A Dash for a Throne

  CHAPTER XXVII

  AN OLD ENEMY

  I saw at once it would be hopeless to attempt any resistance to this newdevelopment. My first feeling was one of bitter chagrin andexasperation, mingled with genuine alarm for the consequences to Minna.Who had dealt the blow, and for what object? I knew that I had renderedmyself liable to arrest and prosecution for my impersonation of thePrince von Gramberg, although, despite what Baron Heckscher had said, Icould not understand who would attempt to set the law in motion.

  But with Minna it was very different. It was certain that the conspiracywith which she had nominally been concerned might carry very uglyconsequences; but, at the worst, any such act would constitute only apolitical offence against the Bavarian laws, and I did not think thatoutside Bavaria she could be touched. But we had long passed thatfrontier safely. Whose hand, then, was this?

  I recalled, with something of a shudder, the news which Major Gesslerhad told me, to the effect that von Augener had gone to Munich, and Isaw that, if our arrest was made at his instigation, the results mightbe even more serious than I had anticipated.

  "I have no intention to offer resistance to this step," I said after apause of thought; "but, of course, you must satisfy me of your authorityfor it."

  "I am the chief of the police here," replied the official, "and holdfull instructions--very full instructions indeed, and very urgent ones.The case is a very exceptional one."

  "But surely you can tell me the nature of the charge for which you say Iam to consider myself under arrest?"

  "Under ordinary circumstances I could and should, of course, do so; butnot in this. I trust you will understand my position."

  "You have performed an unpleasant task very tactfully. But can you tellme no more than you have--if not officially, then as a matter ofcourtesy?"

  "We are not allowed much latitude for courtesy, I fear, your Highness;but I may tell you privately that I have not been informed of any chargeagainst you. My instructions are merely to prevent your crossing thefrontier should you attempt to do so, and to see that you return toMunich; and these instructions, which came first from Munich, have beenrepeated as urgent from Berlin."

  "I need no more than that, and will not mention that you told me. Wewill return to Munich, Minna," I said, turning to her.

  There was an hour to wait for the train, the man told me, and we filledup the time by getting some supper. It was a doleful enough meal. Thepolice official did his best to make the fact that we were under arrestas little obvious as possible; but it was plain to me that we were keptunder the strictest surveillance.

  "What do you think it means?" asked Minna.

  "It can scarcely be anything very serious, I think. Probably it is theoutcome of old von Augener's presence at Munich, and maybe half anhour's conversation with him will be enough to put things right again.I had intended to see him in any event."

  I spoke much more lightly of the matter than I thought, in order toreassure her, and I was pleased to see my words had the effect Idesired.

  When the train came in, the police official showed us to a carriage,and, with another apology for his intrusion, entered it after us. I madeno demur, because I knew it would be superfluous. We must make the bestof a bad job, and consequently I settled Minna comfortably in a cornerof the carriage so that she might sleep through the night. I took myseat opposite to her, and during the whole of the long, wearisomejourney I sat rapt in thought, speculating upon the possible reasons forthe arrest and trying to see the best course to be taken in herinterest.

  I was now disposed to blame myself bitterly, since matters had come tothis pass, for not having, in the first instance, abstained frommeddling with the plot against the mad King. I had pitted my witsagainst the men in the Ostenburg interest, and had allowed Minna toappear to be implicated in everything that was done, trusting to my owningenuity to beat them at their own game. I had done it successfully toa point; but now I could see how, like a fool, I had miscalculated thereal effect of this intervention from Imperial headquarters.

  The flaw in the present situation was one I could see easily enough now.I had neglected to provide anything like sufficient proof of Minna'sinnocence, her dislike of the scheme, and her disinclination even tothink of accepting the throne. I could see now clearly what I ought tohave seen at the start--that if Minna had actually left the country atthe moment following her father's death, and had openly relinquishedall claim to the throne, she would have had an absolutely clean case sofar as Berlin was concerned, and, if necessary, could have appealedthere for protection against any efforts of the Ostenburgs to harm her.

  The danger to her from the Ostenburgs, which had then loomed so large inmy thought, was dwarfed now by this greater and actual danger fromBerlin. How, then, was I to repair the blunder I had made?

  There was one possible chance--forlorn so far as Minna was concerned,and almost desperate for myself. But the pith of everything would be nowthat I should be able to prove beyond question and suspicion theabsolute sincerity of my motives, and be able to thoroughly convince theEmperor and his advisers that my version of the facts was the correctone. Everything might turn upon this.

