VI
It was on Saturday evening, May 16th, 1914, that the Grand Duchess of Lautenburg did me the honour of telling me the story of her life. Let me repeat that story to you, not only because certain of its incidents are absolutely indispensable to a proper understanding of the drama which is fast approaching its climax, but above all because it gives me an exquisite pleasure to open this jewel-case and handle the beautiful, barbaric stones it contains, gems which will always light me through my blackest hour.
Hagen had had to go to a dinner, given by the 7th Hussars, and was not there. It gave me no small pleasure to see that she was always more open with me in his absence, however casually she treated that moody and stubborn adorer.
Reclining on the white bearskin thrown over her chaise-longue, she was dressed that evening in a very loose, light tunic of yellow Turkish silk, embroidered in mauve and silver.
Every now and then she passed her fingers through a bowl of huge roses standing on a low table close by, and we could hear the petals falling softly on the blue carpet.
Melusine, her hair shaken loose, was sitting on the carpet, resting her drooping head on the bare feet of her mistress, which she clasped in her arms from time to time.
From the chair where I was sitting I could see the voluptuous curves of the girl’s smooth throat in the opening of her Valenciennes fichu. The window was open behind the drawn curtains, and the night breeze, wafting them apart from time to time, mingled the balmy scents of the Herrenwald with the heady odours of amber, roses and cigarettes.
With her utter indifference to effect or style, Aurora spoke, mixing up three languages and interchanging the French “you,” the German third person, and the Russian “thou.”
“I expect you know,” she began, “that I did not exactly go up in the world when I married. Once a princess, I am now no more than grand-duchess, and though I am allied to the Hohenzollerns my husband’s family is not nearly as old as my own.
“I am a Tumene princess. I know, of course, that your western histories say practically nothing about us. But if you went to Samarkand or Kara-Koroum, or indeed no further than Tiflis, you would find in our ancient Mongolian chronicles things that would amaze you as to the antiquity of our origin, and you would realize that your Broglies and Cumberlands are mere parvenus compared with us.
“One Tumene prince was beheaded for his hostility to Yaroslav the Great, and I will go back no further, least I weary you with jaw-breaking names. Another, much later, gave Ivan the Terrible so much trouble that that sovereign preferred to treat with him and sent him magnificent presents, notably an enormous clock with the signs of the zodiac in sapphires. This was not enough, however, to prevent that Tumene’s son from assisting the Khan of the Crimea with forty thousand horsemen when he started out to besiege Moscow, in 1571, if I remember rightly.
“You must not think that we were no better than savages because at first we fought against the Czars. Boris Godounov was glad enough of our help against the Tartars, Circassians and Cheremisses. I admit we always preferred fighting against European enemies. It was Alexis Tumene, son-in-law of Peter the Great, who led the great charge at Pultawa. As a reward the Czar ordained that his reforming edicts should not run in Tumene territories. We have at home a portrait in the style of your Mignard representing Alexis in a feathered cap, a golden lambskin, embroidered like a chasuble, and wearing his moustaches long, a fashion which the Czar had forbidden every one else.
“The first Tumene to shave was my great-grand-father, Vladimir. He it was who was nearly shot by the orders of Barclay de Tolly. I don’t remember the reason. He was in command of the Astrakhan Cossack Corps who bivouacked in the Champs-Elysées and apparently played the devil there. My great-grandfather did a good deal of looting, but converted his booty into cash which he soon lost at the Palais-Royal. You see he banked on red, and black came up fourteen times running.
“Vladimir’s father was at first on excellent terms with Catherine II. When she had had enough of him she made him marry a lady from Anhalt. This was the first time my family had contracted an alliance in this country. I hope I shall close the list. I don’t say that to hurt your feelings, Melusine, but really that particular German was stupid and miserly. For instance, of the seven children she gave her husband not one was in her own image. They were all little Cossacks.
“My grandmother came from Erivan. I am told I’m like her, but she was better-looking than I. She was madly in love with my grandfather, and abjured her faith in order to marry him. But before this she adored shooting, which is a long way the finest faith on earth.
“Papa, who will come into my story again, is the second, member of the family to marry a German, and once more a Hohenzollem. But you must hear how it happened. Like his grandfather Vladimir, he was an inveterate gambler. He took an oath to win back everything his grandfather had lost in France. Indeed, he would have utterly ruined himself there, if you ever could ruin yourself with lands as big as six of your departments, Cossacks too numerous to count and flocks and herds which doubled every year.
“He always spent ten months of the year in Paris—he was a member of the Jockey Club—Aix, Nice and every other place to which men of his type resort. It was at Aix that he met my mother. The year was 1882. One evening he was at the Villa des Fleurs with King George of Greece and the Grand Duke Vassily. They had been drinking a good deal and should not have been alone. Then Papa began to pour out scandal about women, swearing that they were all alike and that he, a Tumene prince and obliged to marry to perpetuate his name, had decided to marry any one Fate threw in his way.
“‘All right,’ said the Grand Duke, ‘marry the first woman who comes in here.’
“‘Certainly, provided, of course, that she’s not married already,’ added my father, who was religious.
“‘I bet you won’t.’
“‘How much?’
“‘A hundred thousand roubles.’
“‘Done.’
“I believe King George of Greece had never had such an amusing time before. Poor man, I was genuinely grieved when he was assassinated six months ago. Just imagine, you two, what a scene it must have been, with those three men waiting for the door to open on her who was to be a Tumene princess, for they knew my father’s obstinacy, and that he would marry Queen Pomaré or Madame Dieulafoy rather than lose his bet.
“The first-comer was my mother, the Duchess Eleanor of Hesse-Darmstadt, then aged sixteen, and behind her was her English governess. I still shiver at the thought that, if the Englishwoman had preceded her, Papa would certainly have married her and I should have been much less pretty.
“As it happened Mamma was beauty itself, a blonde Melusine. Perhaps not quite as lovely as you, dear Melusine. I never knew her well, as I was only five when she died. She never managed to make herself at home in our Tartary. I remember how she would shiver in the early autumn evenings at the cry of the curlew in the Volga marshes. Papa was terribly unfaithful to her. She could only weep, and I’m afraid that’s just the thing that annoys men most.
“I still cannot understand how any one could fail to be happy in our palace. Please don’t think it was a barbarian lair. In 1850 we were visited by a Frenchwoman, and you can read the book she wrote, ‘Voyages dans les Steppes de la Caspienne.’ It was published in Paris. Her name was Madame Hommaire de Hell, and her husband was an engineer employed on some geodetical mission. You can verify all this in your books. She was received by my grandfather and has given a very full description of the palace.
“This palace is built on an island in the Volga. My ancestors selected the site on account of marauders. The marauders are no more, but the place is as picturesque as ever.
“My earliest memory is the noise of the hooter of the paddle-steamer which plied between us and Astrakhan three times a week. It was an agreeable sound because it meant visitors—the governor, the French Minister, a pleasant individual like Marçais, who brought me dolls and, later on, books. Like a true aristocrat, Papa was never happier than when entertaining company.
