CHAPTER XXVIII
Mr. Sabin, contrary to his usual custom, engaged a private room at theMilan. Lucille was in the highest spirits.
"If only this were a game instead of reality!" she said, flashinga brilliant smile at him across the table, "I should find it mostfascinating. You seem to come to me always when I want you most. Anddo you know, it is perfectly charming to be carried off by you in thismanner."
Mr. Sabin smiled at her, and there was a look in his eyes which shonethere for no other woman.
"It is in effect," he said, "keeping me young. Events seem to haveenclosed us in a curious little cobweb. All the time we are strugglingbetween the rankest primitivism and the most delicate intrigue. To-dayis the triumph of primitivism."
"Meaning that you, the medieval knight, have carried me off, thedistressed maiden, on your shoulder."
"Having confounded my enemy," he continued, smiling, "by an embarrassingsituation, a little argument, and the distant view of a policeman'shelmet."
"This," she remarked, with a little satisfied sigh as she selected anortolan, "is a very satisfactory place to be carried off to. And you,"she added, leaning across the table and touching his fingers for amoment tenderly, "are a very delightful knight-errant."
He raised the fingers to his lips--the waiter had left the room. Sheblushed, but yielded her hand readily enough.
"Victor," she murmured, "you would spoil the most faithless woman onearth for all her lovers. You make me very impatient."
"Impatience, then," he declared, "must be the most infectious of fevers.For I too am a terrible sufferer."
"If only the Prince," she said, "would be reasonable."
"I am afraid," Mr. Sabin answered, "that from him we have not much tohope for."
"Yet," she continued, "I have fulfilled all the conditions. ReginaldBrott remains the enemy of our cause and Order. Yet some say that hisinfluence upon the people is lessened. In any case, my work is over.He began to mistrust me long ago. To-day I believe that mistrust is theonly feeling he has in connection with me. I shall demand my release."
"I am afraid," Mr. Sabin said, "that Saxe Leinitzer has other reasonsfor keeping you at Dorset House."
She shrugged her shoulders.
"He has been very persistent even before I left Vienna. But he must knowthat it is hopeless. I have never encouraged him."
"I am sure of it," Mr. Sabin said. "It is the incorrigible vanity ofthe man which will not be denied. He has been taught to believe himselfirresistible. I have never doubted you for a single moment, Lucille. Icould not. But you have been the slave of these people long enough.As you say, your task is over. Its failure was always certain. Brottbelieves in his destiny, and it will be no slight thing which will keephim from following it. They must give you back to me."
"We will go back to America," she said. "I have never been so happy asat Lenox."
"Nor I," Mr. Sahin said softly.
"Besides," she continued, "the times have changed since I joined theSociety. In Hungary you know how things were. The Socialists werecarrying all before them, a united solid body. The aristocracy wereforced to enter into some sort of combination against them. We savedAustria, I am not sure that we did not save Russia. But England isdifferent. The aristocracy here are a strong resident class. They havetheir House of Lords, they own the land, and will own it for many yearsto come, their position is unassailable. It is the worst country inEurope for us to work in. The very climate and the dispositions of thepeople are inimical to intrigue. It is Muriel Carey who brought theSociety here. It was a mistake. The country is in no need of it. Thereis no scope for it."
"If only one could get beyond Saxe Leinitzer," Mr. Sabin said.
She shook her head.
"Behind him," she said, "there is only the one to whom all reference isforbidden. And there is no man in the world who would be less likely tolisten to an appeal from you--or from me."
"After all," Mr. Sabin said, "though Saxe Leinitzer is our enemy, Iam not sure that he can do us any harm. If he declines to releaseyou--well, when the twelve months are up you are free whether he wishesit or not. He has put me outside the pale. But this is not, or neverwas, a vindictive Society. They do not deal in assassinations. In thiscountry at least anything of the sort is rarely attempted. If I werea young man with my life to live in the capitals of Europe I should bemore or less a social outcast, I suppose. But I am proof against thatsort of thing."
