, and +not the homage of a youth, since he was not yet old enough for that. + +"Where is your boat? Ah, of course, it'll be at the landing-stage, +near the 'Excelsior'!" + +"Is that the name of your yacht? The 'Excelsior'?" + +"Yes. But it belongs to Herr Scherer." + +"Then you are not--I thought..." + +"No, I am not his wife; what made you think so?" + +"It just looked as if you must be, when you arrived." + +"His instinct makes him astute," thought Diana; "for if I were the +wife of any man in our party, surely Scherer is the most likely mate." + +"Just give me a good look, Clemens," she said; "see if you can't +recognize who I am." + +She stopped in the middle of the path, and the youngster turned face +about. They had come to a bend in the path, and while they stood +thus inspecting one another, the other walkers had room to pass. +Wilhelm and Maria went slowly by, and Diana heard the poet say: "We +shall probably cruise about for another week, but I can land wherever +I please...." + +"That would be jolly," answered Maria. + +Then Clemens was speaking. + +"Yes, perhaps I do, but I'm not sure," and he fidgeted from one foot +to the other. "Weren't you at the embassy once when my father was +still alive?" + +The boy no longer says Papa as in those days, thought Diana. Death +and fate have turned Gregor into Father! Ah, those were Gregor's +very eyes, the ne'er-do-well, the deceiver. + +She forgot to answer. + +"Park with groups," she suddenly heard the prince say, for he and +Scherer had now reached the bend where she and the boy were standing. +But she sensed that in his heart he was saying: Even today, through +the medium of the son, that man's image is still alive in her +heart--ineradicable. + +"Yes," she found herself answering, "yes, I was at your house once. +And now, shall we go and find your mother? How do you like that man +over there." + +"That is Prince Eduard. He used to be with us at the embassy." The +child spoke as if he were commending a bailiff to her attention. + +"No, not that one. I mean the man who is walking with the countess." + +Clemens, who had been feeling embarrassed by the turn the +conversation had taken, was relieved to find that it was Wilhelm +Diana was referring to. His tone became livelier on the instant. + +"He ought to remain here with us. He's just the man we want, for +he's never shy, and he isn't so very old, and I'm sure he's not a +nobleman." + +His choice of words, his tone, the gesture with which he smoothed his +hair, all were reminiscent of Gregor, Gregor as he must have been +before he had earned the nickname "mad Münsterberg." "Because he's +never shy ... and I'm sure he's not a nobleman." Diana smiled. + +Meanwhile Olivia and Kyril had come to a standstill. The countess +had an innate repugnance to doing the honours of her ancestral home, +to showing guests round in the approved manner of an obliging +hostess; while Kyril was not one to ask the questions appropriate to +his rôle as guest; they had, therefore, strolled along in silence +ever since Diana had cut herself loose from their company. One +question only had dropped from Kyril's lips: + +"You know Fräulein Wassilko?" + +To which Olivia had answered: + +"Yes, I know her." + +Her velvety alto came as a beautiful counterpart to his deep baritone. + +But that was as far as they got, and these two, who so heartily +disdained the conventions of society, were grateful to each other for +such abstinence. Now, however, they had reached the end of the +winding path, and had before them a series of steps and terraces upon +which Olivia was unwilling to embark until the rest of the party had +rejoined her. Negligent hostess though she was, even she felt it +might not be seemly to proceed farther without at least pointing out +the most hoary of the ancestral towers to her guests, for this was +always the culminating point of interest to strangers. Every one was +now assembled on the green before the walls, and Clemens saved his +mother the trouble of speaking by acting as guide, pattering a few +dates and names, without much cohesion in the tale he was telling. +Scherer's accurate mind rebelled against such vagueness, and he +insisted on more precise information, endeavouring to disentangle the +stories of two knights, and in the end turning amicably to Kyril who +had been listening the while with an expression of superlative +contempt to the confused narration. + +"After all, my dear Doctor, we cannot unmake the events by denying +them, any more than we can take what beauty there is in them away by +being cynical," said Scherer in conciliatory vein. + +"All superfluous," commented Kyril dryly. + +"I find this giant growth of ivy wholly charming," said the prince, +who always came to the rescue with banter when a situation threatened +to become too romantic. "And so far as the robber forefathers of +Master Clemens are concerned, whose history has just been told us +with so much lucidity and interest, they were at bottom no worse than +any of our own ancestors--unless, of course, Dr. Sergievitch can +prove the contrary." + +"I shall have great-grandchildren," said the Russian; "I have no +ancestors." + +"Your ambition, then, is to be an ancestor yourself?" + +"My grandchildren will have to forget me, just as I have forgotten my +forbears. Deeds alone are lasting, not names, nor pictures." + +"Simplicity personified: no oil paintings, no photographs," snapped +the prince. + +"Deeds?" The clear voice broke into the conversation like a clarion +call. "Did these robber knights, then, perform no deeds?" It was +Diana who spoke, coldly and challengingly. + +"Nothing but adventures," retorted Kyril, from the opposite side of +the circle the company had grouped itself into. His manner equalled +hers for coldness, and he frowned as he spoke. "Those who played the +vagabond in their day, like these Dalmatian nobles, without an idea +in their heads, may serve as forefathers to a line of descendants and +have the memory of their deeds preserved in an ancestral tower. But +we, today, do not wish to work merely for a castle or for a family. +We are working for the whole of humanity, Fräulein Wassilko." + +"Car tel est notre plaisir!" Diana tossed the phrase across the +circle, as if she were desirous of unveiling the inner meaning of his +words by the quotation of a tyrant's dictum. + +She turned on her heel, and the assembly broke up into groups, +continuing down the steps and the terraces which led to the inhabited +parts of the castle. Maria, somewhat alarmed at the asperity in +Diana's tone, looked up at Wilhelm inquiringly: "Who is--the young +lady?" + +"I don't know," answered Wilhelm humbly. "In the end she always +comes out victor." + +Clemens marched along at their side, cudgelling his brains to +remember which of the French kings had said those words. "I read +about him only the other day," the boy said to himself. "In my +history book.... Who could it have been?" + +Olivia followed with Scherer. + +"What concern of ours are the deeds of these robbers?" she asked +gloomily. "Far better were it to be descended from peasant +forefathers." + +"It's precisely because he is the son of a peasant stock, that this +Russian is so arrogant." + +"And he is really a bandit," chimed in the prince who was following +close at their heels in company with Diana. + +"The Russian?" + +"The knight!" + +"But this Russian can't be allowed to play the high priest and cast +my life in my teeth!" Olivia spoke so acrimoniously that the prince +felt he must do something to conciliate her. With deliberate +mendacity he shouldered the Russian's implied blame, as he said: + +"His reproaches were aimed at us, not at you." + +Diana, amazed at such a friendly deception coming from Eduard, turned +to him radiantly, asking: + +"How now, prince, do you mean to tell us that you, too, have had +adventures?" + + + + +CHAPTER TWO + +By the time they had returned next day from a ramble along the +cliffs, Wilhelm had completely won over the heart of the boy, while +Maria had conquered his own. A youth with a taste for adventure, +inclined to search out the bizarre and the unfamiliar in nature and +in man--this native of the South German highlands, born far from the +sea, had during his first sea voyage gained acquaintance with some of +the marvels of sea life, and (immune to the conventional pleasures of +a voyage) had adapted himself to what conformed with his own +predisposition. Having read in a story of sea life something about +great lizards, he felt sure that they would have their habitat on the +very coast where fate had now beguiled him. And in truth they were +there where he expected to find them. It was as if a benevolent +deity were unwilling to disappoint the young innocent in any of his +hopes. + +Indeed, Wilhelm was never disappointed. His youth had been passed +alternately in the company of artists, of persons temporarily +visiting the town, and of the peasants in his village at home, the +peasant folk from whom he had sprung. He had never made any claims +on life, for his wishes were visionary ones, incapable of realization +in the world of every day. Half musician, and half poet, he wandered +penniless through life and through many a countryside. One day he +would rise from board with tourists in Florence, for his charming +personality and a talent for acting as guide often made him one of a +cheerful company for weeks at a stretch; the next day he would find +hospitable welcome in a peasant's shanty at Carreggi, because he had +sat down to teach the cottar's children to play the lute. He was +usually deferential where women were concerned, so long as they were +not ugly or old; and he was content if he could merely stroke a +gloved hand while driving along in a carriage. But with English +girls, who wanted all they could get from love without running any of +the risks, he was not backward; indeed he was more cruel at times +than he realized, for he would indite little poems full of innuendoes +and ambiguities, which of an evening he read aloud to the parents and +admirers of the young ladies. Back again in his native hills, he had +no scruples in passing the night with a village maid, for he had a +nice appreciation of the different spheres into which his birth and +upbringing brought him. + +Maria made a strong appeal to his nature, partly because she was +still almost a child, but also because of her maidenliness. He toyed +with these two aspects with delicate hands, and found Clemens a +useful buffer in his manipulations. The lad himself was wont to feel +that he and the girl were much of an age, but since Wilhelm, who was +their senior, made proposals which in the ordinary course Clemens +would have disdained as childish and lacking in dignity, the boy was +willing to lend himself to his guest's suggestions lest, by refusing, +he should appear babyish. Maria, on the other hand, so recently +emerging from her childhood, was thrown back into that period by +these light-hearted games; she lent herself agreeably to the +stranger's will, telling herself it was all a huge joke, and +Wilhelm's homage no more than that of a nice boy. So it was that the +three of them crept in and out of damp caves, and the imp in Wilhelm +so arranged matters that shoes and stockings had to be discarded, and +that he should give a hand to the girl as they scrambled barefoot +over the stones. Maria blushed, and that was balm to Wilhelm's +heart. Clemens grasped the significance of no more than a part of +this by-play; but he understood enough to make him react in boyish +fashion. He would try to frighten her by suddenly disappearing--but +he never stayed so long away as to give Wilhelm time to snatch a +kiss. The knight in Clemens and his position as heir to these +estates and as cousin made him fully conscious of his +responsibilities. + + +That same forenoon Diana sat with Olivia in the spacious +sitting-room, a square, vaulted chamber in one of the towers, giving +from three sides on to the sea, but with its windows usually +shuttered in conformity with the countess's preference for a dim +light. Wanton sunbeams, however, defied her precautions, and took +advantage of every crack and hole in the blue painted wood to send +their radiant shafts across the darkness--a symbol of her own soul, +as Olivia liked to think. + +Leaning on her elbow as was her habit, her limbs stretched out on the +wide ottoman, Olivia looked over to where Diana sat. Her ardent eyes +burned with increasing fire, the longer she was condemned to gaze +upon the arena of the passions. These two women had little use for +the small change of conversation. + +"You are quite brown, Diana; and yet you spent the whole winter in +town, cooped up in rooms." + +"It's the sea. I've been three weeks cruising." + +"In twenty years, living upon this coast, I remained white." + +"And is it not lovelier to be white and to have golden hair?" + +"Atalanta!" + +Olivia sank back upon the divan, gazing up towards the vaulted +ceiling, for she wanted to call forth again the vision of the Diana +she had seen that evening in Berlin, a vision which had seemed to +express the fullest possibilities of the young woman's being. But to +conjure up this picture she must not have Diana's actual form before +her eyes. + +"To be able to personify a goddess," she murmured, "to discover thus +early one's own essential shape, and to be able to fill out its +structure unto completion.... O blessed freedom...." + +Diana was thinking: "How fiercely she strives and seeks; yet she is +excluded from the realm of enjoyment so soon as her dreams become +reality!" + +"Have not you, too, since then gained something of freedom?" Diana +asked. + +With unwonted alacrity, Olivia replied passionately: + +"Not as freedom! They all have a home; Maria, her hopes; my mother, +this castle; Scherer, his newspapers; the Russian, his ideas; and +Gregor--well, he wavered between deeds and adventures, and was at +home in both. But you have chosen the world! Yes, you, Diana, among +all the persons I have met, you alone are worthy to regard the great +dome of the firmament (at which I have so often gazed as at something +vacuous and inimical) as the roof of your ancestral home. That is +why you are so fond of the stars!" + +She spoke angrily and moodily, her eyes turned earthward, her chin +resting in her palms as she leaned upon her elbows. + +"Are not dreams, too, a home?" asked Diana softly. + +"I want to get away; it is high time I did so; indeed, there is not a +moment to be lost. How well I understand Herr Franklin's erratic +behaviour. He refuses any longer to let his fancy roam; he is +resolved to be up and doing, accomplishing something visible and +tangible--though deep in his inner self he knows well enough that it +is vanity and deception, and less than a dream.... Well, I too want +a home; love shall be my roof-tree, and then, quaffing one final +draught, I shall sink back into my dreams as if I had never forsaken +them!" + +She rose while she was yet speaking, and, quite contrary to her wont, +paced up and down the room. Suddenly she stood still, surprised at +the sound she heard. Diana was laughing! It was a quiet, short, +two-syllabled ripple of laughter, and was repeated a second, then a +third time. Olivia wanted to scold. Then, taking heart, for the +little metallic music gave her back her courage, she stepped up to +Diana and said: + +"You are laughing, O most wise Diana, and that does not become a +youthful huntress!" + +She stood before Diana, leaning forward, her two hands on the arm of +the chair, her face very near that of the seated woman. Diana looked +up, unperturbed; nor did she try to still the laughter that was still +lighting her countenance. + +"You have at last spoken as I have so long been hoping to hear you +speak, my beautiful Olivia." And as the words fell from her lips she +was thinking: I should like to kiss her now; but then she'd be +furious or she'd withdraw into her shell. + +Slowly Olivia raised her head with its heavy crown of golden hair, +and, as she stood before her guest, she said irrelevantly: + +"I believe I want to have more children." + +"I've been thinking the same thing ever since I met you again." + +Olivia had opened her heart to Diana with unwonted candour. She, +like Diana, was not a woman who could make friends with other members +of her sex. And yet, today, she had confided in another woman! +Diana's tranquil statement made Olivia feel that here was a person of +superior strength, and, forgetting her own preoccupations for a +moment, she asked: + +"And what about yourself--do you still hesitate?" + +Behind the question, Diana sensed a growing distrust, and she said to +herself: "It's just as well I did not kiss her just now!" Still, she +did not shirk an answer: + +"I have never gone against nature, and I have always felt that those +above, who guard me and protect me, will not deal harshly with me." + +"Do you believe in the saints?" asked Olivia, somewhat awed, and +coming a step nearer. + +"In the gods," corrected Diana softly. + +"Is this Russian a believer?" asked Olivia, once more without +transition. + +"I fancy he loves no one but himself." + +"No one but himself," echoed Olivia, and Diana felt instinctively +that the countess was comparing him with her own self, and was +applying the words to herself. + +"And the prince?" + +Olivia seemed to be questioning the oracle. + +"The prince appears to be a believer, after his fashion. Perhaps he +is the first knight who is not at the same time a robber!" + +Olivia's mind, awakened to fresh issues, because for the first time +in her life she had spoken her thoughts out frankly, did not take in +Diana's last words. Again she spoke irrelevantly. + +"All these men are more or less in love with you! And yet you can +cruise about