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 A PRINCE OF DARKNESS. 
 
 1 flobd. 
 
 BY 
 
 FLORENCE WARDEN, 
 
 AUTHOR OF ' ^ ^ 
 
 THE HOUSE ON THE MAESH,' 'A DOG WITH A BAD NAME, 
 ' THE VAGRANT WIFE,' ETC. 
 
 IN THREE VOLUMES. 
 VOL. L 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 WARD AND DOWNEY, 
 
 12, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN. 
 
 1885. 
 [All Bights Reserved.]
 
 Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2009 with funding from t 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/princeofdarkness01ward
 
 
 A PRINCE OF DARKMSS. 
 
 prologue. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 *' Starvation's a deuced unpleasant thing, 
 Madeline." 
 
 '^ Yes, dear, so it is." 
 
 The first speaker was a man of about 
 thirty years of age, with a thin dark face, to 
 whose keen eyes and clear-cut features a life 
 of shifts had given a hungry hawk-like look. 
 And the submissive answer came from the 
 lips of a woman in whom the virtue of sub- 
 mission was evidently not natural but acquired; 
 a tall massive woman, with a commanding 
 figure, and a beautiful fair face whose long 
 gray eyes could look shrewd as well as soft, 
 
 VOL. I. 1
 
 2 A Prince of Darkness, 
 
 and round whose red lips there were abeady 
 indications of future lines of resolution as 
 well as passion. 
 
 Her gentle tone of sympathy jarred upon his 
 savage sullen discontent. 
 
 '* Yes, dear, yes, dear!'' he repeated im- 
 patiently, mimicking her. '' Is that all you 
 have to say ? Don't you know what starva- 
 tion means ?" 
 
 ''Yes, Louis," said she submissively, rising 
 from the armchair in which she had been 
 indolently sitting, and crossing the room to 
 him as he sat by the table staring fixedly out 
 of the window and across the courtyard to 
 the opposite side of the hotel. " It means 
 no food and then death, doesn't it ?" 
 
 '' Those are the first and the last stages, 
 but there are many others — worse ones — in 
 between." 
 
 ''Are there?" she asked indifferently, as 
 she went down on her knees beside him and 
 laid her head softly against his shoulder. 
 Then, as he moved impatiently, she added in 
 a pleading voice : " Don't be angry with 
 me, Louis, for not being frightened enough
 
 A Prince of Darkness, 3 
 
 at the prospect. By-and-by, when you are 
 gone out and I am sitting here alone in the 
 dark, then I shall remember what you said, 
 and I shall feel it and perhaps I shall cry ; 
 but while I am with you all sad things 
 seem to fall on my ears without any meaning, 
 and nothing but your unhappy face can make 
 me unhappy or seem worth troubling about. 
 So you see, my husband, it is not because 
 I am stupid that I don't mind the thought 
 of starving ; it is only that if I die in your 
 arms I don't care what I die of." 
 
 The man turned and examined her face in 
 cold curious wonder. His passion for her 
 had died out months ago ; the monotony of 
 her unswerving affection bored him, and the 
 cynical knowledge that it was entirely un- 
 deserved made him look upon the too 
 generous giver with contempt rather than 
 with gratitude. The extravagance of her 
 last assertion, which he did not for a moment 
 believe, attracted his attention. 
 
 "Do you mean to tell me, Madeline, that 
 it is nothing to you whether you live on a 
 first-floor on the Boulevard Malesherbes, as 
 
 1—2
 
 4 A Prince of Darkness, 
 
 we did three months ago, or exist like con- 
 demned criminals in one little dingy cell with 
 scarcely room to turn ?" 
 
 And he glanced round the room — a little 
 unpretending bed and sitting room combined, 
 which hardly deserved his savage criticism; 
 though everything in it, from the tarnished 
 gilt clock, which did not go, to the velvet-pile 
 carpet, whose blue roses and crimson leaves 
 had lost all their startling originality, be- 
 trayed the taste of the past. 
 
 ** No, Louis, it is something to me where 
 we live, because it makes so much difference 
 to you." 
 
 ** Oh, as to that," said he, throwing himself 
 back in his chair and assuming a careless 
 tone, *' of course it is a mere matter of 
 custom. If I were used to second-floors and 
 cheap restaurants, I dare say I should like 
 them." 
 
 He was not looking at Madeline, or he 
 might have read in her face an expression of 
 contemptuous incredulity, such as he would 
 not have believed her capable of showing 
 after any statement from his lips. But
 
 A Prince of Darkness. 5 
 
 during the twelve months which had elapsed 
 since her hurried marriage with Louis de 
 Breteuil she had learnt a good many things 
 which that gentleman prided himself on keep- 
 ing secret, and she knew perfectly well that 
 the prosperity he had enjoyed since she first 
 made his acquaintance, and which had con- 
 tinued until within three months of the 
 present time, had been preceded by a period 
 during which even second-floors and cheap 
 restaurants were luxuries beyond his reach. 
 She had never dared to question him as to 
 the sources^ of the wealth which had so 
 suddenly come to an end; indeed, she 
 accepted that mystery, as well as certain 
 other facts mysterious only to her, with a 
 placid acquiescence proceeding partly from 
 indolence, partly from ignorance, and partly 
 from faith. Thus, while the ease with which 
 the brilhant Louis had managed to obtain a 
 firm footing in a certain fast but exclusive 
 set in Parisian society was a common topic, 
 the circumstance that it was only the gentle- 
 men of this set whom she ever met woke no 
 suspicion in the ingenuous young English-
 
 6 A Prince of Darkness. 
 
 woman, who, belonging by birth to the lower 
 middle class, was easy to deceive on any 
 point concerning that vague ** society," the 
 curious improbability of whose sayings and 
 doings, as recorded in the literature of her 
 own class, had often surprised her. She had 
 a beautiful home, handsomer dresses than 
 almost any of the ladies she saw at the Opera, 
 in the Bois, or at the races, and she had 
 Louis — or at least as much of Louis as his 
 many engagements would allow. And these 
 engagements grew ever more numerous, as a 
 man's are apt to do as the honeymoon fades 
 into the past. But his empire over her was 
 too strong for her to complain ; and never 
 having been a spoilt woman, she consoled 
 herself for his neglect by the pride she took 
 in his position. For Louis de Breteuil had 
 taken the world of Paris by storm ; had cut 
 out the young Parisians by his skill in riding, 
 driving, love-making, by the quality of his 
 horses, the cut of his coats, the daring of his 
 speech ; and had become the Admirable 
 Crichton of the frivolous life of the boule- 
 vards. Nobody knew more about him on his
 
 A Prince of Darkness, 7 
 
 first appearance in Paris than that he was a 
 French Canadian whose fortune, left him by 
 an uncle, was derived from oil-springs in 
 Pennsylvania ; but the general ignorance con- 
 cerning his antecedents, his name, and his 
 title, had weighed lightly in the balance 
 against an unmistakable distinction of appear- 
 ance and manner, and a certain unaffected 
 sincerity of cynicism which dazzled the 
 laboriously wicked golden youth of Paris, for 
 ever striving towards an ideal of depravity 
 which their little wits find as hard to reach as 
 ever anchorite found his ideal of sanctity. 
 
 Louis de Breteuil's reign, if short, had 
 been glorious : and the audacity of his 
 abdication was worthy of the brilliancy of 
 his throne. For, instead of waiting until 
 the tide of his prosperity had run out, and 
 vanishing with debts unpaid and the reputa- 
 tion of a ruined swindler, De Breteuil had 
 announced his intention of visiting the East 
 — which is a vague term, and suggestive of 
 the splendour with which his name was 
 associated — had given sumptuous farewell 
 entertainments, had paid enough of his bills
 
 8 A Prince of Darkness. 
 
 to leave the impression that it was failure of 
 memory and not of money which caused him 
 to leave the rest unpaid ; had sold his 
 furniture, his pictures, his horses, dismissed 
 his servants, and taken his departure, leaving 
 behind him a reputation bad indeed, but for 
 which half the well-born young men of Paris 
 would have given ten years of their abortive 
 lives. He wanted to be further away from 
 his late acquaintances than any ship could 
 take him ; so, instead of going to the other 
 side of the world, he went to the other side 
 of the Seine, lived the simple life of a poor 
 bourgeois, and, when the summer heat grew 
 too intolerable in the little room on the 
 second-floor, he would take MadeHne for a 
 few sous on a steamer to St. Cloud, without 
 one fear that the humble couple trudging 
 along in the dust should be recognised as the 
 brilliant De Breteuil and the woman whose 
 toilettes had been envied by every other well- 
 dressed woman in Paris. 
 
 If, in carrying out this transformation, his 
 temper had proved worthy of his intellect, De 
 Breteuil would have been heroic ; but the
 
 A Prince of Darkness. 9 
 
 feat of accommodating his mind, as he did 
 his habits, to circumstances, was just a little 
 beyond his powers, and was left to Madeline, 
 who wore a cotton gown, made by her own 
 hands, with the same natural majesty which 
 had attracted all eyes when, at race-meeting 
 or review, she had come straight from the 
 approving inspection of Worth. 
 
 Now, as she knelt beside Louis' chair, 
 listening to his gibes at second-floors and 
 cheap restaurants, she looked like a queen in 
 exile, while he seemed to have sunk already 
 to the level of his present position, and to 
 bear the stamp of adventurer on his stooping 
 shoulders and haggard hang -dog face. 
 
 '' Well, Louis," she said, after a pause, 
 *' we shall dine well to-day at least. I think 
 Mr. Staunton is rich, I am certain he i& 
 generous. I am sure we shall enjoy ourselves, 
 and I love St. Germain." 
 
 Mr. Staunton was an Englishman who, 
 with the freedom of a foreigner, Jiad gone 
 from Paris to St. Cloud by steamer two days 
 ago, had made acquaintance with De Breteuil 
 and his beautiful wife, and had begged them
 
 10 A Prince of Darkness. 
 
 to come and dine with him when and where 
 they pleased. St. Germain had been chosen 
 by Louis as a place where, in this, the 
 beginning of July, they were not likely to 
 meet stray wanderers from the idle world. 
 
 **Ah, yes," said Louis, with some anima- 
 tion at the mention of their new acquaintance ; 
 *^ itis getting near the time when he promised 
 to call for us. You must get ready, Madeline, 
 and — and you may make yourself beautiful 
 once more — put on one of the handsome 
 dresses you have so nobly laid aside lately — 
 no one is likely to see us, and you must show 
 your countryman what French taste can do 
 for Enghsh beauty." 
 
 When Mr. Staunton arrived, and Madame 
 Louis, as she was called in the hotel, swept 
 down the stairs towards him in a cloud of 
 delicate lace which showed here and there, as 
 she moved, a fold of dainty shell-tinted silk, 
 the Englishman, unprepared for this trans- 
 formation in the woman whose beauty had 
 already made a strong impression upon him, 
 looked upon her with a worshipful admiration 
 which De Breteuil noted keenly. iVll through
 
 A Prince of Darkness. 11 
 
 the long drive to St. Germain Louis said 
 Tery little, leaving the talk almost entirely to 
 the stranger and MadeHne ; but at dinner he 
 woke up into sudden liveliness ; his animation 
 affected his companions, and Madeline, as she 
 saw him enjoying himself once more, grew 
 fairer with the happiness which sparkled in 
 her eyes and glowed in her cheeks. And 
 when dinner was over, and De Breteuil told 
 her to sing to them, the first soft notes that 
 fell from her lips put them both under a spell 
 of listening silence. 
 
 It was at the Pavilion Henri Quatre that 
 they were dining ; their table was drawn up 
 close to a window that overlooked the sloping 
 hill and the quaintly-cut box and yew-trees of 
 an old-fashioned garden. Madeline sang first 
 some lively French chansonnettes, glancing 
 from time to time at Louis with instinctive 
 affectionate coquetry ; then letting her eyes 
 wander out to the evening beauty of the 
 landscape below, she broke into the tender 
 old melody of " Home, sweet Home," whicff 
 she sang through with feeling which kept the 
 Englishman at least spellbound, gazing at
 
 12 A Ponnce of Darkness. 
 
 the beautiful singer with admiration which 
 was almost devotion. And still De Breteuil 
 w^atched him. 
 
 Madeline's voice quivered on the last notes ; 
 as she ended, Mr. Staunton's enthusiastic 
 thanks almost startled her. Louis nodded to 
 her and glanced at the door. 
 
 '' Go and put on j^our bonnet, my dear. 
 Mr. Staunton must see the terrace.'* 
 
 With an uneasy glance from Louis to the 
 stranger and back again to Louis, she 
 obediently left the room. 
 
 When she returned, Mr. Staunton alone 
 was waiting for her. The expression of 
 easy good-humoured enjoyment which his 
 face had worn throughout the day had dis- 
 appeared ; he looked so cold and so grave 
 that Madeline stopped short in the doorway, 
 and glanced round anxiously in search of 
 Louis. 
 
 ** Where is my husband ?" she asked 
 quickly. 
 
 ''M. Louis will join us, madame, if you 
 will do me the pleasure of starting with me 
 towards the terrace,'' said he, with curious
 
 A Prince of Darkness, 13 
 
 stiffness. '^ He was much struck with a 
 horse on which a gentleman has just ridden 
 up to the hotel, and he followed it to the 
 stables to ask if it is for sale, I believe.'/ 
 
 *'Ah," said Madeline, '^animals of all 
 kinds are my husband's passion. A horse 
 that nobody but himself can ride, a fierce dog 
 that nobody else dares to approach unless it 
 is chained up, seem to understand and obey 
 him as if they were human ; and I think 
 Louis loves them better than if they were." 
 The last words she uttered rather bitterly. 
 
 "Indeed!" said Mr. Staunton, with grave 
 interest ; and there was a short pause, during 
 which they sauntered on towards the terrace, 
 both thoughtful and preoccupied. ^' And so 
 this is a little trouble to you, this fondness of 
 his for animals, which takes him away from 
 you a good deal, perhaps — riding — and 
 driving ?" 
 
 She looked up at him in some surprise. 
 "What there had been of sternness in his face 
 a few minutes ago had given place to a kind, 
 sad look of compassion and sympathy, which 
 suddenly brought the tears to her eyes and
 
 14 A Prince of Darkness. 
 
 made her stop in her walk for a few seconds. 
 She recovered herself, and went on, in- 
 voluntarily hurrying her steps a little. 
 
 *' Yes — no,'' she answered nervously. 
 Then, stopping again, and looking straight 
 into his face with her frank eyes, she said, 
 '' You think I am unhappy, I see, and that I 
 am jealous of my husband's love for his 
 
 horses. I am not, indeed ; I What 
 
 makes you think I am unhappy ?" she 
 asked, in a different tone, with curiosity and 
 suspicion. 
 
 Mr. Staunton had stopped too, and he was 
 answering her questioning gaze with a look 
 as frank as her own, full of deepest pity — • 
 pity that surprised, alarmed her, and brought 
 the blood to her cheeks. He hesitated, as if 
 debating desperately within himself whether 
 he should tell her something. But he turned 
 away sharply, muttering, in a voice too low 
 for her to hear distinctly, '^ God ! I caiit tell 
 her !" 
 
 *' What are you saying? what do you 
 mean ?" Madeline asked abruptly, alarmed, 
 but retaining her dignity.
 
 A Prince of Darhiess. 15 
 
 Instead of answering," he asked her another 
 question : " Have you any friends in France 
 — in Paris — madame *?" 
 
 *' Friends ? No — o ; at least, I know — I 
 knew — I have met a good many people, but 
 I can hardly call them friends." 
 
 Her hesitating answer seemed to him 
 pathetic. He spoke more gently than ever. 
 
 *' Forgive me, madame, if I say things 
 that pain you. I am almost old enough to 
 be your father ; and to see a young lady so 
 friendless " 
 
 '' Friendless ! I have my husband," she 
 interrupted sharply. *' And what can a 
 
 woman want more than a good, loving " 
 
 She checked herself, and, facing him again, 
 asked slowly, ''What has he been saying to 
 you ? Ah ! I know — I can guess ; I was 
 afraid of that," she faltered, in a lower voice, 
 losing her self-control. '' He told you that, 
 now we are poor, we shall have to live apart 
 for a time, did he not ? He has hinted it to 
 me, but never dared to say it outright ; he is 
 so afraid of wounding me, poor fellow ! Was 
 it not that ?"
 
 16 A Prince of DarTcness. 
 
 Mr. Staunton did not answer. '* You are 
 very fond of him T' he asked, after a short 
 silence. 
 
 ''Oh yes." The reply was given in such 
 a low voice that it sounded like a soft 
 sigh. 
 
 " Ah ! And he is very fond of you, of 
 course. Don't be angry with me for my 
 impertinence — or what you, no doubt, consider 
 my impertinence." 
 
 " Oh no, indeed I don't," broke in Madeline, 
 with a shrewd unmirthful little laugh. " I 
 know the world and the people in it better 
 than you think. There are gentlemen, friends 
 of my husband, v^^hom I have to receive and 
 talk to, whose very look is an impertinence ; 
 and I have learnt to be discriminating. I 
 v^^ill listen to whatever you have to say. I 
 will answer any questions you like, for I 
 know that you are kind, I know that you are 
 —good." 
 
 Mr. Staunton promptly took advantage of 
 her permission, and said simply : " You have 
 been married before, madame ?" 
 
 She looked rather astonished, but answered
 
 A Prince of DarJcness. 17 
 
 at once : '^ Yes. Three years ago, when I was 
 nineteen, and a teacher in a school, I married 
 a man named Meredith/' She paused ; but 
 as her hearer was evidently much interested, 
 continued: "He was a clerk on the Stock 
 Exchange. He was not kind to me : he 
 drank, and neglected me, and wanted me to 
 go on the stage, which I thought was wrong, 
 so I would not go ; and he complained that I 
 was hard and cold and selfish, though that 
 was the only thing in which I would not 
 obey him. And then, when we had been 
 married eighteen months, he disappeared ; 
 and by that time," she went on naively, "he 
 had made me so very unhappy that I did not 
 try very hard to find him. And then at last 
 I learnt that he was dead, and I married 
 M. de — , I mean my present husband, and 
 he brought me over to France, and then 
 for the first time I learnt what it is to be 
 happy." 
 
 " And you are sure your first husband is 
 really dead ?" asked Mr, Staunton slowly. 
 " Oh yes. I saw the announcement in two 
 VOL. I. 2
 
 18 A Prince of Darkness. 
 
 papers, and I heard all about it from Louis 
 besides." 
 
 '• From Louis, your present husband, you 
 say ?" significantly. 
 
 *^Yes." 
 
 But there was no suspicion in her eyes, 
 and again Mr. Staunton found himself unable, 
 voluntarily, to call it up there. He looked 
 away from her for a minute, and then said : 
 ^* And so you are afraid that soon you may be 
 forced to separate for a time ?" 
 
 *'I — I am afraid so,'' tremulously. '*At 
 least, Louis has hinted that." 
 
 *' And what will you do ?" 
 
 **I don't know — yet. But I have been 
 used to earn my own living, and I have learnt 
 some French, and I am not at all a helpless 
 woman. And, with the thought of helping 
 to form a home some day for Louis and me, 
 I feel that I shall get on — yes, further than 
 seems possible now," said she, with a quiet 
 bright resolution which deepened alike Mr. 
 Staunton's pity and his admiration. 
 
 *^I quite believe that; I am sure you 
 would meet any trial, no matter how severe,"
 
 A Prince of Darkness, 19 
 
 said he, with emphasis, '^ in the most 
 courageous and high-hearted manner. But 
 the world is very hard for women, and 
 although I know that many brave girls do 
 struggle on alone and successfully, still the 
 battle is much less hard if they have friends 
 in whom they can trust. Will you trust in 
 my friendship ?'' 
 
 Madeline fixed her long grey eyes thought- 
 fully upon his face. She was an experienced 
 judge of faces, and a very short examination 
 of the kind brown eyes, iron-grey beard, and 
 the lines and furrows worn by nothing baser 
 than time or trouble, satisfied her. *'Yes," 
 she answered simply. 
 
 ^'Very well. Then I will give you my 
 private address in England." He had taken 
 some letters out of his pocket, and having 
 found a spare half- sheet of paper, was writing 
 on it with a pencil. *^ And, in case you 
 should want any help or any advice sooner 
 than you expect, I will let you know just 
 where I shall be for the next fortnight. You 
 see," and he gave her the paper, '^that for 
 the next few days I shall be at Lyons, and 
 
 2—2
 
 20 A Prince of Darkness. 
 
 after the 8th I shall be at Turin for a week. 
 I should like to be able to stay a few days 
 longer in Paris, but I am a stockbroker, 
 travelling with valuable securities which I 
 must deliver in Turin by the 9 th ; and I 
 have some business to do in Lyons before 
 then." 
 
 '^ You are a stockbroker V 
 
 ** Don't look so shocked ; I am not one of 
 the very worst." 
 
 '' Oh no, no ; but " 
 
 ** Ah, of course. Your first husband was 
 in a stockbroker's office, you say ; Meredith, 
 I think you said his name was. Is — was he 
 on the House himself?" 
 
 '^ Yes, I believe so. Yes ; I am sure 
 of it." 
 
 ^' Is not that M. Louis on the other side of 
 the road ?" 
 
 They had turned, and were walking back 
 towards the hotel. Madeline had time for 
 more questions before they rejoined him. 
 
 *' Have you any daughters, Mr. Staunton?" 
 
 ** No. I have only one child — a boy of 
 thirteen."
 
 A Prince of Darhiess, 21 
 
 *' You are very fond of liim ?" 
 *^ Very. They say I worship Gerald." 
 *' Gerakl Staunton," she repeated softly. 
 *' I wonder if I shall ever meet him ?" 
 
 *' I hope so. In the meantime, remember, 
 if you are in any difficulty, write to me ; I 
 am a widower, and have no one to interfere 
 with my correspondence. If you want my 
 presence I will come, if I can." 
 
 Madeline glanced in terror at Louis, who 
 had marvellously sharp ears. But as they 
 crossed the road slowly to where he was 
 standing, cigar in mouth, looking at the sun- 
 set between the trees, he did not appear to 
 see or hear them. She said hurriedly to her 
 companion, in a low voice : 
 
 *' I cannot thank you ; I am sure you don't 
 expect to be thanked, for you are good 
 because you cannot help it. But I have been 
 praying God that some day I may meet your 
 darling son, and be able to do him some kind- 
 ness, or some service to show you I am grate- 
 ful. I know I am not likely to have the 
 chance ; and it sounds silly to tell my feeling, 
 doesn't it ?" she added timidly.
 
 22 A Prince of Darhiess. 
 
 *' No, my dear young lady. No man can 
 liave too many friends, and I am thankful to 
 have made another friend for my boy,'' said 
 he kindly. 
 
 Madeline felt, when Louis became aware of 
 their approach, and they all walked back to 
 the hotel, that there was an awkward con- 
 straint between the two men ; and this feeling 
 grew so strong during the return drive that 
 she felt quite relieved when the victoria 
 stopped at the iwrte-coclicre of the dingy third- 
 rate hotel where she and Louis were staying, 
 and when, with a warm pressure of the hand, 
 Mr. Staunton looked into her face kindly and 
 gravely for the last time. She did not notice 
 his parting with Louis, for something in the 
 Englishman's pitying face had suddenly woke 
 a pang of horror and fear in her heart that 
 made her turn quickly away and hurry up- 
 stairs. 
 
 She reached her room, lit a candle, and 
 pored over the half-sheet of scrawled addresses 
 almost reverently with glistening eyes. Sud- 
 denly the paper was taken from her, and, 
 looking up with a cry, she saw Louis, who
 
 A Prince of Darkness. 23 
 
 examined the scrawl carefully, and then 
 folded it up and put it in his pocket. Then, 
 still without speaking, he got a writing-desk, 
 placed it on the table before her, drew the 
 inkstand forward, and put a pen into her 
 hand. 
 
 *' Now write what I tell you," said he very 
 gently, laying his hand upon her shoulder. 
 '' My dear sir " 
 
 She wrote obediently, with trembling 
 fingers. 
 
 '* Can you fulfill your promise, and come 
 and see me ? I would not trouble you, but 
 my need is urgent — and it has indeed come 
 soon, as you prophesied " dictated he. 
 
 She wrote the first few words in stupid, 
 timid, unreasoning submission. But as he 
 spoke the words, '* My need is urgent," her 
 hand stopped. 
 
 As soon as he noticed that she was not 
 vmting — for his eyes were fixed on the 
 opposite wall as he arranged the sentence — 
 he shook her by the shoulder. *' Well, go 
 on, go on." 
 
 Then she turned her head slowly and in
 
 24 A Prince of Darkness, 
 
 fear, and looked up into his face in heartsick 
 wonder. 
 
 *'"What does it mean? What is it for, 
 Louis ?" she asked, in a husky guttural voice. 
 
 *' Never mind. Write as I tell you." 
 
 She hesitated a moment more, shaking 
 from head to foot. Then, with a great sigh, 
 as if she found it hard to draw breath, she 
 wrote. 
 
 *' What a scrawl, my child ! Never mind. 
 Now sign it, 'Madeline.' " 
 
 She did so, and he passed the blotting- 
 paper over it, took it from her, wrote one 
 word at the top of the page — it was the name 
 of a place she had never heard of — folded it, 
 put it into an envelope, and dictated the 
 direction : '' M. Stanton, Hotel Collet, 
 Lyons." 
 
 She made one outcry as he put the pen 
 again into her hand. " Oh Louis, for God's 
 sake tell me what it means !" 
 
 ** It is all right, you shall know presently, 
 my darling," said he. '' Now you are tired ; 
 you had better go to bed at once. 1 came 
 up without finishing my cigar; I think I
 
 A Prince of Darkness. 25 
 
 must run down and liave one in the court- 
 yard." 
 
 " Louis — one moment. I don't under- 
 stand. You must have overheard " 
 
 He laughed as he patted her shoulder good- 
 humouredly. '' Well, I confess it. When I 
 went to join you, I felt a little jealous to see 
 how well you and the Englishman seemed to 
 be getting on together ; so I followed you 
 pretty closely, and you know I have sharp 
 ears ; and when I saw you almost whispering 
 to him as you came towards me, I thought to 
 myself that I would play you a little trick to 
 puzzle you, and punish you for exchanging so 
 much as the shadow of a confidence with any- 
 one but your husband." 
 
 He gave her a long kiss which filled the 
 loving woman's eyes with light and life. But 
 through all the happiness which his unusual 
 tenderness woke in her, she did not forget to 
 whisper, *' Oh Louis, thank God, thank God! 
 You need never, never be jealous with me. 
 And your punishment was too hard. That 
 note — I — I don't know what mad fancies it 
 filled me with !"
 
 26 A Prince of Darkness. 
 
 And lie laughed at her and kissed her 
 again ; and she clung to him and forgot every- 
 thing else for the moment in the joy of feeling 
 his reviving tenderness. But when he had 
 gone down-stairs for his cigar, ugly misgiv- 
 ings would rise again to trouble her.
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 Madeline was far too submissive by habifc 
 to think of disobeying any injunction of 
 Louis' ; therefore, as soon as he had left the 
 room, she went to bed, and dutifully tried to 
 go to sleep. But here her well-tried facult}' 
 of passive obedience broke down; that note 
 that Louis had forced her to write puzzled 
 and frightened her ; her husband's explanation 
 that he had made her do it for a trick seemed 
 lame and unsatisfactory, as she thought over 
 the incident with the terrible clearness with 
 which night shows us all things evil. Yet 
 the very suggestion that he could have had a 
 serious purpose in dictating to her that urgent 
 appeal to Mr. Staunton caused her to start 
 up cold and shuddering, and to rush to the 
 door, and, crouching beside it, listen intently
 
 28 A Prince of Darkness, 
 
 for Louis' footstep, in wild longing for his 
 presence to dispel a great fear. 
 
 But lie did not come. All through the 
 night she waited and watched, and the active 
 business of the day was in full swing before 
 she fell asleep, her last confused thought a 
 presentiment of coming evil. Broad daylight 
 brought a sharp knock at the door, and the 
 sight of Louis' handwriting on the note, 
 which the waiter handed her on the tray with 
 her morning coffee, was so suggestive after 
 the night's reflections, that she said to herself 
 before she touched it, ^' He has deserted me." 
 Then she tore the envelope, and read the 
 letter twice through very quietly. 
 
 " My darling Madeline," the note ran, '' I 
 know you will be dehghted to hear that I 
 have most opportunely and unexpectedly 
 found some employment which, though it is 
 not of a kind to make our fortunes rapidly, 
 will at least relieve me from the terrible trial 
 I have suffered lately, of seeing my sweet 
 queen deprived of the dainty luxuries which 
 beauty has the right to demand. The nature
 
 A Prince of Darkness. 29 
 
 of my employment I will explain to you on 
 my return from Havre, where I shall be for 
 the next three weeks ; I need not tell you 
 that it is nothing unworthy of a gentleman, 
 yet my pride of birth made me hesitate to 
 avow to you that for your sake I had eon- 
 descended to do a clerk's work for a clerk's 
 wage. I enclose you some money — all I 
 have ; I will send you more when I have 
 earned it. Strange words for a De Breteuil 
 to use ! Do not mention my degradation — • 
 alas, my pride still calls out ! — to any one. 
 Bear up ; I shall clasp my darling in my 
 arms again before long. Adieu, my divine 
 one — no, cat revoir, — Your adoring and de- 
 voted 
 
 '' Louis." 
 
 The letter was in English, which the ac- 
 complished De Breteuil spoke and wrote as 
 easily as French ; enclosed were two ten- 
 franc notes. 
 
 Madeline felt, on reading this letter, as if 
 all her love for her husband had suddenly 
 disappeared, and given place to a very hearty
 
 30 A Prince of Darhness. 
 
 disgust with his hypocrisy and selfishness. 
 She was such a clever woman that the 
 instincts of her passionate affection could not 
 always stifle the conclusions of her reason ; 
 moreover, having already had one bad 
 husband, the simple artifices by which a poor 
 fellow tired of his wife tries to satisfy her 
 and exonerate himself at the same time were 
 not unknown to her. She did not shed one 
 tear over the eloquent effusion which proved 
 to her conclusively that her second venture 
 had been little better than her first, and then 
 she wondered how it was that luck in this 
 matter of marriage was so strangely against 
 her. She thought the matter over before 
 her looking-glass, sitting down deliberately 
 in front of it and criticising herself very 
 dispassionately indeed ; it was a review that 
 could not be anything but favourable, for her 
 beauty was almost faultless, of a well-known 
 English type, that of the large, fair-skinned, 
 brown-haired woman, with gray eyes, dark 
 eyebrows and lashes, and a nose just not 
 straight enough to be severe. 
 
 '^ I am very handsome," was her con-
 
 A Prince of Darkness, 3 1 
 
 elusion, while her face puckered up at last as 
 if she would like to cry. " I wonder why I 
 can't keep a man fond of me, when I am so 
 fond of him as I am — no, as I loas of Louis ! 
 I wish I had a turned-up nose ; women with 
 turned-up noses are talkative and amusing, 
 while I am like nothing but a great silent 
 stupid doll." 
 
 She did herself injustice ; she was not 
 stupid. Her feelings were dull this morning 
 after the keen excitement of the night, and 
 reflection on the subject of man's perfidy had 
 already carried her as far as she could go ; 
 so she looked at the two ten-franc notes, 
 mentally added up the hotel-bill she would 
 have to pay at the end of the week, and 
 considered her position. She was a middle- 
 class girl, an orphan, born to economy, trained 
 to self-dependence ; her recent prosperity had 
 not lasted long enough to destroy certain 
 valuable instincts of thrift and self-help, and 
 a way out of her embarrassed financial 
 position soon evolved itself out of her more 
 sentimental reflections. She unlocked two 
 large trunks which occupied a considerable
 
 32 A Prince of Darkness. 
 
 space in the room, and took out two or three 
 of the handsome dresses which formed their 
 chief contents. For a very few moments 
 she stood lost in the brilliant dreamlike life 
 of love and idleness which the costumes 
 which she had worn during that period 
 recalled to her ; then she rang the bell and 
 asked if Mdlle. Eosalie could spare her a few 
 minutes. 
 
 Mdlle. Eosalie was the head chambermaid, 
 a shrewd, shrewish-looking elderly person, a 
 quick surface-reader of character — especially 
 bad character, and yet with a certain world- 
 wdse strength in her face at times which was 
 not unattractive, and which justified Madeline's 
 choice of her for a confidant. Her appearance 
 on her entrance was not encouraging. She 
 had mentally labelled *' M. and Madame 
 Louis " on their first arrival respectively 
 '' knave " and '' fool," and there was a cer- 
 tain expression of cheerful and triumphant 
 malignity on her face as she looked round the 
 room, and said brightly, " Madame va bien ? 
 et monsieur ?' 
 
