The George Barr McCutcheon Megapack: 25 Classic Novels and Stories

by George Barr McCutcheon

“Is it you?” cried Robin, throwing open the door and leaping to the ground.

  “It is I, M’sieur,” said the voice of Marie, Miss Guile’s French maid.

  Bleak disappointment filled his soul. He had hoped for—but no! He might have known. She would not meet him in this manner.

  “What has happened?” he cried, grasping the girl’s arm. “Has she—”

  “Sh! May we not speak in French?” said Marie, lowering her voice after a significant look at the motionless cabman. “He may understand English, M’sieur. My mistress has sent me to say to M’sieur that she has changed her mind.”

  “Changed her mind,” gasped Robin.

  “Yes, M’sieur. She will not receive you at the Inn of the Stars. She bids you drive to the end of this street, where there is a garden with a Magyar band, and the most delicious of refreshments to be had under vine-covered—”

  “A public garden?” exclaimed Robin in utter dismay.

  “Pingari’s, sir,” said Hobbs, without thinking. “I know the place well. It is a very quiet, orderly place—I beg pardon!”

  “So he understands French, eh?” cried Marie sharply.

  “It doesn’t matter,” cried Robin impatiently. “Why, in heaven’s name, did she select a public eating-house in which to receive me?”

  “If M’sieur chooses to disregard the wishes of—” began the maid, but he interrupted her.

  “I am not accustomed to meeting people in public gardens. I—”

  “Nor is my mistress, M’sieur. I assure you it is the first time she has committed an indiscretion of this kind. May I put a flea in M’sieur’s ear? The place is quite empty tonight, and besides there is the drive back to the Inn with Mademoiselle. Is not that something, M’sieur?’

  “By jove!” exclaimed Robin. “Drive on,—you! But wait! Let me take you to the Inn, Marie. It—”

  “No! I may not accept M’sieur’s thoughtful invitation. Bon soir, M’sieur.”

  She was off like a flash. Robin leaped nimbly into the cab.

  “Pingari’s, driver!” he said, his heart thumping once more.

  “Very good, sir,” and they were off at a lively rate, rattling quite gaily over the cobble-stones.

  Pingari’s is the jumping-off place. It stands at the sharp corner of an elbow in the mountain, with an almost sheer drop of a thousand feet into the quarries below. A low-roofed, rambling building, once used as a troop-house for nomadic fighting-men who came from all parts of the principality on draft by feudal barons in the days before real law obtained, it was something of a historic place. Parts of the structure are said to be no less than five hundred years old, but time and avarice have relegated history to a rather uncertain background, and unless one is pretty well up in the traditions of the town, he may be taken in nicely by shameless attendants who make no distinction between the old and the new so long as it pays them to procrastinate.

  As a matter of fact, the walls of the ancient troop-house surround what is now considered the kitchen, and one never steps inside of them unless he happens to be connected in a somewhat menial way with the green grocer, the fish-monger, the butcher or the poultry-man. The wonderful vine-covered porches, reeking with signs of decay and tottering with age, are in truth very substantial affairs constructed by an ancestor of the present Signor Pingari no longer ago than the Napoleonic era—which is quite recent as things go in Graustark.

  Hobbs drove bravely into the court yard, shouted orders to a couple of hostlers and descended from the box. The Magyar band was playing blithely to the scattered occupants of the porches overlooking the precipice.

  “’Ere we are, sir,” said he to the Prince, as he jerked open the door of the cab. “Shall I wait, sir?”

  “Certainly,” said Robin, climbing out. “I am a long way from home, my good man.”

  He hurried up the steps and cast an eye about the place. There were no ladies unattached. As he was about to start on a tour of investigation, a polite person in brass buttons came up to him.

  “Alone, sir?” he inquired pityingly.

  “Quite,” said Robin, still peering into the recesses.

  “Then come with me, if you please. I am directed to escort you to one who is also alone. This way, sir.”

