CHAPTER XXXII -- THE INDISCRETION OF THE DUCHESS
There was no drawing back; the circumstances positively forbade it, evenif a certain smile following fast upon the momentary embarrassment ofthe Duchess had not prompted him to put himself at her mercy.
"A thousand pardons, Madame la Duchesse," he said, standing in thedoorway. "_Je vous derange_."
She rose from her chair composedly, a figure of matured grace andpractised courtliness, and above all with an air of what he flatteredhimself was friendliness. She directed him to a seat.
"The pleasure is unexpected, monsieur," she said; "but it is a momentfor quick decision, I suppose. What is the cue? To be desperate?" hereshe laughed softly, "or to take a chair? Monsieur has called to seehis Grace. I regret exceedingly that a pressing business has called myhusband to the town, and he is unlikely to be back for another hour atleast. If monsieur--assuming desperation is not the cue--will please tobe seated--"
Count Victor was puzzled for a second or two, but came farther into theroom, and, seeing the lady resume her seat, he availed himself of herinvitation and took the chair she offered.
"Madame la Duchesse," he went on to say with some evidence of confusionthat prejudiced her the more in his favour, "I am, as you see, in thedrollest circumstances, and--pardon the _betise_--time is at the momentthe most valuable of my assets."
"Oh!" she cried with a low laugh that gave evidence of the sunniestdisposition in the world--"Oh! that is not a pretty speech, monsieur!But there! you cannot, of course, know my powers of entertainment.Positively there need be no hurry. On my honour, as the true friend ofa gentleman who looked very like monsieur, and was, by the way, acompatriot, I repeat there is no occasion for haste. I presume monsieurfound no servants--those stupid servants!--to let him into the house,and wisely found an entrance for himself? How droll! It is our way inthese barbaric places; people just come and go as they please; we waiveceremony. By the way, monsieur has not done me the honour to confide tome his name."
"Upon my word, Madame la Duchesse, I--I forget it myself at the moment,"said Count Victor, divining her strategy, but too much embarrassed toplay up to her lead. "Perhaps madame may remember."
She drew down her brows in a comical frown, and then rippled into lowlaughter. "Now, how in the world should I know if monsieur does not? I,that have never"--here she stared in his face with a solemnity in whichher amusement struggled--"never, to my knowledge, seen him before. Ihave heard the Duke speak of a certain M. Soi-disant! perhaps monsieuris Monsieur Soi-disant?"
"_Sans doute_, Madame la Duchesse, and madame's very humble servant,"acquiesced Count Victor, relieved to have his first impression ofstrategy confirmed, and inclining his head.
She looked at him archly and laughed again. "I have a great admirationfor your sex, M. Soi-disant," she said; "my dear Duke compels it, butnow and then--now and then--I think it a little stupid. Not to know yourown name! I hope monsieur does not hope to go through life dependingupon women all the time to set him at ease in his chair. You areobviously not at ease in your chair, Monsieur Soi-disant."
"It is this coat, Madame la Duchesse," Count Victor replied, lookingdown at the somewhat too ample sleeves and skirt; "I fell into it--"
"That is very obvious," she interrupted, with no effort to conceal heramusement.
"I fell into it by sheer accident, and it fits me like an evil habit,and under the circumstances is as inconvenient to get rid of."
"And still an excellent coat, monsieur. Let me see; has it not afamiliar look? Oh! I remember; it is very like one I have seen with theDuke's Chamberlain--poor fellow! Monsieur has doubtless heard of hisaccident, and will be glad to learn that he is out of danger, and liketo be abroad in a very short time."
This was a humour touching him too closely; he replied in amonosyllable.
"Perhaps it was the coat gave me the impression that I had seen monsieursomewhere before. He reminds me, as I have said, of a compatriot who wasthe cause of the Chamberlain's injury."
"And is now, doubtless, in prison," added the Count, bent on givingevidence of some inventiveness of his own.
"Nay! by no means," cried the Duchess. "He was in a cell, but escapedtwo or three hours ago, as our watchman discovered, and is now probablyfar away from here."
"Ah, then," said Count Victor with nonchalance, "I daresay they willspeedily recapture him. If they only knew the way with any of mycompatriots it is to put a woman in his path, only she must be a womanof _esprit_ and charm, and she shall engage him, I'll warrant, till thepursuit come up, even if it takes a century and the axe is at the end ofit."
