IN LOVE WITH HONOUR.
Révonde was drenched in a sudden and depressing thaw. From her crowned
ridges down to the swollen river rushing at her feet, she stood
shivering in a robe of clinging mist; yet the day was warm with the raw
deceptive closeness that chills to the bone and awakens the latent germs
of death.
From the Hôtel du Chancelier the winter view over the bright, beautiful
city, glittering only yesterday in its winter bedizenment of frost and
snow, was changed. Streams of dirty water poured from the roofs, and in
the streets the miry snow sluiced slowly downhill or stuck on passing
boot-heels in treacherous pads.
A thaw is demoralising; its penetrative power strikes deeper than
physical _malaise_. With the average man or woman it damps the spirits,
unstrings the will, and slackens the mental and moral fibre until
resistance of any kind becomes an effort. M. Selpdorf was in the habit
of saying that the rope by which the world swings is made up of the
strands of the days rather than of the fathoms of the years. He held
that no detail was too insignificant to be used as a factor in the
conduct of affairs; thus he habitually took everyday trifles into
account, since small items are apt to add up handsomely in the final
figure of any calculation. A man who says 'No' to-day may be won to
consent to-morrow under altered conditions of weather and diet.
Therefore the Chancellor, who had avoided his daughter since her return,
made choice of a dismal morning to bring his influence to bear upon her.
He relied a good deal upon Valerie's affection for himself, which was
strong and single-hearted. Moreover, he had trained her to the masculine
habit of taking a broad view, a bird's-eye view, of the whole of a given
subject, instead of turning the microscope of her emotions on any one
point, after the manner of women.
Baron von Elmur was no longer young, but he was a personage and a figure
in the political world. By marrying him Valerie would place herself in a
position where her cleverness, her tact, and her beauty would be offered
a wide and splendid field of activity. Besides, so Selpdorf imagined,
she had no more favoured suitor.
Valerie was sweet and proud and sensitive; her father gave her credit
for the two first qualities, but it probably would not have struck him
to use that last term in describing her. He forgot that, in spite of any
amount of masculine training, a woman remains always a woman at heart.
Had Valerie not met Rallywood, she might never have known as much about
herself as she discovered during her visit to Sagan; as matters stood,
however, the weak point in M. Selpdorf's theory was already under
strain. The Chancellor usually breakfasted alone with his daughter. She
was at once spirited and adaptable--adaptable enough to fall in with a
man's moods, and spirited enough to hold independent opinions, an ideal
combination in a comrade. Servants were rigorously excluded from the
room during the meal, that father and daughter might talk freely
together.
'I have hardly seen you since you came back, Valerie. I have missed
you,' Selpdorf said as he turned away from the table and lit a
cigarette. 'I am hurried to-day, yet I must speak to you on a subject
that cannot be put off. One incident of your stay at the Castle has been
constantly in my mind.'
'Yes, father.'
The unconcern of her voice struck Selpdorf. Things were either about to
go unexpectedly well or else very badly.
'Baron von Elmur tells me you yielded to my advice and his wishes. In
fact, you consented to an engagement.'
'Oh, yes, for the time being.'
'My dear girl,' he returned gravely, 'it has been publicly announced. It
was announced the same evening, I understand.'
Valerie looked at him with a vague alarm in her eyes.
'Only by an unlucky accident,' she replied. 'It was never intended to
be announced. Baron von Elmur assured me of that.'
'I am sure von Elmur's intentions were most generous, but the fact
remains that it was made public. Valerie, you must be aware of his
feelings towards you?'
Valerie came round the table and sat down beside her father, slipping
her hand caressingly through his arm.
Selpdorf smiled down at her.
'Valerie, I must ask you to consider not only your own share in this
question, but von Elmur's. It compromises Elmur no less than it
compromises you.'
'I cannot carry out the engagement,' said the girl quietly.
M. Selpdorf threw a great deal of surprise and disappointment into his
countenance.
'I did not know you were so greatly prejudiced against him. But,
Valerie, we are honourable people, you and I, and we cannot allow Baron
von Elmur to suffer because we unluckily misunderstood one another.'
Valerie grew very still, her fingers pressed upon her father's arm.
