A Modern Mercenary

by K. Prichard and Hesketh Vernon Hesketh Prichard

  CHAPTER II.

  A GENTLEMAN OF THE GUARD.

  Shortly before 9.30 Rallywood presented himself at the granite palace,with its four cupolas, which M. Selpdorf occupied in his capacity ofFirst Minister of State. After some slight delay he was ushered into acomfortable study, where he found Selpdorf with a reading-lamp at hiselbow, glancing rapidly through a mass of papers that he threw one afteranother, with apparent carelessness, on the floor beside him.

  The chancellor of a small State might very well have been pardoned hadhe introduced a certain amount of what an old official used to call'desk dignity' into his dealings with those who approached him, butSelpdorf habitually affected an easy manner and an easy chair. He was amiddle-sized man, possessed of a very round head, bald at the crown, buthaving still a lock of dark hair on the summit of his round forehead;very round eyes set far back in smooth holes, showing little lid; a noseblunt and thick over lips that might have been coarse, but werecontrolled, and betrayed a lurking humour at the corners, to which theupstanding moustaches seemed to add point. For all his peculiarity ofaspect, he was a man who left an impression on the memory of somethingpleasing and attractive, especially in the minds of women.

  He received Rallywood with that air of deep personal interest which toldwith such happy effect on those whom he desired to influence.

  'Ah, my dear Lieutenant, I understood you were in Revonde, and took theadvantage of your presence to put into effect a little plan which hasbeen for some time in contemplation. I recollect having had the pleasureof meeting you not so long ago when you arrived in Maasau.'

  'Nearly six years ago, your Excellency,' replied Rallywood with a smile.

  'I can scarcely believe it to be so long. At any rate I rememberperfectly that I had the honour of presenting you to his Highness as thelatest addition to our Frontier Cavalry.'

  'Your Excellency might easily have forgotten. From the nature of thecase that could not be possible with me.'

  Selpdorf listened with a little astonishment. This Englishman was notquite such a fool as one might have expected from the fact of his havingbeen content to remain without preferment and only a proportion of hispay for over five years on the frontier. He had hoped to find the fellowadaptable, but this long-limbed, slow-spoken gentleman was notaltogether so transparent an individuality as Selpdorf had led himselfto expect.

  'But why have you secluded yourself for so long among those barbarousmarshes and forests?' demanded the Chancellor in a rallying manner. Theyoung man made no reply, though the obvious one was in his mind.

  'By-the-by,' resumed the Chancellor, as if struck by a new thought, 'Ihave heard that your countryman Major Counsellor has come to pay us alittle visit in Maasau.'

  'He is here. I have just seen him,' replied Rallywood.

  Selpdorf's round eyes glanced once more at his companion. The simpledirectness of the reply was admirable but baffling.

  'Ah, he is invaluable, the good Major, quite invaluable! England maywell be proud of him. He is one of the ablest men in Europe,besides'--here he smiled, showing a row of strong, even teeth--'besidesbeing one of the most honest. For a diplomatist--what praise!'

  Rallywood met his glance imperturbably.

  'For a diplomatist, your Excellency?' he repeated.

  'But assuredly,' replied the Chancellor warmly: 'figure to yourself, myfriend, the condition of politics if all statesmen were likehim--honest! An invaluable man!'

  He paused for a reply, but Rallywood merely bowed. He felt that so muchat least was expected of him on the part of England.

  'But now, monsieur, with regard to your own affair. You have been fiveyears in the service of his Highness. And your command?'

  'At present fifty troopers at the block-houses above Kofn Ford and alongthe river. In the winter, during the long dark nights, when there aremany attempts to run illicit goods across the frontier, I shall have,perhaps, a score or so more.'

  'And you are not tired of it?' M. Selpdorf raised his hands.

  'So tired, your Excellency, that I am half inclined to let a better manstep into my shoes.'

  'But come, come, that is impossible!' returned his Excellency agreeably.'Are you also tired of our capital, of Revonde?'

  'I have had very little opportunity of growing tired of Revonde. I knownothing of it.'

  'But you would prefer Revonde, believe me.'

