I looked at her, for the moment puzzled. She saw that I did not follow her.
"Countess von Kienitz--a friend of yours, I believe."
"Friend of mine!" I echoed. "I"ve only been to her house three or four times, just in a crowd, and out of curiosity."
"_Oh, la la!_ Well, she has told the Crown-Princess that you are her friend, and, in brief, has entirely fascinated Her Imperial Highness."
I gasped. At what a pa.s.s we had arrived when the Crown-Princess was receiving that old woman whose reputation was of the gayest and most scandalous!
What the _Grande Maitresse_ had told me was perfectly correct, for three days later a dance was held, and as I entered the room I saw amid that gay a.s.semblage the yellow-haired old widow of the long-forgotten military hero wagging her lace fan and talking quite familiarly with Her Imperial Highness. To my utter amazement also, His Majesty the Emperor, in the gay uniform of the 3rd Regiment of Uhlans of Saxony--of whom he was chief, among a hundred-and-one other high military distinctions--advanced and smiled graciously upon her as she bowed as low as rheumatism and old age allowed.
The fascination which the ugly, shrill-voiced old woman exercised over "Cilli" was quickly remarked, and, of course, gossip became more rife than ever, especially when, a week later, it was announced that she had actually been appointed a lady-in-waiting.
The Crown-Prince, too, soon became on friendly terms with her, and many times I saw them chatting together as though exchanging confidences.
Why?
His Highness, usually so utterly piggish towards ladies, given to snubbing even the highest-born in the Empire, was always smiling and gracious towards her.
"I can"t make it out," declared Von Behr, the Chamberlain _du service_, to me one day two months later, while I was smoking with him in his room. "The old woman has the most complete control over Her Highness.
Because she was averse to the journey, we are not going to Norway this year. Besides, since her appointment she has succeeded in plotting the dismissal of both Countess von Scheet-Plessen and Countess von Brockdorff."
"I know," I replied. I had been discussing it only a few hours before with Major von Amsberg, aide-de-camp of the Prince Eitel Frederic, and he, too, had expressed himself both mystified and disgusted with the mysterious power exercised by the old woman in the yellow wig. "It seems so extraordinary," I went on, "that the Court should so utterly disregard the woman"s reputation."
"Bah, my dear Heltzendorff!" laughed the Chamberlain. "When a woman arrives at seventy she has outlived all the peccadilloes of youth. And, after all, the reputations of most of us here are tarnished--more or less--eh?"
His remarks were indeed true. Nevertheless, it did not lessen the mystery of the appointment of the little old Countess as a lady-in-waiting, nor did it account for the strange influence which she held over the Imperial pair.
One evening I went to the Countess"s house in the Stulerstra.s.se to a dinner-party, at which there were present the Crown-Prince, Admiral von Spee from Kiel, and Von Ilberg, the Emperor"s doctor, together with the old Duke von Trachenberg, who held the honorary and out-of-date office of grand cupbearer to the Emperor, and the eternal "Uncle" Zeppelin.
With us were a number of ladies, including their Serene Highnesses the Princess von Radolin and the d.u.c.h.ess von Ratibor, both ladies of the Court of the Kaiserin, and several others of the ultra-smart set.
After the meal there was a small dance, and about midnight, after waltzing with a pretty girl, the daughter of the Baron von Heintze-Weissenrode, we strolled together into the fine winter garden with its high palms, its plashing fountains, and its cunningly-secreted electric lights.
I was seated with her, chatting gaily, for we had met in July at Stubbenkammer, on the island of Rugen. She had been staying with her father at Eichstadt"s, in Nipmerow, and we had all three been on some pleasant excursions along the Baltic coast, with its picturesque beech woods, white cliffs, and blue bays.
We were recalling a delightful excursion up to the Herthaburg, on the road to Sa.s.snitz, that "altar of sacrifice" which tradition connects with the mysterious rites of the beautiful G.o.ddess Hertha, mentioned by Tacitus, when suddenly we overheard voices.
Two persons were approaching somewhere behind us, conversing in Italian--a man and a woman.
"Hush!" I whispered mischievously. "Listen! Do you know Italian?"
"Alas! no," was her reply. "Do you?"
I did not answer, for I had already recognized the voices as those of our hostess and the Crown-Prince.
Next moment, however, my companion"s quick ears caught that unmistakable squeaky voice.
"Why, it"s the Countess!" she exclaimed.
I made no reply, but continued to recall that glorious summer"s day beside the blue Baltic, while His Highness and the little old lady-in-waiting seated themselves out of sight a short distance away, and continued a very confidential discussion in an undertone in the language in which, after German, I happened perhaps to be most proficient.
The pair were discussing somebody named Karl Krahl, and the curious discussion was undoubtedly regarding some evil intent.
"I saw the Emperor to-day," declared the old woman in her sibilant Italian, so that no one should understand, for Italian is seldom spoken in Germany. "His Majesty shares my views now, though he did not do so at first. Indeed, I was very near being dismissed in disgrace when I first broached the affair. But, fortunately, he now knows the truth and sees the advantage of--well, you know, eh?"
