CHAPTER XXIII
THE QUEEN'S ATONEMENT
"Yes, but for the intervention of Don Juan d'Alta, my Chancellor atthat time," continued the old lady, "my life might have ended indespair.
"From the very first, although he did not tell me so then, he saw thatI had been simply _exploited_ by this heartless and unprincipledscoundrel, Prince Adalbert of Rittersheim. But your father," sheproceeded, turning to Dolores and placing her hand on hers, "yourfather, my dear, by his self-sacrifice and the pure affection which hebore me, saved me.
"He realised that he had to do with a villain whose object was plunder,and who at that time dominated the situation. He foresaw that aliberal outlay of money was the only thing that would rid me of thisfiend. He went to Prince Adalbert and simply asked him his price.
"He named at first an exorbitant sum, _and the diamonds of my latefather contained in the steel safe_.
"This was refused. Don Juan at last brought him to his knees bydefying him and telling him to do his worst.
"Then he agreed to a yearly pension of one hundred thousand dollars,which would be paid to him on condition that he left me unmolested.
"He made a fight for the custody of the child which was coming, as Idoubt not he thought that he could have a greater hold over me if hehad it, but this request was flatly refused, and he sailed away fromAquazilia the richer by a great income, but bought at the price of aloving woman's happiness."
The old queen stopped and wiped the tears from her eyes.
"Do not go on, your Majesty," urged Dolores, half dazed at thedisclosures; "you distress yourself."
The old lady brightened at once and pressed her hand, putting away herhandkerchief.
"No," she answered; "I prefer to tell you _all_ and _now_.
"By the aid of Don Juan and the Baroness d'Altenstein, who was brokendown with grief at the course affairs had taken, my condition wasconcealed, and arrangements were made for my accouchement undercircumstances of the greatest secrecy. Don Juan had abandoned all hopefrom the outset of legitimatising the child; his one object was toconceal my shame. This he succeeded in doing. I gave birth to a boy,and my love for him has been the great solace of my life."
"And he is living, madame?" I ventured to ask.
"Yes, living," she answered, the sweet smile playing about her lipsagain--"living, and the greatest comfort God has given me in my trials.
"From his babyhood he was the one thought I had; his training, hiseducation, the fostering of good in his receptive mind that he mightgrow up a good man. And he has repaid me a thousandfold.
"But in those years great troubles came upon me. Prince Adalbert,known as one of the greatest roues and spendthrifts in Europe, hadsucceeded his father two years after he left me, and was now GrandDuke. His first wife had been taken back again--or he never could havefaced his people--and had borne him a son. This son was fated to bethe scourge of my life hereafter.
"Meanwhile, in the throes of a continental war, the Grand Duchy ofRittersheim was absorbed into the neighbouring great state, and theGrand Duke Adalbert, deposed and impoverished, became simply apensioner, and a most importunate blackmailer of myself.
"His one great object in life--and later he confided this secret, withthe story of our marriage, to his son--was to obtain possession of thegreat fortune in diamonds, still locked in the steel safe bequeathed meby my father, and which I had steadfastly refused to part with, nay,even to withdraw a single stone from.
"But the value had, in the drink-distorted mind of the Grand DukeAdalbert, become immensely exaggerated. The safe was believed by hisson Waldemar to contain diamonds to the value of five millions ofEnglish pounds!"
Hence his intense rapacity in later years; for when my boy wastwenty-five his father, the Grand Duke Adalbert, died, and wassucceeded in the title only, for the power was gone, by his sonWaldemar, but two years younger than my own.
"This Waldemar appears to have been evilly disposed from boyhood, andembittered against mankind in general, first by the loss of his Duchy,and in addition by the destruction of an eye which he suffered in somelow fracas, for his delight was to mingle and drink with the lowest ofmankind. On his father's death he came to Valoro and demanded that thepension paid to the late Duke by me should be continued to him!
"This was refused.
"Then he had the impudence to try and bargain with me, offering to keepsilence for a certain sum. Finally he laid claim to the diamonds inthe steel safe, which he stated were his father's property. My answerto his requests and fraudulent claims was to have him placed on board asteamer bound for Europe.
"Then he threatened me with his life-long vengeance. Leagued with aprofessional agitator named Razzaro, he commenced to undermine myauthority with great subtilty, till in the end my simple people whoonce had loved me and my family grew to hate me, and to look uponWaldemar, even the Royalists, as a much-wronged person.
"You know the rest; it is written in the history of the world. Mypeople rose in rebellion. I was dethroned, and with one singlefaithful companion, the Baroness d'Altenstein, fled to Europe in thewarship of a friendly nation.
"But before the storm burst I had sent to Europe the steel safe and itsprecious contents, the diamonds.
"For some reasons, I have many times since wished that it had sunk tothe bottom of the Atlantic.
"For years I lived in one of the fairest cities of Europe with myfaithful d'Altenstein, and for those years the Duke Waldemar left mein peace, being, I suppose, occupied in some other villainy.
