CHAPTER VIII

MOONLIGHT AND A PRINCE

When he had fought what he considered two rattling rounds, Harrigan

conceded that his cravat had once more got the decision over him on

points. And the cravat was only a second-rater, too, a black-silk affair.

He tossed up the sponge and went down to the dining-room, the ends of the

conqueror straggling like the four points of a battered weather-vane. His

wife and daughter and Mademoiselle Fournier were already at their table by

the casement window, from which they could see the changing granite mask

of Napoleon across Lecco.

At the villa there were seldom more than ten or twelve guests, this being

quite the capacity of the little hotel. These generally took refuge here

in order to escape the noise and confusion of a large hotel, to avoid the

necessity of dining in state every night. Few of the men wore evening

dress, save on occasions when they were entertaining. The villa wasn't at

all fashionable, and the run of American tourists fought shy of it,

preferring the music and dancing and card-playing of the famous hostelries

along the water-front. Of course, everybody came up for the view, just as

everybody went up the Corner Grat (by cable) at Zermatt to see the

Matterhorn. But for all its apparent dulness, there, was always an English

duchess, a Russian princess, or a lady from the Faubourg St.-Germain

somewhere about, resting after a strenuous winter along the Riviera. Nora

Harrigan sought it not only because she loved the spot, but because it

sheltered her from idle curiosity. It was almost as if the villa were

hers, and the other people her guests.

Harrigan crossed the room briskly, urged by an appetite as sound as his

views on life. The chef here was a king; there was always something to

look forward to at the dinner hour; some new way of serving spinach, or

lentils, or some irresistible salad. He smiled at every one and pulled out

his chair.

"Sorry to keep you folks waiting."

"James!"

"What's the matter now?" he asked good-naturedly. Never that tone but

something was out of kilter.

His wife glanced wrathfully at his feet. Wonderingly he looked down. In

the heat of the battle with his cravat he had forgotten all about his

tennis shoes.

"I see. No soup for mine." He went back to his room, philosophically.

There was always something wrong when he got into these infernal clothes.

"Mother," said Nora, "why can't you let him be?"

"But white shoes!" in horror.

"Who cares? He's the patientest man I know. We're always nagging him, and

I for one am going to stop. Look about! So few men and women dress for

dinner. You do as you please here, and that is why I like it."

"I shall never be able to do anything with him as long as he sees that his

mistakes are being condoned by you," bitterly responded the mother. "Some

day he will humiliate us all by his carelessness."

"Oh, bother!" Nora's elbow slyly dug into Celeste's side.

The pianist's pretty face was bent over her soup. She had grown accustomed

to these little daily rifts. For the great, patient, clumsy,

happy-go-lucky man she entertained an intense pity. But it was not the

kind that humiliates; on the contrary, it was of a mothering disposition;

and the ex-gladiator dimly recognized it, and felt more comfortable with

her than with any other woman excepting Nora. She understood him perhaps

better than either mother or daughter; he was too late: he belonged to a

distant time, the beginning of the Christian era; and often she pictured

him braving the net and the trident in the saffroned arena.

Mrs. Harrigan broke her bread vexatiously. Her husband refused to think

for himself, and it was wearing on her nerves to watch him day and night.

Deep down under the surface of new adjustments and social ambitions, deep

in the primitive heart, he was still her man. But it was only when he

limped with an occasional twinge of rheumatism, or a tooth ached, or he

dallied with his meals, that the old love-instinct broke up through these

artificial crustations. True, she never knew how often he invented these

trivial ailments, for he soon came into the knowledge that she was less

concerned about him when he was hale and hearty. She still retained

evidences of a blossomy beauty. Abbott had once said truly that nature had

experimented on her; it was in the reproduction that perfection had been

reached. To see the father, the mother, and the daughter together it was

not difficult to fashion a theory as to the latter's splendid health and

physical superiority. Arriving at this point, however, theory began to

fray at the ends. No one could account for the genius and the voice. The

mother often stood lost in wonder that out of an ordinary childhood, a

barelegged, romping, hoydenish childhood, this marvel should emerge:

her's!

She was very ambitious for her daughter. She wanted to see nothing less

than a ducal coronet upon the child's brow, British preferred. If ordinary

chorus girls and vaudeville stars, possessing only passable beauty and no

intelligence whatever, could bring earls into their nets, there was no

reason why Nora could not be a princess or a duchess. So she planned

accordingly. But the child puzzled and eluded her; and from time to time

she discovered a disquieting strength of character behind a disarming

amiability. Ever since Nora had returned home by way of the Orient, the

mother had recognized a subtle change, so subtle that she never had an

opportunity of alluding to it verbally. Perhaps the fault lay at her own

door. She should never have permitted Nora to come abroad alone to fill

her engagements.

