The Car of Destiny | Page 7

difficulty in identifying the
head that I adored.
Had I not taken de la Mole more or less into my confidence, he would
have done nothing to further my interests; but, if I really have any such
power as Dick Waring hinted, I used it to enlist de la Mole upon my
side. Finally he not only agreed, but offered to help me enter the
Duchess of Carmona's house as one of her masked guests. He had been
asked to stand at the door that night, and request each person, or in any
case the man of each party, to raise his mask for an instant. This, in
order to keep out reporters and intruders of all sorts; and his promise
was to let me pass in unchallenged. I might count on his good offices,
not only in that way, but in any other way possible, for "all the world
loves a lover," said he. And he wished me the best of luck, though he
looked as if he hardly expected me to have it.
Probably it was foolish and conceited, but I could not resist playing up
to the rôle Dick suggested. She was to be Juliet. I would be Romeo.
By this time, no doubt, the Duchess's invited guests had their costumes
well under way; I had to get mine, and the only way to have something
worthy of the occasion was to go to Paris for it. I did go, and was back
in Biarritz in two days.
The rest moved easily, without a hitch. The night of the ball came. I
dressed and went alone, rather than drag Dick into an affair which
might end disagreeably.

I did not put myself forward, but stood for a while and watched the
dancers, waiting for my chance.
Carmona had arrived the day before. I had never met him, but what I
had heard I did not like; and having seen him once or twice in London,
at a distance, he was recognizable in a costume copied from a famous
portrait of that Duke of Alba who loomed great in Philip the Second's
day. Because of a slight difference one from the other, in the height of
his shoulders, he was difficult to disguise; and though the arrangement
of the costume was intended to hide the peculiarity, it was perceptible.
When the "Duke of Alba" had danced twice in succession with Juliet
Capulet, I could bear my rôle of watcher no longer. Besides, I knew
that I had not much time to waste. For the sake of de la Mole, who had
run the risk of admitting a stranger, I must vanish before the hour for
the masks to fall. When I took off my cap and bowed before this white
Juliet with the pearl-laced plaits of gold, she gazed at me through her
velvet mask in the silence of surprise. I could not guess whether she
puzzled herself as to what was under my yellow-brown wig and my
mask; but at least she must know it was Romeo who begged a dance.
I did not urge my claim on such a plea, however, least it should rouse
Carmona's opposition, and cause him to keep the girl from me if he
could. I merely said, "The next is our dance," risking a rebuff; but it did
not come.
"Yes," she said, almost timidly. It was the first time I had heard her
speak, and her voice went to my heart.
The Duke stared, as though he would have stripped off my mask by
sheer force of curiosity. But he had to let the girl go; and as the music
began she was in my arms. I hardly dared believe my own luck. Neither
of us spoke. I was lost in the sense of her nearness, the knowledge that
it was the music which gave me the right to hold her thus, and that
when the music died I must let her go.
But a quick thought came. If we danced the waltz through, Carmona or
someone else would claim her for the next. If I could hide the girl

before it was over, perhaps I might keep her for a little time. Indeed, I
must keep her, if this meeting were not to end in failure; for there were
things I had to say.
The conservatory was too obvious; and the shallow staircase with its
rose-garlanded balusters, and its fat silk cushion for each step, would
soon be invaded by a dozen couples. What to do, then? I would have
given much to know the house.
"I must speak with you," I said at last. "Where can we go?"
She did not say in return, "Do you know me, then?" or any other
conventional thing. The hope in me that she