Count Bunker Part 24

For some moments he made no reply, and then at last, in a troubled voice, he said--

"I have already a leetle gommitted Tollyvoddle to Eva. Ach, bot not moch! Still it vas a leetle. Miss Maddison--vat is she like?"

To the best of his ability the Count sketched the charms of Eleanor Maddison--her enthusiasm for large and manly n.o.blemen, and the probable effects of the Baron's stalwart form set off by the tartan which (in deference, he declared, to the Wraith's injunctions) he now invariably wore. Also, he touched upon her father's colossal fortune, and the genuine Tulliwuddle's necessities.

The Baron listened with growing interest.

"Vell," he said, "I soppose I most make a goot impression for ze sake of Tollyvoddle. For instance, ven we drive up----"

"Drive? my dear Baron, we shall march! Leave it to me; I have a very pretty design shaping in my head."

"Aha!" smiled the Baron; "my showman again, eh?"

His expression sobered, and he added as a final contribution to the debate--

"But I may tell you, Bonker, I do not eggspect to like Miss Maddison.

Ah, my instinct he is vonderful! It vas my instinct vich said. 'Chose Miss Gallosh for Tollyvoddle!'"

CHAPTER XIX

While the Baron was thus loyally doing his duty, his Baroness, being ignorant of the excellence of his purpose, and knowing only that he had deceived her in one matter, and that the descent to Avernus is easy, pa.s.sed a number of very miserable days. That heart-breaking "us both"

kept her awake at nights and distraught throughout the day, and when for a little she managed to explain the phrase away, and tried to anchor her trust in Rudolph once more, the vision of the St. Petersburg window overlooking the crops would come to shatter her confidence. She wrote a number of pa.s.sionate replies, but as the Baron in making his arrangements with his Russian friend had forgotten to provide him with his Scotch address, these letters only reached him after the events of this chronicle had pa.s.sed into history. Strange to say, her only consolation was that neither her mother nor Sir Justin was able to supply any further evidence of any kind whatsoever. One would naturally suppose that the a.s.sistance they had gratuitously given would have made her feel eternally indebted to them; but, on the contrary, she was actually inconsistent enough to resent their head-shakings nearly as much as her Rudolph's presumptive infidelity. So that her lot was indeed to be deplored.

At last a second letter came, and with trembling fingers, locked in her room, the forsaken lady tore the curiously bulky envelope apart. Then, at the sight of the enclosure that had given it this shape, her heart lightened once more.

"A sprig of white heather!" she cried. "Ah, he loves me still!"

With eager eyes she next devoured the writing accompanying this token; and as the Baron's head happened to be clearer when he composed this second epistle, and his friend's hints peculiarly judicious, it conveyed so plausible an account of his proceedings, and contained so many expressions of his unaltered esteem, that his character was completely reinstated in her regard.

Having read every affectionate sentence thrice over, and given his exceedingly interesting statements of fact the attention they deserved, she once more took up the little bouquet and examined it more curiously and intently. She even untied the ribbon, when, lo and behold! there fell a tiny and tightly folded twist of paper upon the floor. Preparing herself for a delicious bit of sentiment, she tenderly unfolded and smoothed it out.

"Verses!" she exclaimed rapturously; but the next instant her pleasure gave place to a look of the extremest mystification.

"What does this mean?" she gasped.

There was, in fact, some excuse for her perplexity, since the precise text of the enclosure ran thus:

"TO LORD TULLIWUDDLE.

"O Chieftain, trample on this heath Which lies thy springing foot beneath!

It can recover from thy tread, And once again uplift its head!

But spare, O Chief, the tenderer plant, Because when trampled on, it can't!

"EVA."

Too confounded for coherent speculation, the Baroness continued to stare at this baffling effusion. Who Lord Tulliwuddle and Eva were; why this glimpse into their drama (for such it appeared to be) should be forwarded to her; and where the Baron von Blitzenberg came into the story--these, among a dozen other questions, flickered chaotically through her mind for some minutes. Again and again she studied the cryptogram, till at last a few definite conclusions began to crystallize out of the confusion. That the "tenderer plant" symbolized the lady herself, that she was a person to be regarded with extreme suspicion, and that emphatically the bouquet was never originally intended for the Baroness von Blitzenberg, all became settled convictions. The fact that she knew Tulliwuddle to be an existing peerage afforded her some relief; yet the longer she pondered on the problem of Rudolph's part in the episode, the more uneasy grew her mind.

Composing her face before the mirror till it resumed its normal round-eyed placidity, she locked the letter and its contents in a safe place, and sought out her mother.

"Did you get any letter, dear, by the last post?" inquired the Countess as soon as she had entered the room.

"Nothing of importance, mamma."

That so sweet and docile a daughter should stoop to deceit was inconceivable. The Countess merely frowned her disappointment and resumed the novel which she was beguiling the hours between eating and eating again.

"Mamma," said the Baroness presently, "can you tell me whether heather is found in many other European countries?"

The Countess raised her firmly penciled eyebrows.

"In some, I believe. What a remarkable question, Alicia."

"I was thinking about Russia," said Alicia with an innocent air. "Do you suppose heather grows there?"

The Countess remembered the floral symptoms displayed by Ophelia, and grew a trifle nervous.

"My child, what is the matter?"

"Oh, nothing," replied Alicia hastily.

A short silence followed, during which she was conscious of undergoing a curious scrutiny.

"By the way, mamma," she found courage to ask at length, "do you know anything about Lord Tulliwuddle?"

Lady Grillyer continued uneasy. These irrelevant questions undoubtedly indicated a mind unhinged.

"I was acquainted with the late Lord Tulliwuddle."

"Oh, he is dead, then?"

"Certainly."

Alicia's face clouded for a moment, and then a ray of hope lit it again.

"Is there a present Lord Tulliwuddle?"

"I believe so. Why do you ask?"

"I heard some one speak of him the other day."

She spoke so naturally that her mother began to feel relieved.

"Sir Justin Wallingford can tell you all about the family, if you are curious," she remarked.

"Sir Justin!"

Alicia recoiled from the thought of him. But presently her curiosity prevailed, and she inquired--