A RELUCTANT APOLOGY
Lady Angela looked at us both in cold surprise.
"Mr. Ducaine! Prince!" she exclaimed. "What is the meaning of this
extraordinary exhibition?"
The Prince, whose sangfroid was marvellous, rose to his feet, and began
to wipe his forehead with a spotless cambric handkerchief.
"My dear Lady Angela," he said, "I am most distressed that you should
have been a witness of this--extraordinary incident. I have been trying
to adapt myself to the methods of your country, but, alas! I cannot say
that I am enamoured of them. Here, it seems, that gentlemen who differ
must behave like dustmen. Will you pardon me if I turn my back to you
for a moment? I see a small mirror, and I am convinced that my tie and
collar need readjustment."
"But why quarrel at all?" she exclaimed. "Mr. Ducaine," she added,
turning coolly to me, "I trust you have remembered that the Prince is my
father's guest."
I was speechless, but the Prince himself intervened.
"The blame, if any," he declared, "was mine. Mr. Ducaine appeared to
misunderstand me from the first. I believe that his little ebullition
arose altogether from too great zeal on behalf of his employers. I
congratulate him upon it, while I am bound to deprecate his extreme
measures."
"And you, Mr. Ducaine," she asked, turning towards me, "what have you
to say?"
"Nothing," I declared, stung by her tone and manner as much as by his
coolness, "except that I found the Prince of Malors meddling with my
private papers, and subsequently I interrupted him in the offer of a
bribe."
The Prince smoothed his necktie, which he had really tied very well,
complacently.
"The personal belongings of Mr. Ducaine," he said calmly, "are without
interest to me. I fancy that the Prince of Malors can ignore any
suggestions to the contrary. As for the bribe, Mr. Ducaine talks
folly. I am not aware that he has anything to sell, and I decline to
believe him a blackmailer. I prefer to look upon him as a singularly
hot-headed and not over-intelligent person, who takes very long jumps at
conclusions. Lady Angela, I find my foot much better. May I have the
pleasure of escorting you to the house?"
I held my tongue, knowing very well that the Prince played his part
solely that I might be entrapped into speech. But Lady Angela seemed
puzzled at my silence. She looked at me for a moment inquiringly out of
her soft dark eyes. I made no sign. She turned away to the Prince.
"If you are sure that you can walk without pain," she said. "We will
not trouble you, Mr. Ducaine," she added, as I moved to open the door.
So they left me alone, and I was not sure whether the honours remained
with him or with me. He had never for a moment lost his dignity, nor
had he even looked ridiculous when calmly rearranging his tie and
collar. I laughed to myself bitterly as I prepared to follow them. I
was determined to lay the whole matter before the Duke at once.
As I reached the terrace I saw a man walking up and down, smoking a
pipe. He stood at the top of the steps and waited for me. It was
Colonel Ray. He took me by the arm.
"I have been waiting for you, Ducaine," he said. "I was afraid that I
might miss you, or I should have come down."
"I am on my way to the Duke," I said, "and my business is urgent."
"So is mine," he said grimly. "I want to know exactly what has passed
between you and the Prince of Malors."
"I am not at all sure, Colonel Ray," I answered, "that I am at liberty
to tell you. At any rate, I think that I ought to see the Duke first."
His face darkened, his eyes seemed to flash threatening fires upon me.
He was smoking so furiously that little hot shreds of tobacco fell from
his pipe.
"Boy," he exclaimed, "there are limits even to my forbearance. You are
where you are at my suggestion, and I could as easily send you adrift.
I do not say this as a threat, but I desire to be treated with common
consideration. I appeal to your reason. Is it well to treat me like an
enemy?"
"Whether you are indeed my friend or my enemy I am not even now sure," I
answered. "I am learning to be suspicious of every person and thing
which breathes. But as for this matter between the Prince and myself,
it can make little difference who knows the truth. He shammed a fall
over the cliff and a sprained ankle. Lady Angela and I started for the
house to send a cart for him, but, before we were halfway across the
Park, Grooton fetched me back. I found the Prince examining the papers
on which I had been working, and when I charged him with it he offered
me a bribe."
"And you?"
"I struck him!"
Ray groaned.
"You struck him! And you had him in your power--to play with as you
would. And you struck him! Oh, Ducaine, you are very, very young. I
am your friend, boy, or rather I would be if you would let me. But I am
afraid that you are a blunderer."
