IRON HEART AT HOME
Schloss Lyndalberg towers high on a promontory, overlooking a lake,
seven or eight miles to the south of the Rhaetian capital. The castle
is comparatively modern, with pointed turrets and fretted minarets,
and, being built of white, Carrara marble, throws a reflection snowy
as a submerged swan, into the clear green water of the Mömmelsee. All
the surroundings of the palace, from its broad terraces to its jeweled
fountains and well-nigh tropical gardens, suggest luxury, gaiety,
pleasure.
But, on the opposite bank of the Mömmelsee is huddled the dark shape
of an ancient fortified stronghold, begun no one remembers how many
centuries ago by the first Count von Breitstein. Generation following
generation, the men of that family completed the work, until nowadays
it is difficult to know where the rock ends, and the castle begins.
There, like a dragon squatting on the coils of its own tail, the dark
mass is poised, its deep-set window-eyes glaring across the bright
water at the white splendor of Lyndalberg, like the malevolent stare
of the monster waiting to spring upon and devour a fair young maiden.
The moods of Baroness von Lyndal concerning grim old Schloss
Breitstein had varied many times during her years of residence by the
lake. Sometimes she pleased herself by reflecting that the great man
who had slighted her lived in less luxury than she had attained by her
excellent marriage. Again, the thought of the ancient lineage of the
present Count von Breitstein filled her with envy; and oftener than
all, the feeling that the "old grizzly bear" could crouch in his den
and watch sneeringly everything which happened at Lyndalberg got upon
the lady's nerves. She could have screamed and shaken her fist at the
dark mass of rock and stone across the water. But after the birthday
ball and during the first days of Leopold's visit at her house, she
often threw a whimsical glance at the grim silhouette against the
northern sky, and smiled.
"Can you see, old bear?" she would ask, gayly. "Are you spying over
there? Do you think yourself all-wise and all-powerful? Do you see
what's in my mind now, and do you guess partly why I've taken all this
trouble? Are you racking your brain for some way of spoiling my little
plans? But you can't do it, you know. It's too late. There's nothing
you can do, except sit still and growl, and glare at your own
claws--which a woman has clipped. How do you like the outlook, old
bear? Do you lie awake at night and study how to save your scheme for
the Emperor's marriage? All your grumpy old life you've despised
women; but now you're beginning at last to find out that powerful as
you are, there are some things a woman with tact and money, nice
houses and a good-natured husband can do, which the highest statesman
in the land can't undo. How soon shall I make you admit that,
Chancellor Bear?"
Thus the Baroness, standing at her drawing-room window, would amuse
herself in odd moments, when she was not arranging original and
elaborate entertainments for her guests. And she congratulated herself
particularly on having had the forethought to invite Egon von
Breitstein, the Chancellor's half-brother.
There was a barrier of thirty-six years' difference in age between the
two, and they had never been friends in the true sense of the word,
for the old man was temperamentally unable to sympathize with the
tastes, or understand the temptations of the younger brother, and the
younger man was mentally unable to appreciate the qualities of the
elder.
Nevertheless it was rumored at court that Iron Heart had more than
once used the gay and good-looking Captain of Cavalry for a catspaw in
pulling some very big and hot chestnuts out of the fire. At all events
"Handsome Egon," so known among his followers, "the Chancellor's
Jackal" (thus nicknamed by his enemies) would have found difficulty in
keeping up appearances without the allowance granted by his powerful
half-brother. The ill-assorted pair were often in communication, and
the Baroness liked to think that news fresh from Lyndalberg must
sooner or later be wafted like a wind-blown scent of roses across the
water to Schloss Breitstein.
She was still less displeased than surprised, therefore, when--the
Emperor having been three days at Lyndalberg, with two more days of
his visit to run--an urgent message arrived for Captain von Breitstein
from his brother.
Poor old Lorenz was wrestling with his enemy gout, it appeared, and
wished for Egon's immediate presence.
Such a summons could not be neglected. Egon's whole future depended
upon his half-brother's caprice, he hinted to the Baroness in asking
leave to desert her pleasant party for a few hours. So of course she
sent the Chancellor her regrets, with the Baron's; and Egon went off
charged with a friendly message from the Emperor as well.