 *' My hQsband has been called away sud-
 
 A Prince of Darhiess. 33 
 
 denly from Paris on business, Kosalie," said 
 Madeline, with some dignity. " And as he 
 has gone away for my sake, to make money 
 for me," she continued, repeating Louis' lie 
 with lips which she could scarcely keep steady, 
 " I want on my side to spend as little as I 
 can during his absence ; and as I have no 
 friends in France, and I know you are a 
 woman of experience who can help me if you 
 will, I sent for you to ask if you would mind 
 telling me how to set about it." 
 
 *' And so monsieur has gone away !" cried 
 Eosalie, raising her eyebrows in exaggerated 
 surprise. ''And left madame behind him to 
 economise by herself, which is dull work at 
 the best of times." But just then madame's 
 dignity began to show unmistakable signs of 
 giving way, and the dry old Frenchwoman 
 softened a little. " Ah, madame, these hus- 
 bands who can't be content with one wife, 
 however young and pretty she may be, they 
 are people it is best to have nothing to do 
 with. I never did," she added unnecessarily. 
 *' And how can I be of service to madame ? 
 
 VOL. I. 3
 
 34 A Prince of Darhiess. 
 
 I will most willingly if I can/' she added, 
 with some kindliness. 
 
 *' Thank you. Can you tell me where I 
 ought to go to try to sell some dresses ? I 
 have some very handsome ones that I have 
 only worn a few times, and that I shall not 
 want again,'' she added, as Eosalie looked at 
 her curiously. 
 
 As she finished speaking, Madeline raised 
 the linen cover she had flung over the dresses 
 she had taken out of one of her trunks, and 
 displayed to the keenly-appreciative eyes of 
 the old Frenchwoman a tempting pile of silk 
 and satin, heavy brocade and delicate lace, at 
 which they both gazed for some moments, not 
 without reverence. 
 
 *' Ah, yes, that is the dress madame wore 
 yesterday," said Eosalie, venturing to lay a 
 diffident brown claw on one of them when her 
 black eyes had taken note of every fold. ^'It 
 is very beautiful." 
 
 Madeline opened the trunk again, and drew 
 out another and more showy costume, with 
 much red and gold, which had had a succes 
 cV originalite at Auteuil. Eosalie's intelligent
 
 A Prince of Darhiess. 35 
 
 face lighted up suddenly at sight of it. 
 **Ah !" escaped sharply from her lips. 
 
 Madeline looked up. '*You have seen a 
 toilette like this hefore ?" she asked, trying to 
 speak carelessly. 
 
 *' No, madame ; I have only heard of one 
 toilette like that," answered Eosalie, whose 
 sharp eyes had noted every golden tassel, 
 every embroidered flower, on the crimson 
 velvet underskirt. 
 
 *^ Indeed ! and what toilette was that ?" 
 
 *' It was one worn at the races three months 
 ago by the mistress of the millionnaire, M. de 
 Breteuil." 
 
 Madeline had been prepared for a recogni- 
 tion, and had stood trifling with the drapery 
 of a skirt, ready to parry a question or to 
 listen to an exclamation. But there was one 
 word in the chambermaid's speech that struck 
 her dumb ; she had sometimes wondered what 
 was the position assigned to her by her hus- 
 band's friends, but never before had she heard 
 her degradation taken for granted. She re- 
 mained silent for a few minutes, and Eosalie, 
 whose respect for her had evidently risen much 
 
 3—2
 
 36 A Prince of Darkness. 
 
 higher since the discovery that Madame Louis 
 was the woman whose beauty and magnificent 
 toilettes had been the talk of Paris, began to 
 fear that she had been indiscreet. 
 
 *^ Madame may rely on my discretion/' 
 said she, with an elaborate air of mystery ; 
 '' and if, indeed, madame wishes to dispose of 
 these beautiful dresses, I can do so easily by 
 saying that they came into my hands through 
 your maid. I — I had heard," she continued, 
 *' that when M. de Breteuil started for India, 
 madame went with him ; therefore I did not 
 expect ever to have the honour " 
 
 She paused. Madeline's face had suddenly 
 changed. She had intended to correct the 
 mistake into which Kosalie had fallen, by 
 assuring her that she really was De BreteuiFs 
 wife ; but these last words told her that Louis 
 had not been recognised, and after a moment's 
 struggle she resolved to keep faithful to his 
 wish to remain unknown. 
 
 **Did you ever see M. de Breteuil?" she 
 asked. 
 
 ** No, madame. I recognised your mar- 
 vellous dress, because I had seen it at the
 
 A Prince of Darkness, 37 
 
 modiste's. I have a cousin who is employed 
 by Madame Eiiphrasie. But is madame sure 
 she will not need these dresses again ? I 
 know very well that ladies of madame' s posi- 
 tion do not wear their costumes more than a 
 few times ; but still, it seems a pity to part 
 with a dress like this " 
 
 '* I shall not want them again/' said 
 Madeline, shuddering. ** I wish to sell them, 
 to realize all the money I can, to take some 
 cheap and quiet rooms, and to live by teach- 
 ing. If you cannot help me " 
 
 ** On the contrary," broke in Kosalie viva- 
 ciously, " I can help madame in all these 
 things. I know Paris well. I can recom- 
 mend madame to some charming apartments 
 in the house of a friend of mine, and to a 
 school where an English governess is required, 
 if madame really means to condescend " 
 
 *' To earn an honest living," finished Made- 
 line very quietly. 
 
 Rosalie heaved a deep sigh, and looked at 
 the young Englishwoman with puzzled pity. 
 *' Ah, what a man !" she murmured enthusi- 
 astically, after a moment's pause. ** What
 
 38 A Prince of Darhiess, 
 
 stories one hears about liim, his magnificence, 
 his devihy ! And all the while I know one 
 little thing about him which would make 
 people speak of him so differently." 
 
 '' And what is that ?" asked Madeline. 
 
 '^ Ah ! madame must excuse me. A secret 
 about a person in the great world is valuable 
 property sometimes ; and when M. de Breteuil 
 returns from his travels, and settles in Paris 
 again, I may perhaps make use of it. Most of 
 these great gentlemen have a leaf turned down 
 in their history, they say, which they would 
 willingly tear out altogether. However, that 
 is not our affair at present. I will serve you 
 to the best of my power, madame, and charge 
 you but a reasonable commission." 
 
 Madeline had no choice but to trust her ; 
 and finding that the woman did, as far as she 
 could tell, keep her secret and deal fairly by 
 her, she took two humble rooms in the course 
 of the next few days over the cigar-shop of an 
 ex-vivandie)'c, who was the friend Rosalie had 
 recommended, and set about obtaining em- 
 ployment as a teacher of English. 
 
 She was surprised to find how easily she
 
 A Prince of Darkness. 39 
 
 had got over the wrench of partmg from 
 Louis ; a few weeks ago, the mere thought of 
 a temporary separation, such as he had told 
 her those mysteriously altered fortunes of his 
 might render necessary, had seemed to her 
 only less horrible than a threat of a living 
 tomb. She could not understand herself. 
 Was she cold after all, she wondered, as her 
 first husband had said, that she could take so 
 calmly the desertion of a man she had loved 
 so much ? Her calmness, if she had but 
 known it, was the clue to the puzzle. The 
 excitement of her passionate devotion to her 
 husband, the torments of repressed jealousy 
 she had suffered as his ambition for popularity 
 seemed to take him further and further away 
 from her, the culminating madness of her 
 devotion when reverse of fortune gave him 
 again to her and her only, and carking dis- 
 appointment at the discovery that her love 
 could not make him happy, had worn the 
 woman out until nothing but the embers of 
 emotion seemed left in her. The necessity of 
 work gave her passionate heart rest ; and she 
 devoted herself to the details of the sale of
 
 40 A Prince of Darkness. 
 
 her dresses, of her mstallation in her two 
 shabby rooms, and to the search for pupils 
 with a sort of pleasure which amazed her. 
 The remembrance of Mr. Staunton's kindness, 
 the letter Louis had made her write, the 
 strange fears she had had about it, scarcely 
 occupied her any longer except as a vague 
 dream-like incident that had passed and had 
 no connection with that life which at present 
 seemed so very narrow to her. She would 
 work very hard, and she would do all the 
 good she could ; for she had a hoiirgeois feel- 
 ing that the luxurious life she had led for the 
 first ten months of her second marriage needed 
 some sort of expiation. 
 
 But the calm did not last long. On the 
 fourth evening after Louis' departure, she was 
 passing by the hotel where she had stayed 
 with him, when she saw him standing in the 
 jwrte cochere. She stopped short, the blood 
 rushing to her head, and making it throb, and 
 dimming her sight. She was on the other 
 side of the road, and he did not look up ; but 
 she knew that he saw her, for Louis saw 
 everything and everybody, and it was one of
 
 A Prince of Darlcness. 41 
 
 his amiable characteristics to let liis friends 
 pass him, to save himself the trouble of a 
 salutation. Madeline's love had flashed into 
 full life at the first sight of him ; but even as 
 impulse urged her to rush across the road to 
 him, reason, waking too, told her that to do 
 so would be to put herself again at the mercy 
 of a cold and selfish tyrant, who did not want 
 her, and who would make her pay a heavy 
 price for his toleration of the infirmity of her 
 affection. After a struggle with herself so 
 short and so sharp that it was only like one 
 agonizing pang, she stepped forward to con- 
 tinue her walk ; then Louis looked at her with 
 an expression which was in reality simply one 
 of astonishment, but to her dazzled, blinded, 
 remorseful eyes it seemed eloquent with re- 
 proach and wounded feeling. In the same 
 moment it struck her that he looked ill, and 
 pale, and anxious ; and as she reached his 
 side she whispered humbly, slipping her hand 
 into his, and looking into his eyes with the 
 simple devotion of a dog, who does not con- 
 cern himself with the faults of his master: 
 ** Forgive me."
 
 42 A Prince of Darhiess. 
 
 Louis nodded at her magnanimously, though 
 he had not the slightest idea for what she asked 
 his forgiveness. She put her arm through his, 
 and led him in the direction of her new abode. 
 
 '^ I have had to take two cheaper rooms, 
 Louis. I am afraid you won't like them, for 
 they are rather small and not very well 
 furnished," she said, with some anxiety. 
 
 " Oh, well, you know I am not particular," 
 said he heroically. And she assented to this 
 with inward doubt. 
 
 ** Where have you been, Louis ?" she 
 asked, looking up at him affectionately. 
 '' You have been disappointed in the work 
 you went away for." 
 
 She felt his arm tremble for a second, and 
 he said sharply, '' "What do you mean ? 
 What makes you say that ?" 
 
 ^* Why, you said in your letter you would 
 be in Havre three weeks, and you are back 
 already." 
 
 '* Too soon, I suppose ?" 
 
 *' Oh yes, of course !" 
 
 The joy that thrilled the woman's low 
 voice as she uttered these words with a lazy
 
 A Prince of Darhiess. 43 
 
 laugh full of intense unspeakable happiness 
 made it plain that she wanted no explana- 
 tions, that the fact of his return was enough 
 for her. Still he explained, with great care, 
 deliberation, and clearness. 
 
 " I learnt on arriving at Havre," he said, 
 " that the correspondent whose place I had 
 gone to take was able to return much sooner 
 than he had expected, so that, finding my 
 occupation gone, I came back at once, eager 
 to see my darling ; but found, to my surprise, 
 that you had left the hotel." 
 
 Madeline said nothing ; she was in a 
 passion of self-reproach at her suspicions of 
 him ; she could only press his arm silently, 
 and, as they had now reached the house 
 where she lodged, she hurried him affection- 
 ately upstairs to her little sitting-room on the 
 top floor, lit the lamp, for evening was 
 closing in, and took up a basket Avith which 
 she always did her marketing. 
 
 **Now," said she, as she put a chair to 
 the table for him, '' I will leave you to enjoy 
 your paper, while I go and get something 
 nice for supper in honour of your return."
 
 44 A Prince of Darkness. 
 
 She kissed his forehead tenderly, and left 
 him. But away from the enchantment of 
 his actual presence, douhts crowded again 
 thickly in her mind. She began to perceive 
 that it was not love which had brought him 
 back to her ; that even in his reception of 
 her enthusiastic welcome his toleration of her 
 was even colder than it had been before : 
 perhaps it was poverty, perhaps it was 
 custom, but it was not affection which had 
 restored him to her; and she knew Louis 
 too well to suppose that it was duty. The 
 thought of Mr. Staunton flashed again across 
 
 her mind, but then Thank heaven ! 
 
 Louis had come back poor, so her fear that 
 he would work upon the Englishman's kind- 
 ness was proved groundless. And again the 
 old hope that her devotion might win the 
 whole of Louis' heart woke up in her, and 
 she rejoiced in the power her early training 
 had given her of working for him now that 
 reverse of fortune had dulled for a time his 
 energy and his spirits. Inspired by the 
 proud feeling of being able to do a little 
 towards repaying her husband for the happi-
 
 A Prince of Darhness. 45 
 
 ness he had been the first to make her taste, 
 she indulged in an extravagant outlay for 
 supper, and returning home, went upstairs 
 with a soft tread, thinking she would surprise 
 Louis by her speedy return. So she stole on 
 tiptoe into her bedroom, took off her bonnet, 
 and crept up to the looking-glass to arrange 
 her hair by the very little daylight there was 
 left. 
 
 In the midst of the flutter of bright ex- 
 citement into which her little trick had 
 thrown her, she was startled by hearing a 
 sound like a deep groan from the next room. 
 For a few moments she stood still, comb in 
 hand, listening ; but she heard nothing further 
 more alarming than the noise of a chair 
 being pushed back a little way. But the 
 fright, slight though it was, had damped her 
 spirits, and it was with a slower hand that 
 she took off her walking-dress and felt under 
 the dressing-table for her slippers. She could 
 not at first find them, and as she stretched 
 her arm out further in the search she touched 
 something close against the wall. Drawing 
 it out, she saw in the faint light that it
 
 46 A Prince of Darkness. 
 
 looked like a man's shirt, rolled up and 
 fastened with a pin. Her first impression 
 was that it had been forgotten under the 
 dressing-table by a former occupant of the 
 room ; but just at the moment that she 
 instinctively took the pin out, the door 
 opened so suddenly that she uttered a little 
 cry of surprise as Louis burst into the room. 
 
 ** Who's there ?" he called, in a loud harsh 
 voice. 
 
 ''It's all right, Louis; it's only I — 
 Madeline," she said, astonished by the sharp- 
 ness of his tone and by a wild scared look 
 on his face as his eyes seemed to flash round 
 the darkening room. 
 
 His glance then fell upon her as she sat on 
 the floor in deep shadow. 
 
 '^ Get up, then ; get up. What are you 
 hiding away there for ?" he asked sharply. 
 
 '' I am not hiding, Louis," she answered 
 gently, and was moving to get up when he 
 caught sight of the object in her hand. 
 
 '' What have you got there ?" said he, 
 and, stooping, he snatched it from her. 
 
 As he did so, with grasp not quite steady,
 
 A Prince of Darkness. 47 
 
 the shirt unrolled itself; and with horror 
 which seemed to stop her breath, Madeline 
 saw that on the cuffs, the front of the collar, 
 and far up on one of the sleeves, were great 
 dark stains. 
 
 "What is it? What is it?" she asked, 
 in a broken guttural whisper, after a minute's 
 silence, during which, with a curse, De 
 Breteuil had rolled it up again and tried to 
 thrust it into one of his pockets. 
 
 ''It is nothing — nothing. At leasts if you 
 
 must know But no, it would only 
 
 frighten you." 
 
 '' Tell me, tell me !" 
 
 *' Well, don't be frightened. As I was 
 walking by myself the day before yesterday 
 in a lonely place, near a wood, I was 
 attacked " 
 
 *' Attacked ! By a man ?" 
 
 *' No, no; by a wolf." 
 
 ''At Havre!" 
 
 "No. The fact is, I have deceived you, 
 My reverse of fortune, my inability to provide 
 for you, had driven me half mad, and I re- 
 solved to commit suicide. I drove to St.
 
 48 A Prince of Darkness, 
 
 Lazare, took the first train that started, found 
 myself in the morning at Nevers ; I took 
 another train to Autun, which I know well, 
 where there are woods, where I thought I 
 would shoot myself quietly. I was attacked, 
 as I tell you, by a wolf, and in defending my- 
 self, my instinctive clinging to life woke 
 again. I came back to Paris, not intending 
 to inflict my wretched presence upon you." 
 
 *' Then those marks — those stains — are 
 blood ?" she interrupted fearfully. 
 
 *' Yes, yes ; but only my wrists — nothing 
 serious. Don't be alarmed." 
 
 But she was not reassured ; some horrible 
 thought had taken possession of her. She 
 got up, and without a word more walked, 
 with undecided, staggering steps, and with 
 the fumbling slowness of a half-witted person, 
 through the door which led into the sitting- 
 room. De Breteuil half called to her ; but as 
 she paid no heed he began humming an air 
 with hard forced liveliness, and did not imme- 
 diately follow her. When he did so, she was 
 sitting with her back to him at the table, 
 poring over the newspaper as he had done.
 
 A Prince of Dai^hiess, 49 
 
 *' Well," said he cheerfully , " any news ?" 
 
 But as he laid his hand on her shoulder 
 she felt the touch of it grow suddenly heavy : 
 for he saw what it was that she was reading, 
 and knew what significance she gave to it. 
 It was a paragraph which ran as follows : 
 
 ** The name of the English gentleman who 
 so suddenly and mysteriously disappeared 
 from the Hotel Collet, Lyons, on Tuesday, 
 after leaving word that he should return in 
 time for dinner, has been ascertained to be 
 Staunton or Stanton. He is said to have 
 had property of value with him, and it is con- 
 jectured that he may have met with foul play. 
 He was last seen at five minutes past two on 
 Tuesday afternoon at the railway-station of 
 Neuville " 
 
 Neuville ! Madeline read no further : it 
 was the name Louis had scrawled on the top 
 of the note he had made her write to Mr. 
 Staunton. In a moment she understood the 
 horrible share he had forced her to take in a 
 scheme of appalling cowardice, treachery, and 
 ingratitude. There was complete silence in 
 the room for a few leaden moments ; then she 
 
 VOL. I. -1
 
 50 A Prince of Darkness. 
 
 raised her head and met De Breteuil's shift- 
 ing, sidelong look, and he read the terrible 
 indictment in her eyes. 
 
 For all the man's audacity, the opinion of 
 others floated or sank him ; now that this 
 woman knew his ghastly secret^ and showed 
 her abhorrence in her face, his features wore 
 the hunted, degraded look of the coward and 
 the cut- throat. He could not meet her wild 
 eyes, and after standing for a few moments 
 restlessly before her, he suddenly turned, 
 snatched up his hat, and slunk out of the 
 room towards the staircase. He had gone 
 some steps down when a hoarse whisper from 
 above stopped him. 
 
 '^ Louis, where are you going ?" 
 
 '' I don't know. And what is that to you, 
 as long as you get rid of me ?" 
 
 His voice was low, hard, reckless, the 
 voice of a man in the lowest stage of abject 
 hopelessness. A pause, and then he went 
 down another stair. 
 "^^* Louis!" 
 
 ^^Well/' 
 
 *' You will let me know where you go ?"
 
 A Prince of Darhiess. 51 
 
 *^ Why ? why ?" 
 
 " The woman who can turn a man off just 
 when the whole world is against him does 
 not deserve that he should remember her." 
 
 Her apparent reluctance to part with him, 
 even now, was causing his self-esteem to re- 
 vive, and his voice was not without grandilo- 
 quent sonorit}^ 
 
 ''Louis, I did not turn you off — I don't 
 turn you off. Come back. I am your wife ; I 
 will comfort you, save you. It was only 
 that — that — I was so happy — to have you 
 back ; and then the change was so sudden — 
 and so dreadful ! Come !" 
 
 For an instant he tried to assume a digni- 
 fied attitude of hesitation, but the offer was 
 too evidently one not to be refused. He 
 turned, slunk up the stairs, and shuffled back 
 into the sitting-room. There at last a spark 
 of gratitude was struck out of the craven 
 nature, and he fell, sobbing and murmuring 
 incoherent thanks, on to the neck of the 
 woman who had stood every test, caressing 
 her and calling her his comfort, his salvation. 
 
 4—2 
 
 ^f OF ILL LIB.
 
 52 A Prince of Darhiess, 
 
 But the sound of his voice was changed in 
 her ears, and the touch of his hand thrilled 
 her not now with tenderness, but with horror. 
 For her love was dead. It had died in the 
 moment that she learnt that he was a traitor 
 and a coward ; and as he buried his head on 
 her shoulder, and poured out the passionate 
 words for which she had longed as the desert- 
 parched traveller for water, only the resolu- 
 tion that straightened her lips, and the sense 
 of duty that shone in her cold eyes, enabled 
 her to force down her disgust, and to bear 
 like a lifeless statue the kisses of the husband 
 for whom a week ago she would have died.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Tpie moment when Madeline de Breteuil's 
 sense of her duty as a wife had triumphed 
 over her loathing for a cowardly crime had 
 been to Louis a revelation in his knowledge 
 of women so astonishing, so complete, that a 
 revival of her love for him might, perhaps, 
 have worked in his hard yet not specially 
 strong character some sort of repentance, 
 some sort of temporary reformation. But 
 that was beyond her power. Pity for his 
 abject state after her discovery of his 
 crime lent her manner a gentleness which 
 he mistook at first for the old fondness ; 
 but he was too sharp -sighted to be long 
 deceived ; and when he found that it was 
 with difficulty that she schooled herself to 
 receive his tardy advances passively, that
 
 54 A Prince of Darkness. 
 
 she would talk, laugh, work, cook, do any- 
 thing to keep him for a little while at a 
 distance, his wretched pride took fire, and he 
 kept aloof from her in sullen disdain, which 
 she could only make most faint-hearted efforts 
 to break through. 
 
 There is a touch of nobility, a grace 
 beyond the reach of commonplace humanity, 
 in a nature which can bear the strain of 
 a deep gratitude. When Louis de Breteuil 
 discovered that Madeline would not break 
 the monotony of his retirement from the 
 world by returning his reviving passion, 
 he soon found the burden of his debt to her 
 extremely irksome. But he had no money, 
 and for the moment seemed to be without 
 the energy to make any, by fair means or 
 foul ; and Madeline, whom early training had 
 taught to be frugal, could at least, with 
 the proceeds of the sale of her dresses and 
 with her small earnings, keep both him and 
 herself from starving. 
 
 So they passed ten days of an uneasy 
 domesticity : Madeline living in a fever of 
 horrible imaginings, picturing the murder
 
 A Prince oj Darkness. 55 
 
 about which she dared not question him, 
 fearing that the police might be on his track ; 
 while he, on the contrary, seemed to fall into 
 a state of torpor, in which — as far as his wife 
 could see — neither remorse nor apprehension 
 had any share. She wondered how it was 
 that, since robbery was his only possible 
 motive, Louis seemed now to be worse off 
 than ever ; for, whatever his moral defects 
 might be, he was far too keen of intellect to 
 handicap himself with the dangerous responsi- 
 bilities of an unnecessary crime. She knew 
 also that the securities which Mr. Staunton 
 had told her, in Louis' hearing, that he 
 had with him would be property so dangerous 
 as to be almost valueless in the hands of 
 a man unconnected with the Stock Exchange 
 and ignorant of the course of affairs on it. 
 At first De Breteuil spent all his time indoors, 
 smoking, and reading novels in stolid indif- 
 ference to everything but the quality of the 
 meals she provided. But at the end of a 
 week he showed signs of awakening restless- 
 ness, and went regularly out by himself for 
 twenty minutes at a time every morning and
 
 56 A Prince of Darhiess. 
 
 every night. He never brought home any 
 newspapers and never asked to see any, but 
 MadeHne used to buy and read them with 
 feverish haste on her way to and from the 
 school where she now gave lessons in English 
 for two hours every day. 
 
 Twice she read short paragraphs stating 
 that nothing further had been heard of the 
 missing Englishman ; but the affair had 
 evidently taken no hold upon public curiosity 
 until the tenth day after Louis' return, when 
 a long sensational article appeared in the 
 Figaro, containing copies of telegrams sent 
 from London to Turin, from Turin to London, 
 and from both these places to Marseilles and 
 Lyons, all concerning an English stockbroker 
 who had not been heard of for thirteen days, 
 and who was supposed to have absconded 
 with securities to the amount of between 
 eighteen and twenty thousand pounds. The 
 missing man had held the high character 
 essential to a daring and successful coup of this 
 kind, and the fact that for more than a week 
 no letters or telegrams had been received 
 from him had aroused no suspicion until the
 
 A Prince of DarJcness. 57 
 
 discovery was made that certain shares openly 
 sold on the London Stock Exchange were the 
 property of a client of Mr. Staunton, a 
 gentleman residing at Turin. It was a clerk 
 in Mr. Staunton's office who made this 
 discovery and communicated it to the junior 
 partner. The latter at once set inquiries on 
 foot, and traced the sale of the shares, for the 
 delivery of which in Turin Mr. Staunton had 
 been responsible, to a young clerk on the 
 Stock Exchange, w^ho had disappeared on the 
 morning after the fortnightly account, after 
 cashing to the amount of several thousand 
 pounds the cheques he had received for the 
 sale of shares and bonds which, on examina- 
 tion, proved to correspond, with the exception 
 of some foreign bonds not easily negotiable 
 which had disappeared, with the property a 
 Mr. Staunton had undertaken to deliver to his 
 client at Turin. The Figaro gave the name 
 of the absconding clerk, supposed to be in 
 collusion with the defaulting Mr. Staunton, a& 
 '' Memdish." 
 
 Madeline crept home that afternoon almost 
 stupefied by the weight of guilt which seemed
 
 58 A Prince of Darkness. 
 
 to fall only on her. It was four o'clock 
 "when she reached her little sitting-room, and 
 Louis was out. She sat for a few minutes 
 staring stupidly at the white clouds in the 
 sky ; then, having long ago exhausted every 
 feeling of suspicion, misery, and fear, sho 
 rose and wondered dully why her hushand 
 did not return. It w^as the first time he had 
 been out at this hour, and the fear seized her 
 that suspicion might have fallen on liim, 
 and that he might be already in the grasp of 
 the law. She had not yet taken off hei 
 bonnet, so she ran downstairs to watch 
 and wait for him in the street. He never 
 told her where he went during his daily 
 absences, so that it was chance which made 
 her turn to the left, stop at the first corner, 
 and look up and down the street which 
 crossed hers, until she saw, going into a 
 cabaret some distance off, two men, one of 
 whom she fancied she recognised as Louis. 
 She went quickly up the street in tliat 
 direction, and, unnoticed in the crowd of 
 foot-passengers, managed to peep into the 
 little wine-shop. Sitting at a table close to
 
 A Prince of Darkness. 59 
 
 the door were the two men whose entrance 
 she had watched. One of them was De 
 Breteuil, and slie saw at the first glance that 
 his sullen listlessness was gone. He was 
 flushed and animated, his head was erect, and 
 he wore, for the first time since his downfall 
 — not into crime, but into poverty — the 
 exiDression of bold and cynical recklessness 
 which had been the most striking and the 
 most admired characteristic of his face in the 
 days when he was king of the fashions of the 
 boulevards. 
 
 Madeline noticed all this curiously, wonder- 
 ing what was the reason of the change in 
 him ; and then she saw him put his right hand 
 — which was the one nearest to the window — 
 carelessly into his coat-pocket, and draw out 
 a tight little roll of paper, with an elastic 
 band round it. He slipped off the elastic, 
 and, smoothing out the papers, began to count 
 them : and she saw that they were English 
 bank-notes. "Whose money was that?" 
 she asked herself, shivering and pressing closer 
 to the window. She had been so fascinated 
 as she watched every movement of Louis'
 
 GO A Prince of DarJcness. 
 
 that her eyes had not turned for a second to 
 his companion, whose back was towards her. 
 8he would have been able, had she left the 
 window at that moment, to tell that he was 
 short and broad, and shabbily dressed, but 
 no more. However, at that moment he sat 
 back and moved his chair a few inches, so 
 that the light might fall upon the glass of 
 wine he held in his hand ; and by the move- 
 ment, though she could not see his face, she 
 knew him. It was her first husband, Robert 
 Meredith ! 
 
 The moment after her recognition of him, 
 Madeline suddenly remembered where she was, 
 suddenly became conscious of the hurrying 
 crowd around her, and glanced from right to 
 left with a hot blush in her face, under the 
 impression that she had uttered a wild shriek ; 
 but no one was taking the least notice of her. 
 So she looked again, shaking from head to 
 foot, and trying to understand. One thing 
 only in the confusion of her mind was clear 
 to her : she was not the wife of a murderer. 
 Her heart leapt up with passionate relief at 
 the thought. But fast upon that followed the
 
 A Prince of Darhiess. 61 
 
 consciousness of the terrible position in which 
 the perfidy of these two wretches had placed 
 her ; and then came the longing to be re- 
 venged upon them both, a longing fierce and 
 hungry as the impulses of an enraged animal, 
 as she stood panting before the window, witli 
 her hands curved like claws, her great eyes 
 luminous with passion, and her red lips parted 
 in straight lines over teeth that looked hideous 
 and dangerous in their gleaming whiteness. 
 Again she had lost herself in intent savage 
 contemplation of the two men, when a dis- 
 agreeable croaking laugh close at her ear 
 startled her. Turning her head sharply, she 
 saw Kosalie, the old chambermaid, whose lean 
 leather-coloured face was wrinkled up with 
 most flattering interest in her neighbour's 
 aifairs. She glanced alternately at Madeline 
 and at the pair in the wine-shop, and seemed 
 to perceive enough significance in the situa- 
 tion to enjoy it most heartily. Still, she 
 was evidently curious to understand it better, 
 and she gently detained the young English- 
 woman by the hand as she was turning 
 abruptly away.
 
 62 A Prince of Darkness. 
 
 '^ Pardon, madame/' croaked she softly, 
 *' I have not met you for a whole week, and 
 I should so much like to know how you are 
 getting on, if you would he so kind as to let 
 me walk with you a little way." 
 
 Madeline assented with no very clear inten- 
 tion, but with the feeling that this shrewd 
 Frenchwoman, vv^ith her world-knowledge and 
 her professed acquaintance with a secret in 
 Louis' life, might be useful or might be 
 dangerous, but was not to be despised. She 
 gave one last look into the wine-shop, where 
 De Breteuil, still in high spirits, was trying 
 to raise those of his companion to the same 
 level by liberal draughts of wine, which the 
 other swallowed steadily, and cursed for 
 *' d — d French rubbish" at the same time. 
 Then the two women moved away together, 
 and Madeline told the other that she had 
 some pupils and hoped to have more, and 
 that she was getting on very well indeed. 
 But Eosalie's information was ahead of all this. 
 
 ** And monsieur has come back, I hear, 
 so that madame is no longer dull," she sug- 
 gested simply.
 
 A Frince of Darhiess. 63 
 
 '^Oli no, I am not dull," said Madeline, 
 with irrepressible bitterness. 
 
 ' ' And monsieur looks gayer than he used 
 to do while at the hotel ; I never saw a man 
 more changed in a short time. I used to 
 think how hard it was for a devoted young 
 wife to see her husband so miserable ; but to- 
 day " 
 
 Madeline turned sharply towards her, with 
 such a look of agony on her face that the 
 woman's tongue stopped. 
 
 " We will not talk of him," Madeline said, 
 with difficulty; '* he is — not — my husband." 
 And the shame of the woman, as she faltered 
 out the terrible admission, with an effort to 
 assume a tone of callous indifference, brought 
 a blush into her face which burnt like a 
 brand. *' Let us talk of M. de Breteuil; he 
 was a nobler man, he would not have treated 
 me as this — this Louis, Monsieur Louis, is 
 doing. I cannot bear it — I hate him, he 
 neglects me ; I — I think I am — tired of 
 him." 
 
 But the affectation of flippant indifference 
 with which she said this was far too trans-
 
 64 A Prince of Darkness. 
 
 parent to deceive Eosalie, who shrugged her 
 shoulders, but looked rather sorry for her. 
 
 **Ah, yes, M. de Breteuil, he would no 
 doubt have treated madarce differently," said 
 she, in a tone from which it was impossible 
 to tell whether or no she guessed M. Louis' 
 identity. '' He did everything en pinceJ' 
 
 *'Yet you told me once that you knew 
 something which would change people's 
 opinion of him ? Will you tell me the 
 secret, Rosalie ?" 
 
 ^* I cannot, madame. I am getting old, I 
 am nearly fifty, and I look upon that little 
 secret as property which may some day 
 increase my income — a retiring pension, 
 perhaps, when my limbs grow too stiff for 
 active service." 
 
