Sport Royal Part 4

Dumergue got out; Vooght came next; then a tall, powerful man, of military bearing. No doubt this was the colonel. They seemed in a hurry; motioning the driver to wait, they walked or almost ran past me up the path. The moment they were by me and round a little curve, I hastened to the gate, and burst upon the driver.

"A hundred marks to the station!"

"But, sir, I am engaged."

"d.a.m.n you! Two hundred!" I cried.

"Get in," said he, like a sensible man, bundling back the nose-bags he was just putting on his horses. I leaped in, he jumped on the box, and off we flew quicker even than they had come. As we went, I glanced up at the tower. They were there! I saw Vooght and Dumergue lean over for a moment, and then turn as if to come down. The tall stranger stood opposite the lady, and seemed to be talking to her.

"Faster!" I cried, and faster and faster we went, till we reached the station. Flinging the driver his money, I took a ticket for the first train, and got in, hot and breathless. As we steamed out of the town, I saw, from my carriage-window, a neat barouche with a woman and three men in it, driving quickly along the road, which ran by the railway.

It was my party! Youth is vain, and beauty is powerful. I bared my head, leaned out of the window, and kissed my hand to the countess.

We were not more than thirty yards apart, and, to my joy, I saw her return my salutation, with a toss of her head and a defiant glance at her companions. The colonel sat glum and still; Vooght was biting his nails harder than ever; Dumergue shook his fist at me, but, I thought, more in jest than in anger. I kissed my hand again as the train and the carriage whisked by one another, and I was borne on my way out of their reach.

CHAPTER II.

At the Hotel Magnifique.

To a reflective mind nothing is more curious than the way one thing leads to another. A little experience of this tendency soon cured me of refusing to go anywhere I was asked, merely because the prospects of amus.e.m.e.nt were not very obvious. I always went--taking credit of course for much amiability--and I often received my reward in an unexpected development of something new or an interesting revival of a former episode. It happened, a few months after my adventure at Heidelberg, that my brother's wife, Jane Jason, asked me, as a favor to herself, to take a stall at the theater where a certain actress was, after a long and successful career in the provinces, introducing herself to a London audience. Jane is possessed by the idea that she has a keen nose for dramatic talent, and she a.s.sured me that her _protegee_ was a wonder. I dare say the woman had some talent, but she was an ugly, gaunt creature of forty, and did not shine in _Juliet_. At the end of the second act I was bored to death, and was pondering whether I knew enough of the play to slip out without Jane being likely to discover my desertion by cross-examination, when my eye happened to fall on the stage-box in the first tier. In the center seat sat a fair, rather stout man, with the very weariest expression that I ever saw on human face. He was such an unsurpa.s.sed impersonation of boredom that I could not help staring at him; I could do so without rudeness, as his eyes were fixed on the chandelier in the roof of the house. I looked my fill, and was about to turn away, and go out for a cigarette, when somebody spoke to me in a low voice, the tones of which seemed familiar.

"Ah, impostor, here you are!"

It was Dumergue, smiling quietly at me. I greeted him with surprise and pleasure.

"How is the baron?" I asked.

"He cheated the--grave," answered Dumergue.

"And the countess?"

"Hush! I have a message for you."

"From her?" I inquired, not, I fear, without eagerness.

"No," he replied, "from the prince. He desires that you should be presented to him."

"Who is he?"

"I forgot. Prince Ferdinand of Glottenberg."

"Indeed! He's in London, then?"

"Yes, in that box," and he pointed to the bored man, and added:

"Come along; he hates being kept waiting."

"He looks as if he hated most things," I remarked.

"Well, most things are detestable," said Dumergue, leading the way.

The prince rose and greeted me with fatigued graciousness.

"I am very much indebted to you, Mr. Jason," he said, "for----"

I began to stammer an apology for my intrusion into his affairs.

"For," he resumed, without noticing what I said, "a moment's bewilderment. I quite enjoyed it."

I bowed, and he continued.

"The only things I cling to in life, Mr. Jason, are a quiet time at home and my income. You have been very discreet. If you hadn't, I might have lost those two things. I am very much obliged. Will you give me the pleasure of your company at supper? Dumergue, the princess will be delighted to see Mr. Jason?"

"Yes, sir, Her Royal Highness will be delighted," answered Dumergue.

"Where was the princess going?" asked the prince.

"To a meeting of the Women's International Society for the Promotion of Morality, at the Mansion House, sir."

"_Mon Dieu!_" said the prince.

"His Majesty is much interested in the society, sir."

"I am sure my brother would be. Come along, Mr. Jason."

The prince and princess were staying at the Hotel Magnifique in Northumberland Avenue. We drove thither, and were told that the princess had returned. Upon further inquiry, made by Dumergue, it appeared that it would be agreeable to her to sup with the prince and to receive Mr.

Jason. So we went into the dining room and found her seated by the fire.

After greeting me, she said to the prince:

"I have just written a long account of our meeting to the king. He will be so interested."

She was a small woman, with a gentle manner and a low, sweet voice.

She looked like an amiable and intelligent girl of eighteen, and had a pretty, timid air, which made me wish to a.s.sure her of my respectful protection.

"My brother," said the prince, "is a man of catholic tastes."

"It is necessary in a king, sir," suggested Dumergue.

The prince did not answer him, but offered his arm to his wife, to escort her to the table. She motioned me to sit on her right hand, and began to prattle gently to me about the court of Glottenberg. The prince put in a word here and there, and Dumergue laughed appreciatively whenever the princess' descriptions were neat and appropriate--at least, so I interpreted his delicate flattery.

I enjoyed myself very much. The princess was evidently, to judge from her conversation, a little Puritan, and I always love a pretty Puritan.

That rogue Dumergue agreed with all her views, and the prince allowed his silence to pa.s.s for a.s.sent.

"We do try at court," she ended by saying, "to set an example to society; and, as the king is unmarried, of course I have to do a great deal."

At this moment, a servant entered, bearing a card on a salver. He approached the princess.