"You!"
Her surprised interjection recalled to him for the first time the hour
and the strangeness of his visit. Yet he attempted little in the way
of excuse.
"I may stay five minutes," he begged. "You are alone?"
"It is very late," she murmured.
He pointed out of the great window at the far end of the room.
"Your brother is attending the King. If he should return--well, mine
is no idle errand. I can justify my coming, even at this hour."
Then she noticed that he was not dressed for the evening, that he was
pale, and that there was trouble in his eyes. She led him into a
smaller room, pushed open a window, and beckoned him to follow her
down the worn grey steps into the gardens.
"This is my favourite corner," she said. "Beyond are the flower
gardens, and the air here at night is always sweet. You shall sit with
me, my friend, and you shall tell me what it is that brings you with
this look of trouble in your face."
His eyes remained fixed upon her with a sudden passionate wistfulness.
She was very sweet and gracious, and her slow speech seemed to him
more musical than ever. So he sat by her side, and a little sea of
white satin and lace and soft draperies covered up all the space
between them, for it had been a State dinner at the palace, and he
found speech very difficult.
"Now this is restful and very pleasant," she said, after a long pause.
"But you must tell me why you have come. It was not by chance--to see
me? But no? You spoke also of my brother."
Her eyes sought his--a spice of coquetry in their questioning gleam.
But the cloud lingered upon his face.
"I would not have dared to come at such an hour," he said, "if my
visit were an ordinary one."
"How very unenterprising," she murmured. "I am sure that this is much
the pleasantest time of the day."
"Countess," he said, slowly, "is Baron Domiloff a friend of yours?"
"Of mine? But no. Why do you ask such a question?"
"He has been banished from Theos. Did you know that he was hiding
still in the city?"
She shook her head slowly.
"I know nothing," she answered. "How strange that you should ask me."
"Is it not true, then," he continued, "that you and he and your
brother are plotting against the King?"
She regarded him with uplifted eyebrows. Then she patted him gently on
the arm with her fan.
"It is the moon, my friend," she declared. "A little brief frenzy, is
it not?"
His tone recovered confidence. He breathed a sigh of relief.
"The man lied to me," he declared. "Now I will tell you just what has
happened to me. You know that I have a room in the Theba Place. Well,
to-night, as I was about to prepare for dinner, a messenger, a native
Thetian he seemed to me, brought a note to my rooms. It was neither
signed nor addressed. But it bade me follow the bearer without
question if I would be of service to Theos."
"You went?" she asked.
"Of course," he answered, quickly. "If the summons was genuine, well
and good--if it was false, I still wanted to know the meaning of it."
"And which was it?" she asked.
"Genuine enough," he answered, gravely. "I was led into a quarter of
Theos where I have never been before, and which I am sure I could not
find again. We arrived at a little _cafe_--I do not know the name--it
was somewhere outside the walls. A man was waiting for me in a back
room. He was disguised, but I recognized him at once. It was
Domiloff!"
She started. Instinctively he felt that she was deeply interested.
"At first I thought that it was a trap--that Domiloff was preparing
some revenge for my personation of the King. Soon, however, I learnt
that his intention was a different one. He is concerned in a plot to
dethrone the King, and he proposed that I should throw in my lot with
his party."
"Did he tell you, then, that Nicholas and I were concerned in it?"
"No. From his point of view your cooperation as yet was unnecessary.
Yet the whole thing is concerned with you and your brother, for
Domiloff has named him as the future ruler of Theos. He offered to
give me positive evidence that Russia has decided to remove Ughtred
from the throne, that Theos itself is in deadly peril."
"There is one thing," she said, "which I do not quite understand. Why
did Domiloff send for you? You are not a soldier, nor are you
well-known to the Thetians."
"It is very simple," he answered. "To-day the Press has an immense
influence upon public opinion in England and all the Western
countries. I am writing for my paper in England a series of articles
upon Theos, and I am writing from a point of view friendly to Ughtred
of Tyrnaus. Domiloff wants these articles stopped. He professes to
need my active help. What he really desires is that I write no more,
or alter the tone of my letters."
Her satin slipper traced a mystic pattern upon the smooth green turf.
"These are two things," she said, "which I do not understand. The
Baron Domiloff has repute as a cunning and very shrewd diplomatist.
Did he ask you for no pledge that you would not speak of these things
to the King?"
Brand shook his head.
"It would have been useless," he answered. "I think that he knew quite
well that I should give no such pledge. That is what makes me believe
that the matter is serious. He is so sure of coming events that
failing my joining with him he expressed himself as indifferent as to
what my course of action might be. There was only one condition he
made before I left--and that one I agreed to."
She looked at him inquiringly.
"It was that I should come to you--before I went to the King."
Their eyes met. In that single luminous moment he learned that these
things came at least as no surprise to her. He seemed even to divine
something of that desire which had eaten its way into her heart.
"To me!" she murmured. "Well?"
"Countess," he said, gravely, "for myself there is but one course of
action possible. I came here as the friend of Ughtred of Tyrnaus. I am
bound to his cause by every tie of honour, as well as my own
sympathies. Before the morning I shall have told him all that I have
told you."
Her fan fluttered idly in her fingers. She remained silent, but he had
a fancy that a shadow had fallen between them.
"Domiloff sent me to you," he continued. "What does that mean?"
She shook her head.
"The ways of Baron Domiloff," she said, "are not easy to understand."
"Are you and your brother concerned in this--plot?" he asked, gravely.
"My brother," she said, "would, I believe, shoot you if you asked him
such a question. It is only a few months ago that he himself brought
Ughtred of Tyrnaus here. Nicholas has too little ambition. He is a
patriot, pure and simple."
"And you--yourself?" he asked.
"I have had no dealings with Baron Domiloff," she answered, "but I
think that he knows my views. I do not love the family of Tyrnaus, and
I do not think that Ughtred had any claim to the throne of Theos. His
father and grandfather misgoverned the country, and estranged all the
nobility, who were the backbone of the State. We alone are left, and
if Ughtred should marry the daughter of this American tradesman we,
too, must become exiles."
"But you would not stoop," he murmured, "to plot against the King?"
"It is not necessary," she answered. "I believe that what you have
been told is true. I believe that Russia will not tolerate Ughtred of
Tyrnaus. My friend," she added, in a softer tone, "why do you concern
yourself in these things? Leave Domiloff alone, and, believe me, your
warning to the King would be wasted. Stay here, and watch for the
things which may happen. Do you remember what we talked about that
night at the palace? The times are coming--wait, and your opportunity
may also show itself. Who knows that your own future may not become
linked with the future of Theos?"
She leaned over towards him, her hand fell upon his shoulder, and its
touch, though light, was like a caress. Then Brand understood that
this was temptation, for his whole being quivered with the delight of
her softened tone, and the unspoken things which trembled there and
shone from her eyes. In truth, she, too, was thinking of the moment
when she had believed him to be the King.
"Dear lady," he said, almost pleadingly, "I would be content to live
all my days in Theos if----"
He hesitated. A wonderful smile curved her lips, and her eyes were
full of invitation. Yet he hesitated.
"For a brave man," she murmured, "you are very--very faint-hearted."
Whereupon he took her into his arms, and kissed her.