The Princess Dehra Part 31

"With the Lion and a Brigadier's commission as a punishment," the Regent answered.

"He wanted to go back, and it was I that kept him."

"It's a misfortune-more than a misfortune; it's almost a calamity-my dear Elise, if ever again your Colonel get so proper an excuse to kill that devil, pray don't intervene."

"I'm sorry-very sorry, I'm almost criminally stupid."

"Nonsense, dear," said the Princess; "there will be other chances-meanwhile, what happened?... Bit him! Oh, delightful, delightful!"

The other gave a s.h.i.+ver of repugnance.

"Disgusting, I should call it, now-I did it in the frenzy to be free. I shall never forget the horrible thing."

"Nor will he-you've marked him for life-the pity is it wasn't his face.-Go on; what happened then?"...

"The nasty brute," said Dehra, when she had heard the last detail-"and save for the punishment you yourself administered, he, for the time, must go scatheless; you cannot permit such a story to go through the Court and the Clubs; and you may be quite sure he won't tell it." She struck her hands together vehemently. "Lotzen! oh Lotzen!-Some day, Elise, your lover or mine is going to be granted the blessed privilege of putting a sword through his vile heart." She sprang up. "Come, dear, you need diversion-we will ride; and if I can get the Archduke, we'll take your Colonel, too." She went to the telephone.... "Is that you, Armand?"-when the recall bell rang.... "This is Dehra-Elise and I are off for a ride; if you can go with us, I'll have Moore go, too.... Bother your important appointment; break it.... You can't?... We can be back by four o'clock.... Have matters to see to; will they occupy all the afternoon?... They will?... And you need Moore, also?-all right, take him-what is your appointment?... Can't tell me over telephone?... Tell me to-night-well, I suppose I can wait-come for dinner.... Yes, stupid....

Good-bye, dear."

She hung up the receiver. "You heard, Elise; neither of them can go. I should hate to be a man and always busy. Come, we will go ourselves, and make an afternoon of it-and stop at the Twisted Pines for tea."

XIV AN ENTICING RENDEZVOUS

The failure of Colonel Moore to keep promptly his appointment with Mlle.

d'Essolde to meet her that morning in the j.a.ponica walk was due to a letter that had come to him in the early post, and which had sent him, without a moment's delay, straight to Dornlitz and Headquarters; nor did he even stop to telephone the Archduke, but left it for one of the young officers in the outer office to do.

The Military Governor received him at once, and with a look of questioning concern.

"Anything wrong at the Palace?" he asked.

"Nothing, Your Highness," said Moore, with his graceful salute-so unlike Bernheim's stiff motion-"nothing; I brought this letter; it is for you, though sent to me."

The Archduke took it, without comment-he knew it must be of peculiar importance to bring Moore in person at that hour. When he had read it, he looked carefully at the envelope, and turning on his desk lamp, he spread the letter under it and examined it very slowly and critically; finally he re-read it aloud:-

"'If His Royal Highness the Archduke Armand wish to know the whereabouts of a certain Book, let him be at the Inn of the Twisted Pines at four o'clock this afternoon. No harm is intended; and as a proof he is privileged to bring as large an escort as he desires. If he accept, let him stand in a window of his private office, overlooking the Avenue, for five minutes at exactly noon to-day. This is his only chance; there will be no second letter.

"'One Who Knows.'"

"Well," said he, "the writer at least knows how to put up a very enticing bait-'privileged to bring as large an escort as he desires-at four o'clock this afternoon-at the Inn of the Twisted Pines'-surely, there is nothing in them to suggest danger, daggers or death.... I think we shall accept, Colonel; what's your notion about it?"

"If it is a plant," he said, "it's a very clever one-and hence spells Lotzen; but, for my part, I'll be charmed to go with you, whatever it is."

The Archduke smiled. "Of course you will, you peaceful citizen, and be sadly disappointed if there isn't a head for you to hit. It's just as well I gave you to the Regent, you would be leading me into all sorts of danger."

