CHAPTER XXXVII
The hussars conducted him toward headquarters. His huge hands were tied behind him; there was a rope around his neck, the other end of which was fastened to a hussar's saddlebow.
The troopers rode slowly, carbines poised forward with butt on thigh.
Fantassins along the road looked on, somber-eyed; the murmured word "spy" passed from lip to lip; the wounded turned their big, hollow eyes on him; drivers, cyclists, cannoniers, looked upon him; but nobody reviled him. Their silence was more terrible.
He spoke only once, looking up at the horseman beside him, his deep, harsh voice breaking the rigid silence:
"Hé! Vous là-haut! Supposition that I confess? … That I make a statement involving others… That Cossack there at headquarters! Do I benefit?"
The cavalryman did not even glance at him.
"Tas de casse-geules!" rumbled Wildresse, and spat into the dust.
They crossed the pontoon, the troopers dismounting and leading their horses, then into the saddle again, across the river meadows, and so around to the lodge gates.
Across the road they were opening trenches for dead horses, and on the plateau hundreds of soldiers' graves were being dug.
Wildresse glanced at them askance, and his bull neck roughened with shivers as he thought of the quick-lime.
It was then that the first convulsive twitch jerked his face and left the right eye turned slightly outward in a sort of cast. After that something seemed to loosen in his cheek, and his jaw was inclined to sag unless controlled with conscious effort.
Fantassins on guard passed forward prisoner and escort with monotonous formulae; the sentry on the terrace summoned assistance; a staff officer came; two line soldiers arrived later, halted, fixed bayonets, and loaded their pieces.
Half a dozen staff officers in the music room rose and stepped aside, opening a lane to the table where General of Division Raoul Delisle sat at the telephone. A cool-eyed major of dragoons relieved him of the apparatus; the General turned and looked up at Wildresse.
"You are Constantine Wildresse?"
"Yes, General."
"Otherwise Constantine Volmark?"
"Well – yes! My name is Volmark."
"Which name do you claim?" asked Delisle dryly.
"Volmark. It is useless to deny it – no good to deceive anybody."
"You are Austrian?"
"And Greek, on my mother's side."
"Greek?"
"That is – she was Eurasian."
"From – Tenedos?"
But Wildresse had suddenly caught sight of Count Cassilis.
"You!" he cried. "Now, then, will you do anything for me?"
Cassilis stared.
"Will you?" demanded Wildresse loudly.
Cassilis glanced at Delisle and tapped his forehead with a bored air.
"Oh!" shouted Wildresse. "So that's it, eh? I am crazy, am I?"
He passed a thick, dry tongue over his lips, made an effort; looked hard at Delisle:
"Yes, mon Général; I am Constantine Volmark, born in Tenedos. What then, if you please?"
"You are known. No court is necessary. You will be shot immediately."
"Circumstances – in extenuation – "
"None!"
"And if I confess – "
"It is useless."
"A statement involving others, unsuspected – "
"What?"
"It is important. Nations are involved," muttered Wildresse. "An officer in your entourage – eh? Is there any immunity in such things, General?"
"No."
"No – immunity?"
"No."
"I am not permitted to make a statement?"
"I am here to listen. I always have time to listen."
"Then I may speak freely?"
"Yes, you may make a statement if you choose."
"Accusations?"
"If you choose."
"It will not help my case if I prove to you of what filth chancelleries are made? If I expose to you what the faith of governments amounts to? – If I show you a man who has betrayed everybody since his boyhood – an officer here – your comrade and friend? All this will not help my case?"
"No."
"And yet I may make my statement if I choose? Is that the situation, General?"
"Yes."
"And I may denounce whom I please? I am free to accuse, am I? Free to confess and involve others?"
"Yes."
"Hé! Nom d'un nom! Comme vous est un bon bougre!!" broke out Wildresse in his harsh and dreadful voice. "I am to die, am I? So that's it, is it? Then I'll pull down everybody and everything I can while I have the chance. Men? Does it matter so much about a man or two if one can set the treacherous nations flying at one another's throats? There's a real revenge! I'll poison the belief in nations in you all! – You with your alliances and leagues and ententes! – That's where you'll not forget me! That's where your half crazy Kings and diseased Emperors will turn cross-eyed with suspicion! That's where there'll be a ratty scuttling to cover in your dirty chancelleries! I'll strip the orders and epaulettes off one or two idols before I finish. And I want witnesses! I demand witnesses to confront me – "
"Be quiet, Wildresse. Whom do you desire to confront?"
"You – for one! Then, the educated Kurd, yonder! That Cossack there – that man over there in a green uniform, who pretends to be a Christian! – That bashi-bazouk of Abdul – Major-General Count Cassilis, Russian Military Observer at division headquarters!"
"Very well."
