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Ebook has 910 lines and 53929 words, and 19 pages

THE EMPEROR'S CANDLESTICKS

Therefore Vienna was drinking the overflowing cup of pleasure to-day; had been drinking it in its gaily lighted streets and boulevards, and was now enjoying its last drops at the opera ball, the climax to a carnival that had been unusually brilliant this year.

And in the hall, where but two nights ago the harmonious discords of Wagner's "Niebelungen" had enchanted and puzzled a seriously-minded audience, to-night Pierrots and Pierrettes, Fausts and Marguerites, nymphs, fairies, gnomes, and what-nots chased each other with merry cries and loud laughter, to the sweet tunes of Strauss' melodious, dreamy waltzes; while the boxes, each filled with spectators eager to watch, though afraid to mingle in the giddy throng, showed mysterious dominoes and black masks, behind which gleamed eyes rendered bright with suppressed excitement at the intoxicating spectacle below.

"Come down, fair domino, I know thee," whispered a richly dressed odalisque, whose jewelled mask could not outshine the merry twinkle of her black eyes beneath. She had placed one dainty hand on the ledge of a pit tier box, in which two black dominoes had sat for some time, partially hidden by the half-drawn curtains, and had watched the gay throng beneath them for some half-hour or so, apparently unnoticed.

The taller of the two dominoes bent forward, trying to pierce the enterprising houri's disguise.

"Nay! if you know me, fair mask, come up to me, and let me renew an acquaintance that should never have been dropped."

But she had once more disappeared as swiftly as she had come, and the black domino, whose curiosity was aroused, tried vainly to distinguish her graceful figure among the glitter of the moving crowd.

The taller domino now leant forward in the box, his opera-glass glued to his mask, eagerly scanning the crowd; but, though numerous Moorish and Turkish veiled figures passed backwards and forwards, he did not recognise the enterprising odalisque among them.

"Look not for the good that lies far away when the best is so close at hand," whispered a mocking voice, close at his elbow.

The black domino turned sharply round, just in time to catch hold of the little hand, which had crept round the column, that separated the box in which he was sitting, from the adjoining one.

"The best is still too far," he whispered; "is it unattainable?"

"Always strive to attain the best," replied the mocking voice, "even at the risk of scaling the inaccessible walls of an opera-box."

"I cannot get to thee, fair mask, without momentarily letting go this tiny hand, and it is never safe to let a bird, even for a moment, out of its cage."

"Black Domino, we often must risk the lesser to obtain the great," said the odalisque maliciously.

"All the more reason why it should be possible for one brief moment, for a Tsarevitch to do as he likes," retorted the taller domino laughingly.

And, before his companion had time to add another word of warning, the young man had, with the freedom which King Carnival always allows at such a time and in such places, climbed the ledge of the box, and scrambled with youthful alacrity into the one that contained his mysterious bright-eyed houri.

What young man is there, be he prince or peasant, who would have allowed so mocking a game to be carried on at his expense. Nicholas Alexandrovitch, son and heir of the Tsar of all the Russias, remembered only that he was twenty years of age, that he had come to the opera ball, accompanied by that dry old stick Lavrovski, with the sole purpose of enjoying himself incognito for once, and... he started in hot pursuit.

The odalisque had evidently either repented of her audacious adventure, or was possessed of an exceptionally bold spirit, for without a moment's hesitation she ran down the stone steps, taking no further heed of the jesting crowd she was forced to pass through, or of the two or three idle masks who accosted her, and also started in pursuit.

Yet though he thus, as it were, courted recognition, he visibly started as a soft musical voice, with the faintest vestige of foreign intonation, addressed him merrily.

"Why so moody, M. Volenski? Have Strauss' waltzes tired out your spirits, or has your donna eloped with a hated rival?"

"Madame Demidoff!" he said, evidently not pleasantly surprised.

"Yes! but alone?"

"Not alone," she rejoined, still merry, "since you are here to protect me from my worst perils, and lend me a helping hand in the most dire difficulties."

"Allow me to start on these most enviable functions by finding your carriage for you," he said, a trifle absently.

