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"Hold off your hands, knaves," commanded the prisoner, who was none other than Hart, the player, indignant at the detention.
"Silence, rogue!" commanded the King. "Thy name?"
"Sire!" cried Hart, throwing off his mantle and glancing for the first time at the judge's face. He sank immediately upon one knee, bowing respectfully.
"Jack Hart!" cried one and all, craning their necks in surprise and expectation.
"'Slife, a spy upon our merry-making!" exclaimed the displeased monarch. "What means this prowling, sir?"
"Pardon, pardon, my reply, your Majesty," humbly importuned the player. "Blinded by passion, I might say that I should regret."
"Your strange behaviour and stranger looks have meaning, sir," cried the King, impatiently. "Out with it! These are too dangerous times to withhold your thoughts from your King."
"No need for commands, Sire," entreated Hart. "The words are trembling on my lips and will out themselves in spite of me. At Portsmouth's ball, an hour past, I o'erheard that fop Adair boast to-night a midnight rendezvous here with Nell."
Nell placed her hands upon her heart.
"This—my old friend," she reflected sadly.
"Our jest turned earnest," cried Charles. "Well? Well?" he questioned, in peremptory tones.
"I could not believe my ears, Sire," the prisoner continued, faltering. "I watched to refute the lie—"
"Yes—yes—" exhorted the King, in expectation.
"I cannot go on."
"Knave, I command!"
"I saw Adair enter this abode at midnight." Hart's head fell, full of shame, upon his breast.
"'Sblood," muttered the King, scarce mindful that his words might be audible to those about him, "my heart stands still as if't were knifed. My pretty golden-head, my bonnie Nell!" He turned sharply toward the player. "Your words are false, false, sir! Kind Heaven, they must be."
"Pardon, Sire," pleaded Hart; "I know not what I do or say. Only love for Nell led me to this spot."
"Love!" cried Nell, with the irony of sadness. "Oh, inhuman, to spy out my ways, resort to mean device, involve my honour, and call the motive love!"
"You are cruel, cruel, Nell," sobbed Hart; and he turned away his eyes. He could not look at her.
"Love!" continued Nell, bitterly. "True love would come alone, filled with gentle admonition. I pity you, friend Hart, that God has made you thus!"
"No more, no more!" Hart quite broke beneath the strain.
"Dost hear, dost hear?" cried Charles, in ecstasy, deeply affected by Nell's exposition of true love. "Sir, you are the second to-night to belie the dearest name in England. You shall answer well to me."
"Ask the lady, Sire," pleaded Hart, in desperation. "I'll stake my life upon her reply."
"Nell?—Nell?" questioned the King; for he could scarce refuse to accept her word when a player had placed unquestioned faith in it.
Nell hid her face in her silken kerchief and burst into seeming spasmodic sobs of grief. "Sire!" was all the response the King could hear. He trembled violently and his face grew white. He did not know that Nell's tears were merry laughs.
"Her tears convict her," exclaimed Hart, triumphantly.
"I'll not believe it," cried the King.
Nell became more hysterical. She sobbed and sobbed, as though her heart would break, her face buried in her hands and her flying curls falling over and hiding all.
"Adair's sides are aching," she chuckled, in apparent convulsions of sorrow. "He's laughing through Nell's tears."
Meanwhile, Moll had been standing by the window; and, though she was watching eagerly the exciting scene within the room, she could not fail to note the sound of galloping horses and the rattling of a heavy coach on the roadway without.
"A coach and six at break-neck speed," she cried, "have landed at the door. A cavalier alights."
"Time some one arrived," thought Nell, as she glanced at herself in the mirror, to see that Adair was well hidden, and to arrange her curls, to bewitch the new arrivals, whosoever they might be.
As the cavalier dashed up the path, in the moonlight, Moll recognized the Duke of Buckingham, and at once announced his name.
"Ods-pitikins!" exclaimed Charles, angrily. "No leisure for Buckingham now. We have other business."
He had scarce spoken, however, when Buckingham, unceremoniously and almost breathless, entered the room.
