'There's murder and riot going on up there and I summon you in the king's name to give assistance to the servants of His Majesty! Hark! don't you hear the roar!'
They darted down the steps in a body, and while some ran off to mingle in the melee, the remainder stood gazing in the direction of the throng.
Taking advantage of their interest in the event to which I had thus called their attention, I quietly slipped into the hall and passed into a dressing room, the door of which was open, where, throwing off my disguise and arranging my hair and dress in a presentable trim, took a glance in the glass at my appearance and then passed out into the hall, where I encountered a party of eight persons; they had just arrived, all laughing and talking very loudly, for they had come from some other entertainment, where they had not been very scrupulous as to the manner in which they had sacrificed Bacchus; mingling and slipping up along with them, I reached the door of the saloon without being noticed by any of the marchioness's attendants, who were all perfectly possessed of the fact that upon no pretence whatever was the Count Stophet to be admitted.
While the others were being announced, I quietly slipped into the rooms and lounged about my ease. I well knew that, although the marchioness might give stringent orders regarding me to the servants, she would say nothing to her guests of such an affair; so I was not at all impressed at the calm manner in which I was welcomed by those whom I encountered in the gaudy saloon.
But it was the marchioness herself that I looked for, and her ladyship was in an inner saloon, with what she called a select circle about her.
No doubt she fully believed that she had taken such steps for my exclusion that evening, that it was impossible I could triumph over her by making my appearance in spite of her interdiction.
'Ladies,' she said, 'of course you have all had lovers of all kinds and descriptions, some impertinent and some modest; but a young friend of mine lately spoke to me about a lover of hers in a way that quite surprised me.'
'Indeed,' cried everybody.
'Yes, my dear friends,' said the marchioness. 'It appeared that this lady had done her lover the honour to invite him to an entertainment, but preceding the night upon which the entertainment was to take place, she discovered something that induced her to alter her mind with regard to him and to forbid him from coming to the party.'
'And very proper too,' said three ladies in a breath.
'No doubt of that,' said three more.
'But that,' continued the marchioness to the admiring throng which pressed closer around her in the hope of hearing some bit of scandal of the most delightful character, 'that was not the difficulty, ladies; and what perplexed this young lady was that the wretch said, that having no invitation to the entertainment, he would attend it in spite of her.'
'In spite of her?' said eight ladies.
'Yes. He said come he would, whether she liked it or not; and that she had no power to keep him out. Now, ladies, as this young friend of mine is in great distress upon this account, I would fain seek your advice by asking you what she had better do under such extraordinary circumstances?'
'Keep him out, by all means,' said the whole lot.
'Yes, ladies, that is quite agreed; but the means of doing so? That is the question. What would you do, and how far would you go in strong resources provided he should have come to the door and make an effort to force his way past the servants?'
'Really, my dear marchioness,' said the ugliest of the party, 'I should call upon some gentleman to draw in my defence, for there's no saying how far such a man might go.'
'I should give him to the watch,' said another.
'And I,' said a third, 'should stand myself in my hall with a drawn sword and run him through if he persisted in entering the house without my permission.'
'But the lady,' resumed the marchioness, 'has plenty of servants to keep the fellow out, and surely they ought to do it.'
'But what,' said I, suddenly making my way into the circle of ladies,
'but what, my dear marchioness, if he came down the chimney?'
The marchioness gave a shriek, and then cried, 'There he is!' while the throng of ladies immediately called me their dear count and hoped I was quite well.
'Perfectly, ladies,' I replied. 'Ah, I need not ask of you such a question; your blooming cheeks and love- charming eyes sufficiently assure me of the fact.'
'You monster!' cried the marchioness.
'Monster?' cried all the ladies. 'Call the handsome Count Stophet a monster. Why we have been looking for him all the evening. Surely, marchioness, the case was not your own and you really could not wish to exclude the count?'
Her ladyship bit her lips with rage and her eyes flashed as though fire were in them.
'Audacious man!' she said, 'how dare you intrude here? You have suborned my servants; not one of them shall remain another day with me.'
'My dear marchioness,' said I, 'do not blame your servants, for they have not the remotest notion of my presence here. So do not blame them, my dear marchioness; and above all things, too, I beg of you not to make a scene. If you must say something angry to me, let it be elsewhere than here.
'Where, sir?'
'Oh, anywhere; upstairs will do.'
The ladies tittered, and the marchioness seemed upon the point of doing something violent, beyond all precedent, but I spoke again saying, 'Madam, I said that in spite of all the impediments you could possibly throw in my way I would be here tonight, and I have kept my word. Having done so, I am satisfied; and, if you wish it, I will now leave this house at once, and in that case with an equal obstinate adherence to my word, I promise you that its threshold shall never again be crossed by me.'
At these words the marchioness turned rather pale. She had wanted to triumph over me, not to lose me.
'Say the word, madam, and I am gone.'
'How very affecting,' said all the ladies.
'You deserve that I should say go,' the marchioness replied, in a low voice. 'Your audacity deserves as much.'
'I acknowledge it, madam.'
'Then, for that acknowledgment, I will pardon you.'
'How very affecting,' said all the ladies again, and I made a low bow.
'Perhaps, madam,' I added, 'your servants had better be informed that I am no longer one of the proscribed.'
'I will see it done at once!' was her reply.
It was now getting time for the rout to be over and, indeed, a number of the guests of the marchioness had already left. Determined to have a complete triumph over my petulant mistress I now approached the marchioness and announced that I had come to bid her adieu.
'Allow me to hope,' I said, 'that I have full pardon for the past and that all that I have done tonight may be attributed to its right motive, namely, intense admiration of yourself without the countenance and acquaintance of whom, believe me, I could not, and would not, exist in the world of fashion in London. May I hope for the happiness of seeing you soon?'
'You may hope.'
'But will that delightful hope tomorrow be converted into a certainty?'
'It will.'
I then bade adieu to some others of the guests with whom I was personally acquainted and who were all upon the point of leaving and then on reaching the landing, instead of walking downstairs, walked up.
No one noticed this remarkable deviation from the ordinary route upon my part, or if they did they were much too well bred to take the smallest apparent heed of it. It was no business of theirs, and in the course of another quarter of an hour the last carriage rolled away from the door of the witty, elegant, beautiful, but not very particular
