MAN AND WIFE
Felix lost no time in seeking an interview with Prince Waldemar. He
preferred to look for him in his own house than to meet him
accidentally on 'change.
Waldemar did not keep him long waiting, neither did he treat him to
any display of his superior rank. He received him in his study.
"Ah, your highness is occupied with business," said Felix, with the
airy manner of an intimate friend; but he was secretly astonished to
see that a man of the prince's high position was actually cutting the
pages of the pamphlet before him, and underlining with red and blue
pencil-marks the passages that pleased him most.
The prince laid down the pamphlet, and asked Felix to take a chair.
"I have only this moment heard," continued the banker, "that your
excellency had arrived in Paris, and I hastened to be the first to pay
my respects."
"Strange! At this very moment, I, too, was occupying myself with your
affairs," returned the prince, with a peculiar smile, which Felix
noted and thought he understood. He tried to put on a jaunty air as he
made answer:
"I have come as an envoy under the protection of a flag of truce into
the enemy's country."
The prince thought to himself, "The fellow's flag of truce is a
handkerchief worked with the letter E."
"Even greater powers than we," went on Felix, twirling his hat in his
fingers with some embarrassment, "have in sudden emergencies
co-operated, and from being enemies have become fast friends,
recognizing that to bury the hatchet was for their mutual advantage."
"And may I inquire what is for our mutual advantage?"
"My projected loan."
The prince said nothing, but the smile that played upon his thin lips
was a sufficient and most irritating answer. Felix began to lose his
calmness. He rose from his chair, and in his earnestness leaned over
the table at which the prince was sitting.
"Prince," he said "this loan is for the benefit of the Holy See. You
are, I know, a good Catholic."
"Who has betrayed my secret?"
"Besides, you are a thorough aristocrat. It must go against your
highness's feelings to see that while in Hungary a bureaucratic
minister pillages the Church and puts its revenues in his pocket, a
band of freebooters throws the patrimony of St. Peter to the mob. All
this can be prevented by our striking one blow. You will strike it,
for you are a nobleman in the best sense of the word."
"What else am I?"
"Above all, you are a financier. It cannot escape your keen eye that
this loan is one of the greatest, the soundest of speculations; for
you are a prudent man, and you know how to add two and two."
"Have I any other qualifications?"
Waldemar's cold, sarcastic rejoinders did not put Felix out of
countenance. His face assumed a still more amiable expression as he
offered his hand to the prince, saying, in a cordial manner:
"I trust you will be the honored friend of the house of Kaulmann."
These words would be met either by a warm shake of the hand or by a
box on the ear. He ran the risk, waiting breathlessly for the answer,
which was different from, and yet worse than, that he expected. The
prince took up the pamphlet which he had been busy underlining with
red and blue pencil.
"Now, my excellent brother in the faith, my fellow aristocrat, my
comrade in finance, and my best friend, just you throw your eye over
this little brochure, for there you will find my answer. I beg that
you will take your time."
He handed the pamphlet to Felix, and while that gentleman cast his eye
over it the prince pared his nails carefully.
Felix laid down the pamphlet. "This purports to be my biography."
"As I think the title-page mentions."
"Your highness is, I presume, the writer?"
"I have given the heads."
"There are all manner of affairs mentioned here in which I have played
a sorry part by throwing dust in the eyes of the public, principally,
however, in the Bondavara speculation, in which, it seems, I have
announced a false balance and a feigned bonus, drawn ten millions out
of the capital, which capital is now irrecoverably lost by the late
catastrophe in the mine. It is a terrible indictment against me."
"Perhaps it is not true?"
"_It is true!_ Your highness is my faithful biographer; but allow me
to fill up the details of the memoir. The unlooked-for misfortune of
yesterday can be repaired to-morrow; the unlucky speculation may be
glossed over if a better takes its place; a small defeat is
compensated by a great victory. What use does your highness intend to
make of this brochure?"
"Frankly, I intend, as soon as you declare your new loan, to circulate
this pamphlet freely on 'change. I shall then set the bears to work,
so that in no time your shares shall be driven out of the market."
"I guessed as much, and, to be frank, it was on this very account that
I have come here, to prevent, if I can, such ruin to myself."
Felix tried by continuous winking of his eyes to express his despair.
He put his right hand into his vest, and in a low voice added:
"Perhaps when you see me stretched dead before you your aim will then
be accomplished."
Prince Waldemar broke into an irrepressible fit of laughter and
clapped Kaulmann on the shoulder.
"I beg of you not to act a farce for my benefit. You did not come here
to blow your brains out. Nothing of the sort; you came to sell me
something. You are a ruined speculator, but you still possess one
jewel of value, a wonderful black carbuncle which you found in the
coal-mine and got smoothly cut, which you have already sold at a great
profit, but which is now back on your hands. You are perfectly aware
that I desire to get this jewel if I can, that I am willing to offer
all I have for it; and this is why you have come here to-day. Let us
understand one another. I will treat with you. What is your price?"
