Mrs. Fitz

by J. C. Snaith

  CHAPTER XIII

  FURTHER PASSAGES AT NO. 300 PORTLAND PLACE

  The Princess was amused.

  "_Aha, les Anglais! Tres bons enfants!_"

  The royal eyebrows had an uplift of mischievous pleasure.

  "And this, dear Baron," said her Royal Highness, "is my good friendColonel Coverdale, who has smelt powder in the wars of his country."

  Fitz's open rudeness seemed to help the Ambassador to sustain hispoise. He bowed and offered his hand to the Chief Constable in afashion precisely similar to that he had used to the husband of thePrincess.

  The Chief Constable shook hands with the Ambassador. It was amusing toobserve the manner in which each of these big dogs looked over theother. The representative of Ferdinand the Twelfth was a man ofgreater calibre than his first appearance had led us to believe.

  "It is pleasant, madam," said he, "to find you surrounded by yourEnglish friends."

  The dark eyes brimmed with meaning.

  "Confess, Baron, that you did not think I had so many."

  "Your Royal Highness is not kind to my intelligence," said hisExcellency.

  "Confess, then, you did not think that such was their courage?"

  "I will perjure myself if your Royal Highness desires it." TheAmbassador's laugh was not so gay in effect as it was in intention."But could I believe that you would admit any save the bravest to yourfriendship?"

  "Then you recognise, Baron, that my friends are brave?"

  "Unquestionably, madam, they are brave."

  "Explain then, Baron, why you did not guard the doors of my prison?For what reason, when you went out to dine this evening, did you forgetto lock them and put the keys in your pocket?"

  Before the subtle laughter in the eyes of his questioner the Ambassadorlowered his gaze.

  "I trust your Royal Highness does not feel that one of the oldest, ifone of the humblest, servants of the good King has so little regard foryour Royal Highness as to seek to debar her from the simplest ofpleasures?"

  "It has not occurred to your Excellency that that of which you speak asthe simplest of pleasures may prove for yourself the greatest ofcalamities?"

  At this point the Ambassador was tempted to dissemble.

  "I am at a loss, madam, to read your thoughts."

  "Liar!" muttered Fitz in my ear.

  "Your Excellency appears to have a store of natural simplicity," saidthe Princess.

  The Ambassador bowed.

  "Is it not a great thing to have, madam, in these days?"

  "Has it not occurred to your Excellency that it is a luxury that thosewho would serve their Sovereign occasionally deny themselves?"

  "If it pleases your Royal Highness to exercise your delightful wit atthe expense of the humblest servant of the good King!"

  "It does not please me, Excellency. It grieves me to the heart."

  With an address that was remarkable the Princess changed her tone.Quite suddenly the clear and mellow inflection of light banter wasexchanged for one of coldly wrought reproof.

  "I am sorry, madam," said the Ambassador, simply and with sincerity; "Iam a thousand times sorry. I can never forgive myself if I havewounded the susceptibilities of your Royal Highness. Already I hadhoped I had made it clear that the least of your servants has not beena free agent in all that has been done. I am the humble instrument ofan august master."

  "I agree with you, Herr Baron, that the King, in his wisdom, cannot dowrong. But it is because you have betrayed the service of your masterthat I am unhappy."

  The Herr Baron lowered his eyes.

  "Please God," he said humbly, "the least of the King's servants willnever betray the service of him to whom he owes everything."

  The Princess laughed, a little cruelly.

  "Speeches, Baron," said she.

  "Will your Royal Highness deign to explain in what manner I havebetrayed the service of my master?"

  "If you press the question, I will answer it. At the command of theKing, you take me by force and you imprison me in your house until thathour in which I can be removed to the castle at Blaenau. And then, inan unlucky moment, you open the door of my cage, and I am once again afree person in the company of my friends."

  The Princess rose abruptly, and with a disdain that was like a rapiersuffered Fitz to place the cloak about her shoulders.

  The Ambassador retained his self-possession. In his bearing, in thecold lustre of his eyes, in the rigidity of the jaw, were the evidenceof an inflexible will.

  "The orders, madam, of the King, my master, are explicit," he said in alow voice. "It grieves me bitterly that I cannot suffer them to be setaside."

