The Return of Tarzan

  Chapter 4

  The Countess Explains

  "Your Paris is more dangerous than my savage jungles, Paul," concludedTarzan, after narrating his adventures to his friend the morningfollowing his encounter with the apaches and police in the Rue Maule."Why did they lure me there? Were they hungry?"

  D'Arnot feigned a horrified shudder, but he laughed at the quaintsuggestion.

  "It is difficult to rise above the jungle standards and reason by thelight of civilized ways, is it not, my friend?" he queried banteringly.

  "Civilized ways, forsooth," scoffed Tarzan. "Jungle standards do notcountenance wanton atrocities. There we kill for food and forself-preservation, or in the winning of mates and the protection of theyoung. Always, you see, in accordance with the dictates of some greatnatural law. But here! Faugh, your civilized man is more brutal thanthe brutes. He kills wantonly, and, worse than that, he utilizes anoble sentiment, the brotherhood of man, as a lure to entice his unwaryvictim to his doom. It was in answer to an appeal from a fellow beingthat I hastened to that room where the assassins lay in wait for me.

  "I did not realize, I could not realize for a long time afterward, thatany woman could sink to such moral depravity as that one must have tocall a would-be rescuer to death. But it must have been so--the sightof Rokoff there and the woman's later repudiation of me to the policemake it impossible to place any other construction upon her acts.Rokoff must have known that I frequently passed through the Rue Maule.He lay in wait for me--his entire scheme worked out to the last detail,even to the woman's story in case a hitch should occur in the programsuch as really did happen. It is all perfectly plain to me."

  "Well," said D'Arnot, "among other things, it has taught you what Ihave been unable to impress upon you--that the Rue Maule is a goodplace to avoid after dark."

  "On the contrary," replied Tarzan, with a smile, "it has convinced methat it is the one worth-while street in all Paris. Never again shallI miss an opportunity to traverse it, for it has given me the firstreal entertainment I have had since I left Africa."

  "It may give you more than you will relish even without another visit,"said D'Arnot. "You are not through with the police yet, remember. Iknow the Paris police well enough to assure you that they will not soonforget what you did to them. Sooner or later they will get you, mydear Tarzan, and then they will lock the wild man of the woods upbehind iron bars. How will you like that?"

  "They will never lock Tarzan of the Apes behind iron bars," replied he,grimly.

  There was something in the man's voice as he said it that causedD'Arnot to look up sharply at his friend. What he saw in the set jawand the cold, gray eyes made the young Frenchman very apprehensive forthis great child, who could recognize no law mightier than his ownmighty physical prowess. He saw that something must be done to setTarzan right with the police before another encounter was possible.

  "You have much to learn, Tarzan," he said gravely. "The law of manmust be respected, whether you relish it or no. Nothing but troublecan come to you and your friends should you persist in defying thepolice. I can explain it to them once for you, and that I shall dothis very day, but hereafter you must obey the law. If itsrepresentatives say 'Come,' you must come; if they say 'Go,' you mustgo. Now we shall go to my great friend in the department and fix upthis matter of the Rue Maule. Come!"

  Together they entered the office of the police official a half hourlater. He was very cordial. He remembered Tarzan from the visit thetwo had made him several months prior in the matter of finger prints.

  When D'Arnot had concluded the narration of the events which hadtranspired the previous evening, a grim smile was playing about thelips of the policeman. He touched a button near his hand, and as hewaited for the clerk to respond to its summons he searched through thepapers on his desk for one which he finally located.

  "Here, Joubon," he said as the clerk entered. "Summon theseofficers--have them come to me at once," and he handed the man thepaper he had sought. Then he turned to Tarzan.

  "You have committed a very grave offense, monsieur," he said, notunkindly, "and but for the explanation made by our good friend here Ishould be inclined to judge you harshly. I am, instead, about to do arather unheard-of-thing. I have summoned the officers whom youmaltreated last night. They shall hear Lieutenant D'Arnot's story, andthen I shall leave it to their discretion to say whether you shall beprosecuted or not.

  "You have much to learn about the ways of civilization. Things thatseem strange or unnecessary to you, you must learn to accept until youare able to judge the motives behind them. The officers whom youattacked were but doing their duty. They had no discretion in thematter. Every day they risk their lives in the protection of the livesor property of others. They would do the same for you. They are verybrave men, and they are deeply mortified that a single unarmed manbested and beat them.

