Sir William Magnay

“ And yet the crisis was so desperate that something had to be done.
As Ludovic paused, hesitating as to the course he should take, Ompertz took a step sturdily forward, and confronted the raging Count with no sign of flinching or perplexity.
“As to madmen,” he said bluffly, “you will soon find, Count, on which side the madness lies. At least we are not fools, and I know not what object you may have in trying to make us such. We are not afraid of you or your threats, and that we can fight against odds your ravine yonder bears witness more eloquent than a whole day’s boasting.” ”

“ With an affectation of homage which scarcely concealed his bold confidence, Irromar entered the royal presence, and, having bowed low, stood before the Usurper in the easy fearlessness of conscious power. Ferdinand had a set frown on his sharp, gambler’s face; he might as well have thought to melt a rock by frowning at it, as thereby to intimidate the strong, reckless nature confronting him. Perhaps he felt this, as, with an effort at self-assertion, he bid the Count say what had brought him thither. ”

“ Why should he not ask Countess Minna to release him and take his place, so that he might go round and be at least within sight of the Princess? He hesitated. Would she not be offended if he broke the tacit understanding between them? Certainly her reception of him had given no encouragement to impatience or forwardness. It was his duty to respect her slightest hint, to let the initiative always come from her, above all, never to make her task (if he dared believe it were one) more difficult. Yet every argument failed against his intense desire. ”

“ The Princess and Minna could find consolation now for their hardships in exulting in Rollmar’s discomfiture. To have defied and checkmated the old fox was delightful to think of; they could imagine his incredulity, his rage; and laughed as they pictured his stormy interview with the Duke.
“Poor father! His dignity will be in sore straits to-day. My only hope is that by the Baron’s temper he will be goaded into taking my part. Then all may be well; for, after all, father is Duke, not Rollmar.” ”

“ I scarcely blame you, Count, that you have not yet threaded the maze. It has a deeper winding yet. What if the Princess should be ignorant of the fact that her lover is Prince Ludwig?”
“You are surely pleased to joke, Baron?”
“So far as my knowledge goes,” Rollmar maintained, “she does not know that he is more than Lieutenant von Bertheim.”
“Or perhaps she would not have fallen in love with him?”
[263] “A shrewd deduction, Count. When one wishes a woman to go forward it is not a bad plan to draw her back. Now, you see the pretty affair into which chance has thrust you.”
Irromar laughed. ”

“ For what is romance but the opposite of the humdrum? And is not human nature the same all the world over, flourishing even when found in the stifling confinement of a formal and etiquette-bound court? And does not young and healthy humanity rebel against the humdrum, and fight tooth and nail against its own repression?
Thus it came about that the somewhat dramatic romance of the following pages was played upon a fitting stage, with a change of scenes, the royal palace, and the castle in the wood, homes respectively of the heroine and the villain of the piece. ”

“ I loathe vanity, but you wilfully shut your eyes to every object but an unworthy one, and compel me to show you myself, a man unlike, certainly, any other man you ever met, you ever could know, a man of a power second to no other one man’s in Europe, a man who is noble in deed, he claims, as in name, and, above all a man who asks nothing better, could better be, than to lay his power, his heart, his very life at your feet, asking you to return, even in a small measure, the devoted all-conquering love with which you have inspired him. ”

“ At least I give you credit for self-deception. And, if I might offer a piece of advice, as an older man who has seen much of the world, I would suggest that the sooner you recognize the wisdom of setting the world’s enjoyment before you in the best light the less regret will you have to look forward to. The maze of pleasure has so many paths and windings, each delightful enough when you turn into it, but getting more and more dreary as you go on, till it ends in blankness and disgust. ”

“ Von Bertheim had been cunningly warned by Minna and was not likely to betray the Princess or himself by the slightest sign. But now discovery was threatened by Ruperta’s distress. A pretty greeting, she told herself bitterly, she had given the lover who had a few hours before risked his life for her, whom she might have been supposed to believe dead, to be surprised in the act of allowing another man to make love to her. Ludovic’s face had shown his mortification, he had seen enough for that, too little to comprehend the real nature of the scene. ”

“ Let me tell you, madam, without further cloaked speeches, that you seek to repulse, to defy—for my reception at your hands points to nothing else—a man whose will is law to himself and to those who cross his path. No one yet, from the late King Josef downwards, has ever successfully defied or resisted my will. [245] That its harsh expression is seldom heard, or even felt, arises from the fact that I am a man of good heart and gentle birth. That, though I live a strenuous life, I hate brutality and love refinement. Will you not take the trouble to look beneath the surface and see—chut! ”

