The Fortunes Of Glencore Part 53

"Indeed!" said he, but in a tone that indicated neither displeasure nor surprise.

"It was as I have told you, Count. Surrounded by the youth of Florence, such as you know them, she laughed, and talked, and sang, in all the careless gayety of a heart at ease; or, if at moments a shade of sadness crossed her features, it was so brief that only one observing her closely as myself could mark it."

"And how did that subtle intelligence of yours interpret this show of sorrow?" said he, in a voice of mockery, but yet of deep anxiety.

"My subtle intelligence was not taxed to guess, for I knew her secret,"

said the Princess, with all the strength of conscious power.

"Her secret--her secret!" said he, eagerly. "What do you mean by that?"

The Princess smiled coldly, and said, "I have not yet found my frankness so well repaid that I should continue to extend it."

"What is the reward to be, madam? Name it," said he, boldly.

"The same candor on your part, Count; I ask for no more."

"But what have I to reveal; what mystery is there that your omniscience has not penetrated?"

"There may be some that your frankness has not avowed, my dear Count."

"If you refer to what you have called Ida's secret--"

"No," broke she in. "I was now alluding to what might be called _your_ secret."

"Mine! _my_ secret!" exclaimed he. But though the tone was meant to convey great astonishment, the confusion of his manner was far more apparent.

"Your secret, Count," she repeated slowly, "which has been just as safe in my keeping as if it had been confided to me on honor."

"I was not aware how much I owed to your discretion, madam," said he, scoffingly.

"I am but too happy when any services of mine can rescue the fame of a great family from reproach, sir," replied she, proudly; for all the control she had heretofore imposed upon her temper seemed at last to have yielded to offended dignity. "Happily for that ill.u.s.trious house--happily for you, too--I am one of a very few who know of Count Wahnsdorf's doings. To have suffered your antagonist in a duel to be tracked, arrested, and imprisoned in an Austrian fortress, when a word from you had either warned him of his peril or averted the danger, was bad enough; but to have stigmatized his name with cowardice, and to have defamed him because he was your rival, was far worse."

Wahnsdorf struck the table with his clenched fist till it shook beneath the blow, but never uttered a word, while with increased energy she continued,--

"Every step of this bad history is known to me; every detail of it, from your gross and insulting provocation of this poor friendless youth to the last scene of his committal to a dungeon."

"And, of course, you have related your interesting narrative to Ida?"

cried he.

"No, sir; the respect which I have never lost for those whose name you bear had been quite enough to restrain me, had I not even other thoughts."

"And what may they be?" asked he.

"To take the first opportunity of finding myself alone with you, to represent how nearly it concerns your honor that this affair should never be bruited abroad; to insist upon your lending every aid to obtain this young man's liberation; to show that the provocation came from yourself; and, lastly, all-painful though it be, to remove from him the stain you have inflicted, and to reinstate him in the esteem that your calumny may have robbed him of. These were the other thoughts I alluded to."

"And you fancy that I am to engage in this sea of trouble for the sake of some nameless b.a.s.t.a.r.d, while in doing so I compromise myself and my own honor?"

"Do you prefer that it should be done by another, Count Wahnsdorf?"

asked she.

"This is a threat, madam."

"All the speedier will the matter be settled if you understand it as such."

"And, of course, the next condition will be for me to resign my pretensions to Ida in his favor," said he, with a savage irony.

"I stipulate for nothing of the sort; Count Wahnsdorf's pretensions will be to-morrow just where they are to-day."

"You hold them cheaply, madam. I am indeed unfortunate in all my pursuit of your esteem."

"You live in a sphere to command it, sir," was her reply, given with a counterfeited humility; and whether it was the tone of mingled insolence and submission she a.s.sumed, or simply the sense of his own unworthiness in her sight, but Wahnsdorf cowered before her like a frightened child.

At this moment the servant entered, and presented a visiting-card to the Princess.

"Ah, he comes in an opportune moment," cried she. "This is the Minister of the Duke of Ma.s.sa's household,--the Chevalier Stubber. Yes,"

continued she to the servant, "I will receive him."

If there was not any conspicuous gracefulness in the Chevalier's approach, there was an air of quiet self-possession that bespoke a sense of his own worth and importance; and while he turned to pay his respects to the young Count, his unpolished manner was not devoid of a certain dignity.

"It is a fortunate chance by which I find you here, Count Wahnsdorf,"

said he, "for you will be glad to learn that the young fellow you had that affair with at Ma.s.sa has just been liberated."

"When, and how?" cried the Princess, hastily.

"As to the time, it must be about four days ago, as my letters inform me; as to the how, I fancy the Count can best inform you,--he has interested himself greatly in the matter." The Count blushed deeply, and turned away to hide his face, but not so quickly as to miss the expression of scornful meaning with which the Princess regarded him.

"But I want to hear the details, Chevalier," said she.

"And I can give you none, madam. My despatches simply mention that the act of arrest was discovered in some way to be informal. Sir Horace Upton proved so much. There then arose a question of giving him up to us; but my master declined the honor,--he would have no trouble, he said, with England or Englishmen; and some say that the youth claims an English nationality. The cabinet of Vienna are, perhaps, like-minded in the matter; at all events, he is free, and will be here to-morrow."

"Then I shall invite him to dinner, and beg both of you gentlemen to meet him," said she, with a voice wherein a tone of malicious drollery mingled.

"I am your servant, madam," said Stubber.

"And I am engaged," said Wahnsdorf, taking up his shako.

"You are off to Vienna to-night, Count Wahnsdorf," whispered the Princess-in his ear.

"What do you mean, madam?" said he, in a tone equally low.

"Only that I have a letter written for the Archd.u.c.h.ess Sophia, which I desire to intrust to your hands. You may as well read ere I seal it."

The Count took the letter from her hand, and retired towards the window to read it. While she conversed eagerly with Stubber, she did not fail from time to time to glance towards the other, and mark the expression of his features as he folded and replaced the letter in its envelope, and, slowly approaching her, said,--

"You are most discreet, madam."

"I hope I am just, sir," said she, modestly.

"This was something of a difficult undertaking, too," said he, with an equivocal smile.