A Modern Mercenary

by K. Prichard and Hesketh Vernon Hesketh Prichard

  CHAPTER VII.

  ONE WOMAN'S DIPLOMACY.

  There are men who though conspicuously in the world are never of it.Counsellor was one of these. He gave the impression of being aspectator; one who looked on at the play of common ambitions andintrigues with an amused and impersonal interest. He was drawn into noquarrels. Those who hated him most continued to shake hands with him,and none could accuse him of being a partisan. Yet he was rathertruculent than meek, entirely ready to give his opinion, often with asurprising frankness, but maintaining throughout the complex relationsof his life a superb reserve that formed a defence behind which neitherfavour nor enmity could penetrate.

  He stayed on at Revonde, though the _tsa_ continued to blowrelentlessly. Affairs were yet in a chaotic condition and he lingeredgrumblingly at the club, declaring it was too cold to travel, andapparently finding his chief relaxation in privately deriding Rallywoodfor the favours which Revonde society was thrusting so lavishly uponhim.

  In the untiring whirl and tangle of court life and gaiety Rallywoodlived and moved with a growing enjoyment that half surprised himself,and for which he accounted on the score of change from the dulldrudgery of the frontier. His acceptance by the Guard had been thorough;even the colonel-in-chief, Count Sagan, whose strongest point was notcourtesy, had given him a pronounced recognition. The pretty Countessdemanded a good deal of his attention and attendance, and this factbrought down upon him some of Counsellor's most scathing jeers.

  'Gallantries are in vogue, my boy, and you are qualifying for a highplace amongst the Maasauns,' he said. 'She is a deuced pretty woman. Ioffer you my compliments.'

  'She is pretty,' replied Rallywood, 'but there are a good many people inMaasau who think her handsomer than I do.'

  'Yet you tell me that you are again on your way to her house thisevening. Can't you get through the day without a glimpse of her?'

  'Does it seem so bad as all that?' asked Rallywood reflectively. 'Yes, Isuppose I like going there; yet as I have said before, there are a goodmany people who appreciate her more than I do.'

  'Then what in the world takes you there?'

  An odd expression grew slowly into the young man's face.

  'Because of the other people, I suppose,' he repeated dreamily.

  'As for instance?'

  Rallywood woke up from his thoughts and shook himself.

  'Unziar,' he returned with a grin.

  Counsellor opened the stove and threw in the remnant of his cigar.

  'Ah!' he commented significantly; 'and I presume Unziar goes there tomeet you. I begin to see.'

  Rallywood laughed.

  'I'm hanged if I do! By the way, the Countess wants of all things tomake a friend of you. She says the English are so reliable. But you aresuch an old bear the women can't get at you.'

  'So much the better for me,' was the grim reply. 'Also I am sorry that Ican't reciprocate the Countess's opinion of me. There are very fewreliable women. If I had ever found one I might have married her.'

  'That is a hard saying, Major. You've been unlucky. That's where ithurts with you!'

  'No, I've no personal feeling in the matter. I share the opinion incommon with many wise men. Let me refer you to Solomon, the census ofwhose harem warrants us in believing that what he didn't know aboutwomen wasn't worth knowing. Yet he records as his experience, "One manamong a thousand have I found; but a woman among all these have I notfound."'

  'I bet he didn't! You can't sample a delicate quality in the bulk,'retorted Rallywood, and was already at the door when an idea stoppedhim. 'Look here, Major; come with me and revise your verdict.'

  To his surprise Counsellor stood up and asked one more question.

  'Countess Isolde invited me?'

  'Any number of times, as you know.'

  'The more fool she,' growled Counsellor; 'I'll go.'

  The cotillon, danced with its hundred absurdities, was as fashionable atRevonde as elsewhere. Counsellor, like a courtly bear, was induced tojoin in its whimsical vagaries.

  The details of the cotillon obtaining at that period do not concern ushere. It is sufficient to say that, as a result of some evolution, bychance or by choice Counsellor found himself with the Countess on araised dais at one end of the room, while Mademoiselle Selpdorf andRallywood formed the corresponding couple at the other end. Between themthe dance proceeded, thus leaving the respective couples virtuallyisolated for a few minutes.

  'It was delightful of you to come to our little party to-night,' theCountess was saying to her companion. 'Now that you have come to see mehere, can I not induce you to come also to Sagan next week? We are goingout there for a few days. Do think of it.'

