Under Two Flags

t had not thrilled, startled, and impressed the gay Baden gathering one tithe so grav

alpable as these. It was, however, so deftly prepared that under examination no trace could be found of it, and the result of veterinary investigation, while it left unremoved the conviction that the horse had been doctored, could not explain when or how, or by what medicines. Forest King had simply "

usness or unimpeachable respectability; the hapless stable-boy is cross-examined, to protest innocence and ignorance, and most likely protest them rightly; he is accused, dismissed, and ruined; or some young jock h

lish riding-men had been trusted to Forest King and his owner, and they, who had never before betrayed the trust placed in them, had broken down like any screw out of a livery stable; like any jockey bribed to "pu

unknown criminal. The Austrian and French nobles, while winners by the event, were scarce in less angered excitement. It seemed to cast the foulest slur upon their honor that, upon foreign ground, the renowned English steeple-chaser should have been tampered with thus; and the

ly once, when they talked around him of the investigations of the Club, and of the institution of inquiries to discover the guilty traitor, he looke

ran in the Royallieu blood knew by it that, despite his gentle temper, a terri

he violence of some tremendous fall; the excitation, the agitation, the angry amazement around him (growing as near clamor as was possible in those fashionable betting-circles, so free from roughs and almost free from bookmakers), the conflicting opin

d that the horse could be defeated; now, little as those about him knew it, an absolute and irremediable disgrace fronted him. For, secure in the issue of the Prix de Dames, and compelled to weight his chances in it very h

had persisted in ignoring his danger, and because his whole character

ng without analyzing them; but these led him safely and surely right in all his dealings with his fellow-men, however open to censure his life might be in other matters. Careless as he was, and indifferent, to levity, in many things, his ideas of honor were really very pure and elevated; he suffer

Badminton, as he drove with his set off the disastrous plains of Iffesheim. He shook himself free of them as soon as he could; he felt the chatter round him insupportable; the men were thoroughly good-hearted, and though they were sharply h

the losses which his own mistaken security had caused them. Granted he could neither guess nor avert the trickery which had brought about his failure

reen trees of an alley shut him in in solitude, and the only echo of the gay world of Baden was the

st powerful, and most bewitching of every nationality represented there would meet; and in the midst of this radiant whirlpool of extravagance and pleasure, where every man worth owning as such was his friend, and every woman whose smile he cared for welcomed him, he knew himself as utterly alone, as utterly doomed,

moment's grave reflection had ever done the slightest to prepare him; gazing, blankly and unconsciously, at the dense pine woods and rugged glens of the Forest that sloped up

en thousand times than be trained for the Great Race, and started

fastened backward with a golden fillet; it was that of the little Lady Venetia - the only daughter of the House of Lyonnesse, by a late marriage of his Grace - the eight-year-old sister of the colo

r at Lyonnesse most years of the child's life, and had been gentle to

is thoughts were; calling her by the name she gen

imperial little lady, bent her delicate head - a very delica

I never care

as the expression of a matured and contemptuous opinion, that even in that moment it amused him.

vexed; are you not? They say

far wrong then. Who are

Duc de Lorance, and mamma,

e, my lit

her head on one side, and her lips parted; "I heard the Russ

nking little of the child in the desp

at had been said before her of him vaguely indeed, and with no sense of its true meaning, yet still with the quick perception of a brillian

ou know of these things? Ho

s bright gossamer muslins, like a dainty hare-bell, and lif

and I want you to take mine. Do take it! Look, it is all bright gold, and it is my o

for others - but growing ardent in her eloquence and imploring in her entreaty, she shook on to Cecil's knee,

offense. She leaned nearer, pale now with her excitement, and wi

and dogs till I am tired of them; I never want the money; indeed I don't. Take it, please take it; and if you will

hat he had not known in all his careless life; the child's words and action touched him deeply, the caressing, generous innocence of the offered

old lightness, "Petite Reine, how some man will love you o

dness; she smiled with al

ant more only let me ask them for it; pa

her hair, as he put back the Napoleons that

d, and you must ask for none for my sake from your father or from Rock. Do n

its miniature feminine childhood almost absurdly like the Seraph'