"Ah, Iv?n, how you must reckon on my indulgence, that you venture so unguardedly on so ungallant a speech!"

"Was it ungallant?"

"I should deem it an unpardonable sin, and punishable by some nameless tortures, if that lady happened to be Madame Demidoff," he said, striving to make banal speeches to hide his evident desire for immediate retreat.

She looked at him keenly for a minute, then sighed a quick, impatient little sigh.

"Well, call my carriage, Iv?n; I will not keep you, you evidently have some pressing engagement."

"Ah! his Eminence requires your attention at so late an hour?" she said, still a little bitterly.

"His Eminence is leaving Vienna to-morrow, and there are still many letters to answer. I shall probably write most of the night through."

She appeared content with this explanation, and while Volenski gave directions to one of the gorgeous attendants stationed outside the house to call Madame Demidoff's carriage, she resumed the conversation in more matter-of-fact tones.

"His Eminence will be glad of a holiday after the trying diplomatic business of the past few weeks; and you, M. Volenski, I feel sure, have also earned a few days' repose."

"The Cardinal certainly has given me two or three weeks' respite, while he himself goes to the Tyrol for the benefit of his health."

"And after that?"

"We meet at Petersburg, where his Eminence has an important memorial to submit to his Majesty the Tsar."

"Ah, we shall meet at Petersburg soon then?"

He had given her his arm, and was leading her down the wide stone stairs, trying all the while not to appear relieved that the interview was at last over, and his fair companion on the way to leaving him alone with his anxieties and agitation.

"Good-night, Iv?n," she said, after he had helped her into her carriage, and wrapped her furs round her.

"Send Eugen to me in my boudoir at once," she said to the footman, who preceded her upstairs. "If he is from home, one of you sit up till he comes in; if he is asleep, he must be wakened forthwith."

She seemed too agitated to sit down, though the arm-chairs in her luxurious boudoir stood most invitingly by. She was pacing up and down the room, listening for every footstep. Far from her was all touch of sentiment, all recollection of the figure in the grey domino whom she had called Iv?n, and who seemed all but too eager to be rid of her.

What she had seen to-night, not half an hour ago, had mystified her beyond expression. She, , was the only person, with the exception of old Count Lavrovski, and one confidential valet, who, in this city, knew that in the guise of that black domino was the heir to the Russian throne.

"Come in," she said, much relieved, as a discreet footstep, and a rap at the door caught her ear, still on the alert. She took up a cigarette from a little case that lay close to her hand; she felt it would calm her nerves, and steady her voice.

A man entered--a flat-nosed, high cheek-boned Russian of the lower classes, whose low forehead betokened an absence of what is usually called intellectuality, but whose piercing, cold, grey eyes, deeply sunk between the thinnest of lids, spoke of cunning and of alacrity. A useful man, no doubt. Madame Demidoff seemed more calm the moment she spoke to him.

"Eugen," she said, "listen to me, for something very mysterious has happened at the opera ball to-night, and there is some work you must do for me now, at once, and also during the course of to-morrow.

For she had paused a moment to collect her thoughts before giving him her final directions.

"Ah me!" Madame Demidoff sighed again, threw away her cigarette, and rang for her maid, all with the idea of putting an end to any more thinking that night.

They walked on in silence for some time, smoking cigarettes and pushing their way through the crowd as best they could.

On the Ringstrasse the scene was as gay as ever; laughing groups of masks in bands of a score or so occupying the whole width of the street made progress somewhat difficult. But the three grey dominoes appeared in no very great hurry; they exchanged jests where repartee was expected of them, and mixed with the crowd where it was impossible to avoid it.

But the three dominoes did not pause long, amidst this gay and bustling scene, nor did the brilliantly lighted Ring appear to have any attraction for them, for presently they turned into a side street, uninviting and dark though it seemed; and being free to walk more rapidly, soon left the sounds of merry laughter and revelry far behind them.

Still they walked on in silence, not heeding now the few muffled masks that passed them with a laugh and jest, on their way towards the gayer part of the city.

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