GARDEN 
 
 JUSTUS 
 
 MILES 
 
 FORMAN
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVi.ir.iTY OF 
 
 CALi ::JIA 
 
 SAN l EGO 
 
 1 
 
 presented to ihe 
 
 LIBRARY 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN DIEGO 
 
 by 
 FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY 
 
 Mrs. Edwin W. Meise 
 
 donor
 
 The Garden of Lies
 
 KLKANOH OF XOVODIXA.
 
 By 
 Justus Miles Forman 
 
 Author of "Cupid s House Party," etc. 
 
 With a Frontispiece by William James Hurlbut 
 
 New York 
 
 Frederick A. Stokes Company 
 Publishers
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1902, 
 BY FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY. 
 
 Published, September, 1902.
 
 To F. W. F. 
 
 This tale of a brave and faithful gentleman 
 
 is dedicated to the faithfulest gentleman 
 
 I have ever known.
 
 The Garden of Lies 
 
 CHAPTEK I 
 
 TO maintain that a man s character is de 
 termined for good or ill by the circum 
 stances chance throws in his way, by 
 the gay or sorry tricks fate plays him, has ever 
 seemed to me a folly. Yet so von Altdorf main 
 tained most strenuously as we sat, last evening and 
 late into the night, on the terrasse of one of those 
 thronged and gayly lighted cafes along the old 
 Boulevard St. Michel "La Source" it was and 
 talked of the great game that we had tried to play, 
 long since, and of how the game was taken out of 
 our hands by greater hands and played to so strange 
 an end. 
 
 " Else why," demanded von Altdorf pursuing his 
 argument, " why did Denis Mallory happen into 
 the Cafe d Alencon on that particular evening of all 
 evenings ? Why did he not pass by and end his 
 days in the grave of a drunkard and blackguard ? 
 How else did he grow into a nobility and greatness 
 that shamed us all, but by force of the circumstances
 
 2 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 into which he fell in those following weeks ? An 
 swer me that." 
 
 " He was led," said I firmly, " into the cafe, that 
 night, by something greater than chance, my 
 friend, something beyond our philosophy. And he 
 was given us to do our work by no mere happening. 
 Moreover, if circumstances make a man, why then 
 didn t Denis Mallory prove, later on, a greater 
 blackguard than one likes to think later, when 
 circumstances made it possible for him and chance 
 made it easy ? Answer me that." 
 
 But von Altdorf shook his grey head and frowned 
 out into the bustle and hurry of the Boulevard 
 where the fiacres dashed up and down loaded with 
 students and cocottes, and a steam tram panted 
 noisily up the hill. 
 
 It was the first time we had met since those days 
 two years ago two years did I say ? By my faith 
 it seems but two weeks. I can see their faces, hear 
 their voices, those players of a great game, Mr. 
 Mallory s and Sir Gavin s and von Altdorf s and 
 the Prince s, and perhaps more vividly, more inti 
 mately than all, the face and voice of the unhappy 
 lady whose fate had seemed to lie in our hands. 
 
 It was our first meeting and we had much to say 
 to each other. Von Altdorf had come on to Paris 
 from Vienna on a private mission of the Emperor 
 whom he now serves, and I had run across from 
 London to meet him. 
 
 It pleased our whim, once dinner was over, to
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 3 
 
 cross the river to the old quarter again, to revisit 
 the gay Boulevard with its trees and its cafes and 
 its throngs of grotesquely garbed students. It 
 changes little as time goes. 
 
 It was good to see him, to clasp his hand once 
 more, to talk long and fully of those matters that 
 neither of us may ever forget, but I am not al 
 together sure that I am glad we met. There was a 
 difference, a certain something of restraint, a failure 
 to see things quite from the same view-point. Yon 
 Altdorf s mind was full of his present business, of 
 the secrets and policies of the Court of Vienna. 
 The present and the future pressed insistently upon 
 him, and he turned with a certain effort, a stiffness, 
 to look backward. 
 
 As for me, why I suppose I was most keenly oc 
 cupied with my own little affairs and my own 
 future. The two years had carried us apart, filmed 
 the windows of memory, deadened ever so slightly 
 the keenness of those passions that once were all 
 our life. 
 
 And so it has occurred to me since I bade fare 
 well to von Altdorf and saw him off again to his 
 work in the East, to set down as faithfully as I 
 may, while yet my memory is fresh and strong, the 
 story of the man who won our love and admiration 
 against such odds, and beside whom all other men 
 seem to me dwarfed and petty. 
 
 There can be no harm in writing of these matters 
 now. Denis Mallory is very far away beyond the
 
 4 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 stir and murmur of this western world of ours, and 
 She is far away too. MacKenzie is back in London. 
 He has an office in Harley Street where you may 
 consult him at certain hours for a certain number 
 of guineas. I see him now and then but we never 
 talk of Paris. Von Altdorf is, as I have said, 
 busied in Vienna, and the Prince is with his fathers 
 God rest his soul ! 
 
 To no one beyond these few could the telling of 
 my tale be of consequence. The things that stirred 
 us all so deeply never reached the great public, 
 though heaven knows they came near enough to 
 reaching it. The very realm over which we plotted 
 and schemed and fought has been quietly erased 
 from the map of Europe by that swift and noiseless 
 hand outstretched from the white throne in the 
 North, which will, some day, as quietly, erase the 
 names of all the remaining little states that we call 
 the Balkans and of whose inner history we know 
 so little. 
 
 But let me come to my tale without further 
 parley, save in the matter of this. In what I shall 
 tell there must be, perforce, much which I did not 
 personally see or hear. Such things I have gained 
 in part from those others who knew directly of 
 them, partly from my knowledge of what such a 
 one would do or say when so placed. I must put 
 myself in the position of the writer of fanciful tales, 
 who pretends to see what is in the minds and hearts 
 of the puppets his hand dangles. All this for a
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 5 
 
 greater smoothness in the telling and a wider scope 
 of view to him. who reads. 
 
 I mind that I had been dining that spring even 
 ing over on the proper side of the river in the 
 Avenue Kleber, and that it was somewhere near 
 eleven o clock when my fiacre, homeward bound, 
 rolled smoothly up the long straight reach of the 
 rue de Kennes. 
 
 I have said that it was spring. There was a soft 
 warm little breeze that bore down the street and 
 pressed against my face. There were odours abroad, 
 the night was full of them, the scent of green 
 things waking to life, of the little sticky chestnut 
 buds that were just pushing out from branch and 
 twig they would be great cones of fragrant 
 blossoms in a fortnight; of starting leaves and 
 quickened sod ; and everywhere the heavy fragrance 
 of lilacs newly in flower. It stirred the blood, sent 
 it mounting like wine to one s head, set one s heart 
 to jumping, filled one with a vague unrest. 
 
 " The world s too tame," said I, taking a long 
 breath and throwing out my arms. " There s no 
 romance left in it not even here in romantic Paris. 
 Who could be romantic in an opera hat and a dress 
 coat ? One needs silk breeches and shoe-buckles 
 and a wig and a sword." I raised my stick and re 
 garded it with disfavour. " Fancy carrying about 
 a silly little bit of wood like that ! " said I morosely.
 
 6 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 "What s the good of it? It s not even orna 
 mental, and I ve no impediment in my gait. .Ro 
 mance is dead. I d like to fight a duel or or over 
 throw a kingdom or run off with somebody s 
 beautiful bride who had fallen in love with me at 
 sight, but I can t, just because it s the nineteenth 
 century and because this thing s a stick and not a 
 sword." And I shook the cane again disgustedly. 
 
 " It s not fair," I complained to the night at 
 large. " It s not fair to stir up a chap so, to put the 
 spring in his blood all those lilacs and and 
 things, if you re not going to give him some little 
 outlet. Jove, what air ! It s atmospheric poetry. 
 
 " Cocher ! " said I. The cocher pulled up. 
 
 " Je m ennui de ce monde ci, Cocher," I ex 
 plained. 
 
 " There s nothing of romantic in it except me. 
 There is nothing of poetical, of of je ne sais 
 quoi. Can you take me somewhere where I can 
 find romance ? " 
 
 The cocher smiled affably and made a beautiful 
 gesture with both hands and his two eyes, a gesture 
 that seemed to say, " But find Monsieur a romance ? 
 nom d un chien ! It is of an unbelievable easiness. 
 Leave everything to me." He was a funny little 
 man, pot-bellied, red of nose and scanty grey of 
 hair. He had no teeth to speak of. 
 
 " Monsieur would be thinking of the Boulevard 
 St. Michel ? " he suggested with confidence. 
 
 " No," said I firmly, " Monsieur would be thinking
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 7 
 
 of no such thing. The Boul Miche is not in the 
 least romantic, and you know it. It s only absurd 
 and squalid and mercenary. Romantic ? Great 
 Heaven ! Here, set me down at a cafe, any old 
 cafe, the d Alenpon. I tell you there s no more 
 romance ici bas." 
 
 I got down sadly at the Cafe d Alen9on in the 
 Place de Rennes. The dial high over the big 
 fapade of the Gare Montparnasse said eleven fif 
 teen. The terrasse of the cafe, brilliant under its 
 sputtering lights, was nearly full, and M. Thuriet, 
 fat, smiling, comfortable, beamed a presiding deity 
 from the background. He said that M. Living 
 stone and M. Rogers had been in earlier, and had 
 gone, but that there were deux ou trois Anglais 
 still within ; for example the grand Monsieur who 
 had come with Monsieur hier soir, Mac-Mac 
 quelque chose. 
 
 " Ah," said I, " MacKenzie ! Sir Gavin Mac 
 Kenzie." But certainly, M. MacKenzie, together 
 with another etranger, non, pas Anglais, Italien 
 peut tre, Autrichien, one would have a certain dif 
 ficulty in saying. 
 
 I went inside, made my bow to Madame the 
 Dame du Comptoir, exalted upon her throne, and 
 looked about the room. 
 
 There were few at the little tables, nearly every 
 one had chosen the soft scented air outside under 
 the awning, but Sir Gavin was sitting over in the 
 far corner behind a glass of whiskey and water.
 
 8 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 No French concoctions for MacKenzie. And with 
 him was the other Stranger, Italien peut 6tre, 
 Autrichien, one would have a certain difficulty in 
 saying. 
 
 " No, not Italian," said I to myself, " Austrian, 
 possibly. Yes, one would have a certain difficulty 
 in saying. He would be about forty, from appear 
 ances, though his head and MacKenzie s were of an 
 equal greyness, and MacKenzie was a good fifty or 
 more. But the other man s skin looked younger 
 than his hair would warrant. There were none of 
 the creases that age furrows in the neck, under the 
 ears, or across the forehead or in the cheeks. To 
 be sure his face was lined strongly, but with vicis 
 situde, one would say, not years. He had great 
 dark eyes under extraordinarily bushy and promi 
 nent brows, and the skin under and about them 
 was dark. He had a jutting nose strong and hawk 
 like, and a mouth that shut to a firm hard line over 
 a jaw which said danger. His cheeks were lean, 
 hollowed a bit under the bone, and across one there 
 was a sabre scar. He wore a small grizzled mous 
 tache, and his hair, grey as I have said, was scant 
 above the temples. He would not be above medium 
 height but he had a most singular breadth of 
 shoulders. He made a curious contrast to Mac 
 Kenzie s square Scotch bulk and professional closely 
 cropped mutton chop whisker. 
 
 I hesitated a moment over joining the two in 
 their corner, but turned away with a little laugh
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 9 
 
 upon receiving from Sir Gavin a curt and most un- 
 genial nod. 
 
 "MacKenzie s something on his mind," said I, 
 settling myself at a table. "He s most unusually 
 
 glum, and so is the other chap Oh anything 
 
 I do n t care what Grand Marnier, I think," to 
 the waiter. 
 
 I saw MacKenzie speak to his companion who 
 turned and favoured me with the keenest glance of 
 scrutiny I remember ever to have received. 
 
 " Oh I m quite harmless, my friend," said I over 
 my little glass of Grand Marnier, " I would n t hurt 
 a cat and I ve committed no crimes that I can re 
 call at the moment." 
 
 The two conferred an instant, heads together, 
 and then MacKenzie raised a beckoning finger. I 
 told the waiter to bring over my glass and crossed 
 to the corner. 
 
 " Creighton," said the Scotsman, " allow me to 
 present you to Colonel von Altdorf." 
 
 The Colonel rose and made a ceremonious little 
 bow, heels together. I tried to look as impressive. 
 Then, when we were seated, no one seemed inclined 
 to say anything. The settled gloom upon the faces 
 of MacKenzie and Colonel von Altdorf remained 
 unlightened indeed, if anything, it seemed to grow 
 more deep. 
 
 " Beautiful evening," said I firmly, after a silence 
 that bade fair to last the night out. 
 
 " Yes, yes shockin ," said Mackenzie absently,
 
 10 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 " But it s all wasted," I grieved with a sigh. 
 " What s the good of spring-time coming, anyhow ? 
 Nobody cares any more. It just stirs your blood up 
 a bit, but you do n t do anything. I was thinking, 
 on my way up just now, that spring s a mere ex 
 asperation. Nobody wants it. There s no more 
 romance in the world." 
 
 Colonel von Altdorf gave a short laugh. 
 
 " Oh, is n t there ? " said he. 
 
 I looked from his face to MacKenzie s. There 
 had been a certain significance in the tone. 
 
 MacKenzie clinked the bit of ice in his long glass, 
 and frowned down upon it thoughtfully. Then he 
 drew a long breath, and met my eyes. 
 
 " Creighton," said he, smiling a little, " you did 
 me a good turn once " 
 
 " Ah," said I, reddening, " as for that, it was n t 
 of any " but MacKenzie raised his hand. 
 
 " An you did it," he proceeded, " by suggestin a 
 way out of a deeficulty. I may say a brilliant 
 way," he added. " Have ye your wits about you 
 to-night, man ? for there is a deeficulty ready for 
 your solvin that s too much for my brain an too 
 much for von Altdorf s, here, into the bargain, 
 diplomatist though he is." 
 
 " Why," said I, " I m no barrister, and I m no 
 writer of melodramas either, that I should be able 
 to solve difficulties at the drop of the handkerchief ; 
 but what s your trouble, Sir Gavin ? At least let s 
 hear it."
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 11 
 
 MacKenzie shook his head and made a little 
 helpless gesture with his two hands. 
 
 " T is no trouble o mine," said he, " that is, in a 
 way o speakin . Indirectly it s bound to be a 
 trouble to all of us who re concerned." He nodded 
 to Colonel von Altdorf. 
 
 " Tell him, man," said he. 
 
 Yon Altdorf rested his elbows upon the edge of 
 the little table, hands clasped among the glasses, 
 and turned his deep set eyes upon mine. When he 
 spoke it was in excellent English but with an ac 
 cent, a dwelling upon sibilants, an alien value of 
 dentals and gutterals too slight to be reproducible. 
 
 " Do you know where Novodnia is, Mr. Creigh- 
 ton ? " said he. 
 
 "I do," said I. "It s on the lower Danube all 
 mixed up with Koumania and Servia and Bulgaria 
 and the rest. It s the littlest one, is n t it ? Poor 
 dear ! Eussia will gobble it some day." 
 
 " Precisely," said Colonel von Altdorf unsmiling. 
 " Precisely ! Kussia will gobble it some day, but 
 Russia has n t gobbled it yet, my friend. It would 
 perhaps have been better for certain people if she 
 had. Yery well, if you know that much you may 
 possibly know that a certain prince of the dominant 
 house in Novodnia has recently, through a most ex 
 traordinary and improbable series of deaths, come 
 to the throne." 
 
 "Carol III!" said I. 
 
 " Precisely," agreed von Altdorf again. "Carol
 
 12 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 III sits upon the seat of his fathers. May he long 
 sit there ! But the point is this. I have said that 
 he came to the throne through an extraordinary 
 series of deaths. Indeed so improbable was his 
 succession considered that it was never thought of 
 at all, that he was allowed to marry outside of 
 royal circles." 
 
 " The deuce ! " said I. " You begin to complicate 
 matters." 
 
 " Being without fortune," continued Colonel von 
 Altdorf, "the Prince at last married a young 
 American woman of great beauty, I understand, 
 and of tremendous wealth; his idea being, of 
 course, to establish himself in the state which his 
 rank permitted but his lack of fortune forbade." 
 
 " And then," said I. " Why then, no sooner was 
 he married than occurred this improbable series of 
 deaths which brought him to the throne and face 
 to face with an extremely embarrassing problem." 
 
 " You state it," said Colonel von Altdorf, " with 
 brevity and point. His wife being not of royal 
 rank, indeed a commoner, his children by her could 
 not succeed to the throne." 
 
 " There remained then," said I, " but one course. 
 The marriage had to be regarded as a morganatic 
 one, and a princess of the proper extraction pro 
 vided." 
 
 Colonel von Altdorf smiled. 
 
 " We get on," said he with a little inclination of 
 his head. " But right at this point if I may con-
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 13 
 
 tinue the tale arose an amazing and most unlocked 
 for obstacle in the path of what might have been 
 considered an embarrassing, but surely not an un- 
 surmountable difficulty. The Prince, if you like, 
 refused point blank either to divorce his wife or to 
 marry again in his own rank." 
 
 "The devil!" said I. 
 
 " My sentiments exactly," observed Colonel von 
 Altdorf. 
 
 " But there is more to come if I mistake not ? " I 
 protested. 
 
 Colonel von Altdorf smiled again. 
 
 " It is a matter of gratification to me," he said, 
 " that you happened into the Cafe d Alenc. on this 
 evening. You have not a slow mind. Yes, there is 
 more to come. Fate, my friend, when she takes it 
 into her head to play a momentous trick, plays it 
 most thoroughly to the end. She s a good sports 
 woman, Fate. I ve seen her play strange games. 
 Aye, and I ve taken a hand with her at times, but 
 I ve never seen her yet in so wholly wanton a mood 
 as this. 
 
 " The marriage, of which we have been speaking, 
 took place in America, at a watering place not far 
 from New York, I believe, a place called Newport, 
 where the young American woman s family had a 
 large summer chateau. The ceremony was, of 
 course, solemnised in a church, at some little dis 
 tance from the chateau. But while the newly 
 married pair were being driven from the church to
 
 14 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 a fe"te which was to follow, the horses attached to 
 the bridal landau took fright at the passing of a 
 motor car and ran away, finally dashing the landau 
 to pieces against an iron column, a street lamp, I 
 understand. The Prince escaped with a few 
 bruises, his wife on the contrary " 
 
 " Not dead ? not dead ? " I cried, leaning forward 
 over the little table. 
 
 " His wife, on the contrary," said von Altdorf, 
 " was severely injured injured as to the head. Her 
 injuries were so severe, in fact," he continued, turn 
 ing the little liqueur glass slowly in his hand, and 
 staring down upon it, " that she was still in a con 
 dition of unconsciousness and delirium, when a fort 
 night later the Prince was called home to Novodnia 
 upon the sudden death of his father and brothers 
 by the malignant fever which swept the entire 
 family." 
 
 " And since ? " I cried, " since ? Get on with it, 
 Colonel ! "What has happened since ? " 
 
 " Why," said Colonel von Altdorf, " the most ex 
 traordinary part of it has happened since. TJie 
 Prince s wife, struck down so cruelly, as it were 
 upon the altar steps, recovered from her injuries in 
 a month s time bodily." 
 
 "Bodily!" said I in a half whisper, "bodily? 
 why why you do n t mean she s " 
 
 " The blow being upon the head," continued von 
 Altdorf, "has in some manner for information 
 upon which I must refer you to our friend the
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES ij 
 
 physician here so acted upon her brain, that, upon 
 her bodily recovery, it was found she had com 
 pletely lost her memory of recent events, of any 
 event, indeed, later in occurrence than a year 
 back." 
 
 " Good God ! " I cried. " Then she did n t know 
 she had been married? She did n t remember the 
 Prince at all ? " 
 
 " The unfortunate lady had, alas, no recollection 
 whatever of anything connected with her marriage 
 or her acquaintance with the Prince. She would 
 not know him if she were to meet him face to 
 face. 
 
 "Of course she was told of her marriage, that 
 had to be done, though at the expense of a great 
 nervous shock, but, as she grew no better, the fam 
 ily deemed it the wisest plan to bring her to Europe, 
 to place her, in short, under the personal care of 
 the greatest alienist living. They brought her to 
 Sir Gavin here, and Sir Gavin is devoting his ex 
 clusive attention to her treatment." 
 
 " What, here ? " said I, " here in Paris ? " 
 
 " Where else ? " demanded Colonel von Altdorf. 
 
 Now MacKenzie had, as I knew, taken, six 
 months before, that great triangle of garden which 
 is comprised between the Boulevard Kaspail, the 
 rue Denfert Kochereau and the little impasse called 
 the rue Boissonade. The triangle extends, from its 
 base along the rue Boissonade, nearly to the Place 
 du Lion de Belfort, and belonged, at one time, to a
 
 16 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 convent of importance, whose quaint mediaeval 
 buildings, set near the point of the triangle, and 
 opening upon the rue Denfert Kochereau, MacKen- 
 zie had made habitable and refurnished with some 
 comfort. As for the garden, high walled from the 
 streets, there is no finer in old Paris. 
 
 It was here then that the unfortunate lady must 
 be living, a scant half mile from where we sat in 
 the Cafe d Ale^on. 
 
 "And she s better?" I asked. "She ll re 
 cover ? " 
 
 MacKenzie dropped a fist upon the little table 
 and the glasses jumped and rattled. 
 
 " She s no better," said he, " nor will be if I know 
 my trade. There are things too secret for human 
 skill, man, things that lie on the gods knees and 
 must ever be so. The poor lady will never have 
 back her year of memory unless it be by some 
 miracle that s beyond our own ken. But just now 
 we are brought face to face with a new problem. 
 The lady, so soon as she was informed of her mar 
 riage, began to express a most lively interest in her 
 unknown husband, an interest which has grown 
 she is still in a nervous state, too delicate to be 
 trifled with, ye 11 understand to such a degree 
 that we re at our wits end. She fancies poor 
 body that we re in a league to keep him from her, 
 and won t understand why he can t be produced. 
 She s rapidly working herself to the point o de 
 mentia again, an unless something can be done
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 17 
 
 within the next few days I 11 not answer for con 
 sequences." 
 
 " And he ? " said I, " the Prince ? He s la bas, 
 I suppose, in Novodnia ? " 
 
 " Aye," said von Altdorf. " He s at home where 
 he can t be spared, struggling to keep the throne of 
 his fathers under his body, and to prevent those 
 pestilent Pavelovitches from sitting in his seat, as 
 they d give their souls to do, curse them ! " 
 
 " Ah ! " said I. " There s another dynasty weary 
 for a throne to sit upon ? Pavelovitch ? I seem to 
 recollect the name." 
 
 " They re the Kussian party," growled von Alt 
 dorf. " And may the devil take his own ! There d 
 be no independence in Novodnia with a Pavelovitch 
 on the throne. God knows there s little enough 
 anyhow. No, Prince Karl must n t leave the coun 
 try now, it would be next to fatal. Yet, alas, if he 
 does n t leave it must be next to fatal to the loveli 
 est lady alive God pity her ! It s a nation against 
 a woman. Mr. Creighton, they say you re good at 
 riddles, read me this one. It s too deep for such 
 as I." 
 
 I shook my head. 
 
 " Dites done, garcon 1 " said I. " Another Grand 
 Marnier. And for M. le Docteur another whiskey 
 a 1 eau, and for M. le Colonel a grog Americain. 
 Alas, Colonel, I m no reader of riddles. The 
 Prince, you say, can t come to Paris ? " 
 
 "He mustn t," declared von Altdorf frowning.
 
 i8 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 " God knows he would if he could. I m in daily 
 terror of his turning up, malgre tout, such terror 
 that I ve taken pains to make him a virtual pris 
 oner, la bas. No, the Prince can t come." 
 
 " And the Prin and Madame," said I, " has no 
 memory of the Prince, would not know him from 
 from me, for example ? " 
 
 "Why no," agreed von Altdorf watching me 
 curiously, " no, she would n t know him from you, 
 man, or me. "What then, my riddle reader ? " 
 
 " Then," I cried, " it would seem to me, gentle 
 men, that the only thing to do minding always that 
 Madame s reason is at stake, perhaps her very life, 
 and that desperate situations demand desperate 
 remedies it would seem to me that the only thing 
 to do is to create a temporary Prince here in 
 Paris wait, wait ! only, of course, till Madame is 
 so restored in health and mental equilibrium that 
 she can bear to be told the truth, gently, very 
 gently, and prepared for what is before her." 
 
 " Great God ! " said von Altdorf softly, and stared 
 at me, wide-eyed. The glass of steaming grog that 
 he held beat a sort of tattoo upon the marble top of 
 the little table. " Great God ! " said he again. 
 
 Sir Gavin MacKenzie had been striking a match 
 to light the great black meerschaum that hung from 
 his mouth. The match flared and twisted and 
 burned down till it scorched his unheeding fingers, 
 but Sir Gavin s eyes were upon my face, narrowed 
 a bit, very steady, and Sir Gavin s brows were
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 19 
 
 gathered into a knot over his nose. I think that 
 none of us spoke for several minutes, but each 
 stared at the others weighing the thing in mind, 
 counting the gain and loss. 
 
 " I m no sure but ye have it, man," said the 
 alienist at last. He spoke in a half whisper and 
 his eyes questioned Colonel von Altdorf. He had 
 quite forgotten the unlighted pipe. 
 
 Yon Altdorf drank half his long glass of steam 
 ing grog. The glass clicked against his teeth. 
 
 " Aye," said he gruffly, " very clever and very 
 bold, but who s to do it ? It s no easy task, mind 
 you." 
 
 MacKenzie leaned forward. 
 
 " Now there s you," he suggested persuasively. 
 " Me she knows, of course, but there s you. You d 
 know all the tricks too." 
 
 " Not for a crown in heaven ! " cried the other. 
 " I ve been a diplomatist all my life, and it s likely 
 I ve no character left me, but I want to die a com 
 paratively honest man. Not for a crown in heaven, 
 my friend." 
 
 " Or you," said MacKenzie turning to me. " T is 
 your plan, do you play it out." 
 
 " Not I," I declared with some vigour. " I 11 make 
 you schemes if you like, but I 11 play no blackguard 
 for you or any one else, MacKenzie." 
 
 "And there we are," mourned the Scotsman. 
 " Tis the only possible way, rash and desperate 
 though it be, an there s no one to play the part.
 
 20 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 A gentleman in a manner o speakin we must 
 have, but no gentleman would do the thing. A 
 rascal will never serve our use. Man, why need 
 ye spoil our peace o mind with your mad schemes ? 
 I shall be thinkin o nothing else." 
 
 And we sat all three shaking our heads most rue 
 fully, for in truth there seemed no way out of the 
 impasse.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 THERE came a chorus of shouts and laugh 
 ter from the loungers upon the terrasse 
 without, a snatch of maudlin song in a 
 voice I seemed to know, and a very tall young man 
 broke into the room, tacking like a yacht in a 
 heavy sea, and hove to with a sudden lurch before 
 the throne of the majestic Dame du Comptoir that 
 faced the door. 
 
 "Beautiful lady," cried the young man gazing 
 passionately up into the alarmed countenance of 
 the patronne, and making a theatrical gesture of 
 hand to heart, " beautiful lady be not f-fraid ! S 
 only me ! Light that tracts moths n HP bugs t 
 flutter round it, tracted me way from Boulevard 
 
 St. G main Could n stop way f m you." 
 
 And he swept her a bow that nearly dragged his 
 black curls in the dust of the floor, the very carica 
 ture of a bow, such as one might see upon a music- 
 hall stage or in a farce comedy. 
 
 "Oh oh oh fair, oh sweet," 
 
 said he tearfully. 
 
 41 When I do 1-look on thee, 
 In whom all joys so well agree, 
 Heart n soul do sing in me." 
 
 Upon my word the rascal might have made his
 
 22 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 fortune on the stage. He had a voice of a quality 
 of a resonance, of a timbre ! A voice to ring ten 
 derness from a plaster cast. 
 
 I have said that he was a very tall young man. 
 He had a singularly lithe, supple figure, slender at 
 waist and hips but very broad in the shoulders. 
 He might have been a varsity oarsman. He wore 
 no beard or moustache but the hair upon his head 
 was black and waving, almost curly, and random 
 locks of it fell down over his forehead nearly to the 
 straight brows. He had a pair of merry, grey eyes, 
 deep set, and a mouth that seemed to have been 
 forced into a sternness of line unnatural to it, despite 
 the firm square jaw beneath. His smile was the 
 smile of a child I have never known any one who 
 could resist it but about his eyes were circles and 
 lines of ill living that never would be wholly erased. 
 He looked a strange mixture of opposites, of war 
 ring elements, this drunken young reprobate with 
 the thrilling voice who pressed his heart under his 
 two hands, and quoted the late Sir Philip Sydney to 
 a buxom and perturbed French woman who could n t 
 understand. 
 
 " Mais tenez, tenez ! " cried the patronne at last, 
 laughing and holding her ears. "Allez vous en, 
 M. Mallory ! Vous m embarrasez." 
 
 The tall young man turned away with a gloomy 
 wave of the hand and gazed abstractedly down the 
 room. He caught my eye for a moment and bowed 
 with an impressive dignity.
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 23 
 
 " Drunken swine ! " growled MacKenzie. " Who 
 is he?" 
 
 " Why," said I, looking after the tall young man 
 who had seated himself at one of the little tables 
 by the opposite wall, " why he s a queer lot, a most 
 uncommon queer lot. His name is Mallory, Denis 
 Mallory, and he comes, I m told, of a very good 
 
 family indeed somewhere in Ulster He s Irish 
 
 of course He was a Sub. in a Cavalry regiment 
 
 at one time, but he got himself into some sort of a 
 scrape, ran up debts that his governor could n t or 
 would n t pay off, and he had to sell out. I fancy 
 it broke him up a good bit, made him lose his grip, 
 for he s been a pretty fairly hard lot ever since. 
 That happened five or six years ago. He s been 
 the approved type of soldier of fortune for the 
 most part the sort you read about in the story 
 books. He s fought from Venezuela to South 
 Africa and from the Sudan to China. There s 
 no doubt that he s a good soldier, and I greatly 
 fear there s little doubt that he s a good nothing 
 else. Yes, he s the approved type of Chevalier 
 d Industrie, such as you read of, with the difference 
 that he s no better off for his adventures. The 
 story book heroes have always a breast covered 
 with medals, and a fortune amassed. Poor Mallory 
 has neither. I suppose there s no man in Paris to 
 day who has fought in more little wars, braved 
 more diverse dangers or made love to more 
 women, and yet he s what you see over there, a
 
 24 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 dissolute young reprobate with the soul of a poet, 
 the tongue of an angel, the record of a Cesar de 
 Bazan, and seldom a franc to bless himself with. 
 He ekes out a hand to mouth existence, I m told, by 
 writing sketches for some London journal. Aye, 
 aye, he s a queer lot, a most uncommon queer lot ! 
 Every one knows him here, and every one despises 
 him, and yet why curiously enough, every one has 
 a sneaking fondness for him too. He s a rogue if 
 you like, but a debonair rogue, it can t be denied. 
 Moreover, he s not a scoundrel, you 11 understand, 
 dissipated though he be. He s still, in a way, a 
 gentleman. No one ever knew him to lie or take 
 an unfair advantage." 
 
 MacKenzie shook a heavy head. 
 
 " A wasted life," said he. " A man o parts to 
 wreck himself for the love o excitement an drink. 
 T is a sad case." 
 
 Colonel von Altdorf was leaning forward, elbows 
 upon the little table among the glasses, and fingers 
 absently stroking his grizzled moustache. There 
 was a curious expression upon his face a most 
 curious expression. His eyes, narrowed a bit, were 
 upon young Denis Mallory across the room. 
 
 All at once his thought burst upon my mind. It 
 was as if he had spoken it by word. I met his 
 eyes excitedly, and for an instant the thing seemed 
 possible. 
 
 " Our man," said von Altdorf quietly. 
 
 " Ah, no, no ! " I cried. " He he would n t do
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 25 
 
 it. "Why, man, it s almost a blackguard s trick, im 
 posing upon a helpless woman so. I ve told you 
 that he s still in a way a gentleman. He d never 
 play a trick upon a woman. No, no, it s out of the 
 question. I was mad to suggest such a scheme, it 
 could n t be done Mallory would n t do it anyhow." 
 
 " It s got to be done," said Colonel von Altdorf 
 from between closed teeth. " I tell you we re in a 
 desperate way. It s playing a trick upon a woman 
 to save her reason. You do n t appreciate the state 
 she s in. It s a desperate game but it s the only 
 one to be played, and your young adventurer 
 yonder is the man to play it. After all it s no such 
 blackguardly thing, and what responsibility there is 
 will be shared amongst us all. If he plays the part 
 it s we who lead him to it. And the lady shall be 
 told the truth so soon as she s able to bear it." 
 
 I took a long breath. 
 
 " It s not to my liking," said I, but I caught 
 young Mallory s eye across the room, and raised a 
 beckoning hand. 
 
 He came over to our table a bit unsteadily, tack 
 ing as before, like a yacht in a heavy sea, and stood 
 with a hand upon the back of a chair, smiling down 
 upon us all, the cheery, confidential smile of intoxi 
 cation save that with him it had a certain per 
 sonal quality, a magnetism, a sort of sweetness. 
 
 " Mallory," said I, " I want to present you to Sir 
 Gavin MacKenzie, and to Colonel von Altdorf of 
 the Novodnian service." Young Mallory bowed
 
 26 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 easily to Sir Gavin and saluted von Altdorf with 
 an instinctive drawing up, a stiffening into military 
 carriage. Then he lurched into a chair and smiled 
 again. 
 
 " A congress o n-nations, gentlemen," said he. 
 " A c-conference o the Powers. Pon my my faith 
 you ll not find four races in four men gathered 
 
 around one table every day. Scotland " He 
 
 beamed groggily upon Sir Gavin. "Hoots mon 
 will ye no dance us a fling ? " 
 
 MacKenzie stiffened in his chair, but I hacked at 
 his shins under the table and he sank back 
 again. 
 
 " England," said young Mallory, and wagged a 
 sorrowful head at me. " Oh, man, had you the 
 sins o your country upon your head this night, it s 
 heavy you d be ! Novodnia may she never go to 
 fatten the white bear s belly ! " There was a fer 
 vent " amen " from von Altdorf. " An old Ire 
 land, God bless her green shores ! What ? a drink 
 did you say, Creighton ? No man can boast he s 
 heard me cry nay to that call. A little wine for 
 me stomach s sake. Egad, t is naught else I ve had 
 for me stomach s sake since the morning. HS 
 garcon, make that wine absinthe, Pernod, man, an 
 look sharp ! I m in need of it." 
 
 " Great Heaven, Mallory ! " said I, " do you 
 mean to say yott ve eaten nothing since morning ? 
 You re drinking on an empty stomach ? Why, it s 
 suicide ! Absinthe, too, and in the evening. Here,
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 27 
 
 garcon, deux sandwiches pour mousier, tout a 
 1 instant ! " 
 
 He fell upon the sandwiches when they came, 
 most ravenously, huge, thick and unpalatable though 
 they were, and never paused until he had finished 
 them. 
 
 The three of us watched him in silence. Then, 
 when he had made an end, he drew himself up 
 with a little sigh of comfort. 
 
 " Bad manners, gentlemen," said he smiling 
 again. He seemed more himself, the food had 
 taken off the edge of his intoxication. " Bad man 
 ners, I grant you but faith, I needed the sand 
 wiches. By some extraordinary mischance I neg 
 lected to lunch or dine. I forget the reason 
 
 Ah yes, t was a poor little devil of a model out of 
 work, who needed the dinner worse than I. An 
 then why then, what with a pair of absinthes on 
 an empty stomach or maybe three I I went off 
 the hook just a wee bit. It may be that I m a 
 trifle screwed, just a trifle, but you 11 not mind 
 t is an accident, not a habit." 
 
 He caught up the tumbler of opalescent, greenish- 
 yellow liquor that stood at his elbow and smiled 
 upon it fondly. 
 
 " My only friend," said he in that wonderful deep 
 tender voice of his upon my word he might have 
 been making love speeches to a sweetheart. 
 
 " The only friend out o them all who s stood by 
 me, good times and bad. You ve never failed me
 
 28 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 yet. Gentlemen, I ve wandered and I ve fought 
 from Caracas to Ladysmith, and from Kartum to 
 Tien Tsin, and I Ve chummed up with more people 
 than I dare say, but on my faith in Heaven if 
 I ve any left there s never a man o them has 
 stuck by me, never a woman but s played me 
 false." He smiled down upon the glinting liquor 
 in the glass. 
 
 " To the green devil, gentlemen," he cried, " the 
 green devil who stands by me, fair weather or foul, 
 who slaps me on the shoulder when I m down on 
 me luck, who takes me by the hand and leads me 
 into paradise when the world s bitterest. To the 
 little green devil who s a great green god may he 
 ever reign ! " 
 
 He tilted the glass till there remained but half 
 its charge, and dropped back in his chair with his 
 chin upon his breast. 
 
 I leaned over the table and laid a hand upon his 
 arm. 
 
 " Mallory," said I, " Mallory ! " and shook the 
 arm gently. "Pull together a bit, man, there s 
 work forward. There s a great game afoot, a 
 risky game, Mallory, a desperate game such as you 
 love. It wants a clear head and a ready tongue, 
 aye, and a ready arm too, maybe in the event of 
 certain contingencies. A bold man s wanted, 
 come, are you with us ? " 
 
 "My only friend," said young Mallory shaking 
 his head sadly. "The little green devil who s a
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 29 
 
 great green god. Aye, a great green god." His 
 voice died away in murmurings, and his eyes saw 
 beyond us, far beyond the Cafe d Alenpon into 
 paradise perhaps. 
 
 I looked at MacKenzie in despair, but MacKenzie 
 was writing upon the back of a visiting card. He 
 beckoned a waiter. 
 
 "The pharmacy at the foot of the Avenue du 
 Maine," said he, " and quickly." 
 
 The distance was short, and the man was back in 
 a few moments with a small vial, red labelled. 
 MacKenzie poured a few drops of the liquid into a 
 wine-glass of water. It sent up a keen and pungent 
 odour as of ammonia. 
 
 "Drink this," said he, setting the glass before 
 young Mallory. And Mallory drank, his eyes still 
 beyond us, far beyond the Cafe d Alenpon. 
 
 But in a moment the eyes returned, narrowed, 
 frowned a bit. He turned to the Scotsman curi 
 ously. 
 
 " Why, t is a queer drink, your liquor, man, un 
 common nasty and I owe you small thanks ; 
 you ve waked me from a most delightful revery." 
 
 He smiled across at me. 
 
 " You spoke of a game, Creighton," he said, " a 
 desperate game. I heard all your words but well 
 the fact is, I was in heaven at the moment, and re 
 turning was not to be thought of. A game, my 
 boy ? Let s hear it. I m none so sure but I m. 
 tired of games. Out with it."
 
 30 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 I glanced at MacKenzie and von Altdorf and 
 they nodded. And then, very briefly and holding 
 his eyes with mine, I told young Mallory all the 
 story of Prince Karl of Novodnia and of the un 
 happy lady who had been made his wife. Once, 
 during the tale, he shoved the wine-glass toward 
 MacKenzie, never taking his eyes from mine, and 
 MacKenzie dropped into it a bit of the pungent 
 fluid from his little vial, filled it up with water and 
 nodded approvingly when the Irishman drank. 
 
 " And so, you see, Mallory," I concluded, " there s 
 but the one thing to be done, a desperate thing 
 maybe, and God knows how it may fall out, but 
 the only thing." 
 
 For a long time after I finished he sat silent, star 
 ing at the wall and chafing his two hands together 
 gently, as they rested upon the table s edge, but he 
 wandered in no reveries this time, he peeped into 
 no heavens led by his great green god. His face 
 seemed to have changed to that of another man, 
 keen, frowning a bit, close-mouthed and thoughtful. 
 
 I saw von Altdorf s eyes glisten excitedly, and 
 even old MacKenzie s face had gained a bit of eager 
 colour. 
 
 " Yes," said young Mallory at last, nodding his 
 head. "Yes, you have the trick. It s the only 
 thing to do, though as you ve said, God knows how 
 it may fall out. It s the only thing an now 
 who s to do it ? " 
 
 " "Why why you, man ! " I cried. " Why, you of
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 31 
 
 course, did n t you understand ? You re the only 
 one could carry it through." 
 
 He stared at me an instant amazedly. 
 
 "I?" said he, "I?" with a little unbelieving 
 laugh. " Come, man, you re joking. You do n t 
 mean it seriously ? /do the thing ? Oh I say ! " 
 and he burst out in a roar of laughter that died 
 away quickly. I could see the swift course of his 
 thoughts as well as if he had spoken them. I could 
 see him picturing the possibilities of the scheme, 
 balancing its risks, gloating over its dangers. It 
 was just the reckless enterprise to take his fancy as 
 I had known before I called him across the room. 
 
 Then all at once his face became puzzled. 
 
 " But but I say ! " he cried, " why did n t one of 
 you go in for the part ? Why did you drag me into 
 it ? "Why not you, Creighton, or you, Colonel von 
 Altdorf ? I do n t quite understand." 
 
 " Why, you see," said I stammering a bit, and 
 turning colour I ve no doubt, "you see I I 
 could n t do it because " but MacKenzie inter 
 rupted me. 
 
 " There are excellent reasons," said he. " No use 
 going into them. You are the man to do it, Mr. 
 Mallory. You re used to deeficult situations an 
 dangers. Let be at that ! Now we 11 make it a 
 business matter. We stand ready to offer you no 
 wait, wait a bit, man ! to offer you one thousand 
 francs a month for your services. That will do 
 away with your havin to follow your regular voca-
 
 32 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 tion, for we could not think of bringin you into the 
 affair, that is none of yours, on other grounds." 
 
 The angry flush died slowly away from young 
 Mallory s face as he considered. 
 
 " Why to be sure," said he thoughtfully, " I ve 
 my living to make, such as it is, and this will let me 
 out of that cursed newspaper work for a bit. A 
 thousand a month forty quid ! why that s luxury. 
 And the checker game again lives and deaths. 
 By the saints, it gives me a genuine thrill. A quick 
 eye and a ready hand and a mind lookin three 
 ways at once. Done, by the gods ! d one, gentle 
 men! I m your man." And he laughed aloud 
 joyously, and put out a hand to MacKenzie over 
 the table. But MacKenzie was busy with the big 
 meerschaum just then. 
 
 As for von Altdorf, he was suddenly engaged in 
 rolling a cigarette which seemed to demand his 
 whole attention. And I oh, I take no pride in 
 telling it now I was doing something wholly un 
 necessary to my cravat. And my cheeks burned 
 red. I was not grown old in such matters like 
 MacKenzie and von Altdorf. 
 
 Young Mallory looked at our faces quickly, in 
 turn, then down at his outstretched hand and up 
 again. He frowned a little, and his eyes were 
 puzzled, hurt like a child s. He drew the hand 
 back to him slowly and touched it with the other 
 as if he thought there must be something wrong 
 with it.
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 33 
 
 " Why gentlemen," he said in a little surprised 
 
 stammering tone, "I I don t under " Then 
 
 all at once he halted and remained silent for a long 
 time. His face flushed crimson and paled again. 
 
 " Ah 1 " said he at last, very low, " I think I see 
 I m the cat s paw ! You would n t do the 
 thing yourselves, it s too low. It s a bit of dirty 
 work that you think no gentleman could bring 
 himself to, so you would n t do it and and you 
 won t take the hand of the man who will do the 
 thing. You were looking for a a blackguard and 
 you chose me ! Good God in heaven ! " 
 
 He dropped his face into his hands for an instant. 
 I think I have never seen such shame, such humilia 
 tion, in any eyes. I could n t bear to meet them. 
 
 " You chose me ? " said he again in a half 
 whisper. " Why it is a rather blackguardly thing to 
 do, is n t it, deceiving a woman ? She d trust us 
 me, utterly, would n t she ? She would n t have a 
 suspicion. She d be happy, I expect, beautifully 
 happy with it all, till till she was told. Oh, it s 
 damnable ! " He caught up the half filled tumbler 
 of absinthe and drained it at a gulp. " Damnable ! " 
 said he a little thickly, " damnable ! " 
 
 Then, after a moment, he began to laugh and 
 his eyes grew heavy and a bit glazed once more. 
 
 It was as if MacKenzie s drug had held him for 
 the few moments and then given way, all in an 
 instant, at the first touch of the drink. 
 
 " Come, come, gentlemen," said he, " we must n t 
 
 3
 
 34 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 quarrel. LIT children love one nother. We ve 
 got work to do among us. You think I m no no 
 gen leman. I do n t care. Gimme my forty quid a 
 month an I 11 do the work." 
 
 He made a sudden frowning effort to pull him 
 self together and turned about to MacKenzie with 
 a certain dignity. 
 
 " You your logic, sir, is a bit beyond me," said 
 he. " If it s blackguardly for me to do the thing, 
 I can t see but it s it s blackguardly in you to 
 countenance it. When do you when do you wish 
 to commence ? " 
 
 " We will commence," said the Scotsman, " at 
 once, to-morrow. Every day s delay is a pressing 
 danger." He looked down at the glasses before 
 him. Even old MacKenzie couldn t meet the 
 Irishman s eyes just then. "As for your your 
 suspicions of our attitude toward you, you re 
 quite wrong of course, of course. We re equally 
 responsible with you in everything. Now listen 
 carefully please. You will be presented to 
 madam e your wife. Your wife, you understand ? 
 by me. You will spend an hour or two of each day 
 with her, at my house or in the garden, as she may 
 prefer. The short interview will be explained to 
 her on the grounds of her weak state and nervous 
 condition. Of course, as a matter of fact, she will 
 neither expect nor wish for more at the present, 
 since you ll meet, ye understan , in a way o* 
 speakin , as strangers. She ll not remember you.
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 35 
 
 When she s well enough and strong enough the 
 whole thing shall be explained to her. My place, 
 in case ye do n t know, is the old convent property 
 with the big garden, between the rue Denfert 
 Kochereau, and the Boulevard Kasfail." 
 
 Young Mallory caught at the edge of the table. 
 
 " What ? " he cried sharply. " What ? Say that 
 again, man ! The big garden that backs upon the 
 rue Boissonade ? " 
 
 " The same," nodded MacKenzie. 
 
 " Great God ! " said the Irishman softly, and his 
 eyes were round and strange. 
 
 "Wait wait! And the the Princess walks 
 sometimes in the garden, tall, very beautiful 
 brown bronze hair ? " 
 
 "Well ?" queried Sir Gavin. 
 
 "Why I I have a sort of studio in the rue 
 Boissonade ! " said young Mallory. It was as if he 
 spoke to himself. 
 
 "I ve seen the Princess. I won t do it!" he 
 cried suddenly. " By Heaven, I m no blackguard, 
 and you sha n t make me one ! I ve done queer 
 things in queer places, and I m not proud of my 
 life or of what I ve done with it, but by my faith, 
 I 11 not play a scurvy trick upon that woman of all 
 people in the world." 
 
 "You ve agreed to do it," said MacKenzie 
 quietly. " And if you do n t do it that woman will 
 very probably go mad in a week s or a fortnight s 
 time."
 
 36 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 Young Mallory s elbows were upon the little 
 table, and his head was between his hands. 
 
 "It s fate," said he in a whisper. "By my 
 soul, it s fate, and none o my doing. Actually to 
 know her, touch her hand, look in her eyes. And 
 God knows how it will all fall out ! I tell you it s 
 fate ! I 11 do your work, sir, never you fear. Here, 
 waiter, an absinthe and look sharp ! " 
 
 MacKenzie put out a protesting hand, but the 
 Irishman turned upon him savagely. 
 
 " Damme, sir ! " he cried, and MacKenzie, no 
 coward if you like, shrank back in his chair. 
 " Damme, sir, you re buying my services for your 
 forty quid a month, not my person nor my soul ! 
 If I choose to take a drink, by my faith I 11 take 
 it ! " He dashed the water in upon the yellow 
 liquor, and gulped it down. Then, in a moment, 
 his chin dropped forward upon his breast and he 
 babbled of little green devils and great green gods 
 and of the sights and sounds of paradise. 
 
 MacKenzie shook his square Scotch head with a 
 sigh. Colonel von Altdorf tugged moodily at his 
 moustaches. There was a crease between his 
 brows. In truth our game seemed but ill opened, 
 and the hand we held a weak one. 
 
 " Come, gentlemen," I cried, in a tone that strove 
 to be cheery, " come, we do no good by sitting late. 
 To our beds, all of us ! Remember to-morrow." 
 I clapped young Mallory upon the shoulder, and he 
 rose with a jerk. He seemed not badly off. He
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 37 
 
 walked with a fair steadiness, and held his tongue, 
 but his eyes were heavy and glazed, the circles 
 under them shockingly black, and the lines about 
 his mouth showed, all at once, haggard and drawn. 
 He turned and spoke to one of the waiters, who 
 brought him, presently, wrapped in a bit of news 
 paper a lump of ice. 
 
 " What, going to keep it up at home, old man ? " 
 I cried. " Oh, I say, remember you ve to-morrow 
 to think of ! " 
 
 "Eh?" said young Mallory turning his sombre 
 eyes upon me, " keep keep what up ? I ve four 
 hours work to do yet, man. I ve three thousand 
 words to get out for my newspaper. The ice is to 
 put in a towel and wrap my head in." 
 
 " But Great Heaven, lad ! " cried MacKenzie. 
 " You ve no need to worry about newspapers now ! 
 Chuck them up. You re provided for." 
 
 Mallory wrapped the bit of paper more closely 
 about his lump of ice, and led the way out to the 
 street. 
 
 "I promised them the thing," said he simply. 
 " You would n t have me break my word ? I think 
 we walk the same way, sir. Are you ready ? " 
 
 Yon Altdorf and I stood under the awning of 
 the terrasse and watched the two up the Boulevard 
 Montparnasse. 
 
 "Wouldn t disappoint his paper because he d 
 given his word," mused von Altdorf. " Going to 
 sit up all night with ice on his head to keep a
 
 38 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 promise and soaked in absinthe from heels to hair ! 
 Oh well, one lives and learns, my friend. Now 
 I should have said that man was impossible out 
 of a story book. One lives and learns." 
 
 " I wish I d shaken hands with him," said I. 
 
 " You 11 wish that more heartily still before the 
 last card s played," said Colonel von Altdorf. 
 " Yonder s a man 1 "
 
 CHAPTEK III 
 
 THE old convent garden by the Boulevard 
 Raspail is a quaint still place of coolness 
 and of odour, of damp, black mold underfoot, 
 mossy with age, of prim, orderly rows of trees and 
 shrubs, of mellow sunshine splashed with shadows, 
 of green isolation, of peace beyond belief ; a walled 
 quiet where the outer world never penetrates. 
 
 There are many such in old Paris, though few, 
 perhaps, so large. They lie asleep behind those 
 high, blank stuccoed walls with spiked tops and a 
 " Defense d Afficher " printed black across them, 
 that you pass in your walks or on top of your toot 
 ing tram. You may see the tops of the great trees 
 peeping over the walls coping, you may catch, if 
 it be springtide, a great whiff of perfume, lilac or 
 chestnut or acacia, borne out to you by some va 
 grant little puff of wind, but the mysteries that lie 
 behind that fifteen feet of stone and plaster you 
 may not solve, save, once in a long time, a tiny 
 postern door set perchance in the high wall may be 
 by accident left ajar. Then you shall see such old 
 world quiet, such ordered peace, such guarded 
 sweetness ! 
 
 The big convent garden is as has been said a 
 triangle, with its apex and a portion of one side
 
 40 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 filled by the former convent buildings. Its sides 
 that lie along the Boulevard Kaspail and the rue 
 Denfert Rochereau are walled to a great height. 
 No eye may spy upon that green seclusion. Its 
 base is the blank, rear wall of the long barrack-like 
 row of studio buildings, two stories high, that face 
 in the rue Boissonade. A blank, rear wall I said. 
 That is not quite true. There is or was one 
 window, a small one, set heaven knows why 
 about ten feet from the ground of the garden below. 
 It belongs to the studio at the end of the long row, 
 at the inner end of the little street, for the rue 
 Boissonade is properly no rue at all, but an impasse. 
 This studio was occupied, at the time of which I 
 write, by young Denis Mallory, ex-soldier of for 
 tune, present writer of descriptive articles for a 
 London weekly paper. 
 
 A quaint still place of coolness and odours. The 
 odours come blended from everywhere, from the 
 black earth, stained green with moss here and 
 there, and always damp as in a cellar from the 
 rows of great lilac bushes that stand along the 
 high street walls when the lilacs are in flower 
 the perfume is well-nigh stupefying from the 
 chestnuts and acacias that stand severely arow up 
 and down the garden, their trunks black and 
 smooth with years ; from the mignonette and little 
 spice pinks and red single roses that fill the round 
 beds at the corners of the walls. There is a gravel 
 walk down through the middle of all, with a border
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 41 
 
 of little whitened stones, and another path that 
 runs around the enclosure under the walls. 
 
 In the very centre is the fountain, of marble. It 
 was white, once, and fine with scrolls and orna 
 mentation, but the marble is stained yellow and 
 green with age, and the carved vines and leaves 
 and fruit are broken. A living vine twists and 
 clings triumphantly where the sculptor s challenged 
 admiration so long ago. Doubtless the new vine 
 is the better one. The carved stone margin of the 
 basin is cracked too and stained, roots have forced 
 their way between the joints, and moss has filled 
 the bottom of the pool, but that doesn t matter 
 so much, for only a gurgling spurt of water trickles 
 down from the fount nowadays. 
 
 Even the marble seats, that stand in a broken 
 circle about the fountain, are stained, cracked and 
 broken, and the sundial, uplifted near by on its 
 pedestal, is hidden in a mass of vines. 
 