“ For some moments Irromar lay panting; the soldier looking down on him with a grim hankering that was almost comic. Suddenly, from a position in which most men would have been helpless, the Count, who seemed one compact mass of muscle, contrived by a convulsive effort to throw himself on his side, and a desperate struggle began. The suddenness of the effort had taken Ompertz by surprise, and so at some disadvantage. ”

“ Vanity was a strong ingredient in his imperious character; many a strong, masterful man is a baby where his vanity is touched. This one was a ruffian, yet childishly eager to proclaim himself a paragon of sagacity and intellect. The temptation to a brilliant and discomfiting move was too great to be resisted.
“You are going to tell me,” he said quietly, “first that you have introduced yourself under an incognito, and secondly that your real name is——” He paused for an instant as the old man shot at him a sharp glance of curiosity. “Baron von Rollmar, Chancellor of the State of Waldavia.” ”

“ And when the idea had been accepted and the scheme launched, Morvan had proved that his lazy, self-indulgent exterior masked a spirit of daring conception and resource. He was ambitious, too, from, of course, the most material of worldly considerations. He had a bad man’s lust for power; power for evil, for selfish ends, for the gratification of every whim, from revenge to appetite. To have attempted to attach himself to Ludwig would have been absolutely futile. ”

“ Its aspect was curious enough, but the most astounding thing about it was its position, its unexpectedness, and the contrast with its wild surroundings.
As Ludovic and his companions made their way up the winding road their curiosity grew at every step. And the curiosity was not altogether without apprehension.
“The last thing I looked to find in these wilds,” Ompertz observed with a puzzled look at the grey silent building. “It is like a fairy tale.” ”

“ No doubt they will soon be ready to start.”
“You are in great haste to leave us, Fräulein?”
“Not that, Count. But we have a long journey before us.”
“Ah, yes. It is sad that the pleasure of one must be the pain of another.”
The words were gravely spoken; tinged, perhaps, with a rather deeper feeling than a mere phrase of compliment. Ruperta laughed pleasantly. Her new life and its adventures were breaking down her old reserve.
“Hardly pain, I should hope, Count. Although parting is seldom a matter of indifference; it involves either relief or regret.” ”

“ Ompertz turned away with all a soldier’s indifference mingled with disgust.
“A narrow escape, sire,” he laughed, grimly respectful. “I thank Heaven I was here to help your Highness out of the trap.”
“I shall not forget your service if ever fate gives me the power to reward it,” Ludovic replied, grasping the soldier’s hand. “I wish, though, you had not been so quick with those last two fellows. When we got the advantage, their deaths were not necessary.”
“Pardon me, sire,” Ompertz insisted deferentially, “it never pays to let a snake go when you have him under your heel. ”

“ Ompertz observed, in a mystified tone.
“I think I do,” Ludovic returned gloomily.
“You believe the ladies have not left the castle?”
“I am sure of it.” He turned and looked towards the point where the great square tower was just visible above the ravine, and stamped his foot in impotent desperation. “And I have been calling Fate my friend,” he exclaimed bitterly. “Of all the hideous tricks she has ever played man, surely this is the most crushing. To lose everything at one stroke by the hand of a brute in human form such as that. ”

“ But from such a fate perhaps his host’s complex character saved him. After a few moments of ugly hesitation, the Count started away and took a turn across the room. Bold, unprincipled dare-devil that he was, he had yet a strong idea of the importance of his own welfare. In the midst of his discomfiture and consequent anger, he felt that he had to deal with no ordinary man, or even statesman. The threat which stirred up his rage might be a trick, but the chances were heavily against it. Chancellor Rollmar was, he knew, a man of action as well as of intrigue. ”

“ AT THE USURPER’S COURT IT was with considerable surprise that King Ferdinand of Drax-Beroldstein, as yet scarcely settled comfortably into his snatched dignity, heard that the notorious law-defier and outlaw, Count Irromar, was at the palace, asking for a private audience on business of the utmost importance. Had the King been a strong man, or one who felt his position unassailable, he would probably have handed the noble brigand over to his officers of justice, congratulating himself on getting the most troublesome and dangerous of his subjects so cheaply in his power. ”

