“I thought only that you had reconsidered your decision,” he answered quickly, “and that you felt, after all, that you would like to have a friend outside the court circle: someone you could confide in if you wished, and who, perhaps, would be fortunate enough to fill a small place that is now empty in your life.”
“I do want someone like that,” she admitted after a second. “Apart from Sárolta and a few other girls of whom I am fond, I have no one to whom I can talk about all sorts of things that interest me; and at times I feel terribly lonely. But why did you not come to the Prater?”
“I left Vienna two days before you, Princess, and I did not receive your letter until my return.”
“I wish I had known that. I thought you were too angry about the way I had treated you to forgive me.”
“I would forgive you anything, to see you smile again as you did just now, when we reached this summit.”
She looked up at him, her blue eyes shining and her lips parted in a dazzling smile. For a moment they remained gazing at one another, then she said; “There could have been another explanation, and at times I was inclined to adopt it. To become my friend in secret like this is to court grave danger. After our waltz I could hardly have blamed you, had you felt that the game was not worth the candle.”
“If you thought me so poor-spirited, that was very wrong of you.”
Her brows drew together; then she gave a little laugh. “Do you know, I was just on the point of rebuking you. People tactfully express the hope that I may change my opinion, or that I will give a matter further consideration, but it is years since anyone has dared to tell me to my face that I was wrong. But you are right. I should have known that you really are the sort of man who would climb over a garden wall in the middle of the night without thinking twice about it.”
“You have only to describe the situation of your window, and look out at midnight Tonight to find me beneath it.”
“No, no!” She shook her head hurriedly, so that a little chestnut curl came free and lay tantalisingly on the back of her neck. “You must do no such thing. This masquerading as a guide is bad enough. Heaven knows what a rumpus there would be if the good Grafin Aulendorf got to hear of it. How clever of you, though, to devise such a plan. I laughed so much over that little bit in your note, where you said you were prepared to forgo any payment for your services.”
He smiled. “I put that bit in as a precaution against anyone other than yourself reading it. But what of the future? May I hope to be taken on as your guide, permanently?”
“Yes. Providing you promise me to be terribly careful. Of course we don’t really need a guide. I have spent so much of my life at Ischl that I expect I know the country round about far better than you do. But then, I don’t really need eight women to look after my clothes, either. And I can say that having you will save me the trouble of making up my mind every day in which direction we shall go.”
“To-morrow, then, I will be waiting for you at the same hour.”
“No. To-morrow is Sunday. In addition to the trippers, the townspeople will be picnicking all over the woods for miles around so on Sundays we always have tea in the garden instead of going for a drive. But we shall have all next week. I am not returning to Vienna until the end of the month.”
“Is it wise to go back so soon?” he asked with quick concern. “I have been most worried about your health, and was overjoyed to see you looking so well. But you came here for rest, and a fortnight isn’t very long in view of the many duties you will have to perform once you are back in harness.”
She shrugged. “There is nothing really wrong with me, you know. It is just that I sometimes run a temperature and get these awful bouts of coughing. My grandmother, Elizabeth, suffered from the same thing, and for years everyone was afraid that she had consumption. But she hadn’t. It was only nerves, coupled with an unusual sensitiveness in the muscles of the throat. She was over sixty, and still remarkably energetic, when that horrible Italian stabbed her. If I live as long as that I shall be more than satisfied.”
“What you tell me is a great relief,” de Richleau murmured. “I have been fearing that your illness might be of a serious nature.”
“Then worry no more, dear knight. My life is so full of dreary etiquette that whenever we meet I want our companionship to be a happy one.”
A tremor of pleasure ran through him as he asked “Do you really mean that you will take me for your knight?”
She rose slowly to her feet. “Yes. I am a princess, but I have never had a knight. I am sure you are chivalrous, and I want you to be faithful and true; just as knights are in the story books.”
He would have given a great deal to be able to kiss her hand, but they had not moved from their original position so were still in sight of Adam Grünne, should he chance to look up; and the risk was too great. All he could do was to murmur. “No lady ever had a truer knight than I will be to you, Princess.”
She smiled at him again, then said quickly. “We have been here over-long already. We must go down and rejoin the others. You go first this time, in case I slip.” And in single file they clambered down to the lower plateau.
The descent to the far side of the mountain spur did not prove as steep as Sárolta had appeared to fear, and in a quarter of an hour they had regained the road where the carriage was waiting. With de Richleau on the box they returned to the Palace, but instead of halting at the gate it drove straight on up to the portico. While the Duke stood with his hat clasped to his stomach, the footman threw open the carriage door and Adam Grünne jumped down and handed the two ladies out. As they entered the Palace he took a five schilling piece from his pocket and held it out to the guide.
Although the Duke had said in his note that he did not ask any payment for his services, he felt that no good purpose was to be served by arguing the matter; so, with a murmur of thanks, he extended his hand and took the coin. As he did so the Count said:
“Her Imperial Highness tells me that she has ordered you to report here again on Monday. I would like a word with you about the expedition on which you then propose to take us. Have you a map on you?”
