Hillars and I stood in the middle of the road. He held the binoculars.
"How many can you make out?" I asked.
"Four; all on horseback. There's a coach of some sort following on
behind. But everything is blurred and my hand trembles; the whiskey
here is terrible. Here, look for yourself," handing the glasses to me.
"Tell me what you see."
"There's one with a white cap--ah, it is Count von Walden! There are
two soldiers in the Hohenphalian uniform; cavalry. I do not know who
the fourth fellow is."
"Describe him to me," said Hillars, trying to roll a cigarette with his
trembling fingers. "Curse it!" throwing away the rice paper, "I've got
so bad that I can't roll a cigarette. Well, what's he look like?"
"He's in civilian dress; little black mustache and an imperial."
"Look anything like Napoleon III?"
"You've hit it. Who is he?"
"They say he's Prince Ernst of Wortumborg," said Hillars; "but it is my
opinion that he's the devil on a furlough."
"Then he is the man--" I began.
"He is. Your love affair is all over once he gets here; unless--" Dan
looked at the sky as though he was undecided about the weather.
"Unless what?" I asked.
"O, just unless," said he. "I'd give 5 pounds for a glass of home-made
whiskey."
"You've got a plan of some sort," said I. "Speak it out."
"It wasn't a plan; it was just an idea. It's gone now. Maybe it will
come back later. Are you going to stay here, or come with me and
tackle a bottle of the innkeeper's Rhine wine? The German vinegar used
to make you hilarious."
"What's the coach for?" I asked. "Are they going to carry us off like
a couple of chickens?"
"I presume it is for her Serene Highness. I wonder how they found out
she was here? Probably the lieutenant you were going to fight, but
didn't, informed them. At any rate, the coach will not be for us. The
Prince will not bother with you and me while the Princess is here. I
don't know what they will do with us; possibly nothing, possibly put us
in jail. Come along; I'm thirsty."
It was late in the afternoon of the day following. I had not seen her
Serene Highness, the Princess Hildegarde--Gretchen. She had remained
in her room, and all efforts of mine to hold communication with her had
proved futile. I had stood at her door and supplicated; she had told
me to go away. The innkeeper had scowled when I suggested that he
carry a note to his mistress. He had refused.
"The Princess receives no notes," he had said. "Gretchen--it was a
different matter."
And Hillars had slept till after noon. It had been a bad morning for
me. The wounded lieutenant had been carried away the night before, and
there had not been anything for me to do but wander about--waiting.
"Will you help me with the Rhine wine?" asked Hillars.
"No. My head is fuddled enough as it is."
"Then you must let me do all the talking."
"And why you?"
"I shall know better how to irritate them," with a laugh. "They will
not take any particular interest in you when they set eyes on me. Homo
sum! I am the man they are looking for. They will find plenty of me.
I shall be a syndicate in myself; where they expect to find one man,
they will find a dozen, all alive and kicking. It will be good sport."
"What the devil are you up to?" I demanded.
"Wait and see; wait and see. Come, let us receive them in the hall.
The affair must be conducted on the line of court etiquette. First, we
shall try to avert hostilities by the aid of diplomacy; if that fails
the Princess herself will be made to vindicate us. And why not?"
"You are not going to drag her in!" I exclaimed.
"My dear Jack, of course not. The Prince and the Count will do that
for us. You understand that she is concerned in all that is to take
place, do you not? Well, then, it will cost her but little."
"But this fellow, the Prince!" I cried. "Let us get out while there is
time."
Dan regarded me seriously.
"You aren't afraid of him; what do you want to run away for? My son,
there will be some very good sport before this is done. You will miss
it by running away."
"It's meeting the man who is to marry her--the woman I love. That is
the reason."
"To marry her--the woman I love!" he repeated softly. "Yes, it is
hard. But it isn't any worse for you than for me."
"Forgive me, Dan! You know--"
"Yes, yes; I know," crossly. "Hang it! can't I punch it into your head
that I am taking all this trouble on your account? If it were not for
you, do you suppose I'd wait? The Prince shall never marry the
Princess. Will that satisfy you? Now, look pleasant, as the
photographer says, for here they are."
The Count entered first, then the Prince, who was followed by two
cavalrymen. Hillars and I stood silently by our chairs, and waited.
The Prince, a man with a hooked nose, black eyes with half-shut lids,
regarded me curiously. He had the air of one amused.
When his eyes grew accustomed to the semi-darkness of the room, the
Count sounded a note of satisfaction.
"Ah! so you are here? You have given me a devil of a chase."
"I return the compliment, Herr General," said Hillars, with a
good-humored smile. "But, may I ask, what the devil have you been
chasing me for?"
For reply the Count turned to the cavalryman.
"Arrest that man and bind him," he said.
"You might make the order wholesale," said I stepping over to the side
of Hillars.
"I told you there would be some sport," whispered Dan. He put his arm
across my shoulders.
