At daybreak the fugitive10 Crown Prince wrote a note to Hope, telling her of his flight and his place of refuge, and one of the farm hands was despatched with it to the town. Then Minna suggested that the two refugees needed rest, and was for sending them to bed for a few hours’ sleep, but Grey protested and Johann blankly refused.
In the American’s mind one desire was now dominant—to see the contents of the late Herr Schlippenbach’s luggage, among which, he was impressed, he would find some clue to the mystery—some evidence, perhaps, that would make clear what was still the most perplexing of enigmas11. Whether this impression was born of hope, merely, or whether it was inspired by some psychic13 manifestation14 cannot be demonstrated and is not material; but, as the discoveries of the day proved, it was well founded.
After the family breakfast, which was served early, Minna took Grey to an upper room where were the three boxes of her great-uncle, and producing the keys a thorough search was made of280 the dead man’s effects. In one box were his clothes, in another relics15 of his family, and in the third a small library of books and manuscripts, with many bottles and jars and boxes, wrapped in straw and packed with consummate16 care to guard against breakage.
The books for the most part bore on one subject—phrenology. Nearly every known work treating of it was included in the collection. There were the early writings of Dr. Franz Joseph Gall17 and his pupil, Dr. Spurzheim; there were the discoveries of George and Andrew Coombs and of Dr. Elliotson, and the lectures of that earliest and ablest of American phrenologists, Dr. Charles Caldwell, and of the later disciple18, Fowler. All of these bore many annotations19, marked paragraphs, underlined sentences and marginal comments. Here and there were inserted pages of closely written manuscript, recording20 the results of Schlippenbach’s personal observation—cases that had come under his notice and to which he had given infinite study. From these it was very soon made apparent to Grey that the late Herr Doctor had ideas distinctively21 his own. While he accepted281 many of the conclusions of the earlier apostles of the creed22 he went a step further, and believed that character could be formed and developed by the systematic23 physical building up of certain portions of the mental structure and the depression of other portions. This, he claimed, was best accomplished24 by magnetic stimulation25 and absorption. Positive magnetic currents stimulated26 and nourished, while negative currents degenerated27 and destroyed.
He had conceived this theory, his writings made clear, while tutor at the Budavian Court, and had presumed to experiment on the infant Crown Prince. At that time he had kept a journal in which he made entry, briefly28 and roughly, not only of his scientific accomplishments29, but of incidents bearing in any way on his career. This journal was secured by a lock, but Minna and her sister not merely consented to its breaking, but insisted upon it. And here was found the long and well-kept secret of the writer’s quarrel with Queen Anna and the abduction of the young heir apparent. Her Majesty30 having been informed of the tutor’s novel methods of mental development282 had commanded their cessation so far as her infant son was concerned; and the tutor’s departure from the Court was only a part of the outcome. The journal revealed the fact—though it was not stated in so many words, and to those unfamiliar31 with Budavian history the entries might have meant nothing—that the tutor was, if not personally the abductor of the young sprig of royalty32, certainly an important factor in the abduction, his object being not so much to avenge33 himself on Queen Anna as to gather the results of the experiments he had been engaged in from the child’s earliest infancy34. There was no direct mention, either, of the little fellow’s death, but the absence after a few months of entries concerning him was good ground for the belief that he did not long survive his arrival in America.
Package after package of letters from Professor Trent showed that from the time of Schlippenbach’s emigration up to almost the immediate35 present he had been in correspondence with the head of the University of Kürschdorf. In view of what Count von Ritter had told him, the more recent of these letters were to Grey of paramount283 interest, and he read them with careful attention, and especially one in which appeared the following paragraph:
You can fancy the surprise, not unmixed with joy, with which I read your letter of the twenty-fifth of August. The fact that the heir to our throne is still alive and where you can lay your hands upon him seems a wonderful dispensation of an all-wise Providence36; for in the event of His Majesty’s death—and he has been for two years a terrible sufferer from an incurable37 ailment—the crown must otherwise go, as you know, to that prince of scapegraces, Hugo. I have given your communication to the Chancellor38, and you will doubtless hear from him in the near future. Fancy our future King, all unmindful, serving in the capacity of a valet! Truth is indeed stranger than fiction.
Subsequent letters gave hints here and there of the progress of the investigation39, which, it seemed, was conducted with no little secrecy40. From these it appeared that Schlippenbach had had many interviews with the Budavian Minister at Washington and the Budavian Consul41 at New York, but that the person of the pretended Crown Prince was not revealed to them until some time in March, by which date, or, in fact, as early as January, he had become a member of Schlippenbach’s household in Avenue A. Of his removal from where he284 was supposed to have been in service to the home of the old Herr Doctor, Professor Trent wrote:
And you have not told him yet, you say, of the honours that are his. All through this I can see the Divine Hand. The embezzlement42 and disappearance43 of his employer offered just the opportunity you desired to have him with you. You can now, by degrees, fit him—gradually prepare him, I mean—for the high estate which is his inheritance; whereas had he continued in his employment such a procedure would have been hedged around with difficulties. I am glad you set me right in the matter of names. I knew that he had gone by the name of Lutz; and I could not understand who this other Lutz was. You say he is his foster-brother, the son of the woman who reared him. I think it wise to have him take another name for the journey over here; and your idea of having him pose as your nephew, Arndt, is capital, provided, of course, there is none of your nephews’ friends or acquaintances coming on the same steamer.