“The window of my room looked over the river. I used to watch the wild duck, just like so many little mechanical toys, floating solemnly down the brown waters—especially when my governess, Mlle. Jauffre, droned out the rules about participles: when the complement precedes, it agrees; when it follows.... I would get up quietly, take my long fowling-piece and some ‘Number four’ and let fly, bang! bang! among the ducks. The servants went out in boats to bring them in. Papa never minded as long as I had killed at least half a dozen. Having told you this, you mustn’t be surprised if I make slips in my grammar.
“For the piano I had an Italian professor. He was a republican. He was always trying to explain to us, with a meaning smile, that he was a natural son of Garibaldi. I can only remember his Christian name, Teobaldo. One day, when I was fifteen, he was behind me turning over the pages of some music I was reading, and kissed the back of my neck. I must confess I had encouraged him a little, just to see what he’d do. I burst out laughing. He took that for a responsive thrill and kissed me again. I laughed as if I should never stop. Suddenly Papa came in. I thought I was in for trouble, but the room was dark. He picked up his ramrod, which he had left on the table, and went out. For small game Papa always made his own cartridges, to get a proper spread.
“Next day I was walking with Mlle. Jauffre in a very thick fir copse at the western horn of the island. We almost ran into a long, flabby form, hanging from a cedar. It was poor Teobaldo. Mlle. Jauffre screamed and fled. I turned him round by the feet to have a good look. Then I fled also, as fast as I could. His black, swollen tongue was hanging out over his tie. His eyes were dead white and fat flies were already as busy on him as on a rotten apple. Perhaps the most horrible thing was that he had the same expression as when he was kissing me. Since then I have always loathed men.
“It was about this time that I became melancholy through reading the ‘Demon’ of Lermontoff, who is a much greater poet than your Vigny, or even Byron. I was very pale and there were scarlet flushes on my cheeks. A doctor came from Astrakhan. Between ourselves I managed to bribe him, and he ordered me to take the waters of Piatigorsk. That was exactly what I wanted, for you no doubt remember that it was at Piatigorsk that Lermontoff was killed in a duel.
“The ‘waters’ of Piatigorsk are a series of waterfalls where the stream leaps over walls of black granite and glittering mica. That sounds very impressive, but at the end of a week I was so thoroughly bored that my cure was complete.
“I don’t believe I should ever have lasted out the fortnight Papa had decreed if I hadn’t made the discovery of an extremely picturesque old Frenchman who gained his living at Piatigorsk by acting as guide to foreigners on their expeditions in the mountains. He was a political criminal. I rather think he had been a friend of Vaillant. Anyhow, he had been exiled from France in Carnot’s time, and, like every one else, had taken refuge in Russia.
“He was a learned old fellow, but he had some peculiar ideas. I took a particular liking to him, mainly because Mlle. Jauffre used to throw up her hands and wail: ‘What would His Highness say!’ every time he spoke to me of folk I’d never heard of before: Saint-Simon, Enfantin, Bazard, Karl Marx, Lassalle and the Iron Law. Heaven knows what else!
“I had never read any Tolstoy. The old man lent me ‘Resurrection.’ I never knew such a world existed. I had Tolstoy’s social creed expounded to me, to tease Mlle. Jauffre. The old man was jubilant. ‘Oh, mademoiselle! If only you would, what a chance!’
“The result was that when we left Piatigorsk I took old Barbessoul (for that was his name) back with me. Papa was certainly somewhat astonished to see the patriarch in our train, but, as I looked so well, said nothing. To tell the truth, he was used to my caprices.
“He did more. Quite close to the island in the Volga on which the palace stood was another small island, perhaps a square half-verst in area. Papa gave it to me, and with it fifty moujiks, men, women and children. There, under the old man’s direction, I set up a socialist community, half Saint-Simon, half Tolstoy: no private property, division of the instruments of labour according to needs and capacities, etc., etc.
“At first all went well. I spent four hours a day in my socialist paradise. Old Barbessoul was triumphant. His part in the organization was something between priest and foreman. Papa thought I was mad.
“You won’t be surprised to hear I had soon had enough of it, if only because things began to go wrong. Feeling safe under my protection, the members of the community used to go out in boats at night to rob the hen-roosts of the riverside farmers. Papa had very kindly consented to relieve them of taxation and compulsory labour. It was perfectly alarming the amount of kwass they drank. Old Barbessoul was the only one who couldn’t perceive how strongly they smelt of drink, even the women. Why, after two months, one of them found himself the possessor of all the agricultural implements. All the others had pawned them to get kwass. Then, as they could not work, they loafed about all day and spent the night robbing the neighbouring peasants. One night there was a regular battle. Two moujiks were killed. Papa was wild with rage, called me a silly fool, and wanted to hang old Barbessoul. On my entreaties he refrained, but the community was broken up.
“That was my last experiment with Socialism. It is certain that if it had not been for Papa’s Cossacks all those folk would have cut each other’s throats.
“One day in February, 1909, when I was just on twenty, I was shooting duck from a boat in a branch of the Volga when I saw on the bank Papa’s favourite Cossack signalling wildly with his cap on the end of his sabre.
“He was shouting as well, though I couldn’t hear him. I gathered that something must have happened at home, but I wanted to appear indifferent in spite of my burning curiosity to know what all the fuss was about. I only put in to the bank an hour later, when the poor man was almost dead with waving his arms and shouting so much. He told me the Prince wanted me in his study. I took as long as I could getting there, anticipating a good lecture.
“I got nothing of the kind. Papa seemed radiant about something. He kissed me, then, showing me a large envelope with red seals on his bureau, he told me what it was about.
“It was a letter to Papa from the Czar. It informed him that in May the Emperor William was to visit St. Petersburg and that there would be great celebrations, ending up with a review at Tsarskoïe-Selo; that he therefore wished the Astrakhan and Aral Cossacks to be represented, and begged the Tumene Prince to bring a brigade with him. ‘The Czarina,’ he added, ‘will be glad to make her little niece’s acquaintance on this occasion.’ I had forgotten to tell you that I was her niece, owing to Papa’s marriage with a Grand-Duchess of Hesse-Darmstadt.
“I can assure you that I had never found the days long in our Volga palace, yet, as I listened to my father, I must confess to a feeling of joyous excitement, and from that moment I had only one idea—to astonish the Czar, the Czarina, the German Emperor and, indeed, the whole world. I spent days on end looking into my glass, and admit that I was not altogether displeased with what I saw there.
“Hitherto I had had my clothes made at Astrakhan by Menjuzan Sœurs, excellent French dressmakers who visited Paris once a year for their models and did good business with fashionable Circassian society. Papa gave me unlimited credit and two days later I left with Mlle. Jauffre. But I must tell you I had a scheme of my own.
“I came back from Astrakhan and told him I could find nothing at all. I wept all over him and vowed I would never appear at Court dressed like a savage. You can imagine that I had no intention of missing such a splendid opportunity of seeing Paris. Papa took a good deal of persuading, but I soon realized he wouldn’t be sorry to see his old friends there again.
“We left early in March. My one fear when we arrived in Paris, of which my head was full, was to betray any sort of astonishment, and that is no doubt why my manner was somewhat affected.
“Papa lost no time in finding out that he had a whole mass of visits and engagements. He only put in an appearance at the ‘Ritz’ for meals and not always for them.
“He wanted me to go to Redfern, but I chose Doucet, out of perversity. I have never seen anything more absurd than Mlle. Jauffre, in her pince-nez and black satin gown, smothered in jet, standing among the lovely girls who bowed to me and walked up and down to help me to choose.