"And I demand to be confronted with others, too. That Yankee painter, Warner. Let him carry the poison I spill back among his own people. They won't forget. And I want the British officer here, Captain Gray! Let him report to his Government what I say, and see if it can swallow it! … That's a sufficiency of men… And for my supplement I want the Countess de Moidrey – so that the noble faubourg shall feel the poison in its veins… And, as proof documentary of the statement I shall make, I demand to be confronted with the girl Philippa!"
"Is that all?"
"No… The mercy, the extenuation denied me by the military autocracy of France, I shall seek from another. I require two things only before I die: understanding and absolution from – my son."
"Who?"
"My only son, Jacques Wildresse, 6th Company, Battalion of Africa! – Jacques – of Biribi! That's all I want – so that he understands and pardons. As for you others —je m'en– "
The staff officer at the telephone suddenly bent over and whispered to the General. He listened, nodded, looked calmly at Wildresse.
"The soldier Wildresse, 6th Company, Battalion d'Afrique, was unable to bear your disgrace. He is this moment reported dead by his own hand."
A terrible spasm shot like lightning across the prisoner's visage, drawing his whole face to one side. Slowly the flaccid muscles resumed their natural places; the screwed up features loosened.
"That's a lie," mumbled Wildresse; and his big, hairless head doddered for a moment.
At a nod from Delisle a soldier picked up the wrist rope, coiled it, and gave it a slight pull.
"March!" he said briefly to his prisoner.
Count Cassilis came over, faintly amused at the scene, to judge by his expression.
"There's a good place under the north terrace," he said languidly. "You don't intend to listen, I fancy, to this statement he wants to make… Do you?"
"Oh, yes," said the General. "It's my business to listen always."
He sent an aid to find Warner and Gray, and to beg the honor of Madame de Moidrey's presence and of Philippa's. Then he smiled pleasantly at Count Cassilis.
"Yes," he said, "statements always should be listened to. It's the man who doesn't care to hear who makes the most terrible mistakes in life. I can't afford to make mistakes. I'd rather risk being bored. So, if you don't mind, my dear General – "
"Not in the least," said General Count Cassilis languidly.
They had conducted Wildresse into the small, semi-circular library in the northeast tower, the entrance to which gave on the terrace and billiard room.
Gray and Warner appeared presently with the Countess and Philippa; General Delisle went to them immediately, and remained in close consultation with them.
"It may prove of some military importance to us; it may prove of no value whatever – this statement he desires to make," concluded the General. "Of course it is not possible for me to guess… And yet, Madame, if there is a chance that the statement might be of value, may I not venture to hope that you and Mademoiselle are willing to submit to this disagreeable proceeding in the interests of France?"
"Certainly," said the Countess, and linked her arm in Philippa's.
The girl was a little pale, a trifle nervous, too. She glanced at Warner, tried to smile, then stood with lips slightly compressed and head high, looking steadily at the soldier who stood before the closed door of the little library.
"If you are ready," said the General quietly.
So they went in, one by one, very noiselessly, as though somebody had just died in there. But their entrance did not arouse Wildresse from his abstraction.
Two red-legged fantassins, with fixed bayonets and loaded rifles, stood behind him.
The man himself sat huddled on a chair in a corner, his great, blunt, murderous-looking hands hanging crossed between his knees, his big, hairless head of a butcher wagging slightly as though palsied.
There was not an atom of color left in his face, except for the pockmarks which were picked out in sickly greenish grey all over his flabby features.
He did not look up when they entered, his little, wicked black eyes, which had become dull and covered with a bluish glaze, remained fixed as though he were listening, and his heavy lower lip sagged.
"Wildresse," said General Delisle.
There was no response; a soldier stirred the prisoner to attention with the butt of his piece.
"Stand up," he said.
Wildresse, aroused, got to his great feet stupidly, looked around, caught sight of Philippa, and silently snarled – merely opened his mouth a little way till his upper lip curled back, emitting no sound whatever – then he caught sight of the green uniform of General Count Cassilis, and instantly the old glare blazed up in his eyes.
"By God, the Cossack!" he growled; and the heavy voice vibrated ominously through the room.
Warner led Philippa to a chair as General Delisle seated the Countess. Wildresse, his heavy arms hanging inert, stood looking from one man to another, as they found scats in turn, on sofas or on chairs – Delisle, Warner, Cassilis, Gray.
"Make your statement," said General Delisle dryly. And he added: "If it is a long one, you may seat yourself."
Wildresse shot a terrible look at the Russian Military Observer.
"For the last time," he said hoarsely, "will you do something for me? … For the last time?"
Cassilis lifted his expressive eyebrows and glanced rather wearily at Delisle.