But that Nora was to marry a duke was, to her mind, a settled fact. It is

a peculiar phase, this of the humble who find themselves, without effort

of their own, thrust up among the great and the so-called, who forget

whence they came in the fierce contest for supremacy upon that tottering

ledge called society. The cad and the snob are only infrequently

well-born. Mrs. Harrigan was as yet far from being a snob, but it required

some tact upon Nora's part to prevent this dubious accomplishment.

"Is Mr. Abbott going with us?" she inquired.

"Donald is sulking," Nora answered. "For once the Barone got ahead of him

in engaging the motor-boat."

"I wish you would not call him by his first name."

"And why not? I like him, and he is a very good comrade."

"You do not call the Barone by his given name."

"Heavens, no! If I did he would kiss me. These Italians will never

understand western customs, mother. I shall never marry an Italian, much

as I love Italy."

"Nor a Frenchman?" asked Celeste.

"Nor a Frenchman."

"I wish I knew if you meant it," sighed the mother.

"My dear, I have given myself to the stage. You will never see me being

led to the altar."

"No, you will do the leading when the time comes," retorted the mother.

"Mother, the men I like you may count upon the fingers of one hand. Three

of them are old. For the rest, I despise men."

"I suppose some day you will marry some poverty-stricken artist," said the

mother, filled with dark foreboding.

"You would not call Donald poverty-stricken."

"No. But you will never marry him."

"No. I never shall."

Celeste smoothed her hands, a little trick she had acquired from long

hours spent at the piano. "He will make some woman a good husband."

"That he will."

"And he is most desperately in love with you."

"That's nonsense!" scoffed Nora. "He thinks he is. He ought to fall in

love with you, Celeste. Every time you play the fourth _ballade_ he looks

as if he was ready to throw himself at your feet."

"_Pouf!_ For ten minutes?" Celeste laughed bravely. "He leaves me quickly

enough when you begin to sing."

"Glamour, glamour!"

"Well, I should not care for the article second-hand."

The arrival of Harrigan put an end to this dangerous trend of

conversation. He walked in tight proper pumps, and sat down. He was only

hungry now; the zest for dining was gone.

"Don't go sitting out in the night air, Nora," he warned.

"I sha'n't."

"And don't dance more than you ought to. Your mother would let you wear

the soles off your shoes if she thought you were attracting attention.

Don't do it."

"James, that is not true," the mother protested.

"Well, Molly, you do like to hear 'em talk. I wish they knew how to cook a

good club steak."

"I brought up a book from the village for you to-day," said Mrs. Harrigan,

sternly.

"I'll bet a dollar it's on how to keep the creases in a fellow's pants."

"Trousers."

"Pants," helping himself to the last of the romaine. "What time do you go

over?"

"At nine. We must be getting ready now," said Nora. "Don't wait up for

us."

"And only one cigar," added the mother.

"Say, Molly, you keep closing in on me. Tobacco won't hurt me any, and I

get a good deal of comfort out of it these days."

"Two," smiled Nora.

"But his heart!"

"And what in mercy's name is the matter with his heart? The doctor at

Marienbad said that father was the soundest man of his age he had ever

met." Nora looked quizzically at her father.

He grinned. Out of his own mouth he had been nicely trapped. That morning

he had complained of a little twinge in his heart, a childish subterfuge

to take Mrs. Harrigan's attention away from the eternal society page of

the _Herald_. It had succeeded. He had even been cuddled.

"James, you told me..."

"Oh, Molly, I only wanted to talk to you."

"To do so it isn't necessary to frighten me to death," reproachfully. "One

cigar, and no more."

"Molly, what ails you?" as they left the dining-room. "Nora's right. That

sawbones said I was made of iron. I'm only smoking native cigars, and it

takes a bunch of 'em to get the taste of tobacco. All right; in a few

months you'll have me with the stuffed canary under the glass top. What's

the name of that book?" diplomatically.

"_Social Usages._"

"Break away!"

Nora laughed. "But, dad, you really must read it carefully. It will tell

you how to talk to a duchess, if you chance to meet one when I am not

around. It has all the names of the forks and knives and spoons, and it

tells you never to use sugar on your lettuce." And then she threw her arm

around her mother's waist. "Honey, when you buy books for father, be sure

they are by Dumas or Haggard or Doyle. Otherwise he will never read a

line."

"And I try so hard!" Tears came into Mrs. Harrigan's eyes.

"There, there, Molly, old girl!" soothed the outlaw. "I'll read the book.

I know I'm a stupid old stumbling-block, but it's hard to teach an old dog

new tricks, that is, at the ring of the gong. Run along to your party. And

don't break any more hearts than you need, Nora."

