"Leave this room, or I will shoot."
Courtlandt advanced toward her slowly. "Do so," he said. "I should much prefer a bullet to that look."
"I am in earnest." She was very white, but her hand was steady.
He continued to advance. There followed a crash. The smell of burning powder filled the room. The Burmese gong clanged shrilly and whirled wildly. Courtlandt felt his hair stir in terror.
"You must hate me indeed," he said quietly, as the sense of terror died away. He folded his arms. "Try again; there ought to be half a dozen bullets left. No? Then, good-by!" He left the apartment without another word or look, and as the door closed behind him there was a kind of finality in the clicking of the latch.
The revolver clattered to the floor, and the woman who had fired it leaned heavily against the mantel, covering her eyes.
"Nora, Nora!" cried a startled voice from a bedroom adjoining. "What has happened? _Mon Dieu_, what is it?" A pretty, sleepy-eyed young woman, in a night-dress, rushed into the room. She flung her arms about the singer.
"Nora, my dear, my dear!"
"He forced his way in. I thought to frighten him. It went off accidentally. Oh, Celeste, Celeste, I might have killed him!"
The other drew her head down on her shoulder, and listened. She could hear voices in the lower hall, a shout of warning, a patter of steps; then the hall door slammed. After that, silence, save for the faint mellowing vibrations of the Burmese gong.
CHAPTER V
CAPTIVE OR RUNAWAY
At the age of twenty-six Donald Abbott had become a prosperous and distinguished painter in water-colors. His work was individual, and at the same time it was delicate and charming. One saw his Italian landscapes as through a filmy gauze: the almond blossoms of Sicily, the rose-laden walls of Florence, the vineyards of Chianti, the poppy-glowing Campagna out of Rome. His Italian lakes had brought him fame. He knew very little of the grind and hunger that attended the careers of his whilom a.s.sociates. His father had left him some valuable patents--wash-tubs, carpet-cleaners, and other labor-saving devices--and the royalties from these were quite sufficient to keep him pleasantly housed. When he referred to his father (of whom he had been very fond) it was as an inventor. Of what, he rarely told. In America it was all right; but over here, where these inventions were unknown, a wash-tub had a peculiar significance: that a man should be found in his money through its services left persons in doubt as to his genealogical tree, which, as a matter of fact, was a very good one. As a boy his schoolmates had dubbed him "The Sweep" and "Suds," and it was only human that he should wish to forget.
His earnings (not inconsiderable, for tourists found much to admire in both the pictures and the artist) he spent in gratifying his mild extravagances. So there were no lines in his handsome, boyish, beardless face; and his eyes were unusually clear and happy. Perhaps once or twice, since his majority, he had returned to America to prove that he was not an expatriate, though certainly he was one, the only tie existing between him and his native land being the bankers who regularly honored his drafts.
And who shall condemn him for preferring Italy to the desolate center of New York state, where good servants and good weather are as rare as are flawless emeralds?
Half after three, on Wednesday afternoon, Abbott stared moodily at the weather-tarnished group by Dalou in the Luxembourg gardens--the _Triumph of Silenus_. His gaze was deceptive, for the rollicking old bibulous scoundrel had not stirred his critical sense nor impressed the delicate films of thought. He was looking through the bronze, into the far-away things. He sat on his own folding stool, which he had brought along from his winter studio hard by in the old Boul" Miche". He had arrived early that morning, all the way from Como, to find a thunderbolt driven in at his feet. Across his knees fluttered an open newspaper, the Paris edition of the New York _Herald_. All that kept it from blowing away was the tense if sprawling fingers of his right hand; his left hung limply at his side.
It was not possible. Such things did not happen these unromantic days to musical celebrities. She had written that on Monday night she would sing in _La Boheme_ and on Wednesday, _Faust_. She had since vanished, vanished as completely as though she had taken wings and flown away. It was unreal.
She had left the apartment in the Avenue de Wagram on Sat.u.r.day afternoon, and nothing had been seen or heard of her since. At the last moment they had had to find a subst.i.tute for her part in the Puccini opera. The maid testified that her mistress had gone on an errand of mercy. She had not mentioned where, but she had said that she would return in time to dress for dinner, which proved conclusively that something out of the ordinary had befallen her.
The automobile that had carried her away had not been her own, and the chauffeur was unknown. None of the directors at the Opera had been notified of any change in the singer"s plans. She had disappeared, and they were deeply concerned. Singers were generally erratic, full of sudden indispositions, unaccountable whims; but the Signorina da Toscana was one in a thousand. She never broke an engagement. If she was ill she said so at once; she never left them in doubt until the last moment. Indecision was not one of her characteristics. She was as reliable as the sun. If the directors did not hear definitely from her by noon to-day, they would have to find another Marguerite.