"You know!" bellowed Wildresse in a sudden fury. "You know what I can say! If I say it, Russia and her allies will have an enemy instead of another ally! If I speak, your country will earn the contempt of France and of England too; and their implacable enmity after this war is ended. If I speak! Will you do something for me?"
Cassilis, polishing his monocle with a heavily scented handkerchief, shrugged.
"Very well!" roared Wildresse. "It is death, then, is it? You filthy, treacherous Cossack, I'll do what I can to ruin you and your lying Government before I pass out! – You Moslem at heart – you bashi-bazouk – "
"Moderate your voice and your manner!" said General Delisle very quietly.
Wildresse turned his great, hairless head; his face had become suddenly chalky again; he seated himself heavily; his big hands, doubled into fists, fell on either knee.
For a moment the slight, palsy-like movement of the head began again, the black eyes lost their luster, the heavy lip became pendulous. But he made an effort, and a change came over him; the muscles tightened visibly; he lifted the bulk of his great shoulders and sat erect, looking questioningly from one to another.
Then he began to speak without preamble, reciting his statement in an accentless, pedantic way which seemed to lend to what he said a somber sort of truth – the corroborative accuracy of unimaginative stupidity, which carries with it conviction to the minds of listeners.
He said:
"Count Cassilis knows. Like every Cossack he is at heart a Mussulman and a bashi-bazouk. Ask Enver Bey. He knows more than any white man, this Cassilis. He knows who sent the bashi-bazouks into the province of Philippopolis in '76, where half a hundred villages were burnt and twelve thousand Bulgarian men, women, and children were murdered. It was this man's father who did that!"
"A lie," remarked Cassilis, politely concealing a yawn. "General, if this rambling statement interests you – "
"Pardon, Count – " interposed Delisle, with cool courtesy. And to Wildresse: "Go on!"
Without even lifting his eyes, and as though he had been unconscious of the interruption, Wildresse went on reciting:
"It was the Sultan's business – that affair in Bulgaria. Your father played double traitor; the Sultan never knew; the war provoked by Count Serge Cassilis followed; Russia beat Turkey into the mud and slush. Count Serge got double pay. Your Czar wanted Bulgaria to become a free state full of gratitude to Russia; and he tried to carry things with a high hand at San Stefano. You were not there! It was Count Serge. Where I first laid eyes on you, and you on me, was at Slivnitza. And after that I did your dirty jobs for you… Very well; it warms up; Bulgaria becomes free – except she must tip her hat to the Sultan. Eh! You Russians didn't like that! All the same, Bulgaria becomes free to choose and elect her own Prince. Only – she doesn't want the Russian candidate —you!
"Alexander of Battenberg – Cousin of the Hesse Grand Duke – he was the first. Your Czar didn't like him, eh? They made a god of him, didn't they, in Sofia? And you Russians began to hate him. So did that rickety old gambler of Servia, King Milan. Who started that Servian fool after Alexander of Battenberg? And what did he get for his foolery? He got his empty head broken at Slivnitza – he and his swineherd army – kicked headlong through the Dragoman Pass! And that settled the Roumanian question. Eh? Swine and swineherd kicked into the lap of Holy Russia… And yours was double pay!
"Then you came sneaking back into the scene, Count Cassilis. I did your filthy work for you. You taught me how double pay is earned!
"Prince Alexander of Battenberg was the idol of Bulgaria. I don't know who gave you your orders, but I got mine from you! Was it Abdul Hamid – Abdul the Damned – who gave you your orders?
"Russian roubles paid me and the men I used. Maybe the Bank of Constantinople paid you… And so we broke into his palace – the young prince Alexander's – and carried him across the frontier. You sat on your big horse among your Cossacks and saw us bring the Prince of Bulgaria into Russia. And your pockets full of Turkish sweetmeats! – Like a prostitute!
"That time you meant murder; but others were afraid. Alexander of Battenberg was allowed to abdicate.
"Then, for the world, history went on to the summer of '87, when that Saxe-Coburg Prince was elected – Ferdinand, who now talks to himself for want of an audience, and who calls himself the Czar of all the Bulgars – he of the long nose and beard, and the eye of a wild pig.
"Russia pretended to hate him. Does she? Youknow!
"But history gives us only two Bulgarian princes from 1879 to 1915. How is that, Count Cassilis? Were there only two?– Alexander of Battenberg, whom you were afraid to murder, and this fat-jowled Ferdinand of today – "
"The man is crazy, I think," remarked Count Cassilis to the Countess.
Wildresse merely gazed at him out of lackluster eyes, and went on speaking with monotonous and terrible simplicity:
"History has lied to the world. There was another prince after Alexander. Every chancellery in Europe knows it, but never mentions it. A few others outside know it; you among others… And I.