Nora promised in good faith. But once in the ballroom, that little son of

Satan called malice-aforethought took possession of her; and there was

havoc. If a certain American countess had not patronized her; if certain

lorgnettes (implements of torture used by said son of Satan) had not been

leveled in her direction; if certain fans had not been suggestively spread

between pairs of feminine heads,--Nora would have been as harmless as a

playful kitten.

From door to door of the ballroom her mother fluttered like a hen with a

duckling. Even Celeste was disturbed, for she saw that Nora's conduct was

not due to any light-hearted fun. There was something bitter and ironic

cloaked by those smiles, that tinkle of laughter. In fact, Nora from

Tuscany flirted outrageously. The Barone sulked and tore at his mustache.

He committed any number of murders, by eye and by wish. When his time came

to dance with the mischief-maker, he whirled her around savagely, and

never said a word; and once done with, he sternly returned her to her

mother, which he deemed the wisest course to pursue.

"Nora, you are behaving abominably!" whispered her mother, pale with

indignation.

"Well, I am having a good time ... Your dance? Thank you."

And a tender young American led her through the mazes of the waltz, as

some poet who knew what he was about phrased it.

It is not an exaggeration to say that there was not a woman in the

ballroom to compare with her, and some of them were marvelously gowned and

complexioned, too. She overshadowed them not only by sheer beauty, but by

exuberance of spirit. And they followed her with hating eyes and whispered

scandalous things behind their fans and wondered what had possessed the

Marchesa to invite the bold thing: so does mediocrity pay homage to beauty

and genius. As for the men, though madness lay that way, eagerly as of old

they sought it.

By way of parenthesis: Herr Rosen marched up the hill and down again,

something after the manner of a certain warrior king celebrated in verse.

The object of his visit had gone to the ball at Cadenabbia. At the hotel

he demanded a motor-boat. There was none to be had. In a furious state of

mind he engaged two oarsmen to row him across the lake.

And so it came to pass that when Nora, suddenly grown weary of the play,

full of bitterness and distaste, hating herself and every one else in the

world, stole out to the quay to commune with the moon, she saw him jump

from the boat to the landing, scorning the steps. Instantly she drew her

lace mantle closely about her face. It was useless. In the man the

hunter's instinct was much too keen.

"So I have found you!"

"One would say that I had been in hiding?" coldly.

"From me, always. I have left everything--duty, obligations--to seek

you."

"From any other man that might be a compliment."

"I am a prince," he said proudly.

She faced him with that quick resolution, that swift forming of purpose,

which has made the Irish so difficult in argument and persuasion. "Will

you marry me? Will you make me your wife legally? Before all the world?

Will you surrender, for the sake of this love you profess, your right to a

great inheritance? Will you risk the anger and the iron hand of your

father for my sake?"

"_Herr Gott!_ I am mad!" He covered his eyes.

"That expression proves that your Highness is sane again. Have you

realized the annoyances, the embarrassments, you have thrust upon me by

your pursuit? Have you not read the scandalous innuendoes in the

newspapers? Your Highness, I was not born on the Continent, so I look upon

my work from a point of view not common to those of your caste. I am proud

of it, and I look upon it with honor, honor. I am a woman, but I am not

wholly defenseless. There was a time when I thought I might number among

my friends a prince; but you have made that impossible."

"Come," he said hoarsely; "let us go and find a priest. You are right. I

love you; I will give up everything, everything!"

For a moment she was dumb. This absolute surrender appalled her. But that

good fortune which had ever been at her side stepped into the breach. And

as she saw the tall form of the Barone approach, she could have thrown her

arms around his neck in pure gladness.

"Oh, Barone!" she called. "Am I making you miss this dance?"

"It does not matter, Signorina." The Barone stared keenly at the erect and

tense figure at the prima donna's side.

"You will excuse me, Herr Rosen," said Nora, as she laid her hand upon the

Barone's arm.

Herr Rosen bowed stiffly; and the two left him standing uncovered in the

moonlight.

"What is he doing here? What has he been saying to you?" the Barone

demanded. Nora withdrew her hand from his arm. "Pardon me," said he

contritely. "I have no right to ask you such questions."

It was not long after midnight when the motor-boat returned to its abiding

place. On the way over conversation lagged, and finally died altogether.

Mrs. Harrigan fell asleep against Celeste's shoulder, and the musician

never deviated her gaze from the silver ripples which flowed out

diagonally and magically from the prow of the boat. Nora watched the stars

slowly ascend over the eastern range of mountains; and across the fire of

his innumerable cigarettes the Barone watched her.

As the boat was made fast to the landing in front of the Grand Hotel,

Celeste observed a man in evening dress, lounging against the rail of the

quay. The search-light from the customs-boat, hunting for tobacco

smugglers, flashed over his face. She could not repress the little gasp,

and her hand tightened upon Nora's arm.

"What is it?" asked Nora.

"Nothing. I thought I was slipping."