  'You are too kind, my dear madame, but an old man like myself may be outof place.'

  The Countess sighed a little.

  'Of course you are not at all old,' she said, shaking her head at him,'though you are fond of playing the part. But if you want to be old youcan be old in good company at the Castle, for the Duke will bethere--you know he is a cousin of ours.'

  Counsellor looked back into the smiling blue eyes. Most men would havesuccumbed to their innocent flattery. To the Major they only suggestedan infinite capacity for foolishness.

  'Don't you think we could exchange our Duke for another, a moreinteresting one?' she added, misled perhaps by his look. 'Duke Gustaveis so wrapped up in his stupid gambling, and altogether there are manythings----' her speech tailed off inconsequently into a confusedsilence.

  'Wanting? Certainly! For example, we have no Duchess,' said Counsellorgallantly. 'We need a pretty Duchess. But is it not possible that Maasaumay yet boast the most adorable Duchess in Europe?'

  Countess Isolde started and flushed like a pleased child, and her eyeslit up as she laid her fan on Counsellor's stout knee with aconfidential impulsive gesture.

  'But England does not like the idea of pretty Duchesses?' she venturedreproachfully. 'And you are only a flatterer after all!'

  The Major raised his bushy white eyebrows.

  'Have I that reputation?'

  'No, they say you are terribly frank;' then a design to sound thisdifficult and usually unapproachable diplomat came into her irrationalhead. Older men than he had been vanquished by her beauty ere now.'England has not yet recognized my husband's claim as next heir,' shewhispered. 'Major Counsellor, do you think your nation could ever bebrought to recognize me as Duchess?'

  'If the occasion arose,' answered the wily old soldier softly, 'I do notsee--speaking as a man--how any request of yours could be refused. But Icannot answer for my nation. Still, if the occasion arose----' hehesitated as if searching for words, but in reality, waiting for hiscompanion to take up the unfinished sentence.

  The Countess trembled with excitement. This was indeed a triumph. She,'silly Isolde,' as old Sagan was ever ready to call her, had gained alittle bit of information they would give their ears to possess, but shewould keep it and use it at her leisure. Meanwhile she must strike whilethe iron of old Counsellor's nature was yet hot.

  'But the occasion will arise, believe me! Perhaps soon, at Sagan!' Asshe spoke she started violently, and her face turned white as CountSagan stood before them.

  'Do you feel inclined for a hand of whist, Counsellor?' he saidabruptly, with a wrathful, questioning glance at his wife. 'Has my wifebeen boring you with her chatter?'

  'On the contrary, Major Counsellor has promised to join us at the Castlenext week,' exclaimed his wife.

  Sagan's bloodshot eyes darkened. He had the guile of a plotter, butlacked something of the self-control. Counsellor, who appeared to bewatching the dancers, turned upon this and added:

  'And I have been thanking Madame de Sagan for the invitation.'

  'Ah, I knew you wouldn't come! Well, you will lose nothing. We shallhave a houseful of fools,' interrupted the Count roughly.

  'I have already accepted, and will with your permission, Count, be oneof the fools,' replied Counsellor genially.

  The Countess understood she had
in some way put her foot in it, but asthe two men walked away together she nodded complacently to herself,with the words, 'I know what I know!'

  The tide of dancers still swept backwards and forwards as Madame deSagan idly observed them, until her glance chanced to fall upon theopposite couple at the further end of the saloon. Something in Valerie'sair fixed her wandering attention at once with a little shock. What wasRallywood saying to her? And where was Anthony Unziar? The CountessIsolde had to the full the all-devouring vanity of her type, but now,for once in her life, she felt desirous of forwarding a love affair thatwas not her own.

  'You are going to Sagan, of course?' Valerie had said to her partner asthey stood together.

  'I think not,' Rallywood replied.

  'I thought you would be sure to be in attendance'--she glancedcarelessly towards the dais where the Countess was at the moment layingher fan on Counsellor's knee--'as usual.'

  'No, Unziar is the lucky man,' Rallywood answered without significancein his tone.

  'Nonsense! Anthony is her cousin!' said the girl impatiently.

  Rallywood's grey eyes were on her face.

  'Whose cousin? What do you mean?' he asked innocently.

