The moment the door had closed and they were alone he took his visitors hand and raised it reverently to his lips, bowing low, with the exquisite grace of the born courtier.
In an instant she drew it from him and threw back her veil, revealing her pale, beautiful face the face of her Imperial Highness the Crown Princess Claire.
Highness! the man exclaimed, glancing anxiously at the door to reassure himself that it was closed, I had your note this morning, but but are you not running too great a risk by coming here? I could not reply, fearing that my letter might fall into other hands; otherwise I would on no account have allowed you to come. You may have been followed. There are, as you know, spies everywhere.
I have come, Carl, because I wish to speak to you, she said, looking unflinchingly into his handsome face. I wish to know by what right you have followed me here to Vienna?
He drew back in surprise, for her attitude was entirely unexpected.
I came here upon my own private affairs, he answered.
That is not the truth, she declared in quick resentment. You are here because you believed that you might meet me at the reception after the State dinner to-night. You applied for a card for it in order that you could see me and this, after what passed between us the other day! Do you consider that you are treating me fairly? Cannot you see that your constant attentions are compromising me and causing people to talk?
And what, pray, does your Imperial Highness care for this idle Court gossip? asked the well-dressed, athletic-looking man, at the same time placing a chair for her and bowing her to it. There has been enough of it already, and you have always expressed the utmost disregard of anything that might be said, or any stories that might be invented.
I know, she answered. But this injudicious action of yours in following me here is utter madness. It places me in peril. You are known in Vienna, remember.
Then if that is your view, your Highness, I can only apologise, he said most humbly. I will admit that I came here in order to be able to get a few minutes conversation with you to-night. At our Court at home you know how very difficult it is for me to speak with you, for the sharp eye of the Trauttenberg is ever upon you.
The Princesss arched brows contracted slightly. She recollected what Steinbach had revealed to her regarding her lady-in-waiting.
And it is surely best that you should have difficulty in approaching me, she said. I have not forgotten your foolish journey to Paris, where I had gone incognito to see my old nurse, and how you compelled me to go out and see the sights in your company. We were recognised. Do you know that? she exclaimed in a hard voice. A man who knew us both sent word to Court that we were in Paris together.
Recognised! he gasped, the colour fading instantly from his face. Who saw us?
Of his identity Im not aware, she answered, for she was a clever diplomatist, and could keep a secret well. She did not reveal Scheels name. I only know that our meeting in Paris is no secret. They suspect me, and I have you to thank for whatever scandal may now be invented concerning us.
The lithe, clean-limbed man was silent, his head bent before her. What could he reply? He knew, alas! too well, that in following her from Germany to Paris he had acted very injudiciously. She was believed to be taking the baths at Aix, but a sudden caprice had seized her to run up to Paris and see her old French nurse, to whom she was much attached. He had learnt her intention in confidence, and had met her in Paris and shown her the city. It had been an indiscretion, he admitted.
Yet the recollection of those few delightful days of freedom remained like a pleasant dream. He recollected her childish delight of it all. It was out of the season, and they believed that they could go hither and thither, like the crowds of tourists do, without fear of recognition. Yet Fate, it seemed, had been against them, and their secret meeting was actually known!
Cannot you see the foolishness of it all? she asked in a low, serious voice. Cannot you see, Carl, that your presence here lends colour to their suspicions? I have enemies fierce, bitter enemies as you must know too well, and yet you imperil me like this! she cried reproachfully.
I can make no defence, Princess, he said lamely. I can only regret deeply having caused you any annoyance.
Annoyance! she echoed in anger. Your injudicious actions have placed me in the greatest peril. The people have coupled our names, and you are known to have followed me on here.
Her companion was silent, his eyes downcast, as though not daring to meet her reproachful gaze.
I have been foolish very foolish, I know, she cried. In the old days, when we knew each other at Wartenstein, a boy-and-girl affection sprang up between us; and then, when you left the University, they sent you as attaché to the Embassy in London, and we gradually forgot each other. You grew tired of diplomacy, and returned to find me the wife of the Crown Prince; and in a thoughtless moment I promised, at your request, to recommend you to a post in the private cabinet of the King. Since that day I have always regretted. I ought never to have allowed you to return. I am as much to blame as you are, for it was an entirely false step. Yet how was I to know?