  At this moment an attendant appeared with a card upon a salver. Selpdorfread the name with the faintest contraction of his brows.

  'You will excuse me, M. Rallywood,' he said; 'I must ask you to wait inthe ante-room for a few minutes.'

  The ante-room was a long pillared corridor, in which Rallywood foundhimself quite alone. He fell at once into speculations as to the meaningand aim of Selpdorf's late awakened interest in himself. Also theallusions to Counsellor had probably been made with calculatedintention.

  Rallywood understood that each of these two men had the same end inview; each desired to dissemble his own character. And each of themsucceeded with the many, but failed as between themselves. Selpdorfposed as the suave, sympathetic, good-natured friend of those with whomhe came in contact; Counsellor, as a man of no account, a ruggedsoldier, honest, strong, outspoken, a good agent to act under thedirection of more astute brains, but if left to his own resourcessomewhat blunt and blundering.

  To do Rallywood justice, he was far more occupied with this last thoughtthan with the things which bore more directly on his own prospects andfuture. At this period his life was comparatively tasteless and void ofinterest; there was nothing to look forward to, and the recent pastmeant extremes of heat and cold, long solitary rounds ridden by night,and days rendered so far alike by iron-handed rule and method that onewas driven to mark the lapse of time by the seasons, not by the ordinarydivisions of weeks and months.

  As he lounged in a chair full of these thoughts a slight rustle, softand silken, like the rustle of a woman's dress, caught his ear. Heturned his head quickly. The corridor with its splendid pillars, whichstood at long intervals, was steeped in the clear electric light, andfrom where he sat he could see that there was no person visiblethroughout its entire length.

  Then as his gaze travelled back it rested on something which hadcertainly not been lying where he now saw it at the time of hisentrance.

  Not six paces behind him, stretched across the dark carpeting, in thevery centre of the pillared vista, lay a woman's long glove.

  A woman's glove possesses a peculiar charm for all men. Perhaps itsuggests some of the sweet mystery of womanhood. The first action ofmost young men in Rallywood's place would have been to raise it at onceand to examine it, as though in some impalpable manner it could tellsomething of its unknown wearer, who might turn out to be the Hathor,the one woman in the world.

  But the circumstances of Rallywood's life, and perhaps also someexclusive element in his character, had heretofore set him rather apartfrom the influence of women. He had grown to regard them withoutcuriosity, which is the last stage indifference can reach.

  It must be admitted that it was with a feeling akin to repugnance thathe at last lifted the long, soft, pale-hued, faintly-scented _suede_from the floor and dangled it at an unnecessary distance from his eyes,holding it as he did so daintily between finger and thumb. Its subtleappeal to his senses as a man failed to reach him. It simply aroused anold feeling of reserve toward the sex it represented. His face alteredslightly and he dropped it suddenly with an odd repulsion, as he mighthave dropped a snake, on a couch near by.

  Then he resumed his chair and turned his back upon it, till thereflection that the woman to whom it belonged must have come and gonewhile he sat thinking with his back to the corridor sent him wheelinground again.

  The glove still lay where he had placed it on the edge of the couch,palm upwards and with a suggestion of helplessness and pleading. Itannoyed him unreasonably. He frowned and looked at his watch. Half anhour had passed since Selpdorf dismissed him.

  At that moment a guttural voice
broke the silence of the house, and theheavy curtain over the door at the nearer end of the ante-room wasthrust back by a brusque hand, and a tall, high-shouldered, handsomeman, dressed as if he were about to attend some Court function, stood inthe opening. Behind him Rallywood caught sight of a flurried andexplanatory lackey.

  'Ah! so I have lost my way after all,' said this personage in a blandvoice. 'A mistake! But I hope you will accord me your forgiveness,mademoiselle?'

  Rallywood sprang to his feet at this most unexpected ending and lookedround.

  Close beside him stood a tall girl wrapped in a long cloak of fur andamber velvet. She was singularly beautiful, with a pale, clear-huedbeauty. Her black, long-lashed eyes were on him and they were full oflaughter.

