A RACE FOR A THRONE
A silence fell on the little group for a time. All Peretori's gaiety had
vanished. He looked very moody and thoughtful as he sat there turning
recent events over in his mind. With all his faults, and they were many,
he was an Asturian at heart. He was prepared to do a deal for the sake
of his country. He had always promised himself that some day he would
settle down and be a credit to his nationality. The career of mad jest
must stop some time. It was impossible not to understand the mischief
that he had just done. But there was a mobile and clever brain behind
all this levity, and already Peretori began to see his way to a subtle
and suitable revenge.
"Have those stolen papers anything to do with it?" he asked. "That
Foreign Office business, you know?"
"They have everything to do with it," said Lechmere. "As a matter of
fact, Countess Saens has had those papers stolen from her in turn. She
cannot move very far without them. That she suspects where they have
gone is evidenced by the fact that she put your highness up to your last
escapade. The way she was tricked herself inspired her. If you can do
anything to even matters up----"
"I will do more than that," Peretori cried. "I have thought of
something. It is quite a good thing that the countess regards me as no
better than a feather-headed fool. She will never guess that I have
been here, she will never give you people credit for finding out what
you have done. It was very clever of Mr. Lechmere to do so."
"Not at all," Lechmere muttered. "I have seen your smart impersonations
before, and guessed at once who I had to look for. My finding you right
here was a bit of luck. Will you be so good as to tell us what you
propose doing?"
"I think not, if you don't mind," the prince replied. "I might fail, you
see. But, late as it is, I am going to call upon Countess Saens. My
excuse is that I have won my wager, and that it was a cash transaction.
Has the queen a telephone in her private apartments at the hotel?"
The queen explained that the telephone was there as a matter of course.
Peretori rose to his feet. "Then we had better adjourn this meeting for
the present," he said. "It will be far more cautious and prudent for the
queen to return to her hotel. You had better all go. Only somebody must
be imported here to look after General Maxgregor, whose life is so
valuable to Asturia."
Lechmere explained curtly that he would see to Maxgregor's safety, after
which he would follow to the queen's hotel. With a nod and a smile,
Peretori disappeared, after removing all traces of his make-up.
He was quite confident that he would be able to turn the tables on those
who had made use of him in so sorry a way. The queen could make up her
mind that she should hear from him before the night was over.
* * * * *
In a dazed, heavy way Jessie found herself in a handsome sitting room in
the queen's hotel. She became conscious presently that Lechmere was
back again, and that he was discussing events and recent details with
the queen. Jessie wondered if these people ever knew what it was to be
tired. Usually she was so utterly tired with her long day's work that
she was in bed a little after ten o'clock, and it was past two now. She
could hardly keep her eyes open. She sat up as the queen spoke to her.
"My poor dear child," she said quite tenderly, "you are half dead with
fatigue. I must take care of you after all you have done for me. And you
are going to bed without delay."
Jessie murmured that she was only too ready to do anything necessary.
But the queen would not hear of it. Jessie must go to bed at once. The
girl was too utterly tired to resist. In a walking dream she was led
away; a neat handed maid appeared to be undressing her, there was a
vision of a soft, luxurious bed, and then a dreamy delicious
unconsciousness. The queen bent and kissed the sleeping face before she
returned to the room where Lechmere awaited her.
"It is good to know that I have so many real friends," she said. "And
they are none the less kind because I have no possible claim on them.
You have arranged everything?"
"Thanks to the telephone, madame," Lechmere explained. "The rest I have
managed by cable. The special train to Dover will be ready in half an
hour; the special steamer awaits its arrival. The king will be in
Asturia almost before that damning paragraph reaches there. If he goes
_soon_."
"He should be back here by this time," the queen said with some anxiety
in her voice. "Captain Alexis promised me---- But somebody is coming up
the stairs. Ah, here they are!"
The king came into the room followed by Captain Alexis. He seemed moody
and depressed now. Probably the effects of the drug were passing off. He
said sullenly that he was going to bed. The queen's face flushed with
anger. She spoke clearly and to the point. She told him precisely what
had happened. The king followed in a dull yet interested way.
"Am I never to have any peace?" he asked brokenly. "What is the use of
being a king unless one----"
"Acts like a king," the queen said. "Have you not brought it all on
yourself by your criminal folly? Were you not on the point of betraying
us all? Now that is past. You are not going to bed, you are going to be
up and doing. It is your part to show Europe that your enemies' plans
are futile. You will be on the way to Asturia in half an hour, and
Captain Alexis and this gentleman accompany you."
The king protested feebly; it was utterly impossible that this thing
could be. But all his weak objections were thrust aside by the
importunity of the queen.
"You are going," she said firmly. "All things are ready. It is a
thousand pities that I cannot accompany you, but my place is in England
for the next ten days. All has been done; even now your man is finishing
the packing of your trunks. In half an hour the train starts for Dover.
If you are bold and resolute now, the situation can be saved and Asturia
with it."
The king protested no further. He sat with a dark, stubborn expression
on his face. It seemed to him that he was no better than a prisoner
being removed from one prison to another with two warders for company.
Not that he had the slightest intention of going to Asturia, he told
himself; it would be no fault of his if ever he set foot in his domains
again. But all this he kept to himself.
The little party set off at length, to the unmistakable relief of the
queen. She felt now that something was being done in the cause of home
and freedom. Russia was not going to be allowed to have everything her
own way. She paced up and down the room, a prey to her own painful
thoughts.
"Is there anything more that I can do for you, madame?" Lechmere asked.
"If there is, I pray that you command my services, which are altogether
at your disposal."
"Perhaps you will wait a little?" the queen said. "I expect we shall
hear from Peretori presently. What we have to do now is to recover those
missing papers. It is maddening to think that they may be lying in the
gutter at the present moment. If we dared advertise for them! Can't you
think of some way? You are so quick and clever and full of resource."
Lechmere shook his head. Perhaps he might think of some cunning scheme
when he had the time, but for the present he could not see his way at
all. To advertise would be exceeding dangerous. Any move in that
direction would be pretty sure to attract the attention of the enemy.
"The enemy is sufficiently alert as it is," Lechmere pointed out. "There
is Countess Saens, for instance, who has a pretty shrewd idea already of
the trick that has been played upon her. If she had no suspicion, she
would not have gone to Charing Cross Hospital to-night. And your
majesty must see that, at all hazards, she must be prevented from going
there in the morning. That scandal must be avoided. It would be a
thousand pities if Miss Galloway or Miss Harcourt----"
"I see, I see," the queen cried as she paced restlessly up and down the
room. "In this matter cannot you get Prince Peretori to give you a hand?
There is a fine fertility of resources in that brilliant brain of his.
And I am sure that when he left here to-night he had some scheme----"
The tinkle of the telephone bell cut off further discussion. At a sign
from the queen Lechmere took down the receiver and placed it to his ear.
Very gently he asked who was there. The reply was in a whisper that it
could hardly be heard by the listener, but all the same, he did not fail
to recognize the voice of Prince Peretori.
"It is I--Lechmere," he said. "You can speak quite freely. Have you done
anything?"
"I have done a great deal," came the response. "Only I want assistance.
Come round here and creep into the house and go into the little
sitting-room on the left side of the door. All the servants have gone to
bed, so you will be safe. Sit in the dark and wait for the signal. The
front door is not fastened. Can I count upon you? Right! So."
The voice ceased, there was a click of the telephone, and the connection
was cut off.