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HEARTS & MASKS

HEARTS AND
MASKS
BY
HAR OLD MAC (GRATH
Author of The Puppet Crown
TheGrey Cloak The Manon the Box
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY
New York
GROSSET &P DūNLAP
Publishers

COPYRIGHT 1905
THE BOBBS-MERRILL CoMPANY
"TO MY WIFº
HEARTS AND MASKS
I
It all depends upon the manner of your en-
trance to the Castle of Adventure. One does not
have to scale its beetling parapets or assault its
scarps and frowning bastions; neither is one
obliged to force with clamor and blaring trumpets
and glittering gorgets the drawbridge and port-
cullis. Rather the pathway lies through one of
those many little doors, obscure, yet easily acces-
sible, latchless and boltless, to which the average
person gives no particular attention, and yet
which invariably lead to the very heart of this
Castle Delectable. The whimsical chatelaine of
this enchanted keep is a shy goddess. Circum- f
spection has no part in her affairs, nor caution,
nor practicality; nor does her eye linger upon the
dullard and the blunderer. Imagination solves
the secret riddle, and wit is the guide that leads
I
HEARTS AND MASKS
the seeker through the winding, bewildering laby-
rinths.
And there is something in being idle, too!
If I had not gone idly into Mouquin’s cellar
for dinner that night, I should have missed the
most engaging adventure that ever fell to my lot.
It is second nature for me to be guided by impulse
rather than by reason; reason is always so square-
toed and impulse is always so alluring. You will
find that nearly all the great captains were and
are creatures of impulse; nothing brilliant is ever
achieved by calculation. All this is not to say
that I am a great captain; it is offered only to in-
form you that I am often impulsive.
A Times, four days old; and if I hadn’t fallen
upon it to pass the twenty-odd minutes between
my order and the service of it, I shouldn’t have
made the acquaintance of the police in that pretty
little suburb over in New Jersey; nor should I
have met the enchanting Blue Domino; nor would
fate have written Kismet. The clairvoyant never
has any fun in this cycle; he has no surprises.
I had been away from New York for several
weeks, and had returned only that afternoon.
Thus, the spirit of unrest acquired by travel was
2
HEARTS AND MASKS
still upon me. It was nearing holiday week, and
those congenial friends I might have called upon,
to while away the evening, were either busily oc-
cupied with shopping or were out of town; and I
determined not to go to the club and be bored by
some indifferent billiard player. I would dine
quietly, listen to some light music, and then go to
the theater. I was searching the theatrical amuse-
ments, when the society column indifferently at-
tacked my eye. I do not know why it is, but I
have a wholesome contempt for the so-called so-
ciety columns of the daily newspaper in New
York. Mayhap, it is because I do not belong.
I read this paragraph with a shrug, and that
one with a smirk. I was in no manner surprised
at the announcement that Miss High-Culture was
going to wed the Duke of Impecune; I had always
been certain this girl would do some such fool
thing. That Mrs. Hyphen-Bonds was giving a
farewell dinner at the Waldorf, prior to her de-
parture to Europe, interested my curiosity not in
the least degree. It would be all the same to me
if she never came back. None of the wishy-washy
tittle-tattle interested me, in fact. There was
only one little six-line paragraph that really
3
HEARTS AND MASFCS
caught me. On Friday night (that is to say, the
night of my adventures in Blankshire), the Hunt
Club was to give a charity masquerade dance.
This grasped my adventurous spirit by the throat
and refused to let go.
The atmosphere surrounding the paragraph was
spirituous with enchantment. There was a gen-
uine novelty about this dance. Two packs of play-
ing-cards had been sent out as tickets; one pack
to the ladies and one to the gentlemen. Charm-
ing idea, wasn’t it? These cards were to be shown
at the door, together with ten dollars, but were to
be retained by the recipients till two o'clock (sup-
per-time), at which moment everybody was to
unmask and take his partner, who held the corres-
ponding card, in to supper. Its newness strongly
appealed to me. I found myself reading the para-
graph over and over.
By Jove, what an inspiration'
I knew the Blankshire Hunt Club, with its
colonial architecture, its great ball-room, its
quaint fireplaces, its stables and sheds, and the
fame of its chef. It was one of those great
country clubs that keep open house the year round.
It stood back from the sea about four miles and
4.
HEARTS AND MASECS
was within five miles of the village. There was
a fine course inland, a cross-country going of not
less than twenty miles, a shooting-box, and excel-
lent golf-links. In the winter it was cozy; in
the summer it was ideal.
I was intimately acquainted with the club’s M.
F. H., Teddy Hamilton. We had done the Paris-
Berlin run in my racing-car the summer before.
If I hadn’t known him so well, I might still have
been in durance vile, next door to jail, or securely
inside. I had frequently dined with him at the
club during the summer, and he had offered to put
me up ; but as I knew no one intimately but him-
self, I explained the futility of such action. Be-
sides, my horse wasn’t a hunter; and I was riding
him less and less. It is no pleasure to go “park-
ing ” along the bridle-paths of Central Park. For
myself, I want a hill country and something like
forty miles, straight away; that’s riding.
The fact that I knew no one but Teddy added
zest to the inspiration which had seized me. For I
determined to attend that dance, happen what
might. It would be vastly more entertaining than
a possibly dull theatrical performance. (It was 1)
I called for a messenger and despatched him to
5
HEARTS AND MASKS
the nearest drug store for a pack of playing-cards;
and while I waited for his return I casually glanced
at the other diners. At my table — one of those
long marble-topped affairs by the wall — there
was an old man reading a paper, and the hand-
somest girl I had set eyes upon in a month of
moons. Sometimes the word handsome seems an
inferior adjective. She was beautiful, and her
half-lidded eyes told me that she was anywhere
but at Mouquin’s. What a head of hair! Fine
as a spider’s web, and the dazzling yellow of a
wheat-field in a sun-shower! The irregularity of
her features made them all the more interesting.
I was an artist in an amateur way, and I mentally
painted in that head against a Rubens background.
The return of the messenger brought me back to
earth; for I confess that my imagination had al-
ready leaped far into the future, and this girl
across the way was nebulously connected with it.
I took the pack of cards, ripped off the covering,
tossed aside the joker (though, really, I ought
to have retained it!) and began shuffling the shiny
pasteboards. I dare say that those around me sat
up and took notice. It was by no means a com-
mon sight to see a man gravely shuffling a pack of
6
HEARTS AND MASKS
cards in a public restaurant. Nobody interfered,
doubtless because nobody knew exactly what to do
in the face of such an act, for which no adequate
laws had been provided. A waiter stood solemnly
at the end of the table, scratching his chin thought-
fully, wondering whether he should report this
peculiarity of constitution and susceptibility oc-
casioning certain peculiarities of effect from
impress of extraneous influences (vide Webster),
synonymous with idiocrasy and known as idiosyn-
crasy. It was quite possible that I was the first
man to establish such a precedent in Monsieur
Mouquin’s restaurant. Thus, I aroused only pas-
sive curiosity.
From the corner of my eye I observed the old
gentleman opposite. He was peering over the top
of his paper, and I could see by the glitter in
his eye that he was a confirmed player of solitaire.
The girl, however, still appeared to be in a dream-
ing state. I have no doubt every one who saw
me thought that anarchy was abroad again, or
that Sherlock Holmes had entered into his third
incarnation.
Finally I squared the pack, took a long breath,
and cut. I turned up the card. It was the ten-
7
HEARTS AND MASKS
spot of hearts. I considered this most propiticas,
hearts being my long suit in everything but love,
— love having not yet crossed my path. I put
the card in my wallet, and was about to toss the
rest of the pack under the table, when a woman’s
voice stayed my hand.
“Don’t throw them away. Tell my fortune
first.”
I looked up, not a little surprised. It was the
beautiful young girl who had spoken. She was
leaning on her elbows, her chin propped in her
palms, and the light in her grey chatoyant eyes
was wholly innocent and mischievous. In Mon-
sieur Mouquin’s cellar people are rather Bohemian,
not to say friendly; for it is the rendezvous of
artists, literary men and journalists, – a clan that
holds formality in contempt.
“Tell your fortune?” I repeated parrot-like.
“Yes.”
“Your mirror can tell you that more accurately
than I can,” I replied with a frank glance of
admiration.
She drew her shoulders together and dropped
them. “I spoke to you, sir, because I believed
you wouldn’t say anything so commonplace as that.
8
HEARTS AND MASKS
When one sees a man soberly shuffling a pack of
cards in a place like this, one naturally expects
originality.”
“Well, perhaps you caught me off my guard,”
— humbly. “I am original. Did you ever be-
fore witness this performance in a public restau-
rant?”— making the cards purr.
“I can not say I have,”— amused.
“Well, no more have I1 *
“Why, then, do you do it?”— with renewed
interest.
“Shall I tell your fortune?”
“Not now. I had much rather you would tell
me the meaning of this play.”
I leaned toward her and whispered mysteriously:
“The truth is, I belong to a secret society, and
I was cutting the cards to see whether or not I
should blow up the post-office to-night or the
police-station. You mustn't tell anybody.”
“Oh I ?” She started back from the table.
| “You do not look it,” she added suddenly.
“I know it; appearances are so deceptive,” said
I sadly. -.
Then the old man laughed, and the girl laughed,
and I laughed; and I wasn’t quite sure that the
9
HEARTS AND MASKS
grave waiter did not crack the ghost of a smile —
in relief.
“And what, may I ask, was the fatal card?”
inquired the old man, folding his paper.
“The ace of spades; we always choose that
gloomy card in secret societies. There is some-
thing deadly and suggestive about it,” I answered
morbidly.
“Indeed.”
“Yes. Ah, if only you knew the terrible life
we lead, we who conspire! Every day brings forth
some galling disappointment. We push a king off
into the dark, and another rises immediately in his
place. Futility, futility everywhere ! If only
there were some way of dynamiting habit and cus-
tom I am a Russian; all my family are perish-
ing in Siberian mines,”— dismally.
“Fudge!” said the girl.
“Tommy-rot ’’ said the amiable old gentleman.
“ Uncle, his hair is too short for an anarchist.”
“And his collar too immaculate.” (So the old w
gentleman was this charming creature’s uncle!)
“We are obliged to disguise ourselves at times,”
I explained. “The police are always meddling.
It is discouraging.”
TO

HEARTS AND MASKS
“You have some purpose, humorous or serious,”
said the girl shrewdly. “A man does not bring a
pack of cards —”
“I didn’t bring them; I sent out for them.”
“— bring a pack of cards here simply to at-
tract attention,” she continued tranquilly.
“Perhaps I am a prestidigitator in a popular
dime-museum,” I suggested, willing to help her
out, “ and am doing a little advertising.”
“Now, that has a plausible sound,” she ad-
mitted, folding her hands under her chin. “It
must be an interesting life. Presto — change!
and all that.”
“Oh, I find it rather monotonous in the winter;
but in the summer it is fine. Then I wander about
the summer resorts and give exhibitions.”
“You will pardon my niece,” interpolated the
old gentleman, coughing a bit nervously. “If she
annoys you —”
“Uncle!”—reproachfully.
“Heaven forfend | * I exclaimed eagerly.
“There is a charm in doing unconventional things;
and most people do not realize it, and are stupid.”
“Thank you, sir,” said the girl, smiling. She
was evidently enjoying herself; so was I, for that
II
HEARTS AND MASKS
matter. “Do a trick for me,” she commanded
presently.
I smiled weakly. I couldn’t have done a trick
with the cards, – not if my life had depended
upon it. But I rather neatly extricated myself
from the trap.
“I never do any tricks out of business hours.”
“Uncle, give the gentleman ten cents; I want
to see him do a sleight-of-hand trick.”
Her uncle, readily entering into the spirit of the
affair, dived into a pocket and produced the piece
of silver. It looked as if I were caught.
“There! this may make it worth your while,”
the girl said, shoving the coin in my direction.
But again I managed to slide under; I was not
to be caught.
“It is my regret to say,”— frowning slightly,
“that regularity in my business is everything. It
wants half an hour for my turn to come on. If I
tried a trick out of turn, I might foozle and lose
prestige. And besides, I depend so much upon the
professor and his introductory notes: “Ladies and
gents, permit me to introduce the world-renowned
Signor Fantoccini, whose marvelous tricks have
long puzzled all the crowned heads of Europe — ”
19
|HEARTS AND MASKS
“Fantoccini,”— musingly. “That’s Italian,
for puppet show.”
“I know it, but the dime-museum visitors do
not. It makes a fine impression.” f
She laughed and slid the dime back to her
uncle. -
” she said.
“I’m afraid you are an impostor,
“I’m afraid so, too,” I confessed, laughing.
Then the comedy came to an end by the ap-
pearance of our separate orders. I threw aside
the cards and proceeded to attack my dinner, for
I was hungry. From time to time I caught vague
fragments of conversation between the girl and her
uncle.
“It’s a fool idea,” mumbled the old gentleman;
“you will get into some trouble or other.”
“That doesn’t matter. It will be like a vaca-
tion,- a flash of old Rome, where I wish I were
at this very moment. I am determined.”
“This is what comes of reading romantic nov-
els,”— with a kind of grumble.
“I admit there never was a particle of romance
on your side of the family,” the girl retorted.
“Happily. There is peace in the house where
T live.”
HEARTS AND MASKS
“Do not argue with me.”
“I am not arguing with you. I should
only be wasting my time. I am simply warning
you that you are about to commit a folly.”
“I have made up my mind.”
“Ah! In that case I have hopes,” he returned.
“When a woman makes up her mind to do one
thing, she generally does another. Why can’t
you put aside this fool idea and go to the opera
with me?”
“I have seen Carmen in Paris, Rome, London
and New York,” she replied.
(Evidently a traveled young person.)
“Carmen is your favorite opera, besides.”
“Not to-night,”— whimsically.
“Go, then; but please recollect that if anything
serious comes of your folly, I did my best to pre-
went it. It’s a scatter-brained idea, and no good
will come of it, mark me.”
“I can take care of myself,”— truculently.
“So I have often been forced to observe,”—
dryly.
(I wondered what it was all about.)
“But, uncle dear, I am becoming so dreadfully
bored °
14
HEARTS AND MASECS
“That sounds final,” sighed the old man, help-
ing himself to the haricots verts. (The girl ate
positively nothing.) “But it seems odd that you
can’t go about your affairs after my own reason-
able manner.”
“I am only twenty.”
The old man’s shoulders rose and fell resignedly.
“No man has an answer for that.”
“I promise to tell you everything that happens;
by telegraph.”
“That’s small comfort. Imagine receiving a
telegram early in the morning, when a man’s brain
is without invention or coherency of thought! I
would that you were back home with your father.
I might sleep o' nights, then.”
“I have so little amusement | *
“You work three hours a day and earn more
in a week than your father and I do in a month.
Yours is a very unhappy lot.” s
“I hate the smell of paints; I hate the studio.”
“And I suppose you hate your fame?” acridly.
“Bah! that is my card to a living. The peo-
ple I meet bore me.”
“Not satisfied with common folks, eh? Must
have kings and queens to talk to?”
15
HEARTS AND MASKS
“I only want to live abroad, and you and
father will not let me,”— petulantly.
The music started up, and I heard no more.
Occasionally the girl glanced at me and smiled in
a friendly fashion. She was evidently an artist’s
model; and when they have hair and color like this
girl’s, the pay is good. I found myself wonder-
ing why she was bored and why Carmen had so
suddenly lost its charms.
It was seven o’clock when I pushed aside my
plate and paid my check. I calculated that by
hustling I could reach Blankshire either at ten
or ten-thirty. That would be early enough for
my needs. And now to route out a costumer.
All I needed was a grey mask. I had in my apart-
ments a Capuchin’s robe and cowl. I rose, light-
ing a cigarette.
The girl looked up from her coffee.
“Back to the dime-museum?”— banteringly.
“I have a few minutes to spare,” said I.
“By the way, I forgot to ask you what card
you drew.”
“It was the ten of hearts.”
“The ten of hearts?” Her amazement was
not understandable.
16
HEARTS AND MASKS
“Yes, the ten of hearts; Cupid and all that.”
She recovered her composure quickly.
“Then you will not blow up the post-office to.
night?”
“No,” I replied, “not to-night.”
“You have really and truly aroused my curi-
osity. Tell me, what does the ten of hearts mean
to you?”
I gazed thoughtfully down at her. Had Î
truly mystified her? There was some doubt in my
mind.
“Frankly, I wish I might tell you. All I am
at liberty to say is that I am about to set forth
upon a desperate adventure, and I shall be very
fortunate if I do not spend the night in the lock-
up.”
“You do not look desperate.”
“Oh, I am not desperate; it is only the adven-
ture that is desperate.”
“Some princess in durance vile? Some vil-
laim to smite? Citadels to storm P” Her smile
was enchantment itself.
I hesitated a moment. “What would you say
if I told you that this adventure was merely to
I?
|HEARTS ANT) MASKS
prove to myself what a consummate ass the average
man can be upon occasions?”
“Why go to the trouble of proving it?”—
}rolly.
“I am conceited enough to have some doubts as
to the degree.”
“Consider it positive.”
I laughed. “I am in hopes that I am neither a
positive ass nor a superlative one, only compara-
tive.”
“But the adventure; that is the thing that
mainly interests me.”
“Oh, that is a secret which I should hesitate to
tell even to the Sphinx.”
“I see you are determined not to illuminate
the darkness,”— and she turned carelessly toward
her uncle, who was serenely contemplating the
glowing end of a fat perfecto.
I bowed and passed out in Sixth Avenue, rather
regretting that I had not the pleasure of the
charming young person’s acquaintance.
The ten-spot of hearts seemed to have startled
her for some reason. I wondered why.
The snow blew about me, whirled, and swirled,
and stung. Oddly enough I recalled the paragraph
38
HEARTS AND MASKS
relative to Mrs. Hyphen-Bonds. By this time she
was being very well tossed about in mid-ocean. As
the old order of yarn-spinners used to say, little did
I dream what was in store for me, or the influence
the magic name of Hyphen-Bonds was to have
upon my destiny.
Bismillah! (Whatever that means !)
H%
II
After half an hour’s wandering about I stumbled
across a curio-shop, a weird, dim and dusty, musty
old curio-shop, with stuffed peacocks hanging from
the ceiling, and skulls, and bronzes and marbles,
paintings, tarnished jewelry and ancient armor,
rare books in vellum, small arms, tapestry, pastimes,
plaster masks, and musical instruments. I re-
called to mind the shop of the dealer in antiquities
in Balzac's La Peau de Chagrin, and glanced about
(not without a shiver) for the fatal ass’s skin. (I
forgot that I was wearing it myself that night!)
I was something of a collector of antiquities, of the
inanimate kind, and for a time I became lost in
speculation, — speculation rather agreeable of its
kind. I liked to conjure up in fancy the various
scenes through which these curiosities had drifted,
in their descent to this demi-pawnshop ; the brave
men and beautiful women, the clangor of tocsins,
the haze of battles, the glitter of ball-rooms, epochs
and ages. What romance lay behind yon satin
20
HEARTS AND MASKS
slipper? What grande dame had smiled behind
that ivory fan; What meant that tarnished silver
mask?
The old French proprietor was evidently all
things from a pawnbroker to an art collector; for
most of the jewelry was in excellent order and the
pictures possessed value far beyond the intrinsic.
He was waiting upon a customer, and the dingy
light that shone down on his bald bumpy head made
it look for all the world like an ill-used billiard-
ball. He was exhibiting revolvers.
From the shining metal of the small arms, my
glance traveled to the face of the prospective buyer.
It was an interesting face, clean-cut, beardless, en-
ergetic, but the mouth impressed me as being
rather hard. Doubtless he felt the magnetism of
my scrutiny, for he suddenly looked around. The
expression on his face was not one to induce
me to throw my arms around his neck and de-
clare I should be glad to make his acquaintance.
It was a scowl. He was in evening dress, and I
could see that he knew very well how to wear it.
All this was but momentary. He took up a re-
volver and balanced it on his palm.
By and by the proprietor came sidling along be.
21
HEARTS AND MASKS
hind the cases, the slip-slip fashion of his ap-
proach informing me that he wore slippers.
“Do you keep costumes?” I asked. :-
“Anything you like, sir, from a crusader to aſ
modern gentleman,”— with grim and appropriate
irony. “What is it you are in search of — a
masquerade costume?”
“Only a grey mask,” I answered. “I am go-
ing to a masked ball to-night as a Grey Capuchin,
and I want a mask that will match my robe.”
“Your wants are simple.”
From a shelf he brought down a box, took off
the cover, and left me to make my selection. Soon
I found what I desired and laid it aside, waiting
for Monsieur Friard to return. Again I ob-
served the other customer. There is always a
mystery to be solved and a story to be told, when
a man makes the purchase of a pistol in a pawn-
shop. A man who buys a pistol for the sake of
protection does so in the light of day, and in the
proper place, a gun-shop. He does not haunt
the pawnbroker in the dusk of evening. Well, it
was none of my business; doubtless he knew what
he was doing. I coughed suggestively, and Friard
came slipping in my direction again.
22

HEARTS AND MASKS
“This is what I want. How rºuch?” I in-
quired.
“Fifty cents; it has never been worn.”
I drew out my wallet. I had arrived in town
too late to go to the bank, and I was carrying an
uncomfortably large sum in gold-bills. As I
opened the wallet to extract a small bill, I saw
the stranger eying me quietly. Well, well, the
dullest being brightens at the sight of money and
its representatives. I drew out a small bill and
handed it to the proprietor. He took it, together
with the mask, and sidled over to the cash-register.
The bell gave forth a muffled sound, not unlike that
of a fire-bell in a snow-storm. As he was in the
act of wrapping up my purchase, I observed the
silent customer’s approach. When he reached my
side he stooped and picked up something from the
floor. With a bow he presented it to me.
“I saw it drop from your pocket,” he said;
and then when he saw what it was, his jaw fell,
and he sent me a hot, penetrating glance.
“The ten of hearts | ** he exclaimed in amaze-
ment. *
I laughed easily.
“The ten of hearts!” he repeated.
23
FHEARTS AND MASKS
“Yes; four hearts on one side and four on the
other, and two in the middle, which make ten in
all,”— raillery in my tones. What the deuce was
the matter with everybody to-night? “Marvelous
card, isn’t it?”
“Very strangel’’ he murmured, pulling at his
lips.
“And in what way is it strange?” I asked,
rather curious to learn the cause of his agitation.
“There are several reasons,”—briefly.
66 Ah! 99
“I have seen a man’s hand pinned to that card;
therefore it is gruesome.”
“Some card-sharper?”
He nodded. “Then again, I lost a small for-
tune because of that card,”— diffidently.
<< Poker? 22
“Yes. Why will a man try to fill a royal flush?
The man next to me drew the ten of hearts, the
very card I needed. The sight of it always un-
nerves me. I beg your pardon.”
“Oh, that’s all right,” said I, wondering how
many more lies he had up his sleeve.
“And there’s still another reason. I saw a
24
HEARTS AND MASKS
man put six bullets into the two central spots, and
an hour later the seventh bullet snuffed the candle
of a friend of mine. I am from the West.”
“I can sympathize with you,” I returned.
“After all that trouble, the sight of the card
must have given you a shock.”
Then I stowed away the fatal card and took
up my bundle and change. I have in my own time
tried to fill royal flushes, and the disappointment
still lingers with a bitter taste.
“The element of chance is the most fascinating
thing there is,” the stranger from the West volun-
teered.
“So it is,” I replied, suddenly recalling that
I was soon to put my trust in the hands of that
very fickle goddess.
He nodded and returned to his revolvers, while
I went out of the shop, hailed a cab, and drove
up-town to my apartments in Riverside. It was
eight o’clock by my watch. I leaned back against
the cushions, ruminating. There seemed to be
something going on that night; the ten of hearts
was acquiring a mystifying, not to say sinister,
aspect. First it had alarmed the girl in Mou-
25
HEARTS AND MASECS
quin’s, and now this stranger in the curio-shop. I
was confident that the latter had lied in regard
to his explanations. The card had startled him,
but his reasons were altogether of transparent thin-
ness. A man never likes to confess that he is un-
lucky at cards; there is a certain pride in lying
about the enormous stakes you have won and the
wonderful draws you have made. I frowned. It
was not possible for me to figure out what his in-
terest in the card was. If he was a Westerner, his
buying a pistol in a pawnshop was at once dis-
robed of its mystery; but the inconsistent elegance
of his evening clothes doubled my suspicions. Bah!
What was the use of troubling myself with this
stranger’s affairs? He would never cross my path
again.
In reasonable time the cab drew up in front
of my apartments. I dressed, donned my Capu-
chin’s robe and took a look at myself in the pier-
glass. Then I unwrapped the package and put on
the mask. The whole made a capital outfit, and I
was vastly pleased with myself. This was going
to be such an adventure as one reads about in the
ancient numbers of Blackwood's. I slipped the
26
HEARTS AND MASIKS
robe and mask into my suit-case and lighted my
pipe. During great moments like this, a man
gathers courage and confidence from a pipeful of
tobacco. I dropped into a comfortable Morris,
touched the gas-logs, and fell into a pleasant
dream. It was not necessary for me to start for
the Twenty-third Street ferry till nine; so I had
something like three-quarters of an hour to idle
away. . . . What beautiful hair that girl
had It was like sunshine, the silk of corn, the
yield of the harvest. And the marvelous abund-
ance of it! It was true that she was an artist’s
model; it was equally true that she had committed
a mild impropriety in addressing me as she had ;
but, for all I could see, she was a girl of delicate
breeding, doubtless one of the many whose family
fortunes, or misfortunes, force them to earn a
living. And it is no disgrace these days to pose
as an artist’s model. The classic oils, nowadays,
call only for exquisite creations in gowns and hats;
mythology was exhausted by the old masters.
Rome, Paris, London; possibly a bohemian exist-
ence in these cities accounted for her ease in strik-
ing up a conversation, harmless enough, with a
27
HEARTS AND MASKS
total stranger. In Paris and Rome it was all very
well; but it is a risky thing to do in unromantic
New York and London. However, her uncle had
been with her; a veritable fortress, had I over-
stepped the bounds of politeness.
The smoke wavered and rolled about me. I took
out the ten of hearts and studied it musingly.
After all, should I go? Would it be wise? I con-
fess I saw goblins’ heads peering from the spots,
and old Poe stories returned to me! Pshaw! It
was only a frolic, no serious harm could possibly
come of it. I would certainly go, now I had gone
thus far. What fool idea the girl was bent on I
hadn’t the least idea; but I easily recognized the
folly upon which I was about to set sail. Heigh-
ho! What was a lonely young bachelor to do?
At the most, they could only ask me to vacate the
premises, should I be so unfortunate as to be dis-
covered. In that event, Teddy Hamilton would
come to my assistance. . . . She was really
‘beautiful! And then I awoke to the alarming fact
that the girl in Mouquin’s was interesting me more
than I liked to confess.
Presently, through the haze of smoke, I saw
28
HEARTS AND MASKS
a patch of white paper on the rug in front of the
pier-glass. I rose and picked it up.

-
NAME Hawthorne
COSTUME Blue Domino
TIME 5:30 P. M.
RETURNED
ADDREss__West 87th Street
FRIARD'S
—-ºr-
I stared at the bit of pasteboard, fascinated.
How the deuce had this got into my apartments?
A Blue Domino? Ha! I had it! Old Friard
had accidentally done up the ticket with my mask.
A Blue Domino; evidently I wasn’t the only per-
son who was going to a masquerade. Without
doubt this fair demoiselle was about to join the
festivities of some shop-girls’ masquerade, where
money and pedigree are inconsequent things, and
where everybody is either a “loidy * or a “gent.”
Persons who went to my kind of masquerade did
29
HEARTS AND MASKS
not rent their costumes; they laid out extravagant
sums to the fashionable modiste and tailor, and had
them made to order. A Blue Domino: humph
It was too late to take the ticket back to Friard’s;
so I determined to mail it to him in the morning.
It was now high time for me to be off. I got
into my coat and took down my opera hat. Out-
side the storm was still active; but the snow had a
promising softness, and there were patches of stars
to be seen here and there in the sky. By mid-
night there would be a full moon. I got to Jersey
City without mishap; and when I took my seat in
the smoker, I found I had ten minutes to spare.
I bought a newspaper and settled down to read the
day’s news. It was fully half an hour between
Jersey City and Blankshire; in that time I could
begin and finish the paper.
There never was a newspaper those days that
hadn’t a war-map in some one of its columns; and
when I had digested the latest phases of the war
in the far East, I quite naturally turned to the
sporting-page to learn what was going on among
the other professional fighters. (Have I mentioned
to you the fact that I was all through the Spanish
War, the mix-up in China, and that I had resigned
30
HEARTS AND MASKS
my commission to accept the post of traveling sales-
man for a famous motor-car company ? If I have
not, pardon me. You will now readily accept my
recklessness of spirit as a matter of course.) I
turned over another page; from this I learned that
the fair sex was going back to puff-sleeves again.
Many an old sleeve was going to be turned upside
down.
Fudge | The train was rattling through the
yards. Another page crackled. Ha! Here was
that unknown gentleman-thief again, up to his old
tricks. It is remarkable how difficult it is to
catch a thief who has good looks and shrewd
brains. I had already written him down as a
quasi-swell. For months the police had been find-
ing clues, but they had never laid eyes on the
rascal. The famous Haggerty of the New York
detective force,— a man whom not a dozen New
York policemen knew by sight and no criminals
save those behind bars, earthly and eternal, -
was now giving his whole attention to the affair.
Some gaily-dressed lady at a ball would suddenly
find she had lost some valuable gems; and that
would be the end of the affair, for none ever re-
covered her gems.
HEARTS AND MASKS
The gentleman-thief was still at large, and had
gathered to his account a comfortable fortune; that
is, if he were not already rich and simply a klepto-
maniac. No doubt he owned one of my racing-
cars, and was clear of the delinquent lists at his
clubs. I dismissed all thought of him, threw aside
the paper, and mentally figured out my commis-
sions on sales during the past month. It was a
handsome figure, large enough for two. This pas-
time, too, soon failed to interest me. I gazed out
of the window and watched the dark shapes as
they sped past.
I saw the girl’s face from time to time. What
a fool I had been not to ask her name! She could
easily have refused, and yet as easily have granted
the request. At any rate, I had permitted the
chance to slip out of my reach, which was exceed-
ingly careless on my part. Perhaps they — she
and her uncle — frequently dined at Mouquin’s; I
determined to haunt the place and learn. It
would be easy enough to address her the next time
§e met. Besides, she would be curious to know all
about the ten of hearts and the desperate ad-
venture upon which I told her I was about to
embark. Many a fine friendship has grown out
of smaller things.
32
*~ HEARTS AND MASFCS'
Next, turning from the window, I fell to ex-
amining my fellow passengers, in the hope of
seeing some one I knew. Conversation on trains
makes short journeys. . . . I sat up stiffly in
my seat. Diagonally across the aisle sat the very
chap I had met in the curio-shop ! He was quietly
reading a popular magazine, and occasionally a
smile lightened his sardonic mouth. Funny that I
should run across him twice in the same evening!
Men who are contemplating suicide never smile in
that fashion. He was smoking a small, well-col-
ored meerschaum pipe with evident relish. Some-
how, when a man clenches his teeth upon the mouth-
piece of a respectable pipe, it seems impossible to
associate that man with crime. But the fact that
I had seen him selecting a pistol in a pawnshop
rather neutralized the good opinion I was willing
to form. I have already expressed my views upon
the subject. The sight of him rather worried me,
though I could not reason why. Whither was he
bound? Had he finally taken one of Friard’s pis-,
tols? For a moment I was on the point of speak-
ing to him, if only to hear him tell more lies about
the ten of hearts, but I wisely put aside the temp-
tation. Besides, it might be possible that he would
not be glad to see me. I always avoid the chance
33
HEARTS AND MASKS
acquaintance, unless, of course, the said chance ac-
quaintance is met under favorable circumstances –
like the girl in Mouquin’s, for instance! After all,
it was only an incident; and, but for his picking
up that card, I never should have remembered him.
Behind him sat a fellow with a countenance as
red and round and complacent as an English but-
ler’s, – red hair and small twinkling eyes. Once
he leaned over and spoke to my chance acquaint-
ance, who, without turning his head, thrust a match
over his shoulder. The man with the face of a
butler lighted the most villainous pipe I ever be-
held. I wondered if they knew each other. But,
closely as I watched, I saw no sign from either.
I turned my collar up and snuggled down. There
was no need of his seeing me. -
Then my thoughts reverted to the ten of hearts
again. My ten of hearts | The wrinkle of a chill
ran up and down my spine! My ten of hearts
Hastily I took out the card and examined the
back of it. It was an uncommonly handsome back,
representing Diana, the moon, and the midnight
sky. A horrible supposition came to me: sup-
posing they looked at the back as well as at the
face of the card? And again, supposing I was
34.
HEARTS AND MASKS
miles away from the requisite color and design? I
was staggered. Here was a pretty fix! I had
never even dreamed of such a contingency. Hang
it! I now wished I had stuck to my original plan,
and gone to the theater. Decidedly I was in for it;
there was no backing down at this late hour, unless
I took the return train for Jersey City; and I
possessed too much stubbornness to surrender to
any such weakness. Either I should pass the door-
committee, or I shouldn’t ; of one thing I was cer-
tain —
“Blankshire | * bawled the trainman; then the
train slowed down and finally came to a stop.
No turning back for me now. I picked up my
suit-case and got out. On the platform I saw the
curio-shop fellow again. Tramping on ahead, the
Smell from his villainous pipe assailing my nostrils,
was the man who had asked for a match. The foy-
mer stood undecided for a moment, and during this
space of time he caught sight of me. He became
erect, gave me a sudden sardonic laugh, and swift-
ly disappeared into the dark. All this was un-
commonly disquieting; in vain I stared into the
blackness that had swallowed him. What could he
be doing here at Blankshire? I didn’t like his
35
HEARTS AND MASKS
laugh at all; there was at once a menace and a
challenge in it.
“Any baggage, sir?” asked one of the station
hands.
“No.” But I asked him to direct me to a hotel.
He did so.
I made my way down the street. The wind had
veered around and was coming in from the sea,
pure and cold. The storm-clouds were broken and
scudding like dark ships, and at times there were
flashes of radiant moonshine.
The fashionable hotel was full. So I plodded
through the drifts to the unfashionable hotel.
Here I found accommodation. I dressed, some-
times laughing, sometimes whistling, sometimes
standing motionless in doubt. Bah! It was only
a lark. . . . I thought of the girl in Mou-
quin’s; how much better it would have been to
spend the evening with her, exchanging badinage,
and looking into each other’s eyes! Pshaw I
covered my face with the grey mask and descended/
to the street. !
The trolley ran within two miles of the Hunt
Club. The car was crowded with masqueraders,
and for the first time since I started out I felt
36
HEARTS AND MASKS
comfortable. Everybody laughed and talked,
though nobody knew who his neighbor was. I sat
in a corner, silent and motionless as a sphinx.
Once a pair of blue slippers attracted my eye, and
again the flash of a lovely arm. At the end of the
trolley line was a carryall which was to convey us
to the club. We got into the conveyance, noisily
and good-humoredly. The exclamations of the
women were amusing.
“Good gracious !”
“Isn’t it fun ”
“Lovely ” And all that. It must have been
a novelty for some of these to act naturally for
once. Nothing lasts so long as the natural in-
stinct for play; and we always find ourselves com-
ing back to it.
Standing some hundred yards back from the
road was the famous Hollywood Inn, run by the
genial Moriarty. Sometimes the members of the
Hunt Club put up there for the night when there
was to be a run the following morning. It was
open all the year round.
We made the club at exactly ten-thirty. For-
tune went with me; doubtless it was the crowd go-
ing in that saved me from close scrutiny. My
37
HEARTS AND MASKS
spirits rose as I espied Teddy Hamilton at the
door. He was on the committee, and was in plain
evening clothes. It was good to see a familiar face.
I shouldered toward him and passed out my ten
dollars.
“Hello, Teddy, my son ' " I cried out jovi-
ally.
“Hello!”— grinning. Teddy thought it was
some one he knew ; well, so it was. “What’s your
card?” he cried, as I pressed by him.
“The ten of hearts.”
“The ten of hearts,” repeated Teddy to a man
who was keeping tally on a big cardboard.