When the Captain of Cavalry had set out from Lyndalberg to Schloss
Breitstein by the shortest way--across the lake in a smart little
motor-boat--promising to be back in time for dinner and a concert, the
Baroness spent all her energy in getting up an impromptu riding-party,
which would give Leopold the chance of another tête-a-tête with Miss
Mowbray.
Already many such chances had been arranged, so cleverly as not to
excite gossip; and if the flirtation (destined by the hostess to
disgust Leopold with his Chancellor's matrimonial projects) did not
advance by leaps and bounds, it was certainly not the fault of
Baroness von Lyndal.
"Egon has been told to use his eyes and ears for all they're worth at
Lyndalberg, and now he's called upon to hand in his first report," she
said to herself, when the younger von Breitstein was off on his
mission across the lake.
But for once, at least, the "Chancellor's Jackal" was wronged by
unjust suspicion. He arrived at Schloss Breitstein ignorant of his
brother's motive in sending for him, though he shrewdly suspected it
to be something quite different from the one alleged.
The Chancellor was in his study, a deep windowed, tower room, with
walls book-lined nearly to the cross-beamed ceiling. He sat reading a
budget of letters when Egon was announced, and if he were really ill,
he did not betray his suffering. The square face, with its beetling
brows, eyes of somber fire, and forehead impressive as a cathedral
dome, showed no new lines graven by pain.
"Sit down, Egon," he said, abruptly, tearing in half an envelope
stamped with the head of Hungaria's King. "I'll be ready for you in a
moment."
The young man took the least uncomfortable chair in the room, which
from his point of view was to say little in its favor; because the
newest piece of furniture there, has been made a hundred years before
the world understood that lounging was not a crime. Over the high,
stone mantel hung a shield, so brightly polished as to fulfil the
office of a mirror, and from where Egon sat, perforce upright and
rigid, he could see himself vignetted in reflection.
He admired his fresh color, which was like a girl's, pointed the waxed
ends of his mustache with nervous, cigarette-stained fingers, and
thinking of many agreeable things, from baccarat to roulette, from
roulette to races, and races to pretty women, he wondered which he had
to thank for this summons to the Chancellor. Unfortunately, brother
Lorenz knew everything; one's pleasant peccadilloes buzzed to his ears
like flies; there was little hope of deceiving him.
Egon sighed, and his eyes turned mechanically from his own visage on
shining steel, to the letter held in an old hand so veined that it
reminded the young man of a rock netted with the sprawling roots of
ancient trees. He had just time to recognize the writing as that of
Adalbert, Crown Prince of Hungaria, whom he knew slightly, when keen
eyes curtained with furled and wrinkled lids, glanced up from the
letter.
"It's coming," thought Egon. "What can the old chap have found out?"
But to his surprise the Chancellor's first words had no connection
with him or his misdeeds.
"So our Emperor is amusing himself at Lyndalberg?"
Egon's face brightened. He could be cunning in emergencies, but he was
not clever, and always he felt himself at a disadvantage with the old
statesman. Unless he had a special favor to ask, he generally
preferred discussing the affairs of others with the Chancellor, rather
than allowing attention to be attracted to his own. "Oh yes," he
answered, brightly. "His Majesty is amusing himself uncommonly well. I
never saw him in as brilliant spirits. But you, dear Lorenz. Tell me
about yourself. Is your gout--"
"The devil take my gout!"
Egon started. "A good thing if he did, provided he left you behind,"
he retorted, meaning exactly the opposite, as he often did when trying
to measure wits with the Chancellor. "But you sent for me--"
"Don't tell me you supposed I sent for you because I wanted
consolation or condolence?"
"No-o," laughed Egon, uneasily. "I fancied there was some other more
pressing reason. But I'm bound in common courtesy to take your
sincerity for granted until you undeceive me."
"Hang common courtesy between you and me," returned the Bear. "I've
nothing to conceal. I sent for you to tell me what mischief that
witch-cat Mechtilde von Lyndal is plotting. You're on the spot. Trust
you for seeing everything that goes on--the one thing I would trust
you to do."
"Thanks," said Egon.
"Don't thank me yet, however grateful you may be. But I don't mind
hinting that it won't be the worse for you, if for once you've used
those fine eyes of yours to some useful purpose."
