Dennis Wheatley - Duke de Richleau 07 (29 page)

Side by side
they walked across the lawn. When they reached the arbour, De Richleau laid his
map on the table. As he looked up he found that Count Grünne was staring
straight into his face. The Count’s jaw was sticking out aggressively and his
brown eyes were hard, as he said:

“Can you give me
any reason why I should not call the guard and have you arrested?”

De
Richleau
was taken completely by surprise, but
the Count showed no sign of having identified him. Instantly he decided that it
was worth trying a bluff. Raising his eyebrows, and letting his mouth drop
open, he stammered:

“But,
Herr Graf!
I—I do not understand. What have I done?”

“You know well
enough! You are not a professional guide.”

“Why should you
imagine that? In what way have I failed to give satisfaction?”

The Count
shrugged. “Oh, you played your part all right. That’s what put me off the
scent. When you produced those gardenias a faint suspicion drifted across my
mind that there might be something fishy about you. As your references seemed
all right I thought no more about it: but just now, when you took the crown I
gave you, I noticed your hand. It is not the hand of a working man. Then I
trapped you rather neatly. All the professional guides were born here and know
the country blindfold. They don’t need to carry a map.”

“The
Herr Graf
is to be congratulated on his acumen,” said De
Richleau. “All right, then. I will admit that I am only an enthusiastic
amateur. But it is one of my ambitions to rival the professionals, and I felt
that it would be a proof of my capabilities if I could succeed in being taken
on as a guide by Her Imperial Highness. Surely that is no crime. And what
charge would you propose to bring against me for having done so?”

“I might accept
that explanation if I did not feel that your face was vaguely familiar to me.
As it is, I can have you detained as a suspicious character, on a charge of
having used false pretences in order to approach a member of the Imperial
family. And I intend to do so unless you tell me who you are. Instead of
staring at the table, look up now— straight into my eyes.”

The Duke had
purposely kept his eyes lowered, but he knew now that the game was up. As he
lifted them, he spread out his hands and smiled. “It speaks well for my
disguise, Count, that you have not recognized me before, but I can hardly think
that you will fail to do so now.”

For a second the
Count stared at him, then he exclaimed, “
Gott im Himmel!
You
are the Duke de Richleau.”

“At your
service, Count. And what, pray, are your intentions, having made this
interesting discovery?”

Count Adam
hesitated, then said slowly, “It is my duty to have you arrested for seeking
Her Imperial Highness’ company in such an unorthodox fashion. But I regard you
as a friend, and should be most loath to embarrass either her or you. If you
are prepared to leave Ischl to-morrow, you may go now, and for my part I am
willing to forget this eccentricity of yours.”

“I’m sorry.” De
Richleau shook his head. “I, too, value our friendship, Count Adam, and I am
obliged to you for your kind offer. But to leave Ischl is the one thing I am
not prepared to do. I cannot possibly ignore Her Imperial Highness’ order to
report to her here again on Monday.”

“Why? I can make
some excuse for you. I’ll say that I’ve received a message saying that you have
been taken ill. You have achieved this strange ambition of yours, and it is far
better for you to go now, rather than take the risk that Her Imperial Highness
may discover that you have imposed upon her.”

“Do you force me
to choose between departure and arrest?”

“Yes. I fear
that is the situation.”

“Then I have no
alternative but to warn you that if you carry out your threat you will find
yourself most unpopular with both Her Imperial Highness and your charming
friend, Fraulein Sárolta Hunyády. The one guessed my identity from the
beginning, and is much amused by this masquerade that I undertook to relieve her
boredom, the other sent you hunting for a stick this afternoon in order to give
me a chance to make merry over my disguise with Her Imperial Highness without
being observed by you.”

“What!”
exclaimed the Count. “Do you mean to tell me that both of them know who you
are?”

“Certainly!
Women’s eyes are far sharper then men’s, my poor Count; although you certainly
have my compliments on the clever way you tricked me about the map. Tell me
now, do you still intend to hand me over to the guard?”

Count Grünne did
not reply at once, but stood thoughtfully curling up one end of his brown
moustache. In spite of his foppish appearance, he was no fool, but, all the
same, he felt decidedly at a loss how to handle this present situation.

“I can
understand,” he said after a moment, “that the ladies would be amused by this
prank of yours, but if you insist on continuing it and it comes to the ears of
Her Imperial Highness’ Mistress of the Household, we shall all find ourselves
in the very devil of a mess.”

“There, I fear
you are right. Pleasant as the Countess Aulendorf has been to me personally,
she could hardly be expected to approve this frolic. But you. Count, are not
your mistress’ duenna; and I know your attachment to her. Surely you are not so
hard-hearted as to wish to wreck this harmless plan of mine for providing her
with a temporary escape from a life hedged about with restrictions?”

“No. Being set
on a pinnacle, as she is, debars her from all the fun normally enjoyed by most
young women, and God forbid that I should be the means of spoiling her chance
to talk informally for once to someone. All the same, I beg you to be extremely
careful. Fraulein Sárolta is, of course, entirely to be trusted, but the
Baroness Paula takes turns with her at being in attendance, and is of a mean
disposition. Should she discover what is afoot I would not put it past her to
sneak on you.”

“Then I will be
doubly on my guard whenever the Baroness is in the party. And I am most
grateful to you for allowing me to continue in my role as guide. I take it,
though, you would prefer not to show that you have recognized me?”

“Yes, for the
moment, at all events. But of one thing I must warn you. During any expeditions
we may make next week I cannot allow you to take Her Imperial Highness out of
my sight.”

