PRINCESS PROXY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20623, 23 July 1930, Page 22

PRINCESS PROXY.

BY RUSSELL WARREN. A BRILLIANTLY WRITTEN SERIAL, FULL OF THRILLS.

CHAPTER XVII. raiNCE noius ruorosEs marriage. "I care nothing for your bonds," Sylvia flashed back. " I came hero and claimed them as a right. I consented to help you out; of a difficulty in exchange. 1 havo done my best to help you, and I have a double right to them, but sooner than accept them as a charity or as a bribe 1 would fling them in your face." She made a sudden instinetivo movement as if she were actually going to hurl something at liiin. " You ha\e made a mistake, count," she said sternly. " I may sometimes be persuaded, even against my better judgment, But you will get nothing out of 1110 by threats." Ho remained apparently unmoved, but inwardly he was raging. Ho retained his outward self control, but his better judgment was blinded by his rage. '' I think," bo said, " wo still have methods in this castle for breaking even such a spirit as yours." He took a step toward the door. " I am going to leavo vou," he said, to think this over." " It is quite useless." He crossed the room and laid his hand on the door handle. Suddenly h* resumed tho tone of resigned and dignified regret with which ho had begun the interview. " You will do as you will, mademoiselle. J!ut lam petting an old man. I do not, want to bo an outcast, an exile from my country. I would like to die seeing ivarolia, contented and happy, llir throne secure, and an heir growing up to carry tho torch forward into another generation." She Hushed cimson. " What do yon mean ?" she asked confusedly. llis lip curled as ho delivered his parting shaft. ' Bear in mind that—in the eyes of Ihe world—you are married to"—he pointed to the "resplendent scarlet figure by the fireplace—" tho Prince Consort of Karolia.

The floor cloyed behind him. Sylvia stared at it, her brain in a tumult, the crimson flush ebbing slowly from her face arid leaving it while and cold. At any rate, Badtzkoff, for once, had not minced matters. His tactful discretion for once swept away by tho fury her defiance had loused in him, lie had blurted out the naked truth, flung down his cards on the table. She knew exactly I lie future he had mapped out for herthe future he would force her to accept if it lay in his power, lor on il hung absolutely her own fate. 110 had gone so far now that ho could not recover from the consequences of his desperate, hastily devised plan. lie had no alternative but to make her obey. "It is something, at least." .she. thought, "to know exactly where I stand. There was a. jingle of spurs and tiie sound of a quick step across the carpet. She turned hurriedly, in sudden alarm. Prince Boris was almost at, her side, lie stopped awkwardly at flic sight of her f;n'i>—cold and caiui and white, with set. bitter lips and a hard glint in her eyes that, daunted him. He stammered a; ho spoke. " You heard —what. he. said " Yes," his glance fell before the. while, hot scorn in her eyes. " \es, I beard. And if everything else had persuaded me to d<> as ti" wishes, this would make 7110 say—never." He struggled for words. It was obvious that he was trying to keep his selfcontrol, and finding it difficult. " I 11011 t suppose, ' ho began quietly, and there was a pathetic ling 111 his voice, " that you would over care for me. I don't hope that. 1 hardly think you realise how I care for you.' '' Hi is is very sudden," she scoffed. " You don't believe me 1 1 see you don't. I suppose 1 must expect that. I f can't blame you It's my own fault, vet it's true enough I've never loved a woman in my lite—oh, yes. 1 know what you're thinking. I've met lots of women of a kind. I know what passion means. But I've never before met a woman like you-beautiful, cold, calm, imperious, clover, brilliant, sell-controlied, self-sutli-(ient. You're like a being from another world. I've loved you from the. first, moment T saw you—that night at the Splendide," •' That night!" her voice rose passionatelv. Tho hot colour surged into her cheeks, her bosom rose and fell with indignation. jh' made a little deprecating gesture. " f know. I know what you're, thinking and 1 deserve, it all. put, think v.hat I am. Think what, my life has been. I have hail niv own way with most people | all my life. \u woman has ever repulsed uip—but vou. 1 am not a common man, and' this is ii"t your cold, smug, virtuous Kngland. lam a prince, anil this is the, hot-blooded south. Thatnight, I did not, realise the sort of woman vou were. But I knew, T felt, with a force l hat was unconquerable, that you were, tile one woman in the world for me. Something stronger than myself (old me that, somehow or other, 1 would win you; that I must, that I would be iri torment until I did."

