The king's widow

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

I The Embassy Spy 9

II Aunt and Nephew 20

Chapter I

B UT your Excellency is, of course, well acquainted with the curious details of that story,” said the man in civilian dress, breaking off his narration and his cigar ash at the same moment.

The ambassador moved a trifle uncomfortably in his chair, and seemed relieved when General Helso intervened.

“Prince Glanzingfors,” said that stout and elderly warrior, bowing stiffly towards his chief, “is accredited to the Court of Kilistria precisely because he is well acquainted with all these things. For myself it is different. Remember — it all took place before the war; and I was otherwise occupied, both then and since.”

“I may also remind you,” said the Prince ambassador sourly, “that before the war I was not called upon by my government to waste my brain upon the obscure politics of these contemptible little countries. I had more congenial work then than moulding the destinies of a handful of peasant mountaineers — a rabble who, even when one has succeeded in detaching them from their other alliances, are not worthy to be counted the friends of great Nordernreich.”

There was a sympathetic silence on the part of his hearers. The subject was a sore one. Since Nordernreich put herself outside the pale of civilisation, not merely by declaring a war of aggression, but by her devilish methods of conducting it, there had been a slump in Nordern embassies. Glanzingfors, formerly accredited to one of the Great Powers, found himself sent to Kilistria; since only in a few utterly unimportant countries was a delegate from the remains of the once great empire now a persona grata .

Von Reulenz, the young attache who sat with his chair a little behind that of his chief, sneered as he glanced from the window of the room in which they were conferring down to the platz below, clean and gay with its green grass, its fine fountain, its line of tram-cars.

“A mere province,” he said; “and these Kilistrians so proud of themselves and their tin-pot capital, that you can hardly open your lips without offending them.”

“Their pride,” said Helso fulsomely, “is now increased by the fact that no less a personage than Prince Glanzingfors has been sent to them.” The compliment did something to clear the dark brow of the ambassador.

His little gimlet eyes, in their puffs of flabby-pouched skin, gazed speculatively before him.

“You spoke of curious details, Captain Rosmer. I should wish you to explain exactly what you mean by that.”

The man with the neatly-brushed reddish hair — Captain Rosmer, as they called him — paused a moment before replying. If he felt the superciliousness of tone and manner, he did not show his feeling. He was used to the scorn of those he served.

“It is true,” said he thoughtfully, “that it is now hard to recall the exact state of things in Mittel Europa before the war. Your Highness, however, must have been aware of the attempt of ourselves and our Ally to erect Pannonia into an independent principality ?”

The irony in his voice was hardly veiled. The Nordern embassy was now in Kilistria, and was headed by so important a personage as Prinz Glanzingfors, mainly on account of this affair, which his Excellency thought it grand to pretend to ignore.

“Of course I know that,” he snapped. “I also know that there was an idea at that time of marrying one of the sisters of the Kilistrian king to that young fool who ventured into Pannonia with the amusing idea of governing it, and got knocked on the head for his pains. It came to nothing; but you seem to infer that there was more in it?”

“Certainly there was more than that.”

“Let us have the whole story, by all means.”

Rosmer slightly shifted his slim form in the big ugly chair, watching between half-closed lids the drifting smoke of his cigar.

“King Boris of Kilistria — I fear I am telling you stale news, but I must begin at the beginning — has a half-sister, much younger than himself, in fact, this same Princess Evadne of whose conduct you have just been complaining.”

“Oh-o!” said von Reulenz. “So this minx, who dares to put on airs to our embassy, is actually the girl who was betrothed to the so-called King of Pannonia, I forget his name ”

The general answered, his cigar between his teeth.

“Leonhardt of Vrelde. His mother was English. His father claimed a pure Pannonian ancestry.”

“The Vreldes!” said von Reulenz contemptuously. “People of no importance.”

“That, sir, was probably the reason why the Central Powers chose him as their candidate,” said Rosmer with a slight smile.

“And the stiff-necked young woman was actually contemplating marriage with a Vrelde?”

“It went further than that. His Excellency can tell you.”

The ambassador paused in the act of lighting a fresh cigar, to stare.