“I was asked: ‘What does your Highness require?’
“‘Everything,’ I replied coldly.
“In a twinkling I had ordered six evening gowns, twelve tailor-mades, two riding-habits, and everything else on the same scale.
“Nothing was décolleté enough for my taste. Mlle. Jauffre was green in the face. The head saleswoman took it upon herself to tell me it was rather risqué for a young lady. I told her to get on with the fitting. Besides, Papa appeared on one occasion and approved my choice. He gave me a proud look that made me altogether happy, for I knew what a good judge he was.
“That evening he must have had a twinge of conscience at leaving me so much to myself, for he told me we were to dine together and instructed Mlle. Jauffre to bring me to Laurent’s in the Avenue Gabriel at eight o’clock to the minute. I need hardly say that at eight o’clock no one was there. I sat down on a form and waited. To while away the time I drew out the little inlaid dagger I carried in my belt and cut my initials on the bench. I expect they’re still there.
“At ten minutes past eight, seeing an old gentleman hovering round us and feeling the need of a little dissipation, I told Mlle. Jauffre to go out to the tobacco kiosk in the Avenue Matignon and buy me a box of Mercédès. She demurred at first, but ultimately went. The old man then came up to me. He had check trousers and a grey felt hat. He began a very entertaining conversation and mentioned a little flat in the Rue d’Offémont and a lift hung with tapestry curtains. I turned my head to hide my uncontrollable laughter and was all the more astonished to hear a resounding smack. When I turned round I saw Papa. The old gentleman beat a dignified retreat, murmuring something about having a little joke. In the moonlight I noticed that his grey hat had been badly battered.
“Mlle. Jauffre came back with the Mercédès. Papa told her frigidly to return to the ‘Ritz’ for dinner, and go to bed.
“Laurent’s is a place where you dine outside at little lamp-lit tables under the beautiful trees. The place was crowded. Papa was far more at home there than in our Volga palace. He introduced me to lots of celebrities: Bunau-Varilla, Charles Derennes, Monsieur de Bonnefon, Princess Lucien Murat, Maurice Rostand. I took a great fancy to Rostand, with his choir-boy’s face and manner. We still write to each other, and he’s coming to see me at Lautenburg.
“At eleven o’clock Papa took me back to the ‘Ritz’ and told me he had to call at the Embassy in the Rue de Grenelle. You don’t suppose I felt like going to bed! Mlle. Jauffre was snoring like a Nüremberg top, and I thought I should never wake her. You should have seen her look of amazement when I told her that she must get up as Papa had arranged to meet us at midnight.
“We took a taxi in the Rue de la Paix. Grelot I told the driver. I had heard the name at Laurent’s.
“Le Grelot is in the Place Blanche. I don’t suppose, dear friend, that a serious student like you has ever been there. When we went in I was a little jealous of the chorus of approval that greeted Mlle. Jauffre’s spangled gown. A little roué, hopelessly drunk, called out that it was Madame Fallières. Then the whole assembly rose as one man and sang the chorus of a well-known song:
‘La tante Julie,
La tante Octavie,
La tante Sophie,
Le cousin Léon,
L’oncle Théodule,
L’oncle Thrasybule,
Les cousins Tibulle,
Et Timoleon.’
“I laughed as if I should never stop, and my high spirits infected everybody—they had looked bored to extinction when we first entered.
“We drank champagne—unlimited champagne. Then we danced. I just showed those Frenchmen what a Russian princess could do. The only man who could waltz properly with me was a member of the Hungarian band. We received a tremendous ovation.
“A negro in the orchestra invited Mlle. Jauffre to dance. You may find it hard to believe, but she accepted. After all that champagne she was a different woman. Two dancing girls came and sat by me. One of them, Zita, a dark girl, wore a dress of blue and silver; the other, ‘The Shrimp,’ was all in pink and called me ‘Princess,’ not knowing that I was one. They ate my food and drank my champagne. I was in the seventh heaven and murmured, rather excitedly: ‘Paris is lovely, lovely!’
“I suddenly noticed that many of these poor girls had darns in the heels of their silk stockings just above their patent shoes, so I called out and threw a handful of louis into the air. They scrambled for them and found them all with the exception of five or six, on which some of the most elegant of the gentlemen had neatly put their feet.
“I think I should have stayed there all night if I had not suddenly heard loud shouts in the next room.
“‘Lili, Lili, here’s Lili! Vive Lili!’
“I looked up and saw Papa coming in. It was he whom they called ‘Lili,’ obviously derived from his Christian name, Vassily.
“He, too, was in the highest spirits. On each arm was a girl, handsome enough to make me feel thoroughly jealous.
“He was far too busy to see me. I lost no time in making preparations to go, but it proved a terrible business getting Mlle. Jauffre away. She was exceedingly loth to leave her negro. In the taxi she sang at the top of her voice:
‘Caroline, Caroline,
Put on your shiny black shoes.’
“Then, without warning, she leaned out of the window and began to weep vigorously, complaining that I had not shown her sufficient respect.
“Papa had a bill from Doucet for thirty-eight thousand six hundred francs. He did not demur, and I gathered that his daughter’s requirements had as a matter of fact been less formidable than those of other ladies—a thought which disgusted me not a little.
“When we got back to Russia, we found another letter from the Czar, telling Papa that the Kaiser’s arrival at St. Petersburg was fixed for May 15th, so that we ought to make our arrangements at once.
“I could give you no idea of the gorgeous way in which he fitted out his brigade. The Astrakhan Cossacks wear the Armenian high black cap, something like a sugar-loaf, red coats edged with fur, and yellow bandoliers. The Aral Cossacks have sky-blue coats, white bandoliers, and wear the round Kalmuck busby, two feet in diameter, from which they derive their nickname of ‘Bigheads.’ They carry the curved sabre, on which the Aral Cossacks, who are Mohammedans, engrave verses of the Khoran, a whip with lead balls, and a long lance.
“Papa had all the woollen facings replaced by others of gold and silver. He reviewed his squadrons one day towards the end of April when the early crocus was peeping shyly forth. There was only a pale yellow sun, but it was quite enough to make those superb warriors look so magnificent that we could easily imagine what they would be like in the brilliant May sunshine at Tzarskoïe-Selo.
“There was nearly a catastrophe the day they left for Petersburg. You must remember that these simple folk, who fear neither man nor whirlwind, spirits of marsh nor spirits of flood, stand in mortal terror of railways. Their horses share that emotion. Half of them had been bundled in when they suddenly caught sight of the squat little engine, puffing and blowing, in the middle of the steppe. Not one of them would have moved if the priest had not turned up and blessed this strange animal.
“We got them off at last in twelve trains, which took twelve days to cross Great Russia. We ourselves were travelling by the express, so we only had to leave the palace a week later. The Czar had a special Pullman car put at our disposal. We invited the two colonels and the six majors to join us. The priest was with Mlle. Jauffre and Kunin, Papa’s favourite Cossack. I had put them in charge of my wardrobe.