  As an adventurer who had been known first as Heinrich Fischer, an actor,next as Henry Fisher, an Englishman, and afterward as Hans von Fromberg,only to change once more into the Prince von Gramberg, I could not hopeto be believed. Even this very attempt to get Minna out of the countrywould be charged against me as a crowning offence; while I might relyupon it that every word and act I had spoken and done in the characterof the Prince would be construed in the worst light by my enemies.

  But what if I declared myself in my true character?

  The question stirred a host of old memories and associations which camecrowding thick and fast upon me with conflicting force and perplexingcontradictions. I lived again in thought the crowded week of my lifethat came between the scene on the yacht and my supposed death. I couldnot tell how far that act of expiation on my part had changed the royalfeeling toward me; nor on the other hand could I gauge what effect wouldbe produced by the avowal that I cheated every one by the farce of mysupposed death.

  There was one thing on which I thought I could rely, however.

  There had been many acts of close friendship between the Prince andmyself, and on one occasion I had rendered him a service which hedeclared at the time would make him ready to grant me any favor I shouldever ask. I had none too high an opinion of the gratitude of princes,and had never urged any request; while it was more than likely he wouldconsider what had happened since had completely cancelled anyobligation. But I was prepared to risk any and every thing now, and toexhaust every possible resource to help Minna at this juncture.

  I had never had such a motive to spur my energies, and I ransacked mymemory for incidents which I thought might be turned to help my purpose.

  I was in this frame of mind when we arrived at Munich; but I had not gotmuch farther in my plans than a resolve to use every means that mightoffer, regardless of any effect upon myself.

  Minna awoke, chilled and cramped by the long journey, and the cold graylight of the morning depressed her spirits. She looked pale andfrightened as the train entered the station, and we peered out curiouslyto see what reception awaited us.

  "Keep a brave heart, Minna," I whispered.

  And she smiled a rather wan, weary smile in reply.

  "Where are we to go?" I asked the police official.

  "I expect to find instructions here," he answered.

  Then Minna gave a little start and cry of surprise.

  "There is aunt Gratz," she said. "What can that mean?"

  I could make no suggestion; but the reason of her presence was soonclear enough.

  As we alighted she came forward.

  "I should think you are ashamed of yourself, Minna," was her greeting."If not, I am ashamed of you. Thank God, we have saved you, though onlyon the very brink, it seems."

  "There is no need for you to say that to me," re
turned Minna warmly.

  "There is very great need, indeed. You have been the victim of thisman's villany."

  "There has been no villany--except, perhaps, that which you and theCount von Nauheim attempted yesterday, and cousin Hans succeeded infoiling."

  "Cousin Hans, indeed. Poor child; it's only your own obstinacy whichprevents your seeing that this man is a wicked impostor who has----"

  "Pardon me, baroness----" I began, when she turned on me.

  "I will not pardon you nor allow you to speak to me or to the poor girlwhom you have so shamefully deceived. But you are unmasked at last, andwill be punished as you deserve. Come, Minna. You are to come with me."

  At that moment the police official who had travelled with us cameforward with another man, who said:

  "The countess is to go to her own house here with this lady; and you areto accompany me, if you please."

  "As you will," I answered.

  At that the tears forced themselves into Minna's eyes, and she came veryclose to me and gave me her hand.

  "We shall meet again soon. I am sure of that. Meanwhile"--and she raisedher head proudly as she looked round at the others present, and said: "Iwish all to know that I am your promised wife. You have saved my life,and more than my life; and I can never sufficiently repay you for allyou have done. When every one else was treacherous, you were stanch andbrave on my behalf. Let them say what they will, I know the truth, andnothing shall ever make me doubt you."

  I had no words ready for a reply, but I raised her hand to my lips; and,with a lingering look into my eyes, she went away, her face aflame withher gallant little act of loyalty to me.

  Then I turned to the man who had spoken to me.

  "And what is the charge against me?" I asked.

  "You will learn it to-day," he said, with courteous curtness. "Be goodenough to come with me."

  We entered a carriage that was waiting, and drove to the police bureau,the official stolidly declining to exchange a single word on the way.There they gave me breakfast, and afterward I was left by myself forsome two or three hours. At the end of that time the same man enteredthe room--for I had not been put to the indignity of having to enter apolice cell--and requested me to accompany him, though again he wouldnot say where we were to go.