alone with them on a ship. If I did not know what you +had done with Gregor, I'd fancy you were as cold as the sea." + +Diana got up. + +"Let us clearly understand one another," said she resolutely. "Not +one of these men is of so much account to me that, if the 'Excelsior' +sailed tomorrow, he might not stay behind in this castle for all I +cared." + +The unusual bluntness with which she spoke was deliberate for she +wished to adapt herself to Olivia's unsocial prejudices. But Olivia, +whose heart had beat tumultuously since first she had thrust aside +the veils of her inner sanctuary that morning, again did the +unexpected, for she seized Diana's hand, saying: + +"There is but one person to my knowledge who should not sail away in +the 'Excelsior' tomorrow. Give me your promise! Clemens, too, is +uneasy at the thought that you and Wilhelm may go away." + +"Clemens will forget me in this affection for Wilhelm; and you will +do the same in your love for Clemens. He is handsome and chivalrous, +and in a short while will become your admirer!" + +Olivia turned her face away. + +"He'll learn about love from a serving-wench in a year or two!" + +There was a knock at the door, and, when Olivia petulantly cried +"Come in," Eduard appeared upon the threshold. + +"That sounded more like 'Go away,' as in the _Magic Flute_! This dim +religious light is also quite in keeping." + +"Come in, Prince, come in," cried Olivia, still impatiently. + +"Yes, do come in," added Diana. "The countess was just deploring the +fact that Clemens before long will learn about love from a +serving-wench." + +"What is a dutiful son to do, seeing that in the castles of the +mighty the only females he meets with are young women of noble birth +(who are taboo so far as illicit experience is concerned), and +serving-wenches?" + +"It's all a matter of nerves, Prince. So far as my own feelings are +concerned I should prefer, in this case, that it should be a girl of +noble birth!" + +"But suppose he should promise you," said Eduard teasingly, "to lead +her to the altar, the more or less, let it be less, pure +serving-wench: you would have to embrace this peasant as a daughter, +Countess." + +"I am not your Russian friend, Prince Eduard," retorted Olivia coldly. + +"Of course a confirmed bachelor has no right to discuss such matters +as the upbringing of children," Eduard continued. "Just as if the +mere fact of becoming a father instantly conferred the necessary +knowledge! Should I, nevertheless, venture to express an opinion +before you ladies I should say: I, as the mother of a handsome boy, +would, as soon as he was seventeen, or, for greater security, when he +was sixteen years of age, request the handsomest among my women +friends to initiate the youngster into the mysteries of Venus." + +Olivia turned towards him with animation: + +"How often have I not had the same idea. But our social institutions +sap a woman's strength of mind, so that she cannot venture on such a +course--though she may often have dreamed she had the courage as she +sat alone in the gloaming." + +She glanced over to where Diana stood in her short linen dress, which +shimmered white in the shadowy room. The prince, too, under shelter +of the darkness, shot a meaning look at Diana, implying that she +alone had been in his thoughts as he spoke, and that he, Prince +Eduard, was the lad of sixteen under the alias of Clemens, Count of +Münsterberg. Diana well understood the meaning which underlay his +words, and, facing the eyes of those who, with silent eloquence, +obviously looked upon her as a predestined victim chosen as a +sacrifice upon the altar of beauty, she felt that they were trying to +rivet chains upon her, to force a line of action upon her, instead of +leaving her to follow the magnetic promptings of her own nature. + +As if in answer to these challenging eyes, she suddenly turned about +towards the window near which she was standing, and, with an +impetuous gesture, flung the shutters wide. A cataract of light came +flooding into the room. Olivia turned away her eyes; Eduard stood +there, blinking his, as if frightened. + +"High tide," cried Diana. "The wind is blowing fresh from the +nor'east, and there's a heavy swell. It's not so very hot yet. +Come, Olivia! You promised you'd come along for a bathe!" + + +An hour later, Wilhelm's little group joined company with Scherer and +Kyril, who had been spending the early hours of the forenoon aboard. +They all made for the sheltered cove at the foot of the cliff whereon +the castle was perched. The party as it assembled for the morning +dip was not so much at its ease as the candour of some of its members +and the education of the others might have led one to suppose. +Olivia and Maria, in their rather full bathing costumes, looked more +mundane than the former wished or the latter suspected herself to +appear. The men were used to the water and were all of them +swimmers. Wilhelm, to whom sea bathing was a new experience, +hesitated at the edge of the waves; from time to time he would assume +the most comical postures as he hunted for crabs or starfish in the +shallow pools; he would exclaim with delight at his finds, so +absorbed in his discoveries that even Maria slipped from his mind, +and he became wholly unconscious of the presence of women. The +prince's ironical habit of mind led him to make mischievous comments +anent the other men's figures to Olivia as she lay basking in the sun +while her niece cuddled down at her side rather bashfully. Scherer +was his usual courteous self, holding himself gallantly, but not +failing to appreciate the contrast between the voluptuous curves of +Olivia's form and the slender grace of the maiden at her side--though +Maria's figure proved to be more developed than he had supposed, and +better in keeping with her full young lips. But his gaze did not +linger; he soon betook himself to the task in hand, striking out +through the water with virile energy. + +Diana, Kyril, and Clemens simultaneously disappeared beneath the +waves, and simultaneously their heads bobbed up again, greatly to the +surprise of all three of them, for they had not seen one another +enter the water. Indeed, Diana, in her closely fitting dress had +sped so swiftly down the shore that hardly any had caught a glimpse +of her as she flashed by. All three appeared for the first time to +be in their appropriate element. Eduard, who was not a practiced +swimmer, and who, moreover, was more amused by the erotic play of +word and look afforded him on the shore, gave up trying to emulate +the trio almost before he had begun. Scherer soon followed suit, and +Wilhelm's world for the moment consisted entirely of marine fauna. + +A sentiment of twofold liberation had invaded Diana's whole being +after the ambiguous words spoken in the darkened room. The sea +appeared to her pure, and free from all impulsive contamination, a +mirror of light, and she was glad and not a little proud to be able +to leave the mockers behind her on the beach. Clemens dived and +somersaulted, excited to exhibit his prowess by the proximity of a +young and beautiful woman, who watched his feats with gay, admiring +eyes. In boyish merriment he splashed water at her, invited her to +dance, kicked up his heels, spluttered, and cried out jubilantly amid +the foam. At last his antics nearly deprived him of voice, so that +his joyous screams became fainter. + +In Kyril, Diana was surprised to find the perfect swimmer. For the +third time she was to witness this man doing something in which he +excelled; and for many seconds her thoughts went back to the evening +when he played the 'cello with so masterly a cunning. Although her +alert intelligence loved to pit itself against the intelligence of +men, and gained by the rivalry, it was the physical quality of the +male, that which was perceptible by the senses, which stirred her +blood; and for this reason she was apt to decide her attitude towards +a man before ever he had opened his lips to speak. To withstand the +strength of the waves as they flooded towards the land, impelled +forward by the breeze from the north-east, to know when to yield and +when to push through them; now to be carried on the crest of a billow +without striking a stroke, and to let one's body be drawn into the +furrow of the wave; without a word, to shoot through the next when it +threatens to break over one's head; now to lie on one's back, +propelling oneself forward with the legs alone; now again diving +through the mighty swells, resisting their weight, judging their +dimensions, so as not to emerge prematurely--how well Diana knew the +art! Her admiration for the Russian's mastery was far greater than +the man himself would have tolerated had he guessed that it existed. + +And yet, with the instinct of a man aware of his own prowess, Kyril +had felt beforehand that while bathing he would show to advantage in +the eyes of this extravagant, luxury-loving creature, and thus win +the admiration which she seemed to withhold from his intellectual +gifts. It was for this reason that he had once before, when they +visited Leucas, proposed a bathe. On that occasion the elements had +made it impossible to carry out, for the wind seemed likely to drop +at any moment, and they wished to profit by every instant it lasted +in order to sail among the Ionian islands. In so far as he was aware +that under present circumstances he was pleasing to Diana, his own +regard for her increased; for, ever since he had first clapped eyes +on her, the evening when she had posed as Atalanta, and then again +when he had seen her playing the fine lady in Scherer's drawing-room, +he had been puzzled to know what to make of her. The instinctive +urge of his being towards her beauty, though veiled by his revolt +against her whole personality, had never been quenched; and now, for +the first time, in this particular hour, his fanatical mind was able +to grasp the reason for her beauty: only now, when he saw this body, +constrained on board to a quietude he had little appreciation of, +bestirring itself in movements fraught with meaning and purpose, did +he realize the aim towards which it had been moulded. And, as the +realization burst upon him, his instincts and thoughts, his theories +and the imperious call of his manhood, surged over her lithe, bronzed +limbs in an irresistible flood. + +He swam out to sea, almost unaware of what he was doing, defying the +surges, ever farther from the shore, as if enticing her to follow. +Clemens, his young arms tired by his exertions, could swim no +farther. He called to her to stop; but the lady he had been squiring +through the watery element, gave the boy the go-by, and followed the +man whose rhythmic progress allured her. Those left behind on the +shore were anxious, but their cries of warning merely served to +stimulate the rivalry and ambition of the two water sprites. +Eduard's uneasiness was of a double kind; how he reproached himself +at this moment for not having spent more of his life at the seaside! +He strained his eyes to the utmost, shading them with his left hand, +filled with mortification and a growing jealousy, vainly endeavouring +to calculate the distance between the two heads that bobbed in and +out of the water. Scherer was engaged on similar calculations. + +Neither could see how Kyril, suddenly disappearing when Diana was no +more than a couple of strokes away, swam beneath her, his eyes open +in the water; how his strong arm clasped her body as she floated +inert on the surface, how he rose and drew her tightly towards him in +a mighty embrace, and continued swimming with his legs alone. His +teeth flashed, the pressure of his arm became more intimate, his eyes +glowed ardently, his hand sought and held her left breast, and Diana, +after her first cry of alarm, abandoned herself to the sea and to the +man, her curls tossed by the wind and sprayed by the waves. +Motionless, she waited for him to release her from his bold embrace. +Then he turned his face shoreward, relaxed his hold, and the two, +side by side, swam slowly and silently towards land. + + + + +CHAPTER THREE + +The sea pulsed darkly around the rocks, but the starry sky looked +down upon the smothered roar with a sweet, dreamlike serenity, as if +it would banish such wildness so long as night was queen, and until, +day returning with its ardent advances, the combat of light and +waters would be resumed. + +In this mood Diana reacted to the sounds and the shimmering +loveliness of the evening. + +On the lowest of the terraces, open to the sky, high above the rocks, +Olivia and her guests sat after dinner, listening to Scherer as he +played. The grand piano had been brought out--the men lugging it +there themselves, following a sudden inspiration--and, as the strains +of Beethoven's last sonatas rose towards the dome above, accompanied +by the ceaseless roar of the tide below, its melodies captured and +re-echoed from cliff to cliff, while the stars scintillated overhead, +there arose out of the turmoil of sound visions of primitive man's +original defiance of the gods, the theft of fire from heaven, the +overthrow of the Son of Chronos--and the hearers silently surrendered +to the passionate impressions the music aroused. Scherer's +characteristic reserve was forgotten, his formal dinner suit was +swallowed up in the shadows of the night; he had become a magician +clad in the black raiment of his office, sitting in front of a black +sonorous dragon whose giant sides seemed open to the sea as the +creature, wounded and near its end, groaned and sent its savage +shrieks to the encounter with the elements, its white teeth gleaming +through the darkness and gnashing furiously at the hands that +tortured. For an hour Scherer shook off all his reserves. No longer +restrained by the artificial lighting and the cramped conventionality +of a drawing-room, he gave free rein to hands and arms as his fingers +grappled with the keys, and as the minutes passed his thoughts +wandered farther and farther away from the music he was discoursing. +Mechanically, by force of habit, he played the vast phrases of the +composer, his heart beating high, his dispassionate lips slightly +apart as if to allow the warm night air to pass freely within. Faces +drifted by, faces of women reclining, as he had seen Olivia that +morning on the shore, and yet not in her likeness.... He bungled a +passage in the left hand, and, thrusting both the faces and the +benumbed apathy of his feelings behind him, he concentrated all his +faculties on the music, rousing himself to the final onslaught on the +dragon before him. + +As if each were on an island apart, separated by waters which the eye +and the ear could no longer span, the friends sat on the semicircular +terrace and were lost to each other's view in the darkness. +Wilhelm's thoughts wandered from the young girl in whose company he +had spent most of these two days, to the image of a certain Duchessa +d'Aosta whom he had met in one of the big hotels at Rome and who +seemed to him to personify worldly brilliance, in spite of the fact +that her hair was grey and that her daughter, a young girl still, was +at her side. Maria reminded him of this girl.... Kyril, while the +presto and the subsequent maestoso were being played, had seen +himself addressing a huge crowd from a roof on which he stood, and +then being escorted into the private rooms of the tsar on the +shoulders of his brethren, and with his own hands stripping the royal +purple and the crown from the monarch; the crowd suddenly +disappeared, and now he saw a naked woman standing before a curtain, +proud, silent, like Diana in limb, but with long hair like that of a +Frenchwoman he had known, whose tresses he had loved to shake loose +on the pillow every night. At the outset, Eduard found his mind +straying through the halls of his ancestral home, impelled thither by +the syncopated measure of the first phrases; he carried a +three-branched candlestick in hand, as if he were looking for his +relatives, but he was unsuccessful in his search; then, when the +adagio with its slow, twofold beat began, he found himself in a +garden where he had never been before, Diana in her short summer +frock walking by his side, her eyes on the distant prospect, lightly +touching the waving grasses with the tips of the fingers of her left +hand; and he meditated upon the recent cruise, and upon the unending +kisses and dreamlike nights he had in fancy spent with her in her +cabin and on deck; and he asked himself how it had all originated, +and marvelled that it should find a solution in melodious melancholy. + +The men did not try to catch a glimpse of the two women, whose chairs +were separated by the whole width of the terrace. Olivia's white +neck in its setting of black velvet gleamed softly in the darkness, +as her ample form lay draped in the plentiful folds of her gown. She +lolled back in the capacious chair, her arms hanging limply, her long +silver chain rippling down over her bosom, like two sister streams +meandering in listless curves, from the fountainhead beneath the +golden chignon at the nape of Olivia's neck, downward, until they +were lost in the lap of love. With eyes closed, she felt the trickle +of the metal over her milky skin, and she hardly knew whether the +sensation was caused by the links in the chain or by the vigorous +touch of a man--some man unknown. + +Diana had stepped up to the railing that she might escape from the +shadow the huge walls of the castle threw across the terrace, and +that, by putting a wider space between herself and her human +companions, she might be nearer the stars. A slender figure in her +white silk dress, she stood gazing at the tranquil sky, away from the +turbulent sea; and, thus silhouetted