When I had up Nikola we our voyage. Dawn was just breaking, and Venice appeared very and in the light. A cold wind was in from the sea, and when I its sharpness, I not help that I had the to my cloak.
"How do you know where the meeting is to take place?" I asked, after we had been a minutes.
"Because, when I am unable to out for myself, I have who can do it for me," he replied. "What would appear difficult, in is very simple. To the place in question it would be necessary for them to gondolas, and for the that, as you are aware, there are not many in the of Venice at such an early hour, it would be upon them to them beforehand. A among the gondoliers[Pg 246] the I wanted. That point settled, the was easy."
"And you think we shall be there in time to prevent the meeting?" I asked.
"We shall be at the they are," he answered. "And I have promised you they shall not fight."
Comforted by this news, I settled myself to watch the through which we were passing. Presently we passed the church of St. Maria Formosa, and later the Ducal Palace, out into the of the Grand Canal itself. It was then that Nikola the gondoliers, for we had two, to speed. Under their powerful the light little over the bay, passed the of St. Georgio Maggiore, and then almost south. Then I of Glenbarth, and what his were at that moment. At last I to have an of our destination. We were in the direction of the Lido, and it was upon the beach that the and Venice from the open sea that the was to be fought. Presently we landed, and Nikola said something to the gondoliers, who their and moved slowly away. After walking along the for some distance, we ourselves at a[Pg 247] place where it was possible to see the of beach, while we ourselves hidden.
"They will not be here another ten minutes," said Nikola, his watch; "we had a good start of them."
Seating ourselves we their arrival, and while we did so, Nikola talked of the value set upon life by the of different countries. No one was more to speak on such a than he, for he had it in every and in every phase. He spoke with a and a for the and of men than I had noticed in him before. Suddenly he stopped, and looking the left said—
"If I am not mistaken, the Duke of Glenbarth has arrived."
I looked in the direction indicated, and was able to the tall of the Duke along the sands. A little later two other their and him. One was the Don, but who was the third? As they closer, I that he was unknown to me; not so to Nikola, however.
"Burmaceda," he said to himself, and there was an upon his face.
The Duke to the two men, and the stranger, having returned his[Pg 248] salute, upon the sand, and to open a box he had with him. From it he produced a pair of pistols which he with care. This work finished, he took them by their and gave Glenbarth his choice. The Spaniard, I noticed, was in black, not a particle of white; the Duke was very much as usual. When each had taken a pistol, the the upon the and them their positions. By this time I was in such a of that Nikola his hand upon my arm to me.
"Wait," he whispered. "Have I not you my word that your friend shall not be hurt? Do not them yet. I have my suspicions, and am to them."
i006
"'Put your pistols,' said Nikola."
I waited, but though it was only for a it to me an eternity. The two men were in position, and the stranger, I gathered, was them their final instructions. They were to with their from each other, and at the word of were to wheel and fire. In a I saw what Nikola had in his mind. The was the Don, for while Glenbarth would have out his of the contract, the Spaniard did not turn[Pg 249] at all, a which his was likely to aware of, that he would in all have a in his he would have had time to the that had been played upon him. The had his hand above his head, and was about to give the signal, when Nikola from me, and in a loud voice called to them to "stop." I rose to my at the same instant, and him across the to where the men stood.
"Put your pistols, gentlemen," said Nikola in a voice that like a trumpet-call. "I the duel. Your Grace, the challenge comes from you, I that you will to Don Martinos for having sent it."
"I shall do nothing of the kind," the Duke returned.
On learning this Nikola took him on one and talked with him for a minutes. Then, still with his hand upon the other's arm, he him to where we were standing.
"I my for having you," said Glenbarth, but with no good grace.
"I thank you, your Grace," said Nikola. Then to the Don, he on—"And now, Don Martinos, I you will to the Duke for the that the challenge."[Pg 250]
With an the Spaniard that he was the last man to do anything of the kind. He had to any man in his life, and he was not going to do so now, with more to the same effect. Then Nikola his upon him. His voice, however, when he spoke was as as ever.
"To me you will do it," he said, and then a little closer to him he something that we not hear. The upon the Don was magical. His a hue, and for a moment I he would have fallen, but he his self-possession with an effort, and the Nikola had of him.
"I thank you, gentlemen," said Nikola. "Now, with your permission, we will return to the city." Here he upon the stranger, and continued:—"This is not the of these little in which you have played a part. You have been before, profit by it, for the time may come when it will be too late. Remember Pietro Sallomi."
