GOSSIP OF SOME CONSEQUENCE
"There is no time to be lost," exclaimed Count Marlanx. "Ask Colonel
Braze to report to me at the eastern gate with a detail of picked
troopers--a hundred of them. I will meet him there in half an hour." He
gave other sharp, imperative commands, and in the twinkling of an eye
the peaceful atmosphere was transformed into the turbulent, exciting
rush of activity. The significance of the fires seen in the hills could
not be cheaply held. Instant action was demanded. The city was filled
with the commotion of alarm; the army was brought to its feet with a
jerk that startled even the most ambitious.
The first thing that General Marlanx did was to instruct Quinnox to set
a vigilant watch over Baldos. He was not to be arrested, but it was
understood that the surveillance should be but little short of
incarceration. He was found at the barracks shortly after the report
concerning the signal fires, and told in plain words that General
Marlanx had ordered a guard placed over him for the time being, pending
the result of an investigation. Baldos had confidently expected to be
thrown into a dungeon for his affront. He did not know that Grenfall
Lorry stood firm in his conviction that Baldos was no spy, and was
supported by others in high authority.
Marlanx was bottling his wrath and holding back his revenge for a
distinct purpose. Apart from the existence of a strong, healthy
prejudice in the guard's favor, what the old general believed and what
he could prove were two distinct propositions. He was crafty enough,
however, to take advantage of a condition unknown to Beverly Calhoun,
the innocent cause of all his bitterness toward Baldos.
As he hastened from the council chamber, his eyes swept the crowd of
eager, excited women in the grand hall. From among them he picked
Beverly and advanced upon her without regard for time and consequence.
Despite her animation he was keen enough to see that she was sorely
troubled. She did not shrink from him as he had half expected, but met
him with bold disdain in her eyes.
"This is the work of your champion," he said in tones that did not reach
ears other than her own. "I prophesied it, you must remember. Are you
satisfied now that you have been deceived in him?"
"I have implicit confidence in him. I suppose you have ordered his
arrest?" she asked with quiet scorn.
"He is under surveillance, at my suggestion. For your sake, and yours
alone, I am giving him a chance. He is your protege; you are responsible
for his conduct. To accuse him would be to place you in an embarrassing
position. There is a sickening rumor in court circles that you have more
than a merely kind and friendly interest in the rascal. If I believed
that, Miss Calhoun, I fear my heart could not be kind to him. But I know
it is not true. You have a loftier love to give. He is a clever
scoundrel, and there is no telling how much harm he has already done to
Graustark. His every move is to be watched and reported to me. It will
be impossible for him to escape. To save him from the vengeance of the
army, I am permitting him to remain in your service, ostensibly, at
least. His hours of duty have been changed, however. Henceforth he is in
the night guard, from midnight till dawn. I am telling you this, Miss
Calhoun, because I want you to know that in spite of all the indignity I
have suffered, you are more to me than any other being in the world,
more to me even than my loyalty to Graustark. Do me the honor and
justice to remember this. I have suffered much for you. I am a rough,
hardened soldier, and you have misconstrued my devotion. Forgive the
harsh words my passion may have inspired. Farewell! I must off to undo
the damage we all lay at the door of the man you and I are protecting."
He was too wise to give her the chance to reply. A moment later he was
mounted and off for the eastern gates, there to direct the movements of
Colonel Braze and his scouts. Beverly flew at once to Yetive with her
plea for Baldos. She was confronted by a rather sober-faced sovereign.
The news of the hour was not comforting to the princess and her
ministers.
"You don't believe he is a spy?" cried Beverly, stopping just inside the
door, presuming selfishly that Baldos alone was the cause for worry. She
resolved to tell Yetive of the conflict in the park.
"Dear me, Beverly, I am not thinking of him. We've discussed him jointly
and severally and every other way and he has been settled for the time
being. You are the only one who is thinking of him, my dear child. We
have weightier things to annoy us."
"Goodness, how you talk! He isn't annoying. Oh, forgive me, Yetive, for
I am the silliest, addle-patedest goose in the kingdom. And you are so
troubled. But do you know that he is being watched? They suspect
him. So did I, at first, I'll admit it. But I don't--now. Have you read
the note I gave to you out there?"
"Yes, dear. It's just as I expected. He has known from the beginning. He
knew when he caught Dagmar and me spying behind that abominable curtain.
But don't worry me any longer about him, please. Wait here with me until
we have reports from the troops. I shall not sleep until I know what
those fires meant. Forget Baldos for an hour or two, for my sake."
