Distinguished arrivals at Weet-sur-Mer
Even at this unaccustomed hour of the morning, the beach was black with
people. It was not to bathe that they had come, for a chill north wind
was blowing; nor was it to promenade, for they were not promenading;
indeed, it was the fashionable hour for neither of these things, and no
one ever dreamed of doing them at any hour other than the fashionable
one. It was rather the fashionable hour to turn painfully over in one's
bed, and ring the bell, and signify that coffee and rolls would be
acceptable.
This morning there had been scant time for such refreshment, or for that
preliminary stretching which is so grateful to bodies wearied by late
hours and too-rapid living. Instead, nearly all the sojourners at
Weet-sur-Mer had arisen aching from their beds, had hurried forth to the
beach, and stood there now, facing unanimously seawards, staring toward
the dim horizon, only moving convulsively from time to time in the
effort to keep warm. Those who had glasses used them; those who had
none, strained nature's binoculars to the limit of vision. From all of
which it will be seen that the notary had done his work well, and that
neither had Monsieur Pelletan been backward in spreading the great news
of the unparalleled occurrence which was about to happen.
"He iss to arrive between t'e hours of seven unt eight," he had
announced. "Hiss Highness, pe it understood, Lord Vernon, t'e great
Englishman. He comes in a special vessel--a sheep-of-t'e-war," he added
with a triumphant flourish. "He could pring mit' him t'e whole nafy of
England, if he wish'!" Ah, what an honour for Weet-sur-Mer! And what a
blow for the Grand Hôtel Splendide across the way!
Yet Monsieur Pelletan did not in the least understand how it had come to
pass; he suspected his partner of some sort of clairvoyance, of some
supernatural power of compelling events, and his admiration for him had
deepened to awe. But into this question he did not permit himself to
enter deeply; he was content to know that fame and prosperity were
returning with a rush to the Grand Hôtel Royal. Already there had been a
score of applicants for rooms; the corridors were again assuming that
air of liveliness and gaiety which had characterised them in those
golden days when the August Prince of Zeit-Zeit had been his annual
guest. He was no longer ashamed to meet the proprietor of the Grand
Hôtel Splendide face to face in the full day; he was a different person
from the despairing individual of the day before; in a word, he was no
longer in ruins! He had been restored, as so many ruins are, by the
hand of an American!
At this moment he held the centre of the stage, and it was easy to read
in his bearing the consciousness that he deserved the limelight. A strip
of crimson carpet had been stretched across the sand to the very water's
edge; on either side of it a dozen decorous footmen were aligned, and
between them Monsieur Pelletan proudly marched, his head in air, his
back very straight, preceding a big, hooded invalid's chair.
Immediately a murmur arose.
"He is ill then!"
"Why the chair?"
"He is coming to take the baths."
The murmur no doubt penetrated to the ears of the little Alsatian, but
he made no sign. He was aware that the envious eyes of the proprietor of
the Grand Hôtel Splendide were upon him; he would show him that here was
a guest more majestic, more worthy of honour than even the Prince of
Zeit-Zeit!--a Highness, in short, so extraordinary as to cause that
August personage to resemble, in some incomprehensible way, the sum of
one franc fifty centimes! Otherwise there would have been no carpet, for
the sand was hard and dry. Otherwise, too, perhaps, Monsieur Pelletan
would have been content to permit his major-domo to represent him at the
water's edge, for he was not accustomed to exposing himself thus to the
sharp airs of the morning. His fat red cheeks and plump nose were
turning a dull purple--ah, how good would a glass of cognac taste!--but
he bore this discomfort with the greatest fortitude, for, after all, an
occasion such as this was worth some sacrifice.
And, be it said, his was not the only purple nose in evidence. There
were many men who stared straight before them, daring to look neither to
the right nor left; and many women who were thankful for the heavy
veils they had had the forethought to put on. Even rouge, however
cunningly applied, cannot hide certain ugly lines in the face in the
clear, cruel light of the morning!
Strange how the same breeze will give to some cheeks a dull
repulsiveness and to others an entrancing glow! A word to lovers: Would
you test your mistress's blood and spirit, persuade her to a walk some
sharp day in winter; or, if she will not be persuaded, use a little
artifice. Then, after wind and frost have had their will of her for half
an hour, take a look at her. Are her cheeks glowing, are her eyes
bright, is she having a good time? If not, take heed!
There were four cheeks upon the beach at Weet-sur-Mer that morning
glowing as I would have your true love's glow; drawing men's eyes and
women's, too--the one in admiration, the other in envy. Yes, envy!
though more than one shivering fair spoke a low, slurring word about
"those coarse Americans!"
Both Pelletan and the notary had been careful to respect Rushford's wish
that his connection with the hotel be kept to themselves; in all their
boastings, rejoicings, explanations, his name had not been whispered;
and not even to his daughters had that gentleman confided the secret of
his plan to get the excitement he had craved so badly. He had feared,
perhaps, that they would not enter thoroughly into the spirit of the
thing--women, even American women, are sometimes strangely deficient in
the sense of humour. But they had both been struck by their host's
impressive obsequiousness--a very orgasm of servility, which Pelletan
had hitherto reserved for personages of the blood royal.
