Clementina

e that walked with delicate steps, a conductor of ceremonies, an expert in the subtleties of etiquette; and once he held his wand of o

en three and four of the afternoon, he was to be seen between those hours at Innspruck on any fin

ragged; his toes were thrusting through his shoes; it was evident that he wore no linen, and a week's growth of beard dirtily stubbled his chin,-in a word, he was a man from whom M. Chateaudoux's prim soul posit

ime on a bench at the opposite end; and again he paid no heed to M

a loaded musket in full view. The hawker, besides, had not pestered him. He determined to buy some small thing,-a mirror, perhaps, which was always useful,-and he approached the hawker, who for his part wearily flicked the gravel wi

pace walked towards the door of the villa. But the hawker was now at his side, whining in execrable German and a strong French accent the remarkable value of his wares. There were samplers most exquisitely worked,

ux pretended

the world;" and he repeated the stateme

and he dangled one before Chateaudoux's eyes. N

a sufficiency of purses, and

and the sentry, lifting the butt of his

id he; and to Chateaudoux's consternation the haw

ere's the proper purse for a soldier. It is so hard to

stroyed any suspicions th

" he said

l buy th

raised his

oux could feel within the purse a folded paper. He was committed now without a doubt, and in an extreme alarm he flung

road. The hawker happened to be Charles Wogan, who took a little matter l

o another which brought him to the arcades. He did not appear to enjoy his walk; indeed, any hurrying footsteps behind startled him exceedingly and made his face turn white and red, and his body hot and cold. However

izen in a snuff-coloured suit picked it up and walked straight out of the cathedral to the Golden Fleece Inn in the Hochstrasse, where he lodged. He went up into his room and examined the l

nnot, however, be so undutiful as to accept my Chateaudoux's addresses without my father's consent; and my mother, who is of the same mind with me, ins

snuff-coloured suit sat for some while over that letter with a strange light upon his face and a smile of great happiness. The

an tore that letter up and wrote another to the Chevalier at Bologna, telling him that the Princess Clementina would venture herself gladl

ensible. For the mission he was set upon filled his thoughts and ran like a fever in his blood. He lay awake at nights inventing schemes of evasion, and each morning showed a flaw, and the schemes crumbled. Not that his faith faltered. At some one moment he felt sure the perfect plan, swift and secret, would be revealed to him, and he lived to seize the moment. The people with whom he spoke became as shado

is wife and daughter. He was even inclined to resent them at the expense of the Chevalier, for in his welcome to Wogan there was a measure of embarrassment. His shoulders, w

as yet without a crown." And then seeing Wogan flush at the words, he softened them. "I frankly say to you, Mr. Warner, that I know no one to whom I would sooner entrust my daughter than yourself, were I persuaded to this

all choose some trie

know that the days of Don Quixote are dead. Here is a matter where all Europe is ranged and alert on one side or the other. You cannot practise secrecy. At Ohlau your face is known, your incognito to

ies of the court, one of them, the Countess of Berg, came forward from a corner where she had been busy with pencil and paper and said, "It is our turn now. Here, Mr. Warner, is an acrostic which I ask you to solve for me." And with a smile which hel

tail of it," said he. "The

as much? I would never have be

er?" asked a voice at

n of Scots, who was most unjustly imprisoned in Fo

m and saw the gossamer lady whom he had befriended on t

riend, Lady Featherstone," said the Countes

nch," said Lady Featherstone. "He was my postillio

, and they gathered about the great stove as Lady

a tennis ball, I was one black bruise, I bounced from cushion to cushion; and then he drew up with a jerk, sprang off his horse, vanish

Countess, with a smile o

his mind by the more important matter of his mission now revived. What had been

, "gave me to understand that you we

lue eyes frankly upon Wog

anded at Leghorn, where I left my maid to recover from the sea, and hurry

esture or so much as a glance sideways to note whether Wogan received it trustfully or not. Wogan, indeed, was reassured in a

in a ship a fortnight back, and so to stay with my friend here on my way to Vienna, f

y. "For here am I in the depths of wint

f and amusement, and Lady Feather

e frankness in return," said sh

now no English on the road to Bologna, nor had he given any reason for his has

your black horse for the world because the lady you were to marry would ride upon it into y

