Her Royal Highness: A Romance of the Chancelleries of Europe

by William Le Queux

histunic the envelope which he had sealed in Paris without prying into itscontents, save to reassure himself that they were letters in thehandwriting of the woman he loved so devotedly.

  "My letters!" she gasped, casting her ivory fan aside and eagerly takingthem in her gloved and trembling hands. "Then--then you have recoveredthem!" she cried in sudden glee. "You--you have saved me, Mr Waldron,for to-night I--I confess to you, my friend--I had the fixed intentionto end it all. I could not bear to live and face the terrible exposure,for I knew not from day to day if one of the scurrilous papers in Parismight print my letters--the confession of a woman who, though a Princessof a Royal House, was also a spy, because she was fooled--tricked intolove!"

  "Lola," he said, still speaking earnestly and very calmly, "you needhave no further fear of that man. He came near bringing you to ruin--nay to death. But the peril is now at an end."

  "At an end--how?" she asked.

  "I begged of you to leave all to me--that I would settle the accountwith him. I have brought you back your letters," he said, very gravely."You need have no further fear, because the scoundrel who made suchdastardly pretence of loving you, Lola, is dead!"

  "Dead!" she gasped with startled, wide-open eyes.

  "Yes; shot dead by the Paris police who had wanted him for espionage.He fired at them, and they retaliated in self-defence."

  "Then my enemy is dead!" she exclaimed in a whisper, standingmotionless, her big, expressive eyes fixed straight before her.

  "Yes. The peril which threatened you, Lola, and the very existence ofthe Italian nation, is at an end."

  "And you, Mr Waldron," she cried in a voice broken by emotion, turningto him suddenly with hand outstretched, "you have risked your own lifeand have averted a war in Europe, of which I, in my unfortunateignorance, was so nearly the cause."

  "Because your actions and your movements have been--well, just a littletoo unconventional," he laughed, bowing gallantly over her outstretchedhand and kissing it fervently.

  She knew the truth. She knew how devotedly the Englishman loved her.And she, in return, reciprocated his affection. Had she not, in thatmoment of her ecstasy, responded to his well-remembered kisses?

  He was holding her hand, gazing long and deeply into those fathomlesseyes of hers. He was about to speak--again to confess to her his greatall-consuming passion, when a hand was placed upon the door knob andthey sprang apart, as of a sudden His Majesty the King, a brilliantfigure in his uniform and glittering decorations, entered.

  "Ah, Waldron?" he cried in his usual cheery way, "I received yourmessage, and came here to find you. They told me that you were here,with Lola. Well? You have a report to make, I suppose. What is it?Lola," he said, addressing Her Highness, "I fear I must ask you to leaveus. I have some business to talk over with Mr Waldron."

  "I ask Your Majesty's pardon," the diplomat said; "but I would beg thatHer Royal Highness be allowed to remain. My report closely concernsher."

  "Concerns her! How?"

  "If Your Majesty will have patience with me I will explain," Hubertreplied, and then, as briefly and tersely as possible, he related to theKing the series of startling and exciting events recorded in thepreceding chapters--how Lola, at the instigation of the Austrian spy,Flobecq, in guise of lover, was induced to go in secret to the privatesafe of the Minister of War and thence abstract the plans of the newfrontier defences. He explained, too, how these being found uselesswithout the key--though in secret Austria mobilised her army inreadiness for a descent upon her neighbour at the moment that key wasforthcoming--Flobecq, the cunning scoundrel in the employ of the ViennaForeign Office, had blackmailed the unfortunate Princess by threateningto publish her letters if she did not dare further--and steal the keyplan.

  "And you, it seems, entered His Excellency's cabinet just in the verynick of time," the King said, both surprised yet gratified. "Yes,Waldron, I am seldom mistaken in my man," he went on, "and when I calledyou and asked you to assist me, as your respected father assisted my ownfather, I felt that I could trust you. My confidence has not beenmisplaced. By your staunch friendship to me--not loyalty, because youare loyal only to your own Sovereign, my good brother--you have saved mybeloved nation, saved an international complication which must have costEurope a terrible war. And more--you have saved my madcap littleniece's honour. And why?" he demanded suddenly.