 ^' I cannot afford to buy secrets now, but I 
 have still, as you can see, some fondness left 
 for M. de Breteuil, and I should not like to 
 see him hurt without " 
 
 *' Without having a hand in the matter. I 
 understand, madame," said Rosalie simply. 
 And her keen commercial instinct perceiving 
 a possible customer, she added, ^' I shall be
 
 A Prince of Darhiess, 65 
 
 probably at the same hotel for the rest of my 
 working days, madame, and the proprietor, 
 M. Denis, will always be able to give you my 
 address when I leave. I hope madame will 
 never be so ill-advised as to — to attempt to 
 quarrel with, or to stand against, M. de 
 Breteuil," she added, in a kindlier tone of 
 warning. ^' You are young, handsome ; you 
 have the world before you, and with the 
 power of your beauty you can rule men — 
 other men. But leave M. de Breteuil alone. 
 He has resources you do not know of, which 
 you had better not guess. If you are dis- 
 satisfied with his treatment of you, revenge 
 yourself, but on other men. Believe me, it 
 would be better for you to throw yourself into 
 the Seine, or even to be scarred with small- 
 pox, than to tempt Fate by defying M. de 
 Breteuil." 
 
 ''Thank you, Rosalie," said Madeline, 
 more impressed by the unexpected earnest- 
 ness of the hard-featured woman, with the 
 lines of avarice and suspicion so strongly 
 marked in her face, than by the warning, 
 which she did not interfd to heed. 
 
 VOL. I. 5
 
 6G A Prince of Darkness, 
 
 They were at the corner of the street. 
 The young EngHshwoman held out her hand, 
 which the other took with more than conven- 
 tional respect. 
 
 " I shall not see you again, Eosalie, for I 
 am going to leave Paris very soon." 
 
 " Good-bye, madame ; wherever you may 
 be going, I wish you all prosperity and 
 happiness." 
 
 But even as she spoke this good wish, it 
 was evident that the last part was only a 
 conventional utterance, for in the face of the 
 young Englishwoman as she thanked her and 
 walked away there was a fixed, hard expres- 
 sion which told that faith and hope, the 
 springs of happiness, were dried up in her 
 for ever. 
 
 Madeline, left alone, reached her rooms 
 very quickly, unlocked one of her large 
 trunks, and began to pack it for a journey. 
 She collected the few things she wanted to 
 take with her besides what it already con- 
 tained, and felt pleased to find that the one 
 trunk would hold everything she wanted. 
 Then, when she had only the top tray left to
 
 A Prince of DarJcness. 67 
 
 fill, she remembered that she must pay her 
 rent up to the end of the week, and going 
 quickly downstairs to the little cigar-shop, 
 she found her landlady, haggled with much 
 spirit over the point of the next week's rent 
 in lieu of notice which the ex-vivandiere 
 wanted to exact, and came upstairs again 
 victorious, after having persuaded her to be 
 content without it, and, moreover, to buy for 
 a small sum her spare trunk and a few other 
 things she could not take away with her. 
 She was tossing on to the floor out of her 
 writing-case a couple of notes and a dried 
 flower out of a bouquet from Louis, when the 
 sound of his footsteps on the stairs suddenly 
 destroyed her busy calmness, and forced her 
 to lean, trembling and cold with dread, upon 
 the edge of the trunk she was filling. 
 
 She heard him enter the sitting-room, sing- 
 ing. He called her by name, and the sound 
 of his voice, to which she did not reply, 
 braced her for the meeting. When he flung 
 open the bedroom door, she was still on her 
 knees, quietly packing. 
 
 *' Madeline!" said he, in astonishment. 
 
 5—2
 
 68 A Prince of Darkness, 
 
 *' What on earth are you doing ? Didn't 
 you hear me call you ?" 
 
 **Yes," said she quietly, "I heard you; 
 but I am busy rearranging my trunks." 
 
 Her tone evidently surprised him. He 
 had been used lately to tones in which duty 
 predominated over love, but to-day even the 
 duty seemed to fail. He stepped forward 
 into the room, stooped down, and looked into 
 her face. His own was bright with the same 
 expression of gay triumph and content which 
 it had worn in the wine -shop. 
 
 "You are dull, my princess,'' said he care- 
 lessly. *^ You have lived too long in these 
 wretched little pigeon-holes ; you must come 
 back to the boulevards, and your spirits will 
 come back with new dresses and new trinkets. 
 No wonder you are pining : it is three months 
 since you have worn diamonds." 
 
 "I don't want diamonds indeed, Louis, 
 thank you." 
 
 ** Ah, well, the taste will come back with 
 the means of satisfying it. You want change, 
 you w^ant excitement, Madeline ; thank 
 Heaven! I have at last the means of sup-
 
 A Prince of Darkness, 69 
 
 plying you with them. To-night we will 
 dine together at Brebant's ; and champagne 
 shall bring the colour to your cheeks, and 
 the light to your eyes, and the love to your 
 heart too ; even that has run a little dry of 
 late for want of its proper food of presents 
 and playthings/' 
 
 Madeline looked up suddenly : it was 
 impossible that he did not know the absurdity 
 of his accusation. Yet he stood there playing 
 with his purse, as light-hearted, as full of 
 happy excitement, as a schoolboy who has 
 just been ** tipped " by his maiden aunt with 
 a five-pound note. 
 
 '* Look here," he went on, without noticing 
 her expression or without heeding it. And 
 he took her left hand and poured into it a 
 dozen or so of twenty-franc pieces. He felt 
 her hand twitch and tremble as if the coins 
 had been red-hot, but he closed her fingers 
 upon them and laughed into her face. 
 " These will ease the burden of life a little, 
 I think, Madeline." 
 
 Again she looked up at him, her face pale 
 and damp, her great eyes glistening. ^^ Where
 
 70 A Prince of Darhiess, 
 
 did you get this money ?" she asked slowly, 
 in a voice so hoarse, so hard, so unlike her 
 own, that he dropped her hand, and stepped 
 back from her impatiently. 
 
 *' Who has put it into your head to cate- 
 chise me ?" he asked coldly, *' and to treat 
 me to an unrehearsed tragedy when I offer 
 you the pleasures you used to delight in ? 
 You should not ask questions, especially 
 when you know that you would not be 
 satisfied with the answers. The best thing 
 you can do now, Madeline, is to forget as 
 quickly as possible the disagreeable interlude 
 of poverty and wretchedness which I would 
 have spared you if I could, come back with 
 me to the bright life you enjoyed so much, 
 and rely upon me not to let such an unfortu- 
 nate accident disturb your peace again.'* 
 
 *' Unfortunate accident!" she repeated 
 stupidly. 
 
 '^Yes; and take care, you are dropping 
 your money. You will find it slip through 
 your fingers quite fast enough ; and then, for 
 all your contempt for it, you will come asking 
 me for more."
 
 A Prince of Darhness, 71 
 
 ^' More ! More of this money!" she 
 whispered huskily, as, opening her hand, she 
 let the gold fall on to the floor, and drew her 
 dress away from it. Then she cleared her 
 throaty and, attempting to go on with the 
 work of arranging the contents of her trunk, 
 she added quietly, with strong constraint upon 
 herself : '' You have misunderstood me, Louis ; 
 I have never cared much for your money/' 
 
 *' Perhaps I have misunderstood you less 
 than you think, Madeline," said he, with 
 some tenderness, as he drew a little nearer 
 to her ; and she grew suddenly still, fearing 
 lest he should touch her again, knowing as 
 she did that she should not be able to bear 
 the horror of it a second time. She wanted 
 to repress herself until he should leave her, 
 so that she might escape quietly and without 
 disturbance out of his sight, out of his reach. 
 But he continued in tones that grew warmer 
 as he proceeded: *'You think, perhaps, that 
 because I have been too much cast down of 
 late either to cheer you or be cheered by you, 
 I have not noticed your devotion, or been 
 touched by it. But I have. And though
 
 72 A Prince of Darkness. 
 
 the weight of anxiety upon me has made me 
 morose and bearish to you, I have said to 
 myself all the time, * When the cloud has 
 passed, she will have her reward/ It has 
 passed now, and my ill-humour has melted as 
 your coldness must melt, and we will have 
 the old times, and better times still, Madeline, 
 and to-night we must seal the new bond with 
 champagne and laughter/' 
 
 He flung his arm round her as she cowered 
 on the floor. But she wrenched herself 
 shivering away from him, and rose, white 
 and panting, to her feet. For one moment 
 he paused, drawing himself up with a frown 
 which frightened her ; then he threw the end 
 of his cigar out of the wdndow, and crossed 
 the room to her. 
 
 " Is this the congratulation I am to receive 
 from my wife ?" And he laid his hand 
 heavily on her shoulder. '* Come, be reason- 
 able. Kiss me — say you're sorry." 
 
 Madeline was tall and broad and strong — 
 in physical strength almost his equal ; moved 
 by an overpowering impulse of rage, terror, 
 and disgust, she pushed him away from her
 
 A Prince of Darhiess. 73 
 
 with such force that he fell staggering back 
 against the door of the small room. *' Don't 
 touch me/' she hissed as he recovered him- 
 self; *' I am not your wife V 
 
 De Breteuil steadied himself, and made no 
 further attempt to approach her; but the 
 horrible pallor of his dark face as he looked 
 across at her, and the lurid light that seemed 
 to shoot out of his black eyes, for an instant 
 made him appear less than human. Whether 
 he had seen her at the window of the wine- 
 shop that afternoon she did not know, but he 
 said quietly : '' That is true, and if you are 
 anxious to go back to the husband who got 
 over your loss so easily, you are quite at 
 liberty to do so. But if you are wise you 
 will stay with me, and thank Heaven I am 
 still willing to have you. I may be as great 
 a villain as he, but at any rate I am a more 
 successful one. No woman has ever had for 
 me the charm you have had since I found 
 you ready to stick to me through everything, 
 in spite of circumstances which I own would 
 have frightened off a namby-pamby woman. 
 I will forgive you the little outburst of this
 
 74 A Prince of Darkness. 
 
 afternoon, I will love you the more for it ; 
 and if you will stay with me I will give you 
 everything in the world you can wish for, 
 provided only that you will have the sense to 
 be content with your own happiness, and not 
 pry into the means used to procure it. Will 
 you love me on those terms ?" 
 
 *' No. I loathe you from the very depths of 
 my soul. I bore with you, sheltered you in 
 spite of my horror at your crime, because I 
 believed you to be my husband ; now my joy 
 at finding I am not bound to you is stronger 
 even than the sense of my own degradation. 
 You have tricked me shamefully " 
 
 '* Nonsense !" he interrupted sharply. 
 '' You were lonely, poor, deserted by a 
 scoundrel ; I gave you — you acknowledged it 
 — love and fortune and happiness. I re- 
 spected you enough to know that you would 
 not come with me except as my wife ; there- 
 fore I had to prove to you that your husband 
 w^as dead. Now that you have found out 
 that he is alive, the best thing you can do is 
 to forget it again." 
 
 *' Unfortunately I cannot, for I have found 
 out more than that," said she slowly.
 
 A Prince of Darkness, 75 
 
 There was a pause, during wliicli they 
 looked at each other steadily. Madeline had 
 cast off all restraint, and the hatred that 
 shone out of her gray eyes and made lines in 
 her beautiful face was not less strong and 
 scarcely less terrible than the fiendish malig- 
 nity that from time to time flashed out from 
 his, when her fierce words stung him. 
 
 '' What have you found out ?" 
 
 ** I have found out that you and my dear 
 husband have entered into a partnership 
 which ought to be a most successful one — for 
 a time. You are hard and daring, he is 
 clever and easily led ; he has a conscience it 
 is easy to stifle, you have no conscience at 
 all. Don't scowl at me — I am not afraid of 
 you ; I know you both well, though I have 
 only learnt the lesson this afternoon. But 
 some day success in crime, for I suppose you 
 will hardly stop at one robbery and one 
 murder — yes, murder! — Touch me if you 
 dare !" as he started menacingly, with scowl- 
 ing, livid face, staring at her in the dusk over 
 the open trunk and the scattered unpacked 
 trifles that strewed the disordered room.
 
 76 A Prince of Darhiess, 
 
 '' Some clay success will make you careless, 
 and one of you will make some little slip — 
 my husband most likely, in a fit of drunken 
 pleasure or drunken remorse," said she, with 
 biting contempt; ''and that little mistake, 
 whatever it may be, will be forgotten, and 
 you will think yourselves safe. But wher- 
 ever and whenever you make it, I shall find 
 it out — I, the woman whom you have both 
 conspired to ruin and degrade as no loving 
 woman, as I was, ever was degraded yet. 
 And I will work and wait and watch, 
 wherever you are and whatever you are doing, 
 until I have made a net about your feet 
 which will bring you both down." 
 
 It was not a pleasant discourse to have to 
 listen to from the white lips of a woman 
 whose eyes seemed to shoot fire, and whose 
 voice grew lower and lower, until the last 
 words were hissed into the ears of the man 
 before her with a venom which left its mark. 
 As she ended, De Breteuil sprang at her ; but 
 she was prepared for this, and, evading him, 
 she ran round her trunk to the bell-rope, and 
 pulled it twice violently. This movement
 
 A Prince of Darkness. 77 
 
 brought her to the door of the sitting-room, 
 which she pushed open. 
 
 "What did you do that for?'' asked he 
 savagely. 
 
 " To call up Madame Despland." 
 
 " What do you want her for ?" 
 
 '' I wish to declare before a witness that 
 you are the murderer of Mr. Staunton ; that 
 you are in collusion with Eobert Meredith, 
 who disposed of the stock stolen from Mr. 
 Staunton by you ; that " 
 
 ** Are you mad ?" 
 
 "No. If 3^ou wish to avoid exposure, 
 leave me this instant ; if you remain, I 
 svv^ear " 
 
 She had said enough — she had looked 
 enough. De Breteuil opened the outer door, 
 against which he was standing, and treated 
 her to one last scowl, which would have 
 frightened anyone but an enraged woman. 
 Nothing more impressive than the ordinary 
 threat of the wife-beating costermonger oc- 
 curred to him, but he said it with more than 
 the costermonger's significance : " I've not 
 done with you yet !"
 
 78 A Prince of Darkness. 
 
 As footsteps were heard upon the stairs, he 
 slipped out of the room. 
 
 When De Breteuil rejoined his accomplice, 
 his spirits had fallen a good deal, and in ex- 
 planation he told Meredith of the scene which 
 had just taken place. He made light of 
 Madeline's threats, hut the other was really 
 alarmed. 
 
 ** Fancy her turning so nasty !" he said 
 plaintively. *' I don't half like it, that I 
 don't ; she always was a woman for keeping 
 her word.'' 
 
 *' All infernal bravado; she can |)rove 
 nothing," said De Breteuil shortly. 
 
 *' But won't you keep her in sight ? I 
 think it would be safer." 
 
 *'Not so easy, and not worth while. 
 Before the week is out she will have found 
 some one able to make her forget you and me." 
 
 ''And a good thing too! For she was a 
 lot too good for either of us," said the other, 
 with maudlin compunction. ''Couldn't you 
 — couldn't you at least find out what she's 
 going to do, and if — if she's got money, and 
 is— is all right ?"
 
 A Prince of Darkness. 79 
 
 He insisted until De Breteuil, moved also 
 by another motive, went round to the house 
 that evening, crept upstairs, and tried to 
 open the doors of the rooms Madeline had 
 occupied. But they were locked. He went 
 downstairs to make inquiries, and found that 
 she had left Paris two hours before, alone. 
 
 And as he lit a fresh cigar he drew out of 
 his pocket with his match-box a little case 
 that looked as if it contained a pipe, and, 
 opening it, looked affectionately at a beautiful 
 little revolver which lay in it, and congratu- 
 lated himself that Madeline's abrupt dis- 
 appearance had saved him from a dangerous 
 temptation. 
 
 ** But if we should ever cross each other's 
 
 path again " he said to himself aloud. 
 
 And without finishing his sentence, he blew 
 out the match with which he had lit his 
 cigar, and tossed it away. 
 
 END OF PROLOGUE.
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 It is the end of March, 1883 — ten years and 
 eight months since the long-forgotten dis- 
 appearance of the English stockbroker, Mr. 
 Staunton. After a mild winter, the weather 
 has suddenly changed, the air has become 
 keen and cold, and the north wind sweeps 
 over the flat country round Calais and St. 
 Omer, biting more sharply than frost, bending 
 low the bare branches of the poplai -trees that 
 border the roads, and nipping the cold faces 
 and fingers of the few peasants at work in the 
 fields. 
 
 It had been a hard winter for the poor 
 about there, both in town and country. The 
 lace factories of Calais and St. Pierre had not 
 been in full work ; there had been sickness in 
 the villages, press of poverty among the un-
 
 A Prince of Darkness. 81 
 
 employed. The poor of St. Pierre, and of 
 the district lying for some miles to the east 
 of the town of Calais, found especial cause for 
 complaint ; for the old cure of the former 
 place, a man whose devotion to his parishioners 
 during the cholera plague of 1866 had made 
 him their ido], was ill himself; and the little 
 country house, where the peasantry of the 
 barren sandy sea-coast had been always sure 
 of a draught in time of sickness or a dinner 
 in time of want, was half shut up, its invalid 
 master, Mr. Beresford, having spent the 
 winter at Nice. 
 
 Yet one more trouble, more vivid, more 
 ghastly than the rest, had made the months 
 of darkness and cold terrible to the unfortunate 
 country people. Every afternoon, as the 
 weak winter sunlight faded out of the sky and 
 the mist rose higher and higher from the 
 ground, the soUtary worker in the fields, the 
 man walking by himself along the high-road, 
 would cross himself, if he was rehgious, and 
 would, in any case, keep a sharp look-out if 
 he had to pass a bit of hedge, a clump of 
 trees, or any object which might afford a 
 
 VOL. T. 6
 
 82 A Prince of Darhiess. 
 
 hiding-place ; and he would turn quickly round 
 from time to time, to glance behind him and 
 make sure that he was not followed. For 
 there was an enemy about, whose shape no 
 one knew. Some said it was a Avolf that the 
 winter had brought from the far-off Ardennes, 
 which attacked lonely travellers by night, and 
 prowled round farmhouses and round the 
 staring white buildings with perpendicular 
 roofs and symmetrically shuttered windows, 
 wliere retired tradesmen lived with their 
 families. And the more stubbornly ignorant 
 and unprogressive minds thought that it was 
 the devil, with the traditional panoply of horns 
 and hoofs and tail, that had been seen, always 
 at night, lurking in the vicinity of houses 
 which the morning light showed to have been 
 entered and robbed. But others argued that 
 neither wolf nor devil would find a use for the 
 money which seemed to be the sole object 
 of the unknown marauder ; and it was these 
 cooler-headed reasoners who laid stress upon 
 the fact that, with very sound human judgment, 
 these attacks were always made upon persons 
 w^hose pockets repaid the trouble of plunder.
 
 A Prince of Darkness. 83 
 
 But uo one could make anything better than 
 a wildly speculative guess as to what rogue 
 it was who, living in their midst, and having 
 an intimate acquaintance with their affairs, 
 had turned his knowledge to account in this 
 audacious and discreditable manner ; and as 
 the victims declared unanimously that it was 
 no man that, with burning eyes and white 
 fangs, had pulled them down, and blinded 
 them, and growled over them, and held them 
 fast, until they heard a faint whistle and sud- 
 denly found themselves free, no supporter of 
 either opinion could bring convincing proof 
 of the truth of the one he held. 
 
 In the towns these petty robberies excited 
 little attention, until a victim of superior posi- 
 tion to the rest, a notary, who had been 
 attacked while returning in his carriole to his 
 home in Ardres, after drawing some money 
 from a bank in Calais, clamoured loudly at 
 his loss, and raised an outcry against the 
 supineness of the police in the matter. He 
 wrote and he talked, until people were forced 
 to read and forced to listen, and a spice of 
 warmer interest was imparted to the affair by 
 
 6—2
 
 84 A Prince of Darkness. 
 
 his mysterious hints that he could give more 
 than a guess at the identity of his assailant ; 
 so that within four or five days after the 
 attack, M. Dupont's appearance in any public 
 place became an event of interest, and his in- 
 nuendoes, which grew daily clearer, concern- 
 ing young men with expensive tastes and nig- 
 gardly parents, stimulated public curiosity and 
 gave rise to much speculative controversy. 
 
 It was on the sixth day after his loss that, 
 in the buffet of the Hotel de la Gare in Calais, 
 M. Dupontwent so far as to give a description 
 of his assailant which, whether from memory 
 or unconsciously assisted by imagination, re- 
 called vividly to the minds of the majority of 
 his half-dozen listeners the form and features 
 of the only son of one of the best known and 
 most respected residents in the town. 
 
 *' He was tall and slight and well dressed, 
 had well-cut features and grey eyes, and a 
 slight dark moustache, and was altogether, as 
 one would say, distinguished-looking, not like 
 a common thief at all," said M. Dupont 
 slowly, in a voice just lowered to the pitch of 
 suggestive mystery.
 
 A Prince of Darkness. 85 
 
 There was a pause. The hearers, with 
 the feehng that they were being drawn into 
 a conspiracy fascinating but dangerous, got 
 gradually a little nearer to the speaker, with 
 eyes greedy for more of this interesting 
 scandal, yet loth to own that they recognised 
 the portrait. 
 
 '' Dark moustache, did you say ?" hazarded 
 one man at last, affecting a rather careless 
 tone. He was a draper, and the family of 
 the young gentleman to whom the description 
 pointed were customers of his. 
 
 " Yes ; dark moustache and not much of 
 it," said M. Dupont, with importance. 
 
 " Then he was young, perhaps ?" suggested 
 another. 
 
 "Quite young. About two-and-twenty, I 
 should say." 
 
 Another pause. Then a third listener, 
 clearing his throat, suggested : " You — you 
 have no idea who he was, I suppose, mon- 
 sieur ?" 
 
 There was a slight rustle of relief and of 
 expectation among the rest, who felt that the 
 crisis of their interest was approaching at last.
 
 86 A Prince of Darkness. 
 
 '* Well," said M. Dupont more slowly than 
 ever, feeling that he must eke out the flatter- 
 ing excitement which his words inspired, 
 " there are ideas which it is best to keep to 
 one's self, M. Perrin." 
 
 But he had kept so very little to himself 
 that this sudden caution roused a feeling 
 of irritation, and a slight change of attitude 
 in each man denoted the common feeling that 
 they had been tricked. 
 
 '' Come now, among friends you might 
 surely use a little confidence, M. Dupont," 
 said a big man who had not spoken yet, 
 laying his large hand, with sledge-hammer 
 force, which was meant to be persuasive, on 
 the thin bent shoulders of the little notary. 
 
 ** Yes, and after all you are bound to state 
 what you know ; and certainly you would be 
 the last person — in fact, we should all be the 
 last persons — to say a word that could be 
 
 considered disrespectful to M. Fournier " 
 
 began the most talkative of the group. And 
 he stopped short, suddenly conscious of what 
 he had done as all the rest turned upon 
 him : M. Dupont with indignation at having
 
 A Prince of Darkness. 87 
 
 liis revelation forestalled, the others delighted 
 that the siihject had at last been brought 
 within the realms of practical discussion. 
 
 x\fter a moment's silence they all began 
 to talk at once in low tones and with abund- 
 ance of expressive gesticulation. M. Four- 
 nier was a lace-manufacturer, well off, re- 
 spected, but not popular, and an opportunity 
 of a surreptitious peck or two at his high 
 reputation was generally appreciated. 
 
 '^ That is what comes of keeping a young 
 man short of money," said M. Perrin, a 
 florist, to whom Victor Fournier owed some 
 fifty or sixty francs. ^' If his father won't let 
 him have an allowance for his little private 
 expenses, he must get what he wants some- 
 where else." 
 
 " On the contrar}^, I think it is the 
 mistaken indulgence of his parents, and 
 especially of his mother, which makes young 
 Fournier think he is a prince who can do 
 nothing wrong," said a gentleman, who had 
 tried in vain to arrange a match between his 
 plain daughter and the self-willed handsome 
 Victor.
 
 88 A Prince of Darkness. 
 
 '^ Who would have expected such an 
 escapade from the son of that thrifty old 
 ramrod Fournier ?" said the big man, who 
 could afford an independent opinion, as he 
 was socially beneath the manufacturer's notice 
 and had no business dealings with him. 
 
 *' But we are not sure that it was M. 
 Victor Fournier," observed the only man in 
 the group whose face showed a little intelli- 
 gence. '' After all, there are plenty of tall 
 well-dressed young men with slight mous- 
 taches about. There is Dr. Lesage's new 
 assistant at the other end of the town, for 
 instance ; and it is not easy to see how 
 a gentleman so well known about here as M. 
 Victor could have carried on this game for 
 such a long time without detection. Let me 
 see, it was in December that these robberies 
 first began to be talked about, and now 
 we are in the last days of March. It would 
 require very strong proofs to convince me that 
 your suspicions are well founded, M. Dupont.'' 
 
 "I have the proof of my own eyes," 
 retorted the hero of the adventure, opening 
 them very wide, as if to demonstrate his
 
 A Prince of Darliiess. 89 
 
 remarkable ocular power, and throwing off 
 the last pretence of myster}^ on hearing a 
 doubt cast upon his interesting secret, '^ and 
 I can swear that it was young M. Fournier 
 who robbed me of seventeen hundred and 
 twenty-three francs as I lay half- stunned on 
 my back in my carriole, after I had been 
 attacked and thrown from my seat by some 
 huge creature, whether man, wolf, or fiend, I 
 do not pretend to say." 
 
 ^' Then of course you will give information 
 to the police, and make a statement, on 
 the strength of which young Fournier will be 
 arrested, and the charge gone into ?" said the 
 big man. 
 
 But the little notary's eyes grew small 
 again at this suggestion, and his tone became 
 milder. 
 
 ''Not so fast, monsieur; I am a father 
 myself, and I can feel for the young man's 
 parents ; besides which, the recognition of a 
 man's face in the dark would not be proof of 
 identity in a court of law." 
 
 '* Nor anywhere else," said the sceptic 
 curtly. *' Who has ever seen young M.
 
 90 A Prince of Darkness, 
 
 Victor in company with a mysterious familiar 
 which has been variously described as a wolf, 
 a man dressed in skins, and the devil ? Now, 
 if this evil genius had taken the form of 
 a pretty grisette — or of an elegant lady of the 
 grand monde with military connections, shall 
 we say ? — I might have seen something in 
 the story." 
 
 This reference to current gossip about 
 young Fournier's social successes in various 
 ranks of life raised a laugh against Dupont, 
 who, getting blue and angry, asked the scoffer 
 if he doubted his veracity. 
 
 "Not at all, not at all, mon cher Dupont. 
 I believe that you have been robbed of 
 seventeen hundred and twenty-three francs, 
 that you don't quite know how, and that 
 a bad guess in these cases is better than 
 none to the guesser, provided he has the 
 wit not to call it a certainty. If I were you, 
 1 would keep my suspicions to myself, but 
 make inquiries, and you will then find out, 
 sooner or later, whether you have ground 
 enough to bring a distinct accusation against 
 the person you suspect."
 
 A Prince of Darkness. 91 
 
 It was not bad advice, and coming as 
 it did from the mouth of a humble hanger-on 
 at the skirts of the law — for the sceptical 
 M. Guerlin was an attorney who earned his 
 living by gleaning those difficult and dirty 
 little cases which more reputable or more 
 wealthy practitioners refused to take up — 
 it had weight even with the irritated notary. 
 The rest were enthusiastic in their agreement, 
 and encouraged M. Guerlin to expose his 
 views further. 
 
 *' If," he continued, '^ it is really this 
 young Victor Fournier who, with the assist- 
 ance of an accomplice, either man or beast — 
 for I think we may spare Old Nick the blame 
 of this — has kept the whole neighbourhood in 
 a state of terror throughout the winter, it 
 ought not to be difficult to track such a 
 series of crimes home to him. He lives 
 in our midst, his way of life is known, 
 such frequent absences as these robberies 
 would entail must have been noticed by 
 somebody. Keep your eyes open, wait and 
 see whether we shall hear of more thefts 
 of the same kind, and don't make a
 
 02 A Prince of Darhiess. 
 
 noise before you are ready to strike your 
 blow." 
 
 M. Guerlin's dry manner was impressive, 
 and in the buzz of comment which followed 
 his speech, all the rest tried clamorously 
 to prove that what he said was just what 
 they had been about to say. They grew so 
 loud during this discussion, that nothing 
 but the fact that they all spoke at once 
 prevented the secret they were unanimous in 
 agreeing to conceal from becoming the 
 common property of everybody else in the 
 room. But as it was, only one of two 
 people sitting at a small table near to the 
 excited speakers paid much attention to them. 
 
 The room was filled with people who had 
 just come from Dover by boat. Most of 
 them were English, and all of them were 
 absorbed in swallowing, in as few minutes as 
 possible, as much food as the sea-voyage had 
 left them appetite for. The only two excep- 
 tions were a lady and gentleman who had 
 excited much comment on the journey, the 
 former by her beauty, the latter by his unmis- 
 takable devotion to her. Before sea-sickness
 
 ui Prince of Darhiess. 93 
 
 had damped their ardour, half a dozen British 
 tourists had used their exploring zeal in 
 finding out the name of the beauty who 
 had been so fortunate as to meet with their 
 approval, and whether she was the wife or the 
 daughter of the erect old gentleman who 
 accompanied her. And they discovered with 
 a little peeping and a little prying that 
 the lady's name was Madame de Lancry, and 
 that M. le General de Lancry, who travelled 
 with her, was her husband. And then they 
 made bets as to whether she was French 
 or English, and would have tried to decide 
 the point by crowding round her as she came 
 out of her deck-cabin on arrival at Calais to 
 listen to tbe words she might utter, had not a 
 rough passage by that time taken the curl out 
 of their amiable vivacity. 
 
 Madame de Lancry now sat with her 
 husband at a table near the buffet, looking 
 perfectly unruffled by the sea-journey, which 
 had not affected the delicate tints of her 
 complexion, nor disordered the simple travel- 
 ling dress w^hich set off to perfection her 
 tall, massive, but still youthful figure. She
 
 94 A Prince of Darkness. 
 
 was young ; men would have said ^' quite 
 young," and women " still young/' but it 
 would have been difficult to tell her exact age. 
 There were tiny little thread-like lines in her 
 fair skin about the mouth and eyes ; she had 
 the manner of a woman who has been far too 
 long used to excite general admiration to 
 notice if it is given or even if it is withheld, 
 while the expression of her face told plainly 
 that she had been long enough in the world 
 to be heartily tired of it. She was not hungry, 
 and after trying vainly to take sufficient 
 interest in the wing of a chicken, which her 
 husband had carefully chosen for her, to 
 eat it, she gave up the attempt ; and without 
 noticing that he also was eating nothing, 
 she was attracted at first by the noise, and 
 afterwards by the substance of the conversa- 
 tion of the men at the buffet, until her whole 
 attention was absorbed in trying to catch 
 every word they uttered. 
 
 It was not until they had moved away, 
 recalled to a sense of their own indiscretion 
 by finding the eyes of the unknown lady fixed 
 in fascinated interest upon them, that she
 
 A Prince of Darhiess. 95 
 
 discovered, on glancing at her husband, that 
 he was looking very ill. For some minutes 
 he had sat with his elbow on the table and his 
 head on his hand, in an attitude of carelessness 
 which he had affected in order to conceal 
 from his wife the indisposition which she 
 had been too much occupied to notice. 
 
 *'Did you hear what those men were 
 saying, Gustave ?" she asked, with unusual 
 interest in her voice. 
 
 He raised his head and tried to answer 
 her ; but not even a spoilt woman could fail 
 to see that he was very ill, and Madame de 
 Lancry asked, ^' What is the matter, Gus- 
 tave ?" with a little natural impatience. 
 
 *• Nothing, Madeline. If you will allow 
 me, I will go outside on to the platform and 
 smoke a cigarette before we start ; I suppose 
 the passage must have upset me a little." 
 
 He pushed his chair back and tried to rise ; 
 but he staggered and sat down again, for the 
 room seemed to be spinning round him. 
 Madeline rose to go to her husband's assist- 
 ance, but his valet, who had been seated with 
 madame's maid in a smaller room, which
 
 9() A Prince of Darkness. 
 
 opened into the large one, was at liis master's 
 side before her. As curious eyes were being 
 turned from all directions upon him, his wife 
 addressed one of the waiters who had come up 
 to see what was the matter. 
 
 *'Have you a room to which this gentle- 
 man can be taken ? We shall have to spend 
 the night here." 
 
 The Genera] was too ill to protest as he 
 was led out of the room and upstairs to a 
 rather sparely decorated apartment overlook- 
 ing the quay, with two big wooden bedsteads 
 placed back to back against one of the walls. 
 He refused to let her stay with him, saying 
 simply : *' My dear child, it is bad enough to 
 have to put up with an old man ; you shall not 
 be troubled with an old invalid." But when 
 after a little rest he felt better, he sent Joseph 
 to ask if madame would kindly come to him. 
 