“Petersburg is a splendid city, with barracks, churches and fine gardens. You can see that the man who laid it out had a definite scheme in mind. We were housed royally at the Winter Palace and had a private audience of the Czar the night we arrived. ‘Hello! so this is the little niece,’ he said, and I could see he thought me pretty. The Czarina kissed me and called the Grand Duchesses, my cousins, in order to introduce us. I gave Olga and Tatiana each a necklace of Caucasian rubies, which seemed to have a diamond tear inside, and for the little girls there were necklaces of pink pearls. Papa had brought the Czarevitch an aigrette buckle, made out of one huge diamond, for his kolbach, and a little Cossack sword with the hilt set in sapphires and brilliants.
“Two days later all the bells of the capital announced the arrival of the Kaiser. The Czar, the Czarevitch and the Grand Dukes went to Kronstadt to meet him.
“Since then I have seen so many royal entries into various cities that the memory of this particular occasion has gradually faded entirely from my mind. But that doesn’t matter. It was a magnificent spectacle.
“I witnessed the arrival at the palace from my balcony. The White Cuirassiers, with the Grand Dukes, rode up to the gates. The honours were rendered by the Preobrajensky guards. All this time Papa’s Cossacks were installed in two barracks and forbidden to leave them. This annoyed me at first until I learned, as I soon did, that it was because they were the finest in all the Russias and the Czar was reserving them jealously for the grand finale.
“Under the soft, fleecy sky of Bothnia the breastplates and sabres sparkled with blue and gold.
“The Kaiser was with the Czar, the Czarevitch and the Crown Prince in the first carriage. He was wearing the uniform of a colonel of the Russian Cuirassiers, with the golden eagle on his silver helmet. He saluted frequently and wore a happy smile. Frederick William was wearing the uniform of the Black Hussars.
“The Empress and the Czarina came next, with a host of German princes and generals.
“The introductions seemed as if they would never come to an end. I had my little success. ‘So this is the little niece,’ said the Kaiser, taking my hand and leading me to the Empress. The motherly old hen kissed me from beneath her lace and ostrich plumes, and told me how much she loved my poor Mamma. I was still the ‘little niece’ to them all. Meanwhile Frederick William and Adalbert did stare, I can tell you! Adalbert is a fine young man, but he looks pig-headed and sly. I prefer the Crown Prince, who looks full of mischief. I can tell you Germany won’t be dull when he succeeds his father.
“I spent the whole afternoon getting ready for the banquet in the evening. I was so afraid I shouldn’t make an impression that I got quite irritable and would have quarrelled with Mlle. Jauffre for two pins. It was almost as if I had a presentiment of all the evils that were to come upon me as a result of that cursed evening.
“You can have no idea what a gorgeous affair a fête at the Peterhof is. The Kaiser had donned another uniform, even more striking than the first. But you should have seen his face when he saw Papa’s!
“His uniform was not to be compared to that of the Tumene Prince. The Empress’s diamonds looked like the tawdry gewgaws of a suburban housewife by the side of the brilliants on the chain which secured his scarlet cloak at the left shoulder.
“When I went in I saw the Czar repress his astonishment. For one moment I thought I must be too décolleté. Then this fear vanished as I realized the impression I was making. You must remember I had secured Doucet’s admitted chef d’œuvre, a gown of sapphire velvet, made very simply, but closely moulded to the form, and my jewellery consisted of nothing but sapphires. Child as I was, I was already anticipating my next day’s success. ‘But what will they say,’ I said to myself, ‘when they see my Number 2, the red gown with nothing but rubies!’
“We danced. I was amused to see the Germans, accustomed to their slow waltz, miss the beat of our rapid Russian waltz and put in a couple of hops—or stand like herons—to catch up again.
“I danced with the Crown Prince. He complimented me on my dress and said that the German Emperor was not an absolute monarch, as he’d never been able to make his Court ladies do with less than six colours in their gowns. I wanted to irritate him, so I replied that it was not surprising, and that mine came from Paris. But he said I was right and there was no place like Paris. With those priceless grimaces which are quite his own he told me a whole heap of risqué stories about Paris, and as he took me back to my place I heard the old hen murmur in his ear: ‘Now, Fritz, behave!’
“At the same moment she beckoned to me to go and sit beside her.
“That morning I had noticed among the officers of the Kaiser’s entourage a tall Hussar in a scarlet uniform with yellow facings. He had sandy hair and fine eyes, his blue, insistent eyes of a short-sighted man. He had had his eyeglass fixed on me the whole time, but of course I was careful to pretend I noticed nothing. I should have been astounded then if any one had told me that one day I should be wearing that scarlet uniform myself.
“‘Aurora,’ the Empress said, ‘this is my cousin Rudolph, Grand Duke of Lautenburg-Detmold. He wants a dance with you.’
“The red Hussar danced atrociously, though he made the most superhuman efforts. He thought he ought to apologize, but I gave him no reply and not even a word of thanks when the dance ended. He resumed his place behind the Empress and wiped his eyeglass from time to time, looking miserable enough to melt a stone.
“The next day I was delighted to hear that there was to be some fox-hunting two days later. How thankful I was to have brought Taras-Bulba, my wicked little Barbary horse, with me! I went to see him at the barracks where our Cossacks were. He had behaved so outrageously that he had been shut up by himself in a stable—the door of which he’d nearly smashed to pieces on his way in.
“When he saw me he whinnied rapturously and soon bolted the sugar I had brought him.
“‘You’ve just got to show what you can do,’ I said, running my hand through his long, thick mane. ‘We’ll leave them all behind, won’t we?’
“He nodded amiably to show he’d understood, and I went out to try on my riding-habit.
“When I reached my room I found Papa there, looking calm but radiant. I always loathe surprises. They are sure to be unpleasant.
“I saw that Papa didn’t know how to begin, and that in itself made me suspicious.
“‘You must hurry,’ I said. ‘I have to dress.’
“‘My daughter,’ he said, ‘I have something important to say to you.’
“‘That is no reason why you shouldn’t hurry up.’
“‘My daughter, how would you like to be a Queen?’
“‘Queen of what?’
“‘Würtemberg.’
“We may have been brought up among savages, but I know my Gotha. So I asked Papa if he wanted me to marry the King of Würtemberg, who was then sixty-two.
“‘It is not His Majesty the King of Würtemberg who has done me the honour to ask your hand. It is His Highness the Grand Duke of Lautenburg-Detmold.’
“Papa is a prince himself, and to hear him mouthing ‘Majesties’ and ‘Highnesses’ drove me crazy.
“‘What!’ I cried. ‘The boiled lobster? Never!’
“‘Let’s be serious,’ said my father.
“‘Never,’ I repeated, stamping my foot. ‘Besides, I don’t see the connection between this short-sighted red-beard and the crown of Würtemberg.’
“‘It’s this,’ said my father magisterially. ‘King Albert of Würtemberg has no children. He is sixty-two, as you correctly observed, and a martyr to diabetes. The Grand Duke of Lautenburg is his heir.’
“‘I don’t care,’ I replied. ‘I’d rather marry Kunin, and, besides, I don’t want to marry at all.’
“Papa began to lose his temper. He came out with the whole story. Rudolph of Lautenburg was madly in love with me. He had spoken to the Empress, his godmother, who had spoken to the Kaiser, who had spoken to the Czar, who had just spoken to him. Hints of this kind, flattering though they are, are virtually orders, and...
