by Robert Barr
CHAPTER XIX. JENNIE EXPERIENCES THE SURPRISE OF HER LIFE.
At nine o'clock the long train came to a standstill, seventeen minuteslate at Luga, and ample time was allowed for a leisurely breakfast inthe buffet of the station. The restaurant was thronged with numerouspassengers, most of whom seemed hardly yet awake, while many wereunkempt and dishevelled, as if they had had little sleep during thenight.
Jennie found a small table and sat down beside it, ordering her coffeeand rolls from the waiter who came to serve her. Looking round at thecosmopolitan company, and listening to the many languages, whose clashgave a Babel air to the restaurant, Jennie fell to musing on the strangeexperiences she had encountered since leaving London. It seemed to hershe had been taking part in some ghastly nightmare, and she shuddered asshe thought of the lawlessness, under cover of law, of this great anddespotic empire, where even the ruler was under the surveillance of hissubordinates, and could not get a letter out of his own dominion insafety, were he so minded. In her day-dream she became conscious,without noting its application to herself, that a man was standingbefore her table; then a voice which made her heart stop said,--
"Ah, lost Princess!"
She placed her hand suddenly to her throat, for the catch in herbreath seemed to be suffocating her, then looked up and saw Lord DonalStirling, in the ordinary everyday dress of an English gentleman, aswell groomed as if he had come, not from a train, but from his ownhouse. There was a kindly smile on his lips and a sparkle in his eyes,but his face was of ghastly pallor.
"Oh, Lord Donal!" she cried, regarding him with eyes of wonder and fear,"what is wrong with you?"
"Nothing," the young man replied, with an attempt at a laugh; "nothing,now that I have found you, Princess. I have been making a night of it,that's all, and am suffering the consequences in the morning. May I sitdown?"
He dropped into a chair on the other side of the table, like a manthoroughly exhausted, unable to stand longer, and went on,--
"Like all dissipated men, I am going to break my fast on stimulants.Waiter," he said, "bring me a large glass of your best brandy."
"And, waiter," interjected Jennie in French, "bring two breakfasts. Isuppose it was not a meal that you ordered just now, Lord Donal?"
"I have ordered my breakfast," he said; "still, it pleads in my favourthat I do not carry brandy with me, as I ought to do, and so must drinkthe vile stuff they call their best here."
"You should eat as well," she insisted, taking charge of him as if shehad every right to do so.
"All shall be as you say, now that I have the happiness of seeing yousitting opposite me, but don't be surprised if I show a mostunappreciative appetite."
"What is the matter?" she asked breathlessly. "You certainly look veryill."
"I have been drugged and robbed," he replied, lowering his voice. "Iimagine I came to close quarters with death itself. I have spent a nightin Hades, and this morning am barely able to stagger; but the sight ofyou, Princess--Ah, well, I feel once more that I belong to the land ofthe living!"
"Please do not call me Princess," said the girl, looking down at thetablecloth.
"Then what am I to call you, Princess?"
"My name is Jennie Baxter," she said in a low voice.
"_Miss_ Jennie Baxter?" he asked eagerly, with emphasis on the firstword.
"Miss Jennie Baxter," she answered, still not looking up at him.
He leaned back in his chair and said,--
"Well, this is not such a bad world, after all. To think of meeting youhere in Russia! Have you been in St. Petersburg, then?"
"Yes. I am a newspaper woman," explained Jennie hurriedly. "Whenyou met me before, I was there surreptitiously--fraudulently, ifyou like; I was there to--to write a report of it for my paper. Ican never thank you enough, Lord Donal, for your kindness to me thatevening."
"Your thanks are belated," said the young man, with a visible attempt atgaiety. "You should have written and acknowledged the kindness you aregood enough to say I rendered to you. You knew my address, and etiquettedemanded that you should make your acknowledgments."
"I was reluctant to write," said Jennie, a smile hovering round herlips, "fearing my letter might act as a clue. I had no wish to interferewith the legitimate business of Mr. Cadbury Taylor."
"Great heavens!" cried the young man, "how came you to know about that?But of course the Princess von Steinheimer told you of it. She wrote tome charging me with all sorts of wickedness for endeavouring to findyou."
"No, Lord Donal, I did not learn it from her. In fact, if you had openedthe door of the inner room at Mr. Cadbury Taylor's a little quicker, youwould have come upon me, for I was the assistant who tried to persuadehim that you really met the Princess von Steinheimer."
Lord Donal, for the first time, laughed heartily.
"Well, if that doesn't beat all! And I suppose Cadbury Taylor hasn't theslightest suspicion that you are the person he was looking for?"
"No, not the slightest."
"I say! that is the best joke I have heard in ten years," said LordDonal; and here, breakfast arriving, Jennie gave him his directions.
"You are to drink a small portion of that brandy," she said, "and thenput the rest in your coffee. You must eat a good breakfast, and thatwill help you to forget your troubles,--that is, if you have any realtroubles."
"Oh, my troubles are real enough," said the young man. "When I met youbefore, Princess, I was reasonably successful. We even talked aboutambassadorships, didn't we, in spite of the fact that ambassadors weremaking themselves unnecessarily obtrusive that night? Now you see beforeyou a ruined man. No, I am not joking; it is true. I was given acommission, or, rather, knowing the danger there was in it, I beggedthat the commission might be given me. It was merely to take a letterfrom St. Petersburg to London. I have failed, and when that is said, allis said."
