CHAPTER X

A week passed, and Lubimoff had not once left Villa Sirena. In his

conversations with the Colonel--his only companion in this solitary

life--he had avoided making any allusion to what had occurred in Lewis'

castle. Toledo, for his part, displayed absolute discretion, as though

he had forgotten the duel and the strange ending which the Prince had

given it; but the latter guessed that the Colonel's silence concealed

many things that might have proved distasteful to himself.

The other seconds had probably told everything. What people must have

been saying! And fearing the curiosity of society which was doubtless

repeating his name on all occasions, Lubimoff remained in retirement,

with the hope of being forgotten. Some one would lose or win an enormous

sum in the Casino, and that would be enough to make the gossips stop

talking about him.

His loneliness, however, began to weigh upon him like a fate. He was

getting tired of walking about his garden all the time. It seemed to him

narrow and monotonous. Besides, Lewis' niece, abusing her privilege,

came every afternoon, with a constantly renewed escort of wounded

Englishmen. She ran about with them through the Avenues, amid the cries

of the exotic birds, weaving great garlands of flowers for her soldiers.

Meanwhile he was obliged to hide in the upper stories of the villa to

escape this child-like joy, which seemed to him to have something gloomy

and funereal about it.

The nights seemed endless. He thought with wistful longing of the quiet

evenings with the "enemies of women", when Spadoni used to sit at the

piano or perform his infinite calculations, always doubling; when Novoa

would indulge in his scientific paradoxes, and Castro relate the

adventures of his grandfather "the red Don Quixote." Where were they

now, those comrades of his dreamy happiness?

Atilio interested him particularly. He had asked Don Marcos about him

twice, without the latter being very clear in his explanations. The

Colonel never saw Castro any more in the Casino; he doubtless was

keeping away out of fear of gambling. The Prince had a feeling that the

Colonel knew something more, and was refusing to talk from motives of

discretion.

One morning, the weariness of his imprisonment finally galvanized his

stupefied will. Why should he not go in quest of those friends? Perhaps

if he were to take the first step he would succeed in renewing relations

with them, and re-establish his former life.

As he was going out, the Colonel stopped him to speak again about a

matter that had occupied their attention the evening before. What reply

should he give the Paris business agent? The _nouveau riche_ who had

bought the palace on the Monceau Park, wanted to buy Villa Sirena also.

The Prince's manager was transmitting a final offer; a million and a

half. The man would not give any more, and it was necessary to reply in

haste, before his caprice should turn toward some other acquisition.

Michael shrugged his shoulders, as though the matter were something of

no interest to him.

"Tell him I don't want to sell. No--it would be better still not to

reply at all. We shall see later on; I shall think it over."

On getting out of the street car in Monte Carlo he passed to the right

of the Casino, and followed the upper Boulevards. First he was going in

quest of Spadoni, who lived nearest. Besides, the latter would surely

know better than Novoa where Atilio was staying. Perhaps they were

living together.

He had a vague idea of the house, through Castro's joking. The pianist

was "the guardian of the tomb" above the Sainte Devote ravine.

From the summit of a bridge the Prince saw this ravine at his feet. Its

sides were covered with gardens, luxurious villas and hotels, and at its

outlet stretched the smiling harbor of La Condamine.

Sixty years before, the ravine had been a wild spot. It was visited only

by religious processions coming from the walled City of Monaco to pay

homage to Sainte Devote in a little white church, which to-day seemed

still more diminutive beside the arches of the railway bridge.

In the earliest times of Christianity, a bark without oars or sail,

guided by the will of God, who had deigned to grant a patron saint to

the inhabitants of "Hercules Harbor," had grounded keel on those shores.

The bark contained the miracle working body of a Corsican Christian

martyrized by the Romans. Nobody knew her name, and popular devotion

called her simply the Sainte Devote. Once a year, at nightfall, on her

feast day, a large crowd from the Casino left roulette and _trente et

quarante_ to watch the sailors of Monaco, to the sound of music, burn an

old bark in front of the church, thus cutting off all means of retreat

to the Holy Patroness.

The stony fields, once planted with prickly pear and olive trees, were

now covered with palaces, as large as barracks. They supported a second

lofty city, above, which stretched away along the slopes of the Alps,

and united Monaco with Monte Carlo. The land here, now sold at fabulous

prices, was a spot so neglected half a century before that any of its

owners might arrange without interference to be buried on his own

property.

An obscure officer in Napoleon's Army, born in Monaco, and who had

succeeded in becoming a General in the days of Louis Philippe, had had

his tomb built in an olive grove above the Sainte Devote ravine. Later

gambling had made Monte Carlo rise above the wild plateau of the

Caverns; the elegant, new city was spreading out to join old Monaco,

covering all the land of the principality with buildings, and the tomb

of the unknown warrior was imprisoned by this wave of great hotels,

palaces, and villas. The olive grove around the tomb was sold by the

yard, making a fortune for the soldier's heirs. Between the sepulchre

and the edge of the ravine there remained a level space, from which one

could enjoy a view of the splendid panorama. A millionaire from Paris

had been bold enough to construct over the spot a house in "artistic"

style, with gardens descending in terraces. He had imagined it would be

an easy matter to have the General transferred to the cemetery and the

mortuary chapel demolished. But the dead man was on his own land, and

could not come to life to cancel the arrangements he had made in his

will with so little prescience of the extraordinary growth old Monaco

was to make; as a result there was no power on earth that could demolish

his last dwelling place.

From the harbor Michael had often, above the heights of the ravine, seen

this pantheon which was to serve him now as a place for meeting Spadoni.

It was a simple block of masonry, with white-washed walls, four

pinnacles at the angles, and a cupola of black tile. From a distance it

looked like a Mohammedan hermitage, the tomb of some saint of Islam, and

the similarity was carried out by groups of palm trees in the

neighboring gardens.

Castro had often made him laugh by telling him the story of the dead

General and his wealthy neighbors. The owners of the villa could not

sleep with a dead man on the other side of the wall, and moreover, it

was a nameless dead man, which made it all the more creepy and

mysterious.

Nobody could remember the name of this gentleman, who had commanded

thousands of men, and was still exerting his will power on the living.

The owners decided to rent the villa with all its elegant furnishings

for a modest sum, and at first, the ladies who were gambling in the

Casino, quarreled as to who should get it. How wonderful it would be to

live in a little palace adorned by famous Parisian decorators, and with

a magnificent view, all for five hundred francs a month! But the renters

hastened to give up this bargain to others. Imagine having to pass the

General's mausoleum at midnight, on returning from the Casino! And think

of not being able to open one's window blinds without having to look

that corpse in the face. Besides, the spiteful tongues of the women gave

each successive tenant the nickname of: "The guardian of the tomb."

Then Spadoni appeared. Castro had a vague idea that the pianist had paid

the first month's rent, but he was not sure. What he knew for certain

was that he had not paid any more. The owners, living in Paris, had

finally accepted the situation, considering the pianist an unpaid

caretaker for that house, which had come to inspire them with terror.

The Prince descended the wide road between garden balustrades and walls

of rock broken by tufts of flowers hanging from the crevices. On seeing

the sepulchre at close hand, he understood why all the tenants had taken

flight. The General had known how to do things. The pinnacles, as well

as the iron cross which surmounted the cupola, were adorned with skulls

and cross-bones; and these funereal symbols, by force of contrast, made

a still deeper impression because of the green splendor of the adjoining

gardens under the bright blue skies and the dazzling sunlight, with the

smiling harbor in the background, and the ruffled surface of the violet

sea. The gate of the nameless mausoleum had not been opened for many

years, and the wind had heaped the dirt against the underpinnings.

Between the iron gate and the walls a thick, wild growth of vegetation

had appeared, a diminutive forest, in the dense growth of which insects

made war and devoured one another after sending forth endless flying and

creeping expeditions against all the neighboring houses.

Lubimoff passed close to the mausoleum in order to reach the entrance of

the villa, a handsome building in the Tuscan style of architecture. The

gate was a complicated piece of iron work; the windows had stained glass

figures; the gray walls were encrusted with marble bas-reliefs, and

ancient escutcheons.

He knocked in vain with the iron dragon that served as a knocker.

Finally from an adjoining alley-way, between two walls, appeared a woman

with dishevelled hair, holding an infant in her arms. It was a neighbor,

who acted as a servant for Spadoni, when he stayed in the house. The

arrival of a visitor was an event for her.

"Yes, he is in," she said, "don't you hear him?"

As a matter of fact, Michael had heard the sound of a piano, deadened by

the thick walls.

The woman, convinced that the artist would never hear the blows of the

knocker, disappeared around the corner. Shortly afterward, her head and

the child she was carrying in her arms appeared above the edge of the

wall.

"Maestro!" she shouted. "A gentleman to see you! A visitor!"

And she came back again, smoothing her skirts as though she had just

descended a ladder.