"How now?" cried the King, fiercely, as the Duke fell on his knee before him; for his temper had been wrought to a high pitch.
"Pardon, your Majesty," besought his lordship, in nervous accents. "My mission will excuse my haste and interruption. Your ear I crave one moment. Sire, I am told Nell has to-night secreted in this house a lover!"
"Another one!" whispered Nell to Moll.
"'Tis hearsay," cried the King, now at fever-heat, "the give-and-take of gossips! I'll none of it."
"My witness, Sire!" answered Buckingham.
He turned toward the door; and there, to the astonishment of all, stood the Duchess of Portsmouth, who had followed him from the coach, a lace mantilla, caught up in her excitement, protecting her shapely shoulders and head.
As the assembled courtiers looked upon the beautiful rivals, standing, as they did, face to face before the King, and realized the situation, their faces grew grave, indeed.
The suspense became intense.
"The day of reckoning's come," thought Nell, as she met with burning glances the Duchess's eyes.
"Speak, your grace," exhorted Buckingham. "The King attends you."
"Nay, before all, my lord?" protested Portsmouth, with pretended delicacy. "I could not do Madame Gwyn so much injustice."
"If your speech concerns me," observed Nell, mildly, "out with it boldly. My friends will consider the source."
"Speak, and quickly!" commanded Charles.
"I would rather lose my tongue," still protested the Duchess, "than speak such words of any one; but my duty to your Majesty—"
"No preludes," interrupted the King; and he meant it, too. He was done with trifling, and the Duchess saw it.
"My servants," she said, with a virtuous look, "passing this abode by chance, this very night, saw at a questionable hour a strange cavalier entering the boudoir of Madame Gwyn!"
"She would make my honour the price of her revenge," thought Nell, her eyes flashing. "She shall rue those words, or Adair's head and mine are one for naught."
"What say you to this, Nell?" asked the King, the words choking in his throat.
"Sire,—I—I—" answered Nell, evasively. "There's some mistake or knavery!"
"She hesitates," interpolated the Duchess, eagerly.
"You change colour, wench," cried Charles, his heart, indeed, again upon the rack. "Ho, without there! Search the house."
An officer entered quickly to obey the mandate.
"Stay, Sire," exclaimed Nell, raising herself to her full height, her hot, trembling lips compressed, her cheeks aflame. "My oath, I have not seen Adair's face this night."
Her words fell upon the assemblage like thunder from a June-day sky. The King's face brightened. The Duchess's countenance grew pale as death.
"Mon Dieu! Adair!" she gasped in startled accents to Lord Buckingham, attendant at her side. "Could it be he my servants saw? The packet! Fool! Why did I give it him?"
Buckingham trembled violently. He was even more startled than Portsmouth; for he had more to lose. England was his home and France was hers.
"The scales are turning against us," he whispered. "Throw in this ring for safety. Nell's gift to Adair; you understand."
He slipped, unobserved, upon the Duchess's finger the jewelled ring the King had given to Almahyde among the roses at the performance of "Granada."
"Yes! Yes! 'Tis my only chance," she answered, catching at his meaning; for her wits were of the sharpest in intrigue and cunning, and she possessed the boldness too to execute her plans.
She approached the King, with the confident air possessed by great women who have been bred at court.
"Your Majesty recognizes this ring?" she asked in mildest accents.
"The one I gave to Nell!" answered the astonished King.
"The one Adair this night gave to me," said Portsmouth, calmly.
"'Tis false!" cried Nell, who could restrain her tongue no longer. "I gave that ring to dear old Strings."
"A rare jewel to bestow upon a fiddler," said the Duchess, sarcastically.
"It is true," said Strings, who had wormed his way through the group at mention of his name and now stood the meek central figure at the strange hearing. "My little ones were starving, Sire; and Nell gave me the ring—all she had. They could not eat the gold; so I sold it to the Duke of Buckingham!"
"We are lost," whispered Buckingham to Portsmouth, scarce audibly.