De Richleau’s
brows drew together. “I am sufficiently old-fashioned, Count, to have used a
sword or pistol on occasions when I have felt that a reflection has been made
upon my honour. My personal liking for you would make me most reluctant to call
you out, but I must ask you to retract the imputation which your words convey.”

Adam Grünne drew
himself up. “I, too, am capable of using either weapon, but trust it may not be
necessary to resort to such measures. I intend no reflection on you personally.
However, I am responsible for the safety of Her Imperial Highness and if I
allowed her to go out of my sight, either with you or with anyone else, or even
alone, I should be failing in my duty.”

“My apologies,” smiled
the Duke. “For a moment I feared that you were casting doubt on my intentions.
But I had overlooked the commitments of your appointment, and I will give you
no cause for concern on that account.”

On this
understanding they parted; the Count not too happy at the position in which he
had been placed, the Duke well pleased at having got the best of a very tricky
interview which he had felt certain he would have to face sooner or later. At
the
Gasthaus
Pohl he again ate sandwiches for his supper, and retired
early. On the Sunday he went for a walk up towards the Ehensee, and spent most
of the day in blissful contemplation of the fact that, providing the fine
weather continued, he would be spending several hours daily in Ilona’s company
for most of the coming week.

However, things
did not go altogether as smoothly as he had hoped. On Monday, Paula von
Wolkenstein was in attendance, and Ilona evidently shared Adam Grünne’s
distrust of her flaxen-haired lady-in-waiting. Although she gave De Richleau
several very sweet smiles when the others were not looking, she quietly
rejected his deferential suggestion that she should undertake a similar climb
to that which she had made on the previous Saturday. In consequence, they were
unable to exchange a single word in private the whole afternoon, and he returned
to his
pension
much disgruntled.

Tuesday brought
him better luck. A quarter of an hour after they left the carriage for the
woods, Sárolta suggested going down to explore a little stream which ran some
forty feet below the path along which they were walking. Ilona at once agreed
to her doing so and told Adam Grünne to help her down the bank, but added that
she preferred to rest for a while, so would remain at the top and call to them
when she felt like going on. De Richleau, who had been walking a few paces
ahead, turned back, and when Ilona seated herself on a fallen tree-trunk he
came and stood beside her.

As soon as they
had exchanged greetings he began to reproach her mildly for having given him no
opportunity at all for a word alone with him the day before; but she cut him
short with a haughty little lift of her chin.

“If you feel
like that, I am disappointed in you. I thought you content to remain silent in
my presence when the need arose. But it seems that you would rather that I
risked compromising myself.”

“God forbid that
you should do that. Princess.”

“Well; I might
have done. I did not choose Paula von Wolkenstein as one of my ladies. Her name
was put before me for the appointment in such circumstances that I could hardly
reject it, and I believe her to be a sly little cat. I’m sure she spies upon me.”

“So Adam Grünne
appears to think.”

She looked up
quickly and he saw the famous Habsburg underlip jut out in annoyance. “Then you
have talked to him about—about us.”

“Only because he
discovered my identity after our return to the Palace on Saturday. But we have
nothing to fear from him. I led him to believe that I had undertaken this
masquerade because I pride myself upon being for an amateur, an expert guide,
and thought it would amuse you.”

“Then if Adam
had already warned you about Paula, there is all the more reason that you
should appreciate my caution.”

“I did,
Princess, but in my present position I am debarred from taking the initiative
in any way. I had hoped that you would think of some way to get rid of her, if
only for a few moments.”

“I may not have
wished to do so.”

He sighed. “That,
of course, is very different. Am I so unfortunate as to have bored you already?”

With an
impulsive gesture she put out a hand, touched him on the knee, then quickly
withdrew it. “No, please. I did not mean that. But you must not be too
demanding.”

“I promise you I
will not be,” he said contritely. “Or at least, that I will not complain again
when for reasons of discretion you feel it best to ignore me. But will the
Baroness be in attendance again tomorrow? And, if so, does that mean another
day on which I cannot hope for a word alone with you?”

“Yes. She and
Sárolta are on duty alternate days, and whenever Paula is in attendance we must
do nothing that might arouse her suspicions.”

“Could you not
find a pretext to dispense with her services till the end of the week?”

Ilona looked
quite shocked. “I couldn’t possibly do that unless she asked me to. It would
not be etiquette.”

Her words
brought home afresh to De Richleau how controlled she was by customs which had
governed, not only her life, but also those of her predecessors for many
generations. A little sadly, he said: “If that is so, it cannot be helped. But
it is a great pity as it means that Thursday will then remain my last chance of
enjoying your company in this disguise.”

“Oh, no. I do
not return to Vienna until Monday, and Sárolta will be on duty on Saturday.”

“Perhaps; but
most unfortunately I have to leave here first thing on Friday morning.”

“Indeed!” She
turned to stare at him in surprised dismay. “I— I thought you meant to take
every opportunity as long as I was here of showing your devotion to me. Yet now
you speak of leaving three days before I do; and without even asking my
permission to do so.”

“You may be sure
I would not leave Ischl so soon had I any choice in the matter,” he assured her
quickly. “But before I arrived here I was already committed to dine in Vienna
next Friday night.”

“Can you not
possibly cancel your engagement?”

He gave her a rueful
smile. “It is now I who must plead etiquette. I have to obey a royal command.
At least it amounts to that, as my host will be the Heir Apparent; although I
was actually bidden to dine by the Duchess of Hohenberg.”

In a second
Ilona was on her feet, her arched brows lifted in angry astonishment. her blue
eyes flashing.