against the night, she might +well have been likened to the sweep of a bow drawn across the strings +of a violin. Yet her fingers and her countenance, hidden from all +men's sight, were as stormily agitated as was her heart. The pale +frock she wore, one for which Eduard had a special fondness, had been +selected by her in defiance of her own mood. Do what she might to +efface the remembrance of that mighty embrace, she still felt the +great hand of the Russian peasants' son clasping her left breast. +She had been seized upon, but not subdued: this was the thought that +gyrated in her head since that noontide swim, and which, for the +first time since she had known him, made her feel she must concede +him at least a particle of supremacy; since she acknowledged to +herself that she had offered but little resistance, nay even that she +would have been prepared to tolerate whatever he had demanded of her. + +Was it in this very sea? And was that why she could no longer +venture to contemplate the inrolling surges? Was it the sea, that +solitary refuge of the restless ones, which had grappled with her? +Had the sea yet other sons who might cross her path, might dive +beneath her, and clasp her? She furiously thrust aside the thought +of any more intimate relationship with a man who was so alien to her +whole nature, towards whom by words and looks she had displayed a +challenging hostility she had not felt towards any other man this +many a year. So passionately cold was her mood, so greatly was her +inner harmony disturbed, that when the tender melody of the slow +movement was wafted towards her and threatened to melt her, she +rebelled, and sought to arm herself in hardness. Urgently, she gazed +up at the stars; in vain! It seemed to her that tonight she did not +belong to their community any more, so dumb did they remain to her +need. + +Then the world of sounds rose on the airy rhythm of a scherzo, +breaking the spell that held her; and all at once the vital fires +were rekindled within her, they flamed and flickered and ducked and +danced, gripping and nipping the stagnant blood; her fingers loosened +their hold upon the railing, she stepped away from the breastwork, +her eyes regained their serenity, and, as at this moment the tenuous +film of clouds parted, revealing the trusty guardians of Diana's +skies, she felt they were sending her a message of friendly greeting: +for now she found in the firmament that for which she had been +seeking, and the breath came easily from her lungs; she smiled, the +horror that had flooded her was ebbing with the tide below, and she +forgot, in the joy of release, that as with the tide, such an ebb +could not be lasting. + +Scherer rose after playing the final chords of a short presto, and +this was the signal for them all to rise as if they wished to release +themselves from the embrace that had held them. Diana, now, was the +lightest-hearted of the party; and she, who usually was the last to +arouse herself from the spell of music, tonight took the initiative +in breaking the silence. + +"You have conjured away the last clouds with your playing, and the +protective deities are once more to be seen, while Saturn himself +shines above your head. It was not until the scherzo, that part +where longing broke through the theme, that the gods vouchsafed to +show themselves, for longing is alien to their nature, and only the +sea must for ever will and desire." + +She did not glance aside as she spoke, but kept her eyes on the man +she was thanking, and it was not until she had actually uttered the +words that she realized to whom they had really been addressed. +Olivia alone of the company had remained seated and motionless; now +her tragic alto, reached them from afar: + +"Why should the gods be antagonistic to human yearning, Diana? Their +very existence depends on it!" + +"No, no, Olivia," protested Diana, coming nearer to the group of men. +"We only invented such an idea. They can have nothing to do with +such things." + +"She is right," said Scherer stepping up to the countess. "Beethoven +seems for ever to be in combat with the powers above; either he +threatens them, or else he laments." + +"And that is why he is the most genuine of suffering mankind," came +in Kyril's deep voice from the breastwork. + +"Suffering?" Diana sought in vain to quell the pride her tone +masked. "Present day," she added coldly. + +"We hope that the men of tomorrow will not need him any more," said +the Russian. + +"Ah, whither are Mozart's blue shades vanished? For a moment in the +scherzo he seemed near...." began Diana softly. + +"Mozart? Fulfilment, happiness," broke in Scherer's voice. "You +can't play that sort of thing in the neighbourhood of the sea." + +"Such are for proud natures alone," murmured Diana. "The others need +desires and lamentation--otherwise they freeze!" + +"I don't care for Mozart," said Olivia rising. "He's too frivolous, +too candid, too nimble for me. It invariably makes me think of a +ballet--and that is detestable!" + +"Not always," said Eduard, who had silently rejoined Kyril, and now +addressed himself mainly to the Russian. "Your imperial ballet, for +instance, is the best thing your country has to offer--in addition to +furs and Catherine and Dostoeffsky." + +"You desecrate a great name, Your Highness," answered the Russian. + +"Do you indeed set so much store on the empress? Well, she certainly +was a fine figure of a ruler," mocked the prince. + +"At least she was better than many a tsar and many a German emperor!" + +"Everything for the people!" said Eduard gravely. "And if blood +should drip from her alcove, what concern is that of history?" + +"Everything through the people," corrected the Russian. "That is the +future!" + +"You demand too much. If Satan had saddled me with the rank of +first-born, I should merely have been able to ask myself: 'How would +it be if you made this attempt?' I really could not do more." + +"A good start," said Kyril, looking keenly at the prince. "But +nothing more. Anyway it is too late for such attempts!" + +"We've just been hearing music, and here you are already talking +business," complained Wilhelm who had been standing silently beside +the two men. + +"Good for Wilhelm," cried Diana laughing. "And here champagne has +been handed round, and you two have been holding your glasses these +many minutes without realizing what they contained, so absorbed were +you in your democratic antitheses!" She emptied her glass at one +draught and held it out to be refilled, her pulses quickening under +the stimulus. Eduard went up to her, saying: + +"On the contrary! I've been enjoying the bouquet beforehand, and, +while talking, have taken in the brand. Riddle: to distinguish +Clicquot from Mumm without tasting. Solution: subtle difference in +the aroma and in the tempo of the effervescence." + +"The tempo of the effervescence," cried Diana. "I like that!" + +"Labour lost," thought Kyril, turning away. + +"I have one wish at the moment," continued Diana. "May I say what it +is?" + +"To dance?" It was Scherer who spoke. + +"To dance!" + +"I'll fetch my lute," said Wilhelm, relieved at the turn matters were +taking, as he ran to fetch the instrument. + +Olivia smiled. She suddenly felt older, felt as if Diana were her +daughter. "Such a rapid change of mood," she thought. "Even at +eighteen I could not have reacted thus speedily.--Or, could I, after +all?" + +Piano and chairs were pushed back against the walls to make room for +the dance; Wilhelm had taken a seat on the steps leading into the +room, legs crossed as was his custom. The ribbons he was so proud of +floated from the scroll of the lute as gracefully and lightly as the +waltz he now began to play. While he played, he sang, as the fancy +took him, sometimes in German, at others in Italian, or merely "la la +la," tapping the time softly with his toe, as if to provide a bass. +Scherer invited Olivia to dance; but she would not let herself be +persuaded. The prince, too, she refused. + +"And what about you, Doctor?" asked Eduard as he passed by the +Russian. + +"I don't dance," answered Kyril. + +Eduard was pleased. He fancied himself as a dancer. Nevertheless, +groping in his mind for every kind of possibility which could bind +this man to Diana or separate him from her, the prince asked further: + +"Too frivolous an undertaking for the millennium you hope to start?" + +"No one has taught me, Your Highness." + +The words came sullenly, and Eduard became aware that for the first +time the revolutionist was showing his teeth to the prince--that +though Kyril professed to regard hereditary rulers with contempt and +mockery, his essential feeling towards them was one of hatred. + +Diana danced with Eduard. After a very few steps she recognized in +the prince the accomplished dancer, and he the same in her. Then as +if by prearrangement, he passed her to Scherer. The latter, too, +danced well, though with overmuch care and precision, and it seemed +to Diana that, just as in ordinary life he was exaggeratedly +reserved, so in the dance he was too aloof, holding his partner so +far from him that the rhythm and equilibrium of their movements were +disturbed. + +She hardly paused as she changed partners again, merely swallowing a +glass of champagne in passing from Scherer's arm to the prince's. +And when Wilhelm made as if to pause in his playing, she imperiously +commanded him not to stop. + +The sedate round with Scherer, the wine, and, in especial Eduard's +perfect leading, which was elastic and yet sure, all contributed to +make Diana feel lighter than ever, and it was as one in a dream that +she passed from the vestibule of society into the temple. She gave +herself up wholly to the dance, and he, who at long last held her in +his arms, did so with her free consent. For Kyril, the pair of them +were simultaneously contemptible and attractive. Set as he was on +influencing the prince, he was loath to see the adventuress (who had +made so poor a use of her great gifts) in such intimate communion +with Eduard; and he was equally perturbed to see the prince, with the +sanction of the hypocritical canons of upper-class morality, clasping +Diana in his arms openly before all the world. Wrath kindled within +him, as it always did when he was confronted with the buoyant gaiety +of cultured people, and their reciprocal ease of manner; and soon +this couple, dancing so light-heartedly upon the terrace of an +ancient castle, clad in the conventional black of the male and the +fashionable white of the female, gracefully swaying beneath the +starry skies, useless and frivolous, appeared to him the epitomized +symbol of the world that must be destroyed, the emblem of the ghosts +of yester-year, the enemy. + +Scherer, familiar with the turns of fortune in political life, +wondered as he watched this young woman of many loves, whether some +day his turn might not come. Olivia smiled to herself and held +aloof; she could not throw off the feeling that here disporting +itself before her was carefree youth, to whose kingdom she had ceased +to belong; and yet she was all the more resolved to take limitless +revenge before it was too late. Her eyes sought out the Russian, +drew his gaze away from the dancing pair towards herself. Kyril came +over to where she sat, and stood behind her, pressing close to her +chair. + +Eduard and Diana danced. Her knees, her breast, touched him as she +swayed; she felt his arm lightly about her this night, as that +morning the peasant's had rudely seized her. + +"Onward, ever onward," whispered Eduard as they reached the outermost +part of the terrace where the others could not overhear him. Even +now he refrained from addressing her directly. + +"Ever onward," repeated she a little louder, a smile on her lips. + +"And one evening they danced together on the terrace of a Dalmatian +castle," said Eduard, as his breath softly caressed her shoulder. + +"Under the constellation of the Scales," added Diana. + +They continued to dance in silence. Eduard slackened his pace so +that two bars were played to one set of steps. He called to her +under his breath: + +"Diana!" + +A look of supplication in his eyes: a longing that she should at last +address him by name: she hesitated a moment, then whispered: + +"Eduard!" + +Hardly had the word escaped her lips than she whirled him off at +double speed, fitting one whole set of steps into every half bar of +the waltz. She wanted to make him breathless, and succeeded in +maddening herself the more; she loved him twice as much, because he +did not lose his head or his step. + +"Diana! Are you listening?" + +"I am listening." + +"Are you mine?" + +"I don't know." + +"Will you become mine?" + +"I am that already." + +"Tell me, whom do you love?" + +"Dame Liberty!" + +"She's a woman." + +"That am I too." + +"Do you love the Russian?" + +"I hate him." + +"He loves you." + +As he spoke, a lute-string broke as if plucked by an unknown power, +shadows flitted through the open door, Wilhelm sprang up, Scherer +strode up to where the lad stood, Olivia in his wake; Kyril remained +where he was; the pair of dancers paused, hand in hand, awaiting the +pleasure of the lute-player. Then Olivia turned to look at them, +they separated, Scherer advanced, an envelope in his hand. Both the +prince and Diana snuffed misfortune in the air; both sensed it would +strike at them. + +"A wire for you, Prince," said Olivia. + +To Eduard it seemed as if the woman in black, standing thus by the +white-clad woman, were the harbinger of death. Slowly he asked: + +"Who is it knows that I am here?" + +He stepped into the room, held the paper under the light, and +read--it was a message from his cousin in Venice: + +"Court chamberlain wires me, not knowing where you are. Terrible +accident. Heinrich and Stefan in motor smash yesterday. Stefan +dead. Heinrich seriously injured recovery problematical. Old prince +crushed by blow, keeping his bed. Your instant return requested. +Much grieved having to send such evil tidings...." + +The paper slipped from Eduard's fingers. His first thought was for +his father. "Will he live through this catastrophe?" Next his mind +turned to Heinrich: "Recovery problematical." His anxiety was not so +much centred upon this almost unknown brother as upon himself. If +Heinrich did not pull through, his own life's course would be +completely altered, his freedom would vanish, he would have to wear +the crown, everything would be finished so far as he was concerned. + +Diana instinctively felt the doom that was hanging over him, and as +he came to the threshold of the door, having picked up the paper and +thrust it into his pocket, she thought she divined everything: His +father is dead! That would be the most terrible news. + +"You are--you have..." began Scherer, coming towards him. + +"An accident. My brothers, in a motor smash, one killed outright, +the other in a bad way. I must leave for home immediately." + +One thought sped round the group: He will become the reigning prince. +To Scherer the thought brought satisfaction; Olivia felt cynical +about it; to Wilhelm it seemed fraught with poesy. Diana and Kyril +were deeply moved, both felt perplexed. Eduard sensed what they were +thinking, but all he said was: + +"Does the steamer call here tomorrow, Countess?" + +"The Trieste boat? Not till Friday." + +"Three days. Too long to wait!" + +Scherer went into the drawing-room, called the servant, and said +curtly: + +"Send some one down to the 'Excelsior.' She's still under steam. +They're to make her ready for an immediate start. We can weigh +anchor in an hour." + +"Oh but, can I really...? What about the others? ... Thank you, my +dear Scherer!" + +The party broke up without more ado. + +"And I shan't be able to say good-bye to Clemens after all," said +Wilhelm. + +"Stay with us, then," urged Olivia. + +"May I really stay?" + +"We'll be simply delighted to have you." + +Kyril bowed stiffly as he bade the countess farewell. They seemed to +have been betrayed by fate. + +Eduard sought out Diana with his eyes. She drew near the group round +the doorway as he passed through it. Silently she followed his gaze +as he looked downward towards the harbour where the vessel lay. + + + + +CHAPTER FOUR + +Soon after midnight the yacht got under way, and, while the prince +went astern, hardly conscious whither he was going, Scherer retired +to the captain's cabin to look over the ship's papers. But his +thoughts wandered. He was wondering whether, in the eventuality of +Prince Eduard assuming the crown, the young sovereign would still +seek his counsel. Again in imagination the financier saw himself and +the prince in the early days of their acquaintance, pacing to and fro +in the library, talking of all and sundry, from Rousseau to Emerson, +and from Marx to Plato. Again he saw the dignified modesty of the +young fellow's inquiring eyes, and marvelled at the contrast between +this intimate of his and the man the world spoke of as the "tall +cynical prince"; and Scherer was pleased at the thought that these +talks, which were, rather, monologues delivered by a middle-aged and +experienced warrior to his junior, might serve, in the end, to guide +a reigning monarch into the paths of democracy. + +Born in the ranks of the middle class and resolved never to accept a +title which would raise him out of the commonalty, Scherer, jealous +of his independence, shunned a life in the arena of practical +politics, feeling that his mission was, rather, to spread his +philanthropical ideas by personal influence. For he had learned from +the experiences of business life, as he had from reading historical +memoirs, how decisive was the value of such influence; he knew how +the whole trend of some political issue might depend on a chance +meeting, a chance conversation; and he smiled when he remembered that +even in his own newspapers such developments were ascribed to +parliamentary pressure or to the "spirit of the time." For an hour, +now, he had been weighing the possibility that his ideas might find +in this modern-minded prince an instrument for their realization; he +had, as it were, a vision of an initial experiment on German soil.... +The only thing he did not feel certain about was whether he had done +wisely to allow his love of music to induce him to bring the prince +and the Russian together that evening in March when they had made up +a quartette party; he wondered how far Kyril had been able to +influence the prince; he himself, as a man of bourgeois birth, must +necessarily be in conflict with a man of the Russian's views; yet +Kyril and the prince had had long talks together since they had +joined the yacht.... + +Kyril did not care to take his customary place at the stern this +evening; he no longer felt fascinated by the wake the ship left +behind in the water; another than he, one who tonight had to hold the +balance between past and future, had a better right to such +contemplation. + +The Russian sat huddled upon a coil of rope in the bows looking out +towards the path the vessel would be taking. He gazed into the +future, while he mused: "Will this man, too, play the traitor to +himself as they all do when they mount the throne? I can see him as +he sits over there lost in reverie. What's he thinking about? +Probably he's merely worrying as to whether there should be six black +horses or eight! Ah, je m'en fiche! ... Or, can I still do something +with him? Everything for the people! Yes, he spoke quite seriously; +that would be one step gained at least. If only I could keep an eye +on him, if only I could have a finger in that pie.... I'd have to +get the comrades to understand--white-livered curs!