"Beautiful!" I said. "It's a marvellous defence and marvellously done."
Moore bowed very low over my hand. "It is a pleasure to serve under
Your Highness," he said.
"Aye! that it is," said Bernheim.
He would be a very queer individual who would not be affected by such
sincerity; and I told them so, and feelingly.
Then Moore showed me the attack and its two defences; and I practiced
them with him until I had them perfectly at command.
"What would be my chances against Lotzen?" I asked.
"You could kill him easily," said Moore. "Only, be careful of his play
in tierce; he is very strong in that."
"I don't know that I want to kill him," I said. "Yet, neither do I
care for him to kill me."
Both looked at me in quick interrogation. I motioned for them to sit
down.
"I've had a visit from the Duke, this afternoon," I said. And I told
them the entire interview.
Bernheim smiled sourly, when I had ended.
"You may have good use, sir, for that trick of fence," he said.
"Lotzen means mischief and that promptly."
"Evidently, his visit with His Majesty and the Princess was not to his
satisfaction," Moore remarked; "and, if Your Highness can ascertain
just what did occur there, I'll wager it will account for his conduct
to-day."
"And it would be just as well for Your Highness to wear a steel vest,"
said Bernheim; "it's very handy to turn a knife or a revolver bullet."
I laughed, "Of course, steel vests are such ordinary articles of
attire they can be purchased in any shop."
"I'll supply the vest," he answered, "if Your Highness will use it."
"It seems absurd," I declared.
"It's a wise precaution, sir," Moore urged.
"One might suppose we were back in the days or the Guises," I said.
"However, bring your coat of mail around to-night and I'll look it
over. But, I warn you, it will have to be a very snug fit."
"I will answer for that, also," said Bernheim.
Later in the afternoon, I rode over to the Field of Mars--a huge piece
of ground on the Lake front--for the evening parade of the Cuirassiers
of the Guard. This was their one hundred and fiftieth anniversary, and
on every one of them it had been the unbroken custom for the then
governor of Dornlitz to be present and pass the Regiment in
Review--saving, of course, in war-time, when it chanced to be in active
service in the field.
The crowd of spectators was enormous. The Valerians seem to have a
genuine love for their Army--largely, I fancy, because the Army is not
permitted to tyrannize over the citizen. Because a man wore the King's
uniform gave him no privilege to insult or to maltreat those who did
not; and conferred no immunity from proper and adequate punishment if
he did. The Dalberg principle is similar to the American; that the
Army is the guardian of the civilian, not his oppressor; and that its
business is to protect not to browbeat. For generations, it has been
instilled into the Valerian soldier that his uniform could be smirched
only by himself--and stern, indeed, was the judgment of him who
ventured to think and do otherwise. For an officer to strike a
civilian without just cause meant to be cashiered; and to kill one,
save as justified by the civil law, meant to be hung as a common felon.
I had seen enough of the other Continental Armies to be very proud of
the Army of Valeria.
It was a pretty sight--the long line of white uniformed Cuirassiers in
burnished corselets and black-plumed helmets; with the Lake for a
background, and rank on rank of spectators on either side. In front,
were the carriages of the Aristocracy of the Capital; and, as I
galloped down to take post after the review, I could not but wonder how
many of all that crowd regarded me with a friendly eye. Behind me
clattered a brilliant Staff, and in my hand was the Baton of a Marshal,
yet, never in my life, had I felt so utterly alone as at that moment.
And Lotzen's recent sneer, that I could hope to hold the Crown only if
the Princess Dehra were my Queen, struck me in all its truth. Surely,
it was the climax of absurdity for me to aspire to rule this people, to
whom I was a stranger and in whose eyes I would be, in effect, a pure
usurper.
Then the great band of the Regiment blared out, and I settled myself
for the march-by.
When it was over, and the last troop had broken into column and had
trotted away, I dismissed my Staff, except Moore, and rode across to
where I had noticed Lady Helen Radnor.
"If you were not a Prince I would not speak to you," she said, as I
dismounted.
"Then," said I, as I bowed over her hand, "there is some compensation
in being a Prince."
"I have not seen you for ages," she complained.
"I've been very busy."
"That is no excuse among friends, sir; besides, the Princess has been
away for weeks."
"I did not imagine you would miss me," I said--and glanced at her left
hand.
She laughed, and held it up. "The finger is quite bare," she said;
"but, I'll take off the glove, if you wish."
"I'm sorry," I said. "He is such a good chap."
She raised her eyebrows.
I leaned a bit closer. "You won't refuse him when he does offer?" I
asked.
"I suppose an Archduke cannot be impertinent," she said.
"Not when he doesn't mean to be," said I.
"Do you know," said she slowly, and looking at me hard, the while, "I
was foolish enough to think, very long ago, that you rather liked me,
yourself."
"And it's just because I do--that I hoped the finger wasn't bare," I
answered.
"How deliciously unselfish!" she exclaimed. "You will next be
resigning the Princess to His Grace of Lotzen."
"Quite between ourselves, I'll be doing nothing of the sort," I said,
with mock confidentialness.
"Nevertheless, I think I'll tell the Duke he has only to wait," said
she.
"And I'll confide to Courtney he has only to ask to be taken," I
returned.