  'Enter, then, Baron,' said the girl, glancing across at the courtier.'Did you guess you would find me here, or were you seeking monsieur?'and she waved her bare left hand towards Rallywood.

  'I lost my way, nothing more,' returned the Baron, coming forward; 'butperhaps, as in my heart, all roads lead towards----' He bowed deeplyonce more, this time stooping to kiss the girl's hand with a certainshow of restrained eagerness.

  She drew back with a little impatient gesture.

  'I should not have been here, but for an accident,' she replied coldly.'In fact I was on the point of starting for his Highness's reception,had not monsieur detained me.' And, to Rallywood's amazement, sheindicated himself.

  Before he could speak she pointed to his spurred boot.

  'Monsieur has set his heel on my poor glove,' she added.

  By his hasty movement in rising he had apparently dislodged the glovefrom its position on the edge of the couch. He stooped with a hurriedword of apology and picked it up. On the delicate palm was stamped thecurved stain of his boot-heel.

  'Do you always treat a lady's glove so?' she asked gravely, and held outher hand for it.

  Rallywood looked down at her very deliberately, and something that wasneither his will nor his reason decided the next action. He folded thesoft _suede_ reverently together.

  'No, mademoiselle,' he answered, as he placed it inside his tunic, 'Ihave never before treated a lady's glove--so. For the accident, I offermy deepest apologies.'

  She watched him with raised eyebrows and a slight derisive smile. Thenshe drew the companion glove from her right hand, and giving it to thelackey, who still remained in the background, she said--

  'Throw it away, it is useless, and tell Nanzelle to bring me anotherpair.'

  'Monsieur, with whom I have not yet the pleasure of being acquainted,'interrupted the Baron rather suddenly, 'monsieur is after all the luckyman. He retains what I dare not even ask for.'

  'Shall I call back the servant with its fellow for you?' mademoiselleasked haughtily. 'It is nothing to me who picks up what I have thrownaway.' With this rebuff to Rallywood she placed her hand upon theGerman's, as if to ask him to lead her from the room, and added--

  'You wish for an introduction? Then allow me to present you to eachother. His excellency the Baron von Elmur.' She paused, and her eyesdwelt for a moment on Rallywood's. 'A gentleman of the Guard.' Andbefore Rallywood could explain the mistake the curtain had droppedbehind them and he was left standing alone.

  In Baron von Elmur he recognized the oblique carriage of the head andthe high-shouldered figure of the third man he had seen with thenewspaper correspondents in the Grand Square that afternoon. Moreover heknew that the German had entered the ante-room through no mistake, butwith some object in view. As for the girl, who was she and where had shecome from? She was not of Maasau, since she had introduced him asbelonging to the Guard, for not only was every officer of that favouredcorps individually known, but it was further impossible for a Maasaun tomake the slightest mistake with regard to any uniform. It was one of theboasts of the country that even a child could tell at a glance not onlythe special regiment, but the rank of the wearer of any uniformbelonging to the Duchy.

  Rallywood had no time just then to pursue the subject further, as he wasalmost immediately recalled to the Chancellor's presence.

  'Now, monsieur,' began Selpdorf, as though no break had occurred in theconversation, 'you are in truth tired of keeping our dreary marches; isit not so?'

  'There are better places--and worse, your Excellency.'

  'Our gay little capital will be one of the better places, I promiseyou,' continued the Chancellor. 'A position in the Guard of his Highnesshas just become vacant. Am I right in believing that a nomination tothat superb regiment would tempt you to remain with us?'

  Rallywood for once was a little taken aback.

  'A gentleman of the Guard.' He repeated the girl's words of introductionmechanically; then, putting aside the thought of her, he took up thepractical view of the situation and answered, 'I am an Englishman, yourExcellency, and though I have taken the soldier's oath to the Maasaunstandard I have not taken the oath of nationality. I could not consentto become a naturalised citizen even of the Duchy of Maasau.'

  'Ah, so?' Selpdorf stroked his chin, then despatching the objection witha wave of his hand, he resumed, 'We must overlook that in your case. Youhave already served the Duke for five years with as sincere zeal as thetruest Maasaun amongst us. We must remember that and overlook a drawbackwhich is far less important than it seems.'

