MISS WELLINGTON CROSSES SWORDS WITH A DIPLOMAT
As Koltsoff, who had been summoned to the telephone, returned to the
morning-room of the Wellington house, he looked about him with a
triumphant gleam in his eye. He loved the part he was playing in
Newport, a part, by the way, which he had played not always ineptly in
other quarters of the world. He loved mystery; and like many Russians,
the fact that he was a part, the centre, of any project of
international emprise, questionable or otherwise, was to him the very
breath of life. Innuendo, political intrigue, diplomatic
tergiversation--in all these he was a master. Nor did he neglect the
color, the atmosphere. Here was his weakness. Vague hints, a
significant smile here, a shrug there, a lifting of the brows--all
temptations too great for him to resist, had at times the effect of
setting his effectiveness in certain ventures partially if not
completely at naught. Temperamental proclivities are better for their
absence among the component elements of a diplomat's mental equipment.
He had now in contemplation a genuine _affaire du coeur_. Thus far,
everything had gone well. He sighed the sigh of perfect
self-adjustment, sign of a mind agreeably filled, and stretching out
his legs picked up a volume of Bourget. He fingered the pages idly for
a few minutes and then laid it aside and half closed his eyes, nodding
and smiling placidly. He sat thus when Anne Wellington entered.
Rays of sunlight, flooding through the windows glorified the girl, made
her radiant as a spirit. And the Prince, who, if genuine in few
things, was at least a true worshipper of beauty, was exalted. He
arose, bowed slightly, and then advanced with wonderful charm of manner.
"My dear Miss Wellington," he murmured, "you come as the morning came,
so fresh and so beautiful."
"How polite of you," smiled the girl. "If our men were so facile--"
she opened one of the French windows and stepped out on the veranda,
looking over the restless waters to the yellow-green Narragansett hills.
"So facile?" asked Koltsoff, following.
"--So facile in their compliments, I am afraid we should grow to be
unbearable." She paused and smiled brightly at the Prince. "And yet
women of your country are not so; at least those whom I have met."
"That," replied the Russian, turning his eyes full upon hers, "is
because we are discriminating, if, as you say, facile."
Anne flushed and laughed and then dropped lightly into a big wicker
chair, conscious that Koltsoff had not withdrawn his gaze. She leaned
forward and flicked her skirts over her ankles, nervously pulled a
stray wisp of hair from her neck. Then she slowly met the eyes of the
man standing at her side and propounded an inquiry having to do with
nothing less banal than his views of America thus far. Prince Koltsoff
tossed his head and thus threw off the question. This amused the girl.
"Really," she said, "don't you find a remarkable resemblance between
Newport and the Isle of Wight? At least--pray sit down, won't you--I
have found them very like."
Prince Koltsoff seated himself daintily in a chair at her side and his
face lit under the influence of a triumphant thought.
"You speak of the Isle of Wight, Miss Wellington, neglecting one great
point of difference. Newport possesses you. They are, therefore, to
me, totally different." He waved one hand slightly and drew his
cigarette case from his pocket with the other, glancing at the girl.
"Oh, certainly," she said, "please smoke."
"But the difference," pursued Koltsoff, "don't you think it remarkable
that it should be so apparent to me?"
"Do you know," she said, glancing down at the toes of her slippers, "I
am not sufficiently inter--" She stopped abruptly and shrugged her
shoulders. "Oh, let us be impersonal, Prince Koltsoff, it is so much
nicer."
The Prince frowned.
"But, please," he said, "I wish to be personal. Am I at fault if I
find you interesting? Character is one of my most absorbing studies.
I am rather scientific. I see sometimes in persons, more than others
see who are not so observing, or scientific, as you please." He lit
his cigarette. "In you, for instance."
Miss Wellington, caught off her guard, started. The flash of a smile
crossed Koltsoff's face. His inclination to show off, to reveal his
cleverness, triumphed over his small supply of tact.
"I! 'For instance'! What do you mean, Prince Koltsoff?"
"Why, this morning at your church. As hidden depths of character
reveal themselves--" the Prince raised his eyes. "That billet--shall
we say _billet doux_?" He raised his shoulders and let them fall
slowly. "Women! Ah! most interesting!"
For a moment Anne maintained her expression of mild inquiry, but within
she was mentally perturbed. Irritation succeeded and she resolved to
punish him for his insolence, even at the risk of indiscretion.
"You see many things, do you not?" she said, mockingly.
"Yes," he agreed, following her lead, "I see very, very many things.
It is a faculty. It has been most useful."
"I should not flatter myself that I alone possessed that faculty,
Prince Koltsoff, if I were you." She leaned forward, her chin upon her
hand and gazed thoughtfully seaward. "I also am not sightless."
She leaned back in her chair languidly and watched the Prince's change
of expression with open amusement.
"So, you have found it worth while to observe me? I am quite
flattered." His impression that she had discharged a random shot grew
with his words and soon became conviction. "I thank you."
Anne laughed.
"You are quite welcome to all you received--in the way of my interest
in you. It is only fair, however, to suggest that we do not always
obtain information concerning our friends--'you, for instance,'" she
mimicked him perfectly, "through general observation. Some things may
obtrude themselves, don't you know, in the most--what was your word?
Oh, yes, 'scientific'--the most unscientific manner."
The Prince looked at her intently.
