"I am not very quick at speaking English," she said. "You are Ughtred of Tyrnaus?"
"Well, I am supposed to be," he admitted.
"Then where is my brother?" she demanded. "Why is he not with you?"
He looked at her, puzzled.
"Forgive me," he said. "I am rather stupid. What is your brother"s name, and who are you?"
Her eyes gleamed with suspicion. Was it not obvious who she was?
"I am the Countess Marie of Reist," she said. "Will you answer me quickly?"
He divined the likeness at once.
"And do you live--in the wall?" he asked.
She frowned imperiously.
"If you indeed are Ughtred of Tyrnaus," she said, "you should know that the Reist house adjoins the palace, and that this pa.s.sage has been in existence since the days of King Rudolph. Tell me what you have done with my brother Nicholas, and how it happens that you have entered the city without him, and in company with Domiloff the wolf."
He smiled. His optimism was justified. Something had turned up.
"You must allow me to make a confession, Countess," he said, easily.
"I am not Ughtred of Tyrnaus. The Prince is on his way to the city with your brother, and, to tell you the truth, if they do not arrive here very soon my position will become extremely uncomfortable."
She withdrew within the shelter of the panel and regarded him haughtily.
"You say that you are not Ughtred of Tyrnaus," she exclaimed. "Then who are you? An impostor! Yes! You are in the royal chamber, and even now the people call for you. You are a tool of Domiloff"s. Good! The people shall know that they are being deceived!"
He was only just in time to seize her by the wrist. She wrenched herself free with a furious little cry, but he blocked her escape.
"Countess," he said, with perfect respect, but with a gleam of laughter in his eyes, "pray do not desert me, for I am a friend of your brother"s, and especially of Prince Ughtred"s. I am not masquerading for the fun of the thing, I can a.s.sure you, but solely to outwit Domiloff. Permit me to explain, The fact is, I need your help."
She eyed him coldly. The touch of his fingers seemed burning still upon her wrist.
"Well?"
"Three of us left England together," Brand said. "Your brother, Prince Ughtred, and myself--Walter Brand, a newspaper writer and a person of no importance. I won"t stop to tell you how I became one of the party.
It isn"t of any consequence, and time is. I happen to slightly resemble Prince Ughtred, and we got scent of a plot to stop our entrance into Theos. Well, Prince Ughtred and I exchanged ident.i.ties.
The consequences were these. The Prince and your brother left the train secretly before we left the frontier, I was drugged, and awoke to find myself _tete-a-tete_ with a remarkably gentlemanly personage called Domiloff."
Her eyes flashed fire. She came a little further into the room.
"Ah! Well!"
"He took me for granted in the kindest possible manner--waived aside the matter of my abduction--affected to consider me as an afternoon caller. He introduced politics in a casual sort of way. Russia I found was the great and generous friend of Theos. Russia was pining for the friendship of Theos."
She interrupted him with a fierce little gesture of contempt.
"The hound! Russia is our enemy! It was she who sought to buy our freedom from Metzger, the merchant, for a million pounds."
He nodded.
"Exactly. However, I had to listen to him. In the end he produced a treaty--Russian protection for Theos in exchange for every shred of independence she possessed. If I would swear before witnesses to sign it when I became King, I might proceed, and Domiloff himself would be my escort. If I refused--well, I think then that other things were in store for me. After a becoming show of hesitation I promised to sign--when I was King. Then Domiloff hustled me along here. I have delayed things as long as possible, but it"s getting a little uncomfortable. Domiloff can"t understand why I won"t go and speak to the people. If I declare myself, he will shoot me on sight. What I have been praying for is a chance to escape, or that your brother and the Prince might turn up."
She regarded him with unfeigned admiration.
"I did you an injustice," she said. "I see that you are a very brave man, and we in Theos love brave men."
He bowed before her so gallantly and looked into her eyes so closely that a wave of colour flushed in her cheeks. A distant sound in the Palace, however, brought them to a swift sense of the danger which threatened him.
"You see," he explained, "I was bound to keep it up as long as I could, or Domiloff would have tried to prevent your brother and the Prince from reaching the capital. Besides, since I have read the proposed treaty they would never allow me to escape alive."
She nodded slowly.
"Yes, that is so. It would not be well that you speak first to the people with Domiloff at your elbow, but if it comes to a matter of life or death you must do it. I will send servants and horses to hasten my brother"s coming, and you must continue the personation."
"There is an objection," he replied, quickly. "I do not know a single word of your language, and to speak for the first time to the people in any other would do the Prince a great injury with them."
She reflected for a moment. Then her face lit up. She pointed down the pa.s.sage.
"I think," she said, "that it would be a very good time for Prince Ughtred to disappear. You shall come with me."
Brand hesitated.
"But, Countess," he protested, "they will search your house. You will be accused of harbouring an impostor."
She dismissed the idea with a gesture of superb contempt.
"The Reist House," she a.s.sured him, "is secure against Domiloff or any of his creatures. I offer you its shelter, sir. I beg you to come with me."
Still he hesitated. A fresh murmur arose from the swelling crowd without--footsteps were heard in the corridor--the hour struck. She laid her fingers upon his arm, and looked upward into his face.
"Sir," she said, softly, "I beg that you will come with me."
Brand felt his heart beating with more than the mere excitement of the moment. He yielded. She pressed a spring with her finger, and the panel rolled slowly back into its place.
CHAPTER XIII
Up the steep ascent to the capital two men galloped their tired horses in stern silence. For twelve hours they had ridden with scant waste of breath in speech. Only at each change, and seven times since break of day, had they changed horses. Prince Ughtred had lit a fresh cigar and asked the same question and met with the same reply.
"How goes it, Nicholas?"