--just what such +'compromises' signify.... A tree grows up from a tiny seed, and +should even an insignificant little country be impregnated with our +ideas; ... but at first its people would want their prince at the +head of things. He's no worse a man than any of us, and, reflected +in the mirror of the centuries... What harm can there be in making a +German essay before starting on the great Russian work?..." + +He pondered the thought deeply; he kept his mind pure of personal +ambition, of will to personal power; under the lash of his fanatical +and passionate meditations he even kept his jealousy and the call of +his blood to heel. It was foreign to this Russian's nature to see +himself clearly, as he really was; to distinguish will-to-power from +an unselfish desire to improve the lot of the people, as the woodman +distinguishes green from green in the forest. He did not consciously +wish to approve in himself, and to range in the complicated calculus +of motives, impulses which would in the end be made the foundation of +bargains; to give free rein to the urges of his strangely mingled +nature, under the plea that thereby he was promoting the cause of +freedom. And yet, when his instincts called, he was prone to +sacrifice his mission, since he was not really inclined, in his +inner-most heart, for self-immolation. At the ecstatic hour of +martyrdom, he would be a fanatic willing to put his head in the +noose; but it would never occur to this peasant's son that, for the +sake of his mission, he ought to forgo everyday joys, the delights of +youth, the embraces of a woman he desired. Thus in these nocturnal +musings he revolved unceasingly in an abstract orbit, ignoring his +own secret motive--which was, to remain in close contact with the +prince and the woman whose careers would (he foresaw) be intertwined. + +Eduard sat at the other end of the yacht, alone, as if he were no +longer one of the company. After a while, Scherer made up his mind +to go to bed without disturbing his guest by wishing him good-night. +He urged the Russian to follow suit. + +"Do you mean to finish the cruise according to plan?" asked Kyril. + +"No, I don't expect to do much more than go to Venice. We had +thought to stay aboard another week, but everything is changed now." + +"Hm. Yes, of course. Does the prince treasure his liberty?" + +"Aye--and his father," answered Scherer evasively. "The old man +suffers from heart trouble, and will hardly I fear recover from the +shock." + +"Then it would be the prince's turn?" + +"He hopes his father will recover." + +"Wily old fox," thought Kyril. "These German bourgeois are past +masters in the art of evasion!" + +"Are you staying up any longer? I'm tired." + +"So am I. You played opus in awfully well," continued Kyril as they +descended the companion. "The presto, perhaps, needs just a drop of +machine oil...." + +"At last," sighed Eduard who had longed for complete solitude, so +that his harassed nerves might find relief in movement, though it +were no more than pacing up and down the deck. Yet he could not +venture on such a walk so long as the others were about, lest they +should enter into conversation. Moreover, his ambition spurred him +to seek the bows, a place he grudged the Russian this night; an +irresistible impulse drove him to cut lose from the stern, which +promoted thoughts of past happenings made vivid and actual by the +lurid news from his home. Arrived at the bows, he stood watching the +nose of the yacht cutting its way through the waters, and the sight +gave him a sense of pleasure. He, such a combination of bitter-sweet +irony, had always been loath to delve into the future; but tonight +when care and movement seemed simultaneously forced on him, something +drew him to the bows.... Was it already an actuality? Could not +Heinrich...? + +A light footfall caught his ear. Diana, having discarded her gay +white frock, had changed into a dark one. She had waited until she +heard the two men retire to their cabins. She felt that Eduard, with +whom she had exchanged no word on the drive down to the harbour, +would be needing her. As Scherer and Kyril passed her cabin, she +opened the door, little caring what the former, and still less what +the latter, might think of her action. Experienced in all the ruses +of love, supple of body as an artist or an apache, she now took this +unconventional step quite frankly, accosting the two men as they +approached, asking innocently: "Is the prince still on deck?" + +"Yes, I fancy he is." + +"Then I'll go up and have a talk with him. Good-night!" + +As Diana drew near, the prince seized her hand with unwonted vivacity. + +"Stay with me!" His appeal was spoken softly but vehemently. "Won't +you stay?" The question was pregnant with anxiety. + +"Of course I will," she exclaimed cheerfully, giving him renewed +confidence, so that his tone was more courageous as he asked: "Here, +on deck, till morning?" + +"Till morning." + +"And then, afterwards too?" + +"Afterwards too." She smiled evasively. + +There was an abrupt change in his manner. He turned round, and +leaned his back against the rail. + +"Tomorrow I shall be at home." + +"Why do you speak so coldly?" + +"I shall refuse the succession." + +"What do you mean?" + +"Immediately on arriving, tomorrow, I shall hand my refusal in to the +ministry, so that in the case of Heinrich's--or in the case of my +father's--death, there shall be no discussion...." + +She was silent for a while. Then she asked, as if she honestly +wished for information: + +"Who will come to the throne in that case?" + +"A cousin of a collateral line. Sturdy young fellow, cut out for the +job, as fat Frederick William used to say of his second son. +Besides, it's high time two such tiny countries should be united +under one ruler. It will work out cheaper, simplify the +administration.... It's long been the wish of the dynasty...." + +"A collateral line! But what will your people have to say to that?" + +He moved restlessly to the bows again. + +"Our people? Of course they want to keep their independence. +There's been a press campaign going on these three years, theoretical +discussions, possible dying out of the line.... Princedom! Palace! +Royal theatre! State carriages! Christenings! It's all so +old-fashioned, so ridiculous! I'll withdraw...." + +"You'll do nothing of the sort, Prince Eduard!" + +He stopped in his pacing. Never had he heard her speak so coldly. +Did her words not sound almost like a command? There she sat before +him in her deck chair, her legs crossed, her arms spread wide on +either side of her along the cordage. Her eyes were fixed on his, +cold and steady. Nose and chin cocked in the air, clear-cut against +the dark sky; lips compressed; she seemed petrified all of a sudden, +so motionless did she sit; her locks the only live thing about her, +as the wind of the ship's going tossed her curls. + +"There sounds the voice of conscience," thought the prince ruefully. +What he said was: "My most gracious lady is pleased to speak most +ungraciously." + +She got up and went close to him, so close that her light skirt blew +against his knees as it had when they had danced together. But how +changed was she from those few hours ago when the air had been laden +with music and longing, and she had looked kindly upon his wooing. +Now she was steel, hard and keen and menacing, as she said with even +greater intensity than before, though she never raised her voice: +"For you cannot give up your country." + +"Oh, what does the country matter!" + +"Not just for the country's sake." + +"For whose then?" + +"Fate...." + +"A motor car?" + +"Death!" + +"Well? and..." + +"One does not flinch in face of death." + +"I've never been frightened of him." + +"You fear life: that is easier. I have always lived with death, and +therefore I am mistress of my own life." + +They had remained facing one another in the bows of the ship. Her +demeanour was so full of implications, her speech so metallic, that +he was conscience-stricken, and seemed to hear what from the first +had been his own inner voice speaking through her mouth. He seized +her by the shoulder. + +"What do you want, Diana?" + +"Your promise that you will not send in your refusal." + +"Perhaps Heinrich will recover...." + +"Oh, that you should hang so weighty a thing on the possibility of a +'perhaps'! Promise, tonight, here, beneath the constellation of the +Scales...." + +Eduard relaxed his hold on her shoulders. His lips twitched. Then +he said: + +"Very well, then. But only in exchange for a reciprocal promise." + +"A promise from me? Oh, but I am no more than an intercessor--I +might as well be a priest!" + +"No. It is to you alone that I will promise, and only then if you +will give me..." + +"No, no!" + +"Please, Diana! You must! You must now!" + +He folded her in his arms. All at once her mind was in a whirl; she +felt weak, and tried to get herself in hand; she laid her chin on his +shoulder, looking up at him, whispering: + +"I love you; you shall have everything I have to give. Do you hear, +Eduard? Everything!" + +"I want more than everything, Diana." + +She pulled herself free. So it was this that had made him hesitate, +this that had become clear to her one morning in the monastery +gardens--and it was this that she must guard, the one thing she must +not part with for any consideration. + +"You would deprive me of my freedom...." + +He bowed his head in silence. She quitted his side, walked away to +the extremity of the bows, came back again, slowly, heavily. As she +reached him, he pressed her gently down into the deck chair, and, +himself leaning against the rail, he said: "Diana!" + +"Eduard...." + +"Will you hear what I have to say?" + +"Speak...." + +"Last night, here, on the 'Excelsior,' I drafted a letter which was +ultimately intended for our little ministry at home. Herein I +explained that I renounced all my claims to the crown and succession +if death should unexpectedly take either of my brothers before an +heir was born. My reason: I wished to wed a lady of birth and +standing, though not one of royal blood. I was merely awaiting your +promise before posting the letter. Tonight, however, the issue has +taken a threatening turn: tomorrow, I may become heir to the throne. +If you want me to give you the pledge you have asked for, my +condition is that you enter into a morganatic union with me. No +religious ceremony. Only a civil marriage. Now the choice lies with +you." + +He had, at the last, spoken quite dispassionately, with an almost +froward emphasis, for he wished to conceal his inner agitation behind +the mask of his habitual irony. But she took no notice of his decoy. + +"You shall have everything," she responded gravely, "but I must keep +my liberty." + +He paced the deck in uncontrollable agitation. Then he came again to +where she sat, and said jerkily: + +"So you imagine that I am going to tolerate that Diana de Wassilko +shall become the mistress of a petty prince!" + +She got to her feet, and, raising her eyebrows, said: "It pleases +Your Highness to revert to the language of courts." + +"That's where you would have me be, Mademoiselle." + +"But I could not follow you there." + +"That's why I shall have to leave Berlin in order to follow you +whither your caprice may take you!" + +"I shall be alone if I so desire." + +"And I shall be awaiting you in your room when you return at night." + +"At night you will be the slave of your writing-table or of your +reception rooms." + +"Diana!" His voice betrayed how forlorn he felt. + +"Well?" + +"I beg of you..." + +"What do you wish me to do?" + +He pressed her back in her chair, threw himself at her feet, clasping +her and unclasping her, as he whispered: + +"I love you. I have always been alone. I don't want to hesitate for +ever; you might go away. And yet, if I remain free, you must remain +free too, at my side; the ring means nothing, and I don't wish to +bind you. But if... Over there is a tiny country which I may be +called upon to rule. The humanly possible thing to do (a thing which +no prince has ever succeeded in doing, and one which my father +scarcely tried to do) would be to make some kind of humanly decent +existence possible for two hundred thousand persons--but I could not +do it single-handed. You once said that fate was like the owner of a +slowly gyrating merry-go-round, bidding us make our choice of the +many horses she offered, but that it was up to us to make our choice +wisely and know without a doubt which one we would bestride. Do you +remember? You said that yourself. Well, the time has come for us to +make our choice. With all your wisdom, your knowledge, with so much +tact, so much devotion to the work-in-hand (such as I have never seen +in any minister of State), with your heart against my heart, your +hand, so cool and strong, in mine--ah, thus I could venture the +undertaking--if indeed it has to be!" + +He bowed his head in her lap: all at once it was as if she were his +mother rather than his beloved. Her hand stroked his fair, smooth +hair; her eyes gazed over the sea.... + +Eight bells were sounded. He sprang to his feet, smiling, dodging +behind her as she rose in order to walk on her right side as they +strolled down the deck. They halted at the chart-room which was +empty. Something gleamed from the interior. They entered. + +"Hovering in a metal ring," said Diana as she leaned forward to study +the compass. "To know one direction, unerringly, magnetically +attracted, never to be able to deviate: only thus can one lead +oneself and the others on a life's journey. Shall I abruptly steer +my course north-eastward?" + +She turned to him, laying her hand upon his shoulder. He clasped her +to him in a passionate, unending kiss. + + + + +CHAPTER FIVE + +On their arrival at Trieste the expected dispatch was brought aboard. +It had been entrusted to the Austrian authorities, in the hope of +insuring speedier delivery. Thus the port officials were already +acquainted with its tenor. The crown prince was dead. Eduard was +heir apparent. + +The party on the "Excelsior" had lunched late. Calmly awaiting the +end of the cruise, they had made the most of one another's company +during the hours that were left to them. Eduard (as if seeking for a +sedative) had reached for the chess-board and he and Kyril had played +while Diana and Scherer looked on. Kyril had won. The next game +likewise fell to the Russian. Soon after two, when the town was +already in sight, a third game was started. Still Kyril won. + +"You'll have to give me my revenge," cried Eduard, with unusual +excitement. + +"We'll play all the way to Vienna if you like!" + +"You are taking the same train? Enchanté. Then we'll carry on the +fight, and in the end--by the time we reach St. Pölten I'm sure--I +shall have defeated you." + +He bundled the chessmen away, and seized a telescope. + + +The tidings, expected as they were, left him cold. He begged them +not to visit the Trieste churches on his account, nor to dine in a +hotel, for his train was not timed to leave before ten. All four +felt that it would be better not to prolong this painful +leave-taking, so they bade farewell, the one hearty note being the +cordial thanks to Scherer for his genial hospitality. In a few days +they would probably meet again in Berlin, whither Scherer, Diana, and +Kyril would be going, to take up their work once more; and where +Eduard was likewise determined to go in order to hand over the +necessary documents of his office to the competent authority. As +Eduard bent over Diana's hand to kiss it, he looked up at her +beseechingly, but her eyes remained inscrutable. Then she felt +Kyril's peasant hand grip hers, so vehemently that she was troubled, +for she had not witnessed such a mood in him the last few days. + + +"And now at last the firm is all that is left," said Diana coming +through the door into the