 Madame came at once ; she was very kind, 
 and she meant to be very sweet as she walked 
 up to the bedside and took his hand in hers, 
 and, looking into the fine face which was still 
 handsome in spite of his sixty years, asked 
 him gently if he was better.
 
 A Prince of Darkness. 97 
 
 ** Yes, my dear, I am much better, thank 
 you ; it is very good of you to care so much. 
 I know how annoying it must be to you to 
 have your journey interrupted in this way, 
 and I wanted to suggest that j^ou should go 
 on to Kome with your maid, and I will follow 
 in a few days. You see, you will be all right 
 when vou are once in Kome, since the Com- 
 tesse, your friend, is already there ; and I am 
 afraid that if you wait for me you may miss 
 the Carnival. For in my impatience to be in 
 Kome I can see now that I got up too soon, 
 and I don't think I can continue the journey 
 for several days." 
 
 The General had been suffering from an 
 old wound and rheumatism together, and his 
 wife felt contrite as she listened. 
 
 *' It was I who was impatient, not you, 
 Gustave, and you came away so soon to 
 please me. Why will you spoil me like this ? 
 If you were to be a little less indulgent, you 
 have no idea what a much better wife I should 
 be. But you still treat me as if we were in 
 our honeymoon, instead of your having been 
 a slave to my caprices for four whole years.'* 
 
 VOL. I. 7
 
 98 A Prince of DarJcncss. 
 
 The feeling she showed hrought a little 
 colour to his face, and he raised her hand 
 gratefully to his lips. 
 
 " I will take your advice, then, and treat 
 you as hardly as I can. You shall stay here 
 Avith me until I am well enough to travel 
 again, and we will see whether my selfishness 
 really is the best plan, or whether you will be 
 bored to death." 
 
 " Oh no, there is no fear of that," said she 
 quickly. *' I am on the track of a most de- 
 lightful mystery, which would keep me amused 
 for a whole week, I feel sure. When we 
 were sitting at the table downstairs, some 
 men were talking of a robbery which occurred 
 near here last week, and I heard them men- 
 tion the name of the man they suspected. 
 Just now I asked the chambermaid some 
 questions, and found out that all through the 
 winter most mysterious robberies have been 
 going on about this part of the country ; but 
 she said that no one knew Avho committed 
 them. Then I asked her wlio M. Victor 
 Fournier was, without telling her that he was 
 the man I had heard was suspected. And
 
 xi Prince of Darkness. 9!) 
 
 she tokl me lie is the handsomest man in 
 Calais, a gentleman, only two or three and 
 twenty, the son of a lace-manufacturer, who 
 is said to be very rich and very mean. And, 
 of course, I am dying to see this supposed 
 Claude Duval, and I am going to call upon the 
 consul and ask him to get me permission to 
 go over M. Fournier's factory, on the chance 
 of seeing his son ; I shall go as early as pos- 
 sible to-morrow. Isn't it quite an exciting 
 adventure ?" 
 
 ''Yes," said her husband, wlio felt too 
 jealous of her curiosity to see the '' hand- 
 somest man in Calais " to share her interest 
 in the story. 
 
 They spent the night at the hotel, and on 
 the following afternoon the British consul 
 himself accompanied Madame de Lancry to 
 M. Fournier's factory at St. Pierre, where, to 
 her great disappointment, old M. Fournier 
 himself shov/ed her over the building, having 
 come there, on receipt of a note from the con- 
 sul, on purpose to do honour to the beautiful 
 lady. 
 
 They passed from room to room, Madame 
 
 7—2
 
 100 A Prince of Darkness. 
 
 cle Lancry scarcely able to conceal the fact 
 that her strong interest in revolving sheets of 
 twisted threads had grown singularly half- 
 hearted and unintelligent, until they came to a 
 corridor, at the end of which a young man 
 was standing. Feeling sure that this must 
 be the hero whom she was so anxious to see, 
 Madame de Lancry looked straight into his 
 face as she passed him. He was neither 
 short nor tall, neither very broad nor very 
 slight, dark-haired and dark-skinned, with a 
 face in which there was nothing to attract 
 particular attention, except the kind and 
 gentle expression of his brown eyes. He 
 glanced shyly at the handsome lady, the ex- 
 pression of whose face suddenly changed from 
 curiosity to horror, as she looked at him. 
 Only the young fellow himself noticed the 
 look, which greatly confused and astonished 
 him. Madame de Lancry walked on, and 
 smiled mechanically, in answer to some re- 
 marks made to her by the two middle-aged 
 gentlemen, but for a few minutes she did not 
 speak. When she had recovered her self- 
 command, she turned to M. Fournier.
 
 A Prince of Darhiess. 101 
 
 '^ Is that one of your sons, monsieur?'' 
 she asked, glancing back to where the young 
 man stood. 
 
 "No, madame ; I have only one son, 
 whom I hope to have an opportunity of 
 presenting to you, if you will allow him that 
 honour." 
 
 " I shall be delighted, monsieur, to know 
 your son. And that gentleman is " 
 
 *' One of my clerks, a young Englishman, 
 introduced to the firm by my English partner, 
 Mr. Beresford." 
 
 '^ I seem to know his face. May I ask 
 you his name ?" 
 
 '* Gerald Staunton." 
 
 Out of the mists of the past a face rose 
 before Madeline de Lancry, and a voice 
 called to her. For one instant long-forgotten 
 memories blinded, stunned her ; the next she 
 was thanking M. Fournier for his courtesy, 
 and inventing excuses to hurry away from 
 the buildinof.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Madeline de L an cry returned quickly to the 
 Hotel de la Gare, crept softly past the door of 
 her husband's room, fearing lest he should 
 call to her ; and, shutting herself in her own 
 apartment, threw herself upon the bed, over- 
 whelmed by a sudden rush into the stagnant 
 calm of her present prosperous existence of 
 memories of the old tempestuous life of 
 emotions and passions, keen pleasures and 
 deep griefs. Gerald Staunton ! The young 
 clerk's face, so like that of his father whom 
 Louis de Breteuil had murdered, recalled the 
 old time in Paris so vividly that for an hour 
 or more, during which she lived with the old 
 zest and burned with the old fires, it did not 
 occur to her to wonder and to moralise about 
 the chance which had brought across her path
 
 .1 Fi'ince of Darkness, I Co 
 
 the sou of the man who had met with a 
 violent death while on the way, as he thought, 
 to answer her appeal to him for help. 
 
 Madeline had hardened since then; she 
 was not a monster of selfishness, but her own 
 small discomforts, and the barren monotony 
 of her tiresome easy life with her kind but 
 most dull husband, occupied so much of her 
 thoughts that she really had very little time 
 for the consideration of other people and their 
 troubles. For six years after the discovery 
 of De Breteuirs crime and of his perfidy 
 towards herself she had earned her own living 
 in all sorts of ways, honestly always, although 
 since Louis' betrayal her virtue was no longer 
 the fair fruit of modesty, but of cynical scorn. 
 It was typical of the lowering of her moral 
 tone which bitter experience had brought 
 about that she then, in a fit of weariness of 
 work, married General de Lancry, without 
 telling him that she had been married before, 
 and did not know whether her husband vv^as 
 alive or dead, and without feeling much 
 concern on that point herself. However, to 
 do her justice, she considered herself per-
 
 104 A Prince of Darhiess. 
 
 manently bound to the chivalrous and devoted 
 gentleman whom she soon found unspeakably 
 tedious, and dragged him dutifully about with 
 her, accepting his fondness and spending his 
 money with indifference which trembled on 
 the borders of disgust. 
 
 Now, therefore, as she lay on her bed re- 
 calling the time when pleasure could please 
 and conscience sting, she thought only of 
 comparing it with the joyless, painless days 
 she passed now, and did not even remember 
 her words to Mr. Staunton : " I should like 
 some day to meet your son, and to do him 
 some service, for the sake of your kindness to 
 me.'' 
 
 When at last she was obliged to rise and 
 go to see her husband, who had grown 
 anxious at her long absence, she had forgotten 
 all about the object of her visit to the factory, 
 and on the Grenerars asking her rather jealously 
 what she thought of *' the handsomest man in 
 Calais,'' she replied quite calmly that she had 
 not seen him. 
 
 *' Then I am afraid you must have been 
 bored, my dearest," said her husband. '' Yet
 
 A Prince of Darkness. 105 
 
 you stayed there a long time, and there is 
 something in your face, a brightness, a liveU- 
 ness, which I should like to see there more 
 often. You must have seen something to 
 interest you." 
 
 ''Yes, I did,'* said she simply; but she 
 offered no further information, and his pardon- 
 able curiosity remained unsatisfied. 
 
 On the following afternoon, before the ex- 
 citement consequent on her visit to the factory 
 had quite faded away, a card w^as brought to 
 her, bearing the name of M. Victor Fournier, 
 with a message to the effect that he had come 
 on the part of his father, and a request that 
 Madame de Lancry would see him for a few 
 minutes. Madeline directed that he should 
 be shown into her sitting-room, and she then 
 added a few artistic touches to her complexion, 
 and a neckerchief of filmy cream lace to the 
 rather dowdy toilette which had been good 
 enough for her husband. She said to herself, 
 as she looked mockingly in the glass which 
 showed her at that moment a face and figure 
 which would have made an ideal model for a 
 wicked Eoman empress, that this provincial
 
 lOG A Prince of Darkness. 
 
 Don Juan would certainly not prove worthy 
 of these infinite pains to please. '^ He will 
 have a round rosy face and very bright beady 
 black eyes, and a clumsy figure ; he will wear 
 a vivid satin tie with broad stripes or big 
 spots, and his manner will be half-impertinent, 
 half-bashful, and wholly insufferable." In 
 making this disdainful estimate she forgot 
 that his father, with his simple courtesy and 
 unaffected manners, was a gentleman ; but, in 
 leaving beneath her the lower middle class in 
 which she was born, Madeline had acquired 
 an appreciation of the advantages of good 
 birth loftier than if she had been a king's 
 daughter. Still, it w^as with a feeling of 
 interest and curiosity refreshing in the blank 
 dreariness of uncongenial married life that she 
 entered the sitting-room, and without delay 
 won all the heart the susceptible young 
 Frenchman had to give. 
 
 " I am very glad to meet you, M. Fournier," 
 said she, advancing into the room with her 
 hand held out, as she saw at the first glance 
 that her guesses about him had been, as 
 might have been expected, wholly wrong.
 
 A Prince of DcD'kness, 107 
 
 ^^ Your father promised me this pleasure yes- 
 terday, but I was obliged to hurry away to my 
 husband, who is ill, before you arrived/' 
 
 '* It is very good of you, madame, to re- 
 ceive me at such a time, when you must be 
 anxious and preoccupied. My father beo:s 
 that you will accept a souvenir of the honour 
 you have done us in visiting the factory ; I 
 have brought it myself; it is very small, and 
 verj^ unworthy of your acceptance, but you 
 will give us great pleasure if you will accept 
 it, all the same." 
 
 If Victor had been at all like the fancy 
 portrait she had drawn of him, his presenta- 
 tion of a parcel which she opened and found 
 to contain some very beautiful machine-made 
 lace would have made him seem ridiculous. 
 But as in dress and manner he scarcely dif- 
 fered in any respect from the young men 
 whom Fortune had favoured with the Paris 
 stamp, she accepted the gift with more than 
 her usual graciousness to strangers, told him 
 his visit was a most merciful act towards a 
 lonely traveller, and asked him to tell her 
 what she ought to do and what she ought to
 
 108 A Prince of Darkness. 
 
 see in Calais, in order to make tlie time of her 
 unavoidable stay there hang less heavily upon 
 her hands. So they sat down, and he gave 
 her a lively description of the pleasure she 
 might extract, if she went provided with a 
 smelling-bottle and plenty of eau-de-cologne, 
 from a contemplation of the picturesque beau- 
 ties of the old walls and the moat ; and he 
 told her that the chief pleasure of the town 
 ^vas scandal, that the old people thought it a 
 very wicked place and the young ones a very 
 dull one, and that its most remarkable pecu- 
 liarity was the fact that it should be used as 
 a habitation for the living instead of a tomb 
 for the dead. 
 
 Madeline listened and laughed, and won- 
 dered if this were really only a light-hearted 
 lively young fellow, happy in the possession 
 of good prospects, a ready tongue, and a 
 handsome face, or — Claude Duval. She would 
 not have entertained the latter idea, if a chance 
 similarity in the tall slim figure and in the 
 type of his clear-cut thin features to Louis de 
 Breteuil had not recalled to her that most 
 frivolous-mannered of scoundrels. Victor was
 
 A Prince of Darkness. 109 
 
 some seven years younger than De Breteuil 
 had been when she knew him, and was not, 
 MadeKne thought, so handsome as he ; still, 
 the resemblance, slight as it was, gave the 
 young fellow additional interest in her eyes, 
 and she let him talk for some time before 
 touching upon either of the subjects which 
 just now occupied most of her thoughts. 
 
 At last, however, she broke ground by 
 saying, '* I should have liked to make some 
 excursions about the neighbourhood, but I 
 have been alarmed by dreadful tales of de- 
 mons and wolves and robbers, who go about 
 at night attacking people. Or are they only 
 fables r 
 
 *' Not quite that, madame, but you need 
 not be afraid. I have never heard of one of 
 these attacks being made by day, and only 
 one of a person being attacked while driving. 
 If you will allow me to ride beside your 
 carriage, I will answer for it that no harm 
 shall happen either to your person or your 
 purse." 
 
 To judge by his maimer, anyone would 
 have pronounced him innocent as the day.
 
 110 A Prince of Darhiess. 
 
 and Madeline perceived that, if he really was 
 the robber, he was far too clever to be con- 
 victed by his own mouth. She therefore 
 thanked him for his offer, and turned the con- 
 versation to another matter. In spite of all 
 her efforts she could not frame her next ques- 
 tion without a tremor of voice and a twitching 
 of lip, both, however, too slight to attract 
 notice. 
 
 '^ When I was at the factor}^ yesterday, I 
 saw there a young Englishman of the name 
 of Staunton ; do you know if he is any rela- 
 tion to the man of that name, a stockbroker 
 or something of that sort I think he was, who 
 was murdered near Lyons a few years ago ? 
 The affair caused some stir, I believe, at the 
 time." 
 
 "Murdered!" exclaimed Victor, in evident 
 astonishment. ** Oh no, madam e. Ah ! I 
 suppose Gerald himself told you that ?" 
 
 *^ No," answered Madeline quietly ; then, in 
 a voice which she found it hard to keep in- 
 different, '' I have not spoken to him — I saw 
 him for the first time yesterday. The name 
 seemed to recall some story, that was all."
 
 A Prince of Darhness. Ill 
 
 ^' There is a story about it," said Victor, 
 lowering his voice instinctively. *' And a 
 very mysterious one. But the strangest 
 thing about it is that you say just what 
 Gerald says — that his father was murdered." 
 
 " Well, and what is the true story ?" asked 
 Madeline, unfolding the lace M. Fournier had 
 sent her, and gathering it up into folds to 
 employ her trembling hands. 
 
 " He absconded with some thousands of 
 pounds' worth of securities belonging to his 
 clients, and nobody has ever been able to 
 trace either him or his accomplice." 
 
 The lace fell from her fingers to the floor, 
 but she did not pick it up, and by an im- 
 perative gesture she stopped him as he was 
 about to do so. 
 
 " YVho was that ?" she asked, in a sharp 
 voice. 
 
 ''Another English stockbroker, a younger 
 man, whose name, I think, was Meredith. 
 Poor Gerald insists upon believing that this 
 man murdered his father and stole the secu- 
 rities ; but it has been proved that on the 
 very day that Mr. Staunton was last seen,
 
 112 A Prince of Darkness. 
 
 near Lyons, Meredith was in London, where 
 he remained until he had disposed of the 
 securities, w^hich must have been sent to him 
 by Staunton himself." 
 
 *' Or by some one who had stolen them from 
 Mr. Staunton/' said Madeline, with such 
 vehemence that Victor was startled. He had 
 not expected such strength of passionate sym- 
 pathy in the languid listless lady of a few 
 minutes ago. ^' Who was he last seen with, 
 in Paris for instance ?" she added hotly. 
 
 *' I — I don't know, I don't think any one 
 knows, madame ; but he was a cautious man, 
 it is said, and one not at all likely to get into 
 questionable company.'' 
 
 Madeline checked her rising excitement, 
 and only asked simply: ** On what grounds 
 does his son believe him innocent ?" 
 
 "On none — at least, none worth mention- 
 ing. He says his father was a good man — 
 as unconvicted thieves always are — and that 
 he would rather have starved than have 
 deserted his son." 
 
 "And has the lad tried to find out anything 
 about his father's disappearance ?"
 
 A Prince of Darhicss. 113 
 
 " Oh yes. As soon as lie was eighteen — 
 that is six years ago now — he came over to 
 France, determined to clear his father's name, 
 as he felt sure he could do. He got as far as 
 Paris, and then, in a most extraordinary 
 manner, just as he thought he had got a 
 clue, he was robbed of all the money he had 
 saved up ; and he was at his wit's end to 
 know what to do, for he was ashamed to 
 write home to his friends for fear they should 
 disbelieve him and say he was no better than 
 his father. Then Mr. Beresford, my father's 
 English partner, met him, found out what 
 was the matter, felt sorry for him, and 
 offered him a berth which the poor fellow was 
 glad enough to accept, for he had thrown up 
 his chances in order to come over on this wild 
 hunt for evidence which, of course, he could 
 not find.'' 
 
 *' Why not ? He should have gone to 
 Lyons ; have visited the hotel where Mr. 
 Staunton stayed; have traced him step by 
 step to the very last place where he was 
 seen ; have asked, hunted, found out whether 
 he had received any letters " 
 
 VOL. I. 8
 
 114 A Prince of Darkness. 
 
 She stopped. Her excitement had grown 
 into agony as she uttered the last words. 
 Astonished, shocked by the intensity of the 
 interest she showed in a stranger's story, 
 Victor did not at once speak, but sat watching 
 the transformation which passion had effected 
 in her beautiful features, admiring her sensi- 
 bility, envying the object of it. 
 
 ^* He would have done so, madame," said 
 he at last, " but, as I tell you, he was robbed 
 of the money he had saved up to carry out 
 the search ; and if it had not been for the 
 lucky chance of his meeting with Mr. Beres- 
 ford " 
 
 " Why did not this Mr. Beresford give him 
 or lend him the money to go on to Lyons ? 
 That would have been the best way of be- 
 friending him," said Madeline, who no longer 
 made any pretence of hiding the strong 
 interest she felt in the story of Gerald 
 Staunton's troubles. 
 
 *^ He would have done so, I am sure, if he 
 had thought that was best, madame. He is 
 a most kind-hearted man, and is so fond of 
 Gerald that he has taken him to live with him."
 
 A Prince of DarJcness. 115 
 
 '^ He may be kind, but he is not wise. 
 What sort of a man is he ?'* 
 
 *' He is the most marvellous old fossil in 
 the country. To see him sitting in the corner 
 by the stove3 silent, almost motionless, with 
 his back to the light, which hurts his eyes, he 
 looks like nothing but a heap of old clothes. 
 But though he never reads and hardly ever 
 talks, he manages to find out or guess all 
 that is going on, not onl}^ around him, but in 
 the world ; and he has such wonderful judg- 
 ment that people go to him for advice as they 
 would to a wizard. My father, who thinks 
 he can learn more from hearing Mr. Beresford 
 ask for the butter than in listening to a dis- 
 course from a member of the Academy, says 
 the secret of this wonderful faculty lies in the 
 way Mr. Beresford, isolated from the world, 
 turns over a thing in his mind entirely with- 
 out prejudice or personal feeling. For he is 
 partly paralysed down the right side, and can 
 only move about with difficulty. But though 
 his speech is not quite clear, his mind is ; and 
 Gerald Staunton forms the link between him 
 and the outer world." 
 
 8—2
 
 116 A Prince of Davhness. 
 
 ''And what does lie think about the story 
 of young Staunton's father ?" 
 
 " He believes there may be more in what 
 Gerald says than anybody thinks ; for he has 
 a great belief in instinct, and he is never tired 
 of hearing Gerald relate what he calls his 
 ' reasons ' for feeling sure his father was 
 innocent. He is coming back from Nice, 
 where he has been spending the winter, in a 
 few days ; and on the way home he is going 
 to make some inquiries at Lyons ; and if he 
 hears anything which seems to him to promise 
 a clue, he will send Gerald there to follow it 
 out himself." 
 
 " When wdll he come back, do you say ? 
 I should like to know this Mr. Beresford. 
 All that you have told me about him and his 
 protege is very strange and interesting." 
 
 "We have not yet heard the day of his 
 coming ; but I will let you know as soon as 
 we do. My father is very anxious for his 
 arrival ; for I must tell you that we owe the 
 position we hold at the very head of the lace- 
 making firms to Beresford' s faculty for pre- 
 dicting, at the beginning of each season, what
 
 A Prince of Darkness, 117 
 
 sort of lace will be most in request during the 
 course of it/' 
 
 *' How does he do that ?" 
 
 "By buying every book and every paper bear- 
 ing on the fashions, and having them read aloud 
 to him ; and by communications which he has 
 established with the leading Paris modistes, by 
 means of one or two of his travellers, who 
 have a sort of spy's genius for picking up just 
 the information they want." 
 
 '^ I must see him ; I would stay in Calais 
 a week on purpose. Kemember your promise. 
 Monsieur Victor, to let me know when he 
 arrives. I thought I should die of dulness in 
 this place, and already I have heard more in- 
 teresting things than I have done for the past 
 year. You will come and see me again ? I 
 hope, in a day or two, that my husband will 
 be better, and that you will then do us the 
 pleasure of dining with us ; but don't harden 
 your heart until then against a forlorn 
 traveller. Come and tell me more about the 
 wizard. Perhaps I may be able to coax him 
 into letting me know the summer fashions a 
 whole month before anybody else : then I 
 shall believe in him."
 
 118 A Prince of Darhness. 
 
 She gave him her hand again, as she bade 
 him good-bye, with an imperial gracionsness 
 which intoxicated Victor, who left her pre- 
 sence in an ecstasy of admiration of this 
 lovely woman, whose manners, conveying 
 exactly whatever impression she intended, 
 seemed to him perfect after the less artistic 
 affectations of the women among whom his 
 daily lot was cast. Eeturning to the factory, 
 where he found Gerald Staunton busy with 
 correspondence, ne snatched pen and letters 
 away, and, throwing himself on to a chair in 
 front of the young Englishman, began to dis- 
 course upon the latter's wonderful luck. 
 
 '' What do you mean ? What are you 
 driving at ?" said Gerald rather irritably. 
 He was not ill-tempered, but he wanted to 
 finish his day's work and get away. 
 
 *'Why, you are a hero, my boy, a hero. 
 Madame de Lancry, the loveliest woman that 
 ever made little women look insignificant and 
 big ones clumsy, has condescended to be 
 interested about you, to want to know who 
 you are, and " 
 
 ^' Thatll do," said Gerald shortly. He
 
 A Prince of Dai^hness. 119 
 
 was sensitive about any interest he might 
 excite, knowing well that it would be roused, 
 not about himself, but about his unhappy- 
 story. For he was a modest fellow enough, 
 and the one capacity he had shown, up to his 
 present age of four-and-twenty, of getting 
 through whatever w^ork was given him to do 
 with plodding steadiness, and no better or 
 worse than other people, was not brilliant 
 enough to have exposed him to the dangers 
 of extravagant praise. 
 
 '' Ungrateful stolid Englishman that you 
 are ! Why, I would give all my best engage- 
 ments for next month to inspire in her one- 
 tenth of the warmth she expressed about you. 
 She is a queen, an empress, a goddess." 
 
 Gerald had recovered his pen and his 
 letter, and was scratching steadily away 
 again, as if all the beauties that ever dazzled 
 Pagan or Christian were less interesting in 
 his eyes than a bill of lading. 
 
 '^Did you see her?" asked Victor, laying 
 his hand over the letter. 
 
 ** Yes — saw her yesterday." 
 
 ^* And you don't worship her ?"
 
 120 A Prince of Darkness. 
 
 '' No." 
 
 ** You are jealous because she let me stay- 
 so long this afternoon." 
 
 ** What !" said Gerald, raising his eyes to 
 the other's face with a straightforward look of 
 contempt. ** Jealous because a woman, ten 
 years older than you or I, is good enough to 
 amuse herself with you, and to let you fill up 
 her spare time when she is tired of being 
 with her old husband ! Well, you can think 
 so if you like. But just ask yourself what I 
 should find to say to her or she to me, and 
 whether I should like to be shut up in a hot 
 scented room trying to be amusing — which I 
 never was yet — while I, and she too, for that 
 matter, wished I were walking over the sand- 
 hills of * Les Bouleaux,' three miles away. 
 And if you can worship a woman like that, 
 all powder and smiling manners that one 
 can't trust, I think it's a bad look-out for 
 Miss Beresford." 
 
 *'I can worship them both and half a 
 dozen more at the same time, as far as that 
 goes," said Victor airily. '* You Englishmen, 
 and especially an Englishman like you,
 
 xi Prince of Darhicss. 121 
 
 Gerald, consider love as a duty of the good 
 citizen, and as soon as you are twenty-five 
 you begin to look about for a lady-love, just 
 as you would for a pair of boots — only you 
 are satisfied more easily. And occasionally 
 you find you have made a mistake — her eyes 
 are not the right colour, or she can't knit — 
 and you change her for another, just as you 
 would a pair of boots. And you go to see her 
 every Sundaj^ for five years, and then you 
 marry her ; and you have had your romance 
 and are satisfied. And you might as well be 
 a sheep for all you know of love.'' 
 
 '* That's all nonsense," said Gerald angrily, 
 " and at any rate we choose our own boots, 
 and don't submit to have them chosen for us 
 by our papas and mammas, like little children. 
 And if we don't want so many pairs as you 
 Frenchmen, perhaps we like them a better 
 quality." 
 
 As in all their little skirmishes, Gerald's 
 heavier and more earnest manner made him 
 seem rude, while Victor's most irritating 
 speeches were uttered with a buoyant good- 
 humour which made them less uncivil but
 
 122 A Prince of Darkness. 
 
 more telling. And then, too, he would not 
 be annoyed, which gave him an enormous 
 advantage over his antagonist. 
 
 ^'Well, you cannot sneer at me on that 
 point now ; since the goddess I adore and the 
 girl I am to marry are both fellow country- 
 women of yours." 
 
 ** Madame de Lancry has married a 
 Frenchman and is half a Frenchwoman her- 
 self by this time. And I can tell you that 
 Miss Beresford must be a very poor specimen 
 of an English girl to allow herself to be 
 dragged over here to be married to a man she 
 has never seen. No English father but Mr. 
 Beresford, who is unlike anybody else and 
 has his own way with everyone, would have 
 dared to suggest such a thing to his daughter." 
 
 " Don't let us talk about her. I dream of 
 the long teeth and huge feet she will be sure 
 to have. If Beresford were not my father's 
 religion, I think he would be a little less ready 
 to give me for a wife a girl whom her own 
 father has not seen for years, and whose 
 mother had knocked about the world with her 
 for so long without her husband. Does Mr.
 
 A Prince of Darkness, 123 
 
 Beresford ever mention what was the cause 
 of his separation from his wife ?" 
 
 *^ No ; I never heard about her till last year 
 the news came to ' Les Bouleaux ' that she 
 was dead, and he got me to send off a tele- 
 gram to his daughter to ask what she pro- 
 posed to do. If I were you, I wouldn't look 
 at a girl who has been brought up like that 
 without knowing more about her/' 
 
 " Well, of course it is still open to me to 
 decline to ratify the bargain, but that is a re- 
 source to be used only if Miss Beresford should 
 prove to be forty and humpbacked. Old Beres- 
 ford is rich and economical. If marriage fills 
 one's purse and discharges one's filial obliga- 
 tions, it is unreasonable to expect more from it. 
 Kow come down to the quay with me," as 
 Gerald fastened up his last letter. ^' It has 
 left off raining ; I want to feel the sea-wind 
 in my face for ten minutes." 
 
 ** You want to be near the Hotel de la 
 Gare," said Gerald bluntly. 
 
 However, he put on his hat and overcoat, 
 and the two walked down to the pier together.
 
 CHAPTEK III. 
 
 It was a stormy afternoon ; the sun struggled 
 out now and then from behind dark banks of 
 cloud, but shone, for the most part, with a 
 weak and watery light through a slanting veil 
 of rain. The sea was a dark gray-green, 
 with foaming white lines and peaks ; and the 
 big waves that rolled up to the harbour 
 mouth, and broke against the pier-head with 
 a roar as they dashed up and a ripple as 
 they fell back, tossed a blinding spray high 
 into the air and made the planks of the pier 
 dark and slippery. 
 
 The mail steamer from Dover was in sight, 
 and Victor and Gerald waited to see it come 
 in, with a malicious anticipation of amuse- 
 ment at the spectacle of a bevy of their 
 fellow-creatures staggering, limp, green-faced,
 
 A Prince of Darl'nrss. 125 
 
 and miserable, up the gangway and along the 
 wet planks of the pier towards the station. 
 So they joined the small group of fellow- 
 enthusiasts whom no stress of weather could 
 keep from their favourite excitement of 
 passenger-baiting ; as the victims landed 
 Victor enjoyed and moralised, while the softer- 
 hearted Gerald was inclined to feel sorry, 
 especially for one pale little girl, shivering in 
 her ulster, who seemed to be alone, and who, 
 with her arms laden with rug, umbrella, and 
 travelling-bag, was mercilessly sandwiched 
 and shunted and elbowed out of everybody's 
 way, and who, when at last she had been 
 driven up the gangway at the point of a 
 man's gun-case, slipped on the wet planks of 
 the pier, and was only saved from falling by 
 Gerald himself, who sprang forward just in 
 time, and then picked up the rug which had 
 dropped from her hands. The pale little 
 lady seemed at first inclined to resent his 
 timely aid, and withdrawing her arm very 
 quickly from the hand with which he had 
 saved her, she said, *' Merci, monsieur I" in 
 the haughtiest manner : but a second glance
 
 126 A Prince of Darkness. 
 
 at him as he humbly restored her rug seemed 
 to convince her that he was not the bold bad 
 man that every unintroduced stranger is, ac- 
 cording to the creed of a carefully brought- 
 up girl, bound to be ; and her little pale 
 cheeks flushed as she ventured upon a most 
 diffident and well-controlled smile into his 
 kind face, and then struggled bravely on 
 again. 
 
 '' How those English girls clothe them- 
 selves !' remarked Victor, glancing in con- 
 temptuous amusement at the little ulstered 
 figure. 
 
 " And how much better it looks to be 
 dressed in a flapping cloak of impossible 
 tartan, with a hat down over the nose in 
 front and turned up to show a skinny dark 
 neck behind, with a blue gauze veil fastened 
 down like a skin over the face — like half of 
 the Frenchwomen !" said Gerald, with un- 
 necessary excitement. 
 
 Victor showed no inclination to quarrel 
 in defence of his countrywomen, so the 
 two young men strolled off the pier in the 
 wake of the travellers, and walked along the
 
 A Prince of Darkness, 127 
 
 quay at the suggestion of the enamoured 
 one, under the windows of the Hotel de la 
 Gare. 
 
 From behind the muslin blinds of her 
 room, Madame de Lancry saw them, and 
 watched, not the man at whose suggestion 
 they had come that way, but the EngHsli- 
 man, the sight of whom recalled each moment 
 more clearly the man who had come to his 
 death in his attempt to help her in her 
 supposed need. Conscience was waking in 
 the woman, and, combined with a craving for 
 strong excitement of some sort to give zest 
 to her insipid life, it became a stimulus to 
 prompt action on behalf of the son of the 
 man who had befriended her. What should 
 she do ? By a word she could put Gerald 
 Staunton on the track of his father's murderer, 
 by simply giving the lad the address of the 
 magnificent house in the Avenue Friedland 
 where Louis de Breteuil passed every winter 
 season, each year surpassing the preceding 
 one in the splendour of his entertainments 
 and the extravagant luxury of his mode of 
 life. But she was experienced enough to be
 
 128 A Prince of Darkness. 
 
 a fair judge of a character from a face, and 
 she guessed that either in direct attack, or in 
 the tortuous paths of the private detective, 
 such weapons as the Englishman of twenty- 
 four would use would prove blunt and point- 
 less against a ripe and unprincipled strategist 
 like Louis. 
 
 There was only one person who had both 
 the power and the will to meet and cope with 
 Louis; and that was the woman who had 
 learnt the bitterest secrets of life from him. 
 Madeline felt a new life, fed with strong 
 impulses of generosity, of daring, and of 
 revenge, glow in her veins as she took the 
 resolution to avenge herself and lift the 
 cloud from Gerald Staunton's life at the same 
 time. 
 
