As a result of these reflections he at last came to a definite
conclusion. He determined, encouraged by certain friends, to make a
bold bid for liberty and effect his escape, even though he might have
to resort to violence, hoping that, once in Vienna, the Archduchess and
her friends would protect him.
Working in conjunction with two or three devoted friends, whom this
ever-popular man never lacked wherever he might be, he succeeded in
inspiring confidence in the two soldiers who guarded him, and who,
moreover, watched over him with the consideration due to his rank.
One morning the door of the little Hungarian house in which Count
Seilern had been imprisoned for a little less than a week was found
open, and there, before the entrance, was the evidence of the means
which the prisoner's friends had adopted to rescue him. Stretched on
the ground were the unconscious bodies of the two sentinels, heavily
drugged by Seiler's accomplices.
Shortly before this occurrence, which, though it naturally created
a great sensation in the immediate circle of the Staff, was thrown
into the background by military events of considerable importance
and the consequent long-desired removal of headquarters to a place
nearer the Front, there occurred an event which I cannot but regard as
connected with it. A certain Baron A----, one of Seilern's intimate
friends, found the means of obtaining permission to return to Vienna.
The alleged reason for his departure was urgent family business--some
sudden illness or similar call for his presence at home; but I am
convinced that its real object was to prepare a sure hiding-place
for the fugitive Count. It matters not what my reasons may be for so
thinking; suffice it to say that information received from a sure
source led me not only to that conclusion but to many other inferences.
I learnt, for instance, that the particulars of what was now known as
the "Seilern Affair" had leaked out, that the hiding-place of the
Count was already known to the police of the Austrian capital, but that
_no attempt was being made to arrest him_. It was evident, indeed, that
powerful influences were at work, and that every possible means was
being taken to hush up the scandal.
Later, I learnt that recourse was had to the advice of the aged
Princess M----, the oracle of the higher society circles of Vienna,
whose wisdom has been brought to bear on every "good" scandal at the
Court of the Hapsburgs during more than the half-century she has made
the laws of the fashionable world there.
Whilst Princess M---- was setting her acute wits to work, the
Archduchess Valeria, more and more determined never to return to her
ignoble husband, and realizing that the great crisis in her life
had at last come, took refuge at the house of some faithful family
retainers. The outcome of Princess M----'s ingenious reflections was
that Baron A---- was found a further useful mission in conjunction with
the affair. This trusted emissary was sent to Berne as a diplomatic
messenger, the alleged bearer of confidential documents for Count von
G----, a high Austro-Hungarian official and the representative of our
Government with the Swiss Confederation.
Holding the opinions I do in regard to the policy which is bringing my
poor country to the brink of ruin, I have no hesitation in speaking my
mind about some of the men who compose its diplomatic corps. Let me
explain, then, that von G----, a former head of the Cabinet of Count
Aerenthal, is one of the most equivocal figures in the diplomacy of the
Ballplatz. Frigid in his courtesy, scrupulously careful not to offend
anyone of importance, pitiless to the weak and servile to the powerful,
he was the mere tool of the Minister who first brought Austro-Hungary
under the dominations of Berlin.
You can easily imagine the unctuous politeness with which this
Machiavellian diplomatist received the man who called upon him with
a letter from Princess M----, asking him, in the cordial and guarded
terms which her pen can so well indite, to favour the love affair of
Count Seilern and hush up a scandal which, "if generally known, would
do incalculable harm, at a time when we have more and more need of
enlisting the respect of the subjects of His Most Gracious and Imperial
Majesty."
"What would I not do to oblige Princess M----?" exclaimed the Count
von G----, on coming to the end of the letter and turning his
heavily-whiskered face to Baron A---- (who related the interview to
me). "Will you transmit that expression of my devotion to her Royal
Highness, and say that I live in the hope of accomplishing much, _much_
more than this truly insignificant service? You will, of course,
understand, my dear Baron, that this is strictly _entre nous_. No
documentary evidence of my connection with this affair must exist,
and--_je vous en prie!_--not a word about this interview. See, I carry
out her Royal Highness's request this very minute and destroy her
letter"--tearing it in pieces and throwing them into his waste-paper
basket. "I will leave you to acknowledge its receipt. It is always best
to transact little affairs of this sort strictly by word of mouth. You
will call upon me once or twice and we will arrange--verbally, mark
you--for the accommodation of these turtle-doves of the dear Princess.
And, once on this free Helvetian soil, we will assist them--as in the
story-books, ha, ha!--to live happily ever afterwards."
A few days later, Count Seilern himself, provided, thanks to Princess
M----'s influence, backed up by the collaboration of Count von G----and
Baron A----, with passports, crossed the frontier. He had shaved off
his moustache and had all the appearance of a young man little more
than twenty. His extremely youthful physiognomy enabled him to pass
as the secretary of the Archduchess Valeria, who, when she heard that
Princess M---- was disposed to facilitate the escape of her lover to
Switzerland and thence to the United States, where he could remain
until after the war, when things would have blown over, insisted on
accompanying him into exile. It was at Zurich that the romantic couple
found their first hiding-place, arranged with Count von G----'s usual
genius for intrigue.
But the Austrian Court was on the watch.
The plan so astutely arranged by Princess M---- had saved Count Seilern
from the condemnation which hung over his head. Unfortunately, the
hatred of the Hapsburgs and the vengeance of Conrad von Hoetzendorf
followed him to Switzerland.
Whilst at Zurich, Count Seilern frequently received messages from
Princess M----, who, with her love for adventures of this sort,
began to take more and more interest in the welfare of the couple,
who had come to be known by Count von G----'s cynical phrase of "the
turtle-doves." There was hardly an occasion on which the Imperial
messenger left Vienna with diplomatic correspondence for that cunning
official but he carried confidential letters for both the Count and the
Archduchess.
I have often wondered whether Seilern, living happily in his retirement
at Zurich and looking forward to the still more free life of the United
States, ever realized the tremendous hatred he had aroused against
him. Probably not, judging by his trustful attitude and what followed.
He appears, as far as I have been able to learn, to have been so
wrapped up in himself and his Archduchess that he had not the slightest
suspicion of the snare which the Austrian Court had determined to set
for him.
This, then, was what happened, according to Baron A----, to whom I owe
the rest of this narrative.