Part 24 (1/2)
The carriage was bidden to wait at a little distance from the lodge, and Maximilian, with ”Iron Heart” at his side, walked up the path that led to a hooded entrance. They ascended the two or three stone steps, and the Chancellor raised the mailed, clenched fist that did duty as a knocker. Twice he brought it down on the oak panel, and the sound of the metal ringing against wood went echoing away through the house, with an effect of emptiness and desolation.
n.o.body came to answer the summons, and Maximilian smiled in the darkness. He did not believe even that the Prince was there; a practical joke had been played upon the Chancellor.
Again the mailed fist rang on oak. Only the echo replied. Von Markstein was alarmed. He thanked the night, which hid the tell-tale vein beating on his forehead from the keen eyes of the Emperor.
”I begin to think, Von Markstein, that we might as well look for Miss de Courcy in a more likely, and, at the same time, more becoming place,” he remarked, with a drawl meant to be aggravating. ”There doesn't seem to be any one here; even the caretaker is out courting, perhaps.”
”But listen, Your Majesty,” said the Chancellor.
Maximilian did listen. Steps could be heard approaching the door inside the house--the sound of a heel on a floor of stone or marble.
CHAPTER XVI
THE OPENING OF A DOOR
IT was a jager who opened the door of the hunting-lodge and gazed at the two men standing in the shadow of the porch, apparently without recognition.
”We wish to see the Prince,” said the Chancellor crisply, taking the initiative, as he knew that the Emperor would desire him to do.
”The Prince is not at home, sir,” returned the jager.
Maximilian's eyes lightened as he threw a glance of sarcastic meaning at his companion. But ”Iron Heart” was undaunted. He knew very well now that this was only a prelude to the comedy, and though he had had a pang of anxiety at first, he thought that his young friend was playing the part allotted him with commendable realism. Naturally, when beautiful actresses came into the country unchaperoned, to dine with fascinating princes, the least such favoured Royalties could do was to issue notice to an intrusive public that they were ”not at home.”
”You are mistaken,” returned the Chancellor ”The Prince is at home, and he will receive us. It will be better for you to admit us without further parley.”
Under the domination of the eyes which could quell a Reichstag, the jager weakened, as doubtless his master had expected would happen in good time. ”If may be that I have made a mistake, sir,” he stammered, ”though I do not think so. If you will have the kindness to walk in and wait until I can inquire whether the Prince has come home, or when he is likely to come home, I----”
”That is not necessary,” said the Chancellor. ”The Prince dines here with a lady this evening. We will go with you to the door of the dining-room, and follow your announcement of our presence.”
But the jager was no longer uncertain of his duty. The reaction had come, and he faced the invaders boldly. If his master had given instructions only to be overridden, at least the servant was sincere in his respect for them. He put himself in the doorway, and looked a barrier formidable to dislodge.
”That is impossible, sir!” he exclaimed. ”I have my orders, which are that His Royal Highness is not at home to-night, and until I find out differently, n.o.body, not if it were the Emperor himself, should force himself in.”
”You fool, those orders are not for us; and it is the Emperor who will go in.” With a step aside, the Chancellor let the light from a hanging lamp in the hall s.h.i.+ne full upon Maximilian's face, hitherto masked in shadow.
His boast forgotten, the jager uttered an exclamation of dismay, and, with a sudden falling of the knees, he left the doorway free.
”Your Majesty!” he faltered. ”I did not see--I could not know! Most humbly I beg Your Majesty's gracious pardon. If Your Majesty will but hold me blameless with His Royal Highness----”
”Never mind yourself, and never mind His Royal Highness,” broke in the Chancellor. ”Open that door at the end of the hall, and announce the Emperor and Count von Markstein.”
The unfortunate jager, well-nigh in a state of collapse, obeyed. The door of the dining-room, which Maximilian knew of old, was flung wide, and a quavering voice made known to whom it might concern the arrival of ”His Imperial Majesty the Emperor and the Herr Chancellor von Markstein.”
The scene disclosed was as unreal, in Maximilian's eyes, as a painted picture: the walls of Pompeian red, the bronze candelabra, the polished floor, with rugs of creamy fur, and in the centre a flower-decked table glittering with lights, sparkling with silver; springing up from his chair a young man in evening dress, who faced the door; sitting motionless, her back half-turned, a slender girl in satin of bridal white, her uncovered shoulders gleaming with the soft sheen of pearl in the candle-light. This was the stage setting; these the characters discovered.
At sight of the girl Maximilian stopped on the threshold. All the blood in his body seemed rus.h.i.+ng to his head, then surging back again upon his heart. The impossible had happened. His star had fallen from heaven, and the sky was dark.
CHAPTER XVII
THE THIRD COURSE