 And when she read the newspapers to her 
 husband that evening, with even more than 
 her usual reckless disregard of those trifling 
 rules of elocution and punctuation necessary 
 to make the news of the day intelligible, the 
 uncomplaining General little guessed that his 
 wife was in the throes of an awakened sense 
 of duty.
 
 A Prince of Darhiess, 129 
 
 The storm-clouds had broken, and the sun 
 was setting in an almost clear sky, when 
 Victor Fournier and Gerald Staunton left the 
 quay and the fascinating neighbourhood of 
 the Hotel de la Gare, and, passing again 
 across the old drawbridge and through the 
 dark, narrow streets of Calais, reached the 
 market-place, where their ways diverged. 
 Victor had to cross the Place to the left to 
 reach his father's house, while the gig which 
 took Gerald daily to and from the town was 
 waiting for him at the factory. 
 
 *•' Come home and dine with us to-night," 
 said Victor, as they stopped at the corner of 
 the Place. '*You know my mother will be 
 delighted to see you ; and as for Louise, she 
 declares you are the most charming fellow in 
 Calais, and is always commiserating you for 
 the lonely life you lead at ' Les Bouleaux.' " 
 
 *' Thanks awfully, but I can't come ; for, 
 now all the country people's heads are turned 
 by fright about the robberies, if I were late I 
 should find the house locked up, and be taken 
 for a thief when I got back." 
 
 VOL. I. 9
 
 130 A Prince of Darhiess. 
 
 "Mon Dieu ! what a life you must have 
 led there this winter all by yourself!" 
 
 ^^It has been rather dull. When I get 
 too tired of reading to read any more, I 
 generally go into the kitchen and sit with 
 the servants. I say I do it to prevent their 
 feeling nervous ; but it isn't all unselfish 
 kindness when the wind begins to blow and 
 those beastly upstairs shutters to bang." 
 
 '' Why do you put up with it ? Old 
 Beresford's a pig to expect it of you. Why 
 don't you tell him that, if he expects you to 
 put up with his dull presence and still duller 
 absence, he must make you a decent allow- 
 ance, and let you find yourself a wife ?" 
 
 Victor had slipped his arm within that of 
 his companion, and was strolling with him 
 across the market-place in the direction of 
 his own home. Gerald laughed at his last 
 suggestion. 
 
 *' Oh yes, I can imagine myself taking the 
 high hand with Mr. Beresford, asking for an 
 allowance, as if I were indispensable to him, 
 instead of being only a poor clerk whom he 
 engaged out of compassion, with only just
 
 A Prince of Darkness, 131 
 
 brains enough to add up a column of figures 
 and write a business letter after clear instruc- 
 tions. I should like to see myself asking 
 Mr. Beresford to be good enough to oblige 
 me with money to support a wife ! Besides, 
 I don't want one/* 
 
 '^ Oh yes, you do ; you're just cut out to 
 make a good husband for a nice girl/' said 
 Victor, in a tone which flesh and blood — of 
 four -and -twenty — could not stand. 
 
 ^' I suppose you mean I'm too dull and 
 stupid to enjoy life," Gerald retorted, with a 
 not very successful attempt to look wild and 
 wicked. 
 
 " Not at all, my dear boy. We all know 
 w^hat brilliant success you have with the 
 women, and how Monnier's daughter " 
 
 '' Shut up !" said Gerald shortly. 
 
 Babette, the sixteen-year-old daughter of 
 Monnier, Air. Beresford's head gamekeeper, 
 was a rustic coquette whom the tongues of 
 her less handsome female acquaintances did 
 not spare. 
 
 *' Now don't turn savage, dear boy," con- 
 tinued Victor easily. ** I'm not chaffing, 
 
 9—2
 
 132 A Prince of Darkness. 
 
 upon my honour, when I tell you to heware 
 of that girl. For if ever there was a pretty 
 little vampire, born with a natural taste for 
 devouring her species, it is she. She would 
 make a fool of any man, young as she is." 
 
 '^ With the exception, of course, of the all- 
 conquering M. Victor Fournier.'' 
 
 ** I ! I wouldn't go near the little she-devil 
 for all — well, all the plunder Monnier himself 
 has collected since he has been in old Beres- 
 ford's service." 
 
 *' What do you mean ?" 
 
 <' Why, that thieving runs in the family. 
 Old Monnier — at least, he isn't very old, but, 
 anyhow, I mean Babette's father — was as 
 poor as a church mouse when he first became 
 Beresford's gamekeeper, as I happen to know. 
 And now — as I also happen to know — after 
 being gamekeeper five years, he has a couple 
 of cottages and a wine-shop of his own. He 
 has feathered his nest, and his daughter means 
 to feather hers — if she can. But if you take 
 my advice, you won't help her." 
 
 '* Very good advice, no doubt. But it 
 would sound a little more disinterested if I
 
 A Prince of Darkness. 133 
 
 had not happened to pass by Monnier's 
 cottage yesterday week, and to see you and 
 Babette standing by the fire in very amicable 
 converse indeed." 
 
 Victor stopped, and making Gerald stop 
 too, stared down into his face for some 
 seconds without speaking. Then he asked 
 simply, '^Are you serious?" 
 
 '' Perfectly." 
 
 *' Well, then, you have made some strange 
 mistake. I haven't been in the direction of 
 ' Les Bouleaux ' for more than a month. 
 You don't believe me ?" 
 
 ''How can I, when I saw you with my 
 own eyes ?" 
 
 *'0n what day do you say it was you saw 
 me, and at what time ?" 
 
 *'It was on Wednesday, the 21st; I 
 remember the date because it was the night 
 on which Dupont was robbed. I got back 
 home a little earlier than usual, because your 
 father came in and told me I might be off if I 
 liked, as there was nothing left for me to do 
 in the office, and he wanted me to write to 
 Mr. Beresford. It was soon after five when
 
 134 A Prince of Darkness. 
 
 I got to the gate at the end of the poplar 
 avenue ; and I got down, tied up the horse, 
 and went on to Monnier's to see if he had 
 finished cleaning my gun/' continued Gerald, 
 flushing, '^and as the door was fastened I 
 just looked in at the window, and saw you 
 and Babette standing together by the fire- 
 place." 
 
 ^' Was the fire bright ?" 
 
 ^*No-o, not very, I think; but it was 
 bright enough to see you by." 
 
 "If it had been as bright as the infernal 
 regions on a fete-night, you could not have 
 done that," said Victor composedly, *' for I 
 was not there." 
 
 ** Then M. Victor Fournier's ghost was." 
 
 ** I was playing ecarte with Paul Gilbert in 
 his brother's rooms from five o'clock that day 
 until half-past six, when I went to dine with 
 them at Dessin's. If it was my ghost you 
 saw, it did you good service in warning you 
 off such dangerous ground; but I confess I 
 think it more probable that in the half-light 
 you mistook some other fool for your faithful 
 counsellor."
 
 A Prince of Darhiess. 135 
 
 He saw plainly by the stubborn way in 
 which Gerald's mouth was closed that the 
 latter did not believe him, but he seemed not 
 to think the matter of sufficient consequence 
 to press the point, and continued, in a tone 
 which he tried to make less patronizing : 
 
 ''You need not think I look down upon 
 you for being such a good fellow as you are, 
 Gerald. On the contrary, I give you my 
 word that if only old Beresford would do his 
 duty, and behave handsomely to you — which 
 is the least he can do after all the fuss he has 
 made about your history — forgive me, I don't 
 mean to pain you — and the use he makes of 
 you as a kind of postman, there is no man 
 whom I w^ould rather see the husband of my 
 own sister than you, Gerald." 
 
 '' Thank you," said the other, with no 
 appearance of being overwhelmed with joy at 
 the suggestion. 
 
 "Now don't speak like that," said Victor 
 genially. "Don't you see that I could not 
 pay you a greater compliment than by giving 
 you this hint ? A man's sister is all that he 
 holds most sacred in womanhood, and it is,
 
 136 A Prince of Darkness, 
 
 besides, an open secret in the family that 
 Louise takes your stoiy to heart more as if 
 you were a hero out of a book than a living 
 man. It is a fact, I assure you." 
 
 *'It is very good of her," said Gerald 
 rather stiffly, though it was impossible for 
 him to treat such a statement of a lady's 
 kindness discourteously. 
 
 *' Now do come and dine with us ; it is 
 only at the end of the street,'* said Victor 
 persuasively, as his companion stopped. 
 
 '* No, thank you, I am late as it is. Give 
 my kind regards to Madame and Mdlle. 
 Fournier." 
 
 And wrenching his arm rather roughly out 
 of that of his friend, Gerald escaped and made 
 his way as fast as he could to where the gig 
 was waiting for him. The old horse which 
 drew this respectable-looking, but by no 
 means fashionably built, vehicle was the 
 fattest in the department ; and although 
 Gerald had taken a mean advantage of Mr. 
 Beresford's absence to urge the brute daily to 
 a sharper trot than its merciful master would 
 have allowed, still the disrespectful questions
 
 A Prince of Darkness. 137 
 
 which the gamins would address to him from 
 a safe distance on the roadside as to whether 
 he was going to market instead of his grand- 
 mother, and whether his horse was to run for 
 the Grand Prix, were among the most dis- 
 tasteful experiences of his daily life. 
 
 He now eyed the too well-rounded pro- 
 portions of the obnoxious animal with more 
 dissatisfaction than usual, being in an ill- 
 humour, mounted into the gig, and drove off 
 with a very strong feeling that the world was 
 not using him w^ell. It w^as a dull drive to 
 *' Les Bouleaux," along a flat road through a 
 bare landscape ; and the east wind blew 
 straight into his face the whole way. A 
 consideration of his position in life, which 
 Victor's well-meant but rather tactless dis- 
 course had forced upon him, was dispiriting 
 almost beyond endurance. He had no friends 
 who cared much about him ; for Mr. Beres- 
 ford, with all his kindness, seemed to live in 
 a philosophical abstraction which put him 
 outside the influence of mutual human sym- 
 pathies, and made him regard Gerald rather 
 as the subject of an interesting pyschological
 
 138 A Prince of Darhicss. 
 
 experiment than as a solitary and steadily 
 working young man, who took life as it came, 
 and tried very hard to be cheerful over it. 
 He had no prospects, for his labour was not 
 particularly valuable, and he had arrived, 
 either by instinct or reflection, at the con- 
 clusion that Mr. Beresford, taking nothing 
 but a philosopher's interest in him and his 
 '' case," had no intention of raising him 
 above his present position of poorly-paid 
 clerk at the factory, caretaker at ^' Les 
 Bouleaux,'' and postman between those two 
 places. 
 
 As for marrying Louise Fournier, as her 
 brother had suggested, that was quite out of 
 the question, and Gerald did not regret it. 
 Being unused now to ladies' society, he w^as 
 shy and constrained in the presence of 
 Madame Fournier and her daughter, and 
 Louise's spontaneous gaiety had a stupefying 
 effect upon him. She was a bright round- 
 faced girl of seventeen, whom he had never 
 once seen with her cheeks undimpled by a 
 smile. She had rosy lips and sparkHng eyes 
 and the beauty of extreme youth, and was a
 
 A Prince of Darkness. 139 
 
 very good-humoured and pleasant creature, 
 with a tendency to romance in her tempera- 
 ment which did not find expression in a 
 pensive brow and love-worn cheek, but in a 
 very simple and sincere interest in unlucky 
 Gerald Staunton, and a wish, which she had 
 openly confided to her mother and brother, 
 that he might be discovered to be a long- 
 lost heir to something or other, and might 
 then ask her to console him for his past 
 misfortunes. But this seemed unlikely, and 
 in the meantime Gerald's thoughts were more 
 occupied with the perfidious Babette, with 
 whom he had been carrying on an innocent 
 but interesting flirtation, when his unlucky 
 peep through the window of her father's 
 cottage eight days ago had shown him the 
 rustic beauty with an arm round her waist 
 which he felt still convinced was Victor's, 
 and he had experienced a sudden sharp pang 
 which he could not mistake for any other 
 feeling than jealousy. Since then he had 
 avoided Monnier's cottage, and nothing would 
 have induced him to turn his steps in that 
 direction to-day if he had not remembered,
 
 140 A Prince of Darkness, 
 
 just as liis liorse stopped of liis own accord 
 at the gate of the long poplar avenue leading 
 up to *' Les Bouleaux," that the gamekeeper 
 had not yet returned his gun ; and though 
 he was not in present need of it, still it 
 would no doubt be safer in his own room 
 than lying about in Monnier's cottage. The 
 white gate of the avenue stood open, as was 
 frequently the case, there being no lodge to 
 guard the way of entrance to the unpretending 
 little country house which the peasants never- 
 theless called the '* chateau;" but as the 
 horse had stopped as if accustomed to a halt 
 here, Gerald after a few moments' debate 
 with himself jumped down, fastened the reins 
 to one of the gate-posts, and sauntered down 
 the road in an unconcerned manner towards 
 the gamekeeper's cottage, which stood in a 
 garden still bare, but which already showed 
 signs of the care that would make it pretty 
 and productive by-and-by. He whistled to 
 himself as he walked up the garden-path, and 
 tapped at the door without peeping in at the 
 window this time. It was opened at once by 
 Babette herself, whom he greeted in an off-
 
 A Prince of Darhness, 141 
 
 hand manner, and, after one supercilious 
 glance, asked whether her father was afc 
 home, while his eyes wandered all round the 
 cottage and all over the landscape, and the 
 restlessness of his manner betrayed at once 
 to the untutored coquette that he had come 
 to see her and her alone, though he would 
 not have had it known for worlds.
 
 CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 Gerald Staunton's assumption of easy in- 
 difference to Babette, as she opened the 
 cottage door to him, was no match for the 
 girFs more genuine coolness. 
 
 ** Come in, monsieur," said she very care- 
 lessly : and Gerald, not having expected her 
 to take this tone with him, was compelled to 
 look at her more attentively to try to make 
 out the reason of the change. 
 
 For even when capricious Babette was on 
 with the new love, she did not, as a rule, 
 show any desire to be off with the old, being 
 a young lady who felt herself quite capable of 
 driving a team of admirers with amusement 
 to them and profit to herself. It would have 
 required a very shrewd judge of character to 
 gauge the depth of the girFs lover-leading
 
 A Prince of Darkness. 143 
 
 capacity ou a first introduction to her. A 
 great shy blue -eyed creature, with thick loose 
 lips, dazzling teeth, and fair complexion 
 browned and reddened by the sun, her face 
 set off by a narrow frame of fair hair brushed 
 back under her clean white cap, she had a 
 habit of blushing which a stranger would have 
 mistaken for a sign of modesty, and a perfectly 
 natural way of casting down her blue eyes on 
 receipt of a kiss or a compliment, which would 
 have won a poet's heart, and inspired him 
 with the new idea of setting forth in verse the 
 superiority of the unsophisticated village lass 
 over the brazen tennis-playing girls of his own 
 rank of life. She wore a plain short gown of 
 coarse blue stuff, and an apron of lighter blue 
 cotton, and she clanked about the roughly 
 tiled floor in a huge pair of wooden shoes, 
 the sound of which Gerald loved ; in her 
 large red hands she held a half-finished grey 
 stocking on wooden knitting-pins, with one of 
 which she indolently pointed to a chair. 
 
 *' Sit down, monsieur; my father will be in 
 immediately,'' said she, without so much as a 
 look at the young gentleman, and in a tone so
 
 144 A Prince of Darhiess. 
 
 much haughtier and more indifferent than the 
 one he had assumed, that Gerald instantly 
 dropped into his usual manner, vanquished 
 on the ground he had chosen. 
 
 '* How's the cow, Bahette ?'* he asked 
 simply. 
 
 " She's better; I gave her a bran-mash the 
 night before last," answered the girl, still 
 "with dignity. 
 
 *^ And the chicken; did you find the one 
 that strayed away ?" 
 
 ''Yes, monsieur; it had got into the dry 
 ditch behind the potatoes," she answered 
 rather impatiently. 
 
 A pause. He could not think of anything 
 else to ask about for a few moments ; then he 
 asked, with sudden fire, '' Has old Elise given 
 you the fifteen sous she owed you for the 
 turnips ?" 
 
 '' Oh yes," said Babette, twisting one 
 shoulder up to her ear petulantly. ''It is 
 all settled. All those common things don't 
 interest me," she added, tossing her head 
 back as she leant, with crossed feet, against 
 the wall by the wide hearth.
 
 A Prince of Darkness. 145 
 
 Gerald stared at her in astonishment. 
 Hitherto thrift and coquetry had gone hand 
 in hand in the girl's nature, and the prospects 
 of the beetroot crop had excited her as much 
 as the promise of a bead necklace. He was 
 utterly grieved by this new phase, haviug 
 always admired and encouraged the simple 
 frankness with which she used to tell him, 
 with her mouth full of the apples and ginger- 
 bread of his providing, which she used to 
 devour in unromantic quantities, i\\l the details 
 and petty economies of the sordid cottage-life. 
 This must be one of the bad results of Victor's 
 influence, he thought, angrily and sorrowfully. 
 Why couldn't the fellow amuse himself in the 
 town, without coming out here to spoil the 
 sweet rustic innocence of pretty Babette '? 
 For Gerald believed the girl to be as honest- 
 hearted as himself; and he now debated what 
 terms he had better use to put the trusting 
 creature on her guard. 
 
 '' You used not to talk like that, Babette," 
 he began at last cautiously. '^Last time I 
 was here, when you showed me that big ham 
 you were so proud of, and we looked over the 
 
 VOL. I. JO
 
 146 A Prince of Darkness. 
 
 sunflower-seeds, and I made you those new 
 clothes-pegs, you didn't talk of * common 
 things ' then." 
 
 Babette shrugged her shoulders, tossed her 
 head again, and unconsciously thrust into 
 greater prominence her great wooden-shod 
 feet as she sHd into a lounging attitude of 
 haughty indolence, still working away busily 
 at her stocking, however. 
 
 **A11 that was childish. One can't be 
 always a child. Don't talk to me about 
 clothes-pegs, I hate such things." 
 
 ^* Who has taught you to hate them ?" 
 
 "Nobody,'' answered the girl hastily and 
 rather peevishly. '^You think I am just a 
 common girl and can only talk about cows 
 and pigs. It isn't true ; I like to talk about 
 other things." 
 
 '' What things do you like to talk about 
 now, Babette ?" 
 
 " Oh, about Paris and beautiful houses, and 
 bonbons that melt in your mouth — like the 
 ladies of the heau monde talk about. You see, 
 I'm not so ignorant as you think." 
 
 " And who talks to you about those
 
 A Prince of Darkness. 147 
 
 things ?" The girl did not answer. ^' I 
 know; it is M. Victor Fournier." She 
 raised her head quickly. *' But you should 
 not listen to him. Good girls shouldn't 
 listen to those things ; gentlemen who talk 
 like that only laugh at you. If M. Victor 
 said that to you " 
 
 *' M. Victor has said nothing to me ; I 
 scarcely know M. Victor. And who is he 
 that he should laugh at me ? He is only a 
 * grand seigneur de province ' after all. M. 
 Victor, indeed !' 
 
 Gerald almost gasped. '' Grand seigneur 
 de province !" How on earth had she got 
 hold of that phrase, over the pronunciation 
 of which she was indeed a little uncertain, 
 though its meaning as a term of contempt 
 was evidently pretty clear to her ? After a 
 short silence he got up, and kneeling on one 
 of the wooden chairs, leant over it while he 
 tilted himself backwards and forwards, and 
 addressed her with a red face and all the 
 impressiveness of which he was master. 
 
 ** Babette,'' he said, " you have met some- 
 body who would like to do you a great injury, 
 
 10—2
 
 148 A Prince of Darkness, 
 
 making you dissatisfied with your simple 
 harmless country life, and with your own 
 goodness and truth and honesty. But you 
 mustn't listen to what he says, you mustn't 
 indeed. If you do, you'll be awfully sorry 
 for it, and worse than sorry. You don't 
 know what gentlemen are : I do ; and I tell 
 you the less you have to do with them the 
 better." 
 
 *Why, you are a gentleman yourself," re- 
 torted she saucily, " though you're not so 
 fine a one as " 
 
 She stopped short; and Gerald continued : 
 
 '^Look here, Babette, tell me who it is. 
 You can trust me, you know." 
 
 She shook her head decidedl3^ 
 
 ''Well, if you won't, I shall tell your 
 father or your grandmother." 
 
 " Very well, you can tell them what you 
 like," she said, laughing defiantly, while a 
 dangerous light began to glitter in her eyes. 
 
 '' I shall tell him," Gerald went on 
 earnestly, ' ' that you are in danger of being 
 talked over by some scoundrel, who, just 
 because he wears a cloth coat instead of a
 
 A Prince of Darkness, 149 
 
 blouse, you tliiuk is a model of all that is 
 perfect and manly. '* 
 
 The girl continued to laugh, with her eyes 
 fixed on some object behind him. He turned 
 and saw the very person to whom he pro- 
 posed to appeal — the gamekeeper Monnier, 
 who had entered from an inner room in the 
 course of their conversation, and who, it 
 struck Gerald as he looked at him, was not 
 the person to appeal to on any point more 
 delicate than the snaring of a rabbit or the 
 punishment of a poacher. Monnier was a 
 middle-aged man, made prematurely old by 
 open-air work, whose stooping shoulders, 
 ferret eyes, and sinister expression made him 
 look more like a breaker of the laws than a 
 supporter of them. 
 
 '' At your service, monsieur," said he, with 
 grim respectfulness, and with a glance at his 
 daughter which showed that there was a 
 better understanding between them than 
 Gerald would have liked to admit. 
 
 And the young man, noting the look of 
 saucy defiance on the girl's face, and that of 
 perfect comprehension of the situation on the
 
 150 A Prince of Darhness. 
 
 father's, saw that there was nothing left for 
 him but to ask for his gun and to take his 
 departure. When, however, he had said 
 good-bye to Babette, and was at the door, 
 Monnier followed him, and said, in a voice 
 which was intended to be reassuring, though 
 it had not that effect : 
 
 " Do not disturb yourself about my 
 daughter, monsieur; I look after her well." 
 
 But Gerald returned to the gate, where he 
 had left the gig, in much anxiety concerning 
 his humble friend. He drove up the long 
 avenue, and through the gate at the other 
 end, into the paved space before the house, 
 where he got down and knocked at the door, 
 still in a state of deep abstraction. 
 
 Mr. Beresford's home was not an imposing 
 residence. It w^as a long whitewashed house 
 with a red-tiled roof, with two or three 
 smaller buildings of the same unpretending 
 pattern added on at the further end ; these 
 contained the servants' offices, and close to 
 them came the stable, and a small cottage 
 where the coachman lived. It was hard to 
 decide which was the front of the house, for
 
 A Prince of Darkness. 151 
 
 the principal entrance was the unpretending 
 door upon the courtyard at which Gerald now 
 stood, while the other and prettier side of 
 the house had no door at all, entrance into 
 the garden being by French-windows through 
 the salons and salle- a -manger, straight on to 
 the sandy path which skirted the little lawn. 
 
 The door was opened by a rough but good- 
 natured looking servant in short stuff gown, 
 white cap tied under the chin, and wooden 
 shoes. She exclaimed on seeing him : 
 
 ' Oh, monsieur, I am glad you have come. 
 Mdlle. Beresford has arrived, and she is 
 waiting in the salon while we get ready some- 
 thing to eat for her. And she looks so tired ! 
 Oh, so tired, monsieur ! It is pitiful !" 
 
 Gerald's face fell. Unaccustomed to 
 strangers, shy with ladies, the rather aw^k- 
 ward position in which he found himself had 
 untold horrors for him. As he crept guiltily 
 upstairs, and changed his coat and put on 
 a new tie in honour of the dreaded Miss 
 Beresford, a horrible longing seized him to 
 have the horse put again into the gig, and 
 to sneak back to Calais and beg Madame
 
 152 A Prince of Darkness. 
 
 Fournier to have mercy on his situation and 
 come back to play hostess for him. How- 
 ever, he conquered this cowardly impulse, 
 slunk downstairs, and nervously entered the 
 salon, where he was told he should find the 
 lady. At first he saw nothing but the back 
 of Mr. Beresford's big armchair, drawn up 
 close to the stove. Advancing slowly step 
 by step, he found that it was occupied by a 
 little feminine figure in a black dress, fast 
 asleep, with her head hanging down on one 
 side, her hands lying listlessly on her lap, 
 and her feet — such little feet ! — stuck up 
 against the close stove. This attitude was 
 reassuringly undignified, but Gerald could 
 almost have given a shout of pleasurable 
 relief on recognising in the pale tired face 
 that of the little creature whom he had saved 
 from falling on the pier that afternoon. 
 
 She did not wake up as he approached, so 
 he sat down on a chair, with his elbows on his 
 knees and his face in his hands, watching her, 
 and wondering what she would say and what 
 she would do when she opened her eyes. . 
 
 Gerald made a shy but critical examination
 
 A Prince of Darhiess, 153 
 
 of Miss Beresford as she slept on by tlie stove, 
 and became every moment more certain that 
 he should like her. She was so small, so 
 pale, had such slender little hands, and such a 
 weary little face, that the very sight of her 
 roused in him a wish to do something for her, 
 if it were only to lift up her head, as it hung 
 down uncomfortably over the arm of her chair. 
 She was as unlike as possible the tall, mascu- 
 line-looking, handsomely dressed person he 
 had pictured Mr. Beresford's daughter to be ; 
 and he was already endowing her with every 
 sweet and mawkish attribute which helps to 
 form a very young man's ideal of womanhood, 
 when she raised her head with a start and a 
 sigh, while Gerald drew himself up on his 
 chair and blushed deeply — much more deeply 
 than she did as she suddenly became aware of 
 his presence. She drew down her feet, sat 
 up in the chair, and held out her hand with 
 great demureness. He got up, shot stiffly 
 across the room to her, shook hands as if it 
 was a painful and distasteful operation, and 
 retreated at once with the appearance of being 
 glad to be let off so easily.
 
 154 A Prince of Darkness. 
 
 '* I am afraid I have come upon you unex- 
 pectedly, monsieur," she said, rather sleepily, 
 
 in French. ''But my father " She 
 
 stopped, and, after looking at him for a few 
 moments attentively, asked, ''Are you Eng- 
 lish ?" 
 
 " Yes, quite." 
 
 " Ah, I thought you looked English ; I 
 seem to have seen you somewhere." 
 
 *' To-day — on the pier." 
 
 " I remember now. You saved me from 
 falling down, and picked up my rug ; it was 
 very kind of you. Did you know who I 
 
 *' No ; I hadn't the least idea you were 
 coming, Miss Beresford, or I should certainly 
 have met you. And Victor Fournier too, who 
 was with me " 
 
 She started into full wakefulness. " Was 
 
 that M. Fournier, that handsome " She 
 
 stopped short, blushing, but evidently much 
 pleased by the discovery. 
 
 These words reminded Gerald of the strange 
 circumstances of her coming, and chilled him 
 a little. They both remained silent for some
 
 A Prince of Darkness. 155 
 
 time, he rather disgusted, and she thoughtful. 
 Then, glancing at him, she seemed to under- 
 stand the expression of his face, and when 
 she spoke again there was a timid and rather 
 pleading tone in her voice. 
 
 " I thought I should find my father here ; 
 he told me by letter that I was to be prepared 
 to come over at the end of March. I have 
 not heard from him for two months now, and 
 as some friends of mine were going as far as 
 Dover, and I don't like travelling by myself, 
 I took the opportunity of coming with them 
 part of the way." 
 
 ^^ Mr. Beresford will certainly be here in a 
 few days now, mademoiselle ; in the mean- 
 time I will drive you over, if you like, 
 to-morrow, to Madame Fournier's " 
 
 *'0h no; I shouldn't like to go there — at 
 least, not at once," said she, blushing pite- 
 ousl3^ 
 
 " Very well, mademoiselle. At any rate, 
 I w411 go to Calais to-night, and tell them of 
 your arrival." 
 
 *' But why need you be in such a hurry ? 
 I don't want you to have a cold drive
 
 15G A Prince of Darkness. 
 
 to-night on my account. Why can't you 
 wait " 
 
 She stopped short, and looked down un- 
 comfortably. Delphine, the servant who 
 opened the door to her, had prepared her for 
 the coming of M. Gerald, in whom she, 
 without any particular reason, had expected 
 to find some staid secretary or dependent of 
 the same generation as her father. The young 
 fellow was evidently in the throes of a diffi- 
 culty about etiquette which she considered 
 more lightly, though she did not at first Hke 
 to say so. 
 
 *' They will be offended if they are not 
 immediately informed of your coming. Miss 
 Beresford," insisted Gerald, anxious to escape 
 the awkward duties of host. And as at that 
 moment Delphine opened the door of the 
 salle-d-mcmger and announced that dinner w^as 
 ready, he ordered the gig to be brought round 
 again in an hour. 
 
 Then they went in to dinner, and for the 
 first few minutes Gerald was utterly borne 
 down by a sense of his responsibilities as host, 
 and gave all his attention to helping Miss
 
 A Prince of Darkness. 157 
 
 Beresford to soup, and to compiling elaborate 
 little commonplaces about the discomforts of 
 travelling, to which she paid very little heed, 
 being ravenously hungry, and apparently not 
 inclined for conversation. So that by the 
 time the fish was on the table they had both 
 dropped into silence. But Miss Beresford 
 was beginning to look pinker and happier, and 
 as the next course appeared she glanced at 
 her companion and broke into a pleasant little 
 laugh. 
 
 " What a curious ending to the day this 
 is !" she exclaimed, in a more natural tone 
 than he had yet heard from her. ^' Not a bit 
 like what I expected." 
 
 '' Oh, of course you expected to find Mr. 
 Beresford here." 
 
 " Yes." Then she sat back happily in 
 her chair, and added simply, ** I'm so glad he 
 isn't !" 
 
 Gerald, whose ideas concerning the relations 
 between children and their parents ran in 
 conventional lines, echoed feebly, *' Glad he 
 isn't!" 
 
 "Yes, very glad," she repeated calmly
 
 158 A Prince of Darkness. 
 
 then, with a sigh : '' I wish he wouldn't come 
 back from Nice at all ! I know I shan't like 
 him." 
 
 Gerald was beginning to enjoy the uncon- 
 ventional tete-a-tete, when these utterances, 
 which he scarcely knew whether to take 
 seriously, disconcerted him. 
 
 " It is long since you have seen him, then, 
 Miss Beresford ?" 
 
 *' I don't remember him at all ; I only 
 know what poor mamma used to tell me 
 about him. I shan't even recognise him 
 from the old portrait I have of him when he 
 was young ; for he told me in one of his 
 letters that he is partly paralysed." 
 
 "What makes you think you won't like 
 him. Miss Beresford ?" 
 • " Oh, everything. The way he treated 
 poor mamma, for one thing — deserting her 
 and leaving her for her own friends to -sup- 
 port, and never caring what became of her or 
 of me either, while we wandered about for 
 years and years together, like a pair of 
 tramps, living wherever it was cheap, dressing 
 as best we could, never knowing what it was
 
 A Prince of Darkness. 159 
 
 to be out of debt, or to have any pleasure that 
 wasn't thrown to us out of charity. If you 
 had gone through all that, you wouldn't feel 
 very grateful to the person to whom you 
 owed such a life." 
 
 *' No, I don't think I should," said Gerald 
 heartily. " But it will be all right when you 
 see him. I know Mr. Beresford, and I should 
 think he must have been a very difficult sort 
 of man for a wife to get on with ; but he is 
 too just to bear any ill-will towards you for 
 her sake, I'm sure." 
 
 ** Why should he ? It is I who bear him 
 ill-will for her sake. And she bore ill-will to 
 me for his sake ; so you see I have some 
 cause for knowing that I shall hate him." 
 
 And, to Gerald's horror, her lips suddenly 
 parted over a set of beautiful white teeth, and 
 her little face wrinkled up into an expression 
 of impish malevolence. 
 
 **You look quite frightened," said she, 
 laughing, as her features relaxed into their 
 usual form. " Did you think at first that I 
 was a nice girl ? People often do at first." 
 
 ** I am sure you are," said he politely.
 
 160 A Prince of Darhiess, 
 
 '' Of course people can't be as nice when they 
 are low-spirited and miserable as they are 
 when — when they feel better." 
 
 ''But I never do feel better; I've been 
 soured. I've never been happy and I've 
 never been young, and it's too late for me to 
 begin to learn how." 
 
 " Too late ! Oh no, it isn't. It seems 
 quite funny to hear you talk like that. When 
 you are a little older you will know better. 
 Let me give you some more mufs a la neige,' 
 
 "If you please. How very nice it is!" 
 said Miss Beresford. 
 