"Coward!" sneered the Duchess, contemptuously. "I am not ready to sail for France so soon."
The King stood irresolute. Events had transpired so quickly that he scarce knew what it was best to do. His troubled spirit longed for a further hearing, while his heart demanded the ending of the scene with a peremptory word.
Before he could decide upon his course, the Duchess had swept across the room, with queenly grace.
"Our hostess will pardon my eyes for wandering," she said, undaunted; "but her abode is filled with pleasant surprises. Sire, here is a piece of handiwork."
She knelt by the couch, and drew from under it a coat of gray, one sleeve of which had caught her eye.
Nell looked at Moll with reproving glances.
"Marry, 'tis Strings's, of course," continued Portsmouth, dangling the coat before the wondering eyes of all. "The lace, the ruffle, becomes his complexion. He fits everything here so beautifully."
As she turned the garment slowly about, she caught sight of a package of papers protruding from its inner pocket, sealed with her own seal. For the first time, the significance of the colour of the coat came home to her.
"Mon Dieu," she cried, "Adair's coat.—The packet!"
Her fingers sought the papers eagerly; but Nell's eye and hand were too quick for her.
"Not so fast, dear Duchess," said Nell, sweetly, passing the little packet to his Majesty. "Our King must read these papers—and between the lines as well."
"Enough of this!" commanded Charles. "What is it?"
"Some papers, Sire," said Nell, pointedly, "given for a kiss and taken with a kiss. I have not had time to read them."
"Some family papers, Sire," asserted the Duchess, with assumed indifference, "stolen from my house."
She would have taken them from his Majesty, so great, indeed, was her boldness; but Nell again stayed her.
"Aye, stolen," said Nell, sharply; "but by the hostess herself—from her unsuspecting, royal guest. There, Sire, stands the only thief!" She pointed accusingly at Portsmouth.
"My signature!" cried Charles, as he ran his eye down a parchment. "The treaties! No more Parliaments for England. I agreed to that."
"I agree to that myself," said Nell, roguishly. "England's King is too great to need Parliaments. The King should have a confidential adviser, however—not French," and she cast a defiant glance at Portsmouth, "but English. Read on; read on."
She placed her pretty cheek as near as possible to the King's as she followed the letters over his shoulder.
"A note to Bouillon!" he said, perusing the parchments further. "Charles consents to the fall of Luxembourg. I did not sign all this. I see it all: Louis's ambition to rule the world, England's King debased by promises won and royal contracts made with a clever woman—forgery mixed with truth. Sweet Heaven, what have I done!"
"The papers have not gone, Sire," blandly remarked Nell.
"Thanks to you, my Nell," said Charles. He addressed Portsmouth sharply: "Madame, your coach awaits you."
"But, Sire," replied the Duchess, who was brave to the last, "Madame Gwyn has yet Adair to answer for!"
"Adair will answer for himself!" cried Nell, triumphantly.
She threw aside the pink gown and stood as Adair before the astonished eyes of all.
"At your service," she said, bowing sweetly to the Duchess.
"A player's trick!" cried Portsmouth, haughtily, as a parting shot of contempt.
"Yes, Portsmouth," replied Nell, still in sweetest accents, "to show where lies the true and where the false."
"You are a witch," hissed Portsmouth.
"You are the King's true love," exclaimed the Merry Monarch. "To my arms, Nell, to my arms; for you first taught me the meaning of true love! Buckingham, you forget your courtesy. Her grace wishes to be escorted to her coach."
"Bon voyage, madame," said Nell, demurely, as the Duchess took Buckingham's arm and departed.
The King's eyes fell upon the player, Hart, who was still in custody.
"Away with this wretch!" he cried, incensed at his conduct. "I am not done with him."
"Forgive him, Sire," interceded Nell. "He took his cue from Heaven, and good has come of it."
"True, Nell," said the King, mercifully. Then he turned to Hart: "You are free; but henceforth act the knave only on the stage." Hart bowed with shame and withdrew.
"Sire, Sire," exclaimed Strings, forgetting his decorum in his eagerness.
