Part 43 (1/2)
”Will you please be sensible?”
”You invite something to the contrary, Bedelia,” he ventured.
”Haven't I requested you to--”
”I think of you only as Bedelia,” he made haste to explain. ”Bedelia will stick to you forever, you see, while Miss Guile is almost ephemeral. It cannot live long, you know, with so many other names eager to take its place. But Bedelia--ah, Bedelia is everlasting.”
She laughed joyously, naturally. ”You really are quite wonderful, Mr.
Schmidt. Still I must change the subject. I trust the change will not affect your glibness, for it is quite exhilarating. How long do you purpose remaining in Interlaken?”
”That isn't changing the subject,” said he. ”I shall be here for a week or ten days--or perhaps longer.” He put it in the form of a question, after all.
”Indeed? How I envy you. I am sorry to say I shall have to leave in a day or two.”
His face fell. ”Why?” he demanded, almost indignantly.
”Because I am enjoying myself,” she replied.
”I don't quite get your meaning.”
”I am having such a good time disobeying my father, Mr. Schmidt, and eluding pursuers. It is only a matter of a day or two before I am discovered here, so I mean to keep on dodging. It is splendid fun.”
”Do you think it is quite fair to me?”
”Did I induce you to come here, good sir?”
”You did,” said he, with conviction. ”Heaven is my witness. I would not have come but for you. I am due at home by this time.”
”Are you under any obligations to remain in Interlaken for a week or ten days?”
”Not now,” he replied. ”Do you mind telling me where you are going to, Miss Guile?”
”First to Vienna, then--well, you cannot guess where. I have decided to go to Edelweiss.”
”Edelweiss!” he exclaimed in astonishment. He could hardly believe his ears.
”It is the very last place in the world that my father would think of looking for me. Besides I am curious to see the place. I understand that the great Mr. Blithers is to be there soon, and the stupid Prince who will not be tempted by millions, and it is even possible that the extraordinary Miss Blithers may take it into her head to look the place over before definitely refusing to be its Princess. I may find some amus.e.m.e.nt--or entertainment as an on-looker when the riots begin.”
He was staring at her wide-eyed and incredulous. ”Do you really mean to say you are going to Graustark?”
”I have thought of doing so. Don't you think it will be amusing to be on the scene when the grand climax occurs? Of course, the Prince will come off his high horse, and the girl will see the folly of her ways, and old Mr. Blithers will run 'rough shod over everybody, and--but, goodness, I can't even speculate on the possibilities.”
He was silent. So this was the way the wind blew, eh? There was but one construction to be put upon her decision to visit the Capital of Graustark. She _had_ taken it into her head ”to look the place over before definitely refusing to be its Princess!” His first thrill of exultation gave way to a sickening sense of disappointment.
All this time she was regarding him through amused, half-closed eyes.
She had a distinct advantage over him. She knew that he was the Prince of Graustark; she had known it for many days. Perhaps if she had known all the things that were in his cunning brain, she would not have ventured so far into the comedy she was constructing. She would have hesitated--aye, she might have changed her methods completely. But she was in the mood to do and say daring things. She considered her position absolutely secure, and so she could afford to enjoy herself for the time being. There would be an hour of reckoning, no doubt, but she was not troubled by its promise of castigation.
”Poor Prince!” she sighed pityingly. He started. The remark was so unexpected that he almost betrayed himself. It seemed profoundly personal. ”He will be in very hot water, I fear.”