  Robin followed him through a door, down a narrow hallway, up a flight of stairs and out another door upon a small portico, sheltered by a heavy canvas awning. Two men were standing at the railing, looking down upon the impressionistic lights of the sunken city. The Prince drew back, his face hardening.

  “What does this mean, sirrah? You said—”

  At the sound of his voice the two men turned, stared at him intently for an instant and then deliberately strode past him, entered the door and disappeared. The person in brass buttons followed them.

  A soft, gurgling laugh fell upon his ears—a laugh of pure delight. He whirled about and faced—one who was no longer alone.

  She was seated at the solitary little table in the corner; until now it had escaped his notice for the excellent reason that it was outside the path of light from the open doorway, and the faint glow from the adjacent porches did not penetrate the quiet retreat.

  He sprang toward her with a glad cry, expecting her to rise. She remained seated, her hand extended. This indifference on her part may have been the result of cool premeditation. In any event, it served to check the impulsive ardour of the Prince, who, it is to be feared, had lost something in the way of self-restraint. It is certain—absolutely certain—that had she come forward to meet him, she would have found herself imprisoned in a pair of strong, eager arms,—and a crisis precipitated. He had to be content with a warm hand-clasp and a smile of welcome that even the gloom could not hide from his devouring eyes.

  “My dear, dear Bedelia,” he murmured. “I had almost given you up. Three long days have I waited for you. You—”

  “I have never broken a promise, Rex,” she said coolly. “It is you who are to be commended, not I, for you see I was coming to Graustark anyway. I should not have been surprised if you had failed me, sir. It is a long way from Vienna to this out-of-the-way—”

  “The most distant spot in the world would not have been too far away to cause an instant’s hesitation on my part,” said he, dropping into the chair opposite her. “I would go to the end of the world, Bedelia.”

  “But your personal affairs—your business,” she protested. “Can you neglect it so—”

  “My business is to find happiness,” said he. “I should be neglecting it indeed if I failed to pursue the only means of attaining it. You are happiness, Bedelia.”

  “What would you sacrifice for happiness?” she asked softly.

  “All else in the world,” he replied steadily. “If I were a king, my realm should go if it stood between me and—you, Bedelia.”

  She drew back with a queer little gasp, as if suddenly breathless.

  “Wait—wait just for a moment,” she said, with difficulty steadying her voice. “This night may see the end of our adventure, Rex. Let us think well before we say that it is over. I know, if you do not, that a great deal depends upon what we are to say to each other tonight. You will ask me to be your wife. Are you sure that you appreciate all that it means to you and to your future if I should say yes to that dear question?”

  He looked at her intently. “What do you know, Bedelia?”

  “I know that you are the Prince of Graustark and that it is ordained that you shall wed one whose station is the equal of your own. You must think well, dear Rex, before you ask Bedelia Guile to be your wife.”

  “You know that I am—” he began, dully, and then burst into a mirthless laugh. “And knowing who I am, why do you not leap at the chance to become the Princess of Graustark? Why not realise an ambition that—”

  “Hush! You see how well I considered when I advised you to think before speaking? You are now saying things that are unworthy of you. You are forgetting that it is my privilege to say no to the am in search of happiness. I too—
”

  He stood up, leaning far over the table, a penetrating look in his eyes.

  “How long have you known, Bedelia?”

  “Since the second day out on the Jupiter,” she replied serenely.

  He slowly resumed his seat, overwhelmed by the sickening realisation that his bubble had burst. She had known from the beginning. She had played with him. She had defied him!

  “I know what you are thinking, Rex,” she said, almost pleadingly. “You are thinking ill of me, and you are unjust. It was as fair for me as it was for you. We played a cautious game. You set about to win my love as you saw fit, my friend, and am I to be condemned if I exercised the same privilege? I was no more deliberate, no more reprehensible than you. Am I more guilty of deceit than you?”

  He gave a great sigh of relief. “You are right,” he said. “It is my turn to confess. I have known for many days that you are not Bedelia Guile. We are quits.”