“Further than that? What do you mean?”

“Your Excellency,” said Rosmer with another smile, “is pleased to feign ignorance in order to test my knowledge. As you are aware, the marriage had actually taken place.”

Glanzingfors’ eyes bulged stupidly.

“You have been misinformed. There was no marriage. There could not be. They never met. Leonhardt was murdered a bare three weeks after he first set foot in his capital — what do they call the place? — Dalmeira !”

“He was murdered, I suppose, in order to stop the marriage; but it was just forty-eight hours too late,” replied Rosmer, unmoved.

The prince turned ponderously, thumped his fist on the table, and said hoarsely: “Explain! What are you talking about?”

“Your Excellency ordered me to ascertain all the facts. You now desire to satisfy yourself that I have obtained them. Here they are, then. Our far-seeing government, having for reasons of policy seemed to encourage the match, thought better of its decision; and for this reason. If by any wild chance Leonhardt should succeed in pacifying and unifying Pannonia, the close alliance with Kilistria would put too much power into Kilistrian hands in the event of the then rapidly approaching war. Thus, though we could not openly object to the marriage, which had our ostensible approval, we could remove the young man from his sphere of activity before any harm was done. The confusion in Pannonia made our way fatally easy. To stop the marriage, we had only to stop a carriage. When this was done, nobody dreamed that it was done at the instigation of Nordernreich. All went without a hitch. Nevertheless, at the time of his murder, Prince Leonhardt was already married to the Princess Evadne.”

Glanzingfors gave an impatient snort.

“A good story, Rosmer, whoever foisted it upon you. It isn’t true, however. Leonhardt, as I happen to know, went straight from his own estate of Vrelde to ascend the throne of Pannonia” — he paused to remark with a chuckle — “Rather as if a lion-tamer should decide to go and reside permanently among his pets — eh? . . . Anyhow, he never came to Kilistria, even for an hour.”

“Your Excellency is right, as always. What you say is quite true. Nevertheless the marriage did take place — by proxy. The prince sent his friend and aide-de-camp, Michael Ferolitz, to represent him; and the ceremony was performed here in Gailima, in the private chapel of the Schloss. The Metropolitan will confirm this, I assure you. It was a perfectly good and legal marriage, with settlements all complete. Princess Evadne and her suite had, in fact, actually reached the frontier on their journey to join her husband, when the — what is spoken of as the insurrection — took place; and he was removed.”

“Do you know this to be true, Rosmer?”

“The facts can quite easily be verified, if you think it of importance, as I do.”

“Of importance! How can it be of any importance?” broke in von Reulenz. “The man died years ago, and there are no children — couldn’t have been. What does it matter?”

“It seems to me to supply a reason for that hostility shown by the princess to our embassy, which his Excellency so deplores.”

“I still don’t understand why.”

“The princess may have heard that Nordernreich was concerned in the assassination.”

“Rubbish! How could she have heard?”

“It has been a weak point with us that we are very slow to believe that any other country has an efficient secret service,” suggested Rosmer smoothly.

“What was the idea of this proxy affair?” the general wished to know.

“I am told that when Leonhardt of Vrelde arrived in Pannonia and saw the turbulent disorder which prevailed, he feared lest Kilistria might take alarm; and that, should he not succeed in restoring quiet at once, they might refuse to send the princess into danger. If the marriage had actually taken place, they could not back out.”

“One hardly sees how such an event could have been concealed.”

“Why not? It was merely precautionary. There was to have been a public ceremony on her arrival in Dalmeira. She was very young at the time; and as the whole affair came to naught immediately, what object would there have been in announcing it?”

“We acted with our usual thoroughness,” growled Glanzingfors, “but we made a mistake, as things have turned out. Had w r e given that young man a strong backing, he would have held and ruled Pannonia; and the friendship of that little country might have meant the turning-point for us at the crisis.”

“Everyone makes a mistake sometimes,” snapped the general. “Nordernreich makes fewer than anybody else. Talk of mistakes! Look at the British! Was there any mistake they did not make, any blunder too obvious for them to avoid? If ever a country deserved to lose a war it was the British.”