Egon was genuinely astonished at this turn of the conversation, as he
had been carefully arming himself against a personal attack from any
one of several directions. He sat pointing the sharp ends of his
mustache, one after the other, and trying to remember some striking
incident with which to adorn a more or less accurate narrative.
"What would you call useful?" he inquired at last.
The Chancellor answered, but indirectly. "Has the Emperor been playing
the fool at Lyndalberg, these last few days?"
"Do you want to make me guilty of _lèse Majesté_?" Egon raised his
eyebrows; but he was recovering presence of mind. "If by playing the
fool, though, you mean falling in love, why then, brother, I should
say he had done little else during the three days; and perhaps even
the first of those was not the beginning."
The Chancellor growled out a word which he would hardly have uttered
in the Imperial presence, particularly in the connection he suggested.
"Let me hear exactly what has been going on from day's end to day's
end," he commanded.
Egon grew thoughtful once more. Clearly, here was the explanation of
the summons. He was to be let off easily, it appeared; but, suspense
relieved, he was not ready to be satisfied with negative blessings.
"Are you sure it isn't a bit like telling tales out of school?" he
objected.
"School-boys--with empty pockets--have been known to do that," said
the Chancellor. "But perhaps your pockets aren't empty--eh?"
"They're in a chronic state of emptiness," groaned Egon.
"On the fifteenth day of October your quarterly allowance will be
paid," remarked his brother. "I would increase the instalment by the
amount of five thousand gulden, if that would make it worth your while
to talk--and forget nothing but your scruples."
"Oh, you know I'm always delighted to please you!" exclaimed Egon.
"It's only natural, living the monotonous life you do when you're not
busy with the affairs of state, that you should like to hear what goes
on in the world outside. Of course, I'll gladly do my best as a
_raconteur_."
"My dear young man, don't lie," said the Chancellor. "The habit is
growing on you. You lie even to yourself. By and by you'll believe
yourself, and then all hope for your soul will be over. What I want to
know is; how far the Emperor has gone in his infatuation for this
English girl. I'm not afraid to speak plainly to you, so you may
safely--and profitably--do the same with me. In the first place I'll
put you at your ease by making a humiliating confession. The other
night the woman von Lyndal tried to 'draw me,' as she would express
it, on this subject, and I'm bitterly mortified to say she partly
succeeded. She suggested an entanglement between Leopold and the girl.
I replied that Leopold wasn't the man to pull down a hornet's nest of
gossip around the ears of a young woman who had saved his life. No
matter what his inclinations might be, I insisted that he would pay
her no repeated visits. This thrust the fair Mechtilde parried--as if
repeating a mere rumor--by saying that she believed the girl was to
stay at the country house of some old friend of the Emperor. At the
time, I attached little importance to her chatter, believing that she
merely wished to give me a spiteful slap or two, as is her habit when
she has the chance. For once, though, she has succeeded in stealing a
march upon me; and she kept the secret of her plan until too late for
me to have any hope of preventing Leopold from fulfilling his
engagement at her house. After that was safely arranged, I don't doubt
she was overjoyed that I should guess her plot."
"Do you think that, even if you'd known sooner, you could have stopped
the Emperor from visiting at Lyndalberg?" asked Egon. "I know that you
are iron; but he is steel."
"I would have stopped him," returned the Chancellor. "I should have
made no bones about the reason; for I've found that the best way with
Leopold is to blurt out the whole truth, and fight him--my experience
against his will. If advice and warning hadn't sufficed to restrain
him from insulting the girl who is to be his wife, and injuring the
reputation of the girl who never can be, I would have devised some
expedient to thwart him, for his own good. I'm not a man to give up
when I feel that I am right."
"Neither is he," Egon added. "But since you seem so determined to nip
this dainty blossom of love in the bud, we'll hope it's not yet too
late for a sharp frost to blight it."
"I sent for you," said the Chancellor, brushing away metaphor with an
impatient gesture, "to show me the precise spot on which to lay my
finger."
"I'll do my best to deserve your confidence," responded Egon,
gracefully. "Let me see, where shall I begin? Well, as you know, it's
simpler for the Emperor to see a good deal of the woman he admires, at
a friend's house than almost anywhere else, in his own country. This
particular woman risked her life to save his; and it's so natural for
him to be gracious in return, that people would be surprised if he
were not. There's so much in their favor, at the commencement.
