The Man on the Box

  XVI

  THE PREVIOUS AFFAIR

  Mrs. Chadwick had completed her toilet and now stood smiling in a mostfriendly fashion at the reflection in the long oval mirror. Sheaddressed this reflection in melodious tones.

  "Madam, you are really handsome; and let no false modesty whisper inyour ear that you are not. Few women in Washington have such clearskin, such firm flesh, such color. Thirty-eight? It is nothing. It isbut the half-way post; one has left youth behind, but one has notreached old age. Time must be very tolerant, for he has given you acareful selection. There were no years of storm and poverty, of violentpassions; and if I have truly loved, it has been you, only you. You aretoo wise and worldly to love any one but yourself. And yet, once youstood on the precipice of dark eyes, pale skin, and melancholywrinkles. And even now, if he were to speak... Enough! Enough of thisfolly. I have something to accomplish to-night." She glided from theboudoir into the small but luxurious drawing-room which had often beengraced by the most notable men and women in the country.

  Karloff threw aside the book of poems by De Banville, rose, and wentforward to meet her.

  "Madam,"--bending and brushing her hand with his lips, "Madam, you growhandsomer every day. If I were forty, now, I should fear for yoursingle blessedness."

  "Or, if I were two-and-twenty, instead of eight-and-thirty,"--beginningto draw on her long white gloves. There was a challenge in her smile.

  "Well, yes; if you were two-and-twenty."

  "There was a time, not so long ago," she said, drawing his gaze as amagnet draws a needle, "when the disparity in years was of no matter."

  The count laughed. "That was three years ago; and, if my memory servesme, you smiled."

  "Perhaps I was first to smile; that is all."

  "I observe a mental reservation,"--owlishly.

  "I will put it plainly, then. I preferred to smile over yourprotestations rather than see you laugh over the possibility and thefolly of my loving you."

  "Then it was possible?"--with interest.

  "Everything is possible ... and often absurd."

  "How do you know that I was not truly in love with you?"--narrowing hiseyes.

  "It is not explanatory; it can be given only one name--instinct, whichin women and animals is more fully developed than in man. Besides, atthat time you had not learned all about Colonel Annesley, whose guestswe are to be this evening. Whoever would have imagined a Karloffaccepting the hospitalities of an Annesley? Count, hath not thy rose acanker?"

  "Madam!" Karloff was frowning.

  "Count, you look like a paladin when you scowl; but scowling neverinduces anything but wrinkles. That is why we women frown so seldom. Wesmile. But let us return to your query. Supposing I had accepted yourdeclarations seriously; supposing you had offered me marriage in thatburst of gratitude; supposing I _had_ committed the folly of becoming acountess: what a position I should be in to-day!"

  "I do not understand,"--perplexedly.

  "No?"--shrugging. She held forth a gloved arm. "Have you forgotten howgallantly you used to button my gloves?"

  "A thousand pardons! My mind was occupied with the mystery of your longsupposition." He took the arm gracefully and proceeded to slip thepearl buttons through their holes. (Have you ever buttoned the glovesof a handsome woman? I have. And there is a subtile thrill about theproceeding which I can not quite define. Perhaps it is the nearness ofphysical beauty; perhaps it is the delicate scent of flowers; perhapsit is the touch of the cool, firm flesh; perhaps it is just romance.)The gaze which she bent upon his dark head was emotional; yet there wasnot the slightest tremor of arm or fingers. It is possible that shedesired him to observe the steadiness of her nerves. "What did youmean?" he asked.

  "What did I mean?"--vaguely. Her thought had been elsewhere.

  "By that supposition."

  "Oh! I mean that my position, had I married you, would have been ratheranomalous to-day." She extended the other arm. "You are in love."

  "In love?" He looked up quickly.

  "Decidedly; and I had always doubted your capacity for that sentiment."

  "And pray tell me, with whom am I in love?"

  "Come, Count, you and I know each other too well to waste time inbeating about the bushes. I do not blame you for loving her; only, Isay, it must not be."

  "Must not be?" The count's voice rose a key.

  "Yes, must not be. You must give them up--the idea and the girl. What!You, who contrive the father's dishonor, would aspire to the daughter'shand? It is not equable. Love her honorably, or not at all. The courseyou are following is base and wholly unworthy of you."

  He dropped the arm abruptly and strode across the room, stopping by awindow. He did not wish her to see his face at that particular instant.Some men would have demanded indignantly to know how she had learnedthese things; not so the count.

  "There is time to retrieve. Go to the colonel frankly, pay his debtsout of your own pockets, then tell the girl that you love her. Beforeyou tell her, her father will have acquainted her with his sin and yourgenerosity. She will marry you out of gratitude."

  Karloff spun on his heels. His expression was wholly new. His eyes wereburning; he stretched and crumpled his gloves.

  "Yes, you are right, you are right! I have been trying to convincemyself that I was a machine where the father was concerned and wholly aman in regard to the girl. You have put it before me in a bold manner.Good God, yes! I find that I am wholly a man. How smoothly all thiswould have gone to the end had she not crossed my path! I _am_ base, I,who have always considered myself an honorable man. And now it is toolate, too late!"

  "Too late? What do you mean? Have you dared to ask her to be yourwife?" Had Karloff held her arm at this moment, he would havecomprehended many things.

  "No, no! My word has gone forth to my government; there is a wallbehind me, and I can not go back. To stop means worse than death. Myproperty will be confiscated and my name obliterated, my body rotslowly in the frozen north. Oh, I know my country; one does not gainher gratitude by failure. I must have those plans, and nowhere could Iobtain such perfect ones."