True, my Princess! said the man in a low, choking voice. How were you to know that I still loved you in silence, that I was aware of the secret of your domestic unhappiness, that I
Enough! she cried, drawing herself up. The word love surely need not be spoken between us. I know it all, alas! Yet I beg of you to remember that I am the wife of another, and a woman of honour.
Ah yes, he exclaimed, his trembling hand resting on the back of the chair upon which she sat. Honour yes. I love you, Claire you surely know that well. But we do not speak of it; it is a subject not to be discussed by us. Day after day, unable to speak to you, I watch you in silence. I know your bitterness in that gilded prison they call the Court, and long always to help you and rescue you from that that man to whom you are, alas! wedded. It is all so horrible, so loathsome, that I recoil when I see him smiling upon you while at heart he hates you. For weeks, since last we spoke together, how I have lived I scarcely know utter despair, insane hopes alternately possess me but at last the day came, and I followed you here to speak with you, my Princess.
She remained silent, somewhat embarrassed, as he took her gloved hand and again kissed it.
She was nervous, but next instant determined.
Alas! I have not failed to notice your strong affection for me, Carl, she said with a heavy sigh, her beautiful face slightly flushed. You must therefore control this passion that seems to have been rekindled within your heart. For my sake go, and forget me, she implored. Resign your appointment, and re-enter the diplomatic service of the Emperor. I will speak to Lindenau, who will give you an appointment, say, in Rome or Paris. But you must not remain at Treysa. I I will not allow it.
But, Princess, he cried in dismay, I cannot go and leave you there alone among your enemies. You
You must; for, unintentionally, because you have my interests at heart, you are my worst enemy. You are indiscreet, just as every man is who loves a woman truly.
Then you really believe I love you still, Claire, he cried, bending towards her. You remember those delightfully happy days at Wartenstein long ago, when
Then you really believe I love you still, Claire, he cried, bending towards her. You remember those delightfully happy days at Wartenstein long ago, when
She held up her hand to stop the flow of his words.
He looked at her. For an instant her glance wavered and shrank.
She was his idol, the beautiful idol with eyes like heaven.
Yes, she was very beautiful beautiful with all the beauty of woman now, not with the beauty of the girl.
And she, with her sad gaze fixed upon him, remembered all the past the great old castle in the far-off Tyrol, her laughter at his awkwardness; their chats in English when both were learning that language; the quarrel over the lilac blossom. At Arcachon the shore and the pine forest; the boyish kiss stolen under the mistletoe; the declaration of their young love on that lonely mountain-side with the world lying at their feet; the long, sweet, silent kisses exchanged on their homeward walk; the roses she had given him as farewell pledge when he had left for London.
All had gone gone for ever.
Nevertheless, though everything was past, she could not resist an impulse to recall it oh, very briefly in a few feeling words, as one may recall some sweet and rapturous dream.
We were very foolish, she said.
He was silent. His heart was too full for words. He knew that a woman who can look back on the past on rapture, delight, the first thrilling kiss, the first fervent vow and say, We were very foolish, is a woman changed beyond recall.
In other days, had he heard such sacrilegious words a cry of horror would have sprung from his lips. But now, though he shuddered with anguish, he simply said,
I shall always remember it, Princess; adding, with a glance at her, and you.
Her wonderful eyes shrank once more and her lips quivered, as though for one second touched again by the light wing of love as if, indeed, she felt she had done something unworthy of her, something which might bring her regret hereafter.
In the midst of his confusion, the man remained victorious. She would never be his, and yet she would be his for ever. No matter how she might strive, she would never entirely forget.
She sighed, and rising, walked unsteadily to the window, where, below, the street lamps were just being lit. Daylight had faded, and in the room it was almost dark.
To-night, Carl, we meet for the last time, she said with an effort, in a hard, strained voice. Both for you and for me it is best that we should part and forget. I did wrong to recommend you to the post at Court, and I ought to have foreseen the grave peril of the situation. Fortunately, I have realised it in time, even though our enemies already believe ill and invent lies concerning us. You must not return to Court. Remember, I forbid you. To-night, at the State dinner, I will speak to Lindenau and ask him to send you as attaché to Rome or to Petersburg. It is the wisest course.
