The Great Court Scandal Part 5

"He did not see you?" she exclaimed anxiously.

"No. I took good care not to be seen. I had no desire that my journey here should be known, or I should be suspected. I return to-night at midnight."

"And to be frank, Steinbach, you believe that all this has reached my husband's ears?" she whispered in a hard, strained voice.

"All that is detrimental to your Highness reaches the Crown Prince," was his reply to the breathless woman, "and certainly not without embellishments. That is why I implore of you to be circ.u.mspect--why I am here to tell you of the plot to disgrace you in the people's eyes."

"But the people themselves are now speaking of--of the Count?" she said in a low, uncertain voice, quite changed from her previous musical tones when first they met.

"A scandal--and especially a Court one--very soon spreads among the people. The royal servants gossip outside the palace, and moreover your Highness's many enemies are only too delighted to a.s.sist in spreading such reports. It gives motive for the Crown Prince's estrangement."

Her head was bent, her hands were trembling. The iron had entered her soul.

The people--the people whom she so dearly loved, and who had waved their hands and shouted those glad welcomes to her as she drove out--were now whispering of Leitolf.

She bit her lip, and her countenance went pale as death as the truth arose before her in all its hideous ghastliness.

Even the man at her side, the humble man who had stood by her as her friend, knew that Leitolf was there--in Vienna--to be near her. Even Steinbach could have no further respect for her as a woman--only respect because she was one day to be his sovereign.

Her hands were clenched; she held her breath, and s.h.i.+vered as the chill wind cut through her. She longed to be back in her father's palace; to be alone in her room to think.

"And nothing more?" she asked in that same blank voice which now caused her companion to wonder.

"Only that they say evil of you that is not worth repeating," was his brief answer.

She sighed again, and then when she had sufficiently recovered from the effect of his words, she whispered in a low voice,--

"I--I can only thank you, Steinbach, for giving me this warning.

Forgive me if--if I am somewhat upset by it--but I am a woman--and perhaps it is only natural. Trust me to say nothing. Leave Vienna to-night and return home. If you ever wish to communicate with me write guardedly, making an appointment, and address your letter to Madame Emond at the Poste Restante in Brussels. You will recollect the name?"

"Most certainly I shall, your Highness. I can only ask pardon for speaking so openly. But it was at your request."

"Do not let us mention it further," she urged, her white lips again compressed. "Leave me now. It is best that I should walk down yonder to the Parkring alone."

He halted, and bowing low, his hat in his hand, said,--

"I would ask your Imperial Highness to still consider me your humble servant to command in any way whatsoever, and to believe that I am ever ready to serve you and to repay the great debt of grat.i.tude I owe to you."

And, bending, he took her gloved hand and raised it to his lips in obeisance to the princess who was to be his queen.

"Adieu, Steinbach," she said in a broken voice. "And for the service you have rendered me to-night I can only return you the thanks of an unhappy woman."

Then she turned from him quickly, and hurried down the path to the park entrance, where shone a single gas lamp, leaving him standing alone, bowing in silence.

He watched her graceful figure out of sight, then sighed, and turned away in the opposite direction.

A few seconds later the tall, dark figure of a man emerged noiselessly from the deep shadow of the tree where, un.o.bserved, he had crept up and stood concealed. The stranger glanced quickly up and down at the two receding figures, and then at a leisurely pace strode in the direction the Princess had taken.

When at last she had turned and was out of sight he halted, took a cigarette from a silver case, lit it after some difficulty in the tearing wind, and muttered some words which, though inaudible, were sufficiently triumphant in tone to show that he was well pleased at his ingenious piece of espionage.

CHAPTER FOUR.

HIS MAJESTY CUPID.

As the twilight fell on the following afternoon a fiacre drew up before the Hotel Imperial, one of the best and most select hotels in the Kartner Ring, in Vienna, and from it descended a lady attired in the deep mourning of a widow.

