"Traitor?" echoed Kronau, coolly."To what and to whom? I am serving my true and legitimate sovereign.I am also serving humanity, since this battle is to be bloodless.It is you who are the traitor.You swore allegiance to the duke, and that allegiance is the inheritance of the daughter.How have you kept your oath?"But the Marshal was incapable of answer.One looking at him would have said that he was suffering from a stroke of apoplexy.
"I admit," went on the General, not wholly unembarrassed, "that the part I play is not an agreeable one to me, but it is preferable to the needless loss of human life.The duchess was to have entered Bleiberg at night, to save us this present dishonor, if you persist in calling it such.But his Highness, who is young, and Monseigneur the archbishop, who dreams of Richelieu, made it impossible.No harm is intended to any one."The prince, white and shivering as if with ague, broke his sword on the pommel of the saddle and hurled the pieces at Kronau, who permitted them to strike him.
"God's witness," the prince cried furiously, "but your victory shall be short-lived.I have an army, trusty to the last sword, and you shall feel the length of its arm within forty-eight hours.""Perhaps," said Kronau, shrugging.
"It is already on the way."
"Your Highness forgets that Carnavia belongs to the confederation, and that the king, your father, dare not send you troops without the consent of the emperor, which, believe me, will never be given;" and he urged his horse down the slope.
The army of the duchess had now gained the open.The advance was composed of cavalry, which came along the road with wings on either side, and with great dash and splendor.
A noisy cheer arose, to be faintly echoed by the oncoming avalanche of white horses and dazzling blue uniforms.
This was the incident upon which Madame the duchess relied.
With rage and chagrin in his heart, Maurice viewed the scene.
The knell of the Osians had been struck.He gazed forlornly at the cuirassiers; they at least had come to sell their lives honestly for their bread.Presently the two armies came together;all was confusion and cheers.Kronau approached the leader of the cavalry....Maurice was greatly disturbed.He leaned toward the prince.
"Your Highness," he whispered, "I am going to make a dash for the road.""Yes, yes!" replied the prince, intuitively."My God, yes! Warn her to fly, so that she will not be compelled to witness this cursed woman's triumph.Save her that humiliation.Go, and God be with you, my friend! We are all dishonored.The Marshal looks as if he were dying."The native troopers, in their eagerness to witness the meeting between Kronau and the former Colonel of the cuirassiers, had pushed forward.A dozen, however, had hemmed in the Marshal, the prince and Maurice.But these were standing in their stirrups.
Maurice gradually brought his horse about so that presently he was facing north.Directly in front of him was an opening.He grasped his saber firmly and pressed the spurs.Quick as he was, two sabers barred his way, but he beat them aside, went diagonally down the hill, over the stone wall and into the road.
While he was maneuvering for this dash, one man had been eying him with satisfaction.As the black horse suddenly sank from view behind the hill, Beauvais, to the astonishment of Kronau, drew his revolver.
"There goes a man," he cried, "who must not escape.He is so valuable that I shall permit no one but myself to bring him back!"And the splendid white animal under him bounded up the hill and down the other side.
Beauvais had a well-defined purpose in following alone.He was determined that one Maurice Carewe should not bother anyone hereafter; he knew too much.
The white horse and the black faded away in the blur of rising dust.