Then your Highness really intends to banish me? he said hoarsely, in a low, broken voice of reproach.
Yes, she faltered. I I must Carl to to save myself.
But you are cruel very cruel Princess, he cried, his voice trembling with emotion.
You must realise my peril, she said seriously. Your presence at Court increases my danger hourly, because and she hesitated because, Carl, I confess to you that I do not forget I never shall forget, she added as the tears sprang to her blue eyes. Therefore, go! Let me bear my own burden as best I can alone, and let me remember you as what you have always been chivalrous to an unhappy woman; a man of honour.
Slowly she moved across the room towards the door, but he arrested her progress, and took her small hand quickly in his grasp.
For some moments, in the falling gloom, he looked into her sweet, tearful face without speaking; then crushing down the lump that arose in his throat, he raised to his hot, passionate lips the hand of the woman he loved, and, imprinting upon it a tender, lingering kiss, murmured,
Adieu, Claire my Princess my first, my only love! She drew her hand away as his passionate words fell upon her ear, sighed heavily, and in silence opened the door and passed out from his presence.
And thus were two brave hearts torn asunder.
Chapter Five
Some Suspicions
State dinners, those long, tedious affairs at which the conversation is always stilted and the bearing of everybody is stiff and unnatural, always bored the Crown Princess Claire to death.
Whenever she could she escaped them; but as a Crown Princess she was compelled by Court etiquette to undergo ordeals which, to a woman not educated as an Imperial Archduchess, would have been impossible. She had trained herself to sit for hours smiling and good-humoured, although at heart she hated all that glittering formality and rich display. There were times when at her own Court at Treysa, at the military anniversary dinners that were so often held, she had been compelled to sit at table with her husband and the guests for four and five hours on end, without showing any sign of fatigue beyond taking her smelling-salts from the hand of her lady-in-waiting. Yet she never complained, though the eating, and more especially the drinking, disgusted her. It was a duty one of the many wearisome, soul-killing duties which devolve upon a Crown Princess of which the world at large is in utter ignorance. Therefore she accepted it in silence, yet bored always by meeting and speaking with the same circle of people day after day a small circle which was ever intriguing, ever consumed by its own jealousies, ever striving for the favour of the aged king; the narrow-minded little world within the Palace who treated those outside as though of different flesh and blood to themselves.
Whether at a marriage, at a funeral, at the opera, at a review, or at a charity fête everywhere where her Court duties called her she met the same people, she heard the same interminable chatter and the same shameful scandals, until, unhappy in her own domestic life, she had grown to loathe it all, and to long for that liberty of which she had dreamed when a girl at her fathers castle at Wartenstein, or at the great old Residenz-Schloss, or palace, at Pressburg.
Yet what liberty could she, heiress to a throne, obtain; what, indeed, within her husbands Court, a circle who dined at five oclock and were iron-bound by etiquette?
The State dinner at the Imperial palace that night differed but little from any other State dinner long, dull, and extremely uninteresting. Given in honour of a Swedish Prince who was at the moment the guest of the Emperor, there were present the usual circle of Imperial Archdukes and Archduchesses, who after dinner were joined in the great reception-room by the Ministers of State, the British, French, and Italian Ambassadors, the Swedish Minister and the whole staff of the Swedish Embassy in the Schwindgasse. Every one was in uniform and wore his orders, the Emperor himself standing at the end of the room, chatting with his young guest in French.
The Crown Princess Claire, a striking figure in turquoise chiffon, was standing near, discussing Leoncavallos new opera with her cousin, the Princess Marie of Bourbon, who had arrived only a few days before from Madrid. Suddenly her eye caught the figure she had all the evening been in Search of.
Count de Lindenau, Privy Councillor, Chamberlain, Minister of the Imperial Household, and Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Austrian Empire a short, rather stout, bald-headed man, with heavy white moustache, with the crimson ribbon of the Order of Saint Stephen of Hungary across his shirt-front and the Grand Cross in brilliants upon his coat stopped to bow low before the Crown Princess, who in an instant seized the opportunity to leave her cousin and speak with him.