Gallantry Part 40

"Hein?" said the Grand Duke; "what is it? A mere dot on the map, a p.a.w.n in the game of politics. I give up the p.a.w.n and take--the queen."

"That is unwise," said the Baroness, with composure, "and, besides, you are hurting my hand. Apropos of the queen--the Grand d.u.c.h.ess--"

"Will heartily thank G.o.d for her deliverance. She will renounce me before the world, and in secret almost wors.h.i.+p me for my consideration."

"Yet a true woman," said the Baroness, oracularly, "will follow a husband--"

"Till his wife makes her stop," said the little Grand Duke, his tone implying that he knew whereof he spoke.

"--and if the Grand d.u.c.h.ess loved you--"

"Oh, I think she would never mention it," said the Grand Duke, revolving in his mind this novel idea. "She has a great regard for appearances."

"Nevertheless--"

"She will be Regent"--and the Grand Duke chuckled. "I can see her now,--St.

Elizabeth, with a dash of Boadicea. Noumaria will be a pantheon of the virtues, and my children will be reared on moral aphorisms and rational food, with me as a handy example of everything they should avoid. Deuce take it, Amalia," he added, "a father must in common decency furnish an example to his children!"

"Pray," asked the Baroness, "do you owe it to your children, then, to take this trip to Vienna--"

"Ma foi!" retorted the Grand Duke, "I owe that to myself."

"--and thereby break the Grand d.u.c.h.ess' heart?"

"Indeed," observed his Highness, "you appear strangely deep in the confidence of my wife."

Again the Baroness descended to aphorism. "All women are alike, your Highness."

"Ah, ah! Well, I have heard," said the Grand Duke, "that seven devils were cast out of Magdalene--"

"Which means--?"

"I have never heard of this being done to any other woman. Accordingly I deduce that in all other women must remain--"

"Beware, your Highness, of the crudeness of cynicism!"

"I age," complained the Grand Duke, "and one reaches years of indiscretion so early in the forties."

"You admit, then, discretion is desirable?"

"I admit that," his Highness said, with firmness, "of you alone."

"Am I, in truth," queried the Baroness, "desirable?" And in this patch of moonlight she looked incredibly so.

"More than that," said the Grand Duke--"you are dangerous. You are a menace to the peace of my Court. The young men make sonnets to your eyes, and the ladies are ready to tear them out. You corrupt us, one and all. There is de Chateauroux now--"

"I a.s.sure you," protested the Baroness, "Monsieur de Chateauroux is not the sort of person--"

"But at twenty-five," the Grand Duke interrupted, "one is invariably that sort of person."

"Phrases, your Highness!"

"Phrases or not, it is decided. You shall make no more bad poets."

"You will," said the Baroness, "put me to a vast expense for curl-papers."

"You shall ensnare no more admirers."

"My milliner will be inconsolable."

"In short, you must leave Noumaria--"

"You condemn me to an exile's life of misery!"

"Well, then, since misery loves company, I will go with you. For we should never forget," his Highness added, with considerable kindliness, "always to temper justice with mercy. So I have ordered a carriage to be ready at dawn."

The Baroness reflected; the plump little Grand Duke smiled. And he had reason, for there was about this slim white woman--whose eyes were colossal emeralds, and in show equivalently heatless, if not in effect,--so much of the _baroque_ that in meditation she appeared some prentice queen of Faery dubious as to her incantations. Now, though, she had it--the mislaid abracadabra.

"I knew that I had some obstacle in mind--Thou shalt not commit adultery.

No, your Highness, I will not go."

"Remember Sapphira," said the Grand Duke, "recall Herodias who fared happily in all things, and by no means forget the portmanteau."

"I have not the least intention of going--" the Baroness iterated, firmly.

"Nor would I ever suspect you of harboring such a thought. Still, a portmanteau, in case of an emergency--"

"--although--"

"Why, exactly."

"--although I am told the sunrise is very beautiful from the Gardens of Breschau."

"It is well worth seeing," agreed the Grand Duke, "on certain days--particularly on Thursdays. The gardeners make a specialty of them on Thursdays."

"By a curious chance," the Baroness murmured, "this is Wednesday."

"Indeed," said the Grand Duke, "now you mention it, I believe it is."

"And I shall be here, on your Highness' recommendation, to see the sunrise--"

"Of course," said the Grand Duke, "to see the sunrise,--but with a portmanteau!"

The Baroness was silent.

"With a portmanteau," entreated the Grand Duke. "I am a connoisseur of portmanteaux. Say that I may see yours, Amalia."

The Baroness was silent.