I faced him with white face.
"I seem to have found my way into a strange place," I answered. "I have
neither wit nor cunning enough to know true men from false. I would
trust you, but you are a murderer. I would have trusted the Prince of
Malors, but he has proved himself a common adventurer. So I have made
up my mind that all shall be alike. I will be neither friend nor foe to
any mortal, but true to my country. I go my way and do my duty, Colonel
Ray."
He blew out dense volumes of smoke, puffing furiously at his pipe for
several minutes. There seemed to be many things which he had it in his
mind to say to me. But, as though suddenly altering his purpose, he
stood on one side.
"You shall go your own way," he said grimly. "The Lord only knows where
it will take you."
It took me in the first place to the Duke, to whom I recounted briefly
what had happened. I could see that my story at once made a deep
impression upon him. When I had finished he sat for several minutes
deep in thought. For the first time since I had known him he seemed
nervous and ill at ease. He was unusually pale, and there were deep
lines engraven about his mouth. One hand was resting upon the table,
and I fancied that his fingers were shaking.
"The Prince of Malors," he said at last, and his voice lacked altogether
its usual ring of cool assurance, "is of Royal blood. He is not even in
touch with the political powers of France to-day. He may have been
guilty of a moment's idle curiosity--"
"Your Grace must forgive me," I interrupted, "but you are overlooking
facts. The fall over the cliff was premeditated, the sprained foot was
a sham, the whole affair was clearly planned in order that he might be
left alone in my room. Besides, there is the bribe."
The Duke folded his hands nervously together. He looked away from me
into the fire.
"It is a very difficult position," he declared, "very difficult indeed.
The Prince has been more than a friend to Blenavon. He has been his
benefactor. Of course he will deny this thing with contempt. Let me
think it out, Ducaine."
"By all means, your Grace," I answered, a little nettled at his
undecided air. "So far as I am concerned, my duty in the matter ends
here. I have, told you the exact truth concerning it, and it seems to
me by no means improbable that the Prince has been in some way
responsible for those former leakages."
The Duke shook his head slowly.
"It is impossible," he said.
"Your Grace is the best judge," I answered.
"The Prince was not in the house last night when the safe was opened, he
objected.
"He probably has accomplices," I answered. "Besides, how do we know
that he was not here?"
"Even if he were," the Duke said, raising his head, "how could he have
known the cipher?"
I made no answer at all. It seemed useless to argue with a man who had
evidently made up his mind not to be convinced.
"Have you mentioned this matter to any one?" the Duke asked.
"To Colonel Ray only, your Grace," I answered.
"Ray!" The Duke was silent for a moment. He was looking steadily into
the fire. "You told Ray what you have told me?"
"In substance, yes, your Grace. In detail, perhaps not so fully."
"And he?"
"He did not doubt my story, your Grace," I said quietly.
The Duke frowned across at me.
"Neither do I, Ducaine," he declared. "It is not a question of veracity
at all. It is a question of construction. You are young, and these
things are all new to you. The Prince might have been trying you, or
something which you did not hear or have forgotten might throw a
different light upon his actions and suggestion. I beg that you will
leave the matter entirely in my hands."
I abandoned the subject then and there. But as I left the room I came
face to face with Blenavon, who was loitering outside. He at once
detained me. His manner since the morning had altered. He addressed me
now with hesitation, almost with respect.
"Can you spare me a few minutes, Mr. Ducaine?" he asked. "I will not
detain you long."
"I am at your service, Lord Blenavon," I answered. "We will go into the
hall and have a smoke," he suggested, leading the way. "To me it seems
the only place in the house free from draughts."
I followed him to where, in a dark corner of the great dome-shaped hall,
a wide cushioned lounge was set against the wall. He seated himself and
motioned me to follow his example. For several moments he remained
silent, twisting a cigarette with thin nervous fingers stained yellow
with nicotine. Every now and then he glanced furtively around. I
waited for him to speak. He was Lady Angela's brother, but I disliked
and distrusted him.
He finally got his cigarette alight, and turned to me.
"Mr. Ducaine," he said, "I want you to apologize to my friend, the
Prince of Malors, for your behaviour this afternoon."
"Apologize to the Prince!" I exclaimed. "Why should I?"
"Because this is the only condition on which he will consent to remain
here."