dining saloon, where but two places were +laid on the flower-bedecked table. "Just as two years ago on the +terrace of your house! Of course the fact that we are sailing to +Venice makes a slight difference, doesn't it?" + +"She is careful not to refer to Athens," thought Scherer, leading her +to the table. + +"His gallantry has assumed a lighter tone," Diana was thinking. +"Strangely enough, the companionship of young people does not make +him appear old." + +"Souper des adieux, Prince Eduard would say," and Diana smiled at +Scherer's use of the plural, which implied a certain coquetry on his +part. + +"Are we then to dine with ghosts?" + +"I have never eaten in your company except in the presence of ghosts!" + +"Wilhelm would say: But the salad is really only a take-in! It looks +as if there were mountains of it, and then it turns out to be nothing +but green air." + +"Will you take some celery? It's as long as papyrus." + +"One could write sonnets on it," said Diana. + +She laughed at Franklin's excitable ways, Scherer aped the big blond +Russian; Diana, herself, was not spared in their merry badinage. +Then the various clerks in the office came in for their raillery, the +business had its share, and finally they drank a toast to +competition. It was a joyous meal after a day over which death had +cast its gloom, full of reminiscence, of quips, of caricature; and +when they at length rose from table they declared it would have been +far better if they two alone had sailed the Mediterranean and had +always drunk Marsala as they had this evening. + +"I wonder where those two have got by now," said Diana in the +smoking-saloon on deck. + +"They've not started yet! Or did you mean how far they had got with +one another?" + +"How can one judge of others from a distance?" Diana crossed her +legs. She held her cigarette at arm's length, and asked, a challenge +in her voice: "Or, what was really in your mind? What are they +thinking of us, eh?" + +"That you are delightful," said he, kissing her outstretched arm. As +he did so, his eyes dwelt on the firm muscles of her upper arm, which +shimmered through a filmy sleeve, and he drank in the sweet aroma of +her person, which was a composite of unscented soap, a thin layer of +powder, the acrid smell of eau de Cologne, clean linen and a fresh, +sound skin tanned by much exposure to the sun, and looking like +burnished metal against the delicate texture of her gown. + +Diana was aware of the sensual appeal she exercised over this man, +whom she had found more chivalrous than he had ever been in the +presence of his guests; now she was reminded of this anew as he +slowly raised his head. She let her arm fall to her side, and lapsed +into a brown study: "He's thinking that we are alone on board.... +Ah, Freedom! To enjoy all the sport of love, from the man's first +glance at the brooch, right to the fingers which nervously fumble +with the pin; to be free to weave the web of love, or to break off +when one willed, from minute to minute uncertain of what the next +move will be.... To make men pliable as wax; to make them reveal +themselves as they implore or threaten--so that their tongues are +loosened as their limbs grow tenser, tongues that had been too proud +to talk of plans, too discreet to disclose secrets.... And oneself +to be consumed with desire, to arise from ever renewed embraces, from +ever changing arms, a person refreshed, purified and rejuvenated, +more light-hearted, more audacious, flying free above the abyss--an +abyss which the unfree contemplate with alarm as a place full of +tribulation and uncertainty, haunted by an unknown destiny, and to be +shunned at all hazards--whereas the free, stretching their pinions +wide, soar joyfully over it in magic spirals.... Freedom! Not to +have to be the hammer doomed to a certain task...." + +She sat very still, her gaze turned inward, lost to the passage of +time. Scherer observed her in silence, thinking the while: "How +turbulent she is within, how peaceful without! What must she be like +when she is ardent? One should never possess women of her sort; they +would then become simple, would lose their mystery, and Schopenhauer +with his cynical remarks is at bottom right.... But children ... to +lure children out of them ... that alone would be worth the price of +solitude...." + +"Is the old prince very far gone?" asked Diana, unexpectedly breaking +the long silence. + +"Last Christmas, when I saw him face to face, he had the bluish tint +and the pinched lips of a man in the last stages of heart disease. +Yesterday came the terrible shock of the accident. Prince Eduard is +likely to have a field for his activities any day now." + +"Activities? I think the word suits him. But do you look upon him +as energetic?" + +"He hides his capacity for doing great deeds in a mantle of +melancholy. But his ironical faculty is an obstacle to his troubling +himself to perform petty things. The puzzle to-day is, whether he +looks upon the princedom as a great thing." + +"Surely that is no longer the question," said Diana, rising as if to +give freer rein to her thoughts. She drew her cape around her and +paced the deck at Scherer's side. "He has often spoken of the +unlikely eventuality of his being summoned to his present task, has +he not? Don't you think that his relief at there being so little +prospect of it was not wholly genuine? His repudiation of any desire +to succeed to the throne may really have been the expression of the +tragical conviction that, as things were, he had no reasonable +prospect of ever having any serious work to do in the world." She +stopped in her walk, looked at her companion, reflected for a moment, +then, shaking her head, she resumed her pacing to and fro, saying: +"And I can hardly believe any such thing. He is more interested in +his action upon the inner life of men than in his action upon +exterior things; he would be glad to know that a few thousand hearts +were the happier through his work. The balance of power in Europe, +courts and parliaments, alliances and intrigues, colonies and +navigation, trouble him little; and were he to inherit an empire +tomorrow, he would be more inclined to have a thousand peasants' +cottages built than one cruiser. Don't you think I'm right? For he +is good at bottom; and because he was born unfree, as Wilhelm was +born free, he is condemned to make himself appear cynical." + +"If only he had some really live person at his side to act as +counsellor! But that old Tauernheim who has been in office these +twenty years trying to introduce communal welfare work--he's nothing +but a mummy." + +"What do you think of Kyril Sergievitch?" + +Diana was standing in the stern, where Kyril had so often sat. The +sea was calm, a veil of mist lay lightly upon it, the sky was thinly +overcast, the air was warm, and the wind had almost entirely dropped. + +"Kyril, too, is unfree," said Scherer, looking down into the water. +"He has sold his peasanthood for an idea. Only a perfectly free +nature can constrain the prince to action." + +And Diana thought: "True; yet he would bind this free nature of +mine.... Why should one always be cabined, cribbed, and confined as +soon as ever one comes in contact with one's fellows?" + +"A penny for your thoughts," broke in Scherer's voice upon her +meditations. His tone struck her as unusual, and she looked up at +him, to find his eyes fixed upon the shoulder from which her wrap had +slipped. She turned towards him, looking him full in the face, her +eyes cold and aloof. + +"I'm thinking that all of you build up systems, and it astonishes me +to find that even you seem to consider that I should be more useful +as one of the beams in an edifice than I can ever be soaring free. +Am I right?" + +An impulse rose within her to set his mind in a whirl, to bewilder +this man whose constructive imagination was for ever making ingenious +combinations, who wanted to be the architect of her life and of the +lives of his friends. She would grip him in her pliant clutch and +force him to face the issues which his temperamental circumspection +made him prone to evade. Scherer read her hostility in her eyes as +she awaited his answer; but although his pride rose against the +challenge, his senses were doubly allured by the woman who for so +long had puzzled and perplexed him. A hazy conviction seemed to tell +him that the arrogance with which she defended her inner freedom +could be overcome by no other force than the power of the conquering +male. As these friends confronted one another, they rediscovered the +fundamental antagonism of their two natures; impulse took the bit +between its teeth, and rushed the opponents into a proximity which +intellect and respect had at all times avoided. Scherer, as he stood +there before her, elegant and enigmatical, was no longer Diana's +friend and host from the great city; she saw in him now the eternal +enemy, the man sure of himself, the burgher; at the same time the +vision of last night's outburst when Eduard had wanted to deprive her +of her freedom rose to her mind. What was she to do? She felt her +resolution wavering. Would she for ever be able to withstand the +supplication of so tender a heart as the prince's? Two forces seemed +to be contending for mastery over her: her own impulse to freedom, +which the future seemed to be threatening, and which, so long as it +remained hers, she wished to uphold at all costs; and Scherer's +impulse to order, which would attempt to make her life fruitful, nay, +would construct her life for her and in spite of her, an impulse she +deemed it worth while to bewilder and lead astray. + +After the many thousand words these two had exchanged in the course +of their collaboration, they now, in silence, became convinced that +this hour was to bring a strange and abrupt turn in their +relationship. Scherer realized in Diana's quick breathing, all that +was implied in the challenging question she had put, and he felt that +it was a case of now or never with him, as it had been in the most +decisive moments of his career; such moments had been rare, it is +true, but the urgency of their claim was unmistakable. Thus it was +that now he risked all. + +"You are right." His voice was harsh; he did not touch her. "Well? +Are you willing to make a gift of this thing--of your freedom, on the +last night of our voyage together--Diana?" + +The boldness of the look with which he enveloped her, the unexpected +pathos with which he uttered the last word, the challenge in his +eyes, her own feelings of independence and of relish for the +love-game, the memory of his virile gaze at her feminine charms +during this evening, the disturbing consciousness of their being +alone on board; the realization that his commanding tone of tonight +was of a far more manly quality than had been his demeanour at Athens +the previous year; the feeling that now he was the master of a +graceful, white vessel, and that she was perhaps an Undine who had +swung herself aboard; freedom combined with fantasy; the warm sea +with its flowing heart; confused memories of scenes remote; and, +again, the energy emanating from the eyes in this clear-cut head +before her--all these vague sensations invaded and perturbed her as +the essential male within him had foreseen. Her eyes did not repel +him, as she slowly turned away, and preceded him down the +companion.... + + +"Abominably confined," said Eduard at the same hour, as he and Kyril +were settling themselves into their compartment. "At this time we'd +be stretching our legs on the deck of the 'Excelsior'; nothing would +be rattling, everything would be working smoothly, bearing us +along...." + +"After a dream, reality is always noisy. Smooth sailing is pleasant; +noise is instructive," said the Russian sententiously. + +"Schoolroom in an express train! How do you fancy the remnant upon +the 'Excelsior' is passing the evening?" + +"She'll be wearing her black dress, because it is the lowest cut--and +Scherer will be making advances!" + +Eduard, a pang shooting through him at the words, merely asked: + +"Do you really think our kindly host is in love?" + +"She is beautiful. I once saw her pose as a statue at a public +gathering in Berlin; she was something like the goddess Diana. +Weren't you there, too?" + +Eduard trembled. + +"Unfortunately not," he said. "I've heard that it was most charming." + +"How well he lies; with what effrontery they all lie, these princes," +thought Kyril contemptuously--as though he himself invariably spoke +the truth. + +"A thousand men's eyes stared at her," Eduard was thinking, "a +thousand thoughts crept around her and over her on that occasion.... +Well, why not? How shall I know what covetous desires may flare up +in the hearts of men as we pass together through the public rooms of +some hotel in Palermo or Dresden or Cairo? ... Am I not taking too +much upon myself? ... Shall I be able to bear it?..." + +"But he's not going to have her," Kyril broke in upon Eduard's +reverie, speaking like a man who is sure of possessing a particular +woman when the auspicious hour strikes. + +"Russian cur," thought Eduard, as he said: "The young lady appears to +be incorruptible." + +The sentence hovered in the air, flitted to and fro between the two +men, like a breath from Diana herself, belonging first to one and +then to the other, and blown backwards and forwards between them. +And while Diana, afloat on the sea, in the little cabin on the white +yacht, flaunting her liberty, was giving herself to a man she did not +love, to a man determined to solve the riddle of her nature, two men +in a compartment of a night express were dreaming of her, one +imagining he would win her with his tenderness, the other wishing to +master her in a mingled frenzy of hate and love. + + + + +CHAPTER SIX + +Scherer had told Diana that he hoped to catch the evening train at +Venice. With this end in view he had his ship's papers ready to be +cleared and his trunks packed. But Diana felt that a long train +journey in his company would be rather trying, so, as an excuse for +avoiding it, she expressed a wish to see her father, and said she +would stay a day longer before starting for Berlin. Sending her +luggage to the station, she dispatched Mary with a couple of light +valises to the Palazzo Tiepoletto to prepare the old man for her +coming. A wish for protection, rarely felt by her, made her +unwilling to put up at a hotel. + +The gondolas were waiting at the foot of the gangway, and everything +was ready for their leaving the yacht. Diana looked round for +Scherer, wishing to say good-bye, though in forty-eight hours she +would be seeing him again at the office. One of the sailors ran off +at her bidding, sought the master this way and that, but could not +find him. Diana concluded that he had withdrawn to his cabin, +preferring to make his farewells in private. She set out, therefore, +to find him. He was alone in the captain's cabin, waiting, waiting +for her. She went in, a neat little figure in her travelling dress +and tightly fitting hat. + +"Good-bye! See you again Friday, at nine o'clock, in the office." + +Her voice was as fresh as after a sea-bath. He said nothing; but his +eyes beckoned her to him. She came up to where he stood. He was +breathing heavily, though he tried to appear calm. + +"Diana?" + +"Well?" + +"You are leaving me. In a very few minutes I shall be alone. Give +me one more friendly word before you leave the boat." + +"The 'Excelsior' has been lovely," she said softly, her voice +changing its tone. "My grateful thanks for the voyage. I shall +never forget it." + +The simplicity of her choice of words, the artless way in which she +spoke them, moved him profoundly; his hands itched to take the +beloved head between them; nevertheless he refrained. + +"Shall we--not continue to journey together?" + +"There's no more coal! By tonight the boilers will have become quite +cold." + +"Diana!" + +"Well?" + +"Do say something else." + +She hesitated a moment, then said softly: + +"You have been very good." + +He would have taken her in his arms, but she deftly eluded his grasp. +Before he could say a word in response, he heard the gangway creaking +under her light tread. "Lost," thought he, following the gondola +with his eyes as it retreated. No hand was waved in farewell, and as +he slowly descended the companion to go to his cabin he muttered: "I +should never have accepted her gift. Then, perhaps, I might have +held her.... 'You have been very good!'