University of Virginia Library

3.6. CHAPTER VI.

The Baron's natural good temper might have forgiven his friend, but all night he was a prey to something against which no temper is proof. The Baron was bitterly jealous. All through breakfast he never spoke a word, and when Mr Bunker asked him what train he intended to take, he replied curtly, as he went to the door, "Ze 5.30.''

"And where do you go now?''

"Vat is zat to you? I go for a valk. I vould be alone.''

"Good-bye, then, Baron,'' said Mr Bunker. "I think I shall go up to town.''

"Go, zen,'' replied the Baron, opening the door; "I haf no furzer vish to see a treacherous sponge zat vill neizer be true nor fight, bot jost takes money.''

He slammed the door and went out. If he had waited for a moment, he would have seen a look in Mr Bunker's face that he had never seen before. He half started from his chair to follow, and then sat down again and thought with his lips very tight set.

All at once they broke into a smile that was grimmer than anything the Baron had known.

"I accept your challenge, Baron Rudolph von Blitzenberg,'' he said to himself; "but the weapons I shall choose myself.''

He took a telegraph form, wrote and despatched a

wire, and then with considerable haste proceeded to pack. Within an hour he had left the hotel. . . . . . . .

When a servant, later in the day, was performing, under the Baron's directions, the same office for him, a series of discoveries that still further disturbed his peace of mind were jointly made. Not only the more sporting portions of his wardrobe but his gun and cartridges as well, had vanished, and, search and storm as he liked, there was not a trace of them to be found.

"Ze rascal!'' he muttered; "I did not zink he was zief as well.''

It is hardly wonderful that he arrived at Brierley station in anything but an amiable frame of mind. There, to his great annoyance and surprise, he found no signs of Sir Richard's carriage; there were no stables near, and, after fuming for some time on the platform, he was forced to leave his luggage with the station-master and proceed on foot to Brierley Park.

He arrived shortly before seven o'clock, after a dark and muddy tramp, and, still swearing under his breath, pulled the bell with indignant energy.

"I am ze Baron von Blitzenberg, bot zere vas no carriage at ze station,'' he informed the butler in his haughtiest tones.

The man looked at him suspiciously.

"The Baron arrived this morning,'' he said.

"Ze Baron? Vat Baron? I am ze Baron!''

"I shall fetch Sir Richard,'' said the butler, turning away.

Presently a stout florid gentleman, accompanied by three friends, all evidently very curious and amused about something, came to the door, and, to the poor Baron's amazement and horror, he recognised in one of these none other than Mr Bunker, arrayed with much splendour in his own ornate shooting suit.

"What do you want?'' asked the florid gentleman, sternly.

"Have I ze pleasure of addressing Sir Richard Brierley?'' inquired the Baron, raising his hat and bowing profoundly.

"You have.''

"Zen I must tell you zat I am ze Baron Rudolph von Blitzenberg.''

"Gom, gom, my man!'' interposed Mr Bunker. "I know you. Zis man, Sir Richard, has before annoyed me. He is vat you call impostor, cracked; he has vollowed me from Germany. Go avay, man!''

"You are impostor! You scoundrel, Bonker!'' shouted the wrathful Baron. "He is no Baron, Sir Richard! Ha! Vould you again deceive me, Bonker?''

"You must lock him up, I fear,'' said Mr Bunker. "To-morrow, my man, you vill see ze police.''

So completely did the Baron lose his head that he became almost inarticulate with rage: his protestations, however, were not of the slightest avail. That morning Sir Richard had received a wire informing him that the Baron was coming by an earlier train than he had originally intended, and, since his arrival, the spurious nobleman had so ingratiated himself with his host that Sir

Richard was filled with nothing but sympathy for him in his persecution. After a desperate struggle the unfortunate Rudolph was overpowered and conveyed in the undignified fashion known as the frog's march to a room in a remote wing, there to pass the night under lock and key.

"The scoundrelly German impostor!'' exclaimed a young man, a fellow visitor of the Baron Bunker's, to a tall, military-looking gentleman.

Colonel Savage seemed lost in thought.

"It is a curious thing, Trelawney,'' he replied, at length, "that the footman who attends the Baron should have told my man—who, of course, told me—that a number of his things are marked `Francis Beveridge.' It is also rather strange that this impostor should have known so little of the Baron's movements as to arrive several hours after him, assuming he had hatched a plot to impersonate him.''

"But the man's obviously mad.''

"Must be,'' said the colonel.

