The Prince of Graustark

by George Barr McCutcheon

  CHAPTER VII

  A LETTER FROM MAUD

  Mr. Blithers, triumphant, left Red Roof shortly after luncheon; Mr.Blithers, dismayed, arrived at Blitherwood a quarter of an hour later.He had had his way with Robin, who, after all, was coming to dinnerthat evening with Count Quinnox. The Prince, after a few words inprivate with the Count, changed his mind and accepted Mr. Blithers'invitation with a liveliness that was mistaken for eagerness by thatgentleman, who had made very short work of subduing Mrs. King when shetried to tell him that her own dinner-party would be ruined if theprincipal guest defaulted. He was gloating over his victory up to theinstant he reached his own lodge gates. There dismay sat patientlywaiting for him in the shape of a messenger from the local telegraphoffice in the village below. He had seen Mr. Blithers approaching inthe distance, and, with an astuteness that argued well for his futuresuccess in life, calmly sat down to wait instead of pedaling hisdecrepit bicycle up the long slope to the villa.

  He delivered a telegram and kindly vouchsafed the information that itwas from New York.

  Mr. Blithers experienced a queer sinking of the heart as he gazed atthe envelope. Something warned him that if he opened it in the presenceof the messenger he would say something that a young boy ought not tohear.

  "It's from Maud," said the obliging boy, beaming good-nature. It costhim a quarter, that bit of gentility, for Mr. Blithers at once saidsomething that a messenger boy ought to hear, and ordered Jackson to goahead.

  It was from Maud and it said: "I shall stay in town a few days longer.It is delightfully cool here. Dear old Miranda is at the Ritz with meand we are having a fine spree. Don't worry about money. I find I havea staggering balance in the bank. The cashier showed me where I hadmade a mistake in subtraction of an even ten thousand. I was amazed tofind what a big difference a little figure makes. Have made no definiteplans but will write Mother to-night. Please give my love to thePrince. Have you seen to-day's _Town Truth_? Or worse, has he seen it?Your loving daughter, Maud."

  The butler was sure it was apoplexy, but the chauffeur, out of a wideexperience, announced, behind his hand, that he would be all right theinstant the words ceased to stick in his throat. And he was right. Mr.Blithers _was_ all right. Not even the chauffeur had seen him when hewas more so.

  A little later on, after he had cooled off to a quite considerableextent, Mr. Blithers lighted a cigar and sat down in the hall outsidehis wife's bed-chamber door. She was having her beauty nap. Not even hepossessed the temerity to break in upon that. He sat and listened forthe first sound that would indicate the appeasement of beauty,occasionally hitching his chair a trifle nearer to the door in theagony of impatience. By the time Jackson returned from the village withword that a copy of _Town Truth_ was not to be had until the next day,he was so close to the door that if any one had happened to stick a hatpin through the keyhole at precisely the right instant it would havepunctured his left ear with appalling results.

  "What are we going to do about it?" he demanded three minutes afterentering the chamber. His wife was prostrate on the luxurious couchfrom which she had failed to arise when he burst in upon her with thetelegram in his hand.

  "Oh, the foolish child," she moaned. "If she only knew how adorable heis she wouldn't be acting in this perfectly absurd manner. Every girlwho was here last night is madly in love with him. Why must Maud be soobstinate?"

  Mr. Blithers was very careful not to mention his roadside experiencewith the Prince, and you may be sure that he said nothing about hisproposition to the young man. He merely declared, with a vastbitterness in his soul, that the Prince was coming to dinner, but whatthe deuce was the use?

  "She ought to be soundly--spoken to," said he, breaking the sentencewith a hasty gulp. "Now, Lou, there's just one thing to do. I must goto New York on the midnight train and get her. That woman was all rightas a tutor, but hanged if I like to see a daughter of mine traipsingaround New York with a school teacher. She--"

  "You forget that she has retired on a competence. She is not in activeemployment. Will. You forget that she is one of the Van Valkens."

  "There you go, talking about good old families again. Why is it that soblamed many of your fine old blue stockings are hunting jobs--"

  "Now don't be vulgar, Will," she cut in. "Maud is quite safe withMiranda, and you know it perfectly well, so don't talk like that. Ithink it would be a fearful mistake for you to go to New York. Shewould never forgive you and, what is more to the point, she wouldn'tbudge a step if you tried to bully her into coming home with you. Youknow it quite as well as I do."

  He groaned. "Give me a chance to think, Lou. Just half a chance, that'sall I ask. I'll work out some--"

  "Wait until her letter comes. We'll see what she has to say. Perhapsshe intends coming home tomorrow, who can tell? This may be a pose onher part. Give her free rein and she will not pull against the bit. Itmay surprise her into doing the sensible thing if we calmly ignore heraltogether. I've been thinking it over, and I've come to the conclusionthat we'll be doing the wisest thing in the world if we pay absolutelyno attention to her."