"Well, Strings?" inquired the King, good-humouredly; for there was now no cloud in his sky.
"Let me play the exit for the villains?" he pleaded unctuously. "The old fiddle is just bursting with tunes."
"You shall, Strings," replied his Majesty, "and on a Cremona. From to-day, you lead the royal orchestra."
"Odsbud," cried Strings, gleefully, "I can offer Jack Hart an engagement."
"Just retribution, Strings," laughed Nell, happily. "Can you do as much for Nell, and forgive her, Sire?"
"It is I who should ask your pardon, Nell," exclaimed the King, ecstatically, throwing both arms passionately about her. "You are Charles's queen; you should be England's."
So the story ends, as all good stories should, in a perfect, unbroken dream of love.
EPILOGUE
Spoken by Miss Crosman for the first time in New York at the Bijou Theatre on the evening of October 9, 1900:
Good friends, before we end the play, I beg you all a moment stay: I warn my sex, by Nell's affair, Against a rascal called Adair!
If lovers' hearts you'd truly scan, Odsfish, perk up, and be a man!
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JEWEL: A Chapter in Her Life. Illustrated by Maude and Genevieve Cowles.
A sweet, dainty story, breathing the doctrine of love and patience; and sweet nature and cheerfulness.
JEWEL'S STORY BOOK. Illustrated by Albert Schmitt.
A sequel to "Jewel" and equally enjoyable.
CLEVER BETSY. Illustrated by Rose O'Neill.
The "Clever Betsy" was a boat—named for the unyielding spinster whom the captain hoped to marry. Through the two Betsys a clever group of people are introduced to the reader.
SWEET CLOVER: A Romance of the White City.
A story of Chicago at the time of the World's Fair. A sweet human story that touches the heart.
THE OPENED SHUTTERS. Frontispiece by Harrison Fisher.
A summer haunt on an island in Casco Bay is the background for this romance. A beautiful woman, at discord with life, is brought to realize, by her new friends, that she may open the shutters of her soul to the blessed sunlight of joy by casting aside vanity and self love. A delicately humorous work with a lofty motive underlying it all.
THE RIGHT PRINCESS.
An amusing story, opening at a fashionable Long Island resort, where a stately Englishwoman employs a forcible New England housekeeper to serve in her interesting home. How types so widely apart react on each other's lives, all to ultimate good, makes a story both humorous and rich in sentiment.
THE LEAVEN OF LOVE. Frontispiece by Harrison Fisher.
At a Southern California resort a world-weary woman, young and beautiful but disillusioned, meets a girl who has learned the art of living—of tasting life in all its richness, opulence and joy. The story hinges upon the change wrought in the soul of the blase woman by this glimpse into a cheery life.
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LOUIS TRACY'S
CAPTIVATING AND EXHILARATING ROMANCES
May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list
CYNTHIA'S CHAUFFEUR. Illustrated by Howard Chandler Christy.
A pretty American girl in London is touring in a car with a chauffeur whose identity puzzles her. An amusing mystery.
THE STOWAWAY GIRL. Illustrated by Nesbitt Benson.
A shipwreck, a lovely girl stowaway, a rascally captain, a fascinating officer, and thrilling adventures in South Seas.
THE CAPTAIN OF THE KANSAS.
Love and the salt sea, a helpless ship whirled into the hands of cannibals, desperate fighting and a tender romance.
THE MESSAGE. Illustrated by Joseph Cummings Chase.
A bit of parchment found in the figurehead of an old vessel tells of a buried treasure. A thrilling mystery develops.
THE PILLAR OF LIGHT.
The pillar thus designated was a lighthouse, and the author tells with exciting detail the terrible dilemma of its cut-off inhabitants.
THE WHEEL O'FORTUNE. With illustrations by James Montgomery Flagg.
The story deals with the finding of a papyrus containing the particulars of some of the treasures of the Queen of Sheba.
A SON OF THE IMMORTALS. Illustrated by Howard Chandler Christy.