The door groaned on its hinges, as it opened, and Spadoni appeared in

the opening.

"Oh, your Highness!"

There was no expression of surprise in his smile. He greeted the Prince

as though he had seen him the day before.

Then he guided him through corridors and drawing-rooms, which were sunk

in deep multi-colored shadow, and smelled of dust and mold. It had been

many months since the stained glass windows had been opened, or the

curtains drawn. Spadoni lived his entire life in a single room. Lubimoff

collided with furniture and curios, as he advanced, almost upsetting two

huge Japanese vases, and nearly impaling himself on the numerous

projections in the profuse decoration of a "romantic studio," which had

been in style twenty-five years before.

They finally returned to the light, a dazzling light that entered by

three open doors overlooking a terrace bordering the ravine. It was the

"hall" of the villa, decorated with Hindustanee draperies and divans.

The Prince saw that Spadoni had excellent quarters in his "tomb". A

large grand-piano was the only piece of furniture kept clean in this

dust-invaded room. On the music rack several albums of music in

manuscript lay opened.

Seeing that Lubimoff noticed them, the pianist gave a look of despair.

His poverty was very great: he was forced to give concerts in order to

live, and found himself obliged to study the new operas.

He spoke of this labor as though it represented the cruelest imposition

of inexorable Reality, the greatest degradation in his life.

Various ladies who organized benefits for the soldiers had sought his

aid. He played for nothing, "out of patriotism", but the good ladies

always found a way of giving him a fair sum. His poverty was tremendous!

He was going to the gambling rooms only at long intervals. He hadn't

enough money to play even the roulette wheel, where the stakes were but

five francs!

The Prince started to read the titles of the scores, but Spadoni covered

them up in comic haste.

"Awful rot! You mustn't look at those, your Highness. Here on the

Riviera, when the ladies are getting on in years, and do not find any

one to fall in love with them any more, they devote themselves to

writing love songs or dance music for great spectacles; and the Casino

accepts their work in order not to offend them. It results that on

certain days the Monte Carlo Theater becomes the Temple of Musical

Imbecility. No; it would be better for you to see what we are giving

this afternoon. It is the work of a millionairess who writes the whole

thing, music and words."

And he read aloud the titles of various "picturesque scenes": _Dialogue

between the Butterfly and the Rose, What the Palm Tree said to the

Century Plant, Prayer of the Grasshopper to Our Father the Sun._

"Fortunately, your Highness, this humiliating situation will not last. I

have a way out of it--a way out of it!"

And forgetting the piano, the scores, and his musical degradation,

Spadoni suddenly launched into the world of dreams. He knew the secret

of the great man, the Greek, who was winning millions at the

Sporting-Club. He had guessed it, with his own cunning, after worming

certain data out of a man who accompanied the lofty personage. It was a

simple combination, like all ideas of genius. For example....

And he reached for a pack of cards which was on the table, lying on a

number of albums bound in red: The nine Symphonies of Beethoven.

"Oh no--if you please!" the Prince brusquely restrained him, to keep him

from plunging into that mania for demonstrating.

"I hoped to meet Castro here," he said, in a quiet voice, a moment

later.

Spadoni seemed to awaken.

"Castro?... Oh, yes! He lived with me for a few days, but he went away."

Still obsessed by his marvelous combination, he talked in an

absent-minded manner without showing the slightest interest in what he

was saying. Castro had expressed a desire to live with him; he had told

him so, late one afternoon in the Casino, and Spadoni had left Villa

Sirena to accompany him. It was the least a friend could do!

"But when did he go? Where is he?"

"He went day before yesterday, and must be in Paris. A fool trip!

Imagine, your Highness, during the last few days he had an extraordinary

run of luck, winning as high as twenty thousand francs. If he had only

gone on! But he wouldn't! He was in a hurry. He gave me five hundred

francs, and I lost them immediately; it was very little money for my

combination. I think he was going to be a soldier; he kept talking to me

about the Foreign Legion. You can expect almost any foolishness from

him. A man who is winning and runs away!..."

Then, as though the disordered workings of his brain were functioning

logically for a few seconds, he added, with a smile of cunning:

"Dona Clorinda also went to Paris. She left two days before him.... Oh,

your Highness! How I think of what you told us at the lunch once about

women! I know them, Prince: They are all enemies to be feared."

And he pointed spitefully to _What the Palm Tree said to the Century

Plant_.

In vain the Prince kept questioning him. The pianist did not know

anything more, and Castro's fate did not arouse his curiosity. He had

gone to Paris, to be a soldier, and Spadoni had so many friends,

already, who were soldiers!

The "General" being a woman, aroused more interest in him; she

stimulated his love of gossip.

"I think," he said, with a smile that showed his hate for women, "that

she went away out of jealousy, out of pique. The Duchess de Delille took

that Lieutenant away from her, though the 'General' had been the one to

introduce them. It seems even that this Lieutenant has had a duel...."

The pianist grew pale, looking at Lubimoff with an expression of terror.

His look was like that of a person who is talking aloud when he imagines

himself alone, and then suddenly notices that some one is listening to

him. He sat there embarrassed and stammering:

"I don't know ... people tell so many lies!... Women's gossip!"

Lubimoff felt a like embarrassment on realizing that even Spadoni had

taken up his adventure with delight.

He felt there was no use in continuing the conversation with an imbecile

like that. He arose, and the pianist, still trembling at his own

indiscretion, showed similar signs of haste to end the visit.

"And Novoa?" asked the Prince on reaching the outer door. "Has he also

left?"

No; he was still in Monaco, working at the Museum, when he did not have

any more urgent business. They met very seldom. How could they see each

other if he, Spadoni, on account of his poverty, refrained from entering

the gambling rooms?

"He goes on playing, your Highness; but very badly, with the timidity of

a novice, and for that reason he loses. He isn't made of the same stuff

that we are, we who are true gamblers."

And the pianist drew himself up to his full height as he said this, as

though he had never lost and possessed all the secrets of chance.

"I sent him two tickets for this afternoon's concert: one for him and

the other for that Senorita Valeria, the Duchess's companion. Poor man!

Always doing something silly, like a young lover!"

But his smile, which was that of a superior person exempt from such

humiliations, disappeared, as he realized that once more he was saying

something offensive to the Prince.

The latter passed close to the tomb again, but without seeing it, or

even remembering the unknown General. Castro had gone!... Castro wanted

to become a soldier!...

After going down along the Monegetti road as far as the parade ground of

La Condamine, he ascended once more the gently sloping avenue that leads

up to Monaco. After his long seclusion, this walk aroused a certain

pleasant tingling in his muscles.

Finding himself between the two turrets that mark the entrance to the

gardens, the memory of Alicia flashed across his brain. There, a little

farther on, they had gotten out of their carriage; behind the trees was

a bench on which he first had told her of his love; below, at the edge

of the rocks, lay the solitary path along which they had passed as

though treading on air, wrapped in the twilight and with lips joined.

Then, had come the tearing of her dress, the sweet comical difficulties

in mending it, and the pearl pin of the Princess.... Only a few weeks

had passed, and these happenings seemed to belong to another happier

race of beings, to have taken place on a different planet, bathed in a

light that was different from the light of earth.

He made an effort to forget. At present he was standing on an asphalt

square, opposite the steps of the Museum of Oceanography. For the first

time he noticed the architectural decorations of the white building.

They had adopted as an ornamental motif the cluster of twisting arms of

the octopus, the semi-circular striations of sea-shells, the trailing

filmy umbrella form of the jelly-fish. He observed the sculptural groups

symbolizing the powers of the Ocean, or the arts of the navigators, he

read the names carved on the frieze of the edifice, and the titles of

ships famous for scientific explorations.

He stood there motionless for a long time, seeking a pretext to justify

his visit. Finally he went up the steps of the building, and found

himself in a deep, cool shade like that of a Cathedral, but without the

stale, musty odor of shut-in places, and with a whiff of salt air coming

from the nearby sea. He knew the stately edifice: on one side was the

vast hall for the lectures and scientific assemblies, like that of a

parliament building, with lamp shades of frosted crystal affecting the

different shapes of animals from the ocean depths; in the middle of the

vestibule was the statue of Prince Albert, dressed as a sailor and

leaning on the rail of the bridge of his yacht; on the opposite side and

on the upper floors, were the collections gathered during the voyages of

the famous scientific explorer: thousands of fishes and molluscs,

gigantic skeletons of whales, some _kaiaks_ and fishing implements from

the polar seas. On the lower floors, under his feet, in that second

palace which, clinging to the cliff, descended to the sea, were the

aquaria, where the mysterious creatures of the depths continued their

lives in crystal cages amid the silver bubbles of running water.

The gate-keeper in a long blue coat, and a _kepis_ with red braid,

started to offer him a ticket, but paused on seeing that he was stopping

at the turn-stile, asking for Novoa.