  "By George, I believe you've hit it, Lou! She'll be looking for aletter or telegram from me and she'll not receive a word, eh? She'll beexpecting us to beg her to come back and all the while we just sittight and say not a word. We'll fool her, by thunder. By to-morrowafternoon she'll be so curious to know what's got into us that she'llcome home on a run. You're right. It takes a thief to catch athief,--which is another way of saying that it takes a woman tounderstand a woman. We'll sit tight and let Maud worry for a day ortwo. It will do her good."

  Maud's continued absence was explained to Prince Robin that evening,not by the volcanic Mr. Blithers but by his practised and adroitbetter-half who had no compunction in ascribing it to the alarmingcondition of a very dear friend in New York,--one of the Van Valkens,you know.

  "Maud is so tender-hearted, so loyal, so really sweet about herfriends, that nothing in the world could have induced her to leave thisdear friend, don't you know."

  "I am extremely sorry not to have met your daughter," said Robin verypolitely.

  "Oh, but she will be here in a day or two, Prince."

  "Unfortunately, we are leaving to-morrow, Mrs. Blithers."

  "To-morrow?" murmured Mrs. Blithers, aghast.

  "I received a cablegram to-day advising me to return to Edelweiss atonce. We are obliged to cut short a very charming visit with Mr. andMrs. King and to give up the trip to Washington. Lieutenant Dank leftfor New York this afternoon to exchange our reservations for the firstship that we can--"

  "What's this?" demanded Mr. Blithers, abruptly withdrawing hisattention from Count Quinnox who was in the middle of a sentence whenthe interruption came. They were on the point of going out to dinner."What's this?"

  "The Prince says that he is leaving to-morrow--"

  "Nonsense!" exploded Mr. Blithers, with no effort toward geniality. "Hedoesn't mean it. Why,--why, we haven't signed a single agreement--"

  "Fortunately it isn't necessary for me to sign anything, Mr. Blithers,"broke in Robin hastily. "The papers are to be signed by the Minister ofFinance, and afterwards my signature is attached in approval. Isn'tthat true, Count Quinnox?"

  "I daresay Mr. Blithers understands the situation perfectly," said theCount.

  Mr. Blithers looked blank. He _did_ understand the situation, that wasthe worst of it. He knew that although the cabinet had sanctioned theloan by cable, completing the transaction so far as it could becompleted at this time, it was still necessary for the Minister ofFinance to sign the agreement under the royal seal of Graustark.

  "Of course I understand it," he said bluntly. "Still I had it in mindto ask the Prince to put his signature to a sort of preliminarydocument which would at least assure me that he would sign the finalagreement when the time comes. That's only fair, isn't it?"

  "Quite fair, Mr. Blithers. The Prince will sign such an articleto-morrow or the next day at your office in the city. Pray have nouneasiness
, sir. It shall be as you wish. By the way, I understood thatyour solicitor--your lawyer, I should say,--was to be here thisevening. It had occurred to me that he might draw up the statement,--ifMrs. Blithers will forgive us in our haste--"

  "He couldn't get here," said Mr. Blithers, and no more. He was thinkingtoo intently of something more important. "What's turned up?"

  "Turned up, Mr. Blithers?"

  "Yes--in Groostock. What's taking you off in such a hurry?"

  "The Prince has been away for nearly six months," said the Count, as ifthat explained everything.

  "Was it necessary to cable for him to come home?" persisted thefinancier.

  "Graustark and Dawsbergen are endeavouring to form an alliance, Mr.Blithers, and Prince Robin's presence at the capitol is very much to bedesired in connection with the project."

  "What kind of an alliance?"

  The Count looked bored. "An alliance prescribed for the generalimprovement of the two races, I should say, Mr. Blithers." He smiled."It would in no way impair the credit of Graustark, however. It is whatyou might really describe as a family secret, if you will pardon myflippancy."

  The butler announced dinner.

  "Wait for a couple of days. Prince, and I'll send you down to New Yorkby special train," said Mr. Blithers.

  "Thank you. It is splendid of you. I daresay everything will depend onDank's success in--"

  "Crawford," said Mr. Blithers to the butler, "ask Mr. Davis to look upthe sailings for next week and let me know at once, will you?" Turningto the Prince, he went on: "We can wire down to-night and engagepassage for next week. Davis is my secretary. I'll have him attend toeverything. And now let's forget our troubles."

  A great deal was said by her parents about Maud's unfortunate detentionin the city. Both of them were decidedly upset by the sudden change inthe Prince's plans. Once under pretext of whispering to Crawford aboutthe wine, Mr. Blithers succeeded in transmitting a question to hiswife. She shook her head in reply, and he sighed audibly. He had askedif she thought he'd better take the midnight train.

