The motor car of the Prince carried her to the apartments of the Baroness Racowitz, where, after a rapidly thought-out explanation of her sudden visit which seemed satisfactory, she wrote a note to Hugh Renwick, asking him to come at once to her, addressing it to his apartments in the Strohgasse and telling the servant if he was not at home to take it to the Embassy. This note dispatched, her mind somewhat more at ease, she joined the Baroness at luncheon.
Baroness Racowitz, her father's sister, was a woman of liberal views. Educated in England, she had absorbed some of the democratic spirit of the West, and so looked with favor upon the suit of the young Englishman who had won his way into Marishka's heart. Today, however, in spite of the confession which trembled upon her lips, Marishka remained silent. And the mere fact that she did not speak added conviction of the danger which threatened her happiness and Hugh Renwick's.
As the afternoon waned she grew apprehensive, and it was not until evening that he came. His appearance did little to reassure her.
"Your note did not reach me until a few moments ago," he began soberly. "I went upon a mission to the ministry which has kept me all day."
"I have been worried," she began nervously. "I went to Schönbrunn this morning——"
"I know it," he broke in quickly. "Otway, of the Embassy, saw you leaving in the Prince's car."
Something in his tone, in the avidity with which he had seized upon her phrase, warned her of the truth.
"Oh, Hugh," she cried, "you have already told!"
His voice sank a note lower, and its very earnestness seemed to make the barrier between them the greater. "This morning when I left you, I wrote a complete statement of what happened at Konopisht, and gave it to a servant with instructions to deliver it at the Embassy at a certain hour. When I tell you that I was bidden to the Ministry this afternoon, closely questioned and detained in violation of all precedent, you will understand that from my own point of view, I acted wisely."
"You mean——"