  Hubert did not answer for several moments.

  "Well, I will be frank, Your Majesty," he responded. "Because eversince we met in Egypt and I believed her to be Lola Duprez, niece of thecantankerous old Gigleux, we have been most excellent friends. I haveonly done my duty towards her as a friend, and towards you as Sovereignof Italy, at whose Court I am humbly attached as servant of my ownKing."

  "Waldron!" exclaimed His Majesty, "to-night I sleep securely for thefirst time for several months. The war-cloud has been dispersed--and byyou. You have my heartfelt thanks--the thanks of a man who has themisfortune perhaps of being born a King." And he gripped the diplomat'shand warmly in his own, and looked into his face as only one man canlook at another who returns thanks from the very depths of his heart."We can only reflect, Waldron," added the King in a low, earnest voice,"upon how many lives might have been sacrificed, of what ruin anddesolation must have resulted and of the terrible horrors of modernwarfare that have been averted by your devotion to Lola, to myself, andto my own beloved Italy!"

  But Hubert Waldron was thinking only of Lola. His Majesty's eulogy waslost upon him.

  He bowed low, and declared himself as the devoted servant of Italy andher Sovereign, as his father had been before him.

  Again the King grasped his hand, and then and there declared that hebestowed upon him the coveted Grand Cross of the Order of Saints,Maurice and Lazarus, an order which very few of the Italian CabinetMinisters possessed, and one of the principal distinctions of Italy.

  Afterwards His Majesty bade him a cheery _addio_, and, turning, left theroom.

  For some moments Hubert stood facing Lola, without speaking.

  What could he say?

  "Lola," he exclaimed at last, "there is one point which still remains tobe cleared up. Tell me. How did you manage to enter the General's roomwhile the corporal, Tonini, was there on sentry duty?"

  "Tonini knew me well. He is engaged to marry my maid, Renata. Ientered the room on pretence of paying a visit to General Cataldi, andfinding that His Excellency was not there, I waited in the room a fewminutes, during which time I opened the safe. Then I called him in andmade him promise solemnly to tell no one that I had paid the General avisit, explaining that I had come to crave the promotion of one of myfriends--a captain of cavalry--and was not desirous of the fact becomingpublic property. He understood the scandal at which I hinted, andtherefore loyally preserved silence--even when he knew that the planshad been stolen. Imagine my horror when I realised the full gravity ofmy action. I had handed over the plans to Austria! At once--ignorantof the inquiry you were making--I called a man I knew, Pietro Olivieri,an ex-police officer, and begged him to assist me to recover the plans.But, alas! he failed. And then Flobecq, holding out the threat topublish my letters, forced me to make an attempt to gain the tracingswhich formed the key." And she drew her hand wearily across her brow asthough to clear her brain of those terrible memories.

  A few moments later Hubert stretched forth his hand in farewell.

  He loved her with all his heart and all his soul, but, alas! he knew toowell the wide barrier of birth that lay between them.

  He saw, too, in Lola's face a sweet, passionate love look, that oneexpression which a woman can never feign. By that alone he knew hisaffection was reciprocated.

  The cup of bitterness was at his lips. But with supreme self-control hedashed it from him.

  To speak would only bring upon her grief and sorrow. Yes. Silence wasbest, after all, even though it cost him all that he held most dear inthe world--best for her sake, and for his.

  He took her white-gloved hand
in his, and bowing over it till his lipstouched its back, wished her a courtly _addio_.

  "But how can I ever thank you sufficiently for saving me, Hubert?" shecried, addressing him by his Christian name, hot tears welling in hergreat dark eyes.

  "I desire no thanks, Lola," was his low, earnest reply. "If sometimesyou remember me as your friend--as your most true, and most devotedfriend--then that is an all-sufficient recompense for me."

  His voice trembled with emotion and she saw a strange expression at thecorners of his mouth.

  "But I will see you soon--to-morrow--eh? Where?" she said eagerly.

  "No," he answered briefly. "I am leaving Rome."

  "Leaving Rome!" she echoed in