"What ails the man?" Susie had asked at dinner the night before, her
eyes on Monsieur Pelletan's writhing form. "He seems to have the
stomach-ache."
"He is probably fishing for a tip," said Nell. "It seems to me that
I've seen those symptoms before in a less violent form."
"Don't you tip him," commanded their father. "I'll attend to all that,"
and he beckoned to Pelletan with his finger and whispered a rapid
sentence in his ear.
"What did you say to him, dad?" inquired Sue, gazing in some
astonishment after their host's retreating coat-tails.
"I told him to go 'way back and sit down," answered Rushford, going
calmly on with his meal.
"Dad, is it true that Lord Vernon is to arrive to-morrow morning?"
"I suppose so."
"In a ship of war?"
"Yes--I've heard that, too."
"You'll take us down to the beach, won't you, dad?"
"What! A free-born American citizen go toadying after the English
aristocracy!"
"But we'll need a cicérone, dad."
"What for, I'd like to know?"
"Oh, what are cicérones always for? To get us a good place, to be sure!"
So here he was, in the forefront of the crowd, with his womenkind beside
him, and no doubt the discerning reader has already guessed that it was
to their cheeks I referred some pages back. There were many grandes
dames upon the beach that morning--some the real thing, a little plain,
a little faded, rather touching to look upon--others, for the most part
articles de Paris, very tall and plump and even handsome, if one likes
the gorgeous type, with gowns created by the great costumers and paid
for heaven knows how! But I always think with a little warmth of pride
and admiration of those two American girls standing there, wind-blown
and radiant. Coarse, madame! Ah, what would you not give for a little
of that coarseness! After all, freshness is a woman's greatest charm, as
you very well know, madame, though you try your best to think otherwise;
and, alas, you are fast losing yours! For, as you have found--as untold
thousands have found before you, and will yet find--one can't squander
one's youth and keep it, too! Aye, more than that. The sins of the night
stare at one from one's glass on the morrow, and will not be massaged
away. Take your baths, madame, in milk, or wine, or perfumed water;
summon your masseuse, your beauty-doctor. Let them rub you and knead you
and pinch you, coat you with cold cream or grease you with oil of
olives. Redden cheeks and lips, whiten hands and shoulders, polish
nails, pencil eyebrows, squeeze in the waist, pad out the hips--swallow,
at the last, that little tablet which you slip from the jewelled case at
your wrist. It is all in vain. You deceive no man nor woman. They look
into your eyes and smile, but behind the smile there is a shudder!
Nell and Susie Rushford, with the wind playing in their hair and kissing
their cheeks, that morning, were miracles of freshness; two divine
messages, two phantoms of delight, sent from the New World to the Old.
And one was dark, with tints of violet
In hair and eyes, and one was blond as she
Who rose--a second daybreak--from the sea,
Gold-tressed and azure-eyed.
Nell, the elder, was tall and fair, like her father, rather sedate, with
not quite the sparkle of Susie, two years her junior, the counterpart of
the little mother whom she had never seen. And both were erect and
bright-eyed as only American girls seem to know completely how to be;
visibly healthy, happy, and pure-minded. I should like to pause and look
at them a moment longer, for I have always been a little in love with
them myself; I should like to add to the verses of our own dear poet
certain lines of Wordsworth, of Burns, of Byron--but you, dear reader,
will recall them readily, especially if you belong, as I hope you do, to
the great and glorious fraternity of true lovers; if your heart burns
and your pulses leap at mention of a certain name, at sight of a dear
face--
There came a sudden hum of excitement from the crowd.
"Look, look!" cried Susie. "There it is!" and she clapped her glasses to
her eyes again.
Far out against the horizon appeared a smudge of smoke, which grew and
spread until those with glasses could perceive beneath it the low, dark
lines of a man-of-war. It was true then! Some had permitted themselves
to doubt the story spread so industriously by Monsieur Pelletan and his
friend, the notary--the proprietor of the Grand Hôtel Splendide had
counselled scepticism. Now they could doubt no longer, and they drew a
deep breath. A ship of war at Weet-sur-Mer!
Straight toward the beach she steamed, looming larger and ever larger;
then her speed slackened, slackened, until at last she lay rolling
quietly a quarter of a mile off-shore. A shrill piping came over the
water as the crew was mustered amidships and the boarding-stairs
lowered.
"Well, he _must_ be a swell!" said Sue, "or they wouldn't take all that
trouble. There goes the boat."
And splash it went into the water, the crew tumbled in, and two men
slowly helped another down the stairs, while the crew stood at
attention. Some baggage was lowered, then the oars dipped together and a
little spurt of foam appeared under the bow.
"Why, it's like a moving-picture machine!" cried Susie, with a little
gasp of enjoyment. "Or a comic opera!" she added, wrestling with her
glasses to get them focussed on the moving boat. "The hero's sitting in
the stern," she announced. "He's all wrapped up and there's another man
holding him. I can't see anything of him but his eyes, for he's got a
handkerchief or something over the lower part of his face. He must be
awfully ill, poor fellow!"