"He went out a moment ago. Perhaps you may find him in the neighborhood

of the palace. Almost every day, before lunch, he makes the rounds of

'the rock'."

"The Rock," for the inhabitants of Monaco, is the nickname of the high

promontory on which Monaco is situated, and "to make the rounds" means

to follow the circle of gardens and abandoned bulwarks, which, starting

from the palace of the Princes, returns to it, after completely

embracing the old city.

Lubimoff followed the outer line of the San Martino gardens. He did not

dare enter them; he was afraid of coming across the bench where he and

Alicia had been that afternoon. He entered the City streets, narrow,

without sidewalks, and paved with wide stones, as in many towns in

Italy.

The dwellings, which were old and lofty, recalled the time when ground

was precious on a peninsula narrowly enclosed by its fortifications.

Some of the houses were pierced by tunnels and at the end of the

archway, one could see the sunlight and the whiteness of the next

street. The largest buildings were convents, or religious schools. Above

the roofs, the bells slowly tolled as in a Spanish village; in the

streets there were many sacred images lighted by tiny lamps.

When the paving stones resounded with human footsteps, the shutters all

opened half way. A carriage caused many heads to appear at the windows.

The few passersby were often canons from the cathedral, Barefoot

Brothers with a crown of hair about their shaven scalps, or nuns with

huge starched butterflies on their heads.

Only a little door separated the old city from the other situated on the

heights opposite, with its Casino, its hotels, its orchestras, and its

wealthy pleasure-loving crowd. A short ride by street car was sufficient

to give one the illusion of having suddenly slipped back two centuries.

Lubimoff recalled the expressions of surprise awakened in people by

several of these barefoot brothers crossing the Casino Square on their

way down to Monte Carlo.

He passed under a covered archway that joined two houses. A large open

space, like a plain, opened in front of him. It was the Palace Square.

Opposite it rose the lordly dwelling of the Grimaldi, a jumble of

buildings dating back to different periods, which recalled the palaces

of certain sovereign princes in ancient Italy. It was of a dark rose

color, cut by the Archway of the Loggias, and was flanked by towers of

white stone surmounted by battlements. He knew this edifice likewise. It

was a mere show-place, and quite uninhabited, since the Prince, during

his short visits to his domains, preferred to live on board his yacht.

The first thing that attracted his attention was the guard. The soldiers

of Monaco, old French gendarmes, had gone to the war, and a national

militia was taking the place of the Prince's army. It was composed of

actual citizens of the "Rock," where citizens must be descendants of at

least four generations resident in Monaco. They alone could contribute

to the ideal defense of the principality, since they enjoyed the

advantages of belonging to a country, unique in the world, where all who

were born there, had bread and work assured them, thanks to the Casino.

Lubimoff admired the warlike guard, an old man with a white mustache,

and stooping, almost humped, shoulders, dressed in a dark tan overcoat

and a derby hat. A red and white arm band was his entire uniform. On

his shoulder he carried an ancient gun which because of its

tremendously long bayonet seemed even more enormous and heavy than it

was. He might have rested beside a sentry box, painted with the Monaco

colors; but he preferred to pace incessantly up and down, like a

squirrel in a cage, looking in every direction to see if any one were

trying to enter the palace of the absent sovereign. Other men who were

fathers and even grandfathers, dressed in their Sunday clothes, were

patiently waiting on a bench for their turn to exercise the honorable

function.

The most notable thing on this esplanade was the artillery, a collection

of XVIII century cannon placed there as an ornament, like the panoplies

of a drawing room. On both sides of the entrance to the palace six huge,

magnificent cannon, cast in green statue bronze, and chiseled like

museum pieces, were drawn up in a row. Around their mouths, the metal

curved backward forming a leafy design like that of a capital on a

column; the other end was surmounted by a Medusa's head. The barrels of

these hollow columns were ornamented with the three _fleurs de lis_ of

the ancient French Monarchy; the handles on each cannon were two

dolphins, and all the pieces displayed the pretentious motto: _Nec

pluribus impar_ of Louis XIV, with another more somber one: _Ultima

ratio regum_.

The Prince smiled at the latter motto.

"These days, artillery," he said to himself, "is no longer 'the last

argument of kings', but it is of peoples. We have progressed somewhat."

Each of these green cannon had its own name, just as a ship or a

regiment. One was named _Nero_, another _Tiberius_; farther on _Robust_

and the _Snorer_ opened their round mouths.

On the parapets enclosing the large square on both sides, other more

modest, but equally huge and ancient cannon, thrust their mouths out

upon the harbor or the open sea. The solid balls of these cannon formed

pyramids, and parasitical vegetation had crept in between these iron

spheres.

Behind the palace, like the back-drop on a stage, rose the French

Mountain of the _Tete du Chien_, with the windows in the barracks of the

Blue Devils, the _Chasseurs Alpins_, gleaming on its rounded summit. The

Monaco plateau was simply the lowest step in the great stairway which

the Alps let fall to the sea. Above, clouds were caught amid the peaks,

covering them momentarily with a shadow ominous of storm. Below, amid

the rose-colored walls and the white towers of the Grimaldi, rose the

tropical palms, the cocoanut and plantain trees, giving this Ligurian

castle the luxurious aspect of Brazilian farm.

Lubimoff was seated between the cannon, on the parapet that overlooks

the open sea, when he saw Novoa strolling along the bulwarks that rise

above the harbor.

On recognizing the Prince, the professor hastened forward with

outstretched hands.

How likable the Professor seemed! His frank manners had never been so

attractive to Michael as they were then. Novoa was greatly pleased at

this meeting, attributing it to chance, and the Prince did not see fit

to mention his visit to the Museum, so that Novoa would now know that he

had come in search of him.

Mechanically they began to promenade between the row of guns and the

trees that cast a pallid shade on one side of the Square.

It was Lubimoff who began to talk, questioning Novoa, showing an

interest in his affairs and greeting his laments with a kindly smile.

The Professor appeared unhappy. This place with its gay, pleasant life

was fatal for study. To think that back in his own country, he had

imagined himself making useful discoveries in the mysteries of the

ocean! The Casino spread its influence in every direction, reaching even

the Museum of Oceanography. Often, while he was studying the _plancton_,

a new idea would occur to him as to how he might penetrate the

mysterious workings of the _trente et quarante_ series. Mornings he

worked with his thoughts fixed on Monte Carlo; and no sooner did

afternoon come, than he felt an irresistible desire to go there. It was

useless for him to invent pretexts to remain there on the "Rock." He had

lost sums that for him were enormous, and he needed to get them back. He

was worried at the thought of the money he had received from home as an

advance payment on the modest fortune inherited from his parents.

"Some days, common sense tells me that I ought to return to Spain, and I

immediately want to act on that good advice. Unfortunately there are

certain things that keep me here and shatter my will power."

"I know what you mean," said Michael smiling. "First of all, there is

love."

Novoa blushed, and then accepted the words of the Prince with a comic

look of embarrassment. Yes; there was something in that, but love had

its disillusionments, the same as gambling.

Lubimoff suddenly saw in his eyes an expression like that of Spadoni's.

He, too, knew what had happened, and in speaking of love immediately

recalled that absurd duel. But Novoa was a different person, incapable

of feeling the malign pleasure of gossips, who rejoice in other people's

shortcomings. Besides, Michael felt that he was very frank, and was

immediately convinced of this. Quietly, without thinking whether or not

his words might annoy the other man, the Professor alluded to what had

occurred at Lewis' castle. He lamented it as something illogical and

untimely, but had not ceased to be interested in the affairs of the

Prince on that account. If he had refrained from going to Villa Sirena,

it was in order not to seem forward. He had often talked with the

Colonel, asking him to take his best wishes to the Prince.

Then, as though repenting the severity with which he had judged the

duel, he hastened to explain. The image of Castro passed through his

mind, causing him to look at his comrade with brotherly tolerance.

"I can understand a great many things. I am not a fighting man like you,

and nevertheless, I once felt a desire to fight. At present I laugh when

I think of it; but, in similar circumstances, I would do the same again.

What power women have over us! How they change us!"

The Prince did not protest on hearing that Novoa supposed him to be in

love, attributing the duel to a woman's influence. And he continued to

remain silent, while the Professor, through a logical association of

ideas, began to talk about Alicia. The kindly simple savant showed a

keen satisfaction in telling certain news which he thought would please

Lubimoff.

He felt a similar interest in his compatriot, Martinez. He did not hate

any one. He had even forgotten the disagreements with Castro, which had

caused him to leave the comfort and plenty of Villa Sirena.

