My Friend the Chauffeur
scrambled out of her low chair also, and snatched my dress. "No, I'm not
going to have you insult him," she exclaimed. "You shan't talk to him
without me. He's _my_ friend, not yours, and if I choose to consider
this wild trick he's playing more a--a compliment than anything else,
why, it won't hurt you. As for Beechy, she's _my_ child, not yours."
This silenced me for the moment, but only until the men appeared. "Are
we forgiven?" asked the Prince.
"Maida's very angry, and so am I, of course," replied Aunt Kathryn,
bridling, and showing both dimples.
"Dear ladies," pleaded the Count, "I wouldn't have consented to help
this mad friend of mine, if he hadn't assured me that you were too much
under the influence of your rather reckless chauffeur, who would
probably break your bones and his companion's car, in his obstinate
determination to go down to Cattaro by motor."
"Why, lately the Prince has been encouraging it!" I interrupted.
"Ah, you have misunderstood him. A wilful fool must have his way; that
was what he thought of your gentleman chauffeur, no doubt. This will
give the self-willed young man an excuse to take the boat to Cattaro
to-morrow. You will have a run on Dalmar-Kalm's motor (which he has put
on board on purpose) this afternoon from Cattaro to Schloss Hrvoya. It
will not be serious for Miss Beechy. You can wire, and get her answer
that Signorina Bari is playing nurse and chaperon very nicely."
"You must understand, Miss Destrey, as I have made the Countess
understand already," put in Prince Dalmar-Kalm, "that I only chose this
course because I knew it would be useless trying to dissuade Mr.
Chauffeur Barrymore from attempting the trip by road; but this will
effectually stop him."
"You are very, very naughty, Prince," chattered Aunt Kathryn; and I was
so angry with her for her frivolity and vanity that I should hardly have
dared to speak, even if words hadn't failed me.
"At least, we have thought of your comfort," said Count Corramini.
"There are two cabins ready for your occupation, with everything you
will need for the toilet, so that you can sleep in peace after your trip
to Hrvoya."
"I must protest," I said, just able to control my voice. "I think this
an abominable act, not worthy of gentlemen. Knowing that one of us feels
so strongly, Count, won't you order your yacht to turn back to Ragusa?"
He bowed his head, and shrugged his eyebrows. "If I had not given my
word to my friend," he murmured. "For to-day "Arethusa" is his."
"I believe he's bribed you!" the words sprang from my lips, without my
meaning to speak them; but they hit their mark as if I had taken close
aim. The scarred features flushed so painfully that they seemed to
swell; and with the lightning that darted from under the black
thundercloud of his brows, the man was hideous. He bit his lip to keep
back an angry answer, and Aunt Kathryn screamed at me, "Maida! I'm
_ashamed_ of you. You'd better go to your cabin and not come out till
you're in a--a more _ladylike_ frame of mind."
I took her at her word and walked sharply away with Airole trotting at
my heels.
There were six cabins on "Arethusa", as I knew, because I had been shown
them all. I knew also which was Count Corramini's, which his wife's,
which her maid's, and which were reserved for guests. Now I walked into
one of the spare cabins, of which the door stood open, and whether it
was meant for me or for Aunt Kathryn I wasn't in a mood to care.
Various toilet things had been ostentatiously laid out, and there was a
bunch of roses in a glass, which in my anger I could have tossed out of
the window; but I hate people who are cruel to flowers almost as much as
those who are cruel to animals, and the poor roses were the only
inoffensive things on board.
"Oh, Airole," I said, "she takes it as a _compliment_!
Well--well--_well_!"
My own reflections and the emphasis of Airole's tiny tail suddenly
brought my anger down from boiling point to a bubbly simmer; and I went
on, thrashing the matter out in a conversation with the dog until the
funny side of the thing came uppermost. There was a _distinctly_ funny
side, seen from several points of view, but I didn't intend to let
anybody know that I saw it. I made up my mind to stay in the cabin
indefinitely; but it was not necessary to the maintenance of dignity
that I should refrain from enjoying as much of the scenery as the
porthole framed in a picture. Accordingly I knelt on the bed, looking
out, too excited to tire of the strained position.
We had passed a long tongue of land, beaten upon by white rollers of
surf, that seemed as if they strove to overwhelm the old forts set far
above their reach. A rocky island too, rising darkly out of a golden
sea; and then we entered the mouth of a wonderful bay, like the pictures
of Norwegian fords. As we steamed on, past a little town protected by a
great square-towered, fortified castle, high on a precipitous rock, I
guessed by the formation of the bay, which Mr. Barrymore had shown me on
a map, that we were in the famous Bocche di Cattaro.
"Yes," I told myself, "that must be Castelnuovo. Mr. Barrymore said the
bay was like the Lake of Lucerne, with its starfish arms. This can't be
anything else."