 "Yes; Marie makes it beautifully. If 
 you like sw^eets, I'll take you to the best 
 pastrycook's in Calais in a day or two, where 
 they've got some awfully nice things, and 
 such mar digs /" 
 
 "I don't care much for marengs ; 1 like 
 tarts with cream in them, and chocolates." 
 
 "Well, you shall taste them all," said Gerald, 
 thankful to have found a subject which she 
 did not treat lugubriously. " There are some 
 chocolates in the salon, and I told Delphine 
 to light a fire there. Shall we take some
 
 A Prince of Darkness. 161 
 
 fruit with us, and go in there ? It is much 
 cosier than the room where I met you/' 
 
 Miss Beresford agreed, and they passed 
 through the bare-looking salon, with polished 
 floor and close stove, to a smaller room at the 
 end of the suite, where a bright warm-looking 
 carpet and an open fire-place seemed more 
 English and home-like. Gerald pulled a low 
 armchair to the fire for the lady, and, seating 
 himself on a footstool at her feet, began to 
 prepare fruit for her. 
 
 VOL. I. 11
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 DuBiNG the five and a half years of his 
 residence at ** Les Bouleaux" Gerald Staunton 
 had enjoyed so few of the pleasures of home- 
 life, that this evening with Miss Beresford 
 seemed to him a revelation of the joys of 
 heaven. 
 
 ** This is jolly!" said he, looking up at 
 her, and smiling. The society of a young 
 and intelligent human being, however soured, 
 was entrancing after three months of solitary 
 evenings, varied by discussion of robberies 
 with the servants. 
 
 But she would not smile back. " I think 
 I'm past caring for mere brightness and 
 warmth," she said sententiously, *' though, of 
 course, it's better than being dull and cold. 
 (No, I won't have that one ; it's all brown
 
 A Prince of Darkness. 163 
 
 and soft in the middle, and you've pulled the 
 stalk off.) Just think how humiliating it is 
 for me to be sent for like a parcel, and left 
 here to be inspected by everybody, to see if I 
 shall * do.' I hope I shan't do. I should 
 wish I hadn't come if it were not for you.'' 
 
 *'For me!" 
 
 **Yes. You are very kind to me, kinder 
 than anybody has been for a long while. 
 Tell me, who is the Miss M'Leod my father 
 mentions in his letters, and what are the 
 Fourniers like ?" 
 
 " Miss M'Leod is housekeeper, secretary, 
 companion, everything, to Mr. Beresford. She 
 is a little dried-up old maid, who thinks her- 
 self very young and very fascinating ; if you 
 want to please her you must talk about 
 sermons or the fashions. But she is very 
 kind-hearted, and when you know her well 
 you will like her." 
 
 '' And the Fourniers ?" 
 
 '' Oh, they're very nice. They say M. 
 Fournier is very avaricious and — well, that's 
 all they do say about him ; but he isn't 
 unkind — nobody is, I think, unless you get 
 
 11—2
 
 164 A Prince of Darkness, 
 
 in their way ; and you won't get in his, any 
 more thcan I do. And Madame Fournier is 
 very fond of her children : there is Louise/' 
 Gerald blushed and Miss Beresford looked 
 demurely intelligent, '^ and then, of course, 
 there is Victor." 
 
 ** Yes, that's the one I've got to marry. 
 What is he like ?" 
 
 ** Oh, he's very handsome, and very much 
 admired and run after. He's a good fellow 
 too, and everybody likes him." 
 
 '' Do you like him ?" 
 
 *^Yes." 
 
 **Not very much, or you wouldn't answer 
 quite in that tone. Why don't you like 
 him r 
 
 '* I do like him ; I see a great deal of him. 
 If I answer rather grudgingly, it is because 
 I'm meanly envious of his luck, I suppose ; 
 he's the luckiest fellow I've ever met." 
 
 *' Well, he won't be lucky much longer, 
 for he will have a horrid wife." 
 
 '' Oh, but even if he had, Victor is not the 
 sort of man to whom that would matter 
 much."
 
 A Prince of Darkness, 165 
 
 ''Indeed!" said Miss Beresford sharply. 
 And he was appalled hy his own indiscretion. 
 However, she went on with spirit and with 
 the elfish look in her eyes which he had 
 noticed before : "So much the better. He 
 will go his way and I mine." 
 
 *' Why did you consent to come, if — if you 
 feel Hke that ?" suggested Gerald diffidently, 
 in a low voice. 
 
 " Because there was nothing else for me to 
 do. I'm tired of tossing about the world 
 belonging to nowhere and nobody ; and earn- 
 ing one's living, as I should have had other- 
 wise to do, is very hard and very dreary. 
 And at any rate, if I marry this man I shall 
 have a home ; and if when he sees I'm only 
 an ordinary insignificant little thing he declines 
 to fulfil the bargain, well, at any rate," with 
 another glance of fiendish malice, ''now my 
 father has once had me here and owned me as 
 his daughter, he can't let me starve." 
 
 " I should think a girl would rather starve 
 than marry a man she did not love," suggested 
 Gerald, in a low voice. 
 
 " Oh no, she wouldn't," said Miss Beres-
 
 166 A Prince of Darkness. 
 
 ford bitterly. *' French girls always do it, 
 and lots of English ones, too. And the man 
 one loves never has any m-m-money." 
 
 She broke down at last, and began to cry. 
 The little suggestion of sentiment in the hard, 
 practical, brown-eyed elf touched Gerald's 
 heart, and he stroked her arm soothingly. 
 
 *' Never mind, don't cry. Perhaps he'll 
 earn some money, or get some left him, and 
 come back just in time to marry you." 
 
 ^' No-o, he won't. He's gone away to 
 America, and last time he wrote he was 
 engaged to a rich girl out there. I hate 
 her !" she cried, with another flash of fury. 
 *' Were you very fond of him ?" 
 '' Ye-es, at first." 
 '* I suppose he worshipped you ?" 
 ** No, he didn't do that exactly. There 
 was another girl he liked better, but she had 
 parents and brothers and sisters, and was 
 very pretty, so of course she didn't like him 
 as much as I, who had nothing and was 
 plain." 
 
 **0h, but you're not plain," cried Gerald, 
 with quite earnest conviction. '^ And he
 
 A Prince of Darkness. 1G7 
 
 wasn't good enough for you if he didn't care 
 about you more than that.'* 
 
 *' Yes, he was. He was quite good enough 
 for me ; anybody's good enough for me." 
 
 "Oh, but that's nonsense, you know," said 
 Gerald, as, amused and touched by her 
 childish petulance, he drew his footstool close 
 to her, and, taking one of her little hands in 
 his own, caressed the fragile fingers, and 
 talked to her in the tone he would have used 
 to a spoilt child of five crying over a doll. 
 *' Nobody is good enough for you who doesn't 
 like you very much indeed, as Victor will 
 when he finds out what a dear, silly little 
 thing you are, not a bit like the stiff affected 
 girls he meets every day. And you will 
 be as happy as a bird, and " 
 
 The noise of wooden shoes was heard on 
 the polished floor of the adjoining room, and 
 the door was opened roughly by Delphine, 
 who ingenuously stood for a moment, with her 
 head a little on one side, admiring the picture 
 which the two young people had had neither 
 the time nor the wit to break up. Gerald 
 had, indeed, dropped Miss Beresford's hand
 
 168 A Prince of Darhiess. 
 
 just in time to give more than due significance 
 to the fact that he had been holding it ; but 
 the Httle black-robed girl was still occupying 
 only that half of her chair which was nearest 
 to her companion, and the footstool on which 
 he was sitting was drawn close to her side. 
 The easy-mannered rustic servant would have 
 made some verbal comment on the scene, if 
 Gerald had not hastily prevented her by 
 asking what she wanted. 
 
 '* The carriage is round, monsieur, ivlien you 
 are ready,'' said the big girl, with saucy 
 sympathetic good-humour. 
 
 '^ Thank you, Delphine, I'm coming," said 
 Gerald, springing up, red to the roots of his 
 hair. 
 
 *' And, monsieur, Marie told me to tell you 
 that la mere Benoit has just come to 
 say " 
 
 " Oh, I can't listen to old Benoit's stories 
 now. Go and tell Henri to light the lamps ; 
 he always forgets them." 
 
 *' Very well, monsieur," said Delphine, 
 with unusual and irritating courtesy ; and she 
 left the room and shut the door with a
 
 A Prince of Darkness. 16& 
 
 last glance of benevolent enjoyment. But 
 Miss Beresford did not see it ; she had kept 
 her eyes on the fire to hide from the servant 
 that she had been crying. As soon as the 
 door closed she looked up ; her great brown 
 eyes were soft and glistening from recent 
 tears, and the red lips of her little mouth were 
 quivering. 
 
 '' Don't go/' said she softly, putting out 
 her hand. '' I shall be so lonely here all 
 by myself if you go, and I shall cry again. 
 Let the people know I've come to-morrow ; 
 I'm so tired to-night, I want just this one 
 night's peace. To-morrow they can come 
 and look at me, and eat me up if they like. 
 But do stay now." 
 
 At her first words Gerald had thrown 
 himself into a chair near her with an alacrity 
 which had encouraged her to make her voice 
 more persuasive and to lay her hand coaxingly 
 upon his sleeve. But as she went on speak- 
 ing and pleading with him he grew suddenly 
 shy and stiff without any clear reason, knowing 
 only that the voice of this little creature 
 whom he had been treating as a child had
 
 170 A Prince of Darkness, 
 
 a sweetness such as no music had ever had 
 for him, and that listening to her quite 
 passively as he was doing, with his face 
 turned aw^ay from her and his eyes fixed 
 on the knob at the end of the little brass 
 poker, was an altogether new, pleasant, and 
 somewhat unaccountable experience. "When 
 she had finished he got up and said slowly, in 
 a voice which sounded prim : " I must go, 
 Miss Beresford. French people like the 
 Fourniers are much more — er — much more 
 particular about etiquette and things like 
 that than English people of the same class ; 
 and they would be extremely offended if they 
 were to find out that you had been here a 
 day before they knew anything about it. It 
 might lead to their breaking off all — er — all 
 existing arrangements with Mr. Beresford." 
 
 " Oh, and the parcel would be returned 
 upon his hands ; that is what you mean, 
 I suppose," said Miss Beresford, in a hard 
 and scoffing tone. " I was forgetting how 
 precious I have become now that my father 
 has found a use for me, and how important it 
 is that I should be well taken care of now that
 
 A rrince of Darhicss, 171 
 
 I have thoroughly learnt how to take care of 
 myself." 
 
 Gerald stared in hewilderment at the im- 
 pudent little termagant, in whom every trace 
 of the sweet-voiced fairy of a few moments 
 ago had utterly disappeared. But even as he 
 looked she changed hack again to her gentler 
 self, and made her hlack eyes soft as she 
 smiled at him. 
 
 '' Yes, you're quite right, I know," she 
 said humbly, and with a blush. ^' You see, 
 I've been independent so long — for it was 
 I who took care of mamma, not mamma 
 of me — that I'm half a savage. When shall 
 I see you again ?" 
 
 She had risen to her feet, and she looked 
 so much more unhappy at the prospect of 
 being left alone than she had done while 
 reciting the tale of her woes as she sat by the 
 fire eating sweets, that it went to Gerald's 
 heart to leave her, 
 
 ** I shall stay in Calais to-night, but I will 
 come back as early as ever I can to-morrow. 
 I should think Madame Fournier will come in 
 the morning, and perhaps make you go back
 
 172 A Prince of Darkness. 
 
 with her. But anyhow I will come, you may 
 he sure of that ; but you won't want to see 
 me any more when you've seen Victor." 
 
 *' Oh yes, I shall. Do you know what I 
 felt this evening for the first time in my life, 
 Vv-hen we were sitting there, and you were 
 listening so patiently to my grumbling ? I 
 felt that I had a brother at last, to whom I 
 could tell everything I thought, whether it 
 was silly or not, without fear of being 
 laughed at." 
 
 She was too ignorant of the world to know 
 how oddly she had mistaken the offices of a 
 brother, and Gerald, equally simple-minded, 
 accepted the position with eagerness. 
 
 '^ You may indeed. Miss Beresford. I'm 
 not clever enough myself to laugh at any- 
 body, and you can always say whatever you 
 like to me " 
 
 In the delight, new to both of them, of 
 sympathetic companionship, they might have 
 gone on arranging the compact indefinitely, 
 if at this point the door had not been again 
 opened by Delphine, whose words were uttered 
 to the accompaniment of the sobs of an unseen
 
 A Prince of DarJ:n€6S. 173 
 
 woman, who had followed the servant as far 
 as the next room. 
 
 " Pardon, monsieur, it is not my fault that 
 I am interrupting you again. La mere 
 Benoit refuses to go away until she has seen 
 you. She says that M. Beresford always 
 hears what a poor person has to say, and as 
 you are here in his place, as it were " 
 
 '' Where is she, Delphine ? Of course I 
 will see her." 
 
 The girl jerked her head in the direction of 
 the next room, and Gerald went in and gently 
 touched the shoulder of a bent old woman, 
 who sobbed and moaned, and seemed utterly 
 unable to avail herself of the presence of the 
 young gentleman to detail the cause of her 
 distress. 
 
 ** Come, come, tell the gentleman about 
 thy grandson," said Delphine, swooping down 
 upon the httle crone and trying to lift her 
 bodily into an attitude of respectful narration. 
 
 But they failed to draw anything but inar- 
 ticulate murmurings from the old peasant 
 until a little black figure glided past the 
 muscular young servant, and kneeling do\Mi,
 
 174 A Frince of Darkness. 
 
 slipped her arms round la mere Benoit's neck, 
 and said in French, with a strong foreign 
 accent : 
 
 " Tell me what thy grandson has done/' 
 '*He is lost; the wolf-devil has got him," 
 sobbed the old woman, after staring dully at 
 her interrogator until the sympathy in the big 
 brown eyes moved her to speech. 
 
 " This is what she says, monsieur, made- 
 moiselle ; little Jules saw the wolf-devil a 
 w^eek ago, and you know that always brings 
 misfortune ; and now to-day he wxnt across 
 the dunes to Moreau's farm with a load of 
 wood on his shoulders, and he has never come 
 back. And la mere thinks he may have been 
 robbed by the w^olf-devil of the few sous he 
 got for the wood, which we tell her is im- 
 possible, since it is only those who have 
 something worth taking who get robbed. It 
 is more possible that he may have lost the 
 money and have returned to hunt for it ; or 
 perhaps he may have had his foot caught in 
 a rabbit-hole and hurt himself. But anyway, 
 as I tell her, it is useless to trouble 
 monsieur "
 
 A Prince of Darkness. 175 
 
 '' No, it isn't," said Gerald promptly. " I 
 will go at once on to the dunes and look for 
 Jules. Henri shall take la mere home to her 
 cottage ; and you, Delphine, must go too, for 
 Henri would never dare to come back alone 
 while this stupid wolf-story is about. Miss 
 Beresford, you won't be frightened, will you ? 
 Marie the cook will be left in the house, and 
 she has plenty of courage." 
 
 And, without waiting for an answer, he 
 dashed out of the room, and they heard him 
 mounting the staircase. When he returned 
 to the salon, Miss Beresford had her hat on, 
 and Delphine was fastening the buttons on 
 her ulster. 
 
 "I am going with you, Mr. Staunton," 
 said she quietly. ^'Delphine has just told 
 me the story, and it seems this wolf-creature 
 never attacks anybody who is not alone. 
 No, I'm not tired ; I can walk fast, and I shall 
 not be in your way ; but you shan't go alone." 
 
 He made a few objections ; but as she 
 scarcely paid civil attention to them, he con- 
 ented himself with ascertaining that she was 
 warmly wrapped up, and they left the house
 
 176 A Prince of Darkness, 
 
 together. It was nearly eight o'clock, and 
 quite dark. As they passed Henri standing 
 by the gig, Gerald told him to take it back 
 into the stable until his return, and saying 
 simply ** Come along " to his companion, he 
 and she walked the whole length of the long 
 white house, over the square-paved courtyard; 
 and then, passing a little pond on the left 
 (which looked, with its background of trees, 
 like a yawning black pit in the darkness), 
 they walked on together along a rough grass- 
 grown path between an ill-kept hedge on the 
 one side and a tangled plantation on the 
 other, followed by a potato -field, and then 
 by more plantation. 
 
 *' It's very dark ; if I were alone I should 
 be frightened," said Miss Beresford at last. 
 In spite of the excitement of the strange 
 place and the novel circumstances of the 
 walk, she had become sleepy and tired again ; 
 and though she could walk on steadily at a 
 good pace, her brain was in a sort of excited 
 confusion, which made her glad that her 
 companion did not seem to want entertain- 
 ment from her.
 
 A Prince of Darkness, 177 
 
 ^' Hush !" said he softly. '' Look there !'* 
 
 She tried to follow his glance into the 
 tangle of the still almost leafless plantation, 
 but she could see nothing. 
 
 *^ Are you afraid to stand here one moment 
 alone ?" 
 
 ^*No-o," doubtfully. 
 
 She had scarcely uttered the word when 
 Gerald sprang away from her, and as he did 
 so, she heard the crackling of dry branches 
 and the rustle of last summer's long dead 
 grasses, and she knew that he was in pursuit 
 of some one or some thing. The chase did not 
 last long. In a few moments she heard a sort 
 of squeaking cry and a whining boy's voice. 
 
 " Oh, M. Monnier, let me go — let me go ! 
 Indeed, I saw nothing — I saw nothing; and 
 I swear I will never tell anyone : I swear it, 
 I swear it ! Oh, my poor grandmother ! 
 Oh, don't kill me, please !" 
 
 " Get up, Jules ; what are you talking 
 about ? I don't want to kill you. Come here." 
 
 And Gerald dragged out on to the rough 
 path where Miss Beresford was standing a 
 dishevelled, ill-fed-looking boy of twelve, who 
 
 VOL. I. 12
 
 178 A Prince of Darhiess. 
 
 had turned suddenly taciturn, and who refused 
 to answer any questions as he stood trembling 
 with cold and fright in the grasp of his captor, 
 who led him back to " Les Bouleaux," re- 
 stored him to his grandmother, who had not 
 yet left the house, and gave orders that both 
 should have supper in the kitchen before they 
 returned home. Then Gerald went into the 
 salon to say good-bye to Miss Beresford, who 
 had accompanied him and his prize home very 
 quietly. 
 
 '' Good-night, Miss Beresford ; the gig is 
 waiting to take me to Calais. Delphine and 
 Marie will do all they can to make you com- 
 fortable. I shall see you to-morrow ; don't 
 be dull. Good-night." 
 
 " Good-night," said she, giving him her 
 hand and smiling. ^' Be sure you come 
 early to-morrow — as early as ever you can ; 
 and don't forget to bring me some more 
 chocolates." 
 
 So he left her and got into the gig. On 
 the way to Calais he had plenty to think 
 about ; for besides that most interesting dis- 
 covery of a sweet little sister in the once-
 
 A Prince of Darkness. 179 
 
 dreaded Miss Beresford, the words that Jules 
 had uttered in the belief that he was address- 
 ing Monnier the gamekeeper had roused some 
 strange suspicions in his mind. 
 
 " I wish Mr. Beresford were here," thought 
 he. "I think I shall write and tell him 
 about this business ; he will make Jules 
 speak, if anybody can." 
 
 He went straight to the house of the Four- 
 niers, and announced Miss Beresford's arrival. 
 Madame Fournier asked him to spend the 
 night there, but he did not see Victor, who 
 returned home long after the rest of the family 
 were asleep. Next morning he was at the 
 factory before Victor was up, but he found 
 there a telegram which for several reasons 
 gave him great relief. 
 
 *^ From M, Beresford, Hotel Normandy, Paris. 
 ^' To M. Staunton, Fahriqiie Fournier, 
 *' Saint Pier re -Us- Calais. 
 *' Arrived here from Nice last night. Shall 
 he at Calais at 12.53 to-night." 
 
 '* Now everything will be all right again !" 
 said Gerald to himself joyfully. 
 
 12—2
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 It was a quarter to six o'clock on the evening 
 of Thursday, March 29th, that Mr. Beresford, 
 of the firm of Fournier and Beresford, lace 
 manufacturers, arrived in Paris on his way 
 from Nice, and drove straight to the Hotel 
 Normandy, where rooms on the third floor 
 had been engaged for him by telegraph some 
 days before. He grumbled exceedingly on 
 the way thither at the terrible inconvenience 
 either alternative of staircase or lift would 
 cause him, on account of the partial paralysis 
 of his left side, which had for nearly five 
 years made locomotion difficult for him. The 
 little prim English lady. Miss M'Leod, who 
 was his devoted nurse, secretary, companion, 
 butt, and scapegoat, condoled with him on 
 this misfortune with perfect sincerity, although
 
 A Prince of Darkness, 181 
 
 she knew that it was parsimony and not 
 poverty which prevented him from installing 
 himself in comfort and luxury on the first floor. 
 She was a curious study, this small, spare, 
 haughty, high-dried lady, by herself so insignifi- 
 cant that the handsome dresses in which she 
 delighted to array her tiny person were quite 
 without efiect, and the height at which she 
 carried her little pinched nose and shrivelled 
 chin gave her, not the dignity she craved, but 
 the stifi" air of a doll of our grandmothers' 
 time, which, after having been carefully packed 
 away for half a century, has been discovered 
 and repaired and decked out in clothes of 
 modern fashion at a great sacrifice of con- 
 gruity. But having had the luck to see, four 
 years and a half ago, Mr. Beresford's adver- 
 tisement for '* an English lady of tact and 
 refinement as companion-housekeeper to a 
 middle-aged invalid,'' Miss M'Leod, after 
 quieting those maidenly scruples which are 
 never so strong as at forty, had been inter- 
 viewed, approved of, and installed in a posi- 
 tion for which, by every little crook in her 
 narrow mind, every little whim of her kind
 
 ]82 A Prince of Darhiess. 
 
 heart, she seemed peculiarly fitted. Away 
 from Mr. Beresford she was nothing ; as the 
 right hand of the invalid oracle of ^' Les 
 Bouleaux " she was quite a great lady. So, 
 in return for a courteous deference, in which 
 she was not clever enough to discern *' chaff," 
 she yielded him a devotion more complete 
 and absorbing than worshipper at altar ever 
 paid, and was gradually becoming as neces- 
 sary to him as he was to her. 
 
 As they were driving from the station to 
 the hotel, Mr. Beresford slowly drew his head 
 far enough out of the multitude of wraps in 
 which his neck was swathed to speak with 
 sufficient clearness to be understood. The 
 paralytic stroke which had deprived him of 
 the free use of his right arm and leg had 
 affected his speech in a curious manner, pro- 
 ducing the effect of his tongue being intract- 
 able, and apt to get in the way. Miss 
 M'Leod, however, seldom failed to gather his 
 meaning, and she now understood him to 
 grumble at the amazing remissness of Mr. 
 Smith in not turning up at the station to 
 meet him. Miss M'Leod drew up her little
 
 A Prince of Darkness. 183 
 
 person with an electric shock of dignified dis- 
 gust, and Mr. Beresford gave a dry chuckle 
 on noticing it. 
 
 ** What has poor Smith done to offend you, 
 that the very mention of his name is always 
 enough to turn your smiles into frowns ?" 
 asked he. 
 
 But he knew ; for the housekeeper was as 
 jealous of her influence with her employer as 
 ever fair lady was of her power over her lover, 
 and *' that Mr. Smith " ran her very close in 
 Mr. Beresford's confidence, and was the thorn 
 in the little lady's side. He was the cleverest 
 of the travellers for the firm, and it was well 
 understood that in that matter of predicting 
 the coming fashions in lace, which had done 
 so much for the firm's fortunes, Mr. Beresford 
 never prophesied unless Mr. Smith knew. 
 During the three months she had just spent 
 at Nice, Miss M'Leod had heen spared the 
 sight of the hated one, though she had had to 
 read aloud his business letters, and to affect 
 admiration of their sagacity ; but to hear his 
 absence regretted in the very first minutes of 
 their arrival in Paris was too much for her 
 patience.
 
 184 A Piince of Darhiess. 
 
 *' Nothing, monsieur," said she in French, 
 the language Mr. Beresford now habitually 
 used ; '^but I think it would have been more 
 courteous of him to meet you, since he knew 
 at what time you would arrive." 
 
 '' Well, well, it is the first time he has 
 failed to do so, and some accident must have 
 prevented his coming. Or perhaps he was at 
 the station and we missed him." 
 
 " In that case he will certainly be at the 
 hotel within a few minutes of your arrival 
 there," said Miss M'Leod, sincerely hoping 
 that the obnoxious clerk would fail to put in 
 an appearance that evening, and thus give 
 her a legitimate ground of complaint against 
 him. 
 
 " Come, tell me the reason of your dislike 
 to poor Smith ; you are a lady of far too 
 much sense to take an unreasonable prejudice, 
 especially against a man who admires you so 
 much as he does." 
 
 But the implied compliment left her frigid. 
 She cast about for a reason, and found one 
 that would serve. 
 
 ** Mr. Smith takes too much credit to him-
 
 A Prince of Darhiess. 185 
 
 self for the work he does for jou, which is, 
 after all, of quite a subordinate kind, and 
 consists merely in following out your sugges- 
 tions. He absolutely boasts of his authority 
 with you ; and I am sure I would not wish to 
 say anything against a man behind his back, 
 but I certainly do believe that, while working 
 for you, he is working for himself too." 
 
 '' Naturally. That is the secret of getting 
 well served, to make your own interest that 
 of your servants." 
 
 '* But if those interests should happen to 
 run different ways, the servant will follow 
 his own/' said Miss M'Leod, whose Chris- 
 tianity was apt to grow weak as she grew 
 warm. 
 
 ** How do you mean ?" asked Mr. Beres- 
 ford, indulgent and amused. 
 
 *' Why, that I believe — not that I would 
 for the Vvorld say anything against a person 
 without proof — that Mr. Smith is more bent 
 on making his own fortune tlian on making 
 yours.'' 
 
 ^' I dare say he is human enough for 
 that."
 
 186 A Prince of Darkness. 
 
 '' And I have seen him, out of a packet of 
 letters which he has taken from his pocket to 
 read to you, slip hack one or two, with a 
 quick ghiuce at you, as if afraid that you 
 should see them. I helieve he has secret 
 communications with some one," she finished, 
 with a romance-inspired air of mystery. 
 
 *' Well, he may have communications from 
 the Prince of Darkness himself, as long as 
 the intelligence he obtains from him is accu- 
 rate and useful." 
 
 And Miss M'Leod, to whom even profanity 
 lost its wickedness coming from the lips of 
 her employer, shut up her mouth tightly, as 
 if to force hack any more disregarded revela- 
 tions ; and they reached the Hotel Normandy 
 in silence. 
 
 Mr. Smith was not there, had not even 
 called there, did not arrive during dinner, at 
 the end of which meal Miss M'Leod was 
 secretly triumphant, Mr. Beresford evidently 
 uneasy. He refused to go to bed, and insisted 
 on sitting up, on the chance of his trusted 
 clerk's arrival. At last she suggested that, if 
 Mr. Beresford knew his address, he should be
 
 A Prince of Darhncss. 187 
 
 sent for at once. Pierre could go in a fiacre 
 with the message. Now Pierre was Mr. 
 BeresforcVs valet, a faithful hut incompetent 
 old servitor, who had heen engaged out of 
 charity, or to illustrate Mr. Beresford's theory 
 that fidelity and intelligence in any heing 
 except a dog are always found in inverse 
 proportion. The journey from Nice having 
 confused the old man's faculties more than 
 ever, his master hesitated at Miss M'Leod's 
 suggestion. 
 
 " I suppose it would he too much to ask 
 Ijoii to he kind enough to drive as far as the 
 Piue de la Bienfaisance to the Hotel Alex- 
 andra, where Smith is staying ?" said he, 
 with courtesy which did not hide the fact that 
 the suggestion was a command. *' If you 
 would not mind seeing Smith if he is in, or 
 waiting for him if he is out, I should be ex- 
 ceedingly indebted to you. You will then 
 insist, in my name, on knowing fully the 
 reason of his unaccountable non-appearance, 
 and, if possible, you will bring him back with 
 you." 
 
 Miss M'Leod rose stiffly, bowed obedience
 
 188 A Prince of Darkness. 
 
 without speaking, and left the room to get 
 ready for this distasteful expedition. When 
 she returned to take the last commands before 
 starting, Mr. Beresford showed a malicious 
 disposition to rally her which was cleverly 
 calculated to ensure her speedy return. 
 
 *'It is very confiding on my part to send 
 you instead of Pierre, since everyone knows 
 that a lady in search of a gentleman is only 
 less expeditious than a gentleman in search of 
 a lady. I won't even ask you to promise not 
 to let Smith tell the cocker to come a long 
 way round." 
 
 Mr. Beresford was sitting by the low square 
 fireplace, where a wood fire was glowing. At 
 the opposite side of the room, which was large 
 and served as bed and sitting room, the old 
 valet, who was scarcely less infirm than his 
 master, was pottering about with an incapable 
 air of being busy with his master's portman- 
 teau. The white cloth and the dessert had 
 been removed from the table, which was now 
 covered by a mossy-looking, heavily fringed 
 velvet cloth, to which a couple of wax candles, 
 in tall plated candlesticks that stood upon it a
 
 A Prince of Darkness. 180 
 
 yard apart, gave a lugubrious suggestion of a 
 pall-covered coffin. Miss M'Leod, standing 
 near the door in her ladj^like black silk gown 
 and heavily trimmed black mantle, shuddered 
 at her employer's indehcate pleasantry. 
 
 *' I can assure you I shall not make any at- 
 tempt to detain Mr, Smith,'' said she haughtily, 
 with a spirited implication that, had the 
 gentleman been more agreeable to her, he 
 would have found it difficult to resist her 
 fascinations. 
 
 *'Yery well, very well," said Mr. Beres- 
 ford, nodding his head slowly ; ** on that 
 assurance I will trust you. Tell him, if you 
 like to be severe, that it does not look well 
 for an old cripple of fifty-two to be ready for 
 business discussion after a tiring journey, 
 wdiile he, a mere lad of five-and-thirty, is 
 sitting at ease over his claret and thinks that 
 business will do in the morning. Tell him I 
 shall expect him up to ten o'clock, and that I 
 hope to be in possession of all the intelligence 
 he has to give me before midnight ; and ask 
 him to bring with him the letters from 
 Madame d'Argentan, M. Bontaud, and M. de
 
 190 A Prince of Darhiess. 
 
 Breteuil on the subject of the orders we have 
 had from them/' 
 
 ** What are the three names ? I will write 
 them down." 
 
 '^No, no, it is not necessary. Say the 
 three large orders we have just received. I 
 am really much obliged to you for going, 
 especially when you are so tired." 
 
 *' Oh, monsieur, if you can sit up to talk 
 business, surely I " 
 
 " The greed of gain would keep a dor- 
 mouse awake. You need not come to me 
 again to-night; you can go straight to your 
 room and rest. Good-night." 
 
 He rose slowly and raised her small gloved 
 hand to his lips ; difficult as movement was 
 to him, he never omitted this nightly cere- 
 mony, which was indeed but a small price to 
 pay for the slavish devotion it did much 
 towards purchasing. It was the signal for 
 Pierre to take liis stand behind his master's 
 chair, ready to afford his pompous but hinder- 
 ing services in getting him to bed. Miss 
 M'Leod, as usual, received this salute with 
 downcast eyes, looked up with a gracious
 
 A Prince of Darhness. 191 
 
 smile and a curtsey, and retired, with a 
 pleasant feeling of satisfaction with herself 
 and her own position, from her employer's 
 presence. Mr. Beresford, though he was 
 only of the mid^lle height, with a round back 
 and the awkward stoop of the short-sighted, 
 had a dignity about his massive grey-haired 
 head, silver-streaked beard, and dark eyes 
 shining from under thick eyebrows that were 
 almost white, which made it easy to do 
 homage to him. 
 
 Almost reconciled to her disagreeable task, 
 Miss M'Leod went down the wide shallow- 
 stepped staircase, which she preferred to the 
 lift, as she thought the sweep of her silk train 
 behind her made her more impressive than 
 the mere package one became when pulled up 
 and down in that little square box. Then 
 she sent for ^fiacre, and gave the address of 
 the Hotel Alexandra as she stepped in with a 
 stately air. She was half-way there, and 
 was composing an opening speech which 
 should fulfil Mr. Beresford's wishes whilst 
 letting the abhorred Smith know that he 
 must keep his distance, when a voice
 
 192 A Prince of Darkness, 
 
 shouting to the driver made her lower the 
 window to see what was the matter. A 
 commissionaire sitting heside the driver of 
 another /<:^cr^, which had apparently followed 
 hers at full speed, was telling her own driver 
 to stop, as he jumped down and came to the 
 window. 
 
 " The gentleman of whom madame is in 
 search has just arrived at the Hutel Nor- 
 mandy,'' said the commissionaire, raising his 
 cap politely. 
 