  She laughed softly. “I rather like Bedelia. I think I shall keep it as a good-luck name. We have now arrived at the time for a profound contemplation of the results of our experiments. In the meantime, I have had no dinner. I trust that the Prince of Graustark has dined so lightly that he will not decline to share my repast with me. It has already been ordered—for two.”

  “By jove, you—you amaze me!” he exclaimed.

  “Please remove that dreadful mackintosh and touch the bell for me. You see, I am a very prosaic person, after all. Even in the face of disaster I can have a craving for food and drink. That’s better.”

  In a sort of daze, he tapped the little table bell. A waiter appeared on the instant.

  “Give us more light, waiter,” was her command, “and serve dinner at once.”

  The lights went up, and Robin looked into her soft, smiling eyes.

  “It doesn’t matter,” he whispered hoarsely. “I don’t care what happens to me, Bedelia, I—I shall never give you up. You are worth all the kingdoms in the world. You are the loveliest, most adorable—”

  “Hush! The eyes of your people are upon you. See! Even the waiter recognises his prince. He is overcome. Ah! He falters with the consomme. It is a perilous moment. There! I knew something would happen, poor fellow. He has spilled—but, all is well; he has his wits again. See! He replenishes from the steaming tureen. We are saved.”

  Her mood was so gaily satiric, so inconsequential, that he allowed a wondering, uncertain smile to banish the trouble from his eyes as he leaned back in the chair and studied the vivid, excited face of the girl who had created havoc with his senses. She was dressed as he had seen her on board the Jupiter during those delightful days on deck: the same trim figure in a blue serge suit and a limp white hat, drawn well down over her soft brown hair, with the smart red tie and the never-to-be-forgotten scent of a perfume that would linger in hisnostrils forever and forever.

  “Do you think it strange that I should have asked you to meet me here in this unconventional way instead of at the Inn?” she inquired, suddenly serious. Again the shy, pleading expression stole into her eyes.

  “I did think so, but no longer. I am glad that we are here.”

  “Mrs. Gaston is inside,” she informed him quickly. “I do not come alone. An hour ago the Inn became quite impossible as a trysting place. A small party from the Regengetz arrived for dinner. Can you guess who is giving the dinner? The great and only William W. Blithers, sir, who comes to put an obstinate daughter upon the throne of Graustark, whether she will or no.”

  “Did he see you?” cried Robin.

  “No,” she answered, with a mischievous gleam in her eyes. “I stole out through the back door, and sent Marie out with one of the porters to head you off. Then I came on here. I didn’t even stop to change my gown.”

  “Hide and seek is a bully game,” said he. “It can’t last much longer, Bedelia. I think it is only right that we should go to your father and tell him that—everything is all right. It is his due. You’ve solved your own problem and are satisfied, so why not reveal yourself. There is nothing to be gained by further secrecy.”

  She was watching him closely. “Are you, after all is said and done, sure that you want to marry the daughter of William Blithers, in the face of all the bitter consequences that may follow such an act? Think hard, my dear. She is being forced upon you, in a way. Mr. Blithers’ money is behind her. Your people are opposed to the bargain, for that is the way in which they will look upon it. They may act very harshly toward you. The name of Blithers is detested in your land. His daughter is reviled. Are you sure that you want to marry her, Re—Robin?”

  “Are you through?” he asked, transfixing her with a determined look. “Well, then, I’ll answer you. I do want to marry you, and, more than that, I mean to marry you. I love—”

  “You may tell me, Robin, as we are driving back to the Inn together—not here, not now,” she said softly, the lovelight in her eyes.

  Happiness blurred his vision. He was thrilled by an enchantment so stupefying that the power of speech, almost of thought, was denied him for the time being. He could only sit and stare at her with prophetic love in his eyes, love that bided its time and trembled with anticipation.

  Long afterward, as they were preparing to leave Pingari’s she said to him:

  “My father is at the Inn, Robin. I ran away from him tonight because I wanted to be sure that our adventure was closed before I revealed myself to him. I wanted to be able to say to him that love will find its way, no matter how blind it is, nor how vast the world it has to traverse in search of its own. My father is at the Inn. Take me to him now, Robin, and make the miracle complete.”