..." + +He took up his hat and stick, glanced at himself in the mirror, and +stretched himself, manlike. "And yet--it was well worth while! They +all think me so ascetic--because they take their repasts daily! +After last night, I could fast for five years." + +When the gondola had put a certain distance between her and the +yacht, Diana turned round: + +"Good-bye, dear ship," she said; but no sign was vouchsafed her from +the deck. "Have you been 'Excelsior' as far as I am concerned? Have +you brought me those who are destined to be my friends? Two friends +I have lost while I have journeyed on your pleasant deck--because I +gave them too much ... yet the one I love kissed me only once...." + +Her father looked up from his breakfast as she entered the room. +When she beheld his venerable head once more before her, the tension +of the last few days snapped, and she fell weeping at his knee. +Seeing her again so soon, in a mood so chastened, alone and agitated, +the old gentleman could not but imagine something terrible had +happened. He tried to calm her: + +"There, there, Diana my dear. I'll help you all I can. Things are +never so bad as they seem at first. Get up, there's a dear child." + +Did he imagine she had come to him for succour? She laughed aloud at +the thought, jumped up, drew a chair to his side and sat down, and, +while she smoothed her skirt and flicked the dust from it, she said +cheerfully: + +"It's nothing. Do forgive me. I'm so happy to be with you again. +Mary is here, too. Can we stay? Just for one night! Tomorrow I +must be off. Father dear, what are you having for breakfast? Is it +good? You are used to something hot, aren't you? London style. +Don't you feel the draught from the balcony? Oh Father, you are such +a dear!" He stroked her hair gently. "No one ever does that! They +always clasp, and cajole, and hurry, and rampage. I should like to +be with you, quietly, saying sweet things to you." + +He was surprised at this unusual flow of words, and begged her to +tell him her news. So they went to the Piazzetta, into the Palazzo +Ducale, where she made straight for the Tintoretto she loved, asking +her father to follow, and did not stop till they came to the Ariadne. + +"No, I'm not like her. Her knees are rounded and so are her breasts. +But the god is a boy. Look, Father, how well he woos, how tenderly +he beseeches her. He does not command! He has summoned Hymen, that +the god may lay his hand in hers--and he could have coerced her had +he wished! I feel sure he will stroke her hair as soon as they are +alone on that beautiful sailing vessel. This is Eros--not like--not +like those others.... What is Eros like, tell me, Father?" + +Her voice had become exquisitely melodious as she spoke; the old man +felt her to be inspired; and as she turned to him, her eyes +glistening with tears, he said: + +"Helena! Your mother was just like this at times, though not +often...." + +She slipped her hand through his arm, and drew him along through the +great halls of the palace. + +"Father?" + +"Diana?" + +"Give me your advice; help me," said she, hastily, softly, almost +cheerfully, as they walked slowly up and down. Two elderly dames +passed them by, noses buried in a red-bound book. + +"The prince, you remember? Prince Eduard, the man who talked such +nonsense about Lord Byron that day we met on San Lazzaro--well, he +has suddenly become the heir to the throne. I expect you've read +about it in the papers. I love him; but he is set on my becoming his +wife, and I am not cut out for married life. He is tender, and wise, +and good; but my freedom, as you know, is metallic, hard, and as +shiny as bronze. Over there in the north is a castle, colder than +this one we are in, great halls, far too stiff and formal for me, +people with petty faces and disturbing hands, and the comedy of +'duties'---- Oh, how could I ever fit into all that? ..." + +Her father listened tranquilly. Then he paused by one of the +windows, withdrawing into its recess, leaning against the side, and +gripping his ivory-handled stick in both his hands. + +"You love him--and yet you will not... Do you love another as well?" + +She looked her astonishment. + +"No, no! Not now." + +"But you fear that later..." + +"I must remain free." + +"Do you mean in a general way?..." + +"I think I do--yes." + +"It seemed to me you were rather taken with the Russian?" + +"I hate him!" + +"Precisely." + +"You can leave him out of the picture." + +"And yet, no! We'd better have him on the canvas!" + +"Why?" + +"Because you hate him." + +"What am I to do?" + +"Follow your heart." + +"That holds none but Eduard's picture." + +"Then, be his." + +"But he wants me to marry him, wants me to share in his work, his +counsels, his thoughts, as they relate to the well-being of two +hundred thousand people! He'll venture it on no other condition. Do +you understand?" + +He was silent again, and she resumed her pacing. After a while the +old gentleman seated himself in a chair near the window, lighted from +the courtyard. Diana confronted him as if she were in a +confessional. He spoke: + +"If you refuse him, what do you propose to do next? Will things +remain as they were, as you described them to me? Will you go on +working in Herr Scherer's office, his confidante, his friend?" + +Diana's lips trembled. Then she said, her voice having lost its +melting tones and become harsh: + +"No, that will all stop." + +"What are you thinking of doing?" + +"Oh, I'll find something." + +"How will you bear separation from the prince?" + +"I love him." + +He gazed at her for a moment, then rose, and said quietly but +resolutely: + +"Conditions of any sort are of no importance. Your heart must +decide." + + + + +CHAPTER SEVEN + +The funeral was over, and Eduard, ensconced in a corner of the +carriage, was on his way back to the castle. He took off his shako +and smoothed his hair. "Well that's finished! Not so bad after all. +I'd thought the whole mumbo-jumbo was going to be insufferable. It's +not much worse than a military parade. A bit too much gaped at--like +the emperor's birthday celebrations.... But the driving out in state +was horrible.... Old Oehlke made quite a decent oration; a trifle +long, but not over unctuous. Dealt a little curtly with Stefan, who +was, after all, a man of feeling. I wonder what his widow's going to +do? ... Didn't she really ever have a child? ... Mathilde seems put +out; even her attempt to do a little public sobbing did not deceive +any one. Is this all one married Heinrich for? None of the joys of +love, no children, and then at forty to be the relict of a prince who +never came to the throne! And they're so poor! If only I had money +to spare I'd dower her for a second marriage.... Papa wishes at all +costs to pull the purse-strings tight. He's right. When all's said +and done, it's the people who have to pay.... No, I'll not go out of +my way to influence him.... Changes are always so obvious; he'd +notice at once.... Glad I got him to stay at home this appalling +weather. What rain! Last time I saw him ... must have been in March +... six or seven weeks ago ... we dined in some place or other on +Unter den Linden, and he had an extra dish of carrots so as to gain +the time to talk me over and bring me to reason. It was touching to +witness his ill-success! He is absolutely incapable of commanding +those he loves. If we were as bombastic as our brethren in Berlin, +we'd nickname him 'The Good'! His eyes are blue.... I always feel I +am having a glimpse of heaven when I look into them...." + +The prince's cortège had reached the central streets of the little +capital, and every window was crowded with the faces of those eager +to see the procession go by. So Eduard replaced his shako, sat up +straight, put on the facial expression his people might expect from +him after the funeral, bowed to right and to left, studying meanwhile +the countenance of the populace--in so far as that was possible +through his mask of heroic moderation which (with his characteristic +irony) he commended himself for having assumed. + +"Broad heads, square rather than long, stubborn as are the middle +Germans by temperament, their mistrust only overcome by degrees.... +And yet loyal to the core, because their dynastic instinct is so +strong.... Is there no end to this stately avenue leading to the +castle? Ghastly! Three months' leave every year, otherwise I +resign, as William so politely informed Bismarck.... There stands +the worthy Tauernheim on the steps, ready to receive me! An end to +these musings! To business!" + +"His Highness is expecting Your Highness in the blue study." + +"Where is the doctor?" + +"He's waiting in the next room." + +Eduard entered the hall, and motioned the old doctor back into the +chair from which he had risen. Taking a seat himself, the prince +removed his shako, sighed, and selected a cigarette. + +"Everything went off smoothly--even the rain!" + +"I'm sorry my professional duties should have kept me away from +paying His Highness the prince my last respects...." + +"Don't mention it, my dear Doctor! And now--are we alone? Are the +doors shut? Or only closed?" Eduard got up to try the handles. +Then resuming his chair, he continued: "You are amused? But there's +always some Paul or Max or other, whose tall, black figure appears +from nowhere, all unexpectedly, offering sherry--like Erda in +Siegfried! Well, now that the black fate has fallen on me and +nothing can throw it off, I am going to ask you the question which I +had hoped my two brothers would save me from having to put." + +The doctor looked gravely through spectacles which in no way dimmed +the shrewdness of his eyes, and said in a matter-of-fact voice: + +"I am sorry to say that the prince is rapidly going down hill. I +told the late prince as much last March, and urged him to make ready. +Last Sunday, after the terrible catastrophe, he had another attack in +the night, which was only relieved by injections of camphor and +morphine. Next morning his urine was loaded with albumin, as always +after excitement. His pulse intermits every sixteenth or seventeenth +beat. He has lost all interest in his work. Then you must remember +that he is seventy-two years of age. Your Highness must realize that +every day he is spared should be regarded as an unexpected gift." + +Eduard got up, threw his cigarette end into the fireplace, strode +over to the window, and lost himself in meditation. "Have I not read +all this before? The crown prince, in the uniform of a hussar, spurs +clinking, returning from a funeral, cannot bide the time for his +father's death.... God, what would I not give this man if he could +save my father for another decade--nay, merely for another three +years!..." + +Eduard turned to the doctor: + +"Many thanks. I'll go in to see him." At the door he halted, and, +turning again to the doctor, inquired casually, as it were: "No +excitement, I suppose?" + +"I must even urge that even those who have come to pay formal visits +of condolence be not admitted to audience." + +Huddled together, wearing a tunic of ancient cut, the old prince, in +the half light of his spacious study, was sitting in front of the +writing-table at which he had done his work for the last twenty +years. He was pleased with his son's appearance, the dapper uniform +becoming the slender figure well; and he was the more pleased seeing +that hitherto he had never been able to persuade this youngest child +of his to don the military livery unless directly commanded to do so. + +"He's much smarter than he'd have us believe," thought the ageing +prince as Eduard bent low to kiss his father's forehead. + +"A fine brow," said Eduard to himself, "so nobly arched and +furrowed...." + +"Well," asked his father, "did it all go off decently, and in order? +How did Adalbert behave?" + +Eduard gave his report. + +"So, he was not the first to be at the vault," murmured the father. +"It would have been a handsome thing to do. And what about Mathilde?" + +"Not a tear." + +"Ah! I did not force him into that marriage. Tauernheim always +thought it would have a soothing effect upon... He may have been +right. But I'm against these marriages of cousins.... It's better +to be childless than to breed idiots.... I imagined that, should +Heinrich not feel inclined ... Stefan would provide the necessary +progeny. Well, all that is over and done with now.... I am glad +your mother did not live to see this day! Ah, Eduard my son, I am +very weary. Are you going to take my place?" + +Eduard, profoundly stirred, would have stroked his father's brow; but +he took the proffered chair, placing his sword between his booted +legs, and saying quietly: + +"I would ask Your Highness to put at least some of the work on my +shoulders." + +The old man looked up, he saw the fair head, with its smoothly parted +hair, bowed deferentially before him, he passed his hand over his own +white locks, then he said: + +"My dear Eduard, let's have none of that. We must speak to one +another like two human beings. This may be the last time we shall +ever talk together--or almost the last! As soon as possible I intend +to pass the burden on to you: the whole burden when I go to join your +mother. You are rather hypermodern, you know, and Tauernheim is +anxious about the future; in fact, they are all worried about my +death, now they know that Prince Eduard is to be the next ruler. For +my part, I am tranquil, for I know you're a good fellow. Shall I +assume Polonius airs with you, and teach you how to behave? You know +the ropes as well as I do. Always have the people in mind--but don't +try to play the twenty-first century game, especially in this little +country. Be democratic, that goes without saying; but not Karl Marx, +my dear Eduard, though I know you think a lot of him. Even Herwegh +would be too strong meat. We are nothing but Liliputians here. +Still, I don't need to go over all these things with you, and waste +precious time. You've known my mind these ten years, and have seen +eye to eye with me." He paused, making himself more comfortable in +his arm-chair. "One thing, however, I have to ask, my dear Eduard. +You see how quickly a motor car can be hurled down a mountain side. +You must hasten to provide for the succession." + +Eduard had determined not to disturb the serenity of his father's +mood by disclosing any of his personal plans. He said quite +casually, therefore: + +"Of course, Papa, I'll marry. You have Leonore in mind?" + +The old man smiled, and in a flash it was borne in on Eduard that +death had indeed laid a hand on his father, for the eyes that were +wont to twinkle with merriment, were now apathetic. + +"The question is, rather, whom have you in mind." + +"Raison d'état, my dear Father. We have often spoken of this before." + +"Eduard?" + +"Yes, Papa?" + +"What sort of a time did you have on the yacht? I got the photo you +sent--was it from Messina?" + +Eduard fidgeted with his sword-belt. + +"The 'Excelsior'? Oh, it was quite charming, those weeks on board." + +"And did you gain your end? I doubt not that it was charming--but a +capricious young woman, and five men hanging around--because Scherer +of course had to count as a possible rival...." + +The father had hoped great things from the cruise; for from what he +had learned in Berlin, he could not but believe that this clever +woman would bring the prince to the point of making an offer. Now +that the disaster had changed the order of succession, he was seized +with dread, knowing that the fate of the little country hung in the +balance. The son, guessing what was passing through his father's +mind, was resolved at all costs to save the invalid from agitation, +for the dying ruler was now obviously not so much concerned about a +morganatic marriage as about the lack of offspring competent to +succeed, this implying an eventuality the old man had been so careful +to guard against--the passing of the country into the hands of the +collateral line. Eduard had made up his mind not to speak plainly, +and yet deference for his father's wisdom and kindliness, made him +unwilling to tell a direct lie. At the same time, foreseeing the +question, he had vowed not to commit himself in words to anything +which he would have to forswear after his father's death. He +therefore evaded the immediate issue by rejoining: + +"Yes, Scherer is a man of importance, and, besides, quite +disinterested. He should be invited to advise us in financial +matters." + +"He's trying to fob me off," thought the father, and, obsessed by the +thought that tomorrow would be too late, he asked without +circumlocution: + +"Did Scherer, too, win the lady's regard?" + +"Yes, I think so." + +"Eduard?" + +"Yes, Papa?" + +"Are you still free?" + +"What just do you mean by that?" + +"No commitments?" + +"None," he exclaimed, while he thought: "Unfortunately, none as yet!" + +The old man breathed more freely. + +"But Father, heirs are not produced by love!" + +"I need not worry, then?" + +"He wants me to give him my promise," thought Eduard. "And I am +determined not to give him any such thing." He smiled, and said +politely: + +"A difficult thing to guarantee, my dearest Father. Heinrich, for +instance, had none in three years...." + +"He's a good diplomatist," thought the father, "and it is a pity he +cannot remain in the foreign diplomatic service." He, too, smiled, +as he said: + +"I feel confident you will do all that in you lies so that there +shall be no change here...?" + +Eduard shifted his sword-point an inch or so, hesitated, and then +said: + +"As a man of honour I can, of course, only speak for myself; and if I +am called upon I will, when the time comes, make use of every power I +possess...." + +"The hours speed by," thought the old man, once more filled with +anxiety, "and the youngster takes refuge in rhetoric! He needs to be +decoyed--or at least his affections." He studied the bowed head, and +the great flat surface of the writing-table seemed to him a symbol. +He pushed back his chair; he needed to win his son's confidence, and +yet he hesitated. At last he made up his mind. Almost in a whisper +he said: + +"Eduard, my dear boy, won't you promise me...?" The young prince +trembled and, against his will, the sword clattered lightly as he +held it between his knees. + +"What is it, Papa?" + +"You will see to it that there are legitimate heirs?..." He laid his +gnarled hand across the table, towards his son; there was no tremor +now. But Eduard did not raise his head; his eyes were fixed on the +withered hand that lay there begging for one last gift which was at +the same time the first it had ever been held out to receive. He was +permeated with the realization of how intensely lonely was this dying +man before him, an old man who had just laid two sons in the grave; +at the same time he envisaged the future, as for three days he had +envisaged it, with Diana at his side.... He rose to his feet; he +took the old hand in his own: he kissed it: but he spoke no word. + +"I have promised nothing," said the son to himself, as the world +swayed