The house party were assembled in the drawing-room waiting for dinner to be announced. The bogus Baron was engaged in an animated discussion with Colonel Savage on the subject of Bavarian shootings, and the colonel having omitted to inform him that he had some personal experience of these, Mr Bunker was serving up such of his friend's anecdotes as he could remember with sauce more peculiarly his own.

"Five hondred vild boars,'' he was saying, "eight hondred brace of partridges, many bears, and rabbits so

moch zat it took five veeks to bury zem. All zese ve did shoot before breakfast, colonel. Aftair breakfast again ve did go out—''

But at that moment his attention was sharply arrested by a question of Lady Brierley's.

"Has Dr Escott arrived?'' she asked.

The Baron Bunker paused, and in spite of his habitual coolness, the observant colonel noticed that he started ever so slightly.

"He came half an hour ago,'' replied Sir Richard. "Ah, here he is.''

As he spoke, a well-remembered figure came into the room, and after a welcome from his hostess, the dinner procession started.

"Whoever is that tall fair man in front?'' Dr Escott asked his partner as they crossed the hall.

"Oh, that's the Baron von Blitzenberg: such an amusing man! We are all in love with him already.''

All through dinner the spurious Baron saw that Dr Escott's eyes turned continually and curiously on him; yet never for an instant did his spirits droop or his conversation flag. Witty and charming as ever, he discoursed in his comical foreign accent to the amusement of all within hearing, and by the time the gentlemen adjourned to the billiard-room, he had established the reputation of being the most delightful German ever seen. Yet Dr Escott grew more suspicious and bewildered, and Mr Bunker felt that he was being narrowly watched. The skill at billiards of a certain Francis Beveridge used to be the object of the doctor's unbounded

admiration, and it was with the liveliest interest that he watched a game between Colonel Savage and the Baron.

That nobleman knew well the danger of displaying his old dexterity, and to the onlookers it soon became apparent that this branch of his education had been neglected. He not only missed the simplest shots, but seemed very ignorant of the rules of the English game, and in consequence he came in for a little good-natured chaff from Sir Richard and Trelawney. When the colonel's score stood at 90 and the Baron had scarcely reached 25 Trelawney cried, "I'll bet you ten to one you don't win, Baron!''

"What in?'' asked the Baron, and the colonel noticed that for the first time he pronounced a w correctly.

"Sovereigns,'' said Trelawney, gaily.

The temptation was irresistible.

"Done!'' said the Baron. With a professional disregard for conventions he bolted the white into the middle pocket, leaving his own ball nicely beside the red. Down in its turn went the red, and Mr Bunker was on the spot. Three followed three in monotonous succession, Trelawney's face growing longer and Dr Escott getting more and more excited, till with a smile Mr Bunker laid down his cue, a sensational winner.

His victory was received in silence: Trelawney handed over two five-pound notes without a word, and the colonel returned to his whisky-and-soda. Dr Escott could contain himself no longer, and whispering something to Sir Richard, the two left the room.

Imperturbable as ever, Mr Bunker talked gaily for a

few minutes to an unresponsive audience, and then, remarking that he would join the ladies, left the room.

A minute or two later Sir Richard, with an anxious face, returned with Dr Escott.

"Where is the Baron?'' he asked.

"Gone to join the ladies,'' replied Trelawney, adding under his breath, "d—n him!''

But the Baron was not with the ladies, nor, search the house as they might, was there a trace to be seen of that accomplished nobleman.

"He has gone!'' said Sir Richard.

"What the deuce is the meaning of it?'' exclaimed Trelawney.

Colonel Savage smiled grimly and suggested, "Perhaps he wants to give the impostor an innings.''

"Dr Escott, I think, can tell you,'' replied the baronet.

"Gentlemen,'' said the doctor, "the man whom you have met as the Baron von Blitzenberg is none other than a most cunning and determined lunatic. He escaped from the asylum where I am at present assistant doctor, after all but murdering me; he has been seen in London since, but how he came to impersonate the unfortunate gentleman whom you locked up this afternoon I cannot say.''

Before they broke up for the night the genuine Baron, released from confinement and soothed by the humblest apologies and a heavy supper, recounted the main events in Mr Beveridge alias Bunker's brief career in town. On his exploits in St Egbert's he felt some delicacy in touching, but at the end of what was after all only a

fragmentary and one-sided narrative, even the defrauded Trelawney could not but admit that, whatever the departed gentleman's failings, his talents at least were worthy of a better cause.