"Probably got the grip," observed her father, practically. "Wants to
keep out the damp air. I think he'd be better off at home in bed."
"Oh, but then," protested Nell--
"Then we shouldn't have this show," said her father, and laughed grimly
at the thought that neither would fortune have smiled so promptly on the
Grand Hôtel Royal.
The oars flashed suddenly upright; two men sprang from the bow, with a
fine disregard of a wetting, and pulled the boat far in. Then the
bemuffled figure was lifted tenderly and carried to the waiting chair,
where Monsieur Pelletan was bowing with his head almost touching the
carpet. The invalid was started toward the hotel without delay, three
men accompanying him, under the leadership of Pelletan; the baggage was
heaped on the beach and taken in charge by the hotel porters. A moment
later the boat shoved off.
A few waited to watch it make its way back to the ship, which
immediately steamed away toward the horizon; others followed the
procession headed by the invalid's chair; still others hurried ahead to
confer their patronage upon the Grand Hôtel Royal; but the greater part
hastened back to their rooms to get something hot and bracing. From one
end to the other, the place was a-buzz with wagging tongues. Why should
the foreign secretary of the British Empire have chosen Weet-sur-Mer as
his abiding place? Merely because he was ill and wished to rest? Bah! To
believe that would be to show a mind the most credulous, would be to
evince an ignorance of high diplomacy the most profound. Again, why
should he have made the journey from England in a ship of war? Depend
upon it, there was a mystery here; a mystery not to be solved in a
moment even by such eminent amateurs as those assembled at Weet-sur-Mer.
It would take time--it would take study. But it was worth it! There was
something behind all this-something more than appeared on the surface
--in a word, a Plot! And the best place to study it,--the only place,
indeed,--was the Grand Hôtel Royal.
So, instantly, there was a great packing of luggage, a despatching of
couriers, an engaging of rooms, a settling of bills which drove the
proprietor of the Splendide half mad with chagrin. He protested, he
swore, he offered concessions the most unheard of--all in vain. His day
was over!
Rushford, his work as cicérone des dames accomplished, returned
leisurely to the hotel, while the girls started for their accustomed
walk. He smiled grimly to himself as he entered the office, the scene
was so different from that of yesterday. For the moment, all was
excitement. Monsieur Pelletan and his assistants were busy attending to
the wants of their distinguished guest; down in the kitchen, the chef
was cursing the stupidity of the unfortunate menials under him and
striving madly to prove himself worthy the occasion--the greatest of his
life! Every moment, a porter toiled up to the door with a load of
luggage; every moment some one arrived demanding a room--and not one
murmured at the tariff! The lift groaned and creaked under the
unaccustomed weights put upon it and moved more slowly than ever.
Pelletan, as he hurried past, mopping his perspiring brow, had time only
for a single glance at his good angel--but what a glance! Such a glance,
no doubt, Columbus caught from his lieutenants at the cry of "Land Ho!"
Rushford, leaning over the desk, watching the confusion with an
amusement which had banished every trace of ennui, felt his arm touched.
He turned and recognised the be-gilt messenger of the day before.
"A second telegram for monsieur," said that functionary, with an amiable
grin, and produced the message.
There was no time for hesitation. Rushford took it, signed the blank,
and fished up the expected tip.
"Oh, what a tangled web we weave!" he murmured, and looked at the
address on the little white envelope. It read:
_M. le Propriétaire,
Grand Hôtel Royal,
Weet-sur-Mer._
"The plot thickens!" he murmured. "Well, it's really for me. Let's see,"
and he tore it open. He whistled again as he read the message; then he
called the nearest boy. "Tell Monsieur Pelletan to come here at once,"
he said. "Tell him I must speak to him on a matter of importance."
At the end of a moment, the little man puffed down the stair, exhausted,
radiant!
"Iss eet not grand!" he cried. "What a change from yesterday! T'ough how
you haf accomplishe' eet, monsieur--"
"No matter," interrupted Rushford. "Which is the next best of your
apartments, Pelletan?"
"T'e nex' best? Why, apartment B, monsieur. Eet iss t'e counterpart of
apartment A, only on t'e nort' side of t'e house instead of t'e sout'."
"And it is still empty?"
"At two hundret francs t'e tay? Oh, yess, monsieur; only a Prince can
afford eet now."
"Well, you will prepare it at once--"
"Ah, monsieur himself will take eet! T'at iss just! I shall pe too
happy--"
"No, no; you've just said that only a Prince can afford it and it's my
business to produce him! Let's see--it's nearly nine--well, at ten
o'clock, there will arrive in a special train--"
Monsieur Pelletan had turned pale.
"Een a special train?" he faltered. "What! Some one else?"
"Yes--at ten o'clock--"
"Who iss eet will arrive, monsieur?" questioned Pelletan faintly.
"His Highness, Prince Frederick of Markeld, ambassador from the court of
Schloshold-Markheim," answered Rushford, dwelling upon every word. "We
will give him apartment B."