_ Dinner that night was a somewhat oppressive meal. Several new guests had arrived, some of whom bore names which were well known to me. There was a sense of some hidden excitement, which formed an uneasy background to the spasmodic general conversation. The men especially seemed uncomfortable and ill at ease.
"Poor father," Adele whispered to me, "he would give a good many of his dollars not to be in this."
I glanced across at our host, who had come down from New York specially in his magnificent private car, which was now awaiting his return on a siding of the little station. He was a hard-faced, elderly man, with a shrewd mouth and keen eyes, sparely built, yet a man you would be inclined to glance at twice in any assemblage. He wore a most unconventional evening suit, the waistcoat cut very high, and a plain black tie. Two footmen stood behind his chair, and a large florid lady, wearing a crown of diamonds, and with a European reputation for opulence, sat on his right hand. Neither seemed to embarrass him in the least, for the simple reason that he took no notice of them. He drank water, ate sparingly, and talked Wall Street with a man a few places down the table on the left. His speech was crisp and correct, but his intonation more distinctly American than any of his guests'. On the whole, I think he interested me more than any one else there.
"By the bye," I remarked, "I ought to be having a little private conversation with your father this time, oughtn't I?"
She smiled at me faintly.
"It is usual," she assented. "I don't think you will find that he will have much to say. I am my own mistress, and he is too wise to interfere in such a matter. But--"
"Well?"
"You are a very confident person," she murmured.
"I am confident of one thing, at any rate," I answered, "and that is that you are going to be my wife!"
She rebuked me with a glance, which was also wonderfully sweet.
"Some one will hear you," she whispered.
I shook my head.
"Every one is too busy talking about the mysteries to come," I declared.
She shrugged her dazzlingly white shoulders.
"Perhaps even you," she murmured, "may take them more seriously some day."
A few minutes later Mrs. Van Reinberg rose.
"We shall all meet," she remarked, looking round the table, "at eleven o'clock in the library."
In common with most of the younger men, I left the table at the same time, the usual custom, I had discovered, here, where cigarettes were smoked indiscriminately. There was baccarat in the hall; billiards and bridge for those who care for them. Mrs. Van Reinberg waited for me in the first of the long suite of reception-rooms. Mr. de Valentin, who had been talking earnestly to her most of the time during the service of dinner, remained only a few paces off. It struck me that Mrs. Van Reinberg was not in the best of humors.
"Mr. Courage," she said, "I think it only right that I should let you know that Mr. de Valentin strongly objects to your presence at our meeting to-night."
"I am very sorry to hear it," I answered. "May I ask upon what grounds?"
"He seems to imagine," she declared, "that you are not trustworthy."
Mr. de Valentin hastily intervened.
"My dear Mrs. Van Reinberg!" he exclaimed.
"I hope you will believe, Mr. Courage," he continued, turning towards me, "that nothing was further from my thoughts. I simply say that as you are not interested in the matter which we are going to discuss, your presence is quite unnecessary, and might become a source of mutual embarrassment."
"On the contrary," I assured him, "I am very much interested. Perhaps Mr. de Valentin does not know," I added, turning towards Mrs. Van Reinberg, "that your stepdaughter has done me the honor of promising to be my wife."
There was a moment's breathless pause. I saw Mrs. Van Reinberg falter, and I saw something which I did not understand flash across Mr. de Valentin's face.
"Even in that case," he said in a very low tone, "Miss Van Hoyt will herself be present. It is not necessary that you should accompany her."
"I regret to say that I think differently," I answered. "Unless Mrs. Van Reinberg withdraws her invitation, I shall certainly be present."
"That," Mrs. Van Reinberg declared, "I shall not do. Mr. Courage must do as he thinks best."
Mr. de Valentin bowed slightly, and turned away. His lips were parted in a very unpleasant and most peculiar smile.
"I am very sorry," I said to Mrs. Van Reinberg, "to be the cause of any uneasiness."
"The Prince," she answered, departing for the first time from the use of his incognito, "is very nervous. He is used to advisers and friends, and, for almost the first time in his life, he is entirely alone. I sometimes wonder whether he has really sufficient nerve to take up a great part in life."