d his face took on t

, the second daughter of the Prince Sobieski, w

by any inconvenience her speech might cause. Her tongue was a watchm

"it is a matter of the heart,

a matter of the heart, and in such mat

atherstone gave him. The words were a mere excuse, yet sh

yourself?" and she spoke as though a knowledge

dinary decorum. According to Wogan, she was "that black care upon the horseman's back which the poets write about." Her first question if she was spoken to was whether the speaker was from top to toe fitly attired; her sec

nt, whether in hunting amid the snow or in the entertainments at the palace, but a quizzical deliberate word would now and again show him that she was still his enemy. With the Princess Casimira he was a profound critic of observances: he invented a new cravat and was most careful that there should never be a wrinkle in his stockings; with the

ave been something precipitate in his manner, or it may have been merely that all were on the alert to mark his actions, but at once curiosity was aroused. No plain words were said; but here and there heads nodded together and whispered, and while some eye

letter by the window without the light of a candle. It was written in the Chevalier's own cipher and hand; it asked anxiously for news and gave some. Wogan had had occasion before to learn that cipher by heart. He stood by the window and spelled the meaning

rawing the Prince apart,

e Prince, with an eagerness which could

own hand," r

provoke his curiosity by disregarding it. It seemed that there was wisdom in his reticence, for a littl

ould do nothing. You

per from his pocket and

uld trust, and by the side of the names the places where I could lay my hands

dded and read

, O'Toole. They

three names have been my com

at Schlestadt. Ho

fficers in Dillon's Irish regiment,

anta

g, which again is not far from Innspruck, and being in French

Countess of Berg, and sitting beside her asked her to play a particular tune. But he still held the slip of paper in his hand and paid but a scanty heed to the music, now and then looking doubtfully towards Wogan, now and then s

woman must attend her. It

et has a wife, and t

warned to

t is unsigned, it imperils no one, it betrays nothing. But it will tell it

smiled in

aper back, listened for a little to the Countess, who was bending over her h

in ci

A

ile. He balanced himself first

ings, compelling to the imagination

eart beat quick; for if the Prince had so much desire to see the Cheval

honour to look at this cipher.

ed the room towards the door; but before he reached it, the Countess of Berg

favour to screw this wire tighter?" And on

at privilege?"

of the staircase he proceeded down a long passage. Towards the end of this passage another short passage branched off at a right angle on the left-hand side. At the corner of the two passages stood a table with a lamp and some candlesticks. This time Wogan t

right and left, full of shadows. But it was silent. The only sounds which reached Wogan as he stood there and listened were the sounds of people moving and speaking at a great distance. He blew out his candle, cautiously replaced it on the table, and crept down again towards his room. There was no window in this small passage, there w

oot had slipped upon the polished boards; there had been no mat or skin at all. It had been pushed there since. Wogan could not doubt for what reason. It was to conceal the light of a lamp or candle within the room. Someone, in a word, was prying in Wogan's room, and Wogan began to consider who. It was not the Countess, who was engaged upon her harp, but the Countess had

py should not discover that the spying was detected. He himself knew, and so was armed; he did not wish to arm his enemies with a like knowledge. There was no corner in the passage to conceal him; there was no other door behind which he could slip. When the spy came out, Wogan would inevitably be discovered. He made up his mind on the instant. He crept back quickly and silently out of the mouth of the

s sure. It had not even the appearance of a letter in cipher; it might have been a mere expression of Christmas good wishes from one friend to another. But to make his certainty more sure, and at the same time to show that he had no suspicion anyone was hiding in the room, he carried the letter over to the window, and at once he was aware of the spy's hiding-place. It was not the bed hangings, but cl

thing; he stood easily by the window with his eyes upon his letter and his mind busy with guessing what woman his spy might be. And he remained on purpose for some while in this attitude, designing it

oment it did more than startle him, it chilled him. He understood that slight stirring of the curtain. The wom

his anger to get the better of his prudence. Under the impulse of his anger he acted. It was a whimsical thing that he did, and though he suffered for it he could never afterwards bring himself to regret it. He deliberately knelt down and kissed the instep of the foot which protruded from the curtain. He felt the muscles of the foot tighten, but the foot was not withdrawn. The curtain shivered and shook, but no cr

dy Featherstone thi

" asked the Co

as her foot,"

room and who had possessed the courage to stand silent and motionless behind the curtain after her presence there had been discovered. Wogan had a picture before his eyes of the dagger she had held. It was plain that she would stop at nothing to hinder this marriage, to prevent the success of his design; and somehow the contrast betwe