 You might sit here all the day long, if you liked, 
 bathing yourself in the yellow sunshine that seems 
 always warm but never hot, or hiding under the 
 cool green shade, breathing in a fragrance exquisite, 
 aromatic, a blended essence of all delightful smells ; 
 and you would be as utterly out of the world, as 
 far away from its noise and hurry and strife as if 
 you were alone in the Hesperides. It would be 
 still, of a stillness unbelievable ! No sounds would 
 reach you from over those high stone walls but the 
 toot of a passing tram, the tinkle of its bell, the
 
 42 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 whistle of a street gamin, the bell from a near-by 
 chapel ; and these made somehow thin and faint as 
 if from a great distance, unreal and alien. 
 
 Ah, it s a good old place 1 A quaint old sweet 
 old place, the great green convent garden by the 
 Boulevard Kaspail ! 
 
 Sir Gavin and young Denis Mallory stood in the 
 grey stone porch, a beautiful old crumbling Gothic 
 porch, of what had been the refectory of the con 
 vent. Young Mallory was a bit haggard from the 
 night before, a bit pale and drawn as to the cheeks, 
 and black as to the eyes, but otherwise quite him 
 self ; an earlier self, one would have said. There 
 was a something of boyishness about him, a some 
 thing of eagerness, a light in the eye ; and his hand 
 was not quite steady. 
 
 " Ye 11 be careful, lad," warned MacKenzie. 
 " Remember always that she s in a nervous state so 
 extreme that it s nigh hysteria. Ye 11 be cau 
 tious." 
 
 " Aye," said young Mallory, impatiently. " Aye, 
 have n t I been coached for two hours ? I m letter 
 perfect." And his eyes strayed down the length of 
 the garden below them. 
 
 MacKenzie heaved a great sigh. 
 
 " God knows," said he, shaking his great head. 
 " God knows. Eh, well, be off with ye, an have it 
 over."
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 43 
 
 Young Mallory went down the gravel path be 
 tween the great chestnut-trees. 
 
 It was one of those unseasonably warm after 
 noons that come sometimes at the end of April or 
 early in May, a heat that forewarns the approach 
 ing summer, that makes the sunshine oppressive, 
 draws the young leaves from their twigs almost 
 while one watches them. 
 
 It had brought the sticky buds of the chestnut 
 into flower all in a day, so that their fragrance, 
 heavy and tropical, mingled with that of the pass 
 ing lilacs, filled all the great high walled garden 
 with scent. It was like a greenhouse. 
 
 Something moved, down among the trees and 
 shrubs beyond the fountain, something red and 
 white, and young Mallory s heart gave a sudden 
 leap. Then in a moment he was before her. 
 
 She faced him, half startled, breathing quickly. 
 She was tall, very tall, and moved regally, like a 
 queen, in her white gown and long crimson cloak. 
 I fancy one saw her eyes first after the majesty of 
 her bearing. They were blue, a clouded purplish 
 blue, like like nothing else in the world, southern 
 seas, maybe, Italian lakes, midnight skies when 
 she was troubled or thoughtful very long, and at 
 times wide, and deep set under straight level brows. 
 She d a slender straight little nose, high bridged, 
 and tip tilted oh the very littlest bit in the world ! 
 She d a mouth all soft curves, drooping at the 
 corners, its upper lip quite absurdly short and curled
 
 44 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 outward, and overhanging greatly the lower one I 
 Her chin it was an English chin, I protest, not an 
 American one was pointed and clean cut and set 
 forward prominently over the loveliest full throat 
 that a sculptor could fancy. And her hair was 
 brown, a waving, crinkly brown, save where the sun 
 fell upon it. There it was red bronze, a living fire. 
 It was parted somewhere at one side, and heaped 
 over her brows, and a great knot of it hung at the 
 back of her neck. Ah, but there are no words for 
 the sumptuous loveliness of her ! for the poise of 
 her beautiful head, for the lithe sway of her round 
 waist. She was slender, I d have you know, slen 
 der of waist, but very broad in the shoulders, as 
 out of door young women sometimes are, deep 
 bosomed and flat backed, pink as a rosy goddess, 
 save when she was ill and suffering. 
 
 She showed her late desperate illness but little, 
 outwardly. She was a bit pale, and her hands and 
 cheeks were thinner than their wont as we learned 
 afterward, but they were so perfectly modelled, 
 so wonderful in line and contour that they suffered 
 for the lack of roundness hardly at all. There were 
 faint dark circles under her eyes too. They showed 
 when she turned her head a bit, and looked away. 
 
 Her head was bent, now, eyes under cover, and 
 the stormy breathing would not be hidden. Young 
 Mallory stood before her quite motionless as for 
 his breathing it had quite ceased long since, but his 
 eyes devoured her, feasted upon every gorgeous line
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 45 
 
 and tint, revelled there. I think that in that 
 moment all his promises and plans, all he had come 
 to the garden to perform, all the plot and deception 
 that had been woven about the girl before him, 
 went in a flash from his mind, and he thought, if 
 his brain acted at all, only of the wonderful beauty 
 and loveliness of her, only that she was cruelly 
 beset by fate, helpless in a net that she might not 
 see ; and that he must free her somehow, if it cost 
 his life to do so. 
 
 They stood so, motionless, not speaking for a long 
 time, till at last young Mallory forced his eyes from 
 her face and held out his hands. 
 
 " Eleanor ! " said he in that deep tender voice of 
 his. " Eleanor ! " No one could resist Mallory 
 when he spoke like that. No one could be afraid 
 or distrustful or cold. Alas, it s a wise provision 
 of Providence that we have n t all such voices. 
 
 The girl raised her head with a little low nervous 
 laugh and put her hands quickly into his. 
 
 " Ah, you ve you ve come at last ! " she cried 
 softly. " It s really you ? " 
 
 She had given him but the swiftest glance when 
 he came down the gravel path toward her, but now 
 her great eyes searched him, wide with a certain 
 breathless eagerness with a certain half frightened, 
 timidity, wondering a little. She searched him 
 through and through. 
 
 Young Mallory drew the two slim hands to 
 gether in his and stroked them gently. There was
 
 46 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 a little steady smile upon his lips. No one could 
 resist Mallory when he smiled like that. No one 
 could be afraid or distrustful or cold. The girl s 
 lips curved to the faintest answering smile, but her 
 eyes never left his. 
 
 " "Well ? " said young Mallory presently, " will I 
 do, Eleanor ? " 
 
 The girl gave another little nervous laugh and 
 drew her hands away. 
 
 " I I m afraid you 11 have to do, won t you ? " 
 said she. " It is n t quite a matter of choice, is it ? " 
 
 " Yes," said young Mallory very gently. " Yes, 
 it is a matter of choice, Eleanor. I m not quite a 
 brute, you know." He had an indistinct notion 
 that this was not playing the game at all as he was 
 supposed to play it. "What if she should take him 
 at his word and send him away ? But he put the 
 notion aside quite calmly. It seemed not to weigh 
 with him at all. 
 
 " Why as for as for that," said the girl looking 
 down again, " I m not disappointed, you know, not 
 a bit. Ah, I m glad you re so big ! " she cried and 
 smiled up at him. " I was afraid you might be 
 little and fat. I hate fat people ! "Why, I have to 
 look up to you, have n t I ? And I m very tall, as 
 tall as a great many of the men I ve known. 
 You re not a bit what I d fancied and made men 
 tal pictures of. Ah, is n t it all wonderful, Karl ? " 
 
 " Karl ? Karl ? " said young Mallory to himself 
 in a puzzled tone. " What does she mean by
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 47 
 
 Oh, of course ! Karl, of course ! Keep your wits 
 about you, you ass ! " 
 
 " I wonder if fate ever played such a strange 
 trick upon a girl before. I wonder why fate chose 
 me ? " She moved slowly over to one of the moss 
 stained marble benches that stood near the foun 
 tain, and sank down upon it. Young Mallory sat 
 near her. 
 
 " It was a cruel trick," she went on, " ingeniously 
 cruel ! Fancy a girl married to a man whom she 
 does n t remember ever to have seen or heard of ! 
 It would be funny, would n t it, if it were n t ter 
 rible?" 
 
 " Terrible ? " smiled Denis Mallory. 
 
 The girl threw out her hand with a deprecating 
 little laugh. 
 
 " Ah, you know what I mean, do n t you ? " she 
 cried. " It is n t you that s terrible, it s the whole 
 affair, the strangeness of it, the pitifulness of it I 
 know I m your wife, Karl, but do n t you see that 
 I can t feel like it ? Do n t you see that you re an 
 utter stranger to me, that whatever I may have 
 known of you cared for you, there at home, it s 
 simply wiped away, made as if it never had been ? 
 You 11 have to be very good to me, Karl, very pa 
 tient and gentle and forbearing. You will have 
 to let me like you care for you, all over again." 
 
 " If that is possible," said young Denis Mallory 
 very low. 
 
 " Why yes yes, of course," said she slowly, " if
 
 48 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 that is possible I think I think it s more 
 
 than possible," said the Princess Eleanor, turning 
 her beautiful head away from him. Then in a mo 
 ment she looked up laughing. 
 
 " Why, I believe you were trying to trap me into 
 saying something pretty to you ! " she cried. " You 
 were fishing ! The idea of your trying to flirt with 
 me!" She regarded him meditatively with her 
 head on one side. 
 
 " I do n t know that I mind being flirted with," 
 said the Princess Eleanor. " Men used to flirt with 
 me lots." 
 
 " Beasts ! " growled young Mallory, and the Prin 
 cess laughed. 
 
 " Tiens, jealous ? " she cried. " Oh, mon Prince ! " 
 and she beat her small hands together delightedly. 
 
 " I m jealous of every man who ever saw you," 
 said young Mallory, and indulged in a wholly hon 
 est and quite portentous scowl. 
 
 " You need n t be," said the girl. She leaned to 
 ward him, a little, on the old stone bench, and put 
 up her two hands upon his shoulders. The great blue 
 eyes searched him as before, through and through. 
 
 "Never mind the other men, Karl," said she. 
 "There s no other man that counts. Upon my 
 faith, there is n t. I m married to you and I shall 
 be true to you always. Only give me time, time 
 to know you better, to care for you as I ought be 
 fore I come to Novodnia with you. You may see 
 me, like this, every day you will, won t you ?
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 49 
 
 Flirt with me, Karl, make love to me, make me care 
 for you. I I think I ve never known any man 
 who could make me care so much as you could. 
 Ah, if I only could tell you how glad I am that 
 you re what you are, big and strong and tender 
 the sort of man a girl loves ! I ve been hideously 
 worried and ill and all that because you didn t 
 come to me sooner. I I thought they were keep 
 ing you from me. Oh, I d all sorts of dreadful sus 
 picions but you re here now, and I m to see you 
 every day, am I not ? You shall see how soon I 11 
 be well and strong once more. Please do n t look 
 so solemn and sad over it. Smile at me again, 
 Karl, you ve the kindest, dearest smile I ever saw. 
 It makes one so comfortable ! It makes one see 
 how tender and true you are and how utterly one 
 may trust you." 
 
 Mallory shrank away from the two clinging 
 hands and the great blue eyes. His face was crim 
 son. 
 
 "Ah, you make me feel a brute, Eleanor!" he 
 cried miserably. " A blackguard ! " 
 
 But the girl laughed. 
 
 " You, a brute ? " said she, " you, a blackguard, 
 Karl ? Do n t be silly why of course I know that 
 a man is n t is n t quite like a girl, you know. He 
 has a rougher life to live. He has to see things 
 and to know about things that a girl never hears 
 of, but a blackguard ? You have n t a black 
 guard s smile, my Prince, nor a blackguard s eyes. 
 
 4
 
 50 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 No, I think I can trust you. The only witness 
 against the prisoner is prejudiced by a most uncom 
 mon modesty. Not Guilty, Sir. That s the ver 
 dict. The jury did n t have even to leave its box." 
 
 She leaned back against the black smooth trunk 
 of a chestnut that stood behind the stone bench, 
 and rested her head there, face upward to the warm 
 sunshine that came flooding through the new leaves 
 and interlaced branches above, bathed her in a 
 golden glory splashed with shadows. Mallory 
 turned his eyes away. 
 
 " Have n t you anything to say to me at all ? " 
 complained the Princess after a time. 
 
 " Eh what ? Oh yes, yes ! " said Mallory pulling 
 himself together with a jerk. He ventured another 
 glance at the upturned face in its flood of mellow 
 sunlight and looked quickly away again. 
 
 " I ve so much to say," he declared, " that I 
 do n t know where to begin and what to tell you 
 first. I want to tell you a great deal about you, 
 what you look like and all that, you know, but I 
 must n t. You said I must begin gently I 11 tell 
 you that to-morrow or next week maybe." 
 
 " You you might forget by that time, ventured 
 the Princess wistfully. " Could n t you begin it 
 now very, very gently, you know. Not that it 
 matters, of course ! " she protested with some haste. 
 " I dare say I look very much like other women 
 do n t I?" 
 
 " No you do n t," said young Mallory, " you know
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 51 
 
 quite well that you do n t. You re the you re the 
 most gor no, I m hanged if I 11 tell not to-day 
 besides, I could n t if I should try." 
 
 " Oh, very well," said the Princess loftily, " if you 
 want to be disagreeable about it, you may. Tell me 
 
 why you did n t come to me sooner. I thought 
 
 Oh I thought all sorts of mad things. They kept 
 
 putting me off from day to day, Dr. Mac , Sir 
 
 Gavin MacKenzie and the others. I could n t fancy 
 what was the matter." 
 
 Mallory took a long breath of relief. This was safer. 
 
 " "Why you see," said he, " the country has been 
 in a shocking state lately and I could n t leave it. 
 My accession brought up a row of old standing, and 
 I d a hard time keeping the throne under me. It s 
 all the fault of those beasts of Pavelovitches. 
 They re, in a way, pretenders to the throne, you 
 know, and they re Pan-Slavists, which means that 
 they re ready to lick the Czar s boots if he crooks 
 his finger. What we want in Novodnia is independ 
 ence, no Russian patronage nor Austrian either. 
 "We ve always been and always must be independ 
 ent like Roumania, or like Bulgaria was before 
 they slaughtered old Stambolof. That s the policy 
 of our house and that s what I ve been struggling 
 to maintain. It s no easy matter. 
 
 "Now that," he continued inwardly, "that is 
 what I call a very excellent and patriotic little 
 speech f or a chap who s never been nearer Novod- 
 nia than Belgrade."
 
 52 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 But the Princess seemed not greatly impressed or 
 even interested. 
 
 " Oh yes," she admitted, " all that sounds very 
 political and desperate and shivery but still I do n t 
 see why you could n t have left your friends to do 
 that for you. Now if / d recently married a girl 
 and she was terribly ill, in danger of her life, in 
 deed, I think I d manage to leave politics for a 
 while and go to her. Of course I do n t know what 
 Pan-Slavists are, and why Bulgaria and Koumania 
 aren t just alike, but it seems to me they might 
 have been civil enough to wait till you could come 
 back." 
 
 " Oh Lord ! " groaned Mallory in despair. " Com 
 mend me to a woman for an appreciation of prac 
 tical affairs ! Politics, Eleanor ? Politics ! Do 
 you think this thing is a New York municipal elec 
 tion ? Do you know what would happen if I were 
 to lose down there? It would be war, war! 
 There d be a small detachment of Kussian troops 
 quietly hustled over the border ; that Pavelovitch 
 swine would be set in my seat and I d be buried 
 with my fathers. You d make an interesting 
 widow, Eleanor." 
 
 But the Princess gave a little cry of alarm and 
 her eyes were very wide and round. 
 
 " Oh, is it so serious as that ? " she demanded. 
 "Ah, forgive me, Karl! I I didn t know I 
 didn t realise what it meant. War? and you 
 killed ? Ah, be careful, Karl, do n t run risks unless
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 53 
 
 you have to. You ve some one else to think of 
 now, you know." 
 
 " Yes, God bless her," said young Mallory. " And 
 I m thinking of her always, Eleanor, but I ve my 
 country to think of first, you know. I must do 
 what I was brought into the world to do, cost what 
 it may. Did you think I stopped down there away 
 from you because I wanted to ? Novodnia comes 
 first, because I m first a ruler a man after 
 ward. 
 
 " Yet this inconstancy is such, " he quoted, 
 laughing a little, " As thou too shalt adore. I 
 could not love thee, dear, so much, loved I not 
 
 loved I " And he paused, stammering, and 
 
 turned his face away with a sudden fierce passion 
 of hatred for all this contemptible deception, storm 
 ing within him. 
 
 " Loved I not honour more, " said the Prin 
 cess Eleanor softly. " Ah, that s like you, Karl ! 
 Loved I not honour more. Honour s first, is n t 
 it? I d not hold you back when honour called 
 you. I d not even wish you back, for I know that 
 your honour is the dearest thing in the world to 
 you you re that sort of man, thank God. You d 
 never fail in a duty, nor take an unfair advantage 
 nor play a man or a woman a low trick. See how 
 much I ve learned of you in an hour, my Prince ! " 
 
 But young Mallory sprang to his feet, teeth and 
 hands clenched. 
 
 " By my faith, Eleanor ! " he cried in an agony,
 
 54 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 " I won t let you think such things of me ! I won t 
 have you so impos " 
 
 " Karl ! " said the Princess Eleanor, and young 
 Mallory bit his words in two. She rose to her feet 
 and came around to face him, putting a hand upon 
 his breast. 
 
 Her great eyes met his, clouded a little, anxious 
 and pained, full for an instant of a trembling doubt, 
 but she shook her head, smiling confidently into 
 his face, and dropped the hand by her side. 
 
 " Do n t frighten me, Karl," she said. " I I m 
 not quite strong enough yet, you know, and my 
 nerves have a nasty way of giving out at times. 
 It s like you to think poorly of yourself, but 
 don t think too poorly, for that s as bad as the 
 other extreme. Come and take a little walk, rnon 
 Prince ; I m cold, just the least bit, from sitting 
 still. "We 11 walk around the gravel path under the 
 walls." 
 
 Mallory shook his head as if he would free him 
 self from some load that was there, and squared his 
 shoulders. 
 
 " Forgive me, Eleanor," said he. " Did I startle 
 you ? I must n t do that, must I ? For you re not 
 well yet, not by a good deal. That makes a great 
 difference, does n t it ? " He spoke somehow as if 
 he were arguing with himself. " Come, we 11 
 walk. We shall have a carpet of lilac blossoms to 
 walk over instead of gravel. See how fast they 
 are falling ! "
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 55 
 
 Indeed, as they walked, they walked in a rain of 
 tiny lavender blossoms. A puff of breeze from over 
 the wall s coping, the touch of an elbow to a 
 slender branch, brought a fragrant shower. 
 
 "My hair is loaded with petals," cried the 
 Princess Eleanor. "It s like confetti on Mi 
 Carme. Brush them out, Karl." She bent her 
 head to him with a sudden little gesture like a child 
 having its hair done. Indeed, despite her height 
 and regal bearing, she was full of little unexpected 
 childish tricks, infinitely dear. 
 
 Mallory s fingers did their bidding but ill. They 
 lingered in the soft bronze waves, touched them 
 caressingly, but trembled there, helpless. And he 
 drew his hands away with a quick exclamation. 
 
 Ah, Eleanor ! " he cried, " I I can t ! " 
 
 The Princess moved past him quickly, her head 
 still bent very low. When he came up behind her, 
 her cheeks were flaming. 
 
 They passed under the one little window in the 
 wall, at the base of the garden, the window in 
 Mallory s studio. He glanced up at it instinctively. 
 Eager faces gleamed through the parting of the 
 curtains, arms waved, fingers beckoned. 
 
 "What the deuce is up?" wondered young 
 Mallory. 
 
 Then aloud, 
 
 " MacKenzie said I was to keep you out but a 
 little while to-day, Eleanor; I suppose you ought 
 to be going in. It s growing a bit cooler. We
 
 56 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 mustn t forget that you re not strong, must 
 we?" 
 
 "Ah, no," said she, "we mustn t forget that 
 though I shall be strong as ever, soon. Yes, I 
 suppose I must go in. Will you come to the door 
 with me, Karl ? Oh, has n t it been a beautiful 
 day ! And is n t our garden perfect ! You 11 come 
 to-morrow, won t you ? I I shall be waiting for 
 you. Why, here s Jess ! My Cousin Jessica, you 
 know of course you do know, though. You must 
 
 have met her at Newport at our our Oh, 
 
 Karl, Karl, our wedding ! " 
 
 The dark haired young girl, waiting under the 
 grey Gothic porch, gave Mallory her hand, and said, 
 " Oh yes, of course, they had met at Newport," but 
 she looked into his eyes very gravely, questioningly, 
 as if she would measure him. 
 
 " She knows," said Mallory to himself. " She s 
 in it too, then." The girl moved close to his side 
 as the Princess passed up the steps. 
 
 " They re waiting for you in your rooms," she 
 whispered. " Go there at once ! " 
 
 Mallory went quickly down through the garden 
 and stood again under the window. MacKenzie, 
 von Altdorf and I were waiting above, and I 
 reached out an arm to pull him up to the ledge. 
 Then the four of us sat down about the room and 
 stared into one anothers faces. Three of us, I 
 know, were very pale and a bit breathless. Young 
 Mallory looked tired, worn, as if he had been
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 57 
 
 through some great strain, and had come into its 
 consequent relaxation. He seemed not particularly 
 to notice our excitement or indeed our presence. 
 
 MacKenzie made a motion of his hand to Colonel 
 von Altdorf and that gentleman turned to young 
 Mallory. 
 
 " Now, God help us all, Mr. Mallory," said he, 
 " for Prince Karl has Heaven knows how eluded 
 his officers and gentlemen and is on his way to 
 Paris do you hear, man ? The Prince ia on his 
 way to Paris ! "
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 " Jl H ? " said young Mallory absently. I sup- 
 
 Zjk pose he had heard the words, but upon my 
 
 JL JL faith I do n t believe they had conveyed to 
 
 his mind anything at all. He rose from the broad 
 
 divan where he had been sitting, and moved over to 
 
 the little turkish table littered with pipes and 
 
 cigarette boxes and tins of tobacco, and he chose a 
 
 battered old briar which he filled and lighted with 
 
 great deliberation. 
 
 "Look you, gentlemen," said he facing us at last, 
 pipe in hand, " before this this enterprise of ours 
 goes any further, I wish to correct the footing upon 
 which we upon which I stand. Last evening I 
 agreed to do my part for a money consideration. 
 I didn t realise as well as I do now, what the 
 thing implied. I was even intoxicated. I wish 
 you clearly to understand that there is to be no 
 question of money between us. God knows the 
 trick we play is low enough without soiling it 
 further. I play my hand in it because it seems to 
 me there is nothing else to be done. The trick 
 must be played but let there be no money about 
 it." 
 
 I caught von Altdorf s eyes searching for mine. 
 They were very bright and he nodded his head and
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 59 
 
 smiled. I thought of his words of the night before, 
 under the awning of the Cafe d Alenpon, when I 
 had said that I wished I d shaken hands with Mal- 
 lory. " You 11 wish that more heartily still before 
 the last card s played. Yonder s a man." 
 
 But our immediate and pressing danger made 
 everything else seem of little moment. 
 
 " Aye, aye, lad ! " cried old MacKenzie, impa 
 tiently. " As ye like ! But God in Heaven, have 
 ye not heard ? The Prince is comin to Paris and 
 can t be stopped ! " 
 
 Young Mallory dropped suddenly into a chair 
 and his teeth shut with a click. All his face seemed 
 to sharpen, whiten, grow in an instant fierce and 
 ready. 
 
 " The Prince coming to Paris ? " he said in a 
 slow whisper. The first white fierceness of his 
 *ace passed, the animal at bay and ready to fight, 
 and he seemed to be thinking deeply. I learnt to 
 know that pose later on, body sprawled out over 
 the chair, knees apart, hands clasping and relaxing, 
 chin on breast, and those deep eyes of his wide and 
 staring out into vacancy under level brows. 
 
 But presently his lips twitched and curved from 
 their hard line into a smile, and he sprang to his 
 feet, laughing as if something amused him beyond 
 words. By my faith there was little humour that 
 the rest of us could see in the situation. 
 
 " Why, now ! " he cried, laughing still, " why 
 that s more like it ! Now it s to be a game, by
 
 60 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 Heaven ! not just deceiving a helpless girl." He 
 looked about the circle of our glum faces and burst 
 into a roar of laughter, stretching his arms up over 
 his head as if he saw the struggle before him and 
 gloried in it. 
 
 " Like old times, by Jove ! " he cried. " Aye, 
 it s to be a game ! A game worth playing. Come, 
 come, gentlemen, have you all lost your last dear 
 relative on earth ? Buck up, buck up 1 " He 
 clapped von Altdorf upon the shoulder gaily. 
 
 " Come, Colonel," said he, " you in the mourning 
 party too ? Faith, it s a funeral ! Come, have we 
 two sat at our ease before the fire all our lives that 
 we should turn pale and groan over a danger ? 
 Leave that to our friend the Birthday Knight and 
 the light o society here. What have we fought 
 and schemed and plotted for all our lives, Colonel, 
 if we re to lie down at the first hint of difficulty ? 
 Think of it ! A game to play ! We ve played be 
 fore, eh Colonel ? Man, man, does n t it make your 
 blood tingle ? Where s your spirit ? " 
 
 He stuck the old briar pipe in one corner of his 
 mouth and puffed great clouds from it. His face 
 beamed through the smoke. His eyes were wide 
 and joyous. I d never seen them quite the same. 
 
 And, as I live, there was von Altdorf on his feet 
 too, tugging at his grizzled moustache, as was his 
 way when excited. His eyes twinkled and he put 
 out his hands upon young Mallory s shoulders and 
 shook him gently.
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 61 
 
 " Aye," said he. " Aye, I ve fought and schemed 
 a bit in my time, and I ve a drop of blood left to 
 jump on occasion. Aye, we ve played before, we 
 two. I wish we d played together, for by my faith 
 in God you re a man after my own heart. Let 
 Karl come if he likes ! Saints above ! His wife 
 sha n t see him till she s able, if I have to carry 
 him back to Novodnia under my arm ! " 
 
 Old MacKenzie scowled and twisted in his chair. 
 
 " That s all very well, ye two blood-thirsty con- 
 speerators," said he. " But what s to be done ? 
 When ye re through with your heroics maybe ye 11 
 condescend to look at the danger we re in." 
 
 As for me I held a sulky silence. I had n t rel 
 ished being called a light of society. 
 
 Mallory dropped into a chair and shook his head 
 at the Scotsman with a humorous sigh. 
 
 " You ve no blood in your body, man," said he, 
 " though I m not denying that you ve sense in your 
 head. And now to business ! "Will the Prince 
 come alone or shall we have a half dozen to deal 
 with?" 
 
 " Oh, he 11 come alone," said von Altdorf. 
 " Never you fear though, for all that, it would n t 
 surprise me if half a dozen should follow to spy out 
 what he s doing." 
 
 " And they 11 be ? " queried Mallory. 
 
 " They 11 be enemies, Eussian jackals, the Czar s 
 playthings, damn them ! " snarled von Altdorf, 
 " only waiting their chance to seat their George
 
 where Prince Karl sits now or should be sit 
 ting. God s name ! he s mad to leave the country 
 at such a time, mad ! " 
 
 " He s mad for love of his wife," said I, " and 
 who s to blame him ? Have n t we all seen her ? 
 "Wouldn t any one of us leave a throne for 
 her ? " 
 
 Von Altdorf struck his knee a resounding 
 thwack. 
 
 " Love ! " he cried. " Love ! Shall love stand be 
 fore the welfare of a nation, man ? Shall love 
 wreck a state ? Is there no such thing as a ruler s 
 honour and duty ? I say he s mad to come here ! 
 God knows I m full enough of pity for the loveliest 
 woman I ever saw, but I serve the Novodnian 
 crown, and I d serve it ill to countenance Prince 
 Karl s leaving his throne for a woman who can 
 never sit by his side there." 
 
 " Yet she s his Princess, right enough," said I 
 stubbornly. 
 
 " She s his wife," said von Altdorf. " Princess 
 by courtesy, if you like. Yet another Princess 
 there must be in time, as you know, or the crown 
 goes to that swine George and his litter." 
 
 " But what s to happen eventually ? " I per 
 sisted. " We re curing a present ill or trying to, 
 but what s to happen when Madame, here, regains 
 her health and is told the trick we ve played upon 
 her ? She 11 be the Prince s wife still." 
 
 Von Altdorf threw up his hands.
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 63 
 
 " God knows," said he. " It s out of our hands. 
 We can t see beyond our present business. There 
 might be a divorce arranged even against the 
 Prince s will. Madame might be brought to see 
 the necessity of it. Or it s just possible that she 
 might be ennobled though that s almost out of the 
 question. Do n t worry us, man. The future s the 
 future, and its problems have n t to be met till to 
 morrow. To-day s dangers are enough to busy our 
 hands. Heaven knows it would have been simpler 
 if Madame had never recovered from her hurts, 
 though I ve no heart for saying it. What s before 
 us now, is to keep the Prince from seeing her, for 
 both their sakes and to get him back to Novodnia 
 as soon as ever we may." 
 
 Mallory had been smoking and listening, eyes 
 half closed, and a thoughtful crease between his 
 brows. 
 
 " When did you receive the message saying that 
 he d left Novodnia ? " he asked. 
 
 " An hour ago," said von Altdorf. " It was sent 
 last night, via Belgrade, of course. If he comes 
 through without stopping and that s what he ll 
 do right enough he will be here in three days 
 travel. To-day s Tuesday, isn t it? He started 
 yesterday afternoon. He should reach Paris Thurs 
 day. He 11 probably come at once to my appart- 
 ment in the Avenue de 1 Observatoire. We ve still 
 two days to make ready, you see." 
 
 " It would n t do, I suppose," suggested Mallory,
 
 64 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 " to tell him that the Princess has gone back to 
 America ? He would n t believe it, eh ? " 
 
 Yon Altdorf shook his head. 
 
 "That wouldn t do at all he d know better. 
 He s had semi- weekly reports right along from 
 MacKenzie. He knows she s here in MacKenzie s 
 care. Besides, if he were really convinced that 
 she d gone to America, upon my word I believe 
 he d be off there himself. You don t know the 
 Prince. When he sets his mind upon a thing he s 
 apt to get it." 
 
 " He won t get this," said young Mallory shortly 
 and his teeth shut again with a click. " Ah well, I 
 see nothing for it but simply to refuse to let him 
 see her, to tell him she s in too dangerous a state 
 to risk a shock. It s a poor excuse and a bold one, 
 but, curse it, he s got to swallow what we Ve a 
 mind to tell him. Perhaps some better plan will 
 turn up meanwhile. We must trust something to 
 
 the cards as they re dealt Egad, we might do 
 
 worse than to kidnap him and ship him back to 
 Novodnia, as von Altdorf here, says, under some 
 body s arm." 
 
 MacKenzie grunted. 
 
 " I observe," said he sourly, " a certain lack o 
 timeedity about you, lad. Boldness is all well 
 enough, but man, man, descretion s the better part 
 o valour. Look before ye leap or ye may land in 
 the pit." 
 
 " God s grace, MacKenzie ! " cried young Mallory
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 65 
 
 with a laugh. " T is the pit we re in now and some 
 great leaping it s going to take to win out o the 
 same. You can t see the ground about, when 
 you re in a pit, MacKenzie, you can only leap, by 
 the grace o God, and trust to your luck as to where 
 
 you land Ah well ! enough of that. What s 
 
 to do now ? Nothing but wait, I take it. Shall we 
 meet here to-morrow at this time ? I ve an en 
 gagement by your leave with Madame the Prin 
 cess in the garden at three. And now I m for my 
 dinner. Faith, how conspiracy whets a man s 
 appetite ! "Who s with me ? " 
 " I m with you," said I. 
 
 5
 
 OHAPTEK V 
 
 WE walked over to the Boulevard St. 
 Michel it was on the edge of dark, and 
 the streets were full of home-coming 
 labourers and students and shop girls and turned 
 down that wicked and happy thoroughfare past the 
 darkened portals of the Bal Bullier, down to where 
 the cafe s shone resplendent with their brilliantly 
 lighted terrasses, and where one had to elbow one s 
 way through a packed throng of swaggering stu 
 dents and ladies of a pronounced and friendly 
 bearing. 
 
 The good old Boul Miche ! your pardon ! I 
 would say the bad old BouP Miche ! How it 
 comes up before me now, though I like to pretend 
 that I m grown old and discreet and very respecta 
 ble, and done with such follies. How it comes up 
 before me, if only I shut my eyes and forget that 
 I m just round the corner from Piccadilly, lapped 
 in the chastened sobriety of London that I m go 
 ing out to dine presently at my club with a curate 
 
 and two barristers Lights and chatter and the 
 
 clink of glasses upon little round iron tables, dusk 
 growing to darkness out beyond in the street, the 
 clatter of hooves that strike fire from the paving
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 67 
 
 stones, a huge, ungainly steam tram that puffs and 
 pants its way up the hill, a whiff of perfume from 
 the trees that line the curb, a never-ending throng 
 of students crowding past, etudiants and etudiantes, 
 bearded students and mustachioed students, old style 
 students with long beards and capes and soft hats, 
 smoking their queer ugly pipes vieux Jacobs 
 and smarter, newer style students with shining hats 
 and padded frock coats, smoking cigarettes ; Jews, 
 Germans, Kussians, Greeks, Negroes, doctors, law 
 yers, merchants, thieves and ladies with pompa 
 dours and a ready smile. That is the Boul Miche ! 
 There s no care there, nor worry nor thought for 
 the morrow. C est pas trop serieux, voyez vous, 
 the old Boul Miche ! Cares have been left in the 
 lecture room or atelier or lodging. One drops them 
 with a shake the moment one steps into the gay 
 street. One digs one s hands into one s pockets, 
 one puffs a devil-may-care cloud to the glooming 
 skies, and moves with an unconscious swagger 
 toward one s favourite terrasse, the Pantheon, or the 
 d Harcourt (alas!) or the Source, and there one 
 settles into a chair behind a tiny table and orders 
 one s absinthe, Pernod or Cusenier, one s Turin 
 bitter, one s sirop a 1 eau de Seltz, one s vermouth 
 sec, and lingers over it through the " green hour " 
 listening contentedly to the chatter about one, to 
 the calling of names, Fifines and Saras and Maries 
 and Colettes ; Georges and Alphonses and Eduards ; 
 to the desperate cries of overworked waiters who
 
 68 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 struggle beneath trays of glasses or hold five bot 
 tles by the necks with one set of fingers. 
 
 "Via M sieur! v la, v la!" to an importunate 
 customer, " versez, versee ez 1 " to the " omnibus " 
 who pours the coffee into the glass they have 
 banged down before you. 
 
 Then, later, when one has drained the last drop 
 of one s aperatif and paid one s seven or eight sous, 
 one rises lazily and makes one s way arm in arm 
 with Georges or Eduard or, alas ! Fifine or Colette, 
 to one s favourite restaurant ; "Wiber s, where the 
 Chateaubriands are so thick and juicy, and the 
 Burgundy that Chambertin at four francs the 
 pint so rich, or across the street to Boulant s, or 
 down to the little Duval, or even over the river to 
 the Palais Koyal arcades, to Larue s, to Marguery s, 
 to a dozen delightful places. 
 
 And after dinner, why it s all to do over again, 
 the sitting at a terrasse under the big awning, 
 though over a coffee and a liqueur this time, till, if 
 it be a Sunday or a Thursday or a Saturday night, 
 one must rise, toward ten o clock, and move with 
 the throng up the hill far up past the lighted cafes, 
 to the Place where Marechal Ney waves his sword 
 on high, and where the great sculptured arch stands 
 over the portal to the Bal Bullier ; then under the 
 arch and down upon the great polished floor where 
 Fifine and Colette will pull at your coat lapels and 
 beg you to waltz with them, a 1 Americain. 
 
 Ah, the good old Boul Miche ! your pardon ! I
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 69 
 
 would say the bad old Boul Miche ! It brings a 
 rakish gleam to the eyes, a ribald flush to the cheek, 
 of a certain sedate and Britishly respectable old 
 codger who s engaged to dine, later on, with a 
 curate and two barristers. Helas ! he d rather dine 
 at Wiber s with Fifine or Colette but he would n t 
 admit it to the curate. 
 
 "We stopped, Mallory and I, at the Cafe du Pan 
 theon and after some trouble found a vacant table 
 on the crowded terrasse. Quite half the people at 
 the tables seemed to know Denis Mallory and 
 hailed him vociferously with outstretched hands or 
 raised glasses. "St. Denis" they called him I 
 
 grievously fear it was in irony Oh, well, there 
 
 were quite enough of them, dear old vagabonds, 
 who knew me as well, and had a pet name for me 
 too. I may n t cavil at Mallory. 
 
 He took absinthe, Pernod, in spite of my frown. 
 I remember that he even spoke sharply to the 
 waiter for pouring him, as he thought, too small an 
 allowance. It made me curse, to see him gulp 
 down the half of it without lowering his glass. 
 
 "We went on, later, down to Boulant s because 
 you may find no such cancales on the Boulevard as 
 at Boulant s where that majestic personage, the 
 Dame du Comptoir, had a welcoming smile for us, 
 and for Mallory a rallying jest. We mounted to 
 one of the smaller rooms, au premier, and took a 
 table in the corner. Mallory s greeting to the
 
 70 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 pleasing young person in the red hair and white 
 apron who put the carte before us, bespoke an ac 
 quaintance of a certain intimacy. And we ordered 
 a great many cancales, those queer, yellow oysters 
 that look like clams and taste like seaweed and 
 copper one grows tremendously keen on them, 
 and a filet mignon all smothered in sauce bearnaise, 
 and some flageolets, maitre d hotel my word, I can 
 taste them now and a wonderful crisp salad of let 
 tuce and chicory, with cheese to come after, Pont 
 PEveque, and coffee, and for wine, a certain strange 
 and delicious vin gris de Touraine of 82. I had to 
 quarrel with Mallory over this. He wanted an 
 atrociously heavy and potent Spanish Pajarete of 
 75, a veritable syrop, for which Boulant s is 
 famous. 
 
 He was curiously quiet during the meal, frown 
 ing and distrait. Nothing could rouse him, neither 
 the superexcellence of the filet mignon nor my 
 attempts at wit. He drank his vin gris de Touraine 
 as if it were rouge ordinaire at fifty centimes the 
 litre, never sniffed its exquisite bouquet nor closed 
 his eyes in content over its keen flavour. Something 
 seemed weighing upon him, depressing him beyond 
 hope of recall. 
 
 " Come, come, man ! " said I in despair, " I ve 
 asked you a question twice and you ve stared 
 through me. What s got into you ? An hour ago 
 you were gay enough, Lord knows ! Come, wake 
 up, tell us your troubles."
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 71 
 
 Mallory pulled himself together with a little 
 shivering jerk. 
 
 " Some one walking over my grave ! " he mut 
 tered. " Eh, lad ? eh ? Aye, I m a bit blue. The 
 devils have me, papillons noirs 1 I ve been seeing 
 things." 
 
 " Now, by heaven," said I, " if you d just see us 
 a way out of our troubles, while you re at it, it 
 would be jolly worth while. Just see us a way to 
 win our game, will you ? " 
 
 " Win ? " said Mallory in his low, dull voice. 
 " Aye, we 11 win, right enough. Never fear that, 
 we ll win. We, say I? You ll win, Creighton, 
 man, the rest of you, not I, by my soul ! I never 
 win, I ve no luck. You 11 win, but I 11 lose." 
 
 And to that I found nothing to reply, for as I 
 live, I saw nothing that Denis Mallory might win 
 from the game. If he won his hand t was for the 
 Prince, not himself and I d not seen Mallory s 
 face down there in the garden with Madame, for 
 nothing, nor when he was told that Karl was on 
 his way to Paris. 
 
 " I never win," said he hopelessly, fingering the 
 little cheese knife that lay by his plate, and mark 
 ing with it upon the white cloth. 
 
 " I play my hand, I fight my battle or plot my 
 scheme and some other man takes the prize. I Ve 
 no luck. Look you ! You know what I ve done, 
 why am I not rich ? Why is n t my coat covered 
 with fool little jewelled crosses? I ve won for-
 
 72 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 tunes for other men and orders for their breasts, 
 but no fortune for my pocket and no ribbons for 
 my buttonhole. No, I ve no luck." 
 
 " Oh, as for that," said I, still trying to cheer him 
 up, " what are any of us to win out of this busi 
 ness ? We re in it, just as you are, to save a 
 woman, to try a fall with Fate. There s no ques 
 tion of our getting anything out of it." 
 
 But he would n t be drawn. 
 
 " I never win," he muttered absently, still mark 
 ing with the little knife upon the cloth. " What s 
 the use of playing ? " 
 
 " Why none ! " said I in a cheery tone. " None 
 at all ! Let s chuck it up ! It s a sorry business, 
 let it take care of itself, chuck it up, man, chuck it 
 up!" 
 
 That drew him at last. 
 
 " Chuck it up ? " he cried savagely. " Not while 
 I ve the use of my arms and legs ! Are you mad, 
 Creighton ? Chuck it up ? Great God in Heaven ! 
 
 if I thought you meant that Ah, come, come, 
 
 say you re joking, old chap. Do n t give me a turn 
 like that, do n t mind me if I talk nonsense, I m 
 down on my luck. Let s get away from this place. 
 Have you finished? My faith, I ve a millstone 
 about my neck ! " 
 
 " Where to now ? " I asked out in the street. 
 
 " Home ! " said Mallory, " and come you with me, 
 I ve no taste for cafe s to-night." 
 
 We walked all the way to the rue Boissonade in
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 73 
 
 silence. Mallory, it was quite plain, was in no mood 
 for talk, and I d no mind to disturb him. 
 
 They are quaint little studios, this row in the 
 rue Boissonade. They sit back from the narrow 
 street behind plots of grass and shrubbery, the 
 whole shut in by high iron palings at the street 
 side. They rise but two stories, gabled and pic 
 turesque, and the tiny loge of the concierge sits 
 protect] ngly out to the fore by the common gate in 
 the palings like an officer before his file of men. 
 The studio that Mallory occupied he had taken, 
 furnished^ for a term of months from some man 
 who was away in Algiers on a sketching tour. It 
 was the ground floor, a little place hung about with 
 Eastern draperies and altar cloths and such, and 
 with the most amazing assortment of weapons 
 these of Mallory s contribution that ranged from 
 a Moorish rifle, some eight feet long, to several 
 pairs of very serviceable foils and epees de combat, 
 some sharpened, some with buttons. There was a 
 divan under the great north light, a big steamer 
 chair of osier, and numberless decorative artistic 
 and highly uncomfortable benches, chairs and stools 
 of carved wood. 
 
 Mallory made some lights and then dropped 
 down upon the big divan with a sigh of weariness. 
 
 " I m good company, eh Creighton, old chap ? " 
 said he. 
 
 " You re dashed poor company ! " said I frankly. 
 "What s got into you, man? Can t you tell a
 
 74 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 chap? I ve never seen you like this. Out with 
 itl open confession s good for the soul or some 
 thing like that. It says so in the books." 
 
 " Confession ? " sneered Mallory between the 
 hands that held his head. " Confession, say you ? 
 Egad, should I start in confessing you d die 
 of horror moreover twould take a week s time. 
 No, no, lad, I 11 not make you a father con 
 fessor." 
 
 And then, though I did n t know how he d take 
 it, and was ready for a burst of rage, I went over 
 and laid a hand on his bowed shoulder. 
 
 " Denis, old chap," said I, " I think I know how 
 the land lies, and God knows I m well I m sorry. 
 It could n t be foreseen. It s nobody s fault, but 
 it s none the less cruel for all that. Love s a queer 
 thing, Denis. It won t be bidden nor it won t be 
 coaxed. You may look for it a year and never find 
 it, or, by the Lord, it may run fair into you when 
 you turn the corner. Kill it, old chap, kill it I You 
 must, or by heaven where shall we all be in a fort 
 night s time ? Kill it ! You ve fought before, aye, 
 and won too. You ve got to win this time for all 
 our sakes." 
 
 But he sprang to his feet past me and moved up 
 and down the room, his lips tight and his hands 
 strained to fists. 
 
 " And what if I do n t ? " he cried. " What if I 
 fight for myself this time ? What if I chuck the 
 rest of you over ? Have n t I been fighting for
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 75 
 
 some other man all my life ? What if I fight for 
 myself this time ? " 
 
 He paused an instant with one hand on the wri 
 ting table that stood near, and his face changed, 
 softened and smiled a bit under its frown. His eyes 
 were wide and very far away. 
 
 " Fight for myself, and win ? Aye, lad, I be 
 lieve I d win win. Think of it, think of it! 
 Great God Almighty, what a life to come ! " His 
 voice strained and broke and he took up his march 
 again through the room back and forth, his hands 
 pressed over his face. 
 
 " I tell you, you can t know what I went through 
 to-day in that garden yonder, playing the lowest, 
 scurviest trick that ever was planned, upon the 
 loveliest woman on God s wide earth ! She s the 
 one woman in all the world I could have loved for 
 a lifetime, slaved for, starved for, worshipped as 
 I ve never worshipped my Maker ! And there 
 was I, lying to her, fast as my tongue could wag, 
 telling her that it was honour kept me from her till 
 now, honour, mind you, honour ! "Why I d sold my 
 last shreds of honour the night past for forty pound 
 a month, sold myself to lie to her ! What s to keep 
 me, I say, from playing out the lie further than 
 you d planned when you bought me ? You ve left 
 me no self-respect, what s to keep me from chuck 
 ing you over ? " 
 
 " Honour, Denis," said I, " that same honour that 
 you never sold us, for no money has passed you
 
 76 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 refused it this very day the faith of a gentle 
 man." 
 
 " Gentleman, bah ! " he cried, " a gentleman you 
 would n t give your hand to, last night, a gentleman 
 good for nothing, a gentleman with an ill name, 
 with a misspent youth behind him, a gentleman you 
 picked at once to do a blackguardly trick for hire I 
 What am I, to shy at scruples ? " 
 
 " Yet you 11 shy at them," said I. 
 
 He went to the little window at the rear of the 
 studio, and let up the shade, and pushed out the swing 
 ing shutters. A cool breath of chestnut and lilac 
 came up out of the gulf of darkness where the great 
 trees stood arow, their tops laced against a star 
 lit sky. Light shone yellow from the upper windows 
 of the old convent beyond. The sound of a piano 
 came very faintly down through the garden. 
 
 " She s there where one of those lights shines," 
 said Mallory in a half whisper. "My lady s 
 there, God keep her, God bring her sweet 
 sleep ! " 
 
 He stood for a long time staring into the dark, 
 ness, till I rose and moved about the room, filling 
 and lighting a pipe and making myself comfortable. 
 I think he had quite forgotten that I was there. 
 Then at last he closed the shutters with a long 
 sigh, and turned back into the room. His face was 
 drawn and haggard. He stood a moment, ir 
 resolute, and then moved over to a cupboard in the 
 wall, from which he took a bottle and some glasses
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 77 
 
 and a carafe of water. It was an absinthe bottle, 
 Pernod. 
 
 " Oh, I say, Denis," I cried. " Not that ! You 
 can t afford to fuddle your brain now. Think what 
 we ve to do in the next few days. Think of to 
 morrow, man ! Besides, absinthe s no evening drink 
 anyhow, it s an aperatif. Go easy ! " 
 
 He poured out the liquor till the glass was half 
 full, and added the water, but he gave me a quick 
 side glance that said, " no interfering." 
 
 ""Who are you, lad, to teach me the uses of 
 Pernod?" said he, and drank. "The milk and 
 water invalids who drink for an appetite don t 
 know their drink. Eh, but I do, I do ! It s the 
 golden drink that charms away troubles. It s the 
 cup o life to lift a man out of pain ! " He swal 
 lowed the remainder of the glass quickly and filled 
 another. 
 
 "Eh, look at it, look at it!" he cried, 
 fondly, turning goblet before his eyes, "molten 
 opals, liquid fire! Saw ye ever such colour, 
 lad?" 
 
 It was strange, how, as his tongue loosened, a 
 faint brogue came to it, an Irish roll of which he d 
 scarcely a trace, sober. 
 
 " To-morrow, say you, Bobbie ? 
 
 " Ah, me beloved, fill the cup that clears 
 To-day of past Regrets an future Fears : 
 To-morrow ! Why To-morrow I may be 
 Myself with Yesterday s Sev n thousand years."
 
 78 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 He filled another glass and his eyes brightened. 
 
 "Me little green devil that s a great green 
 god ! " said he, as if the shimmering liquor heard his 
 voice. " Me little green devil that s a great green 
 god, take me to paradise lose me past regrets an 
 future fears. I m weary o problems an fightin , 
 an heartache. Unravel me the Master-Knot o 
 Human Fate, little green devil ! Find me the key 
 to the door. I m weary o searching. 
 
 " Heav n but the vision o fulfilled Desire, 
 And Hell the Shadow from a soul on fire ! 
 
 Show me the vision, little green devil, to cool me 
 bones, for I ve been in hell with a soul on fire." 
 He dropped his face into his hands upon the table 
 and his shoulders heaved. 
 
 " In hell have I been for five years, little green 
 devil," he muttered, " with a soul on fire and 
 never a hand to pull me up plenty of arms to push 
 me down, round arms, white arms, soft arms but 
 never a hand to pull me out till now ! An now 
 t is a hand I may n t take. 
 
 " Oh, Love no Love ! All the noise below Love, 
 Groanings all and meanings none o Life I lose ! 
 All o Life s a cry just o weariness and woe, Love 
 
 Ah, little green devil take me to paradise ! " 
 
 His head rose with a jerk and his eyes met mine, 
 blinked and sharpened to recognition and he 
 laughed.
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 79 
 
 " Heart s blood, but ye re a death s head ! " he 
 cried. " Ye think I m drunk ? Oh, Teddy, Teddy, 
 that ye could suspect such of a friend ! Drunk, say 
 you, drunk ? By the gods ! " 
 
 He sprang up, a dare devil light in his eye, and 
 pulled down from the wall a pair of foils with 
 buttons and tossed me one across the table. 
 
 " You shall see if I m drunk," he cried. " Defend 
 yourself, man, defend yourself or, by my word, I 11 
 run you through ! Take up your foil, I say ! " And 
 he backed out into the middle of the room, flourish 
 ing his blade and upsetting chairs as he went. He 
 was very, very drunk, but, drunk or sober, I knew his 
 skill with the foils. There were few better swords 
 men in Europe, as any maitre d armes in Paris 
 would have told you. Drunk, there may have been 
 a dozen who could best him, sober, I believe there 
 were three. Two of them were and are, famous 
 Italians, and one an equally famous Frenchman. 
 
 " Guard yourself, man ! " called Mallory, stamp 
 ing with his free foot, and I fell into guard to 
 humour him. His sword play was like flashes of 
 lightning. I had scarce caught his eye, and made 
 a half dozen instinctive parries, when there was a 
 crash among the delft plates hung in a far corner. 
 I stood agape, empty handed, and Mallory, hands 
 on knees, swayed back and forth, roaring with 
 laughter. 
 
 " Drunk 1 " he gasped between breaths, " drunk, 
 eh ? Oh, man, man, ye re a tailor ! Ye re no
 
 80 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 swordsman ! Disarmed like a recruit and ye fancy 
 yerself at the foils ! " He prodded me in the 
 stomach with a playful point and roared again. 
 
 Then, quite suddenly, his foil clashed upon the 
 floor and he caught his hands to his head, reeling 
 toward a chair. I grasped him and guided him into 
 the seat. His face had gone very white. 
 
 " I I ve got it in the head again Teddy ! " he 
 whispered, " got it in the head again ! " He lay 
 still for a few moments, eyes twitching spasmodic 
 ally. " Sometimes it comes," he said after a 
 little, " a hard tight band iron, I fancy squeezes 
 round your head ye know, squeezes damnably, till 
 your skull cracks you can hear it ! Sometimes, 
 listen, man ! sometimes we can t quite reach 
 Heaven, the little green devil and I. There s a 
 chap at the gate and he calls out who s there ? 
 1 Mallory ! say I, Denis Mallory, a poor devil 
 who s been in hell for five years, for pity let me 
 in ! An then sometimes, lad, he laughs and goes 
 off. "Wait till a hand leads ye here, says he. An 
 we wander away, the little green devil and I, away 
 tween worlds where it s cold grey dawn." 
 
 He reached for the glass and drank a swallow be 
 fore I could snatch it from him. 
 
 " An sometimes," he went on in his hoarse whis 
 per, "sometimes I can t even get started. I sit 
 here an sip an sip and wait, with me head goin 
 queerer an queerer, an the other end o the room 
 yonder, pulls out long like a camera, an the ceilin
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 81 
 
 an the walls begin to come together, tryin to 
 squeeze me, tryin their hardest, curse em ! Some 
 day they 11 do it. Look, look ! by Heaven they re 
 at it now ! Look, man, for God s sake ! the ceilin 
 is bending down ! It s tryin to catch me ! " He 
 snatched the half -filled glass in his hand and hurled 
 it across the room where it smashed against the 
 wall. Then in an instant he had whipped up his 
 foil from where it lay upon the floor and was in 
 guard, eyes burning, teeth clenched, and breath 
 that came in great gasps. He lunged fiercely with 
 the foil and a chair went over with a crash. The 
 foil snapped near the hilt, dropped from his hand 
 and he fell back into my arms. 
 
 "Don t let it catch me, Teddy !" he gasped. 
 " If it catches me once I m done for." 
 
 6
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 Colonel von Altdorf in," said Miss 
 Jessica Mannering. Colonel von Altdorf, 
 buttoned very tightly into his military look 
 ing frock coat, bowed profoundly from the door 
 way, and again over the hand that Miss Mannering 
 extended to him. 
 
 " I m glad you re come," said the young woman 
 beaming upon him, " for I want to ask such a tre 
 mendous lot of questions ! " 
 
 " My very dear Mademoiselle ! " cried Colonel 
 von Altdorf in unconcealed horror. " It is my pro 
 fession to avoid answering questions." 
 
 " But a woman s questions, Colonel ! " protested 
 Miss Mannering. 
 
 " Ah ! " said von Altdorf non-committally. 
 
 " They re different, you know," she concluded, 
 nodding her small head. 
 
 " Ah ! " said von Altdorf again and pulled at his 
 grizzled moustache. 
 