  I was not much surprised, however, when I found the carriage approachingthe palace, for I had detected old von Augener's hand in the matter. Hedelighted in secrecy and surprises. I was led through several corridorsinto an ante-room, where I waited some time until the door of an innerroom was opened and I was told to enter.

  I went forward, and, as I had anticipated, the first object which myeyes encountered in the room was the hard, stern face of von Augener,whose sharp, piercing eyes looked at me, curiously and menacingly, fromunder the heavy brows I knew well enough.

  He let me stand before his table for some minutes without a word, andafter his first glance at me pretended to be writing. He finished this,and then took up a bundle of papers, which he turned over leisurely. Iguessed that his motive was to make me understand by this brusktreatment the change in my position. But I let him understand quietlythat it had no such effect on me as he wished. I carried a chair closeto the side of his table and sat down, saying lightly, as I crossed mylegs:

  "I've had rather a long journey, so you'll excuse me if I sit down untilyou are ready to commence our conversation."

  At the sound of my voice I saw him start, bend a sharp, keen look on me,and then appear to dive into his capacious memory for the connectionwhich it stirred. Then he said as sternly and harshly as he could:

  "This is no drawing-room audience. I don't allow prisoners to sit in mypresence. Be so good as to stand up," and he motioned with his hand.

  "Thank you, but I deny your right to address me in that tone. I am noprisoner, and this is no court. While I am here I demand to be treatedwith common courtesy."

  "I will send you to a police cell to learn manners," he cried.

  "As you please. I would rather sit in a jail than stand to be hectoredby you," and I smiled and shrugged my shoulders.

  Like my voice, the smile appeared to set his wits gleaning for the factsthat would piece together the puzzle my voice and gesture had set him.

  For a moment he seemed as if he would carry out his threat; but I judgedhe would be much more eager to learn what I knew of the conspiracy thanto stickle over the question whether I sat or stood in his presence. Andso it proved.

  "You still dare to carry things with a high hand, even with me?"

  "On the contrary, I am here for the express purpose of discussing thewhole of this affair with you in its new light. But I tell you at theoutset that if you think to frighten me with threats or to treat me aswhat you call a prisoner, with the meaning your accent gives to theterm, you will get nothing from the interview."

  "We shall see," he said grimly; but he said no more about my standingup.

  A long pause followed, in which I saw him look several times at me withobvious doubt and interest; and I knew by these glances that he wastrying hard to place me in his memory and failing.

  "Now, sir," he said at length in a quick, sharp tone. "Who are you?"

  "At present I am generally known as the Prince von Gramberg--but that isnot my real name."

  "A needless addition. What is your real name? Who were you before youwere known as Heinrich Fischer, the actor at Frankfort? I warn you tospeak freely. Your only hope lies in that."

  "For the present I prefer not to tell you," I answered very quietly. "Itdoes not concern this matter--in its present stage, that is."

  "You refuse to tell me?"

  "If you put it so, I refuse to tell you."

  "What was your object in usurping the character of the Prince vonGramberg?"

  "I was forced by a series of blunders on the part of others to take theposition; it was done by the desire of the real heir of the Prince, Hansvon Fromberg, who is now known as Henri Frombe; and I kept up the partin order to protect the Countess Minna from a foul conspiracy againsther, in which a scoundrel who is now dead was one of the chief agents."And then I told him at considerable length the exact circumstances underwhich I had first been taken to Gramberg by von Krugen and Steinitz."You can easily verify what I say," I added.

  "You mean by those two men who have since been your tools in theaffair?" he sneered.

  "I mean by finding the real von Fromberg and questioning him."

  Despite his sneer I could see that the story impressed him; and he put anumber of questions to test its consistency and truth.

  "You don't attempt to deny, then, that you were willing to continue theimpersonation of the late Prince and to accept the inheritance?"

  "There were no gains in what you call the inheritance. The onlyinheritance was the castle of Gramberg itself, mortgaged for a greatdeal more than its value. Scarcely a valuable prize for such anadventurer as men appear to have described me to you. I have my ownprivate fortune--a large one."

  "There was something else at the castle besides a mortgage," he sneered.

  "Indeed there was," I replied quickly, purposely misunderstanding him."There was a mess of intrigue and treachery against the Countess Minna."

  "And you were the cavalier to save her from it--and for yourself."

  The gibe made my blood boil.