This sight did not reassure me. If they were
keeping tally of all the cards presented at the
door, they would soon find out that there were too
many tens of hearts, too many by one ! Well, at
any rate, I had for the time being escaped detec-
tion; now for the fun. It would be sport-royal
while it lasted. What a tale to give out at the
club of a Sunday might! I chuckled on the way
to the ball-room: I had dispensed with going up
to the dressing-room. My robe was a genuine
one, heavy and warm ; so I had no overcoat to
check.
38
HEARTS AND MASECS
“Grave monk, your blessing !”
Turning, I beheld an exquisite Columbine.
“Paa, vobiscum! ” I replied solemnly.
“ Paa, . . . What does that mean?”
“It means, do not believe all you see in the news-
papers.”
Columbine laughed gaily. “I did not know
that you were a Latin scholar; and besides, you
gaye me to understand you were coming as a
Jesuit, Billy.”
Billy? Here was one who thought she knew
me. I hastened to disillusion her.
“My dear Columbine, you do not know me,
not the least bit. My name is not Billy, it is
Dicky.”
“Oh, you can not fool me,” she returned. “I
heard you call out to Teddy Hamilton that your
card was the ten of hearts; and you wrote me,
saying that would be your card.”
Complications already, and I hadn’t yet put a
foot inside the ball-room
“I am sorry,” I said, “but you have made a
mistake. Your Jesuit probably told you his card
would be the nine, not the ten.”
“I will wager —”
39
PHEARTS AND MASKS
“ Hush | This is a charity dance; no one makes
wagers at Sãch affairs.”
“But — Why, my goodness! there’s my Jesuit
now !” And to my intense relief she dashed away.
I carefully observed the Jesuit, and made up my
mind to keep an eye upon him. If he really pos-
sessed the ten of hearts, the man who kept tally
on the cardboard was doing some tall thinking
about this time. I glided away, into the gorgeous
ball-room.
What a vision greeted my eye! The decorations
were in red and yellow, and it seemed as though
perpetual autumnal sunset lay over everything.
At the far end of the room was a small stage hid-
den behind palms and giant ferns. The band was
just striking up A Summer Night in Munich, and
a wonderful kaleidoscope revolved around me. I
saw Cavaliers and Roundheads, Puritans and Beel-
zebubs, Musketeers, fools, cowboys, Indians, kings
and princes; queens and empresses, fairies and
Quaker maids, white and black and red and green
dominoes. Tom Fool’s night, indeed!
Presently I saw the noble Doge of Venice com-
ing my way. From his portly carriage I reasoned
that if he wasn’t in the gold-book of Venice he
40
HEARTS AND MASECS
stood very well up in the gold-book of New York.
He stopped at my side and struck an attitude.
“Paw vobiscum! ” said I, bowing.
“Be at the Inquisition Chamber, directly the
clock strikes the midnight hour,” he said myste-
riously.
“I shall be there to deliver the supreme in-
terrogation,” I replied.
“It is well.” He drifted away like a stately
ship.
Delightful foolery ! I saw the Jesuit, and moved
toward him. -
“Disciple of Loyola, hast thou the ten of
hearts?”
“My hearts number nine, for I have lost one to
the gay Columbine.”
“I breathel Thou art not he whom I seek.”
We separated. I was mortally glad that Colum-
bine had made a mistake.
The women always seek the monk at a masquer-
ade; they want absolution for the follies they are
about to commit. A demure Quakeress touched
my sleeve in passing.
“Tell me, grave monk, why did you seek the
monastery P”
41
HEARTS AND MASKS
“My wife fell in love with me,”— gloomily.
“Then you have a skeleton in the clothes-
press?”
“Do I look like a man who owned such a thing
as a clothes-press, much less so fashionable a
thing as a family skeleton?”
“Then what do you here?”
“I am mingling with fools as a penance.”
A fool caught me by the sleeve and batted me
gaily over the head with a bladder.
“Merry come up, why am I a fool?”
“It is the fashion,” was my answer. ‘This was
like to gain me the reputation of being a wit. I
must walk carefully, or these thoughtless ones
would begin to suspect there was an impostor
among them.
“Aha!” There was mine ancient friend Julius.
“Hail Caesar | **
He stopped.
“Shall I beware the Ides of March?” I asked
jovially. -
“Nay, my good Cassius; rather beware of the
ten of hearts,” said Caesar in hollow tones, and
he was gone.
The ten of hearts again! Hang the cardſ
42
HEARTS AND MASECS
And then with a sigh of relief I recollected that
in all probability he, like Columbine, had heard
me call out the card to Hamilton. Still, the popu-
'arity of the card was very disquieting. I wished
it had been seven or five; there’s luck in odd mum-
bers. . . . A Blue Domino' My heart leaped,
and I thought of the little ticket in my waistcoat
pocket. A Blue Domino | If, by chance, there
should be a connection between her and the ticket!
She was sitting all alone in a corner near-by,
partly screened by a pot of orange-trees. I crossed
over and t down by her side. This might prove
an adventure worth while.
“What a beautiful night it is 1* I said.
She turned, and I caught sight of a wisp of
golden hair.
“That is very original,” said she. “Who in
the world would have thought of passing com-
ments on the weather at a masque ! Prior to this
moment the men have been calling me all sorts of
sentimental names.”
“Oh, I am coming to that. I am even going to
make love to you.”
She folded her hands, – rather resignedly, I
thought, — and the rollicking comedy began.
43
III
When they give you a mask at a ball they
also give you the key to all manner of folly and
impudence. Even stupid persons become witty,
and the witty become correspondingly daring.
For all I knew, the Blue Domino at my side might
be Jones’ wife, or Brown’s, or Smith’s, or even
Green’s; but so long as I was not certain, it mat-
tered not in what direction my whimsical fancy
took me. (It is true that ordinarily Jones and
Brown and Smith and Green do not receive invita-
tions to attend masquerades at fashionable hunt
clubs; but somehow they seem to worry along
without these equivocal honors, and prosper. Still,
there are persons in the swim named Johnes and
Smythe and Browne and Greene. Pardon this
parenthesis )
As I recollected the manner in which I had self-
invited the pleasure of my company to this carni-
val at the Blankshire Hunt Club, I smiled behind
my mask. Nerves I ought to have been a pro-
44
FHEARTS AND MASKS
fessor of clinics instead of an automobile agent.
But the whole affair appealed to me so strongly
I could not resist it. 'I was drawn into the tangle
by the very fascination of the scheme. I was an
interloper, but nobody knew it. The ten of hearts
in my pocket did not match the backs of those cards
regularly issued. But what of that? Every one
was ignorant of the fact. I was safe inside; and
all that was romantic in my system was aroused.
There are always some guests who can not avail
, themselves of their invitations; and upon this vague
chance I had staked my play. Besides, I was de-
termined to disappear before the hour of unmask-
ing. I wasn’t going to take any unnecessary risks.
I was, then, fairly secure under my Capuchin’s
robe.
Out of my mind slipped the previous adventures
of the evening. I forgot, temporarily, the beauti-
ful unknown at Mouquin’s. I forgot the sardonic-
lipped stranger I had met in Friard’s. I forgot
everything sage the little ticket that had acci-
dentally slipped into my package, and which an-
nounced that some one had rented a blue domino.
And here was a Blue Domino at my side, just
simply dying to have me talk to her!
45
HEARTS AND MASKS
“I am madly in love with you,” I began. “I
have followed you often ; I have seen you in your
box at the opera; I have seen you whirl up Fifth
Avenue in your fine barouche; and here at last
I meet you!” I clasped my hands passionately.
“My beautiful barouche' My box at the
opera !” the girl mimicked. “What a cheerful
Ananias you are l’”
“Thou art the most enchanting creature in all
the universe. Thou art even as a turquoise, a
patch of radiant summer sky, eyes of sapphire,
lips —”
“Archaic, very archaic,”
she interrupted.
“ Disillusioned in ten seconds !” I cried dis-
mally. “How could you?”
She laughed.
“Have you no romance? Can you not see the
fitness of things? If you have not a box at the
opera, you ought at least to make believe you
have. History walks about us, and you call the old
style archaic That hurts!”
“Methinks, Sir Monk —”
“There! That’s more like it. By my halidom,
that’s the style!”
“Odds bodkins, you don’t tell me!” There
46
HEARTS AND MASKS
was a second ripple of laughter from behind the
mask. It was rare music.
“I could fall in love with you!”
“There once was a Frenchman who said that
as nothing is impossible, let us believe in the absurd.
I might be old enough to be your grandmother,”—
lightly.
“Perish the thought!”
“Perish it, indeed!”
“The mask is the thing!” I cried enthusiasti-
cally. “You can make love to another man’s wife
—”
“Or to your own, and nobody is the wiser,”—
cynically.
“We are getting on.”
“Yes, we are getting on, both in years and in
folly. What are you doing in a monk’s robe?
Where is your motley, gay fool?”
“I have laid it aside for the night. On such
occasions as this, fools dress as wise men, and
wise men as fools; everybody goes about in dis-
guise.”
“How would you go about to pick out the
fools?”—curiously.
“Beginning with myself —”
47
HEARTS AND MASKS
“Thy name is also Candor!”
“Look at yonder Cavalier. He wabbles like a
ship in distress, in the wild effort to keep his feet
untangled from his rapier. 'I’ll wager he’s a
wealthy plumber on week-days. Observe Anne of
Austria! What arms I’ll lay odds that her
great-grandmother took in washing. There’s Ro-
meo, now, with a pair of legs like an old apple
tree. The freedom of criticism is mine to-night!
Did you ever see such ridiculous ideas of costume?
For my part, the robe and the domino for me.
All lines are destroyed; nothing is recognizable.
My, my There’s Harlequin, too, walking on
parentheses.”
The Blue Domino laughed again.
“You talk as if you had no friends here,”—
shrewdly.
“But which is my friend and which is the man
to whom I owe money?”
“What! Is your tailor here then?”
“Heaven forbid! Strange, isn’t it, when a fel-
low starts in to pay up his bills, that the tailor and
the undertaker have to wait till the last.”
“The subject is outside my understanding.”
“But you have dressmakers.”
48
PHEARTS AND MASKS
“I seldom pay dressmakers.”
“Ah! Then you belong to the most exclusive
Set | **
“Or perhaps I make my own dresses —”
“Sh Not so loud. Supposing some one
should overhear you?”
“It was a slip of the tongue. And yet, you
should be lenient to all.”
“IXind heart! Ah, I wonder what all those
interrogation points mean — the black domino
there?”
“Possibly she represents Scandal.”
“Scandal, then, is symbolized by the interroga-
tion point?”
“Yes. Whoever heard of scandal coming to a
full stop, that is to say, a period.”
“I learn something every minute. A hundred
years ago you would have been a cousin to Made-
moiselle de Necker.”
“Or Madame de Staël.”
“Oh, if you are married —”
“I shall have ceased to interest you?”
“On the contrary. Only, marriage would ac-
count for the bitterness of your tone. What does
the Blue Domino represent?”
49
HEARTS AND MASECS
“The needle of the compass.” She stretched a
sleeve out toward me and I observed for the first
time the miniature compasses woven in the cloth.
Surely, one does not rent a costume like this.
“I understand now why you attracted me.
Whither will you guide me?”—sentimentally.
“Through dark channels and stormy seas, over
tropic waters, ‘into the haven under the hill.’”
“Oh, if you go to quoting Tennyson, it’s all
up with me. Are you married?”
“One can easily see that at any rate you are
not.”
“Explain.”
“Your voice lacks the proper and requisite anx-
iety. It is always the married woman who enjoys
the mask with thoroughness. She knows her hus-
band will be watching her; and jealousy is a good
sign.
“You are a philosopher. Certainly you must
be married.”
92
“Well, one does become philosophical — after
marriage.”
“But are you married?”
“I do not say so.”
“Would you like to be?”
50
FIEARTS AND MASKS
“I have my share of feminine curiosity. But
I wonder,”— ruminating, “why they do not give
masquerades oftener.”
“That is easily explained. Most of us live
masquerades day by day, and there might be too
much of a good thing.”
“That is a bit of philosophy that goes well
with your robe. Indeed, what better mask is
there than the human countenance?”
“If we become serious, we shall put folly out of
joint,” said I, rising. “And besides, we shall miss
the best part of this dance.”
She did not hesitate an instant. I led her to the
floor, and we joined the dancers. She was as light
as a feather, a leaf, the down of the thistle; myster-
ious as 'he Cumaean Sibyl; and I wondered who she
might be. The hand that lay on my sleeve was as
white as milk, and the filbert-shaped horn of the
finger-tips was the tint of rose leaves. Was she
connected with the ticket in my pocket? I tried
to look into her eyes, but in vain; nothing could I
see but that wisp of golden hair which occasionally
brushed my chin as with a surreptitious caress. If
only I dared remain till the unmasking ! I pressed
her hand. There was an answering pressure, but
51 -
HEARTS AND MASKS
its tenderness was destroyed by the low laughter
that accompanied it.
“Don’t be silly ’” she whispered.
“How can I help it?”
“True; I forgot you were a fool in disguise.”
“What has Romance done to you that you
should turn on her with the stuffed-club, Practical-
ity?”
“She has never paid any particular attention
to me; perhaps that is the reason.”
As we neared a corner I saw the Honorable Ju-
lius again. He stretched forth his death's-head
mask.
“Beware the ten of hearts | ** he croaked.
Hang his impudence! . . . The Blue Dom-
ino turned her head with a jerk; and instantly I
felt a shiver run through her body. For a mo–
ment she lost step. I was filled with wonder. In
what manner could the ten of hearts disturb her?
I made up my mind to seek out the noble Roman
and learn just how much he knew about that dis-
quieting card.
The music ceased.
“Now, run away with your benedictions,” said
the Blue Domino breathlessly.
52
HEARTS AND MASKS
“Shall I see you again?”— eagerly.
“If you seek diligently.” She paused for a
moment, like a bird about to take flight. “Posi-
tive, fool; comparative, fooler; superlative, fool-
est | **
And I was left standing alone: What the deuce
did she mean by that?
After all, there might be any number of blue
dominoes in the land; and it seemed scarcely cred-
ible that a guest at the Hunt Club would go to a
costumer’s for an outfit. (I had gone to a cos-
tumer’s, but my case was altogether different. I
was an impostor.) I hunted up Imperator Rea.
It was not long ere we came face to face, or, to
speak correctly, mask to mask.
“What do you know about the ten of hearts?”
I began with directness.
“I am a shade; all things are known to me.”
“You may be a lamp-shade, for all I care.
What do you know about the ten of hearts?”
“Beware of it,”— hollowly. From under his
toga he produced a ten of hearts!
My knees wabbled, and there was a sense of
looseness about my collar. The fellow knew I was
an impostor. Why didn’t he denounce me?
53
HEARTS AND MASKS
“Is the back of your card anything like this
one?”— ironically. “I dare say it isn’t. But
have your good time, grave monk; doubtless you
are willing that the fiddlers shall be paid.” And
wrapping his toga about him majestically, he
stalked away, leaving me staring dumfoundedly
after his receding form.
Discovered
The deuce! Had I been attired like yon Ro-
meo, I certainly should have taken to my heels;
but a fellow can not run in a Capuchin’s gown,
and retain any dignity. I would much rather be
arrested than laughed at. I stood irresolute.
What was to be done? How much did he know?
Did he know who I was 2 And what was his ob-
ject in letting me run my course? I was all at
sea. . . . Hang the grisly old Roman ' I
shut my teeth; I would see the comedy to its end,
no matter what befell. If worst came to worst,
there was always Teddy Hamilton to fall back on.
I made off toward the smoking-room, rumbling
imprecations against the gods for having given
me the idea of attending this masquerade, when
it would have been cheaper and far more com-
fortable to go to the theater.
54
HEARTS AND MASKS
But as soon as I entered the Smoking-room, I
laughed. It was a droll scene. Here we were, all
of us, trying savagely to smoke a cigar or cigarette
through the flabby aperture designated in a mask
as the mouth. It was a hopeless job; for myself,
I gave it up in disgust.
Nobody dared talk naturally for fear of being
identified. When a man did open his mouth it was
only to commit some banal idiocy, for which, dur-
ing office hours, he would have been haled to the
nearest insane asylum and labeled incurable. Added
to this was a heat matching Sahara’s and the op-
pressive odor of weltering paint.
By Jove! Only one man knew that the back
of my card was unlike the others: the man who had
picked it up in old Friard’s curio-shop, the man
who had come to Blankshire with me! I knew now.
He had been there buying a costume like myself.
He had seen me on the train, and had guessed the
secret. I elbowed my way out of the smoking-
room. It wouldn’t do me a bit of harm to ask
a few polite questions of Mr. Caesar of the sardonic
laugh.
But I had lost the golden opportunity. Caesar
had gone to join the shades of other nobk Wºo-
55
FHEARTS AND MASKS
mans; in vain I searched high and low for him.
Once I ran into Hamilton. His face was pale and
disturbed and anxious.
“What’s the trouble, Hamilton?” I asked, with
forced gaiety.
He favored me with a penetrating glance. -
“The very devil is the trouble,” he growled.
“Several of the ladies have begun to miss valuable
jewels. Anne of Austria has lost her necklace and
Queen Elizabeth is without a priceless comb; alto-
gether, about ten thousand dollars.”
“Robbery?” I looked at him aghast.
“That’s the word. Curse the luck! There is
always something of this sort happening to spoil
the fun. But whoever has the jewels will not get
away with them.” -
“What are you going to do?”
“I have already sent for the village police.
Now I shall lock all the doors and make every man
and woman produce cards for identification,”—
abruptly leaving me.
Thunderbolts out of heaven! My knees and col-
lar bothered me again; the first attack was trifling
compared to this second seizure. How the devil
was I to get out?
56
HEARTS AND MASECS
“Are you searching for me?” inquired a soft
voice at my elbow.
I turned instantly. The Blue Domino had come .
back to me.
“I have been searching for you everywhere,” I
said gallantly.
“Oh but that is a black one. Never mind; the
fib was well meant.”
I led her over to a secluded nook, within a few
feet of the door which gave entrance to the club
cellars. This door I had been bearing in mind
for some time. It is well to know your topog-
raphy. The door was at the left of the band
platform. There was a twin-door on the other
side. We sat down.
“Have you heard the news?” I asked.
“No. Has some one been discovered making
love to his own wife by mistake?”
“It’s serious. Anne of Austria and Queen Eli-
zabeth have been robbed of some jewels.”
“A thief among us?”
“A regular Galloping Dick. I’m a thief my-
self, for that matter.”
“You?” she drew away from me a bit.
“Yes. My name is Procrastination.”
57
HEARTS AND MASECS
“Ah, my grave Capuchin, we do not steal time;
we merely waste it. But is what you tell me true?”
“I am very sorry to say it is. The jewels
were worth something like ten thousand dollars.”
“Merciful heavens ! ”
“It is true, infernally true,”— looking around
to see if by chance Caesar had reappeared on the
scene. (How was I to manage my escape?
It is true I might hie me to the cellars; but how
to get out of the cellars!) “Have you seen
Julius Caesar P” I asked.
** Caesar P 22
“Yes, Miss Hawthorne —”
The Blue Domino swung about and leaned to-
ward me, her hands tense upon the sides of her
chair.
“What name did you say?”— a strained note
in her voice.
“Hawthorne,” I answered, taking out the slip
of pasteboard. “See it says that one blue dom-
ino was rented of Monsieur Friard at five-thirty
this afternoon.”
“How did you come by that ticket?” she de-
manded.
“It was a miracle. I purchased a mask there,
58

HEARTS AND MASKS
and this ticket was wrapped up in my bundle by
mistake.”
“It is a curious coincidence,”— her voice nor-
mal and unagitated.
I was confused. “Then I am mistaken?”—-
my chagrin evident. (All this while, mind you,
I was wondering if that cellar-door was unlocked,
and how long it would take me to reach it before
the dénouement!)
“One way or the other, it does not matter,” said
she.
“Yet, if I could reach the cellars,”— absently.
Then I bit my tongue.
“Cellars? Who said anything about cellars?
I meant that this is not the hour for unmasking or
disclosing one’s identity,”—coldly.
“And yet, when Caesar whispered “Beware the
ten of hearts, you turned and shuddered. What
have you to offer in defense?”
“It was the horrid mask he wore.”
“Well, it wasn’t handsome of him.”
“What did you mean by cellars? ”—suddenly
becoming the inquisitor in her turn.
“I? Oh, I was thinking what I should do in
case of fire,”—nimbly.
59
HEARTS AND MASIKS
* That is not the truth.”
“Well, no, it isn’t. Can you keep a secret?” I
whispered.
“If it isn’t a terrible one.”
“Well, I have no earthly business here. I am an
impostor.”
“An impostor l’’
“Yes. And for the past few minutes, since I
heard of the robbery, I’ve been thinking how I
could get out of here upon the slightest notice.”
While the reckless spirit was upon me, I produced
the fatal card and showed the back to her. “You
will find that yours is of a different color. But I
am not the Galloping Dick; it was only a hare-
brained lark on my part, and I had no idea it
would turn out serious like this. I was going to
disappear before they unmasked. What would
you advise me to do?”
She took the card, studied it, and finally re-
turned it. There followed an interval of silence.
* “I have known the imposition from the first,”
she said.
“What I ?”
She touched the signet-ring on my little finger.
* I have seen that once before to-night. No,” she
60
HEARTS AND MASKS
mused, “you will not blow up the post-office to-
night, nor the police-station.”
She lifted the corner of her mask, and I beheld
the girl I had met in Mouquin’s
66 You ? 35
“Silence! So this is the meaning of your shuf-
fling those cards? Oh, it is certainly droll!” She
laughed.
“And are you Miss Hawthorne?”
“I am still in the mask, sir; I shall answer none
of your questions.”
“This is the finest romance in the world !” I
cried.
“You were talking about getting out,” she said.
“Shall I lend you my domino? But that would be
useless. Such a prestidigitator as Signor Fan-
toccini has only to say—Presto! and disappear at
once.”
“I assure you, it is no laughing matter.”
“I see it from a different angle.”
An artist’s model, and yet a guest at this exclu-
sive function?
A commotion around the stage distracted us.
Presently we saw Teddy Hamilton mount the stage
and hold up his hands.
61
|HEARTS AND MASKS
“Attention, ladies and gentlemen!” he called.
Silence gradually fell upon the motley groups of
masqueraders.
“A thief is among us. I have had all the exits
closed. Everybody will be so kind as to present
cards at the main entrance. Three ten-spots of
hearts have been tallied on the comparing lists.
We have been imposed upon. The police are on
the way. Very sorry to cause you this annoyance.
The identity of the holders of the cards will be
known only to those of us on the committee.”
Silence and then a murmur which soon became a
buzzing like that of many bees.
The Blue Domino suddenly clutched my arm.
“Please take me away, take me away at once!
I’m an impostor, too !”
Two of us !
This was disaster. I give you my solemn word,
there was nothing I regretted so much as the fact
that I hadn’t gone to the theater.
But I am a man of quick thought and resource.
In the inelegant phrasing of the day, me for the
cellars'
“Come,” said I to the girl; “There’s only one
chance in a hundred, but we’ll take it together.”
62
HEARTS AND MASKS
“Together? Where?”
“Why, to the cellars. I’ve a pocketful of
matches. We can make a try. For, if there’s a
thief around, and we are caught and proved im-
postors—Well, I leave you to imagine!”
“I will go with you,” she replied resolutely.
The gods were with us. The door leading to the
cellars was not locked. I opened it, passed the girl
before me, and closed the door.
“I am frightened * she whispered.
“So am I,” I offered, to reassure her. “You
are not afraid of rats, are you?”
* & No-o ! 32
“Bully * I cried. Then I laughed.
“How can you laugh? It is horrible!” she
protested.
“You would come, though I heard your uncle
warn you. Look at it the way I do. It’s a huge
joke, and years from now you’ll have great fun tell-
ing it to your grandchildren.”
“I wish, at this moment, I could see so far
ahead—What was that?”—seizing my arm.
Click!
Somebody had locked the door behind us!
63
IV
In other words, we had departed the scene of
festivities none too soon. I could readily under-
stand why the door had been locked: it was not to
keep us in the cellars; rather it was to prevent any
one from leaving the ball-room by that route. Evi-
dently our absence had not been noticed, nor had
any seen our precipitate flight. I sighed grate-
fully.
For several minutes we stood silent and motion-
less on the landing. At length I boldly struck a
match. The first thing that greeted my blinded
gaze was the welcome vision of a little shelf lined
with steward’s candles. One of these I lighted, and
two others I stuffed into the pocket of my Capu-
chin’s gown. Then we tiptoed softly down the
stairs, the girl tugging fearfully at my sleeve.
There was an earthy smell. It was damp and
cold. Miles and miles away (so it seemed) the pale
moonshine filtered through a cobwebbed window,
It was ghostly ; but so far as I was concerned, I
64
FHEARTS AND MASKS
was honestly enjoying myself, strange as this state-
ment may seem. Here was I, setting forth upon an
adventure with the handsomest, wittiest girl I had
ever laid eyes upon. If I extricated her neatly, she
would always be in my debt; and the thought of
this was mighty pleasant to contemplate.
“Do you know the way out?”
I confessed that, so far as I knew, we were in
one of the fabled labyrinths of mythology.
“Go ahead,” she said bravely.
“I ask only to die in your Highness’ service,”—
soberly. -
“But I do not want you to die; I want you to
get me out of this cellar; and quickly, too.”
“I’ll live or die in the attemptſ *
“I see nothing funny in our predicament,”—
icily.
“A few moments ago you said that our angles of
vision were not the same; I begin to believe it. As
for me, I think it’s simply immense to find myself
in the same boat with you.”
“I wish you had been an anarchist, or a per-
former in a dime-museum.” g
“You might now be alone here. But, pardon
me; surely you do not lack the full allotment of the
65
HEARTS AND MASEKS
adventurous spirit! It was all amusing enough to
come here under false pretenses.”
“But I had not reckoned on any one’s losing
jewels.”
** No more had I.”
“Proceed. I have the courage to trust to your
guidance.”
!”—with a
“I would that it might be always
burst of sentiment that was not wholly feigned.
“Let us be on,”—imperatively. “I shall not
only catch my death of cold, but I shall be horribly
compromised.”
“My dear young lady, on the word of a gentle-
man, I will do the best I can to get you out of this
cellar. If I have jested a little, it was only in the
effort to give you courage; for I haven’t the slight-
est idea how we are going to get out of this dismal
hole.”
We went on. We couldn’t see half a dozen feet
in front of us. The gloom beyond the dozen feet
was Stygian and menacing. And the great grim
'shadows that crept behind us as we proceeded!
Once the girl stumbled and fell against me.
“What’s the matter?” I asked, startled.
66
HEARTS AND MASIKS
“I stepped on something that—that moved?”—
plaintively.
“Possibly it was a potato; there’s a bin of them
over there. Where the deuce are we?”
“If you swear, I shall certainly scream!'” she
warned.
“But I can swear in the most elegant and ap-
proved fashion.”
“I am not inclined to have you demonstrate your
talents.”
“Aha! Here is the coal-bin. Perhaps the
window may be open. If so, we are saved. Will
you hold the candle for a moment?”
Have you ever witnessed a cat footing it across
the snow? If you have, picture me imitating her.
Cautiously I took one step, then another; and then
that mountain of coal turned into a roaring tread-
mill. Sssssh Rrrrr! In a moment I was buried
to the knees and nearly suffocated. I became an-
gry. I would reach that window—
“ Hush | Hush : The noise, the noise!” whis-
pered the girl, waving the candle frantically.
But I was determined. Again I tried. This
time I slipped and fell on my hands. As I strove
to get up, the cord of my gown became tangled
67
HEARTS AND MASICS
about my feet. The girl choked; whether with
coal-dust or with laughter I could not say, as she
still had on her cambric-mask.
“Forgive me,” she said. And then I knew it
was not the coal-dust.
“I’ll forgive you, but I will not promise to
forget.”
“Merciful heavens' you must not try that again.
Think of the noise!”
“Was I making any noise?”—rubbing the per-
spiration from my forehead. (I had taken off my
mask.)
“Noise? The trump of Judgment Day will be
fechle compared to it. Surely some one has heard
you. Why not lay that board on top of the
coal?”
A good idea. I made use of it at once. The
window was unlatched, but there was a heavy wire-
screen nailed to the sills outside. There was no
getting out that way. The gods were evidently
busy elsewhere. -
“Nothing doing,” I murmured, a bit discour-
aged.
“And even if there was, you really could not
expect me to risk my neck and dignity by climbing
68
HEARTS AND MASKS
through a window like that. Let us give ap the
idea of windows and seek the cellar-doors, those
that give to the grounds. I declare I shall leave by
no other exit.”
“It was very kind of you to let me make an ass
of myself like that. Why didn’t you tell me
beforehand?”
&é Perhaps it’s the angle of vision again. I can
see that we shall never agree. Seriously, I thought
that if you got out that way, yout might find the
other exit for me. I am sorry if my laughter
annoyed you.”
“Not at all, not at all. But wouldn’t it be wise
to save a little laughter to make merry with when
we get out?” -
I stepped out of the bin and relieved her of the
candle; and we went on.
“You did look funny,” she said.
“Please don't!” I begged.
Soon we came to a bin of cabbages. I peered
in philosophically. -
“I might find a better head in there than mine,”
I suggested.
“Now you are trying to be sarcastic,” said the
girl.
69
HEARTS AND MASKS
We went on.
“Wait a moment! ” she cried. “Here’s a bin of
nice apples.”
Apples! Well, my word, she was a cool one! I
picked up one, polished it on my sleeve, and gave
it to her.
“I’m hungry,” she said apologetically.
“And plucky, too,” I supplemented admiringly.
“Most women would be in a weeping state by this
time.”
“Perhaps I am waiting till it is all over.”
“You had better take off your mask.” In fact
I felt positive that the sight of her exquisite face
would act like a tonic upon my nerves.
“I am doing very well with it on. I can at least
keep my face clean.” She raised the curtain and
took a liberal bite of the apple—so nonchalantly
that I was forced to smile.
“Here’s a box,” said I; “let’s sit down while we
eat. We are safe enough. If any one had heard
the racket in the coal-bin, the cellar would have
been full of police by this time.”
And there we sat, calmly munching the apples,
for all the world as if the iron hand of the law
70

HEARTS AND MASKS
wasn’t within a thousand miles of us. It was all
very amusing.
“Are—are you the man they are hunting for?”
she asked abruptly.
“I never stole anything more terrible than green
apples—and ripe ones”—with a nod toward the
apple-bin. -
“Pardon me! I feel very guilty in asking you
such a question. You haven’t told me your name.”
“Haven't I? My name is Richard Comstalk.
My friends call me Dickey.”
“Dickey,” she murmured. “It’s a nice name.”
“Won't you have another apple?” I asked im-
pulsively. -
“My appetite is appeased, thank you.”
An idea came to me. “Hamilton said there were
three tens of hearts. That meant that only one
was out of order. Where did you get your card?”
“That I shall tell you—later.”
“But are you really an impostor?”
“I should not be in this cellar else.”
“You are very mystifying.”
“For the present I prefer to remain so.”
We tossed aside the apple-cores, rose, and went
on. It was the longest celiar I ever saw. There
'71
HEARTS AND MASKS
seemed absolutely no end to it. The wine-cellar
was walled apart from the main cellar, and had the
semblance of a huge cistern with a door opening
into it. As we passed it, the vague perfume of the
grape drifted out to us.
“Let’s have a bottle,” I began.
** Mr. Comstalk | ?”
“By absent-treatment!” I hastened to add.
“You will make a capital comrade — if we ever
get out of this cellar.”
“Trust me for that!” I replied gaily. “Be
careful; there’s a pile of empty bottles, yearning to
be filled with tomato-catsup. Give me your hand.”
But the moment the little digits closed over mine,
a thrill seized me, and I quickly bent my head and
kissed the hand. It was wrong, but I could not
help it. She neither spoke nor withdrew her hand;
and my fear that she might really be offended van-
fished. g
“We are nearly out of it,” I said exultantly.
“I see the cellar-stairs on ahead. If only those
doors are open °
“Heaven is merciful to the fool, and we are a
pair,” she replied, sighing gratefully. “It seems
strange that nobody should be in the cellar on a
72
HEARTS AND MASICS
night like this. Hark! They are playing again
up stairs in the ball-room.”
“And wondering a whole lot where that third
ten of hearts has gone.”
“But, listen. How are we to get back to the
trolley? We certainly can not walk the distance
in these clothes.”
“Oh, that carryall will come to our rescue. We
are weary and are leaving early, don’t you know?
That part is simple; the complicated thing is to
shake the dust of this cellar.”
!” she exclaimed, as we
“What a big furnace
came into view of the huge heating apparatus.
“And there’s more coal.”
A man stepped out from behind the furnace, and
confronted us. A red bandana covered the lower
part of his face and his hat was pulled down over
his eyes. But I recognized him instantly. It was
the fellow with the villainous pipel Something
glittered ominously at the end of his outstretched
&l IIY].
“If you make any noise, sir, I’ll have to plug
you, sir,” he said in polite but muffled tones.
The candle slipped from my fingers, and the
three of us stood in darkness!
73
W
There was a clicking sound, and the glare of a
dark-lantern struck my blinking eyes. -
“Pick up the candle, sir,” said the tranquil voice
from behind the light.
I obeyed readily enough. Fate was downright
cruel to us. Not a dozen feet away was liberty;
and now we were back at the beginning again, with
the end nowhere in sight.
“Shall I light it, sir?” I asked, not to be out-
done in the matter of formal politeness.
“Yes, sir, doubtless you will need it.”
I struck a match and touched the candle-wick.
“Burglar?” said I. (For all my apparent
coolness, my heart-beats were away up in the
eighties')
The girl snuggled close to my side. I could feel
her heart beating even faster than mine.
“Burglar?” I repeated.
“Indeed, no, sir,”—reproachfully. “Mine is a
political job.”
74
HEARTS AND MASIKS
“A political job?”—thunderstruck.
“Yes, sir; I am an inspector of cellars,”—
grimly. “I couldn’t get around to this here cellar
earlier in the day, sir, and a fellow’s work must be
done.”
Here was a burglar with the sense of humor.
“What can I do for you?” I asked blandly.
“Firstly, as they say, you might tell me what
you and this lady are doing in this lonesome
cellar.”
“Say “sir, when you address me.”
“Yes, sir.”
“The lady and I were playing hide-and-seek.”
“Nice game, sir,”—grinning. “Were you
trying to hide under the coal?”
“Oh, no; I was merely exploring it.”
“Say “sir,” when you address me.”
66 Sir.”
“You’re a cool hand, sir.”
“I am gratified to learn that our admiration is
mutual. But what are you doing here?”
“I was ascertaining if the law was properly
observed, sir,” shaking with silent laughter.
“But what puzzles me,” I went on, “is the fact
that you could gather the gems in that garb.”
75
FHEARTS AND MASKS
For I was positive that this was the Galloping Dick
every one was looking for.
“I don’t understand a word you say, sir. I’m
an inspector of cellars, sir, not a jeweler. So you
and the lady was playing hide-and-seek? Come,
now, what is your graft? Is all the push here to-
night?”
“That depends,”—cursing under my breath
that I wore a gown which hampered my move-
ments. For, truth to tell, I was watching him as
a cat watches a mouse.
“Well, sir, we of the profession never interferes
with gentlemanly jobs, sir. All I want of you is to
help me out of here.”
“I am not a burglar.”
“Oh, I understand, sir; I understand completely.
A gentleman is always a gentleman, sir. Now, you
can return to that coal-bin. I was just about to
make for it when you lit that candle.”
“Why not leave by the cellar-doors?”
“I have my reasons, sir; most satisfactory rea-
| sons, sir. I prefer the window. Get along!”—his
tones suddenly hardening.
I got along.
76
HEARTS AND MASKS
“The lady may sit down, sir,” he said courte-
ously.
“Thank you, I will,” replied the girl, plumping
down on an empty winecase. (She afterward
confessed that if she had not sat down on the box,
she would have sat down on the cellar-floor, as a
sort of paralysis had seized her knees.)
I stepped into the coal-bin, and rested the candle
on the little shelf for that purpose. I was down-
right anxious to see the fellow safely away. There
wasn’t room in that cellar for the three of us. His
presence doubly endangered us and multiplied the
complications. I was in no position to force the
gems from him. A man who has ten thousand
dollars’ worth of jewels on his person doesn’t stop
at shooting; and I possessed a healthy regard for
my skin. I opened the window and caught it to
the ceiling by a hook I found there.
“There is a stout screen, my man.”