The insight which these letters gave to Grey only served to whet12 his appetite for additional detail. Many of the revelations were startling, some of them in a way amusing, yet the general impression they made was not of the cleverness of the schemers but rather of their want of skill, their rash indiscretion, their apparently44 laboured complication of things, which by very reason of the resultant network offered unnecessary loopholes for discovery and frustration45. In this he found285 proof of Schlippenbach’s lack of balance, which he was charitable enough to consider the result of mental derangement46. He was not so much a knave47, he told himself, as he was a maniac48.
From Kürschdorf the news had come to him that the King was going to die. He remembered then, possibly with a stricken conscience, that he was partly if not wholly responsible for the fact that His Majesty would leave no son to succeed him. If at this juncture49 he were able to produce the heir, what might he not expect in the way of honours? But the Crown Prince was dead and therefore not producible.
Grey could read very clearly between the lines of the story as it was opened up to him, and he perceived the birth just here of the temptation to produce the heir to the throne by constructing a replica50 of the deceased Maximilian. Had he been going about such a business himself, he would probably have chosen some conscienceless fellow to personify the departed one. But with Schlippenbach his science was always pre-eminent. As, years before, he had endeavoured by means of this to build up from the real infant heir a prince that286 should meet his views of what a prince should be, so now he chose to make, from a young man possessed51 of certain fitting physical and mental attributes, a prince to order.
The raw material must be tall, erect52 and of dignified53 bearing, of intelligence and education. The Crown Prince had been dark-eyed, but flaxen-haired. To secure this latter natural combination was not easy. But while his knowledge of chemicals left him powerless to change blue eyes to brown, his familiarity with the potency54 of peroxide of hydrogen made it quite possible for him to change black hair to blond. And so he set about finding a gentleman of the desired type. Daily he must have passed hundreds on the street, but seeing them and getting them within the radius55 of his ministration were two different things. In his circle of acquaintances he knew of no one that would answer. But from one of his acquaintances, Lutz, the valet, he had heard much of the valet’s employer, and the valet’s employer evidently seemed to him to be very nearly what he required.
287 All this Grey gathered by the very simple process of logical reasoning from what he found in Herr Schlippenbach’s books and papers. But there was much still which by no method of inference could he satisfactorily explain.
In the examination of the contents of the boxes Minna was deeply interested, and with her Grey discussed each and every significant paragraph and passage. They were still busy exchanging views when, towards five o’clock in the afternoon, the sound of carriage wheels on the driveway below drew the Fraülein to the open window.
“Oh, dear,” she cried, joyously56, “it’s Miss Van Tuyl and Mr. O’Hara and another gentleman. Come, we’ll go down and meet them.”
But Grey was not altogether pleased. In his note to Hope he had warned her that it would not be safe for her or anyone to visit or communicate with him until events shaped themselves one way or another. It being known that she and O’Hara had come to Kürschdorf with him they would probably be watched with a view to discovering his whereabouts. Seeing that he had sent this caution it was, he thought, most inconsiderate of288 them to disregard it. But he got up from his seat on the floor and went downstairs with Minna, nevertheless; and in spite of his momentary57 annoyance58 there was only gladness in his eyes when they fell upon the brown-eyed, white-clad girl in the victoria, whose face was radiant with the joy of seeing him again and the good news that she was bringing. For she had not disobeyed, after all. Events had already shaped themselves, as her father’s little speech—once introductions were over and they were all seated in the big square living-room—very definitely proved.
“I’m more than glad to see you, Carey, my boy,” Nicholas Van Tuyl had exclaimed, gripping Grey’s hand with a cordiality that was stimulating59, “I’m delighted; and I’m happy to be the one to bring you the best news you have had in a long while.” This had been said outside, and it had filled Grey with delicious expectancy60. What followed, however, was even better than he imagined.
“Not an hour ago,” began the New York banker, “I had a call from your friend, Chancellor von Ritter. I know him, met him in Munich years ago, and went to him last night to get the289 truth about your imprisonment61. He wouldn’t tell me anything then, but I told him enough, it seems, to upset the whole Privy62 Council and put a scapegrace on the throne of Budavia. However, that’s only by way of introduction. This afternoon he called on me at the hotel, and told me a good many things that the great and glorious Budavian public will never know. He told me, for instance, how the Government had been fooled and how now it was going to get out of its predicament with as good a grace as possible. He told me all about your escape last night, and how you had done the very thing that he could have most wished. One of the problems that confronted him was how to get rid of you without revealing the Government’s error. Now that you have taken the matter in your own hands, that question is answered. All he hopes is that they’ll never be able to find you; and they won’t—because they are going to shut their eyes and not look.”
