Part 17
But to-day of all days--and with your son due at any moment.
PRINCE
You can leave him to me.
COUNT
But I don't want it. I'm going to meet the carriage and see if I can stop her. It makes me nervous. You'll have to ask your son to excuse me for a little while. Good-by, Mizzie. I'll be back right away. (_He goes out_)
PRINCE
Miss Lolo has sent word that she's coming to call, and your papa doesn't like it.
MIZZIE
What's that? Has Lolo sent word? Is she coming here?
PRINCE
Your father has been promising her a chance to look over the place before she was married. And now he has gone to meet the carriage in order to steer her off.
MIZZIE
How childish! And how pathetic, when you come to think of it! I should really like to make her acquaintance. Don't you think it's too silly? There is my father, spending half his lifetime with a person who is probably very attractive--and I don't get a chance--don't have the right--to shake hands with her even. Why does he object to it anyhow? He ought to understand that I know all about it.
PRINCE
Oh, heavens, that's the way he is made. And perhaps he might not have minded so much, if he were not expecting another visit at this very moment....
MIZZIE
Another visit, you say?
PRINCE
For which I took the liberty to prepare him.
MIZZIE
Who is it?
PRINCE
Our son.
MIZZIE
Are you ... bringing your son here?
PRINCE
He'll be here in half an hour at the most.
MIZZIE
I say, Prince ... this is not a joke you're trying to spring on me?
PRINCE
By no means. On a departed ... what an idea!
MIZZIE
Is it really true? He's coming here?
PRINCE
Yes.
MIZZIE
Apparently you still think that nothing but a whim keeps me from having anything to do with the boy?
PRINCE
A whim...? No. Seeing how consistent you have been in this matter, it would hardly be safe for me to call it that. And when I bear in mind how you have had the strength all these years not even to ask any questions about him....
MIZZIE
There has been nothing admirable about that. I have had the strength to do what was worse ... when I had to let him be taken away ... a week after he was born....
PRINCE
Yes, what else could you--could we have done at the time? The arrangements made by me at the time, and approved by you in the end, represented absolutely the most expedient thing we could do under the circumstances.
MIZZIE
I have never questioned their expediency.
PRINCE
It was more than expedient, Mizzie. More than our own fate was at stake. Others might have come to grief if the truth had been revealed at the time. My wife, with her weak heart, had probably never survived.
MIZZIE
Oh, that weak heart....
PRINCE
And your father, Mizzie.... Think of your father!
MIZZIE
You may be sure he would have accepted the inevitable. That was the very time when he began his affair with Lolo. Otherwise everything might not have come off so smoothly. Otherwise he might have been more concerned about me. I could never have stayed away several months if he hadn't found it very convenient at that particular moment. And there was only one danger connected with the whole story--that you might be shot dead by Fedor Wangenheim, my dear Prince.
PRINCE
Why I by him? It might have taken another turn. You are not a believer in judgment by ordeal, are you? And the outcome might have proved questionable from such a point of view even. You see, we poor mortals can never be sure how things of that kind are regarded up above.
MIZZIE
You would never talk like that in the Upper House--supposing you ever opened your mouth during one of its sessions.
PRINCE
Possibly not. But the fundamental thing remains, that no amount of honesty or daring could have availed in the least at the time. It would have been nothing but useless cruelty toward those nearest to us. It's doubtful whether a dispensation could have been obtained--and besides, the Princess would never have agreed to a divorce--which you know as well as I do.
MIZZIE
Just as if I had cared in the least for the ceremony...!
PRINCE
Oh....
MIZZIE
Not in the least. Is that new to you? Didn't I tell you so at the time? Oh, you'll never guess what might ... (_her words emphasized by her glance_) what I ... of what I might have been capable at that time. I would have followed you anywhere--everywhere--even as your mistress. I and the child. To Switzerland, to America. After all, we could have lived wherever it happened to suit us. And perhaps, if you had gone away, they might never even have noticed your absence in the Upper House.