“ THE FOX IN THE WOLF’S DEN IN his first glance at the stranger, the Count told himself that Gomer was right and there was nothing to be on his guard against in the withered, decrepit-looking old man who, wrapped in a fur-lined travelling cloak, stood before him with a demeanour of apologetic entreaty. At the second glance he was not so sure. But at least there was nothing physically to be feared from the harbouring of such a guest, and as to cunning, why, he was himself no fool, and loved nothing better than to pit his wits against other men’s. ”

“ When the scheme of the marriage had been agreed to by the King and Ministers and then, as a natural, though hardly political, necessity, had been mooted to him, he had hated the idea almost as cordially as ever did his destined bride. Expediency counts for little at five-and-twenty, at least in a free and healthy character. When the blood is warm the heart must govern the head, or love will have nothing to say to either. ”

“ Von Ompertz had received his orders, the most distasteful of his life, and stood with his two satellites waiting grimly for his man. He had on the first shock of Rollmar’s order, met it by a refusal. It was indeed, as the Chancellor had designated it, butcher’s work, and he was [117] a soldier with the strain of his innate nobility ever ready to assume, sometimes to his detriment, the function of a conscience. He loved fighting for its own sake and was ready enough to slay his fellow man in hot blood; but in cold? To become a midnight assassin? ”

“ He was your lover?”
She made a slight inclination of assent.
“Ah! I think I can read the story. Yes; romance is a fine illusion, but power is finer, and it is real. My dearest hope is that you will soon share mine.”
Still she was silent, for silence was safest then. He, inwardly exultant, accepted such favourable sign as that silence gave, and, where importunity was manifestly distasteful, forebore to follow up so quick upon his advantage.
“And this Captain Rollmar?” he asked, with a knowing curiosity, “He was the Lieutenant’s rival, eh?” ”

“ An armed detachment is already under orders, and I myself start for the Schloss Teufelswald within the hour.”
“You, Baron?” Ludovic started in surprise.
“Even I,” Rollmar answered quietly. “This precious Count Irromar, whom you have stumbled upon, is well known to me, at least by reputation, and is no ordinary man. He unites in himself, as your Highness may have discovered, the cunning of the serpent with the ferocity of the wolf. Our troops may oppose the latter quality; it is to meet the former that I propose to myself a disagreeable journey.” ”

“ There is a cunning side inlet; a short, unexpected turn, and lo! the goal is before you.
It was thus with Ludovic von Bertheim. He had caught the Princess’s interest by surprise at the fortune-teller’s; the glamour of a strange adventure was over [87] his personality, the glimpses she had caught of his character, so different from that shown by the young bloods she was used to see about the Court, had captured her fancy, then her heart, which, despite her reputation for coldness, was hungering for love. ”

“ The man we seek: Princess Ruperta’s lover.”
“Ah, where is he? Let us——”
The Baron made a restraining gesture. “I do not know him even by sight; have no idea who he is; but that he is here I am certain. Watch the Princess. I will have my men ready. To-night must see the end of this folly.”
It was not long before the Princess, her every sense of observation quickened by excitement, became aware that the sharp eyes of Udo Rollmar were following her every movement. The same whisper that told Minna of Ludovic’s safety warned her of the spy. ”

“ Well, what’s done is done; one cannot blow the fire with burst bellows or get a dance out of a fellow with a skewered lung.” He drained off another glass of spirits; his situation seemed to affect him as little as though it were but the loss of a few pieces at play.
“Von Ompertz, then your name is?” Ludovic said.
“Add Captain,” the other replied with a mock bow and a flourish. “Devotedly at your service; I would say everlastingly did not that seem a big word from a man who has but a few more breathing hours before him. But for those you can command me, and what is more to the point, my sword.” ”

“ Ompertz, to whom, as having the best knowledge of the place, the attack was entrusted, led the men tactically up the terraces. Having advanced, less, perhaps, to his surprise than Rollmar’s, without opposition right up to the building, a bugle was blown, and the place summoned to surrender. An iron shutter opened and old Gomer appeared.
“This castle,” he said, “will never surrender so long as there is a man left to garrison it. One word, gentlemen, before you commit yourselves to this vain business: I declare to you that you are greatly in error in attacking us. ”

“ It is death.”
Irromar bowed his head. “I do not complain. Fate has served you well, Ludwig. I accept the penalty which would have been yours but for the mischance of an hour. As I have lived my life, so will I die my death.”
Thus he went out to his prison and the scaffold.
[325] “I shall never forgive you for running all those unnecessary risks for me,” Ruperta said to Ludwig. “I am sure if your subjects had known all your fool-hardiness, sir, they would have pronounced you unfit to govern them soberly, and would never have allowed you to depose Ferdinand.” ”