The Car of Destiny

The Car of Destiny by C. N.
Williamson and

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Car of Destiny by C. N.
Williamson and A. M. Williamson

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at http://www.gutenberg.org/license

Title: The Car of Destiny
Author: C. N. Williamson and A. M. Williamson
Release Date: November 15, 2007 [Ebook #23500]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO 8859-1
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CAR
OF DESTINY***

THE CAR OF DESTINY BY C. N. AND A. M. WILLIAMSON
[Logo]

Illustrations by Armand Both
NEW YORK THE McCLURE COMPANY MCMVII

*OTHER BOOKS BY THE SAME AUTHORS*
Lady Betty Across the Water, My Friend the Chauffeur, The Princess
Virginia, etc.

Copyright, 1907, by The McClure Company Copyright, 1906, by
McClure, Phillips & Co.

[Lady Monica]
LADY MONICA

To Doña María del Pilar Harvey, We Dedicate This Spanish Story
C.N. and A.M. Williamson

CONTENTS
The King's Car The Girl The Guest Who Was Not Asked "I Don't
Threaten--I Warn" A Mystery Concerning a Chauffeur Puzzle: Find the
Car The Impudence of Showing a Handkerchief Over the Border A
Stern Chase The Unexpectedness of Miss O'Donnel María del Pilar to
the Rescue Under a Balcony What Happened in the Cathedral Some
Little Ideas of Dick's How the Duke Changed A Secret of the King's
Like a Thief in the Night The Man Who Loved Pilar A Parcel for
Lieutenant O'Donnel The Magic Word The Duchess's Hand The Luck
of the Dream-Book The Glorification of Monica The Goodwill of

Mariquita What Cordoba Lacked In the Palace of the Kings Moonlight
in the Garden Let Your Heart Speak The Garden of Flaming Lilies The
Hand Under the Curtains Behind an Iron Grating On the Road to Cadiz
The Seven Men of Ecija The Race The Moon in the Wilderness Wiles
and Enchantments Dreams and an Awakening The Fountain Day After
To-morrow Through the Night The Fifth Bull; and After

I
THE KING'S CAR
"Motor to Biarritz? You must be mad," said Dick Waring.
"Why?" I asked; though I knew why as well as he. "A nice way to
receive an invitation."
"If you must know, it's because the King of Spain will be there, visiting
his English fiancée," Dick answered.
"I wish him happiness," said I. "I hear he's a fine young fellow. Why
isn't there room in Biarritz for the King and for me?"
"The detectives won't think there is, nor will they give you credit for
your generous sentiments," said Dick.
"They won't know I'm there."
"They knew when you went to Barcelona, from Marseilles."
This was a sore subject. It is not my fault that my father was as
recklessly brave a general, and as obstinately determined a partisan as
Don Carlos ever had. If I had been born in those days, it is possible that
I should have done as my father did; but I was not born, and therefore
not responsible. Nor was it the King's fault that we lost our estates
which my ancestors owned in the days of Charles V; nor that we lost
our fortune, we Casa Trianas; nor that my father was banished from
Spain. For the King was not born, therefore he was not responsible; so

why should I blame him for anything that has happened to me?
It was perhaps ill-judged to visit my father's land, since to him it had
been a land forbidden. But a few months after his death, when I was
twenty-one, the longing to see Spain had become an obsession. And it
must have been my evil star which influenced an anarchist to throw a
bomb at a royal personage on the very day I arrived at Barcelona, thinly
"disguised" under an English name.
My identity was discovered at once, as the son of the great dead Carlist.
I was suspected and clapped into a cell, to wait until my innocence
could be proved. This was not easy; but, on the other hand, there was
no proof against me; and after an experience which scourged my pride
and emptied my purse, I was released, only to be politely but firmly
advised never again to show the undesirable face of a Casa Triana in
Spain.
It was after this that I flung myself off to Russia, and through friendly
influence got a commission in the army. I had some adventures in the
Boxer rising; and though Heaven knows I have no grudge against the
Japanese, the fight I made later on the Russian side gave me something
to do for two years. After the