PRINCE
Yes, of course, we might have run away and settled down somewhere abroad.... But do you still believe that a situation like that would have proved agreeable in the long run, or even bearable?
MIZZIE
No, I don't nowadays. Because, you see, I know you now. But at that time I was in love with you. And it is possible that I--might have gone on loving you for a long time, had you not proved too _cowardly_ to assume the responsibility for what had happened.... Yes, too much of a coward, Prince Egon.
PRINCE
Whether that be the proper word....
MIZZIE
Well, I don't know of any other. There was no hesitation on my part. I was ready to face everything--with joy and pride. I was ready to be a mother, and to confess myself the mother of our child. And you knew it, Egon. I told you so seventeen years ago, in that little house in the woods where you kept me hidden. But half-measures have never appealed to me. I wanted to be a mother in every respect or not at all. The day I had to let the boy be taken away from me, I made up my mind never more to trouble myself about him. And for that reason I find it ridiculous of you to bring him here all of a sudden. If you'll allow me to give you a piece of good advice, you'll go and meet him, as papa has gone to meet Lolo--and take him back home again.
PRINCE
I wouldn't dream of doing so. After what I have just had to hear from you again, it seems settled that his mother must remain dead. And that means that I must take still better care of him. He is my son in the eyes of the world too. I have adopted him.
MIZZIE
Have you...?
PRINCE
To-morrow he will probably be able to assume my name. I shall introduce him wherever it suits me. And of course, first of all to my old friend--your father. If you should find the sight of him disagreeable, there will be nothing left for you but to stay in your room while he is here.
MIZZIE
If you believe that I think your tone very appropriate....
PRINCE
Oh, just as appropriate as your bad temper.
MIZZIE
My bad temper...? Do I look it? Really, if you please ... I have simply permitted myself to find this fancy of yours in rather poor taste. Otherwise my temper is just as good as ever.
PRINCE
I have no doubt of your good humor under ordinary circumstances.... I am perfectly aware, for that matter, that you have managed to become reconciled to your fate. I, too, have managed to submit to a fate which, in its own way, has been no less painful than yours.
MIZZIE
In what way? To what fate have you had to submit...? Everybody can't become a cabinet minister. Oh, I see ... that remark must refer to the fact that His Highness did me the honor ten years ago, after the blissful departure of his noble spouse, to apply for my hand.
PRINCE
And again seven years ago, if you'll be kind enough to remember.
MIZZIE
Oh, yes, I do remember. Nor have I ever given you any cause to question my good memory.
PRINCE
And I hope you have never ascribed my proposals to anything like a desire to expiate some kind of guilt. I asked you to become my wife simply because of my conviction that true happiness was to be found only by your side.
MIZZIE
True happiness!... Oh, what a mistake!
PRINCE
Yes, I do believe that it was a mistake at that moment. Ten years ago it was probably still too early. And so it was, perhaps, seven years ago. But not to-day.
MIZZIE
Yes, to-day too, my dear Prince. Your fate has been never to know me, never to understand me at all--no more when I loved you than when I hated you, and not even during the long time when I have been completely indifferent toward you.
PRINCE
I have always known you, Mizzie. I know more about you than you seem able to guess. Thus, for instance, I am not unfamiliar with the fact that you have spent the last seventeen years in more profitable pursuits than weeping over a man who, in all likelihood, was not worthy of you at the time in question. I am even aware that you have chosen to expose yourself to several disillusionments subsequent to the one suffered at my hands.
MIZZIE
Disillusionments, you say? Well, for your consolation, my dear Prince, I can assure you that some of them proved very enjoyable.
PRINCE
I know that, too. Otherwise I should hardly have dared to call myself familiar with the history of your life.
MIZZIE
And do you think that I am not familiar with yours? Do you want me to present you with a list of your mistresses? From the wife of the Bulgarian attaché in 1887 down to Mademoiselle Therese Grédun--if that be her real name--who retained the honors of her office up to last Spring at least. It seems likely that I know more than you even, for I can give you a practically complete list of those with whom she has deceived you.