 " Still," proceeded the girl, " I suppose you have 
 known a great many women in in the course of 
 your career, so that you re accustomed to their 
 questions." 
 
 " I ve met a few," admitted von Altdorf, " and, 
 yes, they ve been fairly good at questions."
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 83 
 
 " All sorts, of course," sighed Miss Mannering. 
 
 " The questions, Mademoiselle ? " 
 
 " The women." 
 
 "Why, yes," said von Altdorf, smiling grimly. 
 " Why, yes, as you say, Mademoiselle, all sorts but 
 each sort good at asking questions. I should say 
 they differed but little." 
 
 " The women, Colonel ? " 
 
 " The questions." 
 
 "Now first," began Miss Mannering, marking 
 with a slim forefinger Colonel von Altdorf sighed 
 " First, what are you going to do when the 
 Prince arrives, the real Prince, I mean ? Sir 
 Gavin tells me that he will probably be here to 
 morrow." 
 
 " Why as to that, Mademoiselle," said von Alt 
 dorf, " if Fate deals us, meanwhile, no better card, 
 or if chance shows us at the time no better way, 
 we shall tell him the whole truth, show him that 
 we took the only way, desperate though it was, to 
 save Madame, and beg him to return to Novodnia 
 without seeing her." 
 
 " And do you think he will do it ? " 
 
 " Ah, that no man can tell. I have known 
 Prince Karl from childhood, Mademoiselle, but I 11 
 not guarantee what he may do at a crisis. He 
 loves his wife, I believe." 
 
 The girl shook her head and sighed. 
 
 " Poor Prince ! " said she gently. " Yes, I think 
 he loves his wife, but she, Colonel, will never love
 
 84 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 the Prince. She did n t love him when she married 
 him. She liked him, she was fond of him, some 
 what, but love him ? Ah no ! " 
 
 " It was the title then ? " asked Colonel von Alt- 
 dorf. 
 
 " Why, yes, in a way," said the girl. " Yes, I 
 suppose it was the title but not to her, Colonel, to 
 her people. They almost forced her into the mar 
 riage. Ah, yes, that can be done even in our free 
 country, even in democratic America. Indeed it s 
 done oftener than people think. She loved no 
 other man, she liked the Prince, and I think he was 
 honestly in love with her can you wonder ? So 
 she married him." 
 
 "You said, Mademoiselle," observed von Alt- 
 dorf, " you said, a moment ago, that Madame will 
 never love the Prince. Yet wives have been known 
 to come cold to the altar but waken to love as time 
 passed." 
 
 The girl turned about on the swinging stool 
 where she sat, and moved a hand up the keys of 
 the grand piano that stood there, in soft little 
 arpeggios. She frowned a bit as if she were 
 puzzled, undecided. 
 
 " What did you mean, Mademoiselle ? " said 
 Colonel von Altdorf. 
 
 The girl turned again toward him. "I saw her 
 face," said she, " when she came up through the 
 garden with Mr. Mallory an hour ago, and said 
 good-bye to him at the porch."
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 85 
 
 " Great God in heaven ! " said Colonel von Alt- 
 dorf under his breath. 
 
 " Last night," continued Miss Mannering, " after 
 she had met him in the garden for the first time and 
 spent an hour with him, she slept hardly at all, but 
 tossed in her bed till past midnight, when she rose 
 and put on a dressing gown and sat before the fire in 
 her chamber. I found her there. She kept me be 
 side her for an hour and would talk only of Mr. 
 Mallory. 
 
 " How I must have loved him, Jess ! she said. 
 * How I must have loved him, long ago, before it 
 it all happened, all this dreadful illness. He s so 
 splendid, Jessica ! so big and strong, and so tender 
 and dear! I didn t know princes ever were so. 
 Do n t you envy me, child ? He wanted to come 
 to me long ago, he starved to come to me, but he 
 wouldn t because he was needed in his country. 
 Ah, is n t that a man, Jess ? He loved his honour 
 and his duty more than he loved me. Is n t that a 
 man to worship ? Jess, Jess, I m too happy to sleep 
 what time is it ? One o clock ? One, two, three, 
 eleven till noon, and three more, fourteen great 
 hours, Jessica, till I shall see him again. Ah, child, 
 have you seen his smile ? Have you heard his voice 
 when it s low and deep and tender? fourteen 
 hours ! Give me something to make me sleep or I 
 shall be counting the minutes. 
 
 " That s how she talked through the night, Colo 
 nel. Do you wonder that I said she d never love
 
 86 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 the real Prince ? She s nervous still, you see, ah 
 so very nervous, and far from strong, so that she 
 feels things keenly, almost hysterically. She lets 
 herself go as she would n t if she were well. Ah, 
 Colonel von Altdorf, what s to be done when she 
 finds out the truth, as find it out she must, of 
 course, in time ? " 
 
 Von Altdorf dropped a heavy hand upon his knee 
 and sighed. 
 
 " Ask your questions of the good God, Mademoi 
 selle," said he. " Who am I, that I should answer 
 them ? I ve grown grey in the plots and schemes 
 of diplomacy," he went on presently. " I ve played 
 strange hands in strange games, Mademoiselle, but 
 whenever Fate sat down across the table and threw 
 against me I was beaten. She s a queer lady, 
 Fate. She takes strange freaks, and no man may 
 say what she ll turn to next. I used to take a 
 boy s delight in trying to thwart her, in matching 
 my brains against her course, but as I grow old I 
 know more and more that no man can beat or 
 check her. She s taken our game out of our hands 
 when we least looked for it. She 11 play it to her 
 own ends, and God have mercy on us all. We 11 
 still do our best to avert catastrophe and to save 
 
 unhappiness, but Fate plays the game, not 
 
 we." 
 
 " But you 11 not let the Prince see her ? " cried 
 Miss Mannering. 
 
 " Not I ! " said von Altdorf stoutly, " not if it s
 
 87 
 
 humanly possible to prevent it. Trust me for that. 
 He sha n t see her. Alas, Mademoiselle, it is of the 
 false Prince I m thinking." 
 
 " Ah, yes, yes ! " she murmured, " Mr. Mallory ! 
 Oh, Colonel, I I saw his face too when they came 
 up from the garden ! It was a tragedy. Tell me 
 of him, Colonel von Altdorf. I think one would 
 pin one s faith to him at the first look in his eyes." 
 
 "He is a gallant gentleman," said Colonel von 
 Altdorf, " if I am a judge of men. Further than 
 that I know little. He has had a varied and un 
 happy life, and he has certain things to struggle 
 against even now. Alas, I fear we have given him, 
 amongst us, a greater thing than all, against which 
 to struggle If only we d foreseen that possi 
 bility! Our hopes and our fears, Mademoiselle, 
 hang upon the slioulders of Denis Mallory." 
 
 "And they ve been together again to-day," 
 mused the girl. 
 
 " Aye, and will be to-morrow," cried von Altdorf. 
 "In heaven s name, Mademoiselle, what of it? 
 What if the lad does fall in love with her and she 
 with him? She s another man s wife and that 
 ends it ! God knows I regret it all deeply enough. 
 God knows it s a sad and cruel business, but it 
 can t be helped, and when it s over, when she s well 
 enough to be told the truth, they 11 have to part, 
 that sail." 
 
 " But what if love prove stronger than honour, 
 Colonel ? " said the girl, musingly as before. " What
 
 88 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 if Mr. Mallory aye and the Princess too, when she 
 knows the truth, find love the stronger ? throw you 
 over, leave you in the lurch ? " 
 
 " Why, as for that, Mademoiselle," said von Alt- 
 dorf slowly, a bit awkwardly, " love has not come 
 my way, often. Love and diplomacy have little in 
 common, speak different languages though on oc 
 casion, diplomacy must use love, of a sort, to gain 
 its ends. It may be that there is love great enough 
 
 to do what you say No, I ll trust the lad! 
 
 He d never play us false, who put our faith in him. 
 Suffer he may, and, I fear, must, but he 11 never 
 throw us over, nor bring shame upon the lady he 
 loves. He 11 remember that she s another man s 
 wife Hark, what s that ? " 
 
 It was the Princess Eleanor singing in one of the 
 rooms beyond. The voice grew louder as she came 
 along the passage outside, and died away slowly as 
 she mounted the stairs. She sang in a sweet, 
 hushed voice, a happy little voice, tender and low, 
 an old song of Lovelace s : 
 
 " Yet this inconstancy is snch 
 
 As thou too shalt adore, 
 I could not love thee, dear, so much 
 Loved I not honour more." 
 
 " There s your answer, Mademoiselle," said Colo 
 nel von Altdorf rising to his feet, "and now I 
 have the honour to bid you good-day." He held 
 her hand a moment, smiling down into her face 
 half whimsically, half sadly.
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 89 
 
 "We re all fellow-conspirators," said he, "and 
 conspiracy s a sorry business, even in a good cause. 
 Your part must be with Madame. Watch over 
 her, care for her as only a woman and an intimate 
 can, and pray for the tangle to straighten itself. 
 We 11 do our best, all of us, for her happiness. 
 Maybe the thing will turn out well, after all. 
 Fate s a queer lady and plays strange games. She 
 may play a stranger one here than we know of."
 
 OHAPTEK VII 
 
 " T" IT OW did you happen to want to marry me, 
 
 I 1 Karl?" demanded the Princess Eleanor, 
 
 JL JLathirst for information It was the 
 
 third day of their meeting. 
 
 " I saw you in a carriage, a victoria, driving in 
 the park one day, the Central Park, is n t it ? In 
 New York, you know." He felt quite safe about 
 these points now, for he had been painstakingly 
 coached by the resourceful Miss Mannering. 
 
 " Why, but that," objected the Princess wonder 
 ing a little, " that s no reason at all. Men do n t 
 want to marry girls just because they ve seen them 
 once on the street." 
 
 " Oh, do n t they, though 1 " cried Denis Mallory. 
 " Well, maybe they do n t, ordinary girls. I never 
 wanted to marry any other girl because I d seen 
 her once at a distance. But you re so absurdly 
 different, you know." 
 
 " I m not," declared the Princess with a certain 
 lack of conviction, a certain obvious willingness to 
 be disputed. " Am I ? " she added encouragingly, 
 "how?" 
 
 Mallory waited till she raised her head and her 
 eyes met his. It always gave him a little shock, a 
 quick catching of the breath, to meet her eyes.
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 91 
 
 " You re the most unspeakably beautiful thing 
 that God ever dreamed of and made on the wa 
 king," said he. " You re flowers and music and 
 the thrill of love made human, shut into one sweet 
 body. Ah, my lady, you re the break o day to a 
 soul that s been shivering in the dark ! Different 
 from other women ? Are there other women ? I 
 suppose so, but I ve not seen them or heard them 
 or thought of them since I met you. I ve seen 
 nothing but your eyes and your smile and all the 
 perfect loveliness of you, night and day. And I ve 
 heard nothing but your voice from morning till 
 morning. It s in my ears always like the lilt of an 
 old sweet song. And I ve thought of nothing but 
 you till my mind will grasp no other thing, till my 
 brain s a mere machine that throws pictures of you 
 before me without rest, waking or sleeping. Dif 
 ferent from other women ? O, my lady, my lady ! " 
 
 The Princess Eleanor s face was hidden in her 
 hands. Her little ears and her neck were crimson 
 as the long wrap that she wore. 
 
 " Ah, you re a goddess, my lady, come down 
 from somewhere to make a god of a very worth 
 less and undeserving young chap. A goddess with 
 a goddess s eyes and bearing, but oh, a woman s 
 smile and a woman s blush I such a very human 
 goddess, Eleanor, that one must worship, but that 
 one is n t afraid of ! It s woman as much as god 
 dess, my lady, and oh my heart is in the dust under 
 her feet!"
 
 92 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 " Ah, not goddess, Karl, not goddess ! " cried the 
 Princess Eleanor through the hands that covered 
 her face, " just a woman ! such a very human 
 woman like other women ! Just a girl who who 
 feels her heart throb and tremble when you tell her 
 she s beautiful, just a girl who s starving for one 
 man s love." 
 
 But young Mallory gripped the edge of the old 
 stone seat with straining fingers and forced back 
 the words that rushed to his lips. 
 
 " Great God, what have I done ? " he cried in 
 wardly, aghast at his own outbreak, " broken faith 
 with them all ! and they trusted me ! Oh, you 
 blackguard ! you blackguard ! Is there anything 
 you won t fall to ? And I d sworn to myself never 
 to let it come to that, never to say a word of out 
 right love to her. Ah, you blackguard ! Squirm 
 out of it now if you can." 
 
 He turned about to the girl shaking his head sadly. 
 
 " Forgive me, Eleanor," said he, " I I Ve broken 
 faith with you in a sort of way, have n t I ? I was 
 to give you time, not to press you. I was to let you 
 come gradually to know me, care for me if you 
 could. And here am I making desperate love to 
 you almost in the beginning ! It is n t easy not to 
 make love to you, my lady. Forgive me ! I won t 
 do it again soon." 
 
 The Princess Eleanor smiled to him adorably 
 through wet lashes, and Mallory clung to the edge 
 of the old stone seat.
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 93 
 
 " Ah, yes, yes, Carlo," she breathed, " give me a 
 little time. A girl shrinks from her surrender, even 
 when when she aches to make the surrender. 
 It s a girl s queer nature to be so. Do n t make me 
 tell you that I love you, yet, even if I want to. 
 Give me time, Karl, time for my love dreams, for 
 my girl s fears and qualms and imaginings. Do n t 
 take me too quickly by storm for I m wofully 
 weak, my Prince, and I d be in your arms in a mo 
 ment. Come, we must walk, we ve sat still too 
 long. Hook the cape for me at my throat, Carlo, 
 ah, no, no perhaps perhaps you d better not. 
 I 11 hook it, so ! Now, come ! There won t be 
 many lilacs to fall in my hair to-day. See, they re 
 nearly gone. Ah, but the chestnuts are a heaven 
 of sweet odours ! Is n t our garden beautiful, mon 
 Prince? Isn t it perfect?" She threw out her 
 arms to the golden sunshine and her eyes closed. 
 
 " It s a perfect world, Carlo mio ! It s all sun 
 shine and love and sweet odours ! And the shadows 
 are past and gone. Oh, my Prince, it s good to be 
 alive ! " 
 
 She moved over to the little gravel path that ran 
 under the wall, and Mallory followed her. She 
 sang under her breath as she walked, a little old 
 song, very sweet and low. It was 
 
 " Yet this inconstancy is such 
 Aa thou too shalt adore." 
 
 Her face was flushed and softly smiling, rosy
 
 94 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 with happiness, and her blue eyes were half 
 closed. 
 
 " Tell me, Karl," said she, after a time, " how is 
 it that you speak such perfect English ? I ve 
 known many Europeans who spoke it well, even 
 idiomatically, but there s always a little difference, 
 a little quality one can t describe, that makes it 
 foreign. You d know it was n t their native 
 tongue. You speak it as if you had been born to it." 
 
 " Oh, as for that," said Mallory, " 1 ve always 
 spoken English. I was taught it from the cradle. 
 You see my mother was part English. Faith, I 
 can speak it with an Irish brogue, if you like. Oh, 
 my English is as natural to me as yours and for 
 once," he added inwardly, "that s no lie. You 
 do n t know half my accomplishments," he went on 
 aloud. " I can do no end of things that would sur 
 prise you, really they would. I used to write for 
 the newspapers before I came to the throne, you 
 know money was at times a bit scarce in those 
 days. Ah, beautiful things I wrote ! " 
 
 " Poetry ? " cried the Princess Eleanor eagerly. 
 
 " No, not poetry, heaven forbid ! " 
 
 " Ah, but you can, I know ! " she insisted. " I 
 know you can. Carlo mio will you write me a 
 poem ? Just the littlest bit of a one ! There was 
 a man, oh ages ago, who wrote poems to me. They 
 were so silly ! Please, will you write me a poem, 
 Carlo, if I 11 be very, very good ? All about me, 
 you know ! See what a vain little cat I am ! "
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 95 
 
 " I will not," said Mallory with decision. " I 
 will put on a little red jacket and a collar with a 
 chain and be dragged about the streets after a 
 hand-organ if that would amuse you, or I 11 climb 
 trees or stand on my head, but I 11 write no poems 
 for anybody. There are depths to which I have n t 
 yet sunk though upon my word I hadn t sus 
 pected them." 
 
 The Princess sighed wistfully. 
 
 " I should have liked a poem," she grieved, " still, 
 if you won t do a little thing like that for me I sup 
 pose I shall have to go without it." 
 
 She turned to him with a soft laugh of infinite 
 content, of joy and happiness. She put up her 
 two hands clasped upon his breast, leaning upon 
 him, smiling into his eyes. 
 
 " Ah, you sha n t be teased ! " she cried. " Men 
 hate poetry, do n t they ? Great, big, strong fight 
 ing men like you. You sha n t be teased, my 
 Prince, I m going to be nice to you, very nice." 
 
 They were standing under the little window in 
 the studio wall. There came suddenly, from above, 
 the sound of voices, quick, hoarse exclamations, 
 and movements as of a struggle. Then all at once, 
 a man burst through the white curtains, and poised 
 an instant, one leg over the window ledge, and 
 sprang to the ground before them, half falling as 
 he leaped, so that he sprawled upon the black 
 earth on hands and knees. 
 
 He was on his feet and facing them in a moment.
 
 96 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 He was a rather small man, under medium height, 
 swarthy of complexion, and with very black hair. 
 He had large and dark eyes, and a fierce little 
 moustache that turned up sharply at the ends. 
 
 The man s breast heaved with a stormy breath 
 ing that checked his utterance. His face was 
 flushed, and his hands shook with rage. He seemed 
 scarcely to look at the Princess Eleanor but fixed 
 his eyes upon young Denis Mallory in a glare so 
 savage that the Irishman instinctively drew back a 
 pace, thrusting the girl behind him, so that his 
 body sheltered her. 
 
 " "Well ? " said he in a puzzled tone, " well ? what 
 is it ? " Then, all in a flash, the truth burst upon, 
 him. 
 
 " You you blackguard ! " cried the man thickly, 
 " you dog ! you thief ! " He spoke in French and 
 his rage was so great that his tongue would only 
 with difficulty form the sounds. It was as if he 
 wrenched each word from his breast with a visible 
 effort. 
 
 " You you wolf in the fold ! " he cried, " you 
 shall pay for this, curse you, with your life ! " 
 He waved his arm helplessly and leaned back 
 against the stone wall, panting. 
 
 The Princess Eleanor made a tottering step for 
 ward, holding by Mallory s arm with both her 
 hands. Her face was very white, and she stared 
 at the man before her with wide burning eyes and 
 parted lips.
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 97 
 
 "Carlo, Carlo!" she cried in a half whisper, 
 " who is that man ? What does he want ? It s 
 so so strange ! I seem to have to have seen him 
 
 before somewhere His face is Why 
 
 let me think ! It s all so strange ! I must have 
 seen him before what does he want, Karl? Who 
 is he?" 
 
 Mallory drew the girl back once more, very 
 gently, till she stood behind him, and his left arm 
 held her about the shoulders. His face had gone a 
 bit pale and his jaw very firm and set. He never 
 took his eyes from those of the short, swarthy man 
 by the wall. They gleamed steadily under drawn 
 brows. I should not have cared to face Denis just 
 then. 
 
 " This man, Eleanor," said he slowly, in a cold 
 hard voice that bore a threat, " this man is a very 
 rash and foolish person whom I and others, have 
 tried to do a service a service," he repeated, still 
 looking steadily into the other s eyes. " But he is 
 so foolish and headstrong as to wish to do me a 
 harm in return so ungrateful and so cowardly as 
 to be willing to bring great risk to those whom he 
 pretends to love, all for a childish spite." He 
 shook his head eyes never moving and his arm 
 tightened a bit about her shoulders, drew her 
 closer. " But he 11 not be allowed to bring harm 
 to them, Eleanor. They shall be protected at any 
 cost of his life or of mine. That s all you need 
 know. And now I must take you back to the 
 
 7
 
 98 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 house. This man must be dealt with at once. 
 Come, Eleanor." 
 
 The swarthy man by the wall raised one hand in 
 a queer little helpless gesture and his head drooped. 
 
 Mallory drew the girl away, and they moved up 
 the gravel path toward the house. She clung still 
 to his arm and her eyes were troubled, puzzled and 
 anxious. 
 
 "You ll not let him harm you, Karl?" she 
 begged softly. " He looked so desperate, so fu 
 riously angry ! You 11 not let him harm you, my 
 Prince ? " 
 
 " No, Eleanor," said he laughing a little. " "Why 
 no ! What ? harm the Prince of Novodnia ? No, 
 no harm shall come to the Prince of Novodnia, my 
 
 dear. Be certain of that Go in now. You 
 
 shall hear soon that all s well." 
 
 He bent over her hand and held it an instant to 
 his cheek, kissed the long slim fingers and the pink 
 palm. 
 
 The Princess Eleanor caught the hand to her 
 breast with a little low cry. Her cheeks flamed 
 suddenly. 
 
 " Au revoir, Carlo," she whispered. " Not good 
 bye, ah, not good-bye It s only till to-morrow. 
 
 Au revoir, Carlo mio ! " She moved back under 
 the porch and through the door, but her eyes were 
 upon him till the door closed. 
 
 Young Mallory gave his head a little jerk, and 
 pressed his hands a moment over his eyes, then he
 
 THE GARDEN 
 
 turned and went quietly do \\3&Jftflgjk the 
 
 to the high studio wall. * f /0$fo St, QUlt 
 
 The Prince of Novodnia stood in his place theref /C 
 his brows lowering, his hands playing at the but 
 tons of his jacket. I was in the window above, 
 half concealed with the curtains. 
 
 " Well, sir ? " said Denis Mallory, and came to a 
 halt before the Prince. 
 
 Karl of Novodnia stared at him sullenly. His 
 mouth worked under the fierce black moustache. 
 
 " It is not for me to judge you, sir," said the 
 Irishman coldly, " but you show your affection and 
 your care for your for the Princess in strange 
 ways. You may thank Heaven, or whom you 
 please, that the princess has been spared a shock 
 that might well have been fatal. You know the 
 reasons why I am here playing a part. You know 
 why it is necessary, yet you attempt deliberately to 
 wreck all our hopes and plans and efforts that are 
 made in your behalf as well as hers." 
 
 " * Efforts in my behalf ! " sneered the Prince 
 bitterly. " Aye fine talk, Monsieur le Chevalier 
 Bayard ! fine talk, Monsieur the thief, Monsieur the 
 sneak in another s home ! You and your noble 
 efforts ! I tell you, Monsieur ! " he cried, shaking a 
 clenched hand, " I tell you you are sneaking behind 
 your fine pretensions to steal the love of my wife, 
 of the Princess Eleanor of Novodnia ! I saw you, 
 you blackguard ! I saw her put her two hands 
 upon your breast and look up into your damned
 
 ioo THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 face ! Do you think I do n t know a love look when 
 I see it ? You re plotting to steal my wife from 
 me, you cur, you and the whole parcel of thieves 
 here, among you I But there 11 be one less for I 11 
 have your life, by the love of God, here and now ! 
 Above there ! Weapons ! Do you hear ? "Weap 
 ons, I say I Curse you, you beast, do you want 
 me to kill you with my hands ? " 
 
 Mallory smiled. The probability of his death at 
 the naked hands of the raving little man before 
 him seemed not alarming. Yet his eyes were set 
 and hard, a bit narrowed. He was fond of calling 
 himself ill names, of imputing to his motives a base 
 ness that was far from their due, but he relished 
 little this sort of thing from another. 
 
 He looked up to the window and met my eyes. He 
 gave a little shrug of helplessness and shook his head. 
 
 " I 11 not fight with you, sir," said he to the 
 Prince. " You re needed elsewhere, I m told. 
 Your life must n t be risked." 
 
 The Novodnian made as if he would spring upon 
 him with empty hands. 
 
 " You cur ! You cur ! " he snarled furiously. 
 " A coward too, eh ? Brave enough to sneak into 
 a man s house and steal his wife but too cowardly 
 to face steel ! You cur ! " 
 
 " Teddy," said Denis Mallory quietly, his eyes 
 steady and hard upon the other man s, " will you 
 be good enough to throw me down a pair of sharp 
 ened foils ? "
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 101 
 
 But I leaned from the window panic-stricken. 
 
 " For God s sake, Denis 1 " I cried. " You must n t, 
 you must n t ! Think what you re doing, man ! 
 Oh, have a care ! " Denis glanced up at me for an 
 instant and smiled. 
 
 " It s all right, lad," said he. " Never fear ! 
 Come, the foils ! and be quick ! " 
 
 I took down the foils from the wall near at hand, 
 and tossed them to him. Both men had taken off 
 jackets and waistcoats, and they took their blades 
 and went to work in an instant, Denis quietly and 
 wholly on the defensive, the Prince with a mad 
 fury that made me fear for a moment lest he break 
 down that matchless guard. 
 
 At the clash of the blades, von Altdorf came 
 running across the studio. He had been conferring 
 with MacKenzie in a far corner and had not seen 
 me fetch the swords. 
 
 " What are they doing ? " he cried, as he ran, 
 "fighting, fighting? For God s sake, Creighton, 
 why do n t you stop them ? Sir, sir ! " He had 
 one foot over the window ledge when I hauled him 
 back into the room. 
 
 " Hush, man ! " I cried into his ear. " Hush, 
 you 11 put them out ! Denis won t hurt the Prince 
 and the Prince can t hurt Denis. He would fight ! 
 He s mad with rage. He was all for tearing Denis 
 with his empty hands. Be still, there ll be no 
 harm done ! " 
 
 It was one of the most beautiful exhibitions of
 
 102 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 swordsmanship that I have ever seen, Mallory s won 
 derful and impregnable defence against an attack 
 which was a very whirlwind of fierceness and in 
 tensity. Aye, and a skilful whirlwind too, not all 
 random slashing. The Prince was a fine swords 
 man and his rage gave him a strength and endur 
 ance far beyond his ordinary form. 
 
 But even this strength and endurance could not 
 last forever against such a blade. His thrusts grew 
 weaker and his breathing more laboured, till he 
 drew off a moment and stood bent and trembling, 
 his point resting upon the ground, and his gaze 
 fixed in baffled hatred upon the young Irishman. 
 
 It was at just this moment, while he stood waiting, 
 tall, slender, strong and ready, his head reared as 
 we grew to know it so well in times of stress, point 
 resting lightly upon the ground near his feet, left 
 hand upon hip ; it was at this moment that I saw 
 and I think von Altdorf saw it too a strange 
 look come upon Mallory s face, an uncertainty, a 
 problem. It was as if he put himself a question, 
 and demanded its answer. Here was he in a 
 quarrel not of his seeking, driven to it by insults the 
 grossest possible, and facing the one man of all the 
 world who stood in the way of what his heart 
 craved. Here was a way out of his difficulties, 
 everything made easy. The giving up of all that 
 was dear to him in the world, that he had thought 
 inevitable, need not be done. Here was a way easy 
 and sure. He needn t even thrust. He needn t
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 103 
 
 do the thing himself. A parry with the point held 
 firm, not brought back en garde, and the man s own 
 lunge must spit him so easy as that and Eleanor 
 in the house yonder ! 
 
 I think both von Altdorf and I read his thoughts 
 as though they were a printed page. I felt von 
 Altdorf s hand upon my shoulder. It trembled a 
 little. Then the look passed from Mallory s face as 
 swiftly as it had come. He gave his head a little 
 shake and smiled once more. He even glanced up 
 to the window, where the two of us leaned far out, 
 watching with fascinated eyes, and gave us a 
 humorous wink. 
 
 It was like Denis. Tragedy and comedy ran 
 ever side by side in his nature, and he found fun in 
 the darkest of dangers. 
 
 The Prince attacked once more, furiously, with a 
 sort of desperate madness as if he knew himself 
 overmatched but sought by the very storm of his 
 onslaught to beat down that steel wall. But he 
 met with another reception this time, for Denis who 
 had been content, before, merely to keep his body 
 from hurt, now took the offensive and pressed the 
 other into defence, pressed him till he broke ground, 
 till he retreated step by step, and at last his left 
 heel touched the wall. We who sat near, just over 
 their heads, saw the perspiration break out upon 
 the Prince s forehead and trickle down his nose and 
 cheeks. 
 
 Then began the marvellous part of it, for Denis,
 
 104 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 quiet, cool, steady as a machine, began to break 
 through the other s guard, at will. His blade 
 flashed too swiftly for sight to follow. To us above 
 it had the appearance of being in a dozen places at 
 once, a dozen glittering lines with the afternoon 
 sun shining upon its length, as the spokes of a 
 rapidly moving wheel seem blended to the eye in a 
 fan of quivering light. 
 
 He made none of those silly and unnecessary 
 motions, those stampings and outcries and wavings 
 of the arm to which the Italians and even the 
 French hold. He fought with the least movement 
 possible, knees bent no more than need be, wrist 
 free and swifter than lightning, eyes calm, steady 
 and fixed unwaveringly upon those of his opponent, 
 never upon the blades. 
 
 I say he broke through the Prince s guard at will, 
 touched him here and there, so lightly as not to 
 scratch the skin, nor tear the garment, but always 
 to be felt, always to make the man realise that he 
 could run him through in an instant if he wished it. 
 Breast, arm, shoulder, even cheek, he touched him, 
 and the Prince cursed with the little breath he had 
 left, cursed and sobbed with rage, for now he knew 
 that the man would not kill or even wound him, 
 unless, perchance, he was biding his time and 
 meant to finish the game at his leisure. He knew 
 that he was being played with, wearied out at the 
 other s mercy, shamed before us all. Already his 
 wrist burned as if with fire, and his arm near the
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 105 
 
 shoulder ached till it was numb. His sword played 
 still in a sort of mechanical desperation, but there 
 was no cunning nor strength in it. Then, while his 
 brain swam dizzily and the garden before his eyes 
 wheeled and swung as in a fever, he heard Mr. 
 Mallory say sharply, as if from a great distance, 
 
 " Come, sir, are you satisfied ? Enough of this 
 farce!" And suddenly the foil seemed to leap 
 from his hand as by a strength of its own, leap 
 high in the air over his head and wheel against the 
 sky till it fell at a little distance, striking, point 
 downward, in the black earth, and quivered there 
 upright. 
 
 Then he dropped back helplessly against the wall, 
 blind, aching and crushed, and the tears coursed 
 down his cheeks and dripped from his chin. He 
 would have slipped to the ground but that Denis 
 Mallory sprang forward, dropping his foil, and 
 threw his long arms about him, lifting him in them 
 as if he had been a child. "When he wakened to 
 consciousness he was lying upon the big divan in the 
 studio.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 COLONEL YON ALTDORF was holding 
 his head with one arm and forcing brandy 
 from a little glass between his teeth. 
 Young Mallory sat upon the edge of the divan, 
 holding one of the limp hands and chafing it be 
 tween his own. MacKenzie and I hovered near 
 with anxious faces. 
 
 The Prince lay silent for a long time after his 
 senses had come to him again, eyes closed and limbs 
 motionless. Then at last he rose, a bit unsteadily, 
 to his feet, and went to the window that overlooked 
 the garden, where he stood gazing out upon the 
 trees, again for a long time. He had raised a pro. 
 testing hand when von Altdorf would have spoken, 
 so that we all stood silent, waiting. 
 
 When he turned back into the room there was no 
 more passion to be seen upon his face, no more of 
 the furious tempest of rage that had so lately 
 shaken him. His head drooped and the flush in his 
 cheeks seemed of honest shame. 
 
 He went over to young Denis Mallory and held 
 out his hand. 
 
 " I did you a great wrong, sir," said the Prince 
 in a low voice. " I put a shameful insult upon you, 
 and though you might have killed me in the fight I
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 107 
 
 forced, you would not. You have shamed me more 
 than any man. I ask your pardon and your hand. 
 I wronged you." 
 
 " Why, sir ! " cried Denis Mallory, his own face 
 flushing crimson. " Why, sir, you unman me ! I 
 should not have fought at all, for no man may be 
 held accountable for his words when anger carries 
 him beyond reason. You more than make amends, 
 sir." 
 
 The Prince dropped upon a chair beside the table 
 and leaned his head upon one hand. He seemed 
 still weary and faint with exhaustion. 
 
 " I owe you gentlemen all," said he, " a debt I 
 can never repay for your care of the person and 
 health of the Princess Eleanor. From Sir Gavin 
 MacKenzie and from von Altdorf, here, I had a 
 right to expect all they could perform, but as for 
 you two gentlemen, M. Mallory and M. Creighton 
 upon whom I had no least claim, I cannot express 
 my obligation. Your plan was no doubt the best 
 one that could be made. It is a pity, now that I 
 am so soon in Paris, that it was put into effect, for 
 it was a desperate makeshift that will require des 
 perate remedies and a terrible shock to Madame, 
 but you could not have known I was coming." 
 
 " Ah, why did you come, sir ? " groaned von Alt 
 dorf. " Why did you come ? It was madness to 
 leave the country at such a time! Aren t those 
 dogs waiting with their tongues out, to snap at 
 your seat, once you re out of it ? Is n t Georgias
 
 io8 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 sleeping with his clothes on up in the hills over 
 Novodni, waiting to gobble the city ? And has n t 
 he a rabble of bandit swine to back him ? Ah, sir, 
 it was madness to come here now ! " 
 
 The Prince shook his head at him with a little 
 whimsical smile. 
 
 " You re a hard taskmaster, von Altdorf," said 
 he, " hard as Fate, and by my faith, I m weary of 
 that lady. She drives, von Altdorf, she never be 
 guiles. Man, man, am I to be all Prince and never 
 husband ? Am I a machine, Colonel ? Shall I love 
 a throne better than my wife who s in danger ? " 
 
 Von Altdorf pulled at his moustache. 
 
 " I was n t thinking of you, sir, nor of what you 
 love," said he bluntly. " I was thinking of Novod- 
 nia. I served your father, sir, and I serve you. 
 I m ready to do your will at my life s cost, but 
 your will against your welfare and the welfare of 
 your house I 11 oppose with all my strength. No 
 Pavelovitch, no Russian cat s paw, shall sit in No- 
 vodni if I can prevent it. I serve the Prince, sir, 
 not the man, when the two go separate ways." 
 
 "A hard taskmaster," said the Prince, smiling 
 still, a bit sadly, " hard as Fate. You ve brains 
 where your heart should be, von Altdorf." 
 
 " I ve loyalty to my country there," growled 
 von Altdorf. " And look you, sir, we ve a question 
 to face or shall have soon, now that Madame is 
 assured of recovery, and must soon be told that she 
 is your wife. What s to be done ? "
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 109 
 
 " "Why, seat her by my side in Novodni ! What 
 else ? " said the Prince. 
 
 "You know the popular attitude in Novodnia 
 toward that, sir," observed von Altdorf. " Is your 
 seat so firm under you that you can afford to alien 
 ate your own supporters? Would Georgias have 
 no move to make, with a commoner albeit the 
 loveliest woman alive in the Palace at Novodni ? 
 Her son could n t reign, sir." 
 
 " Now by heaven ! " cried Prince Karl, " we 11 
 not fight this matter all over again ! Princess in 
 fact she shall be as well as in name. As for public 
 opinion, damn public opinion ! God above, von 
 Altdorf, has there been no Draga Maschin ? Has 
 there been no Katia Petrofski ? Novodnia is not 
 the German Empire, man, nor the Kingdom of 
 Italy ! Who cares whence came a Balkan Prin 
 cess ? whether she was a king s daughter or a 
 peasant s ? " 
 
 " It s never been the custom of your house to 
 marry save in royal circles," said von Altdorf. 
 "Your mother was no peasant s daughter, my 
 Prince. I give you my word that if you attempt 
 to seat Madame beside you, your son will never 
 reign in Novodnia, but a Pavelovitch will take the 
 throne that your fathers have held for a century, 
 upon your death, if not before a short time 
 before." 
 
 The Prince dropped his face into his hands and 
 covered his ears.
 
 no THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 "Will you have done, man!" he groaned. 
 " Do n t I know all you say ? Have n t I spent 
 sleepless nights without end over it ? Let be, let 
 be, von Altdorf ! I can t bear it now. "Wait till it 
 faces us ! Give me time to think. Great God, was 
 ever a man so beset ? " 
 
 " But one thing more, sir," persisted von Altdorf, 
 " an important thing. It is too much to hope that 
 you were not, or at least will not be, followed 
 here. Those devils are too clever to miss the 
 chance. Georgias is out of it, of course, for he s in 
 the mountains somewhere about Makarin, but his 
 arch cutthroat, von Steinbrticke, is always in the 
 capital, spying about. He d know you were gone 
 in the course of a day or so, even if he did n t con 
 stantly keep you shadowed, as is most probable, 
 and he d be off here or send some one with a band 
 of their men, at once. Keep indoors, sir, as much 
 as possible. Never go abroad without some of us 
 with you, and never go abroad at all in the night. 
 Think of a bit of news from Paris that would most 
 please Georgias, and would set him you know 
 where." 
 
 The Prince settled back in his chair and dropped 
 his hands wearily into his lap. 
 
 " I am in your hands, gentlemen," said he in a 
 tired, overwrought voice. " Do as you will. One 
 thing only I insist upon. I am here in Paris, wisely 
 or foolishly, as you like, and here I stay till I have 
 seen my wife and made myself known to her, till
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES in 
 
 we have come to an understanding. I shall not go 
 back to Novodnia till all this mystery and uncer 
 tainty is cleared away, till I know that the Prin 
 cess Eleanor will follow me when she is able." 
 
 " But that, sir " cried old MacKenzie, and bit 
 
 his words sharply in two when von Altdorf raised 
 a warning hand. 
 
 " Why then, with that we must be content," said 
 von Altdorf, " save that the Princess Eleanor is in 
 no state to be told the truth or to receive you at 
 present, sir. "We must wait, and guard your person 
 meantime with all care God send no ill fall upon 
 Novodnia while you are absent. * 
 
 Denis Mallory had been standing by the window 
 that looked out over the grass plot and shrubbery 
 to the narrow little rue Boissonade. He was 
 screened from without by the white lace curtains 
 that hung before the window. 
 
 He turned and beckoned with his eyes to Colonel 
 von Altdorf, who, after a moment, yawned and 
 strolled nonchalantly across the room. 
 
 " There s a pair of shabby looking chaps have 
 been loitering about in front of the studio for half 
 an hour," whispered Mallory. " They re gotten up 
 to look like Italian models out of work, but I do n t 
 think they re models unless they re newcomers. 
 I ve never seen them before. They act peculiar." 
 
 Von Altdorf peered through the window and 
 waited till the faces of the two men came into view. 
 Then his own face went suddenly crimson with
 
 112 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 the effort to keep down the cry that rose to his 
 lips. 
 
 " By heaven, I said they d come ! " he whispered. 
 " One of them s Baron von Steinbriicke and the 
 other is a rascal in his pay. Yon Steinbriicke, eh ? 
 The villain s after big game or he d never come 
 himself. He d send others. He s a renegade Aus 
 trian driven out of Vienna by card scandals and at 
 tempts at blackmail against some of the court set, 
 and he s George s right hand worth two of George 
 at that, blackguard though he is. But they must 
 be driven off, somehow, before the Prince leaves 
 the house. Creighton, man, come here a moment." 
 
 I went over to the window and von Altdorf told 
 me briefly what he had just told Denis. 
 
 " I think they 11 be off if any one goes out," said 
 he. " Do you try it. They must n t see the 
 Prince." 
 
 I took my hat and stick and went out into the 
 porch and slowly down the path to the high iron 
 fence and the little loge of the concierge. The two 
 loafers outside moved a short distance away and 
 watched. It seemed that they were not easily to 
 be frightened off. I went into the loge and 
 brought the concierge out from the preparation of 
 her dinner, a fat, gray-haired and merry old woman 
 with a cheery word for every one. 
 
 I pointed out the two men in the street, taking 
 good care that they should see me doing it, and told 
 her that M. Mallory believed them to be certain
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 113 
 
 thieves who had robbed a friend of his some time 
 since, and were no doubt meditating an attack in 
 the rue Boissonade. This, the concierge opined, 
 grimly, would be made difficult, not to say disagree 
 able, for them, so long as she retained her health 
 and strength. She retreated to the loge shaking 
 her great wooden spoon threateningly, and mutter 
 ing to herself. 
 
 "Herr von Steinbriicke and friend won t have 
 precisely an easy time of it, spying about here," 
 said I as I went out into the impasse. 
 
 The two men moved off ahead of me toward the 
 Boulevard Kaspail, glancing back over their shoul 
 ders sullenly enough, every moment or two. At 
 the Boulevard they suddenly hailed a passing fiacre, 
 and jumping into it, went off down the street at a 
 great pace. I was after them immediately in 
 another cab, not that there was anything to be 
 gained by following them, but because I was in a 
 mood to give them a fright and teach them a 
 lesson. Moreover, I wished to leave them as far as 
 possible from the rue Boissonade. 
 
 They turned at the Boulevard Montparnasse, and 
 drove at a gallop toward the gare, then down the 
 rue de Kennes to the Boulevard St. Germain and 
 so to the Place de la Concorde across the river. 
 
 Here, in a great throng of vehicles, so thick that 
 they could not have distinguished mine, I bade my 
 cabby turn round, and drove back laughing to the 
 rue Boissonade. 
 
 8
 
 114 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 "Egad!" said I. "They ll be in a panic at 
 every fiacre that comes up behind them for the 
 next hour. They 11 be all over Paris before they 
 dare stop."
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 " IT "IT THY yes, of course," said Miss Jessica 
 %/%/ Mannering. " Show Colonel von Alt- 
 * * dorf in at once." 
 
 " I seem," said Colonel von Altdorf to a small, 
 slender and very white hand, " I seem to have 
 fallen into the habit of coming here." 
 
 " It s never too late," observed the hand s pro 
 prietor sagely, " to form good habits. Besides " 
 
 she puckered her brows in meditation and counted 
 upon the fingers of that same hand. 
 
 " You ve been here but three times before," she 
 announced. 
 
 " Three ? " he questioned. " I should have 
 thought it was many more, do you know." 
 
 " Thank you," said Miss Mannering haughtily. 
 
 " Dear me," murmured Colonel von Altdorf, 
 blinking placidly. " I seem to have said something 
 unfortunate. You look annoyed. "Whatever it was 
 I m sorry for it, Mademoiselle. Alas, I m unused 
 to the society of ladies. I do n t know what to say 
 to please them. They re strange things, Madem 
 oiselle, passing strange, and sweet, upon my faith, 
 passing sweet. Still I do n t know what to say to 
 please them."
 
 ii6 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 " And you a diplomatist ! " sniffed Miss Man- 
 nering. 
 
 " That, Mademoiselle, is my misfortune, not my 
 fault." protested von Altdorf sadly. " I was put 
 into the profession while still very young, by a 
 misguided parent. 
 
 " Do you know ? " he continued presently, " it is 
 in my mind that I came here for a purpose, to dis 
 cuss something of importance, but upon my word, 
 the thing has quite gone from me. I do n t know 
 what it could have been. Perhaps there wasn t 
 anything at all." 
 
 " Why perhaps, perhaps 1 " cried the girl with 
 dramatic astonishment, " perhaps you came just to 
 see me ! Fancy 1 " 
 
 " That," said Colonel von Altdorf, tugging at his 
 moustache, " is quite possible. I wonder it had n t 
 occurred to me before. Are all American young 
 women brilliant, Mademoiselle as well as beau 
 tiful ? " 
 
 " All of them," nodded the truthful Miss 
 Mannering gravely, " all brilliant and all very, 
 very beautiful. You should visit America, Col 
 onel." 
 
 " Alas, Mademoiselle," protested von Altdorf, 
 " if one of them, and only a little one at that, is 
 sufficient to upset my peace of mind what should I 
 do among so many ? A man loves his peace of 
 mind at two and forty, Mademoiselle." 
 
 Miss Mannering did not dispute it. She looked
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 117 
 
 at the rug. It was a very good sort of rug, as 
 rugs go. 
 
 " How is the Princess ? " enquired Colonel von 
 Altdorf presently. 
 
 " She s living in a bubble of happiness, a Spanish 
 Castle of joy," said the girl. " Alas, she does n t 
 know the bubble must burst and the castle tumble 
 about her ears. She thinks she s on the thresh- 
 hold of a heaven that will last her life long. Ah, 
 what a cruel trick it was, Colonel von Altdorf ! " 
 
 " Necessity is always cruel, Mademoiselle," said 
 the diplomat. " Happiness is usually a bubble, and 
 joy a chateau en Espagne. And, as every one 
 knows, bubbles must burst and air castles fade 
 away." 
 
 " She was greatly shocked when the Prince burst 
 into the garden the other day," pursued Miss Man- 
 nering. " She can t get over the feeling that she 
 has known him or seen him somewhere before, that 
 he has played some part in her life indeed it s far 
 from strange ! Sir Gavin calls it by some long and 
 dreadful name, the partial recollection. He was 
 quite excited over it." 
 
 " But she s better in a general way ? She s 
 stronger ? " asked von Altdorf. 
 
 " Oh, infinitely better ! She s almost her old 
 self again. The colour is back in her cheeks, and 
 the roundness to her neck she s gained wonder 
 fully in weight. Ah, yes, she s almost as strong 
 as ever, now, just in these few days, and all be-
 
 ii8 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 cause she s happy. Oh, Mr. Creighton told me 
 of Mr. Mallory s duel with the Prince in the garden 
 the other day. It must have been wonderful." 
 
 " He s the most marvellous swordsman I ever 
 saw," said von Altdorf warmly. " He was born to 
 it. No man, even with the career that Denis has 
 had, could acquire such skill by practice only. 
 It s beyond words." 
 
 "And he might have killed the Prince and 
 made his own way easy," mused the girl. " Mr. 
 Creighton told me that for one little moment he 
 thought it would happen." 
 
 " Yes," said von Altdorf, " for one little moment 
 I thought so too. No man is above temptation. 
 "We saw him tempted, and by Heaven, we saw him 
 put temptation away as few men could have done. 
 But as for that there are few men like him. I 11 
 tell you something I saw yesterday. I was in his 
 studio waiting for him to come up from the garden 
 where he walked with the Princess. I sat in a big 
 deep chair that stands in a rather dark corner, and 
 sitting there grew drowsy a bit so that I did n t 
 hear Denis when he entered. The first I knew he 
 was standing in the middle of the room, in the 
 light from the big north windows, and while I live, 
 Mademoiselle, I hope never again to see upon a 
 man s face such a look of hopeless agony, such a 
 struggle of the greatest love a man can own, with 
 the call of honour that means renunciation. His 
 soul was in his face, Mademoiselle, there in that
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 119 
 
 moment when he thought himself alone, and it was 
 a soul that had been led to Heaven s gate and 
 shown what was within, only to be hurled deep 
 into hell. 
 
 "He threw himself, face downward, upon the 
 big divan that stands in a corner of the room, and 
 lay there with his hands over his eyes, and his 
 shoulders twisting from time to time. 
 
 "I dared not move, show myself, for his own 
 sake, and I could n t get away without his hearing. 
 
 " Then, after a time, he rose to his feet and went 
 across the room to a little cupboard in the wall, 
 which he opened. He took out a bottle, an absinthe 
 bottle, and glasses and a carafe of water, and filled 
 one of the glasses, sitting at a table. He faced the 
 light again so that I could see the struggle in his 
 face. 
 
 " Mademoiselle, you who are a woman carefully 
 bred, delicately nurtured, can know nothing, appre 
 ciate nothing, of such a struggle, the struggle of 
 racked and quivering nerves for the relief that lies 
 before them, of a will weakened by battle, of a 
 mind ravaged by a passion that it knows is hopeless. 
 
 " I say he sat a long time with the full glass in 
 his hand, head bent a bit over it, every nerve in his 
 body, as I knew well, shrieking for the rest, the 
 calm, the ease, that a few glasses of that liquor 
 would give them. 
 
 " Then all at once he gave his head a little jerk 
 and tore his fingers from the glass with an effort.
 
 120 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 " * "No I he cried, quite aloud. No, by God, no ! 
 And he went over to the divan again and threw 
 himself face down there and lay still. I crept out 
 after a time very softly. I do n t think he heard 
 me, perhaps indeed I hope, he was even asleep. 
 But my heart bled for him, Mademoiselle. He is a 
 man ! " 
 
 " Poor Mr. Mallory ! " cried the girl softly. " Ah, 
 poor Mr. Mallory ! My heart bleeds for him too, 
 Colonel. What will become of him when it s all 
 over? Some lives seem marked for tragedy, don t 
 they ? His life has been a tragedy, heaven knows, 
 young as he is, and it seems as if it must be a 
 crueler one still. Have you seen anything more of 
 those men who came to spy upon the Prince ? " 
 
 Yon Altdorf shook his head. 
 
 " Nothing since Creighton gave them such a 
 chase, a week ago," said he. " We re keeping the 
 closest guard upon the Prince. He never stirs out 
 without one or two of us with him. They 11 have 
 to be bold indeed to reach him. Still I sha n t rest 
 easy till the Prince is back again in Novodnia 
 where he belongs. Every moment of his stay here 
 is keenest danger to himself and to the state, but 
 stay he will till he s seen the Princess, and that 
 MacKenzie won t yet allow. In all good faith I 
 think it were best over with as soon as may be. 
 She s strong again, and every day that passes 
 leaves her deeper and deeper in love with Mr. 
 Mallory, and he with her. Let em have done with
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 121 
 
 it, I say. Shock it will be, but as well a shock now 
 as ever." 
 
 " Yet we all shrink from the point," said the girl, 
 shaking her head anxiously, "even Sir Gavin. It 
 was easy to enter upon the trick, easy to say that 
 some time, some time in the indefinite future, the 
 truth must be told, the matter cleared up, but when 
 the time comes near, truth-telling seems difficult, 
 Colonel. One realises what one has undertaken 
 and shrinks from what may follow. It won t be an 
 easy thing to do." 
 
 " Yet it must be done," said Colonel von Altdorf. 
 " Ah, well, Mademoiselle, it s Fate that plays, not 
 we, and it will help no one that we sit here sighing 
 and shaking our heads. Come, will you play for me 
 upon the piano yonder ? I hear you playing some 
 times when I m in the garden or even so far as in 
 the studio, and I love music. Perhaps you would 
 sing also ? " 
 
 " What shall I sing of ? " asked the girl running 
 a hand up and down the keys softly. " Of war and 
 such ? arms and the man ? Your life has been 
 full of warfare." 
 
 " "Why," said Colonel von Altdorf leaning upon 
 the piano with his folded arms, " why, of any 
 thing you will still I ve no mind for warfare to 
 day, Mademoiselle. Sing rather of of peace and 
 love, and all such." 
 
 " * Of peace and love and all such ? " murmured 
 the girl, "Are peace and love 80 inseparable
 
 122 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 then, sir ? Must one think of them together ? 
 Does love mean peace ? " 
 
 "Why, no," said Colonel von Altdorf. "No, 
 Mademoiselle, love doesn t always mean peace, I 
 fear. Alas, sometimes it means a sad tumult in the 
 heart, a lying awake o nights, a most perverse 
 restlessness of spirit. Peace ? No, love is warfare 
 after all. Still sing to me of love, Mademoi 
 selle!" 
 
 " Yet you said the other day," persisted the girl, 
 her head bent over the keys and her hands wander 
 ing slowly through some sweet air, "you said that 
 love had n t had n t come your way, Colonel." 
 
 " It s never too late," said Colonel von Altdorf, 
 "to form good habits. I have it on the best of 
 authority. Love may come even at two and forty 
 even when one s poll is grizzled and one clings to 
 one s peace of mind. Sing to me of love, Mademoi 
 selle." 
 
 She played a little prelude, and sang, 
 
 " Out upon it : I have loved 
 
 Three whole days together ; 
 And am like to love three more, 
 If it prove fine weather." 
 
 " Ah, Mademoiselle ! " cried Colonel von Altdorf. 
 " Do I deserve that ? Can you not be kinder ? " 
 
 And she sang, very sweet and low, " Love in my 
 bosom like a bee " 
 
 Colonel von Altdorf stood by the piano for a long
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 123 
 
 time after she had finished, silent and moody. 
 Then at last he sighed and took up his hat. 
 
 " This love, Mademoiselle," said he, " is a strange 
 thing, strange as Fate. I ve wondered at it and at 
 the storms it brews, for many years I m wonder 
 ing at it still, wondering the more but not at the 
 storms it brews. I thank you for your song, 
 Mademoiselle, I shall not forget it soon."
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 THE week which followed the coming of 
 Prince Karl to Paris was for all of us, I think, 
 a time of strain, of inactive waiting for we 
 knew not what. There seemed in the very air a 
 sense of impending ill, vague, unformed and 
 gloomy, of catastrophe that waited upon the mor 
 row. Fate played as von Altdorf would say 
 but played, as ever, craftily, held her trumps, 
 bided her time, and smiled at us inscrutably across 
 the table. 
 
 I say it was a time of inaction, yet we were ever 
 alert in our guard over the person of the Prince. 
 The villains who lurked watchful, somewhere in 
 the throngs that peopled the great city, should lay 
 no hand upon him by fault of ours, should bring no 
 disaster to the crown of Novodnia. 
 
 He, poor gentleman, passed the days moodily 
 enough, in all faith, commonly in the apartment of 
 Colonel von Altdorf in the Avenue de 1 Observa- 
 toire, where admittance was refused every one save 
 those whom von Altdorf himself inspected from 
 the anteroom ; sometimes with the others of us in 
 Mallory s studio which had grown to be a meeting- 
 place, a sort of headquarters. Indeed, we must 
 sadly have disturbed poor Denis in his work for
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 125 
 
 he still continued his connection with the London 
 paper and wrote his articles and reviews as before. 
 The pittance he received gave him a fair living. 
 
 Daily the Prince renewed his siege of MacKenzie 
 for an interview and explanation with the Princess 
 Eleanor, and daily old MacKenzie put him off with 
 a " Not yet, sir 1 "Would you wreck everything ? 
 Wait till she s stronger." I knew that Sir Gavin 
 dreaded the inevitable exposure as he had never 
 dreaded anything before. He felt that the respon 
 sibility of what we had done rested most heavily 
 upon himself, and he shrank day by day from the 
 storm that must some time break, and day by day 
 put off the Prince upon the old pretext, even after 
 he knew that the pretext was of no weight and 
 that Madame would never be better able to bear 
 the shock. 
 