The Duchess coughed.
The Count hemmed.
They both broke into laughter.
"Luckily, then," said she, "he need have no anxiety on that score,should he meet the lady, for the pursuit is neither hot nor hearty.Between ourselves, monsieur, it is non-existent. If I were to meet thisperson we speak of I should--but for the terror I know I should feel inhis society--tell him that so long as he did not venture within a coupleof miles of this castle he was perfectly safe from interference."
"And yet a dangerous man, Madame la Duchesse," said Count Victor; "and Ihave heard the Duke is determined on his punishment, which is of courseproper--from his Grace's point of view."
"Yes, yes! I am told he is a dangerous man, a very monster. The Dukeassured me of that, though if I were to tell the truth, MonsieurSoi-disant, I saw no evidence of it in the young gentleman when I methim last night. A most harmless fellow, I assure you. Are monsieur'sfeet not cold?"
She was staring at his red-heeled dancing-shoes.
"_Pas du tout!_" he replied promptly, tucking them under his chair."These experiments in costume are a foible with me."
There was a step along the corridor outside, which made him snap offhis sentence hurriedly and turn listening and apprehensive. Again theDuchess was amused.
"No, monsieur, it is not his Grace yet; you are all impatience to meethim, I see, and my poor company makes little amends for his absence;but it is as I say, he will not be back for another hour. You areinterested, doubtless, in the oddities of human nature; for me I amcontinually laughing at the transparency of the stratagems whereby menlike my husband try to lock their hearts up like a garden and throw awaythe key before they come into the company of their wives. I'm _sure_your poor feet must be cold. You did not drive? Such a night of snowtoo! I cannot approve of your foible for dancing-shoes to wade throughsnow in such weather. As I was saying, you are not only the stupid sexsometimes, but a most transparent one. I will let you into alittle secret that may convince you that what I say of our CountWhat's-his-name not being hunted is true. I see quite clearly thatthe Duke is delighted to have this scandal of a duel--oh! the shockingthings, duels, Monsieur Soi-disant!--shut up. In the forenoon he wasmightily vexed with that poor Count What-do-you-call-him for a purelypersonal reason that I may tell you of later, but mainly becausehis duty compelled him to secure the other party to the--let us say,outrage. You follow, Monsieur Soi-disant?"
"_Parfaitement_, Madame la Duchesse," said Count Victor, wondering whereall this led to.
"I am a foolish sentimentalist, I daresay you may think--for a person ofmy age (are you quite comfortable, monsieur? I fear that chair does notsuit you)--I am a foolish sentimentalist, as I have said, and I may tellyou I pleaded very hard for the release of this luckless compatriot ofyours who was then in the fosse. But, oh dear! his Grace was adamant, asis the way with dukes, at least in this country, and I pleaded in vain."
"Naturally, madame; his Grace had his duty as a good subject."
"Doubtless," said the Duchess; "but there have been occasions inhistory, they assure me, when good subjects have been none the less nicehusbands. Monsieur can still follow me?"
Count Victor smiled and bowed again, and wished to heaven her Grace theDuchess had a little more of the gift of expedition. He had come lookingfor a sword and found a sermon.
"I know I weary you," she went on complacentl
y. "I was about to say thatwhile the Duke desires to do his duty, even at the risk of breaking hiswife's heart, it was obvious to me he was all the time sorry to have todo it, and when we heard that our Frenchman had escaped I, take my wordfor it, was not the only one relieved."
"I do not wonder, madame," said Montaiglon, "that the subject in thiscase should capitulate to--to--to the--"
"To the loving husband, you were about to say. La! you are too gallant,monsieur, I declare. And as a matter of fact the true explanation isless to my husband's credit and less flattering to me, for he had hisown reasons."
"One generally has," reflected the Count aloud.
"Quite! and in his case they are very often mine. Dear Archie! Though hedid not think I knew it, I saw clearly that he had his own reasons, as Isay, to wish the Frenchman well out of the country. Now could you guesswhat these reasons were?"
Count Victor confessed with shame that it was beyond him.
"I will tell you. They were not his own interests, and they were notmine, that influenced him; I had not to think very hard to discover thatthey were the interests of the Chamberlain. I fancy his Grace knowsthat the less inquiry there is into this encounter the better for allconcerned."
