THE COLONEL'S SECRET
Instantly I thought of Gareth and raised my hand, hoping to still the
Colonel's angry, strident tone lest it should reach her.
"He is a villain," he repeated. "I care not now who hears me say it.
He lured her from me, planned to make me do murder, and now would have
me join in dishonouring my child. You must hear this, Miss von
Dreschler, for you know much--and shall know the rest."
"For Gareth's sake, Colonel, she is in that room and may hear," I
protested.
"Let her come and let her decide this," said Gustav.
"No. This is for me. I will tell all. I have kept my secret long
enough--for your sake, as you know--and will keep it no longer. You
came here," he said, turning to me, "to clear your father's memory of
the charge brought against him. I can prove it false, and will. He
was charged with having murdered the young Count Stephen. It was a
lie. This scoundrel here knows it was a lie. Ask him if he dare deny
that."
There was no need to ask the question; Count Gustav's face gave the
answer, clear and unmistakable.
"You will ruin everything, Colonel Katona," he said. "Not me only, but
the Duke, your master, and the great cause--everything."
"To hell with any cause which would sacrifice my child's honour. I
will tell the Duke to his face," was the hot reply, very fiercely
spoken.
"I am here ready to listen, Colonel Katona."
We all started and turned to find the Duke himself had come out.
"What is this lie which threatens ruin to everything, sir?" he asked
very sternly, after a pause.
Colonel Katona drew himself up.
"It is right that I should tell it to you. It was for you and your
family that the lie was planned; that you might have the Throne when
the time came; and it was continued that this man--your son--might
succeed you. Your son, who has rewarded me for my fidelity to your
house by stealing my child. It was for you and yours that I consented
to dishonour my friend--this lady's father; and have kept the secret
inviolate through years of remorse and sorrow."
"Enough of yourself," said the Duke, with a contemptuous wave of the
hand. "Speak plainly."
"The scheme has failed, and through this villain's dastardly conduct.
The man whom Colonel von Dreschler was accused of having murdered, and
whose death would have cleared the way for you and yours to the
Throne--Count Stephen--is living, a close prisoner in my house."
"Thank God for that!" I cried, fervently, understanding all now.
Then a gasp of pain, or rage, or fear, or of all three, escaped the
Duke's pallid lips. He staggered so that his Excellency put out his
hand to help him.
"Is this true?" fell in a whisper from the Duke, his eyes on his son's
face, now as white and tense as his own.
There was no answer, and in the silence, I heard the door behind me
opened softly, and Gareth came out.
"Ah!" The soft ejaculation, born partly of gladness at the sight of
Gustav and her father, and partly of fear at the wrought looks of both,
drew all eyes upon her. The silence seemed to deepen suddenly; as
though a common instinct of mercy inspired all to attempt to keep what
was passing from her knowledge.
A look of bewilderment came over her face as she gazed from one to the
other; tender but questioning for the Duke; half fearful anxiety for
her father; and infinite love and yearning for her husband. She
glanced at him last; but her first word was for him, and it was toward
him she moved, murmuring his name and stretching out her hands.
Her father drew his breath quickly, with a sound between a gasp and a
sigh; and I thought he was going to step between them, but the Duke
glanced at him and raised his hand.
"She is his," he said, his tone no more than a whisper, but distinct to
all of us.
The Colonel drew back a pace and put his hand to his forehead.
Gareth passed him. She had no eyes for any but her husband in that
moment.
I waited with fear-wrought anxiety to see how he would greet her, for
his face had given no sign which we could read.
But she had no fear for him as she had no thought of us. Her faith in
him was as staunch and patent as the love which lighted her face and
sparkled in her clear shining eyes. Our presence gave her no
embarrassment; I believe that we were all forgotten in the absorbing
delight of that one supreme moment.
He played the man for once. As she placed her hands in his with just a
simple--"I am so glad," he took them, and bending down kissed her on
the lips before us all.
But this was more than her father could bear. With an angry "Gareth,"
he turned to part them.
Scared by his stern look and tone, she shrank back with a little
piteous cry: "Father, he is my husband;" as if indeed she would defend
him.
I saw the cloud on his face deepen and the words of a harsh reply were
already on his lips, when the Duke, who had been watching intently,
intervened.
"Colonel Katona, the rest is for us men to settle," he said, waving his
hand to the room behind him.