“Jawohl, Herr Graf,” replied the Duke, and produced one from his pocket.
The carriage had just driven off to the stables, and the Count pointed across the drive to a small arbour, with a table and chairs in it, on the far side of the lawn. “Let’s go over there,” he said. “Then we can spread the map out.”
Side by side they walked across the lawn. When they reached the arbour, de Richleau laid his map on the table. As he looked up he found that Count Grünne was staring straight into his face. The Count’s jaw was sticking out aggressively and his brown eyes were hard, as he said:
“Can you give me any reason why I should not call the guard and have you arrested?”
Chapter XII
Of Love and Intrigue
De Richleau was taken completely by surprise, but the Count showed no sign of having identified him. Instantly he decided that it was worth trying a bluff. Raising his eyebrows, and letting his mouth drop open, he stammered:
“But, Herr Graf! I—I do not understand. What have I done?”
“You know well enough! You are not a professional guide.”
“Why should you imagine that? In what way have I failed to give satisfaction?”
The Count shrugged. “Oh, you played your part all right. That’s what put me off the scent. When you produced those gardenias a faint suspicion drifted across my mind that there might be something fishy about you. As your references seemed all right I thought no more about it but, just now, when you took the crown I gave you, I noticed your hand. It is not the hand of a working man. Then I trapped you rather neatly. All the professional guides were born here and know the country blindfold. They don’t need to carry a map.”
“The Herr Graf is to be congratulated on his acumen,” said de Richleau. “All right, then. I will admit that I am only an enthusiastic amateur. But it is one
of my ambitions to rival the professionals, and I felt that it would be a proof of my capabilities if I could succeed in being taken on as a guide by Her Imperial Highness. Surely that is no crime. And what charge would you propose to bring against me for having done so?”
“I might accept that explanation if I did not feel that your face was vaguely familiar to me. As it is, I can have you detained as a suspicious character, on a charge of having used false pretences in order to approach a member of the Imperial family. And I intend to do so unless you tell me who you are. Instead of staring at the table, look up now—straight into my eyes.”
The Duke had purposely kept his eyes lowered, but he knew now that the game was up. As he lifted them, he spread out his hands and smiled. “It speaks well for my disguise, Count, that you have not recognised me before, but I can hardly think that you will fail to do so now.”
For a second the Count stared at him, then he exclaimed, “Gott im Himmel! You are the Duke de Richleau.”
“At your service, Count. And what, pray, are your intentions, having made this interesting discovery?”
Count Adam hesitated, then said slowly, “It is my duty to have you arrested for seeking Her Imperial Highness’ company in such an unorthodox fashion. But I regard you as a friend, and should be most loath to embarrass either her or you. If you are prepared to leave Ischl tomorrow, you may go now, and for my part I am willing to forget this eccentricity of yours.”
“I’m sorry.” De Richleau shook his head. “I, too, value our friendship, Count Adam, and I am obliged to you for your kind offer. But to leave Ischl is the one thing I am not prepared to do. I cannot possibly ignore Her Imperial Highness’ order to report to her here again on Monday.”
“Why? I can make some excuse for you. I’ll say that I’ve received a message saying that you have been taken ill. You have achieved this strange ambition of yours, and it is far better for you to go now, rather than take the risk that Her Imperial Highness may discover that you have imposed upon her.”
“Do you force me to choose between departure and arrest?”
“Yes. I fear that is the situation.”
“Then I have no alternative but to warn you that if you carry out your threat you will find yourself most unpopular with both Her Imperial Highness and your charming friend, Fraulein Sárolta Hunyády. The one guessed my identity from the beginning, and is much amused by this masquerade that I undertook to relieve her boredom, the other sent you hunting for a stick this afternoon in order to give me a chance to make merry over my disguise with Her Imperial Highness without being observed by you.”
“What!” exclaimed the Count. “Do you mean to tell me that both of them know who you are?”
“Certainly! Women’s eyes are far sharper then men’s, my poor Count; although you certainly have my compliments on the clever way you tricked me about the map. Tell me now, do you still intend to hand me over to the guard?”
Count Grünne did not reply at once, but stood thoughtfully curling up one end of his brown moustache. In spite of his foppish appearance, he was no fool, but, all the same, he felt decidedly at a loss how to handle this present situation.
“I can understand,” he said after a moment, “that the ladies would be amused by this prank of yours, but if you insist on continuing it and it comes to the ears of Her Imperial Highness’ Mistress of the Household, we shall all find ourselves in the very devil of a mess.”
“There, I fear you are right. Pleasant as the Countess Aulendorf has been to me personally, she could hardly be expected to approve this frolic. But you, Count, are not your mistress’ duenna; and I know your attachment to her. Surely you are not so hard-hearted as to wish to wreck this harmless plan of mine for providing her with a temporary escape from a life hedged about with restrictions?”
