Affairs of State Part 29

"My permission--yes. And my best wishes. And, Prince," he added, as the latter turned away, "don't worry about the matter of income. Susie will be able to help you out a little."

Whether the Prince heard or not I do not know, for, as he hurried from the room, he collided with Monsieur Pelletan, who clutched his coat as he would have hastened past.

"Oh, Monsieur le Prince!" gasped the little man. "I haf eferywhere been searching for you. Madame la d.u.c.h.esse de Markheim arrived some hours ago and awaits you wit' t'e greates' impatience."

"Where is she?"

"She iss in monsieur's apartment. She insiste' t'at I--"

"Very well; I will go to her," said the Prince, and bounded down the stair. A moment later, he was kissing his aunt's extended hand, white and soft as in the days of her maidenhood, though with an added plumpness. "My dear aunt!" he cried. "I but this moment heard that you were here."

"You see I have made myself comfortable, my dear Fritz," smiled the old lady, her impatience forgotten the moment her eyes rested upon his handsome face. "And I have not been lonesome--Monsieur Tellier has been relating to me a number of very interesting things."

"Tellier!" The Prince started round as the detective arose, smirked, and bowed in his humblest manner. "I can't say that I congratulate you on your choice of a companion, madame!"

"Don't put on your grand manner with me, Fritz," she protested, still laughing. "I am very glad that Monsieur Tellier sought me out. But what is the matter with that creature of yours hovering in the background?"

The Prince turned and beheld Gluck, evidently expecting orders to accomplish an a.s.sault upon the detective's person.

"Oh," he explained, "I told Gluck he might throw Tellier out the next time he tried to get in here. I'm afraid you'll have to wait a few minutes, my friend," he added, and Gluck retired, visibly disappointed.

"Let me tell you," said the d.u.c.h.ess, emphatically, as the door closed behind him, "that your prejudice against Monsieur Tellier is wholly unwarranted and very foolish. He has discovered many things which you seem to have overlooked."

"Perhaps," admitted the Prince; "but he has discovered them in a way that no gentleman could countenance. Which reminds me," he added, suddenly turning a fiery countenance upon the unhappy Frenchman, "that I have an account of my own to settle with him. How dared you annoy--"

But the d.u.c.h.ess held up her hand.

"One moment, Fritz," she interrupted, sternly. "Don't begin throwing stones until you are quite sure you are not yourself in a gla.s.s house.

As I have said, Monsieur Tellier had many things of interest to relate."

"Well, my dear aunt," retorted the Prince, "now that he has related them, I trust we may dispense with his company. I will settle my account with him another time."

"First," said the d.u.c.h.ess, with cold irony, "tell me what progress you have made with your emba.s.sy, Fritz!"

"Very little, I am sorry to say, madame. But in three days, Lord Vernon has promised to consider the matter."

"Three days! And do you imagine all the rest of the world will stand still at your command, Fritz, and wait for you? Are you another Joshua?"

The Prince flushed. There was no denying the justice of the taunt.

"But that aside for the moment," continued the d.u.c.h.ess. "Tell me something of this American girl you have met here, and with whom you have grown so fond of making the promenade."

"I hope soon to have the pleasure of presenting her to you, madame,"

said the Prince, flus.h.i.+ng still more. "I believe you will find her admirable."

"Perhaps," said the d.u.c.h.ess, sceptically. "Is it really necessary that I should meet her?"

"That, of course, will be as madame pleases. I thought you would naturally wish to meet the woman whom it is my intention to marry."

The d.u.c.h.ess fairly jumped in her chair.

"To marry!" she cried. "To marry! What nonsense!"

"You will see," continued the Prince, calmly, "how unwise it was to begin the conversation in the presence of this--gentleman."

"No!" cried the d.u.c.h.ess. "It was more than ever wise! Do you happen to know who this woman is?"

"I refuse to discuss my affairs further," said the Prince, "until we are alone."

"But do you know who she is? She has no dot! Perhaps you will say that is nothing, that you expected none, though it seems to me it is your duty to repair the fortunes of our house. But it is even worse than that--she is the daughter of an inn-keeper."

"I refuse to believe it," answered the Prince, quietly.

"Monsieur Tellier, relate to him--"

"If Tellier so much as moves a finger, I will kick him down the stairs,"

added the Prince, still more calmly.

"But he has the papers from the notary!"

"That is nothing to me."

The d.u.c.h.ess made a gesture of despair.

"Yet, after all," she cried, "that is a little thing beside this other.

Look at this," and she s.n.a.t.c.hed a folded paper from the table at her elbow. "She is a traitor to you--she has been playing with you--she has been a.s.sisting these Englishmen to deceive you! You who are such a stickler for honour in women no less than men! Look at this!"

"What is this paper?" asked the Prince, making no motion to take it from her eager hand.

"It is a note which this impostor wrote to her and to her sister."

"And obtained how?" he questioned, a little pale, but keeping himself well in hand.

"Obtained by Monsieur Tellier," replied the d.u.c.h.ess. "It does not matter how."

"No," said the Prince, "perhaps not; yet one can easily guess. By bribing the chambermaid, perhaps; by forcing a lock; by rifling her desk, examining her private papers. Oh, it is abominable!" and he turned upon the Frenchman, fury in his eyes.

"No, no, Monsieur le Prince!" protested Tellier. "It was none of these--I swear it! She left the note lying quite carelessly--"

But the Prince was upon him. With one hand at the back of his neck, he steered him, sputtering, to the door.

"Gluck!" he cried, and pitched the Frenchman into the arms of the faithful servant. The d.u.c.h.ess, sitting within the room, caught the sound of a scuffle, of fierce swearing; then a succession of dull b.u.mps sounded through the apartment. The Prince closed the door and turned back to her.

"But, my dear Fritz!" she protested. "It may be true that Tellier is abominable, yet sometimes one must use such instruments--surely, at this moment, we are justified in using any instrument. I have paid him, thank heaven! You must listen to reason. You have been fooled--we have all been fooled--they have been playing with us--laughing at us behind our backs for our simplicity--the girl as well as the others."

"No!" he said, fiercely. "No!"

"Fritz," she cried, her voice trembling, a mist before her eyes as she looked at him, "you believe that I love you, do you not--oh, better than anything else in the world. You believe that I desire your happiness!

But it must be happiness with honour, Fritz, as becomes a Markeld. You have your name to consider, your house. You know that I would rather--oh, a hundred times!--wound myself than wound you! You must listen, then, when I tell you that this girl is not worthy of you; when I tell you that this note proves it!"