The Weight of the Crown
Page 45
CHAPTER XLV
CHECK!
Mazaroff was disposed of at any rate for the present. Lechmere's letterto the Chief of the Police in Paris had not been futile. He was prettywell posted with the life story of the man who called himself PrinceMazaroff, who, in point of fact, was one of the greatest scoundrels ofhis time. Under another name the French police had long wanted him foran old offence, and Lechmere had been in a position to supply themissing details and facts for identification. Besides, the head of theParis police was an old acquaintance of Lechmere's and valued hisopinion highly. Thus it was that no time was lost in tying Mazaroff bythe heels after receipt of Lechmere's letter. Mazaroff was a cunningenough scoundrel, but he had more than his match in the old queen'smessenger. The coast was quite clear now.
Nothing was in the way of taking the body of the unfortunate king backto England. Nobody must know that he had died, at least not for thepresent. The secret was valuable for the moment. Of course the queenmust be told, and General Maxgregor, but nobody else. It was early thenext morning that Lechmere saw both Alexis and Maxwell and found themgoing on well. He explained briefly to both what had happened.
"You will both be about again in a day or two," he said. "Meanwhile itexactly suits the position of affairs for you to be here as invalids whoare incapable of seeing anybody. But I have arranged with the doctor tokeep the gentleman of the pencil at bay. You know nothing, you arecapable of no opinion, you are utterly indifferent as to what has becomeof the king. Obviously he has escaped somewhere or his body would havebeen found. I fancy you understand."
There was no reason to repeat the question. With an easy mind, Lechmeremade the best of his way back to London. With the aid of a few cigars,he worked the matter out to the end. He could see his way to damp thepretty scheme of Countess Saens and also regain possession of thosepapers. Nor would he shew his hand in the matter at all. The thing wouldcause a little sensation in London perhaps, there would be complicationspartaking of an international character, but there it would end.
Lechmere drove straight with his gruesome burden to the rooms occupiedby General Maxgregor. He found the latter considerably better and readyfor work again. The flesh wound in the old soldier's shoulder had quitehealed up, that fine constitution made little of the loss of blood.
"The very man I have been longing to see," Maxgregor cried. "When Iheard that you were not in London, I felt sure that you were followingthat strange matter up. Was it an accident?"
"Of course not," Lechmere said with fine contempt. "Did you suppose fora moment that it was? The thing was planned and accomplished byMazaroff. Who his confederates were does not matter for the moment. Atany rate he managed it. It would never do to let the king reachAsturia. But there was one thing they did not reckon on--thedisappearance."
"The luck that ever follows the foolish," Maxgregor growled. "The onlyman uninjured. He takes the first opportunity to get away from hisgaolers. In his callous way, heedless of the fact that they are badlyhurt, he takes a carriage and goes to Paris. He has no money, but theKing of Asturia can always raise that in the French capital. Am Iright?"
"No, you are quite wrong," Lechmere said gravely. "The king is dead. Ihave his body with me at the present moment. Mind you, nobody knowsanything about it. But perhaps I had better explain to you how wemanaged to keep the tragic affair a secret."
Maxgregor listened eagerly to Lechmere's story. His grave face wastinged with deep melancholy.
"That is very sad," he said. "It will be a dreadful blow to the queen.After all she has gone through and suffered it will break her heart toknow that Asturia will fall to Russia in spite of everything."
"Asturia is not going to fall into the hands of Russia," Lechmere saiddrily. "Cunning as those people are, we are going to be one too many forthem. After all said and done, nobody outside our little circle knowsthat the king is dead. I will explain presently. Meanwhile the king mustbe buried. We must get a certificate without delay. When the time comesthe story can be made public."
"It will be difficult to get a certificate from an ordinary doctor,"said Maxgregor.
"I grant your point, my friend. But we can get a certificate from Dr.Varney, who attended the king on and off for years during the time hevisited London. And Varney often warned the king that any shock might behis end. I should say that he died of the shock. Any way we'll getVarney in and ask his opinion. Have you a room that you can spare? If sowe will complete my gruesome task and lock the body carefully away. Getyour man off the premises."
The whole thing was managed at length, and a little later and thenVarney came in. He made a long and careful examination of the bodybefore he gave his verdict.
"There is nothing broken," he said. "The cause of death has nothing todo with violence. Of that I am certain. This sudden fright acting on aheart all to pieces and nerves like brown paper did the mischief. Theshock stopped the heart and the King of Asturia died. There is nothingto prevent my saying that I was called in here to see the body of theKing of Asturia and that I certified that shock was the cause of death.I am so sure of it that even had the patient been a common man, I shouldhave certified that there was no cause for an inquest."
"So that we may get the body buried without delay?" Maxgregor asked.
"Well, I should say not," the cautious Varney said. "I am perhapsstretching a medical point and I do not want to get myself into furthertrouble. For political reasons we do not want the public to know thatthe King of Asturia is dead. I am prepared to swear as to what killedhim. But kings are not buried like ordinary bodies, they are generallyembalmed. In the course of a few days the sad news may be made publicand then the body can be taken to Asturia and buried in state. Theembalmers need not know of the high rank of their subject."
Varney was absolutely right, as Lechmere saw at once. Besides, if hiscalculations were correct, the sad news would be made public very soonnow. People would ask questions but they need not be answered. There wasnothing for it now but to break the news to the queen.
"I think I'll get you to do that," Lechmere said to Maxgregor. "You aresuch an old friend and you can speak to the queen in tones that I shouldnot venture to address to her. But it will be all right so far asAsturia is concerned--Russia is going to fail there. And you and I andone or two others will go down to the grave holding one of the mostromantic and wildest political secrets that has ever taken place inEurope. Good luck to you, my friend."
Maxgregor went off at once to the queen's hotel. He found her, to hissurprise, not in the least gloomy or anxious; on the contrary there wasa fine smile on her face.
"I have been longing for you," she said. "If you had not come to me,positively I must have invaded your rooms. Have you heard the goodnews--I mean the good news of the king?"
Maxgregor looked with some alarm at the royal speaker. Thoughts of abrain unhinged by trouble rose before him. Evidently the queen had takenleave of her senses.
"The good news," he stammered. "Margaret, there is no good news.Somebody has been cruelly deceiving you. You must be prepared to hearthat which is bad, very bad."
"But the king escaped," the queen cried. "He escaped from the wreckedtrain and made his way secretly and swiftly to our capital. It wasperhaps the one unselfish and manly action of his life. He was bruisedand battered but he was sufficiently himself to meet his ministers.Tomani has cabled me."
"Impossible!" Maxgregor cried. "Madame, the king is dead. He was killedin that accident. Mr. Charles Maxwell, though sorely hurt himself,managed to get the body conveyed to a place of safety so that nobodyshould know, and the body has been brought to England. Mr. Lechmeremanaged it in the most wonderful way. The body is at present in my roomssafely under lock and key. I have seen it, Mr. Lechmere has of courseseen it, and so has Dr. Varney, who is prepared to certify that thecause of death was shock to the system. I came here on purpose to bringyou the ill tidings. I pray you be buoyed up with no hopes on such afallacy as this. If you like to come and see for yourself----"
&nb
sp; The queen passed her hand across her brows in a bewildered sort of way.At the same time she took up a grey cablegram from the table by herside.
"Listen to what Tomani says," she cried. "Listen--'King here safe butknocked about from the result of his accident. Met him myself. Is atpresent in consultation with ministers. Will let your majesty knowresult of deliberations as soon as settled. Tomani.' Paul, what does itmean?"
But for once in his life General Maxgregor was incapable of reply.