The Colonel of the Red Huzzars Part 39

"If you mean she is only a tool," said I, "that is almost as unlikely as revenge."

"On the contrary, why couldn't it be both--and, also, a big pile of money?" he asked.

"Because," said I, "she would balk at the notoriety."

Courtney laughed. "Good, yellow gold, and plenty of it, is a wonderful persuader."

"Come," said I; "what's your guess in the matter?"

He tossed aside his cigarette and leaned a bit forward in his chair.

"The lady has been purchased by someone to come here and pose as your wife; the moving consideration to her was enough cash to make her independently rich and the pleasure of thus being able to square off with you, on her own account. That's my guess--and I fancy it's yours too,"

he ended.

I laughed. "Yes," said I; "it is. I spent the night over the mix and that's the best solution I could make."

Courtney lit a fresh cigarette, "Of course, it's Lotzen," said he. "And a very clever plot it is. No Princess and no Crown for you, my boy, until this Madame Armand Dalberg is eliminated--and, maybe, not even then."

"Your 'then' is the only rift in the cloud," said I. "Eliminate the Spencer woman, and, I think, I can manage."

He looked at me questioningly.

"Her Highness was very gracious to me last night," I explained--and I felt my face getting red.

Courtney got up and came over to me,

"Is it up to a hand-shake, old man?" he asked.

I nodded, and we gripped fingers.

"It would have been up to the King, to-morrow, but for this miserable wife business," said I.

"Good!" he exclaimed. "Lotzen does not hold all the cards--you've got a few trumps, too. It will be a pretty game."

"For the spectators," I supplemented.

"For you, too; when you get into the swing of it."

"I wish I had your happy way of viewing things," I said.

He laughed. "Oh, it's easy to view some other fellow's affairs happily.

That is why a friend's advice is usually serviceable."

I took a pipe and began to fill it. "It's that advice I want," I said.

He was silent for a s.p.a.ce. I smoked and waited.

"I suppose you had no opportunity to talk with the Princess after the supper, last night?" he said.

I smiled. "I drove with her to the Palace."

"Alone?" he exclaimed.

"Yes--she ordered me in with her and sent the Countess with Moore."

He sat up sharply. "Gad! Major, she's a treasure!" he exclaimed. "That tells me what I want to know: she has measured the Spencer woman's story."

"Both story and certificate," said I. "She says the one is a lie and the other a forgery."

He raised his hand emphatically. "My dear fellow," he said, sternly, "if you didn't get down on your knees, last night, and thank the good G.o.d for that brave girl up yonder in the Palace, you deserve to lose her--and I shall go over to Lotzen's side, myself."

"Well," said I, "I didn't. I was too busy thinking about and praising her."

"That's the same thing," he said. "I'll stay with you."

I got up and bowed.

"Thank you, Your Excellency," I said.

Then we both smiled.

"It's queer," said Courtney, "how, even in the most embarra.s.sing difficulties, a woman's love makes a man's heart light."

I nodded. I was thinking of the drive to the Palace.

Courtney's laugh aroused me. "Come out of the brougham," he called.

"That is where I was," I admitted.

"The next thing," said he, "is to see that marriage certificate."

"If there be one," I questioned.

"There is one--of that you may be sure."

"She offered to show it to you, to-day," said I. "Call her bluff."

"I'm going to accept her offer, when I leave here. And, what's more, I shall see the certificate," he said. "This plot has been too well laid for the essentials to have been overlooked. I'll bet a twenty you were in New York City on the twenty-first of last December."

"Yes," said I, "I was. So it's up to proving the certificate a forgery."

He shook his head. "I fear we shall find it a perfectly regular certificate."

"You mean," said I, "that they have bribed some official to make a false record?"

"Just that."

"Then, if the woman, the official and the records all convict me, how am I to prove my innocence?" I demanded.