  Mr. Davis found that there were a dozen ships sailing the next week,but nothing came of it, for the Prince resolutely declared he would beobliged to take the first available steamer.

  "We shall go down to-morrow," he said, and even Mr. Blithers subsided.He looked to his wife in desperation. She failed him for the first timein her life. Her eyes were absolutely messageless.

  "I'll go down with you," he said, and then gave his wife a look ofdefiance.

  The next morning brought Maud's letter to her mother. It said: "DearestMother: I enclose the cutting from _Town Truth_. You may see foryourself what a sickening thing it is. The whole world knows by thistime that the ball was a joke--a horrible joke. Everybody knows thatyou are trying to hand me over to Prince Robin neatly wrapped up inbank notes. And everybody knows that he is laughing at us, and he isn'talone in his mirth either. What must the Truxton Kings think of us? Ican't bear the thought of meeting that pretty, clever woman face toface. I know I should die of mortification, for, of course, she mustbelieve that I am dying to marry anything on earth that has a title anda pair of legs. Somehow I don't blame you and dad. You really love me,I know, and you want to give me the best that the world affords. Butwhy, oh why, can't you let me choose for myself? I don't object tohaving a title, but I do object to having a husband that I don't wantand who certainly could not, by any chance, want me. You think that Iam in love with Channie Scoville. Well, I'm not. I am very fond of him,that's all, and if it came to a pinch I would marry him in preferenceto any prince on the globe. To-day I met a couple of girls who were atthe ball. They told me that the Prince is adorable. They are reallyquite mad about him, and one of them had the nerve to ask what it wasgoing to cost dad to land him. _Town Truth_ says he is to cost tenmillions! Well, you may just tell dad that I'll help him to practiceeconomy. He needn't pay a nickle for my husband--when I get him. Theworld is small. It may be that I shall come upon this same PrinceCharming some place before it is too late, and fall in love with himall of a heap. Loads of silly girls do fall in love with fairy princes,and I'm just as silly as the rest of them. Ever since I was a littlekiddie I've dreamed of marrying a real, lace-and-gold Prince, the kindMiranda used to read about in the story books. But I also dreamed thathe loved me. There's the rub, you see. How could any prince love a girlwho set out to buy him with a lot of silly millions? It's not to beexpected. I know it is done in the best society, but I should want myprince to be happy instead of merely comfortable. I should want both ofus to live happy ever afterwards.

  "So, dearest mother, I am going abroad to forget. Miranda is going withme and we sail next Saturday on the _Jupiter_ I think. We haven't gotour suite, but Mr. Bliss says he is sure he can arrange it for me. Ifwe can't get one on the _Jupiter_, we'll take some other boat that isjust as inconspicuous. You see, I want to go on a ship that isn'tlikely to be packed with people I know, for it is my intention totravel incog, as they say in the books. No one shall stare at me andsay: 'There is that Maud Blithers we were reading about in _TownTruth_--and all the other papers this week. Her father is going to buya prince for her.'

  "I know dad will be perfectly furious, but I'm going or die, one or theother. Now it won't do a bit of good to try to stop me, dearest. Thebest thing for you and dad to do is to come down at once and saygoodbye to me--but you are not to go to the steamer! Never! Please,please come, for I love you both and I do so want you to love me. Cometo-morrow and kiss your horrid, horrid, disappointing, loathsomedaughter--and forgive her, too."

  Mr. Blithers was equal to the occasion. His varying emotions manifestedthemselves with peculiar vividness during the reading of the letter byhis tearful wife. At the outset he was frankly humble and contrite; hefelt bitterly aggrieved over the unhappy position in which theyinnocently had placed their cherished idol. Then came the deep breathof relief over the apparent casting away of young Scoville, followed byan angry snort when Maud repeated the remark of her girl friend. Hisdismay was pathetic while Mrs. Blithers was fairly gasping out Maud'sdetermination to go abroad, but before she reached the concludingsentences of the extraordinary missive, he was himself again. As amatter of fact, he was almost jubilant. He slapped his knee withresounding force and uttered an ejaculation that caused his wife tostare at him as if the very worst had happened: he was a chucklinglunatic!

  "Immense!" he exclaimed. "Immense!"

  "Oh, Will!" she sobbed.

  "Nothing could be better! Luck is with me, Lou. It always is."

  "In heaven's name, what are you saying, Will?"

  "Great Scott, can't you see? He goes abroad, she goes abroad. See? Sameship. See what I mean? Nothing could be finer. They--"

  "But I do not want my child to go abroad," wailed the unhappy mother."I cannot bear--"

  "Stuff and nonsense! Brace up! Grasp the romance. Both of 'em sailingunder assumed names. They see each other on deck. Mutual attraction.Love at first sight. Both of 'em. Money no object. There you are. Leaveit to me."

