Cleek: the Man of the Forty Faces"Ah, but Mauravania's queen, monsieur-Mauravania's queen."
"The lady interests me no more than does her royal spouse."
"But, monsieur, she must-she really must-if you are honest in what you say, and your sympathies are all with the deposed and exiled ones-the ex-queen Karma and her children. Surely, monsieur, you who seem to know so well the history of that sad time cannot be ignorant of what has happened since to her ex-Majesty and her children?"
"I know only that Queen Karma died in France, in extreme poverty, befriended to the last by people of the very humblest birth and of not too much respectability. What became of her son I do not know; but her daughters, the two princesses, mere infants at the time, were sent, one to England, where she subsequently died, and the other to Persia, where, I believe, she remained up to her ninth year, and then went no one seems to know where."
"Then, monsieur, let me tell you what became of her. The late King Alburtus discovered her whereabouts, and, to prevent any possible trouble in the future, imprisoned her in the Fort of Sulberga up to the year before his death. Eleven months ago she became the Crown Prince Ulric's wife. She is now his consort. And by saving her, monsieur, you who feel so warmly upon the subject of the rights of her family's succession, will be saving her, helping Mauravania's queen, and defeating those who are her enemies."
Cleek sucked in his breath and regarded the man silently, steadily, for a long time. Then:
"Is that true, Count?" he asked. "On your word of honour as a soldier and a gentleman, is that true?"
"As true as Holy Writ, monsieur. On my word of honour. On my hopes of heaven!"
"Very well, then," said Cleek quietly. "Tell me the case, Count. I'll take it."
"Monsieur, my eternal grat.i.tude. Also the reward is-"
"We will talk about that afterward. Sit down, please, and tell me what you want me to do."
"Oh, monsieur, almost the impossible," said the Count despairfully. "The outwitting of a woman who must in very truth be the devil's own daughter, so subtle, so appalling are the craft and cunning of her. That, for one thing. For another, the finding of a paper, which, if published-as the woman swears it shall be if her terms are not acceded to-will be the signal for his Majesty's overthrow. And, for the third"-emotion mastered him; his voice choked up and failed; he deported himself for a moment like one afraid to let even his own ears hear the thing spoken of aloud, then governed his cowardice and went on-"For the third thing, monsieur," he said, lowering his tone until it was almost a whisper, "the recovery-the restoration to its place of honour before the coronation day arrives-of that fateful gem, Mauravania's pride and glory-'the Rainbow Pearl!'"
Cleek clamped his jaws together like a bloodhound snapping and over his hardening face there came a slow-creeping, unnatural pallor.
"Has that been lost?" he said in a low, bleak voice. "Has he, this precious royal master of yours, this usurper-has he parted with that thing-the wondrous Rainbow Pearl?"
"Monsieur knows of the gem, then?"
"Know of it? Who does not? Its fame is world-wide. Wars have been fought for it, lives sacrificed for it. It is more valuable than England's Koh-i-noor, and more important to the country and the crown that possess it. The legend runs, does it not, that Mauravania falls when the Rainbow Pearl pa.s.ses into alien hands. An absurd belief, to be sure, but who can argue with a superst.i.tious people or hammer wisdom into the minds of babies? And that has been lost-that gem so dear to Mauravania's people, so important to Mauravania's crown?"
"Yes, monsieur-ah, the good G.o.d help my country!-yes!" said the Count brokenly. "It has pa.s.sed from his Majesty's hands; it is no longer among the crown jewels of Mauravania-a Russian has it."
"A Russian?" Cleek's cry was like to nothing so much as the snarl of a wild animal. "A Russian to hold it-a Russian?-the sworn enemy of Mauravania-the race most hated of her people! G.o.d help your wretched king, Count Irma, if this were known to his subjects."
"Ah, monsieur, it is that we dread-it is that against which we struggle," replied the Count. "If that jewel were missing on the coronation day, if it were known that a Russian holds it-Dear G.o.d! the populace would rise-rise, monsieur, and tear his Majesty to pieces."
"He deserves no better!" said Cleek, through his close-shut teeth. "To a Russian-a Russian! As heaven hears me, but for his queen-Well, let it pa.s.s. Tell me, how did this Russian get the jewel, and when?"
"Oh, long ago, monsieur-long ago; many months before King Alburtus died."
"Was it his hand that gave it up?"
"No, monsieur. He died without knowing of its loss, without suspecting that the stone in the royal parure is but a sham and an imitation," replied the count. "It all came of the youth, the recklessness, the folly of the crown prince. Monsieur may have heard of his-his many wild escapades-his thoughtless acts, his-his-"
"Call them dissipations, Count, and give them their real name. His acts as crown prince were a scandal and a disgrace. To whom did he part with this gem-a woman?"
"Monsieur, yes! It was during the time he was stopping in Paris-incognito to all but a trusted few. He-he met the woman there, became fascinated with her-bound to her-an abject slave to her."
"A slave to a Russian? Mauravania's heir and-a Russian?"