“‘You consented, without waiting to ask me?’ I broke in.
“‘Not exactly,’ he replied in some confusion, ‘but, after all, what could I do but thank him and consent...’
“‘Consent to what!’
“‘Consent to—oh, something which commits you to nothing. I agreed that the Grand Duke should be your companion at the meet the day after tomorrow.’
“‘If that’s all,’ I said, ‘you can rely on me to make this German sorry he ever came to Russia for an heiress.’
“‘Promise me to be nice,’ begged my father in alarm. ‘You make me regret I have given you so much liberty. Remember it’s a question of a royal crown. Neither more nor less.’
“A crown! To see his daughter a queen! That was all the old Kalmuck thought about.
“That evening as I was entering the car to go to the gala performance I was made to realize that Papa had committed me much further than he had dared admit.
“‘Here’s our little fiancée,’ said the Kaiser, taking my hand.
“The Empress, more the brood hen than ever, kissed me on the forehead. It appears that this is a family mania.
“And so it went on up to the Czar, who remarked to the Kaiser, with one of his sad smiles:
“‘So you’re not satisfied with flooding me with your subjects, but must needs come to take away mine!’
“I put on my frankest smile, but cast many a sidelong glance at my red Hussar, who didn’t know what to do. I said to myself:
“‘You wait a bit, my fine fellow! You’ll be paid out for this the day after tomorrow!’
“The day came. My only fear was that the country we hunted would be too flat, too easy. I was quickly reassured. It is true that there were a good many paths in the woods, quite suitable for ladies, but there were also patches of thick scrub, several streams, and here and there some tricky ditches.
“Before we started I gave Taras-Bulba half a pound of sugar soaked in whisky, and he was very lively though full of dignity.
“I won’t pretend that there was not a chorus of exclamation when he appeared. The Crown Prince asked me why I didn’t have him clipped.
“‘Don’t listen to them, old friend,’ I murmured in my little steed’s ear. He understood and knowingly tossed his head.
“The Grand Duke Rudolph rode up beside me. I made myself so agreeable that the poor man evidently felt encouraged and said in a low voice:
“‘Then you don’t regret having me for your companion, mademoiselle?’
“‘How could you think so, sir?’ I answered. ‘This Court half suffocates me. We never have a moment to ourselves. There’s room to breathe out here. We can talk.’
“‘So you love Nature!’ he murmured, radiant. ‘How happy I am!’
“I was happy, too. I was certain that he wouldn’t leave me for a second.
“The first fox was started. Nothing remarkable happened except, perhaps, when Taras-Bulba, fired by the sound of the horn, performed a polka and came down with his forelegs on the back of Adalbert’s mare, almost unseating her rider. After that they all kept away from my little horse as if he’d been the plague.
“The Grand Duke of Lautenburg was riding one of those horses so beloved of the Germans, a great dark bay with hocks as big as a ham, and a back like a billiard-table. Moreover, it didn’t take me long to notice that the ugly brute had a hard mouth and galloped with his head between his legs.
“My poor friend, I thought, you’ll have some fun soon when you come to the ditches.
“A second and a third fox were killed easily enough. Suddenly a fourth started up between me and the Grand Duke. I caught sight of him, a long, lean animal with hardly any tail. I knew at once he was what I was after.
“‘Ours!’ I cried to Rudolph.
“He spurred his great brute into a gallop.
“The fox was a hundred yards ahead. Good little beast! He made straight for the thickest cover.
“Every now and then the Grand Duke turned round:
“‘I’m not going too fast, am I? Can you keep up?’ he asked, panting.
“‘Go on! Go on!’ I replied.
“And Taras-Bulba snorted as if to echo:
“‘Go on! Go on!’
“Soon we were in the depths of the woods. Then I just touched my little nag’s neck and gave him his head. In a moment the Grand Duke was left behind.
“I caught a glimpse of him, all red and breathless.... He was now a quarter of a verst behind me.
“I told Taras-Bulba to slow down and he did so.
“‘You did give me a fright,’ said the poor man as he came up. ‘I thought your horse had bolted.’
“‘Look out!’ I cried.
“There was a stream at our feet. He got over it by the skin of his teeth. The fox, with three hounds at his heels, was running ahead in a flat meadow that sloped away from us.
“Then came more woods. I held my head down and thus escaped the scratches of the branches which were pushed aside for a moment by Taras-Bulba’s head, only to close up immediately behind him. But my poor companion’s face was already covered with blood. A twig carried away his eyeglass. I felt he was done. His big horse was blowing like a steam-engine.
“‘Keep going,’ I cried, ‘the fox is tiring!’ and I gave Taras-Bulba a touch of the spur.
“The little animal doesn’t like liberties. He gave a tremendous bound. His rival followed painfully behind amidst a terrible noise of broken branches.
“‘You’re beginning to tire,’ I said to myself. ‘You’ll come down next time.’
“‘Next time’ appeared in the form of a ditch fifteen feet wide and as many deep, with a half-concealed and extremely tricky edge. For a second even I asked myself whether Taras-Bulba, with the pace he had just been keeping, would manage to get over. But lo and behold! He picked himself up, the gallant little beast, and flew over like a swallow.
“Then I turned round, knowing full well what would happen.
“It did happen. Horse and rider came down in one terrific crash. The beast missed the edge with its hind legs and unceremoniously hurled its master to the ground.
“I jumped down and went up to the Grand Duke, feeling vaguely that I had gone a bit too far.
“‘You haven’t hurt yourself, I hope?’
“‘I don’t think so,’ he murmured faintly. ‘I was so frightened to see you go over this vile ditch.’
“Poor man! I wanted to beg his pardon.
“‘Can I help you up?’ I said, in some embarrassment.
“‘I should be glad if you would.’
“But I tried in vain to get him on to his feet. It was then that I noticed how pale he was.
“‘You’ve broken your right leg,’ I cried.
“‘Oh, I don’t think so,’ he said, in his gentle, disarming way. ‘Nothing worse than a sprain.’
“‘I tell you you’ve broken your leg; I know what I’m saying.’
“I pulled out my hunting-knife and slit up his boot. The leg appeared, all swollen.
“‘We’re in a nice fix,’ I thought, ‘at least six versts from the field.’
“Rudolph was silent, but looked at me out of his fine, gentle eyes. You’d have thought he was happy.
“‘Thank you,’ he just murmured.
“‘What for?’ I burst out. ‘I have broken your leg and you thank me! You might at least wait until I’ve got you out of this mess.’
“He looked very contrite and ventured:
“‘You’d better go back and send up some help.’
“‘What!’ I exclaimed in scorn. ‘Go back without the fox, and, when I’m asked where the Grand Duke Rudolph is, tell them that I left him at the bottom of a ditch with his leg in little pieces! No, thank you, sir!’
“‘As you please,’ he replied faintly. ‘But I don’t know what you can do.’
“‘You shall see.’
“His big horse was standing by, browsing placidly under Taras-Bulba’s wicked little eye.
“‘Come here, you brute!’
“When I got hold of him I realized I should never have the strength to get the Grand Duke into the saddle.
“‘What’s the good of horses like haystacks?’ I cried in exasperation.
“The injured man looked at me, still wearing that perpetual air of apology which at last got on my nerves.