His words fell faster, carno to liini inoro easily as ho went on. Iho abnormal firo that hunil in liirn gave him a sort of hectic eloquence. He had lifted his eyes from the lloor and they met, hers b"ldlv and frankly.

" Last night," she began coldly. " Last night I still did not understand you, until I went. Rut when I left you, I had learnt my lesson. 1 niado up my mind to try to win your respect. I would do my utmost to please you, in all things. Haven't you noticed I've tried t'i respect your wishes. I've stopped drinking—l only had a very little at luncheon. I\e behaved " " For twelve hours," she said.

" Yes, but it will c> on, if you let, it. lin not weak. I'm not a slave to my passions. If I say I will do a thing, T will do it." lie thrust out his heavy jaw. " I'm not what Tam through weakness. What I'vo done I've done deliberately. I was deliberately bad—l can bo deliberately good. And I will—if you'll let me. Don't you understand '! Many me, and for your sake 111 bo a different man. I'll take my soul ;ind mako a new tiling of it. I'll give it von, to mould like soft clay. It's yours, to mako or break. It's lit your hands--there."

j He made a- gesture as if lie actually thrust something tangible into lior hands. But slio made no answer. Who stood thorp, cold and implacable. "At fir.-t,' he urged, "our marriage would lie quite nominal. 1 will do all that, you wish. I v.ill obey you in everything. I will show you how I can bo master of myself, until you come to respect me. Until yen come at last to care for ! me." She moved a little. 'I hero was no doubt in her mind tli.it ho was sincere. There was no pretence, no diplomatic net; ing, about l'rince Boris. He would never have humbled himself like this out of mero opportunism. He was perfectly honest, and lor Iho moment, ho meant every word he said. Intensely as she disliked him she could not help feeling a sort of pitv for the man. " Listen, prince," she said, " I believe what you say. 1 respect your resolutions. But it is all perfectly impossible. I should bo cruel to give you any hope. I could novfir marry you." He opened his mouth to speak, but she checked him with a gesture, reading his unspoken thought. " Listen to mo. Even if 1 could forget what you have. been, even if I could ever believe llinl you could make yourself the soil of man you S ny you will, it would

(corTniGnr.j

Ifo made a gesture of desperation

(To he continued daily.)

make no difference. I could never marry you, because I could never caro for you. No pcuver on earth could force or persuado mo to marry a man 1 didn't love." " Do you realise what 1 offer yon? Radtzkoff has told you that nil Knrolia will bo in your hands, you will rulo alone, and ho and L and everyone will bo at your feet. Not only that. Karolia is a little state, after ail Transcarpathia is a kingdom. My father is old, my brother is an invalid, and ho has no son. It may easily be that I shall be King of Transrarpathia yet. And you will bo a queen. Think of it. A queen, with a king your slave and two countries under your sway." Slio shook her head.

" It's no use, prince. I would not sell myself for all the kingdoms of the world. She drew herself up. "Itis no use your trying Lo persuade me. I have mado up my mind. Nothing you can say will move me. Will you please go." Suddenly" his control snapped. The earnest feeling, the honest aspiration, that had transfigured his face and made it almost handsome, almost, noble, vanished as if it had been wiped off with a sponge. The brute in him was again on tlio surface. Jiis eyes again became little pigeves, his lips seemed to thicken before her gaze, his .jaw thrust forward brutally. " Do you think I will take this for an answer? Do you think you can refuse mo? Do you think I'm going to give you up'! You make a mistake. I never yet failed to get anything T ret my heart on. I'm not going to let yon go. You'll never leave this castlo till you've given way. There are ways of breaking people's wills hero and we're not too squeamish to use them. I'll break yours, my proud beauty. I'll break your spirit and drag your soul down into the mud."

