And it was as though a light broke on the Grand Duke. "You planned all this beforehand?" he inquired.
"Why, precisely, your Highness."
"And de Chateauroux helped you?"
"In effect, yes, your Highness."
"And the Grand d.u.c.h.ess knew?"
"The Grand d.u.c.h.ess suggested it, your Highness, the moment that she knew you thought of eloping."
"And I, who tricked Gaston--!"
"Louis," said the Baroness von Altenburg, in a semi-whisper, "your wife is one of those persons who cling to respectability like a tippler to his bottle. To her it is absolutely nothing how many women you may pursue--or conquer--so long as you remain here under her thumb, to be exhibited, in fair sobriety, upon the necessary public occasions. I pity you, my Louis."
And she sighed with real compa.s.sion.
He took possession of one gloved hand. "At the bottom of your heart," his Highness said, irrelevantly, "you like me better than you do Monsieur de Chateauroux."
"I find you the more entertaining company, to be sure--But what a woman most wants is to be loved. If I touch Philippe"s hand for, say, the millionth part of a second longer than necessity compels, he treads for the remainder of the day above meteors; if yours--why, you at most admire my fingers. No doubt you are a connoisseur of fingers and such-like trifles; but, then, a woman does not wish to be admired by a connoisseur so much as she hungers to be adored by a maniac. And accordingly, I prefer my stupid Philippe."
"You are wise," the Grand Duke estimated, "I remember long ago ... in Poictesme yonder...."
"I loathe her," the Bareness said, with emphasis. "Nay, I am ignorant as to who she was--but O my Louis! had you accorded me a t.i.the of the love you squandered on that abominable dairymaid I would have followed you not only to Vienna--"
He raised his hand, "There are persons yonder in whom the proper emotions are innate; let us not shock them. No, I never loved you, I suppose; I merely liked your way of talking, liked your big green eyes, liked your lithe young body.... He, and I like you still, Amalia. So I shall not play the twopenny despot. G.o.d be with you, my dear."
He had seen tears in those admirable eyes before he turned his back to her.
"Monsieur de Chateauroux," he called, "I find the lady is adamant. I wish you a pleasant journey." He held open the door of the carriage for de Chateauroux to enter.
"You will forgive us, your Highness?" asked the latter.
"You will forget?" murmured the Baroness.
"I shall do both," said the Grand Duke. "Bon voyage, mes enfants!"
And with a cracking of whips the carriage drove off.
"Victoria," said the plump little Grand Duke, in admiration, "you are a remarkable woman. I think that I will walk for a while in the gardens, and meditate upon the perfections of my wife."
VIII
He strolled in the direction of the woods. As he reached the summit of a slight incline he turned and looked toward the road that leads from Breschau to Vienna. A cloud of dust showed where the carriage had disappeared.
"Ma foi!" said his Highness; "my wife has very fully proven her executive ability. Beyond doubt, there is no person in Europe better qualified to rule Noumaria as Regent."
LOVE"S ALUMNI: THE AFTERPIECE
_As Played at Ingilby, October 6, 1755_
"_Though marriage be a lottery, in which there are a wondrous many blanks, yet there is one inestimable lot, in which the only heaven on earth is written. Would your kind fate but guide your hand to that, though I were wrapt in all that luxury itself could clothe me with, I still should envy you._"
DRAMATIS PERSONae
DUKE OF ORMSKIRK.
LOUIS DE SOYECOURT, formerly GRAND DUKE OF NOUMARIA, and now a tuner of pianofortes.
DUC DE PUYSANGE.
DAMIENS, servant to Ormskirk.
In Dumb Show are presented LORD HUMPHREY DEGGE, CAPTAIN FRANCIS AUDAINE, MR. GEORGE ERWYN, d.u.c.h.eSS OF ORMSKIRK, d.u.c.h.eSSE DE PUYSANGE, LADY HUMPHREY DEGGE, MRS. AUDAINE, and MRS. ERWYN.
SCENE
The library, and afterward the dining-room, of Ormskirk"s home at Ingilby, in Westmoreland.
LOVE"S ALUMNI
_PROEM:-Wherein a Prince Serves His People_
The Grand Duke did not return to breakfast nor to dinner, nor, in point of fact, to Noumaria. For the second occasion Louis de Soyecourt had vanished at the spiriting of boredom; and it is gratifying to record that his evasion pa.s.sed without any train of turmoil.
The Grand d.u.c.h.ess seemed to disapprove of her bereavement, mildly, but only said, "Well, after all--!"
She saw to it that the ponds about the palace were dragged conscientiously, and held an interview with the Chief of Police, and more lately had herself declared Regent of Noumaria.
She proved a capable and popular ruler, who when she began to take lovers allowed none of them to meddle with politics: so all went well enough in Noumaria, and n.o.body evinced the least desire to hasten either the maturity of young Duke Anthony or the reappearance of his father.
I
Meantime had come to Ingilby, the Duke of Ormskirk"s place in Westmoreland, a smallish blue-eyed vagabond who requested audience with his Grace, and presently got it, for the Duke, since his retirement from public affairs, [Footnote: He returned to office during the following year, as is well known, immediately before the attempted a.s.sa.s.sination of the French King, in the January of 1757.] had become approachable by almost any member of the public.
The man came Into the library, smiling, "I entreat your pardon, Monsieur le Duc," he began, "that I have not visited you sooner. But in unsettled times, you comprehend, the master of a beleaguered fortress is kept busy.
This poor fortress of my body has been of late most resolutely besieged by poverty and hunger, the while that I have been tramping about Europe--in search of Gaston. Now, they tell me, he is here."
The travesty of their five-year-old interview at Bellegarde so tickled Ormskirk"s fancy that he laughed heartily. "Damiens," said Ormskirk, to the attendant lackey, "go fetch me a Protestant minister from Manneville, and have a gallows erected in one of the drawing-rooms. I intend to pay off an old score." Meantime he was shaking the little vagabond"s hand, chuckling and a-beam with hospitality.
"Your Grace--!" said Damiens, bewildered.