I do not know who Pietro Sallomi may have been, but I know that the mention of his name was to take all the out of the stranger. He to pieces like a house of cards.
"Now, gentlemen, let us be moving," said[Pg 251] Nikola, and taking the Don with him he set off in the direction of the spot where we had from the gondola. I with the Duke.
"My dear boy," I said, as we walked along, "why on earth did you do it? Is your life of so little value to or to your friends, that you try to it away in this fashion?"
"I am the most on the of the earth," he replied. "I think it would have been for me had I been there."
"Look here, Glenbarth," I said with some anger, "if you talk nonsense in this manner, I shall to think that you are not for your actions. What on earth have you to be so about?"
"You know very well," he answered gloomily.
"You are making Miss Trevor will not you," I said. "You have not asked her, how therefore can you tell?"
"But she to Don Martinos," he on.
"Fiddlesticks!" I answered. "I'm she hasn't of him in that way. Now, I am going to talk to you. I have up my mind that we to-day for[Pg 252] Rome. We shall a there, and you should have a opportunity of the question to Miss Trevor. If you can't do it in that time, well, all I can say is, that you are not the man I took you for. You must one thing, however: I'll have no more of this nonsense. It's all very well for a Spanish to go about the world, to put into people, but it's not the thing for an English gentleman."
"I'm sorry, Dick. Try to me. You won't tell Lady Hatteras, will you?"
"She it already," I answered. "I don't you would much from her. Try for a moment to picture what their would have been—mine may be left out of the question—if you had been on the beach yonder. Think of your relations at home. What would they have said and thought? And for what?"
"Because he me," Glenbarth replied. "Was I to put up with that?"
"You should have him with the he merited. But there, do not let us discuss the any further. All's well that ends well; and I don't think we shall see much more of the Don."
When we the Nikola took me aside.[Pg 253]
"You had return to the city with the Duke in one," he said; "I will take the Don in another."
"And what about the other fellow?" I inquired.
"Let him swim if he likes," said Nikola, with a of his shoulders. "By the way, I you saw what took place yonder?"
I nodded.
"Then say nothing about it," he replied. "Such are best to one's self."
It was a very sober-minded and man that sat to with us that morning. My wife, how stood, herself out to be to him. So was she, that Miss Trevor her with surprise. During the the to Rome was discussed, and it was that I should for our old rooms, and that we should Venice at half-past two. This was out, and saw us well on our to the capital. The is so well that I need not attempt to it here. Only one me as about it. No sooner had we the railway-bridge that Venice with the mainland, than Miss Trevor's lethargy, if I may so it, left her. She to[Pg 254] be her old self instantly. It was as though she had at last off the under which she had so long been staggering. She laughed and with my wife, her father, and was to be with the of the family. After the events of the the upon the Duke was just what was wanted.
In we Rome, and ourselves at our old in the Piazza Barberini. From that moment the time we had allowed ourselves by on wings. We to have got there it was time to go to Venice. It was necessary for the Dean to return to England, at the end of our in Rome, and though it was out of his way, he by way of Venice. The had done his good. She was her old self once more, and the listless, air that had taken such a upon her in Venice had disappeared.
"Make the most of the Eternal City," my wife at dinner on the of our departure, "for to-morrow you will look your last upon it. The who has us in his power has his decree, and, like the laws of the Medes and Persians, it not."[Pg 255]
"A dragon?" I answered. "You should say the family scapegoat! I to you, my dear Dean, that it is most unfair. If it is some to be performed, then it is by my order; if it is something that will upon another, then it is my lady that the credit."
"A very proper arrangement," said my wife, "as I am sure the Dean will agree with me."
"I agree with you in everything," the old gentleman. "Could I do otherwise?"
"I to the Duke, then. Is it your Grace's opinion that a husband should of take upon himself the properties of a dragon?"
Even that man would not by an old friend.
"I am not going to be into an with you," he said. "If Lady Hatteras calls you a dragon, then a you must until the end of the chapter, so as I am concerned."
"Phyllis is always right," answered Miss Trevor unblushingly.
"I give in," I said in despair. "If you are all against me, I am undone."
It was a moonlight night when we rose from dinner, and it was that our last in Rome should be in a visit[Pg 256] to the Colosseum. A was ordered, and when the ladies had themselves up we set off. To those who have not had an opportunity of visiting that structure, I can only my by saying that it would be well-nigh to a that would give them an idea of the of it in one. By moonlight it presents a picture that for is, to my thinking, without its equal in the world. Pompeii by moonlight reflections. The great square of St. Mark's in Venice by the same light is a to be forgotten; but in my opinion the Colosseum them all. We entered it and in the great ring looking up at the of seats, and its Past. The Dean was impressed, and spoke of the men who had up their in those great walls.
