The Puppet Crown Part 37

"Go in," said Stuler, "and look at some of those heads; a look will answer the purpose."

Johann followed this advice. The picture he saw was one which agreed with the idea that had come into his mind. He returned to the bar-room.

and drank his wine thirstily, refilled the gla.s.s and emptied it. Stuler shook his head. Johann was in a bad way when he gulped wine instead of sipping it. Yet it was always so after a carouse.

"Where have you been keeping yourself the past week?" he asked. If the students were his purse, Johann was his budget of news.

"You ask that?" surlily. "You knew I had money; you knew that I was off somewhere spending it--G.o.d knows where, I don't. Another bottle of wine.

There's enough left from the gold to pay for it."

Stuler complied. Johann's thirst seemed in no way a.s.suaged; but soon the sullen expression, the aftermath of his spree, was replaced by one of reckless jollity. His eyes began to sparkle.

"A great game, Stuler; they're playing a great game, and you and I will be in at the reaping. The town is quiet, you say? The troops have ceased murmuring, eh? A lull that comes before the storm. And when it breaks--and break it will!--gay times for you and me. There will be sacking. I have the list of those who lean toward the Osians. There will be loot, old war dog!"

Stuler smiled indulgently; Johann was beginning to feel the wine.

Perhaps he was to learn something. "Yes, 'twill be a glorious day."

"A week hence, and the king goes forth a bankrupt."

"If he lives," judiciously.

"Dead or alive, it matters not which; he goes."

"And the wedding? What is it I hear about Prince Frederick and the peasant girl?"

Johann laughed. "There will be no wedding."

"And the princess?"

"A pretty morsel, a tidbit for the king that is to be."

"The king that--eh, Johann, are you getting drunk so soon?" Stuler exclaimed. "I know of no king--"

Johann reached over and caught the innkeeper's wrist. The grasp was no gentle one. "Listen, that was a slip of the tongue. Repeat it, and that for your life! Do you understand, my friend?"

"Gott in--"

"Do you understand?" fiercely.

"Yes, yes!" Stuler wiped his face with his ap.r.o.n.

"Good, if you understand. It was naught but a slip of the tongue,"

nonchalantly. "In a little week, my friend, your till will have no vulgar silver in it; gold, yellow gold."

"And the d.u.c.h.ess?" with hesitance. The budget of news to-night was not of the usual kind.

Johann did not answer, save by a shrug.

The perturbation of the old man was so manifestly beyond control that he could not trust his legs. He dropped on the stool, giving his grizzled head a negative shake. "I would that you had made no slip of the tongue, Johann," he murmured. "Gott, what is going on? The princess was not to wed, to be sure, but the d.u.c.h.ess pa.s.sed--a king besides--"

"Silence!" enjoined Johann. "Stuler, I am about to venture on a daring enterprise, which, if successful, will mean plenty of gold. Come with me into your private office, where we shall not be interrupted nor overheard." He vaulted the bar. Stuler looked undecided. "Come!"

commanded Johann. With another shake of his head Stuler took down the tallow dip, unlocked the door, and bade Johann pa.s.s in. He caught up another bottle and gla.s.s and followed. Without a word he filled the gla.s.s and set it down before Johann, who raised it and drank, his beady eyes flas.h.i.+ng over the rim of the gla.s.s and compelling the innkeeper to withdraw his gaze.

"Well?" said Stuler, uneasily.

"I need you." Johann finished his gla.s.s with moderate slowness. "Your storehouse on the lake is empty?"

"Yes, but--"

"I shall want it, two nights from this, in case Madame the d.u.c.h.ess does not conquer the Englishman. I shall want two fellows who will ask no questions, but who will follow my instructions to the letter. It is an abduction."

"A nasty business," was Stuler's comment. "You have women to thank for your present occupation, Johann."

"Stuler, you are a fool. It is not a woman; it is a crown."

"Eh?" Stuler's eyes bulged.

"A crown. The d.u.c.h.ess may remain a d.u.c.h.ess. Who is master in Bleiberg to-day? At whose word the army moves or stands? At whose word the Osians fall or reign? On whom does the d.u.c.h.ess rely? Who is king in deed, if not in fact? Who will find means to liquidate the kingdom's indebtedness, whoever may be the creditor? Pah! the princess may marry, but the groom will not be Prince Frederick. The man she will marry will be the husband of a queen, and he will be a king behind a woman's skirts. It is what the French call a coup d'etat. She will be glad to marry; there is no alternative. She will submit, if only that her father may die in peace."

"And this king?" in a whisper.

"You are old, Stuler; you remember many things of the past. Do you recollect a prince of a n.o.ble Austrian house by the name of Walmoden, once an aide to the emperor, who was cas.h.i.+ered from the army and exiled for corresponding with France?"

Stuler's hand shook as he brushed his forehead. "Yes, I recollect.

He fought against the Prussians in the Franco-Prussian war, then disappeared, to be heard of again as living in a South American republic. But what has he to do with all this? Ah, Johann, this is deep water."

"For those who have not learned to swim. You will aid me? A thousand crowns--two hundred pieces of gold like that which has just pa.s.sed from my pocket into yours. It is politics."

"But the sacking of the town?"

"A jest. If Madame the d.u.c.h.ess conquers the Englishman, the king that is to be will pay her. Then, if she wages war Austria can say nothing for defending ourselves."

"And Walmoden?" Stuler struck his forehead with his fist as if to pound it into a state of lucidity. "Where is he? It is a stone wall; I can see nothing."

"Beauvais."

"Beauvais!" Stuler half rose from his chair, but sank again.

"Exactly. This play, for some reason unexplained, is the price of his reestablishment into the graces of the n.o.ble Hapsburgs. Between us, I think the prince is playing a game for himself. But who shall blame him?"

"The devil! I thought Austria was very favorable to the Osian house."

"Favorable or not, it is nothing to us."

"Well, well, it's a thousand crowns," philosophically.

"That's the sentiment," laughed Johann. "It is not high treason, it is not lese majeste; it is not a crime; it is a thousand crowns. Votre sante, as the d.a.m.ned French say!" swallowing what was left of the wine.

"And then, it is purely patriotic in us," with a deceitful smile.

"The storehouse is yours, and the men. Now tell me how 'tis to be played."