Prince Fortunatus

Prince Fortunatus, by William
Black

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Title: Prince Fortunatus
Author: William Black
Release Date: July 6, 2005 [EBook #16217]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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FORTUNATUS ***

Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Pilar Somoza and the Online Distributed
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[Illustration: "She dragged off the engagement ring, and dashed it on
the floor in front of his feet." See p. 335.]

PRINCE FORTUNATUS
A Novel
BY
WILLIAM BLACK
AUTHOR OF "A PRINCESS OF THULE" "MACLEOD OF DARE"
"IN FAR LOCHABER" ETC.
ILLUSTRATED
NEW YORK HARPER & BROTHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE 1905

CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
I. A REHEARSAL 5
II. THE GREAT GOD PAN 21
III. NINA 37
IV. COUNTRY AND TOWN 55
V. WARS AND RUMORS 78
VI. A DEPARTURE 90
VII. IN STRATHAIVRON 106
VIII. THE TWELFTH 123
IX. VENATOR IMMEMOR 142
X. AIVRON AND GEINIG 159

XI. THE PHANTOM STAG 174
XII. A GLOBE OF GOLD-FISH 192
XIII. A NEW EXPERIENCE 207
XIV. A MAGNANIMOUS RIVAL 225
XV. "LET THE STRUCKEN DEER GO WEEP" 243
XVI. AN AWAKENING 259
XVII. A CRISIS 276
XVIII. AN INVOCATION 294
XIX. ENTRAPPED 310
XX. IN DIRER STRAITS 326
XXI. IN A DEN OF LIONS, AND THEREAFTER 342
XXII. PRIUS DEMENTAT 359
XXIII. A MEMORABLE DAY 376
XXIV. FRIENDS IN NEED 393
XXV. CHANGES 410
XXVI. TOWARDS THE DAWN 425
XXVII. A REUNION 430

ILLUSTRATIONS.
"SHE DRAGGED OFF THE ENGAGEMENT-RING, AND DASHED
IT ON THE FLOOR IN FRONT OF HIS FEET" Frontispiece.

"'YOU SAY AT YOUR FEET THAT I WEPT IN DESPAIR'" Facing
p. 18
"WHEN THEY HAD FINISHED SUPPER, LIONEL MOORE LIT A
CIGARETTE, AND HIS FRIEND A BRIAR-ROOT PIPE" " 34
"THEY PASSED IN THROUGH THE GATE, AND FOUND THE
DOOR LEFT OPEN FOR THEM" " 64
"AND YET HERE WAS THIS GIRL WATCHING COOLLY AND
CRITICALLY THE MOTION OF THE LINE" " 116
"CAUTIOUSLY OLD ROBERT CREPT DOWN. WHEN HE WAS
CLOSE TO THE WATER, HE BARED HIS RIGHT ARM AND
GRASPED THE GAFF BY THE HANDLE" " 170
"ROBERT GOT THE SMALL PARCELS AND THE
DRINKING-CUPS OUT OF THE BAG, AND ARRANGED THEM
ON THE WARM TURF" " 198
"AND NINA, HANGING SOME WAY BACK, COULD SEE THEM
BEING PRESENTED TO MISS BURGOYNE" " 252
"'WHY, YOU SEEM TO KNOW EVERYBODY, MR. MOORE!' SHE
SAID TO HIM, WITH A SMILE" " 264
"HE THREW HIS ARMS ON THE TABLE BEFORE HIM, AND
HID HIS FACE" " 310
"AND AGAIN SHE FILLED UP HIS GLASS, WHICH HE HAD
NOT EMPTIED" " 322
"THERE WAS A SLIGHT TOUCH OF COLOR VISIBLE ON THE
GRACIOUS FOREHEAD WHEN SHE OFFERED HIM HER HAND"
" 346
"HE UTTERED A LOUD SHRIEK, AND STRUGGLED WILDLY
TO RAISE HIMSELF" " 394

"SHE THREW HERSELF ON HER KNEES BY THE BEDSIDE
AND SEIZED HIS HAND" " 400
"MAURICE WALKED BACK UNTIL HE FOUND A GATE,
ENTERED, AND WENT FORWARD AND OVERTOOK HER" "
420
"I HAVE AN EXTREMELY IMPORTANT LETTER TO SEND OFF"
" 430

PRINCE FORTUNATUS.
CHAPTER I.
A REHEARSAL.
When the curtain fell on the last act of "The Squire's Daughter," the
comedy-opera that had taken all musical London by storm, a tall and
elegant young English matron and her still taller brother rose from their
places in the private box they had been occupying, and made ready to
depart; and he had just assisted her to put on her long-skirted coat of
rose-red plush when an attendant made his appearance.
"Mr. Moore's compliments, your ladyship, and will you please to step
this way?"
The box was close to the stage. Lady Adela Cunyngham and her
brother, Lord Rockminster, followed their guide through a narrow little
door, and almost at once found themselves in the wings, amid the usual
motley crowd of gas-men, scene-shifters, dressers, and the like. But the
company were still fronting the footlights; for there had been a general
recall, and the curtain had gone up again; and probably, during this
brief second of scrutiny, it may have seemed odd to these two strangers
to find themselves looking, not at rows of smiling faces on the stage,
but at the backs of the heads of the performers. However, the curtain
once more came down; the great wedding-party in the squire's hall

grew suddenly quite business-like and went their several ways as if
they had no longer any concern with one another; and then it was that
the squire's daughter herself--a piquant little person she was, in a
magnificent costume