  "Maud is not the kind of girl to take up with a stranger on board--"

  "Don't glare at me like that! Love finds the way, it doesn't matterwhat kind of a girl she is. But listen to me, Lou; we've got to bemighty careful that Maud doesn't suspect that we're putting up a job onher. She'd balk at the gang-plank and that would be the end of it. Shemust not know that he is on board. Now, here's the idea," and he talkedon in a strangely subdued voice for fifteen minutes, his enthusiasmmounting to such heights that she was fairly lifted to the seventhheaven he produced, and, for once in her life, she actually submittedto his bumptious argument without so much as a single protesting word.

  The down train at two-seventeen had on board a most distinguished groupof passengers, according to the Pullman conductor whose skilfulconniving resulted in the banishment of a few unimportant creatures whohad paid for chairs in the observation coach but who had to get out,whether or no, when Mr. Blithers loudly said it was a nuisance havingeverything on the shady si
de of the car taken "on a hot day like this."He surreptitiously informed the conductor that there was a prince inhis party, and that highly impressed official at once informed tenother passengers that they had no business in a private car and wouldhave to move up to the car ahead--and rather quickly at that.

  The Prince announced that Lieutenant Dank had secured comfortablecabins on a steamer sailing Saturday, but he did not feel at liberty tomention the name of the boat owing to his determination to avoidnewspaper men, who no doubt would move heaven and earth for aninterview, now that he had become a person of so much importance in thesocial world. Indeed, his indentity was to be more completely obscuredthan at any time since he landed on American soil. He thanked Mr.Blithers for his offer to command the "royal suite" on the _Jupiter_,but declined, volunteering the somewhat curt remark that it was hisearnest desire to keep as far away from royalty as possible on thevoyage over. (A remark that Mr. Blithers couldn't quite fathom, then orafterward.)

  Mrs. Blithers' retort to her husband's shocked comment on theun-princely appearance of the young man and the wofully ordinary suitof clothes worn by the Count, was sufficiently caustic, and he wassilenced--and convinced. Neither of the distinguished foreigners lookedthe part of a nobleman.

  "I wouldn't talk about clothes if I were you," Mrs. Blithers had saidon the station platform. "Who would suspect you of being one of therichest men in America?" She sent a disdainful glance at his baggyknees and bulging coat pockets, and for the moment he shrank into thestate of being one of the poorest men in America.

  They were surprised and not a little perplexed by the fact that thePrince and his companion arrived at the station quite alone. Neither ofthe Kings accompanied them. There was, Mrs. Blithers admitted, food forthought in this peculiar omission on the part of the Prince's late hostand hostess, and she would have given a great deal to know what wasback of it. The "luggage" was attended to by the admirable Hobbs, therebeing no sign of a Red Roof servant about the place. Moreover, thereseemed to be considerable uneasiness noticeable in the manner of thetwo foreigners. They appeared to be unnecessarily impatient for thetrain to arrive, looking at their watches now and again, and frequentlysending sharp glances down the village street in the direction of RedRoof. Blithers afterwards remarked that they made him think of a coupleof absconding cashiers. The mystery, however, was never explained.

  Arriving at the Grand Central Terminal, Prince Robin and the Count madeoff in a taxi-cab, smilingly declining to reveal their hoteldestination.

  "But where am I to send my attorney with the agreement you are to sign,Prince?" asked Mr. Blithers, plainly irritated by the young man'sobstinacy in declining to be "dropped" at his hotel by the Blithersmotor.

  "I shall come to your office at eleven to-morrow morning, Mr.Blithers," said Robin, his hat in his hand. He had bowed very deeply toMrs. Blithers.

  "But that's not right," blustered the financier. "A prince of royalblood hadn't ought to visit a money-grubber's office. It's not--"

  "_Noblesse oblige_," said Robin, with his hand on his heart. "It hasbeen a pleasure to know you, Mrs. Blithers. I trust we may meet again.If you should ever come to Graustark, please consider that the castleis yours--as you hospitable Americans would say."

  "We surely will," said Mrs. Blithers. Both the Prince and Count Quinnoxbowed very profoundly, and did not smile.

  "And it will be ours," added Mr. Blithers, more to himself than to hiswife as the two tall figures moved off with the throng. Then to hiswife: "Now to find out what ship they're sailing on. I'll fix it sothey'll _have_ to take the _Jupiter_, whether they want to or not."

  "Wouldn't it be wisdom to find out what ship Maud is sailing on, Will?It seems to me that she is the real problem."

  "Right you are!" said he instantly. "I must be getting dotty in my oldage, Lou."

  They were nearing the Ritz when she broke a prolonged period ofabstraction by suddenly inquiring: "What did you mean when you said tohim on the train: 'Better think it over, Prince,' and what did he meanby the insolent grin he gave you in reply?"

  Mr. Blithers looked straight ahead.

  "Business," said he, answering the first question but not the last.