"You dear old princess, I'm an awful brute, sure 'nough. I'll forget him
forever for your sake. It won't be hard, either. He's just a mere guard.
Pooh! He's no prince."
Whereupon, reinforced by Mrs. Anguish and the Countess Halfont, she
proceeded to devote herself to the task of soothing and amusing the
distressed princess while the soldiers of Graustark ransacked the
moonlit hills. The night passed, and the next day was far on its way to
sunset before the scouts came in with tidings. No trace of the
mysterious signalers had been found. The embers of the half-dozen fires
were discovered, but their builders were gone. The search took in miles
of territory, but it was unavailing. Not even a straggler was found. The
so-called troupe of actors, around whom suspicion centered, had been
swallowed by the capacious solitude of the hills. Riders from the
frontier posts to the south came in with the report that all was quiet
in the threatened district. Dawsbergen was lying quiescent, but with the
readiness of a skulking dog.
There was absolutely no solution to the mystery connected with the fires
on the mountain sides. Baldos was questioned privately and earnestly by
Lorry and Dangloss. His reply was simple, but it furnished food for
reflection and, at the same time, no little relief to the troubled
leaders.
"It is my belief, Mr. Lorry, that the fires were built by brigands and
not by your military foes. I have seen these fires in the north, near
Axphain, and they were invariably meant to establish communication
between separated squads of robbers, all belonging to one band. My
friends and I on more than one occasion narrowly escaped disaster by
prying into the affairs of these signalers. I take it that the squads
have been operating in the south and were brought together last night by
means of the fires. Doubtless they have some big project of their own
sort on foot."
That night the city looked for a repetition of the fires, but the
mountains were black from dusk till dawn. Word reached the castle late
in the evening, from Ganlook, that an Axphainian nobleman and his
followers would reach Edelweiss the next day. The visit was a friendly
but an important one. The nobleman was no other than the young Duke of
Mizrox, intimate friend of the unfortunate Prince Lorenz who met his
death at the hand of Prince Gabriel, and was the leader of the party
which opposed the vengeful plans of Princess Volga. His arrival in
Edelweiss was awaited with deep anxiety, for it was suspected that his
news would be of the most important character.
Beverly Calhoun sat on the balcony with the princess long after
midnight. The sky was black with the clouds of an approaching storm; the
air was heavy with foreboding silence. Twice, from their darkened corner
near the pillar, they saw Baldos as he paced steadily past the castle on
patrol, with Haddan at his side. Dreamily the watchers in the cool
balcony looked down upon the somber park and its occasional
guardsman. Neither was in the mood to talk. As they rose at last to go
to their rooms, something whizzed through the air and dropped with a
slight thud in the center of the balcony. The two young women started
back in alarm. A faint light from Beverly's window filtered across the
stone floor.
"Don't touch it, Beverly," cried the princess, as the girl started
forward with an eager exclamation. But Beverly had been thinking of the
very object that now quivered before her in the dull light, saucy,
aggressive and jaunty as it was the night when she saw it for the first
time.
A long, slim red feather bobbed to and fro as if saluting her with
soldierly fidelity. Its base was an orange, into which it had been stuck
by the hand that tossed it from below. Beverly grasped it with more
ecstasy than wisdom and then rushed to the stone railing, Yetive looking
on in amazement. Diligently she searched the ground below for the man
who had sent the red message, but he was nowhere in sight. Then came the
sudden realization that she was revealing a most unmaidenly eagerness,
to him as well as to the princess, for she did not doubt that he was
watching from the shadows below. She withdrew from the rail in confusion
and fled to her bed-chamber, followed by her curious companion. There
were explanations--none of which struck speaker or listener as
logical--and there were giggles which completely simplified the
situation. Beverly thrust the slim red feather into her hair, and struck
an attitude that would have set Baldos wild with joy if he could have
seen it. The next day, when she appeared in the park, the feather stood
up defiantly from the band of her sailor hat, though womanly
perverseness impelled her to ignore Baldos when he passed her on his way
to mess.
The Duke of Mizrox came into the city hours after the time set for his
arrival. It was quite dark when the escort sent by Colonel Quinnox drew
up at the castle gates with the visitor. The duke and his party had been
robbed by brigands in the broad daylight and at a point not more than
five miles from Edelweiss! And thus the mystery of the signal fires was
explained. Count Marlanx did not soon forget the triumphant look he
received from Beverly Calhoun when the duke's misfortunes were
announced. Shameless as it may seem, she rejoiced exceedingly over the
acts of the robbers.
Mizrox announced to the princess and her friends that he was not an
emissary from the Axphainian government. Instead, he was but little less
than a fugitive from the wrath of Volga and the crown adherents.