“‘Taras-Bulba!’ I called.
“The little beast came, though with a bad grace. He suspected what was going to happen.
“Rudolph of Lautenburg could not restrain a movement of apprehension.
“‘You’re not going to put me on that animal, are you?’ he muttered. ‘I’d rather stay here.’
“‘Never,’ I said, stamping. ‘Taras-Bulba is as quiet as a lamb. Now just do what I tell you.’
“That German was a tremendous weight, but I managed to get him up and tie him firmly in the saddle with the reins.
“Then I mounted his great beast.
“You can imagine how I cursed myself for my folly as we went back. The man I wanted to hate had won my sympathy—and I’d done it myself! It only wanted Taras-Bulba’s look of amazement to complete my discomfiture:
“‘What on earth have I done?’ he seemed to say, ‘for you to give me a German to carry, while you desert me for that ugly, hairless, brown brute with hoofs the size of frying-pans?’
“You mustn’t break a man’s leg if you don’t want to marry him. I need hardly tell you the sequel. Creatures like myself are bound by their actions only, and my wildness had committed me to something which the will of all the Kaisers in the world could not have brought about.
“There was a most sensational scene when I returned on the bay, followed by Taras-Bulba with his Grand Duke tied on to him. The hunt was stopped. They all came crowding round us. I had to tell the whole story and made a point of being as brief as possible, as one does with things of which one isn’t too proud. But the injured man filled in the details. His fever made him eloquent and transformed me into a heroine. I had to put up with the congratulations of the whole Court.
“The Kaiser, who magnifies and distorts everything, cried out:
“‘What a splendid girl she is—to save her fiancé’s life the very first day!’
“The Empress kissed me. It’s a family mania. My father was radiant.
“‘My compliments to Your Majesty,’ he whispered in my ear.
“I was angry, though amused, and vented my rage on Taras-Bulba, who had more whip as we went back to the palace than he’s ever had since.
“I have one good quality. I like to know exactly where I stand. I realized that, largely by my own fault, I had put myself in a position from which there was no escape without one of those scandals which any princess, worthy of the name, hates more than the certainty of her own unhappiness. So I decided to acquaint my ‘fiancé,’ as the Court already styled him, with my conditions that very evening.
“I asked him to receive me, and he complied at once, after sending out the attendant who was arranging the cage over his leg.
“When we were alone, this is more or less what I said:
“‘My action in coming here will possibly astonish you, sir. But I am, and always shall be, in the habit of doing what I think advisable without undue concern for mere decorum. Now I think it is of the highest importance than you should know this:
“‘I came to Petersburg to be with my father, to witness some splendid celebrations and enjoy myself generally—not to find a husband. As regards husbands, you will do me the honour to believe that I have refused as many as there are provinces in Russia. The last was a Persian prince, who possesses a mountain in which emeralds are as plentiful as truffles in Périgord—and even larger.
“‘Well, I came here, and I don’t know what has come over everybody, but, apparently, I must be married. I don’t put it that way to offend you. After all, sir, we hadn’t set eyes on each other until three days ago.
“‘However that may be, I’m practically bound to marry you. The circumstances are too strong for mere individuals like you and me. In our history there are four emperors and empresses, several crowns, and, no doubt, enormous fortunes. I am sure that Papa would fall ill if I didn’t become a queen, now that he’s seen there’s a chance. But, above all, I have broken your leg.’
“He made an impatient movement: ‘Don’t speak of that.’
“‘I must speak of it. I tell you frankly that it is this accident, for which I am responsible, that has constrained me to accept something which I would not allow even to be mentioned only yesterday. It is this mishap which enables me to think that my marriage will not be absolutely a political affair—a thought which is very pleasing to a girl like me.’
“‘I’d rather have the other leg broken, and both arms, too,’ he said in his gentle, melancholy way, ’than hear you use that terrible expression, “political affair.”’
“‘I’m sure you would,’ I replied, unmoved. ‘I agree to be your wife. But you will not misunderstand me if I make one or two trifling stipulations.’
“‘Tell me, tell me,’ he said with some emphasis. ‘You know that everything you may ask is granted beforehand.’
“‘Oh! Oh!’ I laughed. ‘You may find in a minute that you’ve been just a little hasty. Well, dear friend’ (I laid some stress on that word), ‘from my childhood I have always enjoyed the most perfect liberty, and I don’t intend to be deprived of it when I marry. It must be clearly understood that nothing is to be changed, nothing, you understand.’
“‘How could you think it of me!’
“‘Don’t let us have any misunderstanding as to the meaning of words,’ I said. ‘Please realize that it is not a child, nor yet a woman, who is speaking, and understand that my stipulation, the expression of an unshakable resolve, is that our union is to be a relation of friendship, excluding everything else.’
“I don’t know if I should ever have dared to continue my shocking little speech if his masculine stupidity had not shown me how.
“‘You’re in love with some one else!’ he said in a hoarse voice.
“‘You forget yourself, and please don’t be foolish,’ I replied gently. ‘I will condescend to tell you that I love no one, unless, perhaps—for the word “love” is a jack-of all-trades—my native land, hunting, flowers, to be left alone and two or three other things, which really should not arouse a jealousy only to be regretted in a man of intelligence. Are you satisfied?’
“He smiled wanly.
“‘This,’ I went on, ‘is our little private compact. The chanceries will no doubt attend to the public formalities—and everything else. I attach no importance to them. Nor do you, I hope. I need not say that you will always find in me a consort worthy of yourself, equal to any situation that may arise, and capable, if God so wills it, of bearing worthily that famous crown of Würtemberg. Here’s my hand on it.’
“He took it and kissed it fervently. A great joy had banished the trouble in his eyes. I had never expected him to accept his fate so quietly. Then I suddenly grasped his reasoning: ‘I shall be so good, so tender and thoughtful to her that she must be won over in the end, though I cannot now tell how far off that end may be.’
“There was so much unaffected pathos in the poor man’s delusions that I couldn’t help being rather touched. We parted the best friends in the world.
“As I went back to my room I heard a terrible uproar in the Great Court. It was Taras-Bulba, who had got bored with his stall, kicked open the stable-door, knocked down an ostler and two sentries, and was neighing fiercely to me from below. It was a much more difficult matter to get him quiet than to deal with the Grand Duke Rudolph.
“After I became the Grand Duchess of Lautenburg-Detmold in the autumn of 1909, my first concern was to set about the improvements required to make this place reasonably comfortable. The gardens had been allowed to run riot, and as for the palace, it was crammed with horrors that even a negro chief would not have tolerated.
“I soon revolutionized all that. Melusine, who came in the summer of 1910, would tell you that I spent my time then very much as I do now, except that when I felt particularly low-spirited I used to escape to Russia to relieve my feelings.
“The person who did change was the Grand Duke Rudolph. Not that he ever ceased to treat me with the most unwearying attention, poor man! But after a year, when he had quite realized that his innocent little scheme was not working, and never would work, and that I should never be anything more to him than I had said, he became melancholy and spent most of his time indoors, Henceforth he was known at Lautenburg as ‘Rudolph the Silent.’
“Worse than that, he was out of favour with the Kaiser. William II. likes to think himself a kind of Louis XIV. He does not like German princes who don’t haunt Berlin and accuses them of separatism. Now Rudolph has ceased to go to Court altogether.
