Graustark

by George Barr McCutcheon

  XXII. GRENFALL LORRY'S FOE

  The Princess Yetive had not flinched a hair's breadth from theresolution formed on that stormy night when she sacrificed pride andduty on the altar of love and justice. Prince Bolaroz's ultimatumoverwhelmed her, but she arose from the wreckage that was strewn abouther conscience and remained loyal, steadfast and true to the man in themonastery. To save his life was all she could hope to accomplish, andthat she was bound to do at any cost. She could be nothing to him--noteven friend. So long as he lived he would be considered the murdererof Lorenz, and until the end a price would hang over his head. She,Princess of Graustark, had offered a reward for him. For that reason hewas always to be a fugitive, and she least of all could hope to seehim. There had been a brief, happy dream, but it was swept away by theunrelenting rush of reality. The mere fact that she, and she alone,was responsible for his flight placed between them an unsurmountablebarrier.

  Clinging tenaciously to her purpose, she was still cognizant of the debtshe owed the trusting, loving people of Graustark. One word from hercould avert the calamity that was to fall with the dawn of the fataltwentieth. All Graustark blindly trusted and adored her; to undeceivethem would be to administer a shock from which they could never recover.

  Her heart was bursting with love for Lorry; her mind was overflowingwith tender thoughts that could not be sent to him, much as she trustedto the honor of Quinnox, her messenger. Hour after hour she sat in herwindow and marveled at the change that had been wrought in her life bythis strong American, her eyes fixed on the faraway monastery, herheart still and cold and fearful. She had no confidant in this miserableaffair of the heart. Others, near and dear, had surmised, but no word ofhers confirmed. A diffidence, strange and proud, forbade the confessionof her frailty, sweet, pure and womanly though it was. She could notforget that she was a Princess.

  The Countess Dagmar was piqued by her reticence and sought in manifoldways to draw forth the voluntary avowal, with its divine tears andblushes. Harry Anguish, who spent much of his time at the castle andwho invariably deserted his guards at the portals, was as eager as theCountess to have her commit herself irretrievably by word or sign,but he, too, was disappointed. He was, also, considerably puzzled.Her Highness's manner was at all times frank and untroubled. She wasapparently light-hearted; her cheeks had lost none of their freshness;her eyes were bright; her smile was quick and merry; her wit unclouded.Receptions, drawing-rooms and state functions found her alwaysvivacious, so much so that her Court wondered not a little. Dailyreports brought no news of the fugitive, but while others were beginningto acquire the haggard air of worry and uncertainty, she was calmlyresigned. The fifteenth, the sixteenth, the seventeenth, the eighteenthand now the nineteenth of November came and still the Princess revealedno marked sign of distress. Could they have seen her in the privacy ofher chamber on those dreary, maddening nights they would not have knowntheir sovereign.

  Heavy-hearted and with bowed heads the people of Graustark saw thenineteenth fade in the night, the breaking of which would bring thecrush of pride, the end of power. At court there was the silent dreadand the dying hope that relief might come at the last hour. Men, withpale faces and tearful eyes, wandered through the ancient castle,speechless, nerveless, miserable. Brave soldiers crept about, shorn ofpride and filled with woe. Citizens sat and stared aimlessly for hours,thinking of naught but the disaster so near at hand and so unavoidable.The whole nation surged as if in the last throes of death. To-morrowthe potency of Graustark was to die, its domain was to be cleft intwain,--disgraced before the world.

  And, on the throne of this afflicted land sat the girl, proud, tender,courageous Yetive. To all Graustark she was its greatest, its mostdevoted sufferer; upon her the blow fell heaviest. There she sat,merciful and merciless, her slim white hand ready to sign the shamefuldeed in transfer, ready to sell her kingdom for her love. Beneath herthrone, beneath her feet, cowered six souls, possessors of the secret.Of all the people in the world they alone knew the heart of the PrincessYetive, they alone felt with her the weight of the sacrifice. Withwistful eyes, fainting hearts and voiceless lips five of them watchedthe day approach, knowing that she would not speak and that Graustarkwas doomed. Loyal conspirators against that which they loved better thantheir lives--their country--were Dangloss, Quinnox, Allode, Ogbot andDagmar. To-morrow would see the north torn from the south, thedivision of families, the rending of homes, the bursting of hearts. Shesanctioned all this because she loved him and because he had done nowrong.