“Only unluckily, they won it,” muttered von Reulenz.

Like most of the men of the younger generation he had ceased to believe in his country’s old policy of violence and betrayal. They were face to face now with its consequences; and they were not pleasant.

“If I may venture to put the situation as I see it,” began Rosmer, looking deferentially towards his chief. Permission was accorded with a nod, and he went on. “We all know the close inter-relations which have existed for the past twenty years between the three states, Lascania, Kilistria, and the Grand Duchy of Marvilion. Since the King of Kilistria married the only daughter of King Joseph of Lascania, and his cousin Raoul von Bordemar married the Grand Duchess Edmee of Marvilion, and was made Grand Duke by the unanimous will of the people, the three countries have been inseparable. Now there has occurred, at the right moment for us, a small occasion of strife, owing to the difficulty of the Lascanian succession. The Queen of Kilistria, although daughter and sole heir of King Joseph, is nevertheless unable to ascend the throne of Lascania, since the Salic Law is there in operation. And the Lascanian people have determined that Raoul of Marvilion, who is perhaps the ablest ruler in Europe, shall be their king. Now, by the intervention and suggestion of Prince Glanzingfors, we have already succeeded in producing a coolness between those two dear friends, the rulers of Kilistria and Marvilion. But in our path is this Princess Evadne. She is the devoted friend of the Grand Duchess Edmee of Marvilion; and the King of Kilistria, her brother, is much attached to her, and a good deal influenced by what she says ”

“I was told yesterday,” put in von Reulenz venomi6 ously, “that her Highness declines to be present at any court function which our embassy is invited to attend.” He laughed the angry laugh of a young man whose vanity is stung. “Let her stay away,” he said.

“Or — er — leave the country altogether?” suggested Rosmer softly. “Why not marry the masterful young lady?”

There was an immediate “Ah!” of attention from the general and von Reulenz. The prince ambassador sat up suddenly, and looked first uneasy, then relieved.

“Good!” said he, “good indeed! We have just now, unfortunately, several marriageable princes going begging.” .

“There is nevertheless one small difficulty,” went on Rosmer softly, his eyes still fixed upon his chief.

“And that is ?”

“The princess is not quite certain that she is a widow.”

General Helso stirred restlessly in his chair, and spoke in a hurry:

“Pretty good, that! Why, I saw Leonhardt’s grave at Dalmeira! As a matter of fact, it is almost the only thing left whole in the city since our army went through. The Pannonians take great care of it. Having murdered him, they now feel inclined to worship him.”

“Oh, they never meant to murder him,” said von Reulenz impatiently. “I remember being told at the time that a band of our men got hold of national costumes and paid a number of tribesmen to march with them, ostensibly to present a petition . . . the thing was easily done ; but that it was done, right enough, is shown, I should suppose, by the years that have elapsed without the dead man’s turning up.”

“He may be a prisoner,” suggested Rosmer, his eyes never shifting from their study of his chief’s countenance.

His Excellency flung his cigar in among the flowers in the empty grate. He had brought Nordern habits to Kilistria with him. “Same kind of tale as the English had about the survival of Kitchener,” he said.

Helso had turned very red, and was fumbling with the fringe of the table-cloth.

“I was told — er — that a report of the kind got about,” said he. “I am in a position to tell you for certain that it was false.”

There was a pause, the two younger men scrutinising the two elder; and most probably in the mind of each was the feeling that subordinates can do little unless they have the full confidence of their superiors. Von Reulenz presently asked:

“Does anybody know what became of Prince Leonhardt’s friend and proxy, Michael Ferolitz?”

“He was last heard of in India,” replied the spy. “He escaped in the tumult, and apparently thought the climate of Dalmeira would not be healthy for the dead king’s friends for some time to come. He wrote to the Oestern officials at the palace, later on, to ask them to send him some things he had left behind.”

“I should like him to be found,” said the ambassador abruptly.

“I have inquiries on foot in several places,” replied Rosmer.