  His fingers caressed her warm cheek as he adjusted the collar of the long seacoat about her throat and chin. Her eyes were starry bright, her red lips were parted.

  “My Princess!” he whispered tenderly. “My Princess!”

  “My Prince,” she said so softly that the words barely reached his ears. “We have proved that Love is the king. He rules us all. He laughs at locksmiths—and fathers—but he does not laugh at sweethearts. Come, I am ready.”

  He handed her into the cab a moment later, and drew the long deep breath of one who goes down into deep water. Then he followed after her. The attendant closed the door.

  “Where to, sir?” called Hobbs from the driver’s seat.

  He received no answer, yet cracked his whip gaily over the horses’ backs and drove out into the slanting rain.

  Hobbs was a dependable fellow. He drove the full length of the street twice, passing the Inn of the Stars both times at a lively clip, and might have gone on forever in his shuttlecock enterprise, had not the excited voice of a woman hailed him from the sidewalk.

  “Stop! Attendez! You! Man!”

  He pulled up with a jerk. The dripping figure of Marie ran up from behind.

  “My mistress? Where is she?” panted the girl.

  “In heaven,” said Hobbs promptly, whereupon Marie pounded on the glass window of the cab.

  Robin quickly opened the door.

  “Wha—what is it?”

  “Yes, Marie,” came in muffled tones from the depths of the cab.

  “Madame Gaston returns long ago. She is beside herself. She is like a maniac. She has lost you; she cannot explain to—to Mademoiselle’s father. Mon dieu, when he met her unexpectedly in the hall, he shouts, ‘where is my daughter?’ And poor Madame she has but to shiver and stammer and—run away! Oui! She dash out into the rain! It is terrible. She—”

  Bedelia broke in upon this jumbled recitation. “Where have we been, Robin? Where are we now?”

  “Where are we, Hobbs?”

  “We are just getting back to the Inn of the Stars, sir,—descending, you might say, sir,” said Hobbs.

  “Drive on, confound you.”

  “To the Inn, sir?”

  “Certainly!”

  The door slammed and the final block was covered in so short a time that Robin’s final kiss was still warm on Bedelia’s lips when the g
allant cab rolled up to the portals of the Inn of the Stars.

  “Did you ever know such a night, sir?” inquired Hobbs, as the Prince handed his lady out. He was referring to the weather.

  CHAPTER XXIV

  JUST WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN EXPECTED

  Even the most flamboyant of natures may suffer depression at times, and by the same token arrogance may give way to humility,—or, at the very least, conviction.

  Mr. Blithers had had a trying day of it. To begin with, his wife raked him over the coals for what she was pleased to call his senseless persistence in the face of what she regarded as unalterable opposition on the part of the Cabinet and House of Nobles. It appears that he had experienced a second encounter with the Ministry only the day before. After sleeping over the results of his first visit to the Council Chamber, he awoke to the fact that matters were in such a condition that it behooved him to strike while the iron was hot. So he obtained a second hearing, principally because he had not slept as well over it as he would have liked, and secondarily because he wanted to convince himself that he could parade their ancient halls without feeling as self-conscious as a whipped spaniel.

  He came off even worse in his second assault upon the ministry, for this time the members openly sneered at his declarations. As for his progress through the enchanted halls he was no end worse off than before. It so happened that he arrived at the castle at the very hour when the ladies and gentlemen of the royal household were preparing to fare forth to the tennis courts. He came upon them, first on the terrace, then in the entrance, and later on was stared at with evident curiosity by white flanneled and duck-skirted persons in the lofty halls. He wished that he was back at Blitherwood where simplicity was not so infernally common.

  He made the mistake of his life when he gave to his wife the details of this second conference with the Cabinet. He did it in the hope that a sympathetic response would be forthcoming. To his surprise, she merely pitied him, but in such a disgustingly personal way that he wondered if he could ever forgive her.

  “Can’t you appreciate what I am doing for Maud?” he argued, almost tearfully.

  “I can appreciate what you are doing to her,” said she, and swept out of the room.