"That poor Lieutenant is less fortunate than you, Prince: this duel has

been rather hard on him. I enjoy a certain intimacy with people who are

close to the Duchess de Delille.... I do not need to say any more: you

understand that I am in a position to know what is going on in the Villa

Rosa. Well, then; since the duel, I don't know what has happened, but

Martinez calls at that house less frequently. Whole days go by without

his daring to ring at the door. Sometimes he goes there, and a person

whom you know tells me that the Duchess refuses to see him. At present

he is a mere visitor, a friend like any other. The Duchess is anxious to

avoid their former intimacy; she continues to send him little gifts at

the Officers' Hotel, and to look after his comfort. She sends the young

lady who is a friend of mine to find out if he needs anything, but she

receives him only at rare intervals. The lunches and dinners each day

have come to an end, with that life in common, which would have been

complete if he had slept in the house. And the poor boy seems sad, and

full of despair at this change."

The Professor was encouraged in his confidences on noting the pleasure

with which the Prince received them.

"A certain person," he continued, after some hesitation, "who has spent

several nights in the street where the Duchess lives--the deuce, a

certain person! Why shouldn't I tell the whole truth--I, who sometimes

spend hours in the neighborhood of Villa Rosa, waiting for the young

lady in question, have surprised Martinez near the house, slinking by

close to the gate, looking at the windows. Poor boy! And they tell me

that during the day time, when he is afraid that the Duchess won't

receive him, he goes by there, just the same."

Lubimoff was stirred by a double feeling: one of rage, at the conviction

that he had made no mistake: that little soldier boy was in love with

Alicia; and one of delight on learning that he was not received in the

house, as before, and was hovering about the neighborhood in vain. It

was a negative sort of joy for him, but joy at any event, to see that

youth in a situation like his own.

Novoa, being a man of simple tastes, could not understand love except

under conventional circumstances, and between people of similar ages;

and he laughed at this passion of the officer, as though it were

something exceedingly amusing.

"How absurd! To fall in love like that with a woman old enough to be his

mother!"

The Prince started on hearing this, looking fixedly at his companion.

No; the Professor had discovered nothing. He was laughing at his own

reflections, without any indirect insinuations. No one but Lubimoff

himself could possibly know Alicia's real secret.

They walked back and forth several times between the cannon and the

trees. Suddenly, the bells of the churches and convents in Monaco, began

to ring, answering, through the luminous atmosphere, those of the Monte

Carlo frontier.

Twelve o'clock! Novoa became restless. He was a man of fixed habits, and

besides, the Monaco people at whose house he was living were absolutely

punctual in their meal hours. To think that there was not a restaurant

in Monaco, where for once he could be extravagant and invite the Prince!

The latter proposed that he accompany him to the far-off Villa Sirena to

lunch together. It was so pleasant to be in his company! He gave him

such interesting news!

"Impossible!" the Professor hastened to say. "I must see some one in

Monte Carlo as soon as I finish my lunch. They will wait for me."

And the Prince did not insist, guessing that the person referred to was

Valeria.

A single carriage had taken refuge in the pale shade of the trees. It

had remained there after bringing some tourists who, on coming out of

the Museum, preferred to return on foot by the ancient path along the

fortifications.

Michael got into it, and drove to Villa Sirena.

The rest of the day and a great part of the night passed very pleasantly

for him. He was going over and over in his memory the news he had just

heard. It had not been a bad day. He scarcely remembered Castro. Castro

was in Paris; that was the one thing certain. On the other hand, the

misfortune of Martinez made him hum gaily to himself, and this unusual

good humor quite deceived the Colonel.

"All I say is, Your Highness ought to go out, and see people. I was sure

that to-day's walk would do you a world of good."

The following day, the Prince had an even pleasanter surprise. He had

finished his lunch, when his valet announced ceremoniously: "Dr. Novoa,

the professor, to see you, sir."

Michael, having a presentiment that it meant something very interesting

for him, received the Spaniard with extraordinary effusion, such as

Toledo had never seen before. "Awfully good of you to come, Novoa! You

don't mean to say you have had your lunch already? What a regular life

you Monaco bachelors lead! Well, at least, you'll have coffee with me?"

And the Prince hastily finished his lunch and went into the _salon_,

where coffee and liqueurs were waiting. The impatience of the visitor to

talk with him privately was so obvious, that Lubimoff hastened to invent

an excuse for Don Marcos to go away.

When they were alone, Novoa left his cup on the little table, took

several puffs at his cigar, as though to summon all his strength of

will, and finally said in a resolute voice:

"I have a message to give you: a certain person sent me here ... and I

suspect that I am playing a rather cheap role. A man like myself doing

such errands as this!... Besides, men ought to help one another. You

who are a real gentleman, may perhaps consent to do something for

me...."

And the good Professor talked as though he felt himself united with the

Prince by a sort of professional comradeship, by being in the same

condition.

Lubimoff, anxious to know the message, gave a look of acquiescence. Yes:

it was true; he was capable of doing anything for him that he might ask.

At that moment he felt the savant his best friend. But what was the

message?

Novoa continued, with a certain hesitation. The day before, after his

meeting with the Prince, he had seen that young lady ... that young lady

who is a companion to the Duchess. He had told her everything; a bad

habit he had, but lovers cannot always talk about themselves.

"We were together at a concert, and this morning she came to the Museum

to tell me to see you immediately. I refused at first to take the

message, but you know what women are. Besides, the young woman has a

mind of her own. To make it short, here I am repeating what I was told."

He was silent for a moment, and after looking all around, he added, in a

mysterious voice:

"This afternoon, at St. Charles."

On his way there Novoa had been worried by the obscurity of the message.

What St. Charles was it? A hotel? A promenade? As a resident of Monaco,

the Professor knew only the Casino in Monte Carlo. The one thing certain

in his mind was that Valeria's message came from the Duchess.

Michael made an effort to hide the joy which these words gave him.

Alicia was looking for him! In spite of his satisfaction he felt a need

of asking for fresh details. Hadn't Novoa been told the time?

"No, Prince. 'This afternoon, at St. Charles'; not another word more.

The young lady almost became angry because I asked her to make it

clearer. I told you that when we are by ourselves she can be cross--like

all the rest. She told me that you would understand the message at

once."

Lubimoff nodded in affirmation; yes, he understood. What a nice fellow

the scientist was! At that moment he wished him every sort of happiness

that men can enjoy. If he had not known Novoa's scruples and his pride,

he would have asked Don Marcos for all the money there was in the house,

to hand it to him in handfuls. But since a material gift was quite out

of the question, he expressed the hope that Valeria, whom he had always

considered an ambitious climber, would bring happiness and beauty into

the Professor's life. His satisfaction made him so optimistic that he

even believed that he had been mistaken in regard to her, and he endowed

the Duchess' companion with a great number of hidden virtues.

Toledo had returned, and the Prince, who wanted to please Novoa, talked

to him about Oceanographic explorations, displaying a lively curiosity

in his questions, though his thoughts were far away.

But this attempt at flattery was wasted. The Professor replied to his

questions with hesitation. He was in a hurry; some one was waiting for

him ... doubtless Valeria needed to know the result of his errand at

once. And the Prince also displayed a certain haste in accompanying him

to the gate, with the greatest possible show of friendliness. He must

return often to Villa Sirena; he was his one real friend. What a pity he

refused to live there, as he had formerly!

When Lubimoff found himself alone, he went upstairs to his rooms on the

second floor. He was afraid the Colonel would guess the cause of his

satisfaction. A sensation of pride and triumph mingled now with the joy

of the first moment.

He thought of his situation, Don Marcos had remained silent since the

duel, and he, himself, a prey to loneliness, had been in the depths of

despair, imagining himself the laughing-stock of every one.

Now he could see things clearly, Alicia wanted to come back to him. She

had fallen in love with him again. Everything showed that: the

Lieutenant practically expelled from the house, which two weeks before

he had considered as his own; and his former protectress avoiding him,

so that his visits were becoming rare. Doubtless, on learning through

Valeria that her former lover had voluntarily left his retirement in

Villa Sirena, she was hastening to make an immediate appointment with

him in haste to resume their former relations.

He congratulated himself on his unexplainable aggressiveness which had

impelled him to offend Martinez. He, who, in the last few days had

repented of that mad affair! What had weighed upon him like remorse, was

perhaps the most sensible and opportune act of his life. Alicia, seeing

that, mad with jealousy, he was doing something which many people

considered absurd, fighting for her sake, doubtless felt flattered in

her vanity, and was looking upon him now with new interest.

"Oh, these women!" thought Lubimoff. "You've got to know them. They have

an instinctive admiration for the strong. There is nothing like an act

of brutality at the right moment to conquer them. They take a certain

joy in yielding to a man who impresses them by violence."

This had been his first happy moment in many, many days. Once more he

was the Prince Lubimoff who had always had his way, triumphing on

obstacles, sometimes with his money, but more often with his imperious

pride.

Satisfied with his rough strength, he felt the need of making himself

handsome before keeping the engagement. He was thinking of the males of

the animal kingdom, who in addition to teeth, claws, and spurs, have

combs, manes, and plumage to fall back on when it comes to inspire a

sort of mystic slavish admiration in the females. It was the same among

human beings. Education, laws, and traditions do nothing but disguise

the barbaric foundations of human nature.