Earlier in the week he had been summoned before Volga and informed that
his absence for a few months, at least, from the principality was
desirable. The privilege was allowed him of selecting the country which
he desired to visit during that period, and he coolly chose
Graustark. He was known to have friendly feelings for that state; but no
objections were raised. This friendship also gave him a welcome in
Edelweiss. Mizrox plainly stated his position to Yetive and the prime
minister. He asked for protection, but declined to reveal any of the
plans then maturing in his home country. This reluctance to become a
traitor, even though he was not in sympathy with his sovereign, was
respected by the princess. He announced his willingness to take up arms
against Dawsbergen, but would in no way antagonize Axphain from an
enemy's camp.
The duke admitted that the feeling in Axphain's upper circles was
extremely bitter toward Graustark. The old-time war spirit had not died
down. Axphain despised her progressive neighbor.
"I may as well inform your highness that the regent holds another and a
deeper grudge against Graustark," he said, in the audience chamber where
were assembled many of the nobles of the state, late on the night of his
arrival. "She insists that you are harboring and even shielding the
pretender to our throne, Prince Frederic. It is known that he is in
Graustark and, moreover, it is asserted that he is in direct touch with
your government."
Yetive and her companions looked at one another with glances of
Comprehension. He spoke in English now for the benefit of Beverly
Calhoun, an interested spectator, who felt her heart leap suddenly and
swiftly into violent insurrection.
"Nothing could be more ridiculous," said Yetive after a pause. "We do
not know Frederic, and we are not harboring him."
"I am only saying what is believed to be true by Axphain, your
highness. It is reported that he joined you in the mountains in June and
since has held a position of trust in your army."
"Would you know Prince Frederic if you were to see him?" quietly asked
Lorry.
"I have not seen him since he was a very small boy, and then but for a
moment--on the day when he and his mother were driven through the
streets on their way to exile."
"We have a new man in the Castle Guard and there is a mystery attached
to him. Would you mind looking at him and telling us if he is what
Frederic might be in his manhood?" Lorry put the question and everyone
present drew a deep breath of interest.
Mizrox readily consented and Baldos, intercepted on his rounds, was led
unsuspecting into an outer chamber. The duke, accompanied by Lorry and
Baron Dangloss, entered the room. They were gone from the assemblage but
a few minutes, returning with smiles of uncertainty on their faces.
"It is impossible, your highness, for me to say whether or not it is
Frederic," said the duke frankly. "He is what I imagine the pretender
might be at his age, but it would be sheer folly for me to speculate. I
do not know the man."
Beverly squeezed the Countess Dagmar's arm convulsively.
"Hurrah!" she whispered, in great relief. Dagmar looked at her in
astonishment. She could not fathom the whimsical American.
"They have been keeping an incessant watch over the home of Frederic's
cousin. He is to marry her when the time is propitious," volunteered the
young duke. "She is the most beautiful girl in Axphain, and the family
is one of the wealthiest. Her parents bitterly oppose the match. They
were to have been secretly married some months ago, and there is a rumor
to the effect that they did succeed in evading the vigilance of her
people."
"You mean that they may be married?" asked Yetive, casting a quick
glance at Beverly.
"It is not improbable, your highness. He is known to be a daring young
fellow, and he has never failed in a siege against the heart of
woman. Report has it that he is the most invincible Lothario that ever
donned love's armor." Beverly was conscious of furtive glances in her
direction, and a faint pink stole into her temples. "Our fugitive
princes are lucky in neither love nor war," went on the duke. "Poor
Dantan, who is hiding from Gabriel, is betrothed to the daughter of the
present prime minister of Dawsbergen, the beautiful Iolanda, I have seen
her. She is glorious, your highness."
"I, too, have seen her," said Yetive, more gravely than she
thought. "The report of their betrothal is true, then?"
"His sudden overthrow prevented the nuptials which were to have taken
place in a month had not Gabriel returned. Her father, the Duke of Matz,
wisely accepted the inevitable and became prime minister to
Gabriel. Iolanda, it is said, remains true to him and sends messages to
him as he wanders through the mountains."
Beverly's mind instantly reverted to the confessions of Baldos. He had
admitted the sending and receiving of messages through Franz. Try as she
would, she could not drive the thought from her mind that he was Dantan
and now came the distressing fear that his secret messages were words of
love from Iolanda. The audience lasted until late in the night, but she
was so occupied with her own thoughts that she knew of but little that
transpired.
Of one thing she was sure. She could not go to sleep that night.