“Understand, all of you,” went on his Excellency, “that I am quite of Rosmer’s opinion that it is necessary to detach the Princess Evadne at once from her brother and from politics ; and also that the best way to do so is to find somebody to woo her ”

Von Reulenz ventured to cut in — “There is the Prince of Grenzenmark unmarried.”

The general exploded in a coarse laugh.

i8

“Theobald! Excellent!” cried he. “So deep in debt that he would marry anybody, anywhere, if it gave him a chance to pay a few of his mess bills ! A handsome devil, too! What’s she like, the young lady?”

“Young?” tittered von Reulenz. “Young before the war!”

Glanzingfors had apparently been doing mental arithmetic.

“She’s older than Theobald,” he began.

“Any port in a storm!” cried Helso hilariously.

“Things at home are so d d slow just now, he

might have a bit of fun here,” put in von Reulenz quite eagerly. “The girls are handsome, I will say that for ’em.” He began to whistle a popular air, “The Girls of Gailima.”

Glanzingfors snarled. “If the Prince of Grenzenmark comes there must be no nonsense of that kind. Everyone knows we lost our chance of world empire because the Hohenzollerns were thieves and libertines. Understand, this is dead earnest, and I’m master here !”

He brought down his fist with a thump upon the table.

Rosmer rose to depart. “The princess,” said he, “should not be hard to persuade. She must be leading a cramped life here. She probably nurses a romantic enmity against Nordernreich. Not at all a bad foundation for a love affair.”

“I suppose,” observed von Reulenz, “that you’ll guarantee Theobald’s expenses, chief? If you wait till he pays his own ”

The prince almost smiled.

“One should offer some compensation when calling upon a handsome young royalty to sacrifice himself to an obscure and mature Kilistrian femme forte” said he. “Can you give us any information about her, Rosmer?”

“It’s hard to obtain, sir. Since the murder at Dalmeira she has lived in retirement, in some little cottage which she occupies on the king’s country estate at Floremar.”

“Floremar! That is on the shores of the Karneru See, is it not? A lovely spot, I’m told. Any hotel there?”

“None anywhere near the royal estate. But there is a good one at Veros, some miles along the shore.”

“Do you feel as if you needed a change of air?” asked the attache innocently of his chief, with a hidden wink at the general.

Glanzingfors ruminated.

“How soon could we get Theobald here?”

“If he liked our idea, he might he here in a week,” replied von Reulenz promptly.

“Well, it’s nice weather for the lake-side, and young people make acquaintance more easily in the country. I think I will send you, von Reulenz, to engage rooms for the embassy at the hotel at Veros.”

“A good idea, Excellency, if I may venture the comment,” said Rosmer. He inclined his sleek head, and with no further leave-taking, turned and left the room without noise.

When he was gone, General Helso exhaled deeply, rose, went to the window, and flung it widely open.

“Faugh!” he said, “I suppose spies are necessary vermin, like leeches and ferrets. But it makes me ill to breathe the same air with them.”

Chapter II

O NE lovely morning in June, when the sun brooded warmly over the shallow turquoise waters of the Karneru See, two young people clad in bathing costume emerged from two of the sandstone caves upon the stretch of private shore on the south-west of the beautiful lake.

A handsome boy of fifteen or so, with the limbs of an athlete, a fine head, and laughing eyes; and a girl — or rather a young woman in the full pride of her beauty, who moved with the ease and buoyancy which is acquired only by a life of exercise in the open air.

These young people were in a state of some excitement as they ran down the smooth sand, and waded into the water until it was deep enough for swimming. Then the boy made a signal by whistling to a stout elderly lady seated under a big white umbrella with her needlework; and she in response cried out shrilly: “One, two, three — go!”

Thereupon, the two struck out, and swam for a small island which lay at a most convenient distance from the shore. It had been named Isola Bella by a former queen of Kilistria who came from Italy.

Both the heir to the throne and his half-aunt were evidently putting forth all their strength and skill. Three parts of the way across she was slightly ahead, and Prince Raoul beginning to knit his brows. Perhaps she saw it, for she cried out jeeringly: —

“Not going to beat your old auntie to-day, then?”

The taunt had its due effect, or perhaps Evadne put a shade less power into her own stroke. It really was not quite clear, even to her, whether she was beaten by accident or design; but beaten she was, by a good generous yard.

