I bowed and prepared to withdraw.
"And you must come and tell me----"
"I will come and make my report."
"I do not know how to thank you."
I kissed her hand and bowed myself out, mightily amused, and, maybe, rather touched at the revelation of this youthful romance. Somehow such things are always touching, stupid as they are for the most part. It pleased me to find that the little princess was flesh and blood.
She followed me to the door, and whispered, as I opened it:
"I have not troubled the prince with the matter."
"Wives are so considerate," thought I, as I went downstairs.
On arriving in England, I made inquiries about Lord Daynesborough. I found that it was seven years since he had abruptly thrown up his post of _attache_, without cause a.s.signed. After this event, he lived in retirement for some time, and then returned into society. Three months ago he had married Miss Dorothy Codrington, a noted beauty, with whom he appeared much in love, and had just returned from his wedding tour and settled down for the season at his house in Curzon Street. Hearing all this, I thought the little princess might have let well alone, and kept her ring; but her conduct was no business of mine, and I set about fulfilling my commission. I needed no one to tell me that Lady Daynesborough had better, as the princess would have phrased it, not be troubled with the matter.
I had no difficulty in meeting the young lord. In spite of the times we live in, a Jason is still a welcome guest in most houses, and before long he and I were sitting side by side at Mrs. Closmadene"s table.
The ladies had withdrawn, and we were about to follow them upstairs.
Daynesborough was a frank, pleasant fellow, and scorned the affectation of concealing his happiness in the married state. In fact, he seemed to take a fancy to me, and told me that he would like me to come and see him at home.
"Then," he said, "you will cease to distrust marriage."
"I shall be most glad to come," I answered, "more especially as I want a talk with you."
"Do you? About what?"
"I have a message for you."
"You have a message for me, Mr. Jason? Forgive me, but from whom?"
I leaned over toward him, and whispered, "The Princess Ferdinand of Glottenberg."
The man turned as white as a sheet, and, gripping my hand, said under his breath:
"Hush! Surely you--you haven"t--she hasn"t sent it?"
"Yes, she has," said I.
"Good G.o.d! After seven years!"
General Closmadene rose from his chair. Daynesborough drank off a very large "white-wash," and added:
"Come to dinner to-morrow--eight o"clock. We shall be alone; and, for Heaven"s sake, say nothing."
I said nothing, and I went to dinner, carrying the ruby ring in my breast-pocket. But I began to wonder whether the little princess was quite as childlike as she seemed.
Lady Daynesborough dined with us. She was a tall, slender girl; very handsome, and, to judge from her appearance, not wanting in resolution and character. She was obviously devoted to her husband, and he treated her with an affectionate deference that seemed to me almost overdone.
It was like the manner of a man who is remorseful for having wounded someone he loves.
When she left us, he returned to the table, and, with a weary sigh, said:
"Now, Mr. Jason, I am ready."
"My task is a very short one," said I. "I have no message except to convey to you the princess" best wishes for your happiness on your marriage, of which she has recently heard, and to give you the ring.
Here it is."
"Have women no mercy?" groaned he.
"I beg your pardon?" said I, rather startled.
"She waits seven years--seven years without a word or a sign--and then sends it! And why?"
"Because you"re married."
"Exactly. Isn"t it--devilish?"
"Not at all. It"s strictly correct. She said herself that your wife was the proper person to have the ring now."
He looked at me with a bitter smile.
"My dear Jason," he said, "I have been flattering your ac.u.men at the expense of your morality. I thought you knew what this meant."
"No more than what the princess told me."
"No, of course not, or you would not have brought it. When we parted, I gave her the ring, and she made me promise, on my honor as a gentleman, to come to her the moment she sent the ring--to leave everything and come to her, and take her away. And I promised."
"And she has never sent till now?"
"I never married till now," he said bitterly. "What"s the matter with her?"
"Nothing that I know of."
He rose, went to a writing table, and came back with a fat paper book--a Continental Bradshaw.
"You"re not going?" I exclaimed.
"Oh, yes! I promised."
"You promised something to your wife too, didn"t you?"
"I can"t argue it. I must go and see what she wants. I--I hope she"ll let me come back."
I tried to dissuade him. I know I told him he was a fool; I think I told him he was a scoundrel. I was not sure of the second, but I thought it wisest to pretend that I was.
"I hope it will be all right," he said, again and again; "but, right or wrong, I must go."
I took an immediate resolution.