His Excellency glanced at me and motioned toward Gareth, and I crossed
to her.
"For a few minutes, Gareth," said the Duke.
She hesitated, and then, as her father was moving away in obedience to
the Duke's command, she stepped past me and seized his hand. "Father,
you forgive us?"
Just a little yearning plea, pathetic enough to have touched the
hardest heart, I thought it. But he had no ears for it. His passion
was too hot and fierce against the man whom she included in the appeal.
He turned and looked upon her quite unmoved--his face hard like a rock,
and his voice rough and harsh as he answered: "No. You have to choose
between us; and if you choose him, you are no longer my child;" and
shaking her hand off, he went into the room.
Gareth gave one soft, piteous cry, like a stricken fawn, as I put my
arm round her.
I hated him for the merciless cruelty of the rebuff; and I believe all
shared that feeling, as we saw how it had cut deep into her tender
heart. I know that Karl and his Excellency did, by the glances of pity
they cast upon her as they passed me to follow the Duke.
Count Gustav hesitated, seemingly at a loss what to do. I thought he
would have taken her from my arms to his; and much as I detested him, I
think I would have forgiven him everything had he done so. But, after
a second's hesitation, he shrugged his shoulders, passed on and closed
the door behind him.
I led her away upstairs to her room, and by the time we reached it she
was clinging to me feebly and helplessly. She sank down on her bed
with a deep-drawn sigh, and lay there deathly pale and trembling
violently.
I hoped that the tears would come to relieve her; but they did not.
The shock had been too sudden. The suspense of the separation had worn
her down; then the joy of the meeting with Gustav had wrought upon her
nerves so that her father's stern and almost brutal repulse had been a
blow struck just at the moment when she was at the weakest. The sorrow
was too deep for tears, the suffering too acute and numbing.
I threw a rug over her and bent and kissed her, as I whispered: "I
think it will all come right, Gareth, dear."
She took no notice; and feeling I could do no more then but just let
her grief have its way, I sat down by the bedside, wondering whether I
believed my own words; whether, in such a tangle, all could possibly
come right; or whether in striving to right things in my own way, I had
only succeeded in creating just an impossible bungle.
My thoughts were soon down in the room below. What was occurring
there? Far bigger things were in the doing, or undoing, than the
breaking of poor Gareth's heart. Fate had bound up that issue with
others of much greater import.
If Count Stephen was alive, the whole of the Duke's plans and Count
Gustav's scheming were shattered. Would Colonel Katona insist upon
making his story public--or would some means be devised to prevail upon
him to keep that secret still inviolate? On that question would hinge
the future of the Patriots' cause; and so possibly the future of the
whole Empire.
In such a balance what weight was the mere happiness of two girls like
Gareth and myself likely to have? None; absolutely none. Nor could I
bring myself to think it should have, considering the critical
consequences there might be to thousands, aye even millions in the Dual
Empire.
The Colonel was a hard man, however, how hard he had shown himself
within the last few minutes; and I believed he would hold on to his
purpose like a steel clamp. If he did, what would result? Either the
leadership of the Patriot cause would pass from the Duke to Count
Stephen, or the Duke's enemies would seize the occasion to promote a
schism which would ruin the cause irreparably.
In that case the main obstacle to Count Gustav's open acknowledgment of
Gareth as his wife would be removed; but her husband and father must
remain open and bitter enemies; and her choice must be made between
them. Poor Gareth!
And so I sat in long, weary suspense, tossed hither and thither by my
distracted thoughts, while I waited, my nerves high-strung, to learn
the result of the conference below stairs.
I was roused by a long, shuddering sigh from Gareth.
"I am here, dear," I said, bending over her.
"I am so cold, Christabel," she cried, shivering. I felt her hands;
they were as cold as stones; but when I laid my fingers on her brow, it
was hot with the burning heat of a fever. In much concern I called up
Mrs. Perry, and together we applied such remedies as we could devise.
She was quite passive in our hands. Thanked us with sweet smiles,
doing just what we told her like a submissive child.
"What has caused this, Miss Christabel?" asked Mrs. Perry. "She is
really ill, and should see a doctor."
"She has had a shock," I replied; and the good soul shook her head
dismally.
"She is just the sweetest girl that ever happened, but not weather
proof against much shock," she said.