As they ran out of the water, she emitted a cry of mock anger, rushed at the triumphant boy, and shook him by the shoulders.

“Ra, you’re a demon! I’ll never forgive you! Snatching from me my own championship on my own lake-side! It’s that fine English tutor of yours who’s to blame for this ! I’ll talk to him !”

The Crown Prince danced for joy and yelled.

“I say, won’t father be bucked? He said I might have the Halcyon for my own when I could beat you swimming! Cheer-o! It’s time I did beat you, isn’t it? Wouldn’t like your own nevvy to be a muff, would you, eh?”

He seized her hands, and they capered together over the sand in a kind of war-dance, sinking down presently, and rolling over luxuriously in the baking heat.

This was indeed a different Evadne from the silent lady who was wont to sit at the side of Queen Rosamond in the state carriage when she went to open a hospital or lay a foundation-stone. Most Kilistrians would tell you that their princess had never rallied from the shock of the murder of the king of Pannonia. Yet now, at play with the boy she loved, she seemed the incarnation of joy.

“You horrid child,” she grumbled, feeling her goldilocks with gleaming arms raised to her head. “You splashed me, and my hair’s all damp! I must let it down, this sun will dry it in five minutes! You run to the hut and fetch something to drink, and some bikkies.”

“/ splash you! I like that! It was you who began splashing, when you found I was licking you! Tried to put water in my eyes and win by a cheat I” teased Raoul, his tone of caressing fun taking all the rudeness out of the words.

“All right, my friend! You wait! You just wait until you can’t get anybody to play tennis with you, then you’ll see whether it pays to cheek a poor old aunt with nobody to take her part.”

“Nobody to take her part! That’s good! I jolly well like that!” gurgled Ra, as he rose and skipped up the wooden steps to the hut.

Meanwhile, Evadne had unbound her hair, and it showered about her in the sunshine. Rising to her feet, she shook the torrent over her, tossed it back from her eyes, and began to run, her arms outspread, her breath quickening with the joy of her strength and health and beauty. In the privacy of that jealously guarded place, she was as safe as if she had been in her own boudoir.

The Karneru See, narrow at its northern extremity, where the Kama rushes in through the wild gorge of that name, widens out at the southern end, so that its shape resembles that of a pear. All around the south east shore, are little “plages” and the slopes are thickly studded with hotels and boat-houses. But on the south-west are the wide crown estates of Floremar, where the cliffs rise majestic from the shore, and the woodland is flanked behind by the wild expanse of Kyriel Moor.

The pleasure steamers which ply upon the Lake are jealously excluded from coming near the royal, or southwest corner. The princess had no fear of intruders; and, when something fell, with a light thud, in the wood close by which she was dancing along, she knew it was only a squirrel, leaping startled from a bough. The rustling which followed the thud was however a trifle prolonged; and she did pause a moment, lips parted and chest heaving, to peer under the shadows of the big trees; but nothing stirred, and she ran back to Raoul, who had brought out bottles of lemonade and glasses. Seated side by side on the sand, they ate and drank, laughing, bickering, chaffing.

‘‘This is the last of the biscuits. You do get such a twist on, Eva! I never saw anybody put it away as you do when you’ve been swimming. Must tell old Mistitch to replenish the supplies. Funny! I thought we had a good bit more. Nobody could pinch our stores, could they?”

“Hardly! No, it’s just the regrettable result of our united appetites.”

Raoul lay down flat, his elbows under his head.

“Jolly decent it is here,” he remarked with a sigh. “Why can’t Father let me stay down here all summer, as he did when I was a child? He says my education comes first. Well, even if it does, old Varley could be here too.”

“Humph!” said Evadne. “I like your English tutor well enough, but I’m not sure I want to have him on hand the whole summer.”

“Poor devil!” muttered Ra, with a smile of naughty comprehension. “Like all the rest of ’em!”

“If you don’t mind your manners, young man, you’ll find yourself on the way back to Gailima by the next train.”