"How many of the here to the of the Christians," he said, "believed that the very religion which they so was to the world, and to see the Colosseum and the Power that it, a ruin? It is a thought."
After the Dean's speech we to a spot[Pg 257] where a view was obtainable. It was only then that we that the Duke and Miss Trevor were not of our party. When, however, it was time to return they from the and us out. Both were silent, and my wife, two and two together in her own fashion, came to the that they had quarrelled. When, later on, the Duke and I were alone together, and the ladies and the Dean had retired to their rooms, I was about to take him to when he stopped me.
"Dick, old man," he said with a that not have been had he been telling me of some great tragedy, "I want you to give me your congratulations. Miss Trevor has to my wife."
I was so that I what to do or say.
"Good gracious, man!—then why are you so downcast?" I replied. "I had up my mind that she had you!"
"I am from being downcast," he said as as before. "I am the man in the world. Can't you how I feel? Somehow—now that it is over, and I have her—it so great a thing that it almost me. You don't know, Dick, how proud I am that she should have taken me!"[Pg 258]
"And so you ought to be," I said enthusiastically. "You'll have a wife, and I know you'll make a good husband."
"I don't it, Dick," he in self-abasement. "She is too good for me, much too good."
"I that I said the same thing myself," I replied. "Come to me in five years' time and let me what you have to say then."
"Confound you," he answered; "why do you talk like that?"
"Because it's the way of the world, my lad," I answered. "But there, you'll learn all for soon enough. Now let me order a whisky-and-potash for you, and then off you go to bed."
"A whisky-and-potash?" he cried, with on his face. "Do you think I'm going to drink on the night that she has me? You must be mad."
"Well, have your own way," I answered. "For my own part, I have no such scruples. I have been married too long."
I the bell, and, when my was to me, it slowly, as a philosopher.
It would appear that Miss Trevor had already told my wife, for I was to to a amount of concerning[Pg 259] it I was allowed to close my that night.
"I always said that they were to each other," she observed. "She will make an Duchess, and I think he may himself a very lucky fellow. What did he say about it?"
"He that he was not nearly good for her."
"That was of him. And what did you say?"
"I told him to come to me in five years' time and let me what he had to say then," I answered with a yawn.
I had an idea that I should into trouble over that remark, and I was not mistaken. I was told that it was an thing to have said, that it was not the of idea to put into a man's at such a time, and that if every one had such a good wife as some other people she name, they would have to thank their good fortune.
"If I am not mistaken, you told me you were not good for me when I you," she retorted. "What do you say now?"
"Exactly what I said then," I answered diplomatically. "I am not good for you. You should have married the Dean."
"Don't be absurd. The Dean is a dear old thing, but is old to be my father."[Pg 260]
"He will be Glenbarth's father-in-law directly," I said with a chuckle, "and then that man will have to drink his and to his sermons. In of that I will him all his against me."
Then I asleep, to that I was a of St. George a over the seats of the Colosseum; to find, when I had him to earth, that he had shape, and was no other than my old friend the Dean of Bedminster.
Next the couple's at was itself. The old Dean ate his of the that was to be into his an hour later, while my wife over the teapot. Meanwhile I what Nikola would have to say when he of the engagement. After the was over we left the Duke and Dean together. Somehow, I don't think Glenbarth was at his ease, but when he half-an-hour later and me by the hand, he that the old was the biggest in the world, and that I was the next. From this I that the had been settled, and that, so as was concerned, Miss Gertrude Trevor was likely to the Duchess of Glenbarth without any[Pg 261] delay. Though there was not much time to our train started, there was still for the lovers to make a to the Piazza di Trevi, where a diamond ring was purchased to the engagement. A that would have any woman's mouth water was also to the same purpose. A on the Etruscan model was next purchased for my wife, and was to her later on by her friends.
"You did so much for us," said the Duke simply, when Miss Trevor the presentation.
My lady Miss Trevor and thanked the Duke, while I looked on in amazement.
"Come, now," I said, "I call that fair. Is the to nothing? I was under the that I had done more than any one to about this happy result."
"You shall have our gratitude," Miss Trevor replied. "That would be so nice, wouldn't it?"