PRINCE
Oh, don't, if you please. There is no real pleasure in knowledge of that kind when you don't uncover it yourself.
[_A carriage is heard stopping in front of the house._
PRINCE
That's he. Do you want to disappear before he comes out here? I can detain him that long.
MIZZIE
Don't trouble yourself, please. I prefer to stay. But don't imagine that there is anything astir within me.... This is nothing but a young man coming to call on my father. There he is now.... As to blood being thicker than water--I think it's nothing but a fairy tale. I can't feel anything at all, my dear Prince.
PHILIP (_comes quickly through the main entrance; he is seventeen, slender, handsome, elegant, but not foppish; shows a charming, though somewhat boyish, forwardness, not quite free from embarrassment_) Good morning. (_He bows to Mizzie_)
PRINCE
Good morning, Philip.--Countess, will you permit me to introduce my son? This is Countess Mizzie, daughter of the old friend of mine in whose house you are now.
PHILIP (_kisses the hand offered him by Mizzie; brief pause_)
MIZZIE
Won't you be seated, please?
PHILIP
Thank you. Countess. (_All remain standing_)
PRINCE
You came in the carriage? Might just as well send it back, as mine is here already.
PHILIP
Won't you come back with me instead, papa? You see, I think Wasner does a great deal better than your Franz with his team of ancients.
MIZZIE
So Wasner has been driving you?
PHILIP
Yes.
MIZZIE
The old man himself? Do you know that's a great honor? Wasner won't take the box for everybody. Up to about two years ago he used to drive my father.
PHILIP
Oh....
PRINCE
You're a little late, by the way, Philip.
PHILIP
Yes, I have to beg your pardon. Overslept, you know. (_To Mizzie_) I was out with some of my colleagues last night. You may have heard that I passed my examinations a couple of weeks ago, Countess. That's why we rather made a night of it.[6]
[6] "... Ein bissel gedraht." The term is specifically Viennese and implies not only "making a night of it," but also making the contents of that night as varied as the resources of the locality will permit.
MIZZIE
You seem to have caught on to our Viennese ways pretty quickly, Mister....
PRINCE
Oh, dear Mizzie, call him Philip, please.
MIZZIE
But I think we must sit down first of all, Philip. (_With a glance at the Prince_) Papa should be here any moment now. (_She and the Prince sit down_)
PHILIP (_still standing_)
If you permit me to say so--I think the park is magnificent. It is much finer than ours.
MIZZIE
You are familiar with the Ravenstein park?
PHILIP
Certainly, Countess. I have been living at Ravenstein House three days already.
MIZZIE
Is that so?
PRINCE
Of course, gardens cannot do as well in the city as out here. Ours was probably a great deal more beautiful a hundred years ago. But then our place was still practically outside the city.
PHILIP
It's a pity that all sorts of people have been allowed to run up houses around our place like that.
MIZZIE
We are better off in that respect. And we shall hardly live to see the town overtake us.
PHILIP (_affably_)
But why not, Countess?
MIZZIE
A hundred years ago these grounds were still used for hunting. The place adjoins the Tiergarten, you know. Look over that wall there, Philip. And our villa was a hunting lodge once, belonging to the Empress Maria Theresa. The stone figure over there goes back to that period.
PHILIP
And how old is our place, papa?
PRINCE (_smiling_)
Our place, sonny, dates back to the seventeenth century. Didn't I show you the room in which Emperor Leopold spent a night?
PHILIP
Emperor Leopold, 1648 to 1705.
MIZZIE (_laughs_)
PHILIP
Oh, that's an echo of the examinations. When I get old enough.... (_He interrupts himself_) I beg your pardon! What I meant to say was simply--all that stuff will be out of my head in a year. And, of course, when I learned those dates, I didn't know Emperor Leopold had been such a good friend of my own people.
MIZZIE
You seem to think your discovery enormously funny, Philip?
PHILIP
Discovery, you say.... Well, frankly speaking, it could hardly be called that. (_He looks at the Prince_)
PRINCE
Go on, go on!
