The Place of Honeymoons - Page 89/123

There was studied insolence in the tones and the gestures which

accompanied them.

"Be brief, if you please."

"My name is Edward Courtlandt, as doubtless you have heard."

"In a large room it is difficult to remember all the introductions."

"Precisely. That is why I take the liberty of recalling it to you, so that

you will not forget it," urbanely.

A pause. Dark patches of water were spreading across their shoulders.

Little rivulets ran down Courtlandt's arm, raised as it was against the

bars.

"I do not see how it may concern me," replied Herr Rosen finally with an

insolence more marked than Courtlandt's.

"In Paris we met one night, at the stage entrance of the Opera, I pushed

you aside, not knowing who you were. You had offered your services; the

door of Miss Harrigan's limousine."

"It was you?" scowling.

"I apologize for that. To-morrow morning you will leave Bellaggio for

Varenna. Somewhere between nine and ten the fast train leaves for Milan."

"Varenna! Milan!"

"Exactly. You speak English as naturally and fluently as if you were born

to the tongue. Thus, you will leave for Milan. What becomes of you after

that is of no consequence to me. Am I making myself clear?"

"Verdampt! Do I believe my ears?" furiously. "Are you telling me to

leave Bellaggio to-morrow morning?"

"As directly as I can."

Herr Rosen's face became as red as his name. He was a brave young man, but

there was danger of an active kind in the blue eyes boring into his own.

If it came to a physical contest, he realized that he would get the worst

of it. He put his hand to his throat; his very impotence was choking him.

"Your Highness...."

"Highness!" Herr Rosen stepped back.

"Yes. Your Highness will readily see the wisdom of my concern for your

hasty departure when I add that I know all about the little house in

Versailles, that my knowledge is shared by the chief of the Parisian

police and the minister of war. If you annoy Miss Harrigan with your

equivocal attentions...."

"Gott! This is too much!"

"Wait! I am stronger than you are. Do not make me force you to hear me to

the end. You have gone about this intrigue like a blackguard, and that I

know your Highness not to be. The matter is, you are young, you have

always had your way, you have not learnt restraint. Your presence here is

an insult to Miss Harrigan, and if she was pleasant to you this afternoon

it was for my benefit. If you do not go, I shall expose you." Courtlandt

opened the gate.

"And if I refuse?"

"Why, in that case, being the American that I am, without any particular

reverence for royalty or nobility, as it is known, I promise to thrash you

soundly to-morrow morning at ten o'clock, in the dining-room, in the

bureau, the drawing-room, wherever I may happen to find you."