sigh; "it is no good to you because it

t the smile w

ke the fruits of my folly; all men must. I can accept no one's money, not even yours; when you

t him, paine

Cecil?" she asked with a sigh, gl

enamel bonbo

l give it me, Petite Reine,

and aristocratic loveliness, far beyond her years. She colored as his lips touched hers, and swayed slightly from him. She was an extremely proud young sovereign, and never allowed caresses; yet she lingered

rought to him in a tender compassion, and he did keep it; kept it through dark days and wild nights, through the scorch of the desert and the shadows of death, till

ves, one of the men of the Stephanien approached him with an English letter, which, as it was marked "instant," they had laid apart from the rest of the visi

you al

onsciousness of a child, she had all the manner of

es, and blotted with hot tears, and scored out in impulsive misery. It was long, yet at a glance he scanned it

his heel with a gesture as unlike his common serenity of manner as the fiery passion that darkened in his eyes was unlike the habitual softness of his too pliant and too unresentful temper. He crushed the senseless paper again and again down into the grass beneath his heel; his lips shook

startled and awed. She

? Is it any

, weary anguish in them; he was scarcely

l ground down in loathing the shattered paper into the grass.

is senses; he felt as if the whole earth were of a sudden changed; he could not realize that this thing could come to him and his - that this foul dishonor could creep up and stain them - that

seeking their playmate Venetia, who had escaped from them and from their games to find her way to Cecil. He

ully; she did not

"You are vexed at something; I cannot help you, b

lder; his voice, as he answe

y leaving me. Ask none - tell none; I ca

m a long, e

nd gravely, as one who accep

t they met again the luster of a warmer sun, that once burned on the white walls of the palace of Phoenicia and the leaping flame of the Temple of the G

rain. Until this he had never known what it was to suffer; until this his languid creeds had held that no wise man feels strongly, and that to glide through life untroubled and unmoved is as possible as it is poli

if it were anything - an

poor place from motives of concealment rather than of necessity. One of them was the "welsher," Ben Davis; the other, a smaller, quieter man, with a keen, vivacious Hebrew eye and an olive-tinted skin, a Jew, Ezra Baroni. The Jew was cool, sharp, and generally silent; the "welsher," heated, eager, flushed with triumph, and glowing with a gloating malignity. Excitement and the fire of very strong wines, of whose vintage b

Cuss them swells! They allays die so game; it ain't half a go after all, giving 'em a facer; they just come up to time so cool under it all, and never

you have hit 'em?" expostula

ou may pitch into 'em like Old Harry, and those d -- d fine gentlemen will just look as if they liked it. You might strike 'em dead at your feet, and it's my belief, while they was cold as stone they'd manage to look not beaten yet. It's a fleecing of one - a fleecing of one!" he growled afresh; draining down a great draught of brandy-heated Rou

laughed

t matter how he look, so long as you

ike a mastiff tearing to rea

gain' him by that ere commission's piled up hatsful of the ready, to be sure; I don't say it ain't; but there's two thou' knocked off for Willon,

on is sharp; he vill know how to keep his tongue still; dey can prove nothing; dey may give de sack to a st

ud, hoarse guffaw of

out o' time like that. However, there ain't no odds a-crying over spilt milk. If the Club do come a inquiry, we'll show 'em a few tricks that'll puzzle 'em. But it's my belief they'll let it off on the quiet; there ain't a bit of evidence t

he leaned against the tabl

't you come putting your big p

s growle

Bay for the sake o' wringing my fine-feathered bird myself, but I daren't. If he was to see me in it, all 'ud be up. You must do i

Baroni put up his papers into a neat Russia letter book. Excellently dressed, with

hush up? Ten to von he vill; he care no more for monish

rash, and stood up, flushed, thirstily eager,

thschilds! Curse his woman's face! I've got to keep dark now; but when he's crushed, and smashed, and ruined, and pilloried, and drove out of this fine world, and warned off

e vulgarity something that was for the moment almost tragical in its strength; almost horrible in its