The prince threw himself back in his chair, but he let Kaulmann stand
without again asking him to be seated.
The banker gave up his tragic manner, and resumed his customary cool,
hard, matter-of-fact voice.
"First of all, this;" and he laid his hand upon the pamphlet.
"Good! You shall have it--a thousand copies and the manuscript. You
can burn it, unless you care to keep it as a souvenir."
"Secondly," went on Felix, "you must abandon your conspiracy against
me. During the three days of raising the loan your bears are to keep
quiet; there are to be no manoeuvres. Thirdly, your name must appear in
the list of subscribers with a good sum after it."
"Good! We shall understand one another. Now listen to my modifications
of your proposal. On the first day when the shares of the new loan are
drawn I undertake to keep the bears quiet, but I shall take no shares.
On the second day I shall also keep quiet, but I shall not give you a
shove. On the third day I shall take one million shares, and from that
time I undertake to push your speculation as if I were your best
friend."
"And why not on the first two days?"
"I will tell you what is to happen on those days. This very day you
must go to madame and tell her that Prince Theobald's fortune is
sequestrated and that she can no longer occupy his hotel. Madame was
once generous enough to return to the prince his palace in the
Maximilian Strasse, together with all it contained. She will have to
repeat this act of renunciation and return to her husband's roof. Her
husband must celebrate this happy event by a splendid entertainment,
to which he will, as a matter of course, invite his best friend." Here
the prince laid, with a significant gesture, his little finger on his
breast. "The friend will take this opportunity to show madame a
photograph of his summer palace, which is situated on the Lake of
Constance, and only waits for the presence of its mistress to be
perfection, while she stands in great need of the lovely breezes of
the lake to restore her."
"You are really very thoughtful."
"Do not praise me too soon. On the second day you must have an
explanation with madame. You will tell her that in France a marriage,
to be legal, must be contracted before the civil magistrate; therefore
you will go with her before the registrar and have yourself legally
married."
"But, prince," cried Felix, with a horrified expression upon his face,
"why should I do that?"
"Why?" returned the prince, standing up in his turn, so as to be able
the better to overwhelm his victim. "Because I wish to defeat your
little game. You took to yourself a wife in another country, knowing
you could repudiate her here. It is my wish that madame shall bear
your name always; otherwise you would have it in your power on the
fourth day to say to me, 'I gave you what was not mine to give.' I
shall have the diamond in its proper setting. I shall not remove the
centre-stone from your wedding-ring; but I shall wear it on _my_
finger."
Kaulmann could not conceal his embarrassment. "This whim is
incomprehensible," he said.
"On the contrary," returned the other, with a devilish sneer, "it is
quite clear; it simply means that _I know you au fond_. And now to my
own affairs. I am desperately in love with one woman, and she detests
me. She will not even look at me. But she little thinks I know the
reason of her abhorrence. Your wife is a virtuous woman. You look
surprised--naturally. It is no merit of yours that she has remained
so. Oh, you need not protest! Prince Theobald has told me the whole
history. Among other things, he made her swear that she would never
receive me. Poor old fool! He did not act with much knowledge of human
nature. If he had not interfered it's very likely I should have tired
of pursuing a woman who did not care for me; but the mystery that
surrounded her has added to my interest. I adore her, not alone for
her beauty, her charm, but for her innocence, her goodness. She
requires nothing to raise her in my estimation; but before the world
she must take her fitting place. She must have the shield of her
husband's name, the right to his protection. Now you understand what I
require of you."
"Prince, your ideas are demoniacal. You wish to bind me to my
dishonor."
"To your dishonor!" and the prince laughed scornfully. "My good
Kaulmann, who asked you to come here and sell your honor? Ah, you
cannot answer that! Never mind, we shall keep our secret; the world
shall know nothing. In society the head of the house of Kaulmann shall
be considered an honorable gentleman, an excellent husband, a good
family man. In the commercial world he will be looked upon as a sound
financier. Honors will crowd upon him; he will go far. . . . His real
position will be known to only three people. There, my good friend,
don't feign so much virtuous indignation. You are overacting, which
always spoils the effect. I will take it all for granted. Time is
short; it will be better to make use of it."
This was true. Every moment was precious. Felix abandoned all attempts
at outraged feelings of honor and the like, and, composing his
agitated features, held out his hand to the prince. The latter,
however, did not take it.
"There's no need to shake hands over our honorable compact. Take your
note-book and write down the conditions, and be sure you put the dates
correctly. To-morrow, if I receive by one o'clock the card of
invitation to your entertainment, I shall remain away from the
exchange. The next day I do the same; that is, if I receive _before_
one o'clock the official notification that your civil marriage has
taken place. On the _fourth_ day, if _before_ one o'clock your
solicitor brings me the news that you have set off to Brussels to
negotiate the papal loan, and that he hands me the key of your house,
with the request that I will look after the business in your absence,
then I shall go down to the exchange, and push your affair as if it
were my own. Now you may go, sir, and indulge your outraged feelings
in private."