  "So be it, Herr Baron." The great dark eyes of the Princess transfixedthe Ambassador like a pair of swords.

  In the midst of these passages Fitz reassumed his _role_ ofgeneralissimo.

  "Arbuthnot," he whispered to me, "you and Brasset and Vane-Anstrutherguard the farthest door. Let no one enter or pass out. Coverdale andO'Mulligan will look after the other one."

  In silence, and without ostentation, we disposed ourselves accordingly.Clearly it had not occurred to the Ambassador to expect compulsion tobe levied in his own house, by half a dozen commonplace civilians inblack coats.

  We had hardly taken up our places when Fitz, who stood by the side ofthe Princess, received from her a look that was also a command.Thereupon, for the first time, he deigned to address the Ambassador.

  "Baron von Arlenberg," he said, "the friends of her Royal Highness haveno wish to use _force majeure_, but her Royal Highness desires me toinform you that she has it at her disposal. All the same, she ishopeful that your natural good sense will spare her the necessity ofemploying it."

  Fitz's words were well spoken, but his tone, scrupulously restrained asit was, had an undercurrent of menace that the Ambassador and his twosecretaries could hardly fail to detect. The cold eyes of hisExcellency seemed to blaze with fury, but he made no reply.

  The Princess took the arm of her husband, and moved a pace in thedirection of the farther door. At the same moment the Ambassador madea movement to the left where a bell-rope hung from the wall.

  "Baron von Arlenberg," said Fitz, in a tone that compelled him to staywhere he was, "if you touch that rope I shall blow out your brains."

  Fitz had the revolver in his hand already. He covered the Ambassadorimperturbably. The two secretaries, although confused by the swiftnessof the act, moved forward.

  "Keep away from the bell-rope, gentlemen," said Fitz. "I shall nothesitate."

  The secretaries halted indecisively beside their chief, and as they didso Coverdale left his post by the nearer door and, revolver in hand,solemnly mounted guard over the bell-rope.

  "I am afraid, gentlemen," said Fitz, "you have no choice other than torespect the wishes of the Princess. And she desires that you stay inthis room until she has left the Embassy."

  However, with all his coolness, Fitz had made two importantmiscalculations. On the right there was another bell-rope, and therewas also the lady of the silver hair, the Margravine of Lesser Grabia.I sprang from my post and literally wrenched the rope from her fingers,but not before she had pulled it as hard as she could.

  Escorted by Fitz, the Princess passed out of the room, while thefriends of her Royal Highness assumed an aspect of quiet, butdetermined hostility, in order to prevent the Ambassador, hissecretaries, the Margravine, who looked furious, and the fair player ofSchumann, who appeared to be consumed with mirth, from following her.

  Hardly had the Princess passed through the farther door, which Brassetand Jodey had the honour of holding for her, before the Countess Ettavon Zweidelheim collapsed upon a convenient sofa.

  "It is petter than Offenbach!" she said, beginning to weep softly.

  Whether it was actually better than Offenbach, I am not competent toaffirm, but I can answer for it that for all except that charming butrisible lady it was a great deal more serious. The Ambassador was abrave man, and he had strengt
h of will, but as becomes one of hiscalling he was in no sense a fool. He had seen that in the eyes ofFitz which had assured him that a too-punctilious regard for the willof his Sovereign would not only be futile, but indiscreet. And nosooner had Fitz and the royal lady vanished from his ken, than therewere Coverdale and the rest of us to contend with.

  The Chief Constable with his back to the wall, even without a firearmin his stolid fist, is a very considerable figure of a man who will notbrook nonsense from anybody. Then Alexander O'Mulligan, by the fartherdoor, had a personality by no means deficient in persuasiveness.

  Scarcely had the Princess departed before O'Mulligan's door was triedfrom without. The amateur middle-weight champion of Great Britain sethis back against it with great success.

  "Help! help!" called the Margravine in a deep bay, which it seemed toour alarmed ears must have been audible for half a mile. "Save thePrincess! Help! Help!"

  In response to the appeal, a greater and ever-increasing pressure wasbrought to bear upon the door. The hinges groaned, and the panelstrembled; and at last Alexander O'Mulligan suddenly withdrew hisweight, and divers persons tumbled headlong, one over another,pell-mell into the room.

  "I think we had better go," said Coverdale, in the midst of this chaos.