purple before his eyes. + +"He loves her," thought the father. "In that case I cannot bind him." + +Silently, the two men looked at one another. Each knew that he had +been understood. + +The silence persisted for many seconds. Then the old man rose +stiffly from his chair, looked about him, searching for his papers, +sat down again, invited his son to do likewise, and pressed the bell. +A manservant came to the door. + +"Ask His Excellency Tauernheim to come in." + +Another minute passed in silence. The young man's eyes rested +lovingly on the old man, and Eduard marvelled that, after so many +shattering blows, the veteran could put on the harness once more. +The minister entered. The old monarch spoke: + +"Please take a seat, my dear Tauernheim. Henceforward we shall +always be three to discuss our plans--for Prince Eduard will want to +take his bearings. Here, for instance, is the project for the +Neuburg highroad. How does the matter stand...?" + + + + +CHAPTER EIGHT + +Diana emerged from the great red-brick building which constituted the +headquarters of the newspaper. She had been back some weeks, and +spent the whole forenoon working in the office as before. Now, in +her simple summer frock she was walking leisurely down the drive. +Other young ladies, eager to catch a bus or to rejoin a lover round +the next corner, overtook her, and scurried on their way. Diana +seemed to see herself again, making her entry here that first day, +ignorant of all these faces, scrutinized by the huge janitor at the +door, a man she was subsequently to greet with such studied dignity; +and as she dwelt on that time in reminiscent mood, it occurred to her +that she was older now by two whole years. Was not this very day the +anniversary? She took her way along the Friedrich Strasse, musing as +she went. + +"Yes, it was the fourteenth of May, the same date, I remember it +well, for I started work the next morning, and on the last of the +month I got my two weeks' pay, a hundred and twenty marks. Am I +happier now that I get ten times as much? J'aime l'argent, parce que +j'aime la liberté. Are those the words of the sage of Geneva, who +had them from Voltaire? Or have I read them somewhere in Voltaire's +works? ... Liberté! There's a flavour of gasconade about the French +word. Libertà! That rings truer. Freedom has a hollow sound. +Freiheit is beautiful. And yet it is an ancient word! At one time I +could rattle off the libertatem concedere, desiderio libertatis +flagrare; but the most lovely of all was the libertas innata! And +then eleutheria! I remember when I was seventeen I read the +definition in my Greek lexicon: 'eleutheros--1) free, independent; 2) +self-disciplined, candid, also inconsiderate, unceremonious.' Yes, +inconsiderate.... How the young toss the word in the air and never +realize its implications! One just begins to understand it by the +time one is twenty-five. The day has come when I can say: Ten years +ago..." + +Her attention was attracted to a pair of laughing young lovers +crossing the street, and then coming to a halt in front of a great +plate-glass window full of goods; she saw the girl point a tiny +gloved finger at a little box containing the coveted knives and +forks, and press this same finger against the window. + +"They all seek out some brick-built den, and then they mate, and +breed, and feed, and die. I have brought too high an ideal of the +perfect from a previous life, too much presumption, too keen a demand +for the princely.... Even this word will have to disappear before +long. As soon as one sees a thing near at hand, it becomes +meaningless. How hard it is for Eduard that his excessive +seriousness should always make him misconceive the present. Ten days +since we bade farewell.... Why does he leave me with never a word? +I know his heart is in a fever, his head is throbbing; always +grubbing in the mines of the future! ... Oh these men who are for +ever practising renunciation, these architects of life, these +Scherers, and Eduards, and Russians.... The Russian? He at least +occasionally sends all his theories to the right about, so that they +retire trembling into a dark corner!" + +She turned into Unter den Linden. + +"The lime trees are in flower, and their sickly-sweet perfume is +wafted to me. I'm always driven to seek out Germany in May. Has one +ever enough of it? Libertas? With seven hours at the office? It's +lost its savour ... not only because of Scherer ... and yet... It +used to be so jolly in the old days when he came towards three every +afternoon to discuss things with me; and the paper he held in his +hand had the appearance of a battle ground. With what evident +pleasure he'd let me get the better of him in one round, though in +the end he was still more delighted when he pinked me! Now it is +nothing but recriminations; or he will beseech, or play the meek and +humble.... Meanwhile, kindliness, such as we hoped to establish in +our relations, murmurs deprecatingly: 'I am kindliness: let us try to +understand one another.' ... How stately and white the library looks +over there. It is peaceful, because it contains all the wisdom of +the world. Had I not better once more go through its portals and +start learning anew? Sometimes the game seems too ridiculous for +words; the feverish activity to get the latest news, merely time +lost." + +She stopped before a travel agency, looking at a map of the world on +whose oceans tiny ships sailed. An arm suddenly stirred the curtain +from within the office, a huge hand gripped one of the tiny vessels +which had nearly reached the Azores, and set it down again one degree +farther westward. Then, another boat, nearing Cape Town, would +suffer a similar fate. + +"Just like the gods. Without that sleeve and cuff, one might take it +for Neptune's arm. Thus, it is only Mercury's. How small are the +seas: how swiftly the little ships travel across them! The +'Excelsior' could make no more than eleven knots; without a breath of +wind to help them, these have made twenty-three.... Ought one not +... I could..." + +She scrutinized the map, which was becoming more and more full of +life as she looked. She planned, cast away her plans, and then +pursued her meditations: + +"Another fortnight, and Father will be taking the train through the +Simplon, to Paris and London... Macdonald once promised me he'd keep +a place for me in the British Museum.... The time has come when I +should make another dive, experience new freedoms and unfreedoms...." + +Now a jeweller's window caught her eye. She stopped to inspect. + +"How old-world those diadems appear. If they were antiques, it would +not be so bad. But to think that they are still made and still find +purchasers! Eduard is perhaps the only one from that world who +really feels deeply.... Yes, those are huge pearls, shaped like +pears, a grey chain--I should not mind having that. They come from +the sea, and he whom the gods permit to find the right shell has +merely to open it and there the pearl lies in all its beauty. A gift +from the depths, heavy with melancholy--not like these sparkling +diamonds which it has taken thousands of black hands to hew from the +earth with the aid of horrible machines bringing death in their +train...." + +"Do you like those glittering headbands?" + +She turned abruptly at the sound of the deep voice, and found Kyril +beside her. + +"How do you do, Mademoiselle?" + +Diana gazed into the earnest blue eyes; she felt the strong hand +clasping hers. + +"At the moment my mind was drifting so vaguely among thoughts of +diamonds and princely crowns and what not, that they would ultimately +have wandered to you had you not yourself spoken before I got there!" + +"Then I may as well continue on my way, for it is probably far better +for us to think of each other than to talk to each other." + +"Why do you think that?" + +"Because our talks have never yet led to anything. Are you going +through the Tiergarten?" + +"I'm on my way home," said Diana moving ahead, while Kyril--by chance +or through an impish spirit of contradiction--remained on her right. + +"How much nicer he looks in this old-fashioned get-up," she thought, +"than he did in his soft hat and elegant clothes on the yacht." + +"She's dressed herself with great simplicity today," he was thinking; +"she seems more serious," he added to himself, having watched her for +some time from a distance before he spoke to her. + +Their conversation turned to questions as to what each had been doing +since they had parted, and then Kyril asked for news of the prince. +They passed by Diana's door, before she answered: + +"I had thought you would be able to tell me something about him--you +made the journey together." + +"I've only had one letter since then. And you?" + +"Nothing," said Diana quietly. + +"She's lying," thought Kyril. + +"I wonder what Eduard wrote to Sergievitch," thought Diana. Then she +said: "Did he appear to be finding things hard towards the end?" + +"No, he seemed all right during the train journey. We talked +politics. With a wise head to guide him, he'll do well, I fancy. He +has excellent intentions." + +"Undoubtedly. Admirable disposition." + +Unconsciously Diana had adopted Eduard's very tone and manner as she +uttered the words, and Kyril was unpleasantly impressed: "How they +snap at one when they have anything to hide, people of this class," +he thought. "Oh, I'll clear out!" + +He stopped when they reached the corner. Diana asked tentatively: + +"Perhaps we shall meet at Herr Scherer's?" But her thoughts were: +"He ought to come in with me and play the 'cello the whole evening!" +She did not, however, even ask him to call. + +"Maybe we shall," he said frigidly. + +She had fallen into a brown study, and did not hear him when he +spoke, saying absent-mindedly: + +"And you'll play that sonata with him--the one you played alone in +the Palazzo Tiepoletto." + +"And you would be criticizing the time of day.... You want nocturnes +at night!" + +The mocking tone of his voice brought her back to the present. + +"Good-bye," she said, merely nodding her head to him, and never +raising her hand in farewell. + +When she got home, she found her brother waiting for her. He had +come to see her once before since her return, had asked after their +father, had given no news of himself, and as he left had said +casually that he might be going on a journey. She was pleased, and +at the same time not overjoyed to see him here today, for she had +looked forward to being alone and to thrashing her own problems out +with herself. + +"Forgive me," he said. "Am I disturbing you? I hope my cigarette... +Is it too strong? A little opium.... Shall we open the windows?" + +"Why's he talking so much and so unsteadily?" The question agitated +her as she took a chair beside him. + +"Won't you sit down?" she asked civilly. + +"I'm just off...." + +"What makes you so restless?" + +"Can't help it. I know I am a trifle..." + +"Do you need my help?" + +"Yes." + +"Money?" + +"Of course." + +Diana was pleased that he should come to her in his strait, rather +than try to raise the wind among his friends. But this was the first +time for two years that he had asked her for any pecuniary +assistance, whence she concluded that he must be passing through a +crisis. + +"Only too pleased to let you have what I can...." + +"Thanks. But it's rather a lot...." + +"How much?" + +"Four thousand." + +She had completely regained her composure by now, and got up quickly +to go over to the window. It was as one young man addressing another +that she said: + +"Absolutely necessary?" + +"Urgent." + +"Soon?" + +"At once." + +"I've only got five at the bank. You could have your four by +tomorrow." + +"Sunday tomorrow. Banks closed." + +"By Monday, then." + +"Too late." + +"What on earth are we to do?" + +"Borrow meanwhile." + +"No!" + +The word shot out so coldly that he became alarmed, for it sounded +final. + +"Well, for the present, a note of hand will do." + +"Gladly." + +She sat at her table, writing. Then she said: + +"What name?" + +"I'd--rather write that in myself." + +Slowly she turned, and looked at him. As he stood there, so elegant +and handsome and pale, she suddenly felt a loathing for him and his +way of living. Yet there was also a little envy too; she envied him +for being able to keep the secret of his life so completely.... +Turning back to the table, she wrote, signed, and handed him the +paper in an open envelope. + +"I have no more. Besides, I am going to resign my post...." + +He did not seem to hear. Thanking her, he took his departure. She +pressed the button of the bell. + +"Mary, please make me a pot of tea. No, I'd rather have some fruit." + +"There's none to be had. Oranges are finished, and strawberries not +yet in season." + +"I saw a basket of strawberries at the florist's over the way." + +"Ah, those!" + +"Yes, those. Please go and fetch them." + +"Silly old slow-coach," thought Diana petulantly as the old woman +disappeared to do the commission. "She must come to cap my worries. +The last straw! ... What a day! Cooped up in a stuffy office, +business letters, trouble with the records, lunch in the office among +unattractive persons, one of whom makes noises as he chews.... A +note from Scherer, politely begging for a fresh statement of +accounts, and remaining 'your...' Mine? ... Longing eyes cast in the +direction of the library ... resistance to the lure of those +diadems... A peasant, anarchist and 'cello player, who reviles me in +his heart, because I annoyed him one evening in Venice when he had +been playing Bach ... A servant who considers early strawberries too +good for me... And yet ... hold on, Diana! Did you not see a huge +hand manipulating ships upon the seas? True, the hand was only the +hand of Mercury; still, it was the hand of a god... There's no way +out of it... I'll have to start afresh..." + +She held the little basket lovingly in both her hands, and carried it +to her writing-table. Setting it down, she picked out the ripest, +and nodded appreciatively as she ate. Gregor's face flashed upon +her, and she remembered how they always inverted the order of the +breakfast dishes.... She dug her teeth into the fruit, and sucked in +her lips. Then she took another. At last squaring her elbows, she +wrote: + +"Two years ago, this very day, Paula Linke, in answer to an +advertisement, stepped through the portals of your office. You read +my reports, dear Herr Scherer; then you sent for me, and discovered +Diana Wassilko. + +"The fact that my eyes happened upon that advertisement, was not due +to any skill on your part or on mine. Where you showed your mettle, +was in being so quick to discover the merits of a stranger. I have +to thank you primarily for all the experience I have gained in your +service, in the matter of travel, of things, and of personalities; +secondarily I owe my good fortune to a kindly fate. + +"Above all what I value in you is the man, the teacher, and the +friend. Don't take it amiss that I should leave you at such short +notice. You will soon find a substitute. I am in urgent need of a +change. The whole earth is open to me. I hope to get everything +straight by June 1st, and to hand you over my final reports and +accounts. + +"Wherever life will take me I shall always look back with pleasure to +the days I spent within the white walls of your office, shall never +forget your round dining table, and the 'Excelsior.' + +"DIANA." + + +She read the letter through, placed it in an envelope, stretched her +hand out for her seal. The telephone bell rang. + +"Scherer speaking. Good evening." + +"I've just finished a letter to you." + +"To me? That's something new! So far I've only received one card." + +"Well, what's the news?" + +"I've this moment had a telephone message to say that old Prince +Heinrich died at four this afternoon. I thought you might be +interested...." + + + + +CHAPTER NINE + +Two telegrams lay on the table: one addressed to Herbert Macdonald, +the superintendent of the new wing of the British Museum Reading +Room; the other to Professor Dufour of the Institut Physiologique, in +Geneva. In both, Diana asked whether she could be allowed to resume +the work of previous years. She rang to have the two wires taken to +the post. At that moment the house-bell sounded, too; there was an +opening and closing of doors, the sound of voices, the rattle of a +sword, and then Mary appeared, obviously a prey to inner excitement, +to say that Prince Eduard wished to see her. As she announced him, +Eduard himself, in his hussar's uniform, appeared on the threshold. +Before coming up to where Diana stood, he glanced round, as if to +assure himself that Mary had gone. He waited until the old woman had +shut the door, and her footsteps had ceased to sound in the passage. +By that time, he had mastered his agitation sufficiently to greet +Diana with the customary clacking of the heels, and, as he bent to +kiss her hand, to address her in conventional tones. She opened her +eyes in astonishment at his get-up, and this gave him an excuse for +lapsing into the ironical vein. + +"I promised you I would come to see you once in more than Spanish +grandeur! Do forgive me for this weird kind of dress." + +He took off his shako. + +"You ought never to dress in anything else!" + +Diana was honestly surprised at his comely appearance. For a moment +the thought of Klarchen and Egmont was irresistible. She stepped +farther away to get a better look at him. He stood her scrutiny for +a moment. Then he impulsively seized her by the hands, drew her to +the sofa, fell on his knees before her, grappled her to him, felt her +all over with his two hands, touched her delicately with trembling +finger tips, breathing words rather than speaking them: + +"... Diana... I've got you