Grey laughed, and the rest of the party joined in.
“This diplomacy63 reminds me of a French farce,” remarked O’Hara. “The actors who290 really know it all better than anyone else are apparently the only ones who cannot see what is perfectly64 palpable to the audience.”
“If I were you,” Van Tuyl continued, “I’d shave off that beard and moustache at once; that will make their dissembling appear a little bit real. And then I’d get out of town just as soon as I could make it convenient. Not that there would be any danger from the Government as it now stands, but with Hugo and his followers65 in command you can’t tell what might happen overnight.”
Grey nodded.
“Yes,” he agreed, smiling, “I think you’re right. I won’t stop for the royal obsequies. It may seem disrespectful to my late sire, but now that I have my wings back I feel like using them.”
“I never did care much for funerals,” added Nicholas Van Tuyl, “and so Hope and I will go with you.”
O’Hara’s eyes were fixed66 on Minna, who was gazing pensively67 at the white-scrubbed floor.
“I think I’ll stop,” he said, a little seriously. “You won’t need me, Grey, and I’d like to look291 over the Budavian military, which will be out in force.”
The Fraülein’s gaze was lifted and her eyes for an instant met those of the Irish lieutenant68. In them he read the answer he craved69 to the question his heart was asking.
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1
rife
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| adj.(指坏事情)充斥的，流行的，普遍的 | |
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farmhouse
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| n.农场住宅（尤指主要住房） | |
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yelping
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| v.发出短而尖的叫声( yelp的现在分词 ) | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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foaming
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| adj.布满泡沫的；发泡 | |
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refreshment
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| n.恢复，精神爽快，提神之事物；（复数）refreshments:点心，茶点 | |
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rosy
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| adj.美好的，乐观的，玫瑰色的 | |
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slumber
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| n.睡眠，沉睡状态 | |
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mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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10
fugitive
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| adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者 | |
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enigmas
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| n.难于理解的问题、人、物、情况等，奥秘( enigma的名词复数 ) | |
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12
whet
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| v.磨快，刺激 | |
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psychic
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| n.对超自然力敏感的人；adj.有超自然力的 | |
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manifestation
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| n.表现形式；表明；现象 | |
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15
relics
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| [pl.］n.遗物，遗迹，遗产；遗体，尸骸 | |
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16
consummate
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| adj.完美的；v.成婚；使完美 [反]baffle | |
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17
gall
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| v.使烦恼，使焦躁，难堪；n.磨难 | |
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disciple
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| n.信徒，门徒，追随者 | |
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annotations
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| n.注释( annotation的名词复数 )；附注 | |
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recording
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| n.录音，记录 | |
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distinctively
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| adv.特殊地，区别地 | |
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creed
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| n.信条；信念，纲领 | |
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systematic
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| adj.有系统的，有计划的，有方法的 | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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stimulation
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| n.刺激，激励，鼓舞 | |
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stimulated
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| a.刺激的 | |
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degenerated
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| 衰退，堕落，退化( degenerate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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accomplishments
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| n.造诣；完成( accomplishment的名词复数 )；技能；成绩；成就 | |
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majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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unfamiliar
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| adj.陌生的，不熟悉的 | |
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royalty
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| n.皇家，皇族 | |
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avenge
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| v.为...复仇，为...报仇 | |
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infancy
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| n.婴儿期；幼年期；初期 | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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incurable
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| adj.不能医治的，不能矫正的，无救的；n.不治的病人，无救的人 | |
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chancellor
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| n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长 | |
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investigation
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| n.调查，调查研究 | |
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secrecy
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| n.秘密，保密，隐蔽 | |
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consul
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| n.领事；执政官 | |
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embezzlement
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| n.盗用，贪污 | |
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disappearance
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| n.消失，消散，失踪 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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frustration
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| n.挫折，失败，失效，落空 | |
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derangement
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| n.精神错乱 | |
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knave
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| n.流氓；（纸牌中的）杰克 | |
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48
maniac
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| n.精神癫狂的人；疯子 | |
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49
juncture
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| n.时刻，关键时刻，紧要关头 | |
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replica
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| n.复制品 | |
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51
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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52
erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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53
dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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54
potency
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| n. 效力，潜能 | |
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55
radius
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| n.半径，半径范围；有效航程，范围，界限 | |
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56
joyously
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| ad.快乐地, 高兴地 | |
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57
momentary
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| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
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58
annoyance
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| n.恼怒，生气，烦恼 | |
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59
stimulating
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| adj.有启发性的，能激发人思考的 | |
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60
expectancy
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| n.期望，预期，（根据概率统计求得）预期数额 | |
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61
imprisonment
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| n.关押，监禁，坐牢 | |
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62
privy
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| adj.私用的；隐密的 | |
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63
diplomacy
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| n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕 | |
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64
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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65
followers
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| 追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件 | |
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66
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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pensively
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| adv.沉思地，焦虑地 | |
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68
lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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69
craved
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| 渴望，热望( crave的过去式 )； 恳求，请求 | |
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