"You are speaking in innuendo, Miss Wellington," he replied. His tone
was low and rapid.
"I am speaking quite truthfully, Prince Koltsoff," she said, with an
inflection of emphasis.
"How could I doubt that!" He bowed. "That is why I am certain that you
will be more explicit."
"There, you really don't insist, do you?" He saw a malicious light in
her eyes.
"My dear Miss Wellington, most assuredly I do insist. I--I beg your
pardon--I do more: I demand. Certainly it is my right."
Anne was all mischief now.
"Very well, then, I am able to inform you that you were in Newport
incog, several days before you came to us. Do you conceive my right to
call this to your attention, in view of the fact that you told us you
had just arrived from Washington?"
Prince Koltsoff, as though absorbing her meaning, sat motionless,
gazing at her steadily. Then he leaned forward and placed his hand on
hers for a moment.
"Miss Wellington, you have done well. I pride myself on some
diplomatic experience. You have negotiated your _coup_ in a manner
worthy of a De Staël. You would adorn the service. I wonder if you
realize the possibilities of your future in an international sphere.
To you I have no fear of talking. Listen, then."
Unconsciously the girl bent toward him.
"I am a diplomat," he continued. "There are things which--" he lifted
his brows. "Newport--the French ambassador is here; the German
ambassador is at Narragansett Pier, and I--who knows where I am--and
why? But some day--"
He drew a long breath. "Rest content now, Miss Wellington, that I am
progressing toward the gratitude of my Government; you shall hear more.
Of course," he waved his hand, "I have spoken for your ear."
"Of course," said Miss Wellington, calmly, but inwardly curious
nevertheless. "Should you care to walk to the stables?"
He nodded and then walking beside her he continued impulsively:
"I am not a soldier, Miss Wellington. But all victories are not won on
the battlefields. The art--one of the arts--of diplomacy is to bring
on war, if war must be, when you are ready and your adversaries are
not. There are other functions. Let it be so. I but observe that one
may wield things other than the sword and better than the sword, to
serve one's country."
"I quite believe you." There was enthusiasm in her voice. "You may
never expect the glory of the soldier, and yet how glorious the work
must be! The matching of wits instead of guns, and then--you have the
opportunity of winning the victories of peace--"
"Of which the world seldom hears," interpolated the Prince.
"But that makes it finer," she said. "Have we any real diplomats,
who--oh, I don't know--make themselves felt in the inner circle of
things: men that we--that the country--does not know of, who are doing
the--the things you are?"
The Prince smiled.
"I don't know really. You have the 'new diplomacy' which is shouting
what other people whisper--or keep to themselves--and _le gros
gourdin_--the laughable big stick; it amuses us more than it impresses,
I assure you." He regarded the girl closely and she smiled
questioningly.
"You do not flush! You are not irritated?" he asked.
"Why should I be? What do you mean?"
"I was speaking lightly of your country."
"Oh, were you? I did not notice. I fear I am used to that, having
spent much time in Europe."
The Prince looked at her curiously. She colored.
"No," she said, "I do not go in strongly for the _furore Americanus_,
if that is what you mean."
"So. Your country must look to its _bourgeoise_ for its Joans of Arc.
But then your men are ungallantly self-sufficient. In Russia," the
Prince shrugged his shoulders, "we send women to Siberia--or decorate
them with the Order of St. Katherine."
"You actually shame me, Prince Koltsoff. We are different here; even
our suffragettes would by no means allow devotion to their cause to
carry them to jail; and as for influencing statesmen, or setting their
plans at naught--" she shook her head--"why, I do not even know who
they are. They are not in our set," laughing. "Really, we are pretty
much butterflies from your--from any--viewpoint, are n't we? But after
all, why?"
"Ah, why?" He turned to her suddenly. "Do you love your country, Miss
Wellington?"
"What an absurd question! Of course I do."
"Easily answered," replied the Prince, "but think a moment. I said
_love_. That love which inspired your women to send their sons and
husbands to die for their country in your Civil War; the love that
exalted Charlotte Corday. Have you breathed the quicker when you saw
your flag in foreign lands?" He looked at her strangely. "Would you
loathe the man you loved if you learnt he had injured your country?
Think, Miss Wellington."
"Your fervor renders it quite impossible for me to think; if it will
satisfy you I will say I don't believe I begin to know what patriotism
is. Yet I would not have you think I am altogether shallow. Sir
Clarence Pembroke has praised my grasp of British affairs. I have
always regarded that as quite a compliment."
"You have reason. You know, we know, that the American woman who would
move in the tense affairs of the world must find her opportunity in
Europe. It does not exist here."
"And never can exist, in a republic, I imagine," said the girl, "at
least in a republic constituted as ours is."
"No, surely not. By-the-bye, who is your Secretary of the Navy? Your
Attorney-General?"
"Help!" cried the girl in mock despair. "Really, Prince Koltsoff, I
must ask you to consider your demonstration of my unfitness to even
consider myself an American complete. Further humiliation is
unnecessary. At least I suppose I should feel humiliated. But
somehow, I 'm not. That's the pitiable part of it."
"And yet, Miss Wellington, have you ever considered what would lie
before you with your,--pardon me,--your beauty and your wit, in Europe?"
"No, I never have," said Anne not quite truthfully. "Please, Prince
Koltsoff, let us change the subject."