To be the forsaken husband, to play Sgarnarelle with all Europe as an audience, was, he considered, an entirely inadequate reward. That was out of the question, for, deuce take it! somebody had to be Regent while the brats were growing up. And Victoria, as he had said, would make an admirable Regent.
He was rather fond of his wife than otherwise. He appreciated the fact that she never meddled with him, and he sincerely regretted she should have taken a fancy to that good-for-nothing de Chateauroux. What qualms the poor woman must be feeling at this very moment over the imminent loss of her virtue! But love was a cruel and unreasonable lord…. There was Nelchen Thorn, for instance…. He wondered would he have been happy with Nelchen? her hands were rather coarse about the finger-tips, as he remembered them…. The hands of Amalia, though, were perfection….
Then at last the body that had been Louis Quillan's fell asleep.
V
Discontentedly the Grand Duke appraised the scene, and in the murky twilight which heralded the day he found the world a cheerless place. The Gardens of Breschau were deserted, save for a travelling carriage and its fretful horses, who stamped and snuffled within forty yards of the summer-house.
"It appears," he said, "that I am the first on the ground, and that de Chateauroux is a dilatory lover. Young men degenerate."
Saying this, he seated himself on a convenient bench, where de Chateauroux found him a few minutes later, and promptly dropped a portmanteau at the ducal feet.
"Monsieur le Comte," the Grand Duke said, "this is an unforeseen pleasure."
"Your Highness!" cried de Chateauroux, in astonishment.
"Ludovicus," said the Grand Duke, "Dei gratia Archi Dux Noumariae, Princeps Gatinensis, and so on." And de Chateauroux caressed his chin.
"I did not know," said the Grand Duke, "that you were such an early riser. Or perhaps," he continued, "you are late in retiring. Fy, fy, monsieur! you must be more careful! You must not create a scandal in our little Court."
He shook his finger knowingly at Philippe de Chateauroux.
"Your Highness,—" said the latter, and stammered into silence.
"You said that before," the Grand Duke leisurely observed.
"An affair of business—"
"Ah! ah! ah!" said the Grand Duke, casting his eye first toward the portmanteau and then toward the carriage, "can it be that you are leaving Noumaria? We shall miss you, Comte."
"I was summoned very hastily, or I would have paid my respects to your Highness—"
"Indeed," said the Grand Duke, "your departure is of a deplorable suddenness—"
"It is urgent, your Highness—"
"—and yet," pursued the Grand Duke, "travel is beneficial to young men."
"I shall not go far, your Highness—"
"Nay, I would not for the world intrude upon your secrets, Comte—"
"—But my estates, your Highness—"
"—For young men will be young men, I know."
"—There is, your Highness, to be a sale of meadow land—"
"Which you will find, I trust, untilled."
"—And my counsellor at law, your Highness, is imperative—"
"At times," agreed the Grand Duke, "the most subtle of counsellors is unreasonable. I trust, though, that she is handsome?"
"Ah, your Highness—!" cried de Chateauroux.
"And you have my blessing upon your culture of those meadow lands. Go in peace."
The Grand Duke was smiling on his wife's kinsman with extreme benevolence when the Baroness von Altenburg appeared in travelling costume and carrying a portmanteau.
VI
"Heydey!" said the Grand Duke; "it seems, that the legal representative of our good Baroness, also, is imperative."
"Your Highness!" cried the Baroness, and she, too, dropped her burden.
"Every one," said the Grand Duke, "appears to question my identity." And meantime de Chateauroux turned from the one to the other in bewilderment.
"This," said the Grand Duke, after a pause, "is painful. This is unworthy of you, de Chateauroux."
"Your Highness—!" cried the Count.
"Again?" said the Grand Duke, pettishly.
The Baroness applied her handkerchief to her eyes, and plaintively said, "You do not understand, your Highness—"
"I am afraid," said the Grand Duke, "that I understand only too clearly."
"—and I confess I was here to meet Monsieur de Chateauroux—"
"Oh, oh!" cried the latter.
"Precisely," observed the Grand Duke, "to compare portmanteaux; and you had selected the interior of yonder carriage, no doubt, as an appropriate locality."
"And I admit to your Highness—"
"His Highness already knowing," the Grand Duke interpolated.
"—that we were about to elope."
"I can assure you—" de Chateauroux began.
"Nay, I will take the lady's word for it," said the Grand Duke—"though it grieves me."
"We knew you—would never give your consent," murmured the Baroness, "and without your consent I can not marry—"
"Undoubtedly," said the Grand Duke, "I would never have given my consent to such fiddle-faddle."
"And we love each other."
"Fiddle-de-dee!" said his Highness.
But de Chateauroux passed one hand over his brow. "This," he said, "is some horrible mistake—"
"It is," assented the Grand Duke, "a mistake—and one of your making."
"—For I certainly did not expect the Baroness—"
"To make a clean breast of it so readily?" his Highness asked. "Ah, but she is a lady of unusual candor."
"Indeed, your Highness—" began de Chateauroux.
"Nay, Philippe," the Baroness entreated, "confess to his Highness, as I have done."
"Oh, but—!" said de Chateauroux.
"I must beseech you to be silent," said the Grand Duke; "you have already brought scandal to our Court. Do not, I pray you, add profanity to the catalogue of your offences. Why, I protest," he continued, "even the Grand Duchess has heard of this imbroglio."
Indeed, the Grand Duchess, hurrying from a pleached walkway, was already within a few feet of the trio, and appeared no little surprised to find in this place her husband.
"I would not be surprised," said the Grand Duke, raising his eyes toward heaven, "if by this time it were all over the palace."
VII
Then, as his wife waited, speechless, the Grand Duke gravely asked: "You, too, have heard of this sad affair, Victoria? Ah, I perceive you have, and that you come in haste to prevent it,—even to pursue these misguided beings, if necessary, as the fact that you come already dressed for the journey very eloquently shows. You are self-sacrificing, you possess a good heart, Victoria."
"I did not know—" began the Grand Duchess.
"Until the last moment," the Grand Duke finished. "Eh, I comprehend. But perhaps," he continued, hopefully, "it is not yet too late to bring them to their senses."
And turning toward the Baroness and de Chateauroux, he said: