CHAPTER X

St. Hilary had given me a letter of introduction to the director of the Imperial Library. Heaven knows where he had met him, but he seemed to know half the celebrities in Europe. I presented it in person. I have always found it useful to be referred–if one is to be referred at all–downward, rather than upward. One is more apt to strike a higher level of officialdom, and that means a more intelligent and enthusiastic service. In this case I was not referred downward at all. The director himself made inquiries for the precious volume. He returned in half an hour with apologies. The book was in use. To-morrow, no doubt, it would be at my disposal.

The mere fact that the volume was in use made me uneasy. Automaton clocks are not a particularly popular subject. At once I thought of the duke. Was it possible that already he had seen the book St. Hilary had just been speaking to me about? That seemed unlikely. But the next morning, when I was crossing the Dworzowy Bridge, once more on my way to the library, I met him face to face.

104It is difficult to say who was the more surprised. Though my curiosity was unbounded to know if he were the person who had been studying up automaton clocks yesterday, I should have passed without speaking. But he advanced to me with open palm, and greeted me with unnecessary cordiality in French.

“And what brings Mr. Hume to St. Petersburg?”

I murmured something about studies in the Imperial Library.

At that he looked even more startled than when he first saw me:

“I, too, have been in the Imperial Library,” he cried. “I have been reading a rare book there–one of the rarest in the world.”

“Indeed! The book I wish to consult is also one of the rarest in the world.”

It was a foolish hint, but I could not forbear the pleasure of giving it. Already I suspected that the duke was on the trail of the casket. Instead of being alarmed or annoyed, it gave me the keenest delight. Brain against brain. Wit against wit. Courage against courage. I could have asked nothing more to my liking. For instinctively I had felt the mettle of my foe and measured the chances of my rival for Jacqueline’s heart.

105At this bold challenge–it was nothing less–he started perceptibly. It was impossible to doubt further. But in an instant the mask had fallen over his face. He bowed with mock respect.

“Ah, Mr. Hume is a scholar?” he asked mockingly. “For me, I find the streets–its life and pleasures and peoples–more instructive than any books. Especially here in this strange, frozen north. Is there not an English poet who has said that the proper study of mankind is man? If he had said woman, he would have spoken the absolute truth. Yes, a beautiful woman is the apotheosis of fascination and interest for the man of fashion and heart. Leave the dull books for the priests and the dotards, my friend.”

I had nothing to say to this essentially Italian summing up of the interests of life. We walked on a few steps in silence. We had crossed the bridge now. He took my arm.

“Yes, yes,” he continued, “woman is the proper study of mankind. But when one meets a woman as lovely as the exquisite Miss Quintard–ah, knowing her, one knows all there is for one in life, is it not so?” and he pinched my arm familiarly.

I withdrew my arm angrily. I resented his 106tone and his reference to Jacqueline. But I said nothing, only walked faster toward the Library.

“I have met many beautiful women in my life, but now I know there are no more worth seeing.”

“And did you fathom the lady’s charms so quickly–in the one short hour at the Palazzo?” I asked, a little spitefully, I am afraid.

“Fathom? Certainly not. But the vivid impressions of the hour may be deepened by the careful and delightful study of a week.”

I stood quite still.

“Of a week?” I stammered.

“Of a week, my friend,” he cried, enjoying his triumph. “For you must know that I have seen much of the fascinating Mrs. Gordon and her adorable niece at Bellagio. I happen to have a villa there.”

At Bellagio! I drew in a deep breath, and it seemed to stab me. I had been wrapped up in the vain pursuit of a shadow, while that magnificent brute at my side, twirling his mustache up into his eyes, had been in the very presence of the goddess. I could not speak. I hope it was not jealousy that gnawed at my heart. Indeed, it was not jealousy at all, I think. It was rather fear–fear for my dear Jacqueline. Not simply 107that she was to be won from me–had already been won from me, perhaps. If one whom I respected had gained her love, I do not think I should have cried out. But this Duke da Sestos! I trembled for her happiness. I knew that Jacqueline’s aunt was the duke’s ally. And Jacqueline herself? Women are at once so subtle and so dense. I have seen the noblest of them deceived by a charming manner–the cleverest wedded to a villain or a fool.

We reached the Imperial Library. The clock on a neighboring tower was striking ten when the doors of the Library opened and the director came out. I raised my hat. He returned my greeting courteously, and informed me that the book I wished was at last at my disposal. Unfortunately he mentioned it by name.

“And what interest has Mr. Hume in automaton clocks?” demanded the duke, when the director had turned his back.

I shrugged my shoulders, and bade him good afternoon.

“Mr. Hume, a moment, if you please.”

I turned.

“Your hotel is the de l’Europe, I believe?”

“But unfortunately I am rarely at home,” I said ungraciously.

“I am disappointed. We might have spent 108an agreeable hour together in this barbarous capital. Au revoir.”

I bowed, and went swiftly up the steps. Again he called me.

“By the way, Mrs. Gordon tells me, Mr. Hume, that she has entrusted the old clock to you.”

“That is quite true.”

He looked at me keenly.

“Ah, then, now I understand your interest in automaton clocks. Your interest awakens mine. I myself am anxious to see the clock again. When will you be in Venice?”

“In a month or two,” I answered airily.

“A month or two, my dear friend!” he expostulated. “I must see my clock before that. I am thinking of having it repaired for Mrs. Gordon.”

He emphasized the “my.”

“I have thought of the same thing,” I said evasively.

“But, Mr. Hume, I beg you to understand that it is with Mrs. Gordon’s permission that I do so. Have you asked it?”

“Not yet,” I replied coolly, going up a couple of steps.

His face darkened.

“Then, since I have Mrs. Gordon’s permission, 109will you kindly write an order to your servant that he give it me on my return to Venice?”

“Unfortunately, that is impossible. You see, I have forestalled you. I have sent it to be repaired.”

He stood a moment, twisting his mustache up into his eyes. Then, to my astonishment, he leaped up the steps, two at a time.

“Since, Mr. Hume,” again he took my arm and almost forced me down the steps, “you question my word, I will telegraph to Mrs. Gordon and show you her answer. When I receive that answer, I shall come to your hotel and insist that you give me both the name of the maker to whom you have sent the clock and a written order to him that he deliver it to me. If you refuse, I shall be compelled to call in the police, and I am not unknown here in St. Petersburg.”

“I am afraid I shall find a means to evade your police, Duke da Sestos,” I said, laughing.

A moment he looked at me, puzzled, then, seeing my contempt for his threat, laughed also.

“La, la, it is true. I am a great fool. I might know that to threaten Mr. Hume is not the way to gain one’s ends. Look, I threaten, I demand no longer. I beg. I throw myself on Mr. Hume’s mercy. I confess I am most anxious to see the 110clock. I take it for granted that Mr. Hume has had reasons for my not seeing it. But come, we will play fair. You have the clock, it is true. But, after all, I have the right to it. Let us grant, then, that we stand on even ground. Our rights to it are equal–your right, that of possession; mine, the moral and legal right. We will go together to the telegraph bureau. We will each of us telegraph to Mrs. Gordon for permission. She shall decide. Come, is that not sportsmanlike?”

“Hardly,” I replied, laughing again. “The result would be too much a matter of certainty–for you.”

“Ah, you are determined to be unfair,” he cried angrily.

I hesitated a moment. Then I seized his arm.

“Come along, then,” I said, still laughing, “we will go to your telegraph bureau.”

It seemed the only way to get rid of him; but, I may say, I had no intention of abiding by the decision of Mrs. Gordon.

We entered the bureau. We stood at the desk, and each seized pen and paper. But before the duke had written a line, he had recognized an acquaintance in the street. I must excuse him one moment, and would I await his return so 111that we might compare our telegrams and avoid any misunderstanding?

I waited ten minutes. Then, my telegram in my hand, I stepped outside the bureau and looked up and down the street. He was not in sight. I waited ten minutes more. Still the duke did not return. My patience was exhausted. I went back to the Library. But when I called for my book, to my extreme astonishment, it was again in use. It had, declared the attendant ungraciously, been reserved for me, but they could not hold it all the morning.

So this Italian duke had tricked me. The telegram was simply a ruse, a clumsy and senseless ruse, if you will, but I had been guileless enough to let it work. But it would not avail him long. Granted that he had delayed my seeing the book, all I had to do was to return in the afternoon. I walked back to my hotel for breakfast.

There the second surprise of the day awaited me. A telegram from Jacqueline had been sent to me to Venice, and retelegraphed to me at St. Petersburg by my housekeeper. It was sufficiently puzzling:

“Please be sure to accept aunt’s invitation for Friday. I am anxious to see you–most anxious. I shall expect you Friday–absolutely.”

I held it in my hand, astonished and perplexed. 112An invitation had been sent to me by Mrs. Gordon to visit her at Bellagio; I was to come on Friday; Jacqueline especially wished to see me. But why? Why should she expect me “absolutely”? Was it possible she had told Mrs. Gordon of my love for her? Dare I put the most favorable meaning into the message? At any rate, if I were to arrive at Bellagio on Friday, I must leave that afternoon. Well, after my breakfast, I could return to the Library, have a look at the monograph on clocks, and still catch the train.

But even as I was hurrying to the restaurant, I paused. Was this another of the duke’s tricks, a more elaborate one? A moment’s thought showed that this was most unlikely. I hurried through my meal, and taking a drosky returned to the Library, determined to wait there until I had seen my book.

This time, at any rate, the book was not in use, and in five minutes I had it in my hands.

I turned to consult the index. Apparently there was no index. I went through the volume carefully to find mention of the da Sestos clock, and presently I discovered that fourteen pages of the volume had been completely torn out.

I stared down at the mutilated book. So at last the duke’s game was revealed in its beautiful 113and simple entirety. He must have hurried back to the Library when he left me in the telegraph office. He, of course, had torn out the leaves. Score two for the duke. The game was becoming interesting.

When I called the attention of the librarian to the torn pages, he summoned the assistant who had given out the book. Did the assistant know that these fourteen pages were missing? The young man replied that he had noticed that yesterday. He had intended to speak to his chief about it. When asked if he could describe the reader, he replied that he could not. Pressed still further, however, he thought he remembered that the reader of the book had been an old man and had brown eyes. It was useless to say any more. It was evident that the assistant had been bribed and was lying. I might have given the librarian a hint or two as to what had become of those fourteen pages, but I wished to keep the police out of our game. Before long, perhaps, I might have to trust to the duke’s generosity. In the meanwhile, I would go to Bellagio to learn why Jacqueline wished to see me so urgently.