at last... Yes ... it is really you ... +your very self... Forgive me... I've been... I've had... Oh these +days ... the awful things ... and all the bowings and ceremonial ... +no soul. It's not half as ridiculous as I had thought ... far worse +... it is ice ... it is Greenland.... Ah, let me rest, only for five +seconds.... Time goes so much quicker than they tell us in the books +... two minutes, and a man is dead ... a motor flies off at a tangent +at a bend in the road, a venerable head drops to one side even as the +lips are still speaking.... It's all so quick, Diana ... and as one +rises from the side of the deathbed, an old gentleman approaches and +announces that one is a prisoner for life ... all, all, in twenty +short minutes, all in the course of one fortnight, since I left the +'Excelsior' and came ... to ... this ... diadem!" + +His head sank in her lap, two strangled sobs forced themselves from +him in the overwhelming sense of release. She could only sit there +in silence, shaken to the soul, holding the throbbing forehead +between her hands. + +Slowly he raised his head, took her hands in his, kissed each, one +after the other, with great deliberation. + +"How warm your silence is. Over there, at home, silence is so cold. +The only feeling heart in the whole principality is inside the breast +of our old butler." + +"Eduard." + +"Your curls wave above me, as though they were a life-boat. I catch +a glimpse of your ears from time to time, that is the coast ... +yes..." + +"Aren't you tired of kneeling?" + +"No, I'm in heaven. My only dread is that you should want to get up. +Diana, I could stay here for ever." + +She smiled, lay back among the cushions, and whispered: + +"I thought you would kiss me." + +In a flash he was on his feet, in another he had flung himself beside +her on the couch, folding her in one long embrace from lips to knees. +For the first time, those two young bodies, after so many palpitating +months, so many moments of inspiration and happiness, felt the +contact one with the other, vibrated in unison, full of pleasurable +and eager expectancy, in a dream, silently. + +After a while he whispered: + +"Diana." + +"Eduard." + +"Are you mine?" + +"I love you." + +"Will you remain mine?" + +"I'm so happy." + +"Will you promise..." + +"How awfully young you are!" + +"Never to leave me?" + +"Later." + +"No. Now!" + +He sprang up, pulled his tunic down, settled his collar, smoothed his +hair, and sat by Diana as she lay. His last words had such a +resolute ring that Diana felt she could no longer evade the issue. +She raised herself on her arm, and smoothed her gown. + +"My dear, won't you give me your promise?" + +He spoke with the utmost simplicity, wooing her; but she heard in the +words the rumble, the menace of distant thunder. + +She laid her hand on his: + +"Give me time..." + +"Five minutes." + +She took her hand away, and gazed through him into the void. He got +up, stretched out his left arm abruptly, glanced at the watch on his +wrist, and said composedly: + +"It is now five minutes to six. I'll give you till six," and he kept +his gaze fixed on the watch. + +Suddenly Diana was beside him, her eyes bright with anger, her lips +ready for a wrathful reply. But before the words were uttered she +caught sight of the band of crape upon the sleeve of his tunic, and +her expression softened, her mood changed, her body drooped; she +longed to lean against him, to yield to a wish that she had been +combating these many days, to seek support. Her yearning overcame +her other scruples; she seemed to see her father before her once +again; and, with a gentle and womanly gesture, she took Eduard's arm +in her hand and kissed the black token of mourning. He, surprised +and profoundly stirred by his victory, took her head in his hands, +running his fingers through her curls. + +When at last they drew apart, Diana crossed to the table, where the +two telegrams still lay, and lifted them questioningly. But Eduard +was already at her side, and wrenched them from her. She, taken +aback by so autocratic a movement, reciprocated, snatching them back, +and placing them under the crystal which served her as paper weight. + +"What's all this, if I may ask?" + +"Wires." + +"Hm. To Scherer?" + +"On the contrary--away from Scherer!" + +"Meaning?" + +"That I am going away." + +"Diana!" + +"Eduard?" + +"It's gone six. Will you follow me?" + +"I--don't want to be forced to a decision through compassion for your +crape band." + +"Time presses!" + +"Why?" + +"My car is waiting for me at the door, I've come here incognito, must +be home by tonight. Tomorrow the court chamberlain administers the +oath..." + +"What's that to do with me?" + +"I shall refuse to take it--unless you--promise..." + +They stood confronting one another, the narrow table between them. +His voice was thoroughly matter-of-fact, his manner outwardly calm, +as he leaned his fists on the flat top of the table. She did not +answer, but waited collectedly, her fingers poised on the crystal +beneath which, in the form of telegrams, two ways opened before her. +Thus they remained, eye to eye, silent, observant. Then, without +shifting from her position, Diana asked: + +"And if I refuse?" + +"Formal abdication. The principality will pass to my cousin." + +"What do I care for your cousin!" + +"I am quite indifferent, too." + +She knew the decisive hour had struck for her. Had she not long +foreseen it? But she had no notion yet as to what the issue would be. + +"He is waiting," thought Diana, gazing down upon the crystal, "and +yet he knows that I never wanton with destiny. He woos, and yet he +might well make a gift of a diadem. Shall I lure him from the path +in which centuries of tradition have placed his feet? His arm will +be around me, his eyes will guard me from fools and courtiers... I +have just turned twenty-seven... I feel at least five years older... +If one's life must inevitably become entangled with the lives of +others, at least I can see to it that mine shall develop along the +broadest possible lines... A park will encompass me about, but I +need not see the walls...." She looked up. She saw him standing +before her. She thought: "Elegant hussar, I will take you without +your sacrifice!" + +Eduard, never stirring a muscle, watched her as she communed with +herself. He did not venture to put his question a third time. + +At last she lifted her hand from the crystal, contemplated its inner +surface for a moment, and smoothed the spot where the flesh had been +slightly crushed by pressure on the cold surface of the stone. Then +she looked over at him, her eyes begging for his hand which he slowly +unclenched and slid over the smooth table towards her. She let it +lie next hers for a while, comparing the lines in both their palms. +Then she clasped his hand in hers, looked up at him, neither +sorrowfully, nor boldly, but more gravely than he had ever seen her +look before. + +"Well, let's try!" + + + + +CHAPTER TEN + +It was nearly eight in the evening, and still bright daylight, when +on the fourth of June the closed carriage drove from the station to +the Schloss Strasse. The wedding ceremony in Berlin, a civil affair +at which Scherer and Tauernheim had acted as witnesses, had taken +only ten minutes. Herr von Wassilko's distant attitude made it +desirable to postpone a visit to him; Sidney had gone away; there was +to be no religious consecration of the marriage; and public mourning +for the late prince had been a good excuse for dispensing with a +reception at the little palace--a formality which would have loosed a +flood of questions of etiquette. + +Eduard had wanted to catch the startled burghers when they were still +in the initial confusion into which they had been thrown by the +double interment, a regency, the death of the old prince, another +funeral ceremony which had been attended by the emperor, the +accession, and the taking of the coronation oath--a series of events +which had given quiet people enough to talk about for a long time to +come. When the news leaked out that the new sovereign prince +(concerning whom the darkest rumours were already ripe) had made a +left-handed marriage to a young woman of whom practically nothing was +known, except that she had been the mistress of a count, and so on, +and so on, their capacity for excitement had been exhausted, their +minds had been saturated with alarms and crises, and they accepted +the accomplished fact as one of heaven's decrees. Some even found +the news interesting, looked up the record of similar marriages in +Becker's Universal History, and noted that the children of morganatic +unions had sometimes been granted the right of succession by the +emperor and the estates of the realm. According to the latest +researches, a crossing of blood was useful, and was certainly +preferable to the inroad of strange collaterals into their beloved +country. + +When, in the end, the news was generally accepted as true, people +found it impossible to stay at home. Though music and banners were +out of the question because of the public mourning, and though it was +late in the evening, as if by common consent they had decided to +celebrate the occasion by sporting their new summer clothes which at +so sad a Whitsuntide would otherwise have been left in wardrobes and +drawers. + +Amid multifarious duties, Eduard had found time to look forward in +particular to this one evening. Accustomed as he had been, for a +long time now, to think of Diana in situations in which he was used +to seeing other women and chiefly women of his own order, and to +watch her adapting herself to all aspects of reality--he now +perceived in her restrained but free demeanour a confirmation of his +premonitions. Thus it had been when the old minister of State had +been introduced to her; again, at the wedding; again, when she had +said good-bye to Scherer; again, when the station master had paid his +respects; again, on getting into the carriage. Consequently, when +they were driving to the palace he could talk to her as easily as if +she had been to the manner born. + +"Look, Diana," he said. "They are wearing tall hats, although it is +late in the evening. Highly respectable people, ours!" + +"Why are they all standing on one side of the street?" + +"Because they thought you'd be sitting on my left." + +Diana laughed behind her black veil, but so tonelessly that he was +alarmed when he remembered how frank was her usual laughter, +realizing that a constraint was for the first time imposing itself on +her. To mask his embarrassment, he said: + +"Houses pretty low, aren't they? Better than tall barracks!" + +"And healthier," she rejoined. + +"Do you find the cobbles very rough to drive over?" + +"Not a bit." + +"Schloss Strasse is going to be repaired soon." + +"That will be a good thing." + +"It has an excellent bridle path along the side." + +"Is that so? Where does it go to?" + +"Pretty farmsteads, good farmers, fresh milk." + +"How lovely," she said, while thinking to herself: "He is the best of +men, and I am driving straight into the blue of heaven." + +"She is tired," mused he; "or sad. I wonder if a glass of champagne +would do her good when we get in?" + +"If only I could be vouchsafed a sign," thought Diana, as she sighted +the castle tower. + +Now, when the carriage made an unexpected turn, and a wide space in +front of the castle opened into view, the sun, close to the horizon, +dipped behind a small, thick cloud, lighting up its irregular edge +with as much power as at high noon. Diana's heart beat furiously, +but Eduard did not see what she was looking at, for his own gaze was +fixed on the gates, to see if all his directions had been carried out. + +Two servants, the minimum number allowed by court etiquette, were +standing on the threshold; and in other respects, likewise, he had +had the standard of reception kept down to that proper to a country +mansion. On the first floor he led Diana into a little suite of +panelled rooms. They were quite unpretentious, and yet Diana felt +that he had chosen every curtain, every chair, every vase, expressly +for her. She went over to the bay window, looked out into the open, +and began to talk to the ancient walnut tree which towered up to the +third story. + +"How it rustles," she said in a low tone, turning to him. + +"It is welcoming you," he answered. + +"How many generations has it greeted already?" + +"Three, or perhaps four." + +"Are we the fifth? Five is a lucky number." + +She sat down on the deep window seat in the bay, and, as she motioned +him to her side, he saw her smile for the first time in her +reflective way. + +He seized her hand. + +"Are you sad?" + +"A little." + +"Are you tired?" + +"Not very." + +"Are you ready for your dinner?" + +"Yes." + +He rang, and to the servant who answered, he said: + +"The countess wishes to have dinner served." + +"Very good, Your Highness." + +The formality and baldness of these few words, the mechanical +appearance and disappearance of the lackey, had all at once revived +Diana's spirits. Sportively, as he turned back towards her, she +flung her arms round his neck and exclaimed: + +"Oh you! That was much older than the walnut tree. It dated from +the Thirty Years' War!" + +He was a trifle astonished, having given the order quite +mechanically; but he was glad that the tension had been relieved. He +said: + +"Are you going to dress for dinner?" + +"Very good, Your Highness!" + +They dined at a small round table, waited on by two footmen who +discreetly watched their prince's young wife in her low-cut dress +with its crape edging, and noted that her short curls escaped from +the mourning bonnet prescribed by custom. Diana and Eduard, +meanwhile, refreshed by food and good wine, and enlivened by the +conversation they had carried on in French, had recovered their +natural gaiety. Having led her back to her boudoir, he said: + +"Would your ladyship rather smoke her cigarette on deck?" + +"Don't you think it rather too windy tonight, Prince?" + +"North-west, eleven knots, we'll have to take in a reef!" + +"And Giorgino?" + +"Dr. Sergievitch must climb into the rigging." + +The name had been spoken. As they sat opposite one another in the +wide, tapestried chairs, Eduard saw a shade flit across her face, as +if rising from her heart. But now he felt sure of himself, sitting +under his forefathers' roof, with his ring on Diana's finger. Taking +the bull by the horns, he said: + +"With regard to Sergievitch, I have made sure of him for us." + +"Us?" Diana gripped the arm of her chair. + +"I mean, for this little country of mine." + +"In what way?" + +"I wrote to him before my father's death to ask whether he would be +willing to attend to the much neglected matter of working-class +welfare in this part of the world. He is an expert, took his degree +in kindred topics, and would long since have been called to a +professional chair in Leipzig or elsewhere had he not been a Russian. +Since he is a foreigner, I shall have to make him accessory to our +little ministry. Nominally he'll be librarian, though of course we +have one or two learned men of our own to attend to that work. Does +the idea please you?" + +She smiled. + +"What have I got to do with the matter?" + +"Everything, Diana," he said gravely. + +Standing up, he moved to lay his hand on her head. The bonnet was in +his way, and he gently removed it. + +"When did you write to him?" + +"Some time during the week between my arrival and my father's death. +Why do you ask?" + +She thought: "The Russian kept that to himself when we met outside +the jeweller's. Why? And why should Eduard single out this man in +particular?" + +She said: + +"Eduard?" + +"How pale you are." + +"Why did you summon this Russian?" + +Removing his hand from, her head, he strode twice up and down the +room, and then, stopping short in front of her, said uneasily: + +"Why? Not for the sake of welfare work or a library. We travelled +to Vienna in the night train, and were arguing the whole time, as +usual. I wanted to make sure that this explosive material would be +safely housed. A hygienic precaution. The fellow incorporates the +future, and we--we want to make the impossible possible, here, in +Germany, the first, the only ones: you, and I!" + +"Do you want a revolution?" she asked quietly. + +"If I did, I should have renounced you, and should not have worried +you today by putting that ring on your finger. What I want is that +the call of the dissatisfied should always sound in my ears. While +we are modernizing ourselves here, I want to go on hearing the voice +which says: 'All that, so far, has achieved nothing!' Sergievitch +represents the spire of a Gothic cathedral...." + +While he still contemplated in imagination the figure of the handsome +Russian, he turned the new ring round and round on his finger. +Diana, standing up, said resolutely: + +"You are young, and I, too, am still young! We will build a great +work and make a splendid road! Whomsoever we need, we will swallow +without winking, were it even a bomb-thrower!" + +She stood in front of him, the brown eyes flashing into his blue +ones. A wave of perfect happiness flowed through his taut frame. +His eyes were fixed on the young woman who, after long hesitation, +was at length to become his; he took note of the black trimming on +her gown. Slowly stretching out his hand to her breast, he +unfastened her brooch, she raised her arms a little, laughing at this +sport of love. In the same deliberate way, he removed the sign of +mourning from her shoulders, a double veil, which he dropped to the +floor behind her. He looked at her, his lips trembling slightly. +Then, precipitately, he clasped her in his arms. + + + +THE END + + + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77479 *** |