'Nothing succeeds like success, and up to the present time von Elmur has
succeeded,' he went on. 'But a failure in a love affair places a man in
an absurd position, and to be laughed at means loss of prestige.
Wherever he is known the story will follow him. He has a brilliant
future before him, a future that it might be the pride of any woman to
share. I think, therefore, you will hesitate before you injure him by
giving way to a girlish and perhaps passing dislike.'
'Father, I cannot!'
Valerie's voice was always low pitched and had the mellow sweetness
peculiar to a contralto. But Selpdorf recognised a note in it now which
showed him that his wishes were very far from fulfilment. She was loyal
and steadfast, qualities that up to the present the Chancellor had found
very admirable in his daughter. It is a rare pleasure for men of his
type to be able to trust their womankind. In the case of his motherless
girl, the Chancellor had enjoyed this pleasure to the full. To-day for
the first time he found himself face to face with the less convenient
side of the girl's character. She was an eminently reasonable person,
and though she could stick to her point she never did so without cause.
Therefore Elmur's affair promised to be awkward.
'What are your reasons?' he asked, after a pause.
'I do not--like Baron von Elmur.'
'That is unfortunate, but your dislike may be overcome when you know him
better.'
'Oh, no!--never!'
'Why not?'
'Is it possible to explain a dislike?' asked Valerie rather petulantly.
'No, perhaps not--for a woman,' said Selpdorf reflectively, 'but since
there is no other----' he waited, then putting his forefinger under his
chin, he raised her face and looked into it. 'Unless indeed you prefer
someone----'
Her eyes, which met his with the clear direct glance they had not
inherited from himself, and her pale gravity dismayed him.
'Speak, my dear child. This is a matter very near my heart,' he said
quietly.
A tremulous smile came to Valerie's lips.
'And near mine--or I should not oppose you, father.'
Selpdorf pushed her away from him with a gentle hand.
'You don't know what you are doing,' he said shortly, and gazed out with
undisguised chagrin into the mists that overhung Révonde. Presently he
stood up.
'Well, well; it only goes to prove that the human element is a variable
quantity,' he remarked.
'Am I only a human element in your plans? Am I no more than that to
you?' She put her hands upon his shoulder.
M. Selpdorf drew her nearer and kissed her forehead.
'You know what you are to me, Valerie. I had hoped to join our interests
in all things, but----' he turned to the door.
'Father!' the girl cried, 'don't leave me like this. You don't
understand. I only knew by chance. He is too noble to----'
'Ah!' Selpdorf recollected Elmur's phrase, 'There is always the
picturesque captain of the Guard.' He paused before speaking. 'Then this
noble individual does not propose to take my daughter from me
altogether--only to entangle her in a sentimental embarrassment?'
'He made no claim upon me. He was compelled to--to speak--for my sake!'
'I will not ask for further confidences to-day, Valerie. But think over
the whole of our conversation. I can trust you to be just, even to Baron
von Elmur.'
M. Selpdorf knew that the longer an idea is brooded over, the harder it
becomes to part company with it. Therefore the forenoon was yet young
when von Elmur drove up to the Hôtel du Chancelier in reply to a
summons. The German plot was not yet at an end. By judicious
manipulation, Selpdorf had gleaned a dim knowledge of Counsellor's
errand from the Duke, who was as wax in his supple hands. Counsellor's
return had already become one day overdue, and Selpdorf took advantage
of the delay to infuse doubts and troubled surmises into the Duke's
wavering mind.
He had recovered in some measure the royal confidence, and felt almost
certain that if the English proposals could be sufficiently delayed as
to seem to hang fire, he might still be able to persuade his master to
enter into some provisional arrangement with Germany.
'You have not any definite news for me, after all,' Elmur remarked at
the end of ten minutes. 'I begin to believe the Count's declaration that
his Highness can only be driven into a reasonable treaty with us by----'
he stopped and sketched rapidly on the paper before him, 'by--in
fact--the flat of the sword, shall we say?'
Selpdorf turned a look on his companion.
'Could you trust Count Simon to put any man, and most of all the one
upon whose property he has a reversionary claim, in fear of death? And
further trust him not to put the threat into execution if provoked by
failure?'
