Part 73 (1/2)

The Prince shook his head.

”Another time,” he declared. ”Another time.”

He hurried away. It was already half past ten and the saloon was almost empty. The steward came up to them.

”The saloon is being closed for the night, sir,” he announced.

”Let us go on deck,” Peter suggested.

They found their way up on to the windward side of the promenade, which was absolutely deserted. Far away in front of them now were the disappearing lights of the Lusitania. The wind roared by as the great steamer rose and fell on the black stretch of waters. Peter stood very near to his companion.

”Listen, Sogrange,” he said, ”the affair is clear now save for one thing.”

”You mean Sirdeller's motives?”

”Not at all,” Peter answered. ”An hour ago, I came across the explanation of these. The one thing I will tell you afterwards. Now listen. Sirdeller came abroad last year for twelve months' travel. He took a great house in San Sebastian.”

”Where did you hear this?” Sogrange asked.

”I read the story in the New York Herald,” Peter continued. ”It is grossly exaggerated, of course, but this is the substance of it.

Sirdeller and his suite were stopped upon the Spanish frontier and treated in an abominable fas.h.i.+on by the customs officers. He was forced to pay a very large sum, unjustly I should think. He paid under protest, appealed to the authorities, with no result. At San Sebastian he was robbed right and left, his privacy intruded upon. In short, he took a violent dislike and hatred to the country and every one concerned in it.

He moved with his entire suite to Nice, to the Golden Villa. There he expressed himself freely concerning Spain and her Government. Count von Hern heard of it and presented Marsine. The plot was, without doubt, Bernadine's. Can't you imagine how he would put it? 'A revolution,' he would tell Sirdeller, 'is imminent in Spain. Here is the new President of the Republic. Money is no more to you than water. You are a patriotic American. Have you forgotten that a wars.h.i.+p of your country with six hundred of her devoted citizens was sent to the bottom by the treachery of one of this effete race? The war was an inefficient revenge. The country still flourishes. It is for you to avenge America. With money Marsine can establish a republic in Spain within twenty-four hours.'

Sirdeller hesitates. He would point out that it had never been proved that the destruction of the Maine was really due to Spanish treachery.

It is the idea of a business man which followed. He, at his own expense, would raise the Maine. If it were true that the explosion occurred from outside, he would find the money. You see, the message has arrived.

After all these years the sea has given up its secret. Marsine will return to Spain with an unlimited credit behind him. The House of Brangaza will crumble up like a pack of cards.”

Sogrange looked out into the darkness. Perhaps he saw in that great black gulf the pictures of these happenings which his companion had prophesied. Perhaps, for a moment, he saw the panorama of a city in flames, the pa.s.sing of a great country under the thrall of these new ideas. At any rate, he turned abruptly away from the side of the vessel, and taking Peter's arm, walked slowly down the deck.

”You have solved the puzzle, Baron,” he said, gravely. ”Now tell me the one thing. Your story seems to dovetail everywhere.”

”The one thing,” Peter said, ”is connected with the d.u.c.h.esse. It was she, of her own will, who decided to come to America. I believe that, but for her coming, Bernadine and the Prince would have waited in their own country. Money can flash from America to England over the wires. It does not need to be fetched. They have still one fear. It is connected with the d.u.c.h.esse. Let me think.”

They walked up and down the deck. The lights were extinguished one by one, except in the smoking-room. A strange breed of sailors from the lower deck came up with mops and buckets. The wind changed its quarter and the great s.h.i.+p began to roll. Peter stopped abruptly.

”I find this motion most unpleasant,” he said. ”I am going to bed.

To-night I cannot think. To-morrow, I promise you, we will solve this.

Hus.h.!.+”

He held out his hand and drew his companion back into the shadow of a lifeboat. A tall figure was approaching them along the deck. As he pa.s.sed the little ray of light thrown out from the smoking-room, the man's features were clearly visible. It was the Prince. He was walking like one absorbed in thought. His eyes were set like a sleep-walker's.

With one hand he gesticulated. The fingers of the other were twitching all the time. His head was lifted to the skies. There was something in his face which redeemed it from its disfiguring petulance.

”It is the man who dreams of power,” Peter whispered. ”It is one of his best moments, this. He forgets the vulgar means by which he intends to rise. He thinks only of himself, the dictator, king, perhaps emperor. He is of the breed of egoists.”

Again and again the Prince pa.s.sed, manifestly unconscious even of his whereabouts. Peter and Sogrange crept away unseen to their staterooms.

In many respects the room resembled a miniature court of justice. The princ.i.p.al sitting-room of the royal suite, which was the chief glory of the Adriatic, had been stripped of every superfluous article of furniture or embellishment. Curtains had been removed, all evidences of luxury disposed of. Temporarily the apartment had been transformed into a bare, cheerless place. Seated on a high chair, with his back to the wall, was Sirdeller. At his right hand was a small table, on which stood a gla.s.s of milk, a phial, a stethoscope. Behind his doctor. At his left hand a smooth-faced, silent young man--his secretary. Before him stood the d.u.c.h.esse, Peter and Sogrange. Guarding the door was one of the watchmen, who, from his great physique, might well have been a policeman out of livery. Sirdeller himself, in the clear light which streamed through the large window, seemed more aged and shrunken than ever. His eyes were deep set. No tinge of color was visible in his cheeks. His chin protruded, his s.h.a.ggy gray eyebrows gave him an unkempt appearance.