“Take this, sir, and cut it out,”—handing me a
pair of wire-clippers, holding his lantern under his
arm meanwhile. The muzzle of the revolver, dur-
ing all this time, never wavered in its aim at my
head.
77
HEARTS AND MASKS
I went to work at the screen, and presently it fell
inward.
“Is that satisfactory?”—with impressive irony.
“You are the most perfect gentleman that I
ever see, sir!”
The girl laughed hysterically.
“Now what?” The fun was beginning to pall
OIl IQC,
“Step out of the bin and stand aside. Sit down
by the lady. Maybe she’s a bit frightened.”
I obeyed him to the letter.
“Thanks!” With the agility of a cat he
leaped up and wriggled through the window. He
turned. “Good night, sir. Sometime maybe I'll
do the same for you, sir.”
“Go to the devil! ” I snarled.
“My, my What a temper, sir! I wouldn’t
have thought it if you, and a nice lady in speaking
distance l’”
He disappeared.
The girl 'wid a hand on my arm.
“You 'tave acted very sensibly, Mr. Comstalk.
If you 'ad not, it is quite certain he would have
shot yºu.”
“It would have been a good thing for me if he
'78
HEARTS AND MASKS
had. He has gone, and the jewels have gone with
him. I hadn’t the least chance; the wretch! He
probably came disguised as a plumber, and nobody
suspected him.”
“But if he possessed the ten of hearts, why
should he have left this way?”
“Possibly my idea was only an imitation of his.
There must have been at least a dozen tens of
hearts. My dear young lady, I would give a good
deal if you were well out of this. I believed my
plan was for the best, and instead I have simply
blackened the case against us. I have been too
adventurous. The situation looks very serious just
now. Of course, in the long run, we shall clear
ourselves; but it will take some fine arguing to do
it, and possibly half a dozen lawyers.”
“It is a terribly embarrassing predicament; but
since we started out together, we'll hang together.”
She held out her hand to me. “It will be fun to
extricate ourselves with full honors.”
“You’re a brick!” And I pressed her hand
tightly.
“Now, I wonder why the burglar didn’t try
those cellar-doors?” she murmured.
79
HEARTS AND MASECS
“By Jove, I’ll soon find out! Come on.
There’s hope yet.”
This time we reached the stone steps without
interference. I gave the candle to the girl, cau-
tiously put a shoulder against one of the doors, and
gave a gentle heave. It was not locked. Through
the thin crack I looked out upon the bright world
of moonshine and crystal. Instantly I permitted
the door to settle into its accustomed place. I
readily understood the burglar’s reasons. Seated
upon a box, less than a dozen feet away, and bliss-
fully smoking one of the club’s cigars, sat a burly
policeman. So they had arrived upon the scene!
“What is it?” asked the girl, as I motioned her
to retreat. -
“The worst has come: the police!” dramat-
ically.
“Gracious heavens, this is frightful! We shall
never get out now. Oh dear! Why did I ever
come? It will be in the papers, with horrid pic-
tures. We ought not to have left the ball-room.
Our very actions will tell heavily against us.
Awful! ” -
“Now, don’t you worry. They will not take
any notice of you, once they set eyes upon me.
80
HEARTS AND MASKS
Homo sum! They are looking for me. There’s
only one superfluous ten of hearts. I have it.”
“But I shall be found with you, and the stupid
police will swear I am an accomplice.” She wrung
her hands.
“But no jewels will be found upon us,” I ar-
gued half-heartedly.
“They will say we have already disposed of
them.”
“But the real burglar —”
“They will say that he came into the cellar at
our bidding.”
This girl was terribly reasonable and direct.
“Hang it! I know Teddy Hamilton, the M. F.
H. He’ll go my bail, and yours, too, for that mat-
ter. Come, let’s not give up. There must be some
other way out.”
“I wish I might believe it. Why did I come?”
— a bit of a wail stealing into the anger in her
voice.
“This is Tom Fool’s Night, and no mistake,” I
assented ruefully.
“But I am a bigger fool than you are; I had
an alibi, and a good one.”
81
HEARTS AND MASKS
“An alibi; Why on earth, then, did you fol-
low me? What is your alibi; ”
“Never mind now. We should still be in this
miserable cellar,”—briefly. “What a night! I
am so ashamed ! I shall be horribly compromised.”
“I’ll take the brunt of it all. I’m sorry; but,
for the love of Heaven, don’t cry, or I shall lose
what little nerve I have left.”
“I am not crying!” she denied emphatically.
“My inclination is to shriek with laughter. I’m
hysterical. And who wouldn’t be, with police offi-
cers and cells staring one in the face? Let us be
going. That policeman outside will presently hear
us whispering if we stand here much longer.”
There was wisdom in this. So, once again I
took the candle, and we marched back. There
wasn’t a single jest left in my whole system, and
it didn’t look as if there was ever going to be en-
other supply. We took the other side of the fur-
nace, and at length came to a flight of wooden
stairs, leading somewhere into the club. It was
our last chance, or we should indeed be obliged to
stay all night in some bin; for it would not be
long before they searched the cellars. If this
flight led into the kitchen, we were saved, for I
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HEARTS AND MASIKS
could bluff the servants. We paused. Presently
we ascended, side by side, with light but firm step.
We reached the landing in front of the door with-
out mishap. From somewhere came a puff of air
which blew out the candle. I struck a match vi-
ciously against the wall — and blundered into a
string of cooking-pans! It was all over, the
agony of suspense!
Blang! Rumpity-bumpity-blang-blang!
I have heard many stage thunders in my time,
but that racket beat anything and everything this
side of siege-guns.
Instantly the door opened and a policeman poked
his head in. Before I had time to move, he grabbed
me by the arm and yanked me — into the ball-
room | The girl and I had made a complete
circuit of the cellars, and had stumbled into the
ball-room again by the flight opposite to that by
which we left it. Cheerful prospect, wasn’t it?
The adventure had ceased to have any droll side
to it.
“Aha!” cried the base minion of the law.
“Here you are, then | Hello, everybody Hello!”
he bawled.
Caught ! Here we were, the Blue Domino and
83
HEARTS AND MASIKS
myself, the Grey Capuchin, both of us in a fine
fix. Discovery and ejection I could have stood with
fortitude and equanimity; but there was bad busi-
ness afoot. There wasn’t any doubt in my mind
what was going to happen. As the girl said, there
would be flaring head-lines and horrid pictures.
We were like to be the newspaper sensation of the
day. Arrested and lodged in jail! What would
my rich, doting old uncle say to that, who had
threatened to disinherit me for lesser things! I
felt terribly sorry for the girl, but it was now ut-
terly impossible to help her, for I couldn’t help
myself.
And behold! The mysterious stranger I had
met in the curio-shop, the fellow who had virtually
haunted me for six hours, the fellow who had mas-
queraded as Caesar, suddenly loomed up before me,
still wearing his sardonic smile. At his side were
two more policemen. He had thrown aside his
toga and was in evening dress. His keen glance
rested on me. -
“Here he is, Mr. Haggerty 1 ° cried the police-
man cheerfully, Swinging me around.
A detective' And Heaven help me, he believed
me to be the thief! Oh, for Aladdin’s lamp !
84
WY.
I stood with folded arms, awaiting his ap-
proach. Nonchalance is always respected by the
police. I must have presented a likely picture,
however — my face blackened with coal-dust, cob-
webs stringing down over my eyes, my Capuchin
gown soiled and rent. The girl quietly took her
place beside me.
“So you took a chance at the cellars, eh?”
inquired the detective urbanely. “Well, you look
it. Will you go with us quietly, or shall we have
to use force?”
“In the first place, what do you and your police
want of me?” I returned coolly.
He exhibited his star of authority.
“I am Haggerty of the Central Office. I want
you for several things.”
| Several things? I stared at him stupidly. Sev-
eral things? Then it came to me, with a jar like
an earthquake. The story in the newspaper re-
turned to my vision. Oh, this was too much, al-
85
HEARTS AND MASKS
together too much ! He took me to be the fashion-
able thief for whom half the New York police
force were hunting. My sight swam for a moment
in a blur.
“What is it you think I have done?” I de-
manded.
“You have, or have had, several thousand dol-
lars’ worth of gems on your person to-night.”
I shrugged. The accusation was so impossible
that my confidence returned.
“Mr. Haggerty, you are making a stupid mis-
take. You are losing time, besides. I am not the
man for whom you are hunting. My name is
Richard Comstalk.”
“One name or another, it does not matter.”
“Plenty of gall,” murmured one of the minions
of the law, whom I afterward learned was the chief
of the village police.
“The card by which you gained admittance
here,” demanded the great Haggerty truculently.
I surrendered it. A crowd had by this time col-
lected curiously about us. I could see the musi-
cians on the stage peering over the plants.
“The thief you are looking for has gone,” said
86
HEARTS AND MASKS
I. “He escaped by the coal-window.” By this
statement my feet sank deeper still. .
“What did I tell you?” cried Haggerty, turn-
ing to his men. “They had an accomplice hidden
in the cellars.”
“I beg to inform you that you are making a
mistake that will presently cost you dear,”—
thinking of the political pull my uncle had in
New York. “I am the nephew of Daniel Wither-
spoon.”
“Worse and worse!” said the chief of police.
“We shall discuss the mistake later and at
length. Of course you can easily explain how you
came to impose upon these people,”— ironically.
“Bah! the game is up. When you dropped that
card in Friard’s and said you were going to a
masquerade, I knew your game in a minute, and
laid eyes upon you for the first time since I began
the chase. I’ve been after you for weeks. Your
society dodge has worked out, and I’ll land you
behind the bars for some time to come, my gay boy.
Come,”— roughly.
“I request Mr. Hamilton to be called. He will
prove to you that you are greatly mistaken.”
Everything looked pretty black, I can tell you.
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HEARTS AND MASKS
“You will see whom you please, but only after
you are safely landed in the lockup. Now, Ma-
dame,”— turning swiftly upon the Blue Domino,
“what is your part in this fine business?”
“It certainly has no part in yours,”—icily.
Haggerty smiled. “My skin is very thick. Do
you know this fellow?”
She shook her head. He stood undecided for a
space.
“Let me see your card.”
“I decline to produce it,”— haughtily.
Haggerty seemed staggered for a moment. “I
am sorry to annoy you, but you must be identified
at once.”
“And why?”— proudly. “Was it forbidden
to go into the club cellars for such harmless things
as apples?”
Apples! I looked at her admiringly.
“Apples?” repeated Haggerty. “Couldn’t
you have sent a servant for them?”
She did not reply.
“You were with this clever gentleman in the
cellars. You may or may not be acquainted with
him. I do not wish to do anything hasty in re-
gard to yourself, but your position is rather equi-
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HEARTS AND MASIKS
vocal. Produce your card and be identified — if
you really can.”
“I Tofuse ! ”
“Then I shall ask you to accompany us to the
room up stairs till the police-patrol arrives.”
“I will go,”— quietly.
“Nonsense!” I objected. “On my word of
honor, I do not know this lady. Our presence in
the cellar was perfectly harmless. There is no
valid reason for detaining her. It is an outrage!”
“I am not going to stand here arguing with
you,” said Haggerty. “Let the lady produce
her card; let her disclose her identity. That is
simple enough.”
“I have already given you my determination on
that subject,” replied the girl. “I can very well
explain my presence here, but I absolutely decline
to explain it to the police.”
I didn’t understand her at all. She had said
that she possessed an alibi. Why didn’t she pro-
duce it?
So the two of us left the gorgeous ball-room.
Every one moved aside for us, and quickly, too,
as if we had had the plague. I looked in vain for
Hamilton. He was a friend in need. We were
89
HEARTS AND MASEKS
taken into the steward’s office and the door was
shut and locked. The band in the ball-room went
galloping through a two-step, and the gaiety was
in full swing again. The thief had been rounded
up ! How the deuce was it going to end?
“I can not tell you how sorry I am to have
mixed you up in this,” I said to the girl.
“You are in no manner to blame. Think of
what might have happened had you blown up the
post-office!”
She certainly was the least embarrassed of the
two of us. I addressed my next remarks to the
great Haggerty.
“Did you find a suitable pistol in Friard’s?”
“A man in my business,” said Haggerty mildly,
“is often found in such places. There are vari-
ous things to be recovered in pawnshops. The
gentlemen of this club sent me the original ten of
hearts, my presence being necessary at such big
entertainments. And when I saw that card of
yours, I was so happy that I nearly put you on
your guard. Lord, how long I’ve been looking for
you! I give you credit for being a clever rascal.
You have fooled us all nicely. Not a soul among
us knew your name, nor what you looked like.
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HEARTS AND MASKS
And but for that card, you might still be at large.
Until the lady submits to the simple process of
identification, I shall be compelled to look upon her
and treat her as an accomplice. She has refused
the offer I have made her, and she can not blame
me if I am suspicious, when to be suspicious is a
part of my business.” He was reasonable enough
in regard to the girl.
He turned to the chief of the village police, who
was sitting at the desk ordinarily used by the club's
steward.
“No reporters, mind you.”
“Yes, sir. We’ll see that no reporter gets wind
of the capture.”
The telephone bell rang. One of the police
answered it.
“For you, Mr. Haggerty,” he said.
Haggerty sprang to the telephone and placed
the receiver to his ear.
“What?” we heard him exclaim. “You have
got the other fellow P A horse and carriage at
once | ?”
“Take mine,” said the chief excitedly. “What
is it?”
“My subordinate at the railway station has just
91
HEARTS3 AND MASIKS
landed the fellow with the jewels. Mighty quick
work. I must hustle into town at once. There’ll
be plenty of time to attend to these persons.
Bring them to town the moment the patrol arrives.
The gems are the most important things just now.”
“Yes, sir. You can rely upon us, Mr. Hag-
gerty. Billy, go down with Mr. Haggerty and
show him my rig.” -
“Good!” said Haggerty. “It’s been a fine
night’s work, my lads, a fine night’s work. I’ll see
that all get some credit. Permit no one to ap-
proach the prisoners without proper authority.”
“Your orders shall be obeyed to the letter,” said
the chief importantly. He already saw his name
figuring in the New York papers as having as-
sisted in the capture of a great thief.
I cursed under my breath. If it hadn’t been for
the girl, I am ashamed to confess, I should have
cursed out loud. She sat rigid and motionless. It
must have been a cruel ordeal for her. But what
was puzzling me was the fact that she made not
the slightest effort to spring her alibi. If I had
had one! Where was Hamilton? I scarcely in-
clined to the idea of sleeping in jail in a dress-suit.
Haggerty departed. A silence settled gloomily
92
HEARTS AND MASIKS
down on us. Quarter of an hour passed. The
grim-visaged police watched us vigilantly. Half
an hour, three-quarters, an hour. Far away we
heard the whistle of an out-going train. Would
I had been on it! From time to time we heard
faint music. At length there was a noise outside
the door, and a moment later Hamilton and two
others came in. When he saw me, he stopped, his
eyes bulging and his mouth agape.
“Dicky Comstalk?” he cried helplessly.
“What the devil does this mean?”—turning to the
police.
“Do you know this fellow, Mr. Hamilton?”
asked the chief.
“I(now him? Of course I know him,” answered
Teddy ; “and I'll stake my last dollar on his
honesty.”
(Thanks, Teddy!) I began to breathe.
“But—” began the chief, seized with sudden
misgivings.
“It is impossible, I tell you,” interrupted Ham-
ilton. “I know this gentleman is incapable of the
theft. There is some frightful mistake. How the
dickens did you get here, Dicky?”
And briefly I told him my story, my ass’s ears
93
HEARTS AND MASKS
growing inch by inch as I went along. Hamilton
didn’t know whether to swear or to laugh; finally
he laughed.
“If you wanted to come, why didn’t you write
me for an invitation?”
“I shouldn’t have come to your old ball, had I
been invited. It was just the idea of the lark.”
“We shall have to hold him, nevertheless,” said
the chief, “till everything is cleared up. The
girl—”
Hamilton looked at the Blue Domino.
“Madame, will you do me the honor to raise
your mask?”
She did so; and I saw Hamilton draw in his
breath. Her beauty was certainly of an exquisite
pattern. He frowned anxiously.
“I never saw this young woman before,” he
admitted slowly.
“Hal” cried the chief, glad to find some one
culpable. -
“Did you receive your invitation through the
proper channels?” asked Hamilton.
“I came here to-night,” — coldly, “ on the invi-
tation of Mrs. Hyphen-Bonds, who sailed for Fu-
rope Wednesday.”
A. 94
HEARTS AND MASICS
Here was an alibi that was an alibi ! I was all at
sea. Hamilton bowed; the chief coughed worriedly
behind his hand. The girl had told me she was an
impostor like myself, that her ten of hearts was as
dark-stained as my own. I could not make head or
tail to it. Mrs. Hyphen-Bonds ! She was a law
in the land, especially in Blankshire, the larger part
of which she owned. What did it all mean? And
what was her idea in posing as an impostor?
The door opened again.
“The patrol has come,” said the officer who en-
tered.
“Let it wait,” growled the chief. “Haggerty
has evidently got us all balled up. I don’t believe
his fashionable thief has materialized at all; just a
common crook. Well, he’s got him, at any rate,
and the gems.”
“You have, of course, the general invitation?”
said Hamilton.
“Here it is,” — and she passed the engraved
card to him.
“I beg a thousand pardons !” said Hamilton
humbly. “Everything seems to have gone
wrong.”
95
HEARTS AND MASRS
“Will you guarantee this man?” asked the chief
of Hamilton, nodding toward me.
“I have said so. Mr. Comstalk is very well
known to me. He is a retired army officer, and to
my knowledge a man with an income sufficient to
put him far beyond want.”
“What is your name?” asked the chief of the
girl, scowling. It was quite evident he couldn’t
understand her actions any better than I.
“Alice Hawthorne,” with an oblique glance at
Iſle.
I had been right!
“What is your occupation? I am obliged to
ask these questions, Miss.”
“I am a miniature painter,” — briefly.
Hamilton came forward. “Alice Hawthorne?
Pardon me, but are you the artist who recently com-
pleted the miniatures of the Emperor of Germany,
the Princess of Hesse, and Mrs. Hyphen-Bonds?”
“I am. I believe there is no further reason for
detaining me.”
“Emperor of Germany P’” echoed the now be-
wildered chief. “Why didn’t you tell all this to
Mr. Haggerty?”
“I had my reasons.”
96
HEARTS AND MASKS
Once again the door opened. A burly man in
a dark business-suit entered. His face ruddy
and his little grey eyes sparkled with suppressed
ire. He reminded me of Vautrin, the only differ-
ence being that Vautrin was French while this
man was distinctly Irish. His massive shoulders
betrayed tremendous strength. He was vastly
angry about something. He went to the chief’s
desk and rested his hands upon it.
“You are a nice specimen for a chief of police,
you are!” he began.
“And who the devil are gow?” bawled the
chief, his choler rising.
“I’ll tell you who I am presently.”
We all eyed him in wonder. What was going
to happen now?
“Which of you gentlemen is Mr. Hamilton?”
asked the new-comer gruffly.
Hamilton signified that he was the gentleman
by that name.
“Some ladies at your ball have been robbed of
their diamonds, I understand?”
“About ten thousand dollars’ worth.”
“Look here, sir,” cried the chief, standing up
and balling his fist, “I want you to explain your-
97
HEARTS AND MASIKS
self, and mighty quick. You can’t come into my
presence in this manner.”
“Bah! You have just permitted the cleverest
rascal in the state to slip through your butter-
fingers. I am Haggerty.”
The chief of police sat down suddenly.
98
VII
The consummate daring of it! Why, the ras.
cal ought to have been in command of an army.
On the Board of Strategy he would have been
incomparable!
There followed a tableau that I shall not soon
forget. We all stared at the real Haggerty much
after the fashion of Medusa’s victims. Presently
the tension relaxed, and we all sighed. I sighed
because the thought of jail for the night in a
dress-suit dwindled in perspective; the girl sighed
for the same reason and one or two other things;
the chief of the village police and his officers
sighed because darkness had suddenly swooped
down on them; and Hamilton sighed because there
were no gems. Haggerty was the one among us
who didn’t sigh. He scowled blackly.
This big athlete looked like a detective, and the
abrupt authority of his tones convinced me that
he was. Haggerty was celebrated in the annals
of police affairs; he had handled all sorts of crim-
99
HEARTS AND MASKS
inals, from titled impostors down to petty thieves.
He was not a man to trifle with, mentally or phys-
ically, and for this reason we were all shaking in
our boots. He owned to a keen but brutal wit; to
him there was no such thing as sex among crim-
inals, and he had the tenacity of purpose that has
given the bulldog considerable note in the pit.
But it was quite plain that for once he had met
his match. g
“I don’t see how you can blame me,” mumbled
the chief. “None of us was familiar with your
looks, and he showed us his star of authority, and
went to work in a business-like way — By George!
and he has run away with my horse and carriage!”
— starting from his chair.
“Never mind the horse. You'll find it safe at
the railway station,” snarled Haggerty. “Now,
then, tell me everything that has happened, from
beginning to end.”
And the chief recounted the adventure briefly.
Haggerty looked coldly at me and shrugged his
broad shoulders. As for the girl, he never gave
her so much as a single glance. He knew a gentle-
woman without looking at her twice.
“Humph! Isn’t he a clever one, though?’”
I00
HEARTS AND MASKS
cried Haggerty, in a burst of admiration.
“Clever is no name for it. I’d give a year of my
life to come face to face with him. It would be an
interesting encounter. Hunted him for weeks, and
to-day laid eyes on him for the first time. Had my
clumsy paws on him this very afternoon. He
seemed so willing to be locked up that I grew care-
less. Biff' and he and his accomplice, an erstwhile
valet, had me trussed like a chicken and bundled
into the clothes-press. Took my star, credentials,
playing-card, and invitation. It was near eleven
o'clock when I roused the housekeeper. I tele-
graphed two hours ago.”
“Telegraphed ” exclaimed the chief, rousing
himself out of a melancholy dream. (There would
be no mention of him in the morrow’s papers.)
“Yes, telegraphed. The despatch lay unopened
on your office-desk. You’re a good watch-dog — .
for a hen-coop!” growled Haggerty. “Ten
thousand in gems to-night, and by this time he is
safe in New York. You are all a pack of block-
heads.
“ Used the telephone, did he? Told you to hold
these innocent persons till he went somewhere to
land the accomplice, eh? The whistle of the train
101
HEARTS AND MASIKS
meant nothing to you. Well, that whistle ought
to have told you that there might be a mistake. A
good officer never quits his prisoners. If there is
an accomplice in toils elsewhere, he makes them
bring him in, he does not go out for him. And
now I’ve got to start all over again, and he in New
York, a bigger catacomb than Rome ever boasted
of. He’s not a common thief; nobody knows who
he is or what his haunts are. But I have seen his
face; I’ll never forget him.”
The chief tore his hair, while his subordinates
shuffled their feet uneasily. Then they all started
in to explain their theories. But the detective si-
lenced them with a wave of his huge hand.
“I don’t want to hear any explanations. Let
these persons go,” he commanded, with a jerk of
his head in our direction. “You can all return to
town but one officer. I may need a single man,”
Haggerty added thoughtfully.
“What are you going to do?” asked the chief.
“Never you mind. I have an idea; it may be a
good one. If it is, I’ll telephone you all about it
when the time comes.”
He stepped over to the telephone and called up
central. He spoke so low that none of us over-
102
HEARTS AND MASKS
heard what he said; but he hung up the receiver, a
satisfied smile on his face.
The girl and I were free to go whither we listed,
and we listed to return at once to New York. Ham-
ilton, however, begged us to remain, to dance and
eat, as a compensation for what we had gone
through; but Miss Hawthorne resolutely shook her
head; and as there was nothing in the world that
would have induced me to stay without her, I shook
my head, too. It seemed to me I had known this
girl all my life, so closely does misfortune link one
life to another. I had seen her for the first time
less than eight hours before; and yet I was confi-
dent that as many years, under ordinary circum-
stances, would not have taught me her real worth.
“Mrs. Hyphen-Bonds will never forgive me,”
said Hamilton dismally, “if she hears that I’ve
been the cause, indirectly and innocently, of turn-
ing you away.”
“Mrs. Hyphen-Bonds need never know,” re-
plied the girl, smiling inscrutably. “In fact, it
would be perfectly satisfactory and agreeable to
me if she never heard at all.”
“I will call a conveyance for you,” said the de-
|03
HEARTS AND MASKS
feated M. F. H. “I shall never forgive you,
Dicky.”
“Yes, you will, Teddy. A loving-cup, the next
time we meet at the club, will mellow everything.”
Quarter of an hour later Miss Hawthorne and
I, wrapped in buffalo-robes, our feet snugly stowed
away in straw, slid away, to the jangle and quarrel
of sleighbells, toward Moriarty’s Hollywood Inn.
The moon shone; not a cloud darkened her serene
and lovely countenance. The pearly, whiteness of
the world would have aroused the poetry in the
most sordid soul; and far, far away to the east the
black, tossing line of the sea was visible.
“What a beautiful night!” I volunteered.
“The beginning of the end.”
“The beginning of the end? What does that
mean?”
“Why, when you first spoke to me, it was about
the weather.”
“Oh, but this isn’t going to be the end; this is
the true beginning of all things.”
“I wish I could see it in that light; but we can
not see beauty in anything when hunger lies back
of the eyes. I haven’t had anything to eat, save
that single apple, for hours and hours. I was so
104
HEARTS AND MASKS
excited at Mouquin’s that I ate almost nothing.”
“You are hungry? Well, we’ll fix that when
we get to Moriarty’s. I’ll find a way of waking
him up, in case he’s asleep, which I doubt. There
will be cold chicken and ham and hot coffee.”
“Lovely 1 °
“And we shall dine with the gods. And now it
is all over and done, it was funny, wasn’t it?”
“Terribly funny!” — with a shade of irony.
“It would have been funnier still if the real Hag-
gerty hadn’t turned up. The patrol had arrived.”
“But it didn’t happen. I shall never forget
this night,” — romantically.
“I should be inordinately glad to forget it com-
pletely,”— decidedly.
“Where’s your romance?” I asked.
“I’d rather have it served to me between book-
covers. As I grow older my love of repose in-
creases.”
“Do you know,” I began boldly, “it seems that
I have known you all my life.”
“Indeed ’’
“Yes. Why, I might really have known you all
my life, and still not have known you as well as I
do this very minute,_ and less than a dozen hours
I05
HEARTS AND MASIKS
between this and our first meeting. You are as
brave as a paladim, wise as a serpent, cool, witty —
and beautiful! ”
* Shah I ask the driver to let me out?” Then
she laughed, a rollicking, joyous laugh.
“What is so funny?”
“I was thinking of that coal-bin.”
“Well, I didn’t permit a lonely potato to
frighten me,” I retorted.
“No, you were brave enough — among the po-
tatoes.”
“You are beautiful! ”
“I am hungry.”
“You are the most beautiful girl —”
“I want something to eat.”
“— I ever saw Do you think it possible for a
man to fall in love at first sight?”
“Oh, nothing is impossible on Tom Fool’s night.
Positive, fool; comparative, fooler; superlative,
foolest. You are marching on with your degrees,
Mr. Comstalk.”
“You might call me Dicky,” I said in an ag.
grieved tone.
“Dicky P Never! I should always be thinking of
paper collars.”
106
HEARTS AND MASICS
“I wish I were witty like that!”
She snuggled down beneath the robes.
An artist’s model, thought I. Never in this
world. I now understood the drift of her uncle’s
remark about her earning capacity. The Alice
Hawthorne miniatures brought fabulous prices.
And here I was, sitting so close to her that our
shoulders touched: and she a girl who knew inti-
mately emperors and princesses and dukes, not to
mention the worldly-rich. I admit that for a
moment I was touched with awe. And it was begin-
ning to get serious. This girl interested me mar-
velously. I summoned up all my courage.
“Are — are you married?”
“ No-o.”
“Nor engaged to be married?”
“No-o. But you mustn't ask all these ques-
tions.”
“How would you like to ride around in a first-
class motor-car the rest of your days?”
She laughed merrily. Possibly it was funny.
“Are you always amusing like this?”
“Supposing I were serious?”
“In that case I should say you had not yet
slipped off your fool’s motley.”
}
107
HEARTS AND MASKS
This directness was discouraging.
“I wonder if the ten of hearts is lucky, after
all,” I mused.
“We are not in jail. I consider that the best
of good fortune.”
“Give me your card,” said I. -
She gave me the card, and I put it with mine.
“Why do you do that?”
“Perhaps I want to bring about an enchant-
ment,”— soberly.
“As Signor Fantoccini, or as Mr. Comstalk?”
“I have long since resigned my position in the
museum; it was too exciting.”
She made no rejoinder; and for some time there
was no sound but the music of the belis.
Finally we drew up under the colonial portè-
cochere of Hollywood Inn and were welcomed by
the genial Moriarty himself, his Celtic countenance
a mirror of smiles.
“Anything in the house to eat?” I cried, shak-
ing the robes from me.
“Anything ye like, if you like cowld things.
I can hate ye a pot of coffee on the gasolene-burn-
er, and there’s manny a vintage in the cillars.”
108
HEARTS AND MASKS
“That will be plenty | *— joyfully, helping
Miss Hawthorne to alight. - N.
“Sure, and ye are from the Hunt Club | *—
noting our costumes. “Well, well! They niver
have anny too much grub. Now, I’ll putt ye in a
little room all be yersilves, with a windy and a log-
fire; cozy as ye plaze. Ye’ll have nearly two hours
to wait for the car-r from the village.”
We entered the general assembly-room. It was
roomy and quaint, and somewhere above us was the
inevitable room in which George Washington had
slept. The great hooded fireplace was merry with
crackling logs. Casually I observed that we were
not alone. Over yonder, in a shadowed corner, sat
two men, very well bundled up, and, to all appear-
ances, fast asleep. Moriarty lighted a four-
branched candelabrum and showed us the way to
the little private dining-room, took our orders, and
left us.
“This is romance,” said I. “They used to do
these things hundreds of years ago, and everybody
had a good time.”
“It is now all very wicked and improper,” mur-
mured the girl, laying aside her domino for the
109
HEARTS AND MASIKS
first time; “but delightful! I now find I haven’t
the least bit of remorse for what I have done.”
In that dark evening gown she was very beauti-
ful. Her arms and shoulders were tinted like Car-
rara marble; and I knew instantly that I was never
going to recover. I drew two chairs close to the
grate. I sat down in one and she in the other.
With a contented sigh she rested her blue-slippered
feet on the brass fonder.
“My one regret is that I haven’t any shoes.
What an adventure | ?”
“It’s fine!” Two hours in the society of this
enchanting creature! It was almost too good to
be true. Ah, if it might always be like this — to
return home from the day’s work, to be greeted
warmly by a woman as beautiful as this one! I
sighed loudly.
Moriarty came with the chicken and ham and
coffee.
“If ye would like, it won’t be a bit of trouble to
show ye George Washington’s room; or ’’— with
inimitable Irish drollery — “I can tell ye that he
dimed in this very room.”
“That will serve,” smiled the girl; and Moriar.
ty bowed himself out.
110

|HEARTS AND MASKS
His departure was followed by the clatter of
silver upon porcelain. Of a truth, both of us were
hungry.
“I was simply ravenous,” the girl confessed.
“And as for me, I never dreamt I could be so
unromantic. Now,” said I, pushing aside my
plate, and dropping sugar into my coffee, and
vainly hunting in my pockets for a cigar, “there
remains only one mystery to be cleared up.”
“And what might this mystery be?” she asked.
“The whereabouts of the bogus Haggerty?”
“The bogus Haggerty will never cross our paths
again. He has skipped by the light of the moon.
No, that’s not the mystery. Why did you tell me
you were an impostor; why did you go to the cel-
lars with me, when all the while you were at the ball
on Mrs. Hyphen-Bonds’ invitation?”
She leaned on her elbows and smiled at me hu-
morously.
“Would you really like to know, Signor? Well,
I was an impostor.” She sat with her back to the
fire, and a weird halo of light seemed to surround
her and frame her. “Mrs. Hyphen-Bonds acci-
dentally dropped that invitation in my studio, a
few days before she sailed for Europe. I simply
111
HEARTS AND MASKS
could not resist the temptation. That is all the
mystery there is.”
“And they still think you were there right-
fully 1 °
“You are no longer mystified?”
“Yes; there is yet another mystery to solve: my-
self.” I knew it. Without rhyme or reason, I was
in love; and without rhyme or reason, I was glad
of it.
“Shall you ever be able to solve such a mys-
tery P”— quizzically.
“It all depends upon you.”
“Mr. Comstalk, you will not mar the exquisite
humor of our adventure by causing me any annoy-
ance. I am sure that some day we shall be very
good friends. But one does not talk of love on
eight hours’ acquaintance. Besides, you would be
taking advantage of my helplessness; for I really
depend upon you to see me safe back to New York.
It is only the romance, the adventure; and such
moonlight nights often superinduce sentimentality.
What do you know of me? Nothing. What do I
know of you? Nothing, save that there is a kin-
dred spirit which is always likely to lead us into
trouble. Down in your heart you know you are
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HEARTS AND MASKS
only temporarily affected by moonshine. Come,
make me a toast !”— lifting her cup.
“You are right,” said I. “I am a gentleman.
But it was only consistent that, having been the
fool, I should now play the ass. Here’s ”— and
I held up my cup.
But neither of us drank; there wasn’t time.
For the door opened quietly, and in walked the
two men we had seen upon entering the Inn. One
of them gently closed the door and locked it. One
was in soiled every-day clothes, the other in im-
maculate evening dress. The latter doffed his
opera hat with the most engaging Smile imagina-
ble. The girl and I looked up at him in blank be-
wilderment, and set our cups down so mechanically
that the warm amber liquid spattered on the table-
cloth.
Galloping Dick and the affable inspector of the
cellars stood before us!
113
Wäää
- The unexpected always happens,” began the
pseudo-detective, closing his hat, drawing off his
gloves and stuffing them into a pocket. “As a
friend of mine used to say, it is the unexpected
that always surprises us. We never expected to see
these charming masqueraders again, did we, Wil-
Ham P2’
“No, sir,” said William, grinning affably, “we
didn’t. The gentleman was very nice and obliging
to me, sir, when I was in the cellars.”
“So I understand. Now,” continued the late
Mr. Haggerty, with the deadly affability of a Ma-
caire, “I beg of you, Mr. Comstalk, I beg of you
not to move or to become unduly excited. Physic-
ians tell us that excitement wastes the red corpus-
cles, that is to say, the life of the blood.”
“Your blood, sir, must be very thin,” I returned
coolly. But I cursed him soundly in my mind.
William’s bulging side-pocket convinced me that
114
HEARTS AND MASKS
any undue excitement on my part would be exceed-
ingly dangerous.
“William, you can always tell a gentleman,”
said the chief rogue admiringly. “A gentleman
always recognizes his opportunities, and never loses
his sense of the balance of things.”
“And he is usually witty, too, sir,” William as-
sented.
The girl sat pale and rigid in her chair.
“What do you want?” I demanded savagely.
“For one thing, I should like to question the
propriety of a gentleman’s sitting down to dine
with a lady without having washed his face. The
coal-dust does not add to your manly beauty. You
haven’t a cake of soap about you, William, have
you?”
“No, sir.” William’s face expressed indescriba-
ble enjoyment of the scene.
The girl’s mouth stiffened. She was struggling
to repress the almost irresistible smile that tickled
her lips.
“In times like these,” said I, determined not to
be outdone, “we are often thoughtless in regard
to our personal appearances. I apologize to the
lady.”
II5
HEARTS AND MASKS
“Fine, fine! I sincerely admire you, Mr. Com-
stalk. You have the true spirit of adventure.
Hasn’t he, William P’’
“He certainly has, sir.”
“Comes to a private ball without an invitation,
and has a merry time of it indeed. To have the
perfect sense of humor — that is what makes the
world go round.” *
“Aren’t you taking extra risk in offering me
these pleasantries?” I asked.
“Risks? In what manner P’”
“The man you so cleverly impersonated is at
the club.” I do not know what prompted me to
put him on his guard.
The rogue laughed lightly. “I know Mr. Hag-
gerty’s habits. He is hustling back to New York
as fast as he can. He passed here ten minutes ago
in the patrol, lickety-clip ! He wishes to warn all
pawnbrokers and jewelers to be on the lookout for
me to-morrow. Ten thousand in a night!”— jovi-
ally. - *
“A very tidy sum, sir,” said William.
“A fourth of which goes to you, my good and
faithful friend.”
“Thank you, sir,” replied William.
116
HEARTS AND MASKS
Two cooler rogues I never wish to meet!