“I don't think,” retorted Ra calmly. The conversation all along had been in English, which they both spoke perfectly. Evadne had learned it in compliment to the King of Pannonia, who was half English both by birth and education.

The princess cuddled down luxuriously in the sand, hair spread all about her in the sunshine; and closed her eyes.

Ra continued to chatter, but her attention became intermittent. When next she took note of what he said, the words she heard were —

“But there couldn’t be such a thing as a seal in the Karneru See, could there?”

“A seal? Dear innocent, there must be thousands! Perhaps you didn’t know there are a pair of Polar bears nesting on Isola Bella, and the other day, I met a giraffe in the woods ”

Ra giggled. “Sure it wasn’t a hippopotamus?”

“Couldn’t have been. It wasn’t a Tuesday.”

The two were, under the auspices of Humphrey Varley, the English tutor, taking a course of such British humourists as Lewis Carroll, whose vein made special appeal to them both.

“It must have been a big black dog, then,” persisted the boy.

“What do you mean? Do you really think you saw something swimming? Honestly?”

“Hand on my heart. Just now. It was a long way off, and you and I were in the water, and I was so keen on winning that I didn’t take so much notice as I should otherwise have done. Just a black head, moving fast, swimming more like a man than a dog, I thought. Only I knew there couldn’t be a man here.”

“I should hope not!” gasped the princess sitting up suddenly and beginning to heap sand over her bare pink toes.

“Bosh !” Ra grinned. “Of course there isn’t. Where could a man come from? It must have been a dog. I should incline to the hippopotamus theory if it didn’t happen to be Saturday.”

“And no thunderstorms lately,” rejoined Evadne thoughtfully. “Whereabouts was it when you saw it?”

The boy pointed to the stretch of water between Floremar and the western edge of the isle upon whose southern marge they were seated.

“Out there to our right. It was coming this way, and disappeared on the other side of the island.’’

“What, behind us?” She sprang to her feet. “You don’t really think there could be — a human being — on our island, Ra?”

“Much more likely a sea-monster. You would make a darling Andromeda, you know. Shall I tie you to a tree and swim off and leave you, just to see if the monster approaches?”

“Ra, be serious a moment, like the dear boy you are, and run round the island, looking behind all the trees. Be quick! I — I don’t think I’ll wait! I’ll just swim back now at once.”

“My respected aunt, think a minute! How could it be a man? Mistitch sees to that, you know he does. Besides, there’s dear old Alberta on the beach.”

“I wouldn’t stake my safety on the old darling’s eyesight,” laughed Evadne, “but as you say, it does seem impossible. The bath season at Veros has hardly begun, at least, Rastitch says the hotel is quite empty. And nobody but a complete stranger — I expect you made a mistake, after all.”

“I don’t think so. To calm your fears I’ll make sure, but you must promise to stay here till I get back. If there is anybody about they are far more likely to hide than to interfere with you.”

With this, he ran off, taking a little path through the wood which would bring him out in a very few minutes upon the opposite shore of Isola Bella. Left alone, Evadne rose to her feet and stood, her hair gathered into one arm, looking very like a study for a picture — “A Wood Nymph Surprised.”

Nothing stirred, save for the flash of wings in the air, as the boy’s running startled the birds. Across the water lay the tranquil shore, and the sunshine lit up the white mushroom of Baroness Alberta’s umbrella.

In all the summers the princess had spent by the lake-side, never once had an intruder ventured to disturb her privacy. Had a man really been in the water, at the point where Ra believed he saw him, he must have started from the private forests of Floremar, which girdled all the water for several miles; and this seemed out of the question. Yet she felt much as one might feel upon strong suspicion of there being a concealed burglar in one’s bedroom. As she lifted her arms, re-coiled her glistening rope of hair, and tied it once more into place, she knew her heart was beating heavily.

Meanwhile the boy, like some long wasp in his yellow and black striped bathing suit, was fleetly encircling the islet. Butterflies circled in the sunny spaces, a squirrel chattered and scolded from the boughs of an ancient hornbeam. He returned through the midst of the wood, by a path which led to the back of their tea-hut, as they called it, the place where they prepared their meals when they spent a day upon the island, as they frequently did.