Of the gold-laced concierge she inquired for Count Carl Leitolf, and was at once shown into the lift and conducted to a private sitting-room on the second floor, where a young, fair-moustached, good-looking man, with well-cut, regular features and dark brown eyes, rose quickly as the door opened and the waiter announced her.

The moment the door had closed and they were alone he took his visitor's hand and raised it reverently to his lips, bowing low, with the exquisite grace of the born courtier.

In an instant she drew it from him and threw back her veil, revealing her pale, beautiful face--the face of her Imperial Highness the Crown Princess Claire.

"Highness!" the man exclaimed, glancing anxiously at the door to rea.s.sure himself that it was closed, "I had your note this morning, but--but are you not running too great a risk by coming here? I could not reply, fearing that my letter might fall into other hands; otherwise I would on no account have allowed you to come. You may have been followed. There are, as you know, spies everywhere."

"I have come, Carl, because I wish to speak to you," she said, looking unflinchingly into his handsome face. "I wish to know by what right you have followed me here--to Vienna?"

He drew back in surprise, for her att.i.tude was entirely unexpected.

"I came here upon my own private affairs," he answered.

"That is not the truth," she declared in quick resentment. "You are here because you believed that you might meet me at the reception after the State dinner to-night. You applied for a card for it in order that you could see me--and this, after what pa.s.sed between us the other day!

Do you consider that you are treating me fairly? Cannot you see that your constant attentions are compromising me and causing people to talk?"

"And what, pray, does your Imperial Highness care for this idle Court gossip?" asked the well-dressed, athletic-looking man, at the same time placing a chair for her and bowing her to it. "There has been enough of it already, and you have always expressed the utmost disregard of anything that might be said, or any stories that might be invented."

"I know," she answered. "But this injudicious action of yours in following me here is utter madness. It places me in peril. You are known in Vienna, remember."

"Then if that is your view, your Highness, I can only apologise," he said most humbly. "I will admit that I came here in order to be able to get a few minutes' conversation with you to-night. At our Court at home you know how very difficult it is for me to speak with you, for the sharp eye of the Trauttenberg is ever upon you."

The Princess's arched brows contracted slightly. She recollected what Steinbach had revealed to her regarding her lady-in-waiting.

"And it is surely best that you should have difficulty in approaching me," she said. "I have not forgotten your foolish journey to Paris, where I had gone incognito to see my old nurse, and how you compelled me to go out and see the sights in your company. We were recognised. Do you know that?" she exclaimed in a hard voice. "A man who knew us both sent word to Court that we were in Paris together."

"Recognised!" he gasped, the colour fading instantly from his face.

"Who saw us?"

"Of his ident.i.ty I'm not aware," she answered, for she was a clever diplomatist, and could keep a secret well. She did not reveal Scheel's name. "I only know that our meeting in Paris is no secret. They suspect me, and I have you to thank for whatever scandal may now be invented concerning us."

The lithe, clean-limbed man was silent, his head bent before her. What could he reply? He knew, alas! too well, that in following her from Germany to Paris he had acted very injudiciously. She was believed to be taking the baths at Aix, but a sudden caprice had seized her to run up to Paris and see her old French nurse, to whom she was much attached.

He had learnt her intention in confidence, and had met her in Paris and shown her the city. It had been an indiscretion, he admitted.

Yet the recollection of those few delightful days of freedom remained like a pleasant dream. He recollected her childish delight of it all.

It was out of the season, and they believed that they could go hither and thither, like the crowds of tourists do, without fear of recognition. Yet Fate, it seemed, had been against them, and their secret meeting was actually known!

"Cannot you see the foolishness of it all?" she asked in a low, serious voice. "Cannot you see, Carl, that your presence here lends colour to their suspicions? I have enemies--fierce, bitter enemies--as you must know too well, and yet you imperil me like this!" she cried reproachfully.

"I can make no defence, Princess," he said lamely. "I can only regret deeply having caused you any annoyance."