“But wouldn’t it be well, sir, to hasten?” asked
William.
“We have plenty of time now, my son.”
“You have not entered this room,” said the girl,
her terror slipping from her, “simply to offer these
banalities. What do you wish?”
“What perspicacity, William l’’ cried the rogue,
taking out a cigarette case.
“I don’t know what that word means, sir, but
as you do, it seems to fit the occasion proper
enough.”
“It means, William, that this charming young
lady scents our visit from afar.”
“I had a suspicion, sir, that it might mean
that.” William leaned against the wall, his bead
eyes twinkling merrily. --
The master rogue lighted a cigarette at one of
the candles.
“Pardon me,” he said, “but will you join me?”
— proffering the handsome gold case.
I took a cigarette and fired it. (I really wanted
it.) I would show up well before this girl if I died
for it. I blew a cloud of smoke at the candle-
117
|HEARTS AND MASKS
flame. There was a sparkle of admiration in the
girl’s eyes. º
“Mr. Comstalk, my respect for you increases
each moment.” The rogue sat down.
“And to whom might this handsome case be-
long?” I asked, examining it closely.
“Oh, that has always been mine. There was a
time,”— blowing rings at the candelabrum,_
“when I was respected like yourself, rich, sought
after. A woman and a trusted friend: how these
often tumble down our beautiful edifices! Yes, I
am a scamp, a thief, a rogue; but not because I
need the money. No,”— with retrospective eyes —
“I need excitement, tremendous and continuous,
excitement to keep my vigilance and invention ac-
tive day and night, excitement to obliterate mem-
Ory.
“But we can’t do it, my friend, we can’t do it.
Memory is always with us. She is an impartial
Nemesis; she dogs the steps of the righteous and
the unrighteous. To obliterate memory, that is it!
And where might I find this obliteration, save in
this life? Drugs? Pah! Oh, I have given Hag-
gerty a royal chase. It has been meat and drink
to me to fool the cleverest policeman in New York.
118
HEARTS AND MASIKS
Till yesterday my face, as a criminal, was un-
known to any man or woman, save William here,
who was my valet in the old days. I have gone to
my clubs, dimed, played billiards; a fine comedy, a
fine comedy To-morrow William and I sail for
Europe. Miss Hawthorne, you wear one of the
most exquisite rubies I have ever seen. Permit me
to examine it.”
... The girl tore the ring from her finger and flung
it on the table. I made a move as though to push
back my chair.
“I wouldn’t do it, sir,” warned William quietly.
My muscles relaxed.
“Do not commit any rash action, Mr. Com-
stalk,” said the girl, smiling bravely into my eyes.
“This gentleman would not appreciate it.”
The master rogue picked up the ring and rolled
it lovingly about his palms.
“Beautiful, beautiful!” he murmured. “Fin-
est pigeon-blood, too. It is easily worth a thou-
sand. Shall I give you my note of exchange for
it?”— humorously. The girl scorned to reply.
He took out a little chamois bag and emptied its
contents on the table. How they sparkled, scintil-
lated, glowed; thousands in the whitest of stones!
119
HEARTS AND MASECS
How he ever had got his fingers on them is some-
thing I shall never learn. “Aren’t they just beau-
tiful?” he asked naïvely. “Can you blame me
for coveting them?” He set the ruby on top of
the glittering heap. It lay there like a drop of
blood. Presently he caught it up and — pre-
sented it to the girl, who eyed him in astonishment.
“I only wanted to look at it,” he said courteously.
“I like your grit as much as I admire your beauty.
Keep the ring.”
She slipped it mechanically over her finger.
“But you, my dear Mr. Comstalk!” he cried,
turning his shining eyes upon me, while his fingers
deftly replaced the gems in the bag.
“I have no jewelry,” I replied, tossing aside the
cigarette. t
“But you have something infinitely better. I
am rather observant. In Friard’s curio-shop you
carelessly exhibited a wallet that was simply chok-
ing to death with long yellow-boys. You have it
still. Will you do me the honor?” — stretching
out his slim white hand. A
I looked at William ; he nodded. There wasn’t
the slightest chance for me to argue. So I drew
out my wallet. I extracted the gold-bills and
120
HEARTS AND MASKS
made a neat little packet of them. It hurt, hurt
like the deuce, to part with them. But —!
“Game, William, isn’t he? Most men would
have flung the wallet at my head.”
“Oh, he is game, sir; never you doubt it, sir,”
said the amiable William.
“I have some silver in change,” I suggested
with some bitterness.
“Far be it that I should touch silver,” he said
generously, did this rogue. “Besides, you will
need something to pay for this little supper and
the fare back to New York.” My bills disap-
peared into his pocket. “You will observe that I
trust you implicitly. I haven’t even counted the
money.”
William Sniggered.
“And is there anything further?” I inquired.
The comedy was beginning to weary me, it was so
one-sided.
“I am in no particular hurry,” the rogue an-
swered, his sardonic smile returning. “It is so
long since I have chatted with people of my kind.”
I scow.lcd.
“Pardon me, I meant from a social point of
121 .
HEARTS AND MASKS
view only. I admit we would not be equals in the
eye of the Presbyter.”
And then followed a scene that reminds me to
this day of some broken, fantastic dream, a frag-
ment from some bewildering nightmare.
j92

IX
For suddenly I saw his eyes widen and flash
with anger and apprehension. Quick as a passing
sunshadow, his hand swept the candelabrum from
the table. He made a swift backward spring
toward the door, but he was a little too late. The
darkness he had created was not intense enough,
for there was still the ruddy glow from the logs;
and the bosom of his dress-shirt made a fine target.
Besides, the eyes that had peered into the window
were accustomed to the night.
Blang! The glass of the window shivered and
jingled to the floor, and a sharp report followed.
The rogue cried out in fierce anguish, and reeled
against the wall. William whipped out his re-
volver, but, even from his favorable angle, he was
not quick cnough. The hand that had directed
the first bullet was ready to direct the second.
All this took place within the count of ten.
The girl and I sat stiffly in our chairs, as if petri-
fied, it was all so swiftly accomplished.
123
HEARTS AND MASKS
“Drop it!” said a cold, authoritative voice, and
I saw the vague outlines of Haggerty’s face be-
yond the broken window-pane.
William knew better than to hesitate. His re-
volver struck the floor dully, and a curse rolled
from his lips. Immediately a heavy body precipi-
tated itself against the door, which crashed in-
ward, and an officer fearlessly entered, a revolver
in each hand. This tableau, which lasted fully a
minute, was finally disturbed by the entrance of
Haggerty himself.
“Don’t be alarmed, Miss,” he said heartily;
“it’s all over. I’m sorry for the bullet, but it had
to be done. The rascal has nothing more serious
than a splintered bone. I am a dead shot. A
fine night!”— triumphantly. “It’s been a long
chase, and I never was sure of the finish. You’re
the cleverest rogue it has been my good fortune to
meet this many a day. I don’t even know who
you are yet. Well, well! we'll round that up in
time.” -
* Not till the candles again sputtered with light,
and William was securely handcuffed and dis-
armed, did I recollect that I possessed the sense of
motion. The smoke of powder drifted across the
124
HEARTS AND MASIKS
flickering candles, and there was a salty taste on
my tongue.
“Horrible!” cried the girl, covering her eyes.
The master rogue and his valet were led out into
the assembly-room, and we reluctantly followed.
I saw it all now. When Haggerty called up cen-
tral at the club, he ascertained where the last call
had been from, and, learning that it came from
Hollywood Inn, he took his chance. The room
was soon filled with servants and stable-hands, the
pistol-shot having lured them from their beds.
The wounded man was very pale. He sat with his
uninjured hand tightly clasped above the ragged
wound, and a little pool of blood slowly formed at
his side on the floor. But his eyes shone brightly.
“A basin of water and some linen | * cried the
girl to Moriarty. “And send all these people
away.” *
“To yer rooms, ivery one of ye!” snapped
Moriarty, sweeping his hands. “”Tis no place
for ye, be off ’’ He hurried the servants out of
the room, and presently returned with a basin of
water, some linen and balm.
We watched the girl as she bathed and bandaged
the wounded arm; and once or twice the patient
195
HEARTS AND MASIKS
smiled. Haggerty looked on approvingly, and in
William’s eyes there beamed the gentle light of
reverence. It was a picture to see this lovely
creature playing the part of the good Samaritan,
moving here and there in her exquisite gown. Ah,
the tender mercy I knew that, come what might,
I had strangely found the right woman, the one
WOI (1811]. 8 -
” said the rogue,
“You’re a good little woman,
his face softening; “and a good woman is the
finest thing God ever placed upon earth. Had I
only found one!” He turned whimsically toward
me. “Are you engaged to marry this little
woman P’”
“ No.”
“Surely you love her l’’
“Surely I do | * I looked bravely at the girl as
I spoke. , , '
But she never gave any sign that she heard.
She pinned the ends of the bandages carefully.
“And what brought you to this?” asked Hag.
gerty, looking down at his prisoner.
The prisoner shrugged. ,
“You’ve the making of a fine man in you.”
196
HEARTS AND MASKS
went on Haggerty generously. “What caused
you to slip up?” & º
“That subject is taboo,” replied the thief.
“But I want to beg your pardon for underesti-
mating your cunning.”
“It was all due to a chance shot at the tele-
phone.”
“I kept you guessing.”
“Merrily, too. My admiration is wholly yours,
sir,” returned Haggerty, picking up the telephone
exchange-book. He rang and placed his lips to
the transmitter, calling a number. “Hello! Is
this the chief of the Blankshire police? Yes?
Well, this is Haggerty. That idea I hinted to
you was a mighty good one. Prepare two strong
cells and have a doctor on hand. What? Oh, you
will find your horse and carriage at Moriarty’s.
Good-by!”
My money was handed over to me. I returned
it to my wallet, but without any particular enthu-
siasm. f
“It’s a bad business, William,” said I.
“It’s all in the game, sir,”— with a look at
Haggerty that expressed infinite hatred. “In
our business we can’t afford to be careless.”
197
HEARTS AND MASKS
“Or to talk too much,” supplemented his mas-
ter, Smiling. “Talk, my friend, rounds me up
with a bullet in the arm, and a long sojourn be-
hind stone walls. Never talk. Thank you, Miss
Hawthorne, and you, too, Mr. Comstalk, for the
saving grace of humor. If it were possible, I
should like to give Miss Hawthorne the pick of the
jewels. This is a sordid world.”
“Ye'er car-r is coming!” shouted Moriarty,
running to the window.
So the girl and I passed out of Hollywood Inn,
leaving Haggerty with his mysterious prisoners.
I can’t reason it out, even to this day, but I was
genuinely sorry that Haggerty had arrived upon
the scene. For one thing, he had spoiled the
glamour of the adventure by tingeing it with
blood. And on the way to the car I wondered
what had been the rogue’s past, what had turned
him into this hardy, perilous path. He had
spoken of a woman; perhaps that was it. They
are always behind good actions and bad. Heigh-
ho!
Once we were seated in the lonely car, the girl
broke down and cried as if her heart would break.
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HEARTS AND MASKS
It was only the general reaction, but the sight of
her tears unnerved me.
A
” I whispered, taking
“Don’t cry, girl; don’t:
her hand in mine. She made no effort to repulse
me. “I am sorry. The rascal was a gallant
beggar, and I for one shouldn’t have been sorry to
see him get away. There, there! You’re the
bravest, tenderest girl in all this world; and when
I told him I loved you, God knows I meant it! It
is one of those inexplicable things. You say I have
known you only eight hours? I have known you
always, only I had not met you. What are eight
hours? What is convention, formality? We two
have lived a lifetime in these eight hours. Can’t
you see that we have?”
“To shoot a human being!” she sobbed. Her
head fell against my shoulder. I do not believe
she was conscious of the fact. And I did not care
a hang for the conductor.
I patted her hand encouragingly. “It had to
be done. He was in a desperate predicament, and
he would have shot Haggerty had the detective
been careless in his turn; and he wouldn’t have
aimed to maim, either.”
H29
HEARTS AND MASKS
“What a horrible night! It will haunt me as
long as I live!”
I said nothing; and we did not speak again till
the first of the Blankshire lights flashed by us.
By this time her sobs had ceased.
“I know I haven’t done anything especially
gallant to-night; no fighting, no rescuing, and all
that. They just moved me around like a piece of
stage scenery.”
A smile flashed and was gone. It was a hope-
ful sign.
“But the results are the same. You have ad-
mitted to me that you are neither engaged nor
married. Won’t you take me on — on ap-
proval?”
“Mr. Comstalk, it all seems so like a horrid
dream. You are a brave man, and what is better, a
sensible one, for you submitted to the inevitable
with the best possible grace. But you talk of
love as readily as a hero in a popular novel.”
“I never go back,” said I. “It seems incred-
ible, doesn’t it, that I should declare myself in this
fashion? Listen. For my part, I believe that all
this was written, -my Tom-foolery in Mouquin’s,
130
HEARTS AND MASFCS
my imposture and yours, the two identical cards,-
the adventure from beginning to end.”
Silence.
“Suppose I should say,” the girl began, look-
ing out of the window, “that in the restaurant you
aroused my curiosity, that in the cellars my ad-
miration was stirred, that the frank manner in
which you expressed your regard for me to — to
the burglar — awakened —”
“What?” I cried eagerly.
“Nothing. It was merely a supposition.”
“Hang it; I do love you!”
“Are you still the Capuchin, or simply Mr.
Comstalk?”
“I have laid aside all masks, even that which
hides the heart.”
She turned and looked me steadily in the eyes.
“Well? 22 said I.
“If I took you on — on approval, what in the
world should I do with you in case you should not
suit my needs?” *
“You could return me,”
said I laughing.
But she didn’t. -
I31
THE PRINCESS ELOPES*
I
It is rather difficult in these days for a man who
takes such scant interest in foreign affairs — trust
a whilom diplomat for that! — to follow the con-
tinual geographical disturbances of European
surfaces. Thus, I can not distinctly recall the ex-
act location of the Grand Duchy of Barscheit or
of the neighboring principality of Doppelkinn.
It meets my needs and purposes, however, to say
that Berlin and Vienna were easily accessible, and
that a three hours’ journey would bring you under
the shadow of the Carpathian Range, where, in my
diplomatic days, I used often to hunt the “bear
that walks like a man.”
Barscheit was known among her sister states as
“ the meddler,” the “maker of trouble,” and the
duke as “Old Grumpy”— Brummbár. To use a
familiar Yankee expression, Barscheit had a finger
in every pie. Whenever there was a political broth
* Copyright 1905 by The Bobbs-Merrill Company.
132
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
making, whether in Italy, Germany or Austria,
Barscheit would snatch up a ladle and start in.
She took care of her own affairs so easily that she
had plenty of time to concern herself with the af-
fairs of her neighbors. This is not to advance the
opinion that Barscheit was wholly modern; far
from it. The fault of Barscheit may be traced
back to a certain historical pillar of salt, easily re-
called by all those who attended Sunday-school.
“Rubbering ” is a vulgar phrase, and I disdain
to use it.
When a woman looks around it is invariably a
portent of trouble; the man forgets his important
engagement, and runs amuck, knocking over peo-
ple, principles and principalities. If Aspasia had
not observed Pericles that memorable day; if there
had not been an oblique slant to Calypso's eyes as
Ulysses passed her way; if the eager Delilah had
not offered favorable comment on Samson’s ring-
lets; in fact, if all the women in history and rom-
ance had gone about their affairs as they should
have done, what uninteresting reading history
would be to-day !
Now, this is a story of a woman who looked
around, and of a man who did not keep his ap-
133
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
pointment on time; out of a grain of sand, a
mountain. Of course there might have been other
causes, but with these I’m not familiar.
This Duchy of Barscheit is worth looking into.
Imagine a country with telegraph and telephone
and medieval customs, a country with electric lights,
railways, surface-cars, hotel elevators and ancient
laws! Something of the customs of the duchy
must be told in the passing, though, for my part,
I am vigorously against explanatory passages in
stories of action. Barscheit bristled with militar-
ism; the little man always imitates the big one,
but lacks the big man’s excuses. Militarism en-
tered into and overshadowed the civic laws.
There were three things you might do without
offense; you might bathe, eat and sleep, only you
must not sleep out loud. The citizen of Barscheit
was hemmed in by a set of laws which had their
birth in the dark dungeons of the Inquisition.
They congealed the blood of a man born and bred
in a commercial country. If you broke a law, you
were relentlessly punished; there was no mercy.
In America we make laws and then hide them in
dull-looking volumes which the public have neither
the time nor the inclination to read. In this
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THE PRINCESS ELOPES
duchy of mine it was different; you ran into a law
on every corner, in every park, in every public
building: little oblong signs, enameled, which told
you that you could not do something or other —
“Forbidden | * The beauty of German laws is
that when you learn all the things that you can
not do, you begin to find out that the things you
can do are not worth a hang in the doing.
As soon as a person learned to read he or she
began life by reading these laws. If you could
not read, so much the worse for you ; you had to
pay a guide who charged you almost as much as
the full cost of the fine.
The opposition political party in the United
States is always howling militarism, without the
slightest idea of what militarism really is. One
side, please, in Barscheit, when an officer comes
along, or take the consequences. If you carelessly
bumped into him, you were knocked down. If
you objected, you were arrested. If you struck
back, ten to one you received a beating with the
flat of a saber. And never, never mistake the sol-
diery for the police; that is to say, never ask an
officer to direct you to any place. This is re-
garded in the light of an insult. The cub-lieu-
135
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
tenants do more to keep a passable sidewalk —
for the passage of said cub-lieutenants — than
all the magistrates put together. How they used
to Swagger up and down the Königsstrasse, around
the Platz, in and out of the restaurants! I re-
member doing some side-stepping myself, and I
was a diplomat, supposed to be immune from the
rank discourtesies of the military. But that was
early in my career.
In a year not so remote as not to be readily re-
called, the United States packed me off to Barscheit
because I had an uncle who was a senator. Some
papers were given me, the permission to hang out
a shingle reading “American Consul,” and the
promise of my board and keep. My amusements
were to be paid out of my own pocket. Straight-
way I purchased three horses, found a capable
Japanese valet, and selected a cozy house near the
barracks, which stood west of the Volksgarten, on
a pretty lake. A beautiful road ran around this
body of water, and it wasn’t long ere the officers
began to pass comments on the riding of “that
wild American.” As I detest what is known as
park-riding, you may very well believe that I cir-
cled the lake at a clip which must have opened the
136
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
eyes of the easy-going officers. I grew quite
chummy with a few of them; and I may speak of
occasions when I did not step off the sidewalk as
they came along. A man does more toward gain-
ing the affection of foreigners by giving a good
dinner now and then than by international law. I
gained considerable fame by my little dinners at
Müller’s Rathskeller, under the Continental Hotel.
Six months passed, during which I rode, read,
drove and dined, the actual labors of the consulate
being cared for by a German clerk who knew more
about the business than I did.
By this you will observe that diplomacy has de-
generated into the gentle art of exciting jaded
palates and of scribbling one’s name across pass-
ports; I know of no better definition. I forget
what the largess of my office was.
Presently there were terrible doings. The old
reigning grand duke desired peace of mind; and
moving determinedly toward this end, he declared
in public that his niece, the young and tender
Princess Hildegarde, should wed the Prince of
Doppelkinn, whose vineyards gave him a fine in-
come. This was finality; the avuncular guardian
had waited long enough for his wilful ward to
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THE PRINCESS ELOPES
make up her mind as to the selection of a suitable
husband; now he determined to take a hand in the
matter. And you shall see how well he managed
it.
It is scarcely necessary for me to state that her
Highness had her own ideas of what a husband
should be like, gathered, no doubt, from execrable
translations from “Ouida " and the gentle Miss
Braddon. A girl of twenty usually has a formid-
able regard for romance, and the princess was
fully up to the manner of her kind. If she could
not marry romantically, she refused to marry at
all. º
I can readily appreciate her uncle’s perturba-
tion. I do not know how many princelings she
thrust into utter darkness. She would never mar-
ry a man who wore glasses; this one was too tall,
that one too short; and when one happened along
who was without visible earmarks or signs of being
shop-worn her refusal was based upon just —“Be-
cause !”— a weapon as invincible as the fabled
spear of Parsifal. She had spurned the addresses
of Prince Mischler, laughed at those of the Count
of (the short dash indicates the pres-
ence of a hyphen) and General Muerrisch, of
138
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
the emperor’s body-guard, who was, I’m sure,
good cnough — in his own opinion — for any
woman. Every train brought to the capital some
suitor with a consonated, hyphenated name and a
pedigree as long as a bore’s idea of a funny story.
But the princess did not care for pedigrees that
were squint-eyed or bow-legged. One and all of
them she cast aside as unworthy her consideration.
Then, like the ancient worm, the duke turned.
She should marry Doppelkinn, who, having
no wife to do the honors in his castle, was wholly
agreeable.
The Prince of Doppelkinn reigned over the
neighboring principality. If you stood in the
middle of it and were a baseball player, you could
throw a stone across the frontier in any direction.
But the vineyards were among the finest in Europe.
The prince was a widower, and among his own
people was affectionately styled “der Rotnäsig,”
which, I believe, designates an illuminated probos-
cis. When he wasn’t fishing for rainbow trout he
was sleeping in his cellars. He was often missing .
at the monthly reviews, but nobody ever worried;
they know where to find him. And besides, he
might just as well sleep in his cellars as in his car-
139
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
riage, for he never rode a horse if he could get out
of doing so. He was really good-natured and
easy-going, so long as no one crossed him severely ;
and you could tell him a joke once and depend
upon his understanding it immediately, which is
more than I can say for the duke.
Years and years ago the prince had had a son;
but at the tender age of three the boy had run
away from the castle confines, and no one ever
heard of him again. The enemies of the prince
whispered among themselves that the boy had run
away to escape compulsory military service, but
the boy’s age precluded this accusation. The
prince advertised, after the fashion of those times,
sent out detectives and notified his various brothers;
but his trouble went for nothing. Not the slight-
est trace of the boy could be found. So he was
mourned for a season, regretted and then forgot-
ten; the prince adopted the grape-arbor.
I saw the prince once. I do not blame the
Princess Hildegarde for her rebellion. The
prince was not only old; he was fat and ugly, with
little, elephant-like eyes that were always vein-shot,
restless and full of mischief. He might have
made a good father, but I have nothing to prove
140
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
this. Those bottles of sparkling Moselle which he
failed to dispose of to the American trade he gave
to his brother in Barscheit or drank himself. He
was sixty-eight years old.
A nephew, three times removed, was waiting for
the day when he should wabble around in the
prince’s shoes. He was a lieutenant in the duke’s
body-guard, a quick-tempered, heady chap.
Well, he never wabbled around in his uncle’s shoes,
for he never got the chance.
I hadn’t been in Barscheit a week before I heard
a great deal about the princess. She was a famous
horsewoman. This made me extremely anxious to
meet her. Yet for nearly six months I never even
got so much as a glimpse of her. Half of the six
months she was traveling through Austria, and the
other half she kept out of my way,+ not inten-
tionally; she knew nothing of my existence; sim-
ply, fate moved us about blindly. At court, she
was invariably indisposed, and at the first court
ball she retired before I arrived. I got up at all
times, galloped over all roads, but never did I sce
her. She rode alone, too, part of the time.
The one picture of her which I was lucky
enough to see had been taken when she was six,
T41
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
and meant nothing to me in the way of identifica-
tion. For all I knew I might have passed her on
the road. She became to me the Princess in the
Invisible Cloak, passing me often and doubtless
deriding my efforts to discern her. My curiosity
became alarming. I couldn’t sleep for the thought
of her. Finally we met, but the meeting WàS 8.
great surprise to us both. This meeting hap-
pened during the great hubbub of which I have
just written; and at the same time I met another
who had great weight in my future affairs.
The princess and I became rather well ac-
quainted. I was not a gentleman, according to
her code, but, in the historic words of the drug
clerk, I was something just as good. She honored
me with a frank, disinterested friendship, which
still exists. I have yet among my fading souve-
nirs of diplomatic service half a dozen notes com-
manding me to get up at dawn and ride around
the lake, something like sixteen miles. She was
almost as reckless a rider as myself. She was
truly a famous rider, and a woman who sits well
on a horse can never be aught but graceful. She
was, in fact, youthful and charming, with the most
magnificent black eyes I ever beheld in a Teutonic
142
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
head; witty, besides, and a songstress of no or-
dinary talent. If I had been in love with her —
which I solemnly vow I was not! — I should have
called her beautiful and exhausted my store of
complimentary adjectives.
The basic cause of all this turmoil, about which
I am to spin my narrative, lay in her education.
I hold that a German princess should never be
educated save as a German. By this I mean to
convey that her education should not go beyond
German literature, German history, German ven-
eration of laws, German manners and German
passivity and docility. The Princess Hildegarde
had been educated in England and France, which
simplifies everything, or, I should say, to be exact,
complicates everything.
She possessed a healthy contempt for that what-
d’-ye-call-it that hedges in a king. Having min-
gled with English-speaking people, she returned
to her native land, her brain filled with the import-
ance of feminine liberty of thought and action.
Hence, she became the bramble that prodded the
grand duke whichever way he turned. His days
were filled with horrors, his nights with mares
which did not have box-stalls in his stables.
143
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
Never could he anticipate her in anything. On
that day he placed guards around the palace she
wrote verses or read modern fiction; the moment he
relaxed his vigilance she was away on some heart-
rending escapade. Didn’t she scandalize the no-
bility by dressing up as a hussar and riding her
famous black Mecklenburg cross-country? Hadn’t
she flirted outrageously with the French attaché
and deliberately turned her back on the Russian
minister, at the very moment, too, when negotia-
tions were going on between Russia and Barscheit
relative to a small piece of land in the Balkans?
And, most terrible of all to relate, hadn’t she rid-
den a shining bicycle up the Königsstrasse, in
broad daylight, and in bifurcated skirts, besides?
I shall never forget the indignation of the press at
the time of this last escapade, the stroke of apo-
plexy which threatened the duke, and the room
with the barred window which the princess occu-
pied one whole week.
They burned the offensive bicycle in the court-
yard of the palace, ceremoniously, too, and the
princess had witnessed this solemn auto da fé from
her barred window. It is no strain upon the
imagination to conjure up the picture of her fine
144
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
rage, her threatening hands, her compressed lips,
her tearless, flashing eyes, as she saw her beautiful
new wheel writhe and twist on the blazing fagots. .
But what the deuce was a poor duke to do with a
niece like this?
For a time I feared that the United States and
the Grand Duchy of Barscheit would sever diplo-
matic relations. The bicycle was, unfortunately,
of American make, and the manufacturers wrote to
me personally that they considered themselves
grossly insulted over the action of the duke. Dip-
lomatic notes were exchanged, and I finally pre-
vailed upon the duke to state that he held the wheel
harmless and that his anger had been directed
solely against his niece. This letter was duly for-
warded to the manufacturers, who, after the man-
ner of their kind, carefully altered the phrasing
and used it in their magazine advertisements.
They were so far appeased that they offered me
my selection from the private stock. Happily the
duke never read anything but the Fliegemde Blät-
ter and Jugend, and thus war was averted.
Later an automobile agent visited the town — at
the secret bidding of her Highness — but he was
so unceremoniously hustled over the frontier that
145
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
his teeth must have rattled like a dancer’s cas.
tanets. It was a great country for expeditious-
ness, as you will find, if you do me the honor to
follow me to the end.
So the grand duke swore that his niece should
wed Doppelkinn, and the princess vowed that she
would not. The man who had charge of my
horses said that one of Fºe palace maids had re-
counted to him a dialogue which had taken place
between the duke and his niece. As I was anxious
to be off on the road I was compelled to listen to
his gossip.
THE GRAND DUKE – In two months' time you
shall wed the Prince of Doppelkinn.
THE PRINCEss — What! that old red-nose?
Never! I shall marry only where I love.
THE GRAND DUKE – Only where you love!
(Smeers.) One would think, to hear you talk, that
you were capable of loving something.
THE PRINCEss — You have yet to learn. I
warn you not to force me. I promise to do some-
thing scandalous. I will marry one of the people
- £l I)]8.I].
THE GRAND DUKE — Dah! (Swears softly on
his way down to the stables.)
i46
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
But the princess had in her mind a plan which,
had it gone through safely, would have added
many grey hairs to the duke’s scanty collection.
It was a mighty ingenious plan, too, for a woman
to figure out. •
In his attitude toward the girl the duke stood
alone. Behind his back his ministers wore out
their shoes in waiting on the caprices of the girl,
while the grand duchess, half-blind and half-deaf,
openly worshiped her wilful but wholly adorable
niece, and abetted her in all her escapades. So
far as the populace was concerned, she was the
daughter of the favorite son, dead these eighteen
years, and that was enough for them. Whatever
she did was right and proper. But the hard-
headed duke had the power to say what should be
what, and he willed it that the Princess Hildegarde
should marry his old comrade in arms, the Prince
of Doppelkinn.
147
II
As I have already remarked, I used frequently
to take long rides into the country, and sometimes
I did not return till the following day. My clerk
was always on duty, and the work never appeared
to make him round-shouldered.
I had ridden horses for years, and to throw a
leg over a good mount was to me one of the great-
est pleasures in the world. I delighted in stop-
ping at the old feudal inns, of studying the stolid
German peasant, of drinking from steins un-
cracked these hundred years, of inspecting ancient
armor and gathering trifling romances attached
thereto. And often I have had the courage to
stop at some quaint, crumbling Schloss or castle
and ask for a night’s lodging for myself and
horse. Seldom, if ever, did I meet with a refusal.
I possessed the whimsical habit of picking out
strange roads and riding on till night swooped
down from the snow-capped mountains. I had a
bit of poetry in my system that had never been
148
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
completely worked out, and I was always imagin-
ing that at the very next Schloss or inn I was to
hit upon some delectable adventure. I was only
twenty-eight, and inordinately fond of my Dumas.
I rode in grey whipcord breeches, tan boots, a
blue serge coat, white stock, and never a hat or
cap till the snow blew. . I used to laugh when the
peasants asked leave to lend me a cap or to run
back and find the one I had presumably lost.
One night the delectable adventure for which I
was always seeking came my way, and I was wholly
unprepared for it.
I had taken the south highway: that which
seeks the valley beyond the lake. The moon-film
lay mistily upon everything: on the far-off lake,
on the great upheavals of stone and glacier above
me, on the long white road that stretched out be-
fore me, ribbon-wise. High up the snow on the
mountains resembled huge opals set in amethyst.
I was easily twenty-five miles from the city; that
is to say, I had been in the saddle some six hours,
Nobody but a king’s messenger will ride a horse
more than five miles an hour. I cast about for a
place to spend the night. There was no tavern in
sight, and the hovels I had passed during the last
149
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
hour offered no shelter for my horse. Suddenly,
around a bend in the road, I saw the haven I was
seeking. It was a rambling, tottering old castle,
standing in the center of a cluster of firs; and the
tiles of the roofs and the ivy of the towers were
shining silver with the heavy fall of dew.
Lady Chloe sniffed her kind, whinnied, and
broke into a trot. She knew sooner than I that
there was life beyond the turn. We rode up to
the gate, and I dismounted and stretched myself.
I tried the gate. The lock hung loose, like a para-
lytic hand. Evidently those inside had nothing
to fear from those outside. I grasped an iron bar
and pushed in the gate, Chloe following knowingly
at my heels. I could feel the crumbling rust on my
gloves. Chloe whinnied again, and there came an
answering whinny from somewhere in the rear of
the castle. Somebody must be inside, I reasoned.
There were lights in the left wing, but this part
of the castle was surrounded by an empty moat,
damp and weedy. This was not to be entered save
by a ladder. There was a great central door, how-
ever, which had a modern appearance. The ap-
proach was a broad graveled walk. I tied Lady
Chioe to a tree, knotted the bridle-reins above her
150
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
neck to prevent her from putting her restless feet
into them, and proceeded toward the door.
Of all the nights this was the one on which my
usually lively imagination reposed. I was hungry
and tired, and I dare say my little mare was. I
wasn’t looking for an adventure; I didn’t want
any adventure; I wanted nothing in the world but
a meal and a bed. But for the chill of the night
air — the breath of the mountain is cold at night
— I should have been perfectly willing to sleep in
the open. Down drawbridge, up portcullis'
I boldly climbed the steps and groped around
for the knocker. It was broken and useless, like
the lock on the gate. And never a bell could I
find. I swore softly and became impatient. Peo-
ple in Barscheit did not usually live in this slovenly
fashion. What sort of place was this?
Suddenly I grew erect, every fiber in my body
tense and expectant.
A voice, lifted in song! A great penetrating yet
silkily mellow voice; a soprano; heavenly, not to
say ghostly, coming as it did from the heart of
this gloomy ruin of stone and iron. The jewel
song from Faust, too ! How the voice rose, fell,
soared again with intoxicating waves of sound!
I51
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
What permeating sweetness! I stood there, a soli-
tary listener, as far as I knew, bewildered, my
heart beating hard and fast. I forgot my hun-
ger.
Had I stumbled upon one of my dreams at last?
Had Romance suddenly relented, as a coquette
sometimes relents? For a space I knew not what to
do. Then, with a shrug — I have never been ac-
cused of lacking courage — I tried once more, by
the aid of a match, to locate a bell. There was
absolutely nothing; and the beating of my riding-
crop on the panels of that huge door would have
been as noisy as a feather. I grasped the knob
and turned it impatiently. Behold! the door
opened without sound, and I stepped into the hall-
way, which was velvet black.
The wonderful voice went on. I paused, with
hands outstretched. Supposing I bumped into
something ! I took a step forward, another and
another; I swung my crop in a half-circle; all was
vacancy. I took another step, this time in the di-
rection of the voice — and started back with a
smothered curse. Bang-ang! I had run into a
suit of old armor, the shield of which had clattered
to the stone floor. As I have observed, I am not a
152
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
coward, but I had all I could do to keep my legs —
which were stirrup-weary, anyhow — from knock-
ing under me!
Silenceſ
The song died. All over that great rambling
structure not even the reassuring chirp of a
cricket! I stood perfectly still. What the deuce
should I do? Turn back? As I formed this question
in my mind a draft of wind slammed the door shut.
I was in for it, sure enough; I was positive that I
could never find that door again. There was
nothing to do but wait, and wait with straining
ears. Here were mysterious inhabitants — they
might be revolutionists, conspirators, counter-
feiters.
Heaven knows how long I waited.
Soon I heard a laugh, light, infectious, fearless!
Then I heard a voice, soft and pleading.
“Don’t go; in mercy’s name, don’t go, Gret-
chon You may be killed!”
English I had actually heard a voice speak my
native tongue.
“Nonsense, Betty I am not afraid of any ghost
that ever walked, rode or floated.”
“Ghost? It may be a burglar !”
153
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
“Or Steinbock We shall find nothing.”
Indeed!
“Nothing but a rat, bungling about in the
armor.” The laughter came again. “You are
not afraid, Betty P’’
“Only cautious. But how can you laugh? A
ratº’’ cried a voice rather anxiously. “Why,
they are as big as dogs!”
“But arrant cowards.”
So ! one of these voices spoke English as its
birthright; the other spoke with an accent, that is
to say, by adoption. Into what had I fallen?
Whither had my hunger brought me? I was soon
to learn.
There came a faint thread of light on one side
of the hall, such as may be likened to that which
filters under a door-sill. Presently this was fol-
lowed by the sound of jangling brass rings. A
heavy velvet portière — which I, being in dark-
ness, had not discovered — slipped back. My
glance, rather blinded, was first directed toward
the flame of the candle. Then I lowered it — and
surrendered for ever and for ever!
I beheld two faces in profile, as it were, one side
in darkness, the other tinted and glowing like an-
154
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
cient ivory. I honestly confess to you that in all
my wanderings — and they have been frequent
and many — I never saw such an enchanting pic-
ture or two more exquisite, faces. One peered
forth with hesitant bravery; the other — she who
held the candle — with cold, tranquil inquiry.
All my fears, such as they were, left me instant-
ly. Besides, I was not without a certain amount
of gallantry and humor. I stepped squarely into
the light and bowed.
“Ladies, I am indeed not a ghost, but I promise
you that I shall be if I am not offered something
to eat at once | *
Tableau !
“What are you doing here?” asked she with the
candle, her midnight eyes drawing down her brows
into a frown of displeasure.