  "Make it easy for them to overlook what you did. Unless I am gravelyin error you are yourself a very brave man, and brave men areproverbially magnanimous."

  Further conversation was interrupted by the appearance of the fourpolicemen. As their eyes fell on Tarzan, surprise was writ large oneach countenance.

  "My children," said the official, "here is the gentleman whom you metin the Rue Maule last evening. He has come voluntarily to give himselfup. I wish you to listen attentively to Lieutenant D'Arnot, who willtell you a part of the story of monsieur's life. It may explain hisattitude toward you of last night. Proceed, my dear lieutenant."

  D'Arnot spoke to the policemen for half an hour. He told themsomething of Tarzan's wild jungle life. He explained the savagetraining that had taught him to battle like a wild beast inself-preservation. It became plain to them that the man had beenguided by instinct rather than reason in his attack upon them. He hadnot understood their intentions. To him they had been little differentfrom any of the various forms of life he had been accustomed to in hisnative jungle, where practically all were his enemies.

  "Your pride has been wounded," said D'Arnot, in conclusion. "It is thefact that this man overcame you that hurts the most. But you need feelno shame. You would not make apologies for defeat had you been pennedin that small room with an African lion, or with the great Gorilla ofthe jungles.

  "And yet you were battling with muscles that have time and time againbeen pitted, and always victoriously, against these terrors of the darkcontinent. It is no disgrace to fall beneath the superhuman strengthof Tarzan of the Apes."

  And then, as the men stood looking first at Tarzan and then at theirsuperior the ape-man did the one thing which was needed to erase thelast remnant of animosity which they might have felt for him. Withoutstretched hand he advanced toward them.

  "I am sorry for the mistake I made," he said simply. "Let us befriends." And that was the end of the whole matter, except that Tarzanbecame a subject of much conversation in the barracks of the police,and increased the number of his friends by four brave men at least.

  On their return to D'Arnot's apartments the lieutenant found a letterawaiting him from an English friend, William Cecil Clayton, LordGreystoke. The two had maintained a correspondence since the birth oftheir friendship on that ill-fated expedition in search of Jane Porterafter her theft by Terkoz, the bull ape.

  "They are to be married in London in about two months," said D'Arnot,as he completed his perusal of the letter. Tarzan did not need to betold who was meant by "they." He made no reply, but he was very quietand thoughtful during the balance of the day.

  That evening they attended the opera. Tarzan's mind was still occupiedby his gloomy thoughts. He paid little or no attention to what wastranspiring upon the stage. Instead he saw only the lovely vision of abeautiful American girl, and heard naught but a sad, sweet voiceacknowledging that his love was returned. And she was to marry another!

  He shook himself to be rid of his unwelcome thoughts, and at the sameinstant he felt eyes upon him. With the instinct that was his byvirtue of traini
ng he looked up squarely into the eyes that werelooking at him, to find that they were shining from the smiling face ofOlga, Countess de Coude. As Tarzan returned her bow he was positivethat there was an invitation in her look, almost a plea. The nextintermission found him beside her in her box.

  "I have so much wished to see you," she was saying. "It has troubledme not a little to think that after the service you rendered to both myhusband and myself no adequate explanation was ever made you of whatmust have seemed ingratitude on our part in not taking the necessarysteps to prevent a repetition of the attacks upon us by those two men."

  "You wrong me," replied Tarzan. "My thoughts of you have been only themost pleasant. You must not feel that any explanation is due me. Havethey annoyed you further?"

  "They never cease," she replied sadly. "I feel that I must tell someone, and I do not know another who so deserves an explanation as you.You must permit me to do so. It may be of service to you, for I knowNikolas Rokoff quite well enough to be positive that you have not seenthe last of him. He will find some means to be revenged upon you.What I wish to tell you may be of aid to you in combating any scheme ofrevenge he may harbor. I cannot tell you here, but tomorrow I shall beat home to Monsieur Tarzan at five."

  "It will be an eternity until tomorrow at five," he said, as he badeher good night. From a corner of the theater Rokoff and Paulvitch sawMonsieur Tarzan in the box of the Countess de Coude, and both mensmiled.

  At four-thirty the following afternoon a swarthy, bearded man rang thebell at the servants' entrance of the palace of the Count de Coude.The footman who opened the door raised his eyebrows in recognition ashe saw who stood without. A low conversation passed between the two.