"England and France found him. The Templars of Tenedos were not all dead. The race of the hereditary Prince of Marmora was not extinct – the race of that man whose head Saladin cut off with his own hand – the race of Djani the Paladin, and of Raymond de Châtillon – the Princess of Marmora! England found him – Philip de Châtillon – and forced him on Russia and Germany and Austria in secret conference. The Porte promised assent; it had to. Before he was presented for election to the Bulgarian people – a matter of routine merely – he was crowned and consecrated, and you know it! He was already as truly the ruler of Bulgaria as your Czar is today of all the Russias. And you know that, too! And that time, whoever gave you your orders, and whatever they may have been, my orders from you spelled murder!"
There was a moment's silence; Cassilis had turned his sneering, pallid face on Wildresse as though held by some subtle and horrible fascination, and he sat so, screwing up his golden mustache, his fishy blue eyes fixed, his lips as red as blood, and his wide, thin ears standing out translucent against the lighted lamp behind him.
Delisle, Warner, Gray, watched Wildresse with breathless attention; the Countess de Moidrey sat with Philippa's hand in hers, staring at this man who was about to die, and who continued to talk.
Only Philippa's face remained outwardly tranquil, yet she also was terribly intent upon what this man was now saying.
But Wildresse's head began to wag again with the palsy-like movement; he muttered, half to himself:
"That's how Philip de Châtillon died – Prince Philip of Bulgaria – that's how he died – there in the palace with his young wife – the way they did for Draga, the Queen – and Milan's son – the Servian swine who reigned before this old fighter, Peter! —You know, Count Cassilis! So do I – and Vasilief knew. We both knew because we did it for you – tore the bedclothes off – God! How that young man fought! We stabbed his red-haired wife first – but when we stretched that powerful young neck of his, the blood spouted to the ceiling – "
The Countess made a gesture as though she were about to rise; Philippa's hand crushed hers, drew her back.
"That's how they died – those two young things in the bedroom of the Palace there… I know what my orders were… There was a child – a little girl six years old… Vasilief went to the Ghetto and cut the throat of a six-year-old… That's what we buried with Prince Philip of Bulgaria and his wife… I took the little Princess out of her bed and kept her for myself… In case of trouble. Also, I thought she might mean money some day. I waited too long; it seems she was not worth killing – no use for blackmail. And the French Government wouldn't listen, and the British were afraid to listen… What's proclaimed dead remains dead to Governments, even if they have to kill it again.
"That is my statement. Vasilief and I killed Prince Philip of Bulgaria, and his red-haired Princess, too… In their bedroom at the Palace it was done… But I took their little girl with me… I had to knife Vasilief to do it. He wanted too much. I strangled him and turned my knife inside him – several times. And took the little girl away with me – the little six-year-old Princess Philippa – " He lifted his heavy head and stared at Philippa: "There she sits!"
Philippa stood straight up, her grey eyes fixed on Wildresse in terrible concentration.
He wagged his head monotonously; a tic kept snatching at the upper lip, baring his yellow dog-teeth, so that he seemed to be laughing.
"There's a bag full of the child's clothing – your clothing – toys – photographs – God knows what. There's a safe in the cellar of the Café Biribi. The fire won't harm it. I kept the pieces of identification there – against a time of need. England wouldn't listen and wouldn't pay anything. France was afraid for her alliance. There was nothing in it for Germany. Russia shrugged and yawned – as you do, Count Cassilis – and then tried to kill me.
"As for the long-nosed wild pig of Bulgaria – do you think I had a chance with him? Not with Ferdy. Non pas! I couldn't reach the people. That was the trouble. That is where I failed. Who would believe me without my pieces of identification? And I was afraid to take them into Sofia – afraid to cross the frontier with them – dared not even let France know I had them – or any other Power. They'd have had my throat cut for me inside of forty-eight hours! Eh, Cassilis? You know how it is done… And that's all… They've burned the Café Biribi. But the safe is in the cellar… I've done what I could to revenge myself on every side. I've sold France, sold Germany, sold Russia when I was able. Tell them that in Petrograd! I had no chance to sell England… At first I never meant to harm the girl Philippa… Philippa de Châtillon! Only when she turned on me, then I meant to twist her neck… I waited too long, talked too much. That man – the Yankee, yonder – saved her neck for her – "
His head was wagging by jerks; the tic stretched his loosened mouth, twitching it into awful and silent laughter, and the rictus mortis distorted his sagging features as the soldiers took him by both arms, shaking him into comprehension.
He shambled to his feet, looking at everybody and seeing nothing.
"Philippa de Châtillon, Princess of the Bulgars!" he mumbled… "The girl Philippa, gentlemen, caissière de cabaret! … Her father died by the Palace window, and her mother on the black marble floor! – Very young they were, gentlemen – very young… And I think very much in love – "
They took him out, still mumbling, the spasm playing and jerking at his sagging jaw.