"Is this," I asked, "an invitation to me to join in the spoils? Am I to become murderer, or poisoner, or abductor, or what?"
Lady Delahaye bit her lip.
"You are altogether too severe," she said. "Madame simply realizes that she has been mistaken. She is willing for Isobel to be restored to her grandfather. It will mean a million or so less dowry for Adelaide, but that must be faced. Madame desires to make peace with you."
"I am charmed," I answered. "May I ask exactly what this means?"
Lady Delahaye smiled up at me.
"The Archd.u.c.h.ess will explain to you herself," she said. "I am taking you to her."
I slackened my pace.
"I think not," I said. "To tell you the truth, the Archd.u.c.h.ess terrifies me. I see myself inveigled into a room with a trap-door, or knocked on the head by hired bullies, and all manner of disagreeable things. No, Lady Delahaye, I think that I will not run the risk."
She laughed softly.
"I know that you will come," she said softly.
"And why?" I asked.
"Because you are a man, and you do not know fear!"
I raised my hat and proceeded.
"My head is turned," I said. "Nothing flatters a coward so much as the imputation of bravery. I think that I shall go with you anywhere."
"Even--to the Rue Strelitz?"
"My courage may fail me at the last moment," I answered. "At present it feels equal even to the Rue Strelitz."
Again she laughed.
"You are a fraud, Arnold," she declared. "As if we did not know--I and Madame and all of us, that in Paris, even throughout France, you could walk safely into any den of thieves you choose. Your courage isn"t worth a snap of the fingers. Any man can be brave who has the archangels of Dotant at his elbows."
"What an easily p.r.i.c.ked reputation," I answered regretfully. "Well, it is true. Dotant was Feurgeres" greatest friend, and even Isobel might walk the streets of Paris alone and in safety. Hence, I presume, the amiable desire of the Archd.u.c.h.ess for an alliance."
Lady Delahaye shrugged her lace-clad shoulders.
"My dear Arnold," she said, "for myself I adore candour, and why should I try and deceive you? Madame has played a losing game, and knows it.
She has the courage to admit defeat. She can still offer enough to make an alliance desirable. For instance, those tickets in your pocket for Illghera will take you there, it is true, but they will not take you into the presence of the King."
"The King," I remarked pensively, "leads a retired life."
"He does," Lady Delahaye answered. "He has the greatest objection to visitors, and for a stranger to obtain an audience is almost an impossibility. He never leaves the grounds of the villa, and his secretary, who opens all his letters, is--a friend of Madame"s."
"You have put your case admirably," I remarked. "If Madame is sincere, I should at least like to hear what she has to say."
Lady Delahaye drew a little sigh of content.
"At last," she exclaimed, "I do believe that you are going to behave like a reasonable person."
I could not refrain from the natural retort.
"I have an idea," I said, "that up to now my actions have been fairly well justified."
We were mounting the steps of her house. She looked round and raised her eyebrows.
"We must let bygones be bygones!" she said. "Madame has declared that henceforth she adjures all intrigue."
A footman took my hat and stick in the hall. Lady Delahaye led me into a small boudoir leading out of a larger room. She herself only opened the door and closed it, remaining outside. I was alone with the Archd.u.c.h.ess.
She rose slowly to her feet, a very graceful and majestic-looking person, with a suggestion of Isobel in her thin neck and the pose of her head. She did not hold out her hand, and she surveyed me very critically. I ventured to bestow something of the same attention upon her. She was certainly a very beautiful woman, and her expression by no means displeasing. She had Isobel"s dark blue eyes, and there was a humorous line about her mouth which astonished me.
"I am not offering you my hand, Mr. Greatson," she said, "because I presume that until we understand each other better it would be a mere matter of form. Still, I am glad that you have come to see me."
"I am very glad too, Madame," I answered, "especially if my visit leads to a cessation of the somewhat remarkable proceedings of the last few weeks."
The Archd.u.c.h.ess smiled.
"Well," she said, "I am forced to admit myself beaten. I have been ill-served, it is true, but I suppose my methods are antiquated."
"They belong properly," I admitted, "to a few centuries ago."
Madame smiled a little queerly.
"A few centuries ago," she said, "I fancy that if our family history is true, the affair would have been more simple."
"I can well believe it," I answered.
Madame relapsed into her chair, from which I judged that the preliminary skirmishing was over.
"You will please to be seated, Mr. Greatson!"
I obeyed.
"I am not going to play the hypocrite with you, sir," she said quietly.
"It is not worth while, is it? The object of the struggle between us has been, on my part, to keep Isobel and her grandfather apart. You have doubtless correctly gauged my motive. Isobel"s mother was my father"s favourite child. If he had an idea that her child was alive, he would receive her without a word. She would completely usurp the place of Adelaide, my own daughter, in his affection--and in his will."
"In his will!" I repeated quietly. "Yes, I understand."
Madame nodded.
"It is quite simple," she said. "For myself I am willing to admit that I am an ambitious woman. Money for its own sake I take no heed of, but it remains always one of the great levers of the world, and it is the only lever by means of which I can gain what I desire. I never forget that the country over which my father rules was once an absolute kingdom, and semi-Royalty does not appeal to me. The betrothal of my daughter Adelaide to Ferdinand of Saxonia was of my planning entirely. The dowry required by the Council of Saxonia is so large that it could not possibly be paid if any portion of my father"s fortune, great though it is, is diverted towards Isobel. Hence my desire to keep Isobel and her grandfather apart."
"Madame," I said, "you are candour itself. I can only regret that it is my hard fate to oppose such admirable plans."
"I have been given to understand," the Archd.u.c.h.ess said, "that it is now your intention to take Isobel yourself to Illghera!"