I bowed. “To begin with, I find a gate un-
locked, and being curious, I open it; then I find a
door unlatched, and I enter. Under these unusual
circumstances I am forced to ask the same question
of you: what are you doing here in this ruined
castle? If it isn’t ruined, it is deserted, which
amounts to the same thing.” This was imperti-
ment, especially on the part of a self-invited guest.
155
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
“That is my affair, sir. I have a right here,
now and at all times.” Her voice was cold and
authoritative. “There is an inn six miles farther
down the road; this is a private residence. Cer-
tainly you can not remain here over night.”
“Six miles?” I echoed dismally. “Madam, if
I have seemed impertinent, pardon me. I have
been in the saddle six hours. I have ridden nearly
thirty miles since noon. I am dead with fatigue.
At least give me time to rest a bit before taking
up the way again, I admit that the manner of my
entrance was informal; but how was I to know?
There was not even a knocker on the door by which
to make known my presence to you.” The truth
is, I did not want to go at once. No one likes to
stumble into an adventure — enchanting as this
promised to be — and immediately pop out of it.
An idea came to me, serviceable rather than bril-
liant. “I am an American. My German is poor.
I speak no French. I have lost my way, it would
seem ; I am hungry and tired. To ride six miles
farther now is a physical impossibility; and I am
very fond of my horse.”
“He says he is hungry, Gretchen,” said the
English girl, dropping easily into the French
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THE PRINCESS ELOPES
language as a vehicle of speech. (I was a wretch,
I know, but I simply could not help telling that
lie; I didn’t want to go; and they might be con-
spirators.) “Besides,” went on the girl, “he
Iooks like a gentleman.”
“We can not always tell a gentleman in the
candle-light,” replied Gretchen, eying me critically
and shrewdly and suspiciously.
As for me, I gazed from one to the other, in-
quiringly, after the manner of one who hears a
tongue not understandable.
” was the English girl’s com-
“He’s rather nice,
ment; “and his eyes strike me as being too steady
to be dishonest.”
I had the decency to burn in the ears. I had
taken the step, so now I could not draw back. I
sincerely hoped that they would not exchange any
embarrassing confidences. When alone women
converse upon many peculiar topics; and convers-
ing in a tongue which they supposed to be un-
known to me, these two were virtually alone.
“But, my dear child,” the other returned argu-
mentatively, “we can not offer hospitality to a
strange man this might of all nights. Think of
what is to be accomplished.” -
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THE PRINCESS-ELOPES
(So something was to be accomplished? I was
right, then, in deceiving them. To accomplish
something on a night like this, far from habitation,
had all the air of a conspiracy.)
“Feed him and his horse, and I’ll undertake
to get rid of him before that detestable Steinbock
comes. Besides, he might prove a valuable wit-
ness in drawing up the papers.”
(Papers?)
“I never thought of that. It will not do to
trust Steinbock wholly.” Gretchen turned her
searching eyes once more upon me. I confess
that I had some difficulty in steadying my own.
There are some persons to whom one can not lie
successfully ; one of them stood before me. But
I rather fancy I passed through the ordeal with at
least half a victory. “Will you go your way after
an hour's rest?” she asked, speaking in the famil-
iar tongue.
“I promise.” It was easy to make this prom-
fise. I wasn’t a diplomat for nothing. I knew
how to hang on, to dodge under, to go about.
“Follow me,” Gretchen commanded briefly.
(Who was she? What was going on?)
We passed through the gloomy salon. A
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THE PRINCESS ELOPES
damp, musty odor struck my sense of smell. I
was positive that the castle was uninhabited, save
for this night. Three candles burned on the man-
tel, giving to the gloom a mysterious, palpi-
tating effect. The room beyond was the dining-
room, richly paneled in wine-colored mahogany.
This was better; it was cheerful. A log crackled
in the fireplace. There were plenty of candles.
There was a piano, too. This belonged to the
castle; a heavy tarpaulin covering lay heaped at
one side. There was a mahogany sideboard that
would have sent a collector of antiques into rap-
tures, and a table upon which lay the remains of
a fine supper. My mouth watered. I counted
over the good things: roast pheasant, pink ham,
a sea-food salad, asparagus, white bread and un-
salted butter, an alcohol-burner over which hung
a tea-pot, and besides all this there was a pint of
La Rose which was but half-emptied. Have you
ever been in the saddle half a day? If you have,
you will readily appreciate the appetite that was
warring with my curiosity.
“ Eat,” bade she who was called Gretchen,
shortly.
“And my horse?”
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THE PRINCESS ELOPES
“Where is it?”
“Tied to a tree by the gate.”
She struck a Chinese gong. From the kitchen
appeared an elderly servitor who looked to me
more fitted to handle a saber than a carving-knife;
at least, the scar on his cheek impressed me with
this idea. (I found out later that he was an old
soldier, who lived alone in the castle as caretaker.)
“Take this gentleman’s horse to the stables
and feed him,” said Gretchen. “You will find the
animal by the gate.”
With a questioning glance at me the old fellow
bowed and made off.
I sat down, and the two women brought the
various plates and placed them within reach.
Their beautiful hands flashed before my eyes and
now and then a sleeve brushed my shoulder.
“Thank you,” I murmured. “I will eat first,
and then make my apologies.” -
This remark caught the fancy of Gretchen.
She laughed. It was the same laughter I had
heard while standing in the great hall.
“Will you drink tea, or would you prefer to
finish this Bordeaux?” she asked pleasantly.
“The wine, if you please; otherwise the effect
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THE PRINCESS ELOPES
of the meal and the long hours in the wind will
produce sleepiness. And it would be frightfully
discourteous on my part to fall asleep in my chair.
I am very hard to awake.”
The English girl poured out the wine and
passed the goblet to me. I touched my lips to
the glass, and bent my head politely. Then I
resolutely proceeded to attack the pheasant and
ham. I must prove to these women that at least
I was honest in regard to my hunger. I suc-
ceeded in causing a formidable portion of the food
to disappear.
And then I noticed that neither of the young
women seated herself while I ate. I understood.
There was no hostility in this action; nothing but
formality. They declined to sit in the presence
of an unwelcome stranger, thus denying his equal-
ity from a social point of view. I readily ac-
cepted this decision on their part. They didn’t
know who I was. They stood together by the fire-
place and carried on a conversation in low tones.
How shall I describe them? The elder of the
two, the one who seemed to possess all the author-
ity, could not have been more than twenty. Her
figure was rather matured, yet it was delicate.
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THE PRINCESS ELOPES
Her hair was tawny, her skin olive in shade and
richly tinted at the cheek-bones. Her eyes, half
framed by thick, black-arching brows, reminded
me of woodland pools in the dusk of evening,
depths unknown, cool, refreshing in repose. The
chin was resolute, the mouth was large but
shapely and brilliant, the nose possessed the deli-
cate nostrils characteristic of all sensitive beings
— that is to say, thoroughbreds; altogether a con-
fusing, bewildering beauty. At one moment I
believed her to be Latin, at the next I was posi-
tive that she was Teutonic. I could not discover
a single weak point, unless impulsiveness shall be
called weakness; this sign of impulsiveness was
visible in the lips.
The other — well, I couldn’t help it. It was
Kismet, fate, the turn in the road, what you will.
I fell heels over head in love with her at once.
She was charming, exquisite, one of those deli-
cate creatures who always appear in enchant-
(ments; a Bouguereau child grown into woman-
hood, made to fit the protecting frame of a man’s
arms. Love steals into the heart when we least
expect him; and before we are aware, the sly lit-
162
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
tle god has unpacked his trunk and taken posses-
sion 1
Eyes she had as blue as the AEgean Sea on
windy days, blue as the cloud-winnowed sky of
a winter’s twilight, blue as Sapphires — Irish
eyes! Her hair was as dark and silken as a plume
from the wings of night. (Did I not say that I
had some poetry in my system?) The shape of
her mouth — Never mind; I can recall only the
mad desire to kiss it. A graceful figure, a proud
head, a slender hand, a foot so small that I won-
dered if it really poised, balanced or supported her
young body. Tender she must be, and loving,
enclitical rather than erect like her authoritative
companion. She was adorable.
All this inventory of feminine charms was
taken by furtive glances, sometimes caught — or
were they taking an inventory of myself? Pres-
ently my appetite became singularly submissive.
ŽHunger often is satisfied by the feeding of the
eyes. I dropped my napkin on the table and
pushed back my chair. My hostesses ceased con-
versing.
“Ladies,” said I courteously, “I offer you my
sincere apologies for this innocent intrusion.” I
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THE PRINCESS ELOPEs
looked at my watch. “I believe that you gave
me an hour’s respite. So, then, I have thirty
minutes to my account.”
The women gazed at each other. One laughed,
and the other smiled; it was the English girl who
laughed this time. I liked the sound of it better
than any I had yet heard.
(Pardon another parenthesis. I hope you
haven’t begun to think that I am the hero of this
comedy. Let it be furthest from your thoughts.
I am only a passive bystander.)
“I sincerely trust that your hunger is ap-
peased,” said the one who had smiled.
“It is, thank you.” I absently fumbled in my
coat pockets, then guiltily dropped my hands.
What a terrible thing habit is!
“You may smoke,” said the Bouguereau child
who was grown into womanhood. Wasn’t that
fine of her? And wasn’t it rather observant, too?
I learned later that she had a brother who was
fond of tobacco. To her eyes my movement was a
familiar one.
“With your kind permisison,” said I grate-
fully. I hadn’t had a smoke in four hours.
I owned a single good cigar, the last of my
164:
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
importation. I lighted it and blew forth a snowy
billow of heavenly aroma. I know something
about human nature, even the feminine side of it.
A presentable young man with a roll of aromatic
tobacco seldom fails to win the confidence of those
about him. With that cloud of smoke the raw
edge of formality smoothed down.
“Had you any particular destination?” asked
Gretchen.
“None at all. The road took my fancy, and I
simply followed it.”
“Ah! that is one of the pleasures of riding—to
go wherever the inclination bids. I ride.”
We were getting on famously.
“Do you take long journeys?” I inquired.
“Often. It is the most exhilarating of sports.”
said the Enchantment. “The scenery changes;
there are so many things that charm and engage
your intercst: the mountains, the waterways, the
old ruins. Have you ever whistled to the horses
afield and watched them come galloping down to
the wall? It is fine. In England—” But her
mouth closed suddenly. She was talking to a
stranger.
I love enthusiasm in a woman. It colors her
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THE PRINCESS ELOPES
cheeks and makes her eyes sparkle. I grew a bit
bolder.
“I heard a wonderful voice as I approached
the castle,” said H.
Gretchen shrugged.
“I haven’t heard its equal outside Berlin or
Paris,” I went on.
“Paris?” said Gretchen, laying a neat little
trap for me into which my conceit was soon to
tumble me. “Paris is a marvelous city.”
“There is no city to equal it. Inasmuch as
we three shall never meet again, will you not do me
the honor to repeat that jewel song from Faust?”
My audacity did not impress her in the least.
“You can scarcely expect me to give a supper
to a stranger and then sing for him, besides,” said
Gretchen, a chill again stealing into her tones.
“These Americans!” she observed to her com-
panion in French.
I laid aside my cigar, approached the piano,
and sat down. I struck a few chords and found
the instrument to be in remarkably good order. I
played a Chopin Polonaise, I tinkled Grieg's
Papillon, then I ceased.
“That is to pay for my supper,” I explained.
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THE PRINCESS ELOPES
Next I played Le Courier, and when I had
finished that I turned again, rising.
“That is to pay for my horse’s supper,” I
said.
Gretchen’s good humor returned.
“Whoever you are, sir,” her tone no longer
repellent, “you are amusing. Pray, tell us whom
we have the honor to entertain P’’
“I haven’t the vaguest idea who my hostess
is,”—evasively.
“It is quite out of the question. You are the
intruder.”
“Call me Mr. Intruder, then,” said I.
It was, you will agree, a novel adventure. I
was beginning to enjoy it hugely.
“Who do you suppose this fellow is?”
Gretchen asked.
“He says he is an American, and I believe he
is. What Americans are in Barscheit?”
“I know of none at all. : What shall we do to
get rid of him?”
All this was carried on with unstudied rudeness.
They were women of high and noble quality; and
as I was an interloper, I could take no exception to
a conversation in a language I had stated I did not
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THE PRINCESS ELOPES
understand. If they were rude, I had acted in a
manner unbecoming a gentleman. Still, I was
somewhat on the defensive. I took out my watch.
My hour was up.
“I regret that I must be off,” I said ruefully.
“It is much pleasanter here than on the road.”
“I can not ask you to remain here. You will
find the inn a very comfortable place for the
night,” was Gretchen’s suggestion. /
“Before I go, may I ask in what manner I
might serve as a witness?” Ere the words had
fully crossed my lips I recognized that my smart-
ness had caused me to commit an unpardonable
blunder for a man who wished to show up well in
an adventure of this sort. (But fate had a hand
in it, as presently you shall see.)
Gretchen laughed, but the sound was harsh and
metallic. She turned to her companion, who was
staring at me with startled eyes.
“What did I tell you? You can not tell a
gentleman in the candle-light.” To me she said:
“I thought as much. You have heard Faust in
Paris, but you know nothing of the French lan-
guage. You claimed to be a gentleman, yet you
have permitted us to converse in French.”
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THE PRINCESS ELOPES
“Was it polite of you to use it?” I asked.
“All this,” with a wave of the hand, “appears
mysterious. This is not a residence one would
expect to find inhabited—and by two charming
women l’” I bowed. “Your presence here is
even less satisfactorily explained than mine. If I
denied the knowledge of French it was because I
wasn’t sure of my surroundings. It was done in
self-defense rather than in the desire to play a
trick. And in this language you speak of wit-
nesses, of papers, of the coming of a man you do
not trust. It looks very much like a conspiracy.”
I gathered up my gloves and riding-crop. I be-
lieved that I had extricated myself rather well.
“This is my castle,” said Gretchen, gently
shaking off the warning hand of her companion.
“If I desire to occupy it for a night, who shall
gainsay me? If I leave the latches down, that is
due to the fact that I have no one to fear. Now,
sir, you have eaten the bread of my table, and I
demand to know who you are. If you do not tell
me at once, I shall be forced to confine you here
till I am ready to leave.”
“Confine me!”—nonplussed. This was more
than I had reckoned on.
169
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
“Yes.” She reached out to strike the gong.
(I can not be blamed for surrendering so tamely.
I didn’t know that the old servitor was the only
man around.)
“I am the American consul at Barscheit.”
The two women drew together instinctively, as
if one desired to protect the other from some un-
known calamity. What the deuce was it all
about? All at once Gretchen thrust aside her
friend and approached. The table was between
us, and she rested her hands upon it. Our
glances met and clashed.
“Did the duke send you here?” she demanded
repellently.
“The duke?” I was getting deeper than ever,
* The duke P 22
“Yes. I am the Princess Hildegarde.”
170
}}|
The Princess Hildegarde of Barscheit! My
gloves and riding-crop slipped from my nerveless
fingers to the floor. A numbing, wilting sensation
wrinkled my spine. The Princess Hildegarde of
Barscheit ! She stood opposite me, the woman—
ought I not to say girl?—for whom I had been
seeking, after a fashion, all these months' The
beautiful madcap who took the duchy by the ears,
every now and then, and tweaked them | The
princess herself, here in this lonely old castle into
which I had so carelessly stumbled ! Romance,
enchantment! Oddly enough, the picture of her
riding a bicycle flashed through my brain, and
this was followed by another, equally engaging, of
the hussar who rode cross-country, to the horror of
the conservative element at court.
“The Princess Hildegarde!” I murmured stu-
pidly.
“Yes. I have asked you a question, sir. Or
I'71
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
shall I put the question in French P”—ironically.
“Was it the duke who sent you here?”
There was a look in her superb eyes which told
me that it would have been to her infinite pleasure
to run a sword through my black and villainous
heart. Presently I recovered. With forced
calm I stooped and collected my gloves &nd crop.
“Your Highness, what the deuce has the duke
to do with my affairs, or I with his? As an
American, you would scarcely expect me to meddle
with your private affairs. You are the last person
in the world I thought to meet this night. I rep-
resent the United States in this country, and
though I am inordinately young, I have acquired
the habit of attending to my own affairs.”
From the angry face in front of me I turned to
the dismayed face beyond. There must have
been a question in my glance. The young woman
drew herself up proudly.
“I am the Honorable Betty Moore.”
(The princess’ schoolmate in England 1)
Her Highness stood biting the knuckle of a
forcánger, undecided as to what path of action to
enter, to reach a satisfactory end. My very rude-
172
THE PRENCESS ELOPES
ness convinced her more than anything else that I
spoke the truth.
“How, then, did you select this particular
road?”—still entertaining some doubt.
“It is a highway, free to all. But I have
already explained that,” I answered quietly. I
moved deliberately toward the door, but with a cat-
like movement she sprang in front of me. “Well,
your Highness?”
“Wait!” she commanded, extending an author-
itative arm (lovely too!). “Since you are here,
and since you know who I am, you must remain.”
“Must?” I repeated, taken aback.
“Must My presence here ought not to be
known to any one. When you witness that which
shall take place here to-night, you will under-
stand.” Her tone lost its evenness; it trembled
and became a bit wild.
“In what manner may I be of service to your
Highness?” I asked pleasantly, laying aside my
gloves and crop again. “I can easily give you my
word of honor as a gentleman not to report your
presence here; but if I am forced to remain, I
certainly demand—”
173
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
* Desire,” she corrected, the old fire in her
eyes.
“Thank you. I desire, then, to know the full
reason; for I can not be a party to anything which
may reflect upon the consulate. For myself, I do
not care.” What hare-brained escapade was now
in the air?
The princess walked over to the mantel and
rested her arms upon it, staring wide-eyed into the
fire. Several minutes passed. I waited pa-
tiently; but, to tell the truth, I was on fire with
curiosity. At length my patience was rewarded.
“You have heard that I am to marry the Prince
of Doppelkinn?” she began.
I nodded.
“ Doubtless you have also heard of my deter-
mination not to marry him?” she went on.
Again I nodded.
“Well, I am not going to marry him.”
I was seized with the desire to laugh, but dared
not. What had all this to do with my detention
in the castle?
“Betty,” said the princess, turning imploringly
to her companion (what a change!), “ you tel;
him.”
- I'74.
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
“I?” The Honorable Betty drew back.
(Had they kidnapped old Doppelkinn? I won-
dered.)
“I can not tell him,” cried her Highness mis-
erably, “I simply can not. You must do it,
Betty. It is now absolutely necessary that he
should know everything; it is absolutely vital that
he be present. Perhaps Heaven has sent him.
Do you understand? Now, tell him : *
And, wonders to behold ! she who but a few
minutes gone had been a princess in everything,
cold, seeing, tranquil, she fled from the room.
(Decidedly this was growing interesting. What
had they done?) Thus, the Honorable Betty
Moore and his Excellency, the American consul at
Barscheit, were left staring into each other’s eyes
fully a minute.
“You will, of course, pledge me your word of
honor P’” She who had recently been timid now
became cool and even-pulsed.
“If in pledging it I am asked to do nothing to
discredit my office. I am not an independent in-
dividual,”— smiling to put her more at ease. (I
haven’t the least doubt that I would have com-
mitted any sort of folly had she required it of me.)
* 175
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
“You have my word, sir, that you will be asked
to do nothing dishonorable. On the other hand,
you will confer a great favor upon her Highness,
who is in deep trouble and is seeking a way to
escape it.”
“Command me,” said I promptly.
“Her Highness is being forced into marriage
with a man who is old enough to be her grand-
father. She holds him in horror, and will go to
any length to make this marriage an impossibility.
For my part, I have tried to convince her of the
futility of resisting her royal uncle’s will.”
(Sensible little Britisher!) “What she is about
to do will be known only to four persons, one of
whom is a downright rascal.” --
“A rascal?” slipped my lips, half-uncon-
sciously. “I trust that I haven’t given you that
impression,” I added eagerly. (A rascal? The
plot was thickening to formidable opaqueness.)
“No, no!'” she cried hastily, with a flash of
summer on her lips. (What is more charming
than an English woman with a clear sense of the
humorous?) “You haven’t given me that im-
pression at all.” -
“Thank you.” My vanity expanded under
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THE PRINCESS ELOPES
the genial warmth of this knowledge. It was
quite possible that she looked upon me favorably.
“To proceed. There is to be a kind of mock
marriage here to-night, and you are to witness
it.” She watched me sharply.
I frowned.
“Patience! Not literally a mock marriage,
but the filling out of a bogus certificate.” -
“I do not understand at all.”
“You have heard of Hermann Steinbock, a
cashiered officer P’’
“Yes. I understand that he is the rascal to
whom you refer.”
“Well, this certificate is to be filled out com-
pletely. To outwit the duke, her Highness
commits—”
“A forgery.”
“It is a terrible thing to do, but she has gone
too far to withdraw now. She is to become the
wife of Hermann Steinbock. She wishes to show
the certificate to the duke.”
“But the banns have not been made public.”
“That does not matter.”
“But why detain me?” I was growing rest-
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THE PRINCESS ELOPES
less. It was all folly, and no good would come
of it.
“It is necessary that a gentleman should be
present. The caretaker is not a gentleman. I
have said that Steinbock is a rascal. As I review
the events, I begin to look upon your arrival as
timely. Steinbock is not a reliable quantity.”
“I begin to perceive.”
“He is to receive one thousand crowns for his
part in the ceremony; then he is to leave the
country.”
“But the priest’s signature, the notary’s seal,
the iron-clad formalities which attend all these
things ” I stammered.
“You will recollect that her Highness is a
princess of the blood. Seldom is she refused
anything in Barscheit.” She went to a small
secretary and produced a certificate, duly sealed
and signed. There lacked nothing but Steinbock’s
Ilal) (162.
“But the rascal will boast about it! He may
blackmail all of you. He may convince the public
that he has really married her Highness.”
“I think not. We have not moved in this
blindly. Steinbock we know to have forged the
178
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
\
name of the minister of finance. We hold this
sword above his head. And if he should speak or
boast of it, your word would hold greater weight
than his. Do you understand now?”
“Yes, I understand. But I believe that I am
genuinely sorry to have blundered into this castle
to-night.”
“Oh, if you lack courage!”—carelessly.
I laughed. “I am not afraid of twenty Stein-
bocks.”
Her laughter echoed mine. “Come, Mr.—
by the way, I believe I do not know your name.”
“Warrington—Arthur Warrington.”
“That is a very good English name, and a
gentleman possessing it will never leave two women
in a predicament like this. You will understand
that we dare not trust any one at court. Relative
to her Highness, the duke succeeds in bribing all.”
“But a rascal like Steinbock | *
“I know,”—a bit wearily.
“It is pardonable to say that I believe her
Highness has been very foolish.”
The girl made a gesture which conceded this
fact. “It is too late to retreat, as I have told
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THE PRINCESS ELOPES
you. Steinbock is already on the way. We
must trust him. But you?”
“After all, what does a consulate amount to?”
This seemed to be answer enough. She ex-
tended her hand in a royal fashion. I took it in
one of miné, bent and kissed it respectfully. Ap-
parently she had expected the old-fashioned hand-
shake familiar to our common race, for I observed
that she started as my lips came into contact with
the back of her hand. As for me, when my lips
touched the satin flesh I knew that it was all over.
“Your Highness!” she called.
The princess returned. She looked at me with
a mixture of fierceness and defiance, humility and
supplication. I had always supposed her to be a
sort of hobbledehoy ; instead, she was one of those
rare creatures who possess all the varying moods
of the sex. I could readily imagine all the young
fellows falling violently in love with her; all the
young fellows save one. I glanced furtively at
the Honorable Betty.
“He knows all?” asked her Highness, her chin
tilted aggressively.
“Everything.” -
“What must you think of me?” There was
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THE PRINCESS ELOPES
that in her Highness’ tone which dared me to ex-
press any opinion that was not totally compli-
mentary.
“I am not sufficiently well-born to pass an
opinion upon your Highness’ actions,” I replied,
with excusable irony. .*
“Excellent!” she exclaimed. “I have grown
weary of sycophants. You are not afraid of me
at all.”
“Not in the slightest degree,” I declared.
“You will not regret what you are about to do.
I can make it very pleasant for you in Barscheit—
or very unpleasant.” But this threatening sup-
plement was made harmless by the accompanying
Smile.
“May I offer the advice of rather a worldly
man P. "
“Well? 22
“When Steinbock comes bid him go about his
business.”
The Honorable Betty nodded approvingly, but
her Highness shrugged.
“Since you are decided,”—and I bowed.
“Now, what time does this fellow put in his
appearance?”
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THE PRINCESS ELOPES
Her Highness beamed upon the Honorable
Betty. “I like the way he says “this fellow ’;
it reassures me. He is due at nine o’clock; that
is to say, in half an hour. I will give you these
directions. I do not wish Steinbock to know of
your presence here. You will hide in the salon,
close to the portières, within call. Moreover, I
shall have to impose upon you the disagreeable
duty of playing the listener. Let nothing escape
your ear or your eye. I am not certain of this
fellow Steinbock, though I hold a sword above his
head.”
“But where are your men?” I asked.
She smiled. “There is no one here but Leo-
pold.”
“Your Highness to meet Steinbock alone?”
“I have no fear of him; he knows who I am.”
“Everything shall be done as you wish.” I
secretly hoped I might have the opportunity to
punch Steinbock’s head.
“Thank you.” The transition of her moods
always left me in wonder. “Play something; it
is impossible to talk.” She perched herself on the
broad arm of the Honorable Betty’s chair, and her
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THE PRINCESS ELOPES
arm rested lightly but affectionately on her shoul-
der.
It was something for a man to gain the
confidence, in so short a time, of two such women,
I felt as brave as Bayard. So I sat down before
the piano and played. My two accomplishments
are horseback riding and music, and I candidly tell
you that I am as reckless at one as at the other. I
had a good memory. I played something from
Chaminade, as her fancies are always airy and
agreeable and unmelancholy. I was attacking
The Flatterer when her Highness touched my
8.TII] .
“ Hark!”
We all listened intently. The sound of beating
hoofs came distinctly. A single horseman was
galloping along the highway toward the castle.
The sound grew nearer and nearer; presently it
ceased. I rose quietly.
“It is time I hid myself, for doubtless this rider
is the man.”
The princess paled for a moment, while her
companion nervously plucked at the edges of her
handkerchief.
“Go,” said the former; “ and be watchful.”
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THE PRINCESS ELOPES
I then took up my position behind the por-
tières. Truly I had stumbled into an adventure;
but how to stumble out again? If the duke got
wind of it, it would mean my recall, and I was of a
mind, just then, that I was going to be particu-
larly fond of Barscheit.
All was silent. A door closed, and then came
the tread of feet. I peered through the portières
shortly to see the entrance of two men, one of
whom was the old caretaker. His companion was
a dark, handsome fellow, of Hungarian gipsy
type. There was a devil-may-care air about him
that fitted him well. It was Steinbock. He was
dressed with scrupulous care, in spite of the fact
that he wore riding clothes. It is possible that
he recognized the importance of the event. One
did not write one’s name under a princess’ signa-
ture every day, even in mockery. There was a
half-smile on his face that I did not like.
“Your Highness sees that I am prompt,”—
uncovering.
“It is well. Let us proceed at once to conclude
the matter in hand,” she said.
“Wholly at your service l’”
184
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
(Hang the fellow’s impudence! How dared he
use that jovial tone?)
I heard the crackle of parchment. The certifi-
cate was being unfolded. (It occurred to me that
while she was about it the princess might just as
well have forged the rascal’s name and wholly
dispensed with his services. The whole affair
struck me as being ineffective; nothing would come
of it. If she tried to make the duke believe that
she had married Steinbock, her uncle would probe
the matter to the bottom, and in the end cover her
with ridicule. But you can not tell a young
woman anything, when she is a princess and in the
habit of having her own way. It is remarkable
how stupid clever women can be at times. The
Honorable Betty understood, but her Highness
would not be convinced. Thus she suffered this
needless affront. Pardon this parenthesis, but
when one talks from behind a curtain the paren-
thesis is the only available thing.) There was
silence. I saw Steinbock poise the pen, then
scribble on the parchment. It was done. I
stirred restlessly.
“There!” cried Steinbock. His voice did not
I85
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
lack a certain triumph. “And now for the
duplicate!”
Her Highness stuffed the document into the
bosom of her dress. “There will be no dupli-
cate.” The frigidity of her tones would have
congealed the blood of an ordinary rascal. But
Steinbock was not ordinary.
“But suppose the duke comes to me for verifi-
cation?” he reasoned.
“You will be on the other side of the frontier.
Here are your thousand crowns.”
The barb of her contempt penetrated even his
thick cpidermis. His smile hardened.
“I was once a gentleman; I did not always
accept money for aiding in shady transactions.”
“Neither your sentiments nor your opinions are
’ continued
required. Now, observe me carefully,”
her Highness. “I shall give you twenty-four
hours to cross the frontier in any direction you
choose. If after that time you are found in
Barscheit, I promise to hand you over to the
police.”
“It has been a great day,” said the rascal, with
a laugh. “A thousand crowns!”
, I separated the portières an inch. He stood at
186
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
the side of the piano, upon which he leaned an
elbow. He was certainly handsome, much sought
after by women of a low class. The princess
stood at Steinbock’s left and the Honorable Betty
at his right, erect, their faces expressing nothing,
so forced was the repose.
“I never expected so great an honor. To wed
a princess, when that princess is your Highness!
Faith, it is fine!”
“You may go at once,”
interrupted her High-
ness, her voice rising a key. “Remember, you
have only twenty-four hours between you and
prison. You waste valuable time.”
“What! you wish to be rid of me so soon?
Why, this is the bridal night. One does not part
with one’s wife at this rate.”
Leopold, the caretaker, made a warning ges-
ture.
“Come, Leopold, I must have my jest,”
laughed Steinbock.
“Within certain bounds,” returned the old man'
phlegmatically. “It is high time you were off.
You are foolhardy to match your chances with
justice. Prison stares you in the face.”
“Bah! Do you believe it?”
187
"i"HE PRINCESS ELOPES
“It is a positive fact,” added the princess.
“But to leave like this has the pang of death!”
Steinbock remonstrated. “What! shall I be off
without having even kissed the bride?”
“The bargain is concluded on all sides; you
have your thousand crowns.”
“But not love’s tribute. I must have that. It
is worth a thousand crowns. Besides,” with a
perceptible change in his manner, “shall I forget
the contempt with which you have always looked
upon me, even in the old days that were fair and
prosperous? Scarcely Opportunity is a thing
that can not be permitted to pass thus lightly.”
Then I observed his nose wrinkle; he was sniffing.
“Tobacco ! I did not know that you smoked,
Leopold.” -
“Begone!” cried the old fellow, his hands
opening and shutting.
“Presently | * With a laugh he sprang
toward her Highness, but Leopold was too quick
for him.
There was a short struggle, and I saw the
valiant old man reel, fall and strike his head on the
stone of the hearth. He lay perfectly motionless,
So unexpected was this scene to my eyes that for a
188
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
time I was without any particular sense of move-
ment. I stood like stone. With an evil laugh
Steinbock sprang toward her Highness again.
Quick as light she snatched up my crop, which lay
on the table, and struck the rascal full across the
eyes, again and again and again, following him as
he stepped backward. Her defense was magnifi-
cent. But, as fate determined to have it, Stein-
bock finally succeeded in wresting the stick from
her grasp. He was wild with pain and chagrin.
It was then I awoke to the fact that I was needed.
I rushed out, hot with anger. I caught Stein-
bock by the collar just in time to prevent his lips
from touching her cheek. I flung him to the
floor, and knelt upon his chest. I am ashamed to
confess it, but I recollect slapping the fellow’s face
as he struggled under me.
“You scoundrel !” I cried, breathing hard.
“Kill him l’” whispered her Highness. She
was furious; the blood of her marauding ancestors
swept over her cheeks, and if ever I saw murder in
a woman’s eyes it was at that moment.
“Hush, Hildegarde, hush | * The English
girl caught the princess in her arms and drew her
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THE PRINCESS ELOPES
back. “Don’t let me hear you talk like that. It
is all over.”
“Get up,” I said to Steinbock, as I set him
free.
He crawled to his feet. He was very much
disordered, and there were livid welts on his face.
He shook himself, eying me evilly. There was
murder in his eyes, too.
“Empty your pockets of those thousand
crowns ! ”
—peremptorily.
“I was certain that I smelled tobacco,” he
sneered. “It would seem that there are other
bridegrooms than myself.”
“Those crowns, or I’ll break every bone in your
body l’” I balled my fists. Nothing would have
pleased me better at that moment than to pummel
the life out of him. t
Slowly he drew out the purse. It was one of
those limp silk affairs so much affected by our
ancestors. He balanced it on his hand. Its ends
| bulged with gold and bank-notes. Before I was
aware of his intention, he swung one end of it in
so deft a manner that it struck me Squarely be-
tween the eyes. With a crash of glass he dis-
appeared through the window. The blow dazed
190
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
me only for a moment, and I was hot to be on his
tracks. The Honorable Betty stopped me.
“He may shoot you!” she cried. “Don’t
go!” 1.
Although half through the window, I crawled
back, brushing my sleeves. Something warm
trickled down my nose.
“You have been cut !” exclaimed her Highness.
“It is nothing. I beg of you to let me follow.
It will be all over with that fellow at large.”
“Not at all.” Her Highness’ eyes sparkled
wickedly. “He will make for the nearest fron-
tier. He knows now that I shall not hesitate a
moment to put his affairs in the hands of the
police.”
“He will boast of what he has done.”
“Not till he has spent those thousand crowns.”
She crossed the room and knelt at the side of
Leopold, dashing some water into his face.
Presently he opened his eyes. “He is only
stunned. Poor Leopold !” ;
T helped the old man to his feet, and he rubbed
the back of his head grimly. He drew a revolver
from his pocket.
“I had forgotten all about it,” he said con-
19]
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
tritely. “Shall I follow him, your Highness?”
“Let him go. It doesn’t matter now. Betty,
you were right, as you always are. I have played
the part of a silly fool. I would have my own
way in the matter. Well, I have this worthless
paper. At least I can frighten the duke, and that
is something.”
“Oh, my dear, if only you would have listened
to my advice!” the other girl said. There was
deep discouragement in her tones. “I warned
you so often that it would come to this end.”
“Let us drop the matter entirely,” said her
Highness.
I gazed admiringly at her—to see her sink
suddenly into a chair and weep abandonedly
Leopold eyed her mournfully, while the English
girl rushed to her side and flung her arms around
her soothingly.
“I am very unhappy,”
said the princess, lifting
her head and shaking the tears from her eyes.
* I am harassed on all sides; I am not allowed any
will of my own. I wish I were a peasant!—
Thank you, thank you! But for you that wretch
would have kissed me.” She held out her hand to
me, and I bent to one knee as I kissed it. She was
192
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
worthy to be the wife of the finest fellow in all the
world. I was very sorry for her, and thought
many uncomplimentary things of the duke. *
“I shall not ask you to forget my weakness,” {
she said.
“It is already forgotten, your Highness.”
Under such circumstances I met the Princess
Hildegarde of Barscheit; and I never betrayed her
confidence until this writing, when I have her ex-
press permission.
Of Hermann Steinbock I never saw anything
more. Thus the only villain passes from the
scene. As I have repeatedly remarked, doubtless
to your weariness, this is not my story at all; but
in parenthesis I may add that between the Honora-
ble Betty Moore and myself there sprang up a
friendship which later ripened into something
infinitely stronger.
This, then, was the state of affairs when, one
month later, Max Scharfenstein poked his hand-
some blond head over the frontier of Barscheit;
cue (as the dramatist would say), enter hero.
193
HV
He came straight to the consulate, and I was
so glad to see him that I sat him down in front of
the sideboard and left orders that I was at home to
no one. We had been class-mates and room-mates
at college, and two better friends never lived.
We spent the whole night in recounting the good
old days, sighed a little over the departed ones,
and praised or criticized the living. Hadn’t they
been times, though P. The nights we had stolen up
to Philadelphia to see the shows, the great
Thanksgiving games in New York, the commence-
ments, and all that!
Max had come out of the far West. He was a
foundling who had been adopted by a wealthy
German ranchman named Scharfenstein, which
name Max assumed as his own, it being as good as
any. Nobody knew anything about Max's ante-
cedents, but he was so big and handsome and jolly
that no one cared a hang. For all that he did not
know his parentage, he was a gentleman, some-
194
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
thing that has to be bred in the bone. Once or
twice I remember seeing him angry; in anger he
was arrogant, deadly, but calm. He was a god
in track-linen, for he was what few big men are,
quick and agile. The big fellow who is cat-like in
his movements is the most formidable of athletes.