 As for the Prince, he won our respect and sincere 
 pity in these days, if never our love. We grew to 
 see under his Southern impulsiveness, his quick 
 temper and volatile moods, the real man, honourable, 
 true and sincere, a soul too frail for the weight of 
 responsibility and power that hung upon it, a na 
 ture too weak for the struggle of duty and love 
 that swayed it. He loved his country indeed, at 
 the end we had no cause to doubt that and above 
 all else he loved the woman who had been so 
 strangely torn from him at the very altar steps. 
 But his will lacked the stern strength to make a 
 choice between the two when a choice was de-
 
 126 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 manded. He would neither stay at the post of 
 duty, nor throw up all duties and responsibilities 
 for love. Who among us all shall condemn him ? 
 To some the good God gives an iron will, a strength 
 to put aside temptation, but to others a heart 
 whose claims will not be denied. 
 
 Be all this as it may, we grew fond of his High 
 ness in those days, and filled with an infinite pity 
 for him that softened our first disgust at his weak 
 ness. He was a simple gentleman who should 
 never have been called to a station which he hated 
 and which was far beyond his stature. 
 
 As for Denis, he met the Princess Eleanor each 
 afternoon in the garden, save one day when it 
 rained, so that being out of doors was impossible, 
 and the Princess, seized with a perverse whim that 
 they should see each other nowhere but in their 
 walled Paradise, would not meet him at all, but 
 kept to her chamber, and only sent him a letter, 
 very thick in the envelope. Denis spent the day 
 over it, reading it again and again, holding it in his 
 hands when he did not read, and lifting it to his 
 face that he might inhale the faint fragrance of the 
 paper. It was, I think, her first written word to 
 him, and I know that he would have fought for it 
 with his life such value men will lay upon a scrap 
 of paper scrawled with black I 
 
 I was much with him at this time, for that love 
 and admiration for him which, later on, so grew in 
 my heart that I must place him before all the other
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 127 
 
 men whom I have known, was even then strong in 
 me. I think no one, man or woman, might be with 
 Denis day by day without loving him. He was a 
 great soul. 
 
 If the Princess Eleanor, drinking the elixir of 
 love, had flushed all in a moment, as it were, into 
 health and strength and rosy happiness, the change 
 in Denis was equally wonderful. He seemed 
 another man. There were marks of the old life 
 that must be upon him to his grave, but the un 
 healthy pallor of his face was gone, the restlessness 
 of the eyes, the hollows in the cheeks, the disagree 
 able lines of cynicism, of dissipation, of reckless 
 ness about the mouth. His head was reared high 
 in the air now, his step firmer, his eyes clear and 
 alert and quite free from the nervous twitching 
 that had spoiled them before. Why, even his smile, 
 that no ill living, no debauchery had seemed ever 
 to touch, took on a tenderer semblance, a sweeter 
 charm. Ah, he was a man ! 
 
 As for the drink, he showed a strength that 
 amazed me. No man who has for years habitually 
 drunk large quantities of any alcoholic liquor can 
 suddenly leave it quite off without becoming a nerv 
 ous wreck, but I think that Denis, at this time, 
 did as nearly without drink of any sort as a man 
 might do. When we sat at a cafe he no longer 
 called for absinthe but took brandy or whiskey in 
 water, and very little of it, and at meals he used 
 the wine most sparingly, Sometimes in the studio,
 
 128 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 after a siege of racking nerves that was all too 
 evident, he would take a single glass of absinthe, 
 but quite openly. And I think he never trusted 
 himself to take it when alone. I have seen many 
 a plucky fight against besetting vices but never one 
 so plucky as this. 
 
 But it was Colonel von Altdorf whose appear 
 ance and conduct were, during these days, most of 
 a mystery to me. He had fallen into a perverse 
 humour that puzzled us all. He had long fits of 
 abstraction from which he would rouse himself to 
 growl an answer to some one s repeated question. 
 He spoke often of having missed much happiness in 
 his way through life, and of how a single man was 
 at best a poor thing and incomplete. Also he took 
 to reading certain volumes of poetry which Denis 
 had about the studio, and I think he memorised 
 some of the verses, for he would read a space, then 
 look up and move his lips as if repeating the lines. 
 
 It was all very curious and most unlike von Alt 
 dorf. I spoke to Denis of it, but Denis had no 
 eyes for other men s affairs just then, he was busy 
 with his own. 
 
 " Let him alone, lad," said Denis. " He s prob 
 ably in love. They often act that way when they 
 take it late in life." 
 
 " But for the love of Heaven ! " I cried, " with 
 whom ? " 
 
 " The concierge," suggested Denis. 
 
 I spoke also of the phenomenon to Miss Jessica
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 129 
 
 Mannering upon whom I took frequent occasion to 
 call. Miss Mannering was at first moved to ex 
 treme mirth. Then after a little she sighed and 
 smiled and touched the keys of the piano before 
 which she was sitting, in the big, gloomy, stone- 
 arched chamber that MacKenzie had transformed 
 into a sort of drawing room. And she sang under 
 her breath a little snatch of song, " Love in my 
 bosom like a bee " 
 
 " It would be a great pity," said Miss Mannering, 
 " a great pity if Colonel von Altdorf should fall in 
 love with some one who who wasn t worthy of 
 him, did n t understand him, would be cruel or cold 
 to him. There are n t many men like Colonel von 
 Altdorf." 
 
 "That s true, by Jove," said I warmly. "Von 
 Altdorf s one of the best ! But I say, why in the 
 world does he want to fall in love, at his age ? " 
 
 " His age ! " cried Miss Mannering, with more 
 heat than I thought necessary. " You speak as if 
 he were seventy ! Men are mere boys till forty," 
 she declared unkindly. 
 
 " Oh, are they though ? " said I. " I suppose 
 I m expected to be crushed. Ah, well, I shall be 
 forty some day. And now, perhaps, you will tell 
 me with whom von Altdorf can be in love ? I m 
 quite at a loss granting that he is in love. Per 
 sonally I fancy it s indigestion. Denis suggests the 
 concierge." 
 
 " You and Mr. Mallory are such wits ! " observed 
 
 9 
 V
 
 130 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 Miss Mannering scathingly. " Just because a man 
 of forty or forty-one - " 
 
 " Forty-two," said I, brutally. 
 
 " Conducts himself," continued Miss Mannering, 
 " in a properly serious manner, you immediately 
 accuse him of being in love. Well, why should n t 
 he be in love ? Is n t he a brave and gallant gen 
 tleman ? Is n t he a faithful friend ? Is n t he the 
 sort of man a woman might might like ? Is n t he 
 handsome and - " 
 
 " Handsome ? " I interrupted. " Oh, come now, 
 I should n t call von Altdorf handsome. He s not 
 ugly exactly, but - " 
 
 " He is most certainly handsome," said Miss 
 Mannering, with some dignity. " Men never know 
 when other men are attractive. They re always 
 dangling about after some silly girl." 
 
 " I m dangling about after you, at just the present 
 moment," said I, " and I m not so keen on talking 
 about von Altdorf all the time either. I say won t 
 you sing something to me? They say you ve a 
 wonderfully beautiful voice. Sing something soft 
 and pretty something," said I sentimentally, 
 " about love." 
 
 " I do n t sing love songs," declared Miss Man 
 nering. 
 
 " But," I protested, " you were singing a bit of 
 one just a moment ago, * Love in my bosom like a 
 
 " That that s different," said she. " I just hap-
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 131 
 
 pened to think of that. It s a song I sang once 
 for a very dear friend a very dear friend. I 
 would n t sing it for any one else." 
 
 " Oh, very well then," said I. " I m going away 
 I do n t think I like you any more. I shall go 
 back to the studio and watch von Altdorf s evo 
 lutions." 
 
 But at the door of the room I ran into von Alt 
 dorf s arms. Von Altdorf favoured me with a melo 
 dramatic scowl. 
 
 " Whatyou here ? " said he gruffly. 
 
 " And why not ? " I demanded, but just then 
 something came to me. I looked from one to the 
 other of them, Miss Jessica Mannering very pink 
 and smiling and radiant. She had n t been radiant 
 while I was there and von Altdorf with the facial 
 expression of the proverbial small boy caught steal 
 ing jam. Then I went out, shaking my head, and 
 made great speed to the studio. 
 
 " Denis will laugh till he s weak," said I glee 
 fully. But Denis, when I had told him, said only, 
 
 " The lucky devil ! Oh, the lucky, lucky devil ! " 
 and took his head into his hands muttering still 
 through his fingers, " The lucky, lucky devil ! " 
 
 Poor old Denis ! Some people seemed never to 
 have any luck. I knew of what he was thinking.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 ELEANOR of Novodnia came down the 
 gravel path of Paradise and her eyes were 
 the break o day, lights that did mislead the 
 morn if only it had n t been golden afternoon. 
 
 She sang in a little low voice, as one sings for 
 very happiness. She sang, 
 
 "Teach me, only teach, Love! 
 
 As I ought 
 
 I will speak thy speech, Love, 
 Think thy thought 
 
 "Meet if thon require it, 
 
 Both demands, 
 
 Laying flesh and spirit 
 
 In thy hands. 
 
 "That shall be to-morrow, 
 
 Not to-night: 
 I must bury sorrow 
 Out of sight! 
 
 " Must a little weep, Love, 
 
 (Foolish me!) 
 And so fall asleep, Love, 
 Loved by thee." 
 
 Denis, sitting upon the old stone bench by the 
 fountain, stared at the trickling water and would 
 not turn his head. He gave a little gasp though,
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 133 
 
 and his heart dropped a beat, when she laid her two 
 hands suddenly over his eyes, standing behind him, 
 and demanded whom he thought she possibly 
 might be. They were cool and soft and firm, the 
 hands, but they set his blood to jumping as if they 
 burned him. 
 
 "I don t know who you are," he declared un 
 truthfully, "I can t imagine, but I should fancy 
 you are probably an angel you ve an angel s 
 hands for this is Paradise, this garden, did n t you 
 know ? where no one but angels may coine saving 
 one sorry knave who enters by the grace of a cer 
 tain angel, a sort of archangel, who has pity upon 
 his forlorn state, and is good to him God bless 
 her ! " 
 
 The archangel joined the sorry knave upon the 
 old stone bench. 
 
 " And he ? " she asked softly, " what does he do 
 in return for the certain angel s pity ? " 
 
 Denis dropped his face into his hands. 
 
 " God help him ! " he groaned. " He loves her 
 better than his honour." 
 
 " No ! " cried the Princess Eleanor sharply. 
 " Ah, no, no ! He does not, he must not ! Ah, take 
 that back again, Carlo! You love your honour 
 more ! Say that you love your honour more ! You 
 loved it more when you stayed in Novodnia and 
 would n t come to me. You love it more now say 
 so, Karl, say so ! It would n t be you if you did n t 
 love your honour better than anything else in the
 
 134 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 world. Oh, of course, you do n t mean what you 
 said, but do n t say it any more, Carlo, it it hurts 
 me somewhere inside, you know. It isn t like 
 you." 
 
 Denis looked up into her face. 
 
 " If ever " he began, and moistened his dry 
 
 lips, " if ever you should find that I d if ever I 
 should do a dishonourable thing, Eleanor," said he 
 steadily. " If ever I should take an unfair advan 
 tage of some one of a woman of of you, lie to 
 you, deceive you about an important thing that 
 meant much to you what then, Eleanor ? What 
 then?" 
 
 The Princess put out a hand and laid it over his 
 lips. 
 
 " Do n t let s talk about such things, Carlo," said 
 she. " They soil our Paradise. They soil you, 
 even the mention of them. You could n t do such 
 
 a thing because it simply is n t in you If you 
 
 should do it if you should why I think I should 
 hate you, Karl, yes hate you, for you would have 
 blackened all my world, turned me out of Para 
 dise." 
 
 "Yes," said Denis Mallory with a little sigh, 
 " ah, yes, I thought you would say that. I thought 
 so I I merely wanted to know, for curiosity, 
 you see." 
 
 "Well you ve a most morbid curiosity then," 
 cried the Princess Eleanor, "and you ll be good 
 enough to curb it after this. Curiosity is a vice,
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 135 
 
 did n t you know ? Oh, dear me, yes ! It gets one 
 into shocking trouble. It killed the cat, you know. 
 What cat ? Oh, I don t know what cat, just any 
 cat. I suppose it was a lady cat though, to be 
 quite just, and died because it could n t find out 
 what was going on in the next garden. Cats are 
 that way, cats and women and some men. That s 
 for you, your Serene Highness." 
 
 She fell silent for a time, looking down through 
 the garden between the black boled trees. 
 
 "Karl," she began after a little, "why do we 
 never talk of what we re going to do, presently, 
 
 when I m quite well As if I were n t now ! 
 
 and we we go away, south to Novodnia and the 
 Palace in Novodni? Ah, there s the sad part, 
 Carlo mio! Eealms take their ruler s time and 
 thought and care, do n t they ? They never think 
 of the Prince s wife, do they ? It never occurs to 
 them that she s sitting alone, very lonely for her 
 Prince who s with his Ministers. Ah, if you 
 were n t the Prince, Carlo ! " 
 
 " Yes yes ! " cried Denis Mallory, looking up 
 with a strange, eager light in his eyes. "If I 
 were n t the Prince, Eleanor ? " 
 
 " If you were n t the Prince, Carlo, if you had no 
 realm to govern, no enemies to fight, no duties to 
 worry over ! What would you do, Carlo, if you 
 were n t the Prince nor I the Princess ? " 
 
 Mallory threw out his arms half fiercely, gripping 
 his hands. His face was flushed and his eyes shone.
 
 136 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 " If I were n t the Prince nor you the Princess, 
 Eleanor ! " said he, " if I d nothing to hold me 
 from it, nothing to stand in the way ? If I were 
 only a man and you a woman ? why I d come to 
 you, here in our Paradise, one day, like this. I d 
 whisper in your ear * Dearest of everything, what 
 are we waiting for, you and I ? Listen ! To-night 
 when all s dark, when you ve gone to your room 
 and they think you ve gone to your bed, when the 
 lights are out and the servants asleep, come away, 
 very softly, to make no noise, oh, very softly! 
 Come out into the garden under the chestnut-trees. 
 I 11 be waiting for you by the fountain, and we 11 
 go, hand in hand down under the trees, down to 
 the little low door in the wall that gives upon the 
 Boulevard. We ll unlock the door and let our 
 selves out. Then we ll close it again very care 
 fully. There will be a carriage waiting at the curb 
 and the broad world waiting beyond, the broad 
 world to pick and choose from, Eleanor. Oh, and 
 a man to care for you, shelter you, guard you from 
 ill, who loves you so that he can t speak of it with 
 out a sort of dizziness, who trembles at your finger 
 tips ! what are we waiting for, you and I ? " 
 
 " What are we waiting for, you and I ? " said the 
 Princess Eleanor in a half whisper. " Ah, if you 
 weren t the Prince nor I the Princess! What 
 would you say to the woman who came down 
 through the garden and out the little low door in 
 the wall, with you ? How would you love her ? "
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 137 
 
 " How should I love her ? " cried Denis Mallory 
 in a shaking voice. " How should I love her, 
 Eleanor ? How shall I say ? Are there words for 
 such things ? How should I love her ? Oh, words 
 beggar love, my sweet ! They must be the same 
 old words that a thousand other men with paltry 
 souls have breathed to a thousand other women 
 whose cheap vanity must be fed. Should I drag 
 her to their low level with set phrases, canting 
 words ? Tell her that her eyes are stars, and her 
 mouth is a red flower afire, and her cheeks white 
 roses flushed with love ? How should I love her, 
 Eleanor ? Madly as a martyr loves the cause he 
 dies for, tenderly as the sunshine loves the garden 
 that it wakes to life, as constantly as the tide loves 
 the moon that it follows about the earth ! How 
 should I love her ? Why, so that all lowness, all 
 meanness, all deceit, all old sorrows and old sins 
 must be laid away, left utterly behind, so that my 
 heart were a rose garden for her to walk in, my 
 soul a shrine with her image over the altar ! Ah, I 
 should be a man with her beside me, Eleanor ! " 
 
 " If you were not the Prince nor I the Princess," 
 said she in a low hushed voice that trembled when 
 she spoke, " why then, you would be the King and 
 I the Queen, King and Queen of all the great, bright, 
 beautiful world! Free to wander hand in hand 
 from one end of our realm to the other and the 
 world would be a rose garden then, Carlo, for all 
 my world would be your heart, my King. Ah, I
 
 138 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 should be the humblest queen that ever lived, for 
 I d ask no more of privilege than to look in your 
 eyes and see the love there, watch your smile and 
 see how bright the sun shone. The winged angels 
 in Heaven must go envying you and me if you 
 were not the Prince nor I the Princess ! " 
 
 A sparrow swooped to the fountain s curb before 
 their feet and gathered a wisp of straw, a loop of 
 cord. His mate twittered from the branches above 
 while he rose with his burden. 
 
 "Yonder goes a king!" cried the Princess 
 Eleanor softly. " And his queen waits and watches 
 for his home-coming. They re building a palace." 
 
 She laid her head against the man s shoulder and 
 tears glittered over her cheeks. 
 
 " See, there he goes again, his Majesty ! His 
 queen is with him this time. She would n t bear 
 him out of her sight how she loves him 1 How 
 she plumes her poor little grey feathers to look well 
 in his eyes ! His heart is all her world." 
 
 " If I were not the Prince nor you the Princess ! " 
 said Denis Mallory. 
 
 " The night will come," she whispered, " and I 
 shall go to my room. After a time the servants 
 will be in their beds and the lights out. The foun 
 tain will be waiting here and the little closed door 
 in the wall. The carriage will be waiting outside, 
 a whole rank of carriages, and all the wide world 
 beyond." 
 
 She raised her head from his shoulder and turned,
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 139 
 
 sitting, so that she leaned against him and her 
 hands lay folded upon her breast. Her breath was 
 warm on his lips and she looked into his eyes. 
 
 Mallory s heart gave a great leap and stood quite 
 still. The blood went from his face. 
 
 You you d go ? " he faltered. "You d 
 go?" 
 
 " What are we waiting for, you and I ? " whis 
 pered the Princess Eleanor. " Shall we never see 
 our kingdom ? Life o my soul your heart jumps 
 under mine ! Shall we trade Paradise for a crown ? " 
 She dropped her face upon his breast and a coil of 
 her hair lay fragrant against his lips. 
 
 " Aye," said he in a queer hoarse whisper, and 
 his eyes stared over her head down among the trees 
 of the garden. "Aye we could go, and no one 
 stop us, no one find us and bring us back. We 
 could go very far away where they d never think 
 to look for us, very far away to the other side of the 
 
 world That s better than than Novodnia I 
 
 Would you dare it, Eleanor ? Would you come 
 with me ? " 
 
 " Yes, yes ! " said the voice muffled upon his breast. 
 
 Mallory gave a little exultant cry, a little nervous 
 exclamation of triumph. 
 
 "Shall we trade Paradise for a scruple?" he 
 cried. " Is n t a heaven like that worth more than 
 a point of a point of honour ? Ah ! " 
 
 The Princess raised her head quickly from his 
 breast. His arm about her had slackened a bit.
 
 140 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 " A point of honour ? " said the Princess slowly. 
 ""Why, it is a point of honour isn t it, Carlo? 
 Why I ve been a bit mad I think." 
 
 She passed a hand across her eyes and gave her 
 head a little shake as if she would rid herself of a 
 dream, a vision. 
 
 " A point of honour ! Of course it s honour ! 
 Carlo, Carlo, I thought for the time of nothing but 
 what might be before us out out yonder in 
 the world. I never thought what going away 
 
 meant Oh, I was mad, Carlo mio, drunk 
 
 with love. I was dreaming 1 " 
 
 " And why not ? " cried Mallory frowning out 
 over her fiercely as if some one stood there accu 
 sing him. " God in Heaven, why not ? Why 
 sha n t we take what we may when it s put before 
 us ? God in Heaven, why not ? Have I been so 
 happy, so lapped in content, that I should throw 
 away my only chance for happiness ? Think of 
 the life I ve led! Ah-h-h, think of it! Shall I 
 throw heaven away for what the world calls 
 honour ? Come with me, Eleanor I Ah, come 
 with me I We 11 live such a life, such a life 1 " 
 
 But the girl only clung to him, looking up into 
 his face anxiously, questioningly. 
 
 "I know what the life would be, Karl," she 
 said softly. " Oh, I know ! I dare n t let myself 
 think of it, long. Don t I know what it would 
 be? But wouldn t we be sorry after a time? 
 Would n t we regret breaking with our honour
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 141 
 
 It s almost all we have, ici bas, isn t it, dear? 
 Honour! How would a whole lifetime founded 
 upon dishonour seem, I wonder ? "Would n t we be 
 sorry ? I do n t know, as I live, I do n t know, 
 Karl. You must decide for us both. If you want 
 me to go, I 11 go, for I m very weak. I m drunk 
 with love still, I m full of what that careless, free 
 life might be, our Paradise. You must decide, 
 dear. Whatever you say, I 11 do. I 11 be the wife 
 of a common gentleman, or I 11 be the wife of a 
 busy Prince. Choose for me, Karl." 
 
 Mallory put her from him, gently, and rose to his 
 feet and went over to the little fountain, and stood 
 there with his back to the Princess, fighting his 
 fight. 
 
 I think he knew what the end must be. I think 
 he had known from the first moment when he had 
 put the thing sanely to his judgment, but the great 
 passion of love that he bore the Princess fought 
 bitterly for mastery of him, painted in cruelly glow 
 ing tints the life that lay open to his choice, the 
 possession that must otherwise be lost to him utterly 
 all for what the world calls honour. 
 
 He turned back toward the Princess Eleanor 
 with a hopeless little gesture, and his head drooped. 
 
 " If there s any honour left to such a man as I, 
 Eleanor," said he wearily, " it is n t of much con 
 sequence, and I suppose I should not hesitate to 
 chuck it over if the price were high enough, but 
 you ve laid your honour in my hands, dear, and I
 
 142 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 may n t soil it. Some day later on, you 11 know 
 what I m giving up." 
 
 But the Princess came to him, swiftly, and put 
 out her arms over his shoulders so that her hands 
 held the back of his head, and kissed him, and laid 
 her head once more upon his breast. 
 
 "I knew what you d choose, dear heart," she 
 cried very low. " Ah, I knew ! Honour binds us 
 both, Carlo, does n t it ? And we must stay. You 
 could not love me dear so much, loved you not 
 honour more. It s the busy Prince, then, is n t it, 
 dear ? Still, I shall be your wife. It is n t as if we 
 were to part, so do n t let s be so solemn over it. 
 I m still your wife, Karl." 
 
 " Ah, yes, yes," said Denis looking away. " Yes 
 you 11 still be my wife. It is n t as if we were to 
 part. Come, Eleanor, you must go in. The sun is 
 low and it s growing cool. Come, or MacKenzie 
 will say that I m not taking proper care of you." 
 
 Under the kind shelter of the old refectory 
 porch she raised her face to him and he kissed her lips. 
 
 " You must remember later on, Eleanor," said 
 he his voice still sounded weary and overwrought 
 " remember that I gave up what what you 
 offered me that I was n t quite so despicable as I 
 might have been. Ah, you loveliest thing in all 
 God s great world, how I love you ! Heart s soul, 
 how I love you ! " And he turned and left her and 
 went down through the long garden with his head 
 hanging low.
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 DENIS and I were sitting in the studio in 
 dustriously occupied in blowing smoke 
 rings at which art I am believed to be an 
 adept. And indeed it is a harmless pastime, I pro 
 test. 
 
 It was near noon and Denis had been hard at 
 work all the morning with his weekly article for 
 the London paper. A quite imposing pile of written 
 sheets lay before him on the table. 
 
 Then von Altdorf stamped into the room scowling 
 most portentously. 
 
 " The Prince not here ? " he snapped as if he sus 
 pected us of having stuffed away his Highness of 
 Novodnia under the divan or in a closet. 
 
 "No, he hasn t been in to-day," said Denis be 
 tween rings. 
 
 " Well then," cried von Altdorf angrily, " I d 
 like to know where the devil he is ! and why the 
 devil he leaves his rooms without my knowledge 
 and without any word as to where he s going ! 
 It s enough to exasperate a saint ! " 
 
 " Tut, tut, man, man ! " said Denis, with an 
 amused laugh. "Sit down, and calm yourself. 
 I m not sure but your language is lese majeste. I 
 shall speak to the Prince about it, My word ! one
 
 144 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 might think the Prince a naughty child or an 
 erring servant. Do you feed him and tuck him 
 into his bed o nights, von Altdorf ? " 
 
 But von Altdorf was in no mood for jest. 
 
 " You would n t think it so dashed funny if he 
 were to fall into the hands of those devils who 
 tracked him here, would you ? " he growled. 
 "Well, that s just what he ll do if he persists in 
 going about alone and unprotected. Do n t you be 
 lieve for a moment that because we have n t seen 
 them in a long while they re not dogging every 
 move he makes. That we have n t seen them only 
 proves them the cleverer." 
 
 Denis blew a big ring and drove a little one 
 through it. He smiled delightedly upon his work. 
 
 "They won t touch the Prince," said he care 
 lessly. 
 
 " Won t Oh, do n t be an ass ! " cried the 
 
 disgusted diplomat. 
 
 Denis shood his head. 
 
 " No, they won t touch the Prince," he repeated. 
 " I do n t believe they re even keeping more than a 
 casual eye upon him. How much do you suppose 
 their cause would be worth in Novodnia if it were 
 known that they d kidnapped or killed the Prince ? 
 Man, the populace would rise up and chase every 
 Pavelovitch follower into the Danube ! No, no, 
 they re no such fools as that. They want to keep 
 Karl out of the country, all right enough, but they 
 want to keep him out seemingly at his own volition,
 
 If you ll think it over a bit you d see that they d 
 only ruin their cause by harming or killing him." 
 
 " You ve missed your vocation, lad," said Colonel 
 von Altdorf with a half sneer. " You belong to the 
 diplomatic service or the secret police. You ve a 
 keen mind." But I could see that he was thinking 
 for all that, and half convinced. 
 
 "And whom then," he persisted, "whom then 
 should you think they re after, my acute young 
 friend, if not the Prince ? " 
 
 Denis dropped his eyes and a sudden shade 
 passed over his face. 
 
 " If they re after any one at all," said he, " it s 
 some one whose abduction would keep the Prince, 
 of his own will, away from Novodnia in search for 
 them till he should run them down. But this 
 person, I may add, is being uncommonly well 
 guarded." 
 
 Yon Altdorf gasped. 
 
 " You mean ? " he cried. " You mean 
 
 the " 
 
 "I mean whomever you like," said Mallory, 
 " but your friends Steinbrticke and company may 
 as well go back to Novodnia. They won t get 
 what they re after." 
 
 There were hurried steps without the door and 
 MacKenzie burst into the room panting and di 
 shevelled. His big, square face was mottled red 
 and white. His eyes showed an excitement that I 
 had never yet seen in them, and he stood before us
 
 146 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 staring and breathing hard. His mouth worked as 
 if he would speak but could not. 
 
 Colonel von Altdorf was up in an instant, his 
 face full of a nameless fear. He was thinking, I 
 knew, of the absent Prince. He put out a shaking 
 hand upon MacKenzie s arm. 
 
 " What is it, man ? " he cried sharply. " What 
 is it ? What s wrong ? For God s sake, can t 
 you speak ? What s the matter ? " 
 
 MacKenzie let himself down into a chair, and 
 his chin sank upon his breast. 
 
 " He s told her ! " said he. " The Prince has 
 told her ! " 
 
 There was a swift, hoarse cry from Denis Mai- 
 lory, a cry that brought us all to our feet. He was 
 standing by the table with the chair in which he 
 had sat gripped in one hand, lifted far from the 
 floor. His face was quite white, jaw set, lips a 
 straight, thin line, and his eyes burned under 
 lowered brows. He stood so, leaning forward a 
 bit, staring at MacKenzie s bowed head for several 
 seconds, I should think. Then all at once he fell 
 back into his seat, seemed to collapse, crumple 
 together, and laid his arms upon the table, and 
 dropped his head upon them. His shoulders 
 twisted and heaved. 
 
 I think that for the time the minds of all of us 
 were wholly with him and that we gave little or no 
 thought to the stricken Princess. 
 
 I caught von Altdorf s eyes and, as I live, they
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 147 
 
 were filled with tears, and his brows were twisted 
 and drawn in grief. Perhaps my own were like 
 them. I take no shame for it. He went across 
 to the table and bent over the man who lay there. 
 He slipped an arm about the bowed shoulders. 
 
 " Denis, old lad ! " said he. Could that be von 
 Altdorf s voice ? It was gentle as a woman s ! 
 " Why, dear old lad, it had to come. You knew it 
 had to come. Do n t let it knock you under. God 
 knows, lad, we re all sorry enough for the whole 
 wretched business ; and God knows we all wish it 
 could end otherwise but it can t. There never 
 was a chance that it could, not an honourable chance. 
 Come, lad, you ve played a man s part, play the 
 man now ! You re losing what s all the world to 
 you. Aye, I know, I know, but you ve made a 
 trio of friends here that 11 stand by you to the last 
 ditch. Their hearts are sore for you, lad. Come, 
 buck up ! There s much to do yet. The game s 
 not over by a long time." 
 
 Denis raised his head from his arms. His face 
 was quite white and very haggard, but there was 
 no trace of feeling upon it. Then he drew a long 
 -breath, stretching his arms outward, and was his 
 old self again, save that there was no smile upon 
 his lips nor light in his eyes, but only an utter 
 calm. 
 
 He went over to MacKenzie, who had left his 
 seat and was moving restlessly about the room. 
 He took him by the shoulders and looked into his face.
 
 148 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 " How does how does she take it ? " he asked. 
 " Was she badly shocked ? Too badly ? " 
 
 Old MacKenzie looked away. 
 
 " She s much incensed against ye, lad," said 
 he gently. " She s a bit unreasonable just now. 
 
 She won t see that the thing had to be done 
 
 Ye would n t best try to see her now." 
 
 " Yes, yes ! " said Denis, impatiently. " Yes, 
 yes, I know all that of course she thinks me a 
 
 blackguard I know all that Why, in God s 
 
 name, should n t she ? But how has she taken the 
 shock ? Will it do her great ill ? Will she bear it 
 safely ? Tell me if you think she 11 get over it." 
 
 His only thought seemed to be for her safety 
 and welfare to make sure that she would bear the 
 strain. 
 
 " Why, as for that," said MacKenzie, " yes, lad, I 
 think she ll weather it. She s strong and well. 
 She s able to meet a great shock. T is her her 
 resentment an sense o wrong that s keeping her 
 up now in the worst of it. She s very angry an 
 her hurt pride is all in her thoughts. What it will 
 be when the full realisation comes to her later, only 
 God knows, but I think she 11 weather it. She has 
 great reserve strength, an as I ve said she s very 
 angry. Anger is a buffer to grief, of which no one 
 but a medical man appreciates the value." 
 
 Denis went back to his table and rested his head 
 upon his hands. 
 
 " That s all that matters," said he wearily, " just
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 149 
 
 that she comes through it safely, that she takes 
 no lasting harm. The rest is why the rest is 
 nothing." 
 
 Then there was a knock at the door and the 
 Prince Karl of Novodnia entered. He came into 
 the room with a certain lingering hesitation, and 
 glanced up at our faces one by one, furtively under 
 his brows, as if he feared what his reception 
 might be. 
 
 Indeed he met no friendly glance nor welcoming 
 eye. Colonel von Altdorf s face was set and hard, 
 MacKenzie lowered upon him gloomily, and I looked 
 away. Only Denis rose at once and spoke with his 
 ordinary courtesy as if nothing had happened. 
 
 " Pray sit down, sir," said he. " Sir Gavin has 
 just been telling us that you have had an interview 
 with the Princess Eleanor. Our task then, I take 
 it, is nearly at an end." 
 
 The Prince dropped into a chair and his eyes 
 wandered dully about the room, avoiding our faces. 
 He seemed, in truth, little like a man who has just 
 claimed his wife after months of separation. In 
 deed he appeared in the very depths of depression. 
 He sat for a time in gloomy silence, that no one of 
 us offered to break, but at last the hostility about 
 him seemed to reach his nerves, rouse him to a sul 
 len defiance. He looked up at MacKenzie and his 
 face flushed. 
 
 "You show small approval of what I ve done, 
 sir," said he.
 
 150 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 The Scotsman turned upon him like an angry 
 lion. 
 
 " Approval ? " he cried, towering above the sulky 
 figure in the chair, " approval, say you ? By the 
 livin God, sir, t is no thanks to you that the Prin 
 cess Eleanor is alive to-day ! You ve done all ye 
 could to make my treatment an the efforts of all 
 these gentlemen here, of no avail. First ye come 
 here with no manner o warnin an though t is ex 
 plained to ye wi care what we re tryin to do in 
 the matter o saving yer wife s reason, ye try to 
 break in upon her the first instant through a silly 
 jealousy worthy o a child. Ye try, furthermore, 
 to kill a gallant gentleman who s givin his time to 
 your service an hers, an who spares your life, as by 
 heaven I d never ha done. Then lastly, full o the 
 same silly jealousy, no doubt, ye make yer way into 
 my house an blurt out the whole truth like an 
 eediot, careless o whether yer wife can bear the 
 shock or no. Before God, sir, t is all I can do not 
 to lay hands upon ye ! " 
 
 The Prince s face blazed crimson. 
 
 " Colonel von Altdorf," said he, " will you remind 
 this gentleman, to whom he is speaking ? " 
 
 Yon Altdorf rose at once to his feet and saluted. 
 
 " Sir Gavin," he said coldly, " my duty to my 
 master compels me to warn you that your language 
 is lacking in proper respect." 
 
 His tone and his manner shifted the rebuke from 
 MacKenzie and laid it upon the Prince. It was
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 151 
 
 quite plain where his sympathy lay, and the Prince 
 dropped his eyes to the floor. 
 
 " Ye cannot frighten me, sir," said the big Scots 
 man sternly, "ye may as well save your breath. 
 I m a British subject an as such owe ye no alle 
 giance. T is man to man, Karl o Novodnia, an I 
 tell ye again ye have done all in your power to undo 
 what we gentlemen have been tryin to accomplish, 
 in your service. I tell ye ye ve no right to go to 
 my house in my absence an trouble a patient o 
 mine, wife or no wife. She s my patient while 
 she s under my charge an I m no in the habit 
 o havin my methods interfered with. In the 
 proper time the truth ye blurted out to-day would 
 ha been broken to her gently, gradually, by the 
 proper people an all o the shock possible, spared 
 her. Ye have spared her nothing, by heaven ! An* 
 I 11 not answer for the consequences. I wash my 
 hands o the matter here an now. Ye ha brought 
 my skill an plans and care all to naught. I wonder 
 are ye proud o your work ! " 
 
 The Prince of Novodnia raised his bent head and 
 tried to square his huddled shoulders. 
 
 " That will do, sir," said he, with a sort of pa 
 thetic dignity, a sort of lonely, friendless sadness 
 that touched my sympathy. 
 
 "That will do, sir. You make yourself quite 
 clear, and it is quite clear also that these gentlemen 
 feel as you do. I dare say you are right but I I 
 cannot bear any more just now." He looked from
 
 152 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 one face to another with a pitiful half eagerness, 
 as though he searched for a ray of feeling, of en 
 couragement. 
 
 " I give you my word," said he, " that when I 
 left the Avenue de 1 Observatoire this morning I had 
 no thought of attempting to see the Princess, no 
 thought save of coming here in the ordinary fash 
 ion. It it was a sudden impulse, an overwhelming 
 impulse that could not be denied. I tell you I have 
 waited till endurance cracked. I have been put off 
 day by day with promises of the near future. I ve 
 seen myself no nearer the goal than when I came 
 to Paris, another man taking my place, winning my 
 wife s my wife s care nay sir, I impute to you 
 no blame ! I do not question your honour or your 
 good faith do not misunderstand me ! I could 
 bear it no longer! Rash I may be, gentlemen, 
 headstrong and careless, too little thoughtful of the 
 harm I may do, but I love my wife and my love 
 has wrecked my judgment. If I have brought 
 grief to her, I must be an equal sufferer, for as I 
 live, I think I shall never win my wife s love. 
 Gentlemen, gentlemen, have you nothing but con 
 demnation for me ? " 
 
 " Aye, sir, pity, pity ! " cried Denis, springing up 
 and going over to him, while the others of us sat 
 in sullen silence. " Pity and understanding, sir ! 
 There is no one of us who can swear that he would 
 have done otherwise in your place. Sir Gavin is 
 angry that his care has come to nothing, and we
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 153 
 
 others why, a little aghast that our plans have 
 been so suddenly overturned, but shall a man mad 
 with love be reasonable or think of consequences ? 
 Indeed I feel for you, sir, if none of these gentle 
 men do the same. Our trick could have endured 
 but little longer at the best. Come, sir, courage, 
 courage! If the Princess seems unready, at the 
 moment, to yield you her her love, why time will 
 do everything. She 11 she 11 love you yet. I I 
 feel " But his voice was slipping from his con 
 trol, shaking dangerously, and he turned about 
 quickly and went over to the window that gave 
 upon the garden, and stood there with his face 
 against the glass. I slipped an arm over his shoul 
 ders and stood with him. 
 
 " By my faith in God, Denis," said I, and my 
 voice was no steadier than his, " you re the bravest 
 man and the truest gentleman in the world. You 
 shame us all ! " I saw his face and turned my eyes 
 away. 
 
 " She 11 never love the Prince, Denis," said I 
 after a pause. I thought it might be a ray of com 
 fort to him in his darkness. 
 
 " She must ! " he cried. " God help us both ! 
 She must ! It s her only hope of happiness. She 11 
 turn to him in her utter disgust of me, turn to him 
 
 for shelter What do I matter if only she s 
 
 happy, Ted ? That s all that counts, just that she 
 may be happy ! Ah, yes, she 11 come to love the 
 Prince, in time,"
 
 154 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 But I shook my head. 
 
 " She 11 love you while she lives, Denis," I said, 
 " as you 11 love her and that s something." 
 
 " As I 11 love her," said he very low, and staring 
 out into the garden that was Paradise no longer. 
 
 " Why, yes, Teddy, that s something Ah, no, 
 
 no, it must n t be true it won t be true ! Do n t 
 try to comfort a chap, Teddy. I shall get on 
 somehow." 
 
 And behind us, in the room, I heard the three 
 others talking, old MacKenzie in a moderated voice, 
 the Prince very wearily as if he saw his dream 
 shattered forever, von Altdorf anxiously, and urg 
 ing his master to return to JSTovodnia where the 
 need for him was so desperate. 
 
 Fate had played one of her trumps but only 
 one.
 
 OHAPTEK XIII 
 
 AND this is how the thing that had set all 
 our plans at naught came about. Miss 
 Jessica Mannering was in the great, gloomy, 
 stone-arched chamber which had been made into a 
 reception and music room. She had been arrang 
 ing some jonquils, a great yellow cluster of them, 
 in a bronze jar upon the piano, and was sitting be 
 fore that instrument idly touching the keys. Her 
 fingers strayed unwittingly into a certain quaint 
 old song, a madrigal of Lodge s, "Love in my 
 
 bosom like a bee " which seemed to rouse in 
 
 her pleasant reflections, for she smiled softly, as 
 she played, and a little flush rose to her cheeks. 
 
 Then the maid, Fifine, appeared, saying that a 
 gentleman wished to see Mademoiselle. The little 
 flush deepened a bit. She knew who the " gentle 
 man " was. 
 
 "Colonel von Altdorf is always to come in at 
 once, Fifine ! " said she. " You need never ask." 
 
 But the man who entered the room immediately 
 bore no likeness to Colonel von Altdorf. She had 
 known this man many months before in New York 
 and in Newport. 
 
 " Prince Karl ! " gasped Miss Mannering. " Prince 
 Karl ? Oh, sir, sir, you ought not to come here !
 
 156 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 Does Colonel von Altdorf know ? Oh, you must n t 
 stay ! "What if Eleanor should see you ? " She had 
 fallen back against the piano in her amazement, and 
 she clasped her hands excitedly before her as if she 
 would pray him to be gone. 
 
 "You must not be seen here, Prince," she re 
 peated. " Ah, you should not have come ! " 
 
 "I have come, Mademoiselle," cried the Prince, 
 " to see my wife ! God in Heaven, am I to be put 
 off forever? Yon Altdorf! Enough of von Alt 
 dorf ! Is he my governor, my keeper ? I tell you, 
 Mademoiselle, I can bear it no longer. Has a hus 
 band no rights? Am I to stand by idle while 
 another man plays my part, wins my wife from me 
 forever ? Let me see her ! Mademoiselle, you are 
 a woman, you are not as those men, MacKenzie, 
 von Altdorf, Creighton, cold, careful, without 
 heart ! Let me see her. By heaven I demand it ! 
 "Who, I ask you, is Prince of Novodnia and husband 
 of the Princess Eleanor? Is it that gentleman 
 whom she meets in the garden daily, or is it I ? " 
 
 " Oh, Prince, Prince ! " begged Miss Mannering. 
 " Pray be calm ! Heaven knows how we all regret 
 the deception we have had to practice. It has been 
 through no desire of ours that you were kept away 
 from Eleanor will you not be wise and go quickly 
 before she may happen in here ? She is not yet fit 
 to see you. It must be broken to her gently." 
 
 " Mademoiselle ! " he cried, " I will be put off no 
 longer. I cannot allow this deception to go on. 1
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 157 
 
 demand an interview with my wife the Princess. 
 No man with Great God Almighty ! Elea 
 nor 1 Eleanor ! " 
 
 Miss Mannering saw his face go suddenly white 
 and his jaw drop as his voice left him in a 
 choking gasp, and she turned about with a little 
 shriek. 
 
 The Princess Eleanor came forward slowly from 
 the doorway where she had been standing. She 
 looked from her cousin to the man who stood near, 
 and back again to Miss Mannering, with a puzzled, 
 questioning expression. She was frowning slightly 
 and her eyes were clouded. 
 
 " What what do you mean by a deception going 
 on your wife the Princess Eleanor meeting an 
 other man daily in the garden ? " she said in a slow, 
 wondering tone. "What is all this about? Jes 
 sica, who is this ? Ah ! " She caught herself 
 
 up sharply as she saw the Prince s face full in the 
 light, and moved a little away from him, putting 
 out her hand to Miss Mannering. 
 
 " Why this is the man who who frightened 
 me the other day in the garden," she said, still in 
 her low, puzzled tone. " What does he want, Jess ? 
 Does he want to see the Prince ? Oh, Jessica, Jes 
 sica, what is it all about ? What is this dreadful 
 mystery ? Why, Jess, you re trembling ! I ve 
 heard all you ve said to each other, what does he 
 mean by saying that he s the Prince ? Why, he s 
 not the Prince at all! Why did you call him
 
 158 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 Prince, Jess ? "Why did n t you want me to see 
 him ? I oh tell me what it s all about 1 " 
 
 Miss Jessica Mannering flashed a desperate warn 
 ing to the Prince and took her cousin by the 
 shoulders. " It s nothing, nothing, dear ! " she cried. 
 " Come away ! You must n t be excited over trifles. 
 This is another Prince from somewhere near No- 
 vodnia. He wants to see Prince Karl upon busi 
 ness of state. Come away, Eleanor, come ! " 
 
 But the Princess Eleanor would not be moved. 
 She freed herself from the arm that Miss Mannering 
 had thrown around her, and shook her head decid 
 edly. Her eyes did not leave the man s face. 
 
 " Do n t try to hoodwink me, Jess," said she. 
 " There s some mystery here, and I must know of 
 
 it "Where have I seen this gentleman before ? 
 
 His face why his face is oddly familiar!" She 
 pressed a hand over her eyes a moment as if she 
 would clear away the mist from her mind. 
 
 " "Who are you, sir ? " she asked. " I seem to 
 know you, but I my memory plays me false." 
 
 The Prince looked at Miss Jessica Mannering and 
 made a little gesture of desperation. 
 
 " Madame 1 " said he, " I am Carol Ferdinand, 
 Prince of Novodnia. Ah, Eleanor, Eleanor ! do n t 
 you know me ? " 
 
 The Princess Eleanor caught her hand swiftly to 
 her breast and stared into the man s face. Her 
 eyes were dilated, very wide and dark, and her lips 
 parted. She seemed not to breathe at all. After
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 159 
 
 some little time she turned her head, not moving 
 her body, and her wide eyes burned into those of 
 her cousin. Miss Mannering dropped her face into 
 her hands and fell to sobbing, and the Princess 
 looked again toward the man. 
 
 " You ? " she said in a slow half whisper. " You, 
 Prince of Novodnia and my husband ? Why why 
 
 I must have misunderstood I must be dream 
 
 Ah, if this is a jest, sir, I tell you it is a poor one ! 
 I do n t follow your humour. Yet your your face ? 
 Oh, in Heaven s name, can t you explain ? Jess, 
 Jess, tell me! What does it all mean?" Her 
 voice had risen to a cry. " This man Prince of 
 Novodnia ? Why then, what is my Prince ? This 
 
 man my hus Why Jessica, I ve been with my 
 
 husband for a fortnight, every day ! Am I mad or 
 are you ? Jess, what does it all mean ? " 
 
 Miss Mannering drew her cousin into her arms 
 and bent the dazed, trembling head till it lay upon 
 her shoulder. 
 
 " Listen, dearest ! " said she. " I must tell you 
 the truth now, the whole truth, at any cost, though 
 we had meant to break it to you gently. This 
 
 gentleman is Prince Karl of Novodnia No, 
 
 no ! Wait, Eleanor ! He was detained in Novod- 
 nia by the troubles there, and could not by any 
 chance get away to come to you here in Paris. 
 But you were on the edge of of nervous prostra 
 tion, dear or worse. You imagined that we were 
 trying to keep your husband from you Ah,
 
 160 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 you imagined all sorts of things, till we were quite 
 desperate, Sir Gavin and the rest of us. So, some 
 one suggested that that another gentleman take 
 the Prince s place since the Prince might not 
 
 come and a Mr. Mallory, Denis Mallory 
 
 Wait, wait, Eleanor ! pretended to be the Prince 
 your husband, to save your reason and perhaps your 
 life. Oh, it is he, Eleanor, whom you have been 
 seeing every day ! The real Prince came unex 
 pectedly that day when you first saw him, when he 
 frightened you in the garden." 
 
 The Princess Eleanor moved slowly away from 
 her cousin and stood looking at her with sombre 
 eyes. 
 
 " It is n t true," she said very low, and as if to 
 herself, but there was no conviction in the tone. 
 " It is n t true ! Why, of course, it can t be true. 
 My Karl not the Prince, not my husband? My 
 Karl ? Jess, dear, please tell me that you re joking 
 or I dreaming or that I m quite, quite mad ! 
 Carlo s not Carlo at all, but a Mr. Mallory ? This 
 this gentleman is Carlo, my husband ? Oh, Jes 
 sica, do n t let me believe you ! Take hold of me a 
 moment, dear, things are going round just a bit." 
 
 " Eleanor ! " said the Prince. " Ah, Eleanor, 
 Eleanor ! " 
 
 She covered her face with shaking hands and 
 swayed in Miss Mannering s arms. 
 
 " I tell you I won t believe it ! " she cried fiercely. 
 Her voice had gone quite beyond control and was
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 161 
 
 hoarse and unnatural. "I won t, I won t! My 
 Karl play a trick like that ? "Why, it is n t in him ! 
 He couldn t do it! He is the very soul of all 
 honour ! Do you want me to believe him a black 
 guard ? Kim f Why, Jess, Jess, there s some dread 
 ful mistake somewhere, I know there is I d 
 trust him against all the world sooner than my 
 own self, I tell you. No, oh no, he d never lie to 
 me." 
 
 " Dearest ! " cried Jessica Mannering, " do n t you 
 understand that it was to save you ? "We feared 
 for your very reason, Eleanor, for your life! It 
 was only something desperate that would save you. 
 Ah, dear, dear, do you think I d be telling you this, 
 making you suffer so if it were n t true ? Can t 
 you see that we had to lie to you for your own 
 sake?" 
 
 The Princess moved away from her again, and 
 leaned against the wall near by, laying her head 
 upon the rough hangings. She shivered as if she 
 were cold, and pulled the collar of her waist closer 
 about her throat. 
 
 "Lie to me?" she said. "Oh yes, yes, it 
 might be necessary to lie to me, sometimes, for my 
 
 own good Oh yes, I can see that, but give me a 
 
 man that you call my husband, let me see him 
 every day, grow to know him, care for him, love 
 him as no human being ever was loved before ? 
 Centre my whole life, my world, my heaven to 
 come in the depths of his eyes, in the smile of his
 
 162 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 lips ? Oh, it s infamous ! It s unbelievable ! Is a 
 woman s sanity, nay, her life itself, more than her 
 soul ? I tell you that man, whom you say is not my 
 husband, has the very soul of me between his hands ! 
 I ve grown to love him till I m part of him, and he 
 of me, my soul can never be my own again any 
 more than my heart can. It s infamous, I say ! 
 That s what you ve done for me, all of you ! 
 That s what you ve robbed me of, my immortal 
 soul 1 And for my health s sake ! Oh-h ! And 
 and now you bring this man here and say that he s 
 my husband ! You expect me to say to him Oh 
 yes, yes it s been nice with your substitute but now 
 that you ve come I 11 go away with you when you 
 will. I ? There is n t any I ! I m part of that 
 man whom I ve grown to love 1 And now you ask 
 me to believe him a blackguard ! " She turned her 
 face against the wall and hid it with her hands. 
 "A blackguard!" she moaned. "My King a 
 blackguard ! I could not love thee dear so much, 
 loved I not honour more * loved I not honour 
 more ! Carlo, Carlo ! " 
 
 She stood so, face to the wall, for a long time, 
 silent, and save for an occasional fit of trembling, 
 motionless, while the other two looked into each 
 other s eyes with a dumb despair. 
 
 When at last she turned to them again she was 
 quite calm, though, now and then, as she spoke, her 
 lips quivered, and she was forced to pause an instant 
 to steady her voice.
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 163 
 
 "It would seem, sir," said she, not lifting her 
 eyes to his face, "that you are my husband if 
 indeed we have come at last to the truth in this 
 tragedy of errors. Had I heart or brain left with 
 feeling I think I should be sorry for you, for it 
 appears that I have never brought you anything but 
 grief and anxiety. I I cannot speak now of our 
 relations. You must give me time to think. My 
 world, sir, has been cut from under my feet. The 
 one I loved and trusted and worshipped most of 
 all living beings has proved a blackguard and it is 
 not strange that I am left without bearings or 
 standards. I have no love left to give you, Prince. 
 I have no love left in me, nor trust nor faith. I 
 care not at all what becomes of me, for all that 
 made my life is wrecked and dead utterly. May I 
 beg you to leave me for to-day ? I will see you, if 
 you wish, later, to to speak of the future. Oh, 
 
 leave us quickly, sir, I can t bear I " Her 
 
 voice broke into great shaking sobs and she sank 
 down into one of the big chairs that stood near, and 
 hid her face again. 
 
 The Prince of Novodnia glanced at Miss Jessica 
 Mannering, and taking up his hat tiptoed softly 
 out of the room. 
 
 Miss Mannering dropped upon her knees beside 
 the chair and threw her two arms about the 
 huddled figure, laying her face against the bronzed 
 head and sobbing, but the Princess Eleanor put 
 her away and rose to her feet, choking down
 
 164 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 the great sobs that shook her, with a fierce 
 effort. 
 
 " Do n t touch me, please," she said in a half whis 
 per. " I I do n t seem, to want any one to to touch 
 me or be near me. I want to be alone quite alone. 
 You ve quite wrecked my life among you, and 
 I presume I shall never forgive you for it. No, 
 I do n t think I hate you, quite. But I do n t love 
 you any more." She moved uncertainly toward 
 the door that led to the great staircase. In the 
 doorway she paused an instant, and looked back. 
 
 "Please never mention that that impostor to 
 me again," said the Princess Eleanor, and went 
 slowly up the stairs to her chamber. 
 
 Miss Jessica Mannering on her knees by the big 
 chair dropped her face upon her arms and wept till 
 the tears would no longer flow.
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 " T| "> H ? " said Denis wearily, " what s ahead ? 
 
 r] God knows, not I. Yon Altdorf has been 
 
 1 flaying siege to the Prince again Gad, if 
 
 I were the Prince, I d kill von Altdorf and he 
 has promised to go back to Novodnia as soon as he 
 has had another talk with with Her, so that he 11 
 know where he stands and what the outcome is to 
 be." 
 
 We were sitting together in the studio it was 
 two days after the Princess had been told the truth 
 Denis at the table with his elbows upon it and 
 his head in his hands ; and 1 in the long steamer 
 chair, smoking a pipe, and trying to beguile Denis 
 with wonder inspiring rings of smoke. 
 
 " But what s the outcome to be ? " I demanded. 
 Denis shook his head. 
 
 "Again, God knows," said he, "and He won t 
 tell, but I think she will in time go to the Prince 
 indeed I m certain of it. He s her husband and 
 she has an exalted sense of of honour and duty. 
 Ah, yes, she 11 go to him if not for love, still for 
 duty. They 11 find some way to make her elevation 
 possible, to make it popular among the people, and 
 she ll fill her high position as a princess should. 
 Aye, a throne will become her. She was born for
 
 166 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 state. Have you happened to hear anything about 
 her since day before yesterday, Ted ? Have you 
 been at the house ? " 
 
 " "Why, no," said I, " I meant to have gone there 
 yesterday, but something else came up I ll run 
 over now. Miss Mannering will be there of course. 
 Will you come ? " 
 
 He looked up eagerly for an instant. I knew 
 how he was longing to go, to see Miss Mannering 
 himself, ask her all the things that he might not ask 
 of any one else, hear the littlest details of that 
 lamentable scene with the Prince. But he shook 
 his head. 
 