His thoughts were interrupted by something which worried him. At what

time should he appear at the place indicated. It occurred to him, that

as no hour was mentioned, it must be the same as that of the previous

meeting at the door of St. Charles. But he finally was convinced that

the Professor had forgotten something, and his uneasiness made him keep

the engagement much earlier.

He spent more than three hours waiting anxiously, wandering about the

streets in the neighborhood of the church, standing motionless at the

corners, and changing from one place to another on noticing the

curiosity of the passersby. He entered St. Charles several times, and

was always greeted by the same sight: the multi-colored stained glass

windows growing paler and paler, as the daylight waned, the clusters of

flags, the altar pieces breaking the shadow with the dull splendor of

their gold background, and women kneeling and motionless; women who

seemed the same as on the other occasion, as though weeks had been

minutes.

With the superstitious feeling of those who wait, he said to himself

that Alicia surely would not appear until nightfall, and the day seemed

endless to him.

As night came on he began to doubt.

"She won't come. She must have repented."

He was standing on the corner of a curved and sloping street adjoining

the church. From there he could observe the steps leading to the little

square with the sunken boulevard. No one climbed them; all the carriages

passed without stopping.

Suddenly, he had a sensation that some one was approaching from behind.

He heard a light step, and on turning his head, he saw a woman in

mourning.

Suddenly recovering his triumphant joy, he forgot everything: his long

wait, his doubts and the fatigue of standing there in endless

expectation. He was so sure of the motive which had induced her to ask

for this interview, that he went forward to meet her with chivalrous

cordiality.

"Oh, Alicia!" he said, holding out both hands at once.

But his hands clutched unavailingly at empty space, without finding

anything to take hold of, and finally dropped in dismay.

Lubimoff felt disconcerted at the expression on the woman's face. All

the ideas that had been with him until that moment were so many

illusions. They vanished in an instant, leaving him dismayed face to

face with reality. Of that reality there could be no doubt. There was a

look of hardness in the eyes that surveyed him fixedly.

Alicia spoke rapidly, as though she had come on a matter of business

with a person rather distasteful to her and wanted to end it as soon as

possible, and be rid of his presence.

There was a money matter between them which had to be settled. She had

not written to him because, since certain recent happenings, she felt a

letter was inadvisable. Besides, she could neither go to Villa Sirena,

nor receive him at her home. For that reason, on hearing the day before

that Michael, whom she imagined ill, had been seen taking a walk, she

had boldly made an appointment with him there, so that they might see

each other for a few moments. That was all.

"Let us talk like business men; business men who are in a hurry and do

not waste words. I owe you some money and it is impossible for me to

have any peace of mind until I return it to you: three hundred thousand

francs which your mother gave me, and what you lent me in the

Casino--perhaps something more. I have enough to pay you. If you don't

care to take the matter up, send me Toledo."

Lubimoff stood there dumbfounded at these unexpected words. After making

this proposal, she seemed anxious to get away. Now she had said all she

had to say; it annoyed her to remain there with the Prince; she had

nothing to add.

"No!" said Michael energetically.

So that was why she had called him? And that was all she had to say to

him, after they had been separated for so long?

His refusal was so resolute, and his pained surprise was reflected in

his features in such a manner, that Alicia felt it useless to insist.

"Very well; let's not say anything more. I know your character, and I

know that we would stay here arguing for hours without any result. I

shall try and find a way to return what belongs to you. Good-by,

Michael!"

The Prince tried to stop her by gently taking one of her hands, but she

withdrew it with a nervous gesture of repulsion.

"And you are going away!" he said in a tone of deep discouragement.

The humility in his voice seemed to irritate the Duchess, causing her

to stop as she was turning away.

"What did you think?" she asked indignantly. "I am surprised at your

self-absorption, your failure to think of other people. Michael!

Michael! You'll always be the same; you don't consider any one but

yourself: nothing counts but your own desires. You've hurt me so much!

And now you say like a child: 'And you are going away, ...' What, pray,

did you expect after your despicable conduct? I want you to realize it

once for all: I despise you. Your presence is odious to me. I despise

you!"

Poor Lubimoff saw his conduct once more as he had during his days of

voluntary confinement. Alas! Where were the deceitful dreams that had

cheered him until then? His sadness, and his repentance were so obvious

that Alicia softened the tone of her words.

"Perhaps despise is not the word; but I am sure that you fill me with

pity; pity much like that which I feel for myself. We are two poor, mad

creatures, Michael: our misfortunes have followed us a long way."

Recalling their lives, Alicia thought of builders who make a serious

mistake in putting in the foundation of a building, and go on raising

it, imagining that their work is in a straight line, without observing

that it is entirely out of plumb, owing to the defect in its base.

"We began wrong. If the world had gone on the same as before, perhaps we

would have been able to keep on our feet and be triumphant. Our

surroundings sustained us: we were like children."

But the Universal cataclysm had made them lose their balance forever.

They were toppling over, with gaps that could never be brought together,

ready to fall in a heap.

"We belong to another period, and no one can protect our frailty. I

feel pity for you, Michael; and you must feel the same for me, for me,

whom you have wronged so deeply!"

The Prince, in spite of his dejected humility, protested. He had been

imprudent: that was sure. His aggression in the Casino and the miserable

duel had caused a stupid scandal to be sure. But what irreparable harm

did she mean, that caused her such profound sorrow? How could his

madness, which injured him only, making him the object of comments and

laughter, cause her such despair?

* * * * *

Alicia interrupted him with a gesture of impatience, as though she felt

it impossible to make him understand her thoughts.

"Look," she said pointing to the church door. "Before, I could go in

there. Remember the last time that we saw each other on this spot. I had

just been praying, and talking with my son; it was an illusion perhaps;

but illusions help us to live. And now it is impossible for me; I feel

remorse where before I found hope. And I have you to thank for this, you

who took away the last consolation that I had invented for myself."

She no longer looked at the Prince with hostile gaze. Her trembling

voice, and her moist eyes, were those of a poor woman making an effort

to hide her emotion. Michael stammered in embarrassment, not knowing

what to do or say. Had he really been able to do her such an evil turn?

When? How?

Alicia, deaf to his questions, was thinking only of herself and her

misfortune.

"I had a son, and I lost him," she went on saying. "He was my hope, my

one reason for living. The suffering made me look for consolation. What

would become of us if we did not have the power of deceiving ourselves

by creating new illusions? And I had a second son, a son whom I

invented, sad, condemned to die, but young like the other, unfortunate

like the other, and lacking a mother to bring joy to his last days. I

wanted to be that mother. I can feel only the sweet, protecting joy of

maternity; my role as a woman is over: all I can see in a man is a son,

and you take away this last consolation! You robbed me of my poor joy!"

Lubimoff began to understand. Alicia was talking about Martinez; and he

felt once more the sting of jealousy.

"When we saw each other here the last time I had sought a quiet refuge

within my sorrow. I was praying for my son in the church, talking with

him, and telling him how he was a brother in misfortune to one who was

still alive, but who perhaps would soon go to join him. Then, on

returning home I found the other, and my illusion was so great, that I

was able to fuse them into a single person, imagining that time and the

war were all a dream, and that my son was still alive, and had returned

from his captivity and was by my side. They do not look alike, I am

sure, although I avoid looking at George's pictures--but they seem to me

the same; it is the uniform, misfortune, and nearness to death. Besides,

the poor boy was so good! He was so timid, satisfied with anything,

looking at me with the sweet look of a gentle little creature: he who is

so proud! He venerated me like a being descended from an upper world. I

was his mother. His words and looks breathed a feeling of deep respect.

I wasn't a woman to him: I was something like the angels. And you, with

your crazy interference, have spoiled it all. He is no longer my son: my

dream has ended. I am obliged to do without his presence, and it is only

at rare intervals that he finds open to him a house which I had taught

him to consider his home. Through your fault, this boy, in whom I saw a

son, is now merely a man, and I, his mother, have become once more a

woman."

Lubimoff's features became dark and gloomy with an earthly cast, as on

the afternoon of the duel. He was beginning to understand.

"What did you do, Michael!" she continued in a tearful voice. "You

aroused the poor boy by your madness. On fighting you, he imagined he

was fighting for me, and that I was simply a woman. He saw me suddenly

in a new light, as though he had been asleep until then. I might almost

be his mother; for women of my class prolong their youth, preserve it

artificially, and we are still desirable when women of the lower classes

are already coming to old age. Besides, I understand the element of

vanity in his admiration, that vanity which exists in all our

sentiments. To him I am the unknown, the mysterious, a great lady, a

Duchess, brought by these topsy-turvy days within his reach. Poor boy! A

few weeks ago he used to laugh in my presence with childlike simplicity,

and look at me placidly, without the shadow of an evil thought in his

eyes. He was happy, and so was I; while now...!"