One thing that invariably amused me was his in-
ordinate love of uniforms. He would always stop
when he saw a soldier or the picture of one, and his
love of arms was little short of a mania. He was
an expert fencer and a dead shot besides. (Par-
don the parenthesis, but I feel it my duty to warn
you that nobody fights a duel in this little history,
and nobody gets killed.)
On leaving college he went in for medicine, and
his appearance in the capital city of Barscheit
was due obviously to the great medical college,
famous the world over for its nerve specialists.
This was Max's first adventure in the land of gut-
turals. I explained to him, and partly unraveled,
the tangle of laws; as to the language, he spoke
that, not like a native, but as one.
Max was very fond of the society of women, and
at college we used to twit him about it, for he was
always eager to meet a new face, trusting that the
\ 195
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
new one might be the ideal for which he was search-
ing.
“Well, you old Dutchman,” said I, “ have you
ever found that ideal woman of yours?”
“Bah!”— lighting a pipe. “She will never
be found. A horse and a trusty dog for me;
those two you may eventually grow to understand.
Of course I don’t say, if the woman came along —
the right one — I mightn’t go under. I’m phil-
osopher enough to admit that possibility. I want
her tall, hair like corn-silk, eyes like the corn-
flower, of brilliant intellect, reserved, and dignified,
and patient. I want a woman, not humorous, but
who understands humor, and I have never heard of
one. So, you see, it’s all smoke; and I never talk
woman these times unless I’m smoking,”— with a
gesture which explained that he had given up the
idea altogether. “A doctor sees so much of
women that he finally sees nothing of woman.”
“Oh, if you resort to epigrams, I can see that
it’s all over.”
“All over. I’m so used to being alone that I
shouldn’t know what to do with a wife.” He
puffed seriously.
Ah! the futility of our desires, of our castles, of
I96
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
our dreams! The complacency with which we jog
along in what we deem to be our own particular
groove! I recall a girl friend of my youth who was
going to be a celibate, a great reformer, and
toward that end was studying for the pulpit. She
is now the mother of several children, the most
peaceful and unorative woman I know. You see,
humanity goes whirring over various side-tracks,
thinking them to be the main line, till fate puts its
peculiar but happy hand to the switch. Scharfen-
stein had been plugging away over rusty rails and
grass-grown ties — till he came to Barscheit.
“Hope is the wings of the heart,” said I, when
I thought the pause had grown long enough.
“You still hope?”
“In a way. If I recollect, you had an affair
once,”— shrewdly.
I smoked on. I wasn’t quite ready to speak.
“You were always on the hunt for ideals, too,
as I remember; hope you’ll find her.”
“Max, my boy, I am solemnly convinced that I
have.”
“Good Lord, you don’t mean to tell me that you
are hooked?” he cried.
197
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
“I see no reason why you should use that parti-
cular tone,” I answered stiffly.
“Oh, come now ; tell me all about it. Who is
she, and when’s the wedding?”
“I don’t know when the wedding’s going to be,
but I’m mighty sure that I have met the one girl.
Max, there never was a girl like her. Witty she
is, and wise; as beautiful as a summer’s dawn;
merry and brave; rides, drives, plays the 'cello,
dances like a moon-shadow; and all that,”— with
a wave of the hand.
“You’ve got it bad. Remember how you used
to write poetry at college? Who is she, if I may
ask? "
“The Honorable Betty Moore, at present the
guest of her Highness, the Princess Hildegarde,”
— with pardonable pride.
Max whistled. “You’re a lucky beggar. One
by one we turn traitor to our native land. A
Britisher! I never should have believed it of you,
of the man whose class declamation was on the
fiery subject of patriotism. But is it all on one
side? 22
“I don’t know, Max; sometimes I think so, and
then I don’t.”
198
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
“How long have you known her?”
“I little more than a month.”
“A month? Everything moves swiftly these
days, except European railway cars.”
“There’s a romance, Max, but another besides
her is concerned, and I can not tell you. Some
day, when everything quiets down, I’ll get you into
a corner with a bottle, and you will find it worth
while.”
“The bottle? 22
“ Both.”
“From rumors I’ve heard, this princess is a
great one for larks; rides bicycles and automobiles,
and generally raises the deuce. What sort is
she P 2%
“If you are going to remain in Barscheit, my
boy, take a friendly warning. Do not make any
foolish attempt to see her. She is more fascinat.
ing than a roulette table.”
This was a sly dig. Max Smiled. A recent
letter from him had told of an encounter with the
goddess of Monte Carlo. Fortune had been all
things but favorable. ,
“I’m not afraid of your princess; besides, I
came here to study.”
199
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
“And study hard, my boy, study hard. Her
Highness is not the only pretty woman in Bar-
scheit. There’s a raft of them.”
“I’ll paddle close to the shore,” with a smile.
“By the way, I’ll wake you up Thursday.”
“How?”— lazily.
“A bout at Müller’s Rathskeller. Half a dozen
American lads, one of whom is called home. Just
fixed up his passports for him. You’ll be as wel-
come as the flowers in the spring. Some of the
lads will be in your classes.”
“Put me down. It will be like old times. I
went to the reunion last June. Everything was in
its place but you. Hang it, why can’t time al-
ways go on as it did then? "
“Time, unlike our watches, never has to go to
the jeweler’s for repairs,” said I owlishly.
Max leaned over, took my bull-terrier by the
neck and deposited him on his lap.
“Good pup, Artie — if he’s anything like his
master. Three years, my boy, since I saw you.
And here you are, doing nothing and lallygagging
at court with the nobility. I wish I had had an
uncle who was a senator. “Pull’ is everything
these days.”
200
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
“You Dutchman, I won this place on my own
merit,”— indignantly.
“Forget it!”— grinning.
“You are impertinent.”
“But truthful, always.”
And then we smoked a while in silence. The
silent friend is the best of the lot. He knows that
he hasn’t got to talk unless he wants to, and like-
wise that it is during these lapses of speech that
the vine of friendship grows and tightens about
the heart. When you sit beside a man and feel
that you need not labor to entertain him it’s a good
sign that you thoroughly understand each other.
I was first to speak.
“I don’t understand why you should go in for
medicine so thoroughly. It can’t be money, for
heaven knows your father left you a yearly income
which alone would be a fortune to me.”
“Chivalry shivers these days; the chill of money
is on everything. A man must do something — a
man who is neither a sloth nor a fool. A man
must have something to put his whole he art into:
and I despise money as money. I give away the
bulk of my income.”
201
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
“Marry, and then you will not have to,” I said
flippantly.
“You’re a sad dog. Do you know, I’ve been
thinking about epigrams.”
66 No || 55
“Yes. I find that an epigram is produced by
the same cause that produces the pearl in the
oyster.”
“That is to say, a healthy mentality never su-
perinduces an epigram? Fudge!” said I, yank-
ing the pup from his lap on to mine. “According
to your diagnosis, your own mind is diseased.”
“Have I cracked an epigram?”— with pained
surprise.
“Well, you nearly bent one,” I compromised.
Then we both laughed, and the pup started up
and licked my face before I could prevent him.
“Did I ever show you this?”—taking out a
locket which was attached to one end of his watch-
chain. He passed the trinket to me.
“What is it?” I asked, turning it over and
OVer.
“It’s the one slender link that connects me with
my babyhood. It was around my neck, when
202
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
Scharfenstein picked me up. Open it and look at
the face inside.”
I did so. A woman’s face peered up at me. It
might have been beautiful but for the troubled eyes
and the drooping lips. It was German in type,
evidently of high breeding, possessing the subtle
lines which distinguish the face of the noble from
the peasant’s. From the woman’s face I glanced
at Max's. The eyes were something alike.
“Who do you think it is?” I asked, when I had
studied the face sufficiently to satisfy my curiosity.
“I’ve a sneaking idea that it may be my mother.
Scharfenstein found me toddling about in a rail-
road station, and that locket was the only thing
about me that might be used in the matter of iden-
tification. You will observe that there is no letter-
ing, not even the jeweler’s usual carat-mark to
qualify the gold. I recall nothing; life with me
dates only from the wide plains and grazing cat-
tle. I was born either in Germany or Austria.
That’s all I know. And to tell you the honest
truth, boy, it’s the reason I’ve placed my woman-
ideal so high. So long as I place her over my head
I’m not foolish enough to weaken into thinking I
- 203
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
can have her. What woman wants a man without
a name?” -
“You poor old Dutchman, you! You can buy a
genealogy with your income. And a woman now-
adays marries the man, the man. It’s only horses,
dogs and cattle that we buy for their pedigrees.
Come; you ought to have a strawberry mark on
your arm,” I suggested lightly; for there were
times when Max brooded over the mystery which
enveloped his birth.
In reply he rolled up his sleeve and bared a
mighty arm. Where the vaccination scar usually
is I saw a red patch, like a burn. I leaned over
and examined it. It was a four-pointed scar, with
a perfect circle around it. Somehow, it seemed to
me that this was not the first time I had seen this
peculiar mark. I did not recollect ever seeing it
on Max's arm. Where had I seen it, then?
“It looks like a burn,” I ventured to suggest.
“It is. I wish I knew what it signifies. Schar-
fenstein said that it was positively fresh when he
found me. He said I cried a good deal and kept
telling him that I was Max. Maybe I’m an anar-
chist and don’t know it,”— with half a smile.
204
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
“It’s a curious scar. Hang me, but I’ve seen
the device somewhere before l’”
“You have?”— eagerly. “Where, where?”
“I don’t know ; possibly I saw it on your arm .
in the old days.”
He sank back in his chair. Silence, during
which the smoke thickened and the pup whined
softly in his sleep. Out upon the might the cathe-
dral bell boomed the third hour of morning.
“If you don’t mind, Artie,” said Max, yawning,
“I’ll turn in. I’ve been traveling for the past
fortnight.”
“Take a ride on Dandy in the morning. He'll
hold your weight nicely. I can’t go with you, as
I’ve a lame ankle.”
“I’ll be in the saddle at dawn. All I need is a
couple of hours between sheets.”
As I prodded my pillow into a comfortable wad
under my cheek I wondered where I had seen that
particular brand. It was a brand. I knew that I
had seen it somewhere, but my memory danced
away when I endeavored to halter it. Soon I fell
asleep, dreaming of Somebody who wasn’t Max
Scharfenstein, by a long shot.
205
V
That same evening the grand duke’s valet
knocked on the door leading into the princess’
apartments, and when the door opened he gravely
announced that his serene Highness desired to
speak to the Princess Hildegarde. It was a com-
mand. For some reason, known best to herself,
the princess chose to obey it.
“Say that I shall be there presently,” she said,
dismissing the valet.
As she entered her uncle’s study — so called be-
cause of its dust-laden bookshelves, though the
duke sometimes disturbed their contents to steady
the leg of an unbalanced chair or table — he laid
down his pipe and dismissed his small company of
card-players.
“I did not expect to see you so soon,” he began.
“A woman’s curiosity sometimes has its value. It
takes little to arouse it, but a great deal to allay
it.”
“You have not summoned me to make Smart
206
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
speeches, simply because I have been educated up
to them : *— truculently.
“No. I have not summoned you to talk smart,
a word much in evidence in Barscheit since your re-
turn from England. For once I am going to use
a woman’s prerogative. I have changed my
mind.”
The Princess Hildegarde trembled with delight.
She could put but one meaning to his words.
“The marriage will not take place next month.”
“Uncle!”— rapturously.
“Wait a moment,”— grimly. “It shall take
place next week.”
“I warn you not to force me to the altar,” cried
the girl, trembling this time with a cold fury.
“My child, you are too young in spirit and too
old in mind to be allowed a gateless pasture. In
harness you will do very well.” He took up his
pipe and primed it. It was rather embarrassing
to look the girl in the eye. “You shall wed Dop-
pelkinn next week.”
“You will find it rather embarrassing to drag
me to the altar,”— evenly.
“You will not,” he replied, “create a scandal of
2O7
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
such magnitude. You are untamable, but you are
proud.”
The girl remained silent. In her heart she knew
that he had spoken truly. She could never make
a scene in the cathedral. But she was determined
never to enter it. She wondered if she should pro-
duce the bogus certificate. She decided to wait
and see if there were no other loophole of escape.
Old Rotnäsig? Not if she died
When these two talked without apparent heat
it was with unalterable fixedness of purpose. They
were of a common race. The duke was determined
that she should wed Doppelkinn; she was equally
determined that she should not. The gentleman
with the algebraic bump may figure this out to suit
himself.
“Have you no pity?”
“My reason overshadows it. You do not sup-
pose that I take any especial pleasure in forcing
you? But you leave me no other method.”
“I am a young girl, and he is an old man.”
“That is immaterial. Besides, the fact has
gone abroad. It is now irrevocable.”
“I promise to go out and ask the first man I see
to marry me!” she declared.
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THE PRINCESS ELOPES
“Pray Heaven, it may be Doppelkinn' " said the
duke drolly.
“Oh, do not doubt that I have the courage and
the recklessness. I would not care if he were
young, but the prince is old enough to be my
father.”
“You are not obliged to call him husband.”
The duke possessed a sparkle to-night which was
unusual in him. Perhaps he had won some of the
state moneys which he had paid out to his ministers
that day. “Let us not waste any time,” he added.
“I shall not waste any,”— ominously.
“Order your gown from Vienna, or Paris, or
from wherever you will. Don’t haggle over the
price; let it be a good one; I’m willing to go deep
for it.”
“You loved my aunt once,”— a broken note in
her voice.
“I love her still,”— not unkindly; “but I must
have peace in the house. Observe what you have
so far accomplished in the matter of creating
turmoil.” The duke took up a paper.
“My sins?”— contemptuously.
“Let us call them your transgressions. Listen.
You have ridden a horse as a man rides it; you
209.
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
have ridden bicycles in public streets; you have
stolen away to a masked ball; you ran away from
school in Paris and visited Heaven knows whom ;
you have bribed sentries to let you in when you
were out late; you have thrust aside the laws as if
they meant nothing; you have trifled with the state
papers and caused the body politic to break up a
meeting as a consequence of the laughter.”
The girl, as she recollected this day to which he
referred, laughed long and joyously. He waited
patiently till she had done, and I am not sure that
his mouth did not twist under his beard. “For-
eign education is the cause of all this,” he said fin-
ally. “Those cursed French and English schools
have ruined you. And I was fool enough to send
you to them. This is the end.”
“Or the beginning,”—rebelliously.
* Doppelkinn is mild and kind.”
“Mild and kind! One would think that you
were marrying me to a horse! Well, I shall not
enter the cathedral.”
“How will you avoid it?”— calmly.
“I shall find a way; wait and see.” She was
determined.
“I shall wait.” Then, with a sudden softening,
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THE PRINCESS ELOPES
for he loved the girl after his fashion: “I am
growing old, my child. If I should die, what
would become of you? I have no son; your Uncle
Franz, who is but a year or two younger than I
am, would reign, and he would not tolerate your
madcap ways. You must marry at once. I love
you in spite of your wilfulness. But you have
shown yourself incapable of loving. Doppelkinn
is wealthy. You shall marry him.”
“I will run away, uncle,”— decidedly.
“I have notified the frontiers,”— tranquilly.
“From now on you will be watched. It is the in-
evitable, my child, and even I have to bow to that.”
She touched the paper in her bosom, but paused.
“Moreover, I have decided,” went on the duke,
“to send the Honorable Betty Moore back to Eng-
land.”
“Betty?”
“Yes. She is a charming young person, but
she is altogether too sympathetic. She abets you
in all you do. Her English independence does not
conform with my ideas. After the wedding I shall
notify her father.”
“Everything, everything! My friends, my
liberty, the right God gives to every woman — to
2} {
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
love whom she will! And you, my uncle, rob me of
these things | What if I should tell you that mar-
riage with me is now impossible?”— her lips grow-
ing thin.
“I should not be very much surprised.”
* Please look at this, then, and you will under-
stand why I can not marry Doppelkinn.” She
thrust the bogus certificate into his hands.
The duke read it carefully, not a muscle in his
face disturbed. Finally he looked up with a terri-
fying smile.
“Poor, foolish child ! What a terrible thing
this might have turned out to be l’”
“What do you mean?”
“Mean? Do you suppose anything like this
could take place without my hearing of it? And
such a dishonest unscrupulous rascal! Some day
I shall thank the American consul personally for
his part in the affair. I was waiting to see when
you would produce this. You virtually placed
your honor and reputation, which I know to be
above reproach, into the keeping of a man who
would sell his soul for a thousand crowns.”
The girl felt her knees give way, and she sat
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THE PRINCESS ELOPES
down. Tears slowly welled up in her eyes and
overflowed, blurring everything.
The duke got up and went over to his desk, rum-
maging among the papers. He returned to the
girl with a letter.
“Read that, and learn the treachery of the man
you trusted.”
The letter was written by Steinbock. In it he
disclosed all. It was a venomous, insulting letter.
The girl crushed it in her hand.
“Is he dead?” she asked, all the bitterness in
her heart surging to her lips.
“To Barscheit,”— briefly. “Now, what shall
I do with this?”— tapping the bogus certificate.
“Give it to me,” said the girl wearily. She
ripped it into halves, into quarters, into infinitesi-
mal squares, and tossed them into the waste-basket.
“I am the unhappiest girl in the world.”
“I am sorry,” replied the grand duke. “It
isn't as if I had forced Doppelkinn on you without
} first letting you have your choice. You have re-
'jected the princes of a dozen wealthy countries.
We are not as the common people; we can not
marry where we will. I shall announce that the
marriage will take place next week.”
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THE PRINCESS ELOPES
“Do not send my friend away,” she pleaded, ap-
parently tamed.
“I will promise to give the matter thought.
Good night.”
She turned away without a word and left him.
When he roared at her she knew by experience that
he was harmless; but this quiet determination meant
the exclusion of any further argument. There
was no escape unless she ran away. She wept on
her pillow that night, not so much at the thought
of wedding Doppelkinn as at the fact that Prince
Charming had evidently missed the last train and
was never coming to wake her up, or, if he did
come, it would be when it was too late. How many
times had she conjured him up, as she rode in the
fresh fairness of the mornings! How manly he
was and how his voice thrilled her | Her horse was
suddenly to run away, he was to rescue her, and
then demand her hand in marriage as a fittting re-
ward. Sometimes he had black hair and eyes, but
more often he was big and tall, with yellow hair
and the bluest eyes in all the world.
214
VI
The princess rose at dawn the following day.
She routed out Hans, the head groom, and told him
to saddle Artemis, the slim-limbed, seal-brown filly
which an English nobleman had given to her. Ten
minutes later she was in the saddle, and the heavi-
ness on her heart seemed to rise and vanish like the
opal mists on the bosom of the motionless lake. A
pale star blinked at her, and the day, flushed like
the cheek of a waking infant, began drowsily to
creep over the rolling mountains.
How silent all the city was Only here and there
above the chimneys rose a languid film of smoke.
The gates of the park shut behind her with a
clang, and so for a time she was alone and free.
She touched Artemis with a spur, and the filly
broke into a canter toward the lake road. The
girl’s nostrils dilated. Every flower, the thousand
resinous saps of the forest, the earth itself, yielded
up a cool sweet perfume that was to the mind what
a glass of wine is to the blood, exhilaration.
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THE PRINCESS ELOPES
Mottled with pink, and gray, and blue, and
gold, the ever-changing hues of the morning, the
surface of the lake was as smooth as her mirror
and, like it, always reflecting beauty. Fish leaped
forth and fell with a sounding splash, and the cir-
cles would widen and gradually vanish. A black-
bird dipped among the silent rushes; a young fox
barked importantly; a hawk flashed by. The mists
swam hither and thither mysteriously, growing
thinner and fainter as the gold of day grew
brighter and clearer. Suddenly — in the words
of the old tent-maker — the false morning died,
and it was day.
I’m afraid that somewhere among the princess’
ancestors there was a troubadour; for she was
something of a poet. Indeed, I have already re-
marked that she wrote verses. The atmospheric
change of the morning turned her mind into senti-
mental channels. How she envied the peasant
woman, who might come and go at will, sleep in the
open or in the hut, loving or hating with perfect
freedom | Ah, Prince Charming, Prince Charm-
ing! where were you? Why did you loiter? Per-
haps for her there was no Prince Charming. It
might be so. She sighed.
216
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
She would never marry Doppelkinn – never,
That horrible Steinbock! She was glad, glad that
she had struck him, again and again, across his
lying eyes and evil mouth. She had believed that
she knew the world; it was all yet a mystery; the
older she grew the less she understood. Wasn’t
anybody good? Was everybody to be distrusted?
Which way should she turn now? The world was
beautiful enough ; it was the people in it. Poor
Betty She had her troubles, too; but somehow she
refused to confide them. She acted very much as
if she were in love.
She gazed at the hawk enviously. How proud
and free he was, so high up there, circling and
circling. Even the fox was freer than she; the
forests were his, and he might go whither he listed.
And the fish that leaped in frolic from the water,
and the blackbird in the rushes! She could not un-
derstand.
She would never marry Doppelkinn — never.
But how should she escape — how? On Wednes-
day night she would be given her quarterly allow.
ance of a thousand crowns, and on Thursday she
must act. . . . Yes, yes, that was it! How sim-
ple! She would slip over into Doppelkinn, where
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THE PRINCESS ELOPES
they never would think to search for her. She
knew a place in which to hide. From Doppelkinn
she would go straight to Dresden and seek the pro-
tection of her old governess, who would hide her
till the duke came to his senses. If only she had
an independent fortune, how she would snap her
fingers at them all!
She was distracted by the sound of jangling
steel. Artemis had cast a shoe. How annoying !
It would take ten minutes to reach old Bauer’s
Smithy, and ten minutes more to put on a shoe.
She brought the filly down to a walk.
What was the use of being a princess if one was
not allowed to act in a royal fashion? It wasn’t
so terrible to wear men’s clothes, and, besides, they
were very comfortable for riding a horse; and as
for riding a bicycle in the public streets, hadn’t
that ugly Italian duchess ridden through the
streets of Rome, and in knickerbockers, too? No-
body seemed to mind it there. But in Barscheit
it had been little short of a crime. She recalled
the flaming fagots and the red-hot wire of her un-
fortunate wheel. A smile rippled over her face, but
it passed quickly. There was nothing left to smile
over, They were going to force her to marry a
218
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
\
tomb, a man in whom love and courage and joy
were as dead things. Woe to Doppelkinn, though
— woe to him She would lead him a dance, wild
and terrible. º
If only she were Betty, free to do what she
pleased, to go and come at will! She wasn’t born
to be a princess; she wasn’t commonplace enough:
she enjoyed life too well. Ah, if only she might
live and act like those English cousins of hers with
whom she went to school! They could ride man-
fashion, hunt man-fashion, shoot, play cards and
bet at the races man-fashion, and nobody threatened
them with Doppelkinns. They might dance, too,
till the sun came into the windows and the rouge
on their faces cracked. But shel (I use the Italics
to illustrate the decided nods of her pretty head.)
Why, every sweet had to be stolen
She would never marry Doppelkinn – never.
She would never watch his old nose grow purple at
the table. She would run away. And since Prince
Charming was nowhere to be seen, it were better
to die an old maid.
Presently the Smithy came into view, emerging
from a cluster of poplars. She rode up to the
doors, dismounted and entered. Old Bauer him-
219
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
self was at the bellows, and the weird blue light
hissing up from the blown coals discovered another
customer. She turned and met his frank glance
of admiration. (If she hadn’t turned If his ad-
miration hadn’t been entirely frank!) Instant-
ly she sent Bauer a warning glance which that
old worthy seemed immediately to understand.
The stranger was tall, well-made, handsome, with
yellow hair, and eyes as blue as the sky is when the
west wind blows.
He raised his cap, and the heart of the girl flut-
tered. Wherever had this seemly fellow come
from ?
“Good morning,” said the stranger courteously.
“I see that you have had the same misfortune as
myself.”
“You have lost a shoe? Rather annoying, when
one doesn’t want a single break in the going.”
She uttered the words carelessly, as if she wasn’t at
all interested.
The stranger stuffed his cap into a pocket.
She was glad that she had chosen the new sad-
dle. The crest and coat of arms had not yet been
burned upon the leather nor engraved upon the
silver ornaments, and there was no blanket under
220
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
the English saddle. There might be an adven-
ture; one could not always tell. She must hide her
identity. If the stranger knew that she belonged
to the House of Barscheit, possibly he would be
frightened and take to his heels.
But the Princess Hildegarde did not know that
this stranger never took to his heels; he wasn’t that
kind. Princess or peasant, it would have been all
the same to him. Only his tone might have lost
half a key.
Bauer called to his assistant, and the girl stepped
out into the road. The stranger followed, as she
knew he would. It will be seen that she knew some-
thing of men, if only that they possess curiosity.
“What a beautiful place this is ’’ the stranger
ventured, waving his hand toward the still lake and
the silent, misty mountains.
“There is no place quite like it,” she admitted.
“You are a stranger in Barscheit?”— politely.
He was young and certainly the best-looking man
she had seen in a month of moons. If Doppelkiun,
now, were only more after this pattern
* Yes, this is my first trip to Barscheit.” He
had a very engaging Smile.
“You are from Vienna?”
221
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
66 No.”
“Ah, from Berlin. I was not quite sure of the
accent.”
“I am a German-American,”— frankly. “I
have always spoken the language as if it were my
own, which doubtless it is.”
“America!” she cried, her interest genuinely
aroused. “That is the country where every one
does just as he pleases.”
“Sometimes.” (What beautiful teeth she had,
white as skimmed milk 1)
“They are free?”
“Nearly always.”
“They tell me that women there are all queens.”
“We are there, or here, always your humble
servants.”
He was evidently a gentleman; there was some-
thing in his bow that was courtly. “And do the
women attend the theaters alone at night?”
“If they desire to.”
“Tell me, does the daughter of the president
have just as much liberty as her subjects?”
“Even more. Only, there are no subjects in
America.”
“No subjects? What do they call them, then?”
222
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
* Voters.”
** And do the women vote?”
“Only at the women's clubs.”
She did not quite get this; not that it was too
subtle, rather that it was not within her compre-
hension.
“It is a big country?”
“Ever so big.”
“Do you like it?”
“I love every inch of it. I have even fought
for it.” t
“In the Spanish War?”—visibly excited.
“Yes.”
“Were you a major or a colonel?”
“Neither; only a private.”
“I thought every soldier there was either a
colonel or a major.”
He looked at her sharply, but her eye was rov-
ing. He became suspicious. She might be sim-
ple, and then again she mightn’t. She was worth
studying, anyhow.
“I was a cavalryman, with nothing to do but
obey orders and, when ordered, fight. I am visit-
ing the American consul here; he was a school-mate
of mine.”
223
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
“Ah! I thought I recognized the horse.”
“You know him?”— quickly.
66 Oh,”
seen the consul on his morning rides. He rides like
casually,–“every one hereabouts has
a centaur, they say: but I have never seen a cen-
taur.”
The stranger laughed. She was charming.
“He ought to ride well; I taught him.” But
the gay smile which followed this statement robbed
it of its air of conceit. “You see, I have ridden
part of my life on the great plains of the West,
and have mounted everything from a wild Indian
pony to an English thoroughbred. My name is
Max Scharfenstein, and I am here as a medical
student, though in my own country I have the
right to hang out a physician’s shingle.”
She drew aimless figures in the dust with her
riding-crop. There was no sense in her giving
any name. Probably they would never meet again.
And yet —
: “I am Hildegarde von – von Heideloff,” giv-
'ing her mother's name. He was too nice to fright-
en away.
The hesitance over the “von * did not strike his
usually keen ear. He was too intent on noting the
224
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
variant expressions on her exquisite face. It was a
pity she was dark. What a figure, and how proud-
ly the head rested upon the slender but firm white
throat! After all, black eyes, such as these were,
might easily rival any blue eyes he had ever seen.
(Which goes to prove that a man’s ideals are not
built as solidly as might be.)
“It is rather unusual,” he said, “to see a woman
ride so early ; but you have the right idea. Every-
thing begins to wake, life, the air, the day. There
is something in the dew of the morning that is a
better tonic than any doctor can brew.”
“Take care! If you have no confidence in your
wares, you must not expect your patients to have.”
“Oh, I am a doctor of philosophy, also.”
“That is to say,” she observed, “if you lose
your patients, you will accept their loss without a
murmur? Very good. May I ask what you have
come so far to study?”
* Nerves.”
“Is it possible!”— with a smile as fleet as the
wind.
He laughed. This was almost like an American
girl. How easy it was to talk to her He tried
again to catch her eye, but failed. Then both
225
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
looked out over the lake, mutually consenting that
a pause should ensue. He did not mind the dark
hair at all.
“Do you speak English?” she asked abruptly
in that tongue, with a full glance to note the
effect.
“English is spoken to some extent in the United
States,” he answered gravely. He did not evince
the least surprise at her fluency.
“Do you write to the humorous papers in your
country?”
“Only to subscribe for them,” said he.
And again they laughed; which was a very good
sign that things were going forward tolerably
well.
And then the miserable fellow of a smith had to
come out and announce that the stranger’s horse
was ready. -
“I’ll warrant the shoe,” said Bauer.
“You haven’t lost any time,” said Max, his re-
|gret evident to every one.
The girl Smiled approvingly. She loved humor
in a man, and this one with the yellow hair and blue
eyes seemed to possess a fund of the dry sort. All
this was very wrong, she knew, but she wasn’t go-
226
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
ing to be the princess this morning; she was going
to cast off the shell of artificiality, of etiquette.
“How much will this shoe cost me?” Max asked.
“Half a crown,” said Bauer, with a sly
glance at the girl to see how she would accept so
exorbitant a sum. The princess frowned. “But
sometimes,” added Bauer hurriedly, “I do it for
nothing.”
“Bauer, your grandfather was a robber,” the
girl laughed. “Take heed that you do not follow
in his footsteps.”
“I am a poor man, your — mm — Fräulein,”
he stammered.
“Here’s a crown,” said Max, tossing a coin
which was neatly caught by the grimy hand of the
smith.
“Are you very rich?” asked the girl curiously.
“Why?” counter-questioned Max.
“Oh, I am curious to know. Bauer will tell it
to every one in Barscheit that you overpay for
things, and from now on you will have to figure
living on a basis of crowns.”
It is worth any price to hear a pretty woman
laugh. What a fine beginning for a day !
“May misfortune be kind enough to bring you
227 §
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
this way again, Herr!” Bauer cried joyfully, not
to say ambiguously.
“Listen to that!” laughed the girl, her eyes
shining like the water in the sun. “But he means
only to thank your generosity. Now,”— with a
severe frown, “
‘how much do I owe you? Take
care; I’ve only a few pieces of silver in my purse.”
“Why, Fräulein, you owe me nothing; I am
even in debt to you for this very crown.” Which
proved that Bauer had had his lesson in courtier-
ship.
The assistant soon brought forth the girl’s rest-
ive filly. Max sprang to her aid. How light her
foot was in his palm 1 (She could easily have
mounted alone, such was her skill; but there’s the
woman of it.)
“I am going toward the Pass,” she said, reading
the half-veiled appeal in his blue eyes.
“Which way is that?” he asked, swinging into
his own saddle.
“That way,” nodding toward the south. After
all, there could be no harm; in two or three hours
their paths would separate for ever.
“Why,”— delightedly,– ‘I am going that way
myself.”
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THE PRINCESS ELOPES
Old Bauer watched them till they disappeared
around a turn in the road. He returned to his
forge, shaking his head as if confronted by a prob-
lem too abstruse even for his German mind.
“Well, he’s an American, so I will not waste any
pity on him. The pity is that she must wed old
Red-nose.”
It would have been if she had
So the Princess and Prince Charming rode into
the country, and they talked about a thousand and
one things. Had she ever been to France? Yes.
To England? She had received part of her educa-
tion there. Did she know the Princess Hilde-
garde? Slightly. What was she like? She was
a madcap, irresponsible, but very much abused.
Did she know Mr. Warrington, the American con-
sulf She had seen him on his morning rides.
Wasn’t it a fine world? It was, indeed.
Once they stopped at a farm. The girl refused
to dismount, bidding Max go in and ask for a drink
of milk. Max obeyed with alacrity, returning
with two foaming goblets of warm milk.
From time to time the princess stifled the “small
voice.” It was wrong, and yet it wasn’t. What
worried her was the thought that Betty might take
229
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
it into her head to follow, and then everything
would be spoiled. Every now and then she turned
her head and sighed contentedly; the road to rear-
ward was always clear.
“Follow me!” she cried suddenly, even daring-
ly.
A stone wall, three feet high, ran along at their
right. The foreground was hard and firm.
Pressing the reins on the filly’s withers, she made
straight for the wall, cleared it, and drew up on the
other side. Now, Max hadn’t the least idea that
the horse under him was a hunter, so I might very
well say that he took his life in his hands as he fol-
iowed her. But Dandy knew his business. He
took the wall without effort. A warm glow went
over Max when he found that he hadn’t broken his
neck. Together they galloped down the field and
eame back for the return jump. This, too, was
made easily. Max’s admiration knew no bounds.
It was a dangerous pastime in more ways than
'O.Yle. l
At eight o’clock they turned toward home, talk-
ing about another thousand and one things.
“It has been a delightful ride,” suggested Max,
with an eye to the future.
230
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
” said
“I take this road nearly every morning,
she, looking out upon the water, which was ruffling
itself and quarreling along the sandy shores.
Max said nothing, but he at once made up his
mind that he would take the same road, provided
he could in any reasonable manner get rid of me.
“Did you enjoy the ride?” asked the Honorable
Betty, as her Highness came in to breakfast.
There were no formalities in the princess’ apart-
ments.
“Beautifully l’” Her Highness guiltily won-
dered if there was any logical way to keep Betty in
the house for the next few mornings. She sat
down and sipped her tea. “The duke talked to me
last night. Steinbock played double.”
“What **
“Yes. He sold us to the duke, who patiently
waited for me to speak. Betty, I am a fool. But
I shall never marry Doppelkinn. That is settled.”
“I suppose he will be inviting me to return to
England,” said Betty shrewdly.
“Not for the present.”
“And I have just grown to love the place,”—
pathetically. “Mr. Warrington has asked me to
23}.
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
ride with him afternoons. His ankle prevents him
from taking the long morning jaunts. If it will
not interfere with your plans, dear —”
5
“Accept, by all means,” interrupted her High-
ness. “He is a capital horseman.” She smiled
Bºysteriously. Happily her companion was ab–
sorbed in thought and did not see this smile.
Max came in at quarter of ten, went to tub, and
eame down in time for the eggs.
“Have a good ride?” I asked.
“Bully Beautiful country !” He was en-
thusiastic.
“How these healthy animals eat!” I thought
as I observed him occasionally.
“Wish I could go with you,” I said, but half-
heartedly.
“I’ll get the lay of the land quick enough,” he
replied.
The rascal! Not a word about the girl that
morning, or the next, or until Thursday morning.
If only I had known But Fate knows her busi-
ness better than I do, and she was handling the
affair. But long rides of a morning with a pretty
girl are not safe for any bachelor.
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THE PRINCESS ELOPES
Thursday morning he came in late. He
dropped something on the table. On inspection I
found it to be a woman’s handkerchief purse.
“Where the deuce did you get that?” I asked,
mighty curious.
“By George! but I’ve been enjoying the most
enchanting adventure; such as you read out of a
book. I'm inclined to believe that I shall enjoy my
studies in old Barscheit.”
“But where did you get this?” If there was a
girl around, I wanted to know all about it.
“She dropped it.” 2. '
“She dropped it!” I repeated. “What she?
Why, you old tow-head, have you been flirting at
this hour of the morning?”
“Handsome as a picture!”
“Ha! the ideal at last,”—ironically. “Blonde,
of course.”
“Dark as a Spaniard, and rides like Diana.”
His enthusiasm was not to be lightly passed over.
“Never heard of Diana riding,” said I; “al-
ways saw her pictured as going afoot.”
“Don’t be an ass! You know very well what I
mean.”
“I’ve no argument to offer, nor any picture to
233
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
prove my case. You’ve had an adventure; give it
up, every bit of it.”
“One of the finest horsewomen I ever saw.
Took a wall three feet high the other morning,
just to see if I dared follow. Lucky Dandy is a
hunter, or I’d have broken my neck.”
“Very interesting.” Then of a sudden a
thought flashed through my head and out again.
“Anybody with her?”
“Only myself these three mornings.”
“H’m I Did you get as far as names?”
