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."