" I think," she answered, " that you must, bo mad. Will you go? " " You think I'm boasting ? You think all this is an empty threat? You'll soon learn the difference. You're not all-Bid of me? But you will be. Y'ou think 1 daren't do these things? You don't know what J dare do, you don't know what I haven't, already done to win you." His harsh voice cracked, and he finished the sentence in a scjreech. His lips quivered. Then, in ft low, hoarse whisper, controlled and deliberate, more horrible even that his burst of uncontrolled rage, he went on :

" Listen to me. T hated Sophie. I hated her tantrums and her tempers. I'd never have consented to marry her, but my father forced nip. To marry her was the only way of escaping from his tyranny. And I had to take it. Even Sophie was better than the. existence I was enduring ;it home. But I knew that my life, with her would be hell upon earth. And when I saw you at t Im* hotel, I knew that life was impossible for me with anyone but you."

When Radtzkoff told me that you were going to impersonate Sophie in tlio procession. I saw my chance. I Ret to work to take it that veiy night. Do you know who threw that bomb that wrecked the car Sophie was in? It was a man in my pay. I had him fetched from Transcarpathia that, night, and he was back across the border an hour after the thing was done."

She shrank barl; from him against the wall, her eves 'wide with horror. She ( • >ii]< 1 not conceive it possible that a human being mnld descend to such depths as this.

" If the fool had done the job properly vou would have hnrn then in the position you urc now. He bungled if, but, nft.er all, it. did not matter. The doctor has finished the. job satisfactorily. ' Tie laughed hoarsely. \ " Now you sec that I stick at nothing (n gpt, what I want. Perhaps now you have some idea, of what you may expect if you repulse me? " You fiend," she breathed; " if Count Radtzkoff knew of this "

" Radtzkoff! I'o you mean to say you were taken in I.v Radtzkoff'g play-acting? Ho did it, well, oh, yes, but I gave you r red it. for iiiovo intelligence than that. Why, it was Radt/.koff who put tho docfur up to doing his bit in the game. T didn't know tho fellow. T couldn't havo got round him so rjuickly. Radtzkoff wasn't, iii the bomb-throwing, but this morning when I realised that I shouldn't win you till Sophie was out of the, way, I had a little talk with him and ho soon dropped into it. He. fairly put tho fpar of God into tho doctor. The fellow gave her an overdose of morphia as he'd havo given a baby milk."

Sylvia covered her facp with her hands. Conscienceless as she knew the, princo to bo, sho had never thought, him capable of anything as ghastly as this. And Radt/.koff! Sho. knew him to be scheming, tortuous and cruel. Hut she thought he, at ,-iiiy rate, had at tho bottom some genuine feeling. Shu thought he. had had n sincere affection for thp princess. And all his grief had been acting, done to rouse her sympathies and weaken her resolution. From first, to last, he had played upon her softer feelings. 110 bad used her for his own purposes and had inwardly scoffed at her for i'.

" Radtzkoff," went on the, prince, with .1 sort of ghastly jubilance, " had the devil's own time, with Sophie. Couldn't get her to do a thing he wanted. She was playing hell with tho country, stirring up a first-class revolution bv her tricks, and wouldn't see it. Radtzkoff doesn't, care, a curse whether people live or die. But he, knows you'vo got to throw them a. bono now and again or they'll break out. Try as ho would, he couldn't make Sophie do it. She was an obstinate mule. It didn't take mo long to make him see that if wo got rid of her and put you on the throne, wo should have those anarchists feeding out of our hands in no time. You with your highflown notions of being kind to the people, making them rich and prosperous and cheered'with life. Jf he persuaded you to come in with us, wc should all have been safe in our seats as long aa wo live."

"And yon thought I'd do it?" she i l ied incredulously. llii looked ;it her critically.

" I think you would, if Radtzkoff had kept up the butter and given you time to think it over. But you maddened him, as you've maddened nie, and he lost 11is head, I suppose, and went on the wrong lines, liubbed you up tho wrong way. J know that now you won't do a thing. Radtzkoff may think ho can cow you into it. 1 don't. You are, as obstinate as ever Sophie was, if you get your back up. Old Peter's blood, I suppose. And now " he paused. " And now, my dear ice-maiden, you'vo ruined everything." Ho absolutely spat the words at her in his fury. "Karolia and all that's in it are going to overlasting smash. And the sooner tho better, I say, and get it over. We're going to hell together. Miss Englishwoman, and you're going first. Don't make any mistake about that. Here you are, and hero you stay till I choose to (ling you to the mob. You'd better say your prayers, for 3-011 'll have no time lor praying when 1 come back."

And ho flung furiously out of tho room