 She recognised the man as the one who 
 had called her fiacre, and ordered the driver 
 to return, very thankful that she had not had 
 to fulfil her task. She was congratulating 
 herself that she should not have to see Mr. 
 Smith at all, as she passed Mr. Beresford's 
 door and heard the clerk's full, clear, rich 
 voice on the other side, when the handle was 
 turned, and a little fat man, with a black 
 bullet head and twinkling clever black eyes — 
 just such a man as the voice foretold — came 
 out, and seizing her frigid reluctant hand, 
 took it in both his and shook it w^armly. 
 
 *'My dear, dear Miss M'Leod," as if
 
 A Prince of Darkness. 193 
 
 bursting to express the enthusiasm he felt 
 about her, *' I am so sorry, so inexpressibly 
 sorry that you should have had" to turn out 
 in the damp and the cold on my account. 
 I've had to blow up dear old B. about it, I 
 have really. He might have trusted me not 
 to neglect my business," he went on, ignoring 
 her evident disgust at his disrespectful mention 
 of his employer. ^' When we poor working 
 devils get an order from a swell, you know, 
 we must cool our hoofs in his anteroom at 
 his own time ; and M. de Breteuil — I dare 
 say you've heard of him, he's one of the tip- 
 top nobs here " — Miss M'Leod shuddered — 
 ^' having done us the favour to order a lot of 
 lace for which he wants special designs, sent 
 for me just as I was starting to meet you and 
 dear B. at the station. Then, after keeping 
 me for two whole hours looking at two cursed 
 bad pictures of dumpy Frenchwomen w^e- 
 wouldn't have for barmaids in London — no, 
 don't go," said he, detaining her by the jetted 
 sleeve of her mantle, obtusely failing or 
 pretending to fail to understand her sudden 
 turning away — '^ well, he had me in, looked 
 
 VOL. I. 13
 
 194 A Prince of Darkness. 
 
 clown at me some miles, and told me to send 
 one of the principals of tlie firm to him. 
 T've jnst told old B., and he's nearly off his 
 head about it," added he, jerking his round 
 black head back in the direction of Mr. 
 Beresford's room. ^'That just touches his 
 dignity, you know. So he's writing to my 
 lord himself, and he vows he'll have the 
 gentleman here himself to-morrow morning. 
 Shouldn't wonder if he did. Old B. can do 
 wonders when his back's up." 
 
 " Writing himself! He can't ; you should 
 liave let him dictate the letter to you. I 
 must go and do it myself." Her hand was 
 already on the door. 
 
 Mr. Smith did not attempt to stop her, 
 except by a shrug of the shoulders and a 
 significant twitch of his eyebrows. 
 
 "Go in if you like, my dear lady, but he 
 won't let you write that letter. He's in one 
 of his black humours, and w^hatever sort of 
 scrawl he manages to produce will be much 
 to the point, I fancy." 
 
 Miss M'Leod's hand dropped. Mr. Beres- 
 ford could make himself very unpleasant
 
 A Prince of Darkness. 195 
 
 indeed ^vlieii lie was annoyed, and even 
 devotion grew cooler at the thought of the 
 look with which he would receive an unbidden 
 intruder. 
 
 "If you do go in," continued Mr. Smith 
 magnanimously, '* say I sent you. My 
 shoulders are broad enough to bear the blame, 
 and my credit with him is good enough for 
 him to forgive you if you use my authority." 
 
 Whether or not there was a touch of 
 malice in this speech, it fired the lady at 
 once. " I use no authority but that of Mr. 
 Beresford himself, sir ; and if it came to a 
 question of your credit against mine, the 
 balance would perhaps not be so much in 
 your favour as you imagine.'' 
 
 She was turning away most haughtily to 
 go to her room, when her enemy, with a 
 chuckling good-humoured laugh which ex- 
 asperated her more than a chorus of blas- 
 phemies, seized her right hand, and insisted 
 upon shaking it warmly, while he said in a 
 tone in which even she could detect sly 
 mockery, " Well, well, don't let such a trifle 
 disturb the friendship of old pals like you and 
 
 13—2
 
 196 A Prince of Darkness. 
 
 me. I'm sure I would rather see old B. and 
 his authority too at the bottom of the sea 
 than contradict a lady. I'm afraid I shan't 
 be able to go down to * Les Bouleaux ' with 
 you to-morrow evening, but I promise you 
 I'll come down on the following morning 
 without fail — and the hours between now and 
 then will seem very long." 
 
 Sour-faced, indignant, she suffered the 
 hand-pressure she could not escape, but made 
 no attempt to echo his affectionate senti- 
 ments : the moment he let her hand fall she 
 forgot her dignity, and scurried off to her 
 own room like a mouse dropped from the jaws 
 of a cat. 
 
 But the poor lady had not seen or heard 
 the last of her tormentor. On the following 
 morning, when, as usual at eleven o'clock, 
 she went towards Mr. Beresford's room to 
 offer her services to read or write for him, 
 just as her little knuckles touched the panels 
 of the door to give a modest rap, she caught 
 the sound of the clerk's hated voice, and, 
 retreating hastily to her room, she put on her 
 bonnet, determined to take the opportunity of
 
 A Frince of Darkness. 197 
 
 a little shopping in Paris and to avoid her 
 enemy at the same time. As she reached 
 the entrance of the hotel on her way out, 
 she noticed a little group of waiters watching 
 an arrival with unusual interest. 
 
 " C'est M. de Breteuil, le millionnaire 
 gal ant," said one of the group to another 
 who had just joined them. 
 
 Miss M'Leod was not very well versed in 
 the scandals of Paris, less perhaps from lack 
 of interest than of opportunity ; but she had 
 heard of this man and of the marvellous 
 vitality of his notoriety, and she stood aside 
 with some curiosity^ on pretence of gathering 
 up the train which no change of fashion could 
 induce her to discard, to see the bold bad 
 man pass. She saw him step out of his 
 dainty little dark-coloured couiic, which, with 
 its pair of small, long-tailed, black horses 
 and its pair of dark-liveried fur-caped servants, 
 looked like the sombre freak of a blonde 
 demi-mondaine. An Englishman would have 
 looked upon the turn-out — from the showy 
 high-stepping horses, with their foam- covered 
 bits and heads held tightly in with the
 
 198 A Prince of Darkness. 
 
 bearing-rein, to the little black toy behind 
 them with the coroneted gilt monogram L. B. 
 on the panels — as he would have looked at 
 the advertisement car of a circus : but in 
 Paris it was the envy and admiration of men 
 as well as women. The owner of the carriage 
 bore the stamp of his reputation with gratif}^- 
 ing clearness. Miss M'Leod felt her curiosity 
 stimulated instead of lessened as she took a 
 keen and comprehensive survey of the tall, 
 slight, erect gentleman, better dressed than 
 most fashionable Frenchmen, w^hose dark 
 clear-cut face and easy bearing impressed her 
 so much that she passed upon him the mental 
 comment of the imaginative milliner: ''He 
 might be a prince V 
 
 "Did you see him ?" said in her ear the 
 voice she loathed, as soon as M. de Breteuil 
 had passed. " He wouldn't take any notice 
 of me, though I came down on purpose to 
 receive him. However, I'm going up again, 
 and he'll have to be civil to me in the guvnor's 
 presence. I'm too useful to old B. for him 
 to stand by and see me insulted by any 
 popinjay foreigner."
 
 A Prince of Darkness, 199 
 
 '^ M. de Breteuil is every inch a gentle- 
 man : anyone with any knowledge of good 
 society can see that," said Miss M'Leod 
 superciliously. 
 
 *' Oh yes, he's as fine a gentleman as hair- 
 dye and a good tailor can make him. You're 
 mashed, I see. Well, well, I should be content 
 to look as w^ell at his age." 
 
 " His ao'e !" echoed Miss M'Leod involun- 
 tarily. " Why, he can't be more than 
 thirty !" 
 
 ** He can, though; he can be more by a 
 good ten years. Well, I must follow my lord 
 upstairs, I suppose. Au revoir, Miss M'Leod: 
 if I don't see you again before you start I 
 wish you a pleasant journey ; you won't be so 
 dull at * Les Bouleaux ' when young Miss 
 Beresford arrives to keep you company." 
 
 And wdth this artfully barbed speech, for 
 the housekeeper was already madly jealous of 
 her employer's daughter, the little man turned 
 and trotted upstairs. 
 
 When Miss M'Leod returned from her walk, 
 she saw the little black cou])e driving away ; 
 meeting Pierre outside his master's door, sh
 
 200 A Prince of Darhicss, 
 
 learnt that both Mr. Smith and M. de Breteuil 
 had gone, and she therefore hastened to present 
 herself to Mr. Beresford. He was in one of 
 his moods of almost absolute silence, as usual 
 after a business talk with Mr. Smith ; but the 
 aggrieved housekeeper chose to think that the 
 latter had been '^ making mischief," and that 
 the reflective taciturnity with which Mr. 
 Beresford endured her reading of the Figaro 
 rather than listened to it was the result not 
 so much of deep thought over the fluctua- 
 tions of the lace-market as of temporary 
 estrangement from herself. It was some- 
 thing to believe, however, that for the present 
 her enemy was removed ; and it was with no 
 welcome in her eyes that she saw the clerk's 
 fat, happy, good-humoured face at the Gare 
 du Nord that evening, when she and Mr. 
 Beresford drove up on the way to continue 
 their journey to *' Les Bouleaux," 
 
 He raised his round hat to her, and gave a 
 too familiar nod to his employer. ** I couldn't 
 get you a carriage to yourselves, in spite of 
 the Baron's pass," said he, looking in cheer- 
 fully at the window of the Jiacre. '' The train
 
 A Prince of Darhiess. 201 
 
 is going to be very full, and these cl — d 
 Frenchmen just take your tips and then pack 
 you in like sardines all the same. I could 
 only get you one to yourselves by paying 
 double fare for each unoccupied seat." 
 
 " No, no, you don't mean to say you've 
 done that!" stammered Mr. Beresford. 
 
 ** No, it's all right," laughed Smith, in 
 mischievous delight at the fright he had 
 given to his employer's parsimony. '^I've 
 arranged that you are not to have more than 
 two other people with you, so you can both 
 put your feet up and be comfortable. One 
 must consider the lady, you know," he added 
 politely. 
 
 It was evident that the lady would rather 
 have travelled in the luggage-van than be 
 considered by him ; but Mr. Smith was 
 unctuously impervious to snubs. He led 
 them, armed with the pass he had obtained 
 from one of the directors who knew Mr. 
 Beresford, to a compartment the further 
 comers of which were already occupied by 
 two gentlemen. The guard unlocked the 
 door for them : Mr. Beresford was carefully
 
 20*2 A Vrince of Darlniess. 
 
 helped iu tiDcl seated in one corner, while 
 Miss M'Leod took the fourth, which was 
 op230site to him. Mr. Smith gave her a 
 cheering assurance at parting, as he stood on 
 the platform, beaming up at her with his 
 twinkling black eyes through the spectacles 
 he sometimes wore. 
 
 *' It won't be long before I see you again, 
 my dear lady. I have one more call to make 
 on our estimable friend, the king of snobs, 
 M. Louis de Breteuil, who has condescended 
 to give me an audience at half-past eleven 
 to-morrow morning ; that done, the claims of 
 duty will be satisfied, and I shall fly to your 
 feet." 
 
 At the mention of M. de BreteuiFs name, 
 both the strangers in the carriage turned 
 their heads quickly towards the speaker. Mr. 
 Beresford, who noticed everything, saw this, 
 and frowned slightly at his clerk's indiscreet 
 mention of such an important client. Mr. 
 Smith, seeing nothing of all this, continued 
 to babble happily on. 
 
 " You will have a little pleasant excitement 
 at ' Les Bouleaux ',now. Have you seen the
 
 A Prince of Darkness. 203 
 
 account of old Dupont's being robbed the 
 other day ? It appears they've been havmg 
 quite a gay old time about there with a 
 mysterious robber, who is said to be a loup' 
 (jarou, and to take a lot of killing. So you 
 had better not go about after dark until I 
 come down to take care of you, Miss M'Leod. 
 Ah! you're off; good-bye, and a safe journey 
 to you. The train gets in at Calais at 12.53 ; 
 and I've telegraphed to Staunton this morn- 
 ing, and he'll be sure to meet you. Good- 
 bye !" 
 
 Again, at the mention of the name Staunton, 
 the two strangers looked round. Both men 
 were past middle age ; the elder, a short red- 
 faced man with snow-white hair and moustache, 
 wore a carefully brushed coat and hat of the 
 fashion of some years ago, and bore himself 
 with an old-fashioned affectation of military 
 swagger which would have been altogether 
 offensive had it not suggested to the shrewd 
 a spirited struggle against adverse fortune. 
 The younger of the two by a few years was 
 evidently a man of more assured position. 
 He was tall and broad, with keen candid eyes
 
 204 A Prince of Darhiess. 
 
 and features still handsome, though his hair, 
 moustache, and close-cut beard were iron- 
 grey. Both men were evidently English. 
 
 '* Curious coincidence, the mention of both 
 those names," suggested the former, in a 
 voice meant only for his friend. 
 
 " Coincidence ! Something more than that, 
 perhaps," said the other thoughtfully; and 
 he looked with much attention from the 
 invalid gentleman to the little faded lady as 
 the train steamed out of the station. 
 
 Mr. Beresford had already closed his eyes, 
 not for sleep, but as an intimation that he did 
 not wish to be disturbed. In a few minutes, 
 however, he felt a touch upon his arm, and 
 found that the housekeeper was sitting by his 
 side. 
 
 "Mr. Beresford," she whispered very low 
 in his ear, * please forgive me for disturbing 
 you, but I must warn you against those two 
 men. They keep watching us with their 
 eyes half closed in a way that makes me 
 nervous. I believe they are" — she formed 
 the last word with her mouth only- — 
 *' thieves."
 
 A Prince of Darkness. 205 
 
 Mr. Beresford did not answer, but lie 
 glanced at the seat she had left as an inti- 
 mation for her to return to it. She did so at 
 once, snubbed, as she had expected to be. 
 But her words, also as she had expected, had 
 had their effect, and from under his travelling- 
 cap the invalid took a very careful survey of 
 the travellers.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 To a person who travels but seldom, a niglit- 
 journey in an express train is of itself ex- 
 citing ; but when that person's only com- 
 panions are two powerful-looking strangers of 
 suspicious manners, and a paralysed friend, 
 too sleepy even to listen to a whisper of 
 warning, the excitement grows too strong to 
 be pleasant. So, during the whole of the 
 fifty minutes' run between Paris and Creil, 
 the first stopping-place, Miss M'Leod sat 
 upright, keeping strict surveillance on the 
 two unknown Englishmen, and debating with 
 herself whether, in case of attack, she should 
 first make a rush for the communicator, and 
 then show fight with her umbrella, or make 
 play with the latter trusty weapon at the first 
 sign of danger. The spirited little lady's
 
 A rrlnce of Darliicss. 207 
 
 valour got so miicli the better of her discre- 
 tion that, when the taller of the strangers got 
 up to reach his travelling-cap, a restraining 
 glance from Mr. Beresford was only just in 
 time to save him from being harpooned. 
 When the train stopped at Creil, however, and 
 the strangers both thrust their heads out of 
 wdndow, on the principle of making the most 
 of their opportunities of seeing France, the 
 paralj^tic found a chance of assuring his com- 
 panion that her anxiety Avas thrown away. 
 
 '• What you think suspicious in them is 
 probably suspicion of us," said he. *^ They 
 are both the rawest of Englishmen, old as 
 they are : hearing us talk French, they believe 
 us to be French : believing that, conscience 
 shows them in us a pair of detectives, told off 
 specially to pounce upon the bundle of bad 
 cigars and the bottle of cognac, which will be 
 smashed before they get to London, on which 
 England expects every man to evade the 
 duty." 
 
 She looked only half convinced ; so he 
 added, " I'll prove to you they are harmless 
 before wc go another mile."
 
 208 A Prince of Darhiess, 
 
 No sooner had the train started agam, than 
 Mr. Beresford asked courteously m English if 
 they would forgive the fussiness of an invalid, 
 and shut the window at their end of the com- 
 partment. The taller of the two complied at 
 once, and instantly seized the opportunity of 
 opening conversation with the heaven-sent 
 stranger who, in this wild land, had perfect 
 command of the British tongue. 
 
 '' I hope you will pardon the question, but 
 are you not a fellow-countryman of ours ? I 
 thought you were French as long as you spoke 
 French ; but you speak Enghsh so well that 
 I can hardly believe you are not an English- 
 man." 
 
 The most formal stiffness could scarcely 
 have been proof against the genial straight- 
 forwardness of the gentleman's manner, and 
 Mr. Beresford answered at once, ^' You are 
 right in both guesses : I was wholly an 
 Englishman up to the age of forty-six ; but 
 for the last six years I have been a naturalized 
 Frenchman. I need not say that my French 
 I had picked up some time before then.'' 
 
 The other had taken a seat nearer to the
 
 A Prince of Darkness. 209 
 
 paralyzed man, whose impeded speech was 
 rather difficult for a stranger to understand. 
 After a few general remarks, in the course of 
 which both the visitors were disappointed to 
 find that their resident countryman did not 
 sweepingly condemn all French institutions, 
 the taller of the two asked Mr. Beresford if he 
 had been to the great sale which had taken 
 place a few days before in the hotel of the 
 Parisian millionnaire, M. de Breteuil. 
 
 *' No," answered the other; ''I only ar- 
 rived in Paris from Nice last night, although, 
 as it happened, it was chiefly business with 
 this very M. de Breteuil which forced me to 
 break my journey to my own home." 
 
 *^ Ah ! then he is a friend of yours ?" 
 
 ** No, a client. M. de Breteuil would be 
 extremely indignant to hear those terms con- 
 founded. I am afraid you must have heard 
 my clerk, at the station, claim acquaintance 
 with him in rather indiscreet language ; but I 
 have myself little to find fault with in the 
 gentleman's dealings with me." 
 
 *' To tell the truth, my friend and I are a 
 good deal interested and puzzled about him." 
 
 VOL. I. 14
 
 210 A Prince of Darkness i 
 
 The other stranger was listening with deep 
 attention. *' We were both at this sale yes- 
 terday^ : he on business, I on pleasure. We 
 had heard a great deal about a famous Murillo 
 of his, which was to be sold, as we hear all 
 this extravagant gentleman's things get sold 
 sooner or later, because the owner was tired 
 of it. But on examination this masterpiece 
 proved to be nothing but a copy of a picture 
 in a church at Seville, a copy so flagrant — 
 not that I could have detected it myself, for 
 I know little or nothing about pictures — that 
 my friend here declares that it is almost in- 
 credible that a connoisseur could be taken in 
 by it." 
 
 " It is doubtful whether M. de Breteuil is 
 a connoisseur. It is the metier of such men 
 a,s he to get all out of life that is to be got ; 
 art must yield its pleasures as well as sport 
 and the ballet, though all those tastes don't 
 get equally well cultivated, and it is perhaps 
 easier to pass judgment on the turn of an 
 ankle or the points of a horse than on the 
 merits of a picture." 
 
 Both the other men laughed, and the
 
 A Prince of Darhiess, 211 
 
 white-haired one broke into the conversation 
 with a voice in which a shade of unnecessary 
 familiarity took the place of the ease which 
 a more assured social position gave to his 
 friend. 
 
 *' I went myself to Paris expressly to see 
 the picture, and I can tell you I was disap- 
 pointed, unmistakably disappointed. And if 
 a swell can't choose his own pictures he ought 
 at least to choose his picture-buyors, and not 
 trust his reputation in the hands of some 
 swindling thief who is a better jadge of the 
 canvas than he is of the painting." 
 
 From the warm personal interest with 
 which he said this, it was easy to guess that 
 the speaker thought he could have fulfilled 
 the commission better himself. 
 
 " I am sorry your journey should have been 
 without result," said Mr. Beresford to the 
 other stranger. 
 
 ''Oh, my own visit to Paris was merely 
 for pleasure," he answered, *' with the ex- 
 ception of some fruitless inquiries about the 
 son of a man who was once a friend of mine, 
 
 14—2
 
 212 A Prince of Barhuss. 
 
 who has now been lost sight of for some 
 years." 
 
 '' Indeed ! An Englishman T* 
 *' Yes ; he was a lad of eighteen when he 
 disappeared ; he threw up a situation he had 
 in London in order to come to France to 
 make inquiries about — about some family 
 affairs, and he has never been heard of in 
 England from that day to this." 
 '* How long ago was that ?" 
 *^ Six years, or about that." 
 '* And the young fellow's name ?" 
 " Staunton — Gerald Staunton." 
 Mr. Beresford glanced at Miss M'Leod, 
 who could not restrain an exclamation of 
 astonishment. 
 
 '' I think I can help you," said he quietly. 
 ** To tell you the truth, I have been hoping 
 that you might, for I heard the gentleman 
 who saw you off at the station mention the 
 name of Staunton; and I, superstitiously 
 perhaps, took it for a good omen. Is the 
 
 man to whom you referred " 
 
 " Gerald Staunton ? Yes. He is a clerk 
 in my employment."
 
 A Prince of Darhness, 213 
 
 '* Impossible !" 
 
 ** I met the lad in Paris when he was in 
 a sad strait, and I took him up." 
 
 *' A very generous act." 
 
 *' Not quite that. I am not a philan- 
 thropist. But a man whom you pluck from 
 the mire will usually turn out either a very 
 good servant or a very bad one, and I can 
 generally trust my judgment upon the 
 material in my hand." 
 
 *' And you are satisfied in this case ?" 
 
 '* Perfectly. If you are going as far as 
 Calais you will see him to-night ; Gerald will 
 be at the station to meet us." 
 
 " Yes, yes, I had intended to cross to- 
 night," said the other, who had grown much 
 excited over the discovery. ** But I almost 
 think I shall spend the night at Calais, in 
 order to see Gerald and have a talk with 
 him." 
 
 '' If you wish to do that, I hope you will 
 do me the honour to accept such poor hospi- 
 tality as I can offer you for the night. I live 
 three miles out of Calais, and Staunton lives 
 w^ith me."
 
 214 A Prince of Darhiess, 
 
 *' Oh, you are too kind; I could not think 
 of " 
 
 **You will be conferring a great favour 
 upon me if you will come ; I am, as you see, 
 a cripple, forced to lead the life of a hermit, 
 and grateful for any echoes from the outer 
 world. Besides, I shall be very glad of 
 some conversation with a gentleman who 
 knew Staunton's father; and I am — as 
 my nurse opposite is trying to make me 
 understand — not fit to talk any more just 
 now." 
 
 His voice had been growing weaker and 
 weaker, and he gave his name almost in a 
 whisper to the stranger, who in turn intro- 
 duced himself as Mr. Albert Shaw, of the 
 London Stock Exchange. And the white- 
 haired man, who was at least as talkative as 
 his friend, and who had been panting for a 
 chance of joining in the conversation, here 
 thrust in the announcement that his name 
 was Blair, and that he was extremely 
 honoured to make Mr. Beresford's acquaint- 
 ance. The latter hardly seemed reciprocally 
 overwhelmed, nor did he extend his in vita-
 
 A Prince of Darhiess. 215 
 
 tiou to the seedily- smart humble friend, who 
 looked as if he would like it. 
 
 Mr. Beresford was evidently exhausted by 
 the fatigue of talking through the noise of re- 
 volving wheels, and he lay back in his corner 
 again, with closed eyes and with a drawn ex- 
 pression upon his face which alarmed his 
 faithful companion, who propped him up and 
 dosed him with brandy-and-water and smell- 
 ing-salts, until he begged her to leave him 
 alone ; and she insisted on running to the 
 buffet at Amiens, where the train stopped for 
 twelve minutes, and the two Englishmen 
 rushed out for coffee and cognac, to get him 
 some chocolate, which Mr. Beresford could 
 always eat, and in the sustaining power of 
 which she had great faith. 
 
 It was seven minutes past ten when the 
 train went on again ; by this time there had 
 come upon all the travellers a wish to get what 
 sleep they could, and within ten minutes of 
 leaving Amiens each corner of the carriage 
 held a silent and torpid human being in some 
 unlovely attitude of disturbed and disturbing 
 slumber. But they one and all settled
 
 216 A Prince of Darhicss. 
 
 gradually into stillness and quietness as the 
 train went on, until not a limb moved, not a 
 head stirred except to fall forward heavily as 
 sleep took a stronger hold upon them. Miss 
 M'Leod held out the longest, with the dutiful 
 watchfulness of the nurse. But as she saw 
 Mr. Beresford's eyes close and heard his 
 regular breathing grow deep in sleep, she felt 
 that she might safely indulge the craving for 
 slumber which was becoming indeed too 
 strong to be resisted. It seemed to her, as 
 she made one last languid effort to sit up and 
 keep awake, that the air was becoming 
 strangely heavy and oppressive ; she glanced 
 up at the ventilator over the door next to 
 which she sat, and saw that it was shut ; 
 turning her tired eyes towards the opposite 
 one she found that shut also, and the next 
 moment her flagging senses were stimulated 
 into sudden liveliness by the horrible appear- 
 ance of the man who had given his name as 
 Blair. His head was hanging down, his 
 mouth was wide open, his travelling- cap had 
 fallen off, his wavy white hair fell disordered 
 about a face the colour of which had changed
 
 A rrince of Darkness. 217 
 
 from red to purple, while his difficult, ster- 
 torous breathing gave her what seemed a 
 convincing proof that he was in an apoplexy. 
 
 She started up and raised her hand towards 
 the ventilator, but fell staggering back into 
 her seat, sick, giddy, and somnolent. Again 
 she tried to rouse her failing senses, and after 
 endeavouring in vain to wake Mr. Beresford, 
 who sat opposite to her, by pulling the sleeve 
 of his left arm, she called to him, and said : 
 "Wake up! do wake up! Something will 
 happen to us, something has happened to — 
 us — all ! Wake up !" 
 
 But her voice sounded weak and thin in 
 her own dulled ears, and Mr. Beresford, 
 whose head had sunk deep into the comforter 
 round his neck, remained deaf and inert. 
 She had just sense enough left to know that 
 they were all in some danger and to feel 
 despair at her own powerlessness to avert it, 
 when the gradual slackening of the train told 
 her that they were coming into a station. A 
 great throb of thankfulness lifted her heart, 
 and then she sank into unconsciousness. 
 
 The station into which they were running
 
 218 A rn'nce of Darhiess. 
 
 was Abbeville, but neither the stopping nor 
 the starting of the train disturbed the four 
 travellers. The guard had looked in at the 
 window, but as Mr. Blair sat at the end of 
 the carriage, and the little blind was drawn 
 down behind him, the guard did not see 
 enough of his figure to guess that anything 
 was wrong. So on they went through the dark- 
 ness, and neither the shriek of the engine nor 
 the rumble of the wheels, nor the wind which 
 began to howl as they drew northwards and 
 to drive sheets of pattering rain against the 
 window^s, disturbed any of the slumbering 
 occupants of the carriage, until all at once the 
 violent slamming of one of the doors roused 
 Mr. Shaw and Mr. Beresford into partial con- 
 sciousness. The former raised his head, 
 muttered an indistinct question, and grew 
 drowsy again for a few moments, until the 
 feeble voice of the paralysed man calling to 
 him, and a gust of cold air and rain coming- 
 in through the door, made him open his eyes, 
 and this time more intelligently. For some 
 seconds he still sat blinking before him with- 
 out much sense of what he saw or of what he
 
 A Tr'ince of Darkness. 219 
 
 heard, when a second loud noise hke that 
 which had first aroused him startled him into 
 full wakefulness, and he suddenly became 
 aware at the same moment of two facts : the 
 first, that his companion in the opposite 
 corner was ill ; the second, that the door by 
 which he was sitting had in some unaccount- 
 able manner got open, and that it was the 
 noise made by its banging to which had woke 
 him up. It was open again at the moment 
 of his discovery, and the wind was driving 
 the rain in upon his rug and upon that of his 
 friend, which had fallen to the floor. 
 
 He at once shut the door and turned the 
 handle securely, and then, placing himself 
 beside his friend Blair, he tried to rouse the 
 unconscious man, whose breathing was 
 still heavier and his appearance more alarming 
 than when he had frightened Miss M'Leod. 
 Mr. Shaw himself still felt curiously heavy 
 and stupid, and thankful for the windy gusts 
 of air coming through the window, the glass 
 of which he had let down, in spite of the rain, 
 to revive his companion. He was at first 
 too much absorbed to pay any but the
 
 220 A Frince of Darhiess, 
 
 most monosyllabic attention to the weak 
 queries of the paralytic in the corner, who, 
 philosopher as he liked to be considered, 
 grew as effeminate and querulous as other 
 invalids in moments of excitement, and kept 
 up an intermittent fire of questions as to what 
 the matter was, who it was that had opened 
 the door, and what the station was they had 
 stopped at last. He also w^as too sleep}^ 
 at first to wait for answers or to understand 
 them when they were given ; but he went on 
 asking all the same, until the movement and 
 the cold wind and the voices had in turn 
 roused Miss M'Leod, who started to her feet 
 in fright as soon as she woke up, and called 
 shrilly: ''What's the matter? "What has 
 happened ?" 
 
 *' I don't know, I don't know; do sit down," 
 quavered Mr. Beresford testily. '' When I 
 woke up just now the door at that end 
 was open, and the wind and rain pouring 
 in like a hurricane. And I feel quite sick 
 with the noise and the cold, and I want 
 you to give me my flask." 
 
 She found it for him, and filled the little
 
 A Prince of Darhiess, 221 
 
 silver cup nitlicr clumsily, for her head ached, 
 and her hands were shaking ; and then, the 
 invalid's wants being satisfied when she had 
 pulled up his rug round him, and drawn 
 his cap over his ears and his comforter over 
 his chin, she turned her ministering attentions 
 to the white-haired Englishman, who, sup- 
 ported by the arms of his friend, was slowly 
 recoveiing consciousness. 
 
 ^' Is he ill ?" asked Mr. Beresford, becom- 
 ing at last aware that some one in the 
 carriage was more in need of attention than 
 himself. 
 
 ^' Yes, very ill, I am afraid ; I can't think 
 what is the matter with him.'' 
 
 ^' Something seems to me to be the matter 
 with us all," said Mr. Beresford, after a short 
 pause, during which, curiosity getting the 
 better of his fear of the draught, he had 
 cautiously withdrawn his face far enough out 
 of the ramparts of cap and comforter to note 
 the pallid faces and heavy eyes of his com- 
 panions. Mr. Shaw started, and glanced 
 over his shoulder at him ; and the eyes of 
 both men, as they exchanged long, scrutinis*
 
 222 A Prince of Darkness, 
 
 ing looks, read in those of the other a chilling 
 bewildering suspicion. 
 
 "You don't think, do you " began 
 
 Mr. Shaw, and hesitated. 
 
 But the paralysis which had affected the 
 other's limbs had left his head clear enough, 
 and thought shaped itself quickly in his brain. 
 
 ''Miss M'Leod," he called sharply though 
 still feebly, '' come here." She came obedi- 
 ently. He gave her some directions in a low 
 tone of voice, and she took down his bag, 
 turned over the contents under his orders 
 until she came upon a little common tin 
 cash-box, which he himself examined and 
 found untouched, and then took his purse 
 from the pocket he directed. He looked 
 through that also, and these movements, 
 although carried out very quietly, did not 
 escape the notice of Mr. Shaw. 
 
 "I hope to Heaven," he said, in a low 
 voice, *' that it's all right. For robbery 
 would mean ruin to one of us. Here, Blair, 
 my man, wake up. Ah, that's better ! 
 Drink a little of this ; the stuffy carriage has 
 nearly poisoned all of us."
 
 A Prince of Darhicss, 223 
 
 *' Poisoned !" cried the little housekeeper 
 shrilly. *' Oh, don't say that, it frightens 
 me ! I can't understand it all. I believe 
 there is something wrong — some one must 
 have got in." 
 
 ''Got in!" echoed suddenly the voice of 
 Mr. Blair, who had not yet spoken. " Who's 
 got in ?" 
 
 He sat up and looked about him ; the 
 deep colour of his face had faded a little, but 
 was still some shades darker than his naturally 
 florid complexion ; his silver- white hair, 
 which he wore rather long, was tossed wildly 
 about, and his blue eyes were dilated and 
 bloodshot. 
 
 " What did you say about some one getting 
 in ?" he asked, turning hazily towards the 
 lady. 
 
 ' ' Why, we are all so stupid and heavy, 
 and — and the door was open just now, and — 
 and I thought that — that something must — 
 might — have happened," said the little woman^ 
 stammering in some confusion as she observed 
 the intentness with which the little man's 
 eyes were fixed upon her, and seemed to grow
 
 224 A Frince of Darkness, 
 
 rounder and more prominent as he bent further 
 forward, as if trying hard to take in every 
 word that she was saying. 
 