"Monsieur, he did not know that until afterward. In a mad freak-there was to be a masked ball-he yielded to the lady's persuasions to let her wear the famous Rainbow Pearl for that one night. He journeyed back to Mauravania and abstracted it from among the royal jewels-putting a mere imitation in its place so that it should not be missed until he could return the original. Monsieur, he was never able to return it at any time, for, once she had got it, the Russian made away with it in some secret manner and refused to give it up. Her price for returning it was his royal father's consent to enn.o.ble her, to receive her at the Mauravanian Court, and so to alter the const.i.tution that it would be possible for her to become the crown prince's wife."
"The proposition of an idiot. The thing could not possibly be done."
"No, monsieur, it could not. So the crown prince broke from her and bent all his energies upon the recovery of the pearl and the keeping of its loss a secret from the king and his people. Bravos, footpads, burglars-all manner of men-were employed before he left Paris. The woman's house was broken into, the woman herself waylaid and searched, but nothing came of it-no clue to the lost jewel could be found."
"Why then did he not appeal to the police?"
"Monsieur, he-he dared not. In one of his moments of madness he-she-that is-Oh, monsieur, remember his youth! It appears that the woman had got him to put into writing something which, if made public, would cause the people of Mauravania to rise as one man and to do with him as wolves do with things that are thrown to them in their fury."
"The dog! Some treaty with a Russian, of course!" said Cleek indignantly. "Oh, fickle Mauravania, how well you are punished for your treasonable choice! Well, go on, Count. What next?"
"Of a sudden, monsieur, the woman disappeared. Nothing was heard of her, no clue to her whereabouts discovered for two whole years. She was as one dead and gone until last week."
"Oho! She returned, then?"
"Yes, monsieur. Without hint or warning she turned up in Mauravania, accompanied by a disreputable one-eyed man who has the manner and appearance of one bred in the gutters of Paris, albeit he is well clothed, well-looked after, and she treats him and his wretched collection of parakeets with the utmost consideration."
"Parakeets?" put in Narkom excitedly. "My dear Cleek, couldn't a parakeet be made to swallow a pearl?"
"Perhaps; but not this one, Mr. Narkom," he made reply. "It is quite the size of a pigeon's egg, I believe; is it not, Count?"
"Yes, monsieur, quite. To see it is to remember it always. It has the changing lights of the rainbow, and-"
"Never mind that; go on with the story, please. This woman and this one-eyed man appeared last week in Mauravania, you say?"
"Yes, monsieur; and with them a bodyguard of at least ten servants. Her demand now is that his Majesty make her his morganatic wife; that he establish her at the palace under the same roof with his queen; and that she be allowed to ride with them in the state carriage on the coronation day. Failing that, she swears that she will not only publish the contents of that dreadful letter, but send the original to the chief of the Mauravanian police and appear in public with the Rainbow Pearl upon her person."
"The Jezebel! What steps have you taken, Count, to prevent this?"
"All that I can imagine, monsieur. To prevent her from getting into close touch with the public, I have thrown open my own house to her, and received her and her retinue under my own roof rather than allow them to be quartered at an hotel. Also, this has given me the opportunity to have her effects and those of her followers secretly searched; but no clue to the letter, no clue to the pearl has anywhere been discovered."
"Still she must have both with her, otherwise she could not carry out her threat. No doubt she suspects what motive you had in taking her into your own house, Count-a woman like that is no fool. But tell me, does she show no anxiety, no fear of a search?"
"None, monsieur. She knows that my people search her effects; indeed, she has told me so. But it alarms her not a whit. As she told me two days ago, I shall find nothing; but if I did it would be useless, for, on the moment anything of hers was touched, her servants would see that the finder never carried it from the house."
"Oho!" said Cleek, with a strong rising inflection. "A little searching party of her own, eh? The lady is clever, at all events. The moment either pearl or letter should be removed from its hiding-place her servants would allow n.o.body to leave the house without being searched to the very skin?"
"Yes, monsieur. So if by any chance you were to discover either-"
"My friend, set your mind at rest," interposed Cleek. "If I find either, or both, they will leave the house with me, I promise you. Mr. Narkom-" he turned to the superintendent-"keep an eye on Dollops for me, will you? There are reasons why I can't take him-can't take anybody-with me in the working out of this case. I may be a couple of days or I may be a week-I can't say as yet; but I start with Count Irma for Mauravania in the morning. And, Mr. Narkom!"
"Yes, old chap?"
"Do me a favour, please. Be at Charing Cross station when the first boat-train leaves to-morrow morning, will you, and bring me a small pot of extract of beef-a very small pot, the smallest they make-not bigger than a shilling nor thicker than one if they make them that size. What's that? Hide the pearl in it? What nonsense! I don't want one half big enough for that. Besides, they'd be sure to find it when they searched me if I tried any such fool's trick as that. Dollops isn't the only creature in the world that gets hungry, my friend, and beef extract is very sustaining, very, I a.s.sure you, sir."
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