AN INTRUDER EXPELLED.
Meanwhile the train had reached another station, a junction where a halt
was made for refreshments, pending the arrival of a connecting train.
The advocate was hungry, and accordingly made his way to the
dining-room, being first warned by his companion to use despatch, as
otherwise, on returning to the ladies, he might find his compartment
filled.
"And what will you do meantime?" asked Gabriel.
"I have my sketch-book with me," replied Manasseh, "and I am going to
draw the view from my perch up here."
"Ah, I did not know you were an artist."
"Yes, I am an artist, and nothing more."
Upon the arrival of the connecting train and the ensuing scramble for
seats, the ladies of our little party felt some anxiety lest their
privacy should be rudely broken in upon by unwelcome strangers. Princess
Cagliari bent forward and looked down the platform, but immediately drew
back again. Too late, however; she had been seen; and a moment
afterward a young man, of sleek and comely appearance, immaculately
dressed, and carrying in one hand a small cane whose peculiar head
betrayed the fact that it concealed a rapier, sprang lightly on the
foot-board and entered the compartment.
"Ah, what an unexpected pleasure, Princess!" he exclaimed by way of
greeting, lifting his hat and appropriating the corner seat opposite
her.
"Pardon me," said Blanka, "but that seat is engaged. The gentleman who
is with us--"
"Why, then, didn't he leave something--coat, or umbrella, or
hand-bag--in proof of his claim to the seat?" interrupted the intruder.
"The seat is now mine by railway usage, and I cannot deny myself the
pleasure of sitting opposite you, my dear princess."
Blanka controlled her indignation as best she could, but her companion
felt called upon to come to her aid with an energetic remonstrance.
"Mr. Vajdar," said she, severely, "you should know what is expected of a
gentleman in his conduct toward a lady. You are well aware that the
princess cannot endure your presence, nor are you ignorant of the
reason."
The handsome young man drew a gilt pasteboard box from his side pocket,
removed the cover, and offered the contents to the last speaker. "Madam
Dormandy, you are fond of sweets. Permit me to solicit your acceptance
of these caramels. They are freshly made, and are really excellent."
But Madam Dormandy turned her back disdainfully on the peace-offering
and looked anxiously out of the window. "Where can Mr. Zimandy be all
this time?" she murmured, impatiently.
"How long will you continue to dog my steps?" asked the princess,
addressing the intruder in a voice that trembled with passion.
"Only to the grave," was the smiling reply; "there we shall
separate--you to enter the gates of paradise, where I despair of gaining
admission."
"But what reason have you for wishing my ruin?"
"Because you yourself will have it so. Have I ever made any secret of my
designs or of my motives?"
"Are you determined to make me leave this compartment?"
"You would gain nothing by so doing," was Vajdar's cool retort. "I could
not possibly forego the pleasure of your company, in whatever way you
might choose to continue your journey."
"What is your purpose in all this?" demanded Blanka.
"To make you either as happy as a man can make a woman, or as wretched
as only the devil himself can render a human being."
"I defy you to do either."
"Futile defiance! The game is in my hands, and I can make you as one
buried alive."
"God will never allow such an iniquity!" cried the princess.
"Ah, my dear madam, you forget that we are on our way to Rome, where
there are churches by the score, but no God."
Blanka shuddered in spite of herself, and drew her shawl more closely
about her, while her foe crossed one leg over the other and smiled
self-complacently.
The warning cry "_partenza!_" sounded along the platform, and the
ladies' escort came running in alarm from the dining-room and sought his
compartment.
"Have I your seat, sir?" coolly inquired Benjamin Vajdar of the man who
had so lately promised to wring his neck.
"Oh, no, certainly not," mumbled the doughty advocate, in considerable
surprise and confusion, as he caught his breath and meekly looked around
for a vacant place.
A lightning-flash from the blond beauty's eyes and a mocking smile from
the dandy rewarded this courteous forbearance. But the mocking smile
changed the next instant to a sudden expression of disquiet, if not of
actual fear. Manasseh Adorjan stood in the doorway, and Blanka noted a
swift interchange of glances between the young men, like the flashing
of two drawn swords.
"That place is already engaged, sir," said Manasseh, quietly.
Benjamin Vajdar's face flushed quickly, and then as suddenly paled. In
his eyes one could have read rage, hate, and fear, and his right hand
clutched the head of his cane convulsively, as if about to draw the
weapon therein concealed. But Manasseh still stood regarding him
fixedly, and the intruder yielded without a word. Taking up his satchel,
he left the compartment. The whole scene had occupied but a moment. What
was it that gave one of these men such power over the other, like that
of a lion-tamer over his charge?
Manasseh himself took the vacated seat, without offering it to the
advocate, and sat looking out of the window as long as Vajdar was in
sight. At length the train started, and as it soon entered on a stretch
of monotonous, waste territory, Blanka yielded to the drowsy lullaby of
the smoothly rolling wheels, and fell asleep. Once or twice she half
opened her eyes and was vaguely conscious that the young stranger
opposite her was drawing something in the sketch-book that lay open on
his knee. She pushed her veil still farther back from face and brow,
hardly aware what she was doing, and again fell asleep.