Iron Butterflies Read Free Page A

chose to place those in which he should have taken pride. My grandmother's father was forced to defend her good name in a duel, he died a cripple as the result. This is our position and has beenfor nearly fifty years. Now why dares he send for me? Also, what is your part in all this?”
    Visibly he controlled what was plainly a hot temper. I marked the twitch at the corner of his mouth, the tightening of his lips before he replied.
    “I am the Elector's Colonel of the Guard, his trusted messenger, to answer your last question first. He delegated me to correspond with your grandmother—for the situation was such that he could trust but few of those about him. He perhaps chose me because my family came originally from his country, and he believed that this being so the task might be easier. You cannot understand, positioned as you are”—now he was plainly lecturing me—“the demands of duty. The Elector had a duty to his House, to his people—”
    “But not to his family?” I interrupted. “You are most informative, Colonel Fenwick. But, having made his choice in the past, why alter it now? How does the death of the Electress change matters?” The strength anger gave me stopped the trembling of my hands. I suddenly realized that they clutched each other so tightly that I was in pain from my own grip.
    “As long as Her Royal Highness lived, the Elector could not communicate—” Fenwick half turned from me, I think he was seeking words to force my understanding. “Intrigue flourishes in any court. He—he did what he had taken oath at his father's deathbed to do. Now he is free—but also he is ill. His doctors are not hopeful. But his force of will is such that I think he shall defeat their foreboding—at least long enough to see you.
    “The position is this, Miss Harrach. He has not the power to give you any succession to your rightful rank. But he has a private fortune which is his to bequeath where he wills. Most of all he wants to see you because you are what you are—his granddaughter.”
    “So you propose, sir, that I immediately set forth to meet, overseas, a man I do not know, and of whom I hold no high opinion, to garner a fortune. Sir, thank you for this estimation of my character—I have notheretofore believed greed one of my more pressing sins. A pretty suggestion, sir, and one I find quite insulting!” I arose. “I pray you forgive my leaving you, but this conversation is highly distasteful. Shall we bring this interview to an end?”
    He loosed his hold on the chair and made an impatient gesture.
    “Miss Harrach, I seem to have presented the case badly. It may be that I was not the proper advocate to be sent. The truth is that I am perhaps the only one in the Elector's confidence concerning this. Since his illness, he has had to depend on others, and court loyalty is a chancy thing. I can tell you only the bald truth, that circumstances over which even a ruler can have no control forced him in the past into actions he bitterly regretted. Now he is free, he needs—he is old, he would make his peace.”
    There was such a note of intensity in his voice now that I was prevented from voicing my first answer. There flashed into my mind oddly enough the memory of that paper wound about the necklace—its odd effect of a voice crying out in pain.
    “But what you ask—that I undertake such a journey with you—”
    Again he made that impatient gesture, brushing away my objection.
    “Of course we do not travel alone. Graf and Grafin von Zreibruken await you in Baltimore. The Grafin is a distant cousin of your own. Now Miss Harrach I must ask you a question— What was the abiding purpose of your grandmother's life?”
    I drew in my breath sharply. “But you cannot promise that—that she be recognized—openly—respectfully-”
    From within the breast of his smoothly fitting riding coat he brought out a folded paper, or rather a sheet of parchment. He held it out, and such was the force of his