Part 16 (1/2)
The manager came out to speak to her, but he stood still, aghast, and let her go without uttering a word or offering to a.s.sist her. As long as he lived he remembered the look on the Countess of St. Maurice's face as she came down those stairs, clutching hold of the banisters, and, with hasty trembling steps, left the hotel. He was a great reader of fiction, and he had heard of Irish banshees and Brahmin ghosts; but never a living story-teller had painted such a face as he looked upon at that moment.
CHAPTER XV
THE COUNT'S SECOND VISITOR
Two days more pa.s.sed without any change in the Count's conduct or health, save that his brow was a little darker, and he was heard occasionally muttering to himself.
On the morning of the third, a four-wheeled cab deposited at the door of the hotel a young lady, who demanded somewhat haughtily to see the manager. She was shown into the waiting-room, and in a few minutes he appeared.
He had been expecting a visit from an applicant for the post of a.s.sistant bookkeeper, and he entered the room with a little less than his usual ceremony, under the impression that this was she. He found himself confronted with a tall, slim girl, elegantly but simply dressed in plain black clothes. She carried herself with the dignity of a queen, and before the quick glance of her flas.h.i.+ng black eyes he felt himself abashed into making a low bow. There was something foreign in her appearance, but something eminently aristocratic.
”Good-morning, madam.”
She disdained to notice the salutation, and, holding out a paper toward him, pointed with her long slim finger to the advertis.e.m.e.nt column.
”I have come about this paragraph. Take me to him!”
”With the greatest pleasure, madam,” he answered, bowing. ”May I be permitted to ask, are you a relation of the Count's?”
”Certainly, I am his niece,” she answered, frowning. ”Take me to him at once. I don't choose to be kept waiting,” she added impetuously.
The manager bit his lip, and bowed again to hide a smile. It seemed to him that if this young lady failed to rouse his eccentric visitor the task was hopeless indeed.
”Will you pardon me, madam, if I detain you one moment,” he said deferentially. ”I should like, before you see the Count, to explain to you the reasons which induced me to insert that notice in the _Times_.”
She tapped the floor impatiently with her foot.
”Be quick, then!”
”The Count arrived here on the first of the month, almost a fortnight ago. Immediately on his arrival he went out in a cab, and returned somewhat late at night, looking dazed and ill. From that moment he has not left his room, and we fear, madam, to be candid, that he is losing his reason. He declines to go out to see a physician; to write to his friends. It is pitiable to see him, especially when one considers his long and painful imprisonment, from which he has only just been released. He would not listen to any suggestions or advice from us, so it occurred to me to put that advertis.e.m.e.nt in the paper unknown to him.
May I be pardoned if I beg of you not to mention the means by which you became aware of his presence here, or to simply state that you saw his arrival chronicled in the paper? He may regard our interference in the light of a liberty, although it was solely for his good.”
”It was a liberty to take!” she answered coldly. ”I will not promise anything. I dare say I shall not mention it.”
”There is one thing more which I should tell you, madam,” he continued.
”Two days ago a visitor came to see him, having noticed in the paper, as you have done, the paragraph I inserted. I will not tell you her name, but she was one of the most beautiful and distinguished Englishwomen of our aristocracy, and from the manner of her departure, I could not help coming to the conclusion that the Count, by some means or other, had frightened her to death. She was nearly fainting as she came downstairs, and she has not been here since. I have no reason, beyond what I have told you, to doubt the Count's sanity, but I think that it is right for you to know this.”
”Very well. I am not afraid. Kindly take me to him at once, now!” she directed.
He led her out of the apartment, and up the broad staircase. Outside the door of the Count's sitting-room he paused.
”Shall I announce you, madam?” he asked.
”No! Go away!” she answered shortly. ”I wish to enter alone.”
CHAPTER XVI