LITMIR.BIZ

      CHAPTER II

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      IT WAS with considerable misgivings that Nana Rau drove with two dusky assistants down to Epsom the following morning.

      With him was all his baggage, a formidable-looking amount for a night out; but then the dazzling splendour of Eastern attire cannot be measured by Western sartorial restrictions. These big trunks contained the full war paint which Nana Rau and suite intended to don after luncheon, and ere proceeding to Windsor.

      One thing Nana Rau was fully resolved upon. Nothing should induce him to play into “Vaughan’s” hands unless the latter could provide him with a proper way out of the difficulty. It was only natural that the Prince should desire to protect himself, and nothing short of being able to show that he was the innocent victim of a vile conspiracy would satisfy him.

      The Indians reached Vaughan’s hospitable mansion at length and were met at the door by that individual himself.

      “I am afraid I shall have to request you to dispense with a deal of ceremony,” he said. “The fact is, this place has been let furnished for about a year, and my late tenants only turned out of it last week, and thus we are terribly short of servants. These footmen don’t seem able to do anything without a lot of women to help them.”

      Vaughan, or Gryde rather, rang the bell violently, and presently a pair of men-servants appeared breathlessly. They were a fine-looking pair of men, and their livery left nothing to be desired. The astute reader will have little difficulty in guessing who these footmen were.

      “Whatever have you fellows been doing?” Gryde demanded.

      “Please, sir,” replied one, in the purest of Cockney accents, “it’s all along of the new cook, which she’s drunk—”

      Gryde waved these details aside.

      “I desire to know nothing of these matters,” he replied. “Take the Prince up to the room prepared for him, and these gentlemen also, and see that they have everything they require. Luncheon is prepared, I suppose?”

      “Luncheon is waiting in the dining-room now, sir.”

      A little later and Nana Rau, together with his host and attendants, sat down to one of the most perfect luncheons it is possible to imagine. The Prince was a bit of an epicure in his way, and as the meal proceeded he softened. The choice champagne rendered him indifferent to the calls of Windsor. And really, it seemed quite bad taste to stand in the light of so enlightened a bon vivant as Vaughan.

      Absolutely nothing had been left undone. The luncheon was a work of art, the wines were cameos in their way, and the waiting of the two confederates left nothing to be desired. In the poetic language of the modern Babylon, Nana Rau was an accomplished “tiddler”; in the old days he would have been a three-bottle man, and to leave such a feast of alcohol for a mere Court function partook almost of the nature of a crime.

      “Then why leave it?” Gryde asked, when the attendants had withdrawn and he and the Prince were alone. “Stay and make an evening of it.”

      “What’s the good of talking that dashed nonsense?” said Nana Rau thickly. “You know as well as possible that I must go.”

      “But it was arranged that I was to take your place.”

      “O! I know that’s your game. I suppose you’ve got some diplomatic swindle on. Only show me a clear way out—a way which will absolutely absolve me from all blame—and you shall take my place with pleasure.”

      “I am about to do so,” said Gryde.

      “I think I shall be able to satisfy even your scruples if you will permit me to leave you for a minute.”

      Nana Rau waved his hand majestically. He wanted no other company beyond that superb champagne. He closed his eyes with the ecstasy of it He opened them again with a start five minutes later. Then, with a beatific smile upon his face, he slipped from his chair on to the floor and slept.