Then I heard sounds below; and my pulse quickened. The conference was
ended,--how? "Stay here and watch while I am away," I said, and went
downstairs.
His Excellency and Count Gustav were in the hall speaking together
eagerly.
"Where is Gareth?" asked the Count.
"Upstairs, in her room."
"I will take her away with me. A wife must go with her husband," he
answered; his tone curt and bitter.
"She is ill. A case for a doctor, I fear."
"She was well enough just now. Is this another trick? Tell her I am
waiting for her. She has cost me enough. I may as well have as much
of her as I can."
"You will have her life if you take her away now. But that may be your
object." I could not help the taunt, his manner so enraged me.
"Thank you," he said, with a curl of the lip.
"It is no case for harsh words," put in his Excellency.
"And more certainly none for harsh deeds. Gareth cannot go until a
doctor has seen her," I declared firmly.
"But for your meddling none of this would have happened," declared
Gustav. "Let me see her."
"In your present mood, no. The shock of her father's cruel rebuff has
quite unnerved her," I said to his Excellency. "Tell me what doctor to
send for, please."
He wrote down the name of a Dr. Armheit and his address, and I sent off
James Perry at once. "What has been decided?" I asked next. "Where is
the Duke? He should be told of Gareth."
"I will speak to you presently," said the General, very kindly.
Count Gustav laughed maliciously. "You have made a mess of things for
yourself as well as for the rest of us, thank heaven. It serves you
right. Karl has----"
"Stop, if you please, Count Gustav, this is for me to explain," broke
in the General very angrily. "Be good enough to leave it to me."
"Why? What do I owe to you or to this meddler here that I should hold
my tongue at your bidding? She has set herself against us, and must
take the consequences. The Duke has about as much affection for you,
as I have; and neither of us relishes the honour you would do us by
becoming a member of our family."
"Silence, sir," exclaimed the General, hotly.
"Not at your bidding, or that of any other man."
"Nothing that this--this gentleman can say can affect me, General," I
said, smoothly.
The words seemed to add fuel to Count Gustav's anger. "My wife shall
not stay in your house and in your care," he said with great heat.
"The moment the doctor says she may leave the house, she can go--but
not before."
"Oh, it's only another lie," he cried, passionately; and raising his
voice he called loudly: "Gareth, Gareth. I am waiting for you. I,
Gustav; Gareth, I say, Gareth."
"You may kill her," I murmured, wringing my hands.
As if gloating over my trouble, he sneered: "You act well; but we'll
see;" and he called again loudly: "Gareth, Gareth, come to me."
I caught the sound of her footsteps above. The door of her room opened
and she answered: "I am coming, Gustav;" and a moment later she came
down the stairs and threw herself into his arms.
"She told me you were too ill to come to me, but I knew it was false.
You feel well enough to come away with me?"
"Yes, of course, if you wish it. I must go with him, Christabel; he is
my husband," she cried, wistfully. "He called me."
The General saw her condition as plainly as I.
"She is more fit to be in bed than to leave here," he said.
"Do you suppose I cannot take care of my own wife, sir?" cried Gustav,
fiercely. "Get your hat, Gareth."
She left his arms and began to climb the stairs.
"Mrs. Perry will bring it, Gareth," I said, hastily.
But there was no need for it. She clung to the balustrade feebly and
turned back to look at Gustav.
"I'm afraid--I'm--I'm----" No more; for the next instant he had to
catch her in his arms to save her from falling. She smiled to him as
if trying to rally her strength. "My head," she murmured; and then the
hand which was pressed to it dropped, and she fainted.
"You had better carry her up to bed," said his Excellency, practically.
"She has only fainted and will be better in a minute," answered the
Count. "She shall not stay here;" and he carried her into one of the
rooms and laid her on a couch, standing between me and her to prevent
my approach. Every action appeared to be inspired by hatred of me
instead of care for her.
Happily the doctor soon came, and his first words after he had examined
her were that she must be carried at once to bed.
"I wish to remove her from the house," said Count Gustav.
"It is impossible," was the brusque, imperative reply.
"It is necessary."
"It is for me to say what is necessary in such a case," declared the
doctor; and being a strong as well as a masterful man, he picked Gareth
up in his arms and told me to show the way to her bedroom.
And in this way she was given back into my care.