Benton sat with his brows knitted intently listening.
"Now," went on Blanco, "there is one thing more. They await the man for
whom they hold the empty chair."
There was a brief silence, then the Spaniard uttered a low exclamation
of satisfaction. Benton glanced up to see a young man of frank face,
blond mustache and Paris clothes drop into the vacant place with evident
apologies for his tardiness.
"Ah," breathed Blanco again, "I feared it would be someone I did not
know. He is the Teniente Lapas, of Karyl's Palace guard. The
pobrecito! I wonder what post he hopes to adorn at the Court of the
Pretender."
For a moment the Spaniard looked on with an expression of melancholy
reflection. "That boy," he said "at last, has the trust and friendship
of the King. Before him lies every prospect of advancement, yet he has
been beguiled by the Countess Astaride, and throws himself into a plot
against Karyl. It is pitiable when one is perfidious so young--and with
such small cause."
"Who is the Countess Astaride?" inquired the American.
"One of the most beautiful women in Europe, to whom these children are
playthings. For her there is only Louis Delgado. It is her firing of his
dreams which makes him aspire to a throne. It is she who has the
determination. He can see visions of power only in the colors of his
absinthe glass. She uses men to her ends. Lapas is the latest--unless--"
Blanco paused--"unless he is playing two parts, and really serves Karyl.
Come, Señor, there is nothing further to interest us here."