"And who, in the name of Weimer, are you?" bawled the Count. He
scrutinized me intently; then a light of recognition broke over his
face. "The other one! A nest of them!"
"Count," interposed the Prince, seating himself at the table, "let me
have a short talk with them before you act. There may be extenuating
circumstances. Anything of this sort amuses and interests me. Let us
use a little diplomacy in the matter."
"Yes," said Hillars; "let us lie a little."
"And who can do it better than a journalist?" the Prince laughed.
"Diplomatists," Hillars sent back.
"What is her Serene Highness to you?" resumed the Prince.
"Nothing--positively nothing."
"Then you are afraid to acknowledge your regard for her?"
"I?" Hillars dropped his arm from my shoulders. "I am not afraid of
anything--not even the Count here." Then he laughed. "If her Serene
Highness was anything to me, your Highness, I should not be afraid to
say so before the King himself."
"You impudent--" But a wave of the Prince's hand silenced the Count.
"Have patience, my friend. This is not impudence; it is courage and
prudence. I believe," re-addressing Hillars, "that once you were on
the point of eloping with the Princess Hildegarde."
Hillars thrust his hands into his pockets.
"So they say."
"And yet you deny your regard for her!"
"Oh, as to that affair," said Hillars, easily, "it was the adventure
more than anything else. It is not every man in my position who has
such a chance. And then, perhaps, I saw a good newspaper story." The
muscles in his jaws hardened, despite the airy tone he used.
"I see that there is nothing to be gotten from you." Then the Prince
directed his glance to me. "And you, sir; what is she to you? What is
her Serene Highness to you?"
"She is everything in the world to me," said I.
The consternation which followed cannot be described here. The Count
stepped back, dumb-founded. Hillars regarded me as though he thought I
had suddenly gone mad. The countenance of the Prince alone remained
unruffled.
"Count," he said, laughing, "it seems that the Princess gathers lovers
as a woolen coat does teasels. Her lovers--there must now be a
legion!"
"You lie!" said Hillars, in an oddly suppressed tone. "You know that
you lie."
The Prince's lips drew to a thin line, but that was all.
"Still, who will disprove it?" he asked.
"If you will allow me," said a voice behind us.
We beheld the Princess framed in the doorway. There was a pallor and a
look of utter weariness in her face. At the sight of her the Count
uncovered and the Prince rose.
"Your arrival is quite timely," said he. "Here are two champions of
yours. Come, which do you love?"
A fury sprang to my head, and I said, "You have too much confidence in
our patience. I warn you that I have no fear of the sabres back of
you."
The same sabres leapt from their scabbards and fell stiffly against
their owners' shoulders, instinctively.
"Has it come to this," said the Princess, a superb scorn in her eyes,
"that my honor must needs be defended by strangers and aliens?" For
the briefest space her glance plunged into my eyes. She moved toward
the Prince. "And you, sir, are to be my husband?"
"It is the will of the King," said the Prince, a mocking smile on his
lips.
How I lusted for his blood!
"And though my honor is doubtful," went on the woman I loved, "you
still would marry me?"
"Your Highness," said the Prince, with a bow which entailed the
sweeping of his hands, "I would marry you were your honor as--"
"Hell!" roared Hillars in English.
But he was a moment too late. My hands were around the throat of
Prince Ernst of Wortumborg, and I was shaking him till his teeth
chattered on each other like castanets. Surely I would have throttled
him but for the intervention of the Count and the cavalrymen. The
Count swung his arm around my neck, while the cavalrymen, their sabre
points at Hillars' breast, wrenched loose my hands. I stood glaring at
him, panting and furious. He leaned against the table, gasping and
coughing. Finally he recovered his composure.
"Count, I was wrong; you were right. These fellows are dangerous."
"I will fight you on any terms!" I fired back at him.
"I shall send you one of my lackeys," he replied. "Take them away, and
shoot them if they resist."
"Liberate the gentlemen," said Gretchen.
The Count gazed at her in amazement.
"Liberate them?" he cried.
"I command it."
"You?" said the Prince.
"Yes. This is my principality; these are my soldiers; I command here."
This was a coup indeed.
"But we represent his Majesty!" cried the Count, still holding me by
the throat. I was all but strangled myself.
"I care not whom you represent," said Gretchen. "I am obedient only to
the King, not his minions. Release the gentlemen."
The Count's arm slowly unwound. Hillars pressed down the sabre points
with his hands and shook off the hand of one of the cavalrymen.
"If it be Your Highness' will," he said, "we will throw these intruders
into the road. Might is right," waving his hand to the door which led
to the barroom.
The innkeeper and three others filed into the room, grimly and
silently. They were armed.
For the first time the Prince lost patience.
"This is all very well, Your Highness," he sneered. "You misunderstand
the limits of your power to command."
"Not in any part," said Gretchen. "I am sovereign here,
notwithstanding the King's will is paramount to my own. These people
are my people; these soldiers are fed of my bounty; this is my country
till the King takes it back. You will act further at your peril."