 "No, Ted, no," said he, "I mustn t go. It 
 wouldn t do at all. She might see me there, hap 
 pen into the room while we were calling. Ah, no, 
 you must go alone, lad. But ask a great deal 
 about her, Teddy ! Find out just how she is, if it 
 has weakened her at all, if she s ill, how she seems 
 and looks. Ah, remember, Ted, that I want to 
 know everything! Nothing s too little or too 
 trivial. Bah! I m growing womanish! Don t 
 mind me, lad, just make your call and and ask all 
 the questions you can. I shall be waiting here for 
 you." 
 
 " I 11 do my best, old chap," said I. " Miss Man 
 nering sha n t get off easily, I promise you. Yes, 
 wait here, I shall not be long." 
 
 I found Miss Jessica Mannering in the music- 
 room. She was sitting in one of the big stuffed
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 167 
 
 chairs near a window, with a book, and looked up 
 with a trace of eagerness as I came in. I was n t 
 at all cut up when the trace of eagerness died away 
 at sight of me, for I d no hopes of rivaling von 
 Altdorf. 
 
 " I ve come to enquire about the Princess," said 
 I. "Den we re all tremendously worried, of 
 course, and, if you do n t mind my saying it, you 
 look worried, too." 
 
 Indeed, I had never seen Miss Mannering in quite 
 this guise. Her eyes were indisputably red from 
 weeping. She was very pale and drawn and seemed 
 on the verge of illness. 
 
 She laid her head back restlessly upon the cush 
 ions of the big chair, and sighed. 
 
 " Worried ? " said she, " worried ? I m half mad, 
 and quite ill from anxiety and lack of sleep. Elea 
 nor will hardly speak to me or to Sir Gavin, or to 
 Colonel von Altdorf who was here yesterday. I 
 do n t know what to do or say, Mr. Creighton if 
 only she d a mother ! You see I am the only one 
 of the family here in Paris, for my uncle, Eleanor s 
 father, was called back to America, long ago. I m 
 quite at my wits end." 
 
 " She s not ill again ? " I asked, " er mentally 
 or otherwise ? It has n t forced her into a relapse ? " 
 
 " Oh, no, I think not," said the girl. " she seems 
 strong enough. Sir Gavin says that it s her anger 
 and resentment that are keeping her up, for she s 
 terribly angry in her proud, cold way. Indeed, one
 
 168 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 can t blame her for it, nor for turning against us all 
 as she has done. She feels that an almost unspeak 
 able humiliation has been put upon her, in present 
 ing Mr. Mallory as her husband, and allowing her 
 to fall so madly in love with him. Ah, she did love 
 him, Mr. Creighton ! I suppose none of us will ever 
 know how she loved him. Now, she won t allow 
 his name to be mentioned before her as if we d 
 any chance! We seldom see her. She keeps to 
 her own rooms, has her meals sent there, indeed, 
 save that yesterday she came down for dinner. 
 Poor Eleanor ! She s had so much more than her 
 share of suffering, has n t she ? It seems as if Fate 
 as Colonel von Altdorf would say had chosen 
 her for misfortune. I suppose there is no more 
 terrible thing than to have the one person whom, 
 out of all the world, you love most, proved all at 
 once an impostor, and, as it must seem to you, a 
 villain. She says that her world is cut from under 
 her feet, that there s no love nor trust nor faith 
 left in her. She says she will never forgive us all, 
 and I dare say it is true. Her whole mind has been 
 turned into the bitterest resentment." 
 
 "Alas!" said I, "von Altdorf s right. Fate 
 plays and makes sorry figures of us all. "What s 
 to be done but wait ? " 
 
 And Miss Mannering dropped her hands listlessly 
 into her lap and answered as Denis had answered 
 half an hour before. 
 
 " God knows ! "
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 169 
 
 There was a stir of draperies upon the stairs 
 and outside the door that led into the long hall, and 
 the Princess Eleanor of Novodnia entered. 
 
 " I am looking for my Browning," she said from 
 
 the doorway. " Have you it, Jessi " She saw 
 
 me and paused a moment. 
 
 "Ah, Mr. Creighton!" said she, "I I did not 
 know you were here." 
 
 " I trust I do n t intrude, madame," said I, bowing. 
 
 "Why, not at all," said the Princess. "Miss 
 Mannering will tell you that you are always wel 
 come, sir." 
 
 She took up her book from the table, and left the 
 room with a little inclination of her head. 
 
 I find, now that I come to write it, that I can 
 give no adequate description of the strange altera 
 tion which had taken place in her, of the cold, proud 
 aloofness, the regal majesty that seemed to hold her 
 at some great inexplicable distance. She seemed to 
 have gained in stature, to tower above us, lofty and 
 alien in her bitterness and proud grief. As Miss 
 Mannering had said, she had suffered little physical 
 ill. She appeared strong and well, save that the 
 circles had come about her eyes once more and that 
 her lovely mouth drooped at the corners. Her 
 voice was low and quite civil but infinitely cold. 
 
 " You see, you see 1 " cried Miss Mannering, when 
 the Princess had left. " Do you wonder that no 
 one can approach her ? How how does she seem 
 to you, Mr. Creighton ? "
 
 170 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 But I shook my head. 
 
 "Don t ask me," I said. "A queen nursing a 
 pain too great for words but holding a calm face to 
 the world, if you like. I don t know. Great 
 heaven, her eyes are the saddest tragedy I ever 
 saw ! How she s suffering ! And how she must 
 have loved him ! " 
 
 I rose, still shaking my head. 
 
 " I must be going back to Denis," I said. " He s 
 waiting for news of her. Yes, von Altdorf s right 
 Fate plays." 
 
 Once back in the studio, I told Denis all that I 
 had heard and seen, proud that I had so much to 
 give him. He made no comment or remark save an 
 occasional " Yes, yes, man, get on ! get on ! " when 
 I paused for breath. And when I told him how 
 the Princess had suddenly come into the room 
 where Miss Mannering and I sat talking, he gave 
 a deep voiced "Ah-h-h!" and dragged his chair 
 nearer. 
 
 " But, lad, lad ! " he cried, when I had made an 
 end, " dear lad, you tell so little ! Nothing that I 
 didn t know before. All these things one could 
 take for granted. Tell me the little things, Teddy, 
 how she bore her eyes, and that queen s head of 
 hers. Ah, high in the air, I 11 warrant ! And was 
 she paler than her wont, lad ? And was one little 
 curling lock of her hair loose over the ear the left 
 ear, as it always is ? Had she a flower at her 
 breast ? Ah, you ve no eyes, Ted ! I d have
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 171 
 
 known every tiniest thing about her in an in 
 stant ! " 
 
 He rose and went over to the window that gives 
 upon the garden. It was open wide for the sweet 
 spring air to enter, and he stood by it staring out 
 into his lost Paradise for a long time. 
 
 " I 11 walk in the garden for a while," said he at 
 last. " No one will be there to see me or interrupt. 
 I want to sniff the perfume once more, and sit on 
 the stone bench." He threw a foot over the win 
 dow ledge and vaulted down to the turf below. 
 
 I took up a pipe and a book to pass the time, but 
 Denis walked up the old gravel path between the 
 straight prim rows of chestnut-trees ; and the heavy 
 fragrance of the blossoms above hung over him 
 like the scent of burial flowers. 
 
 He walked, head down, eyes fixed upon the 
 ground before him, hands clasped behind his back, 
 so that he came slowly into the little circle of 
 shrubbery that surrounds the fountain, and where 
 stands the cracked old stone bench, without glancing 
 ahead. 
 
 Then he raised his eyes and fell a step backward. 
 
 " I beg your pardon ! " said he, very low, and 
 in a queer, breathless voice. " I did n t know there 
 was any one here. I thought I should be alone." 
 
 " And I," said the Princess Eleanor from the old 
 stone bench. " Else I should not have come." 
 
 " I 11 go away at once," said Mallory, not looking 
 at her. " I won t intrude upon you."
 
 172 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 " Just a moment, please ! " begged the Princess 
 Eleanor. She rose to her feet to confront him, 
 frowning a little, eyes half closed, her lips with the 
 slightest additional curl as if he were something 
 offensive, unpleasant to see. 
 
 " I do not know, sir," she began coldly, " what 
 has been told you relative to to what occurred on 
 the day before yesterday, or to my sentiments to 
 ward you at present and for all time in the 
 future ? " 
 
 She spoke as if in question, and paused a moment. 
 
 " I think I have heard it all," said Denis quietly, 
 " or at least quite enough to understand, quite. Of 
 course I m not surprised," he went on, " at your 
 feeling about it all I expected to be despised, 
 and all that, for you can t know, probably never 
 will know, how desperately necessary it was to take 
 some immediate action, and how we were forced to 
 lie to you, to impose upon you for your own sake. 
 Ah, I m not crying for your mercy ! I m not even 
 trying to apologise for what we did. However we 
 hated the task, we knew it was the only thing, and 
 we d do it again, I think, if the same problem were 
 offered us." 
 
 " I can understand, sir," said the Princess, " how 
 Sir Gavin MacKenzie and these other gentlemen 
 even my Cousin Jessica, might use a deception to 
 save my health. There is nothing terrible in that. 
 But that you should carry the thing on, day after 
 day, seeing, as you must have seen, what it was
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 173 
 
 coming to seeing that I must grow to care for 
 you, letting me care more and more, aye, making 
 me care ! till you had me, heart and soul, in your 
 hands. Ah, there s where the awfulness of the 
 thing lies ! To think that a man could be so base, 
 so contemptible, so infamous ! 
 
 " To think that I could have loved such a such 
 a thing ! Ah-h, I could tear the heart from me and 
 stamp upon it, when I think of these past weeks ! 
 It s unclean, vile ! I had not supposed that any 
 human being, anything made in God s image could 
 crawl so low, could do such a hideous thing as to 
 mask himself in smooth, fine words, to prate of his 
 honour, honour by heaven! to palm himself off 
 upon an unsuspicious woman as her husband, win 
 the greatest, purest love that was ever in the world, 
 and then go back when his day s work was done, 
 back to his den and laugh, laugh and sneer at 
 what he d done ! Ah, fine sport it must have been 
 for you ! Koyal times you must have had, those 
 evenings, gloating over what you d won ! 
 
 " I only wonder that God whom we re taught is 
 all wise, suffers such things as you to wander about 
 the earth poisoning whomever you touch ! Do you 
 think I shall ever be clean from you? Do you 
 think I shall ever pass a day without shuddering to 
 think that I ve sat here with you, poured out my 
 heart and soul to you as I ve never done to another 
 being, kissed you ? Oh-h you ve made the re 
 mainder of my life hideous I only wish I might
 
 174 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 die here and now before I live to hate myself the 
 more ! " 
 
 Mallory raised a white and quivering face. His 
 voice shook when he spoke. 
 
 " And you you thought you think that I was 
 playing the lover as well as the husband ? You 
 thought I went back to my rooms daily to laugh 
 and sneer ? Eleanor, you sear my very soul ! You 
 ah! As God lives and loves His world, I ve 
 loved you and love you now and must love you till 
 I die with all the heart and soul and body that is 
 mine. If ever I have tried to stammer my love in 
 poor words I could have beaten my tongue for its 
 pitiful halting, stopped my breath for its wretched 
 effort. Words have gone so limping behind my 
 love that they have shamed it, belittled it. Ah, 
 despise me as you will as you must, Princess, but 
 you cannot kill my love for you. You ve called 
 me the lowest of crawling things. You ve said 
 
 that my presence soiled you, left you unclean 
 
 Oh, Madame, I am not your husband and I ve no 
 right to any kind word, any good will from you, 
 but no love so great as mine has ever soiled any 
 woman, and no such worship has ever degraded her." 
 
 "Would you carry your infamy further, sir?" 
 she cried. " Have you not done ? Would you in 
 sult me again with your pretense of love ? Love ! 
 As if you knew what that word means ! " 
 
 " I tell you the truth, Madame," said Denis 
 Mallory patiently. " I would not have you, for
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 175 
 
 your own sake, believe me worse than I am. I ask 
 nothing of you, not forgiveness, not pity. I ve 
 wronged you past all that though I did it, as did 
 we all, for what I believed to be a good end. But 
 lie to you in the matter of love I did not, nor could 
 have done so had I wished. Can you not see that 
 I must be telling you the truth ? that I should gain 
 nothing by lying to you now ? " 
 
 The Princess shook her head and turned im 
 patiently away from him. 
 
 " I can see nothing," said she, " believe nothing, 
 trust nothing, put faith in no human being again. 
 You see what you have done for me with your 
 love. " 
 
 " Yes," said he very low. " Yes, I see. My only 
 hope is that time and reflection may, in part at 
 least, undo it. Time is the greatest of healers, 
 Madame, the kindest and most merciful of friends." 
 
 " And Time, sir," said the Princess coldly, " the 
 greatest of healers, will, no doubt, quickly efface all 
 traces of this wonderful love you so stubbornly 
 profess." 
 
 But Denis looked at her wide-eyed. 
 
 " Time efface my love, Madame ? " he asked in a 
 wondering tone. " Time efface my love ? "Why 
 why how little you know of love after all, Prin 
 cess! Shall love die for lack of feeding, like a 
 neglected child ? Shall love live only when it s 
 loved ? Time efface it ? Eternity won t efface it, 
 Madame."
 
 176 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 " Nor brave words prove an honest man, sir ! " 
 said she, "as I ve reason enough to know." 
 
 "Why did you come out in the garden to-day, 
 Madame?" he demanded suddenly, looking into 
 her eyes. " "Why did you come to sit upon the old 
 stone bench ? " 
 
 The Princess flushed from neck to burnished 
 hair. 
 
 "Why why I came because the day was fine, 
 sir," she murmured. " Because the house tired me. 
 I came what is it to you, sir, why I sit in my gar 
 den ? How dare you demand my reasons for doing 
 as I please ? Tour insolence is in keeping with 
 your other qualities ! " 
 
 " As you like, Madame," said he bowing. " And 
 now, before I go, will you let me make an appeal 
 to you ? No, but wait ! The appeal is not for 
 myself. I ask for nothing, nothing. I beg only 
 that you permit that greatest of healers, Time, of 
 which we spoke, to teach you that there are good 
 and true men still in the world and that not every 
 one is a liar and blackguard. Madame, Prince 
 Karl of Novodnia is an honest gentleman who loves 
 you well, nay too well, for he has left his realm in 
 direst peril to come to you alas too late ! I beg 
 that when you have a little recovered from this 
 this shock, you will listen to him. It is evident 
 that at one time you were willing to give your life 
 to him, even if no great measure of love. Listen to 
 him, Princess, and take the high place in Novodnia
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 177 
 
 that waits for you. You, who are a queen among 
 women, must be a princess before the world. 
 There will never have been so regal or so kind a 
 princess 1 " 
 
 The Princess Eleanor looked at him, still frown 
 ing under puzzled brows, as if she could not make 
 him out. 
 
 " Has Prince Karl sent you to make this plea ? " 
 she asked. " Is this part of your task ? You per 
 form it but ill, sir. To profess a great and lasting 
 love for me one moment, and urge me toward 
 another man the next, is but poor logic, as I under 
 stand it ? Are you being paid for this new trick as 
 no doubt you were for the old ? " 
 
 Denis flushed crimson. 
 
 " Prince Karl, Madame," said he, " has at no time 
 asked me or sent me to speak for him, and you pay 
 love a sorry compliment to think that it may never 
 be unselfish. I should love you but ill should I not 
 wish for you all the happiness at whatever cost to 
 me that fortune can offer. Even were you not 
 another man s wife I know that you could never 
 feel again for me anything but loathing and des 
 pite. I am not to be considered at all. But the 
 Prince, Madame, is a gentleman and he loves you. 
 It would give me the nearest approach to content 
 that the world has now to offer if I could know 
 you happy with him and reigning over Novodnia." 
 
 The Princess sat staring at the ground and her 
 breathing came a bit fast.
 
 178 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 " That were love indeed, sir," she said in a half 
 whisper. 
 
 " And as for payment," he went on, " I have a 
 perverse fancy that you should know the worst of 
 the truth. Sir Gavin and the other gentlemen con 
 cerned, chose me to play the part of the Prince be 
 cause no one of them could bring himself to do it 
 it was too base. They found me in a cafe one even 
 ing, drunk, as I often was, and told me their plans. 
 They knew me for a good-for-nothing loafer, an ex- 
 soldier of fortune who d nothing to show for his 
 soldiering but an ill name, an empty pocket and a 
 constant thirst ; who made a wretched living by 
 writing for some London papers. They knew that 
 few things were too low for me to undertake, but 
 that I would n t be quite low enough to play them 
 false, and they they offered money forty pounds 
 a month to do this work. I was drunk, as I ve 
 said, and I agreed wait, wait a moment! 
 After I d been with you that first afternoon I re 
 fused the money and there s been no question of 
 payment since. Still there was, once, and for 
 that I shall never forgive myself. That was the 
 basest of all." 
 
 The Princess turned wearily away from him. 
 
 "It is all of an equal baseness, sir," said she. 
 " You can surprise me with no low details. The life 
 you ve lived, what you have been or are or will be, 
 are of no interest to me I know only that you 
 made me love you with your lying words of honour
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 179 
 
 and tenderness, with your lying eyes and lying 
 smile, and that now I hate you, despise you, as I 
 hate and despise and loathe myself. Have you 
 done ? for I can bear no more of this." 
 
 " But one thing more, and I have done," said he, 
 " one very little thing." He put a hand into his 
 waistcoat breast pocket and drew out a little knot 
 of narrow pink ribbons. 
 
 " You wore this," said he, " upon the breast of 
 your white gown that first day. It came unfastened 
 and fell when you were not looking, and I picked it 
 up and kept it. I have had it ever since. It has 
 never left me night nor day." 
 
 He held out the little knot of ribbon toward her, 
 but the Princess shrank back. 
 
 " I could not touch it, sir," said she. 
 
 His hand shook and the knot of ribbon fell to the 
 ground at their feet. He stooped and picked it up 
 quickly, and held it between his hands at his breast. 
 The Princess saw his face and looked away. 
 
 Then he stood aside and bowed. 
 
 " If I have your permission, Madame," said he in 
 a very low voice, " I will go. I shall not intrude 
 upon you nor try to see you again." 
 
 The Princess Eleanor, up in her chamber, pulled 
 aside the white curtains and looked down into the 
 garden. The old stone bench was hidden by shrub 
 bery, but the fountain gleamed through the new 
 leaves with a trickle and spurt of running water. 
 
 " And now," said the Princess Eleanor in a low,
 
 i8o THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 tired voice, " now I have hurt you as much as you 
 have hurt me. Now I ve made you suffer as much 
 as you made me suffer, and you 11 hate me as I as 
 I hate you, for no man can ever forgive what I 
 have said to you, the insults I ve heaped upon you. 
 They 11 burn you so long as you live, Denis. 
 * Denis ? I like your new name, Carlo, it s Irish, 
 is n t it ? as the lying speeches you ve made to me 
 must burn always ; as, God pity me, the love I bear 
 you must burn in my shamed heart till I die ! " cried 
 the Princess Eleanor, and fell to sobbing most bit 
 terly.
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 BUT meanwhile I had grown tired of waiting 
 for Denis to finish his walk in the garden 
 he seemed so long over it and at last went 
 off grumbling to my rooms in the Boulevard Mont- 
 parnasse to dress, for I was dining across the river 
 with some friends. 
 
 We dined at Durand s in the Place de la Made 
 leine, and I saw the others into their cabs outside 
 the door at something like ten o clock or a bit after. 
 Then I turned down the rue Royale toward the 
 Place de la Concorde, for I d some notion of drop 
 ping in at Maxim s, but the Taverne Royale looked 
 so bright and gay and attractive as I passed, and 
 the refrain of a waltz which the Spanish orchestra 
 was playing, sounded so alluring, that I turned in 
 there instead and looked about for a vacant table. 
 The big salle was nearly full, but I found a table at 
 last in the forward corner, and made my way over 
 to it through the crowd of late diners and smartly 
 dressed loungers who were listening to the music. 
 
 The table at my left was surrounded by a group 
 of young Frenchmen of the well-to-do etudiant type, 
 that is to say, grown children, irrepressible in spir 
 its and mischief. They seemed to have picked for 
 the temporary butt of their silly and ill-natured
 
 i82 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 jokes, a man who sat alone at the little table on my 
 right, a very German looking person of forty or 
 thereabouts, with red full cheeks and pursy eyes 
 and very fiercely turned up moustaches a 1 Empereur 
 Guillaume. 
 
 A German may, nowadays, work among the 
 rapins of a Latin quarter studio, subject to little or 
 no insult, so common has he become, but these par 
 ticular young ruffians of the Taverne Koyale seemed 
 determined to avenge poor wreath hung Strasbourg, 
 there in the Place de la Concorde, and were ma 
 king things interesting in a quiet but sufficiently 
 audible manner for the gentleman with the up 
 turned moustaches. 
 
 As for me, I was trying to determine where I 
 had seen him before. His face had an oddly 
 familiar look. I knew no end of Germans. I had 
 hobnobbed with them from Bremen to the forest, 
 and from Frankfurt to Vienna, but I could place 
 this man nowhere in the list. 
 
 He was drinking Biere de Munich Spatenbraii 
 in great half litre mugs which he ground solemnly 
 upon the table, with that little rotary motion, be 
 fore raising to his lips. His left eyelid had a 
 chronic droop that gave him a rather sinister look, 
 and he wore a monocle over that eye. Where had 
 I seen that drooping eyelid ? 
 
 I leaned over and begged him for a match there 
 was no box upon my table and he turned to me 
 with a sort of eagerness. The Frenchmen had an-
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 183 
 
 noyed him despite his German stolidity. I made 
 some commonplace remark, I remember, about the 
 music or the weather, and he answered with an ap 
 parent delight at hearing his mother tongue. He 
 dropped the monocle from his eye as he spoke, and 
 I had to lower my gaze swiftly and choke back the 
 exclamation that rose to my lips, for I knew him 
 now. It was the eye-glass that had deceived me. 
 
 Then I set in, unashamedly, to pump the man, 
 on the chance that among many lies there might be 
 a truth or a hint of value. 
 
 It was rather good sport, for he had no notion, 
 whatever, that we had met " in a way o speak- 
 in " as MacKenzie would say before. 
 
 Was he in Paris merely as a traveller then ? 
 
 Yes, he was here for a short time only. He was 
 from Vienna. " And that," said I inwardly, " is in 
 directly true." His name was Swartzkopfen 
 "not by any chance von Stein briicke?" said I 
 again to myself. My name was Jenkins and I 
 was from Manchester where I manufactured toys. 
 Herr von Swartzkopfen was in Paris for no long 
 stop then ? 
 
 No, oh no, he was here on a mission. " True 
 again," thought I a mission which would be con 
 summated within the next two or three days. 
 
 " The devil it will ! " said I to myself. " I d give 
 something to know just what the mission is, my 
 friend." After which, certain events must deter 
 mine his movements for the next fortnight.
 
 184 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 And he had found pleasant quarters while in the 
 city ? He was stopping at one of the hotels, of 
 course ? 
 
 But here Herr Swartzkopfen von Steinbriicke 
 caressed the fierce moustaches and murmured some 
 thing vague about friends on the other side of the 
 river, and I changed the topic to a safer, remoter 
 one, for it would n t do at all to alarm the man. 
 There might still be something wormed out of him 
 unawares. 
 
 We talked for a long time of many things 
 " shoes and ships and sealing wax and cabbages and 
 kings " and I found Herr von Steinbriicke, ex- 
 card sharper, sometime blackmailer, refugee from 
 Austrian justice, and presently Pavelovitch catspaw, 
 interesting in the extreme. 
 
 He told me tales, wondrous tales ! If only I 
 could put them upon paper ! Tales of queer hap 
 penings at Vienna, at Trieste, at Salzburg, at Weis- 
 baden, tales of carelessly-cloaked great names I 
 had now shunted him from Spatenbraii to more po 
 tent and fiery things, so that his tongue was loosened 
 and his face grew redder. He told me tales of his 
 own deeds, boastfully and with no seeming shame 
 he was drinking brandy now deeds unspeakable 
 for utter blackguardism ; and I smiled and shoved 
 the little decanter toward him. He told me bits of 
 court gossip from Vienna, of strange bargains made 
 and promises given, of strange plans afoot for a re 
 painting of the map of Europe when the beloved
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 185 
 
 old Emperor should come to his death. By my 
 faith the press of the civilised world would have 
 burned the next morning with startling news could 
 those rambling gutteral Viennese accents have 
 reached its ears ! 
 
 And at last, when the husky voice had grown 
 lower and had come to wandering into silly repeti 
 tions and foolish pleasantries, I steered the talk 
 again with inward trembling to the present 
 time. 
 
 Doubtless his mission in Paris was connected 
 with some of these great folk, matters to be trusted 
 only to one old in craft and secret business ? 
 
 The foolish head wagged knowingly and that sin 
 ister left eyelid drooped lower. 
 
 His mission, by Heaven, was important enough, 
 if any one should ask you ! It had to do with a 
 prince ! Herr Gott, yes ! but mind you the prince 
 was not to be a prince long ! Eh, strange things 
 happened sometimes when two men wanted the 
 
 same seat ! I think I jumped at this No, he 
 
 was not to be a prince long. He would n t find it 
 convenient to return to his throne. There was a 
 chuckling laugh here. Ah, then, this prince was in 
 Paris ? 
 
 Aye, he was in Paris, the silly fool ! And in 
 
 Paris he was to remain Paris, or somewhere 
 
 He wasn t going home and there was another 
 chuckling laugh. 
 
 So then Denis was wrong ! It was the Prince
 
 186 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 who was to be kidnapped or killed after all! I 
 turned again to the drunken Austrian eagerly. 
 
 But surely putting princes out of the way had its 
 elements of danger ! 
 
 The Austrian straightened up in his chair with a 
 jerk, and drew his brows together with a great effort 
 of mental concentration. It was as if he realised 
 that he had made a rash slip and must be 
 cautious. 
 
 Putting princes out of the way ? Who talked of 
 putting princes out of the way ? I was mad ! 
 What had he to do with princes? And he rapped 
 loudly upon the table for his addition. 
 
 There was nothing more to be made out of him, 
 it seemed, but I went to the door with him, talking 
 pleasantly the while, and stood upon the curb while 
 he called a cab. 
 
 " There 11 be no harm in just making a note of 
 where you lodge, my friend," said I to myself. 
 
 He stumbled into the fiacre, told the cocher to 
 drive to the devil, and off they dashed with a part 
 ing wave of the hand to me. 
 
 " But you do n t give me the slip so easily as all 
 that," I protested, and was after them, in an in 
 stant, with another cab. 
 
 " Follow that fiacre with the grey horse," said I 
 to my cocher, " and a Louis if you do n t lose sight 
 of it, wherever it goes ! " 
 
 We were caught in a jam of traffic at the foot of 
 the rue Royale, but I made out the cab with the
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 187 
 
 grey horse some little way ahead of us, caught as 
 well. 
 
 Then presently we were off, across the Place de 
 la Concorde and up the Champs filysees. 
 
 " What ! " said I, " up here ? I should have 
 thought you d keep closer to the prey, man, some 
 where on the other side of the river." 
 
 "We went far up the Champs Elysees, through the 
 Place de 1 Etoile and into the Avenue Kleber. 
 "Upon my word, von Steinbriicke, you re living 
 well!" thought I. 
 
 Then at last, the fiacre with the grey horse pulled 
 up before one of the high imposing houses that line 
 the avenue, and a thin little man with a great 
 beard politely assisted his corpulent and bejewelled 
 wife to alight and they rang the bell at the big iron 
 grille. 
 
 I threw myself back upon the cushions. It was 
 that jam in the rue Koyale that had done for us, 
 and one grey horse looks much like another when 
 you ve lost sight of the first for a moment. 
 
 " 81, Boulevard Montparnasse ! " I growled to 
 the cocher and called myself unpleasant names all 
 the long way home. 
 
 In the Boulevard Montparnasse I changed my 
 mind, and told the cocher to go up to the rue Bois- 
 sonade, for I d left in Mallory s studio a little note 
 book that I should be wanting early in the morning. 
 
 " I shall probably have to knock poor Denis up," 
 said I with a laugh, as I rang and waited for the
 
 i88 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 concierge s wire cordon to unlock the gate in the 
 iron fence. " He 11 have turned in by now." 
 
 He had n t turned in, though. That was evident, 
 for there was a bright light in the studio. I 
 banged at the door, and hearing no reply, opened it 
 it was seldom locked and went in. 
 
 The reek of absinthe struck me in the face as soon 
 as the door was open. There was, as I have said, a 
 bright light. It came from the big overhead lamp 
 with its reflectors that threw a glare down upon 
 what was beneath. 
 
 The forward end of the room seemed full of a 
 huddled mass of broken furniture ; a carved table, 
 two chairs smashed to bits they must have been 
 thrown there violently an easel, and some of the 
 heavier articles that had hung upon the wall. 
 There were two broken glasses and a carafe upon 
 the floor, and an overturned absinthe bottle lay in 
 a little pool of its former contents. 
 
 But what drew from me a cry of horror and 
 dread was not the heap of smashed furniture nor 
 the broken glasses, nor the sickening smell of ab 
 sinthe, but something else. 
 
 Denis lay stretched along the floor, face down, 
 his head toward the debris at the end of the room. 
 One arm, the right one, lay out before him, a sabre 
 in its clenched hand. Three or four inches were 
 broken from the sabre s point, and the heap of 
 chairs and other things were chopped and hacked 
 as if with an axe.
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 189 
 
 His left arm lay bent under his head, and he was 
 quite still. 
 
 Poor old Denis! The walls had come together 
 again, and tried to catch him ! Had they done it ? 
 
 I ran to him, and turned him over on his back. 
 His jaw dropped as the head fell backward, and I 
 think my heart quite stopped beating. There was 
 a deep cut over one eye, from which the blood had 
 run freely and was caked upon his brow and down 
 across one cheek. He must have struck the table 
 edge or a chair when he fell. 
 
 I tore his clenched fingers from the sabre s hilt, 
 and loosened his collar. Then I found some water 
 and dashed it into his face again and again, cover 
 ing his mouth lest it should drown him. There was 
 no sign of life, and my heart stopped again, but I 
 tore off my coat and hat and set to work furiously. 
 
 " He s not dead ! " I cried. " By heaven he 
 sha? n t die ! " 
 
 And at last, after I had worked over him for quite 
 ten or fifteen minutes, I suppose, it seemed hours 
 his eyelids quivered and twitched and he began 
 to gasp feebly and to move his lips. I put forth all 
 my strength and lifted him to the divan, and be 
 cause I could find nothing else I forced between 
 his teeth a little of the absinthe that remained in 
 the overturned bottle. 
 
 He moved his head from side to side and his eyes 
 unclosed. 
 
 " They they did n t catch me ? " he whis-
 
 190 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 pered feebly. " They did n t catch me the 
 walls ? " 
 
 " No, dear old chap ! " said I, " they did n t catch 
 you, thank God ! nor shall while I m alive to pre 
 vent it I We won t give them another chance ! " 
 
 " Why it s it s Teddy ! " he murmured with a 
 weak surprise, " dear lad, how came you here ? Ah, 
 I ve had a time, Teddy ! the very devil of a time 1 
 They they nearly had me, Teddy, lad." 
 
 " They sha n t have another chance, Denis," said 
 I again, and slipped an arm under him to raise his 
 head. " Hello, what the deuce is this ? " 
 
 The left hand that had lain bent under his face 
 upon the floor, still held clutched in its fingers a 
 little knot of narrow pink ribbons, such as women 
 
 love to wear about them here and there Where 
 
 it s monstrous becoming, I protest. 
 
 "Why, it s nothing, dear lad," he whispered, 
 "just nothing at all a rag, a foolish thing I I 
 came by accidentally. It means nothing throw it 
 away for me, Teddy. Why should I be holding to 
 it ? Nay, nay ! " as I made to take it from his 
 fingers, " let it be, lad, I 11 I 11 throw it away my 
 self. You need n t bother. A bit o pink ribbon ! 
 God in Heaven, a bit o pink ribbon ! What s a bit 
 o* pink ribbon to a man, Ted ? Hold me up to you, 
 lad, I m most outrageous tired and sleepy."
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 WE sat, as was still our custom, in the 
 studio, the five of us, MacKenzie and the 
 Prince your pardon, princes surely have 
 precedence over birthday knights the Prince and 
 MacKenzie, then, von Altdorf, Denis and I. 
 
 The Prince wore an eager and happy air, albeit a 
 trifle nervous, for he was at last to have his inter 
 view with the Princess Eleanor that evening. 
 Colonel von Altdorf s habitual anxiety seemed to 
 have left him in view of his master s prospective 
 departure for Novodnia. Denis, with a somewhat 
 pallid cheek and a patch of plaster over one temple, 
 as witnesses of last night s work, seemed much as 
 ever, though silent and smiling little. 
 
 I was telling them of my meeting with Herr von 
 Steinbriicke, and of von Steinbrucke s boasts that 
 his mission in Paris was in two or three days to be 
 fulfilled. 
 
 " But in less than two or three days," said von 
 Altdorf, "the Prince will be far from Paris and 
 well on his way to Novodnia, thank God ! Stein 
 briicke is too late for once in his life," and he lay 
 back in his chair with a sigh of relief. 
 
 Then, before any one could answer him, there
 
 192 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 came from outside swift footsteps, as of one run 
 ning, and a noise at the door as if some one had 
 fallen against it. I, who sat nearest, sprang to the 
 door and threw it open and then fell back with a 
 cry of alarm. 
 
 The woman who clung to the doorway white and 
 shaking, gasping for breath, was Miss Jessica Man- 
 nering. She wore no hat, and the hair was blown 
 loose about her face. Her eyes were very wide and 
 terror-stricken and her breath came in great dry 
 sobs as if she had been running a long distance. 
 
 She pushed by me into the room. 
 
 " They ve got the Princess ! " she cried weakly. 
 " They ve got the Princess ! Oh, do n t you hear 
 me ? They ve got the Princess ! " She dropped 
 down suddenly upon the floor by the great divan, 
 and her head fell forward among the cushions. 
 
 The Prince, von Altdorf and MacKenzie sat in 
 their chairs like dead men, staring. And I stood 
 by the open door, saying over and over with a 
 tongue that took no heed of itself, " They ve got 
 the Princess ! They ve got the Princess ! " 
 
 But Denis sprang quickly to the girl s side and 
 raised her head in his arms. His face was keen and 
 eager and alert. His eyes seemed almost glad, 
 flashed with their old quick fire as he bent over 
 Miss Mannering. 
 
 The girl s head moved weakly back and forth 
 upon his shoulder, and her eyelids fluttered. She 
 had not fainted, but she was perilously near it.
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 193 
 
 Mallory s face rose with a jerk. 
 
 " The flask, lad ! " said he. " Look sharp ! " 
 
 I forced my stubborn legs from their trance at 
 last, and brought him a flask from the mantel-shelf. 
 He forced some of the liquor between the girl s 
 teeth, and her eyes opened slowly, and a bit of 
 colour came to her cheeks. 
 
 " That s better ! " said Denis, smiling down 
 cheerfully, " that s better ! Just a bit more, now." 
 
 " Oh, they ve got the Princess ! " she whispered, 
 and turned her face with a little moan so that it was 
 hidden against his breast. 
 
 " Aye ! " said Denis, soft as a woman. " Aye, we 
 know, we know. Never you fear ! "We 11 get her 
 
 back just a drop more of the brandy, now 
 
 Aye, they ve got the Princess. "When you re 
 strong enough, tell us all you know take your time 
 just a drop more before you begin. Now then ! " 
 
 The girl raised herself, holding to his arm, till 
 she was half upon her knees, half resting against 
 him. His arm held her waist, and her head lay 
 against his shoulder. She was still very weak and 
 trembling and breathless. 
 
 " They they took her away in in a cab," she 
 whispered. " They told her a lying tale about 
 about the Prince. I was away shopping. I 
 reached home only a few moments ago, and and 
 the servants told me." 
 
 She paused, breathless, and took a sip from the 
 flask that Denis held to her lips.
 
 194 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 " A man came came to the house the servants 
 say, a tall fair man with an eye-glass " 
 
 " Von Steinbriicke, damn him ! " cried the Prince. 
 
 Denis held up a warning hand. 
 
 " and and said that the Prince was very 
 
 ill, had been hurt in a carriage accident and 
 might die, that he was lying in his apartments 
 and that Colonel von Altdorf was was with him. 
 The man said that the Prince begged she would 
 come to him at once before he died " 
 
 "Oh, what a trick!" groaned the Prince, his 
 hands over his face. "What a damnable black 
 guardly trick ! " 
 
 " She she waited only to take a wrap and 
 
 a hat and went with him. He had a carriage 
 waiting. The servants say there was one other 
 man in the carriage, a smaller man. They they 
 drove away quickly and that s that s all ! Oh, 
 Mr. Mallory! Think of her in those men s 
 clutches ! Can t you save her ? " and the poor 
 young woman broke down in a most piteous 
 fit of weeping with her face upon Mallory s shoul 
 der. 
 
 "Save her?" he cried gently, stroking the 
 loosened black hair, " why, yes, yes, of course, we 11 
 save her ! Never fear, we 11 save her right 
 enough." 
 
 He lifted the girl to the divan and made a sign 
 to von Altdorf to come to her there which seemed 
 a task much to that gentleman s liking. Then he
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 195 
 
 rose and stood in the centre of the room thinking 
 rapidly. 
 
 " Save her ? " he cried again, but as if to himself. 
 " Aye, we 11 save her ! But what to do ? "What to 
 do? Those fools of servants won t have noticed 
 anything that could help us, and Steinbriicke s no 
 such fool as to have taken a cab from any stand 
 near here. The police ? No, the police are out of 
 the question. The thing mustn t get abroad. 
 Steinbrucke knows that. Will he take her out of 
 Paris, I wonder ? Ted, Ted, if only you d man 
 aged to trace the man to his lodgings ! Oh, Teddy, 
 you re no detective ! " 
 
 He walked up and down the room for some 
 minutes, head bent, brow creased and hands smi 
 ting softly together. We all watched him and 
 waited for him to speak. 
 
 I think his taking the lead, thus at once, and 
 without question or hesitation, moved us to no 
 surprise if we thought of it at all but rather 
 seemed most natural. Even old MacKenzie watched 
 his face with an anxious eye ; and from the divan, 
 Colonel von Altdorf s ministrations as nurse and 
 comforter, became absent and perfunctory while 
 his eyes followed the restless march up and down 
 the room. 
 
 " I must see the servants," he said after awhile. 
 "They may have noticed something about the 
 fiacre, the horse s colour, the look of the cocher, 
 something to give us a clue. It s just possible."
 
 196 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 He halted before the divan. 
 
 " You ve a cipher code for telegraphing to trust 
 worthy friends in Novodnia ? " he demanded. 
 
 "Naturally," said Colonel von Altdorf, a bit 
 piqued that he should be questioned about so ele 
 mentary a precaution. 
 
 " Then listen, man ! " cried Denis swiftly. 
 " You 11 telegraph at once to the best man you 
 have down there, the very best, to intercept any 
 communications they can, between Georgias and 
 von Steinbrucke, bribe Georgias servants, do any 
 thing possible to find out where Steinbrucke is 
 now, for where he is the Princess will be. Tell 
 them to spare no pains and to work quickly. It s 
 our best hope, their efforts. Ted, you 11 come with 
 me to the house no, no, not the door, the window 
 and the garden, it s quickest. We must find if the 
 servants have taken notice of Steinbriicke s fiacre ; 
 and then you re to prowl about the city looking 
 out for it. Sir Gavin, you ll take care of Miss 
 Mannering." 
 
 The girl raised her face at the mention of her 
 name and reached an arm toward him. He 
 dropped one knee beside the divan and smiled into 
 her eyes. 
 
 " Everything will be done that men can do," said 
 he gently. " We 11 have her back again before you 
 know it. You must n t worry nor break down nor 
 fall ill, because we shall need you. Go home now 
 with Sir Gavin and rest. We ve all much to do."
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 197 
 
 Then he came over to me at the little window 
 and we ran up through the garden to the old 
 convent. 
 
 The servants were quite as stupid as one could 
 have expected. No, they had noticed nothing 
 peculiar about the fiacre. Why should one notice 
 a fiacre ? They were all alike, parbleu ! 
 
 But the gentleman, he had an eye-glass, a mon 
 ocle in the left eye, and spoke French with an 
 accent 
 
 " Yes, yes 1 " cried Denis impatiently, " we know 
 all about the gentleman and his eye-glass ! "What 
 sort of a fiacre ? Did no one notice the horse, what 
 colour was it ? " 
 
 But here, a gardener who had been repairing the 
 spikes on top of the high wall near the entrance, 
 declared that the horse had been grey, with a rat 
 tail, a very old and tired horse. 
 
 " Our friend Steinbriicke seems to have a certain 
 fancy for grey horses," observed Denis Mallory. 
 " A grey horse ! Good, so far ! And the cocher, 
 was he of the Compagnie Generale or the Compagnie 
 1 Urbaine? In other words did he wear a dark 
 coat and a black hat, or a tan coat and a white 
 hat?" 
 
 " A black hat." The gardener was quite positive. 
 The cocher had been of the Compagnie Generale. 
 And there were no yellow markings on the fiacre, 
 which was an old one, old as the grey horse and the 
 grey cocher. Anything else? No, nothing but
 
 198 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 yes, on second thought the cocher had worn a 
 mourning band about his left arm. 
 
 Further than this we could extract nothing from 
 the two or three servants who had seen the Princess 
 departure, save that the fiacre, hood raised, had 
 driven off up the rue Denfert Rochereau toward the 
 Place du Lion " which means nothing," commented 
 Denis Mallory. " They might go in any direction 
 to elude a possible pursuit. Ted, you must take a 
 fiacre and cover the city, so far as you can, passing 
 all the cab ranks possible, on the watch for a bat 
 tered old voiture of the Compagnie Generate, a 
 voiture with an old grey horse and an old grey 
 cocher who wears a mourning badge. The only 
 quarter you need not search is this one about us 
 Steinbrucke s no fool. If you find the man bring 
 him here at once and do n t let him out of sight till 
 I ve seen him. As for me I m off to see a friend 
 of mine, a police official, whom I did a good turn 
 once. I said the police were out of the question, 
 and so they are, in the usual way, but I think I can 
 find if our friends leave Paris, without any one 
 knowing save a very few people who 11 never tell. 
 My official will have all the outgoing trains watched, 
 but he 11 have it done quite unofficially. There s 
 nothing like a friend in the police, Teddy. Off with 
 you now ! We must lose no time." 
 
 I should be but wearisome were I to go into the 
 details of my exhaustive search for the rest of that 
 day and the whole of the two days following. I
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 199 
 
 made a plan of the city and covered it patiently, 
 avenue by avenue, boulevard by boulevard, scru 
 tinising each cab rank, as I passed, with an anxious, 
 hopeful eye. It seemed that half the cab horses in 
 Paris were grey and half the cochers old. Nay, by 
 the second day I did better. I went to every sta 
 ble of the Compagnie Generate and asked for a 
 voiture and a cocher which would answer my de 
 scription. And many a fruitless errand I was sent 
 upon, too, but I never found the old colignon with 
 the mourning band and the battered fiacre. 
 
 Colonel von Altdorf had, meanwhile, telegraphed 
 instructions to trusty colleagues in Novodnia, the 
 fullest of instructions, and was employing his time, 
 till a reply might come, with guarding and reas 
 suring the Prince, who, poor gentleman, was almost 
 beside himself with grief and impotent fear for his 
 wife s safety. He would have been off alone in a 
 mad search for her had we let him out of our sight 
 for a moment. Aye, he loved his wife, did Karl of 
 Novodnia, and it nearly broke his heart to sit still, 
 holding his hands, while she was, God knew where, 
 in the power of that devil Steinbrucke. 
 
 Denis had gone immediately to his friend of the 
 police, and no train left Paris from any station but 
 was quietly and unobtrusively watched. Indeed, 
 no vehicle passed by road out of any of the gates 
 without examination. Denis s service to the police 
 official must have been of consequence. 
 
 Further than this, he acted most curiously. He
 
 200 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 spent little time at the studio, we saw him at in 
 frequent intervals, but appeared to pass his hours 
 loafing about the terrasses of cafes, with students 
 and cocottes. I saw him several times as I was 
 driving about on my fruitless search, once in Mont- 
 martre, once on the Boulevard Sevastopol and once 
 on the Boul Miche at the d Harcourt. This last 
 time I pulled up at the curb and signalled to him. 
 He was sitting at a little table surrounded by the 
 sort that frequents this particular cafe and it is the 
 worst sort of the whole Boulevard St. Michel. 
 "Well, it was at the end of a long hard day wholly 
 without results, and I suppose I was out of temper 
 with fatigue and disappointment. I suppose I 
 spoke sharply to him he had seemed so care free and 
 at his ease there amongst vauriens and strumpets. 
 His eyes flashed up at me an instant, as he stood by 
 the wheel, an angry flash. I half raised my arm. 
 Then he laughed. 
 
 " You re a good old chap, Teddy," said he, " and 
 you re doing good work, but you ve small imagina 
 tion. Man, I ve set an army of detectives at work 
 throughout Paris that not the whole police of the 
 continent of Europe could equal. Half the lazy, 
 loafing rascals in the city, and nearly all their lady- 
 friends, are on the lookout for von Steinbriicke. 
 They 11 find him if he s here. Ah, Ted, there come 
 times when a wasted life turns up trumps. Make 
 to yourself friends o the mammon of unrighteous 
 ness, Teddy, it may stand you in. Run away home
 
 now, I m busy. I ve the very littlest trace of a 
 clue, the very littlest, but still a clue. Found your 
 cocher yet ? No ? I did n t expect you would. 
 Steinbrucke s no fool, eh ? Kun along, now." 
 
 And that night as we sat planning and comparing 
 notes in the studio, Denis for once among us, a long 
 telegram in cipher came to von Altdorf, several 
 pages of it. 
 
 " Good old Czerowitz ! " he cried. " I knew 
 Czerowitz would do the work. See, he s sent the 
 thing from Yienna ! That means he would n t risk 
 the wires from Novodni or Belgrade, but had a mes 
 senger go to Yienna and telegraph from there 
 good old Czerowitz ! " 
 
 Then he sat down at Denis s table with pen and 
 paper and translated the cipher. 
 
 " Message to Georgias from Paris, via Yienna 
 Belgrade and Novodni, to Makarin in the hills, " 
 he said presently. " Wire cut by my orders 
 between Novodni and Makarin message read only 
 
 by trustworthy operator message follows 
 
 " She is in our hands He, well guarded we 
 
 remain Paris till orders from you Safe hid 
 ing place " end of message wires cut or guarded 
 borders watched believe communications success 
 fully broken address Hoffmeyer, Bristol, Yi 
 enna. " 
 
 Yon Altdorf threw down his pen and beat upon 
 the table with his fist. 
 
 " Sir," he cried, turning to the Prince, " I recom-
 
 202 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 mend Commandant Czerowitz for advancement in 
 your service. He s a man in a million ! The thing 
 could n t have been better done ! " 
 
 But the Prince s eyes were wide and eager. 
 
 "She s in Paris then?" said he. "She s in 
 Paris ? Thank God ! We shall find her ! Gentle 
 men, we must find her ! " 
 
 Denis nodded from his corner. 
 
 " We 11 find her, sir," he promised. 
 
 But old MacKensie, stiff and gloomy on the divan, 
 shook his big head and blew a cloud of smoke from 
 his briar. 
 
 "Will ye though?" he growled. "Paris is a 
 wide covert, my lad, an yon villain of an Austrian 
 is no fool ! Look to your work if ye d outwit him." 
 
 And indeed Denis s promise seemed a rash one, 
 for day after day went by and we made no progress. 
 Von Altdorf continued to hear from Novodnia 
 through his agent at Vienna. Georgias s communi 
 cations with von Steinbriicke seemed definitely to 
 have been interrupted. The latter must have sus 
 pected that something was wrong, for he ceased, 
 after a time, sending messages, but of his where 
 abouts in Paris we gained no clue. 
 
 Of Denis we saw little. He was off upon searches 
 and consultations all of the day and most of the 
 night, and of what he was doing he saw fit to tell 
 us nothing. That he was working desperately we 
 knew, and that the strain and anxiety were telling 
 upon him was only too apparent, for he grew thin-
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 203 
 
 ner and paler day by day, and his eyes took on a 
 look that I dreaded to see. 
 
 Ah well, it was a bad week for us all. 
 
 But on the fifth day after the Princess Eleanor s 
 capture, our waiting was brought to a sudden end.
 
 CHAPTER XYII 
 
 COLONEL VON ALTDORF, passing along 
 the Boulevard des Italiens, where he had 
 been making some necessary purchases, ran 
 upon Denis who was engaged in certain of his 
 secret investigations, and the two walked down 
 together to the Place de I Opfera. 
 
 " We might stop in at the Cafe de la Paix for a 
 moment," suggested von Altdorf. " I m fagged a 
 bit, and you look quite done up. Take it easier, 
 lad, fretting yourself to death won t do any good. 
 
 I know it s a bad enough business, but Great 
 
 God in Heaven! Here, turn your back quickly. 
 No, come around in front. Look sharp, man, 
 look sharp ! " 
 
 They had been standing at the corner of the wide 
 terrasse of the Caf6 de la Paix which fronts both 
 the Boulevard and the rue Auber. The triple tier of 
 little tables on the Boulevard side is always crowded 
 of an afternoon, and was at this time, but on the 
 side facing the rue Auber there are commonly but 
 few people, the overflow from the front. 
 
 Colonel von Altdorf dragged Denis along the 
 Boulevard side till they were out of sight from the 
 tables upon the rue Auber. His voice shook a bit 
 with excitement when he spoke.
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 205 
 
 " Listen 1" said he, "the tall light-haired man 
 with the eye-glass sitting in the rear row of tables 
 on the rue Auber terrasse is Baron von Steinbrucke. 
 He s never seen you and of course won t know who 
 you are. "When he leaves, shadow him. Do n t lose 
 sight of him, for your life. The whole game is in 
 our hands, now, if you succeed in tracking him to 
 his quarters. Here, take a seat at this table near 
 the corner, against the wall. You can see him 
 from here but he can t see you. I m going to have 
 a little chat with him. It can t do any harm, and 
 may be amusing. I shall go away soon. When he 
 sees me out of sight, he ll bolt. Then s your 
 chance." 
 
 Denis seated himself at the little table against 
 the wall and ordered a vermouth sec, and Colonel 
 von Altdorf strolled around the corner swinging his 
 stick and nonchalantly searching for a place. His 
 eye lit up with genuine pleasure as he caught sight 
 of the gentleman with the eye-glass, and he advanced 
 with outstretched hand. 
 
 " "What, you in Paris, my dear Baron ? " he cried 
 in a tone of delighted surprise. " And you never 
 looked me up!" he protested sorrowfully as he 
 dropped into a chair. " Ah, that was n t kind ! " 
 
 The light-haired gentleman with the eye-glass 
 took one quick breath and his drooping left eyelid 
 hung a bit lower. He licked his lips as if he found 
 them suddenly dry, but the florid colour in his cheeks 
 never deepened or paled, and presently he smiled.
 
 206 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 " Well, you see," he began, slowly and as if with 
 some reluctance, " you see, my dear Colonel, I m 
 not here in propria persona, as it were. I m here 
 on important business business connected with the 
 Prince," he added maliciously. 
 
 " Ah ? " said the Colonel in a pleasant tone. 
 
 "He left Novodnia rather er suddenly," com 
 mented the light-haired gentleman with the eye 
 glass. 
 
 " Why yes," said von Altdorf, " rather sud 
 denly as you say. Still a prince may do as he 
 will. Besides, he wanted to see me upon matters of 
 importance. And Paris in the spring-time is n t a 
 bad place to spend a fortnight." 
 
 " And the er lady ? " suggested von Steinbrticke 
 in a deprecatory tone. 
 
 Von Altdorf laughed. 
 
 "To be sure!" he cried, "the lady! We 
 must n t forget the love affair 1 Ah, well, sha n t 
 a young man have his little flirtations, even if he s 
 a prince ? Jeunesse, jeunesse ! We also were 
 young, once, Baron." 
 
 Baron von Steinbriicke took a long draught of 
 beer from the mug before him, and that sinister left 
 eyelid drooped. 
 
 " Still, when we were young," he objected, " we 
 didn t call love-making with our wives, flirtation, 
 did we?" 
 
 Yon Altdorf allowed himself another laugh. 
 
 " Wives ? wives ? " he cried. " Come, my dear
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 207 
 
 Baron, you re too old a fox to have believed that 
 silly tale of the Prince s marriage! That was 
 Pavelovitch talk, political lies. Why, surely if the 
 Prince were married to this er lady, he d not 
 have gone back to Novodnia last night alone! 
 He d have taken her with him even if he had to 
 wait a bit till she was ready." 
 
 The beer mug clattered slightly upon the marble 
 top of the little table, but Baron von Steinbriicke s 
 smile was undisturbed. 
 
 " The Prince gone back ? " he enquired. " Why 
 then my man who watches the Prince s lodgings 
 must be a shocking liar, must n t he ? for he says 
 the Prince is still very much here." 
 
 "But you see," protested Colonel von Altdorf, 
 " you see that man is in my pay. He s hardly a 
 reliable spy. I d discharge him if I were you, 
 Baron." 
 
 Baron von Steinbriicke smiled appreciatively and 
 shook his head. 
 
 " No," said he, still smiling, " no, it won t do, my 
 friend. Were I a younger man, or had n t we met 
 before, I might be disturbed, but no, it won t do. 
 Come, Colonel, we beat about the bush. Why not 
 be frank ? I ve got your Princess or at least the 
 lady that Karl wants to make a princess. I ve got 
 her in safe-keeping, and I shall hold her there as 
 long as I like." 
 