 His manner frightened her ; she began to 
 think he must be mad, and could scarcely 
 restrain a shriek, nervous and excited as she 
 was, when, still leaning on the right elbow, by 
 which he supported himself upon the seat, he 
 raised his right hand slowly and waveringly 
 towards his breast, and thrust it into his coat. 
 She thought he was going to pull out a 
 revolver, and she was sliding in terror on to 
 her trembling knees, when Mr. Shaw's genial 
 voice attracted his friend's attention, and 
 reassured her. 
 
 " Come, come, Blair, it's all right. At 
 least, I hope so. There's nothing like being 
 woke up by a noise in the night for giving 
 one the jumps. We'd better just make sure 
 that we haven't let our purses with our tickets 
 fall out into the mud when the door flew 
 open, and then pull ourselves together and 
 get another nap. It's only twenty past eleven ; 
 we have another hour and a half of it," said 
 he, pulling out his watch.
 
 A Prince of Darhness. 225 
 
 But even as lie spoke his face was less 
 cheerful than his words, and his eyes followed 
 carefully every movement of Blair's shaking 
 fingers, as they fumbled with the buttons 
 of his coat, and dallied nervously about 
 them. 
 
 '' It's all right. I — I needn't look," mur- 
 mured the white-haired man, with faltering 
 lips ; and he let his hand fall down to his side 
 again. 
 
 *' Well, yes, yes, of course it's all right. 
 Still, I think I'd make sure," whispered the 
 other earnestly. 
 
 It was impossible for the other two people 
 in the carriage not to have their attention 
 riveted, in spite of themselves, upon the 
 hurried words, the nervous movements, which 
 told them something serious was at stake. 
 No invalid's selfishness could have been proof 
 against the anguish of fear which was driving 
 the ruddy colour from Blair's face and causing 
 his limbs to shake as with palsy ; and Mr. 
 Beresford watched him with interest as keen 
 as that of sympathetic little Miss M'Leod, 
 who could scarcely keep her lips from begging 
 
 VOL. I. 15
 
 226 A Prince of Darkness, 
 
 the unhappy man to end suspense which had 
 become her own. 
 
 At last, with one quick desperate move- 
 ment, he tore open his coat, and, regardless 
 who saw him, drew out from his inner breast- 
 pocket a large dark leather pocket-book, and 
 opened it upon his knees. One glance told 
 him the worst. With a long moan, he let 
 his hands fall to his sides, and his white head 
 fell upon his breast. A shiver ran through 
 everyone in the compartment ; for that one 
 sound told a story of ruin and misery that 
 needed no comment. 
 
 Mr. Shaw, after a pause of utter silence in 
 the carriage, took the open pocket-book in his 
 hands ; with the exception of some visiting- 
 cards and an unreceipted bill, it was empty. 
 
 *' The notes were in it, you are sure V said 
 he energetically. 
 
 At that moment, a tiny dark object fell 
 from one of the folds of Blair's coat on to the 
 crumpled rug at his feet. Mr. Shaw saw it 
 fall, looked for, found it, and put it in his 
 pocket without remark, as he waited for his 
 friend's answer.
 
 A Prince of Darl-ness. 227 
 
 ** Certain ; I swear," said Blair hoarsely. 
 
 '' When did you look at them last ?" 
 
 *' At the hotel, two minutes before we 
 started. I counted them." 
 
 *' You have the numbers ?" 
 
 *' Yes." 
 
 ** Then it's all right. We can telegraph 
 from the very next station to stop them." 
 
 '^ It's no use. The man who stole them 
 must be the devil himself. Why, I've never 
 been alone, and nobody in this country but 
 you and M. de Breteuil knew that I had so 
 much as a five-pound note about me. Do I 
 look like a man who would be expected to 
 carry about with him JC12,000 ?" 
 
 The mention of the amount caused a sensa- 
 tion in the carriage. Mr. Beresford's head 
 twitched. Miss M'Leod uttered a cry of 
 horror. 
 
 ''You have been followed from London 
 and watched," said Mr. Shaw decisively. 
 *' If Lord Keighley hadn't been such a con- 
 founded doddering old idiot, he would have 
 given you a blank cheque." 
 
 ** He wouldn't trust anybody with a blank 
 
 15—2
 
 228 A Prince of Darhiess, 
 
 cheque ; he always gives me notes for his 
 commissions/' 
 
 ''More fool he. See the result in the 
 fright this has given us/' 
 
 '' Fright ! By Heaven, it's ruin !" 
 
 '' No, no ; we will telegraph at Boulogne. 
 Dictate the numbers to me — quick/' 
 
 The unhappy man felt in his outer pocket 
 for his purse, but his face grew livid when, 
 on opening it, he found that the paper on 
 which he had written down the numbers of 
 the notes had disappeared. "With a cry like 
 a maniac, he sprang up, and would have 
 opened the door to fling himself out, had not 
 Mr. Shaw, by the muscular force of a stronger 
 body, held him back. 
 
 The voice of the paralytic in the corner, 
 weak still, but in tones so firm, so clear, as 
 to enforce attention, broke in upon the 
 struggling men. 
 
 ''Forgive me for making a suggestion, but 
 in such a terrible emergency help is the only 
 courtesy. I understand the notes were con- 
 fided to Mr. Blair by some one who probably 
 kept a copy of the numbers. In two minutes
 
 A Prince of Darhiess. 229 
 
 we shall be at Verton. Write a telegram to 
 him, telling your loss both of notes and 
 numbers, and he will be able to stop them as 
 quickly as you could yourselves/' 
 
 The train was already slackening into Ver- 
 ton as Mr. Shaw scribbled the last word of 
 the telegram. They called the station-master 
 into the compartment, and Mr. Beresford gave 
 him the despatch, and, coming to the assist- 
 ance of the two Englishmen with their halting 
 French, explained that a serious robbery had 
 been committed, and requested him to tele- 
 graph along the line, and especially to Bou- 
 logne and Calais, that a look-out might 
 be kept for any suspicious person who 
 might be crossing to England that night. 
 The compartment had been entered while they 
 were all asleep, he said, and they had been 
 roused by the noise made by the banging of 
 the door, which the thief had not shut behind 
 him on quitting the carriage. The official, 
 dying to take an important position in this 
 affair, and to have his name mentioned in the 
 papers, was attentive, effusive, and fussy, and 
 left the compartment with the air of a person
 
 230 A Vrmcc of Barhiess. 
 
 who could lay his fingers within half an hour 
 upon the very man, stolen notes and all. 
 
 "But," suggested Mr. Shaw, when the 
 station-master had left the carriage and the 
 train was once more on its way, " I did not 
 understand you to say anything about the very 
 extraordinary circumstance of our all being so 
 soundly asleep." 
 
 " Because that was a matter in which he 
 could not help us. We must find out that 
 mystery for ourselves ; but if you will follow 
 my directions I fancy we shall not have far to 
 seek."
 
 CHAPTEK YIII. 
 
 There was dead silence in the railway- 
 carriage as Mr. Shaw, on Mr. Beresford's 
 suggestion, made a thorough search into 
 every corner for some clue to the means by 
 which they had all been stupefied before the 
 perpetration of the robbery. Blair sat staring 
 before him in stupid unthinking silence, 
 utterly crushed by the blow which had fallen 
 upon him. Miss M'Leod hopped from place 
 to place, as she was directed, to facilitate the 
 search, Hke a limp dejected bird, her dignity 
 for the moment forgotten. Mr. Beresford 
 was not satisfied when the searcher sat down, 
 declaring that there was nothing further for 
 them to discover — the rest must be left to the 
 poHce, and he wished he had a couple of 
 London detectives over here, instead of these
 
 232 A Prince of Darhiess, 
 
 red-tape-bound French officials who couldn't 
 understand him. 
 
 ' ' We must have been under the influence 
 of some narcotic, probably chloroform, and 
 there must be some trace of it about. Why, 
 the air is heavy with it still," said Mr* 
 Beresford. 
 
 But the stockbroker, who had hunted in 
 the net above their heads, turned over the 
 cushions, and peered under the seats with 
 matches, was hard to convince, and still 
 harder to silence. Therefore the crippled 
 gentleman set his own little detective to 
 work, and Miss M'Leod obediently passed 
 her hand along the seat until, when she got 
 to the other end of the carriage, she suddenly 
 cried : '' There is a large stain here, on the 
 cushion behind Mr. Blair's head. And it is 
 wet.'* 
 
 Everyone but the cripple looked, touched, 
 sniffed ; the sickly odour which had over- 
 powered them all came from that spot, where 
 the light-drab cloth was stained a darker tint 
 for the space of some two feet square, and 
 even as they looked the stain was slowly
 
 A Prince of Darhicss, 233 
 
 spreading. Passing his hand upwards over the 
 saturated surface of the cloth, while, fasci- 
 nated, the eyes of the rest followed every 
 movement of his fingers, Mr. Shaw felt some- 
 thing hard just at the place where the 
 cushioned side of the carriage protrudes to 
 accommodate the head and hack of the 
 traveller. A little further examination dis- 
 covered a neat slit along the line made hy 
 one of the straight creases in the cloth lead- 
 ing to a button. By means of this slit a flat 
 glass bottle had been introduced into the 
 stuffing of the cushion, just far enough from 
 the end of the carriage not to come in contact 
 with the head of the traveller who might sit 
 in the corner. Blair, roused by the discovery 
 from heavy apathy into furious excitement, 
 wanted to pull the bottle out : but Mr. Shaw 
 prevented this. 
 
 ** We had better leave it just as it is,'' said 
 he gravely. ^'Everything depends on find- 
 ing how, when, and by whom it was put 
 there. Look, the bottle has been placed on 
 one side, and the cork is there, only out of 
 the bottle. Wonder what the cork's for."
 
 234 A Prince of Darlcness. 
 
 ** To prevent our being overpowered too 
 soon after leaving Paris, I should say," broke 
 in Mr. Beresford. '' The cork was probably 
 put in so that the jolting of the train should 
 gradually force it out, which cannot have 
 happened until after we left Amiens, as we 
 none of us felt sleepy till then." 
 
 '' I cannot understand when the bottle can 
 have been introduced. It must have taken 
 some time, for everything has been done most 
 neatly ; and yet it must have been put there 
 after we had taken our seats." 
 
 ^' Did you leave your places before the 
 train started ?" 
 
 "Yes, for just enough time to go to the 
 buffet." 
 
 ''Ah, that's it! You were watched, cer- 
 tainly by more than one person, probably by 
 half a dozen." 
 
 '' But we got the guard to lock the door." 
 
 *' That may make the search easier; 
 perhaps some one may have been seen to 
 unlock it and enter the carriage." 
 
 "But it was still locked on our return !" 
 
 " Still, it must have been during that
 
 A Prince of JDarhiess, 235 
 
 absence that the mischief was done, for yoa 
 never left the carriage again except at Amiens, 
 where the only person who came in was the 
 guard, who helped Miss M'Leod out and 
 stayed talking to me until she got in again." 
 
 '' The chloroform must have been intro- 
 duced while we were asleep," suggested poor 
 Blair. 
 
 *' If we had been too sound asleep to notice 
 all that hanky-panky going on with the 
 cushion, there w^ould have been no need 
 for chloroform at all," said Mr. Shaw 
 decisively. 
 
 But talk as they might, and as they did, 
 until they got to Calais, there was no other 
 conclusion to come to than that the unseen 
 robbery which had just been committed in 
 their very presence was, from all points of 
 view, impossible ; and poor Blair, in spite 
 of their assurances that the telegram to Lord 
 Keighley would certainly reach him in time 
 for him to stop payment of the notes, was 
 scarcely sane by the time the train drew near 
 to Calais. He showed a dull surprise when 
 Mr. Shaw, on whom, in this emergency, he
 
 236 A Prince of Darkness. 
 
 leaned helplessly, expressed his intention of 
 adhering to his acceptance of Mr. Beresford's 
 invitation to ^'Les Bouleaux." 
 
 ** Then I will come into Calais to-morrow 
 and go back to Paris if necessary, and make 
 a regular British fuss about the matter, and 
 have all the officials on the line questioned, 
 and kick up such a deuce of a row about it 
 that they shall arrest somebody, if only for 
 the sake of getting rid of me." 
 
 ''Let me warn you not to set about 
 overturning heaven and earth without some 
 authority, consular or other, for here in 
 France it is even more unusual than in 
 England to get justice by force of lungs and 
 fists,'' said Mr. Beresford quietly. ''And if 
 the police wanted to get rid of you by the 
 arrest of somebody, they would probably shut 
 up you yourself on some trivial charge of dis- 
 turbance of the public peace, just long enough 
 for the thief to get well out of reach." 
 
 " Well, well, I can't do better than act 
 under your advice, at any rate," said the 
 other good-humouredly. " And you, Blair, 
 must not lose a moment's time when you get
 
 u4 Prince of Darkness . 237 
 
 to England in going to Lord Keigliley, 
 wherever he may be, and insisting upon 
 seeing him at once, even if he is in bed." 
 
 *' If I ever reach England," said Blair, in 
 deepest despondency. 
 
 For one moment the blank stare of utter 
 hopelessness in the unhappy man's eyes 
 seemed to make his friend hesitate, but only 
 for a moment ; then he laid his hand upon 
 Blair's shoulder with a heartiness which made 
 the touch almost a blow. 
 
 ** Come, pull yourself together, man. This 
 is not the sort of misfortune one can afford to 
 sit down and look at. If you will only rally 
 your pluck, and work as energetically on your 
 side of the Channel as I will on mine, we'll 
 have that money back and save our character 
 as sure as my name's what it is." 
 
 The genial heartiness of his tone did seem 
 to revive the old man's spirits a little, and as 
 the train drew into the Calais station he 
 began to roll up his rug with the air of a 
 man who entertained the possibility of his 
 wanting it again. 
 
 The telegraphing along the line had already
 
 238 A Prince of Darhiess, 
 
 done its work ; as at Boulogne, the platforms 
 on both sides of the train were thronged with 
 men, some in police or railway uniform, some 
 in blouse, all somewhat evidently on the 
 watch. As the guard who visited each com- 
 partment for tickets during the course of the 
 journey had assured Mr. Shaw, it was clear 
 that no person leaving the train after the 
 robbery was once made known could cross to 
 England that night without leaving a minute 
 description of himself or herself in the hands 
 of the French police. As an extra precaution 
 the letter-boxes in the stations of Boulogne 
 and Calais and their neighbourhood were 
 watched, and a police-officer told off at each 
 telegraph-office to take note of the despatches 
 which might be sent through them. Within 
 one minute of the stopping of the train, and 
 before any of the passengers were allowed to 
 descend, the guard who had travelled with 
 the train, accompanied by the Calais station- 
 master and a police-officer, came up to the 
 door of the compartment where the robbery 
 was alleged to have been committed, and after 
 the last had taken down notes of all the
 
 A Prince of Darhiess. 239 
 
 circumstances from each of the four occupants 
 of the carriage in turn, he asked most respect- 
 fully whether, considering the grave nature 
 of the loss and the exceptionally puzzling 
 character of the whole occurrence, they would 
 one and all suhmit to he searched, the gentle- 
 men where they sat and in his presence, the 
 lady in the hotel attached to the station, hy 
 two respectable women who were there await- 
 ing his orders. 
 
 Mr. Shaw was the only one of the four who 
 objected to this infringement of the rights of a 
 British subject, even Miss M'Leod's dignity 
 being overawed by a sense of the strong 
 necessities of the case. But on the officers 
 politely putting it to his good sense and 
 good feeling whether it became the first man 
 who clamoured for investigation to be the 
 first to object to it, and pointing out that 
 even Mr. Beresford, an invalid and a well- 
 known and respected inhabitant of the neigh- 
 bourhood, was ready to undergo the ordeal, 
 he too submitted. Miss M'Leod was then 
 allowed to leave the carriage, and conducted 
 by a very courteous gentleman with a fierce
 
 240 A Prince of Darkness, 
 
 black moustache, who might well have been 
 a friend come to meet her, though he was 
 really a policeman in plain clothes, to a room 
 in the Hotel de la Gare, at the door of which 
 two respectable-looking women received her 
 and led her in. 
 
 The rest of the passengers were then 
 allowed to leave the train, and the guard 
 having quitted the suspected compartment, a 
 second policeman got in, and the three tra- 
 vellers submitted to a thorough and exhaus- 
 tive search of their property and their persons 
 in the presence of the station-master. The 
 very lining of their hats and boots was 
 examined, the soles and heels of the latter 
 cut into, not a stitch or a button left un- 
 noticed. As for the personal luggage they 
 had with them in the compartment, both 
 Mr. Shaw and Mr. Beresford offered to leave 
 theirs until the morning, as the carriage was 
 to be locked and guarded for the night. 
 Shaw's rug and bag were given back to him 
 after examination, and the three then de- 
 scended to the platform, where they found old 
 Pierre, to whom rumours of an accident had
 
 A Prince of Darkness. 241 
 
 brought visions of his master's death and his 
 own consequent descent to the pauperism 
 from which Mr. Beresford's freak had Hfted 
 him. 
 
 The three gentlemen proceeded straight to 
 the buffet of the Hotel de la Gare, where 
 poor old Blair, but for the restraining in- 
 fluence of his friend, would have refreshed 
 himself to the point of forgetting not only his 
 loss, but the journey he had still before him. 
 In very few minutes, with the elasticity of 
 the born adventurer, he had revived suffi- 
 ciently to take stock, according to his habit, 
 of the people around him ; and perceiving at 
 a table near him a very beautiful woman, 
 attended by a neat-looking maid, he instinc- 
 tively drew himself together, cocked his hat, 
 and twirled his white moustache, with happy 
 indifference as to which of the two his bearing 
 should impress. 
 
 *' Deuced fine-looking woman that!" said 
 he, with a tone and look which recalled cari- 
 catures of the *' old bucks " of the Kegency. 
 
 *'Yes, very handsome," assented his less 
 susceptible friend, with a glance at the lady 
 
 VOL. I. 16
 
 242 A Prince of Darkness. 
 
 which took in more than the beauty which 
 had attracted the other. 
 
 Mr. Beresford, sitting on a chair behind 
 them, -was looking in the same direction. 
 Noticing this, Blair thought his own comment 
 worth repeating to him. 
 
 *' Yes," he answered. ** And, if I am not 
 very much mistaken, she is a woman whom 
 I had pointed out to me in Paris some years 
 ago, when she was, I fancy, in not quite the 
 same circumstances as she appears to be at 
 present." 
 
 Scenting a scandal, Blair drew nearer ; 
 but he was disappointed. For Pierre came 
 doddering up at that moment, to tell his 
 master that the carriole was waiting outside 
 the station ; and Mr. Beresford, with an 
 apology for offering his left hand to Blair, 
 and with kind expressions of hope that the 
 lost money would soon be recovered, left the 
 buffet on his servant's arm, begging Mr. 
 Shaw not to hurry his leave-taking with his 
 friend, as he himself should be a long time 
 making his slow way to the carriage. He 
 had scarcely left the buffet, when Gerald
 
 A Prince of Darkness, 243 
 
 Staunton came in from the opposite door, 
 which led to the interior of the hotel, accom- 
 panied by Miss M'Leod, who had just been 
 through the ordeal of being searched. He 
 walked straight up to the lady who had been 
 the object of so much admiration, watched by 
 the two Englishmen. 
 
 ** Mr. Beresford has arrived, madame," 
 said he in English. '' That is the house- 
 keeper, as I thought. She is too shy to 
 come up and speak to you." 
 
 Madame de Lancry had been waiting with 
 Gerald for the arrival of Mr. Beresford, whom 
 she was anxious to see. The young fellow 
 had left her on catching sight of Miss M'Leod, 
 as she was conducted through the room into 
 the hotel ; and when the latter reappeared 
 after the search she gave him full details 
 of the robbery which had taken place in the 
 train. Gerald had scarcely j&nished giving a 
 rough outline of the occurrence to Madame de 
 Lancry, when, meeting the eyes of Mr. Shaw 
 fixed full upon him, he started, hesitated, and 
 then, making a step forward as the elder man 
 did the same, found his hand grasped with a 
 
 16—2
 
 244 A Prince of Darhiess. 
 
 warmth of greeting he had not known for 
 years. 
 
 ''Mr. Shaw!^' *' Gerald, my boy!" said 
 they at the same moment, and wrung each 
 other's hands a second time without more 
 words. Gerald's father and Mr. Shaw had 
 been firm friends for many years, and the 
 latter had been the very last to yield to the 
 universal belief in Staunton's guilt : that he 
 had yielded to it at last, Gerald knew ; and 
 the knowledge sent a shaft of reproach from 
 his mild brown eyes. 
 
 ' ' Why have you buried yourself away from 
 us all so long ? It was not kind of you, 
 Gerald. Don't you want to see old England 
 again ?" 
 
 *'You know why I came to France, Mr. 
 Shaw. I said then that I would never return 
 to England until I had cleared my father's 
 name. For the last year I have almost given 
 up hope of ever doing either the one or the 
 other, until — until to-night." And the young 
 fellow, who was much excited, glanced with 
 passionate gratitude, which could not fail to 
 strike Mr. Shaw's attention, at the beautiful
 
 A Pniice of Darhiess. 245 
 
 lady, who was still sitting at the table beside 
 which he had been standing when he caught 
 sight of his old friend. 
 
 Both gentlemen noticed with surprise that 
 a great change had passed over her during 
 their brief greetings, that her statuesque face 
 was now lit up with excitement, and that a 
 strange fire burned in her long eyes, as she 
 looked rapidly from the one to the other, rose 
 in haste from her seat, and put her hand on 
 Gerald's shoulder. 
 
 "I want you to introduce your friend to 
 me," said she imperatively. 
 
 The young fellow was so much startled by 
 her abrupt and unexpected vehemence, that 
 for one moment he hesitated. Her hand, still 
 on his shoulder, moved impatiently. 
 
 '* Your father — think of your father," she 
 whispered quickly. *' I can help you better, 
 faster, by knowing your father's friend." 
 
 " Mr. Shaw," said he, '' Madame de Lancry 
 wishes me to introduce you to her. She has 
 been kind enough " 
 
 But the lady was too impatient to stand 
 upon ceremony ; she had held out her hand
 
 246 A Prince of Darkness, 
 
 at the first mention of her name, and cut 
 Gerald short by saying, '' I am very sorry to 
 hear that you have been the victim of a 
 serious robbery. I sincerely trust that the 
 thieves will soon be discovered." 
 
 " You are very kind. I sincerely trust so 
 too, though it is not I, but my friend, who is 
 the victim." 
 
 " Indeed !" said Madame de Lancry, whose 
 interest in the robbery seemed hardly as strong 
 as her words about it. 
 
 '^ Yes," said Mr. Shaw, who did not mind 
 a careless listener, provided he was left to 
 talk uninterruptedly. ^' A most extraordinary 
 thing — in fact, a most mysterious affair. My 
 friend goes to Paris, charged with a commis- 
 sion from an English nobleman to buy a 
 certain picture, said to be a masterpiece, 
 at the sale of a Parisian millionnaire. He 
 carries with him a very large sum of money ; 
 but, discovering the painting to be a mere 
 copy, he starts on his journey back to Eng- 
 land, with the money still in his keeping — 
 about his person, in fact. He and all the 
 rest of the occupants of the compartment in
 
 A Prince of Darhiess. 247 
 
 whicli he travels are, by the most mysterious 
 means, put under the influence of a narcotic ; 
 and, on being awakened by the slamming of 
 one of the doors of the carriage, he wakes to 
 find his money gone." 
 
 To all this narration, the greater part of 
 which she had already heard from Gerald, 
 Madame de Lancry listened with boredom 
 which she scarcely took the pains to hide ; 
 but his concluding sentence suddenly changed 
 her impatient indifference into fiery interest. 
 
 *' The strangest thing of all," prosed on 
 Mr. Shaw, whose rapid and monotonous 
 utterance made even the story of a new and 
 sensational robbery unattractive, "is that the 
 only persons who knew what a large sum my 
 poor friend had about him were Lord Keighley, 
 myself, and the possessor of the picture, M. 
 de Breteuil." 
 
 *' M. de Breteuil !" she echoed, in quite a 
 low voice, but with excited breathlessness, 
 which made both gentlemen look at her curi- 
 ously. " He knew, you say ?" 
 
 " Yes, I believe that he knew. But what 
 difference can that make ?"
 
 248 A Prince of Darhiess. 
 
 She did not answer ; the flash of vivid 
 interest in her face settled into a glow of ex- 
 citement so steady, so tigerish, that Mr. Shaw 
 decided, as he noticed the hungry look of her 
 crimson lips parted over closed teeth, the 
 quivering delicate nostrils and dilated eyes, 
 that she was a dangerous woman whose appa- 
 rent interest in Gerald was much to be re- 
 gretted. He had, however, for the moment 
 forgotten all about Blair and Mr. Beresford in 
 the interest this strangely capricious woman 
 undoubtedly excited in him, when the prim 
 and rather disgusted voice of Miss M'Leod at 
 his elbow recalled him to remembrance of the 
 discourtesy he was guilty of in keeping his 
 host so long waiting. 
 
 ** Mr. Beresford has begged me not on any 
 account to hurry you, Mr. Shaw, but only to 
 ask " 
 
 " I beg a thousand pardons," said he 
 hastily ; and turning to the other lady, 
 *' Madame, I am very grateful to you for 
 your kind interest in the son of an old friend 
 of mine ; I Jiope you will persuade him to 
 return to his friends in Endand."
 
 A Fiincc of Darhicss. 249 
 
 He bowed and was about to take his leave 
 of her, when she said quickly, holding out her 
 hand and detaining him with a strong nervous 
 pressure, **You are not crossing to-night? 
 You are staying here ?'* 
 
 '' Yes. Gerald's friend, Mr. Beresford, has 
 most kindly offered me an opportunity of 
 renewing my acquaintance with the boy/' 
 
 '' iVh !" she cried shortly, and then turned 
 to the young man. ** Mr. Beresford's chateau 
 is quite close to Calais, I think you told me, 
 Gerald ?" 
 
 *' Yes, madame. ' Les Bouleaux ' is about 
 three miles off.'* 
 
 She turned again impulsively to Mr. 
 Shaw, whose hand she still held. 
 
 " Will you do me the favour of coming to 
 see me to-morrow ? I am staying in the 
 hotel here with my husband; he is in ill- 
 health, but he will be most happy to see 
 you." She had gradually moved a few steps, 
 so that, as if on her way to leave the room, 
 she stood between Mr. Shaw and the rest of 
 the group. She looked earnestly into his 
 face, as she added in a voice only loud
 
 250 A Prince of Darhiess. 
 
 enough for him to hear, *^ Come without 
 fail, at whatever time you please, but without 
 fail. I don't know how your friend's money 
 was taken, but I know who took it." Mr. 
 Shaw started. She hurried on still more 
 impressively, *' I know more than that. I 
 can give you the clue to the mystery about 
 Mr. Staunton's disappearance : I can, I 
 swear it." 
 
 ^'But, madame, I — I " 
 
 *^You cannot understand these rash and 
 apparently wild confidences to a stranger, 
 perhaps ? But I know the world, and I can 
 trust your face, as — as I could — and did that 
 of your dead friend Staunton." 
 
 ^^Dead!" 
 
 "Yes, dead. The people are leaving the 
 room for the boat," she continued, as a burly 
 excited Englishman, turning to hurry up his 
 wife and two children, backed into her on his 
 way to the door. " And your poor friend is 
 looking at you anxiously. I must not say 
 any more to you now. Don't mistrust me 
 because my face is no longer candid, but for 
 Gerald's sake come and see me to-morrow.'*
 
 A Vrincc of Darhicss, 251 
 
 She let his hand go, and detained Gerald 
 for one moment as the two older men and 
 the rigid little housekeeper went out. 
 
 ''I saw your Mr. Beresford ; he came in 
 just now while you were looking for Miss 
 M'Leod," she said, with her hand laid 
 affectionately upon his arm. *' I knew him 
 at once from your description, and I studied 
 his appearance as closely as I could.*' 
 
 *' Well, and what did you think of him, 
 madame ? Hasn't he a good, wise face ?" 
 
 *' Yes, wise certainly, and good in the 
 sense of blameless. But I am disappointed 
 in him, Gerald ; he looks cold, and too 
 prudent and unenthusiastic to work very hard 
 to right another man's wrong. I hope more 
 from your other friend, Mr. Shaw : you must 
 persuade him, if he needs persuasion, to come 
 and see me to-morrow." 
 
 *^ And you will tell him — all you say you 
 know about my father's disappearance ? Oh, 
 madame, why will you not tell me ?" 
 
 ** My boy, believe me, I am doing the 
 best for you. You may trust me as you 
 trust yourself. I dare not tell you yet more
 
 252 A Prince of Darhiess, 
 
 than I have told you — that the instinct which 
 makes you beheve your father was murdered 
 is, I have reason to think, a right one. I 
 know very Httle more myself, but I will 
 never rest until I do know more, and when I 
 can put you fairly on the track I will. Do 
 you believe me — trust me ?" 
 
 The beauty of her face was no longer 
 listless and languid ; it was noble, inspired, 
 though the inspiration was perhaps not all of 
 heaven. Gerald pressed the hand she gave 
 him without answering except by a look of 
 unutterable gratitude, and watched her with 
 e^^es alight with the fire of reawakened hope, 
 as, followed by her maid, she pressed through 
 the now hurrying crowd of travellers towards 
 her room. When she had disappeared he 
 remembered suddenly that the carriole was 
 waiting for him, and, running out of the 
 room and through the station, he found that 
 Mr. Beresford and Miss M'Leod and old 
 Pierre were already seated in the interior of 
 the vehicle, and that Mr. Shaw was standing 
 beside the fat horse, waiting for him, and 
 examining with some curiosity the homely-
 
 A Frince of Darkness, 253 
 
 looking two -wheeled carriage, in shape like a 
 covered market-cart, which is so popular in 
 the country in Northern France. 
 
 From out of the black depths of the 
 carriole Mr. Beresford's voice, not in his 
 philosophical, but in his querulous tones, 
 grumbled at Gerald's long absence ; and the 
 young fellow sprang up on to the front seat 
 and helped Mr. Shaw to take his place beside 
 him with impulsive energy unusual to his 
 gentle nature. And he whipped up the old 
 horse till the stone-paved streets of Calais 
 rang with the clatter of wheels and hoofs, 
 and as they crossed the moat for the second 
 time at the other side of the town, going 
 slowly over the wooden drawbridge, he turned 
 to his companion, and said in a low voice, 
 ** Shall I drive you into Calais when I come 
 to business to-morrow morning, Mr. Shaw ?" 
 
 '^Well, I doubt whether I should be able 
 to see Madame de Lancry so early in the 
 day ; I should hardly like to venture, in spite 
 of what she said/' he answered, in his usual 
 voice. *'I will call upon her later, on my 
 way to the train."
 
 254 ^i Prince of Darhiess, 
 
 Gerald looked disappointed ; but not liking 
 to make any objection, lie drove on in silence 
 until they had quitted the stone-paved road 
 that led into Saint-Pierre, and, turning to the 
 left, were jogging quietly along the sandy, 
 monotonous road towards '' Les Bouleaux/' 
 A very dreary drive it was at all times, and 
 on this cold March night, with a drizzling 
 rain falling, a cutting east wind driving 
 straight into their faces, and thoughts of 
 robbery, of murder, and of a ruined and 
 desperate man now crossing the rough sea, 
 made both the travellers on the front seat of 
 the carriole gloomy and anxious. 
 
 '' What's the matter, Gerald ?" asked the 
 elder man, noticing that his companion stared 
 with strange intentness at a little thicket of 
 stunted straggling trees which they were ap- 
 proaching, on the left-hand side of the road. 
 Mr. Shaw's eyesight was keen enough, yet he 
 saw nothing either interesting or alarming in 
 the confusion of bare twigs and branches 
 which the weak moonlight showed him. 
 
 *^ Oh, we're all as nervous as cats about 
 here just now," answered the young fellow,
 
 A Prince of JDarhicss. 255 
 
 trying to laugh. '' There have been a lot of 
 small robberies committed in the neighbour- 
 hood during the winter, and this affair in the 
 train I've just heard about has given me a 
 bad attack of the bogey-fever — that's all." 
 
 Mr. Shaw shivered. He was not in the 
 least superstitious, and he feared both death 
 and danger as little as most men ; yet, as 
 they drove on again in silence through the 
 cold night air and the rainy mist, even the 
 strong belief that was upon him that he was 
 on the right road towards helping two friends 
 out of their difficulties could not stifle a 
 sudden and unaccountable feeling that this 
 visit to *' Les Bouleaux " would bring mis- 
 fortune to somebody. 
 
 END OF VOL. I. 
 
 BILLING AND SONS, PRINTERS, GUILDFORD.
 
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