The yacht glided under the bows of two huge warships, with officers in
white, on awninged decks, and steamed into a long canal-like stretch of
water, only to wind out again presently into a second mountain-ringed
bay. So we went from one to another, passing several pretty towns, one
beautiful one which I took to be Perasto, if I remembered the name
aright, and two exquisite islands floating like swans on the shining
water, illuminated by the afternoon sun. Then, at last we were slowing
down within close touch of as strange a seaside place as could be in the
world. Close to the water's edge it crept, but climbed high on the rocks
behind the houses of the foreground, with a dark belt of ancient wall
circling the lower town and upper town, and finishing at the top with
fortifications marvellous enough for a dream. In the near background
were green hills; but beyond, towered desolate grey mountains crowned
with dazzling snow, and on their rugged faces was scored a tracery of
white lines seemingly scratched in the rock. I knew that they must mean
the twistings of a road, up and up to the junction of mountain and sky,
but the wall of grey rock looked so sheer, so nearly perpendicular, that
it was impossible to imagine horses, or even automobiles mounting there.
In my interest and wonder as to whether we had arrived at Cattaro
already I had forgotten my injuries for the moment, until I was reminded
of them by Aunt Kathryn's voice.
"It's Cattaro," she called through the door. "Let me in, please. I've
something to say."
I slipped back the bolt and she came in hurriedly, as if she were afraid
of being kept out after all.
"See here, Maida," she said, "to save time the Prince is having his
motor put on shore the minute we get in to the quay, and he'll drive us
up to Schloss Hrvoya this afternoon. It's only four o'clock, and he
says, though it's away up in the mountains and we'll be two hours
getting there, we shall run down in half the time, so we shall be back
soon after seven and can dine on board. It's quite appropriate that I
should be with the Prince, whose ancestral home it was, when I look on
Hrvoya first. He's fully persuaded me of that. I think the whole thing's
most dramatic, and I do hope you won't spoil it by being disagreeable
any longer."
"I think you're the--the _unwisest_ woman I ever saw!" I couldn't help
exclaiming.
"Well, I think _you're_ very rude. I do believe you're jealous of me
with the Prince. That's _his_ idea, anyway, though he'd be vexed if he
thought I'd told you, and I wouldn't if you hadn't aggravated me. Oh
dear, you do make me so nervous and miserable! _Will_ you come to
Schloss Hrvoya or will you not?"
I thought very quickly for a few seconds before answering. Perhaps it
would be better to go than to stay on "Arethusa" without Aunt Kathryn,
especially as I had now made Count Corramini my enemy. Mr. Barrymore and
Sir Ralph and Beechy couldn't arrive at Cattaro by ship till to-morrow,
even if they found out what had become of us, and followed at the
earliest opportunity without waiting to hear. No, there was nothing to
keep me on the yacht, or in the town of Cattaro, and hateful as the
whole expedition was, it would be better to cling to Aunt Kathryn than
be anywhere else alone in a strange place, among people whose language I
neither spoke nor understood.
"Yes, I will come," I said.
"Arethusa" touched the quay as I spoke, and there was a great bustle on
deck, no doubt landing the Prince's motor, which had stood concealed on
the forward deck under an enormous tarpaulin.
Aunt Kathryn, triumphant, hurried off to get ready, and I began slowly
to follow her example.
XXIV
A CHAPTER ON PUTTING TRUST IN PRINCES
When I had put on my hat and coat, which I'd taken off in the cabin, I
went on deck with Airole tucked under my arm, expecting to find Aunt
Kathryn, as I had not made haste. She was not there, but on shore close
to the quay stood the automobile, which had been put off in a kind of
sling; and on the front seat was the familiar, plump figure in its long,
light brown coat, and the mushroom-like mask with the talc window.
I had not brought my mask, but evidently Aunt Kathryn must have had hers
stuffed into one of the big pockets of her coat, as she often did. The
Prince stood talking to her, and seeing that all was ready I crossed the
gang-plank and walked quickly to the car.
Aunt Kathryn neither spoke to me nor turned her head, which scarcely
surprised me, considering the bad terms we were upon, for the first time
in all the months of our acquaintance.
The Prince "hoped that I wouldn't mind sitting in the tonneau," and
explained a pile of rugs on the seat opposite mine by saying that it
would grow chilly as we ascended into the mountains, and he did not wish
his passengers to suffer.
"Where's Joseph?" I asked, addressing him for the first time since
taking him to task on deck.
"I left him in Ragusa," replied the Prince. "He will not be needed."
With this, the tonneau door was shut, the car started, and we bounded
away. A few men and women, in very interesting, Eastern costumes, quite
different from anything we had seen yet, watched our progress in
silence and with imperturbable faces, dark and proud.
Angry as I still was with Prince Dalmar-Kalm for the trick he had so
impudently played upon us, and the part forced upon me for Aunt
Kathryn's sake, I could not be blind to the beauty of this strange
world, or suppress all joy in it.
Cattaro seemed to lie plastered against a tremendous wall of sheer rock
rising behind the ringed town and its fortress; and I saw, soon after
starting, that we must be bound for the mountain with the silken skein
of road, which I had gazed at in wonder from my porthole. We had not
long left Cattaro, when our way began to mount in long zigzags, doubling
back again and again upon itself. Presently we could look down upon the
town, prone at the foot of its fortified hill on the very edge of the
sea, which as we climbed, assumed the shape and colour of a great
shimmering blue silk sleeve.
Mountains towered all around us, mountains in every direction as far as
the eye could reach, many crowned by low, green forts, connected with
the lower world by the lacings of thread-like roads.
Still we mounted, the car going well and the Prince driving in silence.
Though the gradient was steep--sometimes so steep as to be terrible for
horses--we seemed to travel so fast that it was surprising to find