 " And that," suggested the Colonel, " that will be 
 as long "
 
 2o8 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 "As long as it is necessary to keep Prince Karl 
 out of Novodnia, for he 11 never go back there 
 with his wife in durance. He 11 search till he s 
 found her. Meanwhile why meanwhile there s an 
 empty seat in the palace at Novodni, Colonel, and 
 a populace very, very discontented at the notion of 
 a foreign commoner princess, and none too pleased 
 at the Prince s absence, perhaps none too pleased 
 with the Prince in any event. Shall the seat remain 
 empty, my friend ? There s a man in the mountains 
 would fill it well. Ah, we ve the upper hand of you 
 this time, Colonel." 
 
 Colonel von Altdorf leaned over the little table 
 and smiled pleasantly into the Austrian s eyes. 
 
 " You ve stated the conditions, Baron," said he ; 
 " that is you ve stated them from your point of 
 view I hold another but they were to lead up to 
 something. The proposition, my friend ? " 
 
 Baron von Steinbrucke removed his eye-glass and 
 polished it with some care. He showed the slight 
 est trace of nervousness, the very slightest possible. 
 
 " Why, as for that," said he with a shrug, " I ve 
 no great love for George and his crew." 
 
 "Ah!" breathed Colonel von Altdorf. "You d 
 sell out ? I thought so. And the er price ? " 
 
 Yon Stein briicke gave a little nervous laugh, it 
 would seem of relief. 
 
 " It s not prohibitive," said he lightly. " A 
 warm berth at court, enough to pay one s little 
 gaming debts, to keep against one s old age. Herr
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 209 
 
 Gott ! shall a man serve a mob of bandits, of prowl 
 ing pretenders when he might take the place his 
 merits deserve in a reigning Prince s train ? Come, 
 give me countenance at court and an income, and 
 we 11 send Georgias to the devil ! I m tired of 
 sneaking and intrigue. Let Karl have his nestmate 
 by heaven I like his taste, she s a beauty ! And 
 we 11 all go back to Novodni for the coronation." 
 
 Colonel von Altdorf appeared to be meditating. 
 
 " And our warrant that you 11 be faithful to us ? " 
 he enquired presently. " How are we to know sure 
 that you won t sell us out in turn to Georgias or 
 some one else ? " 
 
 " My word of honour," said the Baron von Stein- 
 briicke pompously. 
 
 Yon Altdorf laughed. 
 
 " Come, come, Baron ! " he cried. 
 
 The Baron flushed purple and cursed softly to 
 himself. 
 
 Colonel von Altdorf leaned once more over the 
 little table, his elbows among the glasses and 
 saucers. 
 
 " I have known you, Baron," said he slowly, " for 
 many years. I knew of you for many years before 
 ever I saw you, and in all that time I have never 
 heard any good of you, nothing but bad faith, dis 
 honour and disgrace. I know you for liar, card- 
 cheat, blackmailer, husband of convenience 
 
 Keep your hands down, Baron von Steinbrucke ! 
 this is a conspicuous corner catspaw for criminals 
 
 14
 
 210 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 in high places whose own hands must be concealed, 
 pander to a rotten nobility, blackguard in general ! 
 You ve won money by sharp play from your own 
 guests in your own house. You ve trapped young 
 girls and turned them loose afterward upon the 
 streets. You ve compromised women of rank and 
 demanded money of them to hold your tongue. 
 There s been no deed so vile, so foul that you 
 
 would n t do it for a price And now you ask 
 
 Prince Karl of Novodnia for a place in his court 
 and offer your word of honour honour forsooth ! 
 that, you will be his faithful subject ! 
 
 " I do n t know, sir, why a God, whom we are 
 taught is all wise, allows such swine as you to wan 
 der and root upon the earth; possibly for an ex 
 ample to men of honour of how low human nature 
 without that honour may be brought. As for 
 Prince Karl and us, his friends, we want none of 
 you save as an enemy. I wish Georgias joy of 
 your loyalty." 
 
 The Austrian s hand shook upon his beer mug 
 and his face writhed and twisted in a snarl almost 
 canine. He dared not, as von Altdorf well knew, 
 provoke a brawl in front of the Cafe de la Paix. 
 He dared not strike with the heavy beer mug at 
 which his fingers clutched longingly. He dared 
 not even raise his voice, with the two dapper look 
 ing gendarmes standing at ease half a dozen paces 
 from where he sat. 
 
 " By heaven, you 11 pay for this ! " he cried,
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 211 
 
 softly, and his voice trembled with rage. " You 11 
 pay for the pleasure of sitting here and blackguard 
 ing me as you like. I Ve got the woman, curse 
 you ! She 11 be the worse for your fine speech, my 
 Colonel! She 11 pay!" 
 
 Colonel von Altdorf s face set all at once hard 
 and stern, and his eyes glowed from under drawn 
 brows. 
 
 " No, she won t," said he, " no, she won t, my 
 blackleg ! What you re after is to keep Prince Karl 
 out of Novodnia. If you kill the Princess there is 
 nothing left to prevent him from returning. If you 
 harm her in any littlest way you ll be hounded 
 over the continent of Europe, aye, and over as 
 many continents as lie between seas, till you re 
 dead. You know Karl as well as I do. Happy, 
 with a restored and unhurt wife, he may prove a 
 forgiving or a careless foe, but bring any harm to 
 this woman, and God have mercy on your soul, von 
 Stembriicke, Karl of Novodnia will have none on 
 your body, nor Karl s friends or servants either. 
 Abduction as a political trick is all very well, but 
 see you to it that it goes no further. And now I 11 
 be moving on. I saw you here, von Steinbrucke, 
 and took it into my head to have a bit of chat with 
 you. The chat has been quite delightful. It has 
 relieved a congested temper. Good-afternoon, my 
 adventurous friend oh, and a word of warning! 
 Stick to beer when you re out of an evening. 
 Hotter liquors muddle the judgment. Jenkins of
 
 212 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 Manchester tells queer tales of you Good- 
 afternoon, Herr Baron." 
 
 He caught one glance at the Austrian s face when 
 Jenkins of Manchester was mentioned, and the 
 glance seemed to amuse him. Then he yawned 
 slightly, took up his stick and gloves and moved 
 out to the curb. 
 
 An omnibus bound for the Place St. Michel came 
 down the rue Auber and halted at the corner to 
 wait for a chance to cross the crowded Boulevard. 
 Von Altdorf stepped upon the platform and mounted 
 to the Imperiale, where he sat smiling and contented 
 while the clumsy vehicle rolled down the Avenue de 
 1 Opera. Herr von Steinbriicke gazed after it with 
 open mouth.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 VON ALTDORF changed at the foot of the 
 Avenue de 1 Opera, from the omnibus to a 
 cab, and came directly to the studio in the 
 rue Boissonade where he told us all that had oc 
 curred. 
 
 " I suppose I was foolish to speak to the man," he 
 admitted, " and more foolish still to blackguard him, 
 but it was a chance I could n t resist. After all, 
 angry though he is, he won t dare harm the Prin 
 cess, and besides, if Denis tracks him home, we 
 should be able to storm the place and carry her off 
 to-night." 
 
 "God send Denis doesn t lose track of him!" 
 said I. 
 
 " Never you fear for Denis," cried von Altdorf. 
 "Denis won t lose him. You should have seen 
 Denis s face when we caught sight of the man! 
 Oh, no, Denis will track him right enough." 
 
 He stopped a moment to laugh. 
 
 " Eh, but you should have seen Steinbrticke when 
 I was telling him my frank opinion of his virtues ! 
 He d have given years of his life to brain me with 
 his beer mug. I 11 confess that my object in speak 
 ing to him wasn t to pick a quarrel. I thought 
 something might be gotten out of him, that he
 
 214 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 might be bought off for a sum, and the Princess 
 rescued at once. That would have been worth 
 while. Still, we shall get her away promptly. I 
 feel sure of that. It all rests with Denis, and by 
 heaven it could n t rest with a better man ! Of 
 course Steinbrucke bolted for home the moment I 
 was out of sight. He d be expecting me to come 
 back and follow him. That s why I took an omni 
 bus instead of a cab. He could see me far down 
 the avenue. He ll never be thinking of another 
 man. Denis should be here in an hour or so if 
 Steinbriicke went directly to his lodgings." 
 
 "We sat, excitedly talking the matter over, specu 
 lating as to Denis s probable success and as to how 
 we were to go about a rescue, when there came a 
 knock at the door, a slow timid knock. 
 
 " That will never be he," said I. " He would n t 
 knock. He d come in at once." I went to the 
 door and opened it, and a young Frenchwoman 
 asked for Monsieur Denis. She pronounced the 
 name after the French fashion and for an instant I 
 was puzzled, not recognising it at all. 
 
 " No," said I, " there s no one of that name here. 
 This is Monsieur Mallory s studio." 
 
 " Mais si, si ! " insisted the girl. " M. Mallory, 
 M. Denis Mallory St. Denis ! " 
 
 And I remembered that Denis s friends of the 
 Quarter called him " St. Denis." 
 
 I told her that Denis was away at the moment 
 but that we expected him soon, and she came in to
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 215 
 
 wait, saying her business was important. She sat 
 in a corner of the divan, eyeing us distrustfully and 
 answering with a yes or a no to the civil questions 
 we put. 
 
 She must once have been an unusually beautiful 
 girl, even for her class where there are many beau 
 ties, but illness or dissipation had hollowed her 
 eyes and cheeks, and drawn lines in her face. She 
 coughed from time to time, and in each of her thin 
 cheeks was a spot of bright colour. 
 
 " Consumption ! " observed old MacKenzie be 
 hind his hand. " Gallopin consumption ! Thou 
 sands of them have it. Poor body ! she s near the 
 end of her strength." 
 
 Then, presently, there was a quick rattle of wheels 
 in the street outside, that ceased as quickly. I ran 
 to the window and peered out. 
 
 " It s he ! " said I. " It s he, and I 11 swear he s 
 been successful for he s laughing ! He chucked 
 the concierge under the chin as he passed her loge. 
 Here he comes Hurrah, he s won ! " 
 
 And Denis burst into the room with a shout. 
 
 " I ve got him ! " he cried almost before he was 
 through the door. " I ve got him ! He s right 
 here in the Quarter as I thought ! Oh, such a tale 
 as I ve got to tell ! Why why Colette, Colette ! 
 You, child ? What in the world are you doing here ? " 
 
 But the girl ran to him calling him by name. 
 " St. Denis, St. Denis ! " in her French fashion, over 
 and over again, and caught him about the shoulders,
 
 216 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 clinging to him, turning her white face up to his, 
 laughing and sobbing together. 
 
 "Why, what is it, child? What is it?" said 
 Denis, slipping an arm about her, and looking down 
 into her eyes with a puzzled frown. 
 
 " Listen, St. Denis ! " cried the girl, holding him 
 still by the shoulders, and straining her face up 
 toward his, eagerly, " listen ! I ve found the man 
 you seek ! the man who stole the the lady from 
 you ! I know where he lives. I ve been there. 
 It s in the impasse du Maine. Ah, St. Denis, I ve 
 found him ! " 
 
 " Why, bless you, Mignonne, so have I ! " cried 
 Denis with a laugh. " I ve just come from there. 
 Ah, we 11 have a settlement a bit later, my German 
 and I but come, child, you re weak, you re trem 
 bling ! pauvre petite, you re fagged out ! Come 
 over to the divan, here, and tell me all about it, all 
 you know and how you came to know it." 
 
 He led the girl over to the divan and sat there 
 with her, holding her hands in one of his, and pat 
 ting her shoulder gently, for she seemed very, very 
 tired, quite worn out, and sobbed hysterically. 
 
 " Poor little tired out girl ! " he cried very low. 
 " Poor little girl ! Colette, you have n t been well, 
 your cheeks are thin, Mignonne, your eyes are 
 hollow. You must rest, take a month a la cam- 
 pagne. We 11 see about it, hein ? " 
 
 But the girl drew a little away from him, shaking 
 her head.
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 217 
 
 "Ah, never mind me," she said. "Listen, St. 
 Denis, I must tell you about the man and and 
 about Madame. It was Fifi Dumond who told me 
 that you were looking for the Allemand with the 
 yellow hair and the eye-glass and the queer left eye 
 lid and about the vieux cocher with the mourning 
 band on his arm. I found the cocher, quite by ac 
 cident, away over beyond the Arc near the marche 
 des Ternes. I d been over there to see a a friend, 
 and I came upon the cocher sitting asleep on his 
 fiacre by the curb. He was alone, not in a cab 
 rank 
 
 " One for you, Teddy ! " said Denis, looking up 
 with a smile. 
 
 " 1 wakened him," continued the girl, " and 
 
 asked him about the Allemand with a monocle who 
 had driven to the rue Denf ert Rochereau and taken 
 a lady away. I told him that the Allemand was a 
 friend whom I wanted to find and whose address I 
 did n t know. He was suspicious, the cocher, and 
 would n t tell me anything about it, though I begged 
 and teased and offered him all the money I had 
 but I I found a way " 
 
 " Colette, Colette ! " cried Denis suddenly and 
 turned the girl s averted face with his hands till he 
 could see her eyes. " What do you mean child ? " 
 What do you mean ? " His voice was sharp with 
 pain and horror. 
 
 But she hid her face from him and would not 
 look up.
 
 218 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 " What does it matter ? " she murmured, " to 
 such as I am ? Ah, I was doing it for you, St. 
 Denis. I d have spared nothing, nothing ! No, 
 wait, listen ! So the cocher took me finally to the 
 impasse du Maine where he d taken the Allemand 
 and Madame. Number 18 it is, 18 bis, at the inner 
 end of the impasse. I knew the concierge, old 
 Mme. Lambert, and talked with her, asked her 
 what painters were in the house now, for I d posed 
 there a long time before. And Mme. Lambert told 
 me there were four etrangers lately come to take 
 the suite, au premier, at the right of the courtyard. 
 She thought they were Prussian pigs, and that the 
 sister of one of them was there also, une grande 
 dame, tres belle. She said that the pig with the 
 eye-glass had asked her to look up a maid for 
 Madame, and that she had sent word to Diane St. 
 Pierre, but that if I wanted the place she would 
 recommend me to Monsieur for half my first week s 
 wages " 
 
 " Good, good ! " cried Denis. " Did you take it, 
 child ? did you take it ? " 
 
 The girl nodded wearily. 
 
 "Yes, St. Denis. Yes, I took the place. 
 I ve been there caring for Madame for three 
 days." 
 
 " But," said Denis, with puzzled brows, " but I 
 do n t understand I do n t quite see ! Why did n t 
 you get word to us before, Colette ? three whole 
 days ! "
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 219 
 
 The girl turned away from him and hid her face 
 in her hands. 
 
 " I can t tell you, St. Denis," she said very low. 
 " I can t tell you ah, is n t it enough that I come 
 to you, now ? Is n t it enough that I m giving her 
 giving her back to you, now ? " 
 
 Denis sat for a long time staring at the bowed 
 head and drooping shoulders. 
 
 He raised his face and motioned to me with his 
 eyes. The Prince, von Altdorf and MacKenzie and 
 I, rose quietly and went out of the studio into the 
 sleeping-room beyond, and dropped the portiere 
 behind us. 
 
 Then, after a time, the girl turned once more and 
 put up her hands upon Denis s breast. 
 
 " Do you do you love her very, very dearly, St. 
 Denis ? " she asked in a whisper. The great eyes 
 burnt into his. 
 
 " Better than my life, child," said he gently, 
 " but she s not for me. She is another man s wife, 
 and will go to him if we rescue her. She s a prin 
 cess, Colette." 
 
 The girl s face dropped upon his breast and she 
 shivered a little. 
 
 " Yet you d bring her back, St. Denis ? You d 
 bring her back for the other man? You d risk 
 your life to do it ? You d be so noble as that ? 
 Ah, St. Denis, I did n t know ! I thought it was 
 for yourself, and I I could n t bear the thought of 
 it. I was strong enough to go so far to do what
 
 220 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 what I did, but when I saw her, St. Denis, beau 
 tiful as the Mother of God, pure as an angel, glori 
 ous as as nothing else I ever saw in the world, 1 
 could n t bear the thought of her coming to you 
 even though I d lost you long since. St. Denis, 
 she tried to send messages by me to to M. le docteur 
 Mac Mac something, and to M. le Colonel von 
 Altdorf but I would n t take them. I told her that 
 I dared not all because I was so madly jealous 
 St. Denis! St. Denis, will you ever forgive 
 me?" 
 
 " Forgive you, child ? " cried Denis, " forgive you, 
 after what you you did? after the sacrifice you 
 made all for my sake ? Ah, Colette, Colette, shall I 
 ever forgive myself!" His voice choked and he 
 bent over the dark head and raised the face and 
 kissed it. 
 
 " I shall never forget, Mignonne," said he, " never 
 till I die, for it was the most utter sacrifice I have 
 ever known. No one ever did so much for a man. 
 Oh, child, child, to have sold yourself for me ! " 
 
 But the girl crept closer to him and lifted her 
 face with a little sobbing laugh. 
 
 " Ah, do n t feel so over it ! " she begged. " It 
 was nothing, just nothing ! Why, see, I m laugh 
 ing, St. Denis. Shall not a girl love a man ? And 
 shall she not make any sacrifice for him, to gain 
 him what he wishes ? Think what you did for me 
 long ago ! Think how you took me in from the 
 street, ill, half starved, desperate ! I d no claim
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 221 
 
 upon you, St. Denis, but you pitied me loved me 
 a little I like to think let me think so, St. Denis ! 
 Leave me my dreams! And I, how did I treat 
 you? Kan away for a petty spite, shamed you, 
 played you false but it was all because I loved 
 you and because I was a woman. Hadn t I a 
 debt to pay, mon cceur ? Tell me I ve paid it, St. 
 Denis ! Tell me you forgive me ! I do n t ask for 
 love or tenderness, we re past that, but tell me that 
 I ve paid the debt and that you forgive me ! Ah, 
 now I must go. You ve made me happy again as 
 
 I thought never to be happy You will rescue 
 
 Madame, will you not, St. Denis? La pauvre, 
 Madame ! She sits like a queen in prison waiting, 
 
 always waiting No, they do her no harm. 
 
 They are polite always. She has her own little 
 room where I care for her, and she is well, but she 
 cannot bear it long. Tell me what I can do to 
 help you." 
 
 Denis crossed the room to a little cabinet upon 
 the wall, and came back with a tiny pistol, an 
 American revolver, chased and enamelled. It 
 looked a mere toy, but such toys can be deadly 
 playthings. 
 
 "Listen, Colette," said he. "Give this to Ma 
 dame and tell her to hide it about her somewhere. 
 Tell her that to-night we will come to her rescue, 
 to-night at about two o clock. Tell her to be 
 dressed and waiting in her little room, waiting with 
 the pistol in her hand, but that she must not fire it
 
 222 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 save in direst need. She must use it in defense 
 only. When we break in the doors, one of the four 
 men who hold the Princess captive, will rush to her 
 room and try, either to take her away while the 
 others hold us back, or else to do her harm. She 
 must keep him off with the pistol. He will not be 
 difficult, I think, for he won t dare risk the sound 
 of a shot. That is all. "We will see to the rest. 
 She must be ready for us. As for you, cherie, when 
 you have given the pistol to Madame and perhaps 
 prepared her for the night, you must go away at 
 once. You cannot help us, and to stay would be 
 dangerous for you. Make some excuse, a sister ill, 
 an illness yourself, anything to get away. Now go 
 with the pistol, Colette, go quickly. Paid your 
 debt ? Oh, child, child, you ve paid the greatest 
 price of all ! I shall never forget." 
 
 At the sound of a closing door we came out of 
 the sleeping room to find Denis upon the divan 
 with his head in his hands. There were tears on 
 his cheeks when he rose. 
 
 " Ah, gentlemen, gentlemen ! " he cried, " yonder 
 goes a woman who has given herself up to shame 
 unspeakable to bring the man she loved to the 
 woman whom she believed he loved. Is there any 
 sacrifice greater than that ? She has shamed me 
 forever." 
 
 He went to the window and stared out into the 
 gathering dusk, his hands clenched behind him. 
 
 Then after a time he turned to us again with a
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 223 
 
 little shake of the head and shoulders as if he would 
 rid himself of the gloom that covered him. 
 
 " And now for my tale ! " he cried and his eyes 
 sparkled. " By my faith, it s worth telling ! Look 
 you, von Altdorf, while you went off down the 
 Avenue de P Opera grinning from the top of your 
 omnibus, your Austrian friend was on his feet be 
 side his little table staring after you like a man 
 hypnotised. He could n t seem to make out your 
 game at all. He was fairly puzzled. I saw him 
 shake his head once or twice and mutter to himself, 
 then all at once he clinked a franc on the table and 
 grabbing up his stick made off up the rue Auber on 
 foot, I close after him, of course. Once he stopped 
 at the curb, and made as if he d signal a cab, but 
 he shook his head and went on again. He halted 
 over on the Place in front of the Printemps, and 
 stood behind the little newspaper kiosk as if he 
 couldn t quite make up his mind what to do. 
 Then, quite suddenly, he dashed out into the street 
 and jumped upon the platform of a Gare Mont- 
 parnasse omnibus that was passing. I followed in 
 a cab, keeping close so that he should n t escape me 
 he rode inside. 
 
 " He went the whole distance to the Gare Mont- 
 parnasse, and when the bus stopped, swung off and 
 slipped up the little rue de 1 Arrivee to the Avenue 
 du Maine, I ambling along, still in my fiacre. He 
 bolted into the impasse du Maine, like a coursed 
 hare, while I stood on the opposite side of the
 
 224 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 avenue staring into a charbonnier s window at a 
 thrilling display of coals and kindling chips. I saw 
 him go in the whole length of the impasse, and dis 
 appear under the arch at the inner end, number 
 18 bis, it is, and by the Saints, I could have 
 howled aloud for sheer joy ! Man, I know every 
 inch of 18 bis impasse du Maine, I know it light 
 or dark, drunk or sober but chiefly drunk. A 
 very good pal of mine used to live there, and 
 many s the night I bunked on his divan when I 
 well, when trying to get home would have been 
 indiscreet in a manner o speakin , MacKenzie. 
 
 " I loafed about for five minutes and then went 
 into the impasse to number 18 bis, and knocked at 
 the concierge s loge. I trembled in my boots, by the 
 same token, for it was six to half a dozen that the 
 old lady would remember me. If she did I knew 
 t would come to a case of bribery and corruption, 
 but thank God she s blind as a bat in daytime, and 
 had never, to her knowledge, set eyes on me before. 
 
 " I called up an atrocious bad accent t would 
 have brought the tears to your eyes with laughing 
 mixed in a great deal of English, waved my arms 
 and talked very loud to make her understand the 
 better in fact played the lately arrived nouveau as 
 best I could, and demanded if she d any vacant 
 studios. I told her that my friend Cheltenham had 
 said, in London, that he had lived there and liked 
 the place. Cheltenham, the Honourable Dicky, was 
 the pal who really had lived there. She nearly
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 225 
 
 wept at Cheltenham s name, the good old soul 
 had worshipped Dicky. She said that his suite was 
 occupied at the moment by some pigs of Prussians, 
 four messieurs and one grande dame. * Aha, said I 
 to myself, * is it, though ? We re growing warm ! 
 But if I would like to see the rooms she d take 
 me up. The Prussians, she thought, weren t to 
 be there long. 
 
 " So we went up after she d whistled out Chel 
 tenham s old cat Giovanni, and showed him to me. 
 Jove, that was an embarrassing minute, for Giovanni 
 knew me at once, and treated me like brother. 
 
 " And now, before I go on, let me show you with 
 a bit of paper just how the court and the rooms are 
 arranged. You 11 have to know your way about, 
 later. As I ve said, the place is at the inner end of 
 the impasse. The impasse runs right into it. 
 There s a square, stone-paved court that you enter 
 through an archway. The loge of the concierge is 
 under this arch at the right. Now the house rises 
 on all three sides of the court the arch fills the 
 fourth side. At the right, on the ground floor, 
 there s a sort of machine atelier, a shop of metal 
 workers, closed, of course, at night. To reach the 
 suite where Cheltenham used to live, and where 
 the Princess is being held now, you go in back of 
 this shop under another arch, a small one, and up 
 one winding stair. But the rooms don t open over 
 the court, they open over a little unpaved alley 
 on the other side. The space directly over the ma- 
 
 5
 
 226 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 chine shop is filled by an architect s studio, un- 
 tenanted. On the little alley there s nothing but a 
 row of shed-like sculptors studios one story high. 
 No one has ever occupied them since I can remem 
 ber. Now the suite itself, consists of a fair-sized 
 studio, square, with a big side light, and a very nar 
 row little passage, running from it out to the door 
 of the suite, upon which open a sleeping-room and 
 a kitchen with a tiled cooking-stove built into the 
 wall. But since I knew the place, another room has 
 been added, beyond the studio. This room used to 
 be another studio separated from the first by only a 
 partition of boards, one thickness. You could hear 
 perfectly anything that was said in the other room. 
 It is in this last room, recently added to the suite, 
 that the Princess is quartered. 
 
 " Now are you quite sure that you see how the 
 place lies ? You 11 observe there s nothing next it 
 or under it that is tenanted. It s quite isolated. 
 No noise less than a pistol shot could reach any 
 neighbouring ears, and that s a point for us, I would 
 have you know. Mind you, once more, as you go 
 in the outer door you ve a long narrow passage be 
 fore you, the kitchen and bedroom opening in turn 
 at its left and the big studio right ahead. Then 
 that s clear ! 
 
 " Well, we went up, the old concierge and I, and 
 pounded at the door. Some one inside gave a surly 
 growl and a German curse, a most impolite curse, I 
 protest, and finally opened the door an inch to see
 
 what was wanted. He was n t going to let us in 
 at all. Yery short about it, he was. But the con 
 cierge gave him a bit of her tongue, told him that I 
 was an Anglais, a friend of her old tenant, who 
 wanted to take the suite, and that she was coming 
 in whether he liked it or not. 
 
 " So finally we got in, and I roamed about the 
 place with my mouth open, doing a great deal more 
 of my loud talking in mixed English and dreadful 
 French, regular British tourist sort of thing, asking 
 about the light and the ventilation and the price 
 and such rot, and incidentally taking in all I could 
 of the defensive preparations that the rogues had 
 made. 
 
 " Our friend Steinbrucke was there, glowering in 
 a corner and chewing at his nails like a villain in 
 a play. Man, he was in an awful state of mind 1 
 though that s not surprising. There were two 
 other men in sight, one of them the chap who had 
 let us in, a German apparently, and the other I 
 should fancy, a Novodnian. 
 
 " I caught sight of the small door in the wall that 
 opens upon the new room and asked what that led 
 into, but von Steinbrucke was on his feet in an in 
 stant, with his back against it, and said an invalid 
 was inside. He tried to be off-hand and polite about 
 it, but it strained him, poor chap. He d had a bad 
 afternoon. 
 
 "The concierge spoke up and told me that 
 Monsieur s sister was inside and that we must n t
 
 228 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 disturb her, that the room was merely another 
 sleeping-room. 
 
 u Just then I heard a man s voice from behind the 
 door in a husky sort of whisper and then and then 
 hers, by heaven, answering him ! It sounded a 
 little weak, and very weary, but not ill, not ill, man, 
 strong and calm as ever ! Faith, I had to grip my 
 hands to stand where I was and look uninterested ! 
 
 " Then I set about to let her know I was there, 
 stood near the partition wall talking in a loud voice 
 to the concierge and whistled as I walked about the 
 room, a certain little air that that the Princess 
 would recognise, a song of Kichard Lovelace s. She 
 knew, then, she knew, for I heard a sudden little 
 amazed glad cry that she smothered almost before 
 it was out of her mouth. 
 
 " Steinbriicke gave me a suspicious look, but I 
 stared in his face and asked him, still in bad 
 French, how he liked the rooms and if he could 
 recommend them to me. 
 
 " Then, after a time, I came away, but I said to 
 the concierge before we d left the room that I d 
 be back again loudly so that the Princess could 
 hear. 
 
 " * Je reviendrai, Madame, said I. Je reviendrai, 
 and I think she understood. 
 
 " That s all ! I came straight avray here to tell 
 you. To-night we must make our dash. I ve sent 
 a pistol to the Princess by Colette, so that she 11 
 know we are coming, and will be able to defend
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 229 
 
 herself if they block us in the passage and try to do 
 any harm to her." 
 
 Colonel von Altdorf sprang from his chair where 
 he had been excitedly nodding his head and tug 
 ging at his grizzled moustache. He seized Denis s 
 two hands and shook them up and down. 
 
 " Lad, lad ! " he cried, " why have n t we played 
 together before ? Why must I have grown grey 
 before I met you ? By my faith in God, you re 
 the coolest hand I ve ever seen and the cleverest 
 
 head. We 11 get her back now thanks to you 
 
 Oh, lad, I m proud to know you!" And old 
 MacKenzie beamed over von Altdorf s shoulder, 
 and I seized Denis from behind with a great hug of 
 delight, while the Prince of Novodnia cheered in a 
 husky voice from the divan.
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 WE dined, all together, at a little restaurant 
 near by, and then came back to the studio 
 and spent the long evening in making our 
 plans for what was to be done in the small hours of 
 that night. "We settled the slightest details of the 
 attack, allowed for every possible contingency, and 
 held a most spirited dress rehearsal in which Prince 
 Karl enacted the part of the Princess Eleanor and 
 I that of von Steinbriicke somewhat to the detri 
 ment of my breath and personal appearance, for 
 Denis made an uncomfortably pressing leader of 
 the charge. 
 
 Then when we had done laughing over this, 
 Denis and von Altdorf gave us an exhibition with 
 the foils, just to get their hands in, as Denis put it, 
 till von Altdorf, hopelessly outclassed, threw down 
 his sword, declaring that Denis was the devil and 
 no man at all, which was more or less true when 
 Denis had a yard of steel in his hand. 
 
 And Denis, intent still upon "getting his hand 
 in " strung an apple to the overhead lamp and cut 
 thin slices from it with a German schlager filched 
 from its decorative position on the wall, shaved it 
 with a blade so swift as to seem a wheel of light till
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 231 
 
 nothing but the core was left, and von Altdorf who 
 rather fancied himself at the sabres, sighed and 
 shook his head in despair. 
 
 Thus we whiled away the dragging time, and 
 strove to cover with laughter and games the tense 
 keenness of anxiety that was in all our hearts, the 
 grimness of resolution and the sense of deadly peril 
 that was nerving us to our task. 
 
 Old MacKenzie clicked his watch and gave a 
 smothered growl of impatience. 
 
 " A quarter to twelve," said he. " God in heaven, 
 must we wait forever ? Who s for a hand at 
 piquet ? We ve nearly two hours yet." 
 
 The Prince, Denis and I sprang up readily 
 enough, for idle waiting at such times strains the 
 nerves as nothing else, but von Altdorf stood in the 
 middle of the room with his hands in his pockets 
 and a somewhat guilty expression of countenance. 
 
 " Why I was thinking," said he, in a careless tone, 
 " of of just stepping over to the house to er see 
 that they re all ready for our return. I shall be 
 back directly of course." 
 
 There was a subdued chuckle from MacKenzie 
 which, I take shame in remembering, I echoed. 
 Colonel von Altdorf went red as fire. 
 
 " Oh, they re quite ready, man," said MacKenzie, 
 brutally. " I ve seen to all that." 
 
 " Still, you know," insisted von Altdorf, " they 
 may have forgotten something. It s best to be 
 sure. I really think I d better go." And Denis
 
 232 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 hacked at our shins under the table, and said, " I 
 wish you would go, old chap. One of us ought to. 
 Go by the garden, it s shorter." 
 
 Von Altdorf made for the little rear window. 
 
 " I sha n t be long," said he as he let himself out. 
 
 He went up through the cool scented gloom of 
 the garden, up under the acacias and through the 
 old refectory porch into the house. 
 
 There was a dim light in the music-room and 
 some one was playing very softly, with pauses of 
 silence, upon the piano. Then, presently, the music 
 ceased and there came to his ears the sound of low 
 weeping. 
 
 " Mademoiselle ! " said Colonel von Altdorf from 
 the doorway. But the girl sitting before the piano 
 did not raise her head from her arms. He went 
 diffidently into the room with his heart playing 
 strange tricks, thumping most curiously. Women 
 in smiles, ready with quick speech and feminine 
 ways, were a sad puzzle to von Altdorf. They lay 
 beyond his world, undiscovered lands. But a 
 woman in tears lay further still, beyond wider 
 seas, filled him with an odd inarticulate distress, a 
 longing to help and comfort, to caress and defend, 
 a new longing. Aye, but filled him with a certain 
 terror too. 
 
 He stood over the bowed figure and touched her 
 shoulder awkwardly, timidly. 
 
 " Do n t, Mademoiselle ! " said he. " Do n t, I I 
 beg. You unman me ! Do n t weep, Mademoiselle.
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 233 
 
 "We 11 bring the Princess back to you. You need 
 have no fear we 11 bring her back." 
 
 "I do not weep for the Princess," said Miss 
 Jessica Mannering between her sobs. 
 
 " Why, then, Mademoiselle ? " asked Colonel von 
 Altdorf very low. 
 
 " I weep," said she between her fingers, " for a 
 for brave gentlemen who go into peril of their 
 lives." 
 
 " Your tears," said he unsteadily, " your tears 
 should nerve their hearts and strengthen their arms. 
 I 11 I 11 tell them," added von Altdorf, felicitously. 
 
 The girl sprang suddenly to her feet and blazed 
 at him. Her aspect was really quite intimidating, 
 despite an occasional sniff and a furtive dab with a 
 very moist handkerchief. Colonel von Altdorf 
 shrank back a step. 
 
 " You tell them if you if you dare ! " she cried. 
 " I 11 never speak to you again ! Never ! " 
 
 Colonel von Altdorf sighed and shook his head. 
 
 "Alas, Mademoiselle," said he, "I fear I know 
 little of women. They do such surprising things ! " 
 he complained. " They re so unexpected ! I 
 I thought you would not mind my telling the others 
 that you wept for them. Your tears, Mademoiselle, 
 are pearls that each of us would wear into danger 
 for a talisman." 
 
 The girl looked into Colonel von Altdorf s eyes. 
 
 " You say the truth, sir," she cried softly, " when 
 you tell me that you know little of women
 
 234 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 Ah, so very, very little ! but I would not have you 
 know more, not now. I like your knowing little of 
 them. You are more the man for it. Oh, I did not 
 weep for the danger of the other gentlemen, gal 
 lant though they be ! No no ! " when he would 
 have moved toward her with a little cry, " no, we 
 must not stand here talking of of ourselves of 
 happiness and and such, while the Princess Eleanor 
 is in the hands of villains. That were to be selfish 
 and more than heartless. You must rescue her 
 
 first, and then " She caught her breath with a 
 
 little sob. 
 
 " Oh ! " cried Miss Mannering, " it fills me with 
 trembling, Colonel, my Colonel, to let you risk your 
 life as as you must do." 
 
 She came to him and put her hands upon his arm 
 looking up into his face. 
 
 "You ll be careful?" she begged. "You 11 be 
 no more rash than you need ? You 11 come back 
 to me unhurt, safe ? Ah, but I must n t speak to 
 you so ! I would n t make your eye falter or your 
 arm weaken. I must n t speak to you so, my sol 
 dier." 
 
 She would have moved away from him, but 
 Colonel von Altdorf took the small hands that had 
 been upon his arm making it tremble foolishly 
 and raised them to his lips. 
 
 " Your soldier, Mademoiselle ? " said he in a 
 strange voice, " your soldier ? Oh, yes, yes I 11 
 come back to you! Do you think anything can
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 235 
 
 harm me now ? Your soldier, Mademoiselle ? Ah, 
 your soldier ? " 
 
 She turned away from him at last and sat down 
 before the piano. She was weeping again softly 
 but not tears of grief. 
 
 "I must go, Mademoiselle," said Colonel von 
 Altdorf. "The time is near for starting. Will 
 you, before I go, sing to me again ? "Will you sing 
 
 your old song Love in my bosom like a bee ? 
 
 One likes to go into action with music." 
 
 She touched the keys, faltering a little, and pres 
 ently sang, her voice very low and none too steady. 
 And Colonel von Altdorf stood beside her with 
 bowed head. 
 
 Then when she had finished he took a long, deep 
 breath and pulled himself together with a jerk. He 
 was the soldier again. 
 
 "And so, good-night, Mademoiselle," said he 
 smiling. "The Princess shall be with you in an 
 hour, or at the most, two, and I I shall see you 
 again, to-morrow. Good-night ! " And he turned 
 quickly and left her as if he dared stay no longer. 
 Whereupon Miss Mannering, being one of those 
 strange creatures, women, of whom von Altdorf 
 confessed to knowing little, fell to weeping again 
 and then to smiling, and held her two hands to her 
 cheek as if they were suddenly grown dear to her, 
 and again wept. 
 
 But Colonel von Altdorf went down through the 
 garden and climbing in by the little window pro-
 
 236 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 sented himself once more in the studio with a car 
 riage so jaunty and a face so illumined that old 
 MacKenzie chuckled again. But Denis caught his 
 breath sharply and went over to the opposite side 
 of the room where he stood some time with his back 
 to us, making a choice of the swords that hung 
 there. 
 
 I think it was not till this moment, not till he 
 saw von Altdorf s transformed face, that he real 
 ised what the night s work meant to himself, that 
 rescuing the Princess but brought her back to 
 another man, that she was lost to him utterly and 
 forever, that once she was safe again, he might not 
 have even the satisfaction of working and fighting 
 for her. I think that the past week of desperate 
 planning and working had quite driven his own 
 plight from his mind, had directed his whole energy 
 to the one fierce struggle to rescue the woman he 
 loved, and that it was not till now the thought 
 came to him, " what of to-morrow ? " 
 
 Still, if the thought came to him in that moment 
 with crushing force, he threw it from him with a 
 force as great. The work was yet to be done. He 
 turned about once more quickly. 
 
 " Make ready, gentlemen," said he. " You have 
 your pistols, but remember they re for look only, 
 no firing. It s steel to-night. We must have no 
 more noise than is necessary. Take a sword, each 
 of you, a light one. Here s my toy ! " 
 
 He held up a thin glistening blade, a wonderful
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 237 
 
 masterpiece from Spain. One might bend it till 
 point touched hilt ; slender as a foil and no heavier, 
 weighted indeed like a foil at the hilt, properly to 
 balance its length. 
 
 " We can carry the things under our coats," said 
 he. " Thank heaven it s a rainy night ! If I were 
 you I should take sharpened foils, rather than any 
 thing heavier. They ll meet us with sabres, I 
 think, for they d a lot of sabres about the room 
 to-day. They won t dare shoot. You see the 
 beauty of the foils is that a man with a foil has a 
 tremendous advantage over a sabre. He s infi 
 nitely quicker. Yes, take foils by all means. Have 
 you the dark lantern, von Altdorf ? Keady, Ted ? 
 Into your rain coats and come along then ! " 
 
 But three of us were to go, von Altdorf, Denis 
 and I. The Prince, though he at first insisted and 
 afterward begged piteously, we would not take, for 
 his life must not be risked. Sir Gavin was no 
 swordsman and was moreover beyond the age for 
 fighting. 
 
 In any event we considered that we three should 
 be a match, in a surprise, for the four we were to 
 attack. And the quarters, it must be remembered, 
 were cramped. 
 
 "We wrung the Prince s and old MacKenzie s 
 hands. A sudden gravity came upon us all at the 
 last, for we knew that we might not meet again. 
 Then the three of us went quickly out into the wet 
 night.
 
 238 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 We turned, presently, from the Boulevard Raspail 
 into the Boulevard Edgar Quinet, and walked down 
 its length under the dripping trees, down past the 
 high wall of the cemetery and so under the railway 
 bridge to the Avenue du Maine, and halted before 
 the mouth of the impasse. It lay black and wet 
 and wholly deserted. Indeed there was no living 
 thing in sight anywhere save that across the street 
 and down a little way at the foot of the avenue 
 stood a cab rank. The lamps threw a row of dis 
 piriting yellow gleams across the shining pavement. 
 
 " I suppose," said Denis, " we d best bring a car 
 riage to the head of the impasse here, and have it 
 wait. It would n t do to take it clear in ? " 
 
 " I say take it right away to the door," said I. 
 " It will sound as if we were ordinary lodgers com 
 ing home for the night. Have the thing turn about 
 ready to make a dash the moment we re out with 
 the Princess. If we re pursued we stand a better 
 chance of getting well away." 
 
 " Eight, O ! " cried Denis. " Ted, you ve at times 
 a surprising head ! Come along then, we 11 all get 
 into the carriage and ride up to the door." 
 
 So we went down the street to the miserable 
 looking line of vehicles and roused a cocher who 
 was sleeping peacefully inside his galerie. 
 
 " A 1 impasse du Maine ! " we cried, " tout au 
 fond, and wait there till we come out ! " 
 
 I do n t mind confessing, now when it is all over 
 and long past, that my heart jumped a bit and my
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 239 
 
 breathing quickened as we went rattling noisily 
 into that long narrow echoing cul de sac, pistols in 
 our pockets, swords hidden under our long rain 
 coats, and a dark lantern bulging from the vicinity 
 of Colonel von Altdorf s manly bosom. It seemed, 
 there in the chill dripping rain, such an absurd 
 thing to be doing in peaceful Paris at this end of 
 the nineteenth century ! I could not rid myself of 
 the notion that it was all a huge joke, a masquerade 
 over which we would have a great laugh presently. 
 The planning of a desperate coup, seated at ease 
 amongst lights and warmth and comfort, with 
 friends about one, keen minds to offer suggestions, 
 cool heads to weigh risks, is such a different thing 
 to carrying out that coup, silently, grimly, in the 
 dead of a cheerless night, with death grinning at 
 one s face through the rain. 
 
 The cab halted at the extreme end of the impasse 
 and we got out, gave our low voiced direction to 
 the cocher to turn about and wait and rang the 
 bell. 
 
 Now the law in Paris is so constructed that every 
 house, rich or poor, whether in the Champs Elysees 
 or the slums of St. Antoine, shall be under the 
 charge of a concierge who shall close the same 
 tightly at night, and admit the residents thereof 
 only upon the ringing of a bell. Furthermore, 
 each lodger upon coming in, must, if the hour be 
 early, be recognised by the concierge, or if it be 
 late and the concierge in her bed, so that at the
 
 240 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 summons she releases the lock of the door with the 
 " cordon " that hangs to her hand, the lodger must 
 call out his name as he enters and closes the door. 
 The concierge system, it will be understood, is 
 nothing more than a great arm of the police, an 
 Espionage, hour by hour and day by day, of every 
 resident in Paris. 
 
 We rang twice before the concierge waked and 
 pulled her cordon. Then the lock clicked and the 
 little door set in the great heavy gate that by night 
 closed the archway, swung open. 
 
 " Steinbriicke, Madame ! " sang out Denis in a 
 bass gutteral as we closed the door, " soir, Madame ! " 
 and we tiptoed softly over the rough stones of the 
 courtyard and under the little arch that leads to 
 the stair at the right. 
 
 " Off with your coats now ! " whispered Denis. 
 " Swords ready ? pistols ? lantern lighted, von Alt- 
 dorf ? Here, wait an instant ! " 
 
 Now the little arch, under which we stood, gave 
 not only upon the stair, but beyond upon the tiny 
 alley alongside the old sculptor s sheds and under 
 the windows of Steinbriicke s studio. It was a 
 blind alley, closed by walls at both ends. Denis 
 stole out into it and peered upward. 
 
 " Dim lights in all the rooms," said he when he 
 returned, " all but the kitchen. They re taking no 
 risks. Now then, up the stairs ! " 
 
 We left our rain coats in a heap under the arch 
 and mounted slowly, with infinite caution. But
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 241 
 
 near the top when there was but a step or two to 
 gain, von Altdorf stumbled in the dark, and the 
 closed lantern clashed against the stair rail. 
 
 "We were at the door in an instant, but there 
 came from, inside a quick movement, the sound of 
 hurrying steps, and a voice, as that of one on watch 
 waking others. 
 
 "Now, then!" whispered Denis, "the door! 
 Are you ready ? One, two, go ! " He had placed 
 himself, as we had arranged, a couple of paces from 
 the door, back toward it, von Altdorf, sword hang 
 ing from wrist, had braced his hands against Denis s 
 shoulders, I mine against von Altdorf s waist, and 
 with a little run we shot through the flimsy door as 
 though it had been cardboard. 
 
 Denis whirled as he fell forward, so that he went 
 upon one knee, sword ready in his right hand, and 
 the glare from von Altdorfs lantern streamed over 
 his head and along the narrow little passage till it 
 met the white faces and staring eyes of the pair of 
 ruffians who bore down, half dressed but wide 
 awake, to check us. 
 
 They had sabres, as Denis had predicted, and the 
 blade of the foremost flashed over his head as he 
 charged. But when it fell it rattled harmlessly 
 upon the floor and its owner lurched face down 
 ward after it. Denis s thrust had been too quick for 
 eye to follow. 
 
 Then the second man did a curious thing. 
 Blocked so that he could not strike, by the fellow 
 
 16
 
 242 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 in front of him, and now borne back by Denis s 
 lightening point, he made no attempt at sword-play, 
 but dropped his sabre suddenly, and threw himself 
 forward, headlong, seeking to catch Denis s legs 
 about the ankles and so bring him to the ground. 
 
 A man less quick would instantly have been 
 floored, but Denis hurdled him as a football player 
 will sometimes hurdle the opposing line or the man 
 who tackles too low, and was at the studio door in 
 an instant. 
 
 "After me, one of you!" he called over his 
 shoulder. I pushed by von Altdorf who had his 
 point against the fallen man s neck, and we burst 
 into the wide space of the studio together. 
 
 The room was dimly lighted from small lamps 
 hung upon the wall and from a large one overhead, 
 which was turned low. There was a litter of clothes 
 and blankets and pillows about the floor, and the 
 air was full of tobacco smoke. 
 
 Baron von Steinbriicke stood in the middle of 
 the room alone. He must have been sleeping, for 
 he was clad only in drawers and undershirt. He 
 stood with his back toward the door of the further 
 room the door was slightly ajar and he held in 
 his hand no sabre like the others, but a long slender 
 blade such as our own. He stood leaning forward 
 a little, poised, waiting. There was a slight smile 
 upon his lips but this passed in an instant, and I 
 shall never forget his look when he saw our two 
 faces full in the lamps light, and recognised us,
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 243 
 
 Denis who had stalked about the room under his 
 very nose that afternoon asking questions in bad 
 French ; and myself to whom he had, in his cups, 
 babbled secrets that would hound him to his grave 
 did I but make them known. 
 
 His sword point shook and drooped for a breath, 
 then he was at us with a snarl of rage. I have 
 never seen a more furious or more reckless whirl 
 wind of attack. 
 
 " Give him to me, lad ! Give him to me ! " said 
 Denis, and I stood back while they engaged. I 
 knew there could be but one outcome to that 
 combat. 
 
 But their blades had no more than clashed when 
 there came the sound of a scuffle from the room 
 beyond. Alas, we had forgotten the fourth man ! 
 And then the Princess Eleanor s voice. 
 
 " Quick, Denis ! " she cried, " be quick ! " There 
 was no fear in the tone, no trembling, but it told a 
 desperate need. 
 
 "Quick! be quick!" she called again. "He s 
 trying to - Shall I shoot ? Shall I shoot ? " 
 
 Denis whirled swiftly toward the door. I saw 
 him lunge again and again quick as light, but the 
 Austrian s desperate fury made a defence that even 
 his matchless skill could not break down at once. 
 The man would have to be tired out by rapid attack 
 but there was no time for that. 
 
 Denis s back was at the door now. 
 
 " Now, then, Ted ! " he cried, " take him on
 
 244 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 now!" and my point reached Steinbriicke s left 
 arm just as Denis went through into the inner 
 room. 
 
 What happened there of course I could not see. 
 It was told me afterward. Denis, it seems, was 
 but in the nick of time, for the fourth ruffian, hold 
 ing a great pillow in his left hand as a shield, was 
 sorely pressing the Princess Eleanor with his sword 
 while she had him covered with her pistol. Why 
 he hesitated to finish his work I do not know. I 
 suppose he was in deadly fear of the pistol and 
 equally in fear of his master who had commanded 
 him to kill the Princess, so that he hung between 
 the two terrors hoping that our attack might be 
 repulsed. 
 
 It is possible, on the other hand, that he was not 
 to kill her till Steinbrucke seeing the battle hope 
 lessly against him, should call the word. I cannot 
 tell. I know only that at Denis s entrance he 
 whisked about to face him, and an instant later 
 dropped to the floor with a clean thrust through 
 his right shoulder. 
 
 Meanwhile I was as busy as any man may be, 
 with the Austrian. Now I am no Denis Mallory, 
 though I take some small pride in my swordsman 
 ship, and I confess freely that had I been the first 
 to engage Baron von SteinbrUcke I should, without 
 doubt, have been overcome, but Denis had taken 
 the first fire and fury out of him. That wonderful 
 storm of attack had tired him a little, so that by
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 245 
 
 now he was breathing a bit hard, and we were 
 evenly matched. Then, too, I had wounded him 
 slightly in the left arm before his attention was 
 wholly diverted to me from Mallory. The pain of 
 this may have affected him. Without doubt his 
 anxiety as to what was going on in the further 
 room lessened his keenness. So we fought evenly, 
 doggedly, he with a bitter desperation, I deter 
 mined that he should not leave my point till the 
 Princess was safe. 
 
 I remember that I heard muffled cries and oaths 
 behind me, from the passage, a little crash and the 
 scuffle of feet. I remember wondering dully what 
 von Altdorf could be doing out there, and wonder 
 ing still more, when, from the corner of my eye, I 
 saw him pressing one of the men whom I had sup 
 posed done for, before his point into the light of the 
 big room, and there engaging him. But I had no 
 time for anything but my own fight. Indeed at one 
 moment it seemed to me that I myself was done for. 
 
 What had happened out in the passage was some 
 thing like this. 
 
 The first rascal, whom Denis had spitted before 
 he could bring down his heavy sabre, was not dead, 
 but merely run through the shoulder. Indeed, to 
 kill any of the men, was far from our intention. A 
 dead man meant subsequently the police, and an in 
 vestigation that might prove awkward for us. We 
 wished merely to disable them so that we could 
 make good our retreat with the Princess Eleanor.
 
 246 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 But the fellow, when he had lurched to the floor, 
 lay there so silent and so still, that von Altdorf 
 supposed him unconscious as indeed he may have 
 been for a moment or two and so stood directly 
 over his huddled body while pressing the point of 
 his blade against the back of the unhurt rascal who 
 had tried football playing with Denis. 
 
 But a dead cutthroat is the only safe one, as 
 Colonel von Altdorf will heartily bear witness, for, 
 even as he stood wondering if he had not best stab 
 the rogue before him and have done with him, there 
 came a sudden movement from beneath, and his feet 
 were all at once jerked from under him, so that 
 cumbered as he was, with sword in one hand and 
 lantern in the other, he fell sprawling and cursing 
 upon the prostrate rascal whose fate he had been 
 meditating. 
 
 He told us afterward, disgustedly enough amidst 
 our heartless roars of laughter, that for quite a 
 minute the three of them panted and squirmed and 
 struggled in a ludicrous heap there in the dark, nar 
 row little passage. He had one small advantage, 
 which I doubt not he pressed. The two others 
 knew not, in the gloom, whether they were striking 
 friend or foe and so were chary of their blows. 
 Von Altdorf on the other hand so he says struck 
 most heartily at anything that came to his hand. 
 
 Presently, however, the unhurt one of the two 
 slipped away from under von Altdorf, and groping 
 upon the floor found his sabre, with which he dealt
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 247 
 
 at random a frightful slash, and at once the arms 
 that clung desperately to von Altdorf s ankles 
 dropped limp and helpless, and he, springing up, 
 drove the other before him into the light of the 
 studio. 
 
 By this time, Baron von Steinbrticke s breath was 
 coming very fast and hard, and his high white fore, 
 head shone wet in the cross light of the lamps. He 
 was no longer young and he had not lived the sort 
 of life that preserves a swordman s vigour and en 
 durance. I myself was fresh and strong, just be 
 ginning, indeed, to warm to my work, and I knew 
 that, saving accidents, I had him in my power. In 
 a little while now he must be so fatigued that I 
 could do with him as I liked. 
 
 Then Denis entered again from the further room. 
 He held his sword en garde, not knowing what he 
 might meet, but his left arm encircled the Princess 
 Eleanor s waist, holding her a little behind him. 
 She, poor lady, now that the danger was past, 
 swayed upon her feet and trembled near the edge 
 of collapse. The long night of waiting, pistol in 
 hand, of listening for our attack, and then her 
 moment of deadly peril from the fourth ruffian s 
 sword, must all have been a frightful strain to her 
 already overwrought nerves. 
 
 Baron von Steinbriicke, when he saw Denis with 
 the Princess upon his arm, made a furious attempt 
 to break away from me and attack him, but I 
 pressed him back, quickening my play, and touched
 
 248 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 him again lightly near his first wound. That 
 brought back his defence though it wrung from 
 him a snarling curse that was a foolish waste of 
 sadly needed breath. 
 
 " Off with you, Denis ! " I cried. " Do n t wait 
 for us, take her to the carriage at once and drive 
 like the devil ! "We 11 follow on foot. We re both 
 safe. Off with you!" 
 
 " Off with you, lad ! " came from the further 
 corner where von Altdorf slashed merrily away 
 for the pure fun of it, I m certain. He could have 
 
 done for his man long since " Off with you, 
 
 we re all right. God s love, why do n t you go ? " 
 
 So Denis, with a lingering, unwilling glance over 
 his shoulder I knew he hungered for more fight 
 ing bore the Princess away, and left the two of us 
 to our work. 
 
 Von Altdorf finished his almost at once. I heard 
 his opponent s sabre crash to the floor and the man 
 himself drop slowly, first to his knees, and then, 
 gasping hard, go flat upon his face and lie still. 
 Then von Altdorf went out into the passage to 
 make sure of the wounded rascal who had pulled 
 him down, but this man had fainted again and was 
 harmless. So that Baron von Steinbriicke alone 
 remained to be dealt with, and von Steinbrucke s 
 strength was going fast. 
 