"But suddenly he commenced his importunities again, and made onedastardly attempt, through others, to steal the safe from the bankers'vaults in which it lay, but this was frustrated.
"Harried to death by his persecution, I consulted a learned Englishjudge whom I met in Society in Paris, Sir Henry Anstruther, yourfather," she added, turning to me, "and it has always seemed to me aprovidential coincidence that in my need I should also have turned toyou.
"I asked this good English judge, without disclosing my secret, what heconsidered the most effectual mode for a woman to adopt to hide herselfentirely from the world and her friends. I said I was very curious toknow what his long experience had taught him in that respect.
"He seemed amused at my question, and thought for some time beforereplying, little guessing what was running in my mind. He answered meat last, and said that he thought that a person could be best hiddenand lost to the world by living just a fairly ordinary life in a quietway in one of the larger towns in England. That was his experienceduring his long life as a lawyer.
"I treasured his opinion, and formed a scheme in my mind upon it.
"Just then poor Carlotta d'Altenstein, a widow without friends, my dearcompanion, was seized with her mortal illness, and then I saw my schemecomplete before me.
"By the lavish use of money, of which I had more than I needed by far,for my father's private fortune invested in Europe was very great, Icontrived that I should change places with the Baroness d'Altenstein.
"To the public it was _I_ who was ill; to the world at large, even toDon Juan, it was _I_ who died. It was then that, passing as theBaroness d'Altenstein--in England as plain Mrs. Carlotta Altenstein--Iwent to the city of Bath, which had been recommended, and also offeredcertain devotional advantages to me, for I intended to give theremainder of my life to religion and the poor.
"There in Monmouth Street, where you saw me, Mr. Anstruther, amusingmyself with philanthropic literature, I succeeded for ten years inhiding myself from the Duke Waldemar of Rittersheim, who had in amanner reformed himself and become a philanthropist too, _in public_;in secret his life was worse than ever. In that little room in whichyou found me, I was foolish enough to keep the steel safe, hidden awayin a receptacle cut in the stone wall of the house. But the safe nolonger contained all the diamonds. I had been gradually selling themand devoting the proceeds to the poor of the world. This convent, arefuge for aged men and women, and orphaned children, was foun
ded withpart of the money.
"But to my horror, at the end of the ten years, I met the DukeWaldemar, face to face, coming out of the Pump Room at Bath, wherequietly and unobtrusively I had gone to take the waters. That was onthe morning of the day I spoke to you, for I knew then that my refugewas a refuge no longer.
"I intended on the morrow to have asked you to help me remove whatremained of the diamonds to a place of security and leave the safebehind. Perhaps I might have even encroached on your kindness to haveasked you to escort me here, but it was arranged otherwise.
"During the night and early morning, I became aware that something wastaking place in the next house, which up to then had stood empty. Iconnected it in my mind with some plot of the Duke, who I doubted nothad had me followed home. The sequel proved I was right.
"This fear so worked upon me that, towards morning, I rose andcommenced to write the letters to you and Don Juan, and to make them upin packets.
"The letter to the latter, in which I told him I should come here if Ilived, of course I placed in the ebony casket with something else thatwas worth more to me than all the diamonds in the world; it was thecertificate of my marriage to Prince Adalbert of Rittersheim at thelittle church of the remote mountain village in Aquazilia.
"I was far more fearful of losing that than all my fortune. It was thecertificate of my honour and my son's birthright. I knew that if theDuke Waldemar once got it into his possession he could demand any pricefrom me for its return.
"It was late in the morning, a dull foggy November morning, when I hadfinished sealing the packets and locked them away in the steel safewith my own key. The one I had given you was the only duplicate inexistence; they both bore my father's initial C, he was Carlo the Thirdof Aquazilia.
"Having left directions on a paper which you could see within the safewhen you opened it, I carefully locked it and hid my own key under aspecial place in the carpet.
"I intended then to write to you at once and tell you to come and openthe safe, whatever might happen to me, for I believed that itshiding-place would not easily be discovered, but I never had thischance.
"Exhausted with want of sleep, I went back to my room and threw myselfon my bed, half dressed as I was, with my white silk dressing-robe onin which I had sat writing half the night.
"I at once fell asleep and must have slept for hours, for it was darkagain when I awoke, and then I was called back to consciousness byhaving my arm roughly shaken. I found the Duke Waldemar and two othermen in my room.
"He at once demanded to know the whereabouts of the steel safe with thediamonds, and held a naked knife to my throat to force me to tell him.
"Life was of very little value to me in comparison with the needs ofthe poor for whom I was determined to preserve the riches.
"Each time I refused to tell him he pressed the knife closer to mythroat, until it cut into the flesh, and I felt the warm bloodtrickling down on to my white dressing-robe.
"When he and his companions had been there it seemed to me a long, longtime, and it was useless for me to shriek for help, I gave myself upfor lost, turning my thoughts as well as I could to the next world.
"It was then that the Duke and his men were startled by hearing youopen the front door of the house and stumble through the dark passage.
"With horrible curses they fled through the window.
