THE HONORS OF THE DAY
It is those in the thick of the battle who can afterwards tell least
about it; and to the Princess those five minutes--moments the most
tremendous, the most vital of her life--were afterwards in memory like
a dream.
She had seen that a man was ghastly pale; she had caught a gleam of
fear in his eye; she had felt a tigerish quiver run through his frame
as the crowd pressed him against her. Instinct--and love--had told her
the rest, and taught her how to act.
Vaguely she recalled later, that she had thrown herself forward and
struck up the knife. An impression of that knife as the light gleamed
on it, alone was clear. Sickening, she had thought of the dull sound
it would make in falling, of the blood that would spout from a rent in
the white coat, among the jeweled orders. She had thought, as one
thinks in dying, of existence in a world empty of Leopold, and she
had known that unless he could be saved, her one wish was to go out of
the world with him.
More than this she had not thought or known. What she did was done
scarcely by her own volition, and she seemed to wake with a start at
last, to hear herself sobbing, and to feel the throb, throb, of a hot
pain in her arm.
A hundred hands--not quick enough to save, yet quick enough to follow
the lead given by her--had fought to seize the man in gray, and stop a
second blow. They had borne him away; while as for Virginia, her work
done, she forgot everything and every one but Leopold.
Reviving, she had heard him speak to the crowd, and told herself
dreamily that, were she dying, his voice could bring her back if he
called. She even listened to each word that rang out like a cathedral
bell, above the babel. Still he held her, and when the cheers came,
she scarcely understood that they were for her as well as for Leopold
the Emperor. Afterwards, the necessity for public action over, he bent
his head close enough to whisper, "Thank you"; and then for Virginia
every syllable was clear.
"You are the bravest woman alive," he said. "I had to keep them from
killing that ruffian, but now I can speak to you alone. I thank you
for what you did, with my whole heart, and I pray Heaven you're not
seriously hurt."
"No, not hurt, and very happy," the Princess answered, hardly knowing
what she said. She felt like a soul released from its body, floating
in blue ether. What could it matter if that body ached or bled?
Leopold was safe, and she had saved him.
He pointed to her sleeve. "The knife struck you. Your arm's bleeding,
and the wound must be seen immediately by my own surgeon. Would that I
could go with you myself, but duty keeps me here; you understand that.
Baron von Lyndal and his wife will at once take you home, wherever you
may be staying. They--"
"But I would rather stop and see the rest," said Virginia. "I'm quite
well now, not even weak, and I can go down to my friend--"
"If you're able to stop, it must be here with me," answered Leopold.
"After the service you have done for me and for the country, it is
your place."
The ladies of the court, who, with their husbands, had been waiting
to congratulate Leopold, crowded round the girl as the Emperor turned
to them with a look and gesture of invitation. A seat was given her,
and the arm in its blood-stained sleeve was hastily bound up. She was
the heroine of the day, dividing honors with its hero.
There was scarcely a _grande dame_ among the brilliant assemblage on
the Emperor's platform, to whom Lady Mowbray and her daughter had not
a letter of introduction, from their invaluable friend. But no one
knew at this moment of any title to their recognition possessed by the
girl, other than the right she had earned by her splendid deed. All
smiled on her through grateful tears, though there were some who would
have given their ten fingers to have stepped into her place.
Thus Virginia sat through the ceremonies, careless that thousands of
eyes were on her face, thinking only of one pair of eyes, which spared
a glance for her now and then; hardly seeing the statue of Rhaetia
whose glorious marble womanhood unveiled roused a storm of enthusiasm
from the crowd; hearing only the short, stirring speech made by
Leopold.
When everything was over, and the people had no excuse to linger save
to see the Emperor ride away and the great personages disperse,
Leopold turned again to Virginia.
All the world was listening, of course; all the world was watching,
too; and no matter what his inclination might have been, his words
could be but few.
Once more he thanked and praised her for her courage, her presence of
mind; thanked her for remaining, as if she had been granting a favor
to him; and asked where she was stopping, in Kronburg as he promised
himself the honor of sending to inquire for her health that evening.
His desire would be to call at once in person, he added, but, owing to
the program arranged for this day and several days to follow, not only
each hour but each moment would be officially occupied. These birthday
festivities were troublesome, but duly must be done. And then, Leopold
repeated (when he had Miss Mowbray's name and address), the court
surgeon and physician would be commanded to attend upon her without
delay.
With these words and a chivalrous courtesy at parting, the Emperor was
gone, Baron von Lyndal, Grand Master of Ceremonies, and his Baroness
having been told off to take care of Miss Mowbray.
In another mood it would have pricked Virginia's sense of humor to see
Baroness von Lyndal's almost shocked surprise at discovering her to be
the daughter of that Lady Mowbray whom she was asked to meet. (Luckily
all the letters of introduction had reached their destination, it
merely remaining, according to etiquette in Rhaetia, for Lady Mowbray
to announce her arrival in Kronburg by sending cards to the
recipients.) But Virginia had no heart for laughter now.
She had been on the point of forgetting, until reminded by a dig from
the spur of necessity, that she was only a masquerader, acting her
borrowed part in a pageant. For the first time since she had hopefully
taken it up, that part became detestable. She would have given almost
anything to throw it off, and be herself: for nothing less than clear
sincerity seemed worthy of this day and the event which crowned it.
Nevertheless, in the vulgar language of proverb which no well
brought-up Princess should ever stoop to use, she had made her own
bed, and she must lie in it. It would not do for her suddenly to give
out to the world of Kronburg that she was not, after all, Miss
Mowbray, but Princess Virginia of Baumenburg-Drippe. That would not be
fair to the Grand Duchess, who had yielded to her wishes, nor fair to
her own plans. Above all, it would not be fair to the Emperor,
handicapped as he now was by a debt of gratitude. No; Miss Mowbray she
was, and Miss Mowbray she must for the present remain.
Naturally the Grand Duchess fainted when her daughter was brought back
with ominous red stains upon the gray background of her traveling
dress. But the wound was neither deep nor dangerous. The court surgeon
was as consoling as he was complimentary, and by the time that
messengers from the palace had arrived with inquiries from the Emperor
and invitations to the Emperor's ball, the mother of the heroine could
dispense with her sal volatile.
She had fortunately much to think of. There was the important question
of dress for the ball to-morrow night; there was the still more
pressing question of the newspapers, which must not be allowed to
publish the borrowed name of Mowbray, lest complications should arise;
and there were the questions to be asked of Virginia. How had she
felt? How had she dared? How had the Emperor looked, and what had the
Emperor said?
If it had been natural for the Grand Duchess to faint, it was equally
natural that she should not faint twice. She began to believe, after
all, that Providence smiled upon Virginia and her adventure; and she
wondered whether the Princess's white satin embroidered with seed
pearls, or the silver spangled blue tulle would be more becoming to
wear to the ball.
Next day the Rhaetian newspapers devoted columns to the attack upon
the Emperor by an anarchist from a certain province (once Italian),
who had disguised himself as an official in the employ of the
Burgomaster. There were long paragraphs in praise of the lady who,
with marvelous courage and presence of mind, had sprung between the
Emperor and the assassin, receiving on the arm with which she had
shielded _Unser Leo_ a glancing blow from the weapon aimed at the
Imperial breast. But, thanks to a few earnestly imploring words
written by "Lady Mowbray" to Baron von Lyndal, commands impressed upon
the landlord of the hotel, and the fact that Rhaetian editors are not
as modern as Americans in their methods, the lady was not named. She
was a foreigner and a stranger to the capital of Rhaetia; she was,
according to the papers, "as yet unknown."