CHAPTER XXIII
MR. SABIN EXPLAINS
Mr. Sabin and his niece had finished their dinner, and were lingering alittle over an unusually luxurious dessert. Wolfenden had sent somemuscatel grapes and peaches from the forcing houses at DeringhamHall--such peaches as Covent Garden could scarcely match, and certainlynot excel. Mr. Sabin looked across at Helene as they were placed uponthe table, with a significant smile.
"An Englishman," he remarked, pouring himself out a glass of burgundyand drawing the cigarettes towards him, "never knows when he is beaten.As a national trait it is magnificent, in private life it is a littleawkward."
Helene had been sitting through the meal, still and statuesque in herblack dinner gown, a little more pale than usual, and very silent. AtMr. Sabin's remark she looked up quickly.
"Are you alluding to Lord Wolfenden?" she asked.
Mr. Sabin lit his cigarette, and nodded through the mist of blue smoke.
"To no less a person," he answered, with a shade of mockery in his tone."I am beginning to find my guardianship no sinecure after all! Do youknow, it never occurred to me, when we concluded our little arrangement,that I might have to exercise my authority against so ardent a suitor.You would have found his lordship hard to get rid of this morning, I amafraid, but for my opportune arrival."
"By no means," she answered. "Lord Wolfenden is a gentleman, and he wasnot more persistent than he had a right to be."
"Perhaps," Mr. Sabin remarked, "you would have been better pleased if Ihad not come?"
"I am quite sure of it," she admitted; "but then it is so like you toarrive just at a crisis! Do you know, I can't help fancying that thereis something theatrical about your comings and goings! You appear--andone looks for a curtain and a tableau. Where could you have dropped fromthis morning?"
"From Cromer, in a donkey-cart," he answered smiling. "I got as far asPeterborough last night, and came on here by the first train. There wasnothing very melodramatic about that, surely!"
"It does not sound so, certainly. Your playing golf with Lord Wolfendenafterwards was commonplace enough!"
"I found Lord Wolfenden very interesting," Mr. Sabin said thoughtfully."He told me a good deal which was important for me to know. I am hopingthat to-night he will tell me more."
"To-night! Is he coming here?"
Mr. Sabin assented calmly.
"Yes. I thought you would be surprised. But then you need not see him,you know. I met him riding upon the sands this afternoon--at rather anawkward moment, by the bye--and asked him to dine with us."
"He refused, of course?"
"Only the dinner; presumably he doubted our cook, for he asked to beallowed to come down afterwards. He will be here soon."
"Why did you ask him?"
Mr. Sabin looked keenly across the table. There was something in thegirl's face which he scarcely understood.
"Well, not altogether for the sake of his company, I must confess," hereplied. "He has been useful to me, and he is in the position to be agreat deal more so."
The girl rose up. She came over and stood before him. Mr. Sabin knew atonce that something unusual was going to happen.
"You want to make of him," she said, in a low, intense tone, "what youmake of every one--a tool! Understand that I will not have it!"
"Helene!"
The single word, and the glance which flashed from his eyes, wasexpressive, but the girl did not falter.
"Oh! I am weary of it," she cried, with a little passionate outburst. "Iam sick to death of it all! You will never succeed in what you areplanning. One might sooner expect a miracle. I shall go back to Vienna.I am tired of masquerading. I have had more than enough of it."
Mr. Sabin's expression did not alter one iota; he spoke as soothingly asone would speak to a child.
"I am afraid," he said quietly, "that it must be dull for you. Perhaps Iought to have taken you more into my confidence; very well, I will do sonow. Listen: you say that I shall never succeed. On the contrary, I amon the point of success; the waiting for both of us is nearly over."
The prospect startled, but did not seem altogether to enrapture her. Shewanted to hear more.
"I received this dispatch from London this morning," he said. "BaronKnigenstein has left for Berlin to gain the Emperor's consent to anagreement which we have already ratified. The affair is as good assettled; it is a matter now of a few days only."
"Germany!" she exclaimed, incredulously, "I thought it was to beRussia."
"So," he answered, "did I. I have to make a certain rather humiliatingconfession. I, who have always considered myself keenly in touch withthe times, especially since my interest in European matters revived,have remained wholly ignorant of one of the most extraordinary phases ofmodern politics. In years to come history will show us that it wasinevitable, but I must confess that it has come upon me like a thunderclap. I, like all the world, have looked upon Germany and England asnatural and inevitable allies. That is neither more nor less than acolossal blunder! As a matter of fact, they are natural enemies!"
She sank into a chair, and looked at him blankly.
"But it is impossible," she cried. "There are all the ties ofrelationship, and a common stock. They are sister countries."
"Don't you know," he said, "that it is the like which irritates andrepels the like. It is this relationship which has been at the root ofthe great jealousy, which seems to have spread all through Germany. Ineed not go into all the causes of it with you now; sufficient it is tosay that all the recent successes of England have been at Germany'sexpense. There has been a storm brewing for long; to-day, to-morrow,in a week, surely within a month, it will break."