  The five remaining champions of the Princess's freedom gatheredtogether and, their weapons still in hand, withdrew in excellent order.But one resplendent apartment led to another, equally resplendent, andamid the labyrinth of doors and corridors we could not find thestaircase. And immediately behind us the outraged Ambassador and hisretinue were gaining every instant in numbers and morale.

  The situation was ludicrous, yet not without its peril. It was hard toknow what would happen, and there was very little time in which to forma conjecture. Besides, it was of great importance that we should findour way downstairs without delay, for our presence there might besorely needed.

  As it happened, our thanks were due to the Ambassador that we were ableto find the staircase. For he and a number of excited persons flockedpast us and pointed a direct course thereto. They got down first, butwe followed hard upon their heels.

  On the ground floor all was peace. The men in livery and divers strayofficials were serenely unconscious of what had occurred. Fitz haddonned his overcoat, and with stupendous coolness was preparing todepart. Just as the Ambassador came into view, he led the Princessinto the outer vestibule.

  "They can't stop 'em now," said Coverdale. "We had better look afterour coats and hats, and then find our way to the Savoy."

  This was true enough, for the door leading to the street was alreadyopen.

  Waiting by the kerb was an electric brougham which Fitz had had theforethought to provide. Coverdale and I retrieved our property fromthe waiting-room at the foot of the staircase, while the others went insearch of theirs; and so quickly was this accomplished, that we wereable to witness an incident that was not the least memorable of themany of that amazing evening.

  The Ambassador realised that the game was lost as soon as he saw theopen door and the brougham in readiness. Therefore he refrained frompassing beyond the inner vestibule. It is expected of an ambassadorthat he shall do no hurt to his dignity in the most exacting situations.

  But there is an astonishing incident still to be recorded. Fitz,having placed the Princess in safety in the brougham, returned into thehouse. Walking straight up to the Ambassador, he addressed him interms of measured insult.

  "You cowardly dog," he said. "I would shoot you like a cur if it werenot for the laws of the country. You are not worth hanging for. But Iwill meet you at Paris at the first opportunity. Here is my card."

  Before he could be prevented he gave the Ambassador a blow upon thecheek with his open hand. It was not heavy, but it was premeditated.

  The members of the Embassy closed around Fitz.

  "Come into the ballroom, sir," said the Ambassador, who had turneddeadly pale.

  "When I have seen the Princess into safety I will oblige you," saidFitz. "But it would be more convenient if we arranged a meeting inParis."

  "You shall meet me now, sir," said the Ambassador.

  Coverdale moved forward into the circle that had been formed.

  "I am afraid that is impossible," said the Chief Constable. "Thepractice of duelling has no sanction in this country. For allconcerned it will surely be more convenient to meet at Paris."

  Coverdale's intention was pacific, and he is a man of weight, but theprincipals in this affair were likely to be too much for him.

  "Arbuthnot," said Fitz, "be good enough to accompany the Princess tothe Savoy. We will come on presently."

  For a moment the issue hung in the balance. The Ambassador haddemanded satisfaction and Fitz was more than willing to grant it. ButCoverdale was equally resolute. To the best of my capacity I secondedhis efforts, but with men so headstrong and so implacable it was almostimpossible to exert any kind of authority.

  "If you don't care to support me," said Fitz to Coverdale, "perhaps youwill not mind taking the place of Arbuthnot. I daresay you otherfellows will come on to the ballroom."

  To our dismay, Fitz, with a reassumption of the Napoleonic manner,turned towards the staircase.

  "What is to be done?" I inquired of the Chief Constable anxiously. "Iam a man of peace myself, but one of us must see him through."

  "I agree with you--the cursed firebrand! But one of us must stay, andthe other must look after the Princess."

  The Chief Constable did not conceal the fact that he had a predilectionfor the latter duty.

  "I don't know much about affairs of honour," said I, "and I shouldgreatly prefer that a man of more experience took a thing like this inhand; but I can quite believe that your official position----"

  "Official position be damned!" said the Chief Constable. "If youhonestly think I shall be of more use than you, there is no more to besaid. We are here to make ourselves useful and we must see this thingthrough."

  "Very well, I will look after the Princess, and you go to the ballroomand do what you can to save the situation."