  Aware of her financial troubles and pursuing the advantage that hisrival's death had opened to him, Prince Gabriel, of Dawsbergen, renewedhis ardent suit. Scarce had the body of the murdered Prince left thedomain before he made his presence marked. She was compelled to receivehis visits, distasteful as they were, but she would not hear hispropositions. Knowing that he was in truth the mysterious Michael whohad planned her abduction, she feared and despised him, yet dared makeno public denunciation. As Dawsbergen was too powerful to be antagonizedat this critical time, she was constantly forced to submit to themost trying and repulsive of ordeals. Tact and policy were required tocontrol the violent, hot-blooded young ruler from the south. At timesshe despaired and longed for the quiet of the tomb; at other times shewas consumed by the fires of resentment, rebelling against the ignominyto which she was subjected. Worse than all to her were the insolentovertures of Gabriel. How she endured she could not tell. The tearsof humiliation shed after his departure on the occasion of each visitrevealed the bitterness that was torturing this proud martyr.

  He had come at once to renew his offer of a loan, knowing herhelplessness. Day after day he haunted the castle, persistent in hisefforts to induce her to accept his proposition. So fierce was hispassion, so implacable his desire, that he went among the people ofEdelweiss, presenting to them his proposal, hoping thereby to add publicfeeling to his claims. He tried to organize a committee of citizens togo before the Princess with the petition that his offer be accepted andthe country saved. But Graustark was loyal to its Princess. Not one ofher citizens listened to the wily Prince, and more than one told him orhis emissaries that the loss of the whole kingdom was preferable to themarriage he desired. The city sickened at the thought.

  His last and master-stroke in the struggle to persuade came on theafternoon of the nineteenth, at an hour when all Edelweiss was in gloomand when the Princess was taxed to the point where the mask of couragewas so frail that she could scarce hide her bleeding soul behind it.

  Bolaroz of Axphain, to quote from the news-despatch, was in Edelweiss,a guest, with a few of his lords, in the castle. North of the city wereencamped five thousand men. He had come prepared to cancel the littleobligation of fifteen years standing. With the hated creditor in thecastle, his influence hovering above the town, the populace distractedby the thoughts of the day to come, Gabriel played what he consideredhis best card. He asked for and obtained a final interview with Yetive,not in her boudoir or her reception room, but in the throne room, whereshe was to meet Bolaroz in the morning.

  The Princess, seated on her throne, awaited the approach of theresourceful, tenacious suitor. He came and behind him strode eightstalwart men, bearing a long iron-bound chest, the result of his effortwith his bankers. Yetive and her nobles looked in surprise on thisunusual performance. Dropping to his knee before the throne, Gabrielsaid, his voice trembling slightly with eagerness and fear:

  "Your Highness, to-morrow will see the turning point in the history oftwo, possibly three nations--Graustark, Axphain and Dawsbergen. I haveincluded my own land because its ruler is most vitally interested.He would serve and save Graustark, as you know, and he would satisfyAxphain. It is in my power to give you aid at this last, trying hour,and I implore you to listen to my words of sincerest friendship,--yes,adoration. To-morrow you are to pay to Prince Bolaroz over twenty-fivemillion gavvos or relinquish the entire north half of your domain. Iunderstand the lamentable situation. You can raise no more than fifteenmillions and you are hel
pless. He will grant no extension of time. Youknow what I have proffered before. I come to-day to repeat my friendlyoffer and to give unquestioned bond as to my ability to carry it out.If you agree to accept the loan I extend, ten million gavvos for fifteenyears at the usual rate of interest, you can on to-morrow morning placein the hand of Axphain when he makes his formal demand the full amountof your indebtedness in gold. Ricardo, open the chest!"

  An attendant threw open the lid of the chest. It was filled with goldcoins.

  "This box contains one hundred thousand gavvos. There are in your hallsnine boxes holding nine times as much as you see here. And there arenine times as much all told on the way. This is an evidence of my goodfaith. Here is the gold. Pay Bolaroz and owe Gabriel, the greatesthappiness that could come to him."

  There was a dead silence after this theatrical action.

  "The interest on this loan is not all you ask, I understand," saidHalfont, slowly, his black eyes glittering. "You ask something thatGraustark cannot and will not barter--the hand of its Sovereign. Ifyou are willing to make this loan, naming a fair rate of interest,withdrawing your proposal of marriage, we can come to an agreement."

  Gabriel's eyes deadened with disappointment, his breast heaved and hisfingers twitched.

  "I have the happiness of your Sovereign at heart as much as my own," hesaid. "She shall never want for devotion, she shall never know a pain."

  "You are determined, then, to adhere to your original proposition?"demanded the Count.

  "She would have married Lorenz to save her land, to protect her people.Am I not as good as Lorenz? Why not give--" began Gabriel, viciously,but Yetive arose, and, with gleaming eyes and flushing cheeks,interrupted him.

  "Go! I will not hear you--not one word!"

  He passed from the room without another word. Her Court saw her standingstraight and immovable, her white face transfigured.