Clearly, then, unless Ouvaroff had changed his costume—a most unlikely event—he could not have been the Crusading knight whom Wilfrid had met upon the terrace.
What man was it, then, with whom he had to fight at eight in the morning?
CHAPTER XXI
“YOUR OPPONENT IS AN EMPEROR”
The unmasking of the guests was followed by a simultaneous movement toward the supper-tables, set forth in an adjoining room, a room scarcely inferior in size and grandeur to the Hall of Mirrors.
Tormented by the thought of the Princess, Wilfrid was in no trim for eating, even when the far-famed Sumaroff cuisine offered its temptations.
Having satisfied himself that neither Marie nor the Crusading knight was among the guests, he withdrew from the palace, having first sent to Pauline a servant with a brief note, in which, without stating the cause, he expressed regret at finding it impossible to escort her home.
It was now past two o’clock. He had by eight of the clock to be at a spot distant six miles from the city, and in the interval he must find a second, and try to snatch a short repose. He had no time to waste.
Making his way to the entrance of the Sumaroff Palace he procured a car and drove to his hotel, where he changed his antique garb for one more modern, and this done, he went off at once to the British Embassy, with a view of getting one of his uncle’s secretaries to act as his second.
“Unless indeed the old boy himself will volunteer, which isn’t very likely,” thought Wilfrid. “He’d be compromising his diplomatic office.”