"Then you came, and I had just the strength left to whisper to you toopen the safe when I fainted away.
"I have no recollection of what occurred after. Many hours must haveelapsed before I regained consciousness, and then I came to myself inan underground room of what I knew after to be a lonely tower on thehills near Bath."
"What, not Cruft's Folly?" I suggested.
"Yes," she replied thoughtfully; "I believe that was the name Iafterwards learned was given to the place.
"I was waited on by a German woman, the wife of one of the Duke'sfollowers, a big dark man with a black beard.
"My dress, my bed, and general surroundings were those of a poorcountry woman.
"But this black-bearded German and his wife were the means of saving me.
"There had been an accident, a man had fallen off the tower and beenkilled.
"The big dark man and his wife were terribly frightened, and in thisstate could not withstand the temptation of the big bribe I promisedthem if they would obtain my release.
"They brought a country cart to the tower, full of straw, as soon as itwas dusk on the day of the accident, and in this I was driven toDevizes. From there I telegraphed to my bankers and they sent aspecial messenger to me with an abundance of money and a newcheque-book; from that time forth I was my own mistress again.
"The wound in my neck, which was only skin deep, had been carefullybandaged by the German woman; under the hands of a skilled doctor andnurse, it soon healed.
"I have very little doubt but that the Duke intended to keep me aprisoner in the tower until I disclosed the whereabouts of the diamonds.
"The big German who had arranged my escape--and to whom I gave fivehundred pounds--told me that a grave had already been dug to receive mybody in the old graveyard behind the house in Monmouth Street.
"Had the Duke discovered the diamonds, I should have been murdered tosave further trouble from me; he knew, of course, I was already dead tothe world. As it was, they only buried my bloodstained bed-linen inthe grave when they carried me off from the house, after you had leftthe Duke stunned."
I could have told the old Queen that the big German did not long enjoyher five hundred pounds, but that he himself filled the grave intendedfor her, and which, probably, he had helped to dig. I did not tell herthis, she had had trouble enough; but I had little doubt that the Dukehad discovered that the man had played him false, and had shot him anddisposed of his body in that way.
Queen Inez paused, and passed her frail white hand across her eyes.
"I have told you all now, I think," she said slowly, for she wasfatigued. "When I was well enough I came here and found a telegramfrom Don Juan. I knew you had delivered the casket. Here I haveremained; here I shall, if it be God's will, remain to the end."
Seeing that the long relation had tired her, I leant forward and filledone of the little liqueur glasses with the golden Chartreuse and handedit to her. She took it from me with a smile, and insisted that weshould take some too. We sat sipping the delicious liqueur in silence,our gaze fixed on the blue lake and the white sails slowly moving inthe stillness of the afternoon heat.
As I saw the colour returning to the Queen's face, I ventured to askher another question.
"There is one person, madame," I said, "who's history you have not yetthought fit to tell us. Forgive me if I am presumptuous in asking thequestion. It is your son I speak of."
A very sweet smile came over her face as I ceased speaking. Sheglanced, it appeared involuntarily, at the sparkling liqueur in herlittle glass.
"My dear son's history is soon told," she said, still smiling. "He hasbeen a Carthusian monk, a Trappist, since his youth. He never had theleast inclination for the life of the world. He is the abbot of themonastery of San Juan del Monte, near Valoro."
_Then_ I recollected his fair face, and blue eyes, and remembered thathe had reminded me of _some one_; now I knew who that some one was--hismother. It was plain to me why Don Juan had taken us there.
"Every year," continued Queen Inez, "by the special permission of thehead of his order, he comes to me and stays ten days. Those are, tome, ten days stolen from heaven. Thank God, he comes next month, andeach time he comes," she added, with a smile, raising her little glass,"he brings me a present from his monastery of the veritable Chartreuse."
We lingered with the dear old Queen until the sun was declining overthe lake, whose waters were turning a darker blue; the sister came withwraps and a warning glance to take her to her rooms in the convent.
At her request, during our short stay at Lucerne, we visited her againand again, until the da
y of parting came, and we bade her farewell onthe terrace where we had first met her, above the blue waters of thelake.
There were tears in her eyes and ours when we left her, and the tearscame back again to ours as we looked wistfully up at the terrace asFritz rowed us away, and we saw her waving to us no longer.
That was the last we saw of her, or shall ever see in this world, forsix months after we received a letter from the Reverend Mother tellingus that "Madame la Comtesse" was dead, and Dolores and I, rememberingher sufferings, her patience, and her great love, are presumptuousenough to think that heaven has gained another saint.
* * * * *
No, neither Ethel nor St. Nivel are married yet, but I would not saythat they never will be. I have heard rumours of a Guardsman on theone hand, and a sweet Irish girl on the other.
At any rate, during those happy autumn weeks which Dolores and Iinvariably spend at dear old Bannington in the shooting season, if, byany chance, Ethel and I meet in the gloaming in the long, oak-panelledcorridors, we indulge in no more cousinly kisses; she _won't_.
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