"Vengeance is but de breath of de vind; it blow for you one

of inquiry as to the failure of Forest King, and to discuss with other members of the Newmarket and foreign jockey clubs the best methods - if method there were - of discovering what foul play had b

he end even of his own princely tether in money matters; but that "Beauty" should be cut down was more vexatious to him than any evil acciden

magnificence of living, were well aware also that none of the old Viscount's sons could have any safe resources to guarantee them from as rapid a ruin as they liked to consummate. Indeed, it had of late been whispered that it was probable, despite the provisions of the entail, that all the green wealth and Norma

eville, at the pretty golden theater, where a troupe from the Bouffes were playing; but he felt anything but in the mood for

raph had never seen the man in his life that he knew of, but he was himself naturally frank, affable, courteous, and never given to hedging himself beh

the Seraph, instead of leaving the stranger there discomfited, nodded and paused with his inconsequent good natu

ered. "I do not know you.

im," in the subscription, not the police, sense of th

conciliate his auditor, whom he saw at a glance cringing subservience would di

d a little bored

have your opportunity!" he said i

s strong Hebrew–German accent, "be so good as to fav

ded that one line only was visible, across whi

ss, stopped, and took a stead

I think not. Never made my R ha

stion more and we can substantiate the fact. Did your

said after a pause. "I have done it for men, but not on that day; I was

lord, if you grant me

te interviews," thought he, acting on past experience, "with wo

quick moveme

rns yourself. The steps of an hotel are sur

retfully, "That is 'stiff,' that bit of paper; perhaps some poor wretch is in a scrape. I wish I ha

e was apt to overlook s

as he approached the hotel

rse may befall the reputation both

some face set stern in an instant; his blu

the Hebrew toward the grand staircase.

hered into the fine chambers set apart for the future Duke of Lyonnesse. The Seraph strode after him, and as the attendant closed the door and left them alone in the first of the great lofty suite, all glitteri

say, or my grooms shall throw

he Seraph; he thought if this man came but for purposes of extortion, and were not

eys were lent on it, the bill was made payable at two months' date; it was understood that you accepted it; there could be no risk with such a signature as yours. The bill was negotiated; I was in Leyden, Lubeck, and other places at the period; I heard nothing of the matter. When I returned to London, a little le

heard, and is acting simply in hie own clear right. The Seraph listened, restless, impatient, sorely tried to keep in t

ls are nothing. Who drew it? Who forged my nam

nate matter be cleared up - if cleared up it can be. Your lordship shall see the bill, however, of course, spread

added Baroni impressively

table with a force that made the luste

ds! Lay the

one hand, yet leaving visible with the counterfeited signature one other, the name of

he written paper as at some ghastly thing; then all the hot blood rushed over his fair, bold face; he flung himself on the Hebrew, and, ere the other could have breath or warning, tossed him

hou

t kept, even amid the hurricane of wrath that had tossed him upward and downward as the

ur excitement, aggressive as it renders you; but I

shall forget myself and hurl you out into

little faith in his power to refute it that you bore down with all your mighty strength in a personal assault upon one so weakly as myself, and sought to put an end to the evidence ag

his tawny, leonine beard. At every syllable he could have thrown himself afresh upon the Jew and flung him out of his presence as so much carrion; yet the impotence that truth so often feels, caught and meshed in the coils of subtlety - the desperate disadvantage at which Right is so often placed, when met by the cunning science and sophistry of Wr

ity of his own passion, baffled by the ingen

antage. He ventured to

o perfect, send for him. If he be innocent, an

Seraph's eyes flashed on him with a look that made him feel nearer his death than

n that answer there was more of menace an

little seriously hurt, and still holding, in a tenacious grasp,

. Be quick; and request him, wherever he be, to

ery movement of the Jew's, and to hear the first sound of Cecil's approach. The minutes dragged on; the Seraph was in an agony of probation and impatience. Once the attendants entered to light the chandeliers

e silence. Now and then the quarter chimed from the cloc