  At first the footman demurred from some proposition that the beardedone made, but an instant later something passed from the hand of thecaller to the hand of the servant. Then the latter turned and led thevisitor by a roundabout way to a little curtained alcove off theapartment in which the countess was wont to serve tea of an afternoon.

  A half hour later Tarzan was ushered into the room, and presently hishostess entered, smiling, and with outstretched hands.

  "I am so glad that you came," she said.

  "Nothing could have prevented," he replied.

  For a few moments they spoke of the opera, of the topics that were thenoccupying the attention of Paris, of the pleasure of renewing theirbrief acquaintance which had had its inception under such oddcircumstances, and this brought them to the subject that was uppermostin the minds of both.

  "You must have wondered," said the countess finally, "what the objectof Rokoff's persecution could be. It is very simple. The count isintrusted with many of the vital secrets of the ministry of war. Heoften has in his possession papers that foreign powers would give afortune to possess--secrets of state that their agents would commitmurder and worse than murder to learn.

  "There is such a matter now in his possession that would make the fameand fortune of any Russian who could divulge it to his government.Rokoff and Paulvitch are Russian spies. They will stop at nothing toprocure this information. The affair on the liner--I mean the matterof the card game--was for the purpose of blackmailing the knowledgethey seek from my husband.

  "Had he been convicted of cheating at cards, his career would have beenblighted. He would have had to leave the war department. He wouldhave been socially ostracized. They intended to hold this club overhim--the price of an avowal on their part that the count was but thevictim of the plot of enemies who wished to besmirch his name was tohave been the papers they seek.

  "You thwarted them in this. Then they concocted the scheme whereby myreputation was to be the price, instead of the count's. When Paulvitchentered my cabin he explained it to me. If I would obtain theinformation for them he promised to go no farther, otherwise Rokoff,who stood without, was to notify the purser that I was entertaining aman other than my husband behind the locked doors of my cabin. He wasto tell every one he met on the boat, and when we landed he was to havegiven the whole story to the newspaper men.

  "Was it not too horrible? But I happened to know something of MonsieurPaulvitch that would send him to the gallows in Russia if it were knownby the police of St. Petersburg. I dared him to carry out his plan,and then I leaned toward him and whispered a name in his ear. Likethat"--and she snapped her fingers--"he flew at my throat as a madman.He would have killed me had you not interfered."

  "The brutes!" muttered Tarzan.

  "They are worse than that, my friend," she said.

  "They are devils. I fear for you because you have gained their hatred.I wish you to be on your guard constantly. Tell me that you will, formy sake, for I should never forgive myself should you suffer throughthe kindness you did me."

  "I do not fear them," he replied. "I have survived grimmer enemiesthan Rokoff and Paulvitch." He saw that she knew nothing of theoccurrence in the Rue Maule, nor did he mention it, fearing that itmight distress her.

  "For your own safety," he continued, "why do you not turn thescoundrels over to the authorities? They should make quick work ofthem."

  She hesitated for a moment before replying.

  "There are two reasons," she said finally. "One of them it is thatkeeps the count from doing that very thing. The other, my real reasonfor fearing to expose them, I have never told--only Rokoff and I knowit. I wonder," and then she paused, looking intently at him for a longtime.

  "And what do you wonder?" he asked, smiling.

  "I was wondering why it is that I want to tell you the thing that Ihave not dared tell even to my husband. I believe that you wouldunderstand, and that you could tell me the right course to follow. Ibelieve that you would not judge me too harshly."

  "I fear that I should prove a very poor judge, madame," Tarzan replied,"for if you had been guilty of murder I should say that the victimshould be grateful to have met so sweet a fate."

  "Oh, dear, no," she expostulated; "it is not so terrible as that. Butfirst let me tell you the reason the count has for not prosecutingthese men; then, if I can hold my courage, I shall tell you the realreason that I dare not. The first is that Nikolas Rokoff is mybrother. We are Russians. Nikolas has been a bad man since I canremember. He was cashiered from the Russian army, in which he held acaptaincy. There was a scandal for a time, but after a while it waspartially forgotten, and my father obtained a position for him in thesecret service.

  "There have been many terrible crimes laid at Nikolas' door, but he hasalways managed to escape punishment. Of late he has accomplished it bytrumped-up evidence convicting his victims of treason against the czar,and the Russian police, who are always only too ready to fasten guiltof this nature upon any and all, have accepted his version andexonerated him."

  "Have not his attempted crimes against you and your husband forfeitedwhatever rights the bonds of kinship might have accorded him?" askedTarzan. "The fact that you are his sister has not deterred him fromseeking to besmirch your honor. You owe him no loyalty, madame."