PHILIP
Well, you see, Countess, I have always had the feeling that I was no Philip Radeiner by birth.
MIZZIE
Radeiner? (_To the Prince_) Oh, that was the name...?
PRINCE
Yes.
PHILIP
And, of course, it was very pleasant to find my suspicions confirmed--but I have really known it all the time. I can put two and two together. And some of the other boys had also figured out--that I.... Really, Countess, that story about Prince Ravenstein coming to Krems merely to see how the son of his late friend was getting along--don't you think it smacked a little too much of story book ... Home and Family Library, and that sort of thing? All the clever ones felt pretty sure that I was of noble blood, and as I was one of the cleverest....
MIZZIE
So it seems.... And what are your plans for the future, Philip?
PHILIP
Next October I shall begin my year as volunteer with the Sixth Dragoons, which is the regiment in which we Ravensteins always serve. And what's going to happen after that--whether I stay in the army or become an archbishop--in due time, of course....
MIZZIE
That would probably be the best thing. The Ravensteins have always been strong in the faith.
PHILIP
Yes, it's mentioned in the Universal History even. They were Catholic at first; then they turned Protestant in the Thirty Years War; and finally they became Catholic again--but they always remained strong in their faith. It was only the faith that changed.
PRINCE
Philip, Philip!
MIZZIE
That's the spirit of the time, Prince Egon.
PRINCE
And an inheritance from his mother.
MIZZIE
You have been working hard, your father tells me, and have passed your examinations with honors.
PHILIP
Well, that wasn't difficult, Countess. I seem to get hold of things quickly. That's probably another result of the common blood in me. And I had time to spare for things not in the school curriculum--such as horseback riding and ...
MIZZIE
And what?
PHILIP
Playing the clarinet.
MIZZIE (_laughing_)
Why did you hesitate to tell about that?
PHILIP
Because.... Well, because everybody laughs when I say that I play the clarinet. And so did you, too, Countess. Isn't that queer? Did anybody ever laugh because you told him that you were painting for a diversion?
MIZZIE
So you have already heard about that?
PHILIP
Yes, indeed, Countess--papa told me. And besides, there is a floral piece in my bedroom--a Chinese vase, you know, with a laburnum branch and something purplish in color.
MIZZIE
That purplish stuff must be lilacs.
PHILIP
Oh, lilacs, of course. I saw that at once. But I couldn't recall the name just now.
VALET (_entering_)
There is a lady who wishes to see the Count. I have showed her into the drawing-room.
MIZZIE
A lady...? You'll have to excuse me for a moment, gentlemen. (_She goes out_)
PHILIP
That's all right, papa--if it's up to me, I have no objection.
PRINCE
To what? Of what are you talking?
PHILIP
I have no objection to your choice.
PRINCE
Have you lost your senses, boy?
PHILIP
But really, papa, do you think you can hide anything from me? That common blood in me, you know....
PRINCE
What put such an idea into your head?
PHILIP
Now look here, papa! You have been telling me how anxious you were to introduce me to your old friend, the Count. And then the Count has a daughter--which I have known all the time, by the way.... The one thing I feared a little was that she might be too young.
PRINCE (_offended, and yet unable to keep serious_)
Too young, you say....
PHILIP
It was perfectly plain that you had a certain weakness for that daughter.... Why, you used to be quite embarrassed when talking of her. And then you have been telling me all sorts of things about her that you would never have cared to tell otherwise. What interest could I have in the pictures of a Countess X-divided-by-anything, for instance--supposing even that you _could_ tell her lilacs from her laburnums by their color? And, as I said, my one fear was that she might be too young--as my mother, that is, and not as your wife. Of course, there is not yet anybody too young or beautiful for you. But now I can tell you, papa, that she suits me absolutely as she is.
PRINCE
Well, if you are not the most impudent rogue I ever came across...! Do you really think I would ask you, if I should ever....
PHILIP
Not exactly ask, papa ... but a happy family life requires that all the members affect each other sympathetically ... don't you think so?