The police began to move, and they stirred up some curious bits of information. A man had tried to bribe the singer"s chauffeur, while she was singing at the Austrian amba.s.sador"s. The chauffeur was able to describe the stranger with some accuracy. Then came the bewildering episode in the apartment: the pistol-shot, the flight of the man, the astonished concierge to whom the beautiful American would offer no explanations. The man (who tallied with the description given by the chauffeur) had obtained entrance under false representations. He claimed to be an emissary with important instructions from the Opera. There was nothing unusual in this; messengers came at all hours, and seldom the same one twice; so the concierge"s suspicions had not been aroused. Another item. A tall handsome Italian had called at eleven o"clock Sat.u.r.day morning, but the signorina had sent down word that she could not see him.
The maid recalled that her mistress had intended to dine that night with the Italian gentleman. His name she did not know, having been with the signorina but two weeks.
Celeste Fournier, the celebrated young pianist and composer, who shared the apartment with the missing prima donna, stated that she hadn"t the slightest idea where her friend was. She was certain that misfortune had overtaken her in some inexplicable manner. To implicate the Italian was out of the question. He was well-known to them both. He had arrived again at seven, Sat.u.r.day, and was very much surprised that the signorina had not yet returned. He had waited till nine, when he left, greatly disappointed.
He was the Barone di Monte-Verdi in Calabria, formerly military attache at the Italian emba.s.sy in Berlin. Sunday noon Mademoiselle Fournier had notified the authorities. She did not know, but she felt sure that the blond stranger knew more than any one else. And here was the end of things. The police found themselves at a standstill. They searched the hotels but without success; the blond stranger could not be found.
Abbott"s eyes were not happy and pleasant just now. They were dull and blank with the reaction of the stunning blow. He, too, was certain of the Barone. Much as he secretly hated the Italian, he knew him to be a fearless and an honorable man. But who could this blond stranger be who appeared so sinisterly in the two scenes? From where had he come? Why had Nora refused to explain about the pistol-shot? Any woman had a perfect right to shoot a man who forced his way into her apartment. Was he one of those mad fools who had fallen in love with her, and had become desperate?
Or was it some one she knew and against whom she did not wish to bring any charges? Abducted! And she might be, at this very moment, suffering all sorts of indignities. It was horrible to be so helpless.
The sparkle of the sunlight upon the ferrule of a cane, extending over his shoulder, broke in on his agonizing thoughts. He turned, an angry word on the tip of his tongue. He expected to see some tourist who wanted to be informed.
"Ted Courtlandt!" He jumped up, overturning the stool. "And where the d.i.c.kens did you come from? I thought you were in the Orient?"
"Just got back, Abby."
The two shook hands and eyed each other with the appraising scrutiny of friends of long standing.
"You don"t change any," said Abbott.
"Nor do you. I"ve been standing behind you fully two minutes. What were you glooming about? Old Silenus offend you?"
"Have you read the _Herald_ this morning?"
"I never read it nowadays. They are always giving me a roast of some kind.
Whatever I do they are bound to misconstrue it." Courtlandt stooped and righted the stool, but sat down on the gra.s.s, his feet in the path.
"What"s the trouble? Have they been after you?"
Abbott rescued the offending paper and shaking it under his friend"s nose, said: "Read that."
Courtlandt"s eyes widened considerably as they absorbed the significance of the heading--"Eleonora da Toscana missing."
"Bah!" he exclaimed.
"You say bah?"
"It looks like one of their advertising dodges. I know something about singers," Courtlandt added. "I engineered a musical comedy once."
"You do not know anything about her," cried Abbott hotly.
"That"s true enough." Courtlandt finished the article, folded the paper and returned it, and began digging in the path with his cane.
"But what I want to know is, who the devil is this mysterious blond stranger?" Abbott flourished the paper again. "I tell you, it"s no advertising dodge. She"s been abducted. The hound!"
Courtlandt ceased boring into the earth. "The story says that she refused to explain this blond chap"s presence in her room. What do you make of that?"
"Perhaps you think the fellow was her press-agent?" was the retort.
"Lord, no! But it proves that she knew him, that she did not want the police to find him. At least, not at that moment. Who"s the Italian?"
suddenly.
"I can vouch for him. He is a gentleman, honorable as the day is long, even if he is hot-headed at times. Count him out of it. It"s this unknown, I tell you. Revenge for some imagined slight. It"s as plain as the nose on your face."
"How long have you known her?" asked Courtlandt presently.
"About two years. She"s the gem of the whole lot. Gentle, kindly, untouched by flattery.... Why, you must have seen and heard her!"
"I have." Courtlandt stared into the hole he had dug. "Voice like an angel"s, with a face like Bellini"s donna; and Irish all over. But for all that, you will find that her disappearance will turn out to be a diva"s whim. Hang it, Suds, I"ve had some experience with singers."
"You are a blockhead!" exploded the younger man.
"All right, I am." Courtlandt laughed.