"But surely," cried the girl, blushing guiltily as she realized thatthis was the man she had been sent to rob, "you could not be expected toward off such a lawless attempt at murder as you have been the victimof?"
"That is just what I expected, and what I supposed I could ward off. Inmy profession--which, after all has a great similarity to yours, exceptthat I think we have to do more lying in ours--there must be no suchword as fail. The very best excuses are listened to with tolerance,perhaps, and a shrug of the shoulders; but failure, no matter from whatcause, is fell doom. I have failed. I shall not make any excuses. I willgo to London and say merely, 'The Russian police have robbed me.' Oh, Iknow perfectly well who did the trick, and how it was done. Then I shallsend in my resignation. They will accept it with polite words of regret,and will say to each other, 'Poor fellow, he had a brilliant careerbefore him, but he got drunk, or something, and fell into the ditch.'Ah, well, we won't talk any more about it."
"Then you don't despise the newspaper profession, Lord Donal?"
"Despise it! Bless you, no: I look up to it. Belonging myself to aprofession very much lower down in the scale of morality, as I havesaid. But, Princess," he added, leaning towards her, "will you resignfrom the newspaper if I resign from diplomacy?"
The girl slowly shook her head, her eyes on the tablecloth before her.
"I will telegraph my resignation," he said impetuously, "if you willtelegraph yours to your paper."
"You are feeling ill and worried this morning, Lord Donal, and so youtake a pessimistic view of life. You must not resign."
"Oh, but I must. I have failed, and that is enough."
"It isn't enough. You must do nothing until you reach London."
"I like your word _must_, Jennie," said the young man audaciously. "Itimplies something, you know."
"What does it imply, Lord Donal?" she asked, glancing up at him.
"It implies that you are going to leave the 'Lord' off my name."
"That wouldn't be very difficult," replied Jennie.
"I am delighted to hear you say so," exclaimed his lordship; "and now,that I may know how it sounds from your
dear lips, call me Don."
"No; if I ever consented to omit the title, I should call you Donal. Ilike the name in its entirety."
He reached his hand across the table. "Are you willing then, to accept aman at the very lowest ebb of his fortunes? I know that if I were ofthe mould that heroes are made of, I would hesitate to proffer you ablighted life. But I loved you the moment I saw you; and, remembering myfruitless search for you, I cannot run the risk of losing you again; Ihave not the courage."
She placed her hand in his and looked him, for the first time, squarelyin the eyes.
"Are you sure, Donal," she said, "that I am not a mere effigy on whichyou are hanging the worn-out garments of a past affection? You thought Iwas the Princess at first."
"No, I didn't," he protested. "As soon as I heard you speak, I knew youwere the one I was destined to meet."
"Ah, Donal, Donal, at lovers' perjuries they say Jove laughs. I don'tthink you were quite so certain as all that. But I, too, am a coward,and I dare not refuse you."
Lord Donal glanced quickly about him; the room was still crowded. Eventhe Berlin Express gave them a long time for breakfast, and was in nohurry to move westward. His hurried gaze returned to her and he sighed.
"What an unholy spot for a proposal!" he whispered; "and yet they callRussia the Great Lone Land. Oh, that we had a portion of it entirely toourselves!"
The girl sat there, a smile on her pretty lips that Lord Donal thoughtmost tantalizing. A railway official announced in a loud voice that thetrain was about to resume its journey. There was a general shuffling offeet as the passengers rose to take their places.
"Brothers and sisters kiss each other, you know, on the eve of a railwayjourney," said Lord Donal, taking advantage of the confusion.
Jennie Baxter made no protest.
"There is plenty of time," he whispered. "I know the leisurely nature ofRussian trains. Now I am going to the telegraph office, to send in myresignation, and I want you to come with me and send in yours."
"No, Lord Donal," said the girl.
"Aren't you going to resign?" he asked, in surprise.
"Yes, all in good time; but _you_ are not."
"Oh, I say," he cried, "it is really imperative. I'll tell you all aboutit when we get on the train."
"It is really imperative that you should not send in your resignation.Indeed, Donal, you need not look at me with that surprised air. You mayas well get accustomed to dictation at once. You did it yourself, youknow. You can't say that I encouraged you. I eluded the vigilant CadburyTaylor as long as I could. But, if there is time, go to the telegraphoffice and send a message to the real Princess, Palace Steinheimer,Vienna. Say you are engaged to be married to Jennie Baxter, and ask herto telegraph you her congratulations at Berlin."
"I'll do it," replied the young man with gratifying alacrity.
When Lord Donal came out of the telegraph office, Jennie said to him,"Wait a moment while I go into the sleeping car and get my rugs andhandbag."
"I'll go for them," he cried impetuously.
"Oh, no," she said. "I'll tell you why, later. The conductor is avillain and was in collusion with the police."
"Oh, I know that," said Lord Donal. "Poor devil, he can't help himself;he must do what the police order him to do, while he is in Russia."
"I'll get my things and go into an ordinary first class carriage. When Ipass this door, you must get your belongings and come and find me. Thereis still time, and I don't want the conductor to see us together."
"Very well," said the young man with exemplary obedience.