  "Then you will give her up?" There was a broken note.

  The count smiled. To her it was a smile scarce less than a snarl.

  "Give her up? Yes, as a mother gives up her child, as a lioness hercub. She _has_ refused me, but nevertheless she shall be my wife. Oh, Iam well-versed in human nature. She loves her father, and I know whatsacrifices she would make to save his honor. To-night!--" But his lipssuddenly closed.

  "Well, to-night? Why do you not go on?" Mrs. Chadwick was pale. Hergloved hands were clenched. A spasm of some sort seemed to hold her inits shaking grasp.

  "Nothing, nothing! In heaven's name, why have you stirred me so?" hecried.

  "Supposing, after all, I loved you?"

  He retreated. "Madam, your suppositions are becoming intolerable andimpossible."

  "Nothing is impossible. Supposing I loved you as violently andpassionately as you love this girl?"

  "Madam,"--hastily and with gentleness, "do not say anything which maycause me to blush for you; say nothing you may regret to-morrow."

  "I am a woman of circumspection. My suppositions are merelyargumentative. Do you realize, Count, that I could force you to marryme?"

  Karloff's astonishment could not be equaled. "Force me to marry you?"

  "Is the thought so distasteful, then?"

  "You are mad to-night!"

  "Not so. In whatever manner you have succeeded in this country, yourdebt of gratitude is owing to me. I do not recall this fact as areproach; I make the statement to bear me on in what I have to submitto your discerning intelligence. I doubt if there is another woman,here or abroad, who knows you so well as I. Your personal honor isbeyond impeachment, but Russia is making vast efforts to speckle it.She will succeed. Yes, I could force you to marry me. With a word Icould tumble your house of cards. I am a worldly woman, and not withoutwit and address. I possess every one of your letters, most of al
l haveI treasured the extravagant ones. To some you signed your name. If youhave kept mine, you will observe that my given name might mean any oneof a thousand women who are named 'Grace.' Shall you marry me? Shall Itumble your house of cards? I could go to Colonel Annesley and say tohim that if he delivers these plans to you, I shall denounce him to thesecret service officers. I might cause his utter financial ruin, buthis name would descend to his daughter untarnished."

  "You would not dare!" the count interrupted.

  "What? And you know me so well? I have not given you my word to revealnothing. You confided in my rare quality of silence; you confided in mebecause you had proved me. Man is not infallible, even when he is namedKarloff." She lifted from a vase her flowers, from which she shook thewater. "Laws have been passed or annulled; laws have died at theexecutive desk. Who told you that this was to be, or that, long beforeit came to pass? In all the successful intrigues of Russia in thiscountry, whom have you to thank? Me. Ordinarily a woman does not dothese things as a pastime. There must be some strong motive behind. Youasked me why I have stirred you so. Perhaps it is because I am neithertwo-and-twenty nor you two-score. It is these little barbs that remainin a woman's heart. Well, I do not love you well enough to marry you,but I love you too well to permit you to marry Miss Annesley."

  "That has the sound of war. I _did_ love you that night,"--not withouta certain nobility.

  "How easily you say 'that night'! Surely there was wisdom in that smileof mine. And I nearly tumbled into the pit! I must have lookedexceedingly well... _that night!_"--drily.

  "You are very bitter to-night. Had you taken me at my word, I nevershould have looked at Miss Annesley. And had I ceased to love you, noteven you would have known it."

  "Is it possible?"--ironically.

  "It is. I have too much pride to permit a woman to see that I have madea mistake."

  "Then you consider in the present instance that you have not made amistake? You are frank."

  "At least I have not made a mistake which I can not rectify. Madam, letus not be enemies. As you say, I owe you too much. What is it youdesire?"--with forced amiability.

  "Deprive Colonel Annesley of his honor, that, as you say, isinevitable; but I love that girl as I would a child of my own, and Iwill not see her caught in a net of this sort, or wedded to a man whosegovernment robs him of his manhood and individuality."

  "Do not forget that I hold my country first and foremost,"--proudly.

  "Love has no country, nor laws, nor galling chains of incertitude. Loveis magnificent only in that it gives all without question. You lovethis girl with reservations. You shall not have her. You shall not haveeven me, who love you after a fashion, for I could never look upon youas a husband; in my eyes you would always be an accomplice."

  "It is war, then?"--curtly.

  "War? Oh, no; we merely sever our diplomatic relations," she purred.

  "Madam, listen to me. I shall make one more attempt to win this girlhonorably. For you are right: love to be love must be magnificent. Ifshe accepts me, for her sake I will become an outcast, a man without acountry. If she refuses me, I shall go on to the end. Speak to thecolonel, Madam; it is too late. Like myself, he has gone too far. Whydid you open the way for me as you did? I should have been satisfiedwith a discontented clerk. You threw this girl across my path,indirectly, it is true; but nevertheless the fault is yours."

  "I recognize it. At that time I did not realize how much you were tome."

  "You are a strange woman. I do not understand you."

  "Incompatibility. Come, the carriage is waiting. Let us be gone."

  "You have spoilt the evening for me," said the count, as he threw hercloak across her shoulders.

  "On the contrary, I have added a peculiar zest. Now, let us go andappear before the world, and smile, and laugh, and eat, and gossip. Letthe heart throb with a dull pain, if it will; the mask is ours to dowith as we may."

  They were, in my opinion, two very unusual persons.

  "Lay the rose on the table"--Act II.]