Lucille looked a little doubtful.
"The Prince," she said, "is an intriguer of the old school. I know thatin Vienna he has more than once made use of more violent means than hewould dare to do here. And there is an underneath machinery very seldomused, I believe, and of which none of us who are ordinary members knowanything at all, which gives him terrible powers."
Mr. Sabin nodded grimly.
"It was worked against me in America," he said, "but I got the best ofit. Here in England I do not believe that he would dare to use it. Ifso, I think that before now it would have been aimed at Brott. I havejust read his Glasgow speech. If he becomes Premier it will lead tosomething like a revolution."
She sighed.
"Brott is a clever man, and a strong man," she said. "I am sorry forhim, but I do not believe that he will never become Prime Minister ofEngland."
Mr. Sabin sipped his wine thoughtfully.
"I believe," he said, "that intrigue is the resource of those who havelived their lives so quickly that they have found weariness. For thesethings to-day interest me very little. I am only anxious to have youback again, Lucille, to find ourselves on our way to our old home."
She laughed softly.
"And I used to think," she said, "that after all I could only keep you alittle time--that presently the voices from the outside world would comewhispering in your ears, and you would steal back again to where thewheels of life were turning."
"A man," he answered, "is not easily whispered out of Paradise."
She laughed at him.
"Ah, it is so easy," she said, "to know that your youth was spent at acourt."
"There is only one court," he answered, "where men learn to speak thetruth."
She leaned back in her chair.
"Oh, you are incorrigible," she said softly. "The one role in life inwhich I fancied you ill at ease you seem to fill to perfection."
"And that?"
"You are an adorable husband!"
"I should like," he said, "a better opportunity to prove it!"
"Let us hope," she murmured, "that our separation is nearly over. Ishall appeal to the Prince to-night. My remaining at Dorset House is nolonger necessary."
"I shall come," he said, "and demand you in person."
She shook her head.
"No! They would not let you in, and it would make it more difficult. Bepatient a little longer."
He came and sat by her side. She leaned over to meet his embrace.
"You make patience," he murmured, "a torture!"
* * * * *
Mr. Sabin walked home to his rooms late in the afternoon, well contenton the whole with his day. He was in no manner prepared for the shockwhich greeted him on entering his sitting-room. Duson was leaning backin his most comfortable easy-chair.
"Duson!" Mr. Sabin said sharply. "What does this mean?"
There was no answer. Mr. Sabin moved quickly forward, and then stoppedshort. He had seen dead men, and he knew the signs. Duson was stonedead.
Mr. Sabin's nerve answered to this demand upon it. He checked his firstimpulse to ring the bell, and looked carefully on the table for somenote or message from the dead man. He found it almost at once--a largeenvelope in Duson's handwriting. Mr. Sabin hastily broke the seal andread:
"Monsieur,--I kill myself because it is easiest and best. The poison was given me for you, but I have not the courage to become a murderer, or afterwards to conceal my guilt. Monsieur has been a good master to me, and also Madame la Comtesse was a
lways indulgent and kind. The mistake of my life has been the joining the lower order of the Society. The money which I have received has been but a poor return for the anxiety and trouble which have come upon me since Madame la Comtesse left America. Now that I seek shelter in the grave I am free to warn Monsieur that the Prince of S. L. is his determined and merciless enemy, and that he has already made an unlawful use of his position in the Society for the sake of private vengeance. If monsieur would make a powerful friend he should seek the Lady Muriel Carey.
"Monsieur will be so good as to destroy this when read. My will is in my trunk. "Your Grace's faithful servant, "Jules Duson."
Mr. Sabin read this letter carefully through to the end. Then he put itinto his pocket-book and quickly rang the bell.
"You had better send for a doctor at once," he said to the waiter whoappeared. "My servant appears to have suffered from some sudden illness.I am afraid that he is quite dead."