"_Certo, Contessa_," replied the Crown-Prince, who speaks Italian extremely well, though not with half the fluency of his hostess. "I quite foresee the peril and the force of your argument."
"How shall we act?" asked the old woman. "It remains for you to devise a plan. At any moment matters may approach a crisis. One can never account for the confidences exchanged by those who love each other. And, remember, Krahl is in love."
The Crown-Prince grunted, but as several couples entered at that moment the pair suddenly broke off their confidential chat, and, rising, went out together.
Who was this Karl Krahl against whom some deep-laid plot was levelled?
I searched various directories, lists of persons engaged in the Government offices in the Wilhelmstra.s.se, the Leipzigerstra.s.se, and Unter den Linden; I consulted the Director of Berlin Police, Von Jagow; the well-known Detective Schunke, and Heinrich Wesener, a.s.sistant-Director of the Secret Service of the General Staff; but n.o.body knew Karl Krahl. There seemed to be no record of him anywhere.
In October I went with the Crown-Prince and the Emperor upon a round of ceremonial military inspections to the garrisons in Silesia--namely, Breslau, Leignitz, and Oppeln--and afterwards to Lubeck, where we presented new colours to two regiments. Thence, while the Emperor and his Staff returned direct to Berlin, I accompanied His Imperial Highness to Ballenstedt, the beautiful schloss in the Harz Mountains. Here once or twice each season the Crown-Prince"s habit was to invite a few of his most intimate chums to shoot in the forests of Stecklenberg and the Lauenberg, and along that curious sandstone ridge known as the Teufelsmauer, or "Devil"s Wall."
The sport was always excellent, especially about the romantic district of Neue Schenke, near Suderode.
The guns consisted of five well-known officers from Berlin, together with Dr. Zeising, the Master-General of Forests, and Lieut.-General von Oertzen, the fat old Inspector-General of Cavalry. As usual, we all had a most enjoyable time.
On the third day, after a champagne luncheon taken at the forester"s little house at Neue Schenke, we were about to resume our sport. Indeed, all the guests had gone outside, preparing to go to their allotted stations, when the head forester, a stalwart man in green livery, entered, and, addressing the Crown-Prince, said:
"There is a man to see Your Imperial Highness, and refuses to leave. He gives his name as Karl Krahl."
In an instant I p.r.i.c.ked up my ears.
His Highness"s brows narrowed for a second, which showed his annoyance, then, smiling affably, so clever was he, like his Imperial father, in the concealment of his real feelings--he replied:
"Oh, yes--Krahl! I recollect. Yes, I will see him here."
Next moment the person whom I had heard discussed so strangely in the little old woman"s beautiful winter garden was ushered in.
He was dark-haired, aged about twenty-eight, I judged, with small, shrewd black eyes, dressed in a well-cut suit of grey country tweeds, and but for his German name I should have taken him for an English tourist, one of those familiar objects of the Harz in peace time. His appearance instantly interested me, the more so owing to the fact that he had come to that remote spot and at that hour to pay a visit to the Emperor"s son.
"Come in, Karl!" exclaimed the Crown-Prince affably, as he grasped his visitor"s hand. His Highness did not often offer his manicured hand to others, and at this I was, I admit, greatly surprised. "The forester did not know you, of course. Well, I am very pleased to see you. Have you come straight here?"
"Yes, your Highness. I went first to Berlin, and learning that you were here I thought I had better lose no time."
"Quite right," laughed his Highness who, turning to me, said: "Heltzendorff, will you tell the others to go on--that I am detained for an hour on State business, and--and that I will join them as soon as possible. I will find you in the woods, on the left of the Quedlinburg Road, before one comes to the Wurmtal. Apologize for me, but the delay is inevitable. I have a conference with Herr Krahl."
While His Highness remained behind at the forester"s house to chat alone with the mysterious Karl Krahl, we went out among the birds and had some excellent sport. Yet the sight of that ferret-eyed young man, whom I had long endeavoured in vain to trace, caused me considerable wonderment.
Who was that young fellow in whom the little old Countess seemed to take such deep and peculiar interest? What was his offence that she, with the Crown-Prince, should concoct, as it seemed to me, such a plot as that I had partly overheard?
That there was a woman in the case I felt a.s.sured, but her name had not been mentioned, and I had no suspicion of whom it could be. I realized, however, that something important must be in progress, otherwise His Highness, devoted to sport as he was, would never have given up the best afternoon to consult with that stranger in grey tweeds.
The forester and beaters had come with us, as the Crown-Prince had, at his own request, been left alone with his mysterious visitor.
After a couple of short beats we arrived at the spot on the forest road to Quedlinburg, a most romantic and picturesque gorge, where His Highness had arranged to meet us, and there we sat down and waited. Both Von Oertzen and Dr. Zeising, being unduly stout, had been puffed in coming up the steep mountain side, and as we sat we gossiped, though impatient to set forth again.