“He disliked seeing anybody, even at Lautenburg. The 7th Hussars had to get on as best they could without their colonel. He spent half his day, and nights in the library, studying works on mineralogy, his favourite science. It was, in fact, occupying his whole time when Baron von Boose came upon the scene.
“Melusine knew this Boose, the mention of whose name made you start. There never was a worse bridge-player—was there, Melusine? He only knew ordinary bridge. I had asked the Grand Duke to lend him to us to make a fourth, but he was so stupid and disagreeable that I was soon only too glad to send him back to his beloved books.
“He was very learned. That much at least must be said for him. For at thirty-two, though only a lieutenant in the Engineers, he was professor of topography at the Kriegs Academie. His book the ‘Geotectonics of the Hanoverian Plain,’ is a standard European work. At Berlin one day he assaulted a major who had asserted that there were rocks of quaternary origin in the Harz. Rudolph admired his work and went before the court-martial to give evidence on his behalf. Thanks largely to his intervention, Boose got off with sixty days’ solitary confinement in a fortress. When his time was up my husband secured his appointment to the 3rd Battalion of Engineers at Lautenburg.
“In the spring of 1911 I went to Russia, to spend Easter with Papa. It was while I was there that I received a letter, which I ought to have shown you, from the Grand Duke. He told me that the Kaiser had summoned him to Berlin, and asked him whether he was prepared to use his scientific knowledge in the service of the Empire. Exploration had just proved the existence of immense mineral wealth in the Cameroons. It was necessary to confirm this discovery, and also ascertain as discreetly as possible the mineral resources of the neighbouring territories, so that the question of Germany’s interest in annexing them might be considered. I’m sorry to say, my friend, that the territories in question form that part of the Congo which France ceded to Germany by the treaty of 1912.
“So Rudolph was going off to Africa with Boose. With a sorry pretence of indifference he made his excuses for leaving Europe without waiting for my return, pleading the urgency of the imperial orders. He added that if he allowed himself to take such a course, it was only because he was certain that his absence would make no difference to the normal course of my existence. In that my poor friend was woefully wrong.
“Letters from him reached me from Paris, Bordeaux, and Saint-Louis in Senegal. From the Congo itself came the two or three which I have shown you. Then came an interval, rather a long interval, and one day my brother-in-law, Frederick-Augustus, arrived at Lautenburg, bringing the sad news that the Grand Duke had had sunstroke, and died at Sangha, almost at the end of his journey. My name had been the last on his lips.
“Melusine will tell you how I mourned for Rudolph, and not indeed as I should mourn for Taras-Bulba, were he to die tomorrow, for I have never done that horse a wrong. But though I was always frank and loyal to Rudolph, I could not get rid of the feeling that in some way I was to blame for his death.
“As a funeral was impossible, a magnificent service was held in memory of him who rests under the sun-baked clay of Africa. The Emperor and Empress and all the German princes were present. The red Hussars of Lautenburg, with crêpe on their swords, rendered the last honours, and their uniforms during the service made me think sadly of the poor red Hussar of the Peterhof who danced so badly but was so kind.
“Every sentence of my story, my friend, has been a mark of my confidence in you. You shall now have clear proof in every word that follows.
“You know my little orderly officer, Hagen, and have no particular liking for him. I can’t say whether devotion or love is his ruling passion. Devotion enables one to repose absolute trust in another, but love makes one alive to another’s interests in a way that is impossible for oneself.
“Six months after Rudolph died neither I nor Melusine had the slightest suspicion of what was to follow. I was occupied exclusively with my duties as sovereign and surprised myself with my punctiliousness in carrying them out. I presided at the Diet and council meetings. I signed decrees, summoned the tribunals, appointed officials—to the satisfaction of all concerned, I think. The town of Lautenburg was never more prosperous than under my rule.
“Hagen, on the other hand, was uneasy. I watched him grow more morose every day. After some time, hating the company of a face as long as a fiddle, I called him up and told him to explain himself or go on leave. He fell at my feet.
“‘How could I be anything else,’ he sobbed, ‘when you are going to be another’s?’
“He was very much surprised when I told him I didn’t know what he meant.
“‘How can that be,’ he muttered, ‘for at Berlin, and even here, they talk of nothing but your approaching marriage to Duke Frederick-Augustus?’
“It was too much this time! The woman I pride myself on being can be married once, by surprise. But twice!
“When Hagen, who was in the habit of going to Berlin several times a month, had told me the story, I realized that something serious was afoot. I had a clearer understanding of affairs next morning, when I received a letter from my father. It was all too plain that he had been carefully coached, taken on his weak side—his desire to see his daughter a queen.
“I hate worrying you with dynastic details, but I must prepare you for what follows. I’ll make them as short as possible. Why had I become Grand Duchess of Lautenburg? In order that I might realize Papa’s ambition and become Queen of Würtemberg on the death of King Albert. The Lautenburg succession is not subject to the Salic Law, so that I still remained Grand Duchess on Rudolph’s death. On the other hand, the succession to the throne of Würtemberg is governed by that law. So we have this situation: only a Grand Duke of Lautenburg can mount the throne of Würtemberg. Therefore, before I could be Queen of Würtemberg I must first marry Duke Frederick-Augustus and thereby make him the Grand Duke of Lautenburg-Detmold.
“The sole object of Papa’s letter was to reconcile me to that marriage.
“I’m afraid that in my reply, which was exceedingly prompt, I rather forgot the respect a daughter owes her father, whatever he does.
“But you can realize how exasperated I was. Was I to be forced to marry every German prince in turn? What a prospect for one who had never wanted to marry at all!
“About a week passed, and then I received a letter from the Empress. I’ve no doubt she called me her ‘dear child,’ and overwhelmed me with friendly flattery, but there was no mistake about the firm invitation to go to Berlin with which that letter concluded....
“You can imagine that if I submitted it was less from a sense of obedience than from the desire to fathom any plot that was being hatched at Court for my benefit.
“I took Melusine and Hagen with me. The Empress received me with considerable confusion as I had anticipated, and her explanation was characteristic. Need I say what it was?
“’Tis not love that must rule a princess and her fate,
To obey is the glory and end of her state.
“Love! Obey! What was the good of my protesting that her reasoning was false; that I had never loved any one, and that in any case I hadn’t married to obey the first time. Poor Rudolph wasn’t there to produce our little compact which absolved me from those very obligations. And, anyhow, what was the good of arguing with a worthy dame who was merely repeating her lesson?
“I listened, my lips pressed together, and said nothing. She got thoroughly muddled, and when she had finished I asked:
“‘May I ask your Majesty what date has been fixed for my marriage with the Grand Duke Frederick-Augustus?’
“She protested that the Kaiser had never had any idea of precipitating matters, and that no date had been settled.
“‘Only the principle!’ I said.
“She didn’t answer.
“I went back to my room, calm and collected.
“‘I leave tonight for Astrakhan,’ I said to Melusine and Hagen, who were anxiously awaiting my return. ‘Have my things packed. Those who love me can follow me.’
“Hagen gave me my letters, which had been sent on from Lautenburg. There were five or six, and one had a Russian stamp. I recognized Papa’s writing.