Elmur shrugged his shoulders.
'We should have Duke Simon to deal with in that case, instead of Duke
Gustave.'
M. Selpdorf's round forehead wrinkled slightly. He was apprehensive of
this new temper in Elmur. The Chancellor was too clever to be quite
honest, and too honest to be quite unflinching. A man, in fact, a little
weaker and a little stronger than his fellows. 'Then the Count's methods
still commend themselves to you, the miscarriage of the plan of Sagan
notwithstanding?' he asked with an invidious smile.
'If his Highness can be brought into a complacent frame of mind as
regards our project to-day, and before the English proposals are laid
before him, I think we shall not need the methods of the Count,' Elmur
answered. 'Count Simon has undertaken to help us on the Frontier. Major
Counsellor will be detained under some pretext at Kofn Ford block-house,
and later you, Monsieur, who have so consummate a skill in covering the
mistakes of other people, will set this mistake right by a graceful
apology. The fat Major will arrive in Révonde behind time--that is all.
In the meanwhile, his despatches will be forwarded to you if you will
select a safe person to meet the Count's messenger beyond the river.
Later you can return them to Major Counsellor and score a point by the
act.'
Selpdorf made no comment, but changed the subject. 'I have had a little
talk with my daughter.'
Elmur laid down his pen and his impassive air became more marked than
ever.
'Am I then to have the pleasure of an interview with Mademoiselle
to-day?' he inquired. 'I hope she exonerates me from any blame in
connection with the announcement made at Sagan?'
'Entirely. But she is inclined to insist that her consent was
conditional--no more.'
'I only desire the opportunity of assuring her of my entire devotion,'
said Elmur.
'I do not fancy that she wrongs you, my dear Baron, by doubting that.'
'There is then a difficulty on the part of Mademoiselle? It is
unfortunate.'
'It can be overcome. She is still very young, and her imagination has
been touched. The Englishman, Captain Rallywood, has, as you once
remarked the knack of making himself picturesque, which appeals in fact
to the imagination. I am myself sensible of something of the kind when
dealing with him. Valerie imagines him to be quixotic.'
'Has Mademoiselle said this?' Elmur was stiffening at every sentence.
Circumstances and not liking had put these two men on the same side, and
Selpdorf repaid Elmur's sneers at the helplessness of Maäsau with
sympathy for Elmur's position as a lover. No man likes to be pitied in
his love affairs.
'No, no, my good friend, no name was mentioned. It may be more
convenient that I should never know it.'
'Then you think she may be persuaded to alter her decision with regard
to me?'
'I am certain of it.'
'And what do you suggest shall be done with my--rival?' asked the German
with a sinister inflection of the voice.
'We must break him.'
'Will it not be possible to work in this small affair with Counsellor's
detention? Send Captain Rallywood to Kofn Ford to undertake the custody
of Major Counsellor. Of course, it will not be necessary for you to
mention the name of the person about whom your stupid Frontier officials
are to make so convenient a mistake. When Rallywood discovers the
identity of his prisoner, I fancy his honour will find the weight of
temptation put upon it too great. He also is in the English plot,
remember, and he will co-operate with his countryman. He will allow
Counsellor to escape. But by that time the Duke must have closed with
another ally.'
Selpdorf comprehended that the German was playing his own game in a
double sense. He was, in fact, serving his own private interests and
also hustling Selpdorf along towards the German goal.
'Then we shall have a court-martial,' said the Chancellor. 'Disgrace
will be more effectual than death itself in this case.'
'Disgrace? ah, yes! But I know what would happen to Captain Rallywood in
my country.' Elmur's eyes had a gleam in them.
'I am not so well informed. Our State is more elastic in its laws than
yours. I cannot foresee what will happen to him in mine!' replied
Selpdorf smiling.
'There is but one thing that could happen to him under military law in
any country. He will be shot!' said Elmur pleasantly, then added with a
sudden uncontrolled irritation, 'And that too is picturesque.'
The Chancellor spread out his hands.
'What will you, my dear Baron? It is also conclusive. Besides, we shall
have gained our point. The fellow's breach of faith is our point.
Valerie will be disillusioned; for recollect, I pray you, that Valerie
is in love with honour.'