The Prince pictured Martinez pursuing Alicia with his amorous desires.

"I'll kill him: I must kill him," he said to himself. But this homicidal

anger lasted only an instant. The various scenes of the duel passed

through his mind: a vision of himself kissing the officer's hand, in a

sudden burst of unexplainable humility, which kept returning to torment

him like remorse. What could he do now? After what had happened there

was something sacred about the man. And once more he gave himself up to

his despair, while Alicia went on talking.

"My dream is dead. My son has become my son once more, and Martinez is a

man like any other. At present it is impossible for me to pray; I am

ashamed to hold imaginary conversation with my real son. I am assailed

by thoughts of what I told him; I am overwhelmed when I think that I go

on talking with the other boy, in spite of what he has said to me, of

what I read in his glances, and of what I know of his real desires. What

a wrong you have done me! I lost one son, and can think of him only with

remorse; I invented another, and you have taken him away from me."

Then, as though complaining of some superior force that had presided

over her destiny, she added:

"What torture! Not to be able to know quiet friendship, and the tranquil

days of maternity. Always to have love looming up in front of one! In my

younger days I considered that the one aim of life was to inspire

admiration and desire, and now I am punished for that indeed. I sought

in you a sustaining friendship, and you immediately desired me. I tried

to deceive my maternal longings by caring for an unfortunate boy who may

die very soon, and this son of my affections talked to me of love. Is it

true that women are never able to enjoy the peace and confidence that

come to men quite naturally?"

The Prince expressed his wishes, with eagerness and hatred in his voice.

"Don't see him: break with him; close your door to him forever. In that

way you will recover your peace of mind, and I ... I shall be your

friend, I shall be anything you desire, it will be enough for me that I

see you."

She greeted his last words with a look of incredulity. Men had promised

her so often to be friends! Besides, she knew Michael very well, and did

not take the trouble to reply. The one thing that interested her was his

advice that she definitely reject the wounded man, and not see him any

more. Once more her eyes grew moist.

"Imagine driving the poor boy away! There are certain things you can't

understand; you try to order affections about in the same arrogant way

that you formerly disposed of people. Do you think I can abandon him? I

am his mother in spite of everything, and you know very well how a

mother tolerates and forgives things. The poor boy is not to blame for

his evil thoughts; it was you who suggested them to him. Besides, it

won't last; I have hopes that his foolish desires will die out."

The idea of deserting the crippled soldier aroused her pity, giving an

amorous tone to her words.

"What would become of him! He doesn't know any one: he is alone in the

world; the other officers are living, in their native land, they have

families. Before, he could go and see Clorinda; now 'the General' has

gone away, and I am the only one who remains, the only one! And you want

me to forget him? You don't know him very well; you are an enemy of his.

It is such a delight for me to recall the period of his innocence. He

was like my son; no; there was something more about him; a thankfulness,

a capacity for veneration concentrated entirely on me, such as I had

never known before. You forget how his life hangs on a thread. Nor does

he realize it himself; he does not know the real situation he is in; he

has illusions of healthy youth; he thinks he will live for many years.

Poor fellow! How hard it is for me to pretend that I am angry, to reject

him with indignation because of the desires he feels for me ... me, who

only want to be his mother!"

This tone of sweet pity wounded her listener. Alicia seemed to feel the

remorse of a death watch obliged to deny a condemned criminal the

satisfaction of his last whim. She was lamenting like a nurse who cannot

give a dying man what he asks for in his last gasps.

Michael felt that he guessed the secret of the last interviews between

this pseudo-mother and her adopted son. Perhaps she talked to him about

his health, momentarily refusing to flatter him in his illusions of

health, revealing to him the danger to which his life was exposed; and

he, in a suicidal ardor of passion, was perhaps entreating her like a

child who has placed all his dreams in a toy: "once, just once."

He was convinced that this was the truth of the matter. He read it in

her eyes, which in turn seemed to guess what the Prince was thinking,

and she blushed slightly.

"What harm you have done me," she repeated. "I must send him away from

me, and I can't bear to desert him. It would be a crime if I abandoned

him to his fate. You don't know what this constant struggle means to me.

At times I see him hovering around my house; hidden behind the window

blinds, I look at him, and I can hardly repress my tears. He seems so

sad! I remember my son, who also lived alone, even more friendless than

he, and who perhaps became interested in some woman, anxiously desiring

many things without succeeding in possessing them, and I feel a desire

to call to him, to shout: 'Since that is your dream, my dear child, your

last wish in life, take it! Take it, and be happy!' Yet I think of his

health, I think of many other things, and I restrain my impulse, and

weep, letting him wander about near my house, imagining himself

forgotten, though I am thinking of him all the time. Alas! May God give

me strength! May I not lose my self control! May I continue to resist my

absurd charitableness! Sometimes I fear I won't."

"Oh, Alicia!"

The Prince uttered the words in a tone of desperation. His presentiment

was becoming a reality; he could already see that dying youth possessing

what he had not been able to obtain. There was a look of homicidal

anger in his eyes.

This hostile expression annoyed Alicia, making another woman of her. The

harsh look and the cutting tones which had accompanied her arrival

appeared in her once more.

"Enough said. I came here to return your money. You refuse to take it?

You refuse? Very well, I will find a way to make you. Good night,

Michael!"

As a matter of fact, night had fallen, and the Prince saw her disappear

in the shadows of the street whence she had come: a street dimly lighted

by a single blue street lamp.

For a moment, he thought of heading her off, humble and entreating. He

would never see her again: he was sure of that. But at the same time he

perceived the uselessness of insisting. She wanted him to forget her;

the interview had merely been to suppress all traces of the past still

existing between them. And he allowed her to pass out of his sight.

From that day on, the life of the Prince lacked a purpose. Something had

broken within him: his will had crumbled to dust, enveloping his senses

in a sort of fog. What was to be done? Not even the narrowest of paths

remained open to his initiative. Alicia hated him as though he were an

enemy. It meant good-by for all time! There still remained the other

man, but the Prince was invulnerable as far as Martinez was concerned.

It was enough for him to think of what had happened in Lewis' castle to

lose all intention of violence. He cursed his Slavic sentimentality, so

confused and incoherent, like his mother's, which prevented him from

going to the end in malice, and causing him to fall, when he least

expected it, into exaggerated submission. Alas, for his tears of

repentance! Alas for that kiss on his adversary's hand! If he avoided

returning to the Casino, it was in order not to meet Martinez and those

two Captains who had witnessed the incomprehensible conclusion of the

duel. He no longer had the energy to impose his will; his former

harshness of character had melted with the catastrophe of his desires.

He shut himself up once again in Villa Sirena, in order not to see any

one. He hated people, and at the same time he thought with a certain

terror of the ill-concealed smiles that might greet his passing, and the

remarks that might be exchanged behind his back.

Don Marcos was the one companion of his loneliness; and Lubimoff, who

during the first few days exchanged but a few words with him, finally

came to wish that he would hurry back from Monte Carlo, at nightfall, in

order to hear the news, which in other days he would have considered

insignificant. They entered into long conversations on what was going on

in the Casino, or on the happenings of the world. It was the curiosity

of a prisoner or an invalid, who takes an exaggerated interest in

things, as he loses his sense of values, owing to his inability to move

about in his confinement.

The Colonel was giving less and less importance to the events of daily

life. All his attention had been focused on the Atlantic Coast and the

opposite shores of the ocean.

"They keep on coming!" he said, after greeting the Prince. "The

Americans keep on coming: a regular crusade. There are hundreds of

thousands of them; there are millions. And to think that a lot of people

considered the talk of sending armies from America mere bluff!"

He was really indignant at such ignorance, quite forgetting his

skepticism of a few months before.

"A great country! And that fellow Wilson, what a man!"

At present he believed the American people capable of accomplishing

anything they set out to do, no matter how extraordinary; but his

old-fashioned ideas prevented him from feeling sustained enthusiasm for

anything collective and abstract, without human physiognomy. The former

partisan of absolute monarchy, preferred individuals: one man to think

for the rest, and give them orders. And after a few words, his

enthusiasm for the American democracy began to shrink in scope until it

rested in concentrated form on the head of Wilson.

"The greatest man in the world!"

His eyes moistened with idolatrous fervor as he read the President's

speeches; he exhausted all his vocabulary of superlatives in expressing

his admiration for the personage who had made a great people unsheath

their swords, disinterestedly, in defense of justice and liberty, and

who prophesied at the same time a future of peace for mankind, with no

greedy nations to menace the life of the humble and the weak.

One evening he found a new phrase to express his admiration.

"What a poet!" Lubimoff, in spite of his melancholy, began to laugh.

President Wilson a poet!