“No. Being set on a pinnacle, as she is, debars her from all the fun normally enjoyed by most young women, and God forbid that I should be the means of spoiling her chance to talk informally for once to someone. All the same, I beg you to be extremely careful. Fraulein Sárolta is, of course, entirely to be trusted, but the Baroness Paula takes turns with her at being in attendance, and is of a mean disposition. Should she discover what is afoot I would not put it past her to sneak on you.”
“Then I will be doubly on my guard whenever the Baroness is in the party. And I am most grateful to you for allowing me to continue in my role as guide. I take it, though, you would prefer not to show that you have recognised me?”
“Yes, for the moment, at all events. But of one thing I must warn you. During any expeditions we may make next week I cannot allow you to take Her Imperial Highness out of my sight.”
De Richleau’s brows drew together. “I am sufficiently old-fashioned, Count, to have used a sword or pistol on occasions when I have felt that a reflection has been made upon my honour. My personal liking for you would make me most reluctant to call you out, but I must ask you to retract the imputation which your words convey.”
Adam Grünne drew himself up. “I, too, am capable of using either weapon, but trust it may not be necessary to resort to such measures. I intend no reflection on you personally. However, I am responsible for the safety of Her Imperial Highness and if I allowed her to go out of my sight, either with you or with anyone else, or even alone, I should be failing in my duty.”
“My apologies,” smiled the Duke. “For a moment I feared that you were casting doubt on my intentions. But I had overlooked the commitments of your appointment, and I will give you no cause for concern on that account.”
On this understanding they parted; the Count not too happy at the position in which he had been placed, the Duke well pleased at having got the best of a very tricky interview which he had felt certain he would have to face sooner or later. At the Gasthaus Pohl he again ate sandwiches for his supper, and retired early. On the Sunday he went for a walk up towards the Ehensee, and spent most of the day in blissful contemplation of the fact that, providing the fine weather continued, he would be spending several hours daily in Ilona’s company for most of the coming week.
However, things did not go altogether as smoothly as he had hoped. On Monday, Paula von Wolkenstein was in attendance, and Ilona evidently shared Adam Grünne’s distrust of her flaxen-haired lady-in-waiting. Although she gave de Richleau several very sweet smiles when the others were not looking, she quietly rejected his deferential suggestion that she should undertake a similar climb to that which she had made on the previous Saturday. In consequence, they were unable to exchange a single word in private the whole afternoon, and he returned to his pension much disgruntled.
Tuesday brought him better luck. A quarter of an hour after they left the carriage for the woods, Sárolta suggested going down to explore a little stream which ran some forty feet below the path along which they were walking. Ilona at once agreed to her doing so and told Adam Grünne to help her down the bank, but added that she preferred to rest for a while, so would remain at the top and call to them when she felt like going on. De Richleau, who had been walking a few paces ahead, turned back, and when Ilona seated herself on a fallen tree-trunk he came and stood beside her.
As soon as they had exchanged greetings he began to reproach her mildly for having given him no opportunity at all for a word alone with him the day before; but she cut him short with a haughty little lift of her chin.
“If you feel like that, I am disappointed in you. I thought you content to remain silent in my presence when the need arose. But it seems that you would rather that I risked compromising myself.”
“God forbid that you should do that, Princess.”
“Well; I might have done. I did not choose Paula von Wolkenstein as one of my ladies. Her name was put before me for the appointment in such circumstances that I could hardly reject it, and I believe her to be a sly little cat. I’m sure she spies upon me.”
“So Adam Grünne appears to think.”
She looked up quickly and he saw the famous Habsburg under
lip jut out in annoyance. “Then you have talked to him about—about us.”
“Only because he discovered my identity after our return to the Palace on Saturday. But we have nothing to fear from him. I led him to believe that I had undertaken this masquerade because I pride myself upon being, for an amateur, an expert guide, and thought it would amuse you.”
“Then if Adam had already warned you about Paula, there is all the more reason that you should appreciate my caution.”
“I did, Princess, but in my present position I am debarred from taking the initiative in any way. I had hoped that you would think of some way to get rid of her, if only for a few moments.”
“I may not have wished to do so.”
He sighed. “That, of course, is very different. Am I so unfortunate as to have bored you already?”
With an impulsive gesture she put out a hand, touched him on the knee, then quickly withdrew it. “No, please. I did not mean that. But you must not be too demanding.”
“I promise you I will not be,” he said contritely. “Or at least, that I will not complain again when for reasons of discretion you feel it best to ignore me. But will the Baroness be in attendance again tomorrow? And, if so, does that mean another day on which I cannot hope for a word alone with you?”
“Yes. She and Sárolta are on duty alternate days, and whenever Paula is in attendance we must do nothing that might arouse her suspicions.”
“Could you not find a pretext to dispense with her services till the end of the week?”
Ilona looked quite shocked. “I couldn’t possibly do that unless she asked me to. It would not be etiquette.”
Her words brought home afresh to de Richleau how controlled she was by customs which had governed, not only her life, but also those of her predecessors for many generations. A little sadly, he said: “If that is so, it cannot be helped. But it is a great pity as it means that Thursday will then remain my last chance of enjoying your company in this disguise.”
The Second Seal Page 20