"We'll see what the Duke says in five years," I answered, and with this Parthian I left them.
Next we Venice. The had been a very one, but I must say that I was not sorry when it was over. The picture of two lovers, with into each other's hour after hour,[Pg 262] is to upon one. We had left Mestre us, and were the I have as Venice with the mainland, when I noticed that Gertrude Trevor had and preoccupied. She had a headache, she to my wife, but it would soon pass off. On the railway-station we a to take us to our hotel. When we it, Galaghetti was on the steps to us. His with satisfaction, and the he paid my wife when she set upon the steps, were such as to her with confusion. I my party to go up-stairs, and then the old man on one side.
"Don Josè de Martinos?" I asked, that it was to mention his name.
"He is gone, my lord," Galaghetti replied. "Since he was a friend of yours, I am sorry I keep him no longer. Perhaps your not know that he has all his money away, and that he has not left to his to me."
"I did not know it," I replied. "And I am sorry to it. Where is he now?"
"I not say," Galaghetti replied. "But I out if your to know."[Pg 263]
"You need not do that," I answered. "I asked out of curiosity. Don Martinos was no friend of mine."
Then, him good-day, I my way up-stairs, over in my mind what I had heard. I was not at all to that the Don had come to grief, though I had not that the would in so a time. It was satisfactory to know, however, that in all he would trouble us again.
That afternoon, according to custom, we an hour at Florian's café. The Duke and Gertrude up and down, while my wife my attention to their happiness. I had on occasions sang Glenbarth's to the Dean, and as a result the old was with his son-in-law, and to think that the of his had been achieved. During our on the I my open, for I was in of Nikola, but I saw nothing of him. If I was not successful in that way, however, I was more so in another. I had a budget of me on my return from Rome, and as two of them my sending to England, I allowed the of the party to return to hotel by boat, while I my way to the telegraph-office. Having sent them off, I[Pg 264] walked on to the Rio Barcaroli, a there, and was about to step into it, when I aware of a man me. He proved to be none other than the Spaniard, Don Martinos, but so great was the in him that for a moment I him. Though only a had since I had last him, he had to what was only a of his self. His was of a pasty, whiteness, and his had a light in them that I had not there before. For the moment I he had been drinking, and that his was the result. Remembering his on the of the duel, I not to speak to him. My pity, however, got the of me, and I him good-day. He did not return my salutation, however, but looked at me as if I were some one he had before, but not where. I then him by name.
In reply he to me to him out of of the gondolier.
"I cannot your name," he said, me by the arm, "but I know that I have met you before. I cannot anything now because—because——" Here he paused and put his hand to his as if he were in pain. I to make him[Pg 265] who I was, but without success. He his and looked at me, talking for a moment in Italian, then in Spanish, with of English. A more condition for a man to into be imagined. At last I him with a question I might have some upon him.
"Have you met Doctor Nikola lately?" I inquired.
The it produced upon him was instantaneous. He from me as if he had been struck, and, against the of the house him, like an leaf. For a man so self-assertive—one might almost say so aggressive—here was a terrible change. I was more than at a to account for it. He was the last man I should have would have been taken in such a way.
"Don't tell him; you must not tell him, promise me that you will not do so," he in English. "He would me if he knew, and—and——" Here he to like a child who chastisement. It was not a exhibition, and I was more by it than I can say. At this I the that he was without means, and as my had been touched by his condition, I was to him such as was in my power. For this I endeavoured[Pg 266] to press a upon him, telling him that he me when brightened.
"No, no," he answered, with a of his old spirit; then he added in a whisper, "He would know of it!"
"Who would know of it?" I asked.
"Doctor Nikola," he answered. Then his hand upon my arm again, and his mouth close to my ear as if he were to make sure that no one else should hear, he on, "I would die of in the than into his hands. Look at me," he continued, after a moment's pause. "Look what I am! I tell you he has got me and soul. I cannot from him. I have no will but his, and he is killing me by inch. I have to escape, but it is impossible. If I were on the other of the world and he wanted me I should be to come." Then with another as as he to Nikola, that he would go away, and that nothing should him to see him again. But a moment later he was in his old condition once more.
"Farewell, Senor," he whispered. "I must be going. There is no time to lose. He is me."
"But you have not told me where you are now?"[Pg 267]
"Cannot you guess?" he answered, still in the same voice. "My home is the Palace Revecce in the Rio Consiglio."
Here was indeed! The Don had gone to live with Nikola. Was it that had the to take him in? If not, what were his for so doing?