"Miss Mowbray and her mother arrived at Lyndalberg before the Emperor,
had made friends there, and were ready for the campaign. The girl is
undoubtedly beautiful--the prettiest creature I think I ever saw--and
she has a winning way which takes with women as well as men. Not one
of her fellow-guests seems to put a wrong construction on her
flirtation with the Emperor, or his with her. The other men would
think him blind if he didn't admire her as much as they do; and none
of the women there are of the sort to be jealous. So, are you sure,
Lorenz, that you're not taking too serious a view of the affair?"
"It can't be taken too seriously, considering the circumstances. I've
told you my plans for the Emperor's future. Princesses are women, and
gossip is hydra-headed. When the lady hears--she who has been allowed
to understand that the Emperor of Rhaetia only waits for a suitable
opportunity of formally asking for her hand--for she will surely hear,
that he has seized this very moment for his first _liason_, I tell you
neither she nor her people are likely to accept the statement meekly.
She's half German; on her father's side a cousin not too distant of
William II. She's half English; on her mother's side related to the
King through the line of the Stuarts. And in her there's a dash of
American blood which comes from a famous grandmother, who was
descended from George Washington, a man as proud, and with the right
to be as proud, as any King. All three countries would have reason to
resent such an ungallant slight from Rhaetia."
"The little affair must be hushed up," said Egon.
"It must be stopped, and at once," said the Chancellor.
"Ach!" sighed the young man, with as much meaning in the long drawn
breath, as the elder might care to read. And if it did not discourage,
it at least irritated him. "Go on!" he exclaimed sharply. "Go on with
your sorry tale."
"After all, when one comes to the telling, there isn't a very great
deal one can put into cut-and-dried words," explained Egon. "At table,
the Emperor has his hostess on one side and his fair preserver on the
other. The two talk as much together during meals as etiquette allows,
and perhaps a little more. Then, as the Emperor has been often at
Lyndalberg, he can act as cicerone for a stranger. He has shown Miss
Mowbray all the beauties of the place. He gathers her roses in the
rose garden; he has guided her through the grottoes. He has piloted
her through the labyrinth; he has told her which are the best dogs in
the kennels; and has given her the history of all the horses in the
Baron's stables. I know this from the table talk. He has explored the
lake with Miss Mowbray and her mother in a motor-boat; perhaps you saw
the party? And whether or no he brought his automobile to Lyndalberg
on purpose, in any case he's had the Mowbrays out in it several times
already. One would hardly think he could have found a chance to do so
much in such a short time; but our Emperor is a man of action.
Yesterday we had a picnic at the Seebachfall, to see Thorwaldsen's
Undine. Leopold and Miss Mowbray being splendid climbers, reached the
statue on the height over the fall long before the rest of us. At
starting, however, I was close behind with the Baroness, and overheard
some joke between the two, about a mountain and a cow. The Emperor
spoke of milking as a fine art, and said he'd lately been taking
lessons. They laughed a great deal at this, and it was plain that
they were on terms of comradeship. When a young man and a girl have a
secret understanding--even the most innocent one--it puts them apart
from others.
"Last night there were fireworks on the lake. The Emperor and Miss
Mowbray watched them together, for everything was conducted most
informally. Afterwards we had an impromptu cotillion, with three or
four pretty new figures invented by the Baroness. The Emperor gave
Miss Mowbray several favors, and one was a buckle of enameled
forget-me-nots. This morning there was tennis. The Emperor and Miss
Mowbray played together. They were both so skilful, it was a pleasure
to watch them. At luncheon they each ate a double almond out of one
shell, had a game over it, and Leopold caught Miss Mowbray napping.
That brings us to the moment of my coming to you. For the afternoon, I
fancy the Baroness was getting up a riding party; and this evening
unless they're too tired, she'll perhaps get up an amateur concert at
which Miss Mowbray will sing. The girl has a delicious voice."
"The creature must be a fool, or an adventuress," pronounced the
Chancellor. "If she has kept her senses she ought to know that
nothing can come of this folly--except sorrow or scandal."
Egon shrugged his stiffly padded, military shoulders. "I have always
found that a woman in love doesn't stop to count the cost."