A young American is proclaimed king of a little Balkan Kingdom, and a pretty Parisian art student is the power behind the throne.
THE WINGS OF THE MORNING.
A sort of Robinson Crusoe redivivus with modern setting and a very pretty love story added. The hero and heroine are the only survivors of a wreck, and have many thrilling adventures en their desert island.
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B. M. Bower's Novels
Thrilling Western Romances
Large 12 mos. Handsomely bound in cloth. Illustrated
CHIP, OF THE FLYING U
A breezy wholesome tale, wherein the love affairs of Chip and Della Whitman are charmingly and humorously told. Chip's jealousy of Dr. Cecil Grantham, who turns out to be a big, blue eyed young woman is very amusing. A clever, realistic story of the American Cow-puncher.
THE HAPPY FAMILY
A lively and amusing story, dealing with the adventures of eighteen jovial, big hearted Montana cowboys. Foremost amongst them, we find Ananias Green, known as Andy, whose imaginative powers cause many lively and exciting adventures.
HER PRAIRIE KNIGHT
A realistic story of the plains, describing a gay party of Easterners who exchange a cottage at Newport for the rough homeliness of a Montana ranch-house. The merry-hearted cowboys, the fascinating Beatrice, and the effusive Sir Redmond, become living, breathing personalities.
THE RANGE DWELLERS
Here are everyday, genuine cowboys, just as they really exist. Spirited action, a range feud between two families, and a Romeo and Juliet courtship make this a bright, jolly, entertaining story, without a dull page.
THE LURE OF DIM TRAILS
A vivid portrayal of the experience of an Eastern author, among the cowboys of the West, in search of "local color" for a new novel. "Bud" Thurston learns many a lesson while following "the lure of the dim trails" but the hardest, and probably the most welcome, is that of love.
THE LONESOME TRAIL
"Weary" Davidson leaves the ranch for Portland, where conventional city life palls on him. A little branch of sage brush, pungent with the atmosphere of the prairie, and the recollection of a pair of large brown eyes soon compel his return. A wholesome love story.
THE LONG SHADOW
A vigorous Western story, sparkling with the free, outdoor, life a mountain ranch. Its scenes shift rapidly and its actors play the game of life fearlessly and like men. It is a fine love story from start to finish.
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NOVELS OF SOUTHERN LIFE
By THOMAS DIXON, JR.
May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list
THE LEOPARD'S SPOTS: A Story of the White Man's Burden, 1865-1900. With illustrations by C. D. Williams.
A tale of the South about the dramatic events of Destruction, Reconstruction and Upbuilding. The work is able and eloquent and the verifiable events of history are followed closely in the development of a story full of struggle.
THE CLANSMAN. With illustrations by Arthur I. Keller.
While not connected with it in any way, this is a companion volume to the author's "epoch-making" story The Leopard's Spots. It is a novel with a great deal to it, and which very properly is going to interest many thousands of readers. * * * It is, first of all, a forceful, dramatic, absorbing love story, with a sequence of events so surprising that one is prepared for the fact that much of it is founded on actual happenings; but Mr. Dixon has, as before, a deeper purpose—he has aimed to show that the original formers of the Ku Klux Klan were modern knights errant taking the only means at hand to right intolerable wrongs.
THE TRAITOR. A Story of the Fall of the Invisible Empire. Illustrations by C. D. Williams.
The third and last book in this remarkable trilogy of novels relating to Southern Reconstruction. It is a thrilling story of love, adventure, treason, and the United States Secret Service dealing with the decline and fall of the Ku Klux Klan.
COMRADES. Illustrations by C. D. Williams.
A novel dealing with the establishment of a Socialistic Colony upon a deserted island off the coast of California. The way of disillusionment is the course over which Mr. Dixon conducts the reader.
THE ONE WOMAN. A Story of Modern Utopia.
A love story and character study of three strong men and two fascinating women. In swift, unified, and dramatic action, we see Socialism a deadly force, in the hour of the eclipse of Faith, destroying the home life and weakening the fiber of Anglo Saxon manhood.
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