  "Ah, but there is that other reason. If I owe him no loyalty though hebe my brother, I cannot so easily disavow the fear I hold him inbecause of a certain episode in my life of which he is cognizant.

  "I might as well tell you all," she resumed after a pause, "for I seethat it is in my heart to tell you sooner or later. I was educated ina convent. While there I met a man whom I supposed to be a gentleman.I knew little or nothing about men and less about love. I got it intomy foolish head that I loved this man, and at his urgent request I ranaway with him. We were to have been married.

  "I was with him just three hours. All in the daytime and in publicplaces--railroad stations and upon a train. When we reached ourdestination where we were to have been married, two officers stepped upto my escort as we descended from the train, and placed him underarrest. They took me also, but when I had told my story they did notdetain me, other than to send me back to the convent under the care ofa matron. It seemed that the man who ha
d wooed me was no gentleman atall, but a deserter from the army as well as a fugitive from civiljustice. He had a police record in nearly every country in Europe.

  "The matter was hushed up by the authorities of the convent. Not evenmy parents knew of it. But Nikolas met the man afterward, and learnedthe whole story. Now he threatens to tell the count if I do not dojust as he wishes me to."

  Tarzan laughed. "You are still but a little girl. The story that youhave told me cannot reflect in any way upon your reputation, and wereyou not a little girl at heart you would know it. Go to your husbandtonight, and tell him the whole story, just as you have told it to me.Unless I am much mistaken he will laugh at you for your fears, and takeimmediate steps to put that precious brother of yours in prison wherehe belongs."

  "I only wish that I dared," she said; "but I am afraid. I learnedearly to fear men. First my father, then Nikolas, then the fathers inthe convent. Nearly all my friends fear their husbands--why should Inot fear mine?"

  "It does not seem right that women should fear men," said Tarzan, anexpression of puzzlement on his face. "I am better acquainted with thejungle folk, and there it is more often the other way around, exceptamong the black men, and they to my mind are in most ways lower in thescale than the beasts. No, I cannot understand why civilized womenshould fear men, the beings that are created to protect them. I shouldhate to think that any woman feared me."

  "I do not think that any woman would fear you, my friend," said Olga deCoude softly. "I have known you but a short while, yet though it mayseem foolish to say it, you are the only man I have ever known whom Ithink that I should never fear--it is strange, too, for you are verystrong. I wondered at the ease with which you handled Nikolas andPaulvitch that night in my cabin. It was marvellous." As Tarzan wasleaving her a short time later he wondered a little at the clingingpressure of her hand at parting, and the firm insistence with which sheexacted a promise from him that he would call again on the morrow.

  The memory of her half-veiled eyes and perfect lips as she had stoodsmiling up into his face as he bade her good-by remained with him forthe balance of the day. Olga de Coude was a very beautiful woman, andTarzan of the Apes a very lonely young man, with a heart in him thatwas in need of the doctoring that only a woman may provide.

  As the countess turned back into the room after Tarzan's departure, shefound herself face to face with Nikolas Rokoff.

  "How long have you been here?" she cried, shrinking away from him.

  "Since before your lover came," he answered, with a nasty leer.

  "Stop!" she commanded. "How dare you say such a thing to me--yoursister!"

  "Well, my dear Olga, if he is not your lover, accept my apologies; butit is no fault of yours that he is not. Had he one-tenth the knowledgeof women that I have you would be in his arms this minute. He is astupid fool, Olga. Why, your every word and act was an open invitationto him, and he had not the sense to see it."

  The woman put her hands to her ears.

  "I will not listen. You are wicked to say such things as that. Nomatter what you may threaten me with, you know that I am a good woman.After tonight you will not dare to annoy me, for I shall tell Raoulall. He will understand, and then, Monsieur Nikolas, beware!"

  "You shall tell him nothing," said Rokoff. "I have this affair now,and with the help of one of your servants whom I may trust it will lacknothing in the telling when the time comes that the details of thesworn evidence shall be poured into your husband's ears. The otheraffair served its purpose well--we now have something tangible to workon, Olga. A real AFFAIR--and you a trusted wife. Shame, Olga," andthe brute laughed.

  So the countess told her count nothing, and matters were worse thanthey had been. From a vague fear her mind was transferred to a verytangible one. It may be, too, that conscience helped to enlarge it outof all proportion.