  Valerie bit her lip. She hated this Englishman. Of all her acquaintanceshe alone, in his blundering way, was able to put her somehow at adisadvantage.

  'When the Duke goes to Sagan,' she said, without noticing his question,'the Count has the privilege as colonel-in-chief of the Guard, ofinviting any two officers he pleases to act with the escort. So we shallsee.'

  'I wonder,' said Rallywood after a pause, 'where you get yourimpressions from, Mademoiselle?'

  'I see--like other people. We all form our judgments on what we seeand--know!'

  'What do you know, for instance?'

  'I heard of you when you were at Kofn Ford, near the Castle of Sagan,'she answered.

  Rallywood was only human, and however moderately he may have returnedMadame de Sagan's preference, he was fully aware of its existence. Inthose days on the frontier he had, rather from fastidiousness thanprinciple perhaps, avoided her and her invitations whenever possible.But that was one thing; it was another to hear the matter coollyalluded to by the girl beside him. Involuntarily he drew a little awayfrom her. His notions were founded less on actual knowledge andexperience of women--for of that he had little--than gathered from thatidealized version of the sex with which the right-minded male animal isusually furnished by his own mental and emotional processes. So far hisintercourse with Isolde of Sagan had been limited to certain sentimentalpassages; the initiative lay with the lady, but Rallywood had once ortwice been distinctly wrought upon by the appeals to his sympathy andpity. Now, however, looked at from a fresh standpoint, the one in factfrom which Valerie viewed it, the subject became suddenly repellent, andhe slid away from the discussion with another question.

  'What has Unziar been saying of me? You have treated me differentlysince--that night.'

  There appeared to be no need to particularize the night.

  Mademoiselle Selpdorf understood both the first involuntary movement andthe change of subject, and resented them equally.

  'Anthony is generous, so generous!' she said with some warmth. 'Isuppose it is an English trait to take everything and to give nothing inreturn. Anthony told me of all that took place in the Cloister of St.Anthony. Your action seemed to him so fine, poor fellow!--but not to me.You believed in your luck, of course, and took the hazard and won,leaving him hopelessly at a disadvantage. I should not have accepted theposition as he did--I should have forced you to fight it out sooner orlater! I had rather a hundred times have died by your bullet than livedto endure your triumph!'

  Rallywood pondered this view of the matter before he spoke.

  'I dare say you are right,' he said at last; 'at least, no woman couldhave been so generous to another woman as he was to me.'

  'You are complimentary, Captain Rallywood!'

  'I beg your pardon. I only meant that women are not generous as betweenthemselves. Looked at from your point of view, I see that I was wrongabout that affair with Unziar. But more than all, it proves he is asplendid fellow.'

  Now Unziar's praise from Rallywood's lips displeased MademoiselleSelpdorf almost more than all which had gone before.

  'It is easy to say these things, but'--she rose eagerly--'at last thatfigure is ended. What a stupid interval it has been!' she added with alittle smile.

  'I am sorry. I always have the misfortune to bore you,' Rallywood said,accepting his snub meekly.

  'Never mind! You can't help it!' she responded with a pleasant nod asshe left him.

  Rallywood remained standing where he was.

  'A very nasty one indeed for me. I shouldn't wonder, though, if sheforgave me for the sake of that last back-handed blow!' he reflectedwith some amusement.

  Which proves that Revonde was teaching Rallywood something that has itsown value at one period or another of a man's life. He was too poor todream of marrying anyone, much less the daughter of the Chancellor ofMaasau, a woman whose training and tastes had not been guided on thelines of simplicity or economy. That Valerie Selpdorf attracted him wasa truth to which his eyes began to be opened at the moment whenCounsellor asked him why he haunted Madame de Sagan's entertainments.Then it had struck him that the almost certain chance of meeting Valeriewas his chief motive, yet he believed it was safe to divulge to himself,since the girl bitterly disliked him, and he, in the strength of theinsular and Puritan side of his nature, disapproved of her. It was thepleasure of the hour, no one looked beyond that in Revonde, andRallywood had fallen into the universal habit of drifting.

  'You are thoughtful. What can you have been talking about?' asked theCountess, coming up.

  'Mademoiselle Selpdorf has been giving her opinion of me. It is notflattering, and I am depressed,' returned Rallywood, hoping the Countessmeant to talk of Valerie.