 Von Altdorf who stood near, watching, was just 
 crying, " Oh finish it, lad ! finish it ! This is no salle 
 d armes ! " when the Austrian, in lunging wildly,
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 249 
 
 caught his foot in one of the garments, with which, 
 as I have said, the floor of the place was littered, so 
 that his impetus carrying his body forward, threw 
 him upon his knee and his left hand which he put 
 out to save himself. 
 
 But my point, held ready to parry his thrust, had 
 lain at his breast, inclined slightly upwards, so that, 
 as he fell, it entered into his throat somewhere 
 above the larynx, in the soft parts under the chin, 
 and driving inward must have pierced his tongue 
 and so met the bony roof of the mouth, where 
 having only the force given it by his falling body, 
 it halted. 
 
 I jerked quickly back and withdrew the blade, 
 but Baron von Steinbriicke lurched forward upon 
 his face, and rolling partly over lay still and 
 inert. 
 
 " By the Saints," cried von Altdorf in a hoarse 
 whisper, " you ve done for him, lad ! or he s done 
 for himself ! There s an end of von Steinbriicke. 
 He s dead as a dog ! Ah, well, it can t be helped. 
 Now what s to do ? We can t leave all these swine 
 lying about untended. They 11 all die." 
 
 " Bring one of em to his senses ! " said I, " and 
 let him care for the others. "Who s the least hurt ? 
 Curse von Steinbriicke anyhow ! The thing was no 
 fault of mine. I meant to try him and then 
 
 merely disable him a bit Ah, well, who s the 
 
 least injured of them, I wonder ? " 
 
 "Mine, I fancy," said von Altdorf ; "I barely
 
 250 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 scratched the fool in his sword arm. Fright and 
 fatigue did the rest. Fetch some water." 
 
 I brought a jug of water from the further room 
 the rogue whom Denis had pricked there, was 
 sitting up, by the way, though very shaky and 
 white about the chops and we dashed it liberally 
 in the fellow s face till he gasped and shivered and 
 opened his eyes, little the worse for his hurt, but 
 much the worse for his fright. 
 
 Then, seeing that he was well able to care for his 
 wounded friends, we slipped quickly out of the 
 place, down the stairs and through the little outer 
 door which Denis had left ajar, and never paused 
 till we were far up the Boulevard Edgar Quinet 
 under the cheerless walls of the cemetery. 
 
 Denis, meanwhile, had made all possible speed 
 down through the court and out to the carriage 
 into which he half lifted the Princess, and told the 
 cocher to drive to the Place du Lion de Belfort, for 
 he would not risk driving straight home, in view of 
 the possibility of further trouble. Then he sprang 
 in himself and closed the door. 
 
 The galerie rocked and leaped and jolted over 
 the uneven stone pavement, and the Princess who 
 had fallen back half fainting into a corner, was 
 thrown roughly about on her seat. Denis slid an 
 arm about her waist and drew her close to him. 
 
 " Try, Madame," he said in her ear, " try to for 
 get who I am. Try to think that I m Jessica or 
 or any one else but myself, for I must make you
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 251 
 
 comfortable. I must save your strength till we are 
 safe at home." 
 
 He drew her close into his arms till her head 
 dropped weakly back upon his shoulder. Her 
 brow touched his cheek, her hair was against his 
 eyes, and she so rested upon him, that bracing his 
 body against the plunges of the carriage, he 
 brought her to the end as if she had lain upon a 
 pillow. 
 
 At the Place du Lion they left the voiture and 
 waited, while it drove off rumbling down the 
 Boulevard Raspail, before they turned into the rue 
 Denfert Rochereau. 
 
 They had but a little way to go, but this little 
 way Denis was forced almost to carry the Princess 
 who hung upon the verge of faintness. And he 
 confessed to me, long afterward, that he was as 
 nearly fagged out as a man may be, when they 
 stood at last before the door of the old convent and 
 the door opened upon eager waiting faces, warmth 
 and safety, MacKenzie towering anxiously over the 
 heads of the servants, the Prince half mad with 
 fear and the long waiting. 
 
 But Denis, holding the Princess upon her feet by 
 main strength, raised a white face toward them, 
 calling, " Jessica, Jessica ! " and Miss Mannering 
 pushed through the group with a cry of joy and 
 held out her arms to him. 
 
 Then the Princess roused herself for an instant 
 and turned from Denis to her cousin. She took a
 
 252 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 little faltering, uncertain step as if with the very 
 last of her strength. 
 
 " Jess, Jess ! " she cried weakly. " Oh, Jess, Jess ! 
 
 I m so tired ! so " and she fell forward with a 
 
 sob into the outstretched arms and laid her head in 
 the hollow of Miss Mannering s neck and fainted 
 quite away.
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 " "^T 7"ES, it s a pity you had to kill him," said 
 
 |f Denis as we sat the next day talking over 
 
 A the night s work. " I mean it s a pity the 
 
 beast had to kill himself, for that seems to have been 
 
 the way of it. It may stir up an awkward row with 
 
 the police. A dead man s a serious matter in these 
 
 times. I suppose there s no doubt that he was 
 
 quite finished, eh ? " 
 
 " Oh, the man was dead, right enough," said I 
 disgustedly. " Lord bless you, the blade went into 
 his gullet a matter of four inches or so ! I was just 
 about to disable him neatly too. Hard luck I call 
 it!" 
 
 "It s the end of a blackleg and scoundrel," 
 broke in von Altdorf . " There s a list of people in 
 high places, lad, a list as long as your arm who 11 
 breathe a sigh of relief when they hear the news 
 if ever they do hear it." 
 
 " Ah, well," said Denis, " the man s dead, and 
 it s poor business abusing him now. Death wipes 
 things out, rather, does n t it ? One feels a bit low 
 railing at a dead man for sins that he can t sin 
 again. Still," he added regretfully, "since the 
 rascal had to die I d like to have been the one to 
 finish him. I should have felt a glow of conscious
 
 254 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 virtue so long as I lived. I should have felt that 
 I d done one good act amongst a sad heap o bad 
 ones. Has any one heard of the Princess since 
 morning? Sir Gavin said then she was doing 
 famously." 
 
 " She s fit as can be," said I. " What she went 
 through seems to have harmed her little. She 11 
 keep to her bed for a day or two for prudence s 
 sake, and then be about again." 
 
 Denis sighed and his eyes took on their old look 
 of pain and hopelessness. He rose from his chair 
 and went over to the window where he stood 
 tapping absently upon the glass and staring out over 
 the garden. 
 
 MacKenzie and the Prince came in together hav 
 ing walked around by way of the Boulevard from 
 the house. The Prince handed a dispatch to Colonel 
 von Altdorf . 
 
 " This just arrived," said he. " I suppose it s from 
 Novodni, via Vienna." Then he went over to the 
 window to join Denis and overwhelm that young 
 man anew with repetitions of his never to be settled 
 obligation to him. Indeed the Prince s gratitude 
 to Denis as the leader in the rescue of the Princess 
 Eleanor, was most affecting to see, and his demon 
 strative southern volubility was a source of painful 
 embarrassment to the young Irishman. 
 
 "Aye, it s from Novodni," said von Altdorf, un 
 folding the sheets, " and a long one too. I must 
 tell Czerowitz that we re all right again and that
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 255- 
 
 he need n t what ? Here wait, wait ! " His face 
 went suddenly very pale and he bent closer over 
 the sheets that he was translating from the cypher. 
 
 His manner drew us all to our feet in a circle 
 about him, the Prince foremost. But when he had 
 finished writing out in fair language the strange 
 looking jumble of words upon the dispatch sheets 
 he sat so long, staring wide eyed before him, that 
 the Prince touched him upon the shoulder anx 
 iously, impatiently. 
 
 " Well, Colonel ? " he demanded, " well, what is 
 it ? What s the matter ? " 
 
 Then Colonel von Altdorf sprang up and faced 
 his master, the written sheets crushed in his out 
 stretched hand. 
 
 " It s the tottering of your throne under you, 
 sir ! " he cried bitterly, and his voice shook though 
 he strove to hold it firm. " It s what was bound to 
 come, what I warned you would come. Sir, sir, if 
 you had but stayed in Novodni ! George has seized 
 his chance, curse him, and Steinbriicke won after 
 all, despite our work last night, for he held you 
 here in Paris, as he knew he could, by stealing the 
 Princess, till George should be strong enough to 
 make his move. Listen to this ! It s from 
 Czerowitz, telegraphed from Novodni to his man in 
 Yienna, and thence to me here. 
 
 " Georgias reported moving toward Novodni. 
 Makarin already taken, used as base of supplies. 
 Great excitement in Novodni, Ministry resigned
 
 256 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 this morning. Premier alone faithful to Prince 
 Karl. Populace divided in sentiment, but 
 Pavelovitch element grows in numbers. Prince 
 loudly denounced for prolonged absence. Life 
 guards faithful but army uncertain. Rioting in 
 streets. Marshal Sbolin shot at while driving from 
 Palace. 
 
 " There s the country that your father bequeathed 
 you, sir, and this is what you have made it ! Aye, 
 you, sir ! I ve served you faithfully, Prince Karl, 
 and I shall serve you till you or I die, but I 11 tell 
 you the truth, by Heaven. You have brought this 
 upon Novodnia and you ll answer for it at God s 
 throne. Had you stayed where your duty lay, 
 Georgias would be hiding in the mountains now, 
 not marching toward Novodni. Great God, 
 can nothing rouse you? nothing?" And von 
 Altdorf s voice broke so that he was forced to 
 pause. He was terribly excited, and his hands 
 shook as he stretched them appealingly toward the 
 Prince. 
 
 " Listen, sir ! " he cried after a moment, " there s 
 just a chance, a desperate chance that you may save 
 your country if you leave at once for Novodni, and 
 travel night and day till you are there. Your mere 
 presence would be better than an army. I will 
 telegraph at once that you re on your way, that 
 the Prince is returning to punish presumptuous 
 rebels and to save his land from war and loot. You 
 must start to-night, sir. You can be there in three
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 257 
 
 days. Meanwhile the news that you are coming 
 may hold the situation as it is." 
 
 The Prince was very pale. He seemed dazed, 
 bewildered, as if he had never dreamed of this 
 possibility, as if the calamity had fallen upon him 
 from a clear sky. 
 
 " But but, Colonel," he faltered, " but, Colonel, 
 the Princess. I must why I must see her first. 
 We have n t come as yet to any understanding ! I 
 must " 
 
 " Aye, the Princess ! " cried Colonel von Altdorf 
 bitterly. " Always the Princess and never the trust 
 God has given you ! Are you a prince, sir, or a 
 lover of women ? Tell me that ! By my faith, I 
 do not recognise your father in you ! Duty, honour, 
 faith, bravery ! Those were his watchwords God 
 rest his noble soul! He thought first of all of 
 his country and his people. He thought last and 
 least if at all of himself. Many a night, sir, 
 I ve seen him go from his chamber to the Palace 
 chapel and kneel there the night long, praying for 
 guidance in some difficult matter of state. Aye, 
 I ve waited and watched outside the chapel doors 
 while he prayed, guarding him from harm. No 
 mobs rioted in the streets, then, Prince Karl, no 
 Russian boot-lickers marched upon Kovodni with 
 the connivance of the very ministry and half the 
 populace. The ruler of Novodnia sat on his throne, 
 he made no love quests to the other end of 
 Europe! Ah well, sir" his voice was break- 
 
 17
 
 258 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 ing again " Ah well, Novodnia s days of honour and 
 independence are over. She ll be a Russian pas 
 ture soon, a stable-yard, for sale, very likely, to the 
 highest bidder. Sir, I beg leave to tender my 
 resignation from your service. I have a small pos 
 session called my honour which I hold indifferent, 
 dear." He turned away from us all, his white face 
 drawn and working, and sat down once more at the 
 table dropping his head into his arms. 
 
 But Prince Karl went over to him at once and 
 laid a hand upon his shoulder. 
 
 "Nay, nay, Colonel," said he in a low, gentle 
 voice. " I won t accept your resignation." There 
 was a certain pathetic dignity about the man, a 
 certain humility which he wore with a sad pride. 
 
 " I will go to Novodni at once, old friend," he 
 went on, stroking and patting the bowed shoulder 
 as a woman might have done. " I will go to-night 
 and make all possible speed. And when I am 
 there why we 11 punish presumptions rebels, as 
 you say, Colonel, and we 11 save our land from war 
 and loot, for I think it may still be done. I am not 
 the man my father was would God I were ! and 
 you ve spoken no more than the truth. I ve been 
 a poor ruler, Colonel, a weak prince I was never 
 born to rule but what I can do, I will do. I shall 
 save Novodnia or die fighting for her more than 
 that no man can promise. Come, old friend, your 
 hand ! Let there be no talk of resignations till 
 Georgias is dead or back in his hills with a price
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 259 
 
 upon his head, and the white bear has turned North 
 once more. And no man shall say of me again 
 that Novodnia and her honour come second in my 
 thoughts." 
 
 He turned to where old MacKenzie sat smoking 
 and brooding in the corner. 
 
 " Will it be possible, Sir Gavin," he asked, " for 
 me to see the Princess Eleanor for ten minutes be 
 fore I leave this evening ? " 
 
 " But sir, sir ! she s in her bed ! " cried MacKenzie. 
 " I ve forbidden her to leave it before the week s 
 end ! " 
 
 " Still," insisted the Prince, " in a case of emer 
 gency like this, sir ? It would do no actual harm ? 
 No ? Then will you be so good as to request the 
 Princess to grant me a short interview this after 
 noon ? Come, it is nearly four o clock, and there 
 is much to do before leaving. We will go to the 
 house now, through the garden. I shall return in 
 half an hour, gentlemen." 
 
 He moved toward the little window that gave 
 upon the garden and old MacKenzie followed, sha 
 king his head in unwillingness, but Denis Mallory 
 stopped them. 
 
 "Just a moment, sir," he begged. "May I 
 speak to you ? " 
 
 The Prince turned to him with a smile and laid 
 his two hands upon Mallory s shoulders. 
 
 " Ah, good friend ! " said he, " it cuts me deep to 
 leave you here and to feel that I sha n t see you
 
 260 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 again. You have given me so much, and I why 
 I ve given you nothing at all, save work and pain. 
 It cuts me deep to leave you ! " 
 
 " Why, sir," cried Denis, with a little embarrassed 
 laugh, " why, sir, you Ve hit upon the very point : 
 I do n t want to be left." 
 
 " Yet I must go," said the Prince. " You would 
 not have me stay ? " 
 
 " No, ah no, of course not," cried Denis. " You 
 must go, sir, there s no doubt of that, but I hardly 
 know how to put it you ve been talking about 
 how much you owe me, and and all that rot, you 
 know. Pay me out, sir. Take me with you to 
 Novodnia ! Let me fight for you, down there." 
 
 I think every one of us held his breath for sheer 
 astonishment. I know I cried out, " Denis, Denis ! 
 You re mad ! "What are you thinking of ? " But he 
 would not turn his head. 
 
 " Take you with me, Mr. Mallory ? " said the 
 Prince in amazement, " take you with me ? But 
 but your life here your friends your ties ? Why 
 our quarrel, la bas, is no quarrel of yours ! Do you 
 mean that you wish actually to take service in the 
 Novodnian army ? Are you quite serious ? " 
 
 " Quite, sir ! " declared Denis smiling into the 
 other s puzzled eyes. His own eyes softened for a 
 moment. " Why why yes, sir, I ve some friends 
 to think of, have I not ? Aye, three as good pals as 
 
 ever a man boasted And there s a miracle, for 
 
 friends have n t just flocked about me of late years.
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 261 
 
 They ve been scarce, damned scarce 1 Still, my 
 friends would n t say me nay to going with you. 
 Would you, Teddy lad ? Would you, von Altdorf ? 
 Would you, MacKenzie? No, they d say I 
 
 could n t do better Fighting s my trade, sir. I 
 
 was bred to it and I ve done little else and that 
 little badly. I ve served under five flags and I d 
 like to serve under the Novodnian banner for the 
 sixth. They d tell you good of me, sir, should you 
 ask where I might mention. They might speak ill 
 of my living, but they d tell you good tales of my 
 fighting. Faith, I commanded an army, in the field 
 once ! To be sure," he added with that whimsical 
 touch that never left him in a serious moment, " to 
 be sure it wasn t just a first-class army, and I blush 
 to admit that it was roundly defeated, but it was 
 an experience for all that. Nay, sir, let me go with 
 you, serve you, fight for you, help to seat you firm 
 again on your throne. I ve nothing to hold me 
 here. Let me be about a useful business. I ve 
 served you and and the Princess here, let me 
 serve you and the Princess in the field." 
 
 " You go into the keenest danger, Mr. Mallory," 
 warned the Prince, looking steadily upon him. 
 "Our lives must be held cheap when once we ve 
 entered Novodnia." 
 
 Denis raised his sombre eyes and met those of 
 Prince Karl. 
 
 " I have no love for my life, sir," he said quietly. 
 And I think the Prince understood.
 
 262 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 He reached for Denis s hand and took it between 
 his own and wrung it warmly. 
 
 " Then you shall go 1 " he cried, " and I thank 
 Heaven for it ! I wish I had more gentlemen in 
 my service in whom I could place such faith and to 
 whom I could intrust such difficulties. We leave at 
 midnight, Mr. Mallory." 
 
 He was turning away when von Altdorf spoke. 
 
 " And I, sir ? I go, of course ? " He spoke a 
 bit anxiously, for I think he feared lest the Prince 
 might leave him to guard the Princess Eleanor. 
 
 The Prince laid a hand upon his arm, and gave a 
 little laugh, a sad, little wistful laugh. 
 
 " Alas, my mentor ! " said he. " Must we come 
 to odds again ? I go to my post of duty as you bid 
 me indeed, I needed not the bidding, once the 
 need of me was made evident but it was in my 
 mind that you should stay. Ah, Colonel, I leave 
 you to guard what is dearer to what is next 
 dearest to me after the welfare of my state and 
 people. I leave the Princess in your care as I might 
 leave her in the care of no other. Your trust is the 
 
 highest of any Still, I do not command, 
 
 Colonel, I do not insist. I beg. It is my dearest 
 wish that you stay." 
 
 Colonel von Altdorf turned away with a little sigh. 
 
 " As you will, sir ! " said he. " I had hoped for 
 some fighting, but if I can serve you better here, 
 I 11 stay. So that you go yourself, and as speedily 
 as possible, I have nothing more to ask."
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 263 
 
 MacKenzie had meanwhile gone on ahead, so that 
 when the Prince came up through the garden, and 
 entered the house, a servant was waiting to say 
 that if his Highness would be so good as to make 
 himself comfortable in the music room, Madame 
 would be down soon. 
 
 He had not long to wait till his wife appeared. 
 She had clad herself in a loose house gown that 
 hung about her in long, straight folds, and a little 
 whim of woman s coquetry had led her to fasten at 
 her bosom two or three pink roses fresh and fra 
 grant and beautiful. She looked tired about the 
 eyes, and she was paler than her wont, but she 
 seemed not at all ill or weak. She gave the Prince 
 her hand and sat down near him by a window. 
 
 " Sir Gavin has been telling me all about it 
 Karl," said she, " that the country is in the gravest 
 danger, and that you must go there at once. I un 
 derstand, quite. You must n t be away from your 
 post of duty, must you ? Alas, you should n t have 
 left it at all, Karl I " 
 
 The Prince threw out his hands with a little ges 
 ture of helplessness. 
 
 "There is something stronger than duty, Elea 
 nor," said he. " No, I should n t have come away. 
 It was wrong, selfish, criminal if you like, but 
 there s something stronger than duty. At least 
 there has been something. Duty must be first, 
 now." 
 
 " Ah, I know, I know ! " cried the Princess, softly.
 
 264 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 " You came for me, Karl. I should n t be the one 
 to reproach you, should I ? And I ve brought you 
 nothing but trouble and grief and danger. I should 
 think you d hate me, Karl, dread hearing my very 
 name. I think I must be something of a witch 
 are there witches now ? there used to be when I 
 was little I seem to carry calamity with me. But 
 I m not quite like the witches, after all, for the heav 
 iest of the calamity I suffer myself. It would have 
 been a very good thing, I think, if I could have 
 died when I was so terribly ill. Think what every 
 one would have been saved." 
 
 " Oh, Eleanor, Eleanor ! " cried Prince Karl, 
 "you wring my heart! You must not talk so. 
 You re tired still, my Queen, despondent. When 
 you are quite strong and rested once more you will 
 be glad to live for the very joy of living. You are 
 too beautiful to be unhappy." 
 
 The Princess gave a weary little smile. 
 
 " Is beauty then a source of happiness ? " she 
 
 asked. " I had n t noticed Ah, Karl, all this 
 
 is beside the question ! The question is. what s to 
 become of us? What are we to do? I ve been 
 thinking of it deeply. I used to sit and think of it 
 to keep myself from going mad, I fancy while 
 I was in the hands of those those men. And I 
 came to the conclusion that if ever I was rescued, if 
 ever I got safely away, I d do as you wish me to. 
 I shall come to you when you want me. No, wait ! 
 Hear me out! You mustn t misunderstand me.
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 265 
 
 You mustn t think that I ve come to love you, 
 you know, or anything like that. I think" she 
 turned her head and looked out through the win 
 dow to the trees that swayed in the warm breeze 
 " I think that all the love has gone out of me for 
 ever. Perhaps I m wrong. Perhaps it is only 
 paralyzed for a time, but I think it s quite dead. I 
 seem not to be able to feel that that sort of thing 
 
 for any one now Ah, it was a cruel, cruel 
 
 trick they played upon me, was n t it ? Well meant 
 though it may have been. 
 
 " No, I do n t love you, Karl, not in that way, but 
 I ve brought you so much trouble and grief that 
 the least I can do is to give you the rest of my life, 
 if you want it. I shall be a faithful wife to you 
 and if it shall seem best, later, to raise me to sit 
 beside you, I shall try to be a good princess and a 
 kind one. I shall try to make your our people 
 love me. Is that enough, Karl ? Do you want me 
 on such terms? It isn t the way a wife should 
 come to her husband, is it, offering him the re 
 mainder of a crippled life for which she has no 
 love; finding in herself none of the thing that 
 makes life beautiful, to offer him ? But such as I 
 am, such as I can bring to you, you may take me 
 when you will. It must n t be now, must it ? We 
 must wait till this danger is over, till the country is 
 at peace again. It would n t be wise, of course, for 
 me to come now. It would but give your enemies 
 a fresh grievance. No, you must go alone, this
 
 266 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 time, but when you re ready, Karl, send for me, 
 and I 11 come. You have my promise." 
 
 The Prince of Novodnia dropped upon one knee 
 and took his wife s hand in both his and kissed it. 
 His own hands trembled a little under hers and his 
 eyes were moist. 
 
 " You are the noblest woman in the world, Elea 
 nor," said he, " as you are the most beautiful. You 
 promise me a life so near to Heaven that I tremble 
 to think of it. You do not love me now - 
 
 let us be honest, you never really loved me, even 
 long ago before before that dreadful veil fell. 
 But I pray that you may come to love me in the 
 future. It seems to me that no love so great as 
 mine could fail, in time, to win a love in return. I 
 shall be an abler general, Eleanor, a braver soldier, 
 a better ruler for what you ve promised me just 
 now. Old von Altdorf shall have a better word to 
 say for me before the next month is over." 
 
 He rose to his feet and stood before her, heels 
 together, at attention. 
 
 " Have I your leave to go, Princess ? " he asked. 
 He was holding his lips in a thin, firm line, and he 
 frowned a little in his effort to remain calm. It 
 tore him sadly, poor gentleman, to leave her as he 
 must, for what might be the last time. He knew 
 well enough the peril that lay before him. 
 
 But the Princess Eleanor bent her head with a 
 little, kind, tender smile and watched him while he 
 marched stiffly out of the room, turning at the
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 267 
 
 door to bow again and go through it backward, 
 bowing still, as one leaves the presence of royalty. 
 
 Then the Princess turned her head upon the high 
 stuffed back of the chair, and laid her cheek against 
 it with a little moan of utter hopeless dreariness. 
 
 Her cousin Jessica Mannering happening into the 
 room an hour later, found her so, and dropped upon 
 her knees beside the chair holding the Princess s 
 hand against her cheek. 
 
 " He s gone, Eleanor ? " she whispered. " The 
 Prince has gone." 
 
 " Yes, oh yes, he s gone," said the Princess. " I 
 have promised to follow him when he sends for me, 
 when the troubles and fighting are over." 
 
 " Eleanor, Eleanor ! " cried Miss Mannering, star 
 ing into her cousin s face. " You you re going to 
 him? to the Prince? After everything? Oh, 
 Eleanor ! Why," she went on presently, in a 
 shocked, amazed voice, " why, it s wicked it s, it s 
 almost immoral ! You do n t love him. You can 
 never love him after what has happened. Oh, 
 say, you re not going, dear ! " 
 
 "Why, yes," said the Princess, quietly, "I m 
 going. Love him ? Oh, no ! I shall never love 
 any one again. You don t seem to understand. 
 That part of me is quite dead. But I shall make 
 him a good and faithful wife. I shall make him 
 happy. What does my happiness matter ? " 
 
 "And you ll go," said Miss Jessica Mannering, 
 slowly. " You 11 go to this simple, faithful gentle-
 
 268 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 man, as his wife, when you love another man 
 will love him as long as you live? Ah, surely, 
 you re not the Eleanor I ve known I " 
 
 " I do n t love the other man ! " cried the Prin 
 cess, in a hoarse, shaking voice. "I don t love 
 him ! I tell you I hate him I I can t think of him 
 without a shudder ! Oh, Jess, Jess, help me not to 
 think of him, dream mad, sweet dreams of him, see 
 his face, night and day, before me I Do n t talk of 
 him, Jess darling ! Help me to forget him ! Help 
 me to hate him as I must hate him, Jessica. I m 
 another man s wife ; I m the Prince s wife, and I m 
 going to him soon. Jess, help me to hate the man 
 I love, God forgive mel the man I must love 
 till I die ! Oh, Jess, Jess, do you know what love 
 is? It s the bitterest agony in all God s bitter 
 world I"
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 WE took our last dinner together that 
 evening at Yoisin s in the rue St. Honor6. 
 It was not a very cheerful meal, though 
 I think we all did our best to make it so, forced a 
 gayety that we were far from feeling, cracked our 
 best little jokes with a sorry grin that deceived 
 nobody. 
 
 "We had one of the small up-stairs rooms to our 
 selves, and we sat long over the wine, for it was 
 not till midnight that the two travellers must be 
 gone, and there were hours to while away. 
 
 I remember that we fell to telling tales, as men 
 sitting together will. Old MacKenzie called up 
 strange happenings from his youth in the hospitals 
 of London and Edinburgh, horrible things to freeze 
 one s blood, such as come into the experience of an 
 alienist. Von Altdorf had stories of marvellous 
 dealings down in that hotbed of intrigue which we 
 call the Balkans, bargains that were made by 
 crowned heads, and compacts that were broken, 
 villainies that were winked at by imperial eyes. 
 And Denis who had been in more queer corners of 
 the earth and had seen more of men and women, 
 more of fighting and conspiracy than all of us put 
 together, made our blood rise aye and the hair
 
 270 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 stand up on our scalps too, with what had come to 
 his eyes and ears. It was a memorable night. I 
 shall never forget it. Nay, I ve spent hours by the 
 score thinking of it since, going over all that hap 
 pened, seeing us all as we sat there together about 
 the square table littered with glasses and bottles 
 and ash trays and petits verres, rosy-red or white 
 and innocent looking. 
 
 I can see old MacKenzie, huge and unwieldly at 
 the end of the table, his great square head nodding 
 through the smoke wreaths, his face a bit redder as 
 the dinner went on, for he was a good trencherman, 
 MacKenzie. I can see the Prince, pale and hand 
 some, now that he was sitting and the insig 
 nificance of his figure was hidden his thick black 
 hair, fallen a little over his forehead, fiercely mous- 
 tached, smoking cigarettes by the score, till the 
 burnt ends filled and overflowed the little tray 
 before him. I see von Altdorf, strong and keen 
 and sombre-eyed, his weather beaten face full of 
 those lines that knowledge of good and evil, ex 
 perience of the world s vicissitudes, storm and stress 
 are wont to draw. And, more clearly than all, I 
 see Denis. He is leaning forward with his elbows 
 upon the table. A cigarette burns neglected in his 
 fingers. He is telling us a tale of strange piracy 
 about Pekin and Tientsin, and that whimsical 
 mouth of his is twisted in its inimitable way, a bit 
 to one side with the telling. It smiles humorously, 
 but the eyes above are dark and sombre like Colo-
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 271 
 
 onel von Altdorf s with too great knowledge of 
 pain and bitterness, and the straight line between 
 his brows seems never smoothed away. His hair 
 as I see it is tumbled a bit awry over the fore 
 head, as with a careless hand. His fine head is 
 reared high over the broad shoulders, high and 
 proud but I see always the tragic eyes. Poor old 
 Denis I 
 
 It was about half past eleven when we left the 
 table I think it cost us all a little pang and drove 
 to the Gare de 1 Est. The luggage had been sent 
 on ahead of us, and a compartment reserved. Then, 
 once in the station and everything in readiness, we 
 spent the last ten minutes in walking up and down 
 the narrow quai beside the train, saying our last 
 words. The Prince was with Colonel von Altdorf 
 and Sir Gavin, giving them, no doubt, his parting 
 requests and orders regarding the Princess Eleanor. 
 I walked alone with Denis, his arm thrown over my 
 shoulder. 
 
 " I do n t like your going ! " I cried bitterly. " I 
 wish you could stay or I could go with you ! " 
 
 " Ah, lad," said he, " I wish it too, that I might 
 stay or you go with me, but you must stay for 
 you ve ties to bind you, and I why I must go. 
 It s my only chance to to serve Her further, Teddy, 
 you know that, and I dare n t trust myself to stay. 
 I can do some good work, la bas, before I m snuffed 
 out. Here I could do nothing but drink myself 
 to death probably. Ah, yes, I must go, Ted,"
 
 272 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 " But you 11 come back, Denis ? " said I eagerly. 
 " You 11 come back of course 1 " 
 
 He turned me a bit, his arm about my shoulders, 
 so that I looked into his eyes. 
 
 " "Why no, dear lad," said he with a little smile, 
 " no, I sha n t come back. We won t meet again, 
 Teddy." And my heart went down in me like 
 lead for I knew that there was no winning him from 
 his resolve. 
 
 " If I can help to set her firm upon the throne 
 beside her husband," he went on, " if I can help to 
 save Novodnia for him and for her, it will be a 
 finish worth while, Ted, a finish not to be ashamed 
 of, but it must be the finish, lad 1 There must be 
 no mistake about that, no anti-climax." 
 
 He pulled me closer with his arm as we walked 
 far up the narrow quai. " And meantime," said 
 he, " meantime you 11 you 11 look after her ? 
 You 11 see that no harm comes to her ? Oh, of 
 course MacKenzie and von Altdorf are here for 
 that. It s their business, but I well I suppose I m 
 a silly old woman and " 
 
 " I 11 look after her, Denis," said I. " No harm 
 shall come to her, you may be sure of that." 
 
 " "Why ! " cried Denis, giving me a little shake 
 with the arm that lay over my shoulders, " why, 
 that s a dear old chap ! You see I can well say 
 things to you, Teddy, that I could n t say to old Sir 
 Gavin or even to von Altdorf, and she s all there 
 is to me. I think of nothing else."
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 273 
 
 Then, for awhile, we walked in silence, Denis 
 thinking, I know, of the woman he loved, and I, 
 sick at heart over his leaving me. Steam from the 
 engines hissed and wreathed about us. There was 
 the smell of oil and smoke and machinery every 
 where. Our two shadows, cast by the great arc 
 lights overhead, sprawled and wavered and danced 
 grotesquely before our feet. Porters with luggage 
 for the van dodged past us, breathless and hurried, 
 and passengers for the train rushed up and down, 
 the platform looking for vacant compartments. 
 
 " And there s nothing else, Denis ? " I asked, 
 " nothing else that I can do, no business to settle, 
 no one to see ? 
 
 " No, lad, no," said he, " I ve few ties, God knows 
 Wait, though ! Colette ! Oh Teddy, Teddy, 
 it sends a stab through me whenever I think of what 
 that girl did ! I 11 write to her, but do you go and 
 look her up, once in a way, Ted. She s not well. 
 Indeed I fear she s grievously ill, and she s poorly 
 provided for. She loved me once, poor child ! 
 She played me false, as they ve all done, some time 
 or other, but I think I think she loved me through 
 it all. Who s to gauge a woman s motives ? And 
 Heaven knows she made amends most terribly! 
 Come, they re closing the doors. The train will be 
 off directly." 
 
 We rejoined the others who stood at the door of 
 the reserved compartment, and Denis wrung the 
 
 hands of each of us. 
 
 is
 
 274 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 " It s likely that we sha n t meet again," said he 
 with his old sweet smile, " MacKenzie, and you, 
 Colonel, and Teddy. Good old friends 1 Aye, the 
 truest friends I ve ever known 1 We ve had a good 
 time together, and none of us will ever quite forget 
 it. Good-bye ! Good-bye, all of you ! You shall 
 hear what we do, la bas. "What, Teddy, sour and 
 glum ? Ah, none o that, dear lad ! Give us a smile 
 at parting ! Good-bye ! " 
 
 The guards ran along the train, slamming doors 
 and crying their last " En voiture m sieurs et dames," 
 and directly the long train pulled slowly out of the 
 Gare de 1 Est. 
 
 I saw a waving hand, two of them, from the win 
 dow behind which sat the Prince of Novodnia and 
 Denis Mallory. The hands were lost in a steam- 
 wreathed distance. I saw the rear lights of the train, 
 and watched them till they too disappeared in the 
 night beyond. Then I turned with a heavy, bitter 
 heart and a drooping head, back to the waiting-rooms 
 and the street, with von Altdorf and old MacKenzie. 
 
 Colonel von Altdorf turned his head for a last 
 look into the lantern starred gloom which had swal 
 lowed up the train. " Yonder goes a man ! " said 
 he, " aye and a brave gentleman ! " And old Mac 
 Kenzie plodding heavily beside him croaked an in 
 articulate assent. But I answered nothing. I was 
 too sore at heart for I knew that I should never 
 again, on this side the grave at least, set eyes upon 
 the man I loved above all men.
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 I WOULD be as brief as possible in speaking of 
 the days that followed the departure of the 
 Prince of Novodnia and Denis Mallory, for it 
 was a time of inaction, and must be of small inter 
 est. We had, in due time, a dispatch from Vienna 
 telling us that the travellers had safely reached that 
 point in their journey, then later, one from Bel 
 grade, and at last, to our great relief, from Novodni 
 the capital of Novodnia, stating, in few words, that 
 the end was reached, and in time, they hoped to 
 check the advance of the Pavelovitch forces and to 
 repair, to some extent at least, the harm wrought 
 upon the country. 
 
 I find it difficult to write of these days, for, as I 
 have said, it was a time of inaction, and the trifling 
 events that filled our hours and absorbed our activ 
 ities, seem, now that I go over them in preparation 
 for setting them upon paper, of small moment, im 
 material and irrelevant to the tale I have striven to 
 tell. 
 
 Yet one thing I must set down. I had moved my 
 belongings from my old quarters in the Boulevard 
 Montparnasse to Denis s studio, partly for the sim 
 ple satisfaction of living where he and I had been 
 so much together, and to prevent the rooms falling
 
 276 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 into strange hands ; partly that I might be nearer 
 the old convent where I spent many hours with 
 MacKenzie and von Altdorf and Miss Mannering, 
 and, indeed, sometimes with the Princess, though 
 she still kept much aloof from us all. 
 
 Well, as I say, I had taken the studio, and sat 
 there one morning with Colonel von Altdorf talking 
 over, as was our wont, that famous night s work in 
 the rescue of the Princess, when von Altdorf cried 
 out: 
 
 " But, by our Lady, man, I d give something to 
 know what became of those rascals afterward! 
 whether the fellow we revived was able to care for 
 the others, and what they did with Steinbriicke s 
 body. There must have been an awkward situation 
 with that clay on their bands." 
 
 " I d jolly well like to go and find out I " said I, 
 laughing a little, " if it were n t too much like put 
 ting one s head in the lion s mouth. Gad, I ve never 
 walked the streets since without turning cold every 
 time a step came up behind me, for fear it might be 
 an agent, on my track for murder. I know ex 
 actly how a criminal at large feels. It would be a 
 lark to go there and ask a few questions, though ! " 
 
 "Well," said the Colonel slowly, "why not? 
 After all it would be safe enough. The concierge 
 does n t know you from Adam, and even if one of 
 those ruffians should be about, which isn t proba 
 ble, he would n t dare say a word. They ve as good 
 reasons as we, or better, for not wanting the affair
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 277 
 
 to leak out. "Why not go ? You can be a harmless 
 student looking for rooms, like Denis." 
 
 " By Jove ! " I cried. " It sounds easy enough 1 
 I might reconnoitre a bit, anyhow. I 11 do it, right 
 away now, this morning, before I weaken. "Where s 
 my hat ? "Will you wait here ? I shall be back in 
 an hour." 
 
 I caught up my hat and stick and went quickly 
 out, laughing still, at the sheer audacity of the 
 thing. I took a cab as far as the Avenue du Maine 
 but dismissed it at the impasse, and walked in, with 
 I must confess some inward qualms now that I 
 was on the very ground, for my quest might well 
 turn out a very dangerous bit of folly. 
 
 The fat, grey-haired old concierge was sitting on 
 a stool outside her loge, in the sunshine, cutting up 
 vegetables for a soup, with a great earthen bowl in 
 her lap. She gave me a smile of welcome, for she 
 was a merry old soul, and I asked her if there were 
 any vacant studios, suites for choice, in the building. 
 The concierge raised a pair of expressive hands to 
 heaven. 
 
 Studios ? but yes, parbleu ! More studios than 
 she wished. This year, God knew, she had had 
 pas de chance ! There seemed to be no etudiants 
 in Paris, and for result, voila three grands ateliers 
 empty on her hands, to say nothing of the sculptors 
 sheds ! "Would Monsieur desire to look at one beau 
 tiful suite, but beautiful, voyez vous ! and si com 
 mode ! It had been, only two days since, vacated.
 
 278 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 " Ah ! " said I, inwardly, " now we re getting to 
 the matter ! " 
 
 "Why yes, possibly later, Monsieur would go up 
 and have a look at the rooms, but he would be glad 
 to know first what they were like. 
 
 Bien, they were a studio, carre, quite large, with 
 sidelight, a sleeping room and petite cuisine. There 
 was also another sleeping room beyond the studio, 
 if one wished it, though it did not properly belong 
 to the suite. 
 
 " That s it ! " I cried again, inwardly. " That s 
 the one ! vacated, eh ? So they ve made off ! " 
 
 But surely such a suite should not lack occu 
 pants ! Was it possible that it must go begging ? 
 
 The protesting hands again appealed to heaven. 
 
 What would you ? As one had said before, there 
 seemed to be no more students in Paris. Oh, to be 
 sure, there had been occupants of the suite, but only 
 for quinze jours, and, voyez vous this with a low 
 ered voice and confidentially nodding head voyez 
 vous, strange occupants, if one should ask, Alle- 
 mands by their look, four messieurs and one woman, 
 une grande dame, like a queen ! One had said she 
 was the sister of the Monsieur with the eye-glass, 
 but a shrug here, and a droop of the eyelid that 
 was as one liked to call it. Aye, strange company ! 
 What would Monsieur say, for example, of a quarrel 
 among the four Allemands one night, over the 
 lady, sans doute, a quarrel si feroce, that it left 
 blood stains on the floor Yes, yes, to be sure,
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 279 
 
 they had tried to scrub them out, but one knew blood 
 stains for all that ! si feroce that every one of the 
 messieurs was in bandages the next morning, and 
 one, mon dieu, one so near the point of death that 
 he was carried down to a fiacre like a dead man, 
 save for his cursings in some foreign tongue, and 
 driven away to a hospital probably ! 
 
 I think I nearly cried out at this. Von Stein- 
 brticke was n t dead after all, then ! 
 
 Dangerous lodgers, indeed, one would say, I ha 
 stened to assure her with the proper amount of 
 horror. And the house well rid of them. It would 
 seem to be a case for the police. But the lady? 
 Did she leave with the others ? 
 
 Another inimitably French shrug. 
 
 Ah ! Monsieur arrived at the point ! What would 
 Monsieur think of the lady s complete disappear 
 ance the night of the quarrel ? but complete, voyez 
 vous! She had never been seen since, nor the 
 young woman who was her maid. Si, one saw 
 strange things from time to time when one was a 
 concierge, but none so strange as this. No more 
 Allemands for 18 bis impasse du Maine ! Mon 
 dieu! they might be anarchists. One might be 
 blown out of one s bed some fine night ! No, no 
 more Allemands ! Would Monsieur care to go up 
 and look at the rooms ? 
 
 I had found out all I wanted to know, but to 
 oblige the old woman I went up to the bare and 
 dismantled rooms and listened to much unnecessary
 
 280 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 information as to their desirability. It gave me, 
 upon my word, something of a thrill, to stand again 
 on the spot where I had fought my long battle with 
 that villain Steinbrucke, to go through the little 
 passage where we had made our first attack and 
 where von Altdorf had so nearly come to grief, but 
 I was glad, at last, to get away from the place it 
 smelled of tragedy and out once more into the 
 warm spring sunshine, leaving the old concierge 
 smiling and delighted with a gold louis. 
 
 As I have said, we saw, in these days, little of 
 the Princess Eleanor, for she kept much by herself, 
 solitary and queenly, brooding over her grief and 
 injury, her wrecked love, and, as she believed, her 
 blighted life. She passed her time reading or idle 
 in her own apartments, or walked through the 
 great garden in a tragic isolation that no one dared 
 brave. 
 
 I was glad to perceive, however, that as the days 
 and weeks went by, she showed an increasing de 
 sire for the company of her cousin, Miss Manner- 
 ing, and that the coldness between them seemed in 
 a fair way to disappear altogether. Toward Sir 
 Gavin, von Altdorf and myself she was ever cour 
 teous and considerate but never familiar. She 
 maintained always a certain barrier of formality, 
 an evidence constantly in view that she found her 
 self unable to forgive the injury we had done her. 
 
 And now that I may look back upon it all dis 
 passionately, with the impartial clearness that time
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 281 
 
 gives to the eye, I cannot feel any of the resent 
 ment, any of the anger that filled me in those days 
 at her seeming blindness to the fact that what we 
 had done had been done for her own good, to save 
 her life indeed, and greatly to our discomfort. 
 
 I can see now, as in those days I would not see, 
 that a woman may hold the saving of her life 
 cheaply beside the wrecking of that life s happiness 
 in the cruelest fashion possible. 
 
 I can see how she must have suffered, what un 
 speakable agonies of shame and despair and hope 
 lessness she must have endured at having the prom 
 ise of a very heaven upon earth, a passion of love 
 too great for words, held to her lips only to be 
 dashed away when she was about to drink. Aye, 
 I can see now, that few women have suffered so, 
 and I wonder little at her resentment toward those 
 who had brought grief and shame upon her. 
 
 Still, for some reason indeed, I know not what 
 toward me, among the three of us, she seemed to 
 cherish least ill will. It seemed to afford her a cer 
 tain pleasure to talk with me when we met by 
 chance in the garden, as sometimes occurred, for I 
 walked there now and then in the cool shade. 
 
 I remember that it was at our first meeting in 
 the garden she learned from me of Denis s depar 
 ture with the Prince for Novodnia. 
 
 I had been walking up and down one of the 
 gravel paths under the acacias, puffing at my pipe 
 and wondering what was forward at the seat of
 
 282 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 war we had that morning received the dispatch 
 from Novodni telling us that the Prince and Denis 
 were safely arrived I was wondering what would 
 be the first steps taken to check Georgias and his 
 horde in their advance upon the capital, when I 
 saw the Princess Eleanor coming down from the 
 house with a book under her arm. I could not 
 have retreated unseen, and so I waited, bowing, hat 
 in hand, and apologised for my trespass upon the 
 ground where I had no right to be. 
 
 But the Princess gave me a little faint smile 
 and begged me to walk there whenever I might 
 choose. 
 
 " Indeed," said she seating herself in the long 
 steamer chair that had been set for her, " indeed, I 
 was a bit lonely, a bit at a loss for something to do, 
 some one to talk with. Jessica is in the house with 
 with Colonel von Altdorf," and she paused to 
 smile amusedly, a bit wistfully. "Moreover," she 
 went on, " I have long wanted to ask about those 
 ruffians in the impasse du Maine. What has be 
 come of them ? What happened after I after we 
 came away ? You were fighting, I remember, with 
 their leader Herr von Steinbriicke, is it not? 
 and Colonel von Altdorf with another man. I 
 trust you took no harm, no wound ? " 
 
 " Why no, Madame," said I with a little embar 
 rassed laugh, "none at all though I confess 
 it was an accident brought me out of my own 
 encounter."
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 283 
 
 " And the men ? " she demanded. 
 
 ""Why," I cried, turning a bit red, "we don t 
 know about them" for this was before I had 
 made my inquiries in the impasse " we wounded 
 them all, and well as for Steinbriicke, we ve 
 reason to think he 11 fight no more." 
 
 " He s dead ? " she cried in a half whisper. 
 
 " I m afraid so, Madame," said I. " But he well 
 deserved it, so do n t waste your pity upon him. It 
 was a better death than he merited." 
 
 She sat for a little time silent, her mind, I know, 
 going over that night s work, over her long sus 
 pense, the attack, her peril from the fellow who 
 would have killed her, and finally her rescue. 
 
 "And your and Mr. Mallory?" she asked 
 presently in a low voice that she strove to render 
 casual, ordinary, " I hear nothing of him. I trust 
 he has not left your company. I owe him thanks 
 for my rescue." She kept her eyes down but I 
 think her breath waited for my answer. 
 
 " Denis ? " I cried amazed, " Denis ? "Why, Ma 
 dame, you surely knew ! They must have told you ! 
 Denis has gone with the Prince ! They reached 
 Novodni last night. He s gone to help save the 
 country ! " 
 
 She looked up swiftly with a white face and 
 parted lips. Her eyes were full of terror. 
 
 "He s gone down there?" she whispered. 
 "He s gone with the Prince? He s going to 
 fight for Novodnia ? "
 
 284 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 Then all at once she seemed to realise that she 
 was showing her excitement too plainly, for she 
 lowered her eyes and paused a moment to control 
 her voice so that it was cold and fairly steady 
 when she spoke again. 
 
 " Indeed I wonder that I was not told," said 
 she. " Not that it is of any consequence to me," 
 she hastened to add, " but I should have liked to 
 send my thanks, nay my real gratitude to this 
 gentleman for his service. I wonder that he should 
 choose to go with the Prince since the quarrel is 
 none of his. I presume the mere love of fighting 
 draws him." 
 
 " Madame ! " I cried warmly, " the bravest gentle, 
 man in Europe was not drawn into a petty Balkan 
 squabble for love of fighting ! He went there be 
 cause it was his only means of serving you further. 
 I wonder that you who know him can do him such 
 injustice ! He has gone to Novodnia to lend all his 
 skill and strength to seating Prince Karl firmly 
 once more upon his throne, and you beside him, and 
 doing this he means to lose his own life. He will 
 not, if he can avoid it, come out of the war alive." 
 And I told her how Denis had begged the Prince to 
 let him go, and I told her what he had said to me 
 on the platform at the station, how his last words 
 had been to urge me to watch over her. Nay I went 
 further, angered beyond restraint at her speech. I 
 told her how he had laboured, and grown white and 
 ill during that week of her imprisonment, and of
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 285 
 
 how he had planned the attack upon the impasse 
 du Maine and borne the fiercest of the fighting. I 
 went back further and told her what I knew of his 
 struggles with temptation, with himself, when he 
 had used to see her daily in the garden, how he had 
 to fight a stern battle to play his part with honour, 
 how easy it would have been for him to carry her 
 off and defy us all, but how he would not do it. I 
 told her how he had loathed the deceit he had to 
 practice, how both von Altdorf and I had seen him 
 fighting his battle alone after he had come from 
 her. I told her something of how he had given up 
 absinthe and what it had cost him, and of what I 
 had found late one night when I came in from my 
 chance interview with Steinbrucke, the night after 
 Denis had seen her in the garden for the last time, 
 and she had told him what she thought him. I 
 told her how the Prince had forced a fight with 
 Denis and how Denis had spared his life. 
 
 And so I went on, defending the man I loved, 
 telling her how we all, old MacKenzie, Colonel von 
 Altdorf, the Prince, all of us had come to think of 
 him as the noblest, most unselfish gentleman we 
 had ever known. And the Princess, eyes upon the 
 ground, hands gripped tensely in her lap, listened 
 with never a word of protest, nay with a sort of 
 eagerness, I 11 swear, a breathlessness that mutely 
 prayed me go on when I paused for breath. 
 
 I was, at the moment, too angry to notice little 
 signs, too hurt to observe significant things, but
 
 286 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 now, as I go over the scene in my mind, I can pic 
 ture her, flushed, silent, listening, full of an eager 
 ness that she would not manifest, hungry for words 
 and praises of the man she loved, but ever forcing 
 herself to the cold indifference in which her pride 
 must cloak itself. 
 
 And when I had made an end of speaking, stam 
 mering for very want of words, flushed and un 
 strung, she only stirred in her chair with a little 
 semblance of weariness, and raised her gloomy eyes 
 for an instant to mine. 
 
 " Indeed, sir," she said coldly, " this gentleman 
 seems to stand in no lack of friends to defend him. 
 I have no wish to dispute you. I remember 
 him only as one who wronged and shamed me 
 
 cruelly May we not speak of something 
 
 else ? " 
 
 But I sprang to my feet red and angry. 
 
 " If he wronged you, Madame," I cried, " it was 
 to save your life ! If he seemed to do a dishonour 
 able thing it was because he held your safety higher 
 than his honour. And if all this is not enough, he 
 saved your life a second time, and is giving his own 
 at this very moment for your sake ! I beg your 
 leave to go, Madame ! " 
 
 The Princess looked up swiftly and half stretched 
 out her hand to me. Her eyes were wide and 
 pleading and her lips quivered. 
 
 " Ah, no, no ! Do n t go, Mr. Creighton ! " she 
 begged very low. " I do n t mean to "
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 287 
 
 " I beg your leave to go, Princess ! " said I again, 
 for I was very angry. 
 
 " Why, very well, sir," said she faintly, and sank 
 back once more in her chair. " I would not have 
 you go, but if you must why I won t stop you. 
 Only only remember that you are always wel 
 come here in the garden I shall always be glad 
 to see you." And I marched stiffly away, saying to 
 myself that it would be a very long time before I 
 should walk again in the old convent garden.
 
 CHAPTEK XXIII 
 
 WAITING waiting waiting. That seems 
 to me, as I look back, to have been the 
 burden of those days and weeks that 
 dragged so interminably and left with us no record 
 of action or accomplishment. "Waiting for what ? 
 I know not, save for news from the south, and of 
 news there was all too little. I had a letter from 
 Denis it is before me now written a week or so 
 after his arrival in Novodni. It told vaguely of 
 plans afoot or perfected for the defence of the cap 
 ital, for the division of the attacking army by draw 
 ing a part of its strength away toward the north to 
 protect its own communications. It told of meas 
 ures passed by the Prince to gain the favour and 
 support of an uncertain populace ; of the Prince s 
 calm, brave bearing in the face of danger ; and of 
 his own delight at the prospect of again smelling 
 powder and sleeping under a tent. And at the very 
 end of the letter one little paragraph that bespoke 
 the old Denis. " You 11 guard Her well, dear lad ? 
 You 11 let no harm reach Her ? You 11 write me of 
 her now and then, how she looks, if she s well, if 
 she seems happier ? That s all that matters, you 
 know, that she shall be well and happy." 
 
 I spoke of the letter to the Princess when I saw 
 her next in the garden ; for with the passing of my
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 289 
 
 first anger I had given up my resolve not to meet 
 her again, and so talked with her often, striving as 
 best I might, to shift her thoughts from unpleasant 
 things to ordinary matters, the cheerful matters of 
 every day. 
 
 But when I told her of the letter s end, quoted 
 his words as nearly as I could, the Princess bent 
 her head very low and the hands in her lap trem 
 bled. Then presently she asked some little ques 
 tions that started me talking again of him. 
 
 I think I was stupid enough, in those days, not 
 to notice that when I was with her, our talk, how 
 ever begun, managed always to fall upon Denis 
 Mallory my talk, that is, for the Princess said no 
 word of him, only listened, face turned away. I 
 suppose it was because my mind was so full of him 
 that speaking my thoughts seemed but natural. I 
 suppose that is why it never occurred to me that we 
 talked of little else, that if we spoke of the other 
 matters, some hint, some question of hers, indirectly 
 put, brought him back. 
 
 I told her indeed I must have told it many 
 times over of the first evening in the Cafe d Alen- 
 9on when we chose Denis to play the Prince s part 
 before her. I told her of every incident that fol 
 lowed, from that time to the last dinner at Yoisin s 
 and the parting at the Gare de 1 Est. I told her 
 such adventures of his as I happened to know, ad 
 ventures afield and afloat, wars in strange countries, 
 filibustering and looting, and searching for aban- 
 
 19
 
 290 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 doned mines. And the Princess Eleanor listened, 
 face turned away, speaking no word. 
 
 So we waited, inactive, idle, hoping for tidings 
 that would set our minds at rest and give us a defi 
 nitely marked future for which to make arrange 
 ments ; fearing things that we would not admit to 
 each other, nay not even to ourselves. 
 
 Colonel von Altdorf had news from time to time, 
 now a dispatch telling in cypher of some new move, 
 ment, now a letter from some one high among 
 Prince Karl s advisers, from the Prince himself, or, 
 as in one instance, from Denis. 
 
 And ever, as information came to him, as the 
 situation became clearer and the strength and mo 
 bility of the opposing forces was made plain, von 
 Altdorf s brows drew lower and lower and the line of 
 his mouth more stern. He said nothing to me, nor, 
 I believe, to any one, but I knew that the gloomiest 
 forebodings filled his heart, and that the welfare 
 of Novodnia lay in desperate straits. 
 
