The first time I met Count Seilern and became acquainted with the
anteccedents of this brilliant young officer, the heir of a noble
Viennese family, was during the summer of 1914, whilst I was undergoing
a cure at one of the Austrian spas, which, owing to my desire to
remain as anonymous as possible, I will leave unnamed. We were both
members of an international club, run by an American, who offered his
patrons "all the usual casino attractions to be found elsewhere." True,
there was neither roulette nor _trente-et-quarante_, but, under the
cloak of a long list of subsidiary and innocent beguilements, such as
golf, tennis, and pigeon-shooting, the game of baccarat flourished
in a manner that bore a very respectable similarity to the famous
allurements of the great French Riviera resort.
It was here--one evening in mid-June--that I was introduced to Count
Seilern, and that he offered to introduce me as a member of the inner
_cercle_.
Nothing is so revelatory of a man's character as his attitude under
the temptations of the gaming-table. I have gambled many times, but
have always known when to respond to the promptings of the spirit of
prudence and leave off. I gambled at C----, but only until the moment
when I considered I had paid a sufficiently high entrance-fee for the
privilege of studying my fellow-clubmen in general and Count Seilern in
particular.
This new acquaintance of mine attracted me from the very first. In
spite of the weakness of his character, which was evident all the more
clearly the longer he played, it was impossible for anyone of education
and refinement not to like him. There was something even in the manner
in which he coquetted with the Goddess of Chance which compelled one's
admiration.
A little less than a week later I was in a position to judge the
character of my new friend infinitely better. Personal observation
had taught me that he could be both chivalrous and generous. I noted
more than once that, however reckless he might be at times, there
were moments when he could give himself up to day-dreams and calm
reflection. This was to me a puzzling problem of his personality until,
almost simultaneously with these early days of our acquaintanceship,
fresh light came from certain brother officers, who volunteered to put
me _au courant_ with details concerning his private life which were
known only to the innermost circle of Viennese society.
These new facts, which explained so much that had hitherto been vague
or unintelligible, were as fuel added to the fire of my imagination.
Count Seilern suddenly became, in my eyes, a hero of romance. Yet I
cannot say that it was wholly admiration which now filled me. An
indescribable feeling of pity, mingled with fear, came over me whilst I
was listening, strolling one afternoon under the trees in the admirable
park of C----, after drinking the regulation number of glasses of water
from my favourite spring, to the first of those startling disclosures.
"There goes the man who is playing with fire," said my companion, as
Count Seilern's well-known olive-green car, with himself at the wheel,
glided past us and disappeared round a curve of the road leading to the
golf-links.
"Has he been losing heavily again?" I asked.
"Possibly. But I'm not referring to his proclivity to waste time and
money at the International. There are far more ways than that by which
a man may play with fire, and if gaming were the Count's only little
diversion, many a mind in his family--one of the oldest in Austria, you
know--would be set at rest. Whatever losses he may have, the means to
meet them will always be more than sufficient, for the Seilerns possess
untold wealth. It is for that reason, I suppose, that the Count aspires
so high. No, the particular danger which threatens him is of a wholly
different order to the one you have in mind. It is a case, my friend,
of '_cherchez la femme_.' But surely you know of that last winter's
affair of his?"
"Not a word reached my ears. I was away from Vienna, on a mission, the
whole of last winter."
"I see. Well, now I come to think about it, you might not have heard
anything if you'd been there, for the affair was kept very quiet, and
those in the secret were pledged not to mention the lady's real name.
When I tell you that she is a young Archduchess, closely related to
the Archduchess Maria Theresa, and the victim of a most unfortunate
marriage, you will understand what I mean by referring to Seilern
playing with fire."
"Oh, ho! so that's it? And you are certain he is still infatuated with
the lady?"
"Absolutely, unfortunately for him. But let me tell you all about it
from the beginning."