THE THIRD COURSE
The Prince came forward. "What a delightful surprise," he said. "How
good of you both to look me up! But I wish my prophetic soul had
warned me to keep back dinner. We have just reached the third course."
And his eyes met the Chancellor's.
"All the same," he went on, "I beg that you will honor me by dining.
Everything can be ready in a moment; and the _bisque eccrevisso_--"
"Thank you," cut in the Emperor. "We cannot dine." His voice came
hoarsely, as if a fierce hand pinched his throat. "Our call is purely
one of business, and--a moment will see it finished. We owe you an
explanation for this intrusion." He paused. All his calculations were
upset by the Chancellor's triumph; for to plan beforehand, what he
should do if he found Helen Mowbray dining here alone with the
Prince, would have been to insult her. His campaign had been arranged
in the event of the Chancellor's defeat.
Now, the one course he saw open before him was frankness.
To look at the girl, and meet guilt or defiance in her eyes would be
agony, therefore he would not look, though he saw her, and her alone,
as he stood gazing with a strained fixedness at the Prince.
He knew that she had risen, not in frightened haste, but with a
leisured and dainty dignity. Now, her face was turned to him. He felt
it, as a blind man may feel the rising of the sun.
He wished that she had died before this moment, that they had both
died last night in the garden, while he held her in his arms, and
their hearts beat together. She had told him then that she loved him;
yet she was here, with this man--here, of her own free will, the same
girl he had worshiped as a goddess in the white moonlight, twenty-four
hours ago.
The thought was hot in his heart as the searing touch of iron red from
the fire. The same girl!
His blood sang in his ears, a song of death, and for an instant all
was black around him. He groped in black chaos where there was
neither light nor hope, and dully he was conscious of the Chancellor's
voice saying, "Your Majesty, if you are satisfied, would you not
rather go?"
Then the dark spell broke. Light showered over him, as from a golden
fountain, for in spite of himself he had met the girl's eyes. The same
eyes, because she was the same girl; sweet eyes, pure and innocent,
and wistfully appealing.
"My God!" he cried, "tell me why you are here, and whatever you may
say, I will believe you, in spite of all and through all, because you
are You, and I know that you can do no wrong."
"Your Majesty!" exclaimed the Chancellor. But the Emperor did not
hear. With a broken exclamation that was half a sob, the girl held out
both her hands, and Leopold sprang forward to crush them between his
ice-cold palms.
"Thank Heaven!" she faltered. "You are true! You've stood the test. I
love you."
"At last, then, I can introduce you to my sister Virginia," said the
Crown Prince of Hungaria, with a great sigh of relief for the ending
of his difficult part.