 But just at this time something occurred that for 
 a while took my mind from warfare and led it into 
 a very different channel. 
 
 Returning to the rue Boissonade one morning 
 from the other side of the river, I found a young 
 lad waiting at the logo of the concierge, that canny 
 old body having refused to trust him alone in the 
 studio. The lad explained that he was from Madem 
 oiselle Olivier who was very ill and wished to see 
 me at once.
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 291 
 
 " Mile. Olivier ? " said I. " Now, who the devil s 
 Mile. Olivier? I don t know any Mile. Olivier! 
 You ve come to the wrong place, mon vieux." 
 
 But the lad insisted, " Mais si, Mile. Olivier ! 
 Mile. Colette Olivier ! " She demanded to see me 
 because I was the friend of Monsieur St. Denis ! I 
 must come at once. 
 
 "Ah!" I cried. "Mile. Colette, eh? Why 
 did n t you say so before ? Come along ! " 
 
 "We took a fiacre, in which the lad sat beside me, 
 stiffly upright, awed and silent at such splendour, 
 and drove across the Boulevard Montparnasse and 
 down the familiar old Boul Miche till we came to 
 one of the narrow little side streets near the Musee 
 de Cluny. 
 
 Here, there were interminable stairs to climb, 
 dark stairs none too clean, past doors whence came 
 an odour of cooking, a clatter of dishes, household 
 squabblings. Then, at the very top of all, a door 
 where the lad knocked softly and called through 
 the keyhole, 
 
 " C est moi ! moi, avec, Monsieur ! " 
 
 A young woman came out upon the landing 
 the ordinary type of Boul Miche young woman, 
 though with a certain unfamiliar gentleness of 
 bearing, a soft moisture in her eyes, an utter and 
 strange lack of coquetry. 
 
 She closed the door after her, and from behind it 
 came a sound of hoarse coughing, of little moans in 
 a faint voice.
 
 292 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 " C est, Monsieur Creighton ? " asked the young 
 woman, " 1 ami de St. Denis ? " 
 
 " Why, yes," said I, " yes, I m Creighton. And 
 Mile. Colette ? She s ill, poor child ? Can I do 
 anything ? St. Denis would have me care for her 
 in any way possible, I know." 
 
 " Helas, Monsieur ! " said the young woman. 
 " None of us may care for her long ! She s very, 
 very ill, but she would see you before before it s 
 too late, because you were the friend of St. Denis. 
 She would give you messages for him. Will you 
 come in, Monsieur ? But do not stay long she is 
 so weak ! She must not be tired ! " 
 
 I went into the room and the young woman 
 closed the door softly after me, remaining outside. 
 
 It was a very small room, hot and close and 
 stifling, from the tiny stove in the corner that filled 
 it with fumes of coke. The window was closed 
 tight. 
 
 The girl in the bed gave a little weak cry when 
 she saw me, and held out her hand eagerly. The 
 change in her, since I had seen her before, was 
 shocking. She was terribly thin and white, and the 
 two red spots in her cheeks gleamed like crimson 
 paint. Her eyes, that seemed twice too large, 
 burned feverishly in their hollows. 
 
 " You came, Monsieur ? " she whispered. " I I 
 thought you would come. It was so so good of 
 you! St. Denis wrote me that you would come 
 when I should send for you."
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 293 
 
 I dropped upon my knees beside the bed and 
 caught the two wasted hands in mine. 
 
 " Ah, child, child ! " I cried, " why did n t you 
 send for me before ? Why did you wait till now ? 
 I d have come so gladly, Colette, so gladly ! " 
 
 She gave me a little tired smile and turned her 
 head wearily upon the pillow. "Grand merci, 
 Monsieur!" she whispered, "grand merci! But 
 I did n t need anything they ve been good to me, 
 Elise, and Marie Delmar, and all. But I wanted 
 to see you to ask you to say say good-bye for 
 me to St. Denis " 
 
 "Ah no, no!" I cried. "Ah no, Colette! It 
 has n t come to that ! We re going to take care of 
 you now, to take you away where you 11 get better 
 soon, where you ll get quite well don t talk of 
 good-byes, child ! " 
 
 But she moved her head on the pillow and a little 
 fit of coughing came and shook all her frail body 
 cruelly, shook her till she gasped for breath. 
 
 " It s too late, Monsieur ! " she whispered after 
 a time. "Listen listen, Monsieur! I have very 
 little strength left, listen ! Say to St. Denis, 
 dear St. Denis ! as I cannot say to him, myself, 
 that I m I m glad it turns out this way. Say 
 to him that I ve loved him always, always, from 
 the very first, that when I ran away, when I 
 played him false it was for a silly, silly pique a 
 woman s pique because I I knew that he had 
 never loved me, that he d only been sorry for me,
 
 294 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 kind to me, kinder than any one else in all the 
 world. Oh, say to him that I loved him madly 
 through it all. Tell him, Monsieur, that what I I 
 did, a little while ago, for him, was reparation, to 
 make up for for wronging him ; that I did it 
 gladly ah so gladly ! Tell him not to be sorry, 
 not to regret. Tell him that when I go as I 
 must soon go, it will be thinking of him, saying his 
 name, holding his locket to my lips 1 " And she 
 pulled from her bosom a little flat locket that was 
 fastened about her neck by a thin gold chain. 
 
 Another fit of coughing shook her, and at its end 
 she lay silent for a time, panting for breath, weak 
 from the strain. The edge of a letter, dislodged by 
 her movements, showed at the neck of her garment. 
 I saw the writing and it was Denis s hand. 
 
 "Tell me Monsieur," she whispered presently. 
 " He 11 come back back to Paris, won t he, St. 
 Denis? He ll come back to her? He ll make 
 her leave the husband whom she does n t love ? 
 They 11 be happy together after a time, won t they, 
 Monsieur ? See, I m glad, glad ! I would have 
 
 him happy Oh, but not too happy Yes, 
 
 yes, I d have him come back to her ! " 
 
 "Helas, Colette!" said I. "He ll never come 
 back to her, nor to any of us who love him ! We 
 sha n t see him again, child. You 11 see him before 
 we will if one may believe the books. I will 
 write him all you ve said, dear girl, but I sha n t 
 see him again, ici bas."
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 295 
 
 She turned her head upon the pillow so that her 
 great eyes burnt into mine, and there was a little 
 wondering glad smile at her lips. 
 
 " He means to die down there ? " she whis 
 pered, " to die, Monsieur ? He won t come back 
 to the other woman, the tall, proud one ? Ah if I 
 might meet him, la haut! Monsieur, Monsieur, 
 you ve made me so glad to go, so glad ! If I might 
 meet him ! Tell me, Monsieur, do you believe do 
 
 you think ? Ah, but you do n t know, do you ? 
 
 Personne n sait pas not even le bon pere Michel ! 
 He means to die down there, to die as as I m 
 dying ? Oh, I shall be waiting for him, moi ! wait 
 ing, a 1 autre cote ! How I loved him in those old 
 days ! Monsieur, do you know what love is ? It s 
 a rose with thorns. Roses die, Monsieur, in hands 
 that are careless and they re thrown away, with 
 ered but sometimes they live forever if one 
 shelters them and guards them, waters them with 
 one s heart s blood, carries them in one s bosom. 
 He never loved me, helas ! He only pitied me I 
 wonder I wonder if he 11 love me la haut ? 
 Listen, M sieur ! Once he taught me, my St. Denis, 
 a little song, a love song, en Anglais. I I do not 
 know what it means, the words but I sang it to 
 him with my guitar. "Will you write to him that 
 that I sang it once again, before I went ? Such a 
 pretty little chanson all of of love ! " And 
 smiling softly as she lay, one cheek upon the pillow, 
 her great mass of black hair loosened from its braid
 
 296 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 and streaming to the floor, she closed her eyes and 
 sang just over her breath, 
 
 " Ole mozzaire Ubbaird 
 She went to ze cubbaird 
 To fetch er poor dog abbone ! " 
 
 " Colette, Colette ! " I cried, in an agony, hiding 
 my face in the bedclothes. It was the most heart 
 breaking thing I ever heard. But she raised one 
 white hand to hush me and sang on, just over a 
 whisper, smiling tenderly, as one smiles in sleep. 
 
 " But w en she got zaire, 
 Ze cubbaird waz bare, 
 An so ze poor dog got got none ! " 
 
 And a most terrible spasm of coughing came again 
 to rack her, so terrible that I thought she would 
 never have done. 
 
 The door opened behind me and the young French 
 woman came in quickly. 
 
 " Ah, Monsieur ! " she whispered, " you must go, 
 you have stayed too long already ! " She caught up 
 a medicine glass from a stand near the bed, and 
 forced some of the liquid between the girl s lips, so 
 that after a bit as I stood hesitating by the door, 
 she grew quieter, and lay very still, gathering 
 strength and breath. 
 
 "Just a moment more, Elise!" she whispered, 
 " un petit instant ! " And the young woman, with
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 297 
 
 a warning glance toward me, went out again and 
 closed the door behind her. 
 
 " I must go, Colette," said I. " You re far too 
 tired to talk. I 11 come again, often. I must go 
 now." 
 
 But she shook her head. " Too late M sieur ! " 
 she whispered. Then after a moment, 
 
 " Monsieur would you would you be willing if 
 
 St. Denis were here he would do it would you ? " 
 
 She held up her white frail arms a little, and there 
 was an eager, wistful smile upon her lips. I knew 
 what she would ask. 
 
 " Ah, child ! " I cried, " dear child ! try to think 
 I m St. Denis ! Shut your eyes and pretend I m 
 St. Denis, for he d do as I m doing." And I bent 
 over the bed, kneeling beside it, and slipped my 
 arms under her, raising her so that I held her close 
 to me. And I kissed her lips twice. 
 
 "When I looked back from the door she lay quite 
 still with the same tender smile upon her lips as 
 when she had sung the "little chanson, all of 
 love." 
 
 " I will come back to-morrow, early," I said, out 
 side, to the young woman. 
 
 But that night they sent me word that she had 
 gone, a 1 autre cote, very suddenly, and quite with 
 out pain singing.
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 I CAME in from poor little Colette s funeral, 
 sad and tired, for I had walked, hat in hand, 
 among the chief mourners, all the long way to 
 the cemetery. At the logo by the iron gate the 
 concierge told me that M. le Colonel waited for me 
 in the studio. 
 
 When I entered I thought at first that he must 
 have wearied of waiting and gone away. Then, 
 after a moment, I saw him sitting by Denis s writing- 
 table, over in the shadows, at the far side of the 
 room. His head was in his arms upon the table, and 
 he was quite still. 
 
 " Yon Altdorf ! " said I, " von Altdorf ! " but he 
 did not stir. Then I went across the room and 
 touched him upon the arm. 
 
 Colonel von Altdorf raised a face that I did not 
 know. 
 
 " Why why, man, what s happened ? " I cried in 
 alarm. "What are you looking that way for? 
 What is it, I say ? " Then my eye caught a crum 
 pled bit of paper between his fists, a dispatch. 
 
 " You Ve news ? " I demanded, " bad news ? from 
 Novodnia ? from the Prince ? " 
 
 " There is no Novodnia," said Colonel von Alt-
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 299 
 
 dorf in a dull tired voice, " and there s no prince, 
 either." 
 
 I think I stared at him for quite a minute. Then 
 I went over to the little cupboard in the wall and 
 took out a flask. 
 
 " Here ! " said I soothingly, " you drink a bit of 
 this, and then we 11 talk it over. You re a bit fe 
 verish. You do n t know what you re saying." 
 
 But von Altdorf pushed away the flask. 
 
 " Would you like to see it ? " he asked, still in 
 the strange dull tone, and offered me the crumpled 
 telegram. It was a senseless jumble of words, and 
 I threw it back to him impatiently. 
 
 " I can t read that, man ! " said I, " write it out, 
 or else, for heaven s sake, tell me what it says. If 
 anything has happened, tell me ! "Wake up ! " 
 
 Colonel von Altdorf settled back in his chair with 
 a little sigh, and twisted the sheets of paper idly 
 between his fingers. He seemed in a kind of stupour 
 quite beyond any feeling. 
 
 " This," said he with no emotion or seeming in 
 terest in his tone, " this tells of things that must 
 have happened two days ago. It was sent, not from 
 from Novodni, but Belgrade, by one of Czero- 
 witz s men. Czerowitz is dead. The Prince is 
 dead " 
 
 " Great God ! " I cried in a gasping whisper. 
 " Dead ? dead ? the Prince ? " 
 
 " Denis Mallory is dead," continued von Alt 
 dorf, as if he had not noticed the interruption.
 
 300 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 "Georgias and his forces made an unexpected 
 attack upon the capital after a night march. The 
 garrison turned colour and joined them, even the 
 Life Guards, all but a few. The Prince the 
 Prince was killed upon the steps of the Palace sur 
 rounded by a dozen officers and faithful men, Denis 
 Mallory among them. It is certain that the Prince 
 is dead and that Czerowitz and the Marshal are 
 dead also. Denis Mallory fell across the body of 
 the Prince whom he had been shielding. A young 
 lieutenant of the Guards escaped and fled to Bel 
 grade, from whence he sent the message to me, but 
 but not before he had learned that Georgias s 
 movement had been inspired and in part directed 
 and provisioned by the White Throne, and that 
 Novodnia is to be to be wiped off the map in 
 cluded within the Bulgarian boundaries. There is 
 no more Novodnia. It s a Bulgarian province. 
 That that is all." And he sat silent once more, 
 crumpling and smoothing the bits of paper between 
 his hands, staring at the tapestried walls across the 
 room. 
 
 I suppose it was quite half an hour before either 
 of us spoke or moved. Then at last I rose, taking 
 a long deep breath, and moved once or twice up 
 and down the room. I laid a hand upon von Alt- 
 dorf s shoulder, and shook him gently till he raised 
 his head. 
 
 " Come ! " said I. " Come ! we must tell his 
 we must tell the Princess."
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 301 
 
 " There is no princess," muttered von Altdorf . 
 
 " She must always be the Princess to us ! " said 
 I. " Come, man ! " and he followed me quietly. 
 
 At the foot of the little ladder that had long 
 since been set for our convenience at the studio 
 window, we ran upon Sir Gavin MacKenzie. Yon 
 Altdorf stood by while I told him swiftly the ter 
 rible news which the dispatch had brought. I had 
 never seen the gruff old Scotsman so overcome. 
 
 Then, after a moment, slowly and with drooping 
 heads, we went up through the garden paths to 
 where a gleam of white and yellow showed the 
 Princess in her long steamer chair. 
 
 She must have seen us coming, for she rose, when 
 we were still at some distance, and stood waiting, 
 and the book that she had held in her hands 
 dropped unnoticed to the ground. I think she sus 
 pected, from our faces and our bearing, something 
 of what we would tell, for her own face went a 
 little pale and her eyes grew wide and frightened. 
 
 So we came to where she waited, and stood 
 before her, bowed and silent, dreading to speak the 
 first word. 
 
 But the Princess put out a hand and touched me, 
 looking into my face with those wide frightened 
 
 " Why why gentlemen ! " she faltered. " What is 
 it ? What is it you would say ? Colonel ! Sir Gavin ! 
 Why, Mr. Creighton ! Tell me, please ! It s bad 
 news of of course from ISTovodnia ? Tell me,
 
 302 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 please, quickly ! See, I m quite, quite calm ! I 
 can bear anything. Do n t try to break it to me 
 gently. Tell me at once. He is he is dead ? " 
 
 " Oh, Madame ! " said I, " the Novodnian hopes 
 have been crushed utterly beyond retrieving. 
 There has been an attack upon upon the Palace, 
 and the Prince your husband the Prince your 
 husband is dead." 
 
 " But he f " demanded the Princess Eleanor 
 swiftly, her voice rising to a hoarse cry, " but he f 
 What of him f " And then all at once she be 
 thought herself and shrank back, catching her 
 hands to her mouth. 
 
 " Madame," said I, " the bravest gentleman and 
 faithfulest friend in all the world is said to have 
 died also, fighting to the last for the Prince, your 
 husband." 
 
 Then I went on, gently as I might, to tell her all 
 we knew of the tragedy that had swept so sud 
 denly across the high hopes and brave plans of the 
 gentlemen who fought for Novodnia s independence, 
 but I do not think the Princess heard any word of 
 it all. She had sunk back into her chair again and 
 sat quite still, her hands covering her face. 
 
 Then after a long time, while we stood, silent 
 and awkward, not daring to speak to her, power 
 less to utter any word of poor comfort, she looked 
 up once more. Her face was perfectly calm, un 
 naturally calm, with no trace of emotion as von 
 Altdorf s had been.
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 303 
 
 " I thank you, gentlemen," said she, " for telling 
 me the truth with no hesitation, no foolish at 
 tempts to make it light. I can say nothing just 
 now. I must have time to think. "Will you leave 
 me for a little? Oh, Colonel von Altdorf, that 
 Fate, of which you preach, has played her last card, 
 hasn t she? I wonder I wonder if she s laugh 
 ing. Ah, go, please, go ! " And we left her there 
 under the trees, the sweet, warm sunlight slanting 
 through the leaves in golden splashes about her, 
 the heavy perfume of flowers filling all the air, 
 birds twittering cheerily from the branches over 
 head, and even to complete the irony a snatch 
 of bright, gay music coming from a barrel organ in 
 the street beyond the high wall. I remember the 
 music, it was an air from " Mignon." 
 
 "We went down through the garden to the studio, 
 and Colonel von Altdorf having, by this time, 
 come quite to himself again we talked till the day 
 was gone of the terrible thing which had all in a 
 moment wrecked our every plan and hope, and had 
 cut the very ground from under our feet. 
 
 The chief problem was, of course, what was to 
 become of the Princess Eleanor for we still thought 
 of and spoke of her as " the Princess," though she 
 had no right to the title. To have called her any 
 thing else must have seemed a sort of unwarrantable 
 liberty, an impertinence. The most natural event 
 seemed to be that she should go back to her people 
 in America, for there was now nothing to keep her
 
 304 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 in Europe. The Prince was dead, his country was 
 as if it had never existed as a body politic. She 
 had no place here. 
 
 So at least it seemed to us, as we sat talking the 
 matter over, and we agreed that after a little delay, 
 when the horror and shock should have in some 
 measure passed, we would put the thing to her 
 judgment and advise her to return home. 
 
 Then after a bit we fell, most naturally, to talking 
 of Denis Mallory, in hushed gentle voices, as of a 
 great man gone to his last rest ; to reminding each 
 other of all the things which had happened since 
 that first evening at the Cafe d Alen9on, of his say 
 ings and deeds, of what seemed to us the matchless 
 nobility of the man, and of our bitter shame that 
 we should so have misjudged, so have slighted him, 
 at the first. We tried to picture that gallant fight 
 on the steps of the palace where he had met his 
 death. We tried to picture his bearing in the face 
 of that certain disaster the paltry dozen brave 
 spirits grouped there on the steps high over a snarl 
 ing mob. Gallant it must have been. Ah, there 
 was no doubt of that ! smiling, probably. That 
 would have been like him, smiling derisively down 
 into the sea of faces while he drew his blade for its 
 last grand play. Close beside his prince, aye, that s 
 where he would have been, close beside or before 
 him, covering his body with a marvellous swords 
 manship that must have made those southern dogs 
 gape and stare.
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 305 
 
 And then, then when Karl, poor gentleman, was 
 at last down, when Czerowitz was down and the 
 old Marshal for one felt that Denis would be the 
 last then, one pictured him, smiling still over a 
 dozen wounds, that proud head high and defiant, 
 one pictured him falling as a king of old time, mag 
 nificently, with none of the misery of defeat, grand 
 in his very ruin. 
 
 So we talked together and wove our fancies and 
 sang our valedictory to the man we loved, till the 
 daylight faded to the dusk and dusk gloomed to 
 night. And at last old MacKenzie and Colonel von 
 Altdorf rose sighing and went to their homes. 
 
 "He was the best that the good God makes," 
 said old Sir Gavin gruffly. " We 11 no see another 
 such in the world." 
 
 ""We all refused, once, to take his hand," said 
 von Altdorf. " "We should pay well for that in the 
 next world." 
 
 " I ve paid well for it in this one," said I, and I 
 took to my bed the heaviest heart that can burden 
 a man s breast.
 
 CHAPTER XXV 
 
 WAITING again, waiting, for what we 
 knew not, save that the habit of inaction 
 seemed to have fastened upon us, leaving 
 us idle while the days dragged interminably by. 
 Perhaps it was the reaction from our time of stress 
 and excitement, perhaps it was a sort of maze, a 
 stupour following upon the sudden upsetting, in so 
 tragic a manner, our carefully laid plans and confi 
 dent expectations. I know that we all went about 
 dully, taking little interest in what we did, and that 
 the future seemed hung with a curtain which we 
 dared not, or lacked the energy to, pull aside. 
 
 We spoke to the Princess Eleanor of our discus 
 sion relative to her prospective movements, and 
 urged her return to America where she might, 
 among her old friends and associations, the sooner 
 rid herself of the pall of tragedy and ill fortune 
 which had so weighed her down, but the Princess, 
 like us all, seemed strangely apathetic and unwill 
 ing to bestir herself. She put us off with promises 
 to think of the matter soon, to wait till she was 
 fully rested, that she was not yet prepared to move. 
 Meanwhile I met her often, as before, in the 
 garden, and we talked together of the past, and of 
 the fuller news that came to Colonel von Altdorf
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 307 
 
 day by day in dispatches or letters, bearing upon 
 the conditions in what had been Novodnia. 
 
 The late Prince, we learned, had been quietly in 
 terred among his fathers in the great cathedral at 
 Novodni. This was done partly by orders from the 
 "White Throne, partly because the Novodnians, so 
 bered after their debauch of rioting and bloodshed, 
 desired that their late ruler should rest befittingly 
 and in dignity. 
 
 Of Denis Mallory we learned nothing more. The 
 disturbed conditions in the capital made any careful 
 investigation impossible. Indeed all our news came 
 piecemeal from Belgrade whither the few faithful 
 souls left alive had fled for safety. It seemed that 
 he must have been buried along with the other 
 victims of that cowardly attack in some unmarked 
 grave which no one might, later, be able to point 
 out. Ah well, it was a soldier s grave, dignified by 
 what rested within it. It was such as he would 
 have chosen, I think. His monument lay in a few 
 hearts and memories. I fancy we all envied him a 
 little. 
 
 As for the puppet leader of the uprising, the tool 
 of an ill-concealed hand, he was, so we learned, in 
 Moscow, ostensibly in consultation with the force 
 that had raised and directed him, actually a pris 
 oner, held in safe view till all danger from him 
 should be at an end, till Novodnia should be se 
 curely established as a nameless province of her 
 greater sister state.
 
 308 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 Of all these matters we talked at length, the 
 Princess Eleanor and I, sitting or walking in the 
 old garden, but still the Princess would speak no 
 word of Denis Mallory, only listened with averted 
 face when I talked of him, save that one day 
 it was when we learned, through dispatches to 
 Colonel von Altdorf, that nothing more was known 
 of him, that he must have been obscurely buried 
 with the others ; and I brought her this news, 
 blurting it out baldly with no comment she looked 
 up at me for an instant and her lips quivered. 
 
 " Now God rest his soul, Mr. Creighton," said 
 she. " God give him in the next world what he 
 never found in this, peace and happiness ! " 
 
 " I think he found a certain happiness, Madame," 
 said I, sadly. " It was in serving you, making sac 
 rifices for you, fighting for you. Peace of soul he 
 might not find. Aye, God grant it to him where 
 he is now ! Still I think he found happiness all 
 he dared hope for." 
 
 " God rest his soul," said the Princess Eleanor 
 again very low. 
 
 It was upon one of these days when we sat under 
 the great trees where the Princess chair was 
 placed each morning for her she would never 
 sit upon the old stone bench, nor, if she could help 
 it, pass near it that we saw, coming down one of 
 the paths from the house, Colonel von Altdorf and 
 Miss Jessica Mannering. Miss Mannering appeared 
 to be much absorbed in the splendours of a very
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 309 
 
 handsome ring set with a sapphire between two 
 diamonds. This ring encircled the third finger of 
 her left hand, and Miss Mannering held the hand 
 out before her at various angles, watching, with 
 little murmurs of delight, the flashes evoked from 
 the stones by the sunlight that filtered through the 
 leaves high overhead. The murmurs of delight she 
 occasionally varied by little snatches of song of 
 a sentimental character and honestly compels me 
 to add that her right hand rested confidingly upon 
 the manly shoulder of Colonel von Altdorf, whose 
 smile- wreathed countenance presented that picture 
 of utter imbecility commonly portrayed by middle- 
 aged men in like circumstances. 
 
 They did not see us until they had come very near, 
 then a smothered laugh from the Princess Eleanor 
 brought them suddenly and cruelly to the bitter 
 realities of life. Miss Jessica Mannering gave a 
 little cry of dismay, and the hand that had rested 
 upon Colonel von Altdorf s shoulder was with 
 drawn with some haste, while the other one, the 
 one bearing the very handsome ring upon its third 
 finger, sought a prompt retreat behind her back. 
 As for Colonel von Altdorf, his expansive smile 
 froze swiftly into a look of the most alarming 
 horror. 
 
 But the Princess went up to her cousin and took 
 her into her arms, laughing still, and kissed her a 
 great many times, and cried : 
 
 "You silly little goose! did you suppose we
 
 310 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 had n t known all about it for weeks ? People in 
 your state of mind always seem to think every one 
 
 else is blind and deaf Oh, Jess, Jess darling, 
 
 you must be so happy ! It s only insulting of me to 
 hope you 11 always be so ! " And being women, 
 with women s strange ways, they wept a little upon 
 each other s shoulders by way of exhibiting their 
 pleasure while I was pumping at von Altdorf s 
 arms, and demanding how he had ever dared to 
 do it. 
 
 But after the lovers had gone away, with their 
 smiles and their glad eyes, down among the trees 
 and shrubs, the Princess Eleanor sat for a long 
 time with her hands over her face, and her lips 
 quivered a little when she bade me adieu. Poor 
 lady ! her desolate plight must have come in upon 
 her most sorely when she saw the happy love light 
 in other eyes. 
 
 As for me, back once more in the studio, I stood 
 staring helplessly at the table where the afternoon 
 mail lay spread, and rubbed my eyes and stared 
 again, thinking I must be a little mad, and took a 
 turn up and down the room frowning fiercely at 
 the strange trick that my eyes were playing me. 
 For this letter, in the grey square envelope with a 
 Servian stamp, would seem to be addressed in a 
 queer, sprawling, unlovely hand that I knew as I 
 knew my own. Of course, said I, nervously, it was 
 only a trick that my eyes played me. The thing 
 was manifestly impossible, yet I forced myself
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 311 
 
 out of the fit of mingled fear and dread and 
 something else. I called a semblance of steadiness 
 to shaking hands, and tore open the square grey 
 envelope. I took one look at the letter s heading, 
 and then I dropped into a chair that stood by the 
 table and laid my head down upon my arms and 
 fell to sobbing like any woman. 
 
 But this is what I read, when after a little, I had 
 pulled myself together, and was able to hold the 
 written sheets before my eyes. 
 
 " BELGRADE, June the fifth. 
 " DEAR OLD LAD : 
 
 " Did it make you jump to see my ugly 
 scrawl again? Faith, it s uglier than ever, just 
 now, for I m not very strong yet. But you 11 not 
 mind if my pen does prance all over the page, as it 
 has a queer way of doing all on its own responsi 
 bility. You ll have had me under the sod long 
 since, won t you, lad, you and von Altdorf and old 
 MacKenzie ? But you can t lose a bad penny. It 
 always turns up. And so I ve turned up, much the 
 worse for wear, Ted, but on my feet again, thanks 
 to some good people here who took me in when I 
 was little else but fragments of a man held together 
 by my clothes, and managed somehow to stitch 
 the fragments together. 
 
 " You 11 have heard all that I d tell you of what 
 happened a month since, how those cursed dogs did 
 for the Prince God rest his soul ! and how No- 
 vodnia is Novodnia no more and well served, too, 
 for breeding such swine ! 
 
 " Ah, but there s one thing I can tell that may 
 be news to you, Teddy lad. Our old friend von
 
 312 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 Steinbriicke turned up here I would say there, in 
 Novodni and took another hand in things. So 
 you did n t finish him after all, though, by my faith, 
 you left him a remembrance ! The man wore a 
 great bandage about his neck to the moment he 
 died for he did die at the last, but that comes later 
 and they said your point must have cut his palate 
 or the root of his tongue, for he couldn t talk, 
 only made queer beast noises. Oh, yes, Steinbriicke 
 paid up ! 
 
 "But ah, Teddy, Teddy, when I fall to thinking 
 of those curs of Novodnians and of what they did, 
 I see scarlet. I ve fought, as you know, in many 
 queer corners of the earth, and I ve seen my share 
 of blood and cruelty. I ve seen those Latin Ameri 
 cans mob a president whom they did n t fancy but 
 he generally deserved it. I ve seen Chinese drag a 
 foreigner out of his house and tear him to bits but 
 they thought they had reasons. He was an enemy. 
 What I d never seen before was a man s own friends 
 desert him, go over to the enemy, shoot him, stone 
 him, not because they d anything against him, but 
 because it was plain that the enemy must win, any 
 how, and they wanted to be on the safe side. Sheer 
 cowardice, Ted, but such contemptible cowardice ! 
 
 " Aye, they outwitted us, George and his crowd, 
 though they did it through the treachery of our 
 own men. They made a forced march one night, 
 and in the morning they were in Novodni. The 
 garrison had surrendered with never a shot fired 1 
 They came swarming and hooting about the Palace, 
 soldiers and civilians, men, women and children, 
 calling for the Prince, and oh, lad, lad, the Life 
 Guards ran out of their barracks, down by the 
 Palace gate, and joined them ! The Life Guards ! 
 "Why Prince Karl knew personally every man in the
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 313 
 
 regiment, helped them out of their little scrapes, 
 gave them wedding presents, stood godfather for 
 their brats ! Ah, that was the bitterest part of it 
 all ! We knew the thing was all over, then, but the 
 Prince would go out on the steps of the Palace 
 and try to speak, and we went with him, a dozen of 
 us. i ou know what happened. The mob came up 
 at us, a great wave of them and we lasted only a 
 few moments. The Prince would n t lift a hand. 
 He had no weapon, but stood there, bareheaded, 
 hands clasped before him, till a bullet from below 
 finished him. Thank God, he died before they got 
 their hands upon him, for we had been holding 
 them off with our pistols and swords till they finally 
 trampled us under. And here s where von Stein- 
 brticke comes in. He was at the very head of the 
 mob as it came up the steps. Gad, he was fairly 
 frothing at the mouth to get revenge for that 
 bandaged neck of his. Some one else engaged him 
 first, and I saw no more of him for a few seconds, 
 for I was, as you may say, busy. But directly, 
 he whirled about, just before me, with a sort of 
 snarl, and made at the Prince. Oh well, I won t 
 dwell on it. I finished your work, Ted, and then 
 somebody caught me a knock over the crown, and 
 I dropped upon the Prince s body. He d been 
 done for while I spitted von Steinbriicke. 
 
 " Well, they looted the Palace and finally went 
 away to burn some public buildings I believe 
 leaving the little heap of us lying on the steps. It 
 seems that some well-meaning but not over-brave 
 souls picked us up, and finding one or two not quite 
 done for, shipped us off to Belgrade along with 
 several train loads of refugees, the decenter sort 
 who wouldn t stay in the capital to see it burnt 
 and looted.
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 "So here I am, old lad, whole again though 
 precious flimsy a plank from the wreck, and feel 
 ing mighty little of a hero. For I m the chap who 
 would have set Her and her husband firm on their 
 throne, and then made an end of myself. But her 
 husband s dead and the throne no longer stands. 
 So I ve failed all around. 
 
 " Does von Altdorf still talk of his Fate ? What 
 a hand she played, Teddy boy ! I ve come into 
 a fortune, lad and there s a bit of irony for you ! 
 It seems that my old Uncle John, who hated me 
 as he hated nothing else in all the world, the devil 
 included, got rolled out in the hunting-field about 
 the time that I was so nearly done for, and, leaving 
 no will, his property comes down to me as next of 
 kin. The solicitors appear to have seen my name 
 in the papers as being in this row down here, and 
 so wrote to me at Novodni, the letter coming on to 
 Belgrade. Ah well, the saints give him peace ! 
 meaning thereby a good horse, a pack of hounds 
 and plenty of celestial foxes, with right of way 
 through the Elysian fields. But for one thing, lad, 
 I d settle down now, on the old gentleman s money, 
 and quit this vagabond soldiering. But the one 
 thing is the only thing, Teddy, so no quiet life for 
 me. I ve a certain duty left to perform, a trust. 
 Then, when that s over with, off for more fighting ! 
 Better luck this time, maybe. There s good work 
 forward in the Transvaal, and the Cape Mounted 
 Police know me of old. They ve jolly good reason 
 
 to They 11 give me a billet right enough. But 
 
 first for my trust. I must come on to Paris and 
 give the Princess Eleanor the last news of her hus 
 band. I ve certain little things to place in her 
 hands, keepsakes, a lock of hair, a ring or two, a 
 locket the Prince gave into my care when he knew
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 315 
 
 that he must die, and begged me to give to her, 
 should I by any chance come through the affair alive. 
 "So I shall see you again, after all, dear lad. 
 Ah, it will be good to have a grip at your hand 
 once more ! And at von Altdorf s and Sir Gavin s ! 
 I shall be there not long after you get this, a day 
 or two, maybe. Tell them I m coming and be 
 looking out for me. 
 
 " Till then, lad, 
 
 "Faithfully, 
 
 "DENIS MALLOBY." 
 
 I do not know how many times I read this, and 
 read it over again, sitting there by his old writing- 
 table in the studio. I know that my heart was 
 pounding at something like twice its normal speed, 
 that I wanted to sing and dance about the place, to 
 rush out into the street and shout aloud to every 
 one that Denis was n t dead at all, but alive alive 
 and almost well, that we were going to see him, 
 hear his dear old voice again, watch his whimsical 
 little smile, feel his good hand-grip ! Oh, I had 
 quite an exciting little time, all by myself, there in 
 the studio. 
 
 Then suddenly I thought of something, and made 
 a dash for the window that gave upon the garden. 
 I vaulted the bar, in scorn of such trifles as ladders, 
 and ran up through the trees. Yes, she was still 
 there. I saw the white gleam of her gown through 
 the shrubbery. 
 
 Poor lady ! she must have thought me mad as 
 indeed, I very nearly was for I burst upon her,
 
 316 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 breathless, and, I doubt not, capering, and waved 
 the crumpled sheets of the letter over my head. 
 
 " He s not dead, Madame ! " I cried. " He s not 
 dead at all ! Do you hear ? He s alive ! He is 
 
 coming to Paris They nearly did for him, 
 
 but he lived through it. I tell you he s alive ! " 
 
 The Princess did not cry out nor turn pale nor 
 make any show of excitement, only her eyes, when 
 after a moment she understood what I would say, 
 went slowly very wide with a certain eager bright 
 ness, and she held out a hand that shook a little, for 
 the letter. 
 
 But I, dropping the letter into her lap, rushed 
 madly on up to the house, in hope of finding Sir 
 Gavin there, or perhaps von Altdorf or Miss Man- 
 nering, for I wanted every one to know the won 
 derful news. I wanted to see their faces when they 
 heard for the first time that the man we loved was 
 still alive.
 
 CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 IT was two days later, and I sat in the studio 
 trying to write letters which should have been 
 written months since, but my pen had a trick 
 of hanging idle over the page till the ink dried upon 
 it, or of trailing off in the middle of a word, into an 
 illegible scrawl, while my eyes stared, unseeing, be 
 yond the table and the studio walls, and an errant 
 fancy wandered over the map of Europe between 
 Paris and far off Belgrade. 
 
 "Where would he be now ? Had he left Belgrade ? 
 "Was he sitting behind a Neue Freie Presse in the 
 Orient Express, counting the hours to Paris ? "Why 
 the devil did n t he telegraph or something ? 
 
 So the letters made but poor progress, and at last 
 I threw down my pen in disgust, and fell to pacing 
 the room like a tiger in its cage. 
 
 " I 11 go over to the house," said I at last. " They 
 may have heard something since I saw them this 
 morning." I let myself out of the window and went 
 up through the garden. 
 
 But, half way to the house, a hurrying servant 
 ran me down. M. Mallory had arrived. M. le 
 Colonel said to come at once ! And I gave a great 
 shout of delight and broke into a run. . 
 
 Near the house I met the Princess Eleanor who
 
 318 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 was coming out. She was a bit flushed as to the 
 cheeks, a bit bright as to the eyes. 
 
 " Will you " she said, " will you tell Mr. 
 
 Mallory that when he wishes to to deliver his mes 
 sages to me, I shall be in the garden ? " 
 
 "Why, yes!" I cried. "Yes, gladly! Ah, be 
 kind to him, Princess, he s done much for your 
 sake ! Where shall I say that you will be ? Where 
 in the garden ? " 
 
 " Say that I shall be at the old stone bench," said 
 the Princess Eleanor, moving past me with her head 
 turned away. And I ran on. 
 
 Under the porch of the refectory, I paused an in 
 stant. The doors beyond were open to the sweet 
 summer air, and through them there came the hum 
 of conversation in many voices, but presently, over 
 the chorus of questions, of little cries and exclama 
 tions, his good old laugh! strong and deep and 
 cheery as ever. Lord, how it made my heart jump ! 
 
 He was standing in the centre of the music-room, 
 Sir Gavin and von Altdorf and Miss Jessica Man- 
 nering pressing close about him, and half a dozen 
 servants hovering near. 
 
 The past month had left its marks upon him, for 
 he was very pale and thin and hollow-eyed, and he 
 bore across the left cheek bone a long scar as from 
 a sabre cut. 
 
 He heard my step at the door and turned 
 about. 
 
 " It s Teddy I " he cried, and came over to me
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 319 
 
 STfif tly, and caught me about the shoulders, shaking 
 me back and forth. 
 
 "Why, lad, lad!" said he, "dear old lad!" and 
 seized upon my two hands, nearly crushing them in 
 his grip. Upon my word, he had strength left in 
 him for all his white, thin cheeks ! 
 
 " She s waiting for you in the garden, Denis," I 
 whispered, "at the old stone bench." And then, 
 directly, I was almost sorry I had spoken, for all the 
 bright, cheery gladness left his face quite suddenly, 
 and it took on that old look of pain and hopelessness 
 that I had grown to know so well before he went 
 away. 
 
 " Why yes, lad," said he, " yes, I must go, must n t 
 I?" 
 
 He turned about to the others talking and laugh 
 ing in a little group. 
 
 "I must bear my message to the Princess, if 
 you 11 all excuse me for a bit," he said. " I shall 
 be back in half an hour." And he left the room 
 with a slow, lingering step as if he dreaded what 
 was before him. 
 
 He went out under the old Gothic porch, out into 
 the cool green shade of the garden, where flecks of 
 yellow sunshine wavered about his feet, as the 
 leaves above stirred in the wind, where the early 
 roses filled all the air with scent, and birds hopped 
 along the margin of the gravel paths hunting for 
 worms. 
 I He went down under the prim acacias, down the
 
 320 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 centre path toward the fountain, and at its left, 
 where stood the old stone bench, he saw a glimmer 
 of something white. Then in a moment he stood 
 before her, head bent. 
 
 The Princess Eleanor gave a little low cry when 
 she saw his pallor and his thin face and the scar 
 across one cheek bone, and she put out a hand to 
 him timidly. But Denis was bowing and did not 
 see. 
 
 " "Will you not sit down, sir ? " she begged, and 
 pulled her skirt aside to make room for him. " You 
 are not yet strong enough to stand long." 
 
 " Why no, Madame," he began, " I I am quite 
 
 strong I assure you Still since you are so 
 
 good Yes, I will sit down for a moment. I 
 
 have something to give to you and something to 
 tell you of of the Prince s death." 
 
 " You fought beside him, they tell me," said the 
 Princess Eleanor with lowered eyes. 
 
 "Aye, Madame," said he, "I stood beside him, 
 sheltering him as best I might, till he died." 
 
 " He died nobly," murmured the Princess with a 
 little sigh. 
 
 "He died, Madame," said Denis Mallory, "he 
 died a hero and a martyr, for when he went out 
 upon the Palace steps he knew that he went to cer 
 tain death. Yet he would go in spite of us all who 
 sought to save him. He went unarmed, and stood 
 there, facing those dogs with no word or gesture, 
 till the bullet came. But before he went, he spoke
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 321 
 
 to me of you, begged me to come to you if I 
 should escape, to tell you that he died as you would 
 have him die, and that his last thought was of you. 
 "When I begged him to live for your sake, to escape 
 as he might have done, he only shook his head. 
 
 " She M despise me if I should do such a cow 
 ardly thing, he said. * She never loved me, let me 
 win her honour and respect by dying like a man. 
 And he gave me certain little things that he kept 
 by him always, certain trinkets, keepsakes, begging 
 me to give them into your own hands. I I made 
 a little packet of them. Here it is." 
 
 He reached his hand into an inner pocket and 
 drew out a small box, wrapped with paper, which 
 he gave to the Princess. Something else that had 
 been in the pocket slipped out at the same time, 
 and fell to the ground. It seemed to be a little 
 knot of ribbons, pink, but covered by an ugly brown 
 stain. 
 
 The Princess Eleanor laid the packet, unopened, 
 upon her lap but her eyes followed the knot of rib 
 bons, which Denis Mallory, flushing a bit, had 
 quickly picked up from the ground and put away 
 again in his pocket. 
 
 " Why that what is what is that ? " she cried 
 in a very low tone. 
 
 " A mere trifle, Madame," said he, not meeting 
 her eyes, " of no value save to me." 
 
 " Will you let me see it, sir ? " asked the Princess 
 Eleanor humbly. 
 
 ai
 
 322 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 He hesitated a moment, flashing again, but the 
 Princess held out her hand, and after a little he laid 
 the knot of ribbons in it. 
 
 "A knot of pink ribbons?" said the Princess 
 Eleanor. " Only a knot of pink ribbons ? It is a 
 poor thing to value, sir, yet you say that it is of 
 value to you. "Why you have cared for your treas 
 ure but indifferently ! See, it is all stained." 
 
 " They are honourable stains, Madame," said Denis 
 Mallory coldly. "I am not ashamed of them." 
 But the Princess gave a sudden cry and dropped 
 the knot of ribbons from her hand. Then she 
 caught it up again, as quickly, and looked up at him 
 wide eyed. 
 
 " You you mean," she faltered, " they re blood 
 stains ? Your blood ? " 
 
 " It can be of no interest to you, Madame," said 
 he. " I am sorry that the thing dropped from my 
 pocket Will you give me my knot of rib 
 bons?" 
 
 He took the bit of stained silk from her hands, 
 and rose to his feet, bowing. 
 
 " And now, Madame," said he, " I have performed 
 my last service, since I have fulfilled my trust. I 
 will intrude upon you no longer. I beg your per 
 mission to go." 
 
 " Ah no no ! " she cried, turning a little pale. 
 " But no ! you you must not go, yet. There is 
 much that I would ask you of of the Prince I 
 Must I beg you to remain ? " 
 
 V
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 323 
 
 " "Why, Madame," said he, " I am altogether at 
 your service. I shall be more than glad to tell you 
 all I know of the Prince s death. I I feared I 
 was unwelcome when once my mission was ful 
 filled. What is it you would know ? " 
 
 The Princess Eleanor leaned forward a little 
 so that her face was hidden. She seemed not 
 quite at her ease, not quite certain as to her 
 words. 
 
 " Tell me," said she, " of of yourself, sir. You 
 speak altogether of the Prince, poor gentleman, and 
 of his death. You say no word of yourself. "What 
 are you going to do now that the war is over in 
 Nbvodnia ? Mr. Oreighton tells me that you were 
 used to writing for the press. Will you go back to 
 literary labour ? " 
 
 " Why as for that, Madame," said Denis Mallory, 
 "I wrote to keep body and soul together when 
 there was no fighting to be done, but the death of 
 an old uncle has put me beyond want. I go from 
 here to South Africa where there is war. I shall 
 find occupation there." 
 
 "But your friends," said the Princess, "Mr. 
 Creighton and Colonel von Altdorf and all ? Surely 
 they have some claim upon you 1 Surely they will 
 not let you leave them again so soon, now that you 
 may live where you will, and as you will." 
 
 " My friends, Madame," said he, " will never at 
 tempt to hold me here, for they know why I must 
 go. I have a thing to do which, in No vodnia, I
 
 324 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 failed in doing along with my other greater 
 failure." 
 
 The Princess shivered a little for she knew what 
 the thing was. 
 
 "And there is nothing then, which could alter 
 your determination ? " she asked presently. " Noth 
 ing which would keep you in Paris ? " 
 
 " But one thing, Madame," said he, " and that 
 one thing I may never hope for." 
 
 "Never?" she murmured, her head still bent 
 away from him. " You used not always to be of so 
 hopeless a mind, sir." 
 
 Now Denis was holding himself too hard in hand, 
 setting too fierce a curb upon speech and eye, to 
 realise that the Princess Eleanor s manner toward 
 him was far different from her attitude at their last 
 meeting. If it occurred to him at all, he doubtless 
 thought it a mere natural graciousness, such as a 
 woman so queenly must use toward the meanest 
 thing that approaches her. Still, I think that her 
 softened voice, her lack of outward scorn and con 
 tempt, gave him a certain shred of courage. 
 
 He rose to his feet and moved over to the old 
 fountain, where he stood some time with his back to 
 the Princess, frowning down upon the bubbling 
 water, clasping and unclasping his hands, and stir- 
 ring the green mold with a thoughtful foot. 
 
 Then all at once he drew a long breath, as of de 
 cision, and turned again toward the Princess. 
 
 " Madame," said he, " I have something to ask of
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 325 
 
 you, to beg of you before I leave Paris, never to 
 return. It may be that you cannot or will not 
 grant it, and, if so why my asking will have been 
 only one more presumption, one more impertinence. 
 When we when I saw you last, here in the garden, 
 I told you that I should ask nothing of you, not 
 forgiveness, not pity, but when, weeks ago, I lay 
 between life and death, and did not know if I should 
 see another day dawn, it came to me that I could 
 die in peace if only I had your forgiveness for the 
 great wrong I had done you ; not your pity, that 
 were beyond reason to ask, just your forgiveness. 
 
 When I left Paris with the Prince, it was in my 
 mind to serve you by serving him, and so doing, to 
 lose a life for which I had no love. But, as you 
 know, Madame, I failed, for I did you no service, 
 alas, and I am still alive. It seems that there rests 
 no further service that I can attempt for you, and 
 since my love for life has grown not at all, I go to 
 Africa to lose it there. Have you such kindness in 
 your heart, Princess, that you can give me forgive 
 ness for the bitter wrongs I did you ? Can you set 
 me at peace ? " 
 
 The Princess Eleanor rose to her feet before him 
 and looked into his eyes. 
 
 " Forgive you ? " she cried in a little low shaking 
 voice. " Oh, forgive you ? It is I who should go 
 upon my knees to ask your forgiveness, sir, for I 
 think no man has ever served a woman so faithfully 
 or at such cost, asking nothing at all in return.
 
 Forgive you ? If I thought I could make you forget 
 the terrible things I said to you, here in the garden, 
 if I thought I could blot that whole dreadful scene 
 utterly from your memory, I should be why I 
 should be almost happy ! Oh, I have said things 
 to you that no man could ever forget. You must 
 be the one to forgive, sir, if you can forgive." 
 
 He stared at her for a long time in a trembling 
 silence, doubting his senses, refusing to believe that 
 his ears heard aright. 
 
 " But but, Madame, the great wrong I did you I " 
 he whispered finally, "the contemptible trick I 
 played upon you 1 the deception, the lying ! " 
 
 " You did it for my own sake," said the Princess 
 Eleanor, "to save my life. You stooped to dis 
 honour, if it was such, for me, as I was too mad to 
 realise. Ah, I do n t know whether it was right or 
 wrong I probably I shall never know, but I m cer 
 tain that it was noble and self-sacrificing and faith 
 ful, as is everything you have done. If I could not 
 feel it at the time, why I think I was a little mad, 
 a little crazed by the horror of it all. A woman 
 who sees her life in fragments about her feet, is not 
 one to be kind and just. Ah, but I have had time 
 in the last month to regret most bitterly all my un 
 gratefulness and brutality and blind anger ! I have 
 had time to see things as they truly are, to realise 
 that no woman was ever so faithfully or so un- 
 elfishly served in all the world. 
 
 " When I thought you were you were dead, in
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 327 
 
 my service, and after what I had said to you, I I 
 wonder that I did n t die myself ! Oh, Denis, 
 Denis Mallory, must I go on ? Must I say it all ? 
 Will you give me no help ? " She sank back again 
 upon the old stone bench covering her face with 
 her hands, and her little ears burned crimson. 
 
 But Denis Mallory, on his knees before her, 
 raised shaking hands to her own and drew them 
 gently away. In his face there was a sort of pale 
 wonder, a puzzled unbelief, but his eyes were wide 
 and bright with the dawn of a certain great passion 
 of joy. 
 
 " Yes," said the Princess Eleanor, looking bravely 
 into his eyes. " Yes, I will tell the truth. I ve 
 loved you all the time, every moment of the time I 
 It was because I loved you so that I could be so 
 bitter, so cruel to you." She paused, smiling that 
 smile that is close to tears and fell to stroking his 
 black hair, for he had laid his head upon her knees, 
 face downward, and his shoulders heaved. 
 
 " Oh ! " she cried in a hushed voice that trembled 
 as she spoke. " If you were not the Prince nor I 
 the Princess ! " 
 
 His head came up in a flash and his arms went 
 round her as he knelt before the seat. 
 
 "I m not the Prince," said Denis Mallory, with 
 his lips against a very small ear. 
 
 " Ah, no ! " she cried, " not the Prince ! only 
 the King of all the world ! Let me look into your 
 Majesty s eyes to find the love there, and your Maj-
 
 328 THE GARDEN OF LIES 
 
 esty s smile to see how bright the sun shines! 
 Have you lost your tongue, Denis, my Denis Mai- 
 lory ? " demanded the Princess, " for this will never 
 be you without a tongue ! Can you not speak ? " 
 
 " Words beggar love, my sweet," said he. " I m 
 tongue-tied, stunned with too much joy, made a 
 little mad with a happiness that I had not dreamed 
 of coming to me. Is it really I, my queen, holding 
 your sweet hands here in Paradise ? Is it really 
 you who lay your cheek against my lips and look 
 at me with love ? Why, no, no ! it can t be ! It s 
 one of those cursed fever dreams, and I 11 wake 
 soon with a most damnable pain in the shoulder and 
 head, and be fed something from a bowl. Why, 
 no 1 I m one Denis Mallory, soldier of fortune, 
 sometime tavern brawler and drunkard ! This will 
 never be real. It s a fever dream ! I ve had em 
 before." 
 
 But the Princess Eleanor pulled him down upon 
 the old stone bench beside her, laughing softly, and 
 laid her head where where there seemed a place 
 made especially for it. 
 
 The sweet summer air stirred the leaves over 
 their heads and quivered the splashes of sunshine 
 that lay upon the green mold beneath. It brought 
 up to them the scent of early roses and mignonette 
 from the flower beds under the studio window. 
 The old cracked fountain gurgled and laughed with 
 its tiny stream ; and from over the high street wall 
 came the tooting of a tram faint and far away.
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 329 
 
 " That Fate," said the Princess, stirring her head 
 comfortably where where it seemed to belong, 
 " that Fate of which Colonel von Altdorf was wont 
 to preach I said the other day when when I 
 thought you were dead, heart s heart, that she d 
 played her last card, laughed her last laugh. I 
 wronged her, did n t I ? She was holding the last 
 one." 
 
 "Two," eaid Denis Mallory. "The King and 
 Queen."
 
 THE LAST WOKD 
 
 A "\HET were married within a fortnight. 
 
 " It may seem heartless and disrespectful 
 
 JL to Karl, poor gentleman," said the Princess 
 Eleanor, "but I was never his wife in more than 
 name. To mourn for him, to go in black, to pre 
 tend sorrow, would be but an insult to his memory. 
 Let us take our happiness while we may. Heaven 
 knows we have had little of such." 
 
 So they were married. It was a double wedding, 
 for Colonel von Altdorf succeeded in persuading 
 Miss Mannering that there was nothing unseemly 
 in a little haste. Then they went away, von Alt 
 dorf and his bride to the Tyrol, where he has a 
 place, I believe ; but Denis and the Princess Elea 
 nor quite to the other side of the world, to the 
 heart of that strange brooding East where one may 
 be altogether at rest and peace, may forget the 
 hurry and bustle, the strain and stress, of this 
 Western world of ours, may forget old pains and 
 sorrows, heal ancient wounds and put away bitter 
 memories. 
 
 They have a great estate, upon a certain island 
 not unknown to travellers, where sweet airs blow 
 always through gardens of strange, bright flowers, 
 through groves of spice trees; where, standing
 
 THE GARDEN OF LIES 331 
 
 upon a little hill, one may see the ocean with white 
 sails and an occasional trail of smoke along the sky. 
 And here they live, happy in each other s great 
 love as few lovers may be happy. Here they are 
 building their lives anew over the ashes of old suf 
 ferings ; and for the world beyond they have never 
 a sigh, never a wistful glance. 
 
 Still, I think they will some day return to us, in 
 their own good time, when they are quite ready. 
 I cannot think that they mean to bury themselves 
 for a lifetime. Denis is too strong and keen, too 
 natural a leader of men, to sit long idle, and she is 
 too noble and beautiful a soul, too splendid a woman 
 to hide herself forever from the world where she 
 might take so high a place. 
 
 So I wait, hearing from them at intervals, hoping 
 always that they may emerge from their island 
 Paradise, to see their faces again, hold their hands, 
 feast my eyes once more upon the loveliest woman 
 I have ever seen, and feel the grip, hear the cheery 
 voice, of the bravest and truest gentleman in all 
 God s great world. 
 
 THE END
 
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