  He turned to a memorandum on the table and consulted it.

  'You were engaged in the affair at Xanthal, I see?'

  'Three years ago, your Excellency,' replied Rallywood in a tone thatimplied his powers of usefulness had probably become impaired by lapseof time.

  Selpdorf moved his shoulders. Here was a man throwing difficulties inthe way of his own advancement. Yet he could not possibly be soindifferent to his own interests as he chose to assume.

  'To be plain with you,' Selpdorf said with an air of candour, 'theyounger officers of the Guard have little experience. The latest fashionin neckties or the most charming dancer at the Folie absorbs theirattention, to the exclusion of more important matters. There is, as youdoubtless know, a certain admixture of French blood in the veins of ourmost noble families,' he finished abstractedly.

  Rallywood had no remark to offer upon this. The officers of the Guardbore a very distinct reputation. They were said to be a very pleasantset of fellows socially, unless one ran foul of their prejudices, butthey were credited with a good many prejudices. As for his personalacquaintance with them, it was limited to acting as second in a hastilyarranged duel fought out in the yard behind a little country railwaystation.

  'I should like to see a somewhat different spirit introduced, and to beassured that I could always rely on the presence of at least onecool-headed officer at the Palace. Your experience on the frontier haseminently fitted you for the position. To you, therefore, will beallotted the quarters reserved in the Palace itself for the adjutant ofthe Guard. May I have the pleasure of saluting you as such?'

  Rallywood hesitated. He foresaw certain difficulties, but they appearedrather attractive than otherwise at the moment. He threw back hisshoulders, a light of laughter came into his eyes, he raised his headand looked into Selpdorf's face.

  'I thank your Excellency.'

  The Chancellor understood more than met the ear. He approached thesubject delicately.

  'Then you will allow me to congratulate you, Captain Rallywood,' hesaid, bending forward to shake hands with his visitor in the Englishfashion. 'There may possibly be some trifling difficulties at theoutset. The first step in any undertaking usually costs something, butyou will not, I beg, permit yourself to be drawn into,--ahem, anyshallow quarrels. Our friends of the Guard, you will understand, are alittle prone to pick up even a careless word on the sword-point.'

  M. Selpdorf paused, and referred once more to the memorandum.

  'There has been some small hitch about the pay on the frontier of late?'he asked innocently.

  'A serious hitch for the last eighteen months or so, your Excellency,'replied Rallywood with a smile that did not reach his eyes.
/>   'Indeed? That must be remedied. The paymaster-General shall have a noteupon your affair immediately, Captain Rallywood. Good-night.'

  Rallywood stepped out into the windy, frozen night, and also out of hisold life into the new. Above him the stars, written in their vast, vaguecharacters upon the night-blue vault of sky, shone with a keen lustre.Below his feet, with scarce a break in the great circle, it seemed as ifthey drew together in denser clusters and set themselves in luminoustiers. These latter were the lights of the city. For the Hotel duChancelier stands high upon one of the twin ridges which form the ravineof the river, and upon whose converging slopes Revonde is built.Rallywood stood and looked down upon the dip and rise of the terracedcity with a new interest, for now it held a future for him individually,a future which must be stirring and might be something more.

  The eyes of the girl whose glove he had trodden upon still challengedhim from the starlit darkness, eyes made of starlit darkness themselves.He followed the broad black line of the river between its sweepingcurves of lamps, broadening out seawards into hazy dimness. Then as agreat bell across the water boomed out the hour he turned his gaze tothe east, in the direction of the sound, to where the broken brightnessof the crowding streets gave place to a majestic alignment of light andshadow, showing the position of the Ducal Palace upon the river bank.Behind and above it shone a blood-red gleam like an angry eye; thisRallywood knew to be the great stained dome of the historic mess-room ofthe Guard.

  Then the late lieutenant of the Frontier Cavalry laughed aloud in thedark, his blood tingled in his veins, for the priceless element of avague, unknown danger and excitement had entered into his life.