  'Has she? She is often absurd in her ideas. But we need not talk of her.To turn to something pleasanter, do you know that I have just persuadedMajor Counsellor to come to us at Sagan?'

  Rallywood instantly perceived that the three or four days at the oldfrontier castle might prove to be a singularly interesting period, andregretted that he was not to be a guest also.

  'And you are coming too, are you not?' went on Madame de Sagan, with anote in her voice that Rallywood was learning to dread.

  'I fancy not. Unziar and Adiron have been mentioned.'

  'Yes, Anthony Unziar, because he is my cousin, and for the sake ofValerie. Also Captain Colendorp. I do not like him, he is always blackand sneering, but the Count chose him yesterday, and then I suggestedyourself. They were rather doubtful about you, but Baron von Elmurconsented. And I was so glad--Jack!'

  The friendship had been progressing, it will be perceived, during thelast three weeks. But Rallywood made no immediate response, beingabsorbed in digesting the information she had given him. That the Germanminister should be permitted to dictate the guests for the three days'festivities at the Castle was in itself a pregnant fact. But further,the Germans had never before possessed old Sagan's confidence; hisdislike of the encroaching mammoth, whom the whole little nation feared,was notorious. This new departure was therefore ominous.

  'I had no notion that Baron von Elmur liked me any better than mycountrymen,' said Rallywood aloud.

  'Ah, no, perhaps not; but now, you will understand, he wishes to pleaseme!' Countess Isolde answered with an air of mysterious importance.

  'He is not alone in wishing to do that,' returned Rallywood, ashamedeven as he uttered it, of the meaningless compliment.

  'Jack,' she said, with a proud raising of her blonde head, 'you are myfriend, and of course you wish to please me. But everyone will want tostand well with me some day--when I have power--and then you shall seewhat I will do for those whom I wish to please!'

  Every word she spoke added to the certainty that some new plot wasafoot, and Rallywood glanced round for Counsellor's stout figure.
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  'You are glad to come to Sagan?' persisted his companion; 'say you areglad.'

  'I've never been more glad of anything in my life!' Rallywood repliedwith truth, and then, his good angel rather than his mother's wit comingto his rescue, he got away from the dancing-salon, and found Counsellorat the entrance preparing to leave.

  'I'll walk round with you, Major,' he proposed.

  'I'm not going your way,' replied Counsellor. 'Besides, I wish to drive.Hullo, you have got hold of my gloves!' and snatching at thegloves--which happened to be Rallywood's--he thrust his own into theyoung man's hand, saying in a low voice as he did so, 'Be on theCloister Bridge in half an hour. Good-night!'

  At the appointed time, Rallywood, having replaced his military greatcoatby one less remarkable, was waiting on the bridge, when he was accostedby a hunchbacked fellow in a shabby Maasaun sheepskin, who dropped arough English 'Good-night,' as he passed. Presently Rallywood followedhim until they came out into an open country road where the biting _tsa_met them full face.

  'This _tsa_ is deadly! Quick! what is it you have to tell me?' saidCounsellor's voice.

  Rallywood answered in a few rapid sentences.

  'Yes, I fancied something of the kind was due. What an inestimableblessing it is that such women as the Countess Sagan exist--to satisfydiplomatic curiosity! We must find out the precise limits of the Germangame at the Castle of Sagan. It is lucky for you, John, my son, thatyour duty as a Maasaun soldier to the Maasaun nation and as anEnglishman to your own, run in this instance on the same lines.'

  'They always will.'

  'Don't be too sure of that! There may come a day when your public andyour private honour will stand face to face, hopelessly irreconcilable.What then?'

  'When anything so extremely awkward comes to pass, I suppose I shallhave to make up my mind on the subject,' replied Rallywood with a lazyyawn, 'in the meantime it is to much trouble. Just at present my part issimple, and I look for the game to turn in our favor.'

  Counsellor stood still, as if in consideration, for a minute.

  'The stake may seem to be a small one--just this useless scrap ofcountry,' he said at length, 'but the issues are far-reaching, andtherefore all Europe is taking a hand in the game. How will it end? Idon't know! The Fates shuffle and men handle the cards, but God cuts!Thirty years' experience has taught me that. I didn't believe it once--Ido now.'