Don Marcos, stammering at the laughter of his Prince, tried to explain

himself. Perhaps "poet" was not just the word to express his thought

accurately. But poet he would call him nevertheless, and with good

reason. A poet for the Colonel was a seer, who says very beautiful

things about the future of mankind; a prophet who dreams upon his

heights, embracing with his glance all that the common crowd swarming

below cannot see; a being who, on speaking, in whatever form he may

choose, succeeds in making people who are listening blink their eyes

with emotion, while a shiver runs down their spines.

His tongue became twisted as he said this but above his stammering,

arose a firm unshakable conviction.

"After all, I know what I mean. For me, he is a poet: a man who has

wings ... very long wings."

The Prince began to laugh again. Wilson with wings! He imagined the

President with his high hat, his glasses, and his kindly smile, and

growing out from each shoulder of his long coat two enormous feathery

triangles like those of the angels in religious paintings. What an

amusing fellow the Colonel was!

Then suddenly he became thoughtful, while his features took on an

expression of great seriousness.

"You are right," he said. "I can see him with wings, wings that are too

long perhaps. A great thing when it comes to flying, but when one is

obliged to live among men, and has to walk along on the ground!... I am

afraid he will drag his wings; I am afraid they will be stepped on some

day, and that people will find them a great nuisance...."

And they dropped the subject.

The Prince wanted to break the confinement which he had voluntarily

imposed upon himself. Why should he stay there at Villa Sirena, near

certain people who constantly occupied his thoughts yet whom he did not

wish to see? The best thing would be for him to return to Paris as soon

as possible. The long range cannon was continuing to fire on the

Capital; almost every week squads of German aeroplanes made night

excursions about it, dropping explosives. Such a trip offered the

inducement of danger and excitement to the lonely man, tormented in his

perfect health by an inactive and monotonous life, which offered nothing

more stimulating than the irritations to be derived from his recent

experiences.

Every morning, when he got up, he formulated the same plan: "I am going

to Paris." But the trip kept being put off from week to week. It was a

case of abulia, the loss of will power of an invalid, who makes projects

of active life, and no sooner attempts to carry them out, than he loses

his strength again, and postpones them indefinitely.

The most insignificant details loomed gigantically before his diseased

will. He had to go to Nice to make reservations at the Sleeping-car

Office. He thought of sending Don Marcos; then refrained, considering it

preferable to go himself. And days went by without his taking the short

ride preliminary to his Paris trip. Both of them seemed equally long.

He, who had thrice circumnavigated the globe, wearily shrunk at the

thought of the slowness of travel due to the war. Just imagine sixteen

hours on a train!

One afternoon, bored by his splendid gardens,--now so monotonous!--by

the silence of his house,--now so deserted!--and by the increasing

absent-mindedness of the Colonel, who was always having something to do

either in Monte Carlo, or in the gardener's pavilion, Lubimoff started

out on foot toward the City. And he met some one.

He had turned quite mechanically and without thinking in the direction

of the upper boulevards, near the street in which Villa Rosa was

situated. When he realized this, he decided to turn back. Just then he

saw Lieutenant Martinez coming along on the opposite sidewalk, in the

direction that he himself had been going a few moments before.

The soldier seemed to him taller, stronger, and as it were, surrounded

by a halo of glory. His uniform was the same, frayed and old looking

after some years of service; but to the Prince it seemed entirely new,

even dazzling in its freshness. Everything about the Lieutenant looked

magnificent and he seemed to illumine the objects about him by mere

contact. His features perhaps were paler and more angular; but Michael

imagined that he radiated a certain inner splendor, composed of pride

and satisfaction. A sort of ethereal mask, enveloping him in astral

light, made him appear handsome and gave him a new physiognomy,

Apollo-like and triumphant.

They passed without speaking. The Lieutenant pretended not to see him,

as Lubimoff's eyes followed him with a questioning glance. What was

there that was new in this man? The Prince doubted that lack of sound

health, that perilous condition which worried the doctors so much. It

was all a lie made up to impress the ladies! He noticed the proud

firmness of the soldier's step, the jaunty, boyish air with which he

swung the rattan he used as a cane.

On losing him from sight, he could see him even more clearly. His

imagination kept vividly recalling certain details over which his eyes

had wandered carelessly. There was something that stood out in painful

relief in his memory: a few roses, a little bunch of roses, which the

soldier was wearing on his breast, between two buttons of his uniform.

An officer with flowers seemed rather strange! That was what had shocked

the Prince at the first glance, shocked him so violently that his whole

vision had been deeply disturbed. Yes, those flowers!...

He spent the rest of the day thinking about them. As he stretched out in

his bed that night, darkness clarified the maze of thoughts and doubts

whirling in his brain. He could see it all in a cold clear light. "It

has happened already!"

He jumped out of bed and turned on the light, pacing up and down his

bedroom in a fury.

"It has happened already!"

He kept repeating the words with anguished obsession; he repented his

generosity, as though it were a crime. "Why didn't I kill him?" Then in

plaintive tones he would repeat his original affirmation, concluding

that what had happened was irreparable. Then he put out the light again;

and for a long time, in the darkness, which once more filled the

bedroom, the curses of the Prince resounded, alternating with fierce

exclamations of wounded pride and sobs of rage.

The following day his conviction still persisted. The childlike beauty

of the morning, which always inspires optimism, meant nothing to him.

How was he to know the truth about that thing which he had suspected and

feared, but which he never imagined would really come to pass?

A desperate curiosity caused him to spend the entire day in Monte Carlo.

He met Martinez again. The officer kept on walking, turning his glance

away in order not to see him; but the Prince imagined he caught a

fleeting look of generous pity in his eyes, an expression of compassion

for an unfortunate and inoffensive rival. Again he was wearing flowers;

doubtless different from those of the day before.

Lubimoff repeated to himself the laments of the previous night: "Yes, it

had already happened." It was impossible to doubt it. But the thought of

killing him did not recur, nor did he repent of his generosity. That was

all so useless now! He merely thought with envy of people in the

submerged classes of society, who feel the impulses of passion very

simply, without any disturbing sense of honor and solemn promises. They

were men who could act regardless of laws and customs. When they wanted

to kill some one, they went and did so!

He saw that Martinez was thinner than ever, with a feverish look in his

eyes. Oh, that indefinable something, that suggestion of youthful

vanity, of triumph and satisfaction, which seemed to radiate from his

features like a halo of glory!

That evening, Toledo found himself brusquely repelled by his Prince,

when he tried to tell him about a letter which he had received from

Paris. The Administrator of the Prince's estate was getting impatient;

he was asking for a reply from his Highness in regard to the sale of

Villa Sirena.

"I don't know; leave me alone. The best thing is for me to arrange the

matter myself. I'll go to Nice to-morrow and see about my trip to

Paris.... No, not to-morrow: day after to-morrow."

He could not explain to himself why he had conceded that additional day

to his idleness: it was an instinctive postponement, without any motive

whatsoever. The following day, after breakfast, he regretted it; but it

was already too late to find the chauffeur he had gotten the afternoon

of the duel, and whom Don Marcos had just promoted to the rank of

"purveyor to his Highness."

Where could he go, and be sure of not coming across the persons present

so bitterly in his thoughts? Toward the end of the afternoon he went to

the Casino terraces. There was an open air concert which was attracting

a huge crowd. It was improbable that Martinez and the woman should show

themselves in such a gathering.

It seemed as though he were living in peace times; as though he had gone

back to one of those rare winters which used to attract all the wealthy

people of the globe to the Riviera. Both terraces were filled with

well-dressed people. The bombardment of Paris and the attacks of the

German _Gothas_ were keeping a great many elegant ladies in Monte Carlo

who formerly would have felt they were losing caste if they stayed on

the warm coast when winter was over.

Chairs were lacking. A large part of the audience was seated on the

balustrades and steps. Around the orchestra _kiosque_ there was a mass

of pleasant colors, formed by women's hats, spring dresses, and

fluttering fans. Opposite the terraces the sea stretched away between

the rose-colored promontories. The far-away sails reddened by the

setting sun seemed like so many flames. Across the violet surface of the

Mediterranean and the crystal opalescence of the evening sky the music

fell voluptuously.

Nobody was thinking about the war: that was a calamity that belonged to

another world, to other skies. Even the convalescent soldiers in

uniform, who were living entirely in the present moment, breathing the

salt air, listening to the wail of the violins, and surrounded by gayly

dressed women, did not seem to remember it. Many eyes were following the

progress, along the horizon line, of a string of ships strangely painted

like fabulous monsters, and escorted by several torpedo boats. But the

lulling music that rang in the ears of the idlers took all significance

away from the fearful disguise of the boats, and from the cautious

slowness with which they were gliding along off the Shores of Pleasure.

When, after seven o'clock, the concert was over, the terraces gradually

emptied. On the benches only a few couples remaining, putting off the

time of parting by conversing quietly in the silence of the blue

twilight.

The Prince succeeded in walking from one end to the other of the lower

promenade without once having to submit to contact with the crowd.