"Circumstances," I remarked, "often create the man!"
"I hope," she said a little grimly, "that they will make a man of Mr. de Valentin."
She took a cigarette from the little gold case which hung from her chatelaine, and lit it.
"I will tell you, Mr. Courage," she said, "why I am rather anxious for you to be present at the meeting to-night. You are altogether disinterested, and you should be able to form a sane opinion of Mr. de Valentin's proposals. I should like to hear how they appeal to you."
I bowed.
"I will tell you exactly what I think," I answered.
She dismissed me with a little nod.
I went in search of Adele, but could find no trace of her in any of the rooms. At last, in one of the corridors, I heard Nagaski barking, and found him sitting outside the closed door of a small reading-room. Directly I moved towards him, however, he flew at me, and seized my trousers between his teeth. His eyes were fierce with anger, his whole skin seemed to be quivering with excitement. At the sound of his angry growls, the door was opened, and Adele appeared.
"Nagaski, you naughty dog!" she exclaimed.
Nagaski let go of my trousers, but continued to growl. Adele stooped to pick him up, and he immediately attempted to lick her face. I saw then, to my surprise, that she was very pale, and had all the appearance of having received a shock.
"What has happened?" I asked.
She motioned me to enter the room, and closed the door behind us.
"I have just received a cable from Europe," she said in a low tone. "It concerns you!"
I looked at her keenly.
"Well?"
"Something has been found out. A friend of Mr. Stanley's left Havre yesterday for New York. You will not be safe for a moment after he arrives. And in the meantime, I have a message for Mr. de Valentin. I wonder," she added, with a faint smile, "what chance you would have of being at the meeting to-night, if I should deliver it now?"
"Then please don't deliver it," I begged. "I am really getting curious about this affair. You can hold it back for an hour or so, can't you?"
"Yes!" she answered quietly, "I can do that."
She was a changed being during the last hour. Her eyes were full of fear, she seemed to have lost alike her brilliancy and her splendid courage. She did not resist me when I took her into my arms, but her very passiveness was ominous.
"Come," I said cheerfully, "this really isn't so serious as it seems. I shall be away from here before Mr. Stanley's friend arrives, I may even be out of the country. Why shouldn't you come with me, Adele?"
She disengaged herself gently from my arms.
"You are a very thoughtless person," she said quietly. "Not only would it be impossible for me to do that, but there must not be a word about our engagement. Remember that I have given false information about you. It is not the risk for myself that I mind so much, but--there are other things! To-morrow you or I must leave here!"
"It shall be I, of course," I answered. "I was going anyhow. Don't lose heart, Adele. If we are to be separated, it shall not be for long!"
She shook her head, but she smiled at me, although it was a little sadly.
"We may not have the power to decide that for ourselves," she answered. "Listen!"
The great clock in the tower over the stables was striking eleven. We listened until it had finished.
"Now kiss me, dear," she said, leaning towards me.
I stooped down, and her arms were suddenly around me like a vise. She clung to me with her whole body, and held me so that I could scarcely breathe.
"I will not let you go," she cried. "It is death for you if you learn their plans. Fate has given you to me, and no one shall take you away. Oh! stay with me, Jim--my sweetheart--my dear! dear! dear!"
Her lips were upon mine before I could speak. She was drawing me away from the door. Her eyes, her arms, her whole body seemed to be pleading with me. Then suddenly there came a low knocking at the door. I stood away--no longer a prisoner. It was a wonderful intervention this! How else could I have escaped?
The door opened slowly. It was the French maid who stood there. She looked around the room and beckoned to the dog.
"I beg mademoiselle's pardon," she said. "I came for Nagaski. I heard him whine, and I thought that he was alone."
She stood there motionless, her pale, expressionless face turned towards us, her full black eyes turned hurriedly away. I think that she knew what she had done. Adele sank down upon the sofa, and Nagaski, with a low growl at me, sprang into her lap. I left the room ungracefully enough, with only a muttered word of farewell. As I passed along the corridor, I heard Nagaski's bark of joy! _