“Yes; I told her mine. Who is Hildegarde von
Heideloff P 22
“Heideloff?” I was puzzled. My suspicions
evaporated. “I can’t say that I know any one by
that name. Sure it was Heideloff?”
“Do you mean to tell me,” with blank astonish-
ment, “that there is a petticoat on horseback in
this duchy that you do not know?”
“I don’t know any woman by the name of Hil-
degarde von Heideloff; on my word of honor, Max,
I don’t.”
“Old Bauer, the blacksmith, knew her.”
Bauer? All my suspicions returned. “De-
scribe the girl to me.”
234
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
“Handsome figure, masses of black hair, great
black eyes that are full of good fun, a delicate
nose, and I might add, a very kissable mouth.”
“What! have you kissed her?” I exclaimed.
“No, no! Only, I’d like to.”
“H’m You’ve made quite a study. She must
be visiting some one near-by. There is an old
castle three miles west of the Smithy. Did she
speak English?”
“Yes,”—excitedly.
“That accounts for it. An old English noble-
man lives over there during the summer months,
and it is not improbable that she is one of his
guests.” In my heart I knew that her Highness
was up to some of her tricks again, but there was
no need of her shattering good old Max’s heart.
Yet I felt bound to say: “Why not look into the
purse? There might be something there to prove
her identity.”
“Look into her purse?”—horrified. “You
wouldn’t have me peeping into a woman’s purse,
would you? Suppose there should be a box of
rouge? Her cheeks were red.”
“Quite likely.”
“Or a powder-puff.”
235
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
“Even more likely.”
66 Or—”
“Go on.”
“Or a love letter.”
“I have my doubts,” said I.
“Well, if you do not know who she is, I’ll find
out,”—undismayed.
Doubtless he would; he was a persistent old
beggar, was Max.
“Do not let it get serious, my boy,” I warned.
“You could not marry any one in this country.”
“Why not?”
“Have you been regularly baptized? Was
your father? Was your grandfather? Unless
you can answer these simplest of questions and
prove them, you could not get a license; and no
priest or preacher would dare marry you without
a license.”
“Hang you, who’s talking about getting mar-
ried? All I want to know is, who is Hildegarde
von Heideloff, and how am I to return her purse?
I shall ask the blacksmith.”
“Do so,”— taking up my egg-spoon. j
Max slipped the purse into his breast-pocket and
sat down.
236
WII
“The one fault I have to find with European
life is the poor quality of tobacco used.”
It was eight o’clock, Thursday night, the night
of the dinner at Müller’s. I was dressing when
Max entered, with a miserable cheroot between his
teeth.
“They say,” he went on, “that in Russia they
drink the finest tea in the world, simply because it
is brought overland and not by sea. Unfortu-
nately, tobacco—we Americans recognize no leaf
as tobacco unless it comes from Cuba—has to cross
the sea, and is, in some unaccountable manner,
weakened in the transit. There are worse cigars
in Germany than in France, and I wouldn’t have
believed it possible, if I had not gone to the trouble
of proving it. Fine country ! For a week I’ve
been trying to Smoke the German quality of the
weed, as a preventive, but I see I must give it up on
account of my throat. My boy, I have news for
you,”—tossing the cheroot into the grate.
237
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
“Fire away,” said I, struggling with a .33:... .
“I have a box of Havanas over at the custom
house that I forgot to bail out.”
“No!” said I joyfully. A Havana, and one of
Scharfenstein’s |
“I’ve an idea that they would go well with
the dinner. So, if you don’t mind, I’ll trot over
and get ’em.”
“Be sure and get around to Müller at half-past
eight, then,” said I.
“I’ll be there.” He knew where to find the
place.
Müller’s Rathskeller was the rendezvous of stu-
dents, officers and all those persons of quality who
liked music with their meat. The place was low-
ceilinged, but roomy, and the ventilation was ex-
cellent, considering. The smoke never got so thick
that one couldn’t see the way to the door when
the students started in to “clean up the place,”
to use the happy idiom of mine own country.
There were marble tables and floors and arches and
light, cane-bottomed chairs from Kohn’s. It was
at once Bohemian and cosmopolitan, and, once in-
side, it was easy to imagine oneself in Vienna. A
Hungarian orchestra occupied an inclosed plat-
238
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
form, and every night the wail of the violin and
the pom-pom of the wool-tipped hammers on the
Hungarian “piano " might be heard.
It was essentially a man’s place of entertain-
ment; few women ever had the courage or the
inclination to enter. In America it would have
been the fashion; but in the capital of Barscheit
the women ate in the restaurant above, which was
attached to the hotel, and depended upon the
Volksgarten band for their evening’s diversion.
You had to order your table hours ahead—
that is, if you were a civilian. If you were lucky
enough to be an officer, you were privileged to take
any vacant chair you saw. But Heaven aid you
if you attempted to do this not being an officerſ
In Barscheit there were also many unwritten laws,
and you were obliged to observe these with all the
fidelity and attention that you gave to the enam-
eled signs. Only the military had the right to
request the orchestra to repeat a piece of music.
Sometimes the lieutenants, seized with that gay
humor known only to cubs, would force the orches-
tra in Müller’s to play the Hungarian war-song
till the ears cried out in pain. This was always
the case when any Austrians happened to be pres-
239
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
ent. But ordinarily the crowds were good-natured,
boisterous, but orderly.
It was here, then, that I had arranged to give
my little dinner. The orchestra had agreed—for
a liberal tip—to play The Star-Spangled Banner,
and there was a case of Doppelkinn’s sparkling
Moselle. I may as well state right here that we
neither heard our national anthem nor drank the
vintage. You will soon learn why. I can laugh
now, I can treat the whole affair with becoming
levity, but at the time I gained several extra grey
hairs.
If the princess hadn’t turned around, and if
Max hadn’t wanted that box of Havanasl
When I arrived at Müller’s I found my boys in
a merry mood. They were singing softly from
Robin Hood with fine college harmony, and as I
entered they swarmed about me like so many young
dogs. Truth to tell, none of them was under
twenty, and two or three were older than myself.
But to them I represented official protection for
whatever they might do. I assumed all the dig-
nity I dared. I had kept Scharfenstein’s name
back as a surprise.
Ellis—for whom I had the passports—immedi-
240
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
ately struck me as being so nearly like Max that
they might easily have been brothers. Ellis was
slighter; that was all the difference. I gave him
his papers and examined his tickets. All was well;
barring accidents, he would be in Dresden the next
day.
“You go through Doppelkinn, then?” said I.
“Yes. I have friends in Dresden whom I wish
to see before going home.”
“Well, good luck to you!”
Then I announced that Max Scharfenstein, an
old college comrade, would join us presently.
This was greeted with hurrahs. At that time
there wasn’t an American student who did not
recollect Max’s great run from the ten-yard line.
(But where the deuce was Max?) I took a little
flag from my pocket and stuck it into the vase of
poppies, and the boys clapped their hands. You
never realize how beautiful your flag is till you see
it in a foreign land. I apologized for Max’s ab–
sence, explaining the cause, and ordered dinner to
be served. We hadn’t much time, as Ellis's train
departed at ten. It was now a quarter to nine.
We had come to the relishes when a party of
four officers took the table nearest us. They hung
241
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
up their sabers on the wall-pegs, and sat down,
ordering a bottle of light wine. Usually there
were five chairs to the table, but even if only
two were being used no one had the right to with-
draw one of the vacant chairs without the most
elaborate apologies. This is the law of courtesy in
Barscheit. In America it is different; if you see
anything you want, take it.
Presently one, of the officers—I knew none of
them save by sight—rose and approached. He
touched the flag insolently and inquired what right
it had in a public restaurant in Barscheit. Ordi-
narily his question would not have been put
without some justification. But he knew very well
who I was and what my rights were in this in-
stance.
“Herr Lieutenant,” said I coldly, though my
cheeks were warm enough, “I represent that flag
in this country, and I am accredited with certain
privileges, as doubtless you are aware. You will
do me the courtesy of returning to your own table.”
I bowed.
He glared at me for a brief period, then turned
on his heel. This was the first act in the play.
At the fellow’s table sat Lieutenant von Störer,
249
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
Doppelkinn’s nephew and heir-presumptive. He
was, to speak plainly, a rake, a spendthrift and
wholly untrustworthy. He was not ill-looking,
however.
My spirits floated between anger and the fear
that the officers might ruin the dinner—which they
eventually did.
Things went on smoothly for a time. The
orchestra was pom-pomming the popular airs from
Faust. (Where the deuce was that tow-headed
Dutchman?) Laughter rose and fell; the clinkle
of glass was heard; voices called. And then Max
came in, looking as cool as you please, though I
could read by his heaving chest that he had been
sprinting up back streets. The boys crowded
around him, and there was much ado over the lag-
gard.
Unfortunately the waiter had forgotten to bring
a chair for his plate. With a genial smile on his
face, Max innocently stepped over to the officers’
table and plucked forth the vacant chair. For a
wonder the officers appeared to give this action no
heed, and I was secretly gratified. It was some-
thing to be a consul, after all. But I counted my
chickens too early.
243
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
“Where are the cigars?” I asked as Max sat
down complacently.
“Cigars?”—blankly. “Hang me, I’ve clean
forgotten them!” And then, oblivious of the
probable storm that was at that moment gathering
for a downpour over his luckless head, he told us
the reason of his delay.
“There was a crowd around the palace,” he
began. “It seems that the Princess Hildegarde
has run away, and they believe that she has ridden
toward the Pass in a closed carriage. The police
are at this very moment scouring the country in
that direction. She has eloped.”
“Eloped?” we all cried, being more or less
familiar with the state of affairs at the palace.
“Good-by to Doppelkinn’s Fraul’”
“Good girl!”
“She has been missing since seven o’clock, when
she drove away on the pretense of visiting her
father’s old steward, who is ill,” went on Max,
feeling the importance of his news. “They
traced her there. From the steward’s the carriage
was driven south, and that’s the last seen of her.
There won’t be any wedding at the cathedral next
Tuesday,”—laughing.
244
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
Queries and answers were going crisscross over
the table, when I observed with dread that Lieuten-
ant von Storer had risen and was coming our way.
He stopped at Max's side. Max looked up to
receive Won Störer’s glove full on the cheek. It
was no gentle stroke. Von Störer at once returned
to his table and sat down.
For a moment we were all absolutely without
power of motion or of speech, Max’s face grew as
white as the table-cloth, and the print of the glove
glowed red against the white. I was horrified, for
I knew his tremendous strength. If he showed
fight, Von Störer would calmly saber him. It was
the custom. But Max surprised me. He was the
coolest among us, but of that quality of coolness
which did not reassure me. He took up his story
where he had left off and finished it. For his
remarkable control I could have taken him in my
arms and hugged him.
The officers scowled, while Von Störer bit his
mustache nervously. The American had ignored
his insult. Presently he rose again and ap-
proached. He thrust a card under Max’s nose.
“Can you understand that?” he asked con-
temptuously.
245
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
Max took the card, ripped it into quarters and
dropped these to the floor. Then, to my terror
and the terror of those with me, he tranquilly
pulled out a murderous-looking Colt and laid it
beside his plate. He went on talking, but none of
us heard a word he said. We were fearfully wait-
ing to see him kill some one or be killed.
No one was killed. The officers hurriedly took
down their sabers and made a bee-line for the door
of which I have spoken.
Max returned the revolver to his hip-pocket and
gave vent to an Homeric laugh.
“You tow-headed Dutchman l’” I cried, when I
found voice for my words, “what have you done?”
“Done? Why, it looks as if we had all the
downs this half,” he replied smartly. “Oh, the
gun isn’t loaded,”—confidentially.
Ellis fumbled in his pockets and produced his
passports and tickets. These he shoved over to
Max.
“What’s this for?” Max asked curiously.
“Ellis,” said I, “it is very good of you. Max,
take those. Mr. Ellis wishes to save your hide.
Take them and get to the station as quickly as you
oan. And for the love of mercy, do not turn
*
246
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
around till you’re over in Doppelkinn’s vineyards.”
“Well, I’m hanged if I understand l’’ he cried.
“I’m a peaceful man. A beggar walks up to me
and slaps me in the face for nothing at all, and
now I must hike, eh? What the devil have I done
now P2’
Then, as briefly as I could, I explained the
enormity of his offenses. To take a chair from a
table, as he had done, was a gross insult; to receive
a slap in the face and not to resent it, was another
insult; to tear up an opponent's visiting-card, still
another; to take out a revolver in Barscheit, unless
you were an officer or had a permit, was worse than
an insult; it was a crime, punishable by long im–
prisonment. They could accuse him of being
either an anarchist or a socialist-red, coming to
Barscheit with the intent to kill the grand duke.
The fact that he was ignorant of the laws, or that
he was an alien, would remit not one particle of his
punishment and fine; and weeks would pass ere the
matter could be arranged between the United
States and Barscheit.
“Good Lord!” he gasped; “why didn’t you
tell me?” -
“Why didn’t you tell me that you carried &
247
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
cannon in your pocket? Take Ellis’ papers,
otherwise you stand pat for a heap of trouble, -
and I can’t help you. Go straight to Dresden,
telegraph me, and I’ll forward your luggage.”
“But I came here to study ” Max argued.
“It will be geology in the form of prison walls,”
said Ellis quietly. “Don’t be foolish, Mr. Schar-
fenstein; it is not a matter of a man’s courage, but
of his common sense. Take the tickets and light
out. I have lived here for three years, and have
seen men killed outright for less than you have
done.”
“But you don’t expect me to leave this place
without punching that beggar’s head?”—
indignantly. “What do you think I’m made
of? 22
“You’ll never get the chance to punch his
head,” said I. “We are wasting valuable time.
Those officers have gone for the police. You have
about twenty minutes to make the train. Come,
for heaven’s sake, come!”
He finally got it into his head that we knew
what we were talking about. How we got him to
the station I do not remember, but somehow we
got him there. He sputtered and fumed and
248
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
swore, as all brave men will who feel that they are
running away in a cowardly fashion. He wasn’t
convinced, but he thanked Ellis for his kindness
and hoped that he wouldn’t get into trouble on his
(Max’s) account.
“Go straight to Dresden; say you’ve been
studying medicine in Barscheit for three years;
refer to me by telegraph if there is any question
as to your new identity,” said I. “You’re the
only man in the world, Max, that I’d lie for.”
He stumbled through the gates, and we saw him
open the door of a carriage just as the train began
to pull out. A guard tried to stop him, but he was
not quite quick enough. We watched the train till
it melted away into the blackness beyond the ter-
minus covering; then we, I and my fellow diners,
went soberly into the street. Here was a
howdy-do! Suddenly Ellis let out a sounding
laugh, and, scarcely knowing why, we joined him.
It was funny, very funny, for every one but poor
old Max! The American spirit is based on the
sense of humor, and even in tragic moments is
irrepressible.
We did not return to Müller’s ; each of us stole
quietly home to await the advent of the police, for
249
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
they would rout out every American in town in
their search for the man with the gun. They
would first visit the consulate and ascertain what I
knew of the affair; when they got through with the
rest of the boys Max would be in Doppelkinn.
The police were going to be very busy that night:
a princess on one hand and an anarchist on the
other.
There were terrible times, too, in the palace.
Long before we watched Max's train and the van-
ishing green and red lights at the end of it the
grand duke was having troubles of his own. He
was pacing wildly up and down in his dressing-
room. Clutched in his fist was a crumpled sheet
of paper. From time to time he smoothed it out
and re-read the contents. Each time he swore like
the celebrated man in Flanders.
You forced me and I warned you that I would
do something desperate. Do not send for me, for
you will never find me till you come to your senses.
H have eloped.
Hildcgarde,
250

VIII
Shortly before six o'clock — dinner in the palace
was rarely served until half-after eight — the
Honorable Betty sat down to her writing-desk in
her boudoir, which opened directly into that belong-
ing to the princess, to write a few letters home. A
dinner was to be given to the state officials that
night, and she knew from experience that after
that solemn event was concluded it would be too
late for the departing mails. She seemed to have
no difficulty in composing her thoughts and trans-
ferring them to paper. There were times when she
would lean back, nibble the end of her pen and
smile in a dreamy, retrospective fashion. No
doubt her thoughts were pleasant and agreeable.
She had completed addressing three envelopes,
when she heard the door leading into the princess’
boudoir open and close. She turned to behold the
princess herself.
“Why, Gretchen, where are you going?”—
251
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
noting the grey walking-dress, the grey hat, the
sensible square-toed shoes.
5
“I am going to visit a sick nurse,” replied her
Highness, avoiding the other’s eye.
“But shall you have time to dress for din-
ner?”
“That depends. Besides, the official dinners
are a great bore.” Her Highness came forward,
caught the dark head of the English girl between
her gloved hands, pressed it against her heart, bent
and kissed it. “What a lovely girl you are,
Betty always unruffled, always even-tempered.
You will grow old very gracefully.”
“I hope so; but I do not want to grow old at all.
Can’t I go with you?”—eagerly.
“Impossible; etiquette demands your presence
here to-night. If I am late my rank and my
errand will be my excuse. What jolly times we
used to have in that quaint old boarding-school in
St. John's Wood! Do you remember how we went
to your noble father’s country place one Christ-
mas? I went incognita. There was a children’s
party, and two boys had a fisticuff over you.
Nobody noticed me those days. I was happy
then.” The princess frowned. It might have
252
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
been the sign of repression of tears. Betty, with
her head against the other’s bosom, could not see.
“I shall be lonely without you; for you can not
stay on here for ever. If you could, it would be
different. I shall miss you. Somehow you pos-
sess the faculty of calming me. I am so easily
stirred into a passion; my temper is so surface-
wise. Some day, however, I shall come to England
and spend a whole month with you. Will not that
be fine?”
“How melancholy your voice is ’’ cried Betty,
trying without avail to remove her Highness?
hands.
“No, no; I want to hold you just so. Perhaps
I am sentimental to-night. I have all the moods,
agreeable and disagreeable. . . . Do you love
anybody?”
“Love anybody? What do you mean?”— ris-
ing in spite of the protesting hands. “Do I look
as if I were in love with anybody?”
They searched each other’s eyes.
“Oh, you islanders | Nobody can fathom what
is going on in your hearts. You never make any
mistakes; you always seem to know which paths to
»ursue; you are always right, always, always. I’d
/
{
253
THE PRINCESS ELOPEs
like to see you commit a folly, Betty; it’s a wicked
wish, I know, but I honestly wish it. There is
certainly more Spanish blood in my veins than
German. I am always making mistakes; I never
know which path is the right one; I am always
wrong. Do you believe it possible for a woman of
birth and breeding to fall in love with a man whom
she has known only three days?”
“Three days! Are you crazy, Hildegarde?”
“Call me Gretchen | *—imperiously.
“Gretchen, what has come over you?”
“I asked you a question.”
“Well,”—a bit of color stealing into her
cheeks,—“it is possible, but very foolish. One
ought to know something of a man’s character,”
went on Betty, “before permitting sentiment to
enter into one’s thoughts.”
“That is my own opinion, wise little white owl.”
Her Highness took her friend in her arms and
kissed her, held her at arm’s length, drew her to
her heart and again kissed her. It was like a
"farewell. Then she let her go. “If there is any-
thing you need, make yourself at home with my
cases.” And her Highness was gone.
Betty gazed at the door through which dear
254
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
Gretchen had pased, gazed thoughtfully and
anxiously.
“How oddly she acted I wonder—” She
made as though to run to the door, but stopped, as
if ashamed of the doubt which flashed into her
mind and out again.
The little clock on the mantel chimed forth the
seventh hour, and she rang for her maid. It was
time that she began dressing.
(Thus, for the present, I shall leave her. There
are several reasons why my imagination should
take this step; for, what should I know of a
woman’s toilet, save in the general mysterious re-
sults? However, I feel at liberty to steal into the
duke’s dressing-room. Here, while I am not posi-
tive what happened, at least I can easily bring my
imagination to bear upon the picture.)
The duke was rather pleased with himself. He
liked to put on his state uniform, with its blue-grey
frock, the white doeskin trousers which strapped
under the patent-leather boots, the gold braid, the
silver saber and the little rope of medals strung
across his full, broad breast. It was thus he
created awe; it was thus he became truly the
sovereign, urbane and majestic.
255
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
His valet was buckling on the saber belt, when
there came a respectful tap on the door.
“Enter,” said the duke, frowning. One can
not assert any particular degree of dignity with a
valet at one’s side.
But it was only a corridor attendant who en-
tered. He approached the duke’s valet and
presented a letter.
“For his serene Highness.” He bowed and
backed out, closing the door gently.
At once the valet bowed also and extended the
letter to his master. Formality is a fine thing in a
palace.
“Ah, a letter,” mused the duke, profoundly
innocent of the viper which was about to sting him.
“My glasses, Gustav ; my eye-glasses!” ~
The valet hurried to the dresser and returned
with the duke’s state eye-glasses. These the duke
perched deliberately upon the end of his noble nose.
He opened the letter and read its contents. The
valet, watching him slyly, saw him grow pale, then
red, and finally purple,_wrath has its rainbow.
His hands shook, the glasses slipped from his pal-
pitating nose. And I grieve to relate that his
256
THE PRINCESS, ELOPES
serene Highness swore something marvelous to
hear.
“Damnation | * he said, or some such word.
“The little fool!” Then, suddenly remembering
his dignity and the phrase that no man is a hero
to his valet, he pointed to his glasses, at the same
time returning the letter to its envelope, this letter
which had caused this momentary perturbation.
“Call the minister of police. You will find him in
the smoking-room off the conservatory. Make all
haste ( ?” -
The valet flew out of the door, while the duke
began pacing up and down the room, muttering
and growling, and balling his fists, and jingling
his shining medals. He kicked over an inoffensive
hassock and his favorite hound, and I don’t know
how many long-winded German oaths he let go.
(It’s a mighty hard language to swear in,
especially when a man’s under high pressure.)
“The silly little fool! And on a night like this!,
Curse it! This is what comes of mixing Spanish :
blood with German, of letting her aunt’s wishes
overrule mine in the matter of education. But she
shall be brought back, even if I have to ask the
assistance of every sovereign in Europe. This is
257
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
the end. And I had planned such a pleasant even-
ing at cards!” The duke was not wholly un-
selfish.
In less than ten minutes’ time the valet returned
with the minister of police. The duke immediately
dismissed the valet.
“Your serene Highness sent for me?” asked the
minister, shaking in his boots. There had been
four ministers of police in three years.
“Yes. Read this.”
The minister took the letter. He read it with
bulging eyes. “Good heavens, it must be one of
her Highness’ jokes' "
“It will be a sorry joke for you if she crosses
any of the frontiers.”
66 But—”
“But!” roared the duke. “Don’t you dare
bring up that word scandal! Seek her. Turn
everybody out, -the army, the police, everybody.
When you locate her, telegraph, and have a special
.ngine awaiting me at the station. And if you
play a poor game of cards to-night I’ll take away
your portfolio. Remember, if she passes the fron-
tier, off goes your official head | *
“And the fellow, who is he?”
|
258
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
“The good Lord only knows! That girl!
. . . Witness these grey hairs. Put the
.rascal in irons; I’ll attend to his case when I ar-
rive. . . . Where is Steinbock?”
“He was arrested this morning in Berlin; I
have already applied for his extradition.”
“Good! Now, be off with you! Leave no
stone unturned. The expense is nothing; I will
gladly pay it out of my private purse.”
“I’ll find her,” said the minister grimly. His
portfolio hung in the balance.
All at once the duke struck his hands together
jubilantly.
“What is it?” asked the minister. “A clue?”
“Nothing, nothing! Be gone; you are wasting
time.”
The minister of police dashed out of the room as
if pursued by a thousand devils. He knew the
duke’s mood; it was not one to cross or irritate.
No sooner was he gone than the duke left his
! apartments and sought those of his niece. If
might be a joke; it would do no harm to find out
positively. But the beautiful suite was empty;
even her Highness’ maid was gone. He then
259
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
knocked on the door which led into Betty’s boudoir,
not very gently either.
“Open!” he bellowed.
“Who is it?” demanded a maid’s frightened
voice.
“The duke! Open instantly °
“It is quite impossible,” said another voice from
within. It was calm and firm. “I am dressing.”
“I must see you this instant. Open or I shall
force the door | *
“Is your serene Highness mad?”
“Will you open this door?”
“You command it?”
“A hundred times, yes!”
“Since you command it.” The voice was no
longer calm; it was sharp and angry.
The wait seemed an hour to his serene Highness,
serene no longer. At length the bolt slipped, and
the irate duke shouldered his way in. The tableau
which met his gaze embarrassed him for a space.
He was even ashamed. The Honorable Betty
stood behind a tall-backed chair, an opera cloak
thrown hastily over her bare shoulders. Her hair
was partly down. A beautiful woman in a rage is
260
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
a fascinating sight. The duke stared at her
irresolutely.
“Will your Highness explain this extraordinary
intrusion?” she demanded. “You have literally
forced your way into my room while I am dressing.
It is utterly outside my understanding.”
“I am old enough to be your father.”
“That is the weakest excuse you could give me.
At your age one’s blood ought to be cooled to a
certain discretion. My father, if he had had any-
thing important to say, would have remained on
the other side of the door. I am not deaf. Your
explanation is in order.”
The duke had never been talked to so plainly in
all his life. For a while he was without voice, but
had plenty of color. “It is easily explained,” he
finally bawled out to her. “Her Highness has
eloped l’”
The girl stared at him with wide eyes.
“Eloped?” she breathed faintly.
“Yes, eloped.”
Betty wondered if she heard aright, or if the
duke were out of his mind; and then she recollected
her conversation with the princess. Her mouth
opened as if to speak, but instead she closed her
261
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
lips tightly. That wilful girl; whatever would
become of her
“Give this letter to your mistress,” said the duke
to the maid. “I will station myself in the window
while she reads it.”
He strode over to the window and drew the
curtains about him. Below, the night crowds
were wandering about the streets; the band was
playing in the Volksgarten; carriages were rolling
to and from the opera; the fountain in the center
of the square sparkled merrily in the glare of the
arc lights. But the duke saw none of these things.
Rather he saw the telegraphic despatches flying to
the four ends of the globe, telling the peoples that
he, the Grand Duke of Barscheit, had been out-
witted by a girl; that the Princess Hildegarde had
eloped with a man who was not the chosen one. In
other words, he saw himself laughed at from one
end of the continent to the other. (There is some-
thing very funny in domestic troubles when they
occur in another man’s family () No, the duke
saw not the beauty of the night; instead of stars he
saw asterisks, that abominable astronomy of the
lampoonists. He had never doubted the girl’s
courage; but to elope! . . . And who the
262
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
devil had eloped with her? He knew the girl’s
natural pride; whoever the fellow might be, he
could be no less than a gentleman. But who, who?
“Your Highness?” called a quiet (I might say
deceptive) voice.
The duke came forth.
“Your Highness will do me the honor to make
out my passports to-night. I desire to leave the
palace immediately. The affront you have put
upon me, even under the circumstances, is wholly
unpardonable. You imply that I have had some-
thing to do with her Highness’ act. You will
excuse me to her serene Highness, whom I love
and respect. My dignity demands that I leave at
once.”
A flicker—but only a flicker—of admiration
lighted the duke’s eyes. It was a plucky little
baggage.
“I will issue your passports upon one condi-
tion,” he said.
“And that condition?”—proudly.
“Tell me everything: Where has she gone,
and with whom?”
“I know absolutely nothing.”
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THE PRINCESS ELOPES
Silence. The duke gnawed his mustache, while
his eyes strove in vain to beat down hers.
“Thank you, I believe you.” Then, giving way
to his wrath: “You English people, you are all
the same ! You never understand. I have
brought up this girl and surrounded her with every
luxury; against my will and reason I have let her
become educated in foreign lands; I have given her
the utmost freedom; this is how I am repaid.”
“You forgot one important thing, your High-
ness.” -*
“What?”—haughtily.
“Affection. You have never given her that.”
The duke felt himself beaten into silence, and
this did not add to his amiability.
“Your passports shall be made out immedi-
ately ; but I beg of you to reconsider your deter-
mination, and to remain here as long as you please.
For the sake of appearances, I desire your presence
at the dinner-table.”
“I shall leave as soon as the dinner is over.”
This girl’s mind seemed immovable.
The duke shrugged. There was no use in beat-
ing against this wall. “I wish you knew whither
she has gone.”
264
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
“Frankly, if I knew I should not tell youn
Highness. My father taught me never to betray
, a confidence.”
“As you will. I beg your pardon for the
abruptness of my entrance,” he said, choking down
his wrath. He could not allow himself to be out-
done in the matter of coolness by this chit of an
English girl.
“I grant it you.”
The duke then retired, or, I should say, re-
treated. He wandered aimlessly about the palace,
waiting for news and making wretched all those
with whom he came in contact. The duchess was
not feeling well; a wrangle with her was out of the
question; besides, he would make himself hoarse.
So he waited and waited, and re-read the priſiſ.ess’
letter. At dinner he ate nothing; his replies were
curt and surly. The Honorable Betty also ate
nothing. She sat, wondering if her maid could
pack five trunks in two hours.
I had quite a time of it myself that night. As
I predicted, I received a visit from the police in
regard to Mr. Scharfenstein. I explained the
matter the best I knew how, and confessed that
265
THE PRINCEss ELOPES
he had hurriedly left the city for parts unknown,
I did not consider it absolutely essential that I
should declare that I had seen him enter a railway
carriage for Dresden. Besides this, I had to stand
sponsor for the other boys and explain at length
that they were in no wise concerned with Mr.
Scharfenstein’s great offense. The police were
courteous and deferential, admitting that Max was
the culprit. He had drawn a revolver in a public
restaurant; he had broken a grave law. The
inspector wrote a dozen telegrams and despatched
them from the consulate. I had, at his request,
offered him the blanks.
At eleven I received a telephone call from the
Continental Hotel. It was a woman’s voice, and
my heart beat violently as I recognized it. I was
requested to come at once to the hotel. I should
find her in the ladies’ salon. I walked the distance
in ten minutes. She told me all that had hap-
pened.
“By this time it is all over the city. But it is
all nonsense about her Highness” eloping with any
one. She is too nobly born to commit such a folly.
She has simply run away; and I very much fear
that she will be caught. The duke is in a terrible
266
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
temper. I could not remain in the palace, for the
duke suspects that I know where she has gone. I
have my passports. The British consul is away
hunting. You were the only English-speaking
person to whom I could come for aid.”
“I am very glad.”
“Will it be asking too much of you to aid me
in leaving Barscheit to-night? There is a train at
one o’clock for Dresden.”
“Leave Barscheit?” My heart sank dismally.
“Oh,”—with a smile, “the world is small and
England is even smaller.”
“I shall have to give up the consulate,”—
gravely.
She laughed. “I shall be in England for some-
thing more than a year. Truthfully, I hunger for
mine own people. You know what that hun-
ger is.”
“Yes. I shall go home as often as possible now.
I always stop a few days in London.”
“Then I shall expect to see you; perhaps during
the holidays. I am determined to leave Barscheit
before the duke changes his mind. Heavens, he
may put me in prison!”
* I doubt that.”
267
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
I saw to it that she secured a sleeping-compart-
ment all to herself, took charge of her luggage and
carefully examined her papers. Then we had a
small supper. I wanted to ask a thousand
questions, but my courage lacked the proper key.
“May I have the pleasure of writing to you
occasionally P” I finally ventured. “I am sure
that you would like a bit of Barscheit gossip from
time to time.”
“Write to me, by all means. I shall await these
letters with great pleasure.”
“And answer them?”— growing bolder.
“It is easily seen that you are a diplomat.
Yes, I shall answer them. Heigh-ho! I shall
miss my rides.” What a brave little woman she
was
Finally we started for the station, and I saw her
to the gates. We shook hands, and I was sure I
felt a very friendly pressure; and then she disap-
peared. There was altogether a different feeling
in my heart as I watched her train draw out. Eh,
well, the world is small and England is smaller,
even as she had said. It’s a mighty fine world,
when you get the proper angle of vision.
268
HX
There was very little light in the compartment
into which Max had so successfully dived. Some
one had turned down the wicks of the oil lamps
which hung suspended between the luggage-racks
above, and the gloom was notable rather than sub-
dued. So far as he was concerned he was per-
fectly contented; his security was all the greater.
He pressed his face against the window and peered
out. The lights of the city flashed by, and finally
grew few and far between, and then came the
blackness of the country. It would take an hour
and a half to cross the frontier, and there would
be no stop this side, for which he was grateful.
He swore, mumbling. To have come all this way
to study, and then to leg it in this ignominous
fashion It was downright scandalous! Whoever
heard of such laws? Of course he had been rather
silly in pulling his gun, for even in the United
States — where he devoutly wished himself at that
moment — it was a misdemeanor to carry concealed
269
THE PRINCESS E.OPES
weapons. He felt of his cheek. He would return
some day, and if it was the last thing he ever did,
he would slash that lieutenant’s cheeks. The in-
solent beggar! To be struck and not to strike
back! He choked.
Gradually his eyes became accustomed to the dim
light, and he cast about.
“The deuce | ** he muttered.
He was not alone. Huddled in the far corner
was a woman heavily veiled. Young or old, he
could not tell. She sat motionless, and appeared
to be looking out of the opposite window. Well,
so long as she did not bother him he would not
bother her. But he would much rather have been
alone.
He took out his passport and tried to read it.
It was impossible. So he rose, steadied himself,
and turned up the wick of one of the lamps.
He did not hear the muffled exclamation which
came from the other end.
He dropped back upon the cushion and began
to read. So he was George Ellis, an American
student in good standing; he was aged twenty-
nine, had blue eyes, light hair, was six feet tall,
and weighed one hundred and fifty-four pounds.
270
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
Ha! he had, then, lost thirty pounds in as many
minutes? At this rate he wouldn’t cast a shadow
when he struck Dresden. He had studied three
years at the college; but what the deuce had he
studied? If they were only asleep at the frontier!
He returned the document to his pocket, and as
he did so his fingers came into contact with the
purse he had picked up in the road that morning
— Hildegarde von Heideloff. What meant Fate
in crossing her path with his? He had been per-
fectly contented in mind and heart before that first
morning ride; and here he was, sighing like a fur-
mace. She had been merely pretty on Monday, on
Tuesday she had been handsome, on Wednesday
she had been adorable; now she was the most beau-
tiful woman that ºver lived. (Ah, the progressive
adjective, that litany of love!) Alas! it was quite
evident that she had passed out of his life as sud-
denly and mysteriously as she had entered it. He
would keep the purse as a souvenir, and some day,
when he was an old man, he would open it.
There is something compelling in the human
eye, a magnetism upon which Science has yet to
put her cold and unromantic finger. Have you
never experienced the sensation that some was look-
271
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
ing at you? Doubtless you have. Well, Max pre-
sently turned his glance toward his silent fellow
traveler. She had lifted her veil and was staring
at him with wondering, fearing eyes. These eyes
were somewhat red, as if the little bees of grief had
stung them.
“You !” he cried, the blood thumping into his
throat. He tossed his hat to the floor and started
for her end of the compartment.
She held up a hand as if to ward off his ap-
proach. “I can hear perfectly,” she said; “it is
not needful that you should come any nearer.”
He sat down confused. He could not remember
when his heart had beaten so irregularly.
“May I ask how you came to enter this com:
partment?” she asked coldly.
“I jumped in,”— simply. What was to ac-
count for this strange attitude?
“So I observe. What I meant was, by what
right?”
; “It happened to be the only door at hand, and
I was in a great hurry.” Where was his usual
collectedness of thought? He was embarrassed and
angry at the knowledge.
“Did you follow me?” Her nostrils were pal-
272
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
pitating and the corners of her mouth were drawn
aggressively.
“ Follow you?” amazed that such an idea should
enter into her head. “Why, you are the last per
son I ever expected to see again. Indeed, you are
only a fairy-story; there is, I find, no such person
as Hildegarde von Heideloff.” Clearly he was re-
covering. -
“I know it,”— candidly. “It was my mother's
name, and I saw fit to use it.” She really hoped
he hadn’t followed her.
“You had no need to use it, or any name, for
that matter. When I gave you my name it was
given in good faith. The act did not imply that
I desired to know yours.”
“But you did ”— imperiously.
“Yes. Curiosity is the brain of our mental
anatomy.” When Max began to utter tall phrases
it was a sign of even-balanced mentality.
“And if I hadn’t told you my name, you would
have asked for it.” *
“Not the first day.”
“Well, you would have on Tuesday.”