Suddenly he stopped, with a feeling of surprise and pain, as though he

had just received a blow in the breast. Down the wide steps which joined

the two terraces, a couple were descending. His instinct recognized

them even before he could see them clearly. It was a soldier. It was

Lieutenant Martinez ... and she!

Alicia was dressed in mourning, just as he had seen her near the church;

but she was walking less resolutely, shrinking and timid, on finding

herself on that spot which shortly before had been occupied by all her

neighbors from the city.

They were talking as they slowly descended. Absorbed in the view out

upon the sea, they did not turn their eyes toward the spot where

Lubimoff was standing motionless. At the bottom of the stairs they chose

to walk in the opposite direction, and the Prince was able to follow

them.

He felt that some extraordinary power of divination was sharpening his

faculties; a sort of second sight which was enabling him to see and

study both their faces, in spite of the fact that their backs were

turned toward him.

Alas, that walk! It was the desire for light and open air, which people

feel after a sweet confinement. It was the insolent need lovers have of

displaying their happiness in public, when the joyous hours, through

monotonous repetition, begin to weigh on them. It was the desire of

prolonging in the sight of every one the sweet intimacy enjoyed in

secret and now spiced with the added incentive of being obliged to

feign, and to hide all real feelings.

Michael considered his intuitions as beyond all question. Of course! It

was the officer who had proposed that walk. How proud he would be to

walk in a public place with a celebrated lady, and in full consciousness

of the new rights he had acquired over her! It was no longer possible

for him to question the visualization which had made him groan in the

silence of the night.... It had taken place! It had taken place!

Alicia's appearance dispelled all doubts in advance. She was walking

along with a certain dismay like a person obliged to go on in spite of

herself. He could see her invisible features. They were sad, profoundly

sad, with a melancholy look of the woman who has fallen and is conscious

of her abasement, but considers it irremediable, the result of an

irresistible destiny, of a cause beyond the radius of the will's action.

Her head kept bending down to one side toward her companion, for her

eyes to gaze on him. It must have been the gaze of a willing prisoner

anxious to forget the pangs of remorse and taking a sensuous

satisfaction in her shameful slavery. While her soul shrank away at the

memory, her body was bending under physical attraction to that other

body, instinctively seeking the contact that was causing her youth to

bloom again in a new spring-time; a sad spring-time, like all the

surprises of fate, but sweeter far than the dull gray hours of solitude.

Hate, repugnance, and indignant jealousy caused the Prince to stop. Why

should he follow them? They might turn their heads and see him. He was

ashamed at the thought of meeting them. The wretches! There must be Some

One above to punish such things!

And he left them, walking toward the other end of the promenade in order

to descend to the harbor of La Condamine.

He was just leaving the terrace when something happened behind his back

which brought him to a stop. The couples seated on the benches suddenly

rose and ran shouting in the direction whence he had come. He could hear

people calling to one another. Some news seemed to be circulating

through both levels of the garden, bringing people forth from the walks,

from the clusters of palm trees, and the walls of vegetation.

Lubimoff allowed himself to be carried along by this alarm, and

retraced his steps. He saw in the distance a noisy mass of people ever

increasing in size, a group which was being joined by the winding lines

of curiosity seekers running down the steps. The garden, which a moment

before had been deserted, was pouring forth people from every opening.

As he drew near the crowd, he could hear the comments of various

detached onlookers, who were telling the news to the new arrivals.

"A convalescent officer.... He was taking a walk with a lady....

Suddenly he fell in a heap, as though struck by lightning. There he is."

Yes; there was Martinez, in the center of that human mass, a pitiful

object, lying on the ground, with his body bent into the shape of a Z:

his head made a right angle with his breast, and his legs were doubled,

making another angle. Lubimoff came forward until he could look over the

shoulders of the first row of stupefied onlookers. A constant sound of

hard breathing, a rattle like that of some poor beast in the death agony

kept coming from his foaming lips. In his motionless body, the only sign

of life was that moan, repeated with clock-like regularity, with no

change in the tone.

Officers were leaving their women companions to force their way into the

center of the crowd. On recognizing Martinez, their surprise assumed a

caressing brotherly expression.

"Antonio! Antonio!"

They bent over him to talk in his ear, as though he were asleep; but

Antonio did not hear them. One of his eyes was hidden in the dirt of the

walk; a small pebble was clinging to the eyelid of the other. All one

side of his uniform was white with dust. The terrible harsh breathing

was the only reply to their words of endearment.

A military doctor stepped through the crowd. He took hold of Martinez's

hands, and felt his pulse. A look of helplessness came over the doctor's

face. The Lieutenant had had many attacks like this one. They could only

hope that it was not to be his last....

Lubimoff could see Alicia kneeling on the ground, stunned by the shock,

showing the sinuous curves of her back, under her mourning garments,

oblivious of everything about her, with her eyes fixed on the man who a

few minutes before had been walking at her side, talking and smiling,

convinced that life is happiness, and who now lay stretched in the dust,

convulsed and inert, a pitiable vessel slowly emptying itself in dying

gasps.

Suddenly she stood up, with an instinctive sense of danger. She did not

care to remain in that posture before everybody's gaze. Her large eyes,

with a blank, frightened look, began to move about over the crowd,

without however recognizing any one. For a moment they rested on Michael

and her gaze met his with an expression of anguished entreaty. But the

Prince, lowering his head, concealed himself behind the front row of

onlookers, and her eyes went on in their search about the circle, with a

look that became dull and gray again. She believed, doubtless, that it

had been an hallucination.

As Alicia remained standing there, people began to point her out. That

was the lady who was with the officer. Some of them recognized her, and

repeated her name: "The Duchess de Delille." Through an instinctive

feeling of repulsion, or a cowardly desire not to get mixed up in any

"affair," no one spoke to her. She was left alone in the center of the

crowd, with a look of stupefaction in her eyes, that seemed to ask for

help, though without knowing just what help.

Willing souls began to take the initiative with an air of authority.

"Air! Give him air!" They began to shove the crowd back in order to

increase the circle around the fallen man. But the people immediately

pushed forward again with useless suggestions of aid; and once more the

space was narrowed, until the feet of the nearest spectators grazed the

panting lips of the dying man.

A young girl had run of her own accord to the bar at the entrance of the

Casino and was coming back with a glass of water.

"Antonio! Antonio!" his kneeling comrades vainly called the Lieutenant,

using all their strength to open his jaws and force him to drink. His

lips repelled the liquid, and went on repeating the painful moans.

Ladies, attracted by the news, began to arrive from the gambling rooms.

They all knew the Duchess; and looked at her with a certain hostility,

after gazing at the dying man. The Prince heard fragments of their

comment: "A poor fellow rescued from death by a miracle.... The

slightest emotion.... That woman...."

Beyond the group, park policemen were running about giving orders. The

stretcher bearers had arrived; the same ones who, according to public

rumor, were passed by magic through the walls of the Casino to carry

away the gamblers dying in the play-rooms.

This time the stretcher was absent. The onlookers were separating to

open the way for an extraordinary novelty. A hired carriage was coming

across the terraces, which were forbidden to vehicles.

Suddenly Lubimoff saw the Duchess rise above the heads of the crowd. She

had just gotten into the carriage and was standing in it, with a dazed

look and the inexpressive features of a person walking in her sleep.

Perhaps she had done it without thinking; perhaps the military doctor

had invited her to get in, thinking she was a relative of the patient.

Several men in uniform lifted the inert body of the officer.

The harsh breathing that rent his chest continued.

And then, in the presence of the crowd, whose eyes were sightless with

stupefaction, the Duchess proceeded as though she were alone. She had

just dropped to the seat. She had them lay the corpse-like body across

her knees, and she herself, as she held Martinez with one arm, laid his

panting head against one of her shoulders.

The carriage slowly started off in the direction of the officers' hotel,

followed by a large part of the crowd. The doctor went along on foot,

telling the driver to go slowly.

Michael saw Alicia pass, upright and rigid in her seat, her eyes wide

open, with terror, her mouth tense with grief, and holding the dying man

on her knees. Her attitude reminded him of the Divine Mother at the foot

of the cross; but there was something impure and shameful in Alicia's

sorrow that made the comparison inadmissible.

"Oh, Venus Dolorosa."

The Prince was interrupted in his reflections. He felt himself rudely

shoved aside by a woman in uniform. It was Mary Lewis, running, as fast

as her legs could carry her, to overtake the carriage. The Amazon of

Good Deeds always arrived in time to catch up with suffering.

Lubimoff saw how the vehicle slowly drove away with its embroidery of

people. Its journey as far as the hotel would be endless; all Monte

Carlo would see it go by.

He felt sad, very, very sad. That officer was his enemy; but death!...

He was not so sorry for Alicia. He smiled a malicious smile as he looked

for the last time at the carriage and its following, which was

constantly increasing.

In the line of scandals there was nothing commonplace about this latest

of the Duchess de Delille.