“What excellent use they had made of the fact that I had been unsuspecting! I found out later that the letter I had written to him a fortnight earlier had been forestalled by a special envoy from the Kaiser. It hadn’t taken much diplomacy to win over my father. The famous crown of Würtemberg had once more played its part. Gently but firmly he told me his wishes. ‘Marry Frederick-Augustus, or...’
“I didn’t read on but tore up the letter into little pieces. Then and there I wrote out a telegram—some thirty words of passionate pleading and threats—to the Tumene Prince.
“You remember, Melusine, how we suspected postal censorship at Berlin, and how you took the train and sent off the telegram from Köpenick.
“When you had gone my feelings overcame me, and I burst into tears—tears of rage and hatred. I can still see myself in that awful Berlin room. Hagen was sobbing at my feet. He had taken my hands, and even my arms—this is absolutely true—and was covering them with tears and kisses. ‘I will go with you, I shall follow you, where and when you will,’ he murmured. When all’s said and done I am proud to think that it only wanted a word from me to make a Prussian officer throw up his profession and abjure his native land.
“But the touch of that moustache on my arm quickly brought me back to a sense of reality. I remembered Louisa of Saxony and all the low lackeys who have made money out of their notoriety as the lovers of queens. I pushed the innocent Hagen away and recovered my self-possession.
“I didn’t go out at all during the two days while I was waiting for the reply to my telegram. Then it came, the little blue slip. You were looking hard at me, Melusine, so I smiled as I opened it. It contained these simple words:
“‘I will never see my daughter until she has done her duty.’
“What a heart of flint the old Kalmuck had!
“I read it and fell to the floor like a stone.
“I’m afraid I most stop to explain matters at this point, ami, or you may find the rest incomprehensible. No doubt you are asking yourself: ‘How it could ever have come about that a will like Aurora’s could have yielded? What could this invisible and powerful Frederick-Augustus have done to get the Empress, Rudolph’s godmother, and the Kaiser on his side?’
“I expect you read your foreign news carefully enough in 1909 to know that about that time the Eulenburg affair and a Moltke-Harden case were causing a considerable stir in German Court circles. Personally, the way these folk took their pleasures was a matter of indifference to me. What strikes me as monstrous is the fact that these scandals had a considerable effect on my fortunes.
“Frederick-Augustus seldom stayed at Lautenburg in his brother’s lifetime. I only saw him three or four times, the first occasion being my wedding, and the second, six months later, the funeral of his wife, a worthy but stupid woman with wrists like a scullery-maid’s. His Serene Highness your pupil is hardly more intelligent than she.
“The rest of his time was spent in Berlin. The man you have seen so reserved and formal led a very gay life there. Never believe those who tell you that profligacy is harmful ami. The rise of Frederick-Augustus is proof to the contrary.
“The one thing in which the present Grand Duke is past-master is the art of compromising others without compromising himself. He made ample use of it at Berlin in 1909. Intimate with the Bülows, and a bosom friend of Eitel and Joachim, he alone could tell you the scenes in which he figured at that time. But he will never tell you, ami, just as he has never told me, as neither you nor I will ever be able to pay the price of his confidences. Why, it was his silence alone that gained him the grand-ducal crown, and may one day bring him the throne of Würtemberg. When the Empress, with quivering voice, was preaching the virtue of submission to my destiny, the honest dame was only defending the honour of two of her sons.
“The brain fever that followed the receipt of my father’s telegram lasted a month, during which I hung between life and death, while Melusine and Hagen, with a devotion I shall never forget, took turns in nursing me night and day.
“At length I was convalescent. My hair had been cut off. I was thin but still pretty. One day, while I was studying in my mirror the pathetic figure I looked with the little fair curls clustering on my head, Hagen, who was on orderly duty, came in and announced Duke Frederick-Augustus.
“I was still really too ill to receive him, but I was longing for the encounter. I must confess, to my shame, that I didn’t come out on top that day.
“He came in and bowed ceremoniously. His blue eyes, in his pale, smooth face, were bright and dim by turns.
“‘My dear sister, what a pleasure to find you up at last, and looking so well.’
“His perfect ease of manner froze me. He went on:
“‘There is no point in not telling you at once the pleasant object of my visit. Tomorrow it will be nine months since the death of my regretted brother, the Grand Duke Rudolph. As the legal period of your widowhood then expires their Majesties the Emperor and Empress would be glad if you could see your way to fix a convenient date for the celebration of our marriage. They have expressed their intention of being present.’
“‘Tell their Majesties, my dear brother,’ I replied, ‘that I will fix any date that suits their pleasure, and kindly add that I hope it will be the last time I shall give them this trouble.’
“He bowed gravely.
“‘That is also my heart-felt desire, dear sister,’ he said.
“And he went out.
“We were married one day in March, 1912, a dull, threatening day. The Emperor and Empress, true to their promise, were present at the religious ceremony and left for Berlin in the evening. About five o’clock, first at the Rathaus and then at the castle, the State authorities and magistrates took the oath of fealty to the new Grand Duke. At eight the superior officers and higher dignitaries of the Grand Duchy, some thirty guests, were present at a dinner, informal on account of our recent mourning, in the banqueting-hall on the ground floor.
“The second course had hardly begun when the sound of tapping, now loud, now soft, was heard coming from the first floor, immediately above our heads.
“At first no notice was taken. But the noise continued, tap, tap, tap, with exasperating regularity.
“The Grand Duke, frowning slightly, beckoned to the lackey standing behind him.
“‘What’s that noise?’ he asked in a low tone. ‘Go and stop it.’
“The man had not returned in a quarter of an hour, but the noise did not cease.
“‘Here, Kessel,’ cried the Grand Duke, half annoyed, half amused, ‘try and find out what’s going on above our heads. Excuse me, gentlemen,’ he said, turning to our guests.
“Kessel went. Five minutes later he came back, very red. The noise had stopped.
“‘Well!’ said the Grand Duke, what was it?’
“Kessel was still silent.
“‘Look here, Major,’ Frederick went on, beginning to lose patience. ‘You can’t have discovered a plot up there, I presume. I must ask you to reassure my guests. What was the matter?’
“‘Builders, your Highness,’ murmured Kessel.
“‘Builders! at this hour! Today of all days! That’s too much of a good thing. What on earth are they doing? Come, Herr von Kessel, tell me, please!’
“‘They are walling up the yellow corridor,’ the officer managed to get out.
“There was a frigid silence. The yellow corridor was that which connected the apartments of the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Lautenburg.
“Frederick-Augustus is a man of resource, ami. I realized it that evening and genuinely admired him when, tapping his forehead significantly, as much as to say, ‘Of course! I’d forgotten,’ he turned to a steward and said:
“‘Just see that those good fellows are well looked after. They’ll have to work all night.’
“I didn’t mind. You see I was pleased with myself, for I felt there was something of admiration in the sly look he gave me, a look that seemed to say:
“‘And now, you and I must have it out.’”
Aurora had stopped. For a few minutes silence reigned. Then Melusine went to the window and swiftly drew back the curtains. We saw it was already light.
I looked at the Grand Duchess, lost in reverie, elbow on knee and chin in hand. Her beautiful features and clear skin betrayed not the slightest sign of her night-long vigil.
The chilly dawn found Aurora even more beautiful than the glowing dusk had left her.