"And Your Highness has established such a splendid reputation for avoiding danger," Moore laughed.

"How so?"

"Did it never occur to you, sir, that the man who would deliberately force a sword fight with the Duke of Lotzen, has won a name for reckless courage that he can never live down?"

"But I disarmed him, thanks to your defense to his coup."

"Small good would my defense have been to one who hadn't the nerve and skill to use it; to fail means death, as you, of course, appreciated."

The Archduke nodded. "But the public knew nothing of all that."

"Just so, sir-all they know is that you, in sheer deviltry, took your chances against one of the two best swordsmen in Valeria; that you won, demonstrated your skill, but it didn't disprove the recklessness."

"I did not intend it that way, Moore; I a.s.sure you I had no idea of bringing on a fight that night at the Vierle Masque, when I went over to him and the Spencer woman."

A broad grin overspread the Irishman's handsome face.

"You couldn't make a single officer believe it," he said; "and seriously, sir. I wouldn't try. It is just such a thing as your great ancestor would have done, and it has caught the youngsters as nothing else ever could; they swear by you-only last night, I heard a dozen of them toast you uproariously as the next king."

"Which brings us back to the Book and this letter," Armand remarked; "shall we take an escort?"

"I'm a rather incompetent adviser, you think; but the very provision that you need not go alone, may be a trap to lull suspicion and bring you there with only an Aide or an orderly. If the letter is honest, it will be no harm to go well attended; if it isn't honest, you will lose nothing, and the escort may be very useful."

"You are becoming a very Fabius in discretion," the Archduke smiled; "and we will take the escort." He considered a moment. "Or, rather, we will have it on hand for need. I'll see to it that a troop of Lancers shall be pa.s.sing the Inn a little before four o'clock, and halt there, while their captain discusses the weather with the landlord. And we will ride up with a great show of confidence or contempt, whichever way the One Who Knows may view it."

"Shall I tell Her Highness of the letter, and your purpose?" Moore asked.

"Not on your life, man! She would send a Brigade with us, even if she didn't forbid our going. I'll get you leave for the afternoon-and not a word to Bernheim, either; he would have nervous prostration, and load me down with a suit of plate-mail and a battle-axe. You and I will just have this little adventure on the side." He got up. "I tell you what it is, Moore, the pair of us could make a brisk fight of it if we had to-hey, man?"

The Irishman laughed joyously.

"And may we have to, sir!" he cried; "may we have to!"-and made as though he were sending home a finis.h.i.+ng thrust.

The Archduke shook his head. "There can't be any doubt of it; you would have a most dangerous influence over me; it is well you're with the Regent. But for this afternoon, I suggest that you select your favorite sword, and see that it doesn't drag in the scabbard-and half-after-two at the t.i.tian gate."

Moore paused at the door.

"Of course," said he, "Your Highness will wear the steel vest."

"I'll wear it," was the answer; and the Colonel went out, wondering at the ready acquiescence, where he had antic.i.p.ated a curt refusal. Before he had crossed the ante-room, the Archduke called him.

"I saw you were surprised," said he. "I had a little adventure the other night that you don't know about. Sit down a minute, and I'll tell you of Bernheim's and my visit to the De Saure house at two in the morning."...

"I always said Bernheim was the man for a close pinch," Moore remarked, at the end, "but he is even better than I imagined. The chest is simply delicious." He paused, in sudden thought. "And, now, I reckon I understand why Count Bigler has his ear done up in surgeon's plaster. I noticed it at the Club yesterday, and heard him explain it as a 'sore.'

To-morrow, I'll ask him if he caught the 'sore' in the De Saure house."

"And don't tell Bernheim," said Armand; "if he knows he had such a good chance at Bigler, and then missed him, it will make him miserable for days."

"Days! It will sour him for life. Next to the Duke of Lotzen, the Colonel hates Bigler most."