[_Mizzie and Lolo Langhuber enter._
MIZZIE
You must look around, please. I am sure my father would be very sorry to miss you. (_She starts to make the usual introductions_) Permit me to....
LOLO
Oh, Your Highness.
PRINCE
Well, Miss Pallestri....
LOLO
Langhuber, if you please. I have come to thank the Count for the magnificent flowers he sent me at my farewell performance.
PRINCE (_introducing_)
My son Philip. And this is Miss ...
LOLO
Charlotta Langhuber.
PRINCE (_to Philip_)
Better known as Miss Pallestri.
PHILIP
Oh, Miss Pallestri! Then I have already had the pleasure....
PRINCE
What?
PHILIP
You see, I have Miss Pallestri in my collection.
PRINCE
What ... what sort of collection is that?
LOLO
There must be some kind of mistake here, Your Highness. I can not recall....
PHILIP
Of course, you can't, for I don't suppose you could feel that I was cutting out your picture from a newspaper at Krems?
LOLO
No, thank heaven!
PHILIP
It was one of our amusements at school, you know. There was one who cut out all the crimes and disasters he could get hold of.
LOLO
What a dreadful fellow that must have been!
PHILIP
And there was one who went in for historical personalities, like North Pole explorers and composers and that kind of people. And I used to collect theatrical ladies. Ever so much more pleasant to look at, you know. I have got two hundred and thirteen--which I'll show you sometime, papa. Quite interesting, you know. With a musical comedy star from Australia among the rest.
LOLO
I didn't know Your Highness had a son--and such a big one at that.
PHILIP
Yes, I have been hiding my light under a bushel so far.
PRINCE
And now you are trying to make up for it, I should say.
LOLO
Oh, please let him, Your Highness. I prefer young people like him to be a little _vif_.
PHILIP
So you are going to retire to private life, Miss Pallestri? That's too bad. Just when I might have the pleasure at last of seeing you on those boards that signify the world....
LOLO
That's awfully kind of Your Highness, but unfortunately one hasn't time to wait for the youth that's still growing. And the more mature ones are beginning to find my vintage a little out of date, I fear.
PRINCE
They say that you are about to be married.
LOLO
Yes, I am about to enter the holy state of matrimony.
PHILIP
And who is the happy man, if I may ask?
LOLO
Who is he? Why, he is waiting outside now--with that carriage.
MIZZIE
Why--a coachman?
LOLO
But, Countess--a coachman, you say?! Only in the same manner as when your papa himself--beg your pardon!--happens to be taking the bay out for a spin at times. Cab owner, that's what my fiancé is--and house owner, and a burgess of Vienna, who gets on the box himself only when it pleases him and when there is somebody of whom he thinks a whole lot. Now he is driving for a certain Baron Radeiner--whom he has just brought out here to see your father, Countess. And I am having my doubts about that Baron Radeiner.
PHILIP
Permit me to introduce myself--Baron Radeiner.
LOLO
So that's you, Your Highness?
PHILIP
I have let nobody but Wasner drive me since I came here.
LOLO
And under an assumed name at that, Your Highness? Well, we are finding out a lot of nice things about you!
COUNT (_appears, very hot_)
Well, here I am. (_Taking in the situation_) Ah!
LOLO
Your humble servant, Count! I have taken the liberty--I wanted to thank you for the magnificent flowers.
COUNT
Oh, please--it was a great pleasure....
PRINCE
And here, old friend, is my son Philip.
PHILIP
I regard myself as greatly honored, Count.
COUNT (_giving his hand to Philip_)
I bid you welcome to my house. Please consider yourself at home here.--I don't think any further introductions are required.
MIZZIE
No, papa.
COUNT (_slightly embarrassed_)
It's very charming of you, my dear lady. Of course, you know better than anybody that I have always been one of your admirers.... But tell me, please, how in the world did you get out here? I have just been taking a walk along the main road, where every carriage has to pass, and I didn't see you.
LOLO