“Not a bit of a doubt.” He certainly wouldn’t
show her how much he cared. (What was she do-
273
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
ing in this carriage? She had said nothing that
morning about traveling.)
“Well, you will admit that under the circum-
stances I had the right to give any name it pleased
me to give.”
He came over to her end and sat down. Her
protests (half-hearted) he ignored.
“I can not see very well from over there,” he
explained.
“It is not necessary that you should see; you
can hear what I have to say.”
“Very well; I’ll go back.” And he did. He
made a fine pretense of looking out of the window.
Why should this girl cross his path at this un-
happy moment?
There was a pause.
“You are not near so nice as you were this
morning,” she said presently. -
“I can’t be nice and sit away over here.”
“What made you jump into this compartment,
of all others?”
“I wasn’t particular what compartment I got
into so long as J got into one. As I said, I was in
a hurry.”
274,
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
“You said nothing this morning about going
away from Barscheit.”
“Neither did you.”
Another pause. (I take it, from the character
of this dialogue, that their morning rides must
have been rather interesting.)
“You told me that you were in Barscheit to
study nerves,”— wickedly.
“So thought I, up to half-past nine to-night;
but it appears that I am not,”— gloomily.
“You are running away, too?”— with sup-
pressed eagerness.
“Running away, too !” he repeated. “Are
gow running away?”
“As fast as ever the train can carry me. I
am on the way to Dresden.”
“Dresden P. It seems that Fate is determined
that we shall travel together this day. Dresden
is my destination also.”
“Let me see your passports,”— extending a
firm white hand.
He obeyed docilely, as docilely as though he
were married. She gave the paper one angry
glance and tossed it back.
“George Ellis; so that is your name?”—
Q75
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
scornfully. “You told me that it was Scharfen-
stein. I did not ask you to tell me your name;
you took that service upon yourself.” She recalled
the duke’s declaration that he should have her
every movement watched. If this American was
watching her, the duke was vastly more astute
than she had given him the credit Sfor being.
“Are you in the pay of the duke? Come, confess
that you have followed me, that you have been
watching me for these four days.” How bitter the
cup of romance tasted to her now! She had been
deceived. “Well, you shall never take me from
this train save by force. I will not go back | ?”
“I haven’t the slightest idea of what you are
talking about,” he said, mightily discouraged.
“I never saw this country till Monday, and never
want to see it again.” -
“From what are you running away then?”—
skeptically.
“I am running away from a man who slapped
me in the face,”— bitterly; and all his wrongs
returned to him. &
“Indeed!”— derisively.
“Yes, I1 * He thrust out both his great arms
276
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
miserably. “I’m a healthy-looking individual, am
I not, to be running away from anything?”
“Especially after having been a soldier in the
Spanish War. Why did you tell me that your
name was Scharfenstein P”
“Heaven on earth, it is Scharfenstein I’m
simply taking my chance on another man’s pass-
ports.”
“I am unconvinced,”— ungraciously. She was,
however, inordinately happy; at the sight of the
picture of woe on his face all her trust in him re.
turned. She believed every word he said, but she
wanted to know everything.
“Very well; I see that I must tell you every-
thing to get back into your good graces — Fräu-
lein von Heideloff.”
“If you ever were in my good graces!”
Graphically he recounted the adventure at
Müller’s. He was a capital story-teller, and he
made a very good impression.
“If it hadn’t been for the princess” eloping I
should not have been here,” he concluded, “ for
my friend would have had a waiter bring me that
chair.”
“The princess’ eloping!”— aghast.
277
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
“Why, yes. It seems that she eloped to-night;
so the report came from the palace.”
The girl sat tight, as they say ; then suddenly
she burst into uncontrollable laughter. It was the
drollest thing she had ever heard. She saw the
duke tearing around the palace, ordering the police
hither and thither, sending telegrams, waking his
advisers and dragging them from their beds. My
what a hubbub Suddenly she grew serious.
“Have you the revolver still?”
“Yes.”
“Toss it out of the window; quick!”
“But —”
“Do as I say. They will naturally search you
at the frontier.”
He took out the revolver and gazed regretfully
at it, while the girl could not repress a shudder.
“What a horrible-looking thing!”
“I carried it all through the war.”
“Throw it away and buy a new one.”
“But the associations !”
“They will lock you up as a dangerous per-"
son.” She let down the window and the cold night.
air rushed in. “Give it to me.” He did so. She
278
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
flung it far into the night. “There, that is bet.
ter. Some day you will understand.”
“I shall never understand anything in this coun-
try — What are you running away from ?”
“A man with a red nose.”
“A red nose? Are they so frightful here as
all that?”
“This one is. He wants — to marry me.”
“Marry you!”
“Yes; rather remarkable that any man should
desire me as a wife, isn’t it?”
He saw that she was ironical. Having nothing
to say, he said nothing, but looked longingly at
the vacant space beside her.
She rested her chin upon the sill of the window
and gazed at the stars. A wild rush of the wind
beat upon her face, bringing a thousand vague
heavy perfumes and a pleasant numbing. How
cleverly she had eluded the duke’s police What
a brilliant idea it had been to use her private car-
riage key to steal into the carriage compartment
long before the train was made up! It had been
some trouble to light the lamps, but in doing so
she had avoided the possible dutiful guard. He
had peered in, but, seeing that the lamps were
279
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
lighted, concluded that one of his fellows had been
the rounds. -
The police would watch all those who entered
or left the station, but never would they think to
search a carriage into which no one had been seen
to enter. But oh, what a frightful predicament
she was in 1 All she possessed in the world was a
half-crown, scarce enough for her breakfast. And
if she did not find her governess at once she would
be lost utterly, and in Dresden | She choked back
the sob. Why couldn’t they let her be? She
didn’t want to marry any one — that is, just yet.
She didn’t want her wings clipped before she had
learned what a fine thing it was to fly. She was
young.
66 Oh ! 99
“What is it?” she said, turning.
“I have something of yours,” answered Max,
fumbling in his pocket, grateful for some excuse to
break the silence. “You dropped your purse this
morning. Permit me to return it to you. I hadn’t
the remotest idea how I was going to return it. In
truth, I had just made up my mind to keep it as a
souvenir.” -
She literally snatched it from his extended hand.
280
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
“My purse! My purse! And I thought it was
gone for ever!” hugging it hysterically to her
heart. She feverishly tried to unlatch the clasps.
“You need not open it,” he said quietly, even
proudly, “I had not thought of looking into it,
even to prove your identity.”
“Pardom | I did not think. I was so crazy to
see it again.” She laid the purse beside her.
” with an hysterical catch in her voice,
“You see,
“all the money I had in the world was in that purse,
and I was running away without any money, and
only Heaven knows what misfortunes were about
to befall me. There were, and are, a thousand
crowns in the purse.”
“A thousand crowns?”
“In bank-notes. Thank you, thank you! I
am so happy ”— clasping her hands. Them, with
a smile as warm as the summer’s sun, she added:
“You may — come and sit close beside me. You
may even smoke.”
* Max grew light-headed. This was as near
Heaven as he ever expected to get.
“Open your purse and look into it,” he said,
“I’m a brute; you are dying to do so.”
“May I?”—shyly.
281
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
Then it came into Max’s mind, with all the bril-
liancy of a dynamo spark, that this was the one
girl in all the world, the ideal he had been search-
ing for; and he wanted to fall at her feet and tell
her so.
“Look!” she cried gleefully, holding up the
packet of bank-notes.
“I wish,” he said boyishly, “that you didn’t
have any money at all, so I could help you and
feel that you depended upon me.”
She smiled. How a woman loves this simple
kind of flattery ! It tells her better what she may
wish to know than a thousand hymns sung in praise
of her beauty.
But even as he spoke a chill of horror went over
Max. He put his hand hurriedly into his vest-
pocket. Fool! Ass! How like a man! In
changing his clothes at the consulate he had left his
money, and all he had with him was some pocket
change. -
The girl saw his action and read the sequence
in the look of dismay which spread over his face.
“You have no money either?” she cried. She
separated the packet of notes into two equal parts.
* Here ! ”
989
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
He smiled weakly.
** Take them I ?”
“No, a thousand times, no! I have a watch,
and there’s always a pawnbroker handy, even in
Europe.”
“You offered to help me,” she insisted.
“It is not quite the same.”
“Take quarter of it.” #
“No. Don’t you understand? I really
couldn’t.”
“One, just one, then | * she pleaded.
An idea came to him. “Wery well; I will take
one.” And when she gave it to him he folded it
reverently and put it away.
“I understand!” she cried. “You are just go-
ing to keep it; you don’t intend to spend it at all.
Don’t be foolish | **
“I shall notify my friend, when we reach Dop-
pelkinn, that I am without funds, and he will tele-
graph to Dresden.”
“Your friends were very wise in sending you
away as they did. Aren’t you always getting into
trouble?”
“Yes. But I doubt the wisdom of my friends
in sending me away as they did,”— with a frank
283
&
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
glance into her eyes. How beautiful they were,
nºw that the sparkle of mischief had left them :
She looked away. If only Doppelkinn were
young like this She sighed.
“Can they force one to marry in this country?”
he asked abruptly.
“When one is in my circumstances.”
He wanted to ask what those circumstances were,
but what he said was: “Is there anything I can
do to help you?”
“You are even more helpless than I am,”—
softly. “If you are caught you will be impris-
oned. I shall only suffer a temporary loss of lib-
erty; my room will be my dungeon-keep.” How
big and handsome and strong he looked ' What a
terrible thing it was to be born in purple! “Tell
me about yourself.”
His hand strayed absently toward his upper vest-
pocket, and then fell to his side. He licked his
lips. -
“Smoke!” she commanded intuitively. “I said
that you might.”
“I can talk better when I smoke,” he advanced
rather lamely. “May I, then?”—gratefully.
“I command it!” -
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THE PRINCESS ELOPES
Wasn’t it fine to be ordered about in this fash-
ion? If only the train might go on and on and
on, thousands of miles! He applied a match to
the end of his cigar and leaned back against the
cushion.
“Where shall I begin?”
“At the beginning. I’m not one of those novel
readers who open a book at random. I do not
appreciate effects till I have found out the causes.
I want to know everything about you, for you in-
terest me.” -
He began. He told her that he was a German
by birth and blood. He had been born either in
Germany or in Austria, he did not know which.
He had been found in Tyrol, in a railway station.
A guard had first picked him up, then a kind-
hearted man named Scharfenstein had taken him in
charge, advertised for his parents and, hearing
nothing, had taken him to America with him.
“If they catch you,” she interrupted, “do not
under any consideration let them know that you
were not born in the United States. Your friend
the American consul could do nothing for you
then.”
“Trust me to keep silent, then.” He contin-
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THE PRINCESS ELOPES
ued: “I have lived a part of my life on the great
plains; have ridden horses for days and days at a
time. As a deputy sheriff I have arrested des-
peradoes, have shot and been shot at. Then I
went East and entered a great college; went in for
athletics, and wore my first dress-suit. Then my
foster-parent died, leaving me his fortune. And as
I am frugal, possibly because of my German origin,
I have more money than I know what to do with.”
He ceased.
“Go on,” she urged.
“When the Spanish War broke out I entered a
cavalry regiment as a trooper. I won rank, but
surrendered it after the battle of Santiago. And
now there are but two things in the world I desire
to complete my happiness. I want to know who I
am.” -
“And the other thing?”
“The other thing? I can’t tell you that!”—
hurriedly. -
“Ah, I believe I know. You have left some
sweetheart back in America.” All her interest in
his narrative took a strange and unaccountable
slump.
“No ; I have often admired women, but I have
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THE PRINCESS EHLOPES
left no sweetheart back in America. If I had I
should now feel very uncomfortable.” -
Somehow she couldn’t meet his eyes. She recog-
nized, with vague anger, that she was glad that
he had no sweetheart. Ah, well, nobody could rob
her of her right to dream, and this was a very
pleasant dream.
“The train is slowing down,” he said suddenly.
“We are approaching the frontier.” She
shaded her eyes and searched the speeding black-
ness outside.
“How far is it to the capital?” he asked.
“It lies two miles beyond the frontier.”
Silence fell upon them, and at length the train
stopped with a jerk. In what seemed to them an
incredibly short time a guard unlocked the door.
He peered in.
“Here they are, sure enough, your Excel-
lency!” addressing some one in the dark beyond.
An officer from the military household of the
Prince of Doppelkinn was instantly framed in the
doorway. The girl tried to lower her veil; too
late.
“I am sorry to annoy your Highness,” he be-
gan, “but the grand duke’s orders are that you
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THE PRINCESS ELOPES
shall follow me to the castle. Lieutenant, bring
two men to tie this fellow’s bands,”— nodding
toward Scharfenstein.
Max stared dumbly at the girl. All the world
seemed to have slipped from under his feet.
“Forgive me!” she said, low but impulsively.
“What does it mean?” His heart was very
heavy.
“I am the Princess Hildegarde of Barscheit, and
your entering this carriage has proved the greatest
possible misfortune to you.”
He stared helplessly — And everything had
been going along so nicely — the dinner he had
planned in Dresden, and all that!
“And they believe,” the girl went on, “that I
have eloped with you to avoid marrying the prince.”
She turned to the officer in the doorway. “Col-
onel, on the word of a princess, this gentleman is
in no wise concerned. I ran away alone.”
Max breathed easier.
“I should be most happy to believe your High-
ness, but you will honor my strict observance of
orders.” He passed a telegram to her.
Search train for Doppelkinn. Princess has
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THE PRINCESS ELOPES
eloped. Arrest and hold pair till I arrive on
special engine. Barscheit.
The telegraph is the true arm of the police.
The princess sighed pathetically. It was all over.
“Your passports,” said the colonel to Max.
Max surrendered his papers. “You need not
tie my hands,” he said calmly. “I will come
peaceably.”
The colonel looked inquiringly at the princess.
“He will do as he says.”
“Very good. I should regret to shoot him
upon so short an acquaintance.” The colonel
beckoned for them to step forth. “Everything
is prepared. There is a carriage for the conven-
ience of your Highness; Herr Ellis shall ride horse-
back with the troop.”
Max often wondered why he did not make a dash
for it, or a running fight. What he had gone
through that night was worth a good fight.
“Good-by,” said the princess, holding out her
hand. -* :
Scharfenstein gravely bent his head and kissed
it.
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THE PRINCESS ELOPES
“Good-by, Prince Charming !” she whispered,
so softly that Max scarcely heard her.
Then she entered the closed carriage and was
driven up the dark, tree-enshrouded road that led
to the Castle of Doppelkinn.
“What are you going to do with me?” Max
asked, as he gathered up the reins of his mount.
“That we shall discuss later. Like as not some-
thing very unpleasant. For one thing you are
passing under a forged passport. You are not an
American, no matter how well you may speak that
language. You are a German.”
“There are Germans in the United States, born
and bred there, who speak German tolerably well,”
replied Max easily. He was wondering if it would
not be a good scheme to tell a straightforward story
and ask to be returned to Barscheit. But that
would probably appeal to the officer that he was
a coward and was trying to lay the blame on the
princess. -
“I do not say that I can prove it,” went on the
Jolonel; “I simply affirm that you are a German,
even to the marrow.”
“You have the advantage of the discussion.”
No; he would confess nothing. If he did he might
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THE PRINCESS ELOPES
never see the princess again. . . . The prin-
cess! As far away as yonder stars! It was truly
a very disappointing world to live in.
“Now, then, forward | * cried the colonel to his
men, and they set off at a sharp trot.
From time to time, as a sudden twist in the road
broke the straight line, Max could see the careen-
ing lights of the princess’ carriage. A princess!
And he was a man without a country or a name!
291
• -
2.
The castle of the prince of Doppelkinn rested
in the very heart of the celebrated vineyards. Like
all German castles I ever saw or heard of, it was a
relic of the Middle Ages, with many, a crumbling,
useless tower and battlement. It stood on the south
side of a rugged hill which was gashed by a nar-
row but turbulent stream, in which lurked the rain-
bow trout that lured the lazy man from his labors
afield. (And who among us shall cast a stone at
the lazy man? Not I') If you are fortunate
enough to run about Europe next year, as like as
not you will be mailing home the “ Doppelkinn "
post-card.
More than once I have wandered about the cas-
tle's interior, cavernous and musty, strolled through
its galleries of ancient armor, searched its dungeon- |
keeps, or loitered to soliloquize in the gloomy judg-
ment chamber. How time wars upon custom' In
olden times they created pain; now they strive to
subdue it.
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THE PRINCESS ELOPES
I might go into a detailed history of the Doppel-
kinns, only it would be absurd and unnecessary,
since it would be inappreciable under the name of
Doppelkinn, which happens to be, as doubtless you
have already surmised, a name of mine own inven-
tion. I could likewise tell you how the ancient
dukes of Barscheit fought off the insidious flattery
of Napoleon, only it is a far interest, and Barscheit
is simply a characteristic, not a name. Some day
I may again seek a diplomatic mission, and what
government would have for its representative a
teller of tales out of school?
It was, then, to continue the fortunes and mis-
fortunes of Max Scharfenstein, close to midnight
when the cavalcade crossed the old moat-bridge,
which hadn’t moved on its hinges within a hundred
years. They were not entering by the formal way,
which was a flower-bedded, terraced road. It was
the rear entrance. The iron doors swung outward
with a plaintive moaning, like that of a man roused
out of his sleep, and Max found himself in an an-
cient guard-room, now used as a kind of secondary
stable. The men dismounted. -
“This way, Herr Ellis,” said the colonel, with
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THE PRINCESS ELOPES
a mocking bow. He pointed toward a broad stone
staircase.
“All I ask,” said Max, “is a fair chance to
explain my presence here.”
“All in due time. Forward! The prince x;
waiting, and his temper may not be as smooth as
usual.”
With two troopers in front of him and two be-
hind, Max climbed the steps readily enough. They
wouldn’t dare kill him, whatever they did. He
tried to imagine himself the hero of some Scott or
Dumas tale, with a grim cardinal somewhere above,
and oubliettes and torture chambers besetting his
path. But the absurdity of his imagination, SO
thoroughly Americanized, evoked a ringing laugh-
ter. The troopers eyed him curiously. He might
laugh later, but it was scarcely probable. A tramp
through a dark corridor and they came to the west
wing of the castle. It was here that the old prince
lived, comfortably and luxuriously enough, you
may take my word for it.
A door opened, flooding the corridor with light.
Max felt himself gently pushed over the threshold.
He stood in the great living-room of the modern
Doppelkinns. The first person he saw was the
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THE PRINCESS ELOPES
princess. She sat on an oriental divan. Her
hands were folded; she sat very erect; her chin was
tilted ominously; there was so little expression on
her pale face that she might have been an incona-
plete statue. But Max was almost certain that
there was just the faintest flicker of a smile in her
eyes as she saw him enter. Glorious eyes! (It is
a bad sign when a man begins to use the superla-
tive adjectives!)
The other occupant of the room was an old man,
fat and bald, with a nose like a russet pear. He
was stalking — if it is possible for a short man
to stalk — up and down the length of the room,
and, judging from the sonorous, rumbling sound,
was communing half-aloud. Betweenwhiles he was
rubbing his tender nose, carefully and lovingly.
When a man’s nose resembles a russet pear it gen-
erally is tender. Whoever he was, Max saw that
he was vastly agitated about something.
This old gentleman was (or supposed he was)
the last of his line, the Prince of Doppelkinn,
famous for his wines and his love of them. There
was, so his subjects said, but one tender spot in
the heart of this old man, and that was the mem-
ory of the wife of his youth. (How the years, the
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THE PRINCESS ELOPES
good and bad, crowd behind us, pressing us on and
on 1) However, there was always surcease in the
cellars — that is, the Doppelkinn cellars.
“Ha!” he roared as he saw the blinking Max.
“So this is the fellow !” He made an eloquent
gesture. “Your Highness must be complimented
upon your good taste. The fellow isn’t bad-look-
ing.”
“When you listen to reason, Prince,” replied
the girl calmly, “you will apologize to the gentle-
man and give him his liberty.”
“Oh, he is a gentleman, is he?”
“You might learn from him many of the com-
mon rules of courtesy,”— tranquilly.
“Who the devil are you?” the prince demanded
of Max.
“I should be afraid to tell you. I hold that I
am Max Scharfenstein, but the colonel here declares
that my name is Ellis. Who are you?” Max
wasn’t the least bit frightened. These were not
feudal times.
The prince stared at him. The insolent puppy!
“I am the prince.”
“Ah, your serene Highness,”— began Max,
bowing. *.
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THE PRINCESS ELOPES
“I am not called ‘serene’,”—rudely. “The
grand duke is “serene.’”
“Permit me to doubt that,” interposed the girl,
'Smiling.
Max laughed aloud, which didn’t improve his
difficulties any. \
“I have asked you who you are : * bawled the
prince, his nose turning purple.
“My name is Max Scharfenstein. I am an
American. If you will wire the American consul-
ate at Barscheit, you will learn that I have spoken
the truth. All this is a mistake. The princess
did not elope with me.”
“His papers give the name of Ellis,” said the
colonel, touching his cap.
“Humph! We’ll soon find out who he is and
what may be done with him. I’ll wait for the
duke. Take him into the library and lock the
door. It’s a hundred feet out of the window, and
if he wants to break his neck, he may do so. It
will save us so much trouble. Take him away !
take him away ! ” his rage boiling to the Surface.
The princess shrugged.
“I can’t talk to you either,” said the prince,
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THE PRINCESS ELOPES
turning his glowering eyes upon the girl. “I
can’t trust myself.”
“Oh, do not mind me. I understand that your
command of expletives is rather original. Go on;
it will be my only opportunity.” The princess
rocked backward and forward on the divan.
Wasn’t it funny!
“Lord help me, and I was perfectly willing to
marry this girl!” The prince suddenly calmed
down. “What have I ever done to offend you?”
“Nothing,” she was forced to admit.
“I was lonely. I wanted youth about. I
wanted to hear laughter that came from the heart
and not from the mind. I do not see where I am
to be blamed. The duke suggested you to me; I
believed you to be willing. Why did you not say
to me that I was not agreeable? It would have
'simplified everything.”
“I am sorry,” she said contritely. When he
spoke like this he wasn’t so unlovable.
“People say,” he went on, “that I spend most
of my time in my wine-cellars. Well,”— defiantly,
—“what else is there for me to do? I am alone.”
Max came within his range of vision. “Take him
away, I tell you!”
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THE PRINCESS ELOPES
And the colonel hustled Max into the library.
“Don’t try the window,” he warned, but with
rather a pleasant smile. He was only two or three
years older than Max. “If you do, you’ll break
your neck.”
“I promise not to try,” replied Max. “My
neck will serve me many years yet.”
“It will not if you have the habit of running
away with persons above you in quality. Actions
like that are not permissible in Europe.” The
colonel spoke rather grimly, for all his smile.
The door slammed, there was a grinding of the
key in the lock, and Max was alone.
The library at Doppelkinn was all the name im-
plied. The cases were low and ran around the
room, and were filled with romance, history, biog-
raphy, and even poetry. The great circular read-
ing-table was littered with new books, periodicals
and illustrated weeklies. Once Doppelkinn had
been threatened with a literary turn of mind, but
a bad vintage coming along at the same time had
effected a permanent cure.
Max slid into a chair and took up a paper, turn-
ing the pages at random.— What was the matter
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THE PRINCESS ELOPES
with the room? Certainly it was not close, nor
damp, nor chill. What was it? He let the paper
fall to the floor, and his eyes roved from one object
to another.—Where had he seen that Chinese mask
before, and that great silver-faced clock? Some-
how, mysterious and strange as it seemed, all this
was vaguely familiar to him. Doubtless he had
seen a picture of the room somewhere. He rose
and wandered about.
In one corner of the bookshelves stood a pile of
boy’s books and some broken toys with the dust of
ages upon them. He picked up a row of painted
soldiers, and balanced them thoughtfully on his
hand. Then he looked into one of the picture-
books. It was a Santa Claus story; some of the
pictures were torn and some stuck together, a re-
minder of sticky, candied hands. He gently re-
placed the book and the toys, and stared absently
into space. How long he stood that way he did
not recollect, but he was finally aroused by the
sound of slamming doors and new voices. He re-
turned to his chair and waited for the dénouement,
which the marrow in his bones told him was about
to approach.
It seemed incredible that he, of all persons,
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THE PRINCESS ELOPES
should be plucked out of the practical ways of men
and thrust into the unreal fantasies of romance.
A hubbub in a restaurant, a headlong dash into a
carriage compartment, a long ride with a princess,
and all within three short hours It was like some
weird dream. And how the deuce would it end?
He gazed at the toys again.
And then the door opened and he was told to
come out. The grand duke had arrived.
“This will be the final round-up,” he laughed
quietly, his thought whimsically traveling back to
the great plains and the long rides under the starry
night.
301
Ži
The Grand Duke of Barscheit was tall and angu-
lar and weather-beaten, and the whites of his eyes
bespoke a constitution as sound and hard as his
common sense. As Max entered he was standing
at the side of Doppelkinn.
“There he is 1* shouted the prince. “Do you
know who he is?”
The duke took a rapid inventory. “Never set
eyes upon him before.” The duke then addressed
her Highness. “Hildegarde, who is this fellow?
No evasions; I want the truth. I have, in the
main, found you truthful.”
“I know nothing of him at all,” said the prin-
cess curtly.
Max wondered where the chill in the room came
from.
* con-
“He says that his name is Scharfenstein,”
tinued the princess, “ and he has proved himself to
be a courteous gentleman.”
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THE PRINCESS ELOPES
Max found that the room wasn’t so chill as it
might have been.
“Yet you eloped with him, and were on the way
to Dresden,” suggested the duke pointedly.
The princess faced them all proudly. “I eloped
with no man. That was simply a little prevarica-
tion to worry you, my uncle, after the manner in
which you have worried me. I was on my way to
Dresden, it is true, but only to hido with my old
governess. This gentleman jumped into my com-
partment as the train drew out of the station.”
“But you knew him l’ bawled the prince, wav-
ing his arms.
“Do you know him?” asked the duke coldly.
“I met him out riding. He addressed me, and
I replied out of common politeness,”— with a side-
long glance at Max, who stood with folded arms,
watching her gravely.
The duke threw his hands above his head as if
to call Heaven to witness that he was a very much
wronged man.
“Arnheim,” he said to the young colonel, “go
at once for a priest.”
“A priest!” echoed the prince.
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THE PRINCESS ELOPES
“Yes; the girl shall marry you to-night,” de-
clared his serene Highness.
“Not if I live to be a thousand!” Doppelkinn
struck the table with his fist.
The girl smiled at Max.
“What?” cried the duke, all the coldness gone
from his tones. “You refuse?” He was thun-
derstruck.
“Refuse? Of course I refuse!” And the
prince thumped the table again. “What do you
think I am in my old age,_ an ass? If you have
any fillies to break, use your own pastures. I’m a
vintner.” He banged the table yet again.
“Why, I wouldn’t marry the Princess Hildegarde
if she was the last woman on earth!”
“Thank you!” said the princess sweetly.
“You’re welcome,” said the prince.
“Silence!” bellowed the duke. “Doppelkinn,
take care; this is an affront, not one to be lightly
ignored. It is international news that you are to
wed my niece.” -
“To-morrow it will be international news that
I’m not!” The emphasis this time threatened to
crack the table-leaf. “I’m not going to risk my
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THE PRINCESS ELOPES
liberty with a girl who has no more sense of dignity
than she has.”
’ murmured the prin-
“It is very kind of you,”
CeSS. -
“She’d make a fine wife,” went on the prince,
ignoring the interruption. “No, a thousand times
no! Take her away — life’s too short; take her
away ! Let her marry the fellow ; he’s young and
may get over it.”
The duke was furious. He looked around for
something to strike, and nothing but the table being
convenient, he smashed a leaf and sent a vase clat-
tering to the floor. He was stronger than the
prince, otherwise there wouldn’t have been a table
to thwack.
“That’s right; go on Break all the furniture,
if it will do you any good; but mark me, you’ll
foot the bill.” The prince began to dance around.
“I will not marry the girl. That’s as final as I
can make it. The sooner you calm down the bet-
ter.”
How the girl’s eyes sparkled! She was free.
The odious alliance would not take place.
* Who is that? “
Everybody turned and looked at Max. His arm
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THE PRINCESS ELOPES
was leveled in the direction of a fine portrait in oil
which hung suspended over the fireplace. Max
was very pale.
“What's that to you?” snarled the prince. He
was what we Yankees call “hopping mad.” The
vase was worth a hundred crowns, and he never
could find a leaf to replace the one just broken.
“I believe I have a right to know who that
woman is up there.” Max spoke quietly. As a
matter of fact he was too weak to speak other-
wise.
“A right to know? What do you mean?” de-
manded the prince fiercely. “It is my wife.”
With trembling fingers Max produced his locket.
“Will you look at this?” he asked in a voice
that was a bit shaky.
The prince stepped forward and jerked the
locket from Max’s hand. But the moment he saw
the contents his jaw fell and he rocked on his heels
unsteadily and staggered back toward the duke
for support.
“What’s the matter, Prince?” asked the duke
anxiously. After all Doppelkinn was an old crony,
and mayhap he had been harsh with him.
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THE PRINCESS ELOPES
“Where did you get that?” asked the prince
hoarsely.
“I have always worn it,” answered Max. “The
chain that went with it originally will no longer
fit my neck.”
“Arnheim : . . . Duke! . . . Come
and look at this *— feebly.
“Good Heaven!” cried the duke.
“It is the princess!” said Arnheim in awed
tones.
“Where did you get it?” demanded the prince
again.
“I was found with it around my neck.”
“Duke, what do you think?” asked the agitated
prince.
“What do I think? "
“Yes. This was around my son’s neck the day
he was lost. If this should be . . . If it
were possible!”
“What?” The duke looked from the prince to
the man who had worn the locket. Certainly there
wasn’t any sign of likeness. But when he looked
at the portrait on the wall and then at Max doubt
grew in his eyes. They were somewhat alike. He
plucked nervously at his beard.
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THE PRINCESS ELOPES
“Prince,” said Max, “before Heaven I believe
that I may be . . . your son | *
“My son | *
By this time they were all tremendously excited
and agitated and white; all save the princess, who
was gazing at Max with sudden gladness in her
eyes, while over her cheeks there stole the phantom
of a rose. If it were true !
“Let me tell you my story,” said Max. (It is
not necessary for me to repeat it.)
The prince turned helplessly toward the duke,
but the duke was equally dazed.
“But we can’t accept just a story as proof,” the
duke said. “It isn’t as if he were one of the peo-
ple. It wouldn’t matter then. But it’s a future
prince. Let us go slow.”
“Yes, let us go slow,” repeated the prince,
brushing his damp forehead.
“Wait a moment!” said Colonel Arnheim, step-
ping forward. « Only one thing will prove his
identity to me; not all the papers in the world can
do it.” -
“What do you know?” cried the prince, be-
wildered.
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THE PRINCESS ELOPES
“Something I have not dared tell till this mo-
ment,”— miserably.
“Curse it, you are keeping us waiting !” The
duke kicked about the shattered bits of porcelain.
“I used to play with the – the young prince,”
began Arnheim. “Your Highness will recollect
that I did.” Arnheim went over to Max. “Take
off your coat.” Max did so, wondering. “Roli
up your sleeve.” Again Max obeyed, and his
wonder grew. “See ” cried the colonel in a high,
unnatural voice, due to his unsual excitement.
“Oh, there can be no doubt. It is your son | *
The duke and the prince bumped against each
other in their mad rush to inspect Max’s arm.
Arnheim’s finger rested upon the peculiar scar I
have mentioned.
“Lord help us, it’s your wine-case brand | *
gasped the duke.
“My wine case!” The prince was almost on
the verge of tears.
The girl sat perfectly quiet.
“Explain, explain l’” said Max.
“Yes, yes! How did this come? — put there?”
spluttered the prince.
“Your Highness, we — your son — we were
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THE PRINCESS ELOPES
playing in the wine-cellars that day,” stammered
the unhappy Arnheim. “I saw . . . the hot
iron . . . I was a boy of no more than five
I branded the prince on the arm. He
cried so that I was frightened and ran and hid.
When I went to look for him he was gone. Oh,
I know; it is your son.”
“I’ll take your word for it, Colonel!” cried the
prince. “I said from the first that he wasn’t bad-
looking. Didn’t I, Princess?” He then turned
embarrassedly toward Max and timidly held out his
hand. That was as near sentiment as ever the
father and the son came, but it was genuine.
“Ho, steward Hans, you rascal, where are
you?”
The steward presently entered, shading his eyes.
“Your Highness called?”
“That I did. That’s Max come home!”
* Little Max P.”
“Little Max. Now, candles, and march your-
self to the packing-cellars. Off with you!” The
happy old man slapped the duke on the shoulder.
“I’ve an idea, Josef.”
“What is it?” asked the duke, also very well
pleased with events.
|
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THE PRINCESS ELOPES
“I’ll tell you all about it when we get into the
cellar.” But the nod toward the girl and the nod
toward Max was a liberal education.
“I am pardoned?” said Arnheim.
“Pardoned? My boy, if I had an army I would
make you a generall ”
roared the prince. “Come
along, Josef. And you, Arnheim You troopers,
out of here, every one of you, and leave these two
young persons alone!”
And out of the various doors the little company
departed, leaving the princess and Max alone.
Ah, how everything was changed thought Max,
as he let down his sleeve and buttoned his cuff. A
prince He was a prince; he, Max Scharfenstein,
cow-boy, quarter-back, trooper, doctor, was a
prince! If it was a dream, he was going to box
the ears of the bell-boy who woke him up. But it
wasn’t a dream; he knew it wasn’t. The girl yon-
der didn’t dissolve into mist and disappear; she was
living, living. He had now the right to love any
one he chose, and he did choose to love this beautiful
girl, who, with lowered eyes, was nervously pluck-
ing the ends of the pillow tassel. It was ań
changed for her, too.
“Princess!” he said a bit brokenly.
3.11 -
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
“I am called Gretchen by my friends,”— with
a boldness that only half-disguised her real timid-
ity. What would he do, this big, handsome fellow,
who had turned out to be a prince, fairy-tale wise?
“Gretchen? I like that better than Hilde-
garde; it is less formal. Well, then, Gretchen, I
can’t explain it, but this new order of things has
given me a tremendous backbone.” He crossed
the room to her side. “You will not wed my —
my father?”
“Never in all this world!”— slipping around
the table, her eyes dim like the bloom on the grape.
She ought not to be afraid of him, but she was.
** But I —”
“You have known me only four days,” she whis-
pered faintly. “You can not know your mind.”
“Oh, when one is a prince,”— laughing, “it
takes no time at all. I love you. I knew it was
going to be when you looked around in old Bauer’s
Smithy.”
“Did I look around?”— innocently.
“You certainly did, for I looked around and
saw you.”
They paused. (There is no pastime quite like
it.)
3.19.
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
“But they say that I am wild like a young
horse.” (Love is always finding some argument
which he wishes to have knocked under.)
“Not to me,”— ardently. “You may ride a
bicycle every day, if you wish.”
“I’d rather have an automobile,”— drolly.
“An airship, if money will buy it!”
“They say — my uncle says — that I am not
capable of loving anything.”
“What do I care what they say? Will you be
my wife?”
“Give me a week to think it over.”
& 4 No.”
(She liked that!)
“A day, then?”
** Not an hour ! ”
(She liked this still better!)
66 Oh 35
“ Not half an hour ! ”
“This is almost as bad as the duke; you are
forcing me.”
“If you do not answer yes or no at once, I’ll go
back to Barscheit and trounce that fellow who
struck me. I can do it now.”
“Well—but only four days —”
313
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
“Hours! Think of riding together for ever!”
-- joyously taking a step nearer.
“I dare not think of it. It is all so like a
dream. . . . Oh!” bursting into tears (what
unaccountable beings women are 1)— “if you do
not love me!”
“Don’t I, though 1 °
Then he started around the table in pursuit of
her, in all directions, while, after the manner of
her kind, she balked him, rosily, star-eyed. They
laughed; and when two young people laugh it is a
sign that all goes well with the world. He never
would tell just how long it took him to catch her,
nor would he tell me what he did when he caught
her. Neither would I, had I been in his place!
“Here’s l’” said the prince.
“It’s a great world,” added the duke.
“For surprises,” supplemented the prince.
“Ho, Hans ! A fresh candle!”
And the story goes that his serene Highness of
Barscheit and his Highness of Doppelkinn were
found peacefully asleep in the cellars, long after
the sun had rolled over the blue Carpathians.
314
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
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