"I daresay, Madame la Duchesse," agreed Count Victor, "and yet the worldspeaks well of the Chamberlain, one hears."
"Woe unto you when all men speak well of you!" quoted the Duchesssententiously.
"It only happens when the turf is in our teeth," said the Count, "andthen _De mortuis_ is a motto our dear friends use more as an excuse thanas a moral."
"I do not like our Chamberlain, monsieur; I may frankly tell you so.I should not be surprised to learn that my husband knows a little moreabout him than I do, and I give you my word I know enough to considerhim hateful."
"These are most delicate considerations, Madame la Duchesse," said theCount, vastly charmed by her manner but naturally desirous of the openair. Every step he heard in neighbouring lobbies, every slammed door,spoiled his attention to the lady's confidences, and he had an uneasysense that she was not wholly unamused at his predicament, however muchhis friend.
"Delicate considerations, true, but I fear they do not interest MonsieurSoi-disant. How should they indeed? Gossip, monsieur, gossip! Atour age, as you might say, we must be chattering. I _know_ you areuncomfortable on that chair. Do, monsieur, please take another."
This time he was convinced of his first suspicion that she was havingher revenge for his tactless remark to her husband, for he had notstirred at all in his chair, but had only reddened, and she had a smileat the corners of her mouth.
"At my age, Madame la Duchesse, we are quite often impertinent fools.There is, however, but one age--the truly golden. We reach it whenwe fall first in love, and there love keeps us. His Grace, Madame laDuchesse, is, I am sure, the happiest of men."
She was seated opposite him. Leaning forward a little, she put forth herhand in a motherly, unembarrassed way, and placed it for a moment on hisknee, looking into his face, smiling.
"Good boy! good boy!" she said.
And then she rose as if to hint that it was time for him to go.
"I see you are impatient; perhaps you may meet the Duke on his wayback."
"Charmed, Madame la Duchesse, I assure you," said the Count with agrimace, and they both fell into laughing.
She recovered herself first to scan the shoes and coat again. "Howdroll!" said she. "Ah, monsieur, you are delightful in your foibles,but I wish it had looked like any other coat than Simon Mac-Taggart's.I have never seen his without wondering how many dark secrets wereunderneath the velvet. Had this coat of yours been a perfect fit,believe me I had not expected much from you of honour or of decency.Oh! there I go on chattering again, and you have said scarcely twentywords."
"Believe me, Madame la Duchesse, it is because I can find none goodenough to express my gratitude," said Count Victor, making for the door.
"Pooh! Monsieur Soi-disant, a fig for your gratitude! Would you have meinhospitable to a guest who would save me even the trouble of opening mydoor? And that, by the way, reminds me, monsieur, that you have not evenhinted at what you might be seeking his Grace for? Could it be--could itbe for a better fit in coats?"
"For a mere trifle, madame, no more than my sword."
"Your sword, monsieur? I know nothing of Monsieur Soi-disant's sword,but I think I know where is one might serve his purpose."
With these words she went out of the room, hurried along the corridor,and returned in a moment or two with Count Victor's weapon, which shedragged back by its belt as if she loathed an actual contact with thething itself.
"There!" she said, affecting a shudder. "A mouse and a rapier, they aremy bitterest horrors. If you could only guess what a coward I am! Goodnight, monsieur, and I hope--I hope"--she laughed as she hung on thewish a moment--"I hope you will meet his Grace on the way. If so, youmay tell him 'tis rather inclement weather for the night air--athis age," and she laughed again. "If you do not see him--as ispossible--come back soon; look! my door bids you in your ownlanguage--_Revenez bientot_. I am sure he will be charmed to see you,and to make his delight the more I shall never mention you were heretonight."
She went along the lobby and looked down the stair to see that the waywas clear; came back and offered her hand.
"Madame la Duchesse, you are very magnanimous," he said, exceedinglygrateful.
"Imprudent, rather," she corrected him.
"Magnanimity and Prudence are cousins who, praise _le bon Dieu!_ neverspeak to each other, and the world is very much better for it." Hepointed to the motto on the panel. "I may never come back, madame," saidhe, "but at least I shall never forget."
"_Au plaisir de vous revoir_, Monsieur Soi-disant," she said inconclusion, and went into her room and closed the door.
"Now there's a darling!" said the Duchess as she heard his footstepssoftly departing. "Archie was just such another--at his age."