"You may be right," she said; "but who of all the Frenchwomen I knowwould care to reckon themselves the debtors of Germany?"
"You will owe Germany nothing, for she will be paid and overpaid forall she does. Russia has made terms with the Republic of France.Politically, she has nothing to gain by a rupture; but with Germany itis different. She and France are ready at this moment to fly at oneanother's throats. The military popularity of such a war would beimmense. The cry to arms would ring from the Mediterranean to theRhine."
"Oh! I hope that it may not be war," she said. "I had hoped always thatdiplomacy, backed by a waiting army, would be sufficient. France atheart is true, I know. But after all, it sounds like a fairy tale. Youare a wonderful man, but how can you hope to move nations? What can youoffer Germany to exact so tremendous a price?"
"I can offer," Mr. Sabin said calmly, "what Germany desires more thananything else in the world--the key to England. It has taken me sixyears to perfect my schemes. As you know, I was in America part of thetime I was supposed to be in China. It was there, in the laboratory ofAllison, that I commenced the work. Step by step I have moved on--linkby link I have forged the chain. I may say, without falsehood orexaggeration, that my work would be the work of another man's lifetime.With me it has been a labour of love. Your part, my dear Helene, will bea glorious one; think of it, and shake off your depression. This holeand corner life is not for long--the time for which we have worked is athand."
She did not look up, there was no answering fire of enthusiasm in herdark eyes. The colour came into her cheeks and faded away. Mr. Sabin wasvaguely disturbed.
"In what way," she said, without directly looking at him, "is LordWolfenden likely to be useful to you?"
Mr. Sabin did not reply for some time, in fact he did not reply at all.This new phase in the situation was suddenly revealed to him. When hespoke his tone was grave enough--grave with an undertone of contempt.
"Is it possible, Helene," he said, "that you have allowed yourself tothink seriously of the love-making of this young man? I must confessthat such a thing in connection with you would never have occurred to mein my wildest dreams!"
"I am the mistress of my own affections," she said coldly. "I am notpledged to you in any way. If I were to say that I intended to listenseriously to Lord Wolfenden--even if I were to sa
y that I intended tomarry him--well, there is no one who would dare to interfere! But, onthe other hand, I have refused him. That should be enough for you. I amnot going to discuss the matter at all; you would not understand it."
"I must admit," Mr. Sabin said, "that I probably should not. Of love, asyou young people conceive it, I know nothing. But of that greateraffection--the passionate love of a man for his race and his kind andhis country--well, that has always seemed to me a thing worth living andworking and dying for! I had fancied, Helene, that some spark of thatsame fire had warmed your blood, or you would not be here to-day."
"I think," she answered more gently, "that it has. I too, believe me,love my country and my people and my order. If I do not find theseall-engrossing, you must remember that I am a woman, and I am young; Ido not pretend to be capable only of impersonal and patriotic love."
"Ay, you are a woman, and the blood of some of your ancestors will makeitself felt," he added, looking at her thoughtfully. "I ought to haveconsidered the influence of sex and heredity. By the bye, have you heardfrom Henri lately?"
She shook her head.
"Not since he has been in France. We thought that whilst he was there itwould be better for him not to write."
Mr. Sabin nodded.
"Most discreet," he remarked satirically. "I wonder what Henri would sayif he knew?"
The girl's lip curled a little.
"If even," she said, "there was really something serious for him toknow, Henri would survive it. His is not the temperament for sorrow. Fortwenty minutes he would be in a paroxysm. He would probably send out forpoison, which he would be careful not to take; and play with a pistol,if he were sure that it was not loaded. By dinner time he would be calm,the opera would soothe him still more, and by the time it was over hewould be quite ready to take Mademoiselle Somebody out to supper. Withthe first glass of champagne his sorrow would be drowned for ever. Ifany wound remained at all, it would be the wound to his vanity."
"You have considered, then, the possibility of upsetting my schemes andwithdrawing your part?" Mr. Sabin said quietly. "You understand thatyour marriage with Henri would be an absolute necessity--that without itall would be chaos?"
"I do not say that I have considered any such possibility," sheanswered. "If I make up my mind to withdraw, I shall give you notice.But I will admit that I like Lord Wolfenden, and I detest Henri! Ah! Iknow of what you would remind me; you need not fear, I shall not forget!It will not be to-day, nor to-morrow, that I shall decide."
A servant entered the room and announced Lord Wolfenden. Mr. Sabinlooked up.
"Where have you shown him?" he asked.
"Into the library, sir," the girl answered.
Mr. Sabin swore softly between his teeth, and sprang to his feet.
"Excuse me, Helene," he exclaimed, "I will bring Lord Wolfenden into thedrawing-room. That girl is an idiot; she has shown him into the one roomin the house which I would not have had him enter for anything in theworld!"