cool hand as he was, even lechmere glanced with astonishment at the king of asturia. the ruler was small and mean-looking generally, but now he seemed to be transformed. varney's drug must have been a powerful one to make that difference. for here was a king—a boy specimen with red hair, but a king all the same. count gleikstein flashed a furious glance at mazaroff, who merely shrugged his shoulders. but he was puzzled and annoyed, as lechmere could see from the expression of his face. the comedy was a pleasing one for the old queen's messenger.
the great salon was still well filled by lord merehaven's guests, for this was one of the functions of the season, and few people were going farther to-night. it was known, too, that the great diva also had captured all hearts and was going to sing again. therefore the big room, with its magnificent pictures and china and statuary gleaming with hundreds of electric lights, was still filled with a brilliant mass of moving colour.
a thrill and a murmur had run round the brilliant assembly as the king of asturia came in. there had been many rumours lately, but nobody quite knew the truth. the king of asturia had either abdicated his throne or he had been deposed by a revolution. the papers had been full of gossip lately, for the queen of asturia was a popular figure[139] in london society, and people were interested. it was for this reason—it was for the sake of necessary people that lord merehaven had hoped to have seen his royal guest earlier.
but here he was at last, making a dramatic entrance at exactly the proper time, and surprising even the man who had brought this mischief about.
"the constitution of an ox," varney told himself. "with a heart like his, too! and yet an hour ago he was looking death in the face. i'll try that drug again."
the king came forward smiling and at his ease. he bowed to the queen, and placed her hand to his lips. then he extended his fingers to lord merehaven.
"my dear lord, i am much distressed to be so late," he said. "i dare say the queen will have told you the reason why i have been delayed. ah, good evening, count gleikstein. prince mazaroff, i wonder you are not ashamed to look me in the face."
mazaroff muttered something and looked uncomfortable. he was understood to ask what he had done.
"now there is an elastic conscience for you!" the king cried. "that man comes between me and my duty to my people, and then he asks what he has done! he knows that love of pleasure is my stumbling-block, and he plays on my weakness. only this very afternoon he comes to me with a proposal which i find utterly irresistible. my dear prince, i shall have to forswear your company. you had no right to take me where you took me to-day."
mazaroff stepped back puzzled and confused. he had decided that he knew his man well, but here[140] was an utterly unexpected phase of his character.
"you gave me certain papers to sign," the king went on. "positively, i have utterly forgotten what they were all about. nothing very important, or i should not have presumed to sign them. something to do with concessions, were they not?"
"that is so, please your majesty," mazaroff stammered. "it is a matter that will keep. if you will go over the petition at your leisure? as a liberal-minded man myself——"
"my dear mazaroff, your liberal-mindedness is proverbial. but as to those papers, i lost them. positively, they are nowhere to be found. you must let me have others."
a curious clicking sound came from mazaroff's lips. the face of count gleikstein turned pale with anger. there was a comedy going on, and the grave listeners with their polite attention knew what was happening quite as well as if the conversation had been in plain words.
"your majesty is pleased to jest with me," mazaroff said hoarsely.
"indeed i am not, my good fellow. blame yourself for the excellency of that brand of champagne. we dined somewhere, did we not? i must have changed somewhere after, for i distinctly remember burning a hole in my shirt front with a cigarette, and behold there is no burn there now! somewhere in the pocket of a dress-coat lies your precious concessions."
"i think," the queen said with some dignity, "we had better change the conversation. i do not approve of those medieval customs in my husband. ah, madame peri is going to sing again."
there was a hush and a stir, and the glorious[141] liquid notes broke out again. mazaroff slipped away, followed presently by count gleikstein. the latter's face was smiling and gay as he addressed some remark to mazaroff in a low tone, but his words were bitter.
"you senseless fool," he said. "how have you managed to blunder in this idiotic way? and after everything had been so perfectly arranged. it would have been known to-morrow in every capital in europe that the queen of asturia attended the important diplomatic and social function alone. we could have hinted that the king had already fled. in the present state of feeling in asturia that would have insured the success of the revolution."
"and the occupation of russia in the interests of peace," mazaroff sneered. "my dear gleikstein, i am absolutely dumbfounded. it was as the king says. i lured him into a house where only the fastest of men go, a gambling den. i saw that act of abdication in his pocket. i saw him so helplessly intoxicated that it was any odds he was not seen before morning. i arranged for him to be detained where he was. to-morrow the thing would have been done; it would have been done to-day but he was past signing. then he comes here clothed and in his right mind. it is amazing. we shall have to begin all over again, it seems to me."
"we certainly have received a check," gleikstein admitted with a better grace. "but there are other cards to play yet. those papers missing from the foreign office, for instance. to get to the bottom of england's game will be a great advantage."
"don't you know that we have been beaten there as well?" said mazaroff.
"you don't mean to say so! impossible! why, the[142] countess sent a cypher message to say that she had been entirely successful. the message was not sent direct to me, of course, but it came by a sure hand about eight o'clock. the countess had not read those papers, but they were most assuredly in her possession. she promised me that——"
"well, she is no longer in a position to fulfil her promise," said mazaroff. "to return, the papers were most impudently stolen from her house. it is quite true, my dear gleikstein, that we both realize the powerful secret combination that we have to fight against. don't you see what a clever lot they are! how they have tracked our deeds and acts! how did they manage to recover the king and bring him here clothed and in his right mind? why, the thing is nothing less than a miracle. then the countess loses those papers almost before they are in her possession. it is any odds that she had not even sufficient time to glance at them."
"but you are quite sure that the papers have been lost, mazaroff?"
"absolutely certain, though the countess did not tell me so. she left here in a violent hurry on her maid coming to say that there had been a burglary at her house. i heard all that in the hall. the maid said that nothing but papers had vanished. one glance at the face of the countess told me what papers those were. and so we have a powerful combination against us who can work miracles and undo our best efforts almost before the knots are securely tied. for the present we are beaten, and it will be just as well for you to realize it thoroughly."
gleikstein would have said more, but lechmere lounged up at the same moment. his grey, lean[143] face was quite smooth and placid; there was a smile on his face.
"what are you two old friends conspiring about?" he asked.
"there is never any conspiracy so far as diplomacy is concerned," gleikstein said smoothly. "we are all crystal wells of truth. who told you we were old friends?"
"my eyes," lechmere said quite coolly. "and my excellent memory. it is idle to try and deceive an old queen's messenger like me. you look puzzled, both of you. cast your minds back to 15th november, 1897, at moscow. it was at the hotel petersburg. three men were playing loo. there was a waiter with one eye in the room. come, there is a puzzle for you."
and lechmere lounged on as if anxious to catch up a passing acquaintance.
"what does he mean?" mazaroff muttered anxiously. "what does the fellow know?"