  "That is the sneer of a coward," I cried hotly. "And if that is to bethe tone in which you dare to address me, I decline to say another wordor to remain in your presence. I am prepared to tell you the wholetruth, and to lay bare every word, motive, and act of mine throughout;but I will not allow you or any man to insult me in that coarse andbrutal fashion."

  He laughed coldly.

  "You use bold terms," he said.

  "I will back them with acts. Unless you pledge yourself to abstain fromfurther insults, you can send me to jail or to hell itself before I'llremain here."

  "I'm not accustomed to make compacts with prisoners."

  "Nor I to hold converse with bull
ies who forget themselves!" I cried,all my old hate of the man fired by his manner and words.

  I got up and turned to the door.

  "Come back at once, sir," he thundered. "If you dare to attempt to leavethis room you go straight to a prison."

  "Rather there than here." I flung the words at him over my shoulder, andwent on toward the door.

  He struck the bell on his table sharply, and the door opened as I nearedit to admit two men in uniform.

  "Will you return here?" he called to me.

  "No, not without a pledge that you cease to insult me."

  "Detain that man," he cried to the others, who came and stood on eitherside of me, and laid their hands on my shoulders.

  I stood with my back to the table.

  "Face him round," he ordered, his voice thick with anger.

  The men forced me to turn round.

  "Now, sir, I give you a last chance," he cried, pointing his finger atme and shaking it menacingly.

  "I don't accept it," I answered recklessly. "I've had enough of thisInquisition process. I will have a public trial. I am not ashamed ofwhat I have done; but I should be ashamed of myself if I stayed here tobe bullied and browbeaten and insulted and sneered at by you. Do whatyou like."

  My recklessness was a factor on which he had not calculated, and I couldtell by his indecision how it perplexed him. Without my version of theplot he could not hope to get a full grasp of the facts, and I reckonedthat in an affair of such real State importance he would be altogetherunwilling to have any public trial.

  "Leave us a moment," he said to the men; and when they had gone heasked, "Do you mean to persist in this obstinacy?"

  "'Obstinacy!' Is that what you call my refusal to be a stalking-horsefor your ill-conditioned flouts and gibes, after you have had me draggedthree hundred or four hundred miles, and hauled in here that you maytreat me like a dog or a thief, without even telling me the chargepreferred against me? If that be obstinacy, then indeed I am obstinate,and shall remain so. But I will do more than that. I will appeal to theEmperor himself, and tell him the story to which you have refused acourteous ear."

  "The Emperor does not concern himself with the private offences ofevery nameless adventurer in his empire."

  "I am no nameless adventurer. I bear a name----"

  I stopped, checked by the cold, steely glance of his eye.

  "What name is that? Or what do you say it is?" he asked when I paused.

  "I decline to tell you;" and with that I turned on my heel and walked tothe back door.

  Again the bell was rung, and the two men entered.

  "Detain the prisoner in the ante-room," cried von Augener peremptorily;"and send the chief of the police to me at once. I'll find a way to makeyou talk," he added angrily to me.

  I was led out into the ante-room, and the men mounted guard over me, therest of those present, who were lolling and chatting idly, staring at mewith some curiosity. I cared nothing. My temper was still excited, andmy pulses throbbing with anger, as I sat paying scant heed to what wenton around me.

  Suddenly there came a change. Every man in the room leapt to his feetand stood rigid at attention. A strong, firm, somewhat harsh voice washeard, which I knew well; and, like the rest, I rose instinctively as Isaw the Emperor enter the room, followed by two officers of his suite. Asingle, hurried, sweeping glance of his appeared to notice everything inthe place, and after a rapid, lightning look in my direction, the eyesdwelling on my face for one second, he passed through the door andentered the room which I had just left. When I resumed my seat my heartwas beating fast, no longer with anger against von Augener, but with thethought of meeting again under such altered circumstances the powerfuland remarkable monarch who, as a Prince, had been my intimate companion.I hoped and more than half believed that he had come so that he mightbe present at my examination. I guessed he would have been told the hourfixed for it, and, let the risks be what they might, I resolved that theopportunity should not pass, if I could possibly help it, without myobtaining an audience. I would put everything to the hazard in order tolay before him directly the true story of the plot from Minna's point ofview, and I would back my statement with an avowal of my identity. Aquarter of an hour later the door was opened again--and how anxiously Ihad kept my eyes glued to it may be imagined--and I was ordered toreturn alone into the room. My excitement, as I rose to obey, was sointense and unnerving that it was all I could do to command myselfsufficiently to be able to walk steadily into the presence.