"I should have thought," I said, "that his immediate departure was
inevitable. I detected him in behaviour--"
"That is just where you are wrong," Blenavon interrupted eagerly. "You
were mistaken, entirely mistaken."
I laughed, a little impolitely, I am afraid, considering that this was
the son of my employer.
"You know the circumstances?" I asked. He nodded.
"The Prince has explained them to me. It was altogether a
misunderstanding. He felt his foot a little easier, and he was simply
looking for a newspaper or something to read until you returned.
Inadvertently he turned over some of your manuscript, and at that moment
you entered."
"Most inopportunely, I am afraid," I answered, with an unwilling smile.
"I am sorry, Lord Blenavon, that I cannot accept this explanation of the
Prince's behaviour. I am compelled to take the evidence of my eyes and
ears as final."
Blenavon sucked at his cigarette fiercely for a minute, threw it away,
and commenced to roll another.
"It's all rot!" he exclaimed. "Malors wouldn't do a mean action, and,
besides, what on earth has he to gain? He is a fanatical Royalist. He
is not even on speaking terms with the Government of France to-day."
"I perceive," I remarked, looking at him closely, "that you are familiar
with the nature of my secretarial work."
He returned my glance, and it seemed to me that there was some hidden
meaning in his eyes which I failed to catch.
"I am in my father's confidence," he said slowly.
There was a moment's silence. I was listening to a distant voice in the
lower part of the hall.
"Am I to take it, Mr. Ducaine, then," he said at last, "that you
decline to apologize to the Prince?"
"I have nothing to apologize for," I answered calmly. "The Prince was
attempting to obtain information in an illicit manner by the perusal of
papers which were in my charge."
Blenavon rose slowly to his feet. His eyes were fixed upon the opposite
corner of the hall. Lady Angela, who had just descended the stairs, was
standing there, pale and unsubstantial as a shadow, and it seemed to me
that her eyes, as she looked across at me, were full of trouble. She
came slowly towards us. Blenavon laid his hand upon her arm.
"Angela," he said, "Mr. Ducaine will not accept my word. I can make no
impression upon him. Perhaps he will the more readily believe yours."
"Lady Angela will not ask me to disbelieve the evidence of my own
senses," I said confidently.
She stood between us. I was aware from the first of something
unfamiliar in her manner, something of which a glimmering had appeared
on our way home through the wood.
"It is about Malors, Angela," he continued. "You were there. You know
all that happened. Malors is very reasonable about it. He admits that
his actions may have seemed suspicious. He will accept an apology from
Mr. Ducaine, and remain."
She turned to me.
"And you?" she asked.
"The idea of an apology," I answered, "appears to me ridiculous. My own
poor little possessions were wholly at his disposal. I caught him,
however, in the act of meddling with papers which are mine only on
trust."
Lady Angela played for a moment with the dainty trifles which hung from
her bracelet. When she spoke she did not look at me.
"The Prince's explanation," she said, "is plausible, and he is our
guest. I think perhaps it would be wisest to give him the benefit of
the doubt."
"Doubt!" I exclaimed, bewildered. "There is no room for doubt in the
matter."
Then she raised her eyes to mine, and I saw there new things. I saw
trouble and appeal, and behind both the shadow of mystery.
"Have you spoken to my father?" she asked.
"Yes," I answered.
"Did he accept--your view?"
"He did not," I answered bitterly. "I could not convince him of what I
saw with my own eyes."
"You have done your duty, then," she said softly. "Why not let the rest
go? As you told us just now, this is not a personal matter, and there
are reasons why he did not wish the Prince to leave suddenly."
I was staggered. I held my peace, and the two stood watching me. Then
I heard footsteps approaching us, and a familiar voice.
"What trio of conspirators is this talking so earnstly in the shadows?
Ah!"
The Prince had seen me, and he stood still. I faced him at once.
"Prince," I said, "it has been suggested to me that my eyesight is
probably defective. It is possible in that case that I have not seen
you before to-day, that the things with which I charge you are false,
that in all probability you were in some other place altogether. If
this is so, I apologize for my remarks and behaviour towards you."
He bowed with a faint mirthless smile.
"It is finished, my young friend," he declared. "I wipe it from my
memory." It seemed to me that I could hear Blenavon's sigh of relief,
that the shadow had fallen from Lady Angela's face. There was a little
murmur of satisfaction from both of them. But I turned abruptly, and
with scarcely even an attempt at a conventional farewell I left the
house, and walked homewards across the Park.