"So! You fancy her 'in love' with the Emperor."
"With the man, rather than the Emperor, if I'm a judge of character."
"Which you're not!" Iron Heart brusquely disposed of that suggestion.
"The merest school-girl could pull wool over your eyes, if she cared
to take the trouble."
"This one doesn't care a rap. She hardly knows that I exist."
"Humph!" The Chancellor's eyes appraised his young brother's features.
"That's a pity. You might have tried cutting the Emperor out. Her
affair with him can have no happy ending; while you, in spite of all
your faults, with your good looks, our position, and my money,
wouldn't be a bad match for an ambitious girl."
"Your money?"
"I mean, should I choose to make you my heir, and I would choose, if
you married to please me. Who are these Mowbrays?"
"I haven't had the curiosity to inquire into their antecedents," said
Egon. "I only know that they're ladies, that they must be of some
consequence in their own country, or they couldn't have got the
letters of introduction they have; and that the girl is the prettiest
on earth."
"Mechtilde talked to me, I remember, a good deal about those letters
of introduction," the Chancellor reflected aloud. "But Rhaetia is a
long cry from England; and letters might be forged. I've known such
things to be done. Fetch me a big red volume you'll find on the third
shelf from the floor, at the left of the south window. You can't miss
it. It's 'Burke's Peerage.'"
Egon rose with alacrity to obey. He was rather thoughtful, for his
brother had put an entirely new and exciting idea into his head.
Presently the red volume was discovered and laid on the desk before
the Chancellor, who turned the leaves over until he found the page
desired. As his eye fell upon the long line of Mowbrays, his face
changed and the bristling brows came together in a grizzled line.
Apparently the women were not adventuresses, at least in the ordinary
acceptation of the term.
There they were; his square-tipped finger pressed down upon the
printed names with a dig that might have signified his disposition
toward their representatives.
"The girl's mother is the widow of Reginald, sixth Baron Mowbray," the
old man muttered half aloud. "Son, Reginald Edward, fifteen years of
age. Daughter, Helen Augusta, twenty-eight. Aha! She's no chicken,
this young lady. She ought to be a woman of the world."
"Twenty-eight!" replied Egon. "I'll eat my hat if she's twenty-eight."
"Doesn't she look it, by daylight?"
"Not an hour over nineteen. Might be younger. Jove, I was never so
surprised to learn a woman's age! By the by, I heard her telling Baron
von Lyndal last night, apropos of our great Rhaetian victory, that she
was eleven years old on the day it took place. That would make her
about twenty now. When she spoke, I remember she gave a look at her
mother, across the room, as though she were frightened. I suppose she
was hoping there was no copy of this big red book at Lyndalberg."
"That thought might have been in her mind," assented the Chancellor,
"or else she--" He left his sentence unfinished, and sat with unseeing
eyes fixed in an owlish stare on the open page of Burke.
"I should like to know if you really meant what you said about my
marriage a little while ago." Egon ventured to attract his brother's
attention. "Because if you did--"
"If I did--"
"I might try very hard to please you in my choice of a wife."
"Be a little more implicit. You mean, you would try to prove to Miss
Mowbray that a Captain of Cavalry in the hand is worth an Emperor in
the bush--a bramble-brush at that, eh?"
"Yes. I would do my best. And as you say, I'm not without advantages."
"You are not. I was on the point of suggesting that you made the most
of them in Miss Mowbray's eyes--_until you brought me this red book_."
The large forefinger tapped the page of Mowbrays, while two lines
which might have meant amusement, or a sneer, scored themselves on
either side the Chancellor's mouth.
"And now--you've changed your mind?" There was disappointment in
Egon's voice.
"I don't say that. I say only, 'Wait.' Make yourself as agreeable to
the lady as you like. But don't pledge yourself, and don't count upon
my promise or my money, until you hear again. By that time--well, we
shall see what we shall see. Keep your hand in. But wait--wait."
"How long am I to wait? If the thing's to be done at all, it must be
done soon, for meanwhile, the Emperor makes all the running."
The Chancellor looked up again from the red book